October 2018 was a strange month in space news. At one point all of our visual and X-ray observation tools within our solar system were down — Kepler, Chandra, Hubble — including the Mars rovers Curiosity and Opportunity.

This was all after Elon Musk announced a plan to explore the dark side of the Moon and establish "Moonbase Alpha". The next day the SEC began an attempt to remove him from his company, and during that time NASA announced their plan to go to the dark side of the Moon and establish a base. Here is a timeline with post dates and references.

At a glance

Each asset, the date it went dark, and the stated cause:

• Opportunity — 6/10 (RIP): no power, sandstorm
• Curiosity — 9/15 (RIP): glitch, memory issues
• Elon Musk — 9/26 – 9/27: ambitions, too based
• Kepler — 10/1 (RIP): sleep mode, fuel conservation
• Hubble — safe mode, gyroscope failure
• Chandra — 10/10 – 10/21: safe mode, gyroscope failure
• ISS supply shuttle — 10/11 – 12/3: rocket failure

Timeline

Every event in post-date order. Dates are 2018, as posted on the original page.

Moonbase Alpha, the SEC and NASA — the author's take

The collage that headed the original page opens with the author's own timeline of 9/26 – 9/27, quoted here as written:

(9/26) GUBMENT: Hes going to do what?? explore the dark side of the moon??? Moon base alpha????

(9/27) SEC: well well well Mr. Musk!

(9/27 & 2 seconds) NASA: guys! we were just messing with you for the past 50 years. we've totes been planning a new moon mission and a mission to mars THIS WHOLE TIME! we've got a roadmad and everything! oooh! also, we're going to build anoth- eh, our first moon base!

ME: ...!@#$%...

Beneath it sit screenshots of the three headlines that make the point:

• CNBC — "SEC charges Tesla CEO Elon Musk with fraud" (Sara Salinas), with the complaint's bullet points and the "Funding secured" line
• "NASA Sets New Roadmap for Moon Base, Crewed Missions to Mars" — September 27, 2018
• "Elon Musk's SpaceX claims it will explore Moon with lunar rovers" — Lucas Nolan, 26 Sep 2018

Discussion

The month was collected in one thread: OCTOBER 2018: The Month Space Was Blacked Out from r/conspiracy.

References

1. NASA's Opportunity Rover Still Silent on Mars — Scientific American
2. Curiosity Mars Rover Computer Glitch — Space.com
3. There May Still Be Hope for NASA's Sleeping Opportunity — Gizmodo
4. NASA Will Continue to Try Contacting Stalled Mars Rover Opportunity — ScoopSeek
5. Kepler Space Telescope Placed in Sleep Mode — NASA Exoplanets
6. News Release 2018-50 — HubbleSite
7. Update on the Hubble Space Telescope Safe Mode — NASA Goddard
8. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Goes Offline Just a Week After Hubble — ExtremeTech
9. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Resumes Science Operations — Space.com
10. Soyuz Rocket Accident: ISS, Roscosmos and NASA — National Geographic
11. NASA and Roscosmos Soyuz-FG Rocket Launch to the International Space Station — The Verge
12. OCTOBER 2018: The Month Space Was Blacked Out — r/conspiracy (via r/conspiracy)

Related: UFO Videos · Admiral Wilson's Leaked Document · The Fallacy of Space Exploration · Solaren