#explorationofthemoon

In a groundbreaking step towards establishing a human presence on the Moon, NASA extracted oxygen from simulated lunar soil in a “dirty” chamber with similar conditions to the Moon’s environment. Read more…

It’s been over 50 years since the final Apollo mission, but NASA’s ambitious Artemis program seeks to return humans to the lunar surface after that long absence. For that to happen, however, the space agency needs an updated Moon suit, the prototype of which will be revealed today. Read more…

Lunar Flashlight’s journey to discover water ice on the Moon hasn’t been easy. NASA had to re-evaluate its original orbital plan on account of the probe encountering thruster performance issues and is now planning to move it to a high Earth orbit, from where the probe will only be able to scan the Moon once a month. Read more…

NASA’s Moon-Bound Lunar Flashlight Is Experiencing Thruster Issues

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight is on a mission to hunt for water ice on the Moon’s surface, but the mission appears to be in trouble as three of the craft’s four thrusters are “underperforming,” according to NASA. Read more…

A NASA Engineer Is Teaching AI How to Navigate on the Moon

Finding our way around the Moon is likely to be a tricky proposition. Unlike Earth, there are no roads, signs, or common landmarks on the lunar surface—at least not yet. Until that happens, we may want to rely on an artificially intelligent system that’s currently in development. Read more…

NASA Is Building a Robotic Arm That Can Function During the Moon’s Frigid Nights

It can get cold on the Moon—so cold in fact that these temperatures are likely to impede the abilities of some current NASA engineering. As a result, the space agency is testing out a new mechanical arm that is designed to withstand the frosty temperatures on the Moon ahead of the ongoing Artemis missions. Read more…

NASA’s Orion Sends Back Haunting New Views of the Moon’s Tortured Surface

The Moon is a cold, dead, and desolate place, as these new images, captured by NASA’s Orion, attest. Read more…

The Next Era of Human Space Exploration Just Thundered to Life

During the early hours of Wednesday morning, James Rice waited anxiously at Kennedy Space Center’s Banana Creek viewing platform in Florida as NASA’s Moon rocket geared up for its inaugural liftoff. “Today I saw a piece of history,” Rice, associate director at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space… Read more…