Seismic activity in the Moon's soil could be due to impact from meteorites in the past or local heat-related effects, according to ISRO's preliminary analysis of data received from Chandrayaan-3's quake-detecting instrument. However, detailed studies are needed to get more insights from the data, they said. Their research paper, published in the journal Icarus, is a summary of observations made on 190 hours of data recorded by the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA). ILSA is one of the five major major scientific instruments, all of them carried by Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover together. Chandrayaan-3 made a soft-landing on the Moon's south pole on August 23, 2023. The quake-detecting ILSA was operated continuously until September 2, 2023, after which it was switched off and was packed back up, before the lander was relocated to a new point roughly 50 centimetres away from the initial one, the researchers from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO
For fledgling space organisations in the Global South, Chandrayaan-3's success is a landmark achievement, rivalling China's Chang'e 4 mission, which uniquely landed on the moon's far side
Latest Chandrayaan-3 data, as reported by Isro, has confirmed the theory that states that the lunar surface was once covered by an ocean of magma
Radar data gathered by Nasa's lunar reconnaissance orbiter (LRO) revealed that the deepest known pit on the moon leads to a cave 45 metres wide and up to 80 metres long
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
The China National Space Administration announced that Chang'e-6 "successfully landed at the designated landing area," the Xinhua News Agency reported
Agnibaan is a two-stage launch vehicle capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms of payload to an extent of around 700 km to low earth orbit
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
The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft, along with its three passengers, launched atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China on Thursday
Ramesh Kunhikannan is among the 25 Indians who made a debut on the Forbes World's Billionaires list of 2024. His Kaynes Technology had supplied electronic systems for the mission
Space agency has to have a Coordinated Lunar Time by 2026 to streamline the work of lunar missions
The search for the astronauts is part of NASA's mission - Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will carry humans for missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars
Nasa is counting on a series of low-budget, private excursions to the moon to serve as pathfinders for missions carrying astronauts this decade
The Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C, known as Odysseus, touched down on the Moon at 23:23:53 UTC on February 22, images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team have confirmed
The complication could be a setback for Intuitive Machines and partner NASA
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
The biggest hurdle may have been the 21st century engineers and companies with little or no moonshot experience
US Moon landing updates: A smooth touchdown would be a big win for the United States to restart its lunar probe, more than 50 years after its Apollo program closed down in 1972
The mission is fully funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
China has set a 2030 target for sending the first Chinese astronauts to the moon