July 11th, 2023
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India’s Chandrayaan-3 Moon lander/rover has completed launch rehearsal by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Target for liftoff is July 14. The lunar lander is headed for the southern region of the Moon’s near side, soft landing about 13 miles (20 kilometers) west of Manzinus U crater rim, at coordinates 69.367621 S, 32.348126 E, as […]
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Russia’s long-awaited and delayed robotic re-introduction to Moon exploration, Luna-25, is at its launch site! On July 10, the Luna-25 spacecraft was sent to the cosmodrome, delivered to its takeoff location for a scheduled sendoff this August. In a statement from JSC “NPO Lavochkina,” builder of the Moon lander, and part of the Roscosmos […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale crater is now performing Sol 3885 duties. “Few things are better than planning an action-packed weekend on Mars. It’s even better when the last plan executed like a charm,” reports Natalie Moore, a mission operations specialist at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California. Last week, on […]
Yes, Venus is hot. But the controversial detection a few years ago of phosphine (PH3) in the Venusian atmospheric continues to be an astrobiological hot topic. The source of (PH3) detection on Venus is unknown. “There could be an as yet unknown geochemical or photochemical process. Or, there could possibly be life in the Venus […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting researchers for ideas on collecting solar power in space and wirelessly transmitting it to Earth. ESA is proceeding with the SOLARIS initiative to further investigate and mature the feasibility of Space-based Solar Power, a concept that has the potential to deliver clean energy from space to Earth in […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3881 duties. The rover recently wrapped up a busy weekend on Mars and a four-sol plan over the 4th of July holiday. It was executed as expected, but planning post-holiday was unusual because new images of the terrain in front of the wheeled […]
Wait a minute! Perhaps it is a case of re-inventing the wheel? The European Space Agency (ESA) has been busy testing the Lunar Equipment Support Assembly (LESA). The idea is to develop wheeled carriers to assist Artemis astronauts during moonwalks – a way to transport equipment and tools. Recently tested is the LESA-NEST […]
Around and around it goes. The veteran NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) continues to circuit the Moon since June 2009. Over the decades, this spacecraft has spit out images and data proven to be transformational in our ability to eye and better value Earth’s celestial neighbor. While the aging craft remains on assignment – now […]
Wheeling and dealing with Mars – not an easy assignment. Remington Free, Operations Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, notes in a recent report use of the robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to inspect its wheels. “This is an engineering activity we perform at a regular cadence in order to assess the state […]
The Japanese Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is slated for launch in the mid-2020s. A project of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the MMX spacecraft consists of three modules. The exploration module has landing legs, samplers and some instruments as well as the MMX rover onboard named IDEFIX. A trilateral cooperation within the […]
