March 17-23, 2025 / Vol 44, No 11 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Blue Origin Following Many Paths to Fulfill its Mission

The mission of Blue Origin is to reduce space travel costs, promote off-Earth resources, and inspire people to live and work in space for the benefit of Earth. Moon lander Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) can carry 3 tons to the surface with its 8m height x 3m diameter, and could launch as early as this summer. Uncrewed MK1 is to prepare for MK2 crewed lander, being developed under NASA fixed-price US$3.4B contract to go anywhere on the Moon to achieve a sustained presence there, beginning with NASA Artemis V mission currently scheduled for 2030. Partners and suppliers are in 48 states. “I think the last thing that we want is another Sputnik moment where another nation-state put boots on the Moon before we do,” said CEO Dave Limp. Inspiration mentioned in mission statement is exemplified by Bill Shatner taking a suborbital weightless flight on Blue Origin New Shepard, showing that 90-year-olds can rocket-travel. At landing, passengers briefly experience 5G+ forces, 3 parachutes deploy to slow to 24 kph, then compressed-air thrusters slow to ~3 kph. Reducing costs comes from re-use; New Shepard and New Glenn are both reusable rockets with deep-throttle capability vital for soft landings. Blue Origin has designed an LEO human-habitation station and an Orbital Transfer Vehicle. It is doing concept studies for NASA for Mars Sample Return. New Glenn second launch planned for late spring. (Pictured: William Shatner. Image credits: Blue Origin)

MONDAY

☆ Mar 17 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 72 crew celebrating 150,000 Earth orbits of the ISS, testing Russian Chibis spacesuits designed to reduce facial swelling, processing / analyzing blood samples, growing lettuce, and inspecting communication gear / pressure suits needed for homebound journey of Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov.

☆ Mar 17 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 19 three-member crew looking forward to Shenzhou 20 crew launch in ~2 months; China announced Taikonauts for human Moon landing missions to be chosen from current active corps of astronauts that have Space Station experience; projected / possible early date for China human cislunar flyby 2027-28, with landing soon after.

☆ Mar 17 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / High Five (Kinéis 21-25), Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Last of five batches of five satellites (30 kg each) for the French Kinéis IoT constellation.

☾ Mar 17 — Moon: At apogee (distance 405,778 km), 14:00.

☆ Mar 17 — Mars: 7.1° SSW of Castor, 01:00.

TUESDAY

● Mar 18 — NASA, JPL, Pasadena CA: Applications due for Planetary Science Summer School for competitively selected no-cost program.

● Mar 18-21 — University of Southern California, Stevens Institute of Technology, Long Beach CA: Conference on Systems Engineering Research; present, discuss, influence systems engineering research, including for space / aerospace.

★ Mar 18 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink Group 12-25, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Next batch of Starlink satellites to launch for mega-constellation; launch window opens 14:09 EDT.

☆ Mar 18 — Aten Asteroid 2025 DU25: Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU)

☾ = Moon activity, ★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in local time unless noted.

Individual Property Rights and the Moon: An Egalitarian Perspective

Two IM-2 Athena Moon landing footpads are inscribed with the names of >300 Intuitive Machines LLC workers. While those names were not imprinted on the lunar regolith this month since Athena, as well as similarly enhanced predecessor IM-1 Odysseus, tipped over upon landing, the intended precedent and its implications are most significant for 21st century peaceful, equitable development of the Moon and eventually entire Solar System. Perennial questions naturally arise re “Who Owns the Moon”, lunar property rights, and Solar System complete exploration; Natural also to expect at least some of those IM employees to consider the ‘luna firma’ on which their name was to be imprinted and its geology, character, and propriety or ownership status; certainly the UN Outer Space Treaty of 1967 has long-provided guidance and clarity re no national appropriation of any part of the Moon or any celestial body, though individual usage and appropriation was not and is still not explicitly clarified; Earth’s Moon belongs to Earth and its inhabitants, including about 8.2 billion humans; the Moon as “the common heritage of humanity”, with everybody-nobody owning everything-nothing is only one, now prevailing consideration; a more Western, especially US / American understanding — where individual property rights and ownership provide an indispensable foundation for individual liberty (the “American Dream”) — could support an individual claim of a lunar acre (out of about 10 billion existing such acres), and as 1 of less than 10 billion humans, simultaneously satisfy ‘common heritage” considerations; both individual rights and common heritage, libertarian and egalitarian first principles, would be advanced by such a simple and symbolically effective proprietary name imprinting, to be followed by more substantive physical affirmations and practices. (Image credits: SPC, ILOA, Intuitive Machines, CollectSpace)

WEDNESDAY

● Mar 19 — Maryland Space Business Roundtable, Greenbelt MD: MSBR Luncheon with Congressman Glenn Ivey.

● Mar 19 — American Astronomical Society, Online / Washington DC:  Webinar on recent federal changes, how to support the astronomical sciences and how to submit an appropriation request; 13:00-14:00 EDT.

● Mar 19-21 — American Astronautical Society, Greenbelt MD: AAS Goddard Space Science Symposium: Space 2025; 62nd year, at Martin’s Crosswinds.

★ Mar 19 —  SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / NROL-57, SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Government payload; launch window opens 23:02 PDT.

☆ Mar 19 — March Equinox: The Sun rises exactly in east traveling through sky for 12 hours, sets exactly in west; every place on Earth experiences approximately a 12-hour day; 22:59.

☆ Mar 19 — Neptune: At conjunction with Sun; 30.888 AU from Earth, 13:00.

☆ Mar 19 — Apollo Asteroid 2025 EQ2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU)