USA 21st Century Artemis Lunar Program Accelerates via Infrastructure Contracts, Information Gathering

Artemis program, which emerged from Space Policy Directive 1, seeks to realize sustained lunar human presence and Moon South Pole exploration with additional commercial and international partnerships. The Human Landing System contracts to Blue Origin US$579M, Dynetics $253M and SpaceX $135M for Artemis mission 3 could see the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024. The US$250M Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover 2023 will be delivered through TBD Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contractors to investigate South Pole permanently shadowed craters. Of the 14 chosen CLPS providers, awarded has been Astrobotic $79.5M Peregrine lander launching July 2021, Intuitive Machines $77M Nova-C launching Oct 2021, and Masten $79.5M XL-1 for South Pole landing late 2022. Other potential bidders for future missions are Blue Origin, Ceres Robotics, Deep Space Systems, Draper Laboratory, Firefly Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Moon Express, Orbit Beyond, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX and Tyvak. International lunar gateway will be scaled down / postponed to achieve lunar landings asap. Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) RFI remains open until May 10 to generate mission ideas. Artemis 1 launching April 2021 on Orion via SLS for 25.5-day mission will host multiple payloads aboard, and deploy 13 international lunar CubeSats including Lunar Flashlight, Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper and Lunar IceCube. Four-person Artemis 2 in 2022 should be the first crewed flight to the Moon since 1972. (Image Credits: NASA, JPL, Caltech, ILOA, SPC, Canadensys, Boeing, Lockheed Martin)

MONDAY

May 4 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Lecture: Update on OSIRIS-REx Mission at Bennu Asteroid; cancelled.

United Arab Emirates Joins Spacefaring Powers In Multifaceted Exploration Strategy

UAE is widely known for terrestrial feats such as construction of tallest structure on Earth, 829.8-m Burj Khalifa, but increasing attention centers on ambitious off-world goals of United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA). Funded US$383B per Euroconsult Government Space Program expenditure report in 2019, UAESA is the only formal space agency in the region. First UAE astronaut Hazzaa Al-Mansoori completed 8-day spaceflight participant mission to ISS in Sept of 2019, and a class of 10 future Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) Astronaut candidates currently train outside Moscow at Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station, a closed biosphere habitat, as part of UAE Analog Mission #1. After 83-hour transfer, 1,500-kg Hope Mars Mission probe prepares for launch on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA at Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, racing to join USA Perseverance and PR China Huoxing-1 in achieving July launch window. Program objectives envision self-sustaining community on Mars by 2117. Landing in 2021 may coincide with 50th commemoration of Emirati independence from the United Kingdom, 1971, celebrated throughout the Federated City-States of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Umm al-Qaiwain and capital Abu Dhabi. Within popular culture, UAE space dramatization television series Majarat debuts. Dubai will be host of International Astronautical Federation annual congress in 2021, postponed from 2020. Both MBRSC and UAESA are recipients of the IAF 3G ‘Geography / Generation / Gender’ award. (Image Credits: NASA, UAESA, MBRSC, Dubai Media Office)

May 4-6 — California Polytechnic University

May 4 — Mercury: At superior conjunction with Sun, 11:00.

May 4 — Aten Asteroid 2020 HQ3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)

May 4 — Aten Asteroid 2020 GE3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU)

May 4 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 HV4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU)

Continued from…

Jan 2019 – Sep 2020 — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt: Full data collected from 7 instruments during KBO Arrokoth flyby to be transmitted to Earth over this time period.

Nov 2019 – Nov 2020 — Hayabusa2, Earth Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa2 with two samples collected from C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu on trajectory for Earth return.

Mar 16 – Sep 16 — SpaceX, Boca Chica Beach TX: SpaceX to attempt Starship flight to 20-km altitude during this timeframe.

TUESDAY

May 5 — InSight, Elysium Planitia, Mars Surface: Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander reaches 2 full years / enters 3rd year in Space today, launched in May 2018, landed on Mars Nov 26, 2018.

 May 5 — CNSA, Launch Long March 5B / New Generation Crew Spacecraft First Flight, Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center, Hainan Island, China (19° N): Long March 5B variant Test Flight carrying next-gen crewed spacecraft.

May 5 — Uniphi Space Agency, Federation of Galaxy Explorers, Space Foundation, Challenger Center, et al, Nationwide USA: National Astronaut Day 2020; inspiring people to reach for the Stars and celebrate Astronauts; on this date in 1961 Astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the 1st American in Space (15 minute suborbital flight to 186-km altitude).