Monthly Archives: December 2013

Chinese space, Space Systems, The Moon

Yutu begins its roving of the Moon

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society has posted some reports and lots of pictures on the status and plans for the Chinese Chang’e 3 lander and Yutu rover on the Moon:

Yutu rolling on the Moon
CNSA / ifeng.com / Emily Lakdawalla
Yutu rolling on the Moon
China’s Yutu rover makes tracks on the surface of the Moon,
taken on December 21, 2003. This sequence was taken from a
television broadcast, aligned to correct for the motion of the camera,
and its color adjusted.

DIY space, Living in Space, Mars

Mars misc: Crowd-funded mock Mars mission + Extracting Mars water + Curiosity update

Some misc. Mars items:

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A reader points me to this successful crowd-funding campaign to back artist Ian Etters stay at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and his plan to create a

Manned Mock Mars Mission (M.M.M.M.) that incorporates performance, sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and a simulation of living on Mars.

– Manned Mock Mars Mission by Ian Etter — Kickstarter

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Here’s an article about how water might be extracted from the Martian ground: Incredible Technology: How to Mine Water on Mars – Space.com.

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Here’s a recent update on the Curiosity rover on Mars: Curiosity Team Upgrades Software, Checks Wheel Wear – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Rocky Mars Ground Where Curiosity Has Been DrivingNASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this 360-degree view using its
Navigation Camera (Navcam) after a 17-foot (5.3 meter) drive on
477th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars (Dec. 8, 2013).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Full image and caption

Living in Space, Space Systems

ISS astronauts on EVA to install new cooling system pump

Astronauts  Rick Mastracchio and  Mike Hopkins are now outside the ISS installing the spare pump in the cooling system. It is the second of perhaps three spacewalks needed to fix the system. (See earlier post on the first EVA last Saturday.) So far they have mechanically installed the pump and are now reconnecting the ammonia lines to the pump.

They had difficulty disconnected one line from a temporary jumper box. After they finally disconnected it, there was venting of ammonia as small snowflakes, some of which got on their suits. They will have to go through a decontamination procedure before they reenter the airlock. This could mean shortening the spacewalk.

See updates and pictures at ISS Updates (ISS101) on Twitter.

[ Update: The astronauts finished their EVA and they also completed the repairs to the cooling system. So a third EVA will not be needed:

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Other updates and info at:

Some images of the astronauts moving the spare pump into place:

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Activism, Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Dec.23.13 [Updated]

Some space policy/politics related links:

Update: