This diagram shows the approximate relative sizes of our solar system’s planets, moons and dwarf planets, Credit: Emily Lakdawalla / The Planetary Society Our solar system is a wondrous place.

Moon Monday. Moon Monday #225: Lots of global lunar mission updates 🌙. Key news of the month: China has achieved daytime Earth-Moon distance measurement wherein a 1.2-meter telescope reflected an ...

The ninth launch of SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy rocket on May 29 failed as well—due to a fuel leak and loss of attitude control on the upper stage, and the anomalous engine re-lighting of the ...

Emails and direct messages remain the best ways on the Web to deeply connect and converse with people. Write to me to say hi, share your thoughts, sponsor my work, hire my services, or drop an ...

On December 16, China successfully completed the Chang’e 5 mission to bring samples from the Moon, their first such endeavor. The last time lunar samples were fetched was when the Soviet Union sent ...

Update: The article got a response from an ex-ISRO scientist to which I responded back. An artist’s impression of the Mangalyaan spacecraft. Credit: ISRO. September 24, 2020, marks six years since ...

NASA is returning humans to the Moon later in the decade, but a fleet of agency-supported robotic spacecraft will touch down on lunar soil starting this year. With its $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar ...

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Last week in lunar exploration was eventful and bittersweet to say the least, with multiple US spacecraft at the Moon. At over 2500 words, this Moon Monday edition unpacks a lot of context on ...

Thanks to the great reader responses on all recent special editions of my Indian Space Progress blog+newsletter, such as the one on ISRO’s Venus orbiter, the merging of Chandrayaan and Gaganyaan, and ...

This week’s Moon Monday is a Chinese lunar program special, covering the incredible Chang’e 6 and 7 missions, with some commentary questioning claims and narratives around some of China’s decisions.

Moon Monday #230: China leaps again in its steady march to Luna while NASA’s progress on Artemis remains a mixed bag. A look at recent Chinese milestones in the build up to crewed lunar missions, ...