August 24, 2022 – Astrobotic has been selected by NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Sequential Phase II program to develop, test, and fly lunar night survival and communication technologies onboard its CubeRover platform. The effort will culminate in a commercial flight to the Moon for CubeRover on an upcoming Astrobotic lander mission, where it will demonstrate the platform’s ability to survive the harsh environment of lunar night and utilize satellite relays to traverse long distances. [...]
First CLPS missions (plural) this year? Which one is possible for this year (only 4 months left) other than IM-1?
To date, NASA has funded four commercial companies for a total of seven CLPS Moon landing missions between 2022 and 2024 as follows:Mission 1, Q4 2022: $77 million contract to Intuitive MachinesMission 2, Q4 2022: $79.5 million contract to AstroboticMission 3, 2023: $47 million contract to Intuitive MachinesMission 4, 2024: $93.3 million contract to FireflyMission 5, November 2023: $75.9 million contract to Masten SpaceMission 6, November 2024: $226.5 million contract to AstroboticMission 7, 2024: $77.5 million contract to Intuitive MachinesMission 8, 2025: $73 million contract to Draper
Draper’s Alan Campbell says in a presentation about their CLPS lander award at #LEAG that they have selected a launch vehicle but won’t announce it until they finish some paperwork. (SpaceX has won all the CLPS missions to date except Peregrine, on ULA’s Vulcan Centaur.)
Ah ok, so the pacing item is the Vulcan?
I'm not saying what is the pacing item. I am reporting what they said at LEAG. And that is why there are said to be two possible CLPS launches this year. You don't have to believe it.PS don't forget ispace's Hakuto-R. Not CLPS but also a private lander scheduled for this fall.
First Canadian rover to set wheels on the Moon:https://www.canada.ca/en/space-agency/news/2022/10/first-canadian-rover-to-set-wheels-on-the-moon.htmlFirst Canadian rover to explore the Moon:https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/moon-exploration/first-canadian-rover-to-explore-the-moon.aspQuote from: CSAThe CSA plans to send a rover to the Moon as early as 2026 to explore a polar region. [...]Thanks to a close and ongoing collaboration between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Canadian lunar rover will fly as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.Canadensys Aerospace Awarded CSA Lunar Rover Contract:https://www.canadensys.com/canadensys-aerospace-awarded-csa-lunar-rover-contract/https://twitter.com/csa_asc/status/1592194785720545280https://twitter.com/csa_asc/status/1592195494117535745https://twitter.com/Canadensys1/status/1592192416286912512
The CSA plans to send a rover to the Moon as early as 2026 to explore a polar region. [...]Thanks to a close and ongoing collaboration between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Canadian lunar rover will fly as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
Congrats to @csa_asc as they set to make history developing the first Canadian rover to go to the lunar surface! This rover will fly to the Moon as a part of @NASA's CLPS initiative. We're excited to be a part of @csa_asc’s journey to the Moon & for the science they will do.
Thanks so much @Dr_ThomasZ @NASA for this collaboration that will advance lunar science and enable @csa_asc to set wheels on the Moon!
In their remarks today, the two [Macron and Harris] heralded long-standing U.S.-French space cooperation and promised more in the future. That includes an agreement formally signed today between NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and CNES President Phillipe Baptiste for France to provide one of the seismometers for the Farside Seismic Suite that will return the first seismic data from the far side of the Moon. FSS is one of the payloads on Draper’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission scheduled for launch in 2025.
