Scaled Composites makes aviation history by flying the worlds largest wingspan aircraft:
SpaceIL scores $1 million Moonshot award from X-PRIZE Foundation
Although crash landing after failure of its main engine, Beresheet still shines after an unplanned disassembly on the lunar surface https://www.xprize.org/prizes/google-lunar/articles/xprize-awards-1m-moonshot-award-to-spaceil
Update: President of SpaceIL Morris Khan announces on Twitter a second attempt to send a lander to the moon: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23IsraeltotheMoon&src=hashhttps://twitter.com/search?q=%23IsraeltotheMoon&src=hash
Update: Peter Diamandis reflects on the SpaceIL mission: https://www.diamandis.com/blog/reflections-on-spaceil-mission
Space debris removal company Astroscale secures $30 million
The Japanese company announced the new tranche of funding this week at the 35 Space Symposium
https://spacenews.com/astroscale-raises-30-million-opens-u-s-office-in-denver/
Lunar settlement design – engineering solutions for environmental challenges
Dr. Haym Benaroya summarizes some of the key concerns in a paper published in the journal Reviews in Human Space Exploration (REACH). For initial outposts and eventual permanent lunar settlements the important factors to be addressed for dwellings on the Moon include radiation mitigation, micrometeoroid protection, hazards from lunar dust toxicity and psychological well-being. The paper was published in December of 2017 and is provided by the author’s permission.
The paper provides an introduction to these concerns, but a more thorough treatment of all of the engineering challenges can be found in Dr. Benaroya’s book “Building Habitats on the Moon: Engineering Approaches to Lunar Settlements.”
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Habitats-Moon-Engineering-Settlements/dp/3319682423
Lunar Propellant Production Plan
A collaborative effort by a team of experts from industry, government, and academia has developed an economically viable model for a sustainable lunar propellant production infrastructure to support lunar settlement and cis-lunar operations. The team’s findings were published in the March issue of REACH (link below). To reduce costs and weight, the proposal replaces conventional mining equipment for excavating, hauling, and processing with lightweight heating enclosures to extract water by sublimation out of the regolith for subsequent electrolysis into hydrogen an oxygen. The study established feasibility and a path to commercialization. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352309318300099#aep-article-footnote-id1
New deep space exploration start-up First Mode exits stealth status, is profitable after only one year of operations
The fledgling company has a well connected multi-disciplinary team to solve engineering problems on Earth and in deep space. https://firstmode.com/blog/press-release-first-mode-exits-stealth-status
Pristine Apollo 17 lunar core sample to be finally analyzed after 47 years
To help inform lunar exploration plans set to begin in the next few years by robotic probes and then when humans return to the Moon in the 2020s, a long dormant core sample collected by astronauts in 1972 may reveal secrets of how the Taurus-Littrow Valley formed and the distribution of volatiles in the soil. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00963-8?bcmt=1
Latest news on NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge
The top three competitors split $100K prize for generating virtual designs with modeling software. The contest will end with a head-to-head subscale structure print May 1-4, 2019, with an award of $800K:
Moon Diver – robotic exploration of lunar lava tubes
At the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference earlier this month, a paper was presented describing a mission concept for a two-wheeled tethered robotic rover to explore lava tubes on the Moon. In addition to the scientific value of these windows into the lunar crust, lava tubes are ready-made natural structures that provide radiation protection, shielding from micrometeorites, and a shelter from the extreme temperature swings of the lunar surface. Perfect for lunar settlements!
Toyota and JAXA team up on pressurized lunar rover
The car maker has plans for leveraging their fuel cell technology to use hydrogen sourced on the Moon to power a vehicle capable of transporting two occupants in pressurized comfort:
https://www.inverse.com/article/54043-toyota-moon-rover-car-jaxa