Moon Exploration and Science News

May 05, 2014

SHERPA launch service deal to deploy 1200 kilo smallsat payloads
Seattle WA (SPX) May 05, 2014
Spaceflight has announced it has secured a launch service agreement to orbit its "SHERPA" hosted payload and in-space transportation system. Spaceflight's inaugural SHERPA mission will deploy up to 1,200 kilograms of customer satellite payloads into low Earth orbit during the second half of 2015 on an undisclosed launch vehicle. Spaceflight's SHERPA is a free-flying platform that ferries up to 1,500 kg of rideshare spacecraft and provides a hosted payload solution. The SHERPA has a custom ring as ... read more

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Astrobotic Partners With NASA To Develop Robotic Lunar Landing Capability Astrobotic Technology has announced a new partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for development of robotic lunar landing capability. Astrobotic has been sel ... more		NASA Selects Partners for US Commercial Lander Capabilities NASA announced Wednesday the selection of three U.S. companies to negotiate no-funds exchanged partnership agreements with the agency to advance lander capabilities that will enable delivery of payl ... more		Ganymede May Harbor 'Club Sandwich' of Oceans and Ice The largest moon in our solar system, a companion to Jupiter named Ganymede, might have ice and oceans stacked up in several layers like a club sandwich, according to new NASA-funded research that m ... more
				NASA Seeks External Concepts for Mission to Oceanic Jovian Moon NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to science and engineering communities for ideas for a mission to Europa that could address fundamental questions of the enigmatic moon and the search ... more		Seven Samples from the Solar System's Birth by Aaron L. Gronstal for a href="http://www.astrobio.net/">Astrobiology Magazine /a> At this year's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), scientists reported that, after eight painstaking ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95 "In the space race of the 1950s and '60s, the leading voices were rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and ... another guy. Household names included Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard and ... oh, you know, ... more		NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface Ground controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., have confirmed that NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft impacted the surface of the m ... more		Balerion backs Northwood to tackle ground bottlenecks in expanding space economy China prepares offshore test base for reusable liquid rocket launches 'They poisoned us': grappling with deadly impact of nuclear testing		Saturn's rings reveal how to make a moon Writing in the journal Icarus this week, Professor Carl Murray from Queen Mary's Astronomy Unit reports that recently discovered disturbances at the very edge of Saturn's outer bright A ring result ... more
				Russia plans to get a foothold in the Moon Russia plans to organize a permanent base on the moon rather than leave it after several successful missions, the Russian deputy defense minister in charge of defense and space industries said. "The ... more		Join in the Cassini Name Game As NASA's Cassini mission approaches its 10th anniversary at Saturn, its team members back here on Earth are already looking ahead to an upcoming phase. Starting in late 2016, the Cassini spac ... more

UAV Payloads 2014, 24 - 25 June - London, UK

International Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures From Space Environment

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

NASA's LRO Mission and North America to Experience Total Lunar Eclipse When people in North America look up at the sky in the early morning hours of April 15, they can expect the moon to look a little different. A total lunar eclipse is expected at this time, a phenome ... more		Russian Federal Space Agency is elaborating Moon exploration program The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has created a team of specialists, which will elaborate the Moon program. The scientists plan to launch three spacecraft - two landing and one orbital - ... more		NASA advances space based tracking of marine debris Inside King Charles's passion project, focus of Amazon film Lightning strike injures 89 at rally for Brazil's former president		New Catalog Brings NASA Software Down to Earth From the rudimentary but effective Apollo Guidance and Navigation System that landed the first humans on the lunar landscape to the code used to manage robotic missions to explore other planets, sof ... more
				The Importance of Planetary Plumes The Hubble Space Telescope is famous for finding black holes. It can pick out thousands of galaxies in a patch of sky the size of a thumbprint. The most powerful space telescope ever built, the Hubb ... more		What's so hard about counting craters? Providing a rare glimpse of the trade secrets of planetary scientists, the journal Icarus published a study this month that compared lunar crater counts by eight professionals with crowdsourced coun ... more

ISS research shows that hardy little space travelers could colonize Mars

Target on Mars Looks Good for NASA Rover Drilling

Mars Rover Switches to Driving Backwards Due to Elevated Wheel Currents

Saturn's rings reveal how to make a moon

Saturn's hexagon: An amazing phenomenon

NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of a Saturn Moon

Dwarf planet 'Biden' identified in an unlikely region of our solar system

Planet X myth debunked

WISE Finds Thousands Of New Stars But No Planet X

Astrobotic Partners With NASA To Develop Robotic Lunar Landing Capability

John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95

NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface

	Science, Discovery Channels to broadcast private race to the moon Just a week after Google announced its Lunar X competition, teams of engineers and scientists are racing to build a robotic spacecraft that can successfully land on the moon. A prize of $30 million awaits the first to accomplish the feat - and so does television stardom. ... more		Take the Plunge: LADEE Impact Challenge NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft is gradually lowering its orbital altitude over the moon. LADEE will continue to make important science observations before i ... more		Gravity measurements confirm subsurface ocean on Enceladus In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft sent pictures back to Earth depicting an icy Saturnian moon spewing water vapor and ice from fractures, known as "tiger stripes," in its frozen surface. It w ... more		Land a Lunar Laser Reflector Now! As we consider the next spacecraft to land on the Moon, let's not overlook an increasing problem in scientific research. The laser reflectors already on the Moon are getting old, and need to be repl ... more

Laser method proposed to extend muon lifetime for science applications

Quantum collapse models point to subtle limits in timekeeping accuracy

Heavy impurities reveal new link in quantum matter theory

New research finds 'geologic clock' that helps determine moon's age		Cassini reports sub-surface ocean on Enceladus		Scientists date Moon at 4.470 billion years		Misleading mineral may have resulted in overestimate of water in moon		A Tetrad of Lunar Eclipses
Unique camera from NASA's moon missions sold at auction		A Wet Moon		ASU camera creates stunning mosaic of moon's polar region		Expeditions to the Moon: beware of meteorites		China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover rouses from latest slumber

NASA Releases First Interactive Mosaic of Lunar North Pole

Study on lunar crater counting shows crowdsourcing effective, accurate tool

Spacesuits And Moon Notes Among The Stars At Bonhams NYC Auction

MIT team proposes storing extra rocket fuel in space for future missions

Robotic Exploration of Moon, Mars a Priority

Russia to launch three lunar rovers from 2016 to 2019

China has no plans for lunar base project

Feature: The "masters" behind China's lunar rover Jade Rabbit

Preparation for Chang'e-5 launch on schedule

China capable of exploring Mars

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