January 20th, 2020
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Those purported eye-catching and sky-cruising unidentified flying objects over the decades have captured the public’s attention. As exoplanet detection is on the rise, why not consider that star-hopping visitors from afar might be buzzing through our friendly skies by taking an interstellar off-ramp to Earth? On the other hand, could those piloting UFOs be us […]
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China’s Chang’e-4 lander and rover have resumed work for the 14th lunar day on the farside of the Moon after “sleeping” during the extremely cold night, reports the Xinhua news service. Both the lander and the rover are in normal working order, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National […]
China’s Long March-5 Y4 rocket completed a 100-second test for its high thrust hydrogen oxygen engine on Sunday afternoon in Beijing. “The experiment went on smoothly. In the next few days we will have thorough analysis of data and careful examination of the product,” said Wang Weibin, Long March-5 deputy chief designer. “If everything is […]
A plan released Friday in Beijing by the Space Department of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) underscores the country’s Moon and Mars plans for 2020. China’s current lunar program is divided into three phases: orbiting, landing, and returning, and the first two phases have been accomplished. China is drawing up a plan […]
A prototype oxygen plant for the Moon has been set up in the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory of the European Space Research and Technology Center, ESTEC, based in Noordwijk in the Netherlands. “Being able to acquire oxygen from resources found on the Moon would obviously be hugely useful for future lunar settlers, both […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2648 duties. Recent imagery by the robot includes photos of a strange trough while descending from Western Butte. Curiosity drove downhill and parked at the top of the trough, which has been named “Balgy.” From the ground, Balgy looks like a shallow ditch filled with dark sand. […]
Development of the world’s first kinetic launch system by SpinLaunch has received new investment. The launch system utilizes a large mass accelerator to provide on demand launches of small satellites in virtually any weather at an order of magnitude lower cost and higher frequency than any existing or proposed launch system, according to the group […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2645 duties. “While descending from Western Butte, Curiosity has stopped to investigate a strange trough along the way,” reports Melissa Rice, a planetary geologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. “In the images from orbit, it looks like someone drew a thick straight line with a […]
The use of lava tubes on Mars as emergency shelters and storage has been advanced by researchers at the Antarctic Institute of Canada. Lava tubes are formed from fast moving lava which later cools and forms roomy caves that might serve various functions for future human expeditions to the Red Planet. Svetozar Zirnov, Daniel Polo, […]
Later this year, China is slated to attempt the first Moon-sample return to Earth mission in over four decades. The candidate landing region for China’s Chang’e‐5 lunar sample return mission is the Rümker region, located in the northern Oceanus Procellarum. The area is geologically complex and known for its volcanic activity. There’s great science […]
