Helium to be loaded at payload facility at the cape at flight pressure before moving to the launch pad at LC39A at Kennedy Space Center.Cryogenic propellants to be loaded at the launch pad via umbilical at a loading pressure of 0.3 MPa. The pressure will be reduced prior to liftoff to ~0.03 MPa due to boiloff venting, and pressurized again in space prior to engine burns up to the Maximum Engine Operating Pressure (MEOP) of 2.2 MPa.
Is the VR900 engine electric pump fed?At 900lbs is bit small for traditional turbopump.Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk
I spent the day with @Astrobotic CEO John Thornton & his team in Pittsburg, & I really enjoyed meeting so many members of the team developing landers that will bring critical @NASAMoon science to the lunar surface. Thank you for all your hard work & dedication!
NASA expects to select investigations that will be manifested on the next two CLPS deliveries scheduled to arrive at the lunar surface in late 2023 and early 2024. These deliveries will go to Reiner Gamma (a lunar swirl) in Q4 2023, and a Schrödinger Basin impact melt (lunar far side) in Q2 2024.<snip>For the Reiner Gamma delivery, the European Space Agency will provide a lunar laser retroreflector as a payload. For the Schrödinger Basin delivery, SMD's remaining Lunar Surface Instrumentation and Technology Payloads (LSITP) instrument - the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE) - has already been manifested. LuSEE is a flight-spare payload from the FIELDS experiment on the recently launched Parker Solar Probe spacecraft and will measure the electromagnetic and electrostatic environment of the lunar surface, including surface electric potentials, magnetic fields, and electrostatic signatures of dust. LuSEE will also measure radio emissions from the Sun and outer planets. Please see additional LuSEE information under "other documents" on the NSPIRES page for this program element. PRISM proposals may propose investigations that complement, but do not overlap, the science expected from LuSEE (Schrödinger Basin) or the lunar laser retroreflector (Reiner Gamma).The time frame for this solicitation is: Update when reviews are done.Pre-proposal Conference**................... November 10, 2020Step-1 Proposals due ........................... December 11, 2020Step-2 Proposals due ........................... January 19 February 3, 2021Selection............................................... ~4 months post proposal due dateSuite/Lander Integration for Reiner Gamma… March 2023 (target)Suite/Lander Integration for Schrödinger… August 2023 (target)Launch for Reiner Gamma.................... December 2023 (target)Launch for Schrödinger......................... May 2024 (target)
This second Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program element solicits proposals for investigations that include development and flight of science-driven suites of instruments payloads that will be delivered to the lunar surface by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). This PRISM call is for science investigations that will be delivered to the lunar surface in the first half of Calendar Year (CY) 2025 and late CY2025 or early CY2026 to predetermined lunar landing sites. These deliveries will go to the Gruithuisen Domes, a nearside silicic volcanic construct, between Q1-Q2 2025, and to a South Polar (84-90° S) location between Q4 2025 – early Q1 2026. No other landing sites shall be proposed. The prior solicitation of PRISM was as program element E.11 of ROSES-2020.<snip>Mobility capabilities via roving are expected to be available as a CLPS service for the Gruithuisen Domes delivery. This capability will be available during the lunar day, with an estimated 500 m maximum radial traverse distance (exact distance may vary based on capabilities of the lander and compelling justification of the science). Investigations that propose to utilize this capability are limited to a hard cap of 15 kg of payload on the rover and 30 kg on the lander. If use of mobility is not proposed, investigations arelimited to a hard cap of 50 kg on the lander.<snip>The South Polar PRISM delivery will be a static lander and investigations are limited to a hard cap of 30 kg. Campaign science (i.e., activities that require several landings to accomplish the science objectives) is outside the scope of this call.Each selected investigation may be co-manifested with other PRISM or unrelated payloads on each lander. A European Space Agency (ESA)-contributed payload, the Package for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial exploitation, and Transportation (PROSPECT), has been pre-manifested for the South Polar delivery. The PROSPECT payload includes a drill, sample handling system, mass spectrometer, and an oven. Also included in PROSPECT are a multispectral surface imaging system (IS) and subsurface permittivity sensor. PROSPECT will collect and process volatile-bearing material to demonstrate the viability of volatiles as resources and provide insights into the origins of volatiles delivered to the Earth-Moon system. Proposals to this program element may complement, but not duplicate, the science expected from PROSPECT. Furthermore, proposals should not propose investigations that rely on PROSPECT without the express permission, approval, and documentation, in the form of a letter of intent from the PROSPECT team.The time frame for the solicitation of PRISM is:Pre-proposal Conference**...........................September 28, 2021 at 2 pm ETStep-1 Proposals due.....................................October 22, 2021Step-2 Proposals due.....................................December 20, 2021Selection ........................................................~4 months after proposal due dateSuite/Lander Integration for Gruithuisen Domes …Between April 2024 – Sept. 2024(target; but no later than 9 months before launch)Suite/Lander Integration for South Polar region…..Between January 2025 – May2025 (target; but no later than 9 months before launch)Launch for Gruithuisen Domes…………….Between January 2025 – June 2025(target)Launch for South polar region……………..Between September 2025 – February.2026 (target)
Australia, we’re going to the Moon. We’ve reached an agreement with @NASA for an Australian-made rover to be part of a future mission, harnessing our skills and expertise in the resources sector.
