"What did four astronauts see, notice, and document as they traveled around the Moon during NASA's Artemis II mission?" asks a new NASA web page, offering some fascinating pictures and video:
Through photographs, spoken observations, drawings, and annotations, the Artemis II crew created a unique scientific record — one that is now available to the science community and the public for further study... As part of the mission science plan, lunar scientists asked the Artemis II crew to watch for tiny flashes sparked by rocky fragments hitting the Moon. Even so, some scientists were astonished when astronauts reported seeing five extremely faint "pinprick" bursts of light from 46,000 miles away. After ruling out other sources — cosmic rays or reflections from the spacecraft — the science team confirmed the sightings... The impact flash observations happened during a planned loss of communications while the Artemis II crew was on the far side of the Moon... Apollo astronauts saw similar flashes from lunar orbit, but the Artemis crew likely caught the faintest ever seen with the unaided eye.
From the brightness of the flashes, scientists estimated that incoming rocks were each no more than a couple of inches wide. Despite their size, they were traveling thousands of miles per hour, producing just enough light upon impact to be visible. The nearly hour-long total solar eclipse that the crew experienced while passing by the Moon's far side created ideal dark conditions for spotting such subtle bursts. With no atmosphere to slow or burn up incoming debris, projectiles slam freely into the lunar surface. The crew's direct observations of this process on the Moon's far side provided a rare dataset that will help us understand how often these small impacts occur, which is essential for assessing long-term risks to future lunar habitats and infrastructure...
The crew reported seeing subtle hues of gray, black, brown, tan, white, green, and blue across the Moon's surface. This muted rainbow offers clues to the rocks and minerals that make up different lunar regions, helping scientists piece together how the Moon — and, by extension, Earth — evolved over time.
"Amazing news," Mission Control responded when they heard about the flashes. Space.com reports that when a Mission Control operator looked over at the Science Evaluation Room, "they were jumping up and down, literally."
NASA blogged this week that more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II lunar science data — some previously unreleased — "have been uploaded to NASA's Planetary Data System, the public archive for NASA's planetary missions."
This data release includes more than 11,000 full-resolution images and video of the Moon from the crew's handheld cameras and the Orion spacecraft's cameras, 8.5 hours of audio recordings of the crew's scientific observations of the lunar surface, and crew-annotated images... Along with this data, NASA has released the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report, and the Artemis II Lunar Science Data User Guide.
MIT computer scientist led development of software for moon mission and earned Presidential Medal of Freedom
Margaret Hamilton, the computer pioneer whose software powered the first moon landing, has died, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on Wednesday. She was 90.
In an era before titles such as software engineer and computer scientist became mainstream, Hamilton, who died on 30 September, learned to program under the tutelage of a renowned MIT meteorologist.
A treaty from the 1960s declared that nobody can own outer space. Half a century later, billionaires and superpowers see fortunes to be made nonetheless.
The United States wants a reactor on the moon by 2030. A Russian-Chinese alliance is working on one for 2036. Some leading scientists say the danger is great.
The moon and Earth were aligned in the same frame, each partly illuminated by the sun, as seen from behind the moon during the Artemis II flight in April.
BlueMoon, a shared Chrome and Windows exploit kit, shows why “patch later” is becoming a dangerous gamble.
Security updates are easy to put off. The browser still opens, Windows still works, and choosing to relaunch your browser or restart your computer later can feel harmless.
But a newly documented exploit kit called “BlueMoon” shows how quickly patching delays can become dangerous. Proofpoint Researchers found four espionage groups using the same exploit chain against Chrome browsers running on Windows within days of one another.
The campaign is a timely reminder that once a security flaw, or even its fix, becomes public, attackers may move faster than many users expect.
The attacks began with phishing emails. A victim who clicked a malicious link could be sent to a web page designed to exploit two vulnerabilities in Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine, followed by a Windows vulnerability to break out of the browser’s protections and gain higher privileges on the computer.
The Chrome vulnerabilities used by BlueMoon were patched in the Stable channel on September 3 and September 8, 2026. The first was already actively exploited when Google released its update. Microsoft addressed the Windows vulnerability in its September Patch Tuesday updates, by which point it was also being exploited.
The notable part is not just that BlueMoon exploited the flaws, but how quickly the capability appears to have spread. Publicly visible upstream fixes can give attackers clues before downstream browser updates reach users, allowing a weaponized chain to be developed and adopted by multiple groups very quickly.
Does that mean that patches can no longer be tested before they are released to the public? No, but we may need to rethink how they are tested and deployed, because it appears some cybercriminals are effectively beta-testing the patches themselves.
The researchers also found clues, but no conclusive evidence, that the exploit kit was developed with AI assistance. The broader concern is credible: AI tools can help attackers interpret source-code changes, write and modify code, document test results, and learn from failed attempts.
In practical terms, the gap between “a flaw is fixed upstream” and “most people are protected” may be increasingly valuable to attackers. We should try to minimize that gap.
How to stay safe
Not every security update needs to be installed the moment it appears. In organizations especially, updates may need testing, staged deployment, and contingency plans. But vulnerabilities known to be actively exploited deserve greater priority. That is precisely why CISA’s KEV catalog is so important: It helps organizations identify the vulnerabilities they should address first.
For home users:
Install browser and operating-system updates promptly. Use the few minutes they take to grab a drink rather than repeatedly postponing them.
Don’t click links in unsolicited emails.
Use up-to-date, real-time anti-malware protection to help catch the malware that exploit kits attempt to deliver.
Stop threats before they can do any harm.
Malwarebytes Browser Guard blocks phishing pages and malicious sites automatically. Free, one click to install. Add it to your browser →
Researchers want to explore the idea that microscopic particles shed by alien civilizations have accumulated on the lunar surface, making it an archive of extraterrestrial technology.
Harrison H. Schmitt, an Apollo 17 astronaut, on his way to take samples on the lunar surface in 1972. Scientists propose sending a lunar mission to sift through about a cubic meter of soil to screen for materials.
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