Shoot for the Moon (3/27/23)

Happy Monday, Payload readers, and welcome back to the workweek. Good news comes in twos for this crew. We’re excited to announce that two writers—Jack Kuhr and Jatan Mehta—have joined the Payload team as contributors in recent weeks. Plus Jatan’s debut story in Payload up top!

In today's edition...🌕 Artemis III updates🌎 Beijing in South America🗓️ The week ahead

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NASA Announces Artemis III Science Lead and More

Noah Petro will be the science lead for Artemis III, which aims to return humans to the Moon by mid-decade, officials announced last week during NASA’s Artemis town hall briefing at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). 

Petro is the project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The satellite’s observations have helped space agencies plan for recent lunar touchdown attempts and are critical for the success of Artemis.

How we got here: In March, NASA revealed the Artemis science structure, which includes:

• an internal NASA Science Team

• an external Geology Team

• an Instruments Team

• and Participating Scientists (including international researchers)

The latter three will be competitively selected. For Artemis III, Petro will coordinate and interface between each of these teams, as well as between the collective Science Team and Mission Ops. Barbara Cohen will be the science lead for Artemis IV.

Where will the astronauts land? In August, NASA chose 13 candidate landing zones on the Moon’s south pole for Artemis III. 

Since then, the agency has been soliciting community input to downselect from said sites later this year. To that end, three dedicated sessions at LPSC 2023 saw various scientists present the geologic merits of each of the 13 Artemis III candidate zones. The other side of this equation will see more precise engineering constraints coming from the still-in-development Lunar Starship. 

What about the rovers? Unlike Apollo, NASA plans on having a single, unpressurized Lunar Terrain Vehicle across Artemis missions for at least ten years. The LPSC 2023 Artemis briefing confirmed the rover will be on the Artemis V delivery manifest at the end of the decade. 

Patience is a virtue: Samples astronauts collect won’t be stored in cryogenic freezers until at least Artemis VI. On the flip side, even mission flight controllers will get basic geology training to streamline key science-gathering phases, such as sample collection during excursions.

China’s South American Space Outposts

Sen. Joni Ernst raised concerns about China’s growing space footprint “in our backyard,” which could increase the PRC’s ability to track and spy on American satellites in orbit.

There are 11 space facilities linked to Beijing in South America – more than any other geographic combatant command, Gen. Laura Richardson, the head of US Southern Command, told senators at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday. 

“While China is our pacing threat and we focus on [the Pacific,] we have to recognize they are in this hemisphere as well,” Ernst said at the hearing. “They are building space facilities…and they are in our backyard.”

The risks: Richardson said having ground stations and other space facilities outside the Chinese mainland will let Beijing better track its own satellites. But that allows the PRC to conduct better surveillance of American satellites as well. 

“It’s always under supposed research and development….The concern is maybe it’s not,” she said. 

DoD’s response: The military is doing all it can to discourage cooperation with the PRC, Richardson told senators, including talking with partners in the region about “responsible space operations” and hosting officials from 11 nations this year at the first Space Conference of the Americas.

But the Pentagon can’t force countries to stop working with China, and in some cases, that message seems to be falling on deaf ears. For example, Argentina provides little to no oversight of China’s Espacio Lejano ground station on its western border, and the contract between the two nations explicitly says Argentina will “not interfere [with] or interrupt” China’s activities there, according to a CSIS report.

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In Other News

• Spire Global ($SPIR) and Momentus ($MNTS) are both at risk of being removed from the New York Stock Exchange. 

• Momentus also commissioned Vigoride-5, and the spacecraft is maneuvering under its own power in LEO. 

• Sierra aced a fourth test of the LIFE habitat, signed a Space Act agreement with NASA, and expanded to Huntsville.

• Blue Origin concluded an overheated engine nozzle caused the New Shepard rocket failure last year. 

• Rocket Lab is targeting a $50-$55M cost per launch for its new heavy-lift Neutron rocket. 

• Canada committed to sticking with the ISS through 2030.

• Yes, everyone is still arguing over where to base US Space Command.

The View from Space

Capella bragged on Twitter that its SAR satellites sent back their first images of geological features in Africa less than five days after launch.