During a lengthy news conference on Friday, NASA provided a detailed overview of how it plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface as soon as 2028 as part of its Artemis Program.
Although much of the information behind these plans has been previously reported at Ars Technica and elsewhere, this marked the first time NASA has laid them out in detail and acknowledged some substantial changes in the architecture.
Most notably, for SpaceX's Starship vehicle, the revised plan calls for the Orion spacecraft to dock with the Starship lunar lander in high-Earth orbit before transiting to the Moon. And for Blue Origin, the mission architecture includes four launches of the New Glenn rocket, but no spacecraft-to-spacecraft refuelings. Additionally, the Blue Origin plan allows for the possibility of its Blue Moon lander rendezvousing with Orion in low-lunar orbit.
One of the major limits of mass-produced batteries is the electrolyte. From lead-acid to lithium ion, there’s some temperature where the electrolyte will freeze and cause all sorts of problems, from cracked casings to various non-favorable chemical changes in the battery itself. But if there’ a solid electrolyte available, many of the downsides of charging and discharging batteries in extreme cold disappear. These batteries developed by NASA, for example, can survive some wild temperature swings.
The electrolytes used for these batteries are either a ceramic or polymer electrolyte, both of which are solid. In testing, the batteries could meaningfully operate at temperatures of -60° C and up to 80° C on the high end. Further, the solid electrolyte helps protect them even outside of these temperature ranges. Bringing the battery temperature down to -170° C was not enough to damage the battery at all, and using a small heater to bring the temperature back up to its operating range showed no capacity losses or other issues.
These batteries are eventually intended for use in some of the coldest places outside of Earth still accessible to humans (in theory) such as the south pole of the Moon where the temperatures regularly get that cold and stay cold for long periods, especially in permanently-shadowed craters or places on the Moon we might want to put some telescopes eventually. There are other terrestrial situations where these batteries might be useful as well, since they don’t need as much thermal management as other battery types.
One could make a joke about how an astronaut walking on the lunar surface is rather akin to a cat walking on the carpet in the living room, but out in space the resulting triboelectric discharge can do a lot more damage than just some stinging fingers and a bemused looking cat.
The problem that NASA and other space agencies are dealing with is that the charge that builds up on a lunar-walking astronaut is very hard to equalize with something like a lunar lander. For this reason they have now set up the Lunar Grounding Challenge to consult the public whilst dangling $150,000 of rewards in front of anyone ready to pounce with a good idea.
Here on Earth we got many ways in which we can get rid of such an unwanted charge, with dry winter weather demonstrating quite effectively why humidity is a crucial factor here. With no real atmosphere on the Moon, each astronaut thus becomes a walking capacitor, which is worsened when said astronaut ventures outside of the sunlit areas and then returns to the slightly positively charged lander.
The challenge here is thus to equalize the astronaut and lander, with a design specification of a -100 kV or higher astronaut and about 100 V lander. A resulting current should not exceed 1 mA, ideally less than 0.2 mA to remain below human perception levels. If an arc exists it should not contact the suit or astronaut.
Of course, the most low-tech solution would be to use a resistor to limit the current, but at those voltage ranges it would take an awful long time to bleed off, in an environment that’s basically a perfect insulator as space will never be cold. It definitely seems like a fun challenge to sink one’s fangs into.
As NASA continues humanity’s slow march back to the Moon, different pieces of the puzzle of establishing a more permanent base there are falling into place. One of these pieces is the the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTR), and [Cleo Abram] and [Michelle Khare] got a look at the LTR candidate from Lunar Outpost.
Designed to help astronauts traverse the lunar surface as well as function as a semi-autonomous rover when uncrewed, the LTR will be an integral part to any future Moon base. NASA announced earlier this year that it would be moving forward with the LTR featured in this video and another from competitor Astrolab. Regardless of manufacturer, the LTR will have to deal with some wild conditions in the lunar environment.
