The Space Review has three articles about extraterrestrial commerce that are worth a look:
SpaceX offers NASA $80 million lunar cargo lander service
Flight International
“Space Exploration Technologies has proposed to NASA a robotic cargo lunar lander service that would be priced at $80 million per mission.
“SpaceX proposed the lander at a meeting with the US space agency because it is a member of Odyssey Space Research’s team for NASA’s Altair project office lander evaluation study that began in March. The SpaceX lander would deliver 1,000kg (2,200lb) to the Moon’s surface in support of NASA’s Altair missions. The unmanned Altair cargo version could deliver 14,000kg to the Moon.”
India’s moon mission to lift off in October
NDTV.com
“India’s maiden shot at the moon is now all set for lift off in the last week of October. Named Chandrayaan-1 the satellite has just passed a crucial test which simulated how the space craft would perform in the hostile vacuum like environment near the moon.
“According to the Indian space agency, India’s first mission to the moon is to be launched sometime around October 22-26, 2008 from the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It will be lofted up using the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) workhorse rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)…”
Interorbital will be conducting engine tests over the next few months for its SeaStar launch vehicle, Flight Global reports. If the tests are successful, the California company could conduct flight tests of the rocket off the California coast at the end of the year.
The company is planning to launch a lunar sample return mission in 2010. It is offering advanced sales of its lunar samples at a mere $3.375 million per pound or (for you metric fans out there) $7,500 per gram. This represents a 25 percent discount on the full rate. And you only have to put 10 percent down now.
The Economist has a think-piece about the future of NASA, which turns 50 years old this year. “America’s space agency has reached middle age,” the magazine observes. “Will it now recapture the glory of its youth, or dwindle into decrepitude?”
The article really doesn’t have any clear answers, although the writer does deconstruct several rationales put forth by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and speculates on whether virtual reality will allow almost anyone to visit the Moon and Mars without having to actually go there. Or even give NASA billions of dollars to send anyone. “That, perhaps, is a more subtle threat than NASA realises,” the author observes.
The moon beckons again - for U.S., 8 other nations
Mike Swift
San Jose Mercury News
In hopes of discovering clues to the origin of life on Earth, the United States and eight other nations signed a landmark agreement at NASA’s Ames Research Center this week that scientists hope will lay the groundwork for a new generation of lunar exploration and science.
Unlike the all-American Apollo program, the new agreement sees a multinational fleet of robot spacecraft returning to the moon in coming years, with the maturing space programs of countries like India, Germany and South Korea playing key roles in an effort that ultimately would lead to the return of astronauts.
“It’s sort of like the beginning of a beautiful friendship, like at the end of ‘Casablanca,’ ” James Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said at Moffett Field this week.
ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-I in September
DailyIndia.com
India will launch its first lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-I, in September. The spacecraft will map the moon with a high-resolution high-resolution stereo camera with a resolution of 16 feet. The orbiter’s other instruments include near-infrared and X-ray spectrometers and a laser altimeter.
LRO Launch Delayed to 2009
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
NASA will delay the launch of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) from November to late February or early March 2009 because of a launch conflict with the Department of Defense.
The orbiter will map the moon and collect mineralogy data. The mission has a piggyback payload, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to send the rocket’s spent upper stage crashing into the moon to search for evidence of water ice.
New scans show evidence of water on the moon
Maggie Fox
Reuters
“Tiny green and orange glass balls brought back from the moon nearly 40 years ago by astronauts show evidence that water existed there from the very beginning, scientists reported on Wednesday….
“Their study, published in the journal Nature, could support evidence that water persists in shadowed craters on the moon’s surface — and that the water could be native to the moon and not carried there by comets.”
Brown-Led Team Finds Evidence of Water in Moon’s Interior
Brown University Press Release
“A Brown-led research team has for the first time found evidence of water deep within the Moon. In a paper published in the July 10 issue of the journal Nature, the researchers believe the water was contained in lunar magmas ejected more than 3 billion years ago. The discovery strongly suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence – and perhaps since it was first created…
“NASA plans to send its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later this year to search for evidence of water ice at the Moon’s south pole. If water is found, the researchers may have figured out the origin.”
The Times of India reports that engineers are making good progress in preparing that nation’s first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, for launch later this year.
The spacecraft is being assembled at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s facility in Bangalore. Officials report that five instruments from the United States and Europe have been successfully tested.
The launch has slipped a couple of months. ISRO officials have said they expect to send the orbiter off on its mission sometime in the third quarter of the year.