Space Exploration

NASA has finalized the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.

The heads of the space agencies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to meet on 9 June 2020 via video conference in order to discuss cooperation on lunar exploration and the International Space Station (ISS).

In this week's Space Cafe Web Talk Dr. Raji Rajagopalan discussed how India’s approach to outer space has changed over the last decade and how it is now driven increasingly by national security concerns.

NASA has selected Astrobotic for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award to continue its development of UltraNav, a low-cost, autonomous, visual navigation system for spacecraft. The system has wide-ranging applications, from the servicing of Earth satellites to journeys to challenging space destinations such as the lunar poles or Martian mountains.

Chinese officials have unveiled details of, and launch timeline for, its Tiangong space station now that the Long March 5B launch vehicle has been successfully launched and China’s crewed capsule has been tested.

While the planet has been on lockdown the last two months, a new space telescope called CHEOPS opened its eyes, took its first pictures of the heavens and is now open for business.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, has said that Russia is designing a new “orbital” station where crews will build deep space probes to explore the Solar System.

Russia and China are currently in talks to pool their resources for joint lunar operations, according to several Russian and international news media sources.

Last week, NASA released "The Artemis Accords: Principles for a Safe, Peaceful and Prosperous Future." The aim of the Artemis program, according to NASA, is to "[L]and the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024, heralding in a new era for space exploration and utilization". I read the short, concise document that NASA  published with a great deal of interest, and a number of thoughts about international technology, economics, and politics came to mind.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is asking "What would you do with a large European lander on the Moon?"