[Wednesday, October 1, 2008] A new NASA contest challenges college-level students to design tools or instrument packages that could be used on the next generation of human-driven moon rovers.

[Wednesday, October 1, 2008] The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for participation in a USRA-NASA sponsored Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Observation Campaign.

[Monday, October 6, 2008] NASA is in the conceptual phase of identifying key performance indicators for the successful design and production of the "Altair" (Lunar Lander) vehicle. Our goal is to meet NASA's Lunar Exploration requirements safely and at the lowest life cycle cost.

[Tuesday, October 7, 2008] This report examines a number of exploration campaigns that have taken place during the last 700 years, and considers them from a risk perspective.

[Monday, October 13, 2008] Astronomers are announcing today that the precise gravity field of the lunar far side and the global lunar topography map were obtained by KAGUYA spacecraft.

[Tuesday, October 14, 2008] The cool, rocky slopes of Mauna Kea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano, will serve as a stand-in for the moon as researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, NASA and other organizations test a robot designed for lunar prospecting.

[Friday, October 17, 2008] Nine teams with rocket-powered vehicles will compete for $2 million in NASA prize money during the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, Oct. 24-25, at Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico.

[Tuesday, October 21, 2008] Two NASA instruments to map the lunar surface will launch on India's maiden moon voyage. The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, is scheduled to launch its robotic Chandrayaan-1 on Oct. 22 from Sriharikota, India.

[Wednesday, October 22, 2008] This morning (October 22, 2008), the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C11, successfully launched the 1380 kg Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft into a transfer orbit.

[Wednesday, October 22, 2008] NASA and the Challenger Center for Space Education have partnered to engage students in ongoing activities for one of NASA's concepts for astronaut housing on the moon through a contest to name a habitat in Antarctica.

[Thursday, October 23, 2008] NASA is developing technologies that will allow lunar landers to automatically identify and navigate to the location of a safe landing site while detecting landing hazards during the final descent to the surface.

[Thursday, October 23, 2008] Media are invited to observe tests of NASA equipment and rover concepts that will demonstrate how astronauts might prospect for lunar resources and make their own oxygen for survival on the moon.

[Thursday, October 23, 2008] During this challenge, students will chart a course from the Big Island of Hawai'i to Rapa Nui by using ocean navigation skills. In Part II they will chart a course from NASA KSC to one of the lunar poles by using navigation skills appropriate for space.

[Thursday, October 23, 2008] NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has begun environmental testing in a thermal vacuum that simulates the harsh rigors of space.

[Saturday, October 25, 2008] Armadillo Aerospace team leader John Carmack wore a big smile yesterday as the team earned $350,000 in prize money for winning Level One of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

[Sunday, October 26, 2008] A collection of engineers, astronauts and geologists have spent the past week testing out the Small Pressurized Rover in the 11th annual Desert RATS - or Research and Technology Studies -- field tests.

[Monday, October 27, 2008] Armadillo's winning vehicle successfully demonstrated some of the technologies needed for a lunar lander capable of ferrying payloads or humans back and forth between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.

[Monday, October 27, 2008] USRA is proud to announce the participation of Dr. Paul Spudis, a noted US planetary geologist with the LPI, as Principal Investigator for the team that designed and built one of two US instruments flown on the Chandrayaan-1 Lunar mission.

[Tuesday, October 28, 2008] The Teide volcanic peak on the island of Tenerife acted as a mock-up of the Moon landscape last week, with eight European student teams tuning, testing and driving their lunar rovers for a robotics competition that took place last weekend.

[Thursday, October 30, 2008] Odyssey Moon Ventures LLC, a U.S. company developing commercial systems for lunar exploration, announced today that it has partnered with NASA for the development of a robotic lunar lander.