Daily Archives: June 3, 2022

CAPSTONE is an important mission for the next generation of space exploration.

A significant step on this ambitious journey will be a crewed mission to the surface of the moon under the Artemis program. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) cubesat will act as a pathfinder for this mission.

Set to launch in 2022, CAPSTONE will orbit the moon assisting the navigation technologies of future missions and verifying the dynamics of a halo-shaped orbit around Earth's natural satellite, thus reducing the risk to future spacecraft.

Ultimately, though the CAPSTONE mission is planned to last just six months, it will assist in the Artemis program, set to land humans on the lunar surface again by the mid-2020s.

Related: How far is the moon from Earth?

CAPSTONE is a cubesat weighing just 55 pounds (25 kilograms) and is about the size of a microwave oven, according to NASA (opens in new tab). The craft is kitted out with solar arrays, a camera, and antennae that facilitate communication and navigation.

The low-cost craft was funded by NASA in 2019, meaning the time between development and deployment has been much shorter than is typically seen in space missions.

The overall management of the system is handled by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directoratebased at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.

Advanced Space (opens in new tab) of Westminster, Colorado, has been in charge of developing and operating CAPSTONE as part of a $13.7 million agreement. Advanced Space will become the first commercial entity to operate a craft in an Earth-moon three-body orbit, with the company joining NASA and the Chinese Space Agency as the only agencies to have achieved this thus far. Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems built the cubesat in Irvine, California,while Stellar Exploration, Inc. of San Luis Obispo, California, has provided the cubesat's propulsion system.

CAPSTONE's launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with Rocket Lab of Long Beach, California providing launch services as part of a contract with a value of $9.95 million.

Advanced Space initially predicted (opens in new tab) that the CAPSTONE cubesat would leave Earth in 2021, but the launch didn't happen with it pushed from October to 2022.

In mid-March, NASA reported (opens in new tab) that the launch of CAPSTONE had been delayed to "no earlier than May 31" adding that the launch period extends to June 22, 2022. The earliest launch date was then pushed back again to no earlier than June 6.

The Cubesat moved from the Terran Orbital Corporation in Irvine, California, to Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand on May 9, 2022, in preparation for its June launch.

The launch will be available to watch from home on various platforms including Facebook (opens in new tab), Twitter (opens in new tab), YouTube (opens in new tab), NASA TV (opens in new tab), and the NASA app (opens in new tab). Space.com will cover the launch and provide specific details on how and when you can watch it closer to the time.

Carrying the tiny CAPSTONE craft to space is an Electron rocketthe first rocket orbital launch vehicle designed and manufactured by Rocket Lab. The reusable rocket designed for the launch of multiple tiny satellites at a time will use a brand-new Lunar Photon satellite upper stage to eject CAPSTONE to a highly efficient transfer orbit to the Moon.

Following an estimated three-month-long journey CAPSTONE will arrive at the moon and orbit within 1,000 miles (1600 kilometers) of one lunar pole during its near passage and to within 43,500 miles (70,000 km) from the other pole at its peak, occurring approximately every seven days.

CAPSTONE's primary mission is to test this unique highly elliptical or flattened orbit around the moon. Officially called a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) (opens in new tab) this lunar orbit is located at a precise and stable balance point in the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the moon.

A craft in such a highly elliptical NRHO should require less propulsion when flying to and from the Moon's surface than would be required by craft in more circular orbits. This is because, unlike most halo orbits, an NRHO is marginally stable, requiring the use of small amounts of propellants to maintain.

CAPSTONE will explore such an energy-efficient orbit for six months allowing scientists to assess its characteristics and requirements like power and propulsion that are needed to maintain it. That means the test orbit of CAPSTONE should point to the ideal staging area for future missions to the moon. The cubesat has important objectives beyond exploring an NRHO, however.

Another of the key tasks of CAPSTONE will be the testing of spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation systems. Managing this is a second payload comprised of a flight computer and radio calculating CAPSTONE's position in its orbital path.

The cubesat will use NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as a reference point, communicating back and forth with its predecessor, which launched in 2009.

This peer-to-peer communication with the LRO will help test CAPSTONE's navigation systemthe Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS)which could enable future spacecraft to track their location without the need to communicate with Earth.

The aim of testing both an NRHO and these navigation/communication systems is to establish stability for forthcoming lunar missions such as the lunar Gateway and other, smaller, less costly lunar projects.

The staging mission Gateway will be a critical piece of the Artemis puzzle, an outpost orbiting the moon providing vital support for a long-term human mission and our return to the lunar surface.

Ultimately, this is hoped to lead to longer sustained space missions, establishing outposts on the lunar surface, and finally taking the leap of sending a crewed mission to Mars.

Related: How long does it take to get to Mars?

In short, the continuation of Artemis is next, with missions increasingly in complexity over the coming years. CAPSTONE acts as an important step in the ongoing program which began in 2017 and will ultimately see humanity return to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The four main stages of this future moon exploration program are the Orion spacecraft, the aforementioned Gateway station, the Moon Landing Module, and the Space Launch System (SLS).

Related: How NASA's Artemis moon landing with astronauts works

The SLSwhich will be the most powerful rocket ever launched by humanitycurrently waits at the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center to send the Artemis I into space. The aim will be to test both the SLS and the Orion modulewhich will be uncrewed on its first journey.

Following the launchcurrently set for 2022Orion will journey to 62 miles (100 km) above the lunar surface and then will travel around 40,000 miles (65,000 km) beyond the moon, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean around 20 to 25 days after launch.

Following this, in 2024 the Gateway space station is planned to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. A vital part of NASA's deep space exploration plans delivering supplies and vehicles to the lunar surface, its orbit around the moon will take advantage of findings delivered by CAPSTONE.

