Following humanity's return to the Moon.

Editorial Team

Moon Daily Editorial Team

Editorial Team

The Moon Daily Editorial Team produces Moon Daily's coverage of lunar exploration and science. We report on Artemis, landers and the Gateway, commercial lunar payloads, and the science of lunar geology, regolith and water ice. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Moon Daily takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.

Japan Set To Cancel Delayed Moon Probe Mission

Tokyo (AFP) Jan 15, 2007 - Japan's space agency said Monday it had recommended cancelling a much-delayed unmanned mission to the moon in the latest setback to the nation's ambitions to explore the final frontier. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) planned to call off its Lunar-A mission, which was intended to shed light on the moon's origin and evolution using a module to land on its surface, a spokesman said.

Jan 15, 2007

Copernicus And the Wild Goose Chase

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jan 12, 2007 - The inspiration for Thomas D'Urfrey's comic production, Wonders of the Sun, was the world's original science fiction story written in the English language - Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone. Like its great rival for the honour of inventing modern science fiction, Johannes Kepler's Somnium, Godwin's story is an off-world voyage of discovery greatly influenced by the radical ideas of The New Philosophy, especially those of Copernicus.

Jan 12, 2007

British Plan For Solo Moon Missions Unlikely

London (AFP) Jan 10, 2007 - A senior British space official played down media reports on Wednesday that Britain is considering plans for its own mission to the moon. David Parker, the director of space science at the British National Space Centre (BNSC) told a news conference that such a plan was the most unlikely outcome of Britain's space plans.

Jan 10, 2007

Britain Considers Plans For Solo Moon Missions

London (AFP) Jan 10, 2007 - Britain is considering plans for its own moon shot, the BBC said on Tuesday, citing plans submitted to the body that funds British space exploration. Proposals for two missions have been submitted to the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, and the first, if approved, could be launched by 2010.

Jan 10, 2007

Metric Moon

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 09, 2007 - If you think in pounds and miles instead of kilograms and kilometers, you're in the minority. Only the United States, Liberia, and Burma still primarily use English units -- the rest of the world is metric. And now the Moon will be metric too. NASA has decided to use metric units for all operations on the lunar surface when it returns to the Moon. The Vision for Space Exploration calls for returning astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and eventually setting up a manned lunar outpost.

Jan 9, 2007

Lunar Geminids

Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 05, 2007 - Another meteor shower, another bunch of lunar impacts...On Dec. 14, 2006, we observed at least five Geminid meteors hitting the Moon, reports Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, AL. Each impact caused an explosion ranging in power from 50 to 125 lbs of TNT and a flash of light as bright as a 7th-to-9th magnitude star.

Jan 5, 2007

Moon Shots: China, Japan In ’07; U.S., India In ’08

Beijing (XNA) Jan 04, 2007 - The moon is going to be a busy site for space exploration in 2007 as two Asian countries take aim at Earth's natural satellite with the intent of launching robotic survey lunar orbiters. The first moon reconnaissance follows an April lift-off by China -- its first ever -- then Japan's mega-powerful moon craft in the summer.

Jan 4, 2007

India To Test Space Capsule As Part Of Moon Mission

New Delhi (AFP) Jan 03, 2007 - India plans to launch a capsule into orbit early next year and bring it back to Earth, an initial step towards an unmanned mission to the moon by 2010, a news report said Sunday. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has said it hopes to send an unmanned probe to the moon in the next three years, has said it needs to test its re-entry and recovery technology, the Indian Express report said.

Jan 3, 2007

True Fakes As Scientists Make Simulated Lunar Soil

Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 01, 2007 - Life is tough for a humble grain of dirt on the surface of the Moon. It's peppered with cosmic rays, exposed to solar flares, and battered by micrometeorites--shattered, vaporized and re-condensed countless times over the billions of years. Adding insult to injury, Earthlings want to strip it down to oxygen and other elements for in situ resource utilization, or ISRU, the process of living off the land when NASA returns to the Moon in the not-so-distant future.

Jan 1, 2007

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Successfully Completes Critical Design Review

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 08, 2006 - The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) on Thursday, November 9, 2006. The review was held to present the complete system design developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and to make sure that technical issues have been properly addressed. Additionally, it ensured that the design maturity justifies the start of manufacturing mission hardware and software.

Dec 8, 2006

Russia Plans Lunar Mission In 2012, Eyes US Lunar Return Partnership

Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Dec 08, 2006 - Russia will launch its first major mission to the Moon, Luna-Glob, in 2012 after a 30-year break from lunar exploration, a space agency spokesman said Thursday.

Dec 8, 2006

Russia To Join US Lunar Exploration Program If Funded

Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Dec 06, 2006 - Russia will join the U.S Moon exploration program if Washington provides the necessary funding, a Russian space representative said Tuesday. After U.S. President George W. Bush announced his Vision for Space Exploration in 2004, a plan for new manned lunar missions, the country's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) elaborated a program that envisions the construction of a manned lunar base, which will require broad international cooperation.

Dec 6, 2006

Moon Base Plan By NASA Holds Out Promise Of A New Frontier

Washington (AFP) Dec 6, 2006 - NASA's plan to permanently colonize the moon holds out the promise of a dramatic advance in space exploration, but the ambitious project requires massive financing and a high level of global cooperation. The plan unveiled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration this week envisages a manned base possibly on the moon's south pole by around 2020, powered by sunlight and perhaps hydrogen and oxygen, with astronauts cruising over the lunar surface in pressurized rovers.

Dec 6, 2006

Foundation Joins Planetary Society Call For An International Lunar Decade

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 05, 2006 - The Secure World Foundation has joined forces with The Planetary Society in calling for an International Lunar Decade to begin in 2007. The International Lunar Decade, following in the tradition of years of focused scientific research, such as the International Geophysical Year, will create a global space agency framework.

Dec 5, 2006

US Plans To Build Moon Base Starting In 2020

Washington (AFP) Dec 05, 2006 - NASA has announced plans to establish a permanently-occupied lunar base with manned missions starting in 2020, a key step in further human exploration of the solar system. The project, which would send humans back to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, is a long-term joint effort of 14 of the world's space agencies, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Monday.

Dec 5, 2006

Deliver Your Message to the Moon In The Selene Wish Upon The Moon Campaign

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 04, 2006 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled to launch the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (or Moon explorer) SELENE by an H-IIA Launch Vehicle in the summer of 2007. The major objective of the SELENE mission is to acquire scientific data to answer key questions on the Moon's origin and evolution. It is the first fully-fledged lunar exploration project since the Apollo program.

Dec 4, 2006