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--- transportation:spacecraft [2026/08/17 04:02] – [Moon Launch] timb
+++ transportation:spacecraft [2026/09/10 22:33] (current) – [Artemis 2] timb
@@ Line 1357: / Line 1357: @@
 https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/china_far_side_sample/
+===== Egg Shells =====
+== Chinese researchers find egg-cellent way to keep space debris from scrambling craft ==
+Eggy armor cuts projectile speed in simulations as LEO gets increasingly crowded
+Brandon Vigliarolo - Wed 09 Sept 2026 // 16:56 UTC
+There’s a lot of garbage floating around in low Earth orbit that threatens both crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, but a new idea based on one of nature's enduring shapes could offer better protection against debris impacts that's no yolk.
+Bad puns aside, and we do beg your forgiveness, Chinese researchers at Dalian University of Technology have developed a new spacecraft armor design that, according to a research paper published on Tuesday, offers considerably more protection by taking inspiration from the shape of a typical egg.
+“Natural biological structures have evolved to demonstrate excellent energy absorption performance over long-term adaptation,” lead author Yuxin Wang told the American Institute of Physics, whose journal published his team’s results.
+Debris in orbit poses serious risks to spacecraft and satellites: Even a tiny piece can cause massive damage, as chunks of metal and other spacecraft debris travel at blistering speeds. Debris in low Earth orbit typically travels at around 7 to 8 kilometers per second, while impacts between orbiting objects can occur at relative velocities approaching 15 kilometers per second. For reference, even the most high-powered military rifles struggle to achieve a muzzle velocity over 1.45 km/s.
+According to orbital debris tracker Orbital Radar, a 1 cm aluminum sphere traveling at 10 km/s packs the same amount of kinetic energy as a hand grenade. With so many satellites in orbit, collision risks are rising. Starlink is lowering its orbit, while SpaceX has separately proposed launching up to one million satellites for an orbital datacenter system. Things are getting crowded and better spacecraft protection is definitely needed.
+https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/09/09/chinese-researchers-find-egg-cellent-way-to-keep-space-debris-from-scrambling-craft/5295340
@@ Line 1595: / Line 1617: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/china-launch-mission-return-first-samples-moon-far-side-1851454398
+==== 2027 ====
+==  China Is About to Launch Its Most Ambitious Moon Mission Yet ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Friday August 21, 2026 12:00AM
+China's Chang'e 7 mission is set to launch for the moon's south pole, where it will attempt the first-ever landing directly at the pole and search the region's dark craters for water ice. "It's an amazing mission," says Norbert Schorghofer, a Hawaii-based senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. "There has never been a landed mission to find water [on the moon]." If successful, China "will be the leader in lunar science," Schorghofer adds. Scientific American reports:
+<blockquote>
+Chang'e 7, China's seventh moon mission, is scheduled to launch on a Long March 5 rocket from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Site on the island of Hainan, with the launch window opening on the morning of August 24 local time (the evening of August 23 EDT). The mission includes an orbiter, as well as a lander, which totes a rover and a novel "hopping" robot. The spacecraft will take up to six days to reach lunar orbit, where it will then spend two months preparing for a November landing meant to be a near bull's-eye on the lunar south pole. The mission also includes equipment from several international partners, highlighting China's growing global influence -- both on and off Earth.
+The mission's lunar target is Shackleton Crater, a 21-kilometer-wide (13-mile-wide) pit with a rim that grazes the moon's south pole. No other spacecraft has ever landed so close. That proximity should allow Chang'e 7 to prospect for water ice trapped in smaller depressions near Shackleton that, because of the moon's tilt, never see sunlight and have temperatures just a few dozen degrees above absolute zero. "There are big reservoirs of ice water at the poles," says Simone Dell'Agnello, a physicist at Italy's National Institute for Nuclear Physics.
+</blockquote>
+https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/08/21/0121220/china-is-about-to-launch-its-most-ambitious-moon-mission-yet
+== Due to need for ‘absolute success,’ China delays critical Moon launch to 2027 ==
+“The Chang’e 7 mission does not meet the conditions for launch.”
+Eric Berger – Aug 23, 2026 7:30 AM
+China’s “Manned Space” program issued a terse announcement on Sunday regarding its much-anticipated Chang’e 7 lunar exploration mission.
+The agency stated: “In keeping with the principle of proceeding prudently and reliably, and ensuring absolute success, after a comprehensive assessment it has been determined that the Chang’e 7 mission does not meet the conditions for launch and therefore cannot be carried out during the planned launch window this year.”
+The Chinese message offered no explanation for the cause of the delay from the Wenchang Space Launch Site, located on an island in the South China Sea. Consisting of a lunar orbiter, lander, rover, and a mini-hopper of a probe, the mission was due to launch as early as Sunday on a Long March 5 rocket. It is intended to land at the South Pole of the Moon.
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/08/due-to-need-for-absolute-success-china-delays-critical-moon-launch-to-2027/
+== China Delays Ambitious Chang'e 7 Lunar Mission Until 2027 ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Monday August 24, 2026 11:00AM
+China has delayed its ambitious Chang'e 7 lunar mission until at least 2027 after scrubbing an August 24 launch. Poor weather conditions were likely a factor, with China's Manned Space Agency (CMSA) saying the decision reflects the need for "absolute safety." Scientific American reports:
+<blockquote>
+China and the U.S. are in a race to send humans back to the moon, a feat that that U.S. accomplished in the 1960s and that has never been achieved by any other country. Chang'e 7 is to play to a crucial part in China's ambitions: the probe is designed to search for frozen water in the Shackleton Crater, a pit that spans some 21 kilometers (13 miles) and sits beside the lunar south pole.
