lunar

While Silicon Valley dreams of servers in orbit, Russia prepares a nuclear reactor on lunar soil

by

Until recently, the space race was about seeing who could get there first. Today, the question is different: who will be able to turn on the light on the Moon? While companies like Google or Nvidia imagine satellites loaded with computers for their Artificial Intelligence, Russia has hit the table with a much more earthly (or lunar) plan: installing a small nuclear power plant on the surface of our satellite. A reactor by 2036. The Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, has signed a state contract with the aerospace company NPO Lavochkin to develop a lunar nuclear power plant. According to Reutersthe deadline marked in the contract is 2036. However, the political times are much more aggressive: Yury Borisov, head of Roscosmos, has placed the real operational window between 2033 and 2035. Although official statements sometimes avoid the word “nuclear” directly, project participants dispel any doubts, the Kurchatov Institute (a leader in nuclear research in Russia) and Rosatom (the state atomic flagship company) are in charge. As the Interfax media points outthe objective is to power the infrastructure of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a joint project with China that seeks to move from “round trip” missions to a permanent human presence. But why what nuclear? A colony on the Moon faces nights that last 14 Earth days. During that time, the frigid temperatures and lack of light make the solar panels useless to keep astronauts alive or power life support systems. Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute, he explained in an interview with the Russian agency TASS that Russia must “run forward.” According to this medium, the country seeks to consolidate its leadership through the “Atomic Project 2.0”, which includes new generation reactors and closed cycle systems. It’s not just about science; Russia admits that partners like China and India have learned a lot from them and are now direct competitors. Eyes in the sky: preparing the ground. For the Russian reactor to reach the Moon, Moscow is already preparing the logistics. According to another TASS statementRussia plans to launch 52 satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome. Among them, the Aist-2T stands out, capable of creating 3D models of the lunar terrain and monitoring emergency situations. It is the necessary infrastructure so that the “lunar atom” does not suffer the same fate as the failed Luna-25 probe in 2023. The Moscow-Beijing axis: a long-range alliance. This deployment is not a solitary effort. As Interfax detailsRussia and China formalized their ambition in May 2024 with a memorandum of cooperation for the joint construction of this nuclear plant. They are not starting from scratch: both countries presented a roadmap in 2021 that includes five joint missions to deploy modules in lunar orbit and surface. While Russia brings its historical advantage in space nuclear facilities, China provides the scientific capacity and resources for the ILRS Station to be permanently inhabited from 2030. The board of the new Cold War. Washington has not stood idly by in the face of the Russian-Chinese alliance. NASA has received a clear directive from the current administration, in which they state that They need a reactor on the Moon by 2030. “We are in a race with China,” said Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation and who has led this directive. The background of this urgency is not only prestige, but the control of strategic resources. The Moon is the great deposit of Helium-3, an extremely rare isotope that is emerging as the “fuel of the future” for nuclear fusion. The White House’s fear is that if the alliance between Russia and China comes sooner, they will be able to declare “exclusion zones,” blocking access to this isotope and other essential metals for the technology industry. Faced with this threat, the US has increased the power of its nuclear project from the original 40 kW to a minimum power of 100 kW. Infrastructure over prestige. The space race of the 21st century has ceased to be a question of prestige and has become a question of infrastructure. While Big Tech tries to solve its energy limits with promises of servers in orbitRussia and China have opted for the pragmatism of the reactor on solid, but lunar, soil. Image| freepik Xataka | The race to bring data centers to space promises a lot. Physics says otherwise

There are so many trips planned to the Moon that the UN has created a “lunar circulation committee” to regulate traffic.

