Category Archives: Cislunar Space Development

Holiday / New Year Edition
Wednesday – Monday
24 Dec 2025 – 5 Jan 2026

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Upcoming Artemis 2 Mission Reflects Apollo 8 Mission

Artemis 2 expects to take humans farther than any has yet traveled, >390,000 km, with 1st woman and 1st from outside USA, launching NET 5 Feb; Apollo 8 is recognized for being 1st to bring humans beyond Earth orbit, traveling 377,349 km away; Artemis 2 Astronauts will be absent communication with Earth ~45 minutes during Moon far side flight, learning from Apollo 8 Astronauts who experienced this 10 times in 20 orbits; ~1/4 of Earth humans saw television broadcast before Trans Earth Injection 25 December 1968, presaging Artemis 2 laser-based Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System “O2O” with 4K ultra-HD video livestream

Image Credits: NASA, Artemis 2 mission patch (L), Apollo 8 silver token (R)

Friday / 19 December 2025

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Astrobotic Clavius-S to Assist Lunar Surface and Cislunar Safety

Astrobotic of Pittsburgh PA, USA receives NASA funds for Small Business Innovation Research in development of night-surviving Clavius-S Moon-surface sensor to monitor objects in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO); Astrobotic to provide data as a service to government / companies; surface sensors to be integrated with multiple landers and Clavius orbiting sensors; surface unwanted light / reflection / glare is reduced / eliminated for enhanced tracking of LLO craft, including non-transmitting ones; 1 of 225 employees, Astrobotic Chief Research Scientist Andrew Horchler describes Clavius-S insights protecting critical Moon missions such as Artemis; NASA also awards ~US$600K of potential $4M for Astrobotic development by September 2027 of LiDAR-based dark-side navigation for safe / precise landings

Image Credits: Astrobotic Technology Inc., NASA

Tuesday / 16 December 2025

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Intuitive Machines Forges Ahead with US$4.82B Lunar Relay Network

Intuitive Machines (“IM”, Nasdaq “LUNR”), Houston TX, collaborates with Telespazio / Leonardo / Thales Alenia of ESA lunar communication / navigation program for interoperable infrastructures, secures NASA Near Space Network contract of up to US$4.82B for 5-satellite solar-powered constellation in lunar orbit, providing constant Moon South Pole connectivity via high-speed data relay; $150M initially, IM sells usage minutes to NASA, $1M / year projected; 1st satellite via IM-3 2026, all 5 by 2027 with 2 via IM-4; IM acquires KinetX for $30M to forward mission; Alphabet spinoff Aalyria also working on lunar connectivity

Image Credits: Intuitive Machines, Leonardo / Telespazio

Friday / 14 November 2025

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Scientist Zarubin of Russia Highlights ISS Lessons for Cooperative International Lunar Program

Webinar International Lunar Program Sustainability: ISS Lessons Learned as Applied for Lunar Exploration has Dmitry Zarubin, Russian Academy of Sciences, former Roscosmos ISS management, 2 IAF committees; speaks of 15 nations working 25 years (38 including MIR) for continuous human presence in space; emphasizes applying ISS segment configuration / redundancy / genuine partnership to lunar exploration, fostering global cooperation for humanity benefit; describes Russia Luna Luna 26 orbiter, dual Luna 27 landers for polar drilling / hazard avoidance as robotic precursors to human Moon travel to solve water / dust issues; promotes ISRU to cut costs, redundant infrastructure for reliability, forums like IDSEA / UN ATLAC to align objectives, ensure peaceful, evolving research for all humankind

Image Credits: Dmitry Zarubin

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 / 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

Tuesday / 9 September 2025

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World-Leading Spacefaring Countries Japan and India Working Toward Human Lunar Presence

India-Japan lunar collaboration advances through Tokyo summit with prime ministers, and signing of LuPEX Implementing Arrangement by JAXA VP Mayumi Matsuura and India Ambassador Sibi George; Chandrayaan-5 / LuPEX mission, duration 100-365 days, targets water ice at Moon south pole with ~6,000kg India lander carrying ~350kg JAXA rover via NET 2028 launch on JAXA H3-24L rocket; builds on Chandrayaan-3 Statio Shiv Shakti landing ~69°S and Chandrayaan-4 sample return NET 2027; new phase in space cooperation exemplified by commercial agreement between ispace Japan (~US$130m equity funding) and startup Digantara of India (~US$16m) to build cislunar infrastructure promoting sustained human presence on Moon

Image Credits: Office of the Prime Minister – India, JAXA, NASA

Friday / 25 July 2025

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The Exploration Company Motto Is “We Build Space Vehicles for a Cooperative Future”

Successful 47-second test firing by The Exploration Company (TEC) of “Breeze” thruster for “Nyx Moon” lander service module follows 6 months’ development on GOX/GCH4 (gaseous Oxygen / Methane) engine; TEC founded 2021 to build modular, reusable spacecraft to Earth and lunar orbits, lunar surface; HQ near Munich, Germany, test facility near Bordeaux, France; analysis of “Mission Possible” spacecraft ongoing since SpaceX rideshare launch after mere 3-year development with 45 suppliers in 11 European nations for €30 million including launch; Hélène Huby, Founder & CEO, wants “to change the world positively”; MoU with Axiom Space, ESA to have TEC deliver cargo to Axiom space station NET Q4 2027

Credits: The Exploration Company, Firefly Aerospace (Earth image)

Friday / 20 June 2025

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Newly Announced Mona Luna European Lunar Rover Model Is at Paris Air Show

Venturi Space of Monaco shows 750kg, 2.5m x 1.64m rover Mona Luna to CNES, ESA, 300,000 at Paris Air Show; Venturi working with Astrolab of Hawthorne, California for NASA LTV rover, both have lunar-night-surviving batteries, Swiss-developed hyper-deformable wheels; Mona Luna travels 20kph, climbs 20° slopes, hibernates 14 days; remote-control enhanced by onboard AI; designed to reach Moon on ESA Argonaut lander launching on Ariane 6.4 NLT 2030 

Credits: Venturi Space

Tuesday / 22 April 2025

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Now One Year Out: Artemis 2 Human Mission to Moon

Artemis 2 lunar flyby 10-day mission set for Apr 2026, though NASA is working for Feb; Will be first human Moon mission in 54 years, and will occur in 2026 – the 250th observation of USA Declaration of Independence; Orion solar panels now installed, SLS upper stage connected to interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS), return trajectory adapted to de-stress heat shield; ICPS will fire to reach HEO of 185×74,000km, where manual piloting mode and other systems are tested for 93.5 hours; Orion will make TLI burn to reach 7,400km beyond Moon far side ~370,000km from Earth before Earth-Moon gravity pulls craft back, entering atmosphere at 40,000kph, enduring heat ~2,760°C before splashdown

Credits: NASA