September 12th, 2015
Author: 
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover continues to capture striking images of its surroundings. Curiosity has been working on Mars since early August 2012. It reached the base of Mount Sharp last year after investigating outcrops closer to its landing site and then trekking toward the mountain. Today is Sol 1102 on Mars for Curiosity. Over the […]
Posted in 
The International Space Station (ISS) is serving as a test bed platform for controlling robots on Earth. European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen took part in ESA’s Meteron project. The effort showcases the ability to operate lunar robots from a spacecraft orbiting the Moon. A similar technique and technology is expected to prove useful for establishing […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has made some impressive images of “Bridger Basin” and has been busy acquiring a large stereo mosaic of the far wall of that Basin. The rover’s movement on Mars was halted on Sol 1098 after reaching some 43 feet (13 meters) of a planned trek of over 80 feet (25 […]
A German research facility is home for a bedrest study – an effort to learn how to minimize the negative effects of microgravity on their bodies. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) “:envihab” research facility is set to evaluate a dozen men, aged 20 to 45 years old. The study […]
Chinese space officials have released new images of the Moon – apparently focused on the landing site of that country’s future Chang’e 5 lunar lander. Target date for China’s ambitious robotic Moon probe mission is in 2017. Chang’e 5 is slated to soft land on the moon, snag surface specimens, fly them into lunar […]
Here’s a way to take part in shaping humankind’s up and going trajectory into space. And to do so, everyone needs a plan and some guideposts on which you can hang your space helmet. The Integrated Space Plan – an evolutionary matrix of capabilities — is billed as “the most comprehensive vision of the next […]
Rolling and tumbling on another world sounds like a bad and busting idea. But a robot concept called Hedgehog could explore the microgravity environment of comets and asteroids by hopping and rolling around on them. While a Mars rover can’t operate upside down, its wheels in the air, the Hedgehog robot can function […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is back on the road. Earlier this week, successful “contact science” on the Stimson unit in the Williams area on Mars was done. The robot is continuing on its drive towards Bridger Basin and eventually the Bagnold Dunes, reports Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in […]
Testing is on-going to develop an in-space starshade that can block the light from a primary star while allowing light from dimmer orbiting planets to be spotted by future space-based telescopes. Along with desert tests here on Earth, the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona has […]
Europe is ratcheting up the strategic significance of the Moon in a global space exploration endeavor. For example, in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Exploration Strategy it spells out the mission theme of “sustainable exploration of the Moon is integrated in the strategic exploration approach for Europe.” A guiding principle in Europe is to […]