By 2025 or 2026, the Artemis mission is planned to lead to the first woman and person of color setting foot on the lunar surface.

Beyond this, NASA plans to use the moon and Gateway as a leap pad for a crewed mission to Mars with CAPSTONE functioning as an important data-gathering step in that adventure.

Before the SLS the most powerful rocket devised by humanity was the Saturn V. And just like the SLS will do for Artemis, one of the key missions for Saturn V was delivering astronauts to the moon as part of the Apollo missions. Read more about this mighty rocket in our guide. Explore the Electron rocket that will carry the CAPSTONE mission in more detail with the ESA Earth Observation Portal (opens in new tab). Read more about the Gateway project that will follow CAPSTONE, in this NASA overview (opens in new tab) of the mission.

What is CAPSTONE? NASA, [Accessed 05/29/22], [https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/capstone (opens in new tab)]

NEXT MISSION: CAPSTONE, RocketLab, [Accessed 05/29/22], [https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/completed-missions/capstone/ (opens in new tab)]

Davis. D. C., Zimovan-Spreen. E. M., Power. R. J., Howell. K. C., 'Cubesat Deployment from a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit,' NASA, [2021], [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20210024146 (opens in new tab)]

Artemis, NASA, [Accessed 05/29/22], [https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/ (opens in new tab)]

We Are Going to the Moon, Advanced Space, [Accessed 05/29/22], https://advancedspace.com/missions/capstone/ (opens in new tab)

Howell. E., 'NASA's CAPSTONE cubesat launch to the moon delayed to May 31,' Space.com, [NASA's CAPSTONE cubesat launch to the moon delayed to May 31]

David. L., 'Little CAPSTONE cubesat ready to launch on big moon mission next month,' Space.com, [https://www.space.com/capstone-cubesat-moon-mission-launch-may]

Read more from the original source:

CAPSTONE: A pathfinding moon cubesat for the Artemis program - Space.com

Humanity has been preoccupied with the night sky and our place in the cosmos since the dawn of our species. The vastness of space transcends the arbitrary borderlines we draw here on Earth, offering a never-ending frontier.

As our capacity to travel across the Solar System continues to improve, policy needs to reflect that lack of boundaries thats why NASA came together with hundreds of space experts from 14 agencies in 2006 to envisage humanitys future presence in space. Ultimately, they wanted to establish a framework for cooperation and development that would put humans back on the Moon.

The end result was a document published 15 years ago in May 2007, that has changed how we think about humankinds presence in space: The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination.

Scott Pace served as the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council and was Associate Administrator at NASA for Program Analysis and Evaluation at the time when The Global Exploration Strategy (GES) was dreamed into existence. He explains to Inverse that the GES is rooted in a problem he came up against himself when he talked with a senior Canadian Space Agency official about the U.S. and Canadas diverging Moon programs during the Bush era. Neither could really discuss missions that might benefit the whole of humanity.

Shortly after Paces encounter, Michael Griffin, then Administrator at NASA, officially organized the GES meetings to coalesce support around the agencys lunar ambitions. At the time, NASA planned to send humans back to the Moon by 2020.

Initially, [the GES] was meant to be very informal and had no authority to do anything, but was simply to exchange ideas and information about where different parties might be going, says Pace.

We made it pretty inclusive, he adds ultimately, more than 1,000 people from 14 different space agencies would work together on the GES. The agencies involved were the European Space Agency, as well as the space agencies of the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Russia, Japan, India, Ukraine, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Reflecting the international spirit, the documents introduction states:

Space exploration enriches and strengthens humanitys future. Searching for answers to fundamental questions such as: Where did we come from? What is our place in the universe? and What is our destiny? can bring nations together in a common cause, reveal new knowledge, inspire young people and stimulate technical and commercial innovation on Earth. The Global Exploration Strategy is key to delivering these benefits.

The GES is not legally binding, rather, it recommends a framework so that nations can collaborate to strengthen both individual projects and the collective effort to explore space. Paradoxically, it is the non-binding nature of the GES that gives it its power.

Its a way to explore whats possible. It doesnt try to drive or affect geopolitical realities. It just kind of deals with them, Pace says.

NASA plans to build a Lunar Gateway to enable more exploration of the Moons surface.NASA/Alberto Bertolin

The GES document states that it is a new opportunity for collaboration in space specifically, to enable humans to live and work on the Moon before anywhere else in the cosmos. Today, it lives on in NASAs Moon to Mars missions.

It elaborates a vision for globally coordinated space exploration focussed on solar system destinations where humans will someday live and work, the document introduction reads.

The GES document details 5 key reasons to expand humanity into space:

The first big move the GES recommends is to establish Earths natural satellite, the Moon, as a base that serves as a jumping-off point to more easily access and study the rest of the universe. The technology developed to begin exploring and utilizing the Moons resources could then also be harnessed to help send humanity into the outer reaches of space.

The GES also looks toward humans on Mars, stating:

Mars is far from hospitable for humans. The vacuum of space also poses danger to humans; no pressure lowers the boiling point of liquids, if exposed, space would freeze our flesh yet our blood would boil. Radiation also affects human bodies in ways we are only starting to grasp on Earth.

Humankind is simply not equipped to exist in space thats why we need better technology to get us there safely, the GES proposes, and a base where we can safely live and explore the cosmos: The Moon.

NASA is going back to the Moon with the Artemis program, which will enable humans to explore the Moons surface for the first time in decades its aiming to send a crew within the 2020s. Russia and China are also developing a lunar space station with explicit aims to start exploiting the Moons resources.

