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Picture of the Week: Moon Princess August 26, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Apollo, Gaia Selene, Google Lunar X Prize, Japan, Kaguya, Mooncast, Mythology, Picture of the Week , add a comment

That is an official JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) rendering of their lunar orbiter Kaguya (formerly SELENE; the new name is derived from the name of a lunar princess in the oldest surviving piece of Japanese fiction, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), which completed much of its operations (namely visual documentation, including amazing HD video of Luna’s surface, which can be viewed here) in 2007.

A main facet of the Google Lunar X Prize‘s award conditions is the completion of a ‘Mooncast‘, including HD video, from the surface of the moon, representing something of a next step forward from what JAXA’s Kaguya carried forward from Apollo.

For a remarkably thorough and neat examination of the Kaguya craft itself, see this Discovery Channel profile on it.

Basics of Moon Colonization, Part 1: When April 4, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Base Race, China, Japan, Russia, Sweden , add a comment

To get us started here at Luna C/I, here’s Part 1 of a quick ‘Visitor’s Guide’ to Moon Colonization, to help you loyal readers get acquainted with the basics of what’s rolling with M.C. in the early 21st Century.

Each of the bits noted in these features will be discussed in greater detail in the future, as developments occur and I complete more specific features on each program. So, without further ado, here’s the general details on When we’ll start seeing lunar bases popping up (and yes, that’s plural):

When: The good ol’ U.S.A. currently has a plan set down to have construction begin on the Moon for a base in 2019, with the base being completed in 2024. So, in a mere 16 years, the U.S. plans to have its moon base up and operational (with astronauts living there for 6-month shifts, like the Int’l Space Station).

Mind you now that the U.S. is actually not the only country with its sights set on the lunar real estate market. China has plans to have a moon base of its own, in a competitive timeframe to the U.S.’, with moon landings and numerous other missions in the next 15-20 years leading up to it. In addition, never being ones to get left behind, the Russians are getting into the act, planning (according to one article) to have a base up around 2025, and according to another planning to have a mine up (for the Earth-rare, but Moon-common fuel resource Helium-3) on the Moon by 2020.

And we’re just getting started! Japan’s base is planned to be operational by 2030, and even the Swedes have had plans in the works.

So that’s no less than five different countries that could have bases on the moon within a mere 25 years (!).

In the 1950′s and 60′s, we had the ‘Space Race’. Now, in the early millenium, it looks like the world is gearing itself up for a ‘Base Race’.

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