MoonToday

News about Earth's moon. Ad Lunam

[MoonToday @moontoday]

Fully analytical propagator for lunar satellite orbits in closed form
https://t.co/jYIATJRbNH #Moon #Lunar #Artemis

[MoonToday @moontoday]

The Moon as a possible source for Earth's co-orbital bodies
https://t.co/V0QtYxM6Vr #Moon #Lunar #Artemis

[MoonToday @moontoday]

Origin of the Moon's Earth-like isotopic composition from giant impact on a differential rotating proto-Earth
https://t.co/y0YQc5iBR2 #Moon #Lunar #Artemis

[MoonToday @moontoday]

NASA Studies Reveal Hidden Secrets About Interiors of Moon, Vesta
https://t.co/Co4PKyKXUR #Moon #Lunar #Artemis #astrogeology

[NASA Watch @NASAWatch]

NASA to Explore Additional Methods to Send VIPER to Moon

Following an evaluation of partnership proposals to land a water-seeking robot on the lunar surface, NASA is instead opting to explore alternative approaches to deliver its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Explorer Rover) rover to the Moon.

NASA announced Wednesday it is canceling its Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals solicitation, which sought opportunities to send VIPER to the Moon at no cost to the government.

“We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration efforts.”

NASA has been investigating how to get the rover to the Moon after the project was canceled in July 2024. The agency will announce a new strategy for VIPER in the future.

The formal proposal cancellation will post on the government procurement site:

https://t.co/Gts7GCoUjm

[Astrobiology @astrobiology]

Astrochemistry: Prospectivity Modeling of the NASA VIPER Landing Site at Mons Mouton near the Lunar South Pole
https://t.co/lSY4AG0rFS #astrobiology #astrochemistry #Moon #Artemis #NASAViper

[MoonToday @moontoday]

China to lend moon rocks to NASA-funded US universities
https://t.co/paPHgG4t5K #China #Moon #Astrogeology #Artemis

[MoonToday @moontoday]

Lunar impact ejecta flux on the Earth
https://t.co/PobrdZwrAe

[Mike Constantine @Moonpans]

On this day 1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the moon but has a close call just before touchdown.....(sound on)

[Johns Hopkins APL @JHUAPL]

How do you build tech tough enough for the Moon? 🌑 Learn how a new resource from @NASA_Technology's Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, led by APL, is helping developers design systems built to withstand the Moon’s harshest conditions. https://t.co/Kw9RLRYlMk

@NASAMoon

[NASA Technology @NASA_Technology]

It’s a brave new era on the surface of the Moon! Join us May 20-22 to celebrate 5 years of the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium. Learn about the space tech we’re developing, plans for upcoming missions, and how we’re taking this ride as a national team: https://t.co/ov9f8j96BY

[Astrobiology @astrobiology]

A Perfect Storm: Brutal NASA Science Cuts
https://t.co/FMZdrRav36

People have been talking about cuts to NASA – specifically science and most specifically Earth/Climate science for a while. It stems back to the overt anti-science statements and plans made in the Project 2025 effort. Now, Ars Technical has pulled that all together with the actual budget passback document as a guide. So there it is folks. Now we have numbers.

Even if Congress and the White House pull some of this back, NASA’s science portfolio will be gutted and the impact will last for a very long time.

And this affects more than just the science crowd. Fewer science missions means fewer launches and that directly affects the KSC civil servant and contractor workforce. The same goes for fewer payloads since the NASA centers and allied research institutions that build and operate payloads will be hit hard too.

As science starts to dry up, the need for future commercial space stations will start to fade since the science they are supposed to be doing will be gone. Add in congressional intent to keep ISS operational until 2030, and the commercial space station thing will need to find all of its money elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the Big Aerospace firms are uninterested in any of the personnel things – unless it affects their bottom line. Even then they remain mostly silent.

Cuts like this assure that when it comes to space science NASA will NOT “make space great again”. So let’s “Embrace The Challenge”, as Janet Petro still says.

[MoonToday @moontoday]

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Phase I Final Report -- A Lunar Long-Baseline UV/Optical Imaging Interferometer: Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI)
https://t.co/a58xnD2P6r

[MoonToday @moontoday]

Evidence for Widespread Hydrogen Sequestration within the Moon's South Polar Cold Traps
https://t.co/gXxKJ3El15

[MoonToday @moontoday]

The Dark Ages Explorer (DEX): a filled-aperture ultra-long wavelength radio interferometer on the lunar far side https://t.co/0b5gTL6ufk

[MoonToday @moontoday]

Using Machine Learning for Lunar Mineralogy-I: Hyperspectral Imaging of Volcanic Samples
https://t.co/1XgB44Zp0J

[Astrobiology @astrobiology]

Meet Dr. Juliane Gross, Artemis Campaign Sample Curation Lead
https://t.co/1tCCKaxQcr #astrobiology #astrobiology #astrochemistry #Artemis @Astromaterials @Astromaterials

[NASA Watch @NASAWatch]

Jared Isaacman's Confirmation: according to https://t.co/jZXddxeNSD: "Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a nominations hearing for Jared Isaacman nominee to be Administrator of #NASA at 10:00 AM EST on Wed April 9, 2025." @rookisaacman @NASA

[NASA Langley Research Center @NASALangley]

Coming in for a landing 🚀🌕

During last week's Moon landing, our SCALPSS cameras captured first-of-its-kind video of the lunar lander’s engine plumes interacting with the Moon’s surface.

Read more: https://t.co/E14hnNzaZN

[Sky & Telescope @SkyandTelescope]

Results from India’s Chandrayaan 3 lander show below-freezing conditions exist farther from the poles than expected.
https://t.co/Bs2ITiGb38
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#astronomy #lunarlander #moonlanding #moonmission #spacemission #moon