Website & Blog of Jatan Mehta, a globally published & cited space writer. Read deep dives on global lunar and space exploration.

Lessons on lapses in lunar missions operations from the 20th century | Moon Monday #281

Announcement before we begin: I’m excited to welcome PierSight as a returning sponsor of my independent space writing for another year! 🌙 Ahmedabad-based PierSight is building a constellation of SAR satellites equipped with AIS sensors for persistent, all-weather ocean studies and monitoring. With $8 million raised in funds,

Smashing success: The time NASA figured out our Moon is cratered all the way down | Moon Monday #280

Plus: What the agency’s planning in the lead up to safe Apollo astronaut landings teaches us about preparing for the next frontier this century.

Artemis III, test like you won’t fly?

Moon Monday #279: “Artemis updates inside”, like “intel inside”. All puns intended.

India and the dream of an orbital launch trifecta | Part 5 of ISRO’s rocket crisis

Indian Space Progress #39-40: How a multitude of causes slow down the pace of India’s launch vehicles, and what would it take for the country to achieve an optimum “hat-trick” state given its many needs and ambitions in space.

Deep dive into India’s Chandrayaan Moon missions like never before

Moon Monday #278: A master list of organized, linked articles covering ISRO’s Chandrayaan lunar program, mission by mission.

What does Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion mean for NASA’s Artemis program? A domino of timeline lapses and strategic failures.

Moon Monday #277: How quickly Blue flies New Glenn again, the timing and outcome of the first Mark 1 lander flight, and what NASA shares about the crewed Mark 2 are the key things to watch out for.

What is pending for SpaceX Starship to be a Moonship for NASA astronauts? Nearly everything.

Moon Monday #276: NASA’s road to putting humans on the Moon through SpaceX Starship continues to face a receding sea of milestones to achieve.

Science results from India’s Chandrayaan 3 Moon mission | Moon Monday #275

The near-polar lunar surface and environment had never been measured in-situ before Chandrayaan 3 arrived. Now our understanding of it has been grounded in measurements just as we prepare to send a wave of Moon missions.

Moon Monday #274: Artemis updates and Japanese missions galore

Artemis updates * Science communicator Hank Green made this interactive website of photos spread across the timeline of the Artemis II lunar mission and flyby. * Among the technological checkpoints passed by Artemis II, the NASA-MIT-developed optical laser communications terminal on the Orion spacecraft was successfully used to transmit and

Articles on Venus, the ignored

* Why explore Venus * VERITAS, NASA’s Venus mapper * EnVision, Europe’s mission to Venus * ISRO’s plan to study Venus in unprecedented detail alongside NASA and ESA Related: Coverage of India’s exploration of Mars Like my efforts to provide free resources for space communities worldwide? Kindly sponsor my work

Articles on moons other than our Moon

The not-Moon-Monday edition. 🌝

India’s Chandrayaan 4 lunar sampling mission cross-pollinates science, rockets, governance, and human spaceflight

Part 4 of India’s space launch crisis: Why India needs to launch Chandrayaan 4 in time to ensure maximum national and international benefits | Moon Monday #273 and Indian Space Progress #38