Category Archives: Lunar Geology

Friday / 12 December 2025

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NGLR-1 Elevates Lunar Laser Ranging for Artemis Precision Navigation

Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector-1 (NGLR-1) at Mare Crisium since 2 Mar 2025 via Firefly Blue Ghost Lander is target for Earth-based lasers, enables one-millimeter-precise Moon distance; expected to operate for 50+ years, is in 17x13x12cm housing; Grasse, Wettzell and Apache Point Observatories send laser beams for reflection; NGLR-1 precision achieves >17x improvement over retroreflectors placed by Apollo Astronauts, benefits Artemis Missions via enhanced navigation for safe landings, ISRU / habitat siting; NGLR-1 development at University of Maryland with physicist Doug Currie, who also led Apollo retroreflector creation; planned are retroreflector set-ups via Artemis 3 near Moon South Pole and CLPS to non-polar location, with 3 together providing unprecedented data

Image Credits: (L-R) Doug Currie at McDonald Observatory, Doug Currie today (John T Consoli), NGLR-1 by Currie, Buzz Aldrin with Apollo retroreflector courtesy Doug Currie

Tuesday / 11 November 2025

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Lunar Experts Favor More Moon Rock Returns: Selenology to Benefit Humanity

NASA veteran Andrew Petro writes that lunar robotic missions returning regolith will accelerate exploration; lunar geologist Clive Neal analyzes Apollo remnants for resource potential; NASA planetary scientist Noah Petro (no relation) advocates new samples during Artemis missions; regolith research benefits ISRU yielding safer Astronaut missions and lunar base viability; Apollo brought 382kg; authentic samples priceless under USA law, fragments bring ~US$5M illegally; China Chang’E-5 samples sent to scientists worldwide; Outer Space Treaty declares Moon belongs to all, thus symbolic share per human of acre, with lunar ~9.37B acres ample for ~8.2B Earth inhabitants

Image Credits: NASA

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

Friday / 8 August 2025

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Agreement with Astrolab for Interlune Helium-3 Rover-Mounted Camera

Helium-3 lunar prospector Interlune will mount multispectral, multi-wavelength camera developed with NASA Ames on Astrolab FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) rover, headed to Nobile Crater ~85°S NET Q4 2025 on Astrobotic Griffin-1 lander, to seek titanium-rich ilmenite mineral correlated with helium-3; precursor for NET 2027 dedicated helium-3 mission, privately held Seattle-based Interlune has agreements for purchase by US Department of Energy and Maybell Quantum of Denver CO; estimated price for helium-3 is US$20 million per kg

Image Credits: Astrobotic, Astrolab, Interlune 

Tuesday / 29 July 2025

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IM Re-Sets 3rd Landing to 2026, Pushing Forward on LTV, International Collaboration

Intuitive Machines (IM) is networking / outreaching internationally, working with companies in Norway, Germany, Hungary, and inspiring Mohamed Al Aseeri, CEO of Bahrain Space Agency, who signed the Artemis Accords for his country with goals of global collaboration / staying apprised of lunar tech; IM will add NASA-chosen Infrared Spectrometer (AIRES) developed at ASU Tempe and Microwave Spectrometer (L-MAPS) developed at UH Manoa to its Lunar Terrain Vehicle competing for NASA award to be announced NLT 31 Dec; IM CTO Tim Crain expects full IM-3 success via redundant laser rangefinders, lunar crater maps, 12 pre-landing orbits

Credits: NASA, IM

Friday / 11 July 2025

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NASA Calls for Scientists to Add Expertise to Artemis III Geology Team; LSIC Advances Moon Missions

Participating Scientists (PS) are needed to supplement knowledge held by current members of Artemis III Geology Team and other NASA Artemis Project teams; applications to be a PS are due August 12; PS will engage in pre-mission planning for Artemis orbital and surface missions, mission operations and post-mission reports; NASA LSIC regularly convenes government, academia and industry to collaborate on technologies for a sustained human presence on the Moon, addressing challenges like power, dust mitigation and construction; online and in-person conferences are held monthly, Fall meeting just announced for Nov 5-6 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta

Credits: NASA

Friday / 16 May 2025

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ispace Lander in Lunar Orbit, 20 Days Ahead of Anticipated Moon Landing

 ispace 340-kg lunar craft Resilience in stable Moon orbit due to ~9-minute main thruster burn ahead of final maneuvers before anticipated 5 Jun (UTC) touchdown near Mare Frigoris with 5-kg rover Tenacious; rover will shovel regolith, analyze and send data; ispace aiming to fulfill US$5,000 NASA Lunar Regolith Transfer Contract; Resilience also carries water electrolyzer, food production experiment with algae, Moonhouse by artist Mikael Genberg, deep space radiation probe, UNESCO memory disk, commemorative plaque based on Charter of the Universal Century fictional document from Japanese science fiction franchise Gundam

Credits: ispace-Inc

Tuesday / 8 April 2025

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ispace-U.S. Calls Together Science Advisors for Lunar Exploration

Lunar exploration company ispace (ispace-U.S.) has formed U.S. Lunar Science Advisory Board (US LSAB) in conjunction with 1 Apr naming of new CEO Elizabeth Kryst; Chair is Alan Stern, former NASA Associate Administrator; Amanda Hendrix, Planetary Science Institute, who studies Moon composition and lunar resources; Philip Metzger, University of Central Florida, who does regolith research; Lisa Gaddis, LPI, has received many NASA awards, does lunar analysis and geology; Jack Burns, Professor Emeritus of both Astrophysics and Physics, served on numerous NASA committees; Clive Neal, Professor of Planetary Geology, has overseen lunar samples, helped train NASA Astronauts

Credit: ispace (Pictured CW from upper left: Metzger, Stern, Burns, Gaddis, Hendrix, Neal) 

Tuesday / 11 March 2025

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8 of 10 Payload Objectives Met by Firefly Blue Ghost Lander on Moon

Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander completing 8 of 10 CLPS payload objectives since 2 March arrival at Mare Crisium, other 2 expected; LISTER drilling 3 meters to resume after solar noon >120°C air temp; LEXI to attempt imaging Earth magnetosphere; Lunar PlanetVac manipulating regolith; RAC determining regolith accumulation on surfaces; LMS using electrical resistivity to determine rock composition; SCALPSS sending images; RadPC resisting radiation; EDS removing dust; NGLR reflecting laser pulses; LuGRE receiving GPS and satellite signals; Blue Ghost cameras will attempt capture of upcoming eclipse and sunset

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Credits: Firefly Aerospace

Tuesday / 25 February 2025

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Intuitive Machines IM-2 Launching to Moon on Wednesday 26 Feb

Inaugural occurrence of 3 lunar landers simultaneously enroute to Moon expected with 26 Feb launch of IM-2 Athena, now in fairing of SpaceX Falcon 9, departure from Kennedy Space Center complex 39A window opens 19:17 EST; headed near highest Moon mountain Mons Mouton, ~60 km from South Pole, Athena will search for water with NASA payload Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 and IM “Grace” hopper; other payload customers are Nokia, Lone Star Data Holdings, Columbia Sportswear, Lunar Outpost, Puli Space, Dymon Co. Ltd., German Aerospace Center

Credits: Intuitive Machines, NASA, SpaceX