20 July 2024, Harbin, China – International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA Hawai’i) applauds UN-designated International Moon Day, Moon Village Association, and Harbin Institute of Technology global-interglobal and international efforts to return humans to the Moon, for good.
Looking towards the near-future, ILOA plans for its ILO-1 flagship mission NET 2026 to operate from Malapert ‘Point E’ at about 5,000 meters at 86°S. The high-ground of Malapert Massif offers strategic advantages including near-continuous line-of-sight for Earth observations and communications, ‘Peak of Eternal Light’ illuminated areas, more moderate thermal environment, access to permanently shadowed regions, shielded far-side flank for radio astronomy, and ISRU resources. ILOA advocates for a Malapert mission declaration by international space agencies, NewSpace enterprise, researchers and scientists asap.
Please contact ILOA to join the expedition to Malapert Summit and other future lunar missions.
Currently under development for ILOA, precursor ILO-C, is a USA-China collaboration to take optical images of the Milky Way Galaxy / Stars from the Moon surface. A memorandum of understanding was signed between ILOA Director Steve Durst and Hong Kong University LSR Director Quentin Parker in June, with Suijian Xue from National Astronomical Observatories of China and Wiphu Rujopakarn from National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand as observers. The ILO-C instrument is set to land near Shackleton Rim aboard the CNSA Chang’E-7 mission launching about 2026.
ILOA was honored to have its first precursor, ILO-X, be a part of the American return to the Moon this past February aboard the Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C lander. ILO-X was a USA-Canada collaboration of two optical cameras, as well as digital assets. Some of the software files carried to the Moon, including Space Calendar, were transmitted back to Earth. During the mission, the ILO-X dual instruments took 341 images in total of the Moon, Space, Earth, the Sun and Star trails.
About ILOA: As a science education non-profit, ILOA has strived since its founding in 2007 to expand our understanding of the cosmos through observation from the Moon with long-term astronomy, science and exploration at the Moon South Pole, and to participate in human lunar base build-out - with Aloha.
Accompanying Image: ILO-1 and ILO-C renderings on left and center; image taken by ILO-X wide field-of-view camera prior to lunar landing in February 2024 on right; Copyright: ILOA, NASA.