March 25th, 2020
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Curiosity’s drill successfully dug into the “Edinburgh” target over last weekend, reports Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Spring, Maryland, “the first sandstone the drill has attempted to conquer since the engineering team hacked a new drilling method back in 2018.” Minitti adds that it is now time for Curiosity to check […]
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2713 tasks. New imagery shows the rover’s drill operation on Edinburgh bedrock and surrounding views:
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2712 tasks. A three Sol weekend centered on drilling target “Edinburgh” and several Sol 2712 images reflect that activity:
Dear Neil Armstrong – Letters to the First Man from All Mankind by James R. Hansen, Purdue University Press; October 2019; Hardback; 400 pages, $34.99. This is a wonderful book, documenting the over-whelming amount of cards and letters received by Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the Moon in July 1969. Within […]
Testing is underway at the Wenchang Space Launch Center for launching China’s new-generation crewed spaceship. The prototype of the spacecraft is developed for the country’s space station and subsequent space missions. According to China Central Television (CCTV), compared with the crew-carrying Shenzhou spacecraft, the new generation of piloted spacecraft is larger, can carry both astronauts […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2710 tasks. The coronavirus pandemic has meant increased teleworking of Mars science teams to operate the robot on the Red Planet. “In light of recent events, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has transitioned to teleworking for most employees. For the last few weeks, we have been making preparations […]
A common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) test was conducted from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii on March 19. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Army jointly executed the launch of, which flew at hypersonic speed to a designated impact point. Also taking part in the experiment, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) monitored and gathered […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2709 duties. A sampling of recent imagery from the robot spotlights its surroundings: […]
Not only did Apollo landing crews get fogged out by the blown dust making touchdowns troublesome, substantial amounts of rock and debris was sent flying during the rocket-powered landings. New experiments suggest there’s an issue of coming and going lunar traffic, but what to do about the problem? Scientists are working on the workarounds that […]
This year, public space travel appears on the horizon. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, the work of the Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin, and the go-getting goals of Elon Musk and his ambitious SpaceX Starship plans – all pioneering efforts. It has been a long haul to realize space voyaging by the public. See You […]
