Articles
We’re building future technologies for the Moon without closing missed milestones
A review of upcoming and past lunar missions of this decade shows a wide gap between notions of technological progress versus achieved reality.
Japan and Selene
By Jatan Mehta | Coverage, with context, of Japan’s multiple efforts to explore our Moon.
Moon Monday
Moon Monday #231: Achievements and shortfalls in Moon exploration this half year
A review of notable developments by country or region.
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
US Artemis
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
Indian Space
Newly approved Chandrayaan 5 LUPEX mission will drill for water on the Moon and aid Artemis | Indian Space Progress #25-26
Plus: A host of new lunar science results from Chandrayaan 2 and 3. Enjoy this 3200-word Chandrayaan-special. 🌙
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
US Artemis
Moon Monday #213: Mission updates from the US, Japan, China, and this Indian
CLPS and Artemis updates * On February 13, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Moon lander part of NASA’s CLPS program successfully fired its engines for 4 minutes and 15 seconds to enter an elliptical orbit around Luna. Over the rest of February, Blue Ghost will fire its engines multiple times
US Artemis
Moon Monday #212: UNO Skip, then UNO Flip, ft. VIPER and Artemis
Plus: Scientific archives as your Wild Card, a Draw Four for Boeing, UNO Reverse with Japan, and a stack of Artemis updates.
US Artemis
Moon Monday #209: Let’s be high on launch and low on provocation
Updates on CLPS, ispace, Artemis, Chandrayaan 4, and more. Read to the end for a fact check on an op-ed.
US Artemis
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
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