By Jatan Mehta | Coverage, with context, of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the Moon after Apollo. This time to (hopefully) stay.
Moon Monday
I’m delighted to share that The Orbital Index is continuing being a Moon Monday sponsor for the third year in a row! 🚀 Their crisp, technical archive of weekly space updates over the last five years is genuinely worth perusing, and searching within, because Andrew, Ben and Sarajane ensure it’
Moon Monday
Life update: This week I’m moving to Bengaluru, the space hub of India. Looking ahead, I’m excited to expand my space horizons and coverage by continually existing where the country’s space epicenter is. Announcement: With no Moon missions launching this month, and no major updates expected from
Moon Monday
On April 3, NASA selected teams led by Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab to mature their designs for a versatile Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), one of which will be used on a firm, fixed price service basis by NASA across Artemis missions starting with Artemis V end of
Moon Monday
NASA selects science instruments to be deployed on the Moon by Artemis III astronauts In a historic return since Apollo, NASA aims to land astronauts on our Moon again in late 2026 with Artemis III. What science instruments will they carry to deploy on the lunar south pole for advancing
Moon Monday
NASA’s road to Luna advances through Starship SpaceX’s third launch of its fully integrated Starship Super Heavy rocket on March 14 achieved orbital velocity, clearing a major milestone of the long path to putting humans on the Moon again since NASA has selected Starship’s lunar variant to
Artemis
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
Moon Monday
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
Artemis
NASA researchers can now directly ask for access to China’s Chang’e 5 lunar samples In welcome news, NASA has secured an exception from the US Congress for its researchers to be able to apply for accessing lunar samples brought to Earth by China’s Chang’e 5 mission
Moon Monday
NASA gets serious about extracting oxygen on the Moon On November 6, NASA formally requested input from the US industry on how to go about (competitively) funding a Moon mission payload that will demonstrate extracting oxygen from lunar soil and rocks. Called Lunar Infrastructure Foundational Technologies (LIFT-1), NASA aims for
Moon Monday
<This edition of Moon Monday was pre-scheduled on Sunday night IST to get published and delivered per usual on Monday since I’m tending to a family need.> I’m delighted to welcome space writer and author Gurbir Singh as an individual sponsor of both Moon Monday and
Artemis
Japan launches the SLIM lunar lander with an unprecedented aim On September 7, Japan launched the 2012-proposed SLIM lander to the Moon. Shortly after separating from the upper stage of its H-IIA launch vehicle in Earth orbit, SLIM completed sun acquisition control and JAXA reported its health to be normal.
Moon Monday
So Nature quoted and linked to my Moon Monday newsletter in an Editorial on the success of ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3 Moon landing! :') An overview and specifics of Chandrayaan 3’s historic touchdown on our Moon On August 23 at 12:33 UTC, ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3 robotic lander
Moon Monday
My friends at The Orbital Index, a kind Moon Monday sponsor, have added the ability for readers to directly support their newsletter. It’s honestly one of the most crisp, versatile, and technical space weeklies out there so I encourage you to donate for said work to thrive. 🚀 NASA invests
Moon Monday
China’s first crewed Moon landing plan On July 12, Zhang Hailian of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) shared China’s current high-level plan to land two astronauts on the Moon circa 2030. As reported by Andrew Jones, the mission envisions China’s upcoming Long March 10 rocket launching
Indian Space
From Chandrayaan 1 to the Artemis Accords, India and US aim for the Moon As part of an unprecedented set of broad-sweeping agreements between the US and India centered around collaborative science & technology advancements, India signed the Artemis Accords on June 21. India is the 27th country—but more
Moon Monday
Thank you so much everyone for your kind notes on Moon Monday crossing 5,000 readers :). Considering the upcoming wave of exciting Moon missions from around the globe, I’m gathering feedback on how I can continue uniquely serving lunar and space communities with this one-of-a-kind newsletter. I request you
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