Moon Monday
Today marks 75 years of India’s independence from colonial rule. Just as my country has since been contributing to and learning from the world via our existence as Earth’s largest democracy, I hope our growing Chandrayaan ambitions and resurgence in collaborative planetary science efforts will play an important
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Advancing our understanding of water across the Moon for exploration and science.
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Water ice on the lunar poles is central to exploration plans of space agencies worldwide.
Moon Monday
KPLO on its way to our cosmic neighbor! On August 5, 2022 (KST), a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched and deployed the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) towards the Moon. With KPLO, South Korea forays into planetary exploration, begins its ambitious lunar exploration program, and finds a collaborator in
CLPS
NASA’s VIPER rover endures a steep SLOPE The VIPER rover, launching in 2024 on an Astrobotic lander as part of NASA’s CLPS program, will closely study lunar water and other volatile resources on the Moon’s south pole to inform future robotic and crewed missions. On top of
CLPS
This week’s Moon Monday is a CLPS special, with all of its promises, risks, and drama. I hope you enjoy the deep dive as much as I did writing it. :) NASA eyes prestigious farside Moon landing in boldest CLPS bet yet Last week NASA awarded its eighth contract under
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India’s first Moon mission discovered lunar water, and catalyzed plans by nations worldwide to further explore our cosmic neighbor.
Moon Monday
NASA is sticking with the SLS rocket for Artemis IX and beyond On July 21, NASA and Northrop Grumman will test fire a new, full-scale solid rocket booster as part of an ongoing test campaign to converge on a final booster design for the SLS rocket’s most powerful Block
Anyone who has seen a rocket launch in person—I have!—has also felt its surreal rumbles despite being several kilometers away. A spacecraft sitting on top of a rocket needs to avoid damage to its structure by surviving the jolt from rocket engines turning on and the intense vibrations
Moon Monday
CAPSTONE continues to the Moon Shortly after Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft deployed the NASA-funded and Advanced Space-operated CAPSTONE spacecraft on July 4 on a fuel-saving ballistic transfer to the Moon, CAPSTONE failed to communicate with Earth. This happened after the spacecraft had successfully deployed its solar arrays and
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Our Solar System hosts a great diversity of moons. There’s our own Moon, whose airlessness makes it a natural geological time capsule of events in the early Solar System. There’s Saturn’s largest satellite Titan, which boasts an atmosphere and lakes of methane in eerie reminiscence to adolescent
Moon Monday
Rocket Lab puts CAPSTONE on the path to the Moon On June 28, Rocket Lab successfully launched the NASA-funded and Advanced Space-built $13 million CAPSTONE spacecraft from New Zealand. At about 300 kilograms, CAPSTONE and the upgraded Photon third stage together are the heaviest payload the company’s small Electron
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