June 20th, 2024
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Planting a telescope on Phobos – one of the two moons circling Mars – is seen as providing significant support for eventual human exploration of the Red Planet. A powerful space telescope situated on Phobos offer unique advantages for observing Mars and other solar system objects. Such a spot-landed facility – roughly a 10-meter-class telescope […]
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The Moon is coming into sharp focus given this week’s first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Lunar Activities in Vienna, Austria. Taking part are astronauts, heads of space agencies, the scientific and legal communities, and industry to address common approaches, priorities, and expectations for the peaceful, sustainable, and cooperative exploration of the Moon. The conference […]
China’s Chang’e-6 far side sampling mission is near departure time as it circles the Moon awaiting the proper Moon-to-Earth alignment. Launched on May 3, the mission’s sample toting returner/capsule hardware is projected to parachute to Earth on June 25, wrapping up a 53-day undertaking. Touchdown of the lunar collectibles is scheduled for a landing […]
China’s new set of lunar collectibles, scooped up by the country’s Chang’e-6 Moon sample mission, owes a tip of the space helmet visor to a research team at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). In collaboration with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a “Surface Sampling and Packing System” for the task was set […]
End-of-life, human-made space scraps that fall into Earth’s atmosphere are leaving behind a train of tiny particles that are eating away at our fragile biosphere. The new work has been published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters pointing to the increasing number of satellite constellations, the byproducts of which on re-entry catalyze chemical reactions […]
China’s projected human exploration of the Moon received a boost last week given a first-time propulsion system test for the country’s powerful Long March-10 rocket. According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the propulsion system for the first stage of the Long March-10 launch vehicle underwent testing for the first time on […]
A hot topic for moon researchers is whether or not water ice is an available, ripe for the picking resource at the lunar south pole. The search for exploitable water ice is high on NASA’s Artemis agenda to blueprint a “sustainable” human presence pathway on the Moon, with water ice being the elixir […]
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) now circling the Moon has taken its first look at China’s far side Chang’e-6 landing spot. The lander is flanked by two craters similar in size to it, and is on the edge of a much more subtle crater about 50 meters wide, reports Mark Robinson, the principal investigator […]
Book Review: After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon by Greg Eghigian; Oxford University Press, 2024; Hardcover, 400 pages; $29.99. In this highly embraced volume the author explores how individuals, scientists, governments and the media responded to reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions, and what those responses say about […]
That mysterious tiny rover let loose by China’s Chang’e-6 Moon lander has finally been spotlighted. The state-run Xinhua news agency said the roughly 5 kilograms device is an autonomous, intelligent mini-robot, developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). Weighing roughly 11 pounds (5 kilograms), the sporty mini-snooper is far lighter than China’s […]
