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# Achievements and shortfalls in global lunar exploration this half year | Moon Monday #282
- URL: https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-282/
- Published: 2026-07-06T11:11:08.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-06T13:30:47.000Z
- Description: A contextualized overview of the world’s Moon exploration efforts.
- Author: Jatan Mehta
- Tags: Moon Monday, Explore, China and Luna, US Artemis

Welcome to a linked rundown of global developments in the exploration of [our Moon](https://jatan.space/why-explore-the-moon/) across the first half of 2026\. There’s also a section on global outlook because we must not forget our interconnectedness and collective action needs over sovereign interests. Each linked article below explains and contextualizes said development. As usual, I make a conscious effort to curate events and trends that actually happened instead of amplifying speculative coverage of upcoming events that may or may not be as successful and/or as timely as they’re being touted and reported to be. If someone asks you what’s happening at the Moon, say *all of this* is. Oh, there’s also a lunar poetry section at the end. 🌙

## China

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/china-crewed-landing-trajectory.jpeg)

China’s crewed lunar landing trajectory design. [Images: BICE / SAST / CASC](https://journal26.magtechjournal.com/kjkxjs/CN/10.16708/j.cnki.1000-758X.2026.0025) | Graphic: [Jatan Mehta](https://jatan.space/about)

- [China conducted a multi-hardware-element test](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-262/) unlike any other nation in its [steady march](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-237/) towards landing humans on Luna by 2030.
- [Chinese scientists & engineers surfaced details of spacecraft](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-267/) which will land humans on the Moon.
- All major elements of China’s [Chang’e 7](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-248/) Moon mission [arrived at Wenchang](https://www.china-in-space.com/p/change-7-moon-mission-arrives-in) for pre-launch integration and final tests prior to an H2 launch this year.

*Related:* [*Tests China planned to conduct this year in prep towards crewed lunar landings*](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-258/)

## The US

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/artemis-ii-astronauts-return-to-earth-after-lunar-flyby.jpeg)

The Orion spacecraft with Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth on April 10 after their flyby around the Moon on April 6\. ****Bottom left:** The lunar flight crew from left to right: Mission Specialists [Christina Koch](https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christina-h-koch) & [Jeremy Hansen](https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/canadian/active/bio-jeremy-hansen.asp), Pilot [Victor Glover](https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/victor-j-glover), and Commander [Reid Wiseman](https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/reid-g-wiseman). [Images: NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-multimedia/)

- The Artemis II mission launched and [flew four astronauts around the Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-270/), a feat repeated after over 50 years, making “why haven’t humans gone back to the Moon” [no longer a valid question](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-269/) for many. Relatedly:
  - [Did NASA’s Artemis II mission really do lunar science?](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-271/)
  - [How NASA planned to keep Artemis II astronauts safe throughout their Moon mission](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-260/)
- NASA [rejigged the Artemis program elements & crewed missions](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-264/), and has been [catalyzing its Moonbase plans](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-268/), in an effort to gain momentum after over a decade of lapses.
- While Artemis III is now supposed to be a test mission in Earth orbit ahead of attempting to land humans on the Moon with Artemis IV, the former [won’t “test like you fly”](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-279/) since [challenges](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-272/) confront NASA across aspects of both missions, including [Starship’s repeated lapses](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-276/) and [Blue Origin’s explosive delay chain](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-277/).
- [NASA faltered in communications yet again with Lunar Trailblazer failure](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-265/)
- NASA awarded [crew-capable rover contracts](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-provides-update-on-moon-base-rovers-landers-missions/) to Astrolab (a Moon Monday sponsor) and Lunar Outpost respectively. These \~1000-kilogram rovers will be [more advanced than the one driven by Apollo astronauts](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-171/).
- NASA [awarded four CLPS Moon landing contracts](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-more-moon-base-science-previews-new-opportunities/), two to Astrobotic and one each Firefly and Intuitive Machines, to deliver three site-agnostic scientific instruments meant to improve our understanding of the lunar environment for safer and more swift landings in the future. NASA also awarded Intuitive Machines a [$180.4 million contract](https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/clps/nasa-selects-intuitive-machines-to-deliver-artemis-science-tech-to-moon/) to deliver seven payloads to the Moon’s south pole in 2030\. This includes Australia’s first lunar rover called [Roo-ver](https://www.space.gov.au/meet-roo-ver) as part of a [US-Aussie partnership](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-97/).
- NASA JPL [chose Firefly](https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-wins-75-million-nasa-jpl-moonfall-subcontract-to-deliver-drones-to-the-moons-south-pole/) to have its [Elytra Dark](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-230/#the-silver-ocula-to-fill-some-gaps-for-nasa) spacecraft deliver 3-4 “[Moonfall](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/moonfall/)” hopper drones to the Moon.

## India

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/chandrayaan-4-is-more-than-a-moon-mission.jpg)

Graphic: [Jatan Mehta](https://jatan.space/about) | Individual images of the LVM3 rocket, the two Chandrayaan 4 spacecraft stacks, and the Moon’s south pole: [ISRO](https://www.lpsc.gov.in/newProjects.html) / [NASA / GSFC / Timothy McClanahan / LOLA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/nasas-lro-lunar-ice-deposits-are-widespread/)

- ISRO [selected the landing region](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-263/#chandrayaan-4-landing-site-in-sight) for the upcoming [Chandrayaan 4](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-273/) sample return mission.
- [Science results continued flowing from Chandrayaan 3](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-275/), grounding our understanding of the near-polar lunar surface and environment.
- [Putting an Indian with flesh and blood on Luna](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-39/)

