August 20th, 2025
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Mars Guy notes that August 6 of this year marked the 13th anniversary of the NASA Curiosity rover landing on Mars. “It was designed to last at least one Mars year, about 687 Earth days,” Mars Guy explains, “so it’s obviously outperformed all expectations, despite its questionable wheel design.” Go to video at: https://youtu.be/MLE785oPsUw?si=LgtQXUJuB94ovj1C […]
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Russia’s Bion-M No. 2 is ready for departure at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It is a “Noah’s Ark” of space, loaded with 75 mice, over 1,000 fruit flies, cell cultures, microorganisms, plant seeds, and other items. Departure time is August 20, at 1:13 AM U.S. Eastern Time aboard a Soyuz 2.1a booster. Zero gravity: as quickly […]
China has made significant progress in its humans-on-the-Moon project, the ability to land two Chinese astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030. On August 15, the first stage propulsion system of the Long March 10 (CZ-10) launch vehicle was successfully conducted at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, Hainan Province, China. A cluster of seven YF-100K […]
During last week’s 6.5-hour spacewalk, China’s Shenzhou-20 astronauts completed vital inspections and installed protective equipment on the country’s space station. The spacewalk, which took place Friday, represented the Shenzhou-20 crew’s third series of extravehicular activities since boarding the space station. According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), crew members Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and […]
A few days ago, the SpaceX Starship team released overview information regarding program issues. On May 27, 2025, Starship’s ninth flight test suffered an “energetic event” near the aft end of the vehicle followed by loss of telemetry. Final data was received from the booster approximately 382 seconds into flight. On Wednesday, June […]
The Philippine Coast Guard has recovered floating rocket debris on August 14, bearing markings of the People’s Republic of China, along the shoreline of Sitio Gunting, Barangay Bonbon, Looc, Occidental Mindoro. A local fisherman retrieved the floating debris, rocket leftovers allegedly linked to the Long March 7A rocket launch conducted by China between July 15-17. […]
The tenth flight test of the SpaceX Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Sunday, August 24. The launch window will open at 6:30 p.m. CENTRAL TIME in Texas. As is the case with all developmental testing, SpaceX explains, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to […]
Russia is preparing to loft a “miniature mouse hotel” into space. The Bion-M No. 2 biosatellite is being readied for liftoff on August 20, placed into a pole-to-pole orbit. Onboard are 75 mice and other specimens to be exposed to 30 days of radiation before a parachute return to Russia. Lobbed […]
On the NASA Curiosity rover team, scientists are continuing their exploration of the boxwork-forming region in Gale Crater, reports Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “A successful 25-meter drive (about 82 feet) brought the rover from the “peace sign” ridge intersection to a new ridge site,” Lim adds. Several imaging investigations […]
Mars Guy explains that a forced retreat has led an interesting discovery by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover at Jezero Crater. In a new video episode, Mars Guy notes that every wheeled vehicle has its hill-climbing limit, even on the Red Planet with 38% the gravity of Earth. The Perseverance robot recently met its limit on […]
