July 25, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Ispace announces completion of a European mini-rover set to fly on its Hakuto-R Resilience lunar lander
The mission is targeting a launch late this year on a Falcon 9. The landing location remains unclear.
- Thales-Alenia completes design review of a proposed lunar mobile habitation module
The artist’s rendering suggests this would be like a mini-RV for use on the Moon.
- China proposes its own proposed lunar module habitation module
The Chinese graphic looks less well thought out compared to Thales-Alenia’s design.
- China university proposes building a intelligent spherical robot for use on its space station
This is essentially a copycat of similar robots already flying on ISS.
- New rocket startup New Frontier Aerospace touts first tests of a small-scale prototype of the engine for its proposed point-to-point orbital spaceplane
Though I wish them well, to say we should remain skeptical of this company at this point is an understatement.
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Falcon 9 back on track.
https://x.com/sciguyspace/status/1816599544181731605?s=46
Gary: I just posted this. If someone hears whether the FAA has issued a license, please comment.
“The Chinese graphic looks less well thought out compared to Thales-Alenia’s design.”
My takeaway is that NASA has defined what they want from Thales-Alenia’s design. They have a basic idea for the power needed, the living space available, and the space available for experiments and other desired uses of the module. Its wheels may be intended for transport from the landing site to the outpost/moon-base site. Although the word “module” implies multiple parts that will make up an eventual whole, the hatch on this design does not look so compatible with additional modules, but maybe they have an idea for some form of adaptor. This design review may have generated a few desired changes from the ideas shown in this rendering.
The Chinese rendering looks like they are currently in “me too!” mode, copying yet another idea but still have to figure out how to make it different enough so that the world thinks the Chinese are ahead of everyone else.