***Related special page:** [**Deep dive into India’s Chandrayaan Moon missions like never before*](https://jatan.space/chandrayaan/) 🛰️

## More countries

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/lev-2-mobile-bot-jaxa-slim.jpeg)

The LEV-2 lunar robot in its stowed and deployed configuration. [Image: JAXA / TOMY / Sony / Doshisha University](https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2026/06/20260618-1%5Fe.html)

- [Japan is funding public-private Moon missions](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-274/#japan-funds-public-private-lunar-missions)
- JAXA [published research](https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.aec8039) proving that the small [LEV-2 mobile robot](https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2026/06/20260618-1%5Fe.html) on the [SLIM landing mission](https://jatan.space/precision-moon-landings-and-the-future/) demonstrated navigation, image capture, and data transmission—all autonomously—on the lunar surface.
- Japan-based Dymon & JAOPS [open sourced mission data](https://github.com/jaops-space/im2-yaoki-yamcs-public) from their [YAOKI rover](https://dymon.co.jp/en/yaoki/), which flew aboard Intuitive Machines’ [second CLPS craft](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-216/#tipped-intuitive-mooncraft-dies-with-none-of-the-net-130-million-worth-of-payloads-deployed) last year.
  - Related article by me on the Open Lunar Foundation (a Moon Monday sponsor): [Data sharing is key to a sustainable presence on the Moon](https://www.openlunar.org/blog/data-sharing-is-key-to-a-sustainable-presence-on-the-moon)
- ESA released calls for proposals for a [pipeline of scientific instruments](https://ideas.esa.int/core/servlet/hype/IMT?documentTableId=6668269872843059782&userAction=Browse&templateName=&documentId=2f48eec2e6af52ce72c55b7737cce4d8), [commercial lunar data buys](https://ideas.esa.int/core/servlet/hype/IMT?documentTableId=6668269872852222698&userAction=Browse&templateName=&documentId=250c1ac4da7bb39b048d0cf299ff93ca) (including from non-European providers), and [the second flight](https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/details/183966) of the [NILS](https://presentations.copernicus.org/EPSC2022/EPSC2022-992%5Fpresentation-h642517.pdf) instrument which flew to the Moon on [Chang’e 6](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-233/) and [detected negatively charged particles](https://www.esa.int/Science%5FExploration/Human%5Fand%5FRobotic%5FExploration/First%5Fdetection%5Fof%5Fnegative%5Fions%5Fon%5Fthe%5FMoon).
- The Russian Academy of Sciences approved the concept of the Russian segment to be part of the China-led [International Lunar Research Station](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-177/) (ILRS). One of the expected Russian contributions is a [5 kilowatt nuclear power plant](https://tass.com/science/2113099), currently targeted to be launched in [three parts](https://tass.com/science/2113811) next decade.

## Global outlook

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/earth-moon-horizon-kplo.jpg)

Our Earth on the Moon’s horizon as imaged by South Korea’s KPLO lunar orbiter. [Image: KARI](https://www.kari.re.kr/kplo/danuri/news/newsView.do?nttId=8597&pageIndex=1&searchCnd=&searchWrd=)

- [All the rovers heading to the Moon over the next 10 years](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-256/)
- Artemis II astronauts gazed at our Moon with joy, curiosity, and reverence. [Through finer robotic orbital views, so can you](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-270/).
- [We can build cities on the Moon—but who will govern them?](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-266/)
- The number of signatories of the US-led [Artemis Accords](https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords) reached [68](https://www.nasa.gov/organizations/oiir/nasa-welcomes-botswana-as-68th-artemis-accords-signatory/), with NASA touting cooperative and collaborative lunar exploration among countries worldwide. However, the [NASA-led Gateway international lunar habitat’s cancellation](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-268/) amid the Artemis rejig demonstrated that the Accords have little bearing on preserving, much less flourishing, international partnerships in the Artemis program.
- Analysis of India’s Chandrayaan 4 mission shows how lunar sampling missions [intertwine science, rockets, space governance, and human spaceflight](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-273/).
- [Lessons on lapses in lunar missions operations from the 20th century](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-281/)
- [What NASA’s planning in the lead up to safe Apollo astronaut landings teaches us about preparing for the next frontier this century](https://jatan.space/its-craters-all-the-way-down/)

## Lunar poetry

- [*Selene, smashed not shattered*](https://jatan.space/selene-smashed-not-shattered/)
- [*Back to the Moon..*](https://jatan.space/back-to-the-moon/)
- [*Don’t screw up the Moon*](https://jatan.space/dont-screw-up-the-moon/)
- [*The dawn of your light*](https://jatan.space/the-dawn-of-your-light/)

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/orion-artemis-ii-moon-solar-eclipse.jpg)

Our Moon during a solar eclipse from the vantage point of the [Artemis II](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-270/) Orion spacecraft during its lunar flyby. Image: [NASA / Artemis II](https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/lunar-flyby/)

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*So that was a comprehensive look at global lunar exploration developments this half year. I wrote it* [*for you*](https://jatan.space/i-write-for-you/)*, not social media or SEO. If you enjoyed my coverage, please share it with other space buffs by* [*grabbing this link*](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-282/)*.*

***Related:** [**Achievements and shortfalls in global lunar exploration in 2025*](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-255/) 🌗

---

**Many thanks to* [***Catalyx Space**](https://catalyx.space) *and* [***Gurbir Singh**](https://gurbir.co.uk) *for sponsoring* [**Moon Monday*](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday)**. If you too appreciate my efforts to bring you this curated community resource on global lunar exploration for free, and without ads, kindly* [**support*](https://jatan.space/support) *my independent writing, which is purely reader-funded. I don’t use AI to write a single word.*

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