SLIM, Nova-C and Peregrine Slated to Land on Moon in Early New Year 2024
Now <55,000 km from the Moon, 2.4 x 2.7-m JAXA Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander is just days from reaching lunar orbit insertion on December 25. The 200-kg SLIM is to remain in lunar orbit until mid-Jan, at which point an adjustment maneuver will be performed to begin transfer to an elliptical pre-landing orbit, a process that is to be completed by January 19. Descent to the lunar surface is planned to start on Jan 20 at 00:00 JST, with landing 20 minutes later (00:20 JST Jan 20 / 15:00 UTC Jan 19). The main technical objective of SLIM is to achieve precision touch down within 100-m of a point near Shioli crater (25.2°E, 13.3°S) using its advanced vision-based algorithmic landing system. Set to arrive on the lunar surface perhaps within hours of SLIM is Nova-C lander, weighing 675kg and measuring 4.3 x 1.5m in diameter. Nova-C is built and operated by Intuitive Machines of Houston TX, and is contracted under NASA CLPS to deliver 5 science payloads to a site near Malapert A crater (-80.3°S, 1.3°E) as well as 6 independent payloads including ILO-X astronomy imagers from SPC affiliate International Lunar Observatory Association. Astrobotic Peregrine is also standing by for launch from CCSFS NET Jan 8 following successful second Wet Dress Rehearsal of launch vehicle ULA Vulcan Centaur. Peregrine is to deliver 5 NASA and 15 independent payloads to Sinus Viscositatis. (Image Credits: JAXA, IM, Astrobotic, NASA)
MONDAY
☆ Dec 18 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 70 working with ElectroMagnetic Levitator and Fiber Optic Production experiments; in-flight interview today for NBC with Andreas Mogensen & Jasmin Moghbeli, 20:18 EST; Cygnus cargo freighter release planned for this Thursday.
☆ Dec 18 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou-17 three-member crew planning future EVA which will be spacewalk #13 for TSS installations and adaptions; Taikonaut Tang Shengjie produces video of Mengtian Lab.
Highlights…
o NewSpace: iSpace China to conduct 3rd hop test of Hyperbola-2Y / SQX-2Y with sea platform landing in 2024, orbital launch of Hyperbola-3 NET 2025; Helicity Space working to develop fusion propulsion system with $5M investment round; Starlink traffic up ~3x in 2023 despite ban in Ghana and exclusion by FCC from US$885.5 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund award.
☆ SolarSystem: Mars Perseverance continuing 4th science campaign near Jezero Crater as total mission length surpasses 1,000 days – samples containing silica, phosphate, carbonate cataloged for future return; UCSD study shows amino acids possibly contained in plumes emanating from Enceladus would survive 4.2 km/s impact with spacecraft.
☆ Galaxy: NASA working to restore Voyager 1 functionality following fault in telemetry modulation unit causing invalid data return; Rouge brown dwarf 3-4x the mass of Jupiter located 100 ly away in star cluster IC 348 thought to be smallest known star; Smallsat astronomy missions including 12U Sprite ($4M) and Mantis ($8.5M) hope to replicate success of CUTE ($5M).
o Global: ISRO to develop life support for Gaganyaan in-house following failed attempts to procure a system internationally; HyImpulse and Orbex to receive $8.5M ($4.3M / $4.2 per) from UKSA to support launch from SaxaVord and Sutherland spaceports; HyPrSpace of France developing Baguette One suborbital and orbital OB-1 launch vehicles with $38M public-private funding.
●USA: SpaceX now valued at $180B as investors reportedly considering public sale at $97 / share; Space Perspective teaming with Texas Lottery to offer prize trip on Spaceship Neptune; Astronaut Andrew Feustel joining Vast which is working to launch Haven-1 commercial space station before competitors Axiom (Hab One), Blue Origin (Orbital Reef) and Voyager (Starlab).
● Hawai’i: Privateer prototype 2U cubesat PONO 1 conducting on-orbit monitoring of spacecraft / debris following HSFL testing, SpaceX Transporter-9 launch and D-Orbit deployment; TMT Laser Guide Star Facility enters Final Design Phase following successful Preliminary Design Review; Annual Maunakea Coin Contest accepting submissions which highlight natural resources, astronomy and culture on the Mauna.
