IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

2 Pages V   1 2 >  
Reply to this topicStart new topic
Lunar Mission Medley
MorrisJones
post Sep 16 2009, 10:40 PM
Post #1


Newbie
*

Group: Members
Posts: 5
Joined: 15-September 09
Member No.: 4941



Hi, this is Morris Jones, a long-time lurker but new poster.
I thought it would be worth exploring a few lunar missions that don't seem to be discussed much at the moment. The exact fate of some of these missions is open to question. Let's see if we can work out what's going on.
International Lunar Network: This was announced with fanfare a few years ago. Little more has been generally discussed. The whole thing seems to be going through committee meetings, with a lot of details unresolved.
LADEE: Is this still on target? There were suggestions two years ago that cost overruns in the Mars Science Laboratory could gobble funds from this and other missions. This was later dismissed. Then MSL grew more hungry, and the subject was open to discussion again.
GRAIL: Not much more talk, but apparently still actively in development.
Luna-Glob: The recent delay in Phobos-Grunt could influence its own launch timetable.
American Student Moon Orbiter: The silence is deafening.
Reports on the status of any of these missions would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Morris
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Phil Stooke
post Sep 17 2009, 01:33 AM
Post #2


Solar System Cartographer
****

Group: Members
Posts: 10122
Joined: 5-April 05
From: Canada
Member No.: 227



Check out the presentations here:

http://lunarscience2009.arc.nasa.gov/agenda

The NASA missions you mention are near the bottom.

This upcoming meeting:

Annual Meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group
November 15–19, 2009
Houston, Texas

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/leag2009/

Will be another source for updates on most of these missions. Luna-Glob obviously is a different matter but it and other upcoming missions might also be discussed there. The Student Moon Orbiter concept is not much more than that at the moment. Some suggestions are being considered...

Phil


--------------------
... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.

Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke
NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
John Moore
post Sep 17 2009, 03:04 PM
Post #3


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 156
Joined: 22-May 09
From: Ireland
Member No.: 4792



Not to mention Artemis ~ 2010 - 2012 (American) , or Lunar Explorer Orbiter ~ 2015 - 2016 (Germany)

John
---------------
Mission's Page
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Phil Stooke
post Sep 17 2009, 03:07 PM
Post #4


Solar System Cartographer
****

Group: Members
Posts: 10122
Joined: 5-April 05
From: Canada
Member No.: 227



I understood the German mission was cancelled.

Phil


--------------------
... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.

Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke
NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MorrisJones
post Sep 17 2009, 10:58 PM
Post #5


Newbie
*

Group: Members
Posts: 5
Joined: 15-September 09
Member No.: 4941



The German LEO orbiter was cancelled, but there are now proposals for a German lander. This is all tenative. Germany faces an election soon.

Artemis is based on Themis, which is a particles/fields constellation already in orbit. Themis looked at the interaction of the solar wind with Earth's exosphere. The proposal is to extend this to the lunar environment. Do we have anything firm on this mission yet?

Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Phil Stooke
post Sep 17 2009, 11:15 PM
Post #6


Solar System Cartographer
****

Group: Members
Posts: 10122
Joined: 5-April 05
From: Canada
Member No.: 227



http://themis.ssl.berkeley.edu/news.shtml


"ARTEMIS P1 and P2 are the outermost two THEMIS probes, which commenced their low-thrust lunar orbit insertion maneuvers on July 20, 2009, slated to arrive at the moon in October 2010."


So they are on their way.

Phil


--------------------
... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.

Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke
NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MorrisJones
post Sep 18 2009, 04:52 AM
Post #7


Newbie
*

Group: Members
Posts: 5
Joined: 15-September 09
Member No.: 4941



Canonical list of Upcoming Lunar Missions
By Morris Jones (September 2009)
2009 LCROSS impact (USA)
2010 ARTEMIS orbiters arrive in lunar orbit (USA)
2011 Chang'e 2 orbiter (China)
2011 GRAIL (USA)
2011? LADEE (USA)
2011? Astrobotic lander (Private) (?)
2011? Odyssey Moon lander (Private) (?)
2012 Chandrayaan 2 orbiter and lander/rover (India/Russia)
2012? Luna-Glob (Russia)
2013? Chang'e 3 lander and rover (China)
2014? MoonLITE (?)
2015? Chandrayaan 3 lander/sample return (India)
2015? International Lunar Network first nodes landed (USA)
2017 Chang'e 4 lander/sample return (China)

Additions, corrections, etc invited.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
kanarkusmaximus
post Sep 23 2009, 11:13 PM
Post #8


Newbie
*

Group: Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 25-August 08
Member No.: 4317



Hello, I am another long-time lurker but new poster. smile.gif

As far as I know the ASMO student project very likely has been canceled or frozen, but I guess that it might be difficult to get any official confirmation.