by

The Moon is coming into fashion after 50 years of calm. But this time it is not a race between two: it is a commercial race in which old and new space powers, as well as a multitude of private companies, participate. The lunar “jam.” The interest is so sudden that in the last two years there have been 12 attempted lunar missions. This “blitz” of moon landings, driven by public-private programs such as NASA’s CLPS, has proven to be a quick, cheap, but also a little chaotic to reach the Moon. Still, worrying about “traffic jams” on the Moon sounds absurd. Cislunar space (the region between the geostationary orbit of the Earth and the Moon) is gigantic: 2,000 times larger than that of Earth’s orbit. If there is so much room, where is the problem? The problem is that everyone wants the same place. In the same way that on Earth all cars use the roads, on the Moon missions tend to cluster in a very select set of stable orbits. The immensity of cislunar space is, therefore, deceptive, explain professors of International Affairs and Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in an article for The Conversation. To make matters worse. Most government sensors that track satellites in Earth orbit are not designed to detect and monitor objects this far away. The Moon’s own glare makes the task difficult. This uncertainty has a direct consequence: it forces operators to be excessively cautious. When in doubt about a possible collision, agencies prefer to waste fuel and carry out an evasion maneuver, which interrupts scientific missions and shortens the useful life of the ships. 50 satellites are enough for chaos. According to research published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rocketsonly 50 satellites in lunar orbit are enough for each of them to have to maneuver an average of four times a year in order to avoid a possible collision. 50 satellites may seem like a lot, but at the current rate of launches, we could reach that number in less than a decade. And it’s not theory. It’s already happening. The Indian orbiter Chandrayaan-2 had to maneuver three times between 2019 and 2023 to avoid dangerous approaches (one of them with NASA’s LRO probe). And this occurred when there were only six operational spacecraft orbiting the Moon. The UN wants to bring order. This is where international diplomacy comes in. The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the main global forum for space law, has taken action on the matter. In early 2025, COPUOS formally established a new working group: the Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation (ATLAC). The goal of this team is precisely to create a draft of space “traffic rules.” They have until 2027 to study recommendations and a possible international consultation mechanism. Image | POT In Xataka | How many times have we gone to the Moon and why have only 11 military aviators and one geologist set foot on it in all of history?

Australia has decided to make a contribution to the lunar race in the most Australian way possible: with a giant spider

by

The new lunar race does not consist only of returning to the moon, but to stay. And for that infrastructure is needed. NASA wants lunar concrete houses for 2040ESA has already found a method to pave roads from the regolitoand China trust that 3D impression accelerates your plans to create a large lunar base. Now an Australian company has put its own bet on the table, one that could not be more Australian: a Robot spider. A giant robot spider that prints houses. His name is Charlotte, and he is a hexapod robot (entomologists will forgive me) that displays his six legs to become a huge 3D printer capable of moving along the land as he built a house. Presented during the 76th International Congress of Astronautics in Sydney, this creation of Australian companies Crest Robotics and Earthbuilt Technology has been Designed for a double purpose: Solve the housing crisis on Earth and, incidentally, prepare to build the first bases on the moon, something that Australia could contribute as a partner of the Artemis program. Build at the speed of 100 masons. Although the most striking of Charlotte is the arthropod inspiration design, its true magic lies in the combination of advanced robotics with a very particular 3D printing system, which can have a key advantage on the moon. Instead of depending on massive porches, such as other 3D construction printers, Charlotte promises to place himself on the walls that he creates and walk with his six legs to move as he adds layers to the building. This gives it an agility and portability that traditional printers do not have. According to its creators, you can build A 200 square meter house in 24 hours, so it will work at the speed of 100 masons. On the moon the whole floor is concrete. On paper, Charlotte meets several of the requirements to manufacture on the moon: it is light, you can fold its legs to occupy much less space in a rocket, and is designed to collect the materials available locally. On Earth, it promises to manufacture houses with sand, earth or crushed brick. On the moon, the plan is to collect soil regolito, compress it in a flexible tank and use the compacted material to form the layers of walls with already tested 3D printing techniques. It is an industrial and automated version of the construction technique with sacks. The regolite, the fine and abrasive dust that covers the lunar surface, is both a problem and a solution. It was a nightmare for Apollo missions, adhering to costumes and equipment, but it is also The fundamental raw material For any lunar construction project. If one day there are people living on the moon, they may do so in houses built in the most Australian way: with a gigantic spider (forgiveness, hexapod) robot. Image | Crest Robotics In Xataka | Forget the “little step for man.” The new moon career is not for glory, it is for the control of its resources

