Blue Origin: NS-36 Launch and Lunar Resource Mapping

Blue Origin is targeting October 8 for NS-36, the 15th crewed and 36th overall New Shepard mission from Launch Site One.
The suborbital launch will carry six passengers — including entrepreneurs, photographers and one anonymous passenger — on a brief ascent to the internationally recognized boundary of space, offering minutes of microgravity before capsule descent and runway recovery.
Separately, Blue Origin has partnered with Luxembourg and its national space agency on Project Oasis, a multi‑phase effort to map and characterize lunar resources. The program will combine orbital remote sensing with surface prospecting and plans for in‑situ resource utilization (ISRU) demonstrations.
Project goals include producing high‑resolution maps of water ice, Helium‑3, radionuclides, rare‑earth elements and precious metals to guide future exploration and extraction efforts. Data from orbital surveys will prioritize ground assessments, while later phases aim to test techniques for harvesting and using materials on the Moon.
Taken together, the near-term crewed suborbital flight and the longer-term lunar reconnaissance initiative illustrate parallel commercial tracks: expanding human access to suborbital space and building the geological knowledge base needed for sustainable lunar operations and resource-driven missions.