By Jatan Mehta | Dives into lunar exploration, space technology, Indian space, planetary science, and more.
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The New York Times recently highlighted some emerging Indian space startups with an online & print article. It was not only widely read—seeing that it’s published by one of the world’s most-consumed publications—but also widely shared by the startups mentioned in the piece and related folks
Chandrayaan
On August 23 at 12:33 UTC, India’s Chandrayaan 3 robotic lander touched down on the Moon near its south pole at 69.37°S, 32.32°E. The triumphant touchdown made India only the fourth country to achieve the feat of a soft lunar landing, following the former
Chandrayaan
Sep 4, 2023 edit: It hopped! India’s Chandrayaan 3 lander is on its way to the Moon as we speak, aiming for a graceful touchdown near the lunar south pole on August 23. In a pre-launch interview, popular Indian YouTuber Gareeb Scientist asked an interesting question to ISRO Chief
Chandrayaan
The ambitious mission comes as India signs the US-led Artemis Accords to shape future global lunar activities.
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Hi, I’m Jatan Mehta, a globally published independent space exploration writer, and the creator & author of Moon Monday and Indian Space Progress. If you love my work, you can have me write an article or a brief story on a space exploration theme or topic of your choice,
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Iconic missions to the outer Solar System such as Voyager 1 & 2, Galileo, and Cassini gave us a close look at the largest moons of giant planets. Once thought of as inactive, cold conglomerates of ice and rock, we now know these distant moons are planet-like worlds with rich
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An uncrewed, autonomous spaceplane prototype developed by ISRO successfully landed on a runway at Chitradurga, India on April 2. The winged vehicle, officially called the Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), was heli-dropped from a height of 4.5 kilometers such that its descent simulates an approach from space. The
Artemis
NASA’s Artemis Town Hall briefing at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) on March 15 announced Dr. Noah Petro as the Science Lead for Artemis III. The historic mission aims to land humans back on the Moon by mid-decade. Petro is currently the project scientist for NASA’
Indian Space
July 20, 2023 update: This post is now old, and kept online for archival purposes. Please read my new and more detailed article on Chandrayaan 3 instead. After India’s Chandrayaan 2 lander unfortunately failed to land on the Moon in 2019 during its final mission phase, the Indian Space
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The lunar orbiter launched South Korea’s deep space ambitions.
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South Korea is about to have its Chandrayaan 1 moment.
Japan and Selene
Edit on May 29, 2023: The lander failed to touchdown. :( Today, December 11, private Japanese company ispace inc. launched its first ever Moon mission M1 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. ispace’s robotic “Hakuto-R” spacecraft is now on a low-energy, fuel-efficient trajectory to the Moon, after four months of
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