Category Archives: Lunar Landers

Friday / 21 February 2025

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India to the Moon: Update and Focus

ISRO charting innovative course for human Moon landing by 2040, perhaps near Shiv Shakti where Chandrayaan 3 landed; LVM3 rocket being modified into Human-Rated HR-LVM3 ‘Soorya’ with safety systems, tripled liftoff mass capability ~1.8 million kg; higher-capacity lunar lander being built with Earth Departing Stage (EDS); crewed Moon missions to require minimum 2 launches, then in-space docking / assembly; inaugural double launch NET 2025 for Gaganyaan crewed Earth orbit, then Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return NET 2027 (updated from 2028); IAF GLEX Conference upcoming May 7-9 in New Delhi

Credits: ISRO, NASA/JPL/USGS

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

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 / 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

Tuesday / 3 December 2024

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Two Lunar Landers at Kennedy Space Center Awaiting Launch, Third Will Soon Arrive

JAXA / ispace lunar lander Mission 2 Resilience is now at KSC preparing to carry Tenacious micro rover / commercial payloads including a model house to Mare Figoris, 60.5° N, 4.6° W, is called “culmination of the Hakuto-R program; Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander awaits launch from LC39A during 6-day window mid-January, carries 10 payloads including for NASA CLPS to Mare Crisium after 45-day journey with orbits of Earth and Moon; Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander Athena for IM-2 mission expected to arrive soon at KSC, will carry NASA CLPS payloads to Mouton Plateau (Leibnitz); all will launch NET January via SpaceX Falcon 9

Credits: JAXA / ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 22 November 2024

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Thailand GISTDA / NARIT Promote Moon Missions

Thailand Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), organizes Space Week, participates in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), counts 35,000 Thai businesses linked to space, signed Artemis Accords via director Pakorn Petchprayoon, signed MoU with muSpace / ispace for lunar collaboration; National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) does astronomy / related sciences, educates, signed with Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) / International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) via Executive Director Saran Poshyachinda for South Pole Moon base and precursors, will have 3 kg space weather monitor on Chang’E-7 orbiter NET 2026; Thai instrument or robot planned for Chang’E-8 lander NET 2028

Credits: GISTDA, NARIT, NASA

Friday / 15 November 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Aims for Moon Far Side

Firefly Aerospace, Texas, latest fundraising of US$175M, much from RPM Ventures, raises valuation to US$2B; majority owner is AE Industrial Partners; will launch via SpaceX Falcon 9 for first of 2 commercial Moon landings under NASA CLPS awards, delivering 10 instruments / experiments including LuSEE-Night, also Australian seismic SPIDER; after transport on 2,700 kg-payload-capacity Firefly Elytra Dark Transfer Vehicle in lunar orbit, lander Blue Ghost carries 150 kg to lunar surface, provides data / power / thermal resources for operations from Moon far side for 10+ days

Credits: Firefly Aerospace, Fleet Space, SpaceX, Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab