EDITORIAL · Artemis
Earth-orbit docking testLaunch 2027
NASA took the landing off Artemis III in February. In 2027 a crew of four docks with test versions of Starship HLS and Blue Moon Mk2 in Earth orbit, and the results help decide which lander carries Artemis IV.
EDITORIAL · Artemis
First Artemis landingEarly 2028
Two astronauts, about a week near the south pole, on a lander NASA has not yet picked. The last SLS flight with the interim upper stage, and no Gateway to stop at.
EDITORIAL STEM
The ILRS Coalition | China's Answer to the Artemis Accords
17 vs 77 nationsRival framework
China's International Lunar Research Station coalition reached 17 nations, with Nicaragua, Pakistan, Serbia, and Kazakhstan among recent joiners. A parallel framework to the 77-nation Artemis Accords. Two blocs, two rulebooks, one Moon.
EDITORIAL STEM
A Reactor on the Moon | The Russia-China Nuclear Pact
~$17B concept2033-2035
Russia and China signed a May 2025 MOU for a joint lunar south-pole fission plant, with NPO Lavochkin taking the design contract in December. The forcing function behind the US mandate for its own reactor by 2030.
EDITORIAL STEM
Chang'e-7 Targets Shackleton | China's Water-Ice Survey
Flagship missionLaunch 2026
China's multi-element Chang'e-7 heads for Shackleton crater with an orbiter, lander, and a mini flying probe to survey south-pole water ice. The data feeds ILRS site selection, and the US is watching the map it draws.
EDITORIAL STEM
The Helium-3 Order Book Opens | Interlune and the DOE's Historic Buy
$6.9M SBIR III2028 CLPS
Interlune's NASA SBIR III funds helium-3 and hydrogen extraction from regolith, and the DOE made the first US government purchase of a lunar resource. The order book for Moon-mined materials just opened.
EDITORIAL STEM
LUPEX | The JAXA-ISRO Hunt for South Pole Ice
Joint missionLaunch Dec 2026
A JAXA rover on an ISRO lander, headed for the lunar south pole to survey water ice. The successor to the cancelled VIPER, and the clearest test yet of whether the ice is minable, not just present.
EDITORIAL STEM
Rashid 2 | The UAE's Far-Side Gambit
Firefly landerFar side 2026
The Emirates' Rashid 2 rover cleared testing and shipped to the US for a 2026 Firefly launch toward the lunar far side, with CNES cameras aboard. The first Arab mission to the side of the Moon no one sees.
EDITORIAL STEM
Gateway on Pause | NASA Pivots to the Surface
Program shiftSurface-first
NASA paused the Lunar Gateway and redirected resources toward a surface base, leaving CSA's Canadarm3 and the UAE airlock commitment in limbo. What gets built when the orbital outpost loses priority.
EDITORIAL STEM
Chang'e-6's Farside Haul | 1,935 Grams Rewriting Lunar Science
1,935 g samplesScience 2025-26
China's Chang'e-6 returned 1,935 grams of farside regolith, generating landmark findings on volcanic activity 2.8 billion years ago and an unexplained magnetic rebound. The science head start that comes with going first.
EDITORIAL STEM
MSolo | Sniffing the Moon for Water
Sources SoughtClosed Aug 2026
NASA Kennedy's MSolo mass spectrometer measures the gases coming off lunar operations, the instrument that confirms where the ice actually is before anyone commits to mining it. The measurement layer beneath the headlines.