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Moonlight Initiative
The Moonlight Initiative or the Moonlight Lunar Communications and Navigation Services (LCNS) is a project by the European Space Agency, European Space Agency (ESA) with the goal of creating uninterrupted telecommunications satellite coverage between Earth and the Moon, as well as lunar satellite navigation, facilitating future lunar projects. LCNS is a partnership between ESA and an industry consortium led by Telespazio, with support from the UK Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Goals The stated end goal of the Moonlight project is to make it easier for institution and companies to build infrastructure (i.e. mining, utilities, power, etc.) on the Moon, culminating in a sustained long-term human presence. LCNS is intended for enhancing efficiency and reducing costs of lunar operations. ESA intends to work in partnership with NASA and JAXA in creating lasting telecommunications and navigation links with the moon, involving the adoption of the LunaNet specifications. Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ESA Moonlight Inititative Logo
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European integration. Its 2025 annual budget was €7.7 billion. The ESA Human and Robotic Exploration programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station programme); as well as the launch and operation of missions to Mars and Moon. Further activities include science missions to Jupiter, Mercury, the Sun, Earth observation, Asteroid impact avoidance and Telecommunications missions, designing launch vehicles; and maintaining Europe's Spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou (French Guiana). Further programmes include space safety, satellite navigation, applications and commercialisation. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 6 is operated through Arianespace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-major And Semi-minor Axes
In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longest semidiameter or one half of the major axis, and thus runs from the centre, through a focus, and to the perimeter. The semi-minor axis (minor semiaxis) of an ellipse or hyperbola is a line segment that is at right angles with the semi-major axis and has one end at the center of the conic section. For the special case of a circle, the lengths of the semi-axes are both equal to the radius of the circle. The length of the semi-major axis of an ellipse is related to the semi-minor axis's length through the eccentricity and the semi-latus rectum \ell, as follows: The semi-major axis of a hyperbola is, depending on the convention, plus or minus one half of the distance between the two branches. Thus it is the distance from the cente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based systems, including satellites and ground segments, used for telecommunications, navigation, earth observation, space exploration and scientific purposes. The company is the second largest industrial participant in the International Space Station (ISS), having produced numerous pressurized modules for the European Space Agency (ESA) including the Cupola (ISS module), Cupola, the node modules Harmony (ISS module), Harmony and Tranquility (ISS module), Tranquility, and the structure of the Columbus (ISS module), Columbus laboratory. It is a key contributor to Galileo (satellite navigation), Galileo, a European Satellite navigation, global satellite navigation system, being responsible for the ground segment in particular. In 2021, the company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Astronautical Congress
The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is an annual meeting of the actors in the discipline of space science. It is hosted by one of the national society members of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), with the support of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL). It consists of plenary sessions, lectures and meetings. The IAC is attended by the agency heads and senior executives of the world's space agencies. As the Second World War came to an end, the United States and the Soviet Union held different and competing political worldviews. As the Cold War began to take shape, communication between the two countries became less frequent. Both countries turned their focus to achieving military superiority over the other. Six years after the Iron Curtain fell, the IAF was formed by scientists from all over Europe in the field of space research in order to collaborate once more. During the years of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surrey Satellite Technology
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites. A spin-off company of the University of Surrey, it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space. The company began out of research efforts centred upon amateur radio satellites, known by the UoSAT (University of Surrey Satellite) name or by an OSCAR (Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) designation. SSTL was founded in 1985, following successful trials on the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components on satellites, cumulating in the ''UoSat-1'' test satellite. It funds research projects with the university's Surrey Space Centre, which does research into satellite and space topics. In April 2008, the University of Surrey agreed to sell its majority share in the company to European multinational conglomerate EADS Astrium. In August 2008, SSTL opened a US subsidiary, which included both offices and a production site in Denver, Colorado; [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timekeeping On The Moon
Timekeeping on the Moon is an issue of synchronized human activity on the Moon and contact with such. The two main differences to timekeeping on Earth are the length of a day on the Moon, being the lunar day or lunar month, observable from Earth as the lunar phases, and the rate at which time progresses, with 24 hours on the Moon being 58.7 microseconds (0.0000587 seconds) faster, resulting from gravitational time dilation due to the different masses of the Moon and Earth. History Buzz Aldrin wearing an Omega Speedmaster watch during alt=an astronaut with short hair and wearing a watch, flight suit and commset looks at the camera The technology used for the timekeeping device">Apollo 11 mission in 1969">alt=an astronaut with short hair and wearing a watch, flight suit and commset looks at the camera The technology used for the timekeeping devices deployed to the Moon have varied over the decades. Several Omega Speedmasters have been on the Moon, synched to Central Stand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost
Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost, or simply Blue Ghost, is a class of lunar landers designed and manufactured by American private company Firefly Aerospace. Firefly plans to operate Blue Ghost landers to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon. The Blue Ghost Mission 1, first Blue Ghost mission was launched at 1:11 a.m. EST (06:11 UTC) on January 15, 2025. It successfully landed on the Moon on March 2, 2025. The landers are named after the firefly species ''Phausis reticulata'', known as blue ghosts. Overview Firefly is the prime contractor for lunar delivery services using Blue Ghost landers. Firefly provides or subcontracts Blue Ghost payload integration, launch from Earth, landing on the Moon and mission operations. Firefly's Cedar Park, Texas , Cedar Park facility serves as the company's mission operations center and the location of payload integration. Firefly operates a spacecraft facility with two mission control centers and an ISO-8 cleanroom to accommoda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an American private aerospace firm based in Cedar Park, Texas, that develops small- and medium-lift launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit. The current company was formed when the assets of the former company Firefly Space Systems were acquired by EOS Launcher in March 2017, which was then renamed ''Firefly Aerospace''. Firefly's stated purpose is to increase access to space, similar to other private spaceflight companies. History Firefly Space Systems Early growth Firefly Space Systems began as a startup in January 2014 by Tom Markusic, P.J. King, Michael Blum, and a small group of entrepreneurs who self-funded the company. In November 2014, Firefly moved its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Austin-suburb Cedar Park, Texas. It grew to 43 employees by November 2014, and purchased of land for an engine test and manufacturing facility in Briggs, Texas, north of Austin. In 2014, Firefly purchased fiber-winding equipment fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services
The Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services (CLMSS), also called Lunar Mission Support Services [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argument Of Periapsis
The argument of periapsis (also called argument of perifocus or argument of pericenter), symbolized as ''ω (omega)'', is one of the orbital elements of an orbiting body. Parametrically, ''ω'' is the angle from the body's ascending node to its periapsis, measured in the direction of motion. For specific types of orbits, terms such as argument of perihelion (for heliocentric orbits), argument of perigee (for geocentric orbits), argument of periastron (for orbits around stars), and so on, may be used (see apsis for more information). An argument of periapsis of 0° means that the orbiting body will be at its closest approach to the central body at the same moment that it crosses the plane of reference from South to North. An argument of periapsis of 90° means that the orbiting body will reach periapsis at its northmost distance from the plane of reference. Adding the argument of periapsis to the longitude of the ascending node gives the longitude of the periapsis. However ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
