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According to Kshatriya, SpaceX will perform a Starship-to-Starship cryogenic propellant transfer test in 2025. According to Kshatriya, SpaceX will perform a Starship-to-Starship cryogenic propellant transfer test in 2025. pic.twitter.com/S6f17Rr6zy — Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) April 26, 2024 We have known that fuel transfer capability is critical for the $3.5 NASA-SpaceX Lunar Starship program. SpaceX will test ... Read more

The 2024 total solar eclipse could have rare phenomena you cannot see anytime else, but some only last for a few seconds. Here's what to look for.

Astronomers want to build giant telescopes on the moon. They're already drafting blueprints and making proposals, some with cash from NASA.

SpaceX has scheduled a live stream for March 14, 2024 for the third launch orbital test flight of the SpaceX Starship. They have changed the flight plan from previous orbital launches. They will try to make a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. They will restart engines in orbit and open the payload bay doors. ... Read more

Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander is tipped over on its side. It captured a wide field of view image of Schomberger crater on the Moon approximately 125 miles (200 km) uprange from the intended landing site, at approximately about 6 miles (10 km) altitude. Despite being on it side, the equipment is functioning. The recent ... Read more

Intuitive Machines will have a livestream of the IM-1 lunar landing time has hit and there has been a communication issue. They are rebooting the ground transmitter. 3:33 PST Signs of life. Tracking a return signal. Successful Landing confirmed at about 3:35 PST Flight controllers chose to exercise an additional orbit before starting the IM-1 ... Read more

Intuitive Machines IM-1, Odysseus, completed its scheduled 408-second main engine lunar orbit insertion burn and is currently in a 92 km circular lunar orbit. Initial data indicates the 800 m/s burn was completed within 2 m/s accuracy. After traveling over 1,000,000 km, Odysseus is now closer to the Moon than the end-to-end distance driving across ... Read more

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander had a good launch today on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The NASA payloads aboard the lander aim to help us learn more about terrain and communications near the lunar South Pole.

Intuitive Machines will launch the IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission will be the Company’s first attempted lunar landing as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) initiative, a key part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The Intuitive Machines 1 (IM-1, TO2-IM) mission ... Read more

The European Space Agency and Hassell Studio design for a 144 person moonbase has dozens of inflatable modules that will be covered by regolith. The larger inflatable modules are about 22 feet (7 meters wide), ~60 feet long (~18 meters) and up to 14 feet (4 meters tall at the tallest). This is based upon ... Read more

Architect Hassell Studio and the European Space Agency have a Lunar Habitat Master Plan to build a 144 person moon base. Designed in close collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Cranfield University, the Lunar Habitat Master Plan —was  unveiled at the ESA’s Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands as part of its ... Read more

Japan's SLIM probe lost a thruster and landed upside-down on the moon, but it still woke up and started sending pictures to Earth.

Astrolab’s Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover is built to enhance Lunar and planetary mobility. In November, 2023, Lunar rover developer Astrolab announced eight customers have signed contracts worth more than $160 million for its first mission to the moon in 2026. They signed customers to fly payloads on Mission 1, a flight of the ... Read more

Japan managed to soft land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon, this makes them the 5th nation to accomplish this feat. They did not land on the spacecraft’s feet and instead rolled, probably ending up inverted with the solar panels in the wrong orientation. Two rovers have deployed and we hope to see ... Read more

We don’t know the final fate of the Japan SLIM lander. There seemed to be a touchdown but then communication was lost. Scott Manley believes that it may have landed and rolled. There may have been too much lateral velocity. The lander could be partially functional even if it was on its side. So my ... Read more

Astrobotic's lander set off last week with hope of becoming the first US spacecraft to make it to the moon since the Apollo missions 51 years ago.

The Team Project “Solutions for Construction of a Lunar Base” was the product of 9 intense weeks of collaboration during the Space Studies Program 2021 – Strasbourg, at the International Space University. I had written about their concept to lay a SpaceX Starship flat on the moon to start a moonbase. I did not know ... Read more

Highlights of Elon Musk SpaceX Plans for 2024 and Beyond: They have already increased the communication bandwidth of Starlink v2 mini to 188 Gbps. There will be 150 launches of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy in 2024 Increase the speed and cadence of Starship launches. Deploy Version 3 Starlink satellites via Starship in 2024. Start ... Read more

The Astrobotic Peregrine spacecraft has experienced an “anomaly” that has stopped it from pointing its solar panels stably at the Sun. The solar panels must charge the batteries for the remainder of the mission to the moon to succeed. Astrobotic engineers are working on the issue and would provide updates when it had more information. ... Read more

United Launch Alliance is launching their first Vulcan Centaur rocket. It will carry the Astrobotics Peregrine lunar lander. UPDATE – Launch seems good. Nextbigfuture has another article covering the launch. Vulcan’s first stage is powered by BE-4 engines from Blue Origin, which also will be used on Blue Origin´s New Glenn Rocket. The engines run ... Read more

NASA NIAC willl investigate the details of building a high-resolution, long-baseline, optical imaging interferometer on the lunar surface in conjunction with the Artemis Program. A lunar infrastructure can happen over the next few years through the NASAArtemis Program and the SpaceX Lunar Starsihp. The study of a lunar surface-based interferometer will be a huge step ... Read more