Wednesday, February 20, 2013

China's Chang'e 3 - 2013 and USA Moon Express - 2014 - to the Moon - someones listening


I need to back off on my comment about no one in the USA listening to wanting to go back to the Moon. 

David Schrunk, of "THE MOON - Resources, Future Development, and Settlement" book, let me know that the ILOA (International Lunar Observatory Association),   headed by Steve Durst (Palo Alto and Big Island, Hawaii), has an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to use the Chang'e-3's UV telescope to conduct astronomical observations from the lunar surface.  

I see that the ILOA also has an agreement with the Moon Express to use their telescope data when they go to the Moon.

See more information below.
- LRK -

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Larry,
 
You might be interested to know that the ILOA (International Lunar Observatory Association), headed by Steve Durst (Palo Alto and Big Island, Hawaii), has an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to use the Chang'e-3's UV telescope to conduct astronomical observations from the lunar surface.
 
(FYI - see www.iloa.org:  In September 2012, ILOA signed a MoU with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC-CAS) allowing ILOA scientists to conduct Galaxy Observations with the UV telescope set to fly on the Chang’e-3 lunar lander in 2013.) 
 
Thanks,
 
David

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Some links from ILOA. See website for more information.
- LRK -

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The Moon Express Inc. is Headquartered in the 
NASA Ames Research Park in Mountain View, CA,
- LRK -

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Me Lander Transparency

Moon Express Inc. is a privately funded lunar transportation and data services company created to establish new avenues for commercial space activities beyond Earth orbit. Commonly referred to as Moon Ex, the company was founded by Dr. Bob Richards, Naveen Jain, and Dr. Barney Pell in August 2010 and officially entered the Google Lunar X Prize Competition (GLXP) in October of that same year. Headquartered in the NASA Ames Research Park in Mountain View, CA, Moon Express combines Silicon Valley lean start-up principles with expertise in aerospace engineering and planetary sciences. Selected by Forbes as one of the 'Names You Should Know' in 2011, Moon Express plans to send a series of robotic spacecraft to the Moon for ongoing exploration and commercial development focused on benefits to Earth and has signed a partnership agreement with NASA for the development of its lunar lander system..

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I enjoyed the skateboard tour of Ames having worked there for 20 years. 
A bit sad to see my old Golden Bay Credit Union building empty,
but if Moon Express uses it, won't complain.
- LRK -

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Rocket pioneer Tim Pickens joins Moon Express as Chief Propulsion Engineer and Establishes Huntsville Office
Legendary rocket designer Tim Pickens joins Moon Express in pursuit of the $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE more
Feb 14, 2013
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Meet Brad and Jason and get a sneak peak inside the new Moon Express headquarters building at the NASA Ames Research Park in Silicon Valley, California.
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Published on Sep 29, 2012

Moon Express is a rapidly growing commercial space company developing a robotic lunar lander system to provide low cost frequent access to the lunar surface for science and commerce. The company currently has ~25 people and will reach 40-50 in the coming year as its lunar flight programs accelerate toward services beginning in 2014/15.

While delivering a suite of scientific and commercial payloads on its inaugural mission, Moon Express will also attempt to win the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition.
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Moon Ex has plans for a number of missions.  http://www.moonexpress.com/missions.html
Wish them success.
- LRK -

The best made plans do not always work out but maybe the time is right.
- LRK -

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LunaCorp, founded in 1989 by David Gump, promoted a private robotic rover mission to the Moon, to be funded by the entertainment value of having customers driving the rover around the Moon, plus commercial broadcast rights by the mass media of this copyrighted video, plus selling research data from any probes on the rover, plus supported by various sponsors who wanted their brand associated with the project.
The project actually made a lot of progress, but the company was surprisingly dissolved in 2003, not long after some high profile publicity.
Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the Apollo 11 astronaut and second man on the Moon, was a prominent advisor, and there were some highly reputable people doing actual work on the project.
The heart of the robotics work, however, became a rover named Nomad, designed and built by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, led by Dr. Red Whittaker.
Nomad was tested under extreme conditions in the Canadian Arctic in 2001, after $1 million of support was offered by NASA. Later, Nomad was also tested in the Atacama Desert in Chile, as well as in Antarctica.
The two main issues of the rover were dealing with the extreme temperatures of the Moon, and energy storage for nights.
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So an interest in going to the Moon and Moon Ex tours Buzz Aldrin
Nice YouTube with Buzz to the tune "Rocket Experience"

Watch the full version of Buzz Aldrin's song "Rocket Experience" here.

