Japan and Selene
Welcome to the era of precision Moon landings
Japan’s SLIM lander has sparked a new era of precision landings, with big implications for lunar science and exploration
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Artemis
Moon Monday #167: NASA’s lunar budget, mission updates, and more
NASA’s FY2024 budget for Luna The US Congress will provide NASA with $24.9 billion for FY2024, a budget two billion less than the Presidential request and half a billion less than FY2023. Accounting for inflation only makes the cut deeper. However, the US Congress has prioritized and maintained
Indian Space Progress
Indian Space Progress #13: Prepping for India’s Yuri Gagarin moment, and more updates
India selects first set of Gaganyaan astronauts Unveiling four years of secrecy, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on February 27 the first four astronauts selected to fly on the country’s initial set of human spaceflight missions mid-decade via ISRO’s ambitious Gaganyaan program. The selectees are all
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #166: An intuitive 98% success, Artemis updates, and more
An FYI before we begin: If you follow me on social media—especially LinkedIn, Twitter, the Fediverse or Bluesky—read this life update from my other blog: Embracing a simple but effective digital life. An intuitive success criteria? It turns out more retrospective corrections are needed for the February 22
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #165: An oblique Odysseus, Moonstruck maple nation, and more updates
I’m thrilled to welcome Off Planet Research as the newest sponsor of Moon Monday! The Everett-based company specializes in creating lunar soil simulants that help test landers, rovers, and science experiments with high fidelity. Personally, I’m intrigued by their icy regolith simulant OPRFLCROSS2 as it falls under a
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #164: The crux of Odysseus and reaching out for resources
As the publicly traded company Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft approaches the Moon for a soft landing attempt, it’s a good time to remind you—my dear readers—that as stated in my public Editorial Independence Policy, I do not own shares of any space company, primarily to keep my
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #163: Another lunar lander ready to loft, betting on Starship, speaking at ESA, and more mission updates
Intuitive Machines set to launch for Luna SpaceX and Intuitive Machines are targeting a Falcon 9 rocket launch of the latter’s first Moon lander during a three-day window opening on February 14 at 5:57 UTC. The mission, named IM-1, will carry six NASA science & technology payloads as
Articles
How engineers test Moon landers on Earth
Until a spacecraft is aloft, engineers never really know if their testing regime was appropriate.
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #162: Mission updates on SLIM, CAPSTONE, and Queqiao 2, a gist of Gateway science, and more
Mission updates SLIM Japan’s SLIM lunar lander entered sleep mode on January 31, two days after it woke up when pre-dusk sunlight struck its solar panels from the west. Like Chandrayaan 3, SLIM wasn’t designed to survive the frigid lunar night, when temperatures can plunge below -100° Celsius.
Chandrayaan
Indian Space Progress #12: Doubling down on space telescopes, lunar exploration, and Earth observation
This month’s Indian Space Progress report is a science special. I hope you enjoy it! XPoSat gazes at cosmic objects from space On January 1, ISRO’s PSLV rocket launched India’s second space telescope called the X-ray Polarimetry Satellite, or XPoSat. While the country’s first space telescope,
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #161: Savoring SLIM’s success in precision landing, India’s role in it, and more mission updates
After ruminating over SLIM’s Moon landing and the news of it achieving its goal of a precision landing, it’s clear that there are many more implications and aspects of the mission to consider so as to savor its selene success. Enjoy the SLIM special Moon Monday! SLIM is
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #160: On Japan’s breakthrough with SLIM and investing in a lunar future
Traveling in another continent presented several challenges for me to work on this week’s Moon Monday, which is why it’s slightly delayed. But I wanted to make sure to get it right because SLIM’s incredible lunar landing is a win in multiple ways. Hope you like this