Artemis Moon Program

NASA awards five contracts for lunar landers to follow SpaceX demonstration:
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...ining-competitiveness-in-moon-lander-program/
A source confirmed that the National Team is likely to stay together as long as there is a chance to win the original contract, awarded solely to SpaceX. But if that challenge is unsuccessful, the individual members of the National Team are preparing to go their own ways. The 15-month period will provide time to review their options.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1438504740451614731
View: https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1438504740451614731
 
From NASA:

Work platforms retracted

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As you can see the Orion mass-simulator and dummy adaptor haven't been restocked yet and replaced by the real items anyway this was done in preparation to perform tests of the umbilical arm retraction.
 
NASA has had another Townhall video and at 12:30 in it mentions that the Artemis 1 umbilical retract test was performed in the VAB on September 19th and the next time they will be retracted is when it launches (Hopefully this December). Since the test has been performed no doubt the work platforms are back in place and they're in the process of restocking the Orion CSM mass-simulator and dummy ICPS stage adaptor to stack the operational items.
 
FYI, a NASA spokesperson tells me the reorganization DOES have OMB and congressional approval and the union "has been informed." So this has gotten a lot further than Bridenstine's attempt. He also would have abolished STMD while this preserves it. Maybe that made the difference.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1440380328216956944
View: https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1440380328216956944


@LauraForczyk

@SciGuySpace asks the question on everyone's mind: Is this NASA directorate change a demotion for Kathy Lueders? NASA Administrator @SenBillNelson dismisses the question, praises Kathy Lueders, and changes the subject.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1440391882308145153
View: https://twitter.com/LauraForczyk/status/1440391882308145153

Bill Nelson repeats that it was an obvious decision. "It was common sense." (Frankly, it is not entirely obvious as Kathy's background is in development of COTS and commercial crew vehicles, not operations).
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1440395867735740417
View: https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1440395867735740417
 
Not only is it a major, and quite public, demotion for Leuders, but historically dividing up command or management structures in such a manner have tended not to end well.
 
Not often she see NASA be so forthright. But I am guessing this is more the government lawyers.

Nasa has accused Jeff Bezos’s private space company of threatening to destroy the “once-in-a-generation momentum” to resume human space exploration through its costly and lengthy legal disputes.

Blue Origin launched legal action against the US space agency earlier this year following its failed bid to build a lunar lander for the Artemis space program, which aims to return humans to the Moon this decade.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/space/nasa-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-b1929798.html
 
Flyaway said:
Not often she see NASA be so forthright. But I am guessing this is more the government lawyers.

Nasa has accused Jeff Bezos’s private space company of threatening to destroy the “once-in-a-generation momentum” to resume human space exploration through its costly and lengthy legal disputes.

Blue Origin launched legal action against the US space agency earlier this year following its failed bid to build a lunar lander for the Artemis space program, which aims to return humans to the Moon this decade.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/space/nasa-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-b1929798.html
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The sooner the US Government lawyers turn down Blue Origin's protest, the sooner that Artemis 1 can get back on track and launch at the end of the year or into early next year.
 
FighterJock said:
Flyaway said:
Not often she see NASA be so forthright. But I am guessing this is more the government lawyers.

Nasa has accused Jeff Bezos’s private space company of threatening to destroy the “once-in-a-generation momentum” to resume human space exploration through its costly and lengthy legal disputes.

Blue Origin launched legal action against the US space agency earlier this year following its failed bid to build a lunar lander for the Artemis space program, which aims to return humans to the Moon this decade.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/space/nasa-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-b1929798.html
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The sooner the US Government lawyers turn down Blue Origin's protest, the sooner that Artemis 1 can get back on track and launch at the end of the year or into early next year.
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I really do hope that Bezos and BO get slapped down hard in federal court and get heavily fined for their self-serving selfish bullshit also BO needs to be declared a vexatious-litigant.
 
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Flyaway said:
Not unexpectedly the launch of Artemis 1 is likely to fall back into early next year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1443631186790785024
View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1443631186790785024


NASA’s Bob Cabana says at a Maryland Space Business Roundtable webinar that modal testing of SLS for Artemis 1 just completed last night; Orion will be installed soon. A firm launch date will come after briefings next week, but “more than likely” early next year.
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Pity that the Artemis 1 launch will be put back to early next year, but it is good news that the Orion capsule will be installed soon.
 