At the same time, space agencies and private companies like SpaceX have their eyes on Mars. Elon Musks space company is designing Starship specifically to reach the Red Planet as early as 2030, according to the companys Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell.

Mars is already home to a number of robot rovers and landers. In the absence of humans, these automatons are the next best thing. Mars InSight Lander, for example, has enabled scientists to understand the planets interior and geophysical dynamics in a way a satellite never could manage, even discovering Marsquakes.

Despite how well robots work in space, if humans are to eventually exist throughout the Solar System, we will need spacecraft like SpaceXs Starship to do it. The Starship is designed to carry 100 tons of cargo into orbit, and it will function as a reusable spaceship to transport humans and everything they need to survive in space from the Earth to the Moon and, one day, to Mars.

On May 5, 2022, a prototype of the Starship successfully passed a high-altitude flight test its an achievement for SpaceX, but it is also a recent vindication of the GESsm drive to put humans back on the Moon.

An illustration of a suited Artemis astronaut looking out of a Moon lander hatch across the lunar surface.NASA

Today, the worlds space agencies still tend to work together to further human exploration of space. The GES also triggered agencies across the world to join forces to participate in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group. The group, like the GES, sees the Moon as the gateway to further exploration in space.

The last ISECG meeting, held in November December 2021, involved representatives from 24 space agencies coming together to discuss their shared goals to reach the Moon and eventually Mars. The ISECG has 27 members based across the globe committed to sharing their data and their visions with each others nations. In and of itself, that spirit of collaboration is a legacy of the GES.

It hasnt always been rosy: During the Obama administration, the U.S. set out its ambitious plans to send humans to an asteroid and Mars. Pace recalls how, at a 2014 International Space Exploration Forum to discuss space policy, the U.S.s lofty goals seemed to stall the talks. Some space agency representatives at the forum felt they had nothing to contribute to such an ambitious project, he recalls. A few even wondered if the U.S. was sincere about its desire to collaborate on the GES and ISECGs primary objectives to send humans back to the Moon.

But at a later forum in 2018, Pace says the mood difference between it and the 2014 meeting was like day and night.

Everybody was asking: How do we work with you? Do you need something? When can we visit? We have a thought here, we have a thought there, Pace recalls for Inverse. The energy was just remarkably different.

To see that in action, consider how much time and effort NASA is pouring into publicizing the Artemis Moon missions.

This is what became the Artemis program, he says.

Artemis began when we basically rejoined the international consensus that we had originally built, abandoned, and then came back to.

Originally posted here:

15 years ago, 1,000 space experts sketched out humanity's future on the Moon - Inverse

China has proposed a special space exploration that will focus on finding a habitable exoplanet. The mission will involve releasing a spacecraft responsible for scanning the wobbling stars.

The Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey or CHES will rely on the micro-arcsecond relative astrometry, which is centered on delivering ultraprecise measurements for the movement of the stars.

Space agencies all over the world are now set to hunt a potential foreign planet that could house the living species. According toSpace.com, China is the latest nation to plan to launch an exoplanet mission anew.

The astronomers will use CHES to detect various exoplanets in space. They would also determine the distance of these planetary bodies from the orbiting stars.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) are using a similar technique that China is doing right now.

To be specific, ESA utilizes the Gaia space telescope, which is capable of building a 3D mapping of the stars existing across the Milky Way.

Meanwhile, NASA relies on the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, better known as the transit method. This is quite different compared because it focuses on detecting the star's luminosity.

The closest method to CHES is the Gaia. China wants to target hunting down exoplanets around the stars. It should be noted that the Earth-like planets could be 33 light-years away from the Earth.

"The hunt for habitable worlds about nearby sun-like stars will be a great breakthrough for humanity, and will also help humans visit those Earth twins and expand our living space in the future," CHES principal investigator Ji Jianghui said in an interview with Space.com.

Related Article:Wenchang Spaceport Gears Up to Send China's Second Space Station Module Into Orbit

At the moment, astronomers have already uncovered more than 5,000 foreign planets in existence. Out of those numbers, only 50 of them are considered to be suited for living.

Space.com added in the same report that CHES would start its mission approximately 930,000 miles away from the planet. This exact point is where the James Webb Space Telescope is currently situated.

According to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency associate professor Elizabeth Tasker, the measure of the masses of the exoplanets orbiting the F and G stars will be an important addition to their data. This would also pave the way to find the habitable worlds out there.

Speaking of this mission, another China-led proposal appears to be competing with CHES. It should be noted that the Earth 2.0 mission will be implemented to monitor millions of stars. This idea will contribute to the exoplanet-seeking mission.

In another report fromPhys.org,experts are preparing to train the high-precision spectrographs of the James Webb Telescope on its upcoming trip to the rocky exoplanets.

Read Also:NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Set to Release First Science-Quality Images of the Universe on July 12!

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China to Propose Space Mission Focused on Hunting Exoplanets Capable of Hosting Life - Tech Times

In a milestone, the Los Angeles home of the retired space shuttle Endeavour broke ground Wednesday on a permanent museum, which ultimately envisions the spacecraft displayed as if ready for launch.

Of the three surviving space shuttles, Endeavour will be the only one displayed with its nose pointing to the stars, and will be fully attached to the last remaining authentic orange external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters.

Once complete, the exhibit will be whats believed to be the tallest vertical authentic spacecraft display in the world. Building construction of the California Science Centers Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will probably take three years, but it will take longer for the interior to be completed. An opening date has not been announced.

The process will be complex. Roughly halfway through the buildings construction, the shuttle will be moved into the structure, and the rest of the building will then be finished.

Astronauts have cheered the Science Center for designing the exhibit so that people will be able to see the last space shuttle ever built in a way relatively few have seen it before.

