I’m over the Moon to share that Open Lunar Foundation is continuing to be a sponsor of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter for the fifth year in a row! 🌕 Open Lunar is a non-profit organization that actively promotes cooperative, peaceful, and sustainable exploration of our Moon. The organization enables
And encouraging information sharing.
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
A review of notable developments by country or region.
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.
Plus: Examples of how Western media narratives of Chinese lunar activities misjudge capabilities and intent
ispace Japan’s second Moon lander RESILIENCE launched in January with the aim of a Moon landing. But just like its predecessor Hakuto-R’s fate about two years ago, RESILIENCE crashed into the Moon during its landing attempt on June 6. It was a moment of heartbreak for several lunar
Plus more mission updates.
And other mission updates.
Plus: Firefly to carry UAE’s second lunar rover and more.
Our Moon may be one of the largest satellites in the Solar System but its exploration has been concentrated on select areas. One of these is low lunar orbit, where mapping spacecraft from three countries have been concurrently flying from pole to pole between 50 to 150 kilometers above the
Key news of the month: China has achieved daytime Earth-Moon distance measurement wherein a 1.2-meter telescope reflected an infrared laser off of a small retroreflector on the 61-kilogram Tiandu 1 lunar orbiter. This was the first ever daytime laser distance measurement using an orbiter, accomplished despite massive interference from
Moon Monday
Two announcements before we begin: 1. I’m honored to be moderating a fantastic panel on modern themes in global lunar exploration at the international Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) on Friday, May 9. If you’re attending GLEX in New Delhi, join us for the session. And, if you’
Indian Space Progress
ISRO has been publishing monthly summaries of the varied activities and programs of India’s Department of Space (DOS) for years. Lately though, there have been consistent delays in publishing them by a month or two, and sometimes even more. The summaries have been trimmed too, now conveying less than
Moon Monday
And more such interesting Moon exploration updates from China’s National Space Day on April 24.
Moon Monday
Plus: Exploration and science updates from the US, South Korea, and Europe.
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And, countries allied with the US are facing delays in their own missions, allowing China to lead in this aspect of lunar exploration too.
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Plus mission updates and some tangents.
Indian Space Progress
Plus: A host of new lunar science results from Chandrayaan 2 and 3. Enjoy this 3200-word Chandrayaan-special. 🌙
Moon Monday
👀 🧊 🌘
Moon Monday
There’s a lot in this Moon Monday edition to unpack. Grab yourself a coffee or another mild drug of choice and let’s get started. 🤓 Chang’e 6 samples produce two more big results Until now, all the direct evidence of our Moon being covered in a global magma
Moon Monday
Also drills, flying regolith, a hard landing, Moonlight, and many more mission updates to quench the lunatic in you.
Guides
Sometime last year, nasaspaceflight.com (NSF) stopped loading for me. I could not access any page on its website, all of which said “Sorry, you have been blocked” no matter which browser I tried. Since then I’ve been accessing the NSF site in alternate ways because of their valuable
Moon Monday
Plus: Contextualizing the failure of Intuitive Machines’ second Moon mission and that of Lunar Trailblazer as grave losses for NASA.
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