Tag

Lunar

All articles tagged with #lunar

space19 days ago•123 min saved

Five Moonlandmarks to Chase on International Observe the Moon Night

Space.com highlights five lunar targets for International Observe the Moon Night 2026: Montes Apenninus—casting a long shadow near Mare Imbrium; a trio of shadowed craters (Plato, Archimedes, Eratosthenes) along the terminator; the Apollo 11 landing site at Tranquility Base; Mare Crisium on the moon’s eastern edge; and Rupes Recta—the 62-mile straight-wall cliff. A telescope of about 4 inches or larger helps reveal the detail, and the first-quarter phase is ideal for viewing.

via Space|

#astronomy #international-observe-the-moon-night #lunar

space21 days ago•3 min saved

Moon’s 2024 Impact Creates a 222-Meter Crater With an Unusually Cold Halo

Researchers using NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data identified the 728-foot (222 m) McGetchin crater—likely formed by a 2024 Moon impact—whose surrounding 4.3-mile (7 km) cold spot suggests fluffy regolith retains heat poorly; the findings, published in Science Advances, imply such impacts are rare (about once every 132 years) and could inform future lunar bases and regolith management.

via Gizmodo|

#crater #lunar #moon

space22 days ago•211 min saved

Moon water limits big-city lunar settlements

Scientists say there isn’t enough water on the Moon to support a large city; even with high recycling, a million people would exhaust lunar water in under 2.5 years, while a 100,000-person town could endure about 1,000 years. Large settlements would likely require imports of water, and researchers warn against a lunar 'gold rush' without international governance to manage scarce lunar ice.

via CNN|

#lunar #moon #settlements

technology29 days ago•4 min saved

NASA and IBM Unveil Open-Source Lunar AI Foundation Model

NASA and IBM released the NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model, an open-source AI system for Moon exploration, plus a large co-registered dataset from LRO, GRAIL, and SELENE on Hugging Face. The model identifies ice-rich regions and craters, beating the SwinV2-B baseline by 23% in ice-area mapping and 19% in crater classification with half the training data. It correctly identified a new crater from a SpaceX Moon impact in August. Training on lunar data was difficult due to knife-edged shadows, prompting a wedge-based train/test split to maintain consistency. The release includes tens of thousands of images and instrument data and over two million co-registered data points, intended to accelerate future lunar AI research.

via engadget.com|

#ai #dataset #lunar

technology2 months ago•36 min saved

SpaceX booster slams into the Moon at 5,400 mph, carving a new crater

A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster launched from Cape Canaveral struck the Moon at about 5,400 mph, creating a fresh crater on the lunar surface.

via WPEC|

#crater #lunar #moon

space2 months ago•13 min saved

Sunlight Turns Lunar Soil Into Oxygen and Fuel in Lab Demonstration

In a July 2025 lab test, researchers using material from China’s Chang’e-5 mission concentrated sunlight to heat lunar soil, releasing water and driving reactions with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen, hydrogen and carbon monoxide in a single photothermal process. While this demonstrates an integrated ISRU approach, it is not a full lunar plant and cannot yet support life or propellant production; it suggests future bases could produce water, oxygen and fuels on site, reducing Earth shipments—though an illustrative $83,000-per-gallon mass-penalty figure remains just an estimate, not current launch pricing.

via Space Daily|

#change-5 #isru #lunar

science3 months ago•186 min saved

June’s Strawberry Moon Lights Up Summer Skies This Week

The full strawberry moon—the first full moon of summer—will rise this week and peak at 7:57 p.m. ET on Monday, appearing as a micromoon near apogee. In the Northern Hemisphere it will trace the year’s lowest arc, while in the Southern Hemisphere it will reach its highest. Its color can appear warmer or cooler depending on atmospheric conditions, but the Moon’s actual color doesn’t change. For best viewing, head outside to a dark, unobstructed spot. The name comes from Algonquin berry-harvesting season, with other cultures calling it the hoer or blooming moon. The article also lists six more full moons in 2026 (Buck Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Harvest Moon, Hunter’s Moon, Beaver Moon, Cold Moon) and ties this year’s lunar activity to renewed interest in lunar exploration as NASA’s Artemis program advances.

via CNN|

#artemis #astronomy #full-moon

space-and-spaceflight3 months ago•16 min saved

Moon Biocontainment Plan: Scientists Call for an Automated Lunar Quarantine Lab

Biologist Frederick Moxley and McGill’s Anthony Ricciardi propose NASA build a self-contained, automated lunar biocontainment facility (BSL-X) on the Moon to quarantine and sterilize potentially hazardous extraterrestrial samples before any Earth return, arguing Earth-based labs may be insufficient to guard against novel alien microbes; they cite a 2018 ISS bacterium mutation as a cautionary example and frame the plan as a precautionary firewall for interplanetary exploration.