Lunar dust is abrasive, so the LTR generates an electric current to pull the dust under the truck to prevent it from entering the cab of the vehicle as it moves along. Given the extreme temperature swings on the moon (-200˚C to 200˚C), the space truck will also be fitted with wire mesh tires as nobody wants to be changing a flat in space. The two seats in the cab are oversized and can help lift the astronauts up as space suits hamper their agility to a significant degree. There are compartments for storing samples, and the truck has a robot arm that can grab samples to bring back if no one is along for the ride.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Engineers and technicians use a crane to position Voyager Technologies’ Griffin-1 lunar lander within the 25-Foot Space Simulator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Aug. 31. The spacecraft recently completed a series of rigorous environmental tests at JPL ahead of launch to the Moon later this year.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The testing team moves Voyager Technologies’ Griffin-1 through a hallway to the 25-Foot Space Simulator at JPL. The corridor features photos of the historic spacecraft that have been tested in the facility since the 1960s, from the Ranger program to NASA’s Europa Clipper.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
A commercial lander that will be at the forefront of NASA’s efforts to establish a Moon Base, humanity’s first lunar outpost, has passed a series of critical tests at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The tests simulated the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space, as well as the intense shaking and ear-splitting roar of launch. Results show that Voyager Technologies’ Griffin Mission One (Griffin-1) spacecraft is ready to survive the rigors of space exploration.
As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative within the Moon Base Program, Griffin-1 is expected to launch later this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. It will deliver more than 1,100 pounds (455 kilograms) of cargo to Nobile Crater near the lunar South Pole, which categorizes it as an infrastructure-class lander. Griffin-1 will carry 10 science and technology demonstrations from six countries, including the largest commercial payload ever delivered to the Moon, Astrolab’s FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover.
“NASA JPL’s Environmental Test Laboratory has been putting robotic explorers to the test since the Ranger program gave us NASA’s first up-close views of the Moon’s surface in the mid-1960s. We’re proud to provide our expertise and facilities to support this new phase of commercial lunar exploration,” said Charles Whetsel, manager, Exploration Systems Development Office at JPL.
Long foam spikes that absorb sound waves and electromagnetic waves cover the walls of a specialized anechoic chamber at JPL where Voyager Technologies’ Griffin-1 underwent electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility testing.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Griffin-1’s testing journey
Testing began in July after the 2,789-pound (1,265-kilogram) spacecraft took a cross-country road trip from Voyager Lunar Systems’ manufacturing facilities in Pittsburgh to JPL in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills. Engineers spun the spacecraft on a special table to measure its mass properties, a test that enables them to look for any unexpected wobbles as they assess how the lander will move through space. Data gathered in mass properties testing is key to understanding the spacecraft’s readiness for navigation in flight and landing on the lunar surface.
To make sure signals from the spacecraft’s electronic components don’t interfere with one another, Griffin-1 underwent electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility testing inside what’s called an anechoic chamber, in which long foam spikes line the walls to absorb sound and electromagnetic waves.
During vibration testing, hundreds of sensors monitored Griffin-1 as a “shaker table” rattled it in three directions, with increasingly intense force, to simulate the ride out of Earth’s atmosphere on a massive rocket. To mimic the roar of launch, giant horns, powered by compressed nitrogen gas, blasted the spacecraft with up to 153 decibels inside a sealed acoustic chamber.
Environmental testing took place in several clean-room facilities at JPL, culminating in the 25-Foot Space Simulator, a thermal vacuum chamber listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its role in supporting historic missions like those of the Ranger, Surveyor, Mariner, and Voyager programs. Dozens of other missions (along with plenty of upgrades to the testing facility) have followed over the decades, including the Perseverance Mars rover and Europa Clipper.
Voyager Technologies’ Griffin-1 lunar lander spins on a special table in a test to measure its mass properties, which enables engineers to look for any unexpected wobbles as they assess how the vehicle will move through space. The test took place in JPL’s Environmental Test Laboratory on July 20.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Microphones are arrayed around Griffin-1 on Aug. 12 during acoustic testing that mimics the intense roar of launch. Giant horns powered by compressed gaseous nitrogen blast the spacecraft with up to 153 decibels inside a sealed acoustic chamber at JPL.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Beneath the thermal vacuum chamber’s soaring 85-foot (26-meter) ceiling, for about two weeks, Griffin-1 alternately baked at up to 167 degrees Fahrenheit (75 degrees Celsius) and froze at temperatures as low as minus 148 F (minus 100 C). This testing simulates the temperature extremes the lander will experience during its journey through the vacuum of space and its operations on the lunar surface.
