Lunar

NASA, using images taken from its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has released a 680 gigapixel interactive mosaic of the Moon's north polar region with a resolution of one pixel to 6.5 ft (2 m).

Getting into space is an expensive business where every little bit of extra weight can add thousands of dollars to the cost of a mission. A team of researchers at MIT proposes establishing gas stations in space as a possible way to help cut the cost of future missions to the Moon.

A meter-wide meteoroid impacted the Moon's surface September 11, 2013, producing a bright explosion and digging a new crater about 40 meters in diameter. Seen as a bright flash of light in a video of the event, the asteroid impact is the largest visually-confirmed impact on the Moon.

The full moon has long been associated with lunacy, violence, fertility, disasters, and the performance of the stock market. While these have been thoroughly debunked, a lunar ranging study has long contended with a "Full-Moon Curse." This Curse is real, and has now been explained.

NASA has announced its Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative, which aims at kickstarting private development of commercial lunar transports through partnerships with the space agency.

China's Chang'e-3 lunar lander, together with the Yu Tu (Jade Rabbit) lunar rover, successfully landed on the Moon's surface at 13:11 UT Saturday night. The event marks the first time that China has sent a spacecraft to soft land on the Moon's surface.

Moon Express has revealed the design of its MX-1 entry for the Google Lunar X Prize competition. Not a one-trick pony, the MX-1 is intended as the first of a series of robotic spacecraft that can carry out a multitude of tasks in Earth orbit as well as in deep space.

After its launch from the Xichang Satellite Center at 1:30 am Monday morning, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center reports that China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe successfully entered lunar orbit Friday at 5:53 pm Beijing time.

China's lunar probe Chang'e-3 and the Jade Rabbit lunar rover were successfully placed into an Earth-Moon transfer orbit on Monday. If all continues to go well, on December 14 Chang'e-3 will be the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon in 37 years.

The Shimizu Corporation's "Luna Ring" proposes constructing an array of solar cells around the Moon's equator, about 11,000 km (6,800 miles), to harvest solar energy and beam it back to Earth.

Wanna drink some moon dust? Well, if it's not too late, you still may have the chance. Late last month, Delaware-based brewer Dogfish Head began serving up a limited-run Oktoberfest beer made from the stuff.

NASA has announced an Asteroid Grand Challenge aimed at protecting the Earth while exploiting the resources of the asteroid belt.