Category Archives: Lunar Orbiters

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

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

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 / 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

Tuesday / 12 August 2025

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Hi-Res Photos from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter Continue to Identify and Reveal

Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, marking 6 years in lunar orbit 20 Aug, has 1/4-meter resolution of Moon surface; citizen scientist Chandra Tungathurthi reveals photos from Chandrayaan-2 of Intuitive Machines IM-2 Athena lander at Mons Mouton ~85°S and 6 Mar skid marks leading to resting site; NASA LRO first photographed Athena 7 Mar, has 1/2-meter resolution; 2-year observation of Chandrayaan-3 landing success at Statio Shiv Shakti ~69°S to be marked 23 Aug; mission team recipient of 2024 IAF World Space Award 

Image Credits: ISRO / C Tungathurthi, Intuitive Machines 

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)

Tuesday / 20 May 2025

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JAXA Chief Offers Technology Partnership to Keep NASA Moon Missions On-Track

 JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa offers response to NASA budget proposal cutting ~6% of current US$24.8B, although not human exploration portion, says Japan has high-precision Moon landing technology, lunar rover, resupply capabilities and lunar water data to offer Artemis missions; emphasizes lunar Gateway or similar infrastructure needed, could include JAXA human habitation module created with ESA; SLS / Orion are 140% over budget at US$23B, cost US$4B per launch, had been planned to deploy Gateway; NASA budget proposal for FY 2026 beginning Oct 2025 earmarks over $7 billion for lunar exploration, introduces $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs

Credits: JAXA

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 / 3-6 May 2024

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First Lunar Far Side Sample Return Mission on Route to South Pole-Aitken Basin

China space agency CNSA guiding Chang’E-6 53-day mission, consisting of 4-module stack launched from Wenchang SLC (19 N°) on LM-5 rocket 3 May and Queqiao-2 relay satellite, also launched from Wenchang on LM-8 and currently in 200 x 16,000-km lunar orbit; Lander, ascender orbiter and return capsule to reach Moon orbit by 8 May, where they will remain for ~20 days before lander and ascender separate and descend to 490-km Apollo crater (itself within 2,400-km Aitken Basin) spending 48 hours drilling to a depth of 2-m and retrieving up to 2-kg of regolith for Earth (Inner Mongolia) return 25 June

 
Credits: CNSA