“Griffin-1 is being built for a historic purpose: to deliver the infrastructure and capabilities to the Moon. Seeing the spacecraft complete this demanding environmental testing is a major milestone because it demonstrates that Griffin-1 is ready for the extreme journey ahead: launch, through deep space, to the lunar South Pole,” said John Thornton, executive vice president, Voyager. “This spacecraft represents a new era of commercial lunar exploration, where missions like Griffin-1 are laying the groundwork for the Moon Base and helping turn sustained lunar exploration from a vision into a reality.”
After proving its mettle at JPL, Griffin-1 has returned to Voyager Lunar Systems’ facility for final assembly. Next up: launch-readiness operations before shipment to Cape Canaveral.
It probably goes without saying that if you send four humans to observe the Moon up close, they’ll see things that those of us stuck here on Earth have never noticed. Luckily for us, they took impeccable notes and brought plenty of cameras, which NASA has shared with the rest of the class as Artemis II: Sights & Sounds of Science.
Well, technically it’s called the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, but we appreciate the space agency adding a little flair to it and formatting the findings for public consumption. Arguably the most significant observations detailed in the report are the impact flashes on the lunar surface. As you may recall, the trajectory of the Orion spacecraft meant the crew experienced a unique solar eclipse on the sixth day of the mission, giving them an unprecedented close-up view of the darkened Moon. During this time, they were able to see flashes of light with their unaided eyes, which NASA has since confirmed were small rocky fragments — perhaps no more than a few inches wide — slamming into the lunar surface at incredible speeds.
To boldly go where no whisky has gone before.
The Artemis II mission was one for the history books, for most of us the most significant space mission of our lifetimes. But as access to space becomes cheaper and more routine, it stands to reason that not all activities in orbit will be quite so momentous. For example, students from the University of Glasgow and Japan’s Kyushu Institute are currently collaborating on a planned mission to distill whisky in space for the first time.
Scheduled to launch in 2028, the CubeSat will carry 10 ml of fluid and spend five years in orbit studying how its chemical composition changes, with a special interest in how the frequent changes experienced as the spacecraft travels around the Earth could influence the maturing process. While this might not seem terribly interesting to teetotalers, it offers an opportunity to gain more practical experience with orbital manufacturing which will likely inform future missions.
Speaking of studying how things behave — or perhaps how they don’t behave, as the case may be — we have an update on the controversy around this year’s Nikon Small World in Motion competition. After several experts in the field raised the alarm last week, Ning Xu’s winning video supposedly showing cilia in airway tissue samples taken from a child with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) has been disqualified for using generative AI. This shifted all the previous winners up a rank, so Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam now takes the top spot with a video of a roundworm and a single-celled Dileptus.
According to experts, Dr. Ning Xu’s entry was literally too good to be true.
Xu had previously claimed that AI was only used for post-processing the original images, which would have already put the entry into something of a gray area as far as the competition was concerned. But according to researchers familiar with PCD, the structures shown in the video don’t look like anything they’d ever seen in a patient, prompting suspicion that the admittedly fascinating visuals were actually the result of an AI hallucination.
Finally, on the subject of beautiful images, we’d like to point you to ascii.rest. As you’ve probably noticed, we appreciate minimal web design around these parts, so this collection of ASCII animations and art immediately caught our eye. Some of the pieces, like “aurora fjord” shown here, can be exported as a GIF or video clip. But there’s also the option to embed them in your HTML with a couple of lines, which also gives you the opportunity to customize and manipulate them in various ways. If you do anything cool with these designs, we’d love to see it.
See something interesting that you think would be a good fit for our weekly Links column? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear about it.
"What did four astronauts see, notice, and document as they traveled around the Moon during NASA's Artemis II mission?" asks a new NASA web page, offering some fascinating pictures and video:
Through photographs, spoken observations, drawings, and annotations, the Artemis II crew created a unique scientific record — one that is now available to the science community and the public for further study... As part of the mission science plan, lunar scientists asked the Artemis II crew to watch for tiny flashes sparked by rocky fragments hitting the Moon. Even so, some scientists were astonished when astronauts reported seeing five extremely faint "pinprick" bursts of light from 46,000 miles away. After ruling out other sources — cosmic rays or reflections from the spacecraft — the science team confirmed the sightings... The impact flash observations happened during a planned loss of communications while the Artemis II crew was on the far side of the Moon... Apollo astronauts saw similar flashes from lunar orbit, but the Artemis crew likely caught the faintest ever seen with the unaided eye.
