Moon

In the early hours here in the United States, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched its largest and most powerful rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Atop the rocket was the nation’s second attempt to land on the Moon, this time with an improved lander.
Expand Expanding Closeispace announced it had solved the mystery of why its lander failed to have a successful touchdown on the lunar surface last month. Thanks to a software feature intended to help save the lander, the glitch ended up being its demise.
Expand Expanding CloseLast month, the Japan-based company ispace attempted to land the first-ever privately funded lunar lander on the Moon. Named the HAKUTO-R, it sadly did not land softly, and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered its impact crater.
Expand Expanding CloseFriday morning, NASA announced that the Blue Origin-led team won NASA’s contract to be the agency’s second Human Landing System for Artemis crewed missions to the Moon. Right now, its first Crewed mission is set to be Artemis 5 in 2029.
Expand Expanding CloseChina has announced bold plans for a manned lunar base tucked away in a permanently shadowed area on the Moon, which local media says will begin construction as soon as this decade.
Expand Expanding Closeispace’s HAKUTO-R lander, which was launched last December, attempted to land on the Moon today, April 25. The mission was looking likely to be the first commercial company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon, but late in the landing phase, ispace lost communication with the uncrewed spacecraft.
Expand Expanding CloseWe are officially at the T minus one-year mark for the next trans-American solar eclipse. April 8, 2024, will mark seven years since the last solar eclipse to transverse the nation. Here’s all you need to know to prepare for next year.
Expand Expanding CloseThe European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) released a report on the current state of Europe’s human exploration program. It calls for the continent to go all in on space, or risk being left in the dust.
Europe has become a key partner in many of NASA’s programs, including the Artemis Program. However, the continent’s space agency seems to have much more ambitious plans, rather than just helping NASA with its goals. The ESA’s HLAG report makes it clear that its objective should be to bolster its commercial market with its own human exploration program, including low Earth orbit and the Moon.
Expand Expanding CloseNASA is returning humanity to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, but this time powered by the growing commercial space industry. To walk on the Moon, you need a few essential tools to survive. One of those was unveiled today – a space suit.
Expand Expanding CloseWith humanity on the cusp of returning astronauts to deep space, one organization is attempting to garner support to give the Moon a time zone.
Spearheading this is the European Space Agency, which says space organizations agree “a common lunar reference time” for timekeeping is important for all lunar systems to reference, be they robotic missions or human surface stays.
Expand Expanding CloseOver the weekend, we finally got word of who will fly on the mysterious dearMoon mission paid for by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. The crew is filled with artists from all mediums and even a media member. Check out who will be flying on dearMoon below.
Expand Expanding CloseEarly tomorrow morning, people around the globe will have the opportunity to view one of the most spectacular events in the sky, a total lunar eclipse. Here’s a rundown of how to watch this event and why total lunar eclipses are often referred to as “blood moons.”
Expand Expanding CloseNASA is set to launch the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the first time from LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 29, 2022, with the two-hour launch window opening at 8:33 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry the Orion capsule on the Artemis 1 mission to a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon for a full, uncrewed test.
Expand Expanding CloseSpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on August 4, 2022, at 7:08 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), which is officially named Danuri, to a 100km Polar Lunar Orbit.
Expand Expanding CloseIt’s a hot and humid summer morning. On July 16th, 1969 the silence was broken by the sound of five F-1 engines roaring to life. Apollo 11 lifted off at 9:32 AM EDT on a mission of a lifetime. On July 20th, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are about to land on the Moon.
Expand Expanding CloseAn unknown rocket stage impacted the Moon this year completely unplanned after launching a payload into space possibly back in 2015. First, it was believed to be from SpaceX, but now it is thought to be Chinese. New photos of the rocket’s impact site on the Moon could point us toward the true owner.
Expand Expanding CloseIt doesn’t matter how you obtained those Moon rocks. NASA still claims ownership over all Apollo lunar samples even if you extracted them from cockroaches’ stomachs yourself. That’s what RR Auctions learned after trying to auction off a small amount of lunar dust alongside the cockroaches it came from.
Expand Expanding CloseNASA’s ‘Moon to Mars’ Artemis program is proceeding as planned on a micro level. Engineers are completing a fueling trial run of the Space Launch System rocket ahead of its trip around the Moon later this fall. On a macro level, however, a new report details how bigger picture plans for Artemis may not be progressing as planned…
Expand Expanding CloseLast night, all the necessary celestial bodies aligned to create a rather rare total lunar eclipse. With the normal light blocked by the Earth, the Moon turns a red color, earning it the name Blood Moon.
Expand Expanding CloseThe first total lunar eclipse of 2022 will happen on the night of May 15 starting at 9:32 p.m. EDT and will reach the maximum at 12:11 a.m. EDT on May 16. In this article, we will discuss the different ways you can see or watch the progression of the total lunar eclipse.
Expand Expanding CloseAfter years of delays and cost overruns, the much-anticipated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are set to roll out to Launch Complex 39B on Thursday, March 17 at the Kennedy Space Center.
Update: Stream time changed to 5:45 p.m. EDT (delayed 45 minutes)
Expand Expanding CloseWe’ve been following a rocket upper stage that is headed for a crash landing on the Moon for nearly a month now. While the object has been observed from Earth, and its collision time has been estimated at around 7:30 a.m. on March 4, the actual identity of the rocket stage has come into question. Now a spokesperson for China has denied that the object is one of the country’s rocket upper stages.
Expand Expanding CloseWhen Bill Gray and a team of observers realized that the SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage that launched the DSCOVR mission is going to crash into the Moon, everyone was talking about it. Now, Unistellar is making it easy for citizen astronomers to catch a glimpse of the rocket with their eVscopes, before it crashes into the Moon on March 4.
Expand Expanding CloseSeven years ago, SpaceX launched its first mission out of Earth orbit for NOAA, and since then, its upper stage has stuck around. But, according to a community of observers, it will meet an end crashing into the Moon soon.
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