Indian Space Progress
Indian Space Progress #20–21: ISRO’s plan to study Venus alongside NASA and ESA
Also in this special edition: ISRO’s ambitions to fetch samples from the Moon, build a space station, and develop a heavy-lift rocket!
Latest
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #196: Confusion about lunar water and LUPEX, and papers plus mission updates
You can now follow my articles on some non-questionable social networks that also federate (interoperate): Flipboard, Mastodon and Bluesky. The hunt for water on the Moon continues US researchers find that permanently shadowed regions up to 77° latitude—which is outside the Moon’s south pole—could host surface and
Visual Space
Let’s explore our Moon’s mountains! 🌖
The Moon is home to some amazing mountains. Unlike the millions of years it takes for most mountains on Earth to form via slowly colliding tectonic plates, most lunar mountains form near-instantly through asteroid or cometary impacts. Here are some resources to explore them. 🗻 1. With cool elevation graphs and
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #195: Little LUNA on Earth, a Sino spacesuit, and communicating navcom
You know how I remarked in the previous Moon Monday about having two feature stories instead of one to adequately contextualize big new developments? Well, this week’s Moon Monday has three! For Europe, China, and the US. 🙈 Europe’s new test facility brings more of those lunar vibes on
Videos
Video: The next Moon landing missions by Intuitive Machines for NASA CLPS
A popular YouTube channel has worked with me to create another video based on my Moon Monday blog+newsletter, this time on the next three Moon landing missions by Intuitive Machines for NASA as part of the agency’s CLPS program. Note: I didn’t choose the video title. My
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #194: On the approval of India’s Chandrayaan 4 sample return mission, and first look at Chang’e 6 samples
This week’s Moon Monday has not one but two feature stories! So much has been happening in lunar exploration this whole year that I’ve transitioned to writing deep dives more frequently so as to adequately capture and contextualize big updates. If you appreciate my efforts to bring you
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #193: Repurposing lunar missions to enable deep space exploration, and launches on the horizon
After a week full of chores, writing this week’s Moon Monday yesterday and today has made me feel alive again. Hope you enjoy this edition as there’s a lot to contextualize! 🤓 Continuing the trend, China repurposes Chang’e 6 orbiter module The Chang’e 6 orbiter module, which
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #192: From trying to revive VIPER to advancing Australian lunar technologies
The latest effort to save VIPER Members of the US Congress are stepping up efforts in the ongoing scramble to save the VIPER rover mission, which was envisioned to uniquely study lunar water deposits. Specifically, representatives in the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology wrote an open letter to
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #191: A stream of CLPS and Artemis lunar mission updates
Intuitive Machines to launch a fourth Moon mission for NASA NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines a $116.9 million contract to deliver six science & technology payloads to the Moon’s south pole in 2027. The mission part of NASA’s CLPS program is the fourth and largest such task
Indian Space Progress
Indian Space Progress #19: On the new rocket in town, and many mission updates
A nimble new launch(er) On August 16, ISRO launched its smallest and newest rocket SSLV, which successfully placed the agency’s 175-kilogram EOS-08 Earth observation satellite into its intended 475-kilometer circular orbit. The satellite carries a number of novel technological components as well as an innovative remote sensing method
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #190: On the varied importance of the Chandrayaan 3 rover, and more mission updates
Grab some tea, coffee, or beverage of your choice because this week’s Moon Monday is a sci-tech deep dive! 🌝 Chandrayaan 3 contributes to learning our Moon’s origin and evolution The first ever ground-based measurements of high-latitude lunar soil and rocks made by the Chandrayaan 3 rover’s Alpha
Articles
On celebrating Chandrayaan 3’s Moon landing, or that of Apollo
Many readers have asked me this week if I plan on blogging something today for the anniversary of Chandrayaan 3’s Moon landing, which India now celebrates as National Space Day. The answer is the same as what I do for Apollo anniversaries: Nothing. Don’t get me wrong. I’