Tuesday / 18 February 2025

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Cosmosphere and The Moonwalkers Offer Moon Inspiration and Education

Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke is donating 25 Kansas flags to Smithsonian-affiliated Cosmosphere Space Museum – the Moon-flown 10×15 cm flags display Kansas state motto Ad Astra Per Aspera: To the Stars Through Difficulties; now premiering in USA is 50-minute film The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks, co-written and narrated by him, at Space Center Houston on 5-story-high screen with 7 projectors, incorporating NASA archival films and photos, featuring the Artemis II crew

Credits: Cosmosphere, NASA, Lightroom.uk

Friday / 14 February 2025

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Intuitive Machines: Leader in USA Return to Moon

NET 26 Feb, 4 days after 1st observation of Intuitive Machines IM-1 touchdown on 12° slope at Malapert A 80.13°S, IM-2 launches for Mons Mouton 84.6°S with TRIDENT carbide drill built by Blue Origin Honeybee Robotics to be remote controlled from Earth while MSOLO mass spectrometer from INFICON analyzes gasses released while drilling — together called NASA PRIME-1, and also a leaping robot scanning for hydrogen / temperature communicating via Nokia 4G/LTE system; IM-3 flies NET late 2025 to Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly area ~7.5°N for NASA PRISM carrying team of 3 JPL CADRE rovers; 4th deployment of Nova-C lander IM-4 scheduled NET Oct 2027 will take yeast to Moon South Pole

Credits: NASA, Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 11 February 2025

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Dedication to Artemis Program Remains Strong

Artemis Accords represent collaborative, international effort with USA as a rallying point for now 50 nations and organizations; joint statement between Japan Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and US President Trump affirms continued partnership for Artemis missions; JAXA is developing pressurized lunar rover, will provide 2 astronauts, and works with ESA on lunar Gateway; NASA has issued RFP from companies to assume VIPER project search for water ice under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement; other policy changes involve SLS shutdown; archived LEAG Artemis recommendations are now available here 

Pictured: PM Ishiba; Credits: The White House, JAXA, NASA, LEAG

Friday / 7 February 2025

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NASA SPARX Team Plans South Pole Aitken-Basin Sample Return ~2034

NASA Science Definition Team (SDT) lead, Ryan Watkins, announces selection of the South Pole Aitken-Basin sample Return and eXploration (SPARX) team with Lauren Jozwiak as chair; SPARX team member James Keane and SDT member Denevi will overview mission and goals in March at 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference; report of the SPARX team is expected NET late 2026; SPARX mission expected to launch NET 2030 with regolith samples returning NET 2034; team includes 11 main Committee Members from universities, research institutions, NASA, 2 documentarians, representatives from JAXA, CSA-ASC, ESA, 4 NASA ex-officio members

Credits: NASA, USRA LPSC, (L-R) Lauren Jozwiak, James Keane selfie + drawings, Brett Denevi by NASA/Paul E. Alers, Ryan Watkins

Tuesday / 4 February 2025

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Houston Autoboative MOON ROVERS Show?

NASA call for Lunar Terrain Vehicles for Artemis brought proposals to Houston Autoboative (car and boat) Show from Intuitive Machines, Astrolab Venturi and Lunar Outpost; IM Moon RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover) engineered with 9 partners and Apollo Moonwalkers Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt carries 400kg cargo plus 800kg on a trailer; AV FLEX Rover features NASA-proven software, robotic arm able to place 25kg load, and hyper-flexible wheels; LO Lunar Dawn LTV Eagle developed with GM, Goodyear and MDA Space

Credits: Lunar Outpost, Astrolab Venturi, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 31 January 2025

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Water Is Life — Why It Is on the Moon

Of ~382 kg of Moon rock returned by Apollo, samples heated to 50°, 150° and 1,000°C indicate they are “surprisingly wet” — important for Artemis missions; research published 16 Dec 24 concludes most water is from Moon’s formation, some from comets, and theory of “solar wind as the dominant source for lunar water” is invalid; NASA-led Artemis landing humans NET 2027 plan Moon as gateway to the Solar System using Moon water, which is “among the rarest and most precious commodities in space”; China pledges to land humans before 2030

Credits: NASA, Morgan Nunn Martinez, Maxwell and Mark Thiemens

Tuesday / 28 January 2025

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Intuitive Machines IM-2 Science and Discovery Class Lunar Delivery

IM-2 planned launch on Falcon 9 to Moon on 26 Feb prompts invitation from NASA to media for in-person attendance; lander Athena expected touchdown is 6-7 Mar at Mons Mouton, 84.6°S, with thermal-protected payloads from NASA, Lonestar Data Holdings, Columbia Sportswear, Nokia 4G/LTE cellular system, Lunar Outpost, Puli Space, Dymon Co. Ltd., German Aerospace Center; IM’s Micro-Nova Hopper “Grace” to explore shadowed craters, send data via Nokia to Athena and IM-2 system to Earth; IM-4 landing NET 2027 also headed to South Pole area, while IM-3 landing NET 2026 aims for 7.39°N

Credits: NASA, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 24 January 2025

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Moon Landers On-Track and Planned for 2025

Firefly Blue Ghost reporting nominal operations and receiving signals from 331,000+ km distance, projected lunar landing 2 Mar; ispace lander Resilience to attempt mission Milestone 5 lunar flyby ~15 Feb after reaching 1.1M km apogee, Moon touchdown earliest date 15 May; if Intuitive Machines IM-2 launches on planned date of 26 Feb, landing expected 6-7 Mar; Blue Moon Pathfinder to launch on Blue Origin New Glenn as early as summer 2025, while Astrobotic Griffin could launch in fall

Credits: SpaceX, ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Blue Origin, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 17 January 2025

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2 Landers On Their Way to the Moon, 3rd to Follow Soon

Although 9 hours is minimum travel time for Earth to Moon, two Moon landers launched 15 Jan, 01:11 EST, to arrive after 45 days (Firefly) and 4-5 months (ispace); flight was orbital number 100 for SpaceX from 39A pad where Apollo 11 launched to Moon; ispace lander Resilience has communicated as planned on its mission that saves fuel for a soft touchdown; Firefly lander Blue Ghost separated from rocket ~1 hr post-launch into elliptical Earth orbit, established comms with mission ops in Cedar Park TX, where techs determined all-systems-go for landing 2 Mar; Intuitive Machines IM-2 lander has expected launch 26 Feb 19:02 from Florida and touchdown 6-7 Mar

Credits: Firefly, ispace, SpaceX, Intuitive Machines

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 10-13 January 2025

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Historic First: Two International Commercial Lunar Landers on Single Rocket Set for Jan 15 Launch

Firefly Aerospace first lunar lander ‘Blue Ghost’ carries ~150 kg of 10 NASA payloads within total weight ~490 kg, is go for launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket 15 January, heads to land at Mare Crisium (18.56°N, 61.81°E) NET 1 March (~45 days later) with LEXI refurbished X-ray instrument to read Earth magnetosphere / auroras, with Honeybee Robotics (Blue Origin) PlanetVac to stir regolith / photograph dust, and with Redwire (NYSE: RDW) imaging technology to assist landing; ispace Japan second mission with ~340 kg lander Hakuto-R M2 ‘Resilience’, carrying ~5-kg RESILIENCE micro-rover, will travel 4-5 months before planned touchdown at Mare Frigoris (60.5°N, 4.6°W)

Credits: Firefly, ispace, SpaceX