It will be one of the longest lunar eclipses of the decade

by

The Romans said “Origo” to refer to the origin, so they used “orior” as a verb born. From there came “Ortus” for the birth of the sun, better known as dawn. “Ortho” in Spanish is defined as the exit of a star by the horizon. And this Sunday, With the lunar eclipsethe moon will have a beautiful ortho. A total moon eclipse. Every year there are at least two lunar eclipses, but they are not always total. This Sunday, September 7, will be one of the longest in the decade, with a totality of 82 minutes visible from most Asia. It can also be seen already started From most of Spainwith the moon very low on the horizon. But it will not be visible from America. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is aligned between the sun and the moon in full moon phase, and its shadow is projected on the lunar disc. The earth’s shadow has two zones: the gloom, which darkens the moon subtly, and the umbra, which blocks sunlight. In the case of a partial eclipse, the umbra looks like a bite, and in the case of a total eclipse, the full moon darkens. A blood moon. During the totality phase, The moon can become redwhat is known as blood moon. Although the umbra blocks the sunlight, the Earth’s atmosphere refracts solar light filtered towards the satellite. In this case, the blue wavelengths are dispersed by a physical phenomenon known as Rayleight dispersion, hence the red tones predominate. The blood moon this Sunday will reach its most intense point at 20:11. If you are in Spain, the moon will be totally eclipsed, reddish color. Even so, with a clear horizon, you can see the best part of the show, especially from the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean coast of the Peninsula. On the other hand, visibility will be low to the west, particularly in the Canary Islands and Western Galicia, where only the partial phase of the end of the eclipse can be seen. The full schedule of the eclipse. In the peninsular hour (UTC+2), the Moon will enter a gloom (slight darkening) on ​​Sunday at 17:28. The partial phase of the eclipse (the bite) will begin to be seen at 18:27, but only in the countries where the moon is already out. The totality phase (the moon is completely inside the Umbra) will begin at 19:31 and will end at 20:53. Then the partial phase will be repeated until 21:56 and the Penumbral until 22:55. What will be seen from Spain. The visible phases will depend on whether the moon is whether or not where you are. In Madrid, the Moon will leave at 20:35, so they can be seen about 18 minutes. In general, the moon will leave the horizon totally eclipsed and dyed red from most of the country, with the exception of western Galicia and Canary Islands, where only a partial eclipse will be seen. In Barcelona: 41 minutes of totality from 20:11 In Valencia: 32 minutes of totality from 20:20 In Seville: 10 minutes of totality from 20:42 In Zaragoza: 28 minutes of totality from 20:24 In Malaga: 17 minutes of totality from 20:35 In Murcia: 30 minutes of totality from 20:22 In Palma: 44 minutes of totality from 20:08 In Las Palmas: only partial from 20:15 (UTC+1) In Bilbao: 18 minutes of totality from 20:34 In Valladolid: 12 minutes of totality from 20:39 In Vigo: only partial from 20:56 In Gijón: 7 minutes of totality from 20:45 Where you have to look. Unlike a solar eclipse, seeing a lunar eclipse is totally safe with the naked eye and with prismatic. Since in Spain it coincides with the exit of the moon, it will be best to look for a place with the horizon is clear (a beach of the coast, a viewpoint, a roof …) and wait for the satellite to rise, already eclipsed and red, for the sky. Image | Liquidcrash (Flickr, CC by-SA 2.0) In Xataka | Total Eclipse of September 2025: When is it and how you can see it in Spain

