September 22nd, 2018
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It is the world’s first human-made object to explore movement on an asteroid’s surface. That’s the word from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists. On September 21, the small compact MINERVA-II1 rovers separated from JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft. In good condition The MINERVA-II1 consists of two rovers, Rover-1A and Rover-1B. Ground controllers have confirmed both […]
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A message from #dearMoon Project Host Curator, Yusaku Maezawa: I choose to go to the Moon, with artists. If Pablo Picasso had been able to see the moon up-close, what kind of paintings would he have drawn? If John Lennon could have seen the curvature of the Earth, what kind of songs would he have […]
High-performance textiles and the flexible nature of origami are transforming architecture plans for smart human habitats and research stations on the Moon and Mars. MoonMars is a collaboration between the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), ESA-ESTEC, research institutions and textile architect studio Samira Boon. Digital weaving The MoonMars team has incorporated origami structure into […]
China’s Tiangong-2 space laboratory continues to circle the Earth in uncrewed mode. It was launched back in September 2016. The China Manned Space Agency recently noted that the spacecraft remains in orbit and is still “unswervingly carrying out its missions.” Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong entered the space lab in October 2016 after […]
The U.S. National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering, and Medicine via an ad hoc committee is wrapping up a review and assessment of recent research on whether martian life might exist on the surfaces of the martian moons, Phobos and Deimos. These two moons may have been ejected from the surface of Mars following a […]
A concept for space debris reduction has successfully been tested – in space! RemoveDEBRIS, led by the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) at the University of Surrey, was launched into orbit in June from the International Space Station (ISS). The RemoveDEBRIS experiment will demonstrate a range of innovative technologies to clean up space debris. Net, harpoon, […]
A candy-pink lagoon here on Earth has implications for the search for life on Mars. A microorganism has been discovered that provides new evidence for how life could survive on a “high-salt” diet on Mars and perhaps beneath Europa’s icy façade. Dunaliella salina EP-1 is one of the most salt-tolerant extremophiles that has been found. […]
Issues have cropped up with NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover – something akin to robotic Alzheimer’s disease. “Over the past few days, engineers here at JPL have been working to address an issue on Curiosity that is preventing it from sending much of the science and engineering data stored in its memory,” reports Ashwin Vasavada, the […]
China is shaping a deep space exploration plan, including launch of two Mars missions, one in 2020 and a return sample mission in 2028. According to the China News Service, the country will launch its first Mars probe in 2020. After ten months of flight, the probe will orbit, land and deposit a rover […]
By tapping robotic and sensor technologies, a small free-flying spacecraft is being demonstrated to autonomously investigate lava tubes on the Moon. Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is partnering with scientists from the RIS4E node of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), led by Stony Brook University. High-priority targets Lunar lava tubes […]
