Learn About Earth's Nearest Neighbor - The Moon
NASA will host a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 24, to provide an update on progress toward the launch of the agency’s uncrewed Artemis I mission.
Artemis engineers are working through final closeout tasks for the launch, as well as integrated testing before the rocket rolls out to the pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in … Read the rest of this article
With humans returning to the Moon later this decade. preparations are underway for building the lunar Gateway.
The Gateway will serve as a multi-purpose outpost orbiting the Moon that provides essential support for long-term human return to the lunar surface.
It will also serve as a staging point for further deep space exploration.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander … Read the rest of this article
China’s Chang’e 4 mission which combined both a lander and a rover called Yutu 2, was launched to the Moon on 7 December 2018.
After arriving in lunar orbit on December 12th, it orbited the Moon for a few weeks before landing on the Moon’s far side on January 3rd, 2019.
The solar-powered Yutu 2 and Chang’e 4 lander made … Read the rest of this article
Mirror, mirror, on the Moon, how far away are you?
MoonLIGHT or Moon Laser Instrumentation for General relativity/geophysics High-accuracy Tests is seeking the answer to this and more questions on general relativity, the gravitational dynamics of the Earth-Moon system and the deep lunar interior.
MoonLIGHT is a laser retroreflector, imaged here, which allows laser beams sent from Earth to be … Read the rest of this article
In the first major Artemis update provided under the Biden-Harris Administration, NASA leadership discussed on November 9th the challenges and progress of America’s lunar exploration plans and reiterated a long-term commitment to exploring the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars.
The update follows a judge’s recent decision to uphold NASA’s selection of SpaceX to develop and demonstrate a modern human … Read the rest of this article
The payloads, including one from JPL, mark the agency’s first selections from its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) call for proposals.
As NASA continues plans for multiple commercial deliveries to the Moon’s surface per year, the agency has selected three new scientific investigation payload suites to advance understanding of Earth’s nearest neighbor.
Two of … Read the rest of this article
NASA has awarded Astrobotic of Pittsburgh $199.5 million to deliver NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon’s South Pole in late 2023.
The water-seeking mobile VIPER robot will help pave the way for astronaut missions to the lunar surface beginning in 2024 and will bring NASA a step closer to developing a sustainable, long-term presence on the … Read the rest of this article
This video of lunar imagery taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter attempts to capture the mood of Claude Debussy’s best-known composition, Clair de Lune (Moonlight in French).
The music was originally published in 1905 as the third of four movements in the composer’s Suite Bergamasque. Clair is quiet, contemplative, and slightly melancholy, evoking the feeling of a solitary walk through … Read the rest of this article