Roman Space Telescope
NASA · United States
Next milestoneSpectral-guidance tests and commissioning; science operations by early 2027
Mission source (opens in a new tab)Lunartic / Independent space briefingSource first · Reviewed October 13, 2026
The world is moving. Keep it in view.
The future,
in focus.
A considered guide to space missions and moonshots. The signal, the context, and the original sources—without the noise.
Live facts
- Hera · ESAArrives Nov 2026Braking burns begin Oct 15 and Oct 22ESA · checked Oct 15, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Chang'e-7 · CNSANo new dateMissed its 2026 window; revised launch pendingCNSA · checked Oct 15, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Artemis III · NASATargeted 2027Crewed Earth-orbit lander testNASA · checked Oct 13, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Lead signalMoon · Published Apr 10, 2026 · NASA · Reviewed October 13, 2026 · By Lunartic Desk
The next chapter of lunar exploration
Four people went around the Moon. What comes next?
Artemis II returned safely after a nearly 10-day crewed lunar flyby, the first human journey to the Moon in more than half a century.
Why it matters
The flight proved Orion's life support, navigation, re-entry, and crew operations. NASA now turns to a 2027 lander test in Earth orbit and a targeted 2028 lunar surface mission.
Mission pulse
The missions in motion.
Hera
ESA · Europe
Next milestoneBraking burns BRM-1 (Oct 15) and BRM-2 (Oct 22), then rendezvous and close survey
Mission source (opens in a new tab)Artemis III
NASA + commercial partners
Next milestoneCrew training and lander integration
Mission source (opens in a new tab)Mission targets change. Each card links to its operator; see the tracker for timing and status context.
The reading list
Signals worth following.
Selected reports from space agencies, mission teams, and researchers. Each link leads to the original source.
Source review · October 13, 2026
Dragon launched more than 6,300 pounds of science and supplies to the station (opens in a new tab)
SpaceX's 35th NASA cargo mission lifted off Oct. 13 for the International Space Station, carrying investigations, crew supplies, and hardware including the final pair of station roll-out solar arrays.
Why it mattersThe delivery supports research in orbit while the new arrays are prepared to increase the station's available power for operations and experiments.
NASA (opens in a new tab)Perseverance set the off-world driving record (opens in a new tab)
On Oct. 11, NASA's Perseverance rover reached 28.10 miles (45.22 kilometers), passing Opportunity's 28.06-mile record for distance driven on another world.
Why it mattersThe rover is using autonomous navigation to reach ancient terrain beyond Jezero Crater. NASA has extended the mission through roughly the end of 2028, keeping the record-setting traverse focused on its science targets.
NASA Science (opens in a new tab)NASA and the Energy Department set a joint space-nuclear framework (opens in a new tab)
The agencies signed a memorandum of understanding covering research, fuel production, testing, launch integration, and operations for space nuclear power and propulsion.
Why it mattersThe framework, effective Nov. 1, connects reactor and radioisotope work across the full mission lifecycle as NASA develops power systems for the Moon and deeper-space missions.
NASA (opens in a new tab)NASA opened the Artemis II lunar science archive (opens in a new tab)
NASA released more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II science data, including over 11,000 full-resolution images and videos, 8.5 hours of crew observations, and annotated images.
Why it mattersThis is the first planetary science dataset captured primarily by people in more than half a century, preserving what the crew saw and recorded for public study and future mission planning.
NASA (opens in a new tab)NASA funded a lunar 5G and Wi-Fi demonstration (opens in a new tab)
NASA awarded Modulate Space Corporation an approximately $38 million firm-fixed-price contract to develop a scalable lunar 5G system with built-in Wi-Fi 6.
Why it mattersThe lab and lunar-surface demonstrations, planned through 2028, are intended to test the communications hardware, software, and radio performance a future Moon Base would need.
NASA (opens in a new tab)NASA selected three science suites for future Moon Base work (opens in a new tab)
Three PRISM investigations are planned to monitor lunar hazards and volatiles, probe a possible lava tube at Marius Hills, and measure ice and surface conditions in micro-cold traps.
Why it mattersThe not-yet-flown payloads are designed to inform shelter, resource, and operational decisions before sustained human activity on the lunar surface.