As part of the agreement, a consortium of Australian businesses and research organizations will develop a small rover that can operate on the lunar surface. The rover would have the ability to pick up and transfer lunar regolith (broken rock and dust) to a NASA-operated in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) system on a commercial lunar lander. Such a rover could fly to the Moon as early as 2026.
<snipSchedule of PRISM missions:Reiner Gamma: NET December 2023<snip>
Concept image of Intuitive Machines Noca-C lander for the IM-3 mission taking four NASA investigations to Reiner Gamma.Credits: Intuitive MachinesNASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston a contract to deliver research, including science investigations and a technology demonstration, to the Moon in 2024. The commercial delivery is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and the Artemis program.The investigations aboard Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander are destined for Reiner Gamma, one of the most distinctive and enigmatic natural features on the Moon. Known as a lunar swirl, Reiner Gamma is on the western edge of the Moon, as seen from Earth, and is one of the most visible lunar swirls. Scientists continue to learn what lunar swirls are, how they form, and their relationship to the Moon’s magnetic field.<snip>Intuitive Machines will receive $77.5 million for the contract and is responsible for end-to-end delivery services, including payload integration, delivery from Earth to the surface of the Moon, and payload operations. This is Intuitive Machines’ third task order award, the first of which is a delivery to Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon during the first quarter of 2022. This award is the seventh surface delivery task award issued to a CLPS partner.<snip>The four investigations Intuitive Machines will deliver to Reiner Gamma are collectively expected to be about 203 pounds (92 kg) in mass and include:• Lunar Vertex is among NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) selections. It is a combination of stationary lander payloads and a rover that will make detailed measurements of the magnetic field, plasma environment and regolith properties. The lander and rover data will augment observations collected in orbit. Combined, the observations will help show how these mysterious lunar swirls form and evolve – and how they connect to local magnetic fields in the same regions. Lunar Vertex is funded through the agency’s Science Mission Directorate and is led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.• Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) consists of mobile robots programmed to work as an autonomous team to explore the lunar surface, collect data, and map different areas of the Moon in 3D. CADRE uses its inertial measurement unit, stereo cameras, and a Sun sensor to track the position of each robot as they explore the lunar surface. CADRE is funded by NASA’s Game Changing Development program under the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.• MoonLIGHT retroreflector is a laser retroreflector, which reflects laser beams sent from Earth directly back from the Moon to receivers on Earth. This allows very precise measurement of the distances between the reflector and the ground station. This technique can be used to investigate relativity, the gravitational dynamics of the Earth-Moon system and the deep lunar interior. MoonLIGHT is managed by the European Space Agency (ESA).• Lunar Space Environment Monitor (LUSEM) uses a pair of apertures to detect high-energy particles on the lunar surface. LUSEM will monitor variations in the near-surface space environment when the Moon is inside and outside Earth’s magnetotail – the trailing end of the magnetic fields surrounding our planet, which can serve as a buffer for incoming radiation. LUSEM is managed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) in South Korea.
MoonLIGHT or Moon Laser Instrumentation for General relativity/geophysics High-accuracy Tests is seeking the answer to this and more questions on general relativity, the gravitational dynamics of the Earth-Moon system and the deep lunar interior. MoonLIGHT is a laser retroreflector, imaged here, which allows laser beams sent from Earth to be reflected back from the Moon to receivers on our planet. This allows very precise measurement of the distances between the reflector and the ground station.Known as lunar laser ranging, this technique has been in use since the Apollo missions to investigate Einstein’s theory of general relativity, lunar geophysics and the Earth-Moon dynamics, among other fields of study. However, data from retroreflectors of the Apollo era is not as precise due to lunar vibrations, or the perceived lagging and wanning of the Moon when viewed from Earth, caused by its eccentric and tilted orbit of our planet.The MoonLIGHT retroreflector can reduce this error thanks to its next-generation compact design. The single, larger reflector with a front face 100mm in diameter can improve accuracy to within millimeters.Developed by the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics and managed by ESA, MoonLIGHT will launch in 2024 on NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to the Reiner Gamma region of the Moon, which has one of the most distinctive and enigmatic natural features on the Moon, called lunar swirl, characterized by high surface luminosity (albedo) and the very rare presence of a local magnetic field.
Machine to melt Moon rocks and derive metals may launch in 2024 [...]