What happened to lunar volcanoes

by

An asteroid impact on the Moon started a fragment of the satellite surface and threw it into space. After a trip of thousands of years, the meteorite fell in northwest Africa, where it was discovered in February 2023. After two years of studies, it has helped cover a hole of one billion years in the lunar geological history. Context. Apollo missions brought 382 kg of lunar rocks to Earth. The analysis of these rocks told us that the moon had had a violent volcanic past, but that its inner fire had turned off about 3,000 million years ago. A much more recent mission, Chang’e 5, brought younger basalts, “barely” 2,000 million years. This still leaves us a huge hole of almost one billion years of lunar history in which we do not know what happened. Did volcanism go out and reactivated? The answer came to us. And it has arrived, as so many times in science, by chance. A lunar rock found in the Norafricano desert in 2023 has turned out to be the piece that was missing in the puzzle. He NWA 16286 Meteorite Analysispresented at the Goldschmidt conference in Prague, suggests that lunar volcanism was a much more continuous process than we thought. The lunar meteorite number 31. The protagonist of this story is a piece of soil of the moon of 311 grams, one of the only 31 lunar basalt meteorites officially identified on our planet. It was not brought by any astronaut or any probe, but reached the earth by its own foot. An asteroid impact on the moon started it from the satellite surface and threw it into space. After a trip of thousands of years, he fell in northwest Africa, where he was discovered in February 2023. Studying the rocks that the moon sends us for free is an incredibly valuable way to explore its geology, because the rocks of the sampling return missions are limited to the immediate areas of the places chosen for the moon landing. Lunar meteorites can be expelled from anywhere from the moon surface. There is a lot of serendipia in this sample. The missing piece. But the true importance of NWA 16286 resides in his age. He Lead isotope analysis He has dated the rock in about 2,350 million years. This makes it the youngest lunar basaltic meteorite ever discovered, and places it within that mysterious hole of one billion years in lunar volcanic history. The samples of NASA and Luna’s Apollo missions of the Soviet Union are between 3,100 and 4,000 million years. Those of the Chinese Chang’e-6 mission (from the hidden face of the moon) They are about 2,830 million years. Chinese mission shows Chang’e-5 (from the visible face of the moon) are about 2,030 million years. NWA 16286 is in the middle. Volcanic activity did not stop. The characteristics of the meteorite suggest that Lunar volcanic activity continued Throughout that time: the moon was not geologically dead. It is a basalt rich in olivine with unusually high levels of potassium. In addition, its “fingerprint” lead isotopic pointed out that it was formed from a source in the lunar mantle with a very high proportion of uranium-plaomo. Potassium and uranium are radioactive elements, as is the thorium. Its disintegration along eons generates a constant amount of heat. The theory, now reinforced by this rock, is that lunar mantle bags enriched in these elements acted as a residual heat engine that maintained parts of the interior of the moon hot enough to produce magma and feed volcanoes much after what was thought. What part of the moon came from? NWA 16286 has a different lithology from any known meteorite. It is believed that it came from a lunar sea so far not sampled. Its texture suggests a two -stage cooling story: a slow, perhaps in a magma camera, followed by an eruption in a lava flow of several tens of meters thick. This rock not only resolves an old mystery, but also serves as a guide. Analyzing their trajectory and composition will help scientists identify the crater of origin on the moon, marking a priority point of interest for future sampling return missions. And so is how a rock found in the desert is telling us where we have to go the next time we visit the moon. Image | SM BELARDO et al. In Xataka | There is a silent career to get the moon waves: dozens of companies have claimed part of their spectrum

