This Valentine’s Day, there will be more than love in the air, with SpaceX scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Moon lander. Should Odysseus successfully touch down on the lunar surface eight days later,Intuitive Machines will achieve a first in commercial space travel—a a feat that…
We knew 2024 was going to be a landmark year in spaceflight, and judging by the wide range of developments in just the first month, we’re in for an extraordinary ride throughout the rest of the year.
China is planning to send its next lander to the lunar surface, this time targeting an impact crater with a sun-lit rim that could hold precious resources for long-duration stays on the Moon.
Do not scratch your eyes: the Moon is slowly shrinking, causing quakes on its surface that complicate NASA’s plans for landing Artemis 3, the first Artemis mission that will make a crewed landing on the Moon, and more ambitious missions geared towards maintaining a prolonged human lunar presence.
Being the space nerd that I am, I often imagine a museum filled with the most important objects ever sent to space. We couldn’t possibly build a place like this, but we can speculate as to which human artifacts deserve a place in our imaginary spaceflight museum.
The saga of Japan’s lunar lander continues to unfold, with the first images of SLIM on the surface of the Moon revealing the unfortunate position the spacecraft has ended up in.
When NASA attempted to return to the Moon for the first time in 50 years on January 8, more was at risk than just $108 million worth of development and equipment. The agency earned the ire of the Native American Navajo people, who made a bid to stop the launch because of an unusual inclusion in the payload.
Japan’s space agency, JAXA, achieved a historic soft landing with SLIM on Friday morning, but the lander ran into instant trouble by not being able to collect solar energy and generate electricity. Hopeful for some westerly sunshine, JAXA is cautiously optimistic that SLIM could spring back to life in a couple of…
Astrobotic bid farewell to its Peregrine lunar lander on Thursday as the spacecraft plunged through Earth’s atmosphere, thereby preventing the failed mission from colliding into other spacecraft.
Japan chooses to go to the Moon, and it’s doing so with a strong emphasis on accuracy. With SLIM, the nation’s space agency is aiming for an autonomous, high-precision landing within an impressive 328 feet (100 meters) of its intended target inside Shioli Crater.
