March 5th, 2019
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You want your own set of Moon legs? Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) will partner with Space Florida to take fans onboard a special-purpose aircraft to demonstrate the feeling of exploring the Moon’s surface. This parabolic flight will recreate lunar gravity and allow riders to float with the ease of carrying one-sixth their normal body weight. […]
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Japan’s Hayabusa2 made a successful first touchdown and sampling operation February 22, 2019 (JST) at asteroid Ryugu. Mission planners are moving forward with the next event – the experiment to form an artificial crater using the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI). A second touchdown will be done inside or outside the artificial crater formed with the […]
An international crew of six engaged in a Moon/Mars simulation is set to end their work on Wednesday, March 6th – a two-week mission to perform scientific experiments and test technological instruments needed for the future exploration of the Moon or Mars. The effort began on February 20 at the University of Hawaiʻi […]
Shoot for the Moon – The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11 by James Donovan; Little, Brown and Company (2019); 454 pages, $30.00. This impressive book is a must-read this year given that it’s the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission – humankind’s first high-stepping trek to Earth’s Moon. As a […]
The China Manned Space Agency has stated the country will start launching preparatory tests for its manned space station mission in the second half of this year. According to a report in China Daily, the agency said in a statement on Monday that the core module of the space station, a Long March 5B carrier […]
China’s CCTV reports all is well for the Chang’e-4 farside Moon mission. Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China’s lunar program, notes that the Yutu-2 rover is entering into the third Moon week. Wu said the wheeled robot has finished exploring near the landing point and is rolling towards the northwest. “We’ve gained […]
A trio of documents explaining Pentagon plans for the Space Force and why the Trump Administration believes it is needed are available. Space Force FAQ Space Force Fact Sheet United States Space Force Strategic Overview Go to: https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/Article/1767808/dod-submits-us-space-force-proposal/ FAQ: https://media.defense.gov/2019/Mar/01/2002095014/-1/-1/1/SPACE-FORCE-FAQ.PDF Fact Sheet: https://media.defense.gov/2019/Mar/01/2002095013/-1/-1/1/SPACE-FORCE-FACT-SHEET.PDF Space Force Strategic Overview: https://media.defense.gov/2019/Mar/01/2002095012/-1/-1/1/UNITED-STATES-SPACE-FORCE-STRATEGIC-OVERVIEW.PDF
On February 28, 2019, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) ‘Mole’ fully automatically hammered its way into the Martian subsurface for the first time. The device has been deployed by NASA’s InSight Mars lander. First step In a first step, it penetrated to a depth between 18 and 50 […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now wrapping up Sol 2334 duties. Curiosity is back in action at Midland Valley, reports Melissa Rice, a planetary geologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. The robot has returned to science after a two week hiatus because of a technical issue. Curiosity’s most recent science plan included a […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced Canada’s new partnership in the NASA-led Lunar Gateway by developing and contributing a smart robotic system. That hardware is Canadarm3, designed to repair and maintain the Gateway. This smart robotic system includes a next-generation robotic arm, equipment, and specialized tools. Using software and advances in artificial intelligence, this highly-autonomous […]