A controversial hippie community wanted a remote place in which to celebrate its lunar party. And Huesca has chosen

by

Abellada is A town of the municipal term of Sabiñánigo, in Huesca, which has just been swelling the growing list of ghost peoples of The emptied Spain. A quick look comes with the help of satellite photos of Google Maps to verify that today there are little more than a church and a handful of collapsed houseswith sunken roofs, naked beams and facades overcome by time and weeds. That has not prevented Abellada from being held today in the Aragonese press and nationaljust like did it in 2016. Then, like now, the person responsible is an organization that a priori has little to do with the Rural Oscense: the organization Rainbow communitybetter known by its original name in English, The Rainbow Family. What happened? The news He advanced it last week Diario del Alto Aragón: The rainbow community has chosen the ghost town of Abellada to celebrate one of its annual meetings, the Rainbow Gatheringswhich usually last a lunar cycle (more or less a month) and are organized with tents. In fact, The newspaper requiresthe town has already arrived in the town that will be in charge of setting up the “Seed Camp” and the Civil Guard Comandancia itself Recognize have proof of a “settlement of the rainbow community in the Guarguera area”. “Control of the people who go to the place,” they guarantee. But … who are they? The rainbow community is somewhat a “non -organization of non -members”, as defined by the unofficial website WELCOME HOME! “We have no leaders or organization. To be sincere, the rainbow family means different things for each person.” Hence it is not easy to define it. Broadly speaking, the group was founded in the 1970s, in the US, with a clear hippie inspiration and starting from a philosophy of nonviolence, egalitarianism, absence of hierarchies and respect for the environment. In their meetings they seek to share experiences of community coexistence outside the cities. In fact The collective insists in which it is formed by “people who love the mother earth” and want to “live in harmony with nature.” And what do they do? That link explains that the Rainbow Gatherings are held in remote places, in the middle of nature. In fact Diario del Alto Aragón assures That people who are arriving in the region travel aboard buses or doing Caketop to get as much as possible to Abellada. The rest of the road to the camp covers it on foot, guiding themselves with clues like fabrics tied to trees. Other of its most striking peculiarities is that some members (not all) They are nudists. In their meetings a basically vegan diet is practiced, they are not allowed Neither alcohol nor drugs and can deny the use of electrical devices or cameras. Meetings serve to meditate, play music or do yoga. Why are they news? That rainbow community decides to settle temporarily in the Rural of Huesca is striking in itself, but so far the news has been involved in controversy rather than by the meeting itself (or its content) by how it is organizing. Although at the beginning of May to subdelegation of the Government I recognized Being that “a group of people” planned to settle temporarily in Alto Gállego, the newspaper claimed last week that the rainbow community seems not to have requested permission. “In the region we have no request for authorization,” assured The entity. In An article Published today, eldiario.es affects that same idea: the settlement lacks official permits, which is especially relevant if it is taken into account where it is located: in the peripheral area of ​​protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the Natural Park of the Sierra and Los Canons de Guara. In fact, the authorities of Alto Gállego have confirmed to the newspaper that in the entity there is still no record of any request for authorization. At the moment, yes, the sub -delegation confirms that the Civil Guard is “monitoring the situation”, especially to monitor the environmental regulations. And to date, he maintains, “no incident has occurred.” Is it the first time? No. Throughout the last years the rainbow community has already met in other parts of Spain, such as La Rioja, The Sierra de Grazalema either Cerulledain León. In fact, this is not the first time that its members visit Abellada. They already did during the summer 2016 (between July and August), when a hundred and a half people gathered in the abandoned village. The newspaper Herald dedicated them at the time A chronicle in which he explained that the camp had also mounted illegally and began to deploy around a bonfire in the Sierra de Guara Park. “Spanish anti -fire regulations do not allow fire. However, we believe that the natural environment is our home and the system is removing it,” reasoned Then one of the members of the community in one of his forums. “We don’t know who they are”. The memory of that camp has served to increase the controversy now. In 2016 the camp was accompanied by cars and vans that ended parked In the accesses to the villages of the Guarguera and complicating the passage through some roads, for the anger of the neighbors. “It is not just a matter of space, we do not know who they are or what impact they can have in the area,” warn now A resident to eldiario.es. Images | Wikipedia, Guano (Flickr) and Satemkemet (Flickr) In Xataka | Remote town of Segovia is sold for 180,000 euros. Just for what it shows on Google Maps is already worth it

