Moon Monday #245: Blue origin to hunt for a lunar oasis
Plus mission updates.
Latest
Moon Monday #244: Towards lunar construction
Before we begin, a clarifying note about the title of the previous Moon Monday: An Amazon delivery for NASA’s VIPER rover? Well, I’ve received many emails saying how Amazon has a distinct space entity from Blue Origin. It’s fair to point that out but I do know
Moon Monday #243: An Amazon delivery for NASA’s VIPER rover?
Plus Chandrayaan 3 research updates and more.
Verses: Hope in desolation
Space just desolate… and yet humans launch hope to explore some more On our Moon from where the Sun never shines, a new era will dawn. Notes: 1. There’s nothing quite as bold and beautiful as committing to venturing the brutal colossal desolation that is space. Every (civil) space
Moon Monday #242: Artemis II advances, and so does Long March 10 🔥
Plus mission updates.
We’re building future technologies for the Moon without closing missed milestones
A review of upcoming and past lunar missions of this decade shows a wide gap between notions of technological progress versus achieved reality.
Chandrayaan 4 will bring unique Moon materials—and maybe a giant scientific leap for India
Moon Monday #241 and Indian Space Progress #31
No, Starship’s latest success doesn’t favor the US over China in landing humans on Luna | Moon Monday #240
Plus mission updates.
Our Moon is valuable even beyond itself | Moon Monday #239
And how science does not exist in a (lunar) vacuum.
Moon Monday #238: The long march to Luna continues
Plus Artemis updates.
Notable nuances about NISAR and how it flows into planetary science for NASA and ISRO | Indian Space Progress #30
NISAR demonstrates peak peaceful uses of cutting-edge space technologies to solve humanity’s fundamental problems, and then some more.
Moon Monday #237: China completes large lander test in latest milestone to put humans on the Moon
Reviewing all recent advances from China as it prepares to perform crewed Moon missions. Plus more mission updates.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #236: A third orbiter-lander-rover trio to fire-and-fly
I’m thrilled to welcome Astrolab as a continuing yearly sponsor of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter! California-based Venturi Astrolab Inc. (Astrolab) is developing the large multi-purpose rovers of FLEX and FLIP for advanced exploration of our Moon this decade and next. Through FLEX, Astrolab leads one of the three
Articles
Everything you need to know about NASA CLPS Moon landing missions
A look at the armada of robotic landers NASA is riding to the Moon this decade.
A story about open knowledge sharing in space
It was eight years ago that I wrote a guide on how to correctly and reliably install NASA’s popular HEASoft software on Linux, a software which is extensively used in high energy Astrophysics research. I wrote it because the official guides on NASA HEASoft’s website were failing to
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #235: Artemis and other mission updates
Read to the end for a jolly Jovian update!
Moon Monday
Explore our Moon’s wild places and wonderful samples | Moon Monday #234
A special early edition of Moon Monday for International Moon Day, July 20.
Indian Space
Was Shukla’s Axiom-4 flight to the International Space Station worth it for ISRO? | Indian Space Progress #29
A complicated question to answer for a controversial flight intended to advance India’s grand ambition of indigenously sending humans to space.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #233: Visualizing a new Moon based on scientific discoveries by China’s Chang’e 6 mission
Highlighting all major findings with a visual that lets you picture the scientific value the Chinese have added to humanity’s exploration of our Moon.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #232: Still free mission updates
And encouraging information sharing.
Articles
On SpaceNews going paywalled, and the broader disregard for archiving in journalism
This article is a break from my usual because space communities worldwide are affected by this important topic, and I have some thoughts to offer to add to the discussions. SpaceNews, a well known media publication in the global space industry, went paywalled for its website on July 1 with
US Artemis
Moon Monday #231: Achievements and shortfalls in Moon exploration this half year
A review of notable developments by country or region.
US Artemis
Moon Monday #230: China leaps again in its steady march to Luna while NASA’s progress on Artemis remains a mixed bag
A look at recent Chinese milestones in the build up to crewed lunar missions, another blow(up) for Artemis, how Firefly’s Ocula can fill critical gaps for NASA, and more.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #229: China extends lead in lunar orbital infrastructure, gets an edge in future crewed missions over the US
Plus: Examples of how Western media narratives of Chinese lunar activities misjudge capabilities and intent