April 13-19, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 15 | Hawai`i Island, USA
From Humans to Hardware, 2026 Moon Missions Plan Next-Gen Telescope and Hopping Probe
As Artemis II crew readjusts to life back on Earth after their unprecedented lunar-far-side flyby, robotic Moon missions for 2026 are next up. China National Space Agency expects a 5th lunar mission success with Chang’E-7 set to launch in August and land in November/December. After deploying an orbiter, Chang’E-7 will set down a lander, rover and hopping probe at ~89°S, Shackleton Crater rim. The hopper will search for water ice in permanent shadows. Chang’E-7 carries instruments from Egypt / Bahrain, Russia, Italy, Thailand, Switzerland and the nonprofit International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) of Hawai’i. Commercial Moon missions are planned in 2026 by Intuitive Machines (IM), Firefly, Blue Origin (Blue) and Astrobotic. Late this year, Firefly will introduce Ocula Moon imaging from its Elytra craft as it delivers ESA Lunar Pathfinder into orbit and takes Blue Ghost 2 lander and UAE Rashid 2 rover to the far side. IM-3 will head to Reiner Gamma in Q3 or Q4. Blue plans to test heavy-lift delivery capabilities with Blue Moon Mark 1 to the South Pole NET late 2026. Astrobotic is on-track to get Griffin-1 and its mini-rover to ~86°S this year with science instruments and primary payload Astrolab FLIP rover. FLIP already contains a digital file with Space Calendar and Space Age “Moon Messages and Names.” (Image Credits L-R Astrobotic, Astrolab, Firefly, Blue, IM, China Media Group)
TESS Exoplanet Hunter: Status and Mission Objectives After 8 Years in Space
Reaching its 8th full year in space on April 18, NASA’s Transiting-Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) remains operational in its third extended mission, managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and operated by MIT under Principal Investigator George Ricker. The spacecraft maintains a high-Earth elliptical, 2:1 lunar resonance orbit—circling Earth twice for every one lunar orbit—providing a fuel-efficient, thermally stable environment outside the Van Allen radiation belts. Despite entering safe-mode briefly, related to solar panel orientation and battery discharge, TESS continues high-precision observations, and every 13.7 days (at perigee) transmits accumulated data to Earth. Recent highlights include observation of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS and confirmation of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 1080-b as a temperate planet slightly larger than Earth orbiting an M-dwarf star. TESS has confirmed 769 exoplanets of a NASA total of 6,150+ and identified 7,913 candidates (TOIs). Transits are the main clue for discovery. A current objective is to identify 50 small-but-measurable rocky worlds to serve as benchmark targets for the James Webb Space Telescope’s probe of atmospheric composition and habitability. Originally a US$287 million mission, TESS has generated 2800+ peer-reviewed studies and adds to a catalog of rocky worlds for the next generation of deep-space spectroscopy. (Image Credits: MIT-George Ricker Jr, SpaceX, NASA)
Humans in Space
☆ International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 74 seven members are working to unpack supplies from Cygnus NG-24 XL cargo craft scheduled to launch Saturday, taking hearing tests, measuring internal eye pressure, using the TUSK experimental robotic arm, and participating in a relaxation study to promote calmness, reduce stress and improve sleep quality; the 3 Cosmonauts tested AI tools and ship-to-ship communications with the docked Progress 93 resupply craft and worked with ESA Astronaut Sophie Adenot on vein scans; last Tuesday the ISS crew was able to speak with Artemis II crew after their lunar flyby.
☆ Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou-21 three-member crew posted 80 pieces of student art work, from 15,000+ hand-painted submissions, for this 5th year of the Sky Art Exhibition; Pioneers and Role Models in My Heart is this year’s theme; the crew praised lofty aspirations of the youth, seeing they depicted the pioneering spirit, dedication and perseverance of those who pressed forward against the odds; they continue their experiments with fluid physics and combustion science, a study related to trust and collaboration, physical exercise and cardiac testing, and daily maintenance and monitoring of the station environment.
◐ Lunar Enterprise News: The Artemis II four Astronauts safely entered Earth atmosphere in the Orion capsule (which was heated to ~ 1,650° C), from which a smaller crew module detached and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California using parachute deployments at 17:07:27 Pacific Daylight Time on April 10, a mission time of 9 days, 1 hour, 32;15—a historic, international, inter-global, Moon mission SUCCESS!
Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches – Mon Apr 13: Apollo Asteroid 2026 FV6 (0.019 AU); Tue Apr 14: Aten Asteroid 2013 GM3 (0.001 AU); Sat Apr 18: Apollo Asteroid 2026 FJ6 (0.040 AU)
First Woman Lands on the Moon …
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