May 20th, 2020
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A new freely-available anthology released by the European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) delves into probing questions about microbial life on Mars and elsewhere to all the way to the Fermi Paradox: Where are they? The anthology, titled Strangest of All (a nod to H. G. Wells’s War of The Worlds), was edited by the author, editor […]
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China space officials are detailing use of the country’s new-generation spacecraft to support human missions to the Moon. The return capsule of the trial version of China’s new-generation manned spaceship is under intensive study after touching down at the Dongfeng landing site, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, on May 8, 2020. The spacecraft was first […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2768 tasks. Reports Sean Czarnecki, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, Curiosity is at the “Glasgow” drill site, and preparing to deliver more sample material from Glasgow to the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite in the near future. Take a break […]
Large ground- and space-based telescopes will be able to observe Earth-like planets in the near future. Cornell astronomers have developed an environmental color “decoder” – to tease out climate clues for potentially habitable exoplanets in galaxies far away. The researchers see their work as helping to spot different planetary surfaces that are strongly influenced by […]
Enroll today to be part of the summer 2020 class of the Commercial Space Studies program, hosted by the International Space University-Center for Space Entrepreneurship (ISU-CSE) at Florida Tech in Melbourne, Florida. The 2020 program now features a unique hybrid online structure that will enable a healthy balance of distance learning with two weeks of […]
China’s recent triumph in testing an unpiloted new-generation crew capsule included a technology development failure. A Flexible Inflatable Cargo Re-entry Vehicle was also onboard the Long March 5B booster and was to return to Dongfeng landing field in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The device, flown for the first time, is intended to eventually deliver to […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has started Sol 2763 operations. Ryan Anderson, a planetary geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona reports that there was a hiccup with the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument in Monday’s plan. The issue prevented it from running the “preconditioning” steps to get ready for sample analysis. But […]
Europe is pressing ahead with the European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) to deliver scientific or logistic payloads to locations on the Moon’s surface. The EL3 lunar lander is being blueprinted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and viewed as a key capability to provide European access to the Moon’s surface. An ESA call for ideas […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has started Sol 2762 operations. Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Spring, Maryland reports that last weekend activities at the “Glasgow” drill site proceeded smoothly, particularly delivery of Glasgow drill sample to the robot’s Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (CheMin) and CheMin’s first analysis of […]
The Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in partnership with the U.S. Space Force, is scheduled to launch the sixth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6) on May 16 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. “This sixth mission is a big step for the X-37B program,” said Randy Walden, […]