The lunar map of Johannes Hevelius, the first satellite cartography published in 1647

by

More and more countries achieve what until not too many decades seemed impossible: placing a satellite in The moon. To the difficult mission of sending a probe to hundreds of thousands of kilometers away we can add the double challenge of doing it in your hidden face, unlocked by China Some years ago. One side of the moon in permanent state of escapism to the naked eye. Unlike the hidden face, the one that we can always observe from our homes has been a reason for study and analysis for endless astronomers from several centuries ago. And in such special ephemeris it is worth remembering the first time in which human knowledge drew the known surface of the moon. A Polish did it from the roof of his house, and it took five years to complete the feat. We talked about Johannes Hevelius, Latinized form of Jan Heweliusz. Born in the current Gdańsk, once Danzig, Hevelius would publish in 1647 the first great Atlas of the Moon. Literally. His Selenographia, Sive Lunae Descriptionone of the most celebrated scientific books of the seventeenth century, compiled a good handful of detailed maps that disseminated among popular culture what other scientists and astronomers They suspected long ago. Color version Heweliusz undertook his work, in part, to complete the unfinished and still imperfect designs by Galileo at the beginning of the century. Son of a rich merchant Cervecer, Heweliusz had to attend family businesses first before devoting himself fully to astronomy. It was his unusual social position and his great wealth that allowed him Build telescopes precise and long -range that would install on the contiguous roofs of their homes in Gdańsk. Long night looking at the sky Of methodical procedure, Heweliusz combined in its publication a technical knowledge very high with a Artistic sense More than respectable. Our man inspected the lunar surface every night, Drawing by hand The apprehended reliefs and moving them to a copper plate later. The process of observation, drawing and printing would have almost a five years before being able to finish such a titanic task. With annotations. The result of his work is admirable today. Hevelius’s moon is a hand -drawn moon with great aesthetic sense and, at the same time, enormous astronomical value. On your maps, Heweliusz He proceeded to baptize The topographic characteristics of the satellite from the geographical accidents of the Earth. The Polish interpreted bays, deserts and meanders where there were only craters. Years later, Toponymic work of Giambattista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi four years later, in 1615, the baptisms of Hevelius would expire. His maps, however, did survive, and served as a basis for many others elaborated by Other astronomers Europeans in later decades (such as Joanne Zahn in 1696 or Rost in 1723). Of course, the publication had A great tour and caused the usual scandal in the ecclesiastical estate. Hevelius, Polish and therefore Catholic, followed the teachings of another famous compatriot, Copernicus, and believed that the earth Orbitaba Around the sun. Another map included by Hevelius. At that time the representatives of God on earth were not in a position to accept the truth (a patent thing in their recent judgment to Galileo). So when Niccolo Zucchi, an Italian astronomer well related to the Vatican, gave Pope Innocent X a copy of the Selenographia from Hevelius his holiness He replied: “It would be a book without any comparison, of not having been written by a heretic.” Since the Church would lose that game, the Selenographia Heweliusz would mark a before and after in our knowledge of the moon. The astronomer would advance other technical aspects of the telescope and, in addition, observe To other planets of the solar system (such as Jupiter or Saturn) to those who would baptize as “fixed stars.” Despite his privileged vision to the moon, he won the planets cataloging. The astronomer would also leave sketches of his “fixed stars.” Be that as it may, Hevelius’s work marked the imagination of Europeans to the moon during the coming centuries. Already in the 19th century and in the twentieth century the new technical advances would take us from the first high definition images of the lunar surface to the moon landing of 1969. Of course, Hevelius was far from the first occasion in The one we saw The hidden face: it was in 1959 thanks to a satellite Soviet. Today we have closed a circle initiated largely by pioneers like Heweliusz, the astronomer enriched by beer. In Xataka | The land has moons that we do not know: exploring them is key to revealing the secrets of our solar system

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.