And now to get back to reading about graphics software as I thought it might help present a future lunar base, but even here there are folks that have been listening, so a look at what is at CET.
- LRK -

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MoonWorld
Investigating Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds
Findings and Project Wrapup

The best way to learn is to do, but that is difficult if you want to understand the geologic evolution of the Moon which started evolving 4.5 billion years ago. The NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future at Wheeling Jesuit University created a virtual lunar landscape in the virtual worlds Second Life and in OpenSim to provide everyone a chance to don a spacesuit and lope across the surface of the Moon. MoonWorld was a research project, funded by NASA, that is no longer active. This website describes MoonWorld and the lessons learned from its development and testing.

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© 1999 - 2012 by Wheeling Jesuit University / Center for Educational Technologies ®.
316 Washington Ave., Wheeling, WV 26003-6243. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

MoonWorld was developed by The Classroom of the Future at Wheeling Jesuit University with funding from NASA
(Dr. Robert Starr, contract monitor).
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Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -
 
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Go China, go China, go China's Chang'E 3 - To The Moon


I might say go USA - NASA, but I am not sure anyone is listening.
The following link has a number of images and a video clip.
- LRK -

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The Chang'e 3 lunar lander and rover, expected to launch late this year

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2013/01/09 03:46 CST

One of the missions planned for launch this year is China's Chang'E 3. I had never paid any attention to Chang'E 3 until this week, so I had no idea how large or ambitious it is. Chang'E 3 is a 1200-kilogram, RTG-powered lunar soft lander with a 1-year nominal mission lifetime. On top of that, it includes a 100-kilogram rover equipped with cameras and APXS. The rover has a nominal lifetime of 3 months and range of 10 kilometers. Wow. Here's a cool artist's concept that Glen Nagle put together. Enjoy it -- this is the first time it's been published!
Artist's concept of Chang'e 3 rover on the Moon
Glen Nagle
Artist's concept of Chang'e 3 rover on the Moon
I find that the best place on the Internet to find information and links about Asian missions is NASAspaceflight.com. Following is a summary of information from links posted within the NASAspaceflight Chang'E 3 forum. Many thanks to all the participants in that forum for sharing all this helpful information! I've collected all the photos of Chang'E 3 that I could find there and put them into a single Flickr album:

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And from DRAGON IN SPACE
- LRK -

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Chang'e 3

Chang’e 3 is the third robotic lunar probe mission of the China Lunar Exploration Programme (CLEP). Scheduled to be launched in 2013~14, the probe will soft-land on the Moon surface and deploy an unmanned Lunar Rover to explore the areas surrounding the landing spot. The mission is heded by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) and the primary contractor for the probe is the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) of the China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (SASC).

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Chang'e 3 at Wikipedia
- LRK -

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Chang'e 3 is a lunar exploration mission operated by China National Space Administration, incorporating a robotic lander and a rover. Chang'e 3 is scheduled for launch in late 2013 as part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.[1][5] It will be China's first lunar rover, and the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon since the Soviet Luna 24 mission in 1976.[6] It is named after Chang'e, the Chinese goddess of the Moon, and is a follow-up to the Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 lunar orbiters.

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At NASA WATCH
- LRK -

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If Chang'e-3 Lands, Google Lunar X Prize Drops by 25%

By Keith Cowing on November 14, 2012 2:40 PM

Summary of Rules and Requirements, Google Lunar X Prize
"The competition's grand prize is worth $20 million. To provide an extra incentive for teams to work quickly, the grand prize value will change to $15 million whenever a government-funded mission successfully explores the lunar surface, currently projected to occur in 2013."
"Ma said the Chang'e-3 would probe and explore the lunar surface, and carry out various environmental and space technology related tests. It will spend 15 days on the moon to lay the foundations of what he called, further deep space exploration."
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This could be an interesting year so I will just say - GO, GO, GO to the MOON - ANYONE !!! - START A GOLD RUSH.

Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -
 
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Meteor and asteroid events give new focus for the Sentinel telescope

Well how interesting.  We waited for an asteroid flyby and we get the added attraction of a light show and big boom from a meteor.
I bet you didn't think we had many sightings but: http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/
Something like, I bet you didn't think we have many Earthquakes but that is another subject.

