Tag Archives: Moon

With more than a half-dozen posters available for delegates to view, Gordon Zhou – a young researcher at the University of British Columbia’s department of civil engineering – said in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the one theme that unites the posters he wrote with Austin Mardon, at the Antarctic Institute of Canada.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has spent the past three years putting “considerable emphasis” on lunar exploration technologies, according to the paper Advanced technology Development for Space Exploration at the Canadian Space Agency being presented at the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group this week.

The concept of mining on the moon is “embryonic”, notes Dale Boucher, a researcher from the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT), but with the right economic argument there will be companies interested in getting involved. Boucher co-authored the paper Assessing the Resource Potential of the Moon: The Case for a Decadal-Scale Robotic Lunar Exploration Program presented at this weeks Lunar Exploration Analysis Group meeting.

Each fall the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group gather to discuss the exploration of the moon. The focus of the meeting this year will be using the Moon as a target for solar system exploration, science, commerce, education, and technology development. The meeting takes place in Washington starting today through Thursday. Canadian participation in the meeting is strong once again this year and SpaceRef will provide …

The main success of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) is allowing Canada to keep an eye out on what other countries are doing and to develop programs in parallel, according to the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Victoria Hipkin. The program scientist for planetary exploration is a co-author on a paper explaining ISECG’s importance; it will be presented at the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group …

The Canadian Space Agency today issued a call for proposals to build two Lunar Exploration Light Rover (LELR) prototypes at maximum cost of $11 million per rover. Up to two contracts will be awarded with each contract requiring a prototype to be built. Only one contract will be awarded per bidder. Proposals are due by August 17th.

NASA today announced that they have confirmed the presence of water on the moon by its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The LCROSS spacecraft and its companion rocket stage made twin impacts in the Cabeus crater Oct. 9 that created a plume of material from the bottom of a crater that has not seen sunlight in billions of years. This is good news …

According to our companion site NASA Watch, where the news broke, the journal Science will publish three papers tomorrow from three independent spacecraft that confirm the Moon has an abundant supply of water. At the same time NASA will be holding a briefing 2 p.m. EDT to discuss the new findings.