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Moon TOP STORY

ESA Opens An Oxygen Plant That Makes Air Out Of Moondust

Moon Base

ESA's technical heart has begun to produce oxygen out of simulated moondust.

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New Moon-seeking Sensor Aims To Improve Earth Observations

Copernicus Detail

A new instrument with its eye on the Moon is taking off aboard a high-altitude NASA plane to measure the Moon's brightness and eventually help Earth observing sensors make more accurate measurements.

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Vikram Lunar Lander Impact Site Located

Vikram impact point and associated debris field. Green dots indicate spacecraft debris (confirmed or likely).

Moon

NASA Shares Mid-Sized Robotic Lunar Lander Concept with Industry

As NASA presses forward with the agency's mission to the Moon, Mars and beyond, the development of top-tier technology is critical to success.

Moon

Olivine-norite Rock Detected By Yutu-2 Likely Crystallized From The SPA Impact Melt Poo

The South Pole-Aitken (SPA) is the largest and deepest basin on the Moon, theoretically opening a window into the lunar lower crust and likely into the upper mantle.

Moon

Lunar IceCube Mission to Locate, Study Resources Needed for Sustained Presence on Moon

As we venture forward to the Moon and establish a sustained lunar presence, finding and understanding water on the lunar surface becomes increasingly important.

Moon

Lunar Pits Could Shelter Astronauts, Reveal Details of How 'Man in the Moon' Formed

While the moon's surface is battered by millions of craters, it also has over 200 holes - steep-walled pits that in some cases might lead to caves that future astronauts could explore and use for shelter, according to new observations from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

Moon

NASA Opens Previously Unopened Apollo Sample Ahead of Artemis Missions

NASA scientists opened an untouched rock and soil sample from the Moon returned to Earth on Apollo 17, marking the first time in more than 40 years a pristine sample of rock and regolith from the Apollo era has been opened.

Moon

NASA's Coating Technology Could Help Resolve Lunar Dust Challenge

An advanced coating now being tested aboard the International Space Station for use on satellite components could also help NASA solve one of its thorniest challenges: how to keep the Moon's irregularly shaped, razor-sharp dust grains from adhering to virtually everything they touch, including astronauts' spacesuits.

Moon

VIPER Lunar Rover To Map Water Ice On The Moon

NASA is sending a mobile robot to the South Pole of the Moon to get a close-up view of the location and concentration of water ice in the region and for the first time ever, actually sample the water ice at the same pole where the first woman and next man will land in 2024 under the Artemis program.

Moon

Ice On The Lunar South Pole May Have More Than One Source

The discovery of ice deposits in craters scattered across the Moon's south pole has helped to renew interest in exploring the lunar surface, but no one is sure exactly when or how that ice got there.

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Chandrayaan-2 lander, Vikram: Obscured In The Lunar Highlands?

The Chandrayaan-2 lander, Vikram, attempted a landing Sept. 7 (Sept. 6 in the United States), on a small patch of lunar highland smooth plains between Simpelius N and Manzinus C craters.

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Study Suggests Moon Rocks Sent There From Earth By An Ancient Asteroid Impact

In findings published in science journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, a sample collected during the 1971 Apollo 14 lunar mission was found to contain traces of minerals with a chemical composition common to Earth and very unusual for the moon.

Moon

Reconstructing The First Successful Lunar Farside Landing

In January of this year, China's Chang'E-4 - the fourth version of a lunar spacecraft named for the Chinese goddess of the Moon - landed on the far side of the Moon. Due to the location of the landing, Chang'E-4 had to navigate autonomously, without the guidance of scientists on Earth.

Moon

ESA Is Seeking Innovative Ideas For Exploring Lunar Caves

How would you design a system to detect, map and explore caves on the Moon? Our latest hunt for ideas is seeking novel initiatives that address this question.

Moon

Moon Glows Brighter Than Sun In Images From NASA's Fermi

If our eyes could see high-energy radiation called gamma rays, the Moon would appear brighter than the Sun! That's how NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has seen our neighbor in space for the past decade.