Friday / 6 Jun 2025

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2026 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Will Be Hosted by USRA / LPI; ISS 2026 Conference Is in Discussion, 2025 “Canceled”

Universities Space Research Association / Lunar & Planetary Institute (USRA / LPI) will mount LSPC 2026, its 57th year, after NASA bow-out; USRA / LPI has been in the forefront of ISS human health research; International Space Station Research & Development Conference long scheduled for 28-31 Jul in Seattle WA suddenly has website notice current regulatory and budget reform does not support holding it; 850+ participants expected, hotel would not reveal whether refunds will be given; next year may be rolled into AIAA ASCEND

Credits: USRA / LPI, ISSRDC, AIAA

Tuesday / 3 Jun 2025

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ispace Moon Lander About 100km and 2 Days From Surface

ispace Resilience Lunar Lander completes Success 8 of 10 milestones 28 May, entering 100-km altitude circular orbit with 10-min engine burn, longest to date on this privately funded Mission 2, leaves elliptical orbit 70×5,800 km reached with 9-min burn 7 May; descent to Mare Frigoris 56°N 1°E begins from 100 km, higher than 30 km of Chandrayaan 3 and 20 km of Blue Ghost; global livestream in English and Japanese begins 1 hr before expected Moon landing 19:24 UTC 5 Jun / 04:24 JST 6 Jun

Credits: ispace

Friday / 30 May 2025

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Explore Mars 2025 Humans To the Moon & Mars Summit “H2M2” Acknowledges Moon Priority

Explore Mars organization now aligned with NASA Moon-To-Mars strategy emphasizing Moon first; full recording of 2025 H2M2 is available for both Day 1 and Day 2, views of 100,000+ expected, 11,500 livestream watchers; Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO emphasizes lunar permanence, using Moon as stepping stone to Solar System; Mike Gold of Redwire discusses importance of Artemis Accords and international collaboration; The Artemis Generation workforce for sustained space exploration can address extreme environment technology gaps described by Jake Bleacher of NASA such as communications

Credits: Explore Mars

Tuesday / 27 May 2025

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Isaacman in His Own Words: Artemis in Focus; NASA Admin Senate Vote Soon

 “I would prioritize the Artemis program; If confirmed, I will focus on getting Artemis back on track”; “There will inevitably be a thriving space economy—one that will create opportunities for countless people to live and work in space”; “NASA should … refocus its world-class talent and infrastructure on … developing the next generation of exploration technologies”; “I would work closely with our [Gateway] partners … to find an acceptable path forward”; “a ~50% reduction to NASA’s science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome”; Full Senate vote on Isaacman to head NASA likely to be week of 2-6 Jun

Credits: Jared Isaacman, NASA

Friday / 23 May 2025

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Astrobotic Announces Power Technology Breakthrough for Surviving Lunar Night

 Wireless charging is now commercially available for space applications, furthering Astrobotic goal “to make space accessible to the world”; 125W of power to rovers or astronaut-held tools will transfer from lander or Vertical Solar Array Technology platform, whether covered in 4cm of regolith dust, at -180°C, vibrating, or in an electromagnetic field with virtually no atmosphere; Astrobotic led WiBotic, Bosch, University of Washington and NASA Glenn in development, for ~54 months, under US$5.7M NASA Tipping Point contract; 400W system is in the works

Credits: Astrobotic

Tuesday / 20 May 2025

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JAXA Chief Offers Technology Partnership to Keep NASA Moon Missions On-Track

 JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa offers response to NASA budget proposal cutting ~6% of current US$24.8B, although not human exploration portion, says Japan has high-precision Moon landing technology, lunar rover, resupply capabilities and lunar water data to offer Artemis missions; emphasizes lunar Gateway or similar infrastructure needed, could include JAXA human habitation module created with ESA; SLS / Orion are 140% over budget at US$23B, cost US$4B per launch, had been planned to deploy Gateway; NASA budget proposal for FY 2026 beginning Oct 2025 earmarks over $7 billion for lunar exploration, introduces $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 16 May 2025

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ispace Lander in Lunar Orbit, 20 Days Ahead of Anticipated Moon Landing

 ispace 340-kg lunar craft Resilience in stable Moon orbit due to ~9-minute main thruster burn ahead of final maneuvers before anticipated 5 Jun (UTC) touchdown near Mare Frigoris with 5-kg rover Tenacious; rover will shovel regolith, analyze and send data; ispace aiming to fulfill US$5,000 NASA Lunar Regolith Transfer Contract; Resilience also carries water electrolyzer, food production experiment with algae, Moonhouse by artist Mikael Genberg, deep space radiation probe, UNESCO memory disk, commemorative plaque based on Charter of the Universal Century fictional document from Japanese science fiction franchise Gundam

Credits: ispace-Inc

Tuesday / 13 May 2025

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Helium 3 Needed for New Uses: Quantum Computing, Medical Imaging, Fusion Research

Interlune presents prototype excavator produced with Vermeer Corp to extract Helium 3 (3He) from 100,000 kg regolith hourly; US Dept of Energy will buy 3He from ~2 hours of excavation, 3L; Maybell Quantum also signed on to purchase 3He; Apollo 17 Astronaut geologist Jack Schmitt co-founded Interlune to mine 3He; CTO Gary Lau states regolith 3He concentration is between 1:3,000 and 1:10,000 according to samples from Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17; Company received initial seed funding of $18M

Credits: Interlune, Vermeer; Pictured: Schmitt

Friday / 9 May 2025

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India Moon Science, Future Missions Highlighted at IAF GLEX, New Delhi

Vyomanaut in training, Ajit Krishnan returns from IAF GLEX ongoing in New Delhi where India Moon and Solar System Complete mission science is being discussed; Chandrayaan-4 sample return lander to Statio Shiv Shakti NET 2027; Gaganyaan human Moon mission 8.2 t orbital module will carry 3 atop HLVM3, 1st flight Q1 2027; Chandrayaan-3 was 1st lander near South Pole region, making India 4th country with soft landing, rover also successful; Chandrayaan-2 orbiter continues to analyze Moon atmosphere, surface and subsurface; Chandrayaan-1 orbiter confirmed surface water

Credits: ISRO, NASA, PTI

Tuesday / 6 May 2025

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Astrobotic Technology Aims for Moon Landing by Dec 2025

Astrobotic Griffin-1 lunar lander Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) technologies critical for soft Moon landing show themselves reliably successful in Mojave CA test; rocks / small craters down to 15 cm detected and avoided by camera and LiDAR, in Hazard Detection and Avoidance and Terrain Relative Navigation systems; scan area ~1,000,000 sq m (>2,200 football fields) allows safest specific site and landing accuracy within 50 m radius; landing expected in Nobile region near Moon South Pole with Astrolab FLIP rover by end of 2025

Credits: Astrobotic Technology, NASA