Friday / 31 October 2025

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Blue Origin First Moon Lander Launching this Year?

Blue Origin (“Blue”) stacks 3 sections of 8.3 meter Blue Moon Mark 1 Pathfinder lander and installs NASA SCALPSS payload ahead of barging from Port Canaveral factory to NASA Johnson; Blue Director Jacqueline Cortese posits launch to Moon in “a few weeks” — attempting to fly before 2026; booster to be reused for that flight expected to send off EscaPADE to Mars on 8 Nov; Mark 1 to next deliver VIPER to South Pole late 2027 under US$190M NASA contract; 15.3 meter Mark 2 lander will demo uncrewed Moon landing before taking Artemis 5 Astronauts NET 2029 per US$3.4B NASA contract

Image Credits: Blue Origin

Tuesday / 28 October 2025

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Lunar Development Cooperative Offers Transnational Framework for Sustainable Lunar Economy

Lunar Development Cooperative (LDC), New York City for-profit multinational public-private partnership proposed by Michael Castle-Miller, an attorney there, aims to enhance 1967 Outer Space Treaty by fostering egalitarian, peaceful and sustainable Moon economy; early investors can buy shares—starting at US$1—via global trading platform, be part of humanity’s lunar “holding company” with ≥51% equity held by private investors, ≤49% by sovereigns around the world; members pay fees based on market value of lunar rights to fund shared infrastructure, e.g. power stations and waste networks; robust rules ensure environmental protection, fair labor and competition, prioritize developing nations / indigenous groups for inclusive resource mining / development

Image Credits: The Lunar Development Cooperative

Friday / 24 October 2025

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ispace Innovation / Cooperation Offers Success Model for Lunar Advancement

ispace, inc. (Japan), developing Moon landers / rovers in HAKUTO-R program, planned to collect lunar regolith for US$5,000 and transfer ownership to NASA — evoking lunar property rights questions; subsidiary ispace-Europe signs 6 Oct US$22M Payload Services Agreement (PSA) with Magna Petra Corp. to deliver (via subsidiary ispace-USA APEX 1.0 lander / micro-rover) NASA MSOLO mass spectrometer for lunar Helium-3 prospecting under Magna Petra-NASA 5 May Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA); ispace signs 5 Sep MoU with Digantara (India) for cislunar awareness and 23 Oct with OrbitAID (India) for refueling, indirectly supporting ISRO-JAXA LUPEX / Chandrayaan-5 mission (JAXA rocket / rover, ISRO lander) launching NET 2028

Image Credits: ispace

Tuesday / 21 October 2025

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Moon Olympics as Overarching Concept

Olympic-class spirit would be appropriate in any discussion of a 2nd Moon race, fostering sports-like excellence in a mode of international friendship during competition; challenges of complexity arise for all, whether SpaceX with a multi-stage system, Blue Origin announcing a new robotic cargo Moon lander prior to its Mark 1, SLS and Orion moving toward launch, or China now test-firing its human-rated long March 10 twice; since People’s Republic of China 2013 Chang’E-3 landing, China has shared Moon rocks / research internationally

Image Credits: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now, CCTV, NASA, CNSA

Friday / 17 October 2025

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Head of KASA Outlines Korea Moon Goal Plan and 2026 Budget

Republic of Korea aims for robotic Moon landing by 2032; Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) head Yoon Young-bin names 7 strategies and ~US$800M for these in 2026: continue to launch indigenous Nuri rocket, develop satellites, secure space communication, cultivate talent to build advanced craft, foster industry startups, expand international cooperativeness especially with USA, build / use new Moon simulation site; Korea is 7th nation to have lunar orbiter (Danuri, 2022 – see high-definition Moon-surface photo above), only international partner on SPHEREx space telescope, signer of Artemis Accords

Image Credits: KASA, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, SpaceX, ChosunBiz News

Tuesday / 14 October 2025

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Intuitive Machines Takes Next Steps on Lunar Journey

Intuitive Machines (“IM”) (Nasdaq: LUNR): secures contract from undisclosed government source for US$9.8M to develop next phase of lunar Orbital Transfer Vehicle (2,100kg payload) – manufacturing expected to begin 2026 for government / commercial customers; completes $30M KinetX acquisition (paying $15M cash plus 1.4 million shares), enhancing deep space navigation capabilities for lunar / interplanetary missions after using KinetX proprietary software on 2 Moon missions; offers US$250M convertible senior notes due 2030 – with option for additional $37.5M – for operations, R&D, acquisitions; continues its work on NASA-awarded contract for communication / navigation services between Earth and Moon / beyond

Image Credits: Intuitive Machines

Friday / 10 October 2025

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ispace Partners Internationally to Further Lunar Enterprise

ispace announces new business deals including JAXA ~US$6.5B Strategic Space Fund selects ispace to develop lunar-water-location orbiter in ~$42M project led by Institute of Science Tokyo, and ispace chooses 2 companies for lunar water projects: Takasago Thermal Engineering receives ~$19.5M of ispace shares to collaborate in finding lunar surface H2O, Kurita Water Industries invests ~$13M in ispace as they jointly develop lunar resources / infrastructure; payload service agreements in process: for Series 3 lander NET 2027 with Magna Petra for ~$22M to take NASA MSOLO, and Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (Korea) for 2 rovers; with Taiwan Space Agency for ~$8M to deliver NET 2028 magnetometer / UV telescope

Image Credits: ispace

Tuesday / 7 October 2025

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Australian Roo-ver to Moon 2030, Other Lunar Accomplishments

Australia Moon goals feature 20kg Roo-ver rover, named for kangaroo via public vote, launching by 2030 to Moon southern latitudes for Artemis program via CLPS, being built by ELO2 consortium co-led by EPE Oceania and Lunar Outpost Oceania and including ~20 orgs; Australia 1 of 6 original signers of Artemis Accords, ~10,000 work in space sector; 1st Australian to space Paul Scully-Power as civilian on Challenger; Parkes Observatory in New South Wales has 64m radio telescope dish Murriyang that relayed 2.5 hrs of Neil Armstrong 1st Moonwalk amid 110km/h winds, outside its safety limits

Image Credits: ELO2, Parkes

Friday / 3 October 2025

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Europe Moves Forward with International Collaboration on Moon Missions for Exploration, Monitoring, Mining

Airbus (Netherlands / France, with German / USA / China / Canada offices) supplies European Service Module for Artemis II Orion spacecraft, providing life-support, avionics, solar power, propulsion; ESA Argonaut lunar lander planned to launch NET 2031; Blue Origin (USA / Luxembourg) teams with Luxembourg government / ESRIC / GOMSpace to create Oasis-1 orbiter to map water ice / H3 / rare minierals, before sending Blue Alchemist mining rig; Space Applications Services (Belgium) designing 300kg rover; ispace Europe awaits ESA approval for MAGPIE 30kg rover to analyze subsurface geology, hydrogen forms, et al

Image Credits: Airbus, Blue Origin, NASA

Tuesday / 30 September 2025

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NASA Awards Blue Origin US$190M VIPER Delivery Contract

Blue Origin will now deliver NASA lunar rover to the Moon South Pole using Blue Moon Mark 1 lander; targeting late 2027, the 100-day mission will seek water ice and volatiles, supporting Artemis; Blue Origin $3B Space Coast facility, including the 18,600 m² Lunar Plant 1, will build the lander, employing 1,500 workers; the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket will enable lunar deliveries, while Blue Origin advances its Human Landing System for Artemis V

Image Credits: Blue Origin