Latest news with #lunarexploration
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
CU students build virtual-reality moon-exploring robot
DENVER (KDVR) — Students at the University of Colorado Boulder are preparing to explore the moon from the comfort of an earthbound room, after designing a robot that can take them to the moon's surface via virtual reality. The student-built robot could help shape the future of lunar exploration — even though it currently lives in a quiet, carpeted office, the university said in a press release. What to expect for severe storms rolling through Colorado on Wednesday In its current state, the robot nicknamed 'Armstrong' is a three-wheeled robot that uses a mechanical arm to pick up and move plastic rocks. An exercise that could potentially develop into a system where robots are controlled on the moon by the use of a 'digital twin,' which is a hyper-realistic virtual reality environment. 'That's what is really exciting about this—you're able to simulate everything in the environment, from the shadows to the texture of the dirt, and then train operators on conditions that are as close to real as possible,' said Xavier O'Keefe, a master's student in aerospace engineering sciences. 'That way, once you get to the moon, you have a higher chance of success.' O'Keefe has been working on the project since he was studying as an undergraduate student at the university. The robot study was funded by NASA and a Colorado-based company called Lunar Outpost. The project is led by CU astrophysics professor emeritus and the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy's Jack Burns. Burns is part of a team that received a grant from NASA to design FarView, which is a proposed moon observatory, covering 77 square miles and requiring robots to install thousands of antennas, according to the university. As part of the new study, students replicated their lab environment in a video game engine and gauged the performance of people controlling robots who had been trained in VR versus those who hadn't. The study concluded that students who had trained with the digital twin were able to complete tasks 30% faster and were less stressed while doing so. To take one more step towards complete function, the team will begin research on how dust may affect the robots by creating a simulation of the moon's surface. O'Keefe said it is a small step, but one that's bringing humanity closer to walking and rolling on the moon again. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Arab News
19-06-2025
- Science
- Arab News
China's rapid progress in race to the moon
China is making rapid progress with the building of a new space network called the Queqiao constellation. This system is designed to connect Earth and the moon through reliable communications, navigation and observation tools. The goal is to support future lunar missions by placing satellites and spacecraft in key positions around the moon and in space between the Earth and the moon, including areas known as Lagrange points, where gravity allows objects to stay in place more easily. This infrastructure is essential for China's plans to explore, work and even build settlements on the moon in the coming decades. China last month moved a small spacecraft named Tiandu-1 into an orbit that means it loops around Earth once for every three times the moon circles our planet. This special orbit gives it a predictable position relative to the moon over time, which helps in studying the complex pull of the gravity of both Earth and the moon. Another key satellite, Queqiao-2, was launched last year and it is already helping China prepare for future moon landings. And the satellite DRO-B has entered a different kind of orbit and is now traveling through Lagrange points. These stable zones are where space stations or satellite hubs may one day be located. In the US, the Artemis program is NASA's ambitious plan to return astronauts to the moon, establish a sustainable human presence there and use the lunar missions as a steppingstone for future Mars exploration. But Artemis has faced delays and budget uncertainties. The first uncrewed Artemis 1 mission successfully flew around the moon in 2022, but upcoming crewed missions have been pushed back. It has lately been shaped by political uncertainty and doubts over its focus. The moon objective might have regained importance in the US following the falling-out of Trump and Musk Khaled Abou Zahr The moon objective might have regained importance in the past month following the falling-out of US President Donald Trump and SpaceX's Elon Musk. Musk has been a long-time supporter of going straight to Mars and has publicly stated that moon missions are a waste of resources and time. His closeness to Trump had hence cast doubts on the moon projects. Musk's preferred nominee for NASA chief, Jared Isaacman, had also been seen as shifting national space policy in favor of Mars. It is worth noting that Isaacman had great support from the space business community. However, Trump withdrew his nomination and Musk's subsequent exit from the White House has, according to media reports, given the moon mission backers the opportunity to shift NASA's focus firmly back to lunar exploration. In the race for the moon, the outcome is not yet clear. The White House has proposed a cut to NASA's budget for fiscal year 2026, aiming to slash nearly 25 percent of the agency's funding — from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. This would be the largest single-year budget reduction in NASA's history. The most severe cuts would hit NASA's science