+No spacecraft has ever landed in that region, which scientists consider to be among the likeliest places to find water on the moon. Locating water that can be used by humans is vital to establishing any long-term lunar presence. NASA and China are eyeing the region to establish a crewed base -- and because this real estate is so precious, it matters who gets their first.
+</blockquote>
+Ars Technica notes in its reporting that the delayed launch was "most likely" due to Typhoon Narra, "which has 45 mph winds (equivalent to a moderate Tropical Storm) and continues to meander around in the waterway separating Hainan Island, where the spaceport is located, and mainland China."
+https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/08/24/1736239/china-delays-ambitious-change-7-lunar-mission-until-2027
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 Read More: https://www.engadget.com/2231420/space-x-falcon-9-rocket-moon-crash/
+== New NASA Images Reveal Crater Left Behind by SpaceX Rocket Impact on the Moon ==
+The fresh impact crater measures at 60 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
+Passant Rabie - August 19, 2026, 4:45 pm ET
+We just got our first look at the impact crater left by a wayward SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that struck the Moon earlier this month.
+The Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the lunar surface after being stranded in a highly elliptical orbit, and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater that formed from the impact.
+The crater appears to be 60 feet wide (18 meters) and less than 10 feet deep (3 meters), according to NASA.
+https://gizmodo.com/new-nasa-images-reveal-crater-left-behind-by-spacex-rocket-impact-on-the-moon-2000800562
+== NASA estimates the size of the hole SpaceX made in the moon ==
+As the latest Starship finds its way to an obscure part of Australia, for observations
+Simon Sharwoood - Wed 19 Aug 2026 06:15 UTC
+NASA has used its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to capture more pics of the mess on the moon left by a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage.
+As The Register has previously reported, in 2025 private aerospace concerns Firefly and ispace hired a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for their respective Blue Ghost Mission 1 and RESILIENCE moonshots.
+RESILIENCE did not live up to its name. Blue Ghost did rather better.
+The trajectory used to get the two craft to Luna meant the upper stage of the Falcon 9 was on a collision course with Earth’s sole permanent natural satellite. The vehicle met its end in early August, and South Korea’s space agency captured a few snaps.
+NASA did likewise between August 11 and 12, and on Tuesday shared some of them.
+https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/08/19/nasa-estimates-the-size-of-the-hole-spacex-made-in-the-moon/5289425
@@ Line 20043: / Line 20149: @@
 https://foxglove.dev/blog/visualizing-the-artemis-ii-mission
+== Artemis II commander and pilot become NASA’s first astronaut emeriti ==
+“Artemis II is done.”
+Robert Pearlman – Sep 10, 2026 4:30 AM
+The commander and pilot of NASA’s Artemis II mission have gained a new distinction five months after splashing down from the Moon: They’re not fully retiring from the space agency.
+Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover are the first astronauts to join NASA’s emeritus program, enabling them to continue to support the work being done at Johnson Space Center in Houston. They will remain available to train and mentor the current workforce while still being able to pursue employment and opportunities outside of NASA.
+“I have asked NASA … to not use the term ‘retire’ as much, but technically emeritus is a retirement program,” Glover told collectSPACE.com on Wednesday. “It’s something we have typically done for scientists when they have groundbreaking research, and they want to go back to academia to teach or to research and publish.”
+Glover has accepted a full-time administrative leadership position at his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, helping shape the school’s long-term strategies. Concurrently, he has committed to NASA to be available to convey his knowledge of the Orion spacecraft and its systems, among other expertise, to future Artemis missions.
+“You can be paid or you can be a gratis service, which is compensation waived, and that’s what I’m doing,” Glover said. “So I’m not going to be paid for it, but I’ll be able to voluntarily be an advisor or a consultant providing insight into what living in Orion is like.”
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/artemis-ii-commander-and-pilot-become-nasas-first-astronaut-emeriti/
@@ Line 20141: / Line 20265: @@
 https://www.theregister.com/science/2026/05/14/nasa-fleshes-out-artemis-iii-the-moon-mission-that-wont-go-to-the-moon/5240365
+==== Artemis IV ====
+=== Spacesuit ===
+== Wary of Artemis IV timeline, NASA is changing lunar spacesuit design ==
+“Requirements are being adjusted to reflect near-term mission needs.”
+Eric Berger – Sep 2, 2026 12:37 PM
+NASA has decided to use a simpler spacesuit for its initial missions to the lunar surface, Ars has learned.
+The agency announced the decision during an internal meeting this week as it seeks to accelerate its program to land humans at the south pole of the Moon as early as 2028. At the direction of Artemis Program Manager Jeremy Parsons, NASA will work with Axiom Space to develop a “Sortie Suit” variant of the planned spacesuit for the lunar surface.
+Sources said the Sortie Suit will be used for the initial landing missions flown on landers developed both by SpaceX and Blue Origin. Among the goals of the initiative are to lower the mass of the spacesuit, reduce its complexity, and simplify interfaces between the spacesuits and lunar landers.
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/wary-of-artemis-iv-timeline-nasa-is-changing-lunar-spacesuit-design/