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The brief but exciting research period during my time in academia after which I pursued science writing full-time.

Jatan Mehta

Aug 27, 2020 — 1 min read

As a former science officer at TeamIndus, I selected landing sites for their Moon missions, identified science objectives, and converted them to engineering requirements. Here are notable works I was actively involved in while I was there.

Co-developed a framework with veteran scientist Dr. Jim Head and peers for maximizing science in lunar landing missions. Abstract and poster, presented at LPSC 2019. 🌗

lpsc-landing-sites-abstract.pdf

Part of the TeamIndus group collaborating with Brown University on a science-optimized rover traverse in a Moon landing mission. Paper published on NewSpace.

Science optimized rover traverse at Mare Imbrium to decipher its volcanic past

brown-uni-rover-traverse-optimization-for-science-at-mare-imbrium.pdf

I also have some research experience in Astrophysics, specifically in analyzing X-rays from cosmic objects as measured by Astrosat, India’s first space telescope.

Analysis of X-rays from Intermediate Polar V1223 Sgr by Jatan Mehta

Project report on Intermediate Polar V1223 Sgr - Jatan Mehta.pdf

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Indian Space Progress #18: A flat budget, increasing mass to orbit, continuing Chandrayaan, and pushes for private space

I hope you enjoy this bird’s-eye view of all major developments in India’s space trajectory over the last two months! 🚀 India’s space budget for FY2024 Despite the many highs of 2023 for Indian space, the FY2024 budget of $1.56 billion for the country’s Department of

Moon Monday #185: China’s lunar constellation plans, mission updates, and more

China’s ambition to build a lunar navcom constellation Ling Xin reports on China’s ongoing studies to have a phased constellation of 30+ satellites which would provide high-precision navigation as well as high-bandwidth communications for most places on the Moon with up to quadruple coverage. Earlier studies focused on

I’m an Open Lunar Affiliate!

I’m glad to share that alongside many inspiring individuals like Louis Burtz, Ranjana Kaul and Yoav Landsman, I’ve been an Affiliate at the Open Lunar Foundation for a while now. We’re thrilled to aid the non-profit’s daunting work of developing key technical and policy building blocks

Moon Monday #184: Funding farside ventures, lunar traffic, and Moon Monday in video!

On the intersection of ispace, NASA CLPS, funding, and science The publicly traded ispace Japan is taking another loan from the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, amounting to $62 million, to continue working on its upcoming three Moon missions: * The company’s second lunar lander M2/RESILIENCE, launching end of 2024

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