The European counterpart - SSETI (in the past) and now 'pure' ESA Education Office ESMO - was many times delayed (due to many reasons, depending who you ask smile.gif ). Now, it is scheduled to be launched in 2012. Personally, I rather think that this date will move to even more distant future.

Unfortunately, in such projects the work is very often, if not always very slow. Many students come and go - and usually those who leave do not leave their knowledge and experience behind, leaving fresh new students as replacement, who often have to start from the beginning.

Probably you might ask from where do I know such information - so let me write that for few past years I have been active in some student projects (in Europe) and from time to time, during some meetings or chats some other students from different projects informed me and others about developments in their projects. smile.gif

Regards
Chris
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
PhilHorzempa
post Dec 29 2009, 11:22 PM
Post #9


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 169
Joined: 17-March 06
Member No.: 709



Artemis Update - It seems that the P1 Artemis lunar orbiter (aka Themis P1) has successfully performed Lunar Flyby #1 a few weeks ago on December 8, 2009. This sets it up for Lunar Flyby #2 on January 31, 2010. The other Themis/Artemis lunar orbiter, P2, will require only one lunar flyby, and that will occur on March 28, 2010. Artemis has a Twitter occount for frequent updates -

http://twitter.com/ARTEMIS_NASA

In addition, here is the link to a very good summary of Themis and Artemis, including diagrams of the trajectories that P1 and P2 will take on their way to LOI for both probes in April 2011 -


http://www.igpp.ucla.edu/public/THEMIS/SCI...ch_20080221.pdf

A great mission for lunar science and trajectory analysts!

Another Phil






Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
tedstryk
post Dec 30 2009, 05:28 AM
Post #10


Interplanetary Dumpster Diver
****

Group: Admin
Posts: 4404
Joined: 17-February 04
From: Powell, TN
Member No.: 33



Here is another good source on this mission http://www.lpi.usra.edu/decadal/leag/KrishanKhuranav2.pdf


--------------------
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Paolo
post Jan 17 2010, 04:01 PM
Post #11


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 1729
Joined: 3-August 06
From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E
Member No.: 1004



Article about LADEE in this week's Aviation Week:
NASA To Apply Lessons Of Low-Cost Moon Mission
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Drkskywxlt
post Jul 7 2010, 04:55 PM
Post #12


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 293
Joined: 29-August 06
From: Columbia, MD
Member No.: 1083



Just heard a talk by Brian Morse, APL Program Manager for ILN/Robotic Lunar Lander. Basically the news is this...ILN is awaiting the decision and prioritization of the ongoing Decadal Survey. APL and MSFC are continuing technology development through the robotic lunar lander program. The recent announcement of the (still unfunded) Exploration Precursor Robotic Program could also see a lunar network or ISRU-type lander flying in the next 5 years.

The tall tent pole from a technology standpoint is getting the lander to keep operating and manage it's internal temperature during a 28 day long day/night cycle. So, the answer is some giant/heavy/expensive batteries or ASRGs. The weight of the batteries dictates larger/more expensive launch vehicles. Similarly, launching with ASRGs limits the launch vehicle to an Atlas 5 (the only nuclear-rated launch vehicle). That increases the cost of the mission. The Atlas 5 would actually have the capacity to launch 4 (!) ILN nodes at once. Falcon 9's would launch 2 of the battery powered nodes at once.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
mps
post Sep 17 2010, 09:21 AM
Post #13


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 118
Joined: 18-November 07
Member No.: 3964



European Space Agency Planning Lunar Mission
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
ilbasso
post Nov 2 2010, 04:19 PM
Post #14


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 753
Joined: 23-October 04
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Member No.: 103



ARTEMIS update - both probes are now orbiting Earth-Moon Lagrange points per this article from NASA.

There's an excellent video linked in the article which gives a very clear illustration of what an orbit of an L1 or L2 Lagrange point looks like, both from the perspective of a fixed Earth-Sun baseline and then from a viewpoint centered on the Moon.


--------------------
Jonathan Ward
Manning the LCC at http://www.apollolaunchcontrol.com
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
JohnVV
post Nov 3 2010, 09:09 AM
Post #15


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 890
Joined: 18-November 08
Member No.: 4489



nice vid but what i would like to know is why they used the old historical Lunar Orbiter map at the end
time index 2:40 to 2:47
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/Luna...wse/sr_simp.htm

PS this map has been on my mind
there was a discovery chan. show ,two days ago, on LRO( old prelaunch) that used this map from the `70's
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

2 Pages V   1 2 >
Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 19th March 2024 - 03:28 AM
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted. Do not reproduce without permission. Read here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.
SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member.