Its gonna be pretty impressive, Greg Chamitoff, a former astronaut who flew aboard Endeavour twice, including on its last flight, said in an interview. When you see the shuttle on the launchpad, and youre standing below it its just a spectacular perspective.

A rendering of the exhibit, which is expected to be the tallest vertical authentic spacecraft display in the world.

(ZGF via the California Science Center)

Most people who witnessed shuttle launches did so from a vantage point miles away, California Science Center President Jeffrey Rudolph said, rather than up close.

Thats the view were gonna give people like, theyre right at the base of the launchpad looking up at this shuttle stack. And its almost overwhelming how huge it is, Rudolph said. And that, I think, will inspire so many people. There are a few experiences like that around the world where you see something of that scale, thats real, and thats been so significant to our exploration of the universe.

The overall exhibit will be far more dramatic than the current temporary exhibit, where Endeavour is displayed horizontally, as if it has just landed. Although the reusable shuttle is already 122 feet long (around the same length as a Boeing 737) the external fuel tank is even longer at 153.8 feet long, taller than a 15-story building.

With the addition of the twin solid rocket boosters and the fuel tank, the overall look when added to the shuttle itself will appear more than double that size. And then itll be disappearing from you, up into the size of a building. Its going to be pretty impressive, Chamitoff said.

Chamitoff said he thought the exhibit would be more dramatic than, for example, exhibits showing the Saturn V rocket that launched astronauts on the Apollo program to the moon, which are mostly just fuel tanks, with only a tiny proportion of the spacecraft returning to Earth. There are three remaining authentic Saturn V rockets on display, and all are displayed horizontally.

Whatever capsules are flying today, whether its Russian or SpaceX, you can fit three of them inside the shuttle cargo bay, Chamitoff said. By contrast, with the space shuttle, so much of the vehicle makes it into space, and then back down to the Earth.

It was an amazing thing that we were flying. And its really sad that were not able to keep flying something like that, Chamitoff said.

Part of the reason no other museum has displayed a space shuttle or Saturn V rocket vertically is the enormous cost and technical difficulty in doing so.

To house Endeavour as if its preparing for launch, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will rise 20 stories. Designing the building was a challenge: A typical building of that size has floors, walls and columns. But displaying an entire space shuttle requires a structure with an open interior, Rudolph said.

We didnt think about doing it the easiest way to display this, Rudolph said. We thought about what would be the best way to display it, would have the most impact on everybody who sees it, but particularly young people, and create that spark that makes them dream and think that someday they want to be on a spacecraft like this, or participate in building one.

To house Endeavour as if its preparing for launch, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will rise 20 stories.

(ZGF via the California Science Center)

Once a lower portion of the building is completed which will take about a year and a half the shuttle will be installed in a process that will probably take three to four months, Rudolph said. The assembly will begin with the solid rocket boosters, then the external fuel tank, then the shuttle, completing whats known as a full space shuttle stack.

Itll be the first time a shuttle designed for space has been assembled vertically outside of Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Rudolph said. (The test orbiter Enterprise, which never flew in space, was assembled once in a vertical full stack at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and one other time at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County.)

Once the building housing Endeavour is completed, additional aircraft and spacecraft will be moved in, and museum officials are still working out how long that will take. There will be three multilevel galleries in the aerospace wing one each for air, space and the shuttle thatll cover four floors.

Among the new exhibits will be the forward 50 feet of a Boeing 747 which includes the distinctive hump that is being given to the Science Center from Korean Air.

The shuttle project, estimated to cost $400 million, will reshape the skyline of the community just south of downtown Los Angeles thats home to the California Science Center, a state-run museum with free admission whose roots stem from 110 years ago, as a site exhibiting agricultural and industrial projects. The site became the California Museum of Science and Industry in 1951, and reopened as the California Science Center in 1998.

A platform will offer an elevated, close-up look at Endeavour, its boosters and its fuel tank.

(ZGF via the California Science Center)

Thus far, donors have committed $280 million to build and sustain the new museum wing; the remaining $120 million will be raised over the next several years, the museum said.

The new aerospace museum wing is named for Samuel Oschin, the late Los Angeles businessman and philanthropist, whose name is also on the Griffith Observatory planetarium and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center cancer institute. Financial contributions that came from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation have been transformational to getting the new museum built, museum officials said.

The wife of Samuel Oschin, Lynda, had the honor of officially commencing the ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday, lifting a traffic sign with the word Go! and then saying: Lets start drilling. Two former astronauts joined Chamitoff for the ceremony: Barbara Morgan, who became the first teacher in space, flying aboard Endeavour in 2007; and Garrett Reisman, who has flown on all three surviving shuttles.

Also at Wednesdays groundbreaking was fifth-grader Ken Sanchez, 11, one of 20 students from the neighboring Dr. Theodore T. Alexander Jr. Science Center School who provided scientific and space-based presentations. He said he has dreamed of becoming an astronaut his whole life, and eagerly showed Morgan how, wearing space gloves, he could handle liquid nitrogen that was minus-321 degrees.

He dunked usually bouncy tennis balls into the cryogenic fluid, and then pulled them out, each appearing like an orb as sturdy as a brick. Sometimes youre in class and talking about things in science that seem so far away, Sanchez said. Then you have an astronaut and youre using space gloves and its all cool.

Morgan, 70, a former elementary school teacher from Fresno, was just as impressed with Sanchez.

It was so much fun to see them take ownership of their learning and their enthusiasm for science, Morgan said. The old-timers like me are on the way out, but our hope is to inspire the next generation.

Reisman said that growing up, he didnt know what he wanted to be, but that changed with a visit to the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum.

A visit to a place like this can change minds, as it did for me, Reisman said.