From the brightness of the flashes, scientists estimated that incoming rocks were each no more than a couple of inches wide. Despite their size, they were traveling thousands of miles per hour, producing just enough light upon impact to be visible. The nearly hour-long total solar eclipse that the crew experienced while passing by the Moon's far side created ideal dark conditions for spotting such subtle bursts. With no atmosphere to slow or burn up incoming debris, projectiles slam freely into the lunar surface. The crew's direct observations of this process on the Moon's far side provided a rare dataset that will help us understand how often these small impacts occur, which is essential for assessing long-term risks to future lunar habitats and infrastructure...
The crew reported seeing subtle hues of gray, black, brown, tan, white, green, and blue across the Moon's surface. This muted rainbow offers clues to the rocks and minerals that make up different lunar regions, helping scientists piece together how the Moon — and, by extension, Earth — evolved over time.
"Amazing news," Mission Control responded when they heard about the flashes. Space.com reports that when a Mission Control operator looked over at the Science Evaluation Room, "they were jumping up and down, literally."
NASA blogged this week that more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II lunar science data — some previously unreleased — "have been uploaded to NASA's Planetary Data System, the public archive for NASA's planetary missions."
This data release includes more than 11,000 full-resolution images and video of the Moon from the crew's handheld cameras and the Orion spacecraft's cameras, 8.5 hours of audio recordings of the crew's scientific observations of the lunar surface, and crew-annotated images... Along with this data, NASA has released the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report, and the Artemis II Lunar Science Data User Guide.
See Saturn at opposition, catch the Orionid meteor shower, and watch the Moon pass close to the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters.
Skywatching Highlights
Oct. 4: Saturn reaches opposition, making the ringed planet visible for much of the night
Oct. 6: A thin crescent Moon appears close to bright Jupiter before sunrise
Oct. 21–22: The Orionid meteor shower peaks; moonlight may interfere, so look before dawn after moonset
Oct. 27–28: The Moon passes near the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters
Meteors streak across the sky during the 2017 Orionid meteor shower, with the Milky Way visible overhead.
Ben Goldstein via Flickr_CC BY-NC-SA
Transcript
Saturn takes center stage, a meteor shower lights up the sky, and the Moon visits the Seven Sisters. That’s What’s Up for October.
A sky chart showing Saturn above the eastern horizon on Oct. 4, 2026, around 9 p.m.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
On October 4th, Saturn reaches opposition, giving skywatchers one of the year’s best opportunities to see the ringed planet. Opposition happens when Earth passes between the Sun and Saturn. That puts Saturn opposite the Sun in our sky, so it rises around sunset and stays visible for much of the night.
Astronomers have long known about a hexagon-shaped jet stream that spans nearly 20,000 miles across Saturn’s north pole. But just last month, observations using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope revealed a ten-sided atmospheric wave encircling the planet’s south pole. This southern hemisphere feature appears to be strengthening, giving scientists the rare opportunity to watch a giant atmospheric pattern develop.
A sky chart illustrating where to view the Orionid meteor shower.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Orionid meteor shower peaks on the night of October 21st into the morning of October 22nd. The Orionids are created by tiny pieces of debris left behind by Halley’s Comet. They appear to radiate from the direction of Orion, but the meteors can streak across any part of the sky. A bright waxing gibbous Moon will wash out some of the fainter meteors this year. Your best chance may come in just a few hours before dawn, after the Moon sets. Find a dark location. Give your eyes time to adjust and look up.
A sky chart showing the Moon next to the Pleiades on Oct. 27, 2026, looking east at around 11 p.m.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
On the night of October 27th into the 28th, look for the Moon passing close to a famous star cluster called the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Many ancient cultures had stories associated with the Pleiades, due in part to the fact that the star cluster is visible from almost everywhere on the globe.