NASA (opens in a new tab)Starcloud booked an AI-computing payload for lunar orbit (opens in a new tab)
Firefly says Starcloud's SC-1L processor will fly on its third lunar mission, targeted no earlier than 2028, to process Solux vision-system data aboard an Elytra orbiter.
Why it mattersThe planned demonstration would test data-center capabilities near the Moon. It is a future commercial payload, not a completed mission; Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 2 and first lunar Elytra remain targeted no earlier than 2027.
Firefly Aerospace (opens in a new tab)
Roman's coronagraph took its first look at space (opens in a new tab)
NASA confirmed successful fine-guidance tests and the coronagraph's first commissioning observations of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Why it mattersPrecise pointing is essential for blocking bright starlight and detecting faint planets. These early tests prepare the instrument for increasingly complex observations.
NASA Science (opens in a new tab)Browse older stories (7)
The Artemis Accords reached 76 signatories (opens in a new tab)
Albania, Croatia, Côte d'Ivoire, and San Marino joined the international principles for peaceful, transparent, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Why it mattersA growing group of partners can help make lunar exploration more collaborative, open, and useful across borders.
NASA (opens in a new tab)Hubble marked 200,000 orbits while watching for a supernova (opens in a new tab)
NASA's telescope passed the orbital milestone and continued monitoring galaxy cluster MACS J0417 for the predicted return of supernova Athena.
Why it mattersRepeated views of the lensed explosion could help astronomers map the cluster's mass and refine measurements of cosmic expansion.
NASA Science (opens in a new tab)Perseverance found a more complex water history on Mars (opens in a new tab)
Rocks in Jezero Crater's Margin Unit record at least three separate episodes of water alteration, a new study of Perseverance data finds.
Why it mattersThe evidence complicates the history of ancient lakes, groundwater, and hydrothermal activity in a place NASA is studying for past habitability.
NASA (opens in a new tab)A rare lunar impact left a crater and a wide cold halo (opens in a new tab)
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the 728-foot-wide McGetchin crater, formed in 2024, and a cooler region extending miles beyond it.
Why it mattersThe disturbed ground shows that a large impact can change lunar terrain well beyond the crater, with implications for surface exploration.
NASA Science (opens in a new tab)
A navigation box for the Moon's first commercial relay (opens in a new tab)
NASA delivered NavCube3-mini for Altus-1, a small satellite intended to demonstrate navigation and communications relay services around the Moon.
Why it mattersA durable lunar presence needs infrastructure that can locate spacecraft and carry data where direct contact with Earth is difficult.
NASA (opens in a new tab)
Curiosity crossed a field of Martian honeycombs (opens in a new tab)
The rover photographed a broad field of small polygonal fractures in Valle Grande, far more extensive than the team had seen there before.
Why it mattersScientists are still testing how mud cracking, temperature cycles, or sediment compression might have made the pattern.
NASA (opens in a new tab)
Webb found a hidden planet in a famous young system (opens in a new tab)
Atmospheric spectroscopy revealed Beta Pictoris d, a previously unseen giant planet in a system astronomers have studied for decades.
Why it mattersThe result shows how Webb can detect worlds that conventional imaging misses and compare their atmospheres directly.
NASA Science (opens in a new tab)Mission record / Watch & explore
See the mission. Know what you are seeing.
Official footage, imagery, concepts, and flight-data visualization—labeled so a flown mission never looks like a future proposal.
Artemis II launch replay
NASA's official replay of the April 1 Artemis II launch. This is actual launch footage, not a simulation and not an October launch.
Credit: NASA
Watch at source (opens in a new tab)Artemis II preliminary lunar science report
An interactive NASA Science report combining mission photographs, crew audio and annotations, and explanatory graphics from the lunar flyby.
Credit: NASA / CSA; individual media credits on source page
Open at source (opens in a new tab)Moon Base concept gallery
NASA's gallery of artist renderings and concept imagery for possible lunar surface operations, habitats, robotic systems, and infrastructure. These are concepts, not photographs of completed hardware or missions.
Credit: NASA; individual artwork credits on source page
Open at source (opens in a new tab)Artemis II mission trajectory
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio animation of the flown Earth-to-Moon-and-back path, created from flight-derived ephemeris data.
Credit: NASA SVS / Kel Elkins / Ernie Wright
Open at source (opens in a new tab)Media opens on the publisher’s site. Lunartic does not load third-party video players on this page.
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