Endeavour has been in a temporary display building at the California Science Center for the last decade. In 2012, Endeavour made its final cross-country journey, captivating millions of Californians as it flew atop a Boeing 747, flying past the Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood sign, before eventually undergoing a three-day, 12-mile trek over the 405 Freeway and across the streets of Los Angeles and Inglewood to its new home.

The 15-story orange external fuel tank arrived in 2016, on a journey by sea through the Panama Canal and into Marina del Rey, before also lumbering through the streets to the Science Center. The solid rocket boosters have not yet arrived at the Science Center, and are being stored at another location.

The space shuttles arrival in California was a homecoming for Endeavour, which rolled off Rockwell Internationals production line in Palmdale in 1991, replacing Challenger, which exploded after launch in 1986, killing the seven aboard. Southern California played a crucial role in the shuttles development, which pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy and became a source of pride for the regions aerospace industry.

The exhibit will be the first time a shuttle designed for flight in space has been displayed vertically outside Kennedy Space Center in Florida. An opening date has not been set.

(ZGF via California Science Center)

The idea of bringing a space shuttle to the Science Center has been on the drawing board for a generation. Ken Phillips, the aerospace curator of the California Science Center, in 1991 made a proposal to acquire a space shuttle at some point when theyd be retired, and in 1992, Rudolph had blueprints showing a retired orbiter perched upright.

The space shuttle program was launched following the Apollo-era mission to land on the moon. In developing a reusable spacecraft with a huge cargo bay, the space shuttles were instrumental in constructing the International Space Station, which began a decades-long stretch of human presence in space so far uninterrupted since its first long-term residents arrived in 2000.

Hopefully, Chamitoff said, from that point on, humans will always be living in space, and not only be limited to planet Earth.

The shuttle program was set for retirement after another shuttle, Columbia, disintegrated on reentry in 2003, and NASA reprioritized missions to complete construction of the International Space Station. Endeavours final landing from space was exactly 11 years ago Wednesday, commanded by astronaut Mark Kelly, now a U.S. senator from Arizona; only one more shuttle flight flew afterward, Atlantis, which concluded the 30-year space shuttle mission.

NASA has since developed the Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon later this decade, which would be a stepping-stone to missions farther away, including Mars. Goals would be to build a spaceship in lunar orbit called Gateway, where astronauts would be able to conduct research and take trips to the moons surface; and to build Artemis Base Camp on the moons surface for astronauts to live and work.

Whats coming is just incredible, Chamitoff said. Its very exciting going back to the moon, building permanent facilities and starting to learn what its like to live and thrive on another planetary body.

Chamitoff said he hoped the Endeavour exhibit will be inspirational to schoolchildren. The Canada-born astronaut spent a number of years of his youth in California, graduating from a high school in San Jose in 1980 and earning an electrical engineering degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and an aeronautical engineering degree at Caltech, before earning a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.

So whats the advice hed give to schoolchildren wanting to become an astronaut someday?

Follow your passions... The thing that is easiest to do is to work hard on the things that you love, Chamitoff said. Theres so many different fields that contribute to space exploration, whether its engineering or any kind of science; it could be medicine.

The main thing is to just, you know, when you decide to do something, do it to the best of your ability. Thats whats gonna get you there, Chamitoff said.

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Space shuttle Endeavour will get its own museum in L.A. - Los Angeles Times

When Vicky Lea started as director of aerospace and aviation for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (EDC) more than a decade ago, she was tasked with growing the citysand, by extension, the statesaerospace economy. It seemed like an easy enough gig. After all, the state was already home to major space defense installations, massive corporations competing for NASA contracts, and universities with storied histories of extraterrestrial research. The Space Foundation in Colorado Springs had even been hosting the annual Space Symposium, one of the largest gatherings of industry professionals in the world, since 1984. But when she headed to that event to promote the state as a significant aerospace center, the most common reaction she got from attendees from outside of Colorado was puzzlement. The recognition just wasnt there, she says. Fast-forward to the most recent symposium, and things have changed dramatically. Lea says the new message from conferencegoers is this: We are considering relocating our business, and weve been told that Colorado is where we should be looking.

That shift isnt only due to Leas tireless recruitment efforts. The industry is undergoing rapid and profound change globally, and Colorado is reaping the benefits. Aerospace has very much moved out of the era of the military and NASA, says Jeffrey Forrest, chair of Metropolitan State University of Denvers aviation and aerospace science department. Instead, the industry is rocketing into whats been dubbed NewSpace, where travel beyond Earths atmosphere is driven by private companies rather than giant Apollo-style government initiatives. Hundreds of firms, large and small, are racing to carve out an economic niche, ranging from relatively mundane endeavors such as communications infrastructure to science-fiction-worthy orbiting film studios.

The pace is reminiscent of the 1800s gold rush, experts say, and much as it was during that frenzy, Colorado is in a special position to take advantage of the predicted boom times. The state has a unique aerospace ecosystem that dates back to the late 1940sa decade before NASA was foundedwhen University of Colorado Boulder physicists slapped scientific equipment atop captured German rockets from World War II to research Earths upper atmosphere. Shortly after that, the military began establishing a strong presence in the state in part because early Soviet missiles couldnt reach the continental interior, and aerospace companies set up shop here to take advantage of both the talent being produced by nearby universities and the militarys colossal defense budgets. You have to look in amazement at how many like-minded people gravitated together, says Dan Baker, the director of CU Boulders renowned Laboratory for Atmosphere and Space Physics (LASP). You got on a positive feedback loop, and things built to an extremely strong level.