To spot them yourself, look east in the evening as the Moon and cluster climb higher into the night sky. The Pleiades appear as a slightly fuzzy grouping of 6 to 7 stars. They are visible to the unaided eye, but binoculars or a telescope reveal more spectacular detail.
Here are the phases of the Moon for October.
A chart showing the phases of Earth’s Moon in October 2026.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at NASA Science.
I’m Raquel Villanueva from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and that’s What’s Up this month.
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An artist’s conception shows Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft in lunar orbit, with Starcloud’s SC-1L data-processing payload highlighted in purple. (Firefly Aerospace Illustration)
Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud has signed up to send its artificial intelligence data-processing hardware into lunar orbit on a Firefly Aerospace spacecraft.
Starcloud’s payload, known as SC-1L, will fly on Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle during a NASA-supported mission that’s scheduled for launch no earlier than 2028. The mission will demonstrate technologies that Starcloud plans to use on AI data centers in Earth orbit — and around the moon as well.
“Space is the future of data centers, and the moon is the next frontier for that vision,” Ezra Feilden, Starcloud’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said today in a news release.
Starcloud made its mark in Earth orbit last year with Starcloud-1, a satellite equipped with an Nvidia H100 chip. Starcloud-1 successfully trained a large language model called NanoGPT, marking a first for orbital computing. “We successfully validated our ability to run and train AI models on enterprise-grade GPUs in low Earth orbit, and now we’re taking this proven technology to lunar orbit,” Feilden said.
Starcloud’s SC-1L payload will be integrated aboard the Elytra vehicle for a mission aimed at delivering Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander to a lunar region known as the Gruithuisen Domes. After the lander separates from Elytra and descends to the surface, the orbiting vehicle will serve as a data relay for Blue Ghost.
The data-processing demonstration begins when the Blue Ghost mission ends. SC-1L will ingest data from Elytra’s onboard Solux vision system, execute high-performance AI computing in orbit and transmit the processed data back to Earth.
The Solux system is designed to serve as an autonomous navigation and tracking tool in space environments where global positioning systems are otherwise unavailable. Firefly expects the Elytra orbiter to operate in lunar orbit for at least five years.
“We’re proud to collaborate with innovative customers like Starcloud and collectively take another step toward establishing the infrastructure that will power a permanent human and robotic presence at the moon,” said Ray Allensworth, Firefly’s vice president of spacecraft.
Elytra will also use high-resolution telescopes and Firefly’s Ocula moon imaging service for surface mapping, mineral detection and reconnaissance. Firefly recently announced a collaboration with Nvidia to process the data for Ocula using Nvidia’s Jetson module.
In August, Starcloud reported raising $250 million in funding to support the creation of a constellation of AI data-center satellites in low Earth orbit, powered by Nvidia’s Space-1 Vera Rubin Module. Starcloud has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to operate as many as 88,000 satellites as orbital data centers.
An artist’s conception shows a mining operation on the moon, including harvesters and a solar power plant. (Interlune Illustration)
Seattle-based Interlune has raised $5 million in fresh funding to support a business plan that involves building space infrastructure as well as mining the moon for helium-3 and other valuable resources.
The funds were raised through a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, or SAFE, in which investors provide upfront cash to a startup in exchange for shares to be issued during a future priced round. Interlune used the same approach to raise $5 million earlier this year.
Interlune said existing and new investors participated in its latest SAFE offering, which came to light today in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The company’s continued traction with government contracts, along with major milestones across the space ecosystem over the past year, makes this a beneficial approach ahead of our next priced round,” Interlune CEO Rob Meyerson said in an emailed statement.
When Interlune was founded in 2020, the company focused primarily on developing technologies for extracting resources from lunar rocks and soil, also known as regolith. Helium-3 leads its target list because that material is more abundant on the moon than on Earth and is highly valued for applications ranging from medical imaging and quantum computing to fusion power. The price for helium-3 can exceed $9 million a pound.
Meyerson noted that Interlune’s business plan is no longer limited to space mining. “In response to growing market demand, we’ve expanded our product offering to include space infrastructure and survival services, leveraging the same technologies we’ve been developing to harvest natural resources from space,” he said.
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