Category Archives: Astronomy from the Moon

Tuesday / 16 September 2025

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Space Calendar Offers to Land Your Message on the Moon

15 September announcement from Space Age Publishing Company communicates it will carry customer names and 100-character messages to Moon surface via Astrolab FLIP mission, landing near south pole in Nobile region NET late 2025, and via International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) ILO-1 mission in 2027; US$50 is the nominal fee for a limited time, see SpaceCalendar.com/MoonMessage; ILO-1 mission is to initiate 2-way lunar communications, adding real-time images from its lunar surface telescope to the weekly Space Calendar, published since 1976 and landed on Moon via a CLPS lander on 22 Feb 2024; Canadensys to build ILO-1 instrument

Image Credits: Space Age Publishing Company, International Lunar Observatory Association

Friday / 12 September 2025

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Namesake Carruthers Instrument Honors Physicist, Inventor, Astronomer

Launching September alongside IMAP spacecraft is Carruthers Geocorona Observatory for imaging UV light in Earth upper atmosphere, named for George Robert Carruthers PhD, b. 1939; at US Naval Research Laboratory, Carruthers invented gold-plated Far Ultraviolet Camera / Spectrograph, which was 1st astronomical instrument on Moon; placed there 21 Apr 1972 by Astronaut John Young during Apollo 16, Young observed Earth and 550+ stars, nebulae, galaxies; Carruthers built 1st telescope age 10, awarded patent age 30 for instrument to image radiation, providing 1st proof of interstellar molecular hydrogen; spearheaded development of instruments for Moon, Skylab, ARGOS, 4 Shuttle flights; ILOA working for long-term lunar observatory

Image Credits: NASA / Charlie Duke / John Young, NRL, Center top L-R: Duke, Rocco Petrone, Carruthers, Young

4-7 July 2025
USA Holiday Weekend Edition

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International Lunar Observatory Association ILO-1 Flagship Mission to Fly on Astrolab FLEX Rover to Moon South Pole NET 2026

ILOA Hawai’i will have instruments for Milky Way Center observation and commercial 2-way communications mounted on light bar of Astrolab FLEX rover, targeted to launch on Starship NET Dec 2026 and land at 1 of 9 possible Artemis landing sites near Moon South Pole; aim is for at least 1 year of operations for ILO-1 payload to fulfill long-term astronomy, science and exploration goals, as well as provide commercial lunar broadcasting for Space Age Publishing Company / Space Calendar, and others

Credits: Astrolab, SpaceX, Smithsonian

Friday / 14 March 2025

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First-ever Commercial Lander View of Earth Eclipsing Sun from Surface of Moon

During upcoming lunar eclipse on Earth, Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost parked on Moon at Mare Crisium near Apollo 11 Mare Tranquillitatis exploration area is expected to capture the first images by a robotic lander of a total solar eclipse; Earth will mostly block the Sun but leave halo / ring / rim of red around perimeter; Moon surface expected to look red; maximum totality at Firefly Texas control room is 01:18 CDT 14 Mar; eclipse will last 6 hrs 3 mins, with 65 mins of totality; Blue Ghost will rely on batteries rather than solar panels

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Credits: Firefly Aerospace, Stellarium / Bob King

New Year Edition
Friday-Monday
20 Dec 2024 – 6 Jan 2025

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Commercial Companies Preparing Lunar Landers for Launches Within 1-9 Months

 ispace, inc. (Tokyo: 9348) announced 10 Mission 2 milestones planned January to June 2025 for Resilience lander with commercial payloads and NASA project (to collect / image regolith) at Mare Frigoris ~60.5° N; aboard the same Falcon 9 will be Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 1, expecting touchdown ~March at Mare Crisium, 17° N, with 10 payloads from NASA, enterprise, academia; in February, Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) plans IM-2 launch via Falcon 9, arriving ~7 days later to Mons Mouton to prospect for water ice; Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 1 lander set to launch NET March on Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, carrying 3,000 kg of payloads; Astrobotic Griffin Mission One, flying NET Fall 2025 to Nobile Region, ~85° S, will carry MoonBox™ payloads for individuals

Credits: (clockwise from upper left) ispace, SpaceX, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, NASA photo of Blue Origin lander, Firefly Aerospace

Friday / 13 December 2024

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ILOA-CSA Galaxy Forum China 2024 in Wenchang Impacts Global, Inter-Global Cooperation for Moon / Solar System

Experts from 13 countries at Galaxy Forum exchange visionary ideas on astronomy from the Moon, international human Moon landings, first women on the Moon, NewSpace commercial, lunar property rights, and planned international lunar base projects / payloads; Lunar talks included Wang Wei (CNSA, DSEL), Xuelei Chen (NAOC), Bernard Foing (ILEWG), Margarita Safonova (M. P. Birla, India), Jatan Mehta (Moon Monday), Boonrucksar Soonthornthum (NARIT), Mei Yang (CAST), Steve Durst (ILOA Hawai’i), many others; Galaxy Forum 2024 in Wenchang, near to Wenchang Space Launch Center and Wenchang Aerospace City, hopes to influence and advance robust, international, peaceful, scientific exploration of the Moon and complete Solar System in the 21st Century, with Aloha   

Credits: International Lunar Observatory Association, Chinese Society of Astronautics  

Friday / 22 November 2024

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Thailand GISTDA / NARIT Promote Moon Missions

Thailand Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), organizes Space Week, participates in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), counts 35,000 Thai businesses linked to space, signed Artemis Accords via director Pakorn Petchprayoon, signed MoU with muSpace / ispace for lunar collaboration; National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) does astronomy / related sciences, educates, signed with Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) / International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) via Executive Director Saran Poshyachinda for South Pole Moon base and precursors, will have 3 kg space weather monitor on Chang’E-7 orbiter NET 2026; Thai instrument or robot planned for Chang’E-8 lander NET 2028

Credits: GISTDA, NARIT, NASA

Friday / 15 November 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Aims for Moon Far Side

Firefly Aerospace, Texas, latest fundraising of US$175M, much from RPM Ventures, raises valuation to US$2B; majority owner is AE Industrial Partners; will launch via SpaceX Falcon 9 for first of 2 commercial Moon landings under NASA CLPS awards, delivering 10 instruments / experiments including LuSEE-Night, also Australian seismic SPIDER; after transport on 2,700 kg-payload-capacity Firefly Elytra Dark Transfer Vehicle in lunar orbit, lander Blue Ghost carries 150 kg to lunar surface, provides data / power / thermal resources for operations from Moon far side for 10+ days

Credits: Firefly Aerospace, Fleet Space, SpaceX, Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 1-4 March 2024

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Astronomy from the Moon and Earth Advancing with Near and Far Term Proposals / Missions

Numerous astronomy payloads are manifested on upcoming Moon landings including L-CAM (AstronetX) on ispace Mission 3 NET 2025 and LuSEE-Night (DOE) NET 2026 on Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2 while more ambitious proposals compiled by Business Insider include the triangular Laser Interferometer Lunar Antenna (Vanderbilt University) for gravitational wave detection; Pantheon Habitat Made from Regolith, With A Focusing Solar Reflector (University of Arizona), a US$10B, 18 optical / IR telescope array with integrated living and farming space; 100,000-antenna FarView (Lunar Resources); Next generation terrestrial observatory to be supported by $1.6B NSF funding: either 25.4-m Giant Magellan Telescope on Cerro Las Campanas, Chile or Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea, Hawai’i

Credits: TIO, Firefly

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 Feb 2024

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IM-1 Commercial Moon Lander Odysseus Functioning and Receiving Power Despite Tip Over

The first USA craft to reach the lunar surface in 51+ years in communication with 100% battery charge ~2-3 km from intended landing site (80.2°S, 1.0°E), however orientation is off-nominal, with the 6-legged, phone box-sized lander thought to be resting on its side with ‘Panel E’ (with passive Moon Phases art installation mounted) facing down; Descent data from NASA payloads RFMG, NDL, LN-1 and SCALPSS awaiting transmission, as is imagery from independent astronomy payload ILO-X; EagleCam still planned to be deployed to record Odysseus; Precise position and location of Odysseus to be determined via LRO

 

Credits: Intuitive Machines