Going to the moon in 2024

[Justin]

Yep. The threads over at NASA Spaceflight have pinpointed when the COPV tank let go. You can see it go whizzing off in a couple of the videos.

Still, mission accomplished. It's amazing watching something that huge just hang in the air like that.

[Justin]

Ouch.

https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status...75063077605377

[Justin]

Looks like the current mission from India is on track to put a lander on the lunar surface by the end of the week!

https://spacenews.com/india-set-for-...ft-separation/

Successful separation of the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and lander clears the way for historic landing attempt Sep. 6.
HELSINKI — India will attempt to become the fourth country to soft land on the Moon Friday after successful separation of the Chandrayaan-2 lander and orbiter early Monday.

The separation event took place at 3:45 a.m. Eastern Monday, just under a day after the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft carried out a final orbit change to lower its orbit to a 119- by 127-kilometer lunar orbit.

“All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and Lander are healthy,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced in a statement released shortly after separation.

[Gman]

India Loses Contact With Chandrayaan-2 Moon Lander During Its Descent

Someone forgot to do the needful.

BANGALORE, India — India’s attempt to land a robotic spacecraft near the moon’s South Pole on Saturday appeared to end in failure.

The initial parts of the descent went smoothly. But less than two miles above the surface, the trajectory diverged from the planned path. The mission control room fell silent as communications from the lander were lost. A member of the staff was seen patting the back of K. Sivan, the director of India’s space program.

He later announced that the spacecraft was operating as expected until an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, or 1.3 miles. “The data is being analyzed,” he said.

The partial failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission — an orbiter remains in operation — would delay the country’s bid to join an elite club of nations that have landed in one piece on the moon’s surface.

If the spacecraft crashed — although a communications glitch was also possible — it occurred during a period that Dr. Sivan had called “15 minutes of terror.” A series of steps had to be completed by computers on board the spacecraft in the correct sequence, with no opportunity for do-overs.

This was the third attempted spacecraft landing on the moon this year. In January, China landed the first probe ever on the far side of the moon. The lander and accompanying rover have been operating since then.

An Israeli nonprofit sent a small robotic spacecraft named Beresheet to the moon, but its landing attempt in April went awry in a manner similar to Chandrayaan-2. The initial descent went as planned, but then communications were lost near the surface. It was later discovered that a command to shut off the engine was incorrectly sent.

Chandrayaan-2 launched in July, taking a long, fuel-efficient path to the moon. Earlier this week, the 3,200-pound lander, named Vikram after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program, separated from the orbiter and maneuvered toward the moon’s surface.

Fifteen minutes before the planned landing, the Vikram lander was traveling at more than 2,000 miles per hour at an altitude of about 20 miles. Four of its engines fired to quickly slow it down as it headed toward its landing site on a high, flat plain near the South Pole. Later in the landing process, it appeared that Vikram was descending too fast and then data from the spacecraft ended.

[Erni]

Space id hard.

[Justin]

It's such a bummer that the Indian lander crashed. I was hoping for good things.

[Justin]

Interesting. There's some hope that maybe the lander actually managed to touch down on it's own and the mission can be salvaged.

https://www.space.com/india-moon-lan...2-reports.html

That would be pretty cool if it turned out to be true.

[Justin]

Over the weekend Elon gave an update on the status of Starship (formerly the BFR.)

It's amazing how quickly SpaceX has put this program together using only about 5% of their total workforce. If he pulls this off, old space is going to look increasingly obsolete.

[clodhopper]

I chuckled heartily when I heard the news report that NASA was putting SpaceX on the spot for being over on schedule. Like NASA ever produced ANYTHING on schedule.

[Justin]

I think Bridenstine regrets having made that tweet yesterday.

He later shared another tweet from Eric Berger of Ars Technica:

https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/stat...11302296395776

Eric Berger
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@SciGuySpace
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I would not read this as a shot to SpaceX, but rather a reflection of Jim's desire to see all NASA contractors meet their deadlines for government contracts.

I think the press is blowing up Bridenstine's tweet in another fit of wanting to make the Trump administration look bad, and, frankly, he could have worded it it much better.

When Musk was asked about it on CNN, he had the best response:

"Are you sure he wasn't talking about SLS?"