July 8th, 2019
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“To go, or not to go, that is the question,” explain Japan’s Hayabusa2 officials. The spacecraft is ready to attempt a second touchdown on asteroid Ryugu. “Although the first touchdown was successful, going for a second touchdown is ‘the question’ because touchdown is a high-risk operation. This is especially true in the case of Ryugu, […]
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The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is readying the launch of its Chandrayaan-2 Moon orbiter, lander and rover, scheduled to be launched between July 9 and 16 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Note: Liftoff is now scheduled for July 14, 2019 at 21:21 UTC – July 15, 2019 at 02:51 IST […]
Jodrell Bank Observatory has been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The observatory becomes the 32nd UNESCO World Heritage Site in the UK to receive this award and joins just over 1,100 sites internationally. Being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the World Heritage Convention is an international treaty […]
In a recent communiqué, project officials from Japan’s Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer are eyeing a second touchdown of the craft on July 11. The touchdown spot is about 65 feet (20 meters) north of the artificial crater formed by the mission’s Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI). Currently, the team is carefully examining and checking touchdown operation […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2459 duties. The robot is currently near the top of Harlaw Rise, having made a slight diversion from the southward drive through the clay-bearing unit to explore the exposures of rocks on this hill. Here’s a sampling of new imagery relayed from Curiosity:
VaMEx-VTB is a Virtual Test Bed for Swarm-based Exploration of the Valles Marineris on the Planet Mars. The effort is developing concepts, algorithms, and hardware for a swarm-based exploration of Valles Marineris. The swarm comprises different elements such as rovers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) and hominid robots (called as Charlie). The idea […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2458 tasks. Here’s the scenery as viewed by the robot, currently near the top of Harlaw Rise:
Skywatcher and satellite tracker, Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands, has caught an over flight of the U.S. Air Force secretive X-37B space plane, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle – 5. Vandebergh reports that he has been hunting for the OTV-5 for months and saw it visually in May. “When I tried to observe it […]
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Moon landing, 60% say the space program has provided enough benefit to the country to justify its cost, while 38% do not consider the country’s expenditures on the space program warranted. Most Americans say it is important for the space program to monitor objects including […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 2455, performing science duties. Reports Melissa Rice, a planetary geologist at Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington: “Curiosity is currently near the top of Harlaw Rise, having made a slight diversion from the southward drive through the clay-bearing unit to explore the nice exposures of rocks on this […]
