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
Hardware for Moonbound navigation arrives SpacePNT has delivered the ‘NaviMoon’ GNSS receiver for SSTL’s ESA-backed Lunar Pathfinder orbiter, which is targeting a 2026 launch. The payload is at the heart of an ESA-NASA collaboration to demonstrate a location fix at Luna using signals millions of times fainter than those
Artemis
NASA advances science planning for the historic return of humans to the Moon In a historic return since Apollo, NASA aims to land astronauts on our Moon again mid-decade with Artemis III. What science instruments will they bring along to deploy on the Moon’s south pole for advancing our
Moon Monday
ispace Japan’s first Moon lander crashed less than 7 kilometers from its target site Just a month after ispace Japan’s first lunar lander Hakuto-R failed to touchdown on the Moon on April 25, the company has identified from telemetry data the key causes of the M1 surface mission
Artemis
I only recently learnt that months were originally called moonths. I’m so going to say moonths now every chance I get. The word has been duly added to my device dictionaries. 🌝 NASA selects Blue Moon to compete with SpaceX Lunar Starship for crewed Artemis lunar landings NASA has selected
Moon Monday
Mission updates * ULA CEO Tory Bruno says the company’s Vulcan rocket will launch no earlier than June. This update comes as full-scale Vulcan testing resumes following an investigation prompted by the March 29 blowing up of a test Centaur V upper stage, which is a key element of the
Moon Monday
China to launch Queqiao 2 and Chang’e 6 lunar missions next year Queqiao 2 relay satellite China is on track to launch the Queqiao 2 lunar orbiter by May next year, Andrew Jones reports. Its 4.2-meter wide parabolic antenna will relay communications between Earth and CNSA’s upcoming
Moon Monday
On ispace’s failed Moon landing attempt and related tangents for NASA’s CLPS craft On April 25, ispace Japan’s first lunar lander Hakuto-R aced through its remotely-initiated, hour-long autonomous descent on the Moon until the very last moments when it stopped communicating to Earth. ispace said that while
Artemis
I’m stoked to share that Epsilon3 is continuing their sponsorship of Moon Monday for another year! 🌗 Epsilon3 is a web-based platform for managing complex spacecraft testing and operational procedures. Designed to save time and reduce risk in building space mission hardware, Epsilon3 is used by engineers and hardware operators
Moon Monday
I’m happy to share that The Orbital Index is continuing their sponsorship of Moon Monday for another year! 🚀 Considering that the newsletter was part of my inspiration for starting Moon Monday, Andrew and Ben’s support continues to be a gratifying validation of my efforts to cover in context
Artemis
Canada ramps up its lunar exploration ambitions On March 28, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced long-term budgets to accelerate the country’s lunar exploration endeavors, summarized below in context: * Thanks to Canada contributing the Canadarm3 robotics servicing system to the Gateway, an upcoming NASA-led international lunar orbital habitat, the
Artemis
The astronauts who will fly around our Moon soon In what felt like an Apple-esque presentation, NASA announced today the four astronauts who will travel around our Moon and back as part of the 10-day Artemis II mission: * Reid Wiseman (Commander) * Victor Glover (Pilot) * Christina Hammock Koch (Mission Specialist) * Jeremy
Moon Monday
I’m thrilled to share that my writing is now also published on Payload Space! Read my first story for them on Artemis science, which is also featured up top in their newsletter today: NASA Announces Artemis Science Leads 🌗 I’ve had nice interactions with Ryan, Ari, and Rachael for
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