Cislunar
Stories about the growing number of activities around the Moon.
NASA Tracks for 2024 Artemis II Launch
Artemis II crew, meet Orion. NASA is gearing up for the second installment of its campaign to get humans back to the Moon. On Artemis II, four astronauts will ride the Orion capsule around the Moon to test its systems and pave the way for a landing on the next trip. Yesterday, that crew—made up…
Israeli Startup WeSpace Technologies Plans a Lunar Hopper
Israeli startup WeSpace Technologies is angling to provide Israel’s official contribution to the Artemis program with its lunar hopper. The company plans to launch its first craft in less than three years to begin providing “flying services on the Moon,” CEO Yifat Feffer told Payload. Lunar hopping WeSpace’s offering to the growing lunar economy is…
ispace HAKUTO-R Lander Likely Hard-Lands on the Moon
The Moon will have to wait a little longer for its first non-governmental visitor.
NASA Selects Artemis II Crew
Humanity has picked its team for the first step in its grand return to the Moon. Yesterday, NASA revealed the crew of four that will circle the moon on the 10-day Artemis II mission. Without further ado…Here’s the lineup: Now that they’ve received their assignments, the astronauts have time to consider what the mission means.…
Firefly Wins NASA CLPS Contract for the Dark Side of the Moon
Blue Ghost #2 is a go. Firefly has clinched a deal to travel to the dark side of the Moon in 2026. Yesterday, NASA awarded the Cedar Park, TX-based launcher a $112M contract to deliver several lunar payloads using the Blue Ghost spacecraft. The details: NASA awarded the contract through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services…
ESA Proposes Creating Lunar Time Zone
What time is it on the Moon? The answer, it turns out, is a little complicated. As several countries across the globe collectively spanning just about every time zone prepare for the impending cislunar economy and get ready to send humans to the lunar surface, it may be time to put some standard processes—like an…
Intuitive Machines Stock Skyrockets, Tripling Three Days after Going Public
On Thursday, shares of newly public Intuitive Machines ($LUNR) closed at $44.77 a pop, up a staggering 251% on the day. The company’s stock has tripled in three days of trading. Trading of the lunar exploration company’s stock was briefly halted midday as volatility triggered the NASDAQ circuit breaker. The surge comes just three days after…
SPAC Shareholders Set to Vote on Intuitive Machines Merger
On Wednesday morning, shareholders are set to vote on Intuitive Machines’s reverse merger with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp ($IPAX), a Nasdaq-listed SPAC. If investors vote to approve the de-SPAC, the combined entity will be listed under the new ticker symbol $LUNR. SPAC facts, at a glance Intuitive Machines, headquartered in Houston, announced its intentions to…
Seraphim Releases 2023 Space Ecosystem Map
Seraphim, a leading space VC, has published its 2023 market map, detailing the state of innovation in the in-space economy with an eye on the year ahead. “As the in-space economy takes off, major players in the industry are positioning themselves to capture a slice of the burgeoning market,” Seraphim VP Maureen Laverty said in…
Space Agency Leaders Recap 2022
The world was busy in space this year. All together, there have been 174 successful orbital launches so far in 2022, and the world’s space agencies have pulled together over the course of the year to make major strides in science, technology, and exploration. Read on for our recap of the top events from space…
Q4 2022 News Roundup
Can you believe 2022 is nearly over? It’s been a jam-packed year for the space industry, full of groundbreaking moments in science, turbulence in the markets and world order; substantive policy developments; and historic mission firsts. We’re kicking off our year-end coverage by looking at objects closest in the rear-view mirror. Payload combed through the…
Quantum Space Raises $15M
Quantum Space, a startup focused on building an information “superhighway” in cislunar space, announced yesterday that it has raised $15M from Prime Movers Lab, and that it intends to close a Series A by year’s end. QS 101: The Rockville, MD-based startup has set its sights on building a network of satellites to form the…
Artemis I Splashes Down
Artemis I is complete. At 12:40pm ET yesterday, the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, marking the end of its 26-day, 1.4-million-mile journey around the Moon and back again. By all accounts, the first mission in NASA’s grand return to the Moon went smoothly. SLS, the agency’s long-awaited (and over-budget) Moon rocket launched on…
