Copernical Team
NASA extracts oxygen from lunar soil simulant
As NASA works toward sending astronauts to the Moon through Artemis missions, one of the agency's primary goals is to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface. Resources like oxygen are crucial building blocks for making that vision a reality. In addition to using oxygen for breathing, it can also be used as a propellant for transportation, helping lunar visitors stay longer and ventu Curiosity: Move slowly and don't break things: Sols 3810-3811
As the blog for sols 3807-3809 noted, we have cleared the canyon! The accompanying Left Navcam image shows the view back down the canyon, showing all those tricky rocks we had to climb over. You can even spot some wheel tracks further back down if you peer vey closely. We don't exactly have free-wheeling territory up ahead in our drive direction, but it is a little flatter.
This hopefully NASA Retires Mineral Mapping Instrument on Mars Orbiter
One of six instruments aboard the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM produced global maps of minerals on the Red Planet's surface. NASA switched off one of its oldest instruments studying Mars on April 3, a step that's been planned since last year. Riding aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM, or the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, revealed minerals such Rocket ignition test facility opens in Shaanxi
China has big plans to advance its space exploration and development, but whether those plans can become a reality depends on the capability of the country's carrier rockets, or more specifically, rocket engines.
China has some of the world's best rocket engines, ranging from huge ones lifting the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket to small models elevating a craft from the lunar surface, but How to land on a planet safely
When a lander descends toward the moon - or a rocky planet, asteroid, or comet - the exhaust plume of the rocket interacts with the surface, causing erosion and kicking up regolith particles. The resulting blanket of dusty debris can create a dangerous brownout effect, limiting visibility and potentially damaging the spacecraft or nearby equipment.
In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, SpaceX's Starship launch: successful failure of most powerful rocket in history
On April 20, 2023, a new SpaceX rocket called Starship exploded over the Gulf of Mexico three minutes into its first flight ever. SpaceX is calling the test launch a success, despite the fiery end result. As a space policy expert, I agree that the "rapid unscheduled disassembly" - the term SpaceX uses when its rockets explode - was a very successful failure.
b>The most powerful rocket eve Hakuto-R spacecraft just captured its own stunning version of 'Earthrise'
The Hakuto-R lunar lander, currently in orbit around the moon, just captured a beautiful "Earthrise"-like image, and one with an interesting side note. The Mission 1 lander, from the Tokyo-based commercial company ispace, took the image during the time of the April 20 solar eclipse, where totality was visible in Australia; and so the photo includes a perfect view of the shadow of the moon passing above the Land Down Under.
The spacecraft was approximately 100 km (60 miles) above the lunar surface when it took the photo.
"We've received another incredible photo from the camera onboard our Mission 1 lander!" ispace Tweeted this morning.
Earth and the moon are seen with stunning clarity, showcasing the lander-mounted camera's abilities.
This could be a big week for Hakuto-R, as its landing on the moon could come as soon as today, Tuesday, April 25 at 16:40 (UTC)/12:40 (EST).
Here's how NASA is planning to protect Earth from asteroids and comets
The large impact craters dotting our planet are powerful reminders that asteroids and comets strike the Earth from time to time. As often said, it's not a question of "if"; it's a matter of "when" our planet will face an impending strike from space. But an impact is one existential threat humanity is finally starting to take seriously and wrap its head around.
Japan firm's pioneering Moon landing fails
A Japanese startup attempting the first private landing on the Moon said Wednesday it had lost communication with its spacecraft and assumed the lunar mission had failed.
Ispace said that it could not establish communication with the unmanned Hakuto-R lunar lander after its expected landing time, a frustrating end to a mission that began with a launch from the United States over four months ago.
"We have not confirmed communication with the lander," a company official told reporters about 25 minutes after the expected landing.
"We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface," the official said.
Officials said they would continue to try and establish contact with the spacecraft, which was carrying payloads from several countries, including a lunar rover from the United Arab Emirates.
Ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said after the apparent failed landing that they had acquired data from the spacecraft all the way up to the planned landing and would be examining that for signs of what happened.
SpaceX Starship clobbered Texas launch pad; future Space Coast launches prompt contingency plans
The most powerful rocket to ever launch from Earth left a crater at the SpaceX launch site last week, but Elon Musk said teams could be ready to try another Starship launch in as little as one to two months.
Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to build out a backup site for human launches on the Space Coast to assuage NASA fears of potential Starship damage for when it starts flying from Kennedy Space Center.
Those launches won't come until SpaceX completes testing from SpaceX's Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, Texas where the first integrated launch of the Starship and its Super Heavy booster took place last Thursday.
While it didn't make it to space, the booster's 33 Raptor engines that can produce more than 17 million pounds of thrust was able to clear the launch tower. About four minutes after flying only to about 24 miles and tumbling back to Earth, SpaceX sent the self-destruct command resulting in the rocket exploding over the Gulf of Mexico.
"The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble," reads an update on the SpaceX website.