Today, there are 300 aerospace companies in the state employing some 34,750 people, according to the Metro Denver EDC. And those numbers are only growing: Lockheed Martin Space, a Colorado-based division of the giant defense contractor, had more than a thousand open positions in the state in April. All of that together means Colorado is second only to California for the size of its commercial aerospace industry and first on a per capita basis.

Yet most Coloradans outside the industry have little idea of its scope or impact. Some call this the Space Paradox. Space is more important to our daily lives than ever, says Joe Rice, director of government affairs for Lockheed Martin Space, but we tend to realize it less. Space exploration has become so commonplace, he says, that its lost the grandeur of the Apollo era. But theres a new space race happening right now, and from Earth to orbit to the moon, Mars, and beyond, Colorado has a head start.

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There's a New Commercial Space Race Happening, and Colorado Wants to Win It - 5280 - 5280 | The Denver Magazine

Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin recently said that Moscow and Beijing were very close to signing the agreement on creating the joint Lunar Station.

We are now almost ready to sign an intergovernmental agreement on creating a lunar research base with China, Rogozin said in an interview with the state-owned Rossiya 24 TV channel.

As EurAsian Times has reported earlier, China and Russia are leading the opposition to the US-led space block, called the Artemis Accords, consisting of 19 countries, which aims to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2025 and establish a governing framework for exploring and mining for natural resources, on Moon, Mars, and beyond.

The mission intends to build a research station on the Moons south pole with a supporting research station orbiting the Moon, called the Lunar Gateway.

As part of that program, an uncrewed mission to Moon, Artemis 1, is planned to be launched as early as July 2022.

China and Russia are promoting their own International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) as an alternative to the US-led Artemis program.

This joint Sino-Russian mission aims to build a Moon base and install a space station in the lunar orbit. The station is planned to be a state-of-art experimental research facility created on the surface or in the orbit of the Moon.

Last June, Roscosmos and China National Space Administration (CNSA) presented a roadmap for the ILRS during the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2021).

According to the roadmap, divided into three phases, five facilities and nine modules are planned for the station to support long and short missions to the Moons surface and orbit. The construction of the station is expected to be completed by 2035.

These facilities include a CisLunar Transport Facility to support round-trip transfer between Earth and the Moon, lunar orbiting, soft landing, a take-off on the lunar surface, and re-entry to Earth.

On the surface, a long-term support facility will feature a command center, energy and supply modules, and thermal management. The lunar transport and operation facility will help modules move the surface and support excavation or sampling.

The other two are the lunar scientific facility for in-orbit and surface experiments and the ground support and application facility.

As for the modules, the designs reportedly include a hopping robot and smart mini-rovers that would move around the Moons surface.

The station is planned to be built in three phases, with the first phase involving six missions, including Chinas Change-4, 6, and 7 missions and Russias Luna 25, 26, and 27. The first phase involves gathering data and verifying high-precision soft-landings which is supposed to last till 2025.

The Change-4 (CE-4) mission delivered a landing platform and a rover named Yutu-2 to the Moons far side in January 2019, marking the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon by any country.

Yutu-2 landed in Von Krmn crater, in the Moons South Pole-Aitken basin, in January 2019. The CE-4s purpose is to explore the areas geology. The CE-6 and CE-7 are expected to be launched around 2025.

The CE-6 is supposed to bring back to Earth lunar samples with a mass of up to 2 kilograms, and CE-7 will be tasked with landing on the lunar South Pole and detecting local natural resources.

CE-7 is comprised of five separate spacecraft, namely an orbiter, lander, rover, hopping probe, and a polar relay satellite.

Meanwhile, Russia also plans to launch its Luna-25 mission in August 2022, thereby reactivating the Soviet-era series of robotic lunar missions that ended decades ago. The last in the series was Luna 24, which sent about 6 ounces (170 grams) of moon material back to Earth in 1976.

The Luna-25 moon probe will launch atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage from the Vostochny spaceport in the far eastern region of Amur. The probes primary destination for landing is the Moons South Polar region, specifically, a spot north of the Boguslavsky Crater.

According to Russias rocket design bureau, NPO Lavochkin has constructed the Luna 25s lander. There are three main tasks for this mission: to develop soft-landing technology; study the internal structure and exploration of natural resources, including water, in the circumpolar region of the Moon; and investigate the effects of cosmic rays and electromagnetic radiation on the Moons surface.

In addition, Luna 25 is also supposed to use a suite of sensors onboard to study the lunar topside and dust particles in the Moons exosphere.

Luna 25 also had a camera called Pilot-D, a demonstrator terrain relative navigation system, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). However, following Russias invasion of Ukraine, ESA announced its decision in April to discontinue cooperation on Russias Luna series of robotic moon missions. Now Pilot-D will not be a part of the Luna 25 mission.

While the Luna 26 and Luna 27, which were earlier scheduled to launch in 2024 and 2025, respectively, will also be postponed, announced chief of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, shortly after ESA discontinued its cooperation.

Following the completion of the first phase in 2025, which may get delayed considering the possible postponement of Luna 26 and Luna 27, phase two called the construction phase, will begin in 2026, and this is supposed to go on till 2035.

The construction phase will be divided into two sub-stages, the initial one from 2026 to 2030, which will involve technology verification, sample return, massive cargo delivery, and the start of joint operations. Two missions are planned during this period, the Chinese CE-8 and the Russian Luna-28.

Stage two of the second phase will take place from 2030 to 2035 and involve completing the in-orbit and lunar surface infrastructure for energy, communication, actual resource utilization, and other technologies.

Five joint missions are planned for this sub-stage, named ILRS-1 through 5 and Russian super heavy-lift launch vehicles are listed to launch the mission.

Phase three will see the start of crewed landings after 2036, when the ILRS has been mostly completed and humans can conduct research and exploration.

