Moon Monday
Moon Monday #206: The state of global lunar exploration in 2024
Plus, my experience at the Galaxy Forum in Wenchang, China to that end.
Japan and Selene
By Jatan Mehta | Coverage, with context, of Japan’s multiple efforts to explore the Moon.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #203: Artemis updates, China and Luna, ESA<>JAXA, and more
Thank you for having signed up for my no-award winning Moon Monday blog+newsletter! Its motivation was to exist because nothing like it did to capture the world’s march to the Moon. 🌝 If you’re one of the 8,000+ lunatics who enjoys this free curated community resource, you
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #196: Confusion about lunar water and LUPEX, and papers plus mission updates
You can now follow my articles on some non-questionable social networks that also federate (interoperate): Flipboard, Mastodon and Bluesky. The hunt for water on the Moon continues US researchers find that permanently shadowed regions up to 77° latitude—which is outside the Moon’s south pole—could host surface and
Japan and Selene
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
Indian Space Progress
Indian Space Progress #15: An ISRO-JAXA collaboration for the Moon, aiding Artemis, and more
In this month’s Indian Space Progress edition, I want to highlight how increasing independence in being able to plan and execute planetary missions can lead to uniquely impactful collaborations between organizations globally. India’s Chandrayaan program has been becoming incrementally indigenous, and the two stories below highlight its utility
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #172: On Japan’s road to landing on Luna; mission updates, micro rovers, and more
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
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
Moon Monday
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.
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
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #154: ispace Japan progresses toward another lunar landing with RESILIENCE, as must Starship in NASA’s road to Luna
Meet RESILIENCE, ispace Japan’s second Moon mission Following ispace Japan’s failed touchdown attempt on the Moon with the M1 mission in April, the company has improved the hardware and software design of the Hakuto-R lander for the M2 mission in late 2024, called “RESILIENCE” to reflect the spirited
Japan and Selene
Moon Monday #152: Covering India and Japan’s next Moonshot, South Korea’s lunar lander, Artemis updates, and more
<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