Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA/JPL has issued an image showing the path and some key places in a survey of the “Pahrump Hills” outcrop by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover in autumn of 2014. This view of the outcrop and other portions of Mount Sharp beyond is a mosaic of images taken by the rover’s Mast Camera (Mastcam). The outcrop […]

Close-up of the region containing Philae’s primary landing – “Agilkia” -- which is located on the “head” of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.  Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft is set to deploy its Philae lander for a first-time touchdown on a comet. On November 11-12, Philae is set to separate from Rosetta at 09:03 GMT (10:03 CET) and touch down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at about 16:02 GMT (17:02 CET). A timeline of the most crucial activities related […]

Space station astronaut Karen Nyberg uses instrument to create still and video imagery of her eye in microgravity. Credit: NASA

Here’s a unique and novel opportunity for ophthalmology companies. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine have launched the Vision for Mars Challenge. What’s being tackled here is addressing a key space biomedical issue. That is, after returning from space missions, some astronauts experience […]

China

A new story on the recent China succcess, posted today on Space.com: China’s 1st Round-Trip Moon Shot Sets Stage for Bigger Lunar Feats by Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist November 05, 2014 07:00am ET   http://www.space.com/27661-china-moon-mission-sample-return.html     By the way, you might check out this video on the mission: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krCcJ6KHy00

Credit: Virgin Galactic

November 1st comments from Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, California: “This is a very tough time for all of us at Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Scaled Composites, and our thoughts remain with the families of the brave Scaled pilots, and all those affected by […]

Courtesy: China Space

UPDATE: Chinese space groups and news services are reporting the successful landing of China’s test lunar orbiter, parachuting down in north China’s Inner Mongolia. Before its reentry to Earth, the spacecraft was moving at a velocity of 11.2 kilometers per second. This speed can generate temperatures of more than 1,500 degrees Celsius. To help the […]

The Andromeda Strain - the 1971 movie, but how real for a 21st century return to  Earth of Mars samples? Credit: Universal Pictures

Here’s a new story from me up on Space.com:   Ebola Outbreak May Hold Lessons for Handling Samples from Mars by Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist October 30, 2014 10:00am ET     http://www.space.com/27599-ebola-outbreak-mars-sample-lessons.html

China

China’s experimental mooncraft is on target to return back to Earth on November 1st. Adjustments to the trajectory of the spacecraft have been made, with other nudges expected. Doing so will set up the craft to made a skip-reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, slowing it down from a speed of 11.2 kilometers per second – then […]

Doomed for destruction is DebriSat, a nonfunctional, full-scale representation of a modern satellite, shown here prior to test at the Range G target tank at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee.  Credit: U.S. Air Force/Jacqueline Cowan

A new story from me, up today on Space.com:   Mock Satellite Destroyed to Study Space Junk Collisions   By Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist October 28, 2014 07:00am ET           http://www.space.com/27555-debrisat-space-junk-collisions.html  

Credit: NASA Office of the Chief Technologist, 2014

A new NASA report provides an introduction and overview, and a look into the future, of the emerging “space ecosystem” and American private-sector space activities. Titled Emerging Space: The Evolving Landscape of 21st Century American Spaceflight, the report is by the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist, 2014. The report is available from NASA’s Emerging […]