Meanwhile, China and Russia are looking to add more nations to ILRS and there have been reports of negotiations with the ESA, Thailand, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. However, as the ESA has backed out of Russias Luna series of moon missions over the Ukraine war, the project will probably be much less appealing to other nations.

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Lunar Research Station: Russia, China Almost Ready To Ink Pact On Moon Base That Will Rival Artemis Accords Rogozin - EurAsian Times

Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand and Vice President Kamala Harris met at the White House and jointlyreaffirmed the strong anddeeprelationshipbetween the United States and New Zealand, based on shared values, people-to-people ties, and cooperation across a wide range of bilateral, regional, and global challenges.

The Prime Minister and the Vice President welcomed the completion ofnegotiations onthe bilateral Space Framework Agreement, which will be the foundation of our already robust civil space cooperation in the years ahead. The Framework will underpin the two nations cooperation including in: space science, earth science, sustainability, education, and technology. The Prime Minister and the Vice President reviewed the growingspace partnership between the United States and New Zealand,including in supporting space exploration and taking action on climate change. They looked forward to future exchanges between the two countries.

The Prime Minister and the Vice President agreed on the importance of establishing and upholding international rules and norms to promote the peaceful, sustainable, and responsible use of outer space. They agreed that our two nations will work together to uphold and strengthen a rules-based international order for space and that we will work constructively with commercial industry, allies, and partners, and through multilateral fora to support the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space activities.

The Prime Minister and the Vice President discussedmutual efforts to combat violentextremismand radicalisation. They condemned recent mass shootings in the United States, including in Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and Uvalde, and agreed that we all must stand up against hate and violence.

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Joint Readout of Meeting Between Prime Minister Ardern and Vice President Harris - The White House

If you wouldve told me in 1972 that we wouldnt be back to the moon for 50 years, says Jack Burns, a professor of astrophysics at CU Boulder, I would have said you are full of you-know-what. Burns has a special interest in moon landings beyond being a child of the Apollo age. Hes director of the Network for Exploration and Space Science, a multiuniversity organization dedicated to developing advanced science on the moon.

Burns also served on former President Donald Trumps NASA transition team, which laid the groundwork for Artemis, the NASA mission that aims to not only return astronauts to Earths only natural satellite but also eventually establish long-term habitation there. Ive been working on this for 38 years, he says. This is the third iteration of us going back to the moon, but it looks like this one is actually going to stick. In fact, NASA hopes for boots on the groundincluding the first woman and first person of colorstarting in 2025.

What took so long? Its not just delays and red tape, although theres been plenty of both. We simply didnt have the means until recently, Burns says. Apollo-era technology barely let us poke our heads around, and its only in the past few years, thanks in large part to the NewSpace economy, that weve developed the capability to live and work on the moon, which gives us more reason to return than simply taking a few small steps.

NASA isnt the only agency planning to shop for prime lunar real estate. The Chinese government says it could land its own astronauts by 2030. Plus, plenty of private companies have their sights set on unmanned operations ranging from mining water to testing communications networks.

This renewed excitement could jump-start what industry insiders call the cislunar economy. Its beyond just visiting for visitings sake. Its looking at how you can leverage resources, says Vicky Lea, director of aerospace and aviation for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (EDC). It combines space exploration with commercial opportunity. More than 180 Colorado companies have a hand in Artemis, and while its practically impossible to know how many are working on private commercial missions, a few locals are playing key roles in our return to the moon.

Project: Orion spacecraft

Lockheed Martin Space designed the crew capsule for Orion, Americas new ride to the moon, which is 30 percent bigger than Apollo, fits four, features a unisex toilet and a radiation shelter, and could even include a specialized version of Amazons Alexa for voice-accessible flight data.

Project: Gateway

Orion wont land directly on the surface. Instead, it will dock in lunar orbit with Gateway, an outpost that will serve as a communication hub and staging area for surface exploration. Westminster-based Maxar is building a unique propulsion unit for the station that uses electricity to accelerate jets of ionized atoms as opposed to traditional chemical propellants.

Project: Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE)

Gateway will circle just 1,000 miles above the moons south pole before swinging more than 40,000 miles above the north pole and back again. The unique vertical orbit will provide unobstructed views ofand communications withEarth and should require minimal energy to maintain. But to make sure, NASA contracted with Westminsters Advanced Space, an astrodynamics firm specializing in designing orbits, to test it with this microwave-oven-size satellite.

Project: Moon buggy 2.0

Eventually, NASA plans to establish a basecamp near the moons south pole, and once it does, its going to need some wheels. To that end, it put out a call for candidates last year, spurring Lockheed to pair up with General Motors to compete against other teams, including partners Northrop Grumman and Lunar Outpost, a space robotics startup in Golden. The requirements? An electric moon buggy capable of carrying 1,764 pounds of payload 12 miles on a single charge across the moons pockmarked polar region. Oh, and it has to be drivable by remote control, too.

Lunar Outposts The Price Is Right bid for a NASA contract will establish how we buy and sell resources in space.

In December 2020, Golden-based Lunar Outpost made national headlines for what seemed like a really, really bad business deal. NASA announced it had signed four commercial contracts to collect moon dust from the lunar surface, but where the other three agreements were for between $5,000 and $15,000already paltry amountsLunar Outpost bid a single dollar. That was probably the smartest marketing move weve ever done, because the story got picked up all over, says co-founder and COO Julian Cyrus. The dollar isnt really anything, but it is establishing the legal and procedural framework for purchasing space resources. Which was NASAs plan all along.

