Keith’s note: Japan successfully landed its SLIM spacecraft on the Moon this morning. However there seems to be a problem with its solar panels which are not charging its batteries. This may have to do with the panels’ orientation to the sun after landing. Unless that can be rectified the spacecraft can only operate for a matter of hours before its batteries are drained. SLIM did deploy its two small rovers and efforts are being made to see if any data has been collected. One of the rovers has responded. I was on CGTN a few minutes ago to talk about SLIM as well as the end of Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission to the Moon which returned to Earth the other day after a propulsion system failure prevented a lunar landing. I was also asked about former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin’s slam against NASA’s Artemis program. [audio]

Keith’s note: On Wednesday evening I appeared on CGTN to talk about the launch of a cargo spacecraft to China’s Tiangong and the future of the Chinese space station program [audio]. A few minutes later I appeared on the Scripps TV network and all of its affiliates talking about Astrobotic’s peregrine and sending humans back to the Moon. [audio].

Keith’s note: I just did an interview on CGTN and was talking about the year ahead in space – space stations, Moon, Mars – and cooperation in the exploration of space. I mentioned the fact that I was watching a space station EVA clip on social media the other day and was initially confused as to what part of the ISS the astronauts were on – and then I realized it was China’s space Station. How cool – I was confused because there are TWO modern space stations in operation. More please. We then discussed the fact that more than half of humanity has never seen humans walking on another world – live – and for them this will be doing the same thing again for the first time – with more people experiencing this for the first time than watched all of the Apollo landings. I also mentioned the fact that U.S. researchers can now submit proposals to study China’s lunar samples. I then noted that one way great nations can cooperate in space is in great endeavors like space exploration – perhaps the greatest endeavor of them all. [Audio]

Keith’s note: I was on CGTN tonight talking about China’s space activities. [Audio] The discussion touched on newly-announced collaboration between China and Egypt. I mentioned that NASA recently announced that U.S. researchers are now free to submit requests for samples from China’s Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission. Apparently I broke a little news tonight according to CGTN. NASA’s 29 November 2023 email to researchers announcing this opportunity is below:

• According to the Daily Mail ‘The China-U.S. relationship has never been smooth sailing and always faces problems of one kind or another,’ Xi said through a translator as he met Biden. ‘Yet it has kept moving forward amidst twists and turns. For China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has terrible consequences for both sides. Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed.’ Biden said “We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict and we have to manage responsibly that competition,’ Biden told his counterpart. ‘That’s what the United States wants and what we intend to do. I believe that’s also what the world wants from both of us. ‘We have a responsibility to our people and the world to work together when we see it in our interests to do so. The critical global changes we face from climate change, narcotics to artificial intelligence demand us to work together.”

• Meanwhile NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has been quoted in Politico as saying “It is a fact: we’re in a space race,” the former Florida senator and astronaut said in an interview. “And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’” He pointed out that Russian cosmonauts operate the International Space Station side by side with NASA astronauts, and that they frequently trust each other with their lives. And on CTV Nelson said “We built the International Space Station with the Russians. What a contrast, with the Chinese government,” Nelson said. “They are secretive, they are non-transparent. They will not share when Earth is threatened by one of their tumbling rockets coming back in, they will not share their trajectories, so it’s a huge difference in the way we approach our civilian space program with the Russians visa vie the Chinese.”

• It would seem like Bill Nelson has been off on his own hawkish path with regard to China while being extra tender with regard to Russia (with whom we are fighting a proxy war) while the White House (and seemingly Beijing) are moving in the opposite direction than Nelson’s Cold War-ish rhetoric. Is Nelson out of touch – or is this a ‘good cop/bad cop’ game that the Administration is using Nelson for?

Keith’s note: I did an interview with Deutsche Welle about Chandrayaan-3. They aired an intro piece before me where they talked with a family in India and their children’s reactions to the landing and I almost had tears in my eyes since, as I said in my interview that was me as a little boy. [DW Audio]. I also did an interview with CGTN talking about how the Moon is a place that everyone can and should visit. [CGTN Audio]

Keith’s note: I spoke with CGTN tonight about the launch of LandSpace’s ZQ 2 / Rosefinch 2 – the first rocket to put a payload into space using Methane/Oxygen engines and the various missions heading to the south pole of the Moon. [Audio]

Keith’s note: On Tuesday I was on Bloomberg radio (audio) talking about China’s space program and global space efforts. With the arrival of Shenzhou-16 there are 6 people on Tiangong. Later in the day I was on CGTN (audio) talking about China’s ambitions including human missions to the Moon. With the AX-2 crew on ISS I counted 10 faces. Now they are headed back to Earth. So I guess that means we had 16 17 humans in orbit for a while today – and at time of this posting – they were in 3 different spacecraft. Its getting busy up there.

Keith’s note: On 25 January 2023 I appeared on CGTN to talk about the year ahead in commercial space both in China and globally. Audio

Keith’s note: I am trying to wrap my head around this thing that NASA Administrator Senator Bill Nelson keeps saying. Is the State Department putting him up to this? They do not seem to be doing any arm waving about it. Just Nelson. Oddly I do not seem to see anyone else saying it – except in some articles in China who think that America is trying to do the same thing in reaction to Bill Nelson making these claims.

According to ‘We’re in a space race’: Nasa sounds alarm at Chinese designs on moon published by the Guardian “The US is locked in a space race with China and the country needs to “watch out” that its rival does not gain a foothold and try to dominate lunar resources, Nasa’s top official has warned. The assessment came from the Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and Florida senator, who went on to warn that China could eventually claim to “own” the moon’s resource-rich areas.The contest between the US and China, he added, was intensifying and the next two years could determine which country achieves an advantage. “It is a fact: we’re in a space race,” Nelson told Politico. “And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’