[ILEWG Press Release - 07.11.2008]
What are the lunar highlights of the year? The winners of "International Lunar Exploration Awards 2008" have just been announced by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) at a Lunar Explorers Conference in Cape Canaveral.

The ILEWG Awards celebrate the top lunar achievements in science, technology, international cooperation, community service, commerce and outreach, says Bernard Foing, ILEWG Executive Director.

[ISRO Press Release - 08.11.2008]
Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, entered lunar orbit today (November 8, 2008). This is the first time that an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth’s gravitational field and reached the moon. This historic event occurred following the firing of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s liquid engine at 16:51 IST for a duration of 817 seconds. The highly complex ‘lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre’ was performed from Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bangalore.

Almost 40 years after NASA executed the bold decision to send the first human flight of the gigantic Saturn V rocket to the moon, the crew of Apollo 8 will reunite as part of a special public program produced in cooperation with the Newseum in Washington.

The program features Apollo 8 crew members Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders. It will be broadcast live from the Newseum on NASA Television and www.nasa.gov on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 1:30 p.m.

[ISRO Press Release - 04.11.2008]
The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully carried out today (November 4, 2008) morning at 04:56 am IST. During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about two and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of about 380,000 km.

[Lunex Press Release - 04.11.2008]
The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) received the Young Lunar Explorers Award at the LEAG-ICEUM10-SRR conference, October 30th 2008. GLXP was selected as the winner of the award by the Lunar Explorers Society.

The award was given to the GLXP because of the wide reaching effect the GLXP has had on promoting lunar exploration among young people around the world. Several GLXP teams are run by students or have strong student participation, and the general outreach caused by the announcement of the prize has ignited a world wide desire among young people to be a part of the return to the Moon.

[ESA Press Release - 04.11.2008]
A robot rover designed by a Bremen university team has won an ESA contest to retrieve soil samples from a lunar-style terrestrial crater. Eight student teams fielded rovers during the event, their progress monitored by an advanced 3-D viewer already flight-tested in space and planned for eventual deployment on the Moon.

Craters surrounding the Moon's poles are a top 21st Century science target. Lunar researchers believe these craters may be 'cold traps', preserving ancient water ice deposits. Such ice would not only be an invaluable time capsule, it would also support manned lunar settlements. But the only way to verify the ice is there is to go fetch it, which is where rovers come in.

[ILEWG Press Release - 04.11.2008]
The "Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008" was discussed and approved by ILEWG-LEAG-SRR conference participants on the last day (31 October) of a very successful and interactive lunar conference.

Approximately 200 International Lunar Explorers gathered at the 10th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilization of the Moon (ICEUM10) co-sponsored by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), Space Resources Roundtable (SRR) and the Lunar and Planetary Institute, from 27 to 31 October, at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US. The conference engaged scientists, engineers, industry and organizations in the review of recent activities and the coordinated preparation of the next steps on the Moon.

[ISRO Press Release - 31.10.2008]
The Terrain Mapping camera (TMC) on board Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully operated on October 29, 2008 through a series of commands issued from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore. Analysis of the first imagery received by the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu and later processed by Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) confirms excellent performance of the camera.The first imagery (image 1) taken at 8:00 am IST from a height of 9,000 km shows the Northern coast of Australia while the other (image 2) taken at 12:30 pm from a height of 70,000 km shows Australia’s Southern Coast.

[Odyssey Moon Press Release - 31.10.2008]

[NASA Press Release - 31.10.2008]
NASA Ames Research Center is collaborating with a commercial partner to develop a lunar lander for future low-cost missions to the moon.