Still, it currently costs more than $1 million per kilogram (thats 2.2 pounds for us Americans) to land on the moon, so Lunar Outpost paired the resource-collection mission with another it already had in the worksone that pays a lot better. Its Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), a rover the size of a small dog, could touch down near the moons south pole as early as this winter to help test a 4G/LTE communications network. And because its a private mission instead of a public one, Lunar Outpost can make money on the side by selling any valuable data it collects to third partiesespecially companies interested in following in MAPPs wheel prints and collecting lunar resources. That will be an essential step for future exploration, Cyrus says. Throughout human history, if you want to explore a new area, you dont bring everything with you, he says. You have to live off the land, and its going to be the same in space.

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Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon - 5280 - 5280 | The Denver Magazine

Elon Musk, who is often in the news for his tweets and bold business moves, has again made headlines. This time for something the Tesla CEO said nearly a decade ago.

On Tuesday, a Twitter user who goes by the handle @steinkobbe shared a tweet that linked to an interview that Elon Musk gave in December 2011. In the interview, the Tesla CEO had claimed that SpaceX, his spacecraft engineering company, will be able to send humans to Mars in 10 years.

The video interview was taken by journalist Alan Murray for theWall Street Journal. While talking about SpaceX, Murray asked Musk, When are you going to put your first man or woman on other planets?. To this Musk said, We are going all the way to Mars. Best case in 10 years, worse case 10 to 15 years.

Almost a decade later, this interview is going viral. Commenting on the video, a YouTube user wrote, 10 years have passed, hows that going Elon?.

Talking about Musks ambitious time estimate, a Twitter user wrote, I guess thats just billionaires version of engineers this feature will take me 3-4 days to implement.

On social media, many people criticised Musk and other billionaires like Jeff Bezos for spending millions of dollars on space exploration projects when that money can be used to solve real-world problems. However, some defended Musk and appreciated the groundbreaking results that SpaceX has achieved in recent years.

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Elon Musk talked about putting humans on Mars in 2011, netizens ask for an update - The Indian Express

Pick of the weekMs MarvelPower of dreams Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

In this charming new series, Kamala Khan (the excellent Iman Vellani) is a Marvel stan in love with Captain Marvel and the Avengers. What would be her dream? Acquiring superpowers of her own. But be careful what you wish for ... Kamala finds her grandmothers old bangles, which enable her to manipulate cosmic energy. Her problems are just beginning: she has to negotiate high school as a Muslim American and, of course, use her powers wisely. Its as much a show about the pleasures and pitfalls of fantasy and fandom as it is about superheroes and, as such, anyone who has ever sought refuge from reality in anything from a football team to a favourite pop star will relate. Phil HarrisonDisney+, from Wednesday 8 June

We are four uncompromised vessels for genius, says Wickie (Rene Elise Goldsberry). As Meredith Scardinos comedy returns, the titular comeback-queen girl band are in album mode. Their second lease of life continues to bear fruit but middle age threatens to spoil the party. When Gloria (Paula Pell) injures herself attempting a knee drop, she launches an extensive raid on the medicine cabinet. Cue an unusually fiery podcast appearance in which she turns into Liam Gallagher (Were the best band in the world and whoever says otherwise is jealous and senile). It overflows with zippy one-liners and comic chemistry. Peacock/Now, from Monday 6 June

Equal parts standup showcase and insight into the fevered egos of the people behind it, Katherine Ryans new show lurches between the glamour of the full house and the claustrophobia of the cramped dressing room. Or at least, this dressing room is cramped, containing at various points Sara Pascoe, Judi Love, Jimmy Carr, Jo Brand, Nish Kumar and basically everyone in modern British comedy who isnt Stewart Lee. Ryan proceeds to gently interrogates them all in her customarily friendly but snarky style. Amazon Prime Video, from Thursday 9 June

Nature is shorn of any semblance of grit and presented as a twee Instagram tableau in this new kids series. From the makers of Topsy and Tim and Teletubbies, Lovely Little Farm is precisely that a sepia-tinged homestead in which a family lives, surrounded by anthropomorphic CGI animals. Jill and Jacky are the children at the heart of the action, looking after lambs and chickens as Mum and Dad prepare for a new human arrival. Its so cutesy it becomes almost sinister. Let the nightmares about talking goats commence Apple TV+, from Friday 10 June

At any given time theres always a window for at least one steamy, vampire-themed TV melodrama. This one trades in multiple archetypes: a forbidden relationship that is biracial and same-sex, but also between a teenage vampire Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) and the daughter of a vampire hunter Calliope (Imani Lewis). Juliette whose parents are steering her towards her first kill, much as we might coax children towards GCSEs has fallen for the girl theyd earmarked as a likely victim. Basically, Romeo and Juliet with added fangs. Netflix, from Friday 10 June

Season one of this brash, warm comedy in which jaded Vegas comic Deborah Vance is forced to work with young writer Ava Daniels was a sleeper hit thanks to the witty writing and obvious chemistry between leads Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. This time, god help them, they have to go on the road. Hilarious culture clashes ensue, over everything from the meaning of comedy to the correct storage of kombucha. And, at the heart of it all, one of the funniest and most convincing odd-couple friendships in recent TV history. Amazon Prime Video, from Friday 10 June

Some say private citizens have no business in space exploration. I emphatically disagree. Two decades on from the moon landings, this counterfactual space-race drama has reached the era of entrepreneurialism. As series three begins, Edi Gathegi joins the cast as Dev Ayesa a sort of prototype Elon Musk with his sights set very high indeed. And so, a three-way race to Mars begins. Ronald D Moores (Battlestar Galactica, Helix) show was among Apples first slate of dramas even if its been slightly eclipsed by their output since then, its still solid enough fare. Apple TV+, from Friday 10 June

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Ms Marvel to Hacks: the seven best shows to stream this week - The Guardian