[W]ith the new industry request, NASA has done that. Bidders can use the technology NASA developed for xEMU in its proposals, or they can use their own designs, the document states. The suits must be able to meet a variety of requirements, including up to six spacewalks on the lunar surface during initial Artemis Moon missions. They must also be made of materials such that less than 100 grams of lunar regolith is brought back into the "cabin environment" after each spacewalk on the Moon. NASA plans to award a contract by next April.
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https://arstechnica.com/science/202...s-to-private-sector-for-spacesuit-help/?amp=1
 
I've been following the Artemis 1 processing thread over at NASA's Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle forum (A lot of interesting stuff there about the SLS) and on October 5th the Artemis 1 OSA will be stacked (The Orion mass-simulator and OSA structural test-article have been removed) so I imagine that in the next few days Artemis 1 will be stacked and once that happens a full test of the rocket's electrical systems can be done.
 
TomcatViP said:
[W]ith the new industry request, NASA has done that. Bidders can use the technology NASA developed for xEMU in its proposals, or they can use their own designs, the document states. The suits must be able to meet a variety of requirements, including up to six spacewalks on the lunar surface during initial Artemis Moon missions. They must also be made of materials such that less than 100 grams of lunar regolith is brought back into the "cabin environment" after each spacewalk on the Moon. NASA plans to award a contract by next April.
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https://arstechnica.com/science/202...s-to-private-sector-for-spacesuit-help/?amp=1
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I have a feeling this move may prove to be yet another backfire.
 
Grey Havoc said:
TomcatViP said:
[W]ith the new industry request, NASA has done that. Bidders can use the technology NASA developed for xEMU in its proposals, or they can use their own designs, the document states. The suits must be able to meet a variety of requirements, including up to six spacewalks on the lunar surface during initial Artemis Moon missions. They must also be made of materials such that less than 100 grams of lunar regolith is brought back into the "cabin environment" after each spacewalk on the Moon. NASA plans to award a contract by next April.
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https://arstechnica.com/science/202...s-to-private-sector-for-spacesuit-help/?amp=1
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I have a feeling this move may prove to be yet another backfire.
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Too true Grey Havoc, and it would all end in disaster for NASA, potentially putting a further delay into launching the first Moon landing since the Apollo era.
 
@Grey Havoc @FighterJock :
Since this will be now contracted, I am sure that prior to move on, they have been approached by interested parties. I don't see them just going that way to wash their hands on it.

No suits, no Astronaut on the moon and plenty of disparaged comments among the public for what is, in final, a public relations office for each government facing a reelection.

IMOHO, the new suit, as demonstrated by NASA, was ineffective in handling non androgynous body shapes. The emphasis to have the first woman on the moon would have ended badly if the chosen one would have had to endure long uncomfortable hours in her suit during the mission... live on TV.
 
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Strangely, I can't find many general threads on manned rovers, mostly it's specific designs and mostly old. I've read that Toyota is developing a pressurised rover for Artemis, but I've seen contradictory reports too, indicating the development of something akin to the original Apollo rover design. The Chariot from Constellation and the related SEV do not seem to have appeared in the news for years. Does anyone know any better?

In any case, this doesn't warrant its own thread alone, and it the webpage is pretty insubstantial (lots of posed photos, CG, mockups and adspeak), but under commercial arrangements, I could imagine something as offbeat being offered in connection with Artemis.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad6cd4eJSu8


https://www.hookie-tardigrade.co/
 
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Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV). Two versions - one a free-flying spacecraft, and mounted on a Chariot, a lunar and martian rover. These images date from mid 2012.
 

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Very nice. Thank you @Rhinocrates !

The side hatch on the SEV to transfer from the vehicle to the LEM is probably a no go. There is no way that you can guarantee a safe connection without controlling ground surface geometry.
Notice also that none of the rovers are fitted with at least a front blade to level the surface...
 
You might spot the influence in the rovers for The Martian and Lost in Space (also called the Chariot, but that's coincidental - it was used in the original 60s series).
 

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