Array of CubeSats are Set to Lead Artemis Lunar Science and Exploration
With CLPS robotic surface missions delayed into Q1 2022, the 25-kg, 12U Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) is to kick off Artemis Moon program with Oct launch to 1,600 x 70,000km near rectilinear halo orbit via Rocketlab Electron, with goal of proving orbital stability ahead of Gateway by positioning relative to LRO; Artemis 1 launching NET Nov 26 to validate SLS / Orion while dispersing 13 cubesats from Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage in 4 batches following trans-lunar injection, allowing wide range of cislunar trajectories
Redwire Regolith Print (RRP) experiment utilizes Additive Manufacturing Facility (developed by subsidiary Made In Space) on ISS, fitted with custom printing heads / build plates brought by Cygnus NG-16 S.S. Ellison Onizuka, to fabricate 3 test slabs composed of regolith simulant; RRP seeks to validate construction method in low gravity, with goal of applying technique in-situ for long term, radiation-blocking Moon infrastructure; Test slabs to be returned to Earth for control comparison / durability testing; 1 Sep SPAC merger expected to raise US$170M
12U lunar pathfinder 
Proposals for excavation / conveyance of ice-containing regolith from Moon Permanently Shadowed Regions, supporting long-duration human activity receiving US$500k through NASA Centennial Challenge; Redwire Space (Jacksonville FL) receives first place / $125k for Lunar Regolith Excavator (L-Rex) and Lunar Transporter (L-Tran); Colorado School of Mines (Golden CO) second place / $75k for Lunar Ice Digging System (LIDS); Austere Engineering (Littleton CO) third place / $50k; PRIME-1 ice drill to be delivered on CLPS IM-2, Q4 2022; CNSA Chang’e-6 to retrieve MSP sample 2024
Fundamental and Applied Lunar Surface Research in Physical Sciences is focus of LSSW 10, with plenary talks including Artemis update from (L-R) Julie Robinson, NASA HEOMD Chief Scientist; A.V. Zakharov, Astronomer with Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences to present on Luna-25 instrument PmL, planned to conduct Lunar Near-Surface Dusty Plasma Investigations; S. Bandyopadhyay to expound on NIAC-awarded farside Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) concept, C.J. Collins invited to speak on Instrumenting the Moon as a Spherical Gravitational Wave Detector
Sustainable Moon settlement study centered around in-situ food production, also conducting research on long duration physiological and psychological human effects, to be launched by JAXA in partnership with Space Foodsphere, a Tokyo-based study group with wide industry membership including Euglena Co. (algae-based biofuels), NTT Data (information technology) and Ajinomoto Co. (food science); Facilities within Japan may begin construction March 2022, with Antarctic locations to follow and vision of transferring technology to terraformation of exoplanets circa 2100
Researchers with Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, divisions of ISRO, confirm presence of lunar water H2O) in 
Artemis Music Entertainment teams with Nanoracks on first music (Clair de Lune played by Wing-Chong Kam) in space to be minted into NFT, a type of unique blockchain token used to assign ownership of media; version of Clair de Lune transmitted to ISS from Houston, traveling 201,168+ orbital km prior to Earth return; “Why Not Me” visual artwork accompanied, to become first of kind NFT with auction set for 13:00 HST 10 August on Notables platform; Proceeds benefit Students for the Exploration and Development of Space / Artemis Music Foundation
Gravitational-Wave Lunar Observatory for Cosmology (GLOC) is latest concept for conducting fundamental astrophysical research on Moon; Vanderbilt and Harvard astrophysicists K. Jani and A. Loeb contend conditions on Moon surface preferable to terrestrial and space for laser interferometry, propose <5 Hz instrument to validate general relativity / Lambda cold dark matter, observe type 1a supernovae; GLOC joins Artemis era radio astronomy from the Moon projects Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages & Exoplanets (University of Colorado / JPL), FarView (Lunar Resources Inc) Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (NIAC); Optical astronomy underway includes Q1 2022 ILO-X (International Lunar Observatory) and Ultimately Large Telescope (University of Texas) study