October 10th, 2020
Author: 
China’s Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft performed a major in-flight trajectory adjustment on Friday night. The roughly eight-minute (480 seconds-plus) main engine burn was commanded by ground controllers at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center. The Mars probe’s main engine produces 3,000 newtons of thrust power. Transfer trajectory China Daily reports that the craft will continue traveling about […]
Posted in 
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2906 duties. “After a successful bump to our next planned drill location, Curiosity is poised to start its thorough investigation of this interesting geologic region,” reports Mark Salvatore, a planetary geologist at the University of Michigan. “The team decided to perform a more detailed characterization of this […]
All that recent press about the history of Venus and it possibly being a life-supporting world has received additional attention. But this time, Earth’s Moon plays center stage. Yale astronomers suggest that NASA Artemis lunar crews might collect billions of bits of Venus likely to have crashed on the Moon. Venusian meteorites mixed in within […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2905 tasks. Over last weekend, the rover successfully performed arm diagnostic duties, reports Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Spring, Maryland. “This news gave Curiosity the green light to move – ever so slightly forward – from her double drill workspace […]
China’s preparations for construction of that nation’s space station is picking up speed, striving to complete the plan for on-orbit construction of their orbiting outpost around 2022. “In the two years from next year to the year after that, 11 missions will be conducted to complete the on-orbit construction of the Chinese space station. […]
NASA’s Artemis Program to return astronauts to the Moon faces a great number of challenges. Among them is dealing with lunar dust. A new report emphasizes that fact and also details next steps to help counter the true grit and grime of Moon exploration in coming years. Contrasted to the Apollo human excursions […]
A set of diminutive, high-tech probes have these rousing names: Lunar IceCube, Lunar Flashlight, LunaH-Map and Lunar Trailblazer. While the missions have differing observational and measurement strategies as they orbit the Moon, each spacecraft provides a unique perspective on lunar water distribution. On one hand, researchers are confident the Moon’s polar regions are […]
The Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site located in Wenchang City of south China’s Hainan Province is ramping up preparations for the launch of the Chang’e-5 lunar probe. The reported preferred candidate landing region for China’s next robotic mission is the Rümker region, located in the northern Oceanus Procellarum. The touchdown area is geologically complex and known […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2901 tasks. Reports Lucy Thompson, a planetary geologist at University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: “The first order of business for this three-sol plan [2901-2903] is to continue with arm diagnostic activities that could give Curiosity the all clear to bump to the next drill […]
ICON is an Austin, Texas-based advanced construction technologies company using 3D printing robotics, software and advanced materials. The group has turned its attention to Moon-construction concepts drawing upon a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Strategic Fund Increase (STRATFI) contract through the U.S. Air Force-managed AFVentures’ “Open Topic” process as well as NASA dollars. 3D printing […]
