September 4th, 2023
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing 3938 tasks. Amelie Roberts, Graduate Student at Imperial College London, reports that the robot’s Mastcam has been busy producing two large, stereo mosaics of upper Gediz Vallis ridge and the nearby well-layered bedrock, which features enigmatic polygonal fractures. “Curiosity will embark on its next […]
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On the Moon face of it, lunar football in the near-future may appear a little “poles apart” activity – a non-contact sport, with no out-of-bounds play and flexible suits with artificial reality (AR) helmets to deal with the harsh conditions of space. “But, it will still remain an exciting game of skill, passion and creativity […]
India’s Chandrayaan-3 Moon lander/rover mission is busily gathering science data since its touchdown on August 23 with the country chalking up a first by landing in a region of the Moon’s south pole. According to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the mooncraft mission activated a number of experiments: The Instrument for Lunar Seismic […]
Moving day in space has a “you-haul” feel to it. But is there a business in removing space junk from Earth orbit? Numbers of groups are coming up with concepts on grappling with worrisome debris. Nonetheless, estimates of how much troublesome litter – from huge chunks of space scrap to tiny paint chips and […]
More air time for NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter. New imagery shows the August 26th flight, the date for the craft’s 56th soaring journey. The stats: Horizontal Distance roughly 1,345 feet (410 meters); Maximum altitude about 39 feet (12 meters); Flight duration 140.9 seconds. Black and white imagery was acquired by the rotorcraft using its […]
The lunar leftovers of Russia’s failed Luna-25 robotic craft have likely been spotted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Before and after imagery of the suspected Luna 25 impact site taken by LRO’s powerful LROC imaging system show landscape disturbance at the southwest rim of Pontécoulant G crater. The kicked-up terrain from the […]
Hellish Venus is hot, not only temperature-wise but the planet is a hot topic for exploration. That cloud-veiled world might be a haven for high-altitude life. Such a prospect is fostering the first-ever private interplanetary mission to Venus to search for signs of life in the clouds by detecting organic chemistry. The mission is […]
Curiosity is wrapping up its mini-campaign of science collection at the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge reports Emma Harris, a graduate student at the Natural History Museum in London. “Before we leave however, we want to collect as much data as we can! Next, Curiosity will be driving back to the nominal Mount Sharp Ascent […]
Just in case you didn’t notice. The U.S. State Department is embracing the concept of an “International Lunar Year” – coordinating programs around a one-to-two-year celebration of the study and exploration of the Moon later in the decade. “As multiple nations and commercial entities plan a near-term return to the Moon on an unprecedented scale, […]
Before hurling to the Moon the mandatory hardware for astronauts to survive, thrive, and work in the ruthless lunar environment, how do you certify critical technology ahead of time? Moon crews will be on their own, far from any repair shops or prompt 911 emergency response actions from Earth. What does it take to […]