What if you would like to know about possible encounters BEFORE they happen?
- LRK -

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Meteor and asteroid events give new focus for our vital Sentinel telescope

A meteor strike in Russia and an asteroid near-miss graphically reveal the risks facing planet Earth. But we're not powerless

Rusty Schweickart
guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 February 2013 11.40 EST

An asteroid plunges towards the Earth … relax. It (probably) won't actually happen.
On 15 February 2013 a meteor exploded over Siberia and an asteroid is expected to pass 17,100 miles above the earth. Photograph: Getty Images

Spaceship Earth just took two celestial shots across its bow as, first, ameteor struck Russia, showering the Chelyabinsk region with fragments and reportedly injuring several hundred people, and second, as Asteroid 2012 DA14 whizzed past on 15 February. Traditionally, a torpedo across the bow is fired as a warning to change one's behavior – and this coincidence of events should be a warning to humanity that meteors are not always as benign as "shooting stars" and that the next asteroid might not miss! Will we, the crew of SS Earth heed this warning?
We can look at asteroid 2012 DA14 (or DA14 for short), which will have missed the Earth by a mere 17,000 miles, in two ways. DA14 can be seen as one of about 10,000 near-Earth asteroids that have been discovered in the past 15 years that pass close to our planet, threatening an impact. However, since we have seen these asteroids and are currently tracking them, we can predict any upcoming impacts. Happily, none of those we've found to date pose any substantial threat of impact.
Nevertheless, the Earth is hit by one of these relatively small DA14-sized asteroids about once every 300 years, on average. And "small" is far, far from insignificant. The DA14-like asteroid that hit Earth in 1908 did so in a remote region of Siberia, where the explosion (the equivalent of about 250 Hiroshima nuclear bombs going off at one time) destroyed over 800 square miles of the countryside. This disaster zone, superimposed on any city in the world, would have wiped it and all its residents from the face of the Earth. I refer you, as a graphic reminder of the power of such explosions, to the post-facto Hiroshima bomb pictures readily found online.
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The B612 Foundation is trying help us find those in bound rocks before they get to us.
- LRK -

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The B612 Foundation is a private foundation dedicated to protecting the Earth from asteroid strikes. Their immediate goal is to "significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015".[1]
The B612 project grew out of a one-day workshop on asteroid deflection organized by Piet Hut and Ed Lu at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, on October 20, 2001. Participants Rusty Schweickart, Clark Chapman, Piet Hut, and Ed Lu established the B612 Foundation on October 7, 2002.[2]
Schweickart, who is the chairman of the board, is the public face of the foundation.[3] The board of directors is rounded out by Chapman, Hut, Lu, Daniel David Durda (eponym of 6141 Durda and another participant of the October 2001 workshop) and Geoffrey Baehr (former chief networking officer at Sun Microsystems and former partner at U.S. Venture Partners).[4]
The foundation is named for the home asteroid of the eponymous hero of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.[5] Also inspired by The Little Prince is an asteroid discovered in 1993, though not identified as posing any threat to Earth impact, named 46610 Bésixdouze: The numerical part is the hexadecimal number 'B612' translated to decimal, while the textual part is French for "B six twelve".

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B612 Foundation.
- LRK -

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How did B612 come about? Why are we hunting asteroids? Read the back story on this critical mission.
Official statement, February 15, 2013: The recent meteor explosion over Chelyabinsk is a wake-up call to Earth….Continue Reading
The B612 Foundation believes we should find threatening asteroids before they find us. Today’s meteor explosion over Chelyabinsk is a wake-up call that the Earth orbits the Sun in a shooting gallery of asteroids, and that these asteroids sometimes hit the Earth. Later today, a separate and larger asteroid, 2012 DA14, narrowly missed the Earth passing beneath the orbits of our communications satellites. We have the technology to deflect asteroids, but we cannot do anything about the objects we don’t know exist. To date, less than 1% of asteroids larger than the one that leveled Tunguska in 1908 have been tracked. The B612 Foundation Sentinel Space Telescope, to be launched in 2018, will provide a comprehensive map of the locations and trajectories of threatening asteroids and will give humanity the decades of warning needed to prevent asteroid impacts with existing technology. By the end of its planned lifetime, Sentinel will have discovered well over 90% of the asteroids that could destroy entire regions of Earth on impact (those larger than 350ft in diameter) and more than 50% of the currently unknown DA14-like near-Earth asteroids.

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The B612 Foundation needs you to help them look up.

Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

To space, where, when, why? Maybe to the Moon, Mars, or an asteroid.


As I have been looking at road maps for going to space and wondering how you reach more viewers I received a Kickstarter request from the National Space Society (NSS) to raise money to make a short movie about our future in space.

