Futura Space Group’s Post

🇯🇵Japan Makes History with "Moon Sniper" Landing🌝, But Faces Unforeseen Challenge! 📰Big news from the Moon! Japan's "Moon Sniper" spacecraft, officially known as the Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM), has successfully landed on the lunar surface! This historic touchdown makes Japan the 5th nation to achieve this feat, a major milestone for their space program. 🛰️However, the mission isn't entirely out of the lunar woods yet. While the landing itself was smooth, a glitch has emerged: the "Moon Sniper" isn't generating solar power as expected. This could potentially impact its operations and scientific goals. 🚀JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is on the case! Their engineers are diligently working to diagnose the issue and find a solution. The cause is still under investigation, but early reports suggest a possible misalignment of the solar panels. ️ ✨Despite this hurdle, it's important to celebrate the incredible accomplishment. Successfully landing on the Moon is no small feat, and it showcases Japan's advanced spaceflight prowess. 🇯🇵 If the solar power issue can be overcome, the "Moon Sniper" mission has the potential to unlock valuable insights about the lunar surface and lay the groundwork for future exploration. ▪️Stay tuned for updates as this story unfolds! In the meantime, let's hear your thoughts: * What are your hopes for the "Moon Sniper" mission? * How significant is this achievement for Japan and global space exploration? Let's discuss! #moonsniper #spaceexploration #japan #science #engineering #challenges #proudmoment

Tenacity in the face of challenges. That is the ‘good stuff’ of engineering.

The Indian #chandrayaan3 -3 mission disturbed much less regolith than previous lunar missions. A recent study unveiled an intriguing finding: unlike previous landings where engines created significant plumes (NASA's Apollo and China's Chang'e-3), in its landing near the moon's south pole, Chandrayaan-3 generated an unusually minimal amount of moon dust. Cameras onboard the spacecraft detected the dust plume from a mere 59 feet (18 m) above the lunar surface. This seems due to the absence of a central engine and the diagonal positioning of the operating engines, along with factors such as spacecraft mass versus properties of the lunar regolith. This finding is important, as lunar regolith—comprising loose rocks, pebbles, and dust covering the lunar surface—presents challenges for activities on the Moon. Solutions aimed at minimizing #regolith disturbance are highly desirable and welcomed. #spacesustainability See more here: https://lnkd.in/g2mfiqMb

Peregrine lander faces critical moments on the Moon mission - with fuel leak threatening spacecraft control. In the era of private-public partnerships for lunar exploration, how can such setbacks impact our quest for innovation and cost reduction in space exploration, and what lessons can we draw from these challenges? https://lnkd.in/dJNB4BVs

📳Astrobotic found ~~vibration~~ to be the cause of a mission failure during the launch of the Peregrine lunar lander back in January. A reminder to test your components carefully! m+p international can help. "According to Astrobotic's post-mission report, PCV2 experienced what's known as a "loss of seal capability" most likely due to (get ready for a mouthful) "a mechanical failure caused by vibration-initiated relaxation between threaded components internal to the valve." https://lnkd.in/gCnSx49w #expertsinvibration #moon #testing #space

The little lander that almost could! The news of the Peregrine lander's unfortunate end in the southern Pacific marked a huge milestone for Astrobotic and NASA's CLPS Programme (commercial lunar payload services) - along with the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) designed here in the UK. As we often say in the Agency, space is hard - but definitely no hard feelings PITMS, which, fingers crossed, will be on a future mission! What's genuinely exciting about CLPS and trailblazers like Astrobotic is the embrace and acceptance of risk. More and more companies are not just recognising but integrating the fact that the path to space is paved with trials, tweaks, and failures." These "known unknowns" are part of the journey and should be embedded throughout the process. Sure, this means some flops along the way - we're venturing into uncharted territories, after all. It's crucial to remember though, as it shows us our need for diversity - in ideas, approaches, and missions to boost our chances of success. NASA's got four CLPS missions queued up this year, so surely one will work! This pivot to leveraging the commercial sector for space missions is a big bang of new ideas and opportunities. It creates an arena where failures aren't just tolerated but celebrated as part of the learning curve. I always think of SpaceX's four-year journey to perfect the vertical landing of Falcon rockets. That mesmerising achievement was born from resilience, a relentless focus on reusability, and the kind of adaptable thinking that's essential to change how you do things. NASA's ultimate goal is to establish and maintain a permanent human presence on the Moon. For that to happen, we learn everything we can about why Peregrine's propulsion tank ruptured, how the solar issue and other risks evolved and interacted and go again. 🌕🚀 #AdAstra #SpaceExploration #CLPS #NASA #Astrobotic #Moon #Resilience

On April 8, 2024, North America will witness its last total solar eclipse for more than twenty years. Other parts of the world will experience the rare celestial event in the coming decade. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, blocking its disk from view but making its corona visible in a dazzling display. #Eclipse #NASA #SolarEclipse #TotalSolarEclipse

How did it make you feel, reading those frequent updates from Astrobotic about their troubled lunar lander? Did you care more about the mission because you could follow along? Reply to let us know! Read more about it at https://lnkd.in/eBdTvu9r

Odysseus Moon Lander 'Tipped Over On Touchdown': On Thursday, the Odysseus Moon lander made history by becoming the first ever privately built and operated robot to complete a soft lunar touchdown. While the lander is "alive and well," the CEO of Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which built and flew the lander, said it tipped over during its final descent, coming up to rest propped up sideways on a rock. The BBC reports: Its owner, Texan firm Intuitive Machines, says Odysseus has plenty of power and is communicating with Earth. Controllers are trying to retrieve pictures from the robot. Steve Altemus, the CEO and co-founder of IM, said it wasn't totally clear what happened but the data suggested the robot caught a foot on the surface and then fell because it still had some lateral motion at the moment of landing. All the scientific instruments that planned to take observations on the Moon are on the side of Odysseus that should still allow them to do some work. The only payload likely on the "wrong side" of the lander, pointing down at the lunar surface, is an art project. "We're hopeful to get pictures and really do an assessment of the structure and assessment of all the external equipment," Mr Altemus told reporters. "So far, we have quite a bit of operational capability even though we're tipped over. And so that's really exciting for us, and we are continuing the surface operations mission as a result of it." The robot had been directed to a cratered terrain near the Moon's south pole, and the IM team believes it got very close to the targeted site - perhaps within a couple of kilometers. A US space agency satellite called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will search for Odysseus in the coming days. Read more of this story at Slashdot.