Lunar Archives

Schematic overview of the data-processing workflow in this work. After splitting the 2C data into three antenna spectra, we first conduct a general comb diagnostics for each antenna, then perform per-antenna PCA decomposition, basis alignment, and periodogram/FT/ACF analysis. The component-level results are finally combined to distinguish non-shared periodic signals from shared or comb-like RFI. -- astro-ph.IM

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Missions & Hardware, Moon, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report

First Lunar Farside SETI Observations for Periodic Signals With The Low-frequency Radio Spectrometer Of Chang’E-4 Mission

by Keith CowingApril 12, 2026April 12, 2026

Chang’E-4 (CE4), the first mission to soft-land on the lunar farside, provides a unique opportunity for astronomical observations from an environment shielded from terrestrial radio interference, and thus serves as […]

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return, Status Report

LEAG-ExMAG Artemis Sample Return SAT Reports Now Available

by Keith CowingMarch 19, 2026March 19, 2026

The Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) and Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG), were requested and empowered by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Planetary Science Division (PSD) to establish a […]

Future Human Habitat On the Moon Growing Plants -- ESA

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Exploration Gear & Tech, Life Support Systems, Moon, Plant Biology, Press Release, Space Agriculture, Space Life Science

Towards Farming On The Moon

by Keith CowingOctober 29, 2025October 29, 2025

To stay long-term on the Moon humans will need to produce food there. Is it possible to grow plants in environments very different from earth? With support from the Discovery […]

PANGAEA lead instructor Matteo Massironi explains how to identify geological units from a distance to the astronaut crew. ESA/V. Crobu

Analog Studies, Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release

ESA Away Team Training: Lunar Geology Lessons For Artemis

by Keith CowingSeptember 18, 2025September 18, 2025

Editor’s note: when it comes to conducting field trips – sorties – Away Team missions – on another world, astrogeology and astrobiology and astrochemistry overlap with one another all the […]

Chang’E-5 lunar soil sitting at the bottom of a photothermal reactor. Credit Sun et al.

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Gravitational Biology, Life Support Systems, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Plant Biology, Press Release, Space Agriculture

Lunar Soil Could Support Life On The Moon

by Keith CowingJuly 17, 2025July 17, 2025

Scientists have developed a technology that may help humans survive on the Moon. In a study publishing July 16 in the Cell Press journal Joule, researchers extracted water from lunar […]

This final prospectivity map synthesizes eight evidence layers: ISRs, maximum temperature, PSRs, slope, curvature, aspect, distance to PSRs, and density of PSRs. The color gradient signifies prospectivity levels, with cool tones indicating higher potential and warm tones suggesting lower potential. Specifically, dark blue areas are deemed highly prospective, light blue suggests favorable conditions, yellow denotes permissive regions, and red areas are considered nonprospective. -- The Planetary Science Journal

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Astrochemistry: Prospectivity Modeling of the NASA VIPER Landing Site at Mons Mouton near the Lunar South Pole

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2025May 7, 2025

We use a high-resolution digital elevation model and a numerical thermal model to produce a variety of inputs for a water-ice prospectivity model for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover […]

Panoramic view of the Chang’e-5 landing site. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

Analog Studies, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Interstellar, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Moon, Status Report

Polycyclic Aromatics In The Chang’E 5 Lunar Soils

by Keith CowingMay 4, 2025May 4, 2025

Polycyclic aromatics are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium and meteorites, yet the search for lunar polycyclic aromatics remains a significant challenge.

In 2016, scientists discovered that water is released from the Moon during meteor showers. When a speck of comet debris strikes the moon, it vaporizes on impact, creating a shock wave in the lunar soil. With a sufficiently large impactor, this shock wave can breach the soil’s dry upper layer and release water molecules from a hydrated layer below. NASA’s LADEE spacecraft detected these water molecules as they entered the tenuous lunar atmosphere. Download here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20278/ NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Moon, Press Release, Space Weather & Heliophysics

The Solar Wind Can Apparently Make Water On The Lunar Surface

by Keith CowingApril 16, 2025April 16, 2025

Scientists have hypothesized since the 1960s that the Sun is a source of ingredients that form water on the Moon. When a stream of charged particles known as the solar […]

A visualization of Shackleton crater. The near (Earth-facing) side of the Moon is to the right. Color coded and contoured elevation illuminates the crater floor. -- NASA

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Moon, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report

A Microbial Survival Model For The permanently Shadowed Regions Of The Moon Shows Long-Term Survival of Terrestrial Microbe Forward Contamination

by Keith CowingApril 10, 2025April 10, 2025

Based on previous models of microbial survival there are regions in the solar system which have high preservation potential for terrestrial spore-forming microbes such as Bacillus subtilis.

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Gear: Testing A New Sample Collection System On The Moon

by Keith CowingJanuary 11, 2025January 11, 2025

Editor’s note: One of the first things you learn in biology is sterile technique – the taking of a sample without contaminating it. You learn it in microbiology and later […]