● = Terrestrial and… o = International terrestrial events
☾ = Moon activity
★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
China Reaches 500 Long March Launches, Completes 10 Years of Continuous Operations on the Moon with Chang’E
China has moved onto the 500+ launch of its Long March rockets, a family under which 16 variants are active. At least one other Long March launch is expected this December, while the first launch of the New Year for China may be Long March 7 carrying Tianzhou 7 cargo ship to the Tiangong Space Station January 15. The Chang’E lunar program continues strong with the CE-3 mission surpassing its 10th year of lunar surface operations on December 14. An upcoming 2-year research project to further analyze CE-3 LUT astronomical data will begin in February 2024 through an MoU agreement between ILOA-NAOC. On January 3, CE-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover farside explorers will reach 5 full years since landing at Statio Tianhe (Milky Way Base) in the Von Kármán crater of Moon South Pole–Aitken Basin. December 22 is the application due date for CE-5 sample return access, presumably one of a few opportunities to work with a portion of the 1.731 kg regolith returned from the nearside Mons Rümker area. CE-6 sample return mission is being planned to launch as early as May 2024; its Queqiao 2 relay satellite launching in March. The CE-8 mission is soliciting international payloads with Letters of Intent due Dec 31. CE-7, consisting of a relay satellite, orbiter, lander, and mini-flying probe, is nearing final rounds of international payload contributions and being planned for a 2026 launch. (Image Credits: CMSE, CNSA, CCTV)
★ Dec 18 — Blue Origin, Launch New Shepard (NS-24), Launch Site One, Van Horn TX: Suborbital mission carrying 33 science and research payloads and 38,000 post cards to space for Club for the Future.
☾ Sep 6 – NET Jan 20 — Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), Lunar Landing Trajectory: SLIM Moon mission 4-6 month trajectory to soft land east of Shioli crater (13.2°S, 25.2°E) on Moon near side equatorial region.
☆ Sep 6 – NET Mar — X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), ~550-km LEO: XRISM undergoing 6 month check out testing phase before start of science operations to study galactic plasma.
★ Dec 11 — X-37B Spaceplane,LEO: Seventh mission of X-37B, designated USSF-52, undergoing new orbital regimes, experimenting space domain awareness tech, investigating radiation effects on materials provided by NASA.
● Dec 15-30 — Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, KSC FL: 2023 Holidays in Space; nightly projected show of a voyage through the stars, Earth and beyond.
TUESDAY
☆ Dec 19 — Gaia,Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange Point: ESA spacecraft reaches 10 full years / enters 11th year in space today; now in extended mission phase working to map more than 1 billion stars; launched in 2013.
o Dec 19 — International Astronautical Federation, Online / Paris, France:Nominations Due for IAF Awards; World Space Award, Excellence in International Cooperation Award, Excellence in ‘3G’ Diversity Award, Hall of Fame Award and Frank J. Malina Astronautics Medal.
☾ Dec 19 — Moon: 1.19° SE of Neptune, 05:00; at first quarter, 08:39.
☆ Dec 19 —Apollo Asteroid 2023 XF2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU)
☆ Dec 19 —Apollo Asteroid 2023 XS: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)
☆ Dec 20 — Mercury: At perihelion; 0.3075 AU from the Sun, 07:00.
☆ Dec 20 —Aten Asteroid 341843 (2008 EV5): Near-Earth Flyby (0.042 AU)
THURSDAY
o Dec 21 — Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Cerro Pachón, Chile: Previously dubbed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, VCR Observatory team expects dome to be completed this month.
☆ Dec 21 — December Solstice: The Sun reaches the point where it is farthest South of the celestial equator, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year (opposite in Southern Hemisphere); 17:28.
☆ Dec 21 — Asteroid 4 Vesta: At opposition in longitude, magnitude 6.4, 02:00.
☆ Dec 21 —Apollo Asteroid 2018 YJ2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU)
FRIDAY
★ Dec 22 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Ovzon-3, SLC-40 Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Launch of communications satellite Ovzon-3 built by Maxar for company Ovzon; 16:00 local time.
☆ Dec 22 —Mercury: At inferior conjunction with the Sun; 0.676 AU from Earth, 09:00.
☆ Dec 22 —Apollo Asteroid 2022 YG: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)
SATURDAY
☆ Dec 23 — Ursid Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from β star of Ursa Minor, Ursids are associated with comet 8P/Tuttle, they offer medium speed (33 km/sec), mostly faint with a few fireballs, 9-10 per hour, visible in northern Hemisphere.
☾ Dec 23 — Moon: 2.61° NNW of Uranus, 04:00.
☆ Dec 23 —Apollo Asteroid 2020 YO3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU)
☆ Dec 23 —Apollo Asteroid 2023 VD6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU)
SUNDAY
☾ Dec 24 — Moon: 1.00° SE of Pleiades, 00:00.
☆ Dec 24 —Apollo Asteroid 2010 UE51: Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
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