The first launch to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program is the tiny CAPSTONE spacecraft which will demonstrate navigation, maneuvering and communication in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) over the lunar poles. This is the planned orbit for the lunar gateway, the staging orbit for transfers to and from the lunar surface. This type of orbit has never been used before, Apollo , it was only really discovered in the 1970's and only in the last couple of decades has its utility been realised for spacecraft operations in cislunar space. CAPSTONE is going to spend 6 months in this orbit demonstrating the technology and verifying that observers on the ground can accurately determine the orbit so that the correct station keeping motions can be made. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20150019648/downloads/20150019648.pdf Follow me on Twitter for more updates: https://twitter.com/DJSnM I have a discord server where I regularly turn up: https://discord.gg/zStmKbM If you really like what I do you can support me directly through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/scottmanley ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIodnH5aFI8

This is the third part of a 100 minute voyage to Duna and back. All 3 parts are 100 minutes in total, and recorded without editing or interruption. Finally I nail the landing and try to head home. Buy Kerbal Space Program from http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCmJSnk5gWw

While on vacation in Hawaii I did get to visit a lot of cool places, obviously I really wanted to see telescopes on the top of the mountain, and we will get to that, however a lot of the telescopes are operated from the much more hospitable environment near sea level. Gemini Observatory is a pair of 8 Meter telescopes, in different hemispheres, able to cover the whole sky between them. I dropped by for a chat with the staff. http://www.gemini.edu/ Yes the audio is bad, and you're a dum dum if you think I don't know this already and insist on pointing this out. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJs0OhdcGVI

It's half good news, half bad news for ESA and Roscosmos as the Trace Gas Orbiter successfully placed itself in orbit around Mars while the Schiaparelli Lander has almost certainly been lost. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya05tVoEk8E