The United States is pushing ahead in the new space race, with Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) given just 13 months to deliver a
powerful telescope destined for lunar orbit. The mission, set to launch in
2027 aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Elytra Dark spacecraft, will scout
future moon landing sites, map mineral resources, and eventually watch
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#^The US Wants to Build a Moon Telescope in Just 13 Months to Outpace China and IndiaThe United States is pushing ahead in the new space race, with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) given just 13 months to deliver a powerful telescope destined for lunar orbit. The mission, set to launch in 2027 aboard
Firefly Aerospace’s Elytra Dark spacecraft, will scout future moon landing sites, map mineral resources, and eventually watch for deep-space threats to Earth.
Only 13 Months to Put Eyes on the Moon
The “monolithic telescope” at the heart of the project uses LLNL’s patented single-glass design, fusing lens and mirrors into one piece to avoid the calibration headaches that have plagued space telescopes in the past. At 20 kilograms and with a 10-inch diameter lens, it’s one of the largest LLNL has ever built — nearly as powerful as some of the most capable observatories on Earth. Two identical telescopes and an electronics module powered by an NVIDIA processor will be delivered under the contract.
“This is a very aggressive schedule,” said Ben Bahney, LLNL’s program lead. “We can move fast because the hard engineering is done at the manufacturing point of the glass.”
An artist’s interpretation of Firefly Aerospace’s Elytra spacecraft with the Ocula imaging service on display. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Firefly CEO Jason Kim says the mission will offer one of the first commercial lunar imaging services, available for both defense and private customers. The project aligns with
NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term base on the Moon as a springboard to Mars. Artemis II, the first crewed flight, is planned for April 2026, followed by a lunar South Pole landing in mid-2027.
The push comes as competition heats up. China aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030, and India recently achieved a historic South Pole landing with
Chandrayaan-3. The Department of Defense has even given LLNL’s telescope effort a special designation — the
Sine qua non Project — meaning “absolutely necessary.”
Bahney says the challenge isn’t just the clock: “The thermal environment in lunar orbit is nasty, the radiation environment is pretty bad. Getting to the Moon is hard.” But with the global space economy projected to triple to $1.8 trillion by 2035, the race to put eyes in lunar orbit has never been more urgent.
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The US Wants to Build a Moon Telescope in Just 13 Months to Outpace China and India appeared first on
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