NASA is finally set to launch its'CAPSTONE' spacecraft mission on Tuesday morning, marking an important early stage in its Artemis programme. The spacecraft, which is about the size of a microwave oven and weighs just 55 pounds, will blast off from Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand at 5:55 EDT (10:55 BST). Over six months, it will test the stability of a halo-shaped orbit around the moon before this orbit is used by Lunar Gateway, NASA's planned lunar outpost. Lunar Gateway will serve as a'staging area' for landing humans on the moon for the first time in 50 years and potentially as a jumping-off point for missions to Mars. The public can watch today's CAPSTONE launch from New Zealand on NASA Live.

NASA is set to launch its'CAPSTONE' spacecraft mission later this month to orbit around the moon, in preparation for a new lunar space station. The craft, which is around the size of a microwave oven and weighs just 55 pounds, will blast off from the Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand some time between June 13-22. It will test the stability of a halo-shaped orbit around the moon before this is used by Lunar Gateway, NASA's planned lunar outpost. Lunar Gateway will one day serve as a'staging area' for landing humans on the moon and potentially as a jumping point for missions to Mars. Pictured is an artist's impression of CAPSTONE in orbit around the moon with the Earth in the background.

Rocket Lab has made a remarkable recovery after losing a payload during a mission failure on July 4 – just eight weeks later, the company has set a launch window for its next dedicated commercial mission that spans 12 days beginning August 27 at 3:05 PM local New Zealand time. At the end of July, Rocket Lab revealed that it had received crucial FAA clearance to resume its launch activities, following an internal investigation that lasted a month and identified the root cause – a component that had performed fine previously, but that somehow hadn't undergone rigorous and thorough testing. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck noted that they'd be able to mitigate the problem with a relatively simple change to their production process, and even remedy the component on existing, already-produced Electron launch vehicles. Rocket Lab's quick turnaround on this resolution and return to active launch status also has to do with the nature of the problem – the error actually resulted in an early, but safe shutdown of the Electron's engines, which meant that it didn't reach its target orbit. The rocket didn't explode, however, or cause any kind of safety risk.

A permanent robotic mining outpost on the moon could be on the cards as early as 2020. The Florida-based company Moon Express has raised over $45 million in funding for three expeditions that will culminate in a mission to mine moon rocks and return them to Earth. Because the laws governing usage of resources in space are vague, a profit-driven mission of this kind could cause international controversy. "It's something that is being discussed internationally now, but there is no agreed-upon answer, and I'm not sure there's going to be," says Henry Hertzfeld at the George Washington University Space Policy Institute in Washington, DC. Moon Express was founded in 2010 with the aim of winning the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a $20 million award for the first privately funded vehicle to land on the moon.

The first colony on the moon might be full of robots instead of people, if a plan from the private space company Moon Express works out. It is aiming to build an unmanned lunar outpost, supported by a fleet of spacecraft explorers that would launch from low Earth orbit and deliver supplies to and land on the moon, according to The Verge. The MX explorer fleet would rely on the Electron rocket that the space company Rocket Lab has designed to launch out of New Zealand in order to get into space before heading to the moon. The lunar station, at the moon's south pole, could come as soon as 2020. The plan is to have robots staying around the clock on the moon to mine it for resources like minerals and then sell them, The Verge explains.

Spaceflight company Moon Express has released its plans to mine the moon with robots and it aims to get started by 2020. The company was founded in 2010 with the aim of winning the Google Lunar Xprize -- a competition to get privately funded spacecraft on the moon. And while it still has its sights on that prize, Moon Express has planned beyond that and has laid out a strategy for establishing its lunar outpost in just a few years. The company's first moon mission, dubbed Lunar Scout, will use Rocket Lab's Electron rocket to send its MX-1E robotic explorer to land on and deliver several payloads -- including the International Lunar Observatory -- to the moon. If completed by the end of this year and before the four other finalists for the Lunar Xprize, this mission could win Moon Express the competition's $20 million prize.

A Florida-based company has won U.S. government permission to send a robotic lander to the moon next year. The move is the first time the United States has cleared a private space mission to fly beyond Earth's orbit. The Federal Aviation Administration's unprecedented go-ahead for the Moon Express mission also sets a legal and regulatory framework for a host of other commercial expeditions to the moon, asteroids and Mars. The Florida-based company Moon Express, which is partnering with Nasa, hopes to send scientific payloads to the Moon, in the hopes to eventually provide commercial services. Artist's impression of Moon Express lander on surface of the moon pictured The moon is a'treasure chest' of lucrative materials.