Moon Exploration and Science News

January 09, 2014

Wake Up Yutu
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 06, 2014
After two weeks of frigid lunar night, China's Yutu Moon rover and the Chang'e-3 lander that carried it will soon awake from their slumber. Surviving the lunar night is probably the last of the big challenges posed to this mission. Once China's twin lunar robots are functioning again, the mission will be on its way to a long spell of productive work. We have grown accustomed to seeing rovers on Mars, and also used to their longevity. We have just celebrated the tenth anniversary of the landing of ... read more

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Chang'e-3 satellite payload APXS obtained its first spectrum of lunar regolith The Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), carried by the Yutu rover of the Chang'e-3 satellite got its first X-ray fluorescence spectrum of lunar regolith around the landing site on Dec ... more		Watch the 2014 Quadrantid Meteor Shower Live on Ustream Peaking in the wee hours of Jan. 3, a little-known meteor shower named after an extinct constellation, the Quadranids, will present an excellent chance for hardy souls to start the year off with som ... more		Chang'e 3 Lander and Rover From Above Chang'e 3 landed on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) just east of a 450 m diameter impact crater on 14 December 2013. Soon after landing, a small rover named Yutu (or Jade Rabbit in English) was deployed ... more
				Laser Demonstration Reveals Bright Future for Space Communication The completion of the 30-day Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration or LLCD mission has revealed that the possibility of expanding broadband capabilities in space using laser communications is as b ... more		China's moon rover "sleeps" through lunar night The moon rover and lander of China's Chang'e 3 lunar probe mission will "sleep" during the lunar night, enduring extreme low temperatures on the lunar surface. According to Wu Fenglei of the B ... more

Dwarf Planet Ceres - 'A Game Changer in the Solar System' In March of 2015, NASA's Dawn mission will arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres, the first of the smaller class of planets to be discovered and the closest to Earth. Ceres, which orbits the Sun in the a ... more		Mars Express heading towards daring flyby of Phobos Late this month, ESA's Mars Express will make the closest flyby yet of the Red Planet's largest moon Phobos, skimming past at only 45 km above its surface. The flyby on 29 December will be so ... more		Sidekick autonomy software guides YFQ-42A test mission for CCA program Infleqtion lists shares on NYSE as neutral atom quantum firm Top Chinese gaming companies continue to challenge		China's Yutu "naps", awakens and explores Beijing (XNA) Dec 21, 2013 China's moon rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), continued exploring after a "nap", according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence ... more
				China's moon rover continues lunar survey after photographing lander China's first moon rover, Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, continued patrol explorations on the lunar surface after taking photos of the lander for the fifth and final time early on Sunday. According to ... more		NASA Releases New Earthrise Simulation Video NASA has issued a new visualization of the events leading to one of the iconic photographs of the 20th Century - Earth rising over the moon captured by the crew of the Apollo 8 mission. The photo k ... more

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Will the Moon be carved-up? Experts forecast that the Moon will become sort of the seventh continent of Earth by the middle of the 21st century. People will reclaim the polar regions and build residential areas there. In this ... more		Most Chang'e-3 science tools activated Six out of the eight pieces of scientific equipment deployed to the moon with the Chang'e-3 lunar mission have been activated by scientists and are functioning properly, according to scientists work ... more		Solar-driven ionosphere charges may nudge stressed faults toward rupture Stable black carbon in mangrove soils boosts coastal climate role Low crystallinity iron minerals show promise for chromium cleanup and carbon storage		NASA's Deep Space Network: The Original 'Wireless Network' Turns 50 NASA's Deep Space Network, the world's largest and most powerful communications system for "talking to" spacecraft, will reach a milestone on Dec. 24: the 50th anniversary of its official creation. ... more
				Clay-Like Minerals Found on Icy Crust of Europa A new analysis of data from NASA's Galileo mission has revealed clay-type minerals at the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa that appear to have been delivered by a spectacular collision with an a ... more		Chinese sci-fi writers laud moon landing The landing of China's first moon rover on the lunar surface on Sunday morning has had the nation's sci-fi writers cheering for fiction's gradual unfolding into reality. Chinese legend has it that C ... more

One-way trip to Mars? Sign me up, says Frenchwoman

Who Wants to Go to Mars - One Way?

More than 1,000 chosen for one-way Mars reality-TV mission

Clay-Like Minerals Found on Icy Crust of Europa

Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon

Model Suggests Ocean Currents Shape Europa's Icy Shell in Ways Critical for Potential Habitats

The Sounds of New Horizons

On the Path to Pluto, 5 AU and Closing

SwRI study finds that Pluto satellites' orbital ballet may hint of long-ago collisions

Wake Up Yutu

Chang'e-3 satellite payload APXS obtained its first spectrum of lunar regolith

Chang'e 3 Lander and Rover From Above

	China plans to launch Chang'e-5 in 2017 China plans to launch lunar probe Chang'e-5 in 2017, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. "The development of Chang'e-5 is proceeding smoot ... more		China's Lunar Lander May Provide Additional Science for NASA Spacecraft After sending 12 humans to the moon's surface during the Apollo Program, NASA remains committed to lunar science. Building on modern missions such as Clementine and Lunar Prospector and recent missi ... more		Chinaese moon rover and lander photograph each other China's first moon rover and lander took photos of each other on the moon's surface Sunday night, a move that marks a complete success of the country's Chang'e-3 lunar probe mission. Ma Xingru ... more		Mining the moon is pie in the sky for China: experts China's moon rover will survey for minerals on a dusty, barren crater named the Bay of Rainbows, but experts say there may be no pot of gold on the Earth's natural satellite. ... more

AALTO plans Zephyr stratospheric hub in northern Australia and seeks local payload partners

Ancient guano drove Chincha coastal power

UAH lands first DARPA award for biological sciences department

Chang'e-3 probe moves closer to the moon		First Rock Dating Experiment Performed on Mars		Hubble discovers water vapour venting from Jupiter's moon Europa		Ancient crater could hold clues about moon's mantle		Minerals in giant impact crater may be clues to moon's makeup, origin
Silent Orbit for China's Moon Lander		'Solutions' necessary for rocket accidents		Turkey keen on space cooperation with China		China's most moon-like place		LADEE Instruments Healthy and Ready for Science

Model Suggests Ocean Currents Shape Europa's Icy Shell in Ways Critical for Potential Habitats

China launches first moon rover mission

Commentary: Lunar probe boosts "Chinese dream"

Designer: moon rover uses cutting-edge technology

Moon gardens: NASA to sow first seeds of future habitat

Helping China To The Moon

Japanese firm describes proposed 'power belt' for the moon

China pursues "zero window" launch for lunar probe

Amidst and Beyond the Rings

Spotlight on China's Moon Rover

China names moon rover "Yutu"

We're Going to the Moon!

NASA Spacecraft Begins Collecting Lunar Atmosphere Data

NASA Instrument Determines Hazards of Deep-Space Radiation

Rediscovered Apollo data gives first measure of how fast Moon dust piles up

Big Boost for China's Moon Lander

UNH scientists document, quantify deep-space radiation hazards

Martian moon samples will have bits of Mars

Mission to Mars moon could be a sample-return twofer

NASA Cassini Spacecraft Provides New View of Saturn and Earth

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