Space News reports that Japan’s SLIM moon lander “has resumed operations more than a week after its imperfect yet historic lunar landing.” The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) “confirmed contact had been reestablished with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft late Jan. 28.” The development “comes just days ahead of a likely mission-ending sunset.” The large SUV-sized spacecraft “was forced to power down just two over hours after landing Jan. 19 due to its solar cell not generating electricity.” SLIM finally “powered up again as the position of the sun in the sky changed, finally illuminated SLIM’s solar cell.”
Full Story (Space News)
Tag: spacecraft
JAXA’s ‘Moon Sniper’ Missed its Mark
CNN reports that Japan’s space agency “said Thursday that its ‘moon sniper’ robotic explorer landed 55 meters (165 feet) from its target on the lunar surface last week, calling it a ‘significant achievement’ despite problems during the landing that put the mission in jeopardy.” The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission “reached the moon’s surface just after 10:20 a.m. ET (12:20 a.m. Saturday Japan Standard Time) on January 19, according to data shared by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.” During its descent, the spacecraft experienced “some kind of anomaly” at a “distance of around 50 meters (165 feet) above the surface, JAXA officials said in a news conference.” The thrust from “one of the main engines was lost as a result, forcing the spacecraft to land on its nose with its ‘main engine facing upward and in an almost vertical position.’”
Full Story (CNN)
Japan Becomes Fifth Country to Land a Spacecraft on the Moon
ABC News reports “Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon” when one of its uncrewed spacecrafts “successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface early Saturday.” Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down within the Shioli crater at 10:20 a.m. Eastern, Jan. 19 (12:20 a.m. JST, Jan. 20). JAXA confirmed the successful landing approximately two hours later. Japanese space officials “said the craft’s solar panel had failed to generate power, which could shorten its activity on the moon.” Japan joins the US, China, the Soviet Union, and India as all having made it to the lunar surface.
Full Story (ABC News)
NASA Spacecraft Continues its 17-Year Journey
The Washington Post reports that for nearly 17 years, NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A spacecraft “drifted through space on a lonely mission.” It traveled “around the sun far ahead of Earth, conducting groundbreaking research on the solar system’s star.” Like many NASA spacecraft, STEREO-A “outlived its mission life span of two years.” Instead, it “traveled further and further away from Earth on a journey that became fraught with uncertainty as it passed behind the sun in 2015, temporarily severing contact with NASA.” The same year, the agency “lost contact with STEREO-A’s sibling vessel, STEREO-B, which was traveling a similar path.” But STEREO-A kept going. And its orbital trajectory “around the sun meant that it had a chance to do what very few other NASA spacecraft could: eventually make its way back toward home.”
Full Story (Washington Post)
Ispace Details Moon Lander Crash
The Hill reports that Tokyo-based ispace “confirmed Wednesday that its HAKUTO-R spacecraft, which was scheduled to make a historic lunar landing on Tuesday, likely crashed into the Moon’s surface.” The lander entered the moon’s orbit on March 21 and prepared to land on the lunar surface. However, during the lander’s descent, ground control lost communication with the craft, and the team “determined it was in a vertical position as it approached the lunar surface, however, no data was ever received that indicated a successful touchdown.” Company officials released a statement that reads, “Based on the data, it has been determined that there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing on the moon’s surface.”
Full Story (The Hill)
CAPSTONE Reaches Lunar Orbit
In what UPI describes as a “major win” for NASA, the CAPSTONE CubeSat probe “arrived in orbit around the moon Sunday night.” NASA “made the announcement Monday amid a flurry of test missions in recent months that set the stage for astronauts to return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years.” CAPSTONE “was disabled for several weeks after a faulty engine burn sent it careening into outer space on Sept. 8.”
Full Story (UPI)
NASA Attempts to Regain Control of CAPSTONE
The Daily Mail (UK) reports that NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft as of last Thursday “experienced an anomaly that put the probe in a protective ‘safe mode.’” The probe, “which is around the size of a microwave oven and weighs just 55 pounds, has also been experiencing temperature issues and had problems generating power from its solar panels.” Ground teams “are now trying to stabilise the motion of the small scouting satellite and rescue the mission.”
Full Story (Daily Mail)
NASA Posts RFI for ISS Deorbit Spacecraft
GovCon Wire reports that NASA “expects the International Space Station to conclude operations in late 2030 and is seeking information from potential industry sources of spacecraft that will work to deorbit the government-funded laboratory.” A request for information “posted Friday on SAM.gov says the deorbit vehicle should attach to the Node 2 Forward port one year before the controlled reentry of ISS into an unpopulated region.”
Full Story (GovCon Wire)
Assembly on Dream Chaser Spacecraft Continues
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports the launch of the first Dream Chaser spacecraft could take place by this time next year. The first Dream Chaser, named Tenacity, “has undergone aeroshell and wing deployment system installation at the company’s headquarters in Colorado, shown in a time-lapse video posted to the company’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.” Dream Chaser “will join SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for bringing cargo to the International Space Station, but the company is already planning to build out a human-rated version that could become one of the players to launch crew to the ISS or other private space stations, including their own, this decade.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Olivier L. de Weck Appointed Editor-in-Chief of AIAA’s Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
December 21, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected Olivier L. de Weck, Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an AIAA Fellow, as its new editor-in-chief for the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets (JSR). He succeeds Professor Hanspeter Schaub of the University of Colorado Boulder, who has served as editor-in-chief for JSR since 2017. De Weck, the 11th editor-in-chief for JSR, will begin this new role in January 2022.
The AIAA Publications Committee oversees the search and selection effort for new editors-in-chief. This year’s search committee was led by Dr. Jacqueline A. O’Connor, Pennsylvania State University, Publications Committee member. De Weck was chosen from among a group of highly qualified candidates.
“The field of spacecraft engineering and astronautics is more dynamic today than it has ever been with novel technologies, methods, launches, and mission concepts emerging daily. JSR is a trusted source of truth for the industry. It is a great honor to have been chosen as its next editor,” said de Weck.
De Weck holds a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Systems from MIT. As a professor at MIT, he serves as co-director of the MIT Small Satellite Center and faculty co-director of the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership (MIT GEL) Program and the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program (MIT UPOP). His research interests include systems engineering, astronautics and space logistics, and multidisciplinary design optimization. He studies how new technologies and designs enable the creation of complex systems such as vehicles, missions, and industrial ecosystems, how they evolve, and how they can be optimized over time. He also is the co-founder of Intelligent Action, Inc., and was also senior vice president for Technology Planning and Roadmapping at Airbus (2017-2018).
De Weck previously held positions as an associate editor of JSR (2007-2012) and as the editor-in-chief of Wiley’s INCOSE journal Systems Engineering (2013-2018). He has authored or co-authored four books and over 400 scholarly publications, and won 13 best paper awards since 2004. His book Engineering Systems: Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World was the 2012 bestseller at the MIT Press. De Weck’s past honors include the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising and the MIT Teaching with Digital Technology Award.
JSR is devoted to reporting advancements in the science and technology associated with spacecraft and tactical and strategic missile systems, including subsystems, applications, missions, environmental interactions, and space sciences.
Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.