The NSS would have you learn how to live in space and they have a road map as well.

Which reminded me I should update my website on colonies and the contest at NASA Ames for students to design habitats for space living. This took me back to the NSS site for their space oriented library.

I get The Space Review news letter which is now 10 years old. Right in-line with my wondering how you get the word out about what is happening to promote the use of spce is an article about Future In-Space Operations (FISO).A

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Future In-Space Operations (FISO): a working group and community engagement

by Harley Thronson and Dan Lester
Monday, February 11, 2013

Long-duration human capabilities beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), either in support of or as an alternative to lunar surface operations, have been assessed at least since the late 1960s. Over the next few months, we will present short histories of concepts for long-duration, free-space human habitation beyond LEO from the end of the Apollo program to the Decadal Planning Team (DPT)/NASA Exploration Team (NExT), which was active in 1999–2000 (see “Forging a vision: NASA’s Decadal Planning Team and the origins of the Vision for Space Exploration”, The Space Review, December 19, 2005). Here we summarize the brief existence of the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group in 2005–2006 and its successor, a telecon-based colloquium series, which we co-moderate.
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The FISOWG itself, which used to be a dozen or so people with NASA-funded tasks, continues to expand somewhat organically to include what we refer to as “qualified participants,” colleagues who have been working professionally in the topics covered by the telecons. This philosophy parallels that of academic colloquia where the audience is drawn from individuals with relevant expertise and interests. Our email notification list now numbers more than 350. People get on the invitation list simply by asking the co-chairs.
Understanding that these presentations are valuable to people who cannot participate at the scheduled time, we long ago put the slides from the presentations in a public archive. We note, for example, that Clark Lindsey, in his excellent and widely read HobbySpace blog has been reporting on these FISO presentations for some time, and directing people to our public archive.
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The comments about HobbySpace led me to take another look at the home page and I found a fun space news video from a Virtual Amanda Bush.  A lot of other information there as well.
- LRK -

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Space News from Virtual Amanda Bush
In the first Virtual SpaceTV 3D show of 2013, Amanda Bush returns to report on the flyby of the asteroid Toutatis, first results of Mars soil analysis by the Curiosity rover, and the debut of the Golden Spike commercial manned lunar exploration venture. :


Other Virtual SpaceTV 3D shows are available on the HobbySpace Youtube Channel.
The Virtual SpaceTV 3D shows are created by BINARY SPACE (www.binary-space.com) with story content fromHobbySpace.com. These videos are intended as demonstrations of an experimental technique for generating animated presentations. The show was generated autonomously by software according to a text script. The project is described in theVirtual Producer whitepaper (pdf). For further information contact info@binary-space.com.
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More YouTube videos for HobbySpace uploaded by Clark Lindsey.
- LRK -

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Clark Lindsey
Uploaded Videos

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Dennis Wingo blog - see also MOON VIEWS
- LRK -

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Space Abhors a Policy Vacuum; The NRC Report and The Need for a Broad National Space Policy

Space Abhors a Policy Vacuum; Part II, Expanding the Vision, Developing a Consensus

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More to read, pass it on.  Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -
 
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

NASA UNVEILS STRATEGIC SPACE TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT PLAN

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Feb. 11, 2013

David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz@nasa.gov


RELEASE: 13-039

NASA UNVEILS STRATEGIC SPACE TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT PLAN

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan has been posted to the agency's website. The comprehensive strategic plan prioritizes space technologies essential to the pursuit of NASA's mission and achievement of national goals.

The NASA Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan was created following development of a series of agency draft Space Technology Roadmaps. After careful review of the roadmaps by the National Research Council, with input from the public and key stakeholders, NASA finalized this new investment plan. It provides guidance for NASA's space technology investments during the next four years, within the context of a 20-year horizon. The plan will be updated approximately every two years, as appropriate, to meet agency and national needs.

"Technology enables discovery and advancement," NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck said. "We look forward to working with our stakeholders to grow our technological base and take the journey to expand scientific understanding, explore the universe, and make a positive impact on the lives of all."

In 2010, the president and Congress unveiled an ambitious new direction for NASA, which includes renewed investment in space
technology to align mission directorate activities, increase capabilities, lower mission costs and support long-term needs. The result has been an aggressive and prioritized technology investment by NASA that enables exploration and science missions while also supporting other government and commercial space activities. The plan is based on a four-pillar system of goals to ensure NASA investments optimize the benefits of key stakeholders, other U.S. government agencies, the private sector and the national economy.