programs, which are set to lose 47 percent of their funding, shrinking to just $3.9 billion. Such cuts threaten to cancel about a third of NASA's science projects, including high-profile missions like the Mars Sample Return, the New Horizons mission to the outer solar system and the Juno probe orbiting Jupiter. Long-running Mars orbiters such as Mars Odyssey and MAVEN, as well as NASA's contribution to the European Rosalind Franklin rover, would also face cancellation. Beyond funding, the proposal also calls for cutting NASA's workforce by about 32 percent, reducing staff from 17,391 to 11,853 employees. The proposed budget also targets the cancellation of key Artemis program components. However, the budget request is just a proposal and will require approval from Congress to take effect. Moreover, following Musk's exit, the renewed momentum for the moon also comes as the Senate Commerce Committee unveiled a $10 billion reconciliation bill to fund NASA in response to the proposed budget cuts, with much of that planned for the Artemis program. The new Senate proposal recenters toward lunar goals. China plans to build a permanent lunar base by 2035, focusing on using the moon's ice to support human missions Khaled Abou Zahr It is also worth noting that there is a business angle to this, with many of the industry's actors using it as a way to counter SpaceX's dominance of the launch and space markets and carve out a wider distribution of contracts. In 2024, SpaceX accounted for 95 percent of all US orbital launches. Moreover, once its Starship rocket becomes operational, it will be another leap for the US. This would even allow for an acceleration of space launches. Many wonder why so much focus is on the moon. But it holds importance beyond scientific research. To start with, launching rockets from the moon is generally much cheaper and more efficient in terms of fuel compared to launching from Earth. This is primarily because the moon's gravity is about one-sixth that of Earth's, so rockets need less energy to escape the surface. Moreover, on Earth, the atmospheric drag requires large amounts of fuel to reach orbit. In comparison, the Moon has no atmosphere, eliminating air resistance. Some estimates suggest that launching from the Moon could reduce fuel requirements by up to 90 percent compared to Earth launches for the same payload. Another advantage is the moon's unique environment. It offers valuable resources, such as water in the form of ice, which can be used for life support and fuel production, potentially enabling sustainable space missions. Other more adventurous objectives have been stated, such as mining rare materials and developing new industries like lunar tourism and manufacturing. Water on the moon is mostly found as ice in permanently shadowed regions near the poles, especially within craters that never receive sunlight. This is why China will focus on the moon's south pole. It plans to build a permanent lunar base there by 2035, focusing on using the moon's ice to support human missions and fuel production. Upcoming Chang'e missions will seek resources and test technologies for habitat construction. China has a focused and state-driven approach to establishing a permanent lunar presence. It seems much clearer than the US space program, especially as public debates roar in America. Yet, despite its budget challenges and political debates, the US is unleashing a vibrant private space sector, which is showing rapid innovation. Despite the technical difficulties and setbacks faced by both nations, the race for the moon is now clearly on. The first to arrive will likely benefit just as much as when the New World was discovered.
CNN
05-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
Japan-based company is poised for its moon-landing attempt
Update: Date: Title: Here's what to expect during today's moon-landing attempt Content: Resilience, a spacecraft built by Tokyo-based Ispace that could redeem the company after a failed moon-landing attempt in 2023, is ready to make its final descent to the lunar surface. Ispace has broken down its mission in to series of 10 goals or anticipated 'successes.' Resilience has already notched through the first eight of those steps. All that's left is the landing sequence and the harrowing moment of touchdown. Here are the key moments to watch out for: • During the touchdown attempt, Ispace will confirm it has started the 'lunar landing sequence' — the final steps the Resilience lander will need to tick through in the moments before the vehicle leaves it circular orbit around the moon and begins its touchdown attempt. • There a several critical phases within the sequence. The vehicle will begin to change its orientation and start the braking process, aiming to slow down Resilience's speed. • Resilience's targeted touchdown time is 3:17 p.m. ET. The lander is aiming for a spot within Mare Frigoris — or the 'Sea of Cold' — which lies in the moon's far northern reaches. • If all goes according to plan, Ispace should confirm the vehicle is safely on the surface within a minute or so after touchdown, the company's CEO, Takeshi Hakamada, told CNN. • Ground controllers will then conduct a series of health checks to make sure the lander, its science instruments and all other components are functioning as intended. • The first image from the lander is expected within the first 12 hours after the spacecraft reaches the surface, perhaps sooner. (Take note: Every lunar landing mission has to deal with limited bandwidth to beam data back to Earth. Sometimes, visuals are not the highest priority.)
