Category Archives: Moon Rocks

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 6-9 Dec 2019

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China (Zhongguo) Long March 5 Flight To Support Moon, Mars, Human Spaceflight Ambitions

 Long March 5 Critical Return To Flight Counting Down To 27 December 2019 Launch From Wenchang Spaceport On Hainan Island; Long March 5 Planned To Launch Chang’e-5 Lunar Sample Return And 2020 Mars Mission; Moon Samples To Be Analyzed At Special Facility Headed By China Lunar Exploration Program Chief Scientist Ouyang Ziyuan; China Plans 30 Orbital Launches In 2020; Space Station Modules, CE-6, CE-7 And CE-8 Planned To Be Launched By Long March Variants Starting In 2021

Credits: CAST, Shanghai Institute of Technology

Friday / 2 Nov 2018

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Moon Rocks Valued At >US$700K Highlights Significance, Worth Of Lunar Resources

Sotheby’s Auction Of 3 Lunar Pebbles Brought Back From Soviet Luna 16 Mission In 1970 Opening 25 November, Expected To Be Sold For $700K – $1M; Approximately 382 kg Collected From Apollo And 326 grams From Luna Missions Are Considered Priceless For Their Rarity, Contributions To Scientific Discoveries, Research Value And General Commercial Appeal; More Than 35 Lunar Simulants Created / Being Studied By International Space Agencies, Universities and Enterprises; Next Lunar Sample Return Mission Chang’e-5 Launching NET 2019 Could Return 2 kg

Credits: Sotheby’s, NAOC, Ilhan Chang, Bembmv

Wednesday / 10 Oct 2018

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Enterprises Working On Moon Race Competition, Lunar Regolith, Lunar Library Mission

“Moon Race” Sponsored By Airbus, Blue Origin And Partners Challenges Private Enterprise With Four Goals: Extract Water From Lunar Regolith, Manufacture Useful Objects From Lunar Resources, Use Lunar Regolith Plus Water To Grow Plants, And Generate Energy On Moon; Startup Company “Off Planet Research” Producing Simulated Lunar Regolith, Offering Samples To Backers Of Indiegogo Project; Lunar Library Project Sponsored By Microsoft Will Use Synthetic DNA To Archive Human Knowledge; Public To Contribute Images Via MemoriesInDNA Project; Library To Land With Astrobotic-Built Peregrine Lander In 2020 

Credits: Moon Race, Off Planet Research

Friday / 16 Mar 2018

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Crater-Counting AI Algorithm Discovers ~7,000 Moon Craters, Advances Extraterrestrial Mapping Techniques

 Moon Crater Identification Project Led By Ari Silburt At Penn State University And Mohamad Ali-Dib At University Of Toronto Uses Algorithm To Find Craters >5-km Diameter, Leads To Discovery Of 6,883 New Craters In Only A Few Hours & Confirms Previously Known Craters With Very Few Errors; Lunar Craters Are Significant For Solar System Origin Clues, Establishing Areas Of Interest For Exploration, Science, Sample Return, Human Settlement; Artificial Intelligence Mapping Techniques For Big Data Could Be Used For Solar / Extrasolar Systems, Geologic / Other Observations

Credits: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Ari Silburt (L), Mohamad Ali-Dib (R), Univ. of Toronto, PSRD, David Trang, LROC WAC, et al

Friday / 9 Mar 2018

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Mapping Moon South Pole Aitken-Basin Mineralogy For Future Landing Sites

Oldest, Largest, Well-Preserved South Pole-Aitken Basin, Nearly 1/4 Of Moon Diameter At 2,500 km, Is Area Of Most Recent Study Led By Brown University Prof. Carle Pieters & Daniel Moriarty Of GSFC; Using Data From USA Imaging Spectrometer ‘Moon Mineralogy Mapper’ Aboard ISRO Chandrayaan-1, Compositions Of Deposits From Volcanic Activity And Exposed Mantle Material Detected; Chemical / Mineral Analysis, Age Calculations And Especially Sample Return Missions Can Help Determine History Of Early Evolution Of Moon & Solar System, Be Compared To Previous Apollo / Other Sample Returns, Define Vital Zones For Exploration