NASA recognizes the importance of a balanced portfolio of technology development at all stages of technology maturity. Using the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan, NASA will continue to invest in revolutionary concepts that help develop the nation's work force and provide transformative and crosscutting technology breakthroughs to enable our missions and benefit the commercial sector.

To review the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan and learn more about NASA's investment in space technology, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/oct

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Spaceref excerpts of the 92 page document. Go to their web link and read the words. I have just coped the principal header topics.
- LRK -

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NASA Releases Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan
NASA today released its strategic space technology investment plan. The plan, outlined in a 92 page document, is meant to be a comprehensive strategic plan prioritizing technologies for NASA to achieve its mission.

"Technology enables discovery and advancement," NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck said. "We look forward to working with our stakeholders to grow our technological base and take the journey to expand scientific understanding, explore the universe, and make a positive impact on the lives of all."

Excerpted from the document:

Principles of Investment and Execution

The following six principles guide NASA's space technology investment strategy and portfolio execution, with the objectives of optimizing investments, maintaining a balanced portfolio, using developed technologies, and providing transparency to the American public.

1) NASA will balance investments across all 14 Space Technology Areas in the Roadmaps.
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2) NASA will balance investments across all levels of technology readiness.
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3) NASA will ensure developed technologies are infused into Agency missions.
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4) NASA will develop technologies through partnerships and ensure developedtechnologies are infused throughout the domestic space enterprise
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5) NASA will use a systems engineering approach when planning technology investments.
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6) NASA will reach out to the public and share information about its technology investments.
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Another link to the 92 page document - read on - and on. Please excuse my lack of enthusiasm.  

In the 20 years I spent at NASA Ames, I saw too many plans and slick publications on where we were going to go, up, up, and away, until budget cuts tore them to shreds. Posters of a large space station replaced with a postage stamp size ISS and a shuttle. Now shuttle gone and discussions about when to put the postage stamp into the ocean. 

Sorry, don't listen to me, getting too old, too fast, read on.  NASA now unveils the December 5, 2012 document.
- LRK -

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NASA Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan

“Future leadership in space requires a foundation of sustained technology advances that can enable the development of more capable, reliable, and lower-cost spacecraft and launch vehicles.” – America’s Future in Space: Aligning the Civil Space Program with National Needs, National Research Council

December 5, 2012
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of the Administrator
Washington, DC 20546-0001

Investment in space technologies is key to leadership in space and in supporting the economy; however, NASA for years did not have a strong focus on technology. In 2010, the President and Congress unveiled an ambitious new direction for NASA which included renewing investment in space technology. This new path forward calls for NASA to maintain an Agency space technology enterprise that aligns mission directorate investments, increases capability, lowers mission cost, and supports long-term needs. It also directs aggressive and prioritized technology investments that will support NASA's exploration and science missions and will also support other Government and commercial space activities.

This ambitious new direction requires a sustainable plan that integrates NASA's technology activities while contributing to the Nation's innovation economy. The following Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan provides the guidance for NASA's space technology investment during the next four years, within the context of a 20-year horizon.
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NASA's legacy continues today through a balanced portfolio of technology development at all stages of technological maturity. Using  this plan, NASA will continue to invest in revolutionary concepts that help develop the Nation's workforce and innovation community. We will generate transformative and crosscutting technology breakthroughs that enable our missions and benefit the commercial sector. And we will collaborate with others to create new ideas and markets that strengthen our economy and contribute to U.S. technological global leadership.

Technology enables the journey of discovery and advancement. We look forward to working with the Nation to grow our technological  base and take the journey to expand scientific understanding, explore the universe, and make a positive impact on the lives of all of those around us.

[signature - LRK -]
Charles F. Bolden Jr.
Administrator
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International Astronautical Federation - Connecting space people -
There is an interest in developing the use of space.
- LRK -

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International Astronautical Federation - Connecting space people
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Looking for information relative to going to the Moon.
Just one of the abstracts.  Too bad I wasn't there or a member.
- LRK -

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HUMAN EXPLORATION OF THE MOON AND MARS SYMPOSIUM (A5)
Near Term Strategies for Lunar Surface Infrastructure (1)
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LUNAR IN-SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION IN THE ISECG HUMAN LUNAR EXPLORATION REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE

In May 2007, the "Global Exploration Strategy (GES): The Framework for Coordination" document was published, signed by 14 international space agencies to present a vision for a coordinated approach to robotic and human space exploration, with a focus on destinations within the Solar System where humans may one day live and work. Later the same year, and based on this document, these fourteen space agencies established the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) - a voluntary, non- binding international coordination mechanism with the intention of providing a framework to coordinate space exploration efforts across the globe. In July of 2008, the members of the ISECG agreed to collectively explore ideas and plans for human exploration of the Moon as a first step in jointly defining objectives and mission scenarios, with the goal of defining a global reference architecture for human lunar exploration by mid 2010. In support of this effort, a Campaign Integration Team and a number of Function Teams were established by the ISECG under the auspices of an International Architecture Working Group (IAWG), consisting of representatives of interested space agencies, to define the purpose, critical functions and technologies, incorporating strategic guidelines, and hardware elements needed to meet the goals and objectives for human exploration of the Moon established by the ISECG. This paper will present an overview of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) development activities and areas of interest of the international space agencies participating in the ISECG process. A brief summary of the ISECG Reference Architecture for Human Lunar Exploration will also be given highlighting the common goals and strategic guidance which drove the architecture development. The main focus will be on the approach followed to incorporate ISRU into the lunar exploration campaign, detailing the various key considerations, including the rationale for demonstration, pilot and full implementation system deployment,with the overall objective being to enable long-term sustainability. A description of the ISRU elements under consideration will also be given. Finally, the various options possible for international collaboration will be reviewed, together with past and previous ISRU-related analogue field  testing and possible future robotic precursor flight opportunities.
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The Global Exploration Strategy - The Framework for Coordination- April 2007
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The Global Exploration Strategy - The Framework for Coordination- April 2007

Space exploration enriches and strengthens humanity’s future. Searching for answers to fundamental questions such as: ‘Where did  we come from?’ ‘What is our place in the universe?’ and ‘What is our destiny?’ can bring nations together in a common cause, reveal new knowledge, inspire young people and stimulate technical and commercial innovation on Earth.

The Global Exploration Strategy is key to delivering these benefits.
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Compelled to explore, to understand and to use the world in which we find ourselves, we have spread across continents and oceans.  We have probed the farthest reaches of the planet—the frozen poles, the deep oceans, the high atmosphere. 

With increasing intent and determination, we are resolved to explore our nearest companions—the Moon, Mars and some nearby asteroids. Our goal is not a few quick visits, but rather a sustained and ultimately self-sufficient human presence beyond Earth supported by robotic pathfinders. 

Sustainable space exploration is a challenge that no one nation can undertake on its own.

This is why fourteen space agencies1 have developed the Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination, which presents a vision for robotic and human space exploration, focussing on destinations within the solar system where we may one day
live and work. It elaborates an action plan to share the strategies and efforts of individual nations so that all can achieve their exploration goals more effectively and safely.
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1 In alphabetical order: ASI (Italy), BNSC (United Kingdom), CNES (France), CNSA (China), CSA (Canada), CSIRO (Australia), DLR (Germany), ESA (European Space Agency), ISRO (India), JAXA (Japan), KARI (Republic of Korea), NASA (United States of America), NSAU (Ukraine), Roscosmos (Russia). “Space Agencies” refers to government organizations responsible for space activities.
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23 pages - LRK -
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International Space Exploration Coordination Group
Will use for further studies
- LRK -

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International Space Exploration Coordination Group
In 2006, 14 space agencies began a series of discussions on global interests in space exploration. Together they took the unprecedented step of elaborating a vision for peaceful robotic and human space exploration, focusing on destinations within the Solar System where humans may one day live and work, and developed a common set of key space exploration themes. This vision was articulated in ‘The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination,'released in May 2007. A key finding of this Framework Document was the need to establish a voluntary, non-binding international coordination mechanism,  the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), through which individual agencies may exchange information regarding interests, objectives, and plans in space exploration with the goal of strengthening both individual exploration programs as well as the collective effort.
The first iteration of 'The Global Exploration Roadmap', building on the ISECG lunar architecture work, was released by participating ISECG agencies in September 2011.  The Roadmap advances the Global Exploration Strategy by articulating the perspectives of participating agencies on exploration goals and objectives, mission scenarios, and coordination of exploration preparatory activities.
Comments on the Global Exploration Roadmap are welcome.  Because implementation of any aspects of the roadmap falls to individuas space agencies, your ideas are best addressed to the space agency you feel is best suited to receive your input.  Alternatively, comments may be addressed to ISECG@esa.int.
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So much to read, sorry just trying to keep you informed.  
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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