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Graphic: Jatan Mehta | Individual images of the LVM3 rocket, the two Chandrayaan 4 spacecraft stacks, and the Moon’s south pole: ISRO / NASA / GSFC / Timothy McClanahan / LOLAChandrayaan 4 will bring unique Moon materials—and maybe a giant scientific leap for India The case for India and China to exchange lunar samples 🌜..<>..🌛Chandrayaan 5 LUPEX mission will drill for water on the Moon and aid ArtemisISRO’s Chandrayaan and Gaganyaan programs will converge at LunaISRO revealed an N

Top left: The Chandrayaan 3 rover rolling out of the lander’s ramp during pre-launch testing; Bottom left: The co-added spectrum from all 23 lunar surface soil and rock measurements by the rover’s X-ray spectrometer; Right: An artist’s concept of our Moon shortly after its formation, with a magma ocean and a newly forming rocky crust. Images: ISRO / Santosh Vadawale, et al. / NASA GoddardHow Chandrayaan 3 contributed insights on our Moon’s origin and evolutionResults from Chandrayaan 3 thermal…

Left: An artist’s depiction of the Chandrayaan 2 lander in lunar descent: Left inset: The Chandrayaan 2 crash site on the Moon; Right: The Chandrayaan 3 lander on the Moon imaged by the mission’s rover Pragyan. Images: ISRO / NASA LROOn Chandrayaan 2’s landing failureOverview of Chandrayaan 2, India’s first Moon landing attemptWatching Chandrayaan 2 launchExplainer: Why did it take so long to find the Chandrayaan 2 lander?India aims for the Moon again with launch of Chandrayaan 3

Let’s exploreexplore our Moonand its archival boonof Earth’s midnight and afternoonLet’s returnreturn to the gray blemishesfor its scientific promisesand its technological wishesLet’s also preservepreserve Luna’s natural dentsits phases and cultural crescentsand the serene sights Selene presentsLet’s not screw upnot screw up our cosmic Moonnor blow up its geologic tuneby letting exploitation balloonIt’s way too soontoo soon to have no Lunein our star-wiped skies of Dunedawning past…

Last week I argued how NASA’s Artemis II mission wasn’t a “science” mission even if its communications and majority media coverage have been getting people worldwide to believe so. Since then, my inbox has been flowing with emails from planetary scientists in support, who variably noted also its broader value in having certain distinctions and nuances when it comes to talking about space exploration and its terms. It’s so good to know that so many of my readers care about this issue. This is a…

Illustration of the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. Image: ISROISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 orbiter has been creating the highest resolution map of the MoonLunar science galore from Chandrayaan 2How the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter is a Sun watcher at the MoonInternational collaboration and outlook:ISRO has been aiding NASA in Artemis crewed Moon landing site selectionsNASA, ISRO, and KARI are coordinating lunar traffic for their orbitersISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 orbiter helped Japan nail SLIM’s Moon landingA giant leap in…

Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft illustration. Image: TeamIndusLooking back at Chandrayaan 1 and forward to ArtemisHow NASA and India discovered water on our MoonInterviewing Chandrayaan 1’s Mission DirectorHow Chandrayaan 1 viewed a solar eclipse from the MoonTangent: Kids in South Korea and a Moon mission Like my efforts to provide free resources for space communities worldwide? Kindly sponsor my work to support independent writing:

Our Moon and Earth captured by the Artemis II Orion spacecraft using a camera at the tip of one of its solar panels. Image: NASAThere’s an unsaid rule in the space industry: the more popular a mission or a program, the more inaccurate its broader coverage and public discussions, especially by people who aren’t thinking about space everyday. NASA’s Artemis II mission and its four astronauts flying around the Moon naturally had its share of whimsical coverage and social media fluff too. But what…

We’re going backback to the Apollo eraback to human eyes at Lunaback to views of our blue marbleand back to bombing its civiliansBack to the horrors of Vietnamin the schools of Iranwhile lunar astronauts look back“for all humanity”We’re going backwith a translunar injection burnwhile leveling buildings in Lebanonin that same durationWe’re going backback to taking painsfor ensuring lunar crew safetybut not the missile precisionthat avoids civilian casualtyWe’re going backfor all humanity, they…

Tucked in a tiny timed capsuleagainst its wonky, worldly windowsmesmerized the momentary Moonfarersat sweeping sights of SeleneCreased by craters and crowning peaksmelts and mountains molded in weeksamid barrages of ballistically laid beadslingered the landscape of LunaWhat the world could viewis impact not as distantthrough the capsule crewFor a world bent and batteredshowed that it wasn’t shatteredthat it was weathered, not witheredtrembled, not tamed or tatteredJust like the proud peopleon…

The Orion spacecraft with Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth on April 10 after their flyby around the Moon on April 6. Bottom left: The lunar flight crew from left to right: Mission Specialists Christina Koch & Jeremy Hansen, Pilot Victor Glover, and Commander Reid Wiseman. Images: NASAAfter five decades of human absence at our Moon, the four astronauts of Artemis II marveled at a stark lunar landscape on April 6 as their