Tag: Moon
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In their own words: The Artemis II crew on the frenetic first hours of their flight
How calm, cool, and utterly chill is the crew of NASA’s first Moon mission in more than half a century? Let’s start with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. “You know me, personally, I hope to take a very short nap on the pad,” he said. “There’s enough time built in there to have a nap. I’ve…
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Blue Origin and its partners in Luxembourg unveil Project Oasis to map lunar resources
An artist’s conception shows the Oasis-1 satellite mapping water ice deposits on the moon. (Blue Origin Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’s working with partners in Luxembourg on a campaign called Project Oasis, which aims to identify and take advantage of valuable resources on the moon. The project’s first mission, known as…
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The space race is tightening up for Blue Origin and SpaceX, and for America and China
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both celebrated space victories, but they’ve also faced setbacks. (Musk at left: GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota, 2020. Bezos at right: Blue Origin Photo, 2021) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has only just begun to launch a heavy-lift rocket that was a decade in the making — its orbital-class New Glenn launch vehicle, which…
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Firefly Secures $10 Million From NASA for Additional Lunar Mission Data
Firefly Aerospace said it received an additional $10 million from NASA after delivering extra scientific data and imagery collected during its Blue Ghost Mission 1 to the Moon earlier this year. The mission, which spanned 45 days en route to the lunar surface and two weeks of operations on it, yielded nearly 120 gigabytes of…
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NASA puts in an order with Blue Origin to work on sending VIPER rover to moon’s south pole
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s VIPER rover and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon MK1 lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration) NASA has selected Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to help it resurrect a mission to send a robotic prospector to the moon’s south polar region. Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin will be tasked with…
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Interlune will team up with Astrolab to send a camera to the moon for helium-3 survey
An artist’s conception shows Astrolab’s FLIP rover on the moon. Interlune plans to put a helium-hunting multispectral camera on the rover. (Astrolab Illustration) Seattle-based Interlune says it’s struck a deal with California-based Astrolab to send a multispectral camera to the moon to estimate how much helium-3 is present in lunar soil. Interlune’s camera will be…
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Artemis II astronauts discuss mission status ahead of in-capsule training
Scheduled to launch in February 2026, the Artemis II Orion capsule and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are currently at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final integration and stacking. The Artemis II astronauts — comprised of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — recently spoke…
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Firefly advances production of Eclipse and Blue Ghost, announces Ocula imaging service
Firefly Aerospace is continuing to make good progress toward the debut of the company’s next-generation launch vehicle, Eclipse, in partnership with Northrop Grumman. Formerly known as MLV, or Medium Launch Vehicle, Firefly and Northrop Grumman announced the rocket’s new name on May 29. Firefly also announced Ocula, a new commercial lunar imaging service that will…
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A Japanese lander crashed on the Moon after losing track of its location
A robotic lander developed by a Japanese company named ispace plummeted to the Moon’s surface Thursday, destroying a small rover and several experiments intended to demonstrate how future missions could mine and harvest lunar resources. Ground teams at ispace’s mission control center in Tokyo lost contact with the Resilience lunar lander moments before it was…
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ispace’s Resilience lander crash lands on the Moon
The ispace Resilience lunar lander is pictured after it was integrated into the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle adapter about a week ahead of its launch on Jan. 15, 2025. Image: SpaceX via ispace In a horrible case of deja vu, Japan-based company ispace got to the finish line with its robotic lunar lander, but…