Moon Monday
Moon Monday #231: Achievements and shortfalls in Moon exploration this half year
A review of notable developments by country or region.
CLPS
By Jatan Mehta | Coverage, with context, of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Services Program to send the agency’s science & technology payloads to the Moon on privately owned landers.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #230: China leaps again in its steady march to Luna while NASA’s progress on Artemis remains a mixed bag
A look at recent Chinese milestones in the build up to crewed lunar missions, another blow(up) for Artemis, how Firefly’s Ocula can fill critical gaps for NASA, and more.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #228: The need for resilience in private lunar landing missions through expansive and collaborative testing
ispace Japan’s second Moon lander RESILIENCE launched in January with the aim of a Moon landing. But just like its predecessor Hakuto-R’s fate about two years ago, RESILIENCE crashed into the Moon during its landing attempt on June 6. It was a moment of heartbreak for several lunar
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #227: Proposed cuts, cancellations, continuations, and changes to NASA’s lunar missions
And other mission updates.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #226: Blue Origin aims to launch its first two Moon missions by next year—with nearly no NASA payloads
Plus: Firefly to carry UAE’s second lunar rover and more.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #225: Lots of global lunar mission updates 🌙
Key news of the month: China has achieved daytime Earth-Moon distance measurement wherein a 1.2-meter telescope reflected an infrared laser off of a small retroreflector on the 61-kilogram Tiandu 1 lunar orbiter. This was the first ever daytime laser distance measurement using an orbiter, accomplished despite massive interference from
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #221: The US is failing to explore lunar water as the principal goal of Artemis
And, countries allied with the US are facing delays in their own missions, allowing China to lead in this aspect of lunar exploration too.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #218: A molten Moon, a date for the SPA, sunset for Blue Ghost as well as inclusive Artemis language, and more
There’s a lot in this Moon Monday edition to unpack. Grab yourself a coffee or another mild drug of choice and let’s get started. 🤓 Chang’e 6 samples produce two more big results Until now, all the direct evidence of our Moon being covered in a global magma
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #217: Red A-CLPS 🔥💍
Also drills, flying regolith, a hard landing, Moonlight, and many more mission updates to quench the lunatic in you.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #216: Firefly Blue Ghost brings precision landing and lunar sci-tech bounties
Plus: Contextualizing the failure of Intuitive Machines’ second Moon mission and that of Lunar Trailblazer as grave losses for NASA.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #215: Firefly performs first actual soft lunar landing for the US in the 21st century, bags key firsts
Plus: Intuitive Machines and Lunar Trailblazer launch for Luna while KASA plans the same. And, maybe nobody should “dominate” space.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #214: Blue Ghost preps for lunar landing, gets its fix in lunar orbit
Plus: Intuitive Machines set to launch second Moon lander, Australia continues lunar tech investments, and more.