Lunar Mission

Private lander Athena may have fallen over near moon's south pole

A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon with a drill, drone and rovers for NASA and other customers Thursday, but quickly ran into trouble and may have fallen over. Intuitive Machines said it was uncertain whether its Athena lander was upright near the moon's south pole standing 15 feet (4.7 meters) tall or lying sideways like its first spacecraft from a year ago. Controllers rushed to turn off some of the lander's equipment to conserve power while trying to determine what went wrong. It was the second moon landing this week by a Texas company under NASA's commercial lunar delivery programme. Sunday's touchdown was a complete success. The company's newest Athena lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned. The hourlong descent appeared to go well until the final approach when the laser navigation system began acting up. It took a while for Mission Control to confirm touchdown. We're on the surface, reported mission director and co-founder Tim Crain. A few minutes

Private firm launches Athena lander to moon in latest lunar mission rush

A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday, aiming to get closer to the moon's south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun. Intuitive Machines' lander, named Athena, caught a lift with SpaceX from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It's taking a fast track to the moon with a landing on March 6 while hoping to avoid the fate of its predecessor, which tipped over at touchdown. Never before have so many spacecraft angled for the moon's surface all at once. Last month, US and Japanese companies shared a rocket and separately launched landers toward Earth's sidekick. Texas-based Firefly Aerospace should get there first this weekend after a big head start. The two US landers are carrying tens of millions of dollars' worth of experiments for NASA as it prepares to return astronauts to the moon. It's an amazing time. There's so much energy, NASA's science mission chief Nicky Fox told The Associated Press a few hours ahead of th

SpaceX launches two pvt lunar landers towards moon in roundabout journey

In a two-for-one moonshot, SpaceX launched a pair of lunar landers Wednesday for US and Japanese companies looking to jumpstart business on Earth's dusty sidekick. The two landers rocketed away in the middle of the night from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre, the latest in a stream of private spacecraft aiming for the moon. They shared the ride to save money, taking separate roundabout routes for the monthslong journey. It's take 2 for the Tokyo-based ispace, whose first lander crashed into the moon two years ago. This time, it has a rover on board with a scoop to gather up lunar dirt for study and plans to test potential food and water sources for future explorers. Lunar newcomer Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is flying 10 experiments for NASA, including a vacuum to gather dirt, a drill to measure the temperature below the surface and a device that could be used by future moonwalkers to keep the sharp, abrasive particles off their spacesuits and equipment. Firefly's Blue Ghost named af

First full Moon of 2025: Will Wolf Moon be visible from India; know details

A rare spectacle of lunar occultation could be observed from a specific location as this event takes place once every 14 years. Here's all you need to know about celestial event

Humans will soon be able to mine on the Moon; four questions to consider

Now is the time to create the rules and regulations that will protect humanity's shared future in space and ensure the Moon remains a symbol and inspiration for generations to come

Chennai-based startup Space Kidz eyes lunar leap with all-women line-up

Space Kidz may become first Indian private firm to crash-land on the moon's surface

Chandrayaan-3 landed on possibly oldest craters of Moon: Researchers

India's lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 possibly landed in one of the oldest craters of the Moon, according to scientists who analysed images from the mission and satellites. The crater was formed during the Nectarian period, which dates back to 3.85 billion years and is one of the oldest time periods in the Moon's history, the team, including researchers from the Physical Research Laboratory and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, said. S Vijayan, an associate professor in the Planetary Sciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, told PTI, "Chandrayaan-3 landing site is a unique geological setting where no other missions have gone. The images from the mission's Pragyan rover are the first on-site ones of the Moon at this latitude. They reveal how the Moon evolved over time". A crater is formed when an asteroid crashes into the surface of a larger body like a planet or a Moon, and the displaced material is called 'ejecta'. Revealing how the Moon evolved over time

What's on the Moon's far side? China's Chang'e-6 samples reveal first clues

The Chang'e-6 mission samples represent a combination of mature lunar soil mixed with recently ejected materials

Nasa to establish Lunar Time Standard to set standard time system for Moon

The proposed lunar time standard is to be based on a weighted average of atomic clocks placed on the Moon. It aims to create a standardised time system for the moon

Dry moon theory challenged as China finds traces of water in moon's soil

The lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-5 mission in 2020 has led to the discovery of a hydrated mineral containing molecular water

Chandrayaan's rover makes significant discoveries on Moon's south pole

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's Pragyan rover found small rock fragments scattered around the rim, wall slopes, and floor of small craters in the southern high-latitude landing area

In a first, China's Chang'e-6 brings samples from Moon's far side

Soon after the capsule landed, Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, announced the successful completion of the Chang'e-6 lunar mission

Chang'e-7 mission: Egypt, Bahrain join China to build hyperspectral camera

The Egyptian Space Agency, Bahrain's National Space Science Agency, and Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics signed an agreement for the joint development of hyperspectral camera

China's Chang'e-6 spacecraft makes historic landing on far side of moon

The China National Space Administration announced that Chang'e-6 "successfully landed at the designated landing area," the Xinhua News Agency reported

China sending probe to get samples from less-explored far side of moon

China is preparing to launch a lunar probe on Friday that would land on the far side of the moon and return with samples that could provide insights into geological and other differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. The unprecedented mission would be the latest advance in the increasingly sophisticated and ambitious space exploration program that is now competing with the US, still the leader in space. China already landed a rover on the moon's far side in 2019, the first country to do so. Free from exposure to Earth and other interference, the moon's somewhat mysterious far side is ideal for radio astronomy and other scientific work. Because the far side never faces Earth, a relay satellite is a needed to maintain communications. The Chang'e lunar exploration probe is named after the Chinese mythical moon goddess. The probe is being carried on a Long March-5 YB rocket set for liftoff on Friday evening from the Wenchang launch centre on the south

After Odysseus, Intuitive Machines sets sights on second moon landing

Nasa is counting on a series of low-budget, private excursions to the moon to serve as pathfinders for missions carrying astronauts this decade

US-made lunar lander 'Odysseus' may have tipped while reaching the moon

The complication could be a setback for Intuitive Machines and partner NASA

Know about 'Odysseus', Intuitive Machines' private lander on Moon: 5 points

The mission dubbed as 'IM-1' is Intuitive Machines' first mission through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative - a key part of NASA's Artemis program

Why it took the US more than half a century to get back on the moon

The biggest hurdle may have been the 21st century engineers and companies with little or no moonshot experience

America's Odysseus spacecraft makes 1st commercial moon landing in history

Notably, this landing comes months after India's Chandrayaan-3 lander, which became the first spacecraft from the country to safely reach the lunar surface in August 2023