By Jatan Mehta | The worldās only newsletter dedicated to covering and contextualizing global lunar exploration updates, including plans to return humans to our Moon this decade.
Moon Monday
The hunt for water on the Moon continues US researchers find that permanently shadowed regions up to 77Ā° latitudeāwhich is outside the Moonās south poleācould host surface and near-surface water ice, thereby expanding the presence of such regions farther than previously expected. This result is based
Moon Monday
You know how I remarked in the previous Moon Monday about having two feature stories instead of one to adequately contextualize big new developments? Well, this weekās Moon Monday has three! For Europe, China, and the US. š Europeās new test facility brings more of those lunar vibes on
Moon Monday
This weekās Moon Monday has not one but two feature stories! So much has been happening in lunar exploration this whole year that Iāve transitioned to writing deep dives more frequently so as to adequately capture and contextualize big updates. If you appreciate my efforts to bring you
Moon Monday
After a week full of chores, writing this weekās Moon Monday yesterday and today has made me feel alive again. Hope you enjoy this edition as thereās a lot to contextualize! š¤ Continuing the trend, China repurposes Changāe 6 orbiter module The Changāe 6 orbiter module, which
Moon Monday
The latest effort to save VIPER Members of the US Congress are stepping up efforts in the ongoing scramble to save the VIPER rover mission, which was envisioned to uniquely study lunar water deposits. Specifically, representatives in the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology wrote an open letter to
Moon Monday
Intuitive Machines to launch a fourth Moon mission for NASA NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines a $116.9 million contract to deliver six science & technology payloads to the Moonās south pole in 2027. The mission part of NASAās CLPS program is the fourth and largest such task
Moon Monday
Grab some tea, coffee, or beverage of your choice because this weekās Moon Monday is a sci-tech deep dive! š Chandrayaan 3 contributes to learning our Moonās origin and evolution The first ever ground-based measurements of high-latitude lunar soil and rocks made by the Chandrayaan 3
Moon Monday
First lander to drill on the Moonās south pole delayed for good Jeff Foust reports that NASA will provide an additional $12.4 million to Intuitive Machines for itsĀ upcoming second Moon landing mission (IM-2) part of the agencyās CLPS program for work related to changing the
Moon Monday
Before we begin this weekās Moon Monday, Iām excited to share that Iāll be conducting a study on Indo-US lunar exploration as an Adjunct ScholarĀ at the Takshashila Institution! As India too takes on increasingly complex Moon missions, my aim with the study is to identify
Moon Monday
Radar data from NASAās Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has helped scientists confirm that the lunar pit of Mare Tranquillitatis indeed does lead into a wide lava tube/cave for at least 80 meters. These results corroborate what scientists long suspected about many lunar pits leading to underground passages based
Moon Monday
Going deeper into VIPER Much has been said about NASAās July 17 announcement to cancel the VIPER rover supposed to fly to the Moonās south pole on AstroboticāsĀ Griffin landerĀ mid-decade as part of the agencyās CLPS program to uniquely explore water ice there. Instead
Moon Monday
Chinaās ambition to build a lunar navcom constellation Ling Xin reports on Chinaās ongoing studies to have a phased constellation of 30+ satellites which would provide high-precision navigation as well as high-bandwidth communications for most places on the Moon with up to quadruple coverage. Earlier studies