Credits: NASA, ISRO, Brown University, Goddard Space Flight Center

Friday / 17 June 2016

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13th International Planetary Probe Workshop Highlighting Innovative Ideas For Lunar Exploration

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The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Meeting In Laurel, Maryland June 13-17 Features Talks By Alan Stern PI Of New Horizons & Ellen Stofan NASA Chief Scientist; Includes Presentations By Robert Buchwald (TR) Of Airbus On ‘Prospecting And Returning Lunar Surface Samples With Volatiles’ And By Balaji Soundararajan, Masters Student (Space Engineering) at Technical University Berlin On ‘Autonomous UAV for Lunar Inspection’ & ‘Lunar Ballistic Robot Exploration’

Credit: JHU/APL, GSFC, NASA,R. Buchwald, B. Soundararajan,

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 June 2016

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SSR / PTMSS In Golden CO To Advance In Situ Resource Utilization

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Space Resources Roundtable (SRR), Planetary & Terrestrial Mining Science Symposium (PTMSS) In Collaboration With Colorado School Of Mines (CSM) And Lunar & Planetary Institute (LPI) Will Convene The 7th Joint Meeting On June 7-9 In Golden, Colorado; There Is Renewed Interest Worldwide In ISRU Activities And The Program Will Cover Related Issues With Regards To Moon, Mars And Asteroids Over 9 Technical Sessions; SRR Is Led By Angel Abbud-Madrid (T) Of CSM And The Program Speakers Includes John Hamilton (B) Of PISCES (Hawaii), Byung Chul Chang Of ISERI, Hanyang University (South Korea), Numerous NASA Representatives, And Others

Credit: SRR / PTMSS, CSM, PISCES

Wednesday / 26 August 2015

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Lunar Fire Fountains Fueled By Carbon Monoxide According To Brown Researchers

LED 082615Brown University Researchers Revisiting Glass Collected By Apollo 15 & 17 Astronauts Suggest Moon And Earth Volatile Reservoirs Share Common Origins; Carbon & Oxygen Forms Carbon Monoxide, Mixing With Basaltic Lava To Spew Quick-Cooling Droplets Of Green And Orange Glass; Recent Analysis Reveals H2O & Carbon Concentrations Decrease Near Center, Indicating Degassing; Brown’s Alberto Saal States, “Either Some Of Earth’s Volatiles…Were Included In The Accretion Of The Moon Or…Were Delivered To Both The Earth And Moon At The Same Time From A Common Source.”


Credit:  NASA, Brown University

Thursday / 23 July 2015

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Device On Lunar Lander To Simplify Techniques Of Moon Rock Dating

7232015 Future Design Of Miniature Laser Ablation Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometer For Use In Moon Missions To Date Lunar Rocks And Surface; Instruments Placed On Lunar Lander / Rover Can Analyze Samples In Situ Without Complicated Preparations & Could Be Used On Proposed Moon Age & Regolith Explorer (MARE) NASA Mission; Team Led By Dr. F. Scott Anderson Of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Demonstrated Success Of Device On Duluth Gabbro Rock Sample Analogous To Rocks Found On Lunar Near Side

Credit: NASA, SwRI

Thursday / 18 June 2015

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Lunar Mission One Continues To Gain

United Nations Attention

6182015Privately Funded Lunar Mission One (LMO) Gaining International Space Mission Support For Moon South Pole 2024 Exploration; David Iron (B), Founder of Lunar Missions Trust & Lunar Missions Ltd Proposes Partnership Allowing Individual & Government Collaboration; Iron Recently Addressed Committee On The Peaceful Uses Of Outer Space (COPUOS) Administered By United Nations Office For Outer Space Affairs; Supported By Former Conservative Science Minister Ian Taylor (TR), & Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees (TL), LMO To Deepen Understandings Of Moon & Earth Origins

Credit: Lunar Mission One, David Iron, Ian Taylor, Martin Rees