By Jatan Mehta | The world’s only newsletter dedicated to covering and contextualizing global lunar exploration updates, including plans to return humans this decade.
Moon Monday
NASA CLPS lunar mission updates from LEAG Below are some notable updates from the sessions I could attend (virtually) at the annual meeting of the NASA-backed Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) this September 20–22. CLPS manager Chris Culbert gave a forthright presentation on how the agency’s program to
CLPS
Lunar Starship engines ignite As SpaceX preps for the second test flight of its fully reusable Starship Super Heavy rocket, following April’s dramatic first flight, the company has meanwhile revealed that it performed a vacuum-optimized Raptor engine test fire last month. This firing demonstrates that its Lunar Starship engines
Japan and Selene
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.
Chandrayaan
Today, September 4, ISRO set the Chandrayaan 3 Moon lander Vikram in sleep mode around 3:30 UTC. This was shortly after sending commands to turn off its three active instruments: the thermal probe, the seismometer, and the plasma experiment. Likewise, a fully charged Pragyan rover, which has traversed 100
Chandrayaan
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
Today I got my media registration approval to be at ISRO’s ISTRAC mission operations center in Bengaluru for the Chandrayaan 3 landing attempt this August 23! :D 🚀 🌗 <proceeds to publish this Moon Monday edition loaded with lunar updates, and then hurry up to pack my bag for tomorrow’
Chandrayaan
At long last, Luna 25 launches for the Moon On August 11, a Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket successfully launched the 1750-kilogram Luna 25 Moon lander, almost 47 years after the former Soviet Union returned lunar samples with Luna 24. The 3.2-meter tall Luna-25 spacecraft separated from Soyuz’s
Moon Monday
Last week saw so many lunar developments from around the world that I got a bit too excited to write this Moon Monday edition! If you enjoy and appreciate my work to serve space communities with global lunar exploration updates, kindly consider sponsoring Moon Monday as an organization or individual
Artemis
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
China and Luna
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
CLPS
On July 14, Friday at 14:35 IST (09:05 UTC), ISRO launched the robotic Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft for a second attempt to land on the Moon. Chandrayaan 3’s Project Director P. Veeramuthuvel said in a post-launch briefing that the GSLV Mk III rocket injected the spacecraft close to
China and Luna
I’m pleased to welcome Arun Raghavan as the first individual sponsor of Moon Monday for a year! If you too would like to personally support this one-of-a-kind newsletter and space community resource, get in touch: Email me: hey@jatan.space Chandrayaan 3 takes off on July 14 ISRO is
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