via Gizmodo|

#biosafety #biosecurity #lunar

policy4 months ago•4 min saved

Report Flags Lunar Mass Drivers as Dual-Use First-Strike Threat

A new American Foreign Policy Council report warns that deploying cargo catapults on the Moon—mass drivers—could be a dual-use technology enabling rapid, potentially undetectable first strikes. It outlines three dangers: direct ground impact from fired payloads, satellite destruction via tight-cone projectiles, and the ability to launch warheads exceeding current reentry limits with low heat signatures, raising concerns about a space-enabled arms race as nations seek a lunar foothold.

via extremetech.com|

#defense-policy #dual-use #lunar

space4 months ago•4 min saved

New Lunar Trajectory Slashes Fuel Costs by 58.80 m/s

Researchers using the theory of functional connections simulated 30 million routes to the Moon and found a more fuel-efficient path that enters the lunar variate from the far side, reducing delta-v by 58.80 m/s and maintaining continuous Earth communication. The findings, based on gravity-assisted trajectories in the Interplanetary Transportation Network, could lower mission costs, though it is an initial result and future work may incorporate solar gravity as lunar missions scale up (e.g., Artemis 2).

via The Times of India|

#delta-v #interplanetary-transportation-network #lunar

space4 months ago•72 min saved

Lunar Outpost bets on autonomous Moon infrastructure with Pegasus rover

Lunar Outpost, already testing the Eagle rover, has secured about $30 million to develop Pegasus, a smaller, autonomous lunar rover aimed at building a broader Moon infrastructure ecosystem. The company envisions rovers that autonomously construct launch pads, energy storage, habitats, and other facilities, potentially working alongside Artemis astronauts. Pegasus is slated for delivery by 2027 with a Moon launch planned for 2028, aligning with NASA’s Artemis timeline and part of a wider push to enable a sustained human presence on the Moon and multi‑planetary exploration.

via Space|

#artemis #lunar #nasa

space5 months ago•4 min saved

Chang'e-5 Moon Samples Uncover Rare-Earth Lunar Minerals

Chinese scientists have identified two previously unknown lunar minerals, magnesiochangesite-(Y) and changesite-(Ce), from Chang'e-5 samples. Both belong to the merrillite group and were officially approved by the International Mineralogical Association, marking a continuation of China’s lunar mineral discoveries. The ultra-rare, micrometer-scale crystals—found in Oceanus Procellarum material and a lunar meteorite—reveal unique crystal structures not seen on Earth and offer new insights into the Moon’s magmatic history and potential rare-earth resources for future in-situ utilization. Scientists used a suite of advanced instruments to confirm the minerals’ composition and structure, underscoring the complexity of lunar soil and its geological diversity.

via Global Times|

#change-5 #lunar #merrillite

space5 months ago•19 min saved

Moon Trash, Human Heritage: A look at what we left on the Moon

Humans have dumped a surprising amount of material on the Moon—from rocket stages and rovers to sentimental keepsakes (an Apollo 16 family photo, Gene Shoemaker’s ashes, and goodwill messages from 73 nations), commemorative patches, a rumored Moon Museum ceramic wafer, a falcon feather, and even 96 bags of human waste. NASA’s 2012 list tallies about 400,000 pounds of Apollo‑era debris, with additional gear from other programs; retroreflectors remain on the surface for millimeter‑precision distance measurements. As new missions resume lunar exploration and imaging improves, lunar debris management could become a hot topic for future explorers.

via Hackaday|

#apollo #lunar #moon

space6 months ago•4 min saved

Europe to redefine Gateway role as Artemis changes, decision due in June

With NASA suspending work on the lunar Gateway, ESA is assessing how to adjust its three Gateway-related contributions (the European Service Module, I-Hab, Lunar View, and Lunar Link) and will present a plan to the ESA June Council. The evaluation will cover whether ongoing Gateway developments can continue, be repurposed, or reallocated, how work should be performed (in Europe or the U.S.), changes to Artemis 3/4’s architecture, and how astronaut participation and funding already invested will be treated, all while coordinating with Canada, Japan, and the UAE.

via SpaceNews|

#artemis #esa #esm

space7 months ago•13 min saved

Artemis II set to reveal lunar secrets and Earth’s water history

Artemis II will launch a 10-day lunar flyby to observe the Moon’s far side, potentially uncovering its formation, interior structure, asymmetry between near and far sides, and water distribution, while guiding future landings (Artemis III/IV/V) and advancing understanding of Earth’s early history.

via CNN|

#artemis #lunar #moon