Lunar Resources

Over billions of years, the surface of the Moon has been bombarded by solar wind, carrying high-energy particles that include a highly coveted resource, helium-3. Although the element is scarce on Earth, it has recently become in demand by several industries, including those working on quantum computing and nuclear fusion reactors.Moon Knight Gives Us HopeHelium-3 has been deemed so precious that one company is willing to go all the way to the Moon to get it. Seattle-based startup Interlune recently announced that it…

After more than 50 years, NASA’s pending return to the Moon could encompass more than just leaving footprints on its surface, as it could entail efforts to mine the Moon for resources—an initiative that could start early next decade.China's Plan to Land Astronauts on the MoonNASA wants to send a drill rig to the Moon next month and then establish large-scale lunar regolith mining by 2032, using a pilot processing plant to potentially extract resources such as water, iron,and rare metals, Reuters reported based on recent…

NASA’s ShadowCam has been flying around the Moon for nearly six months, strapped to a Korean lunar orbiter. The hypersensitive camera has been capturing beautifully detailed images of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, offering a rare glimpse of potential landing sites for upcoming crewed Artemis missions to the lunar surface. China's Plan to Land Astronauts on the MoonSome parts of the Moon have been cloaked in darkness for more than two billion years, never seeing the light of the Sun. Those areas happen to be of…

Lunar exploration is undergoing a renaissance. Dozens of missions, organised by multiple space agencies—and increasingly by commercial companies—are set to visit the Moon by the end of this decade. Most of these will involve small robotic spacecraft, but NASA’s ambitious Artemis program, aims to return humans to the lunar surface by the middle of the decade.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThere are various reasons for all this activity, including geopolitical posturing and the search for lunar resources,…

Researchers studying lunar soil samples from China’s Chang’e-5 mission believe they may have found a water reservoir on Earth’s arid satellite.The evidence comes from beads of impact glass collected by the Chang’e 5 lander, which arrived on the Moon in December 2020 and sent lunar samples back to Earth the same month. The team’s findings are published today in Nature Geoscience.Water has previously been found on the Moon. Centuries ago, the large dark splotches on the lunar surface were thought to be seas (or “maria,”in…

The TitanAir concept for exploring Saturn’s moon Titan. Illustration: Quinn MorleyThe future of space exploration requires big ideas, and NASA has no objection to considering some of the biggest ideas out there. The space agency’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program exists for this very purpose, and it has chosen the next crop of concepts worthy of an initial study.The latest round of NIAC grants were awarded to 14 research teams, each receiving $175,000 to further develop their concepts,NASA announced yesterday.…