Reuters
05-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Japan's ispace tries lunar touchdown again with Resilience lander
TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) - Japanese company ispace (9348.T), opens new tab is set to try the lunar touchdown of its uncrewed spacecraft again on Friday two years after its failed inaugural mission, in a bid to become the first company outside the United States to achieve a moon landing. Tokyo-based ispace hopes to join U.S. firms Intuitive Machines (LUNR.O), opens new tab and Firefly Aerospace, which have accomplished commercial landings amid an intensifying global race for the moon that includes state-run missions from China and India. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, is expected to touch down on Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900 km (560 miles) from the moon's north pole, at 4:17 a.m. Friday local time (1917 GMT Thursday) following an hour-long descent from lunar orbit, according to the company. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience carries a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and payloads worth a total of $16 million, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing is successful, the 2.3-metre-high lander and the microwave-sized rover will begin 14-day exploration activities until the arrival of a freezing-cold lunar night, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with U.S. space agency NASA. Later on Friday, ispace will host a press conference about the outcome of the mission, according to the company. Shares in ispace more than doubled earlier this year on growing investor hopes for the second mission, before calming in recent days. Resilience in January shared a SpaceX rocket launch with Firefly's Blue Ghost lander, which took a faster trajectory to the moon and touched down successfully in March. Intuitive Machines, which last year marked the world's first touchdown of a commercial lunar lander, made its second attempt in March but the lander Athena ended on its side on the lunar surface just as in the first mission. Japan last year became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the U.S., China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, yet also in a toppled position. Despite President Donald Trump's proposed changes to the U.S. space policy, Japan remains committed to NASA's Artemis moon program, pledging the involvement of Japanese astronauts and technologies for future lunar missions. Including one in 2027 as part of the Artemis program, ispace plans seven more missions in the U.S. and Japan through 2029 to capture increasing demands for lunar transportation.
BreakingNews.ie
05-06-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Private Japanese lunar lander heads towards touchdown in the Moon's far north
A private lunar lander from Japan is closing in on the Moon, aiming for a touchdown in the unexplored far north with a mini rover. The Moon landing attempt by Tokyo-based company ispace on Friday Japan time is the latest entry in the rapidly expanding commercial lunar rush. Advertisement The encore comes two years after the company's first moonshot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander. Resilience holds a rover with a shovel to gather lunar dirt as well as a Swedish artist's toy-size red house that will be lowered onto the Moon's dusty surface. Long the province of governments, the Moon became a target of private outfits in 2019, with more flops than wins along the way. Launched in January from Florida on a long, roundabout journey, Resilience entered lunar orbit last month. Advertisement Deployment of @Firefly_Space 's Blue Ghost lunar lander confirmed — SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2025 It shared a SpaceX ride with Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, which reached the Moon faster and became the first private entity to successfully land there in March. Another US company, Intuitive Machines, arrived at the Moon a few days after Firefly. But the tall, spindly lander face-planted in a crater near the Moon's south pole and was declared dead within hours. Resilience is targeting the top of the Moon, a less forbidding place than the shadowy bottom. The ispace team chose a flat area with few boulders in Mare Frigoris or Sea of Cold, a long and narrow region full of craters and ancient lava flows that stretches across the near side's northern tier. Advertisement Once settled with power and communication flowing, the 7.5-foot Resilience will beam back pictures, expected several hours or more after touchdown. It will be at least the weekend, according to ispace, before the lander lowers the piggybacking rover onto the lunar surface. Made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic with four wheels, ispace's European-built rover — named Tenacious — sports a high-definition camera to scout out the area and a shovel to scoop up some lunar dirt for Nasa. The rover, weighing just five kilograms, will stick close to the lander, going in circles at a speed of less than one inch per second. Advertisement It is capable of venturing up to two-thirds of a mile from the lander and should be operational throughout the two-week mission, the period of daylight. Besides science and tech experiments, there is an artistic touch. The rover holds a tiny, Swedish-style red cottage with white trim and a green door, dubbed the Moonhouse by creator Mikael Genberg, for placement on the lunar surface. Takeshi Hakamada, CEO and founder of ispace, considers the latest moonshot 'merely a stepping stone', with its next, much bigger lander launching by 2027 with Nasa involvement, and even more to follow. Advertisement 'We're not trying to corner the market. We're trying to build the market,' Jeremy Fix, chief engineer for ispace's US subsidiary, said at a conference last month. 'It's a huge market, a huge potential.' Mr Fix noted that ispace, like other businesses, does not have 'infinite funds' and cannot afford repeated failures. While not divulging the cost of the current mission, company officials said it is less than the first one which exceeded 100 million dollars.
