NASA’s two Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft have successfully completed their planned main engine burn and have arrived in lunar orbit. GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will study the moon to yield a better understanding of the internal structure and thermal evolution. This will allow scientists to formulate a model of the Moon’s formation which [...]
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With evaluations continuing into NASA’s future crewed exploration aspirations, the foundations behind what should be a definitive roadmap – otherwise known as Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Design Reference Missions (DRM) – are starting to come to light, as outlined in the Space Launch System (SLS) Concept Of Operations (Con Ops) document.
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In a potential marriage of the Space Launch System (SLS) with a central exploration plan, a Boeing-authored presentation has proposed an Exploration Gateway Platform architecture that not only returns man to the lunar surface – via the use of only one SLS launch to a reusable Lunar Lander – but provides a baseline for pathfinders [...]
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As NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) produced the sharpest images ever taken from space of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites, NASA managers are working on internal plans to protect the “heritage sites” from potential damage from future visiting spacecraft – such as the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) vehicles – listing a [...]
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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched their Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft on their debut mission to the moon. A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL-C11) lifted-off from Sriharikota, India early on Wednesday, local time. The PSLV-C11 is an uprated version of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle standard configuration. Weighing 316 tonnes at lift-off, the vehicle uses [...]
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