June 27th, 2017
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Now in Sol 1739, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover presses onward to Vera Rubin Ridge reports Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California. This past weekend, Curiosity continued to journey east along the contact between the lower portion of Vera Rubin Ridge and the Murray formation with a drive that was a little […]
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China is readying the next launch of its Long March-5 booster, aiming for a liftoff in early July. This is the second launch of the powerful booster – and is also the rocket required for China’s Moon return sample mission slated for late November of this year. The Long March-5 is also essential to lift […]
Team Vandenberg in California is scheduled to launch the Iridium NEXT satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 today, Sunday, June 25, at 1:25 p.m. PDT. A backup launch opportunity opens at 1:19 p.m. PDT, or 20:19 UTC, on Monday, June 26. Following stage separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is busy carrying out Sol 1736 duties. Following a drive of a little over 54 feet (16.6 meters), “Curiosity has presented us with another beautiful workspace,” report Michael Battalio, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University in College Station and Mark Salvatore, a planetary Geologist from the University of Michigan […]
There’s a cry of help from and for the Red Planet, a plea for a Next Mars Orbiter – or NeMO for short. This spacecraft could be a super-slick communications relay and also snoop out and chart Martian resources for future use by human expeditionary crews. But all that said, at what point does […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is performing Sol 1734 duties and “gazing longingly towards Vera Rubin Ridge,” reports Mark Salvatore, a planetary geologist and a Curiosity participating scientist and faculty member at Northern Arizona University. “Curiosity continues to drive to the east-northeast around two small patches of dunes that are positioned just north of Vera Rubin […]
The world’s first laser communication link…from the Moon! A laser communications terminal on a private firm’s upcoming mission to the Moon has been announced during this week’s Paris Air Show. Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and ATLAS Space Operations Inc. of Traverse City, Michigan are now linked at the laser – offering up to one gigabit […]
China’s Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft has begun independent operation Wednesday, backing away from theTiangong-2 space lab. Ground controllers initiated a separation of Tianzhou-1 from the space lab. The cargo ship stopped at a distance of nearly 400 feet (120 meters) in front of the Tiangong-2. The cargo spacecraft will continue space science experiments and applications. Tianzhou-1 […]
Forget looking but don’t touch! The concept is called HydroLander – an interplanetary long duration exploration vehicle focused on a human, on-the-spot search for life on the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. According to the principal architects of the idea — Ostap Rudakevych and Masayuki Sono at the Clouds Architecture Office in New […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is performing science duties, now in Sol 1732 operations. The robot continues to wheel towards Vera Rubin Ridge, reports Mark Salvatore, a planetary geologist and a Curiosity participating scientist and faculty member at Northern Arizona University. “Curiosity continues to make progress along its planned ascent route up Mt. Sharp, and is […]
