Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for September 2021. The on-orbit satellite servicing market is heating up, VIPER’s lunar landing site announced, and Inspiration4 space tourism mission orbits for three days successfully.
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Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for August 2021. China starts study of kilometer sized space structures, Martian dust storms impacting atmosphere loss, and lunar exosphere and surface roughness potentially facilitating global water distribution.
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Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for May 2021. China landed a rover on Mars, SpaceX landed a Starship during a test flight, and NASA’s new Administrator, Bill Nelson, is already on the hunt for more funding.
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Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for April 2021. SpaceX won the sole award from the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) competition, MOXIE produced oxygen from carbon-dioxide on Mars, a helicopter flew on Mars, and MEV-2 docked with an active satellite in GEO.
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Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for January 2021. Virgin Orbit successfully launched their first payload to orbit, Blue Origin completed their 14th New Shepard flight, and SpaceX launched 134 satellites in a single launch. Most important though is the first space aged wine has returned from its year aboard the ISS, providing the select few tasters an out of this world experience. Although it’s only been one month, 2021 is off to an exciting start!
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China dominates. Asteroid mining dies but attends its own funeral. Reusable rockets lower the cost and increase access to space. The Moon, Mars, and asteroids all get new survey maps for water resources. Water-based thrusters perform well in orbit. Asteroids are blasted and samples collected. Space mining gets more legal scaffolding. The Moon gets one new rover and two new craters.
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As indicated by the title of Robert Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, the Moon is a harsh environment to operate in. There is a scant atmosphere, abrasive dust, and extreme temperature ranges to deal with. Observed temperatures range from a blistering 127 C (260 F) in equatorial sunlight down to a frosty -238 C (-397 F) in the permanently shadowed regions of the poles. Designing missions to survive these conditions pushes current technology to its limits.
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