Moon Exploration and Science News

August 25, 2014

Voyager Map Details Neptune's Strange Moon Triton
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 22, 2014
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft gave humanity its first close-up look at Neptune and its moon Triton in the summer of 1989. Like an old film, Voyager's historic footage of Triton has been "restored" and used to construct the best-ever global color map of that strange moon. The map, produced by Paul Schenk, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, has also been used to make a movie recreating that historic Voyager encounter, which took place 25 years ago, on August 25, 1989. T ... read more

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Electric Sparks May Alter Evolution of Lunar Soil The moon appears to be a tranquil place, but modeling done by University of New Hampshire (UNH) and NASA scientists suggests that, over the eons, periodic storms of solar energetic particles may hav ... more		NASA, Partners Reveal California Meteorite's Rough and Tumble Journey A meteorite that fell onto the roof of a house in Novato, California, on Oct. 17, 2012, has revealed a detailed picture of its origin and tumultuous journey through space and Earth's atmosphere. An ... more		Follow the radio waves to exomoons Scientists hunting for life beyond Earth have discovered more than 1,800 planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, in recent years, but so far, no one has been able to confirm an exomoon. Now ... more
				Cassini Tracks Clouds Developing Over a Titan Sea NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured images of clouds moving across the northern hydrocarbon seas of Saturn's moon Titan. This renewed weather activity, considered overdue by researchers, cou ... more		American Spaceports Most people are not aware that the world is awash with spaceports. However, the popular ones are well-known. For example, the Cape Canaveral Area of Florida is the home of the most famous launch fac ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

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

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

China to test recoverable moon orbiter China is preparing for the launch of an experimental recoverable moon orbiter, said the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence on Sunday. The orbiter arr ... more		China to send orbiter to moon and back China will launch its first recoverable moon orbiter later this year, the government announced Sunday, in the latest step in its ambitious space programme. ... more		Aalyria spacetime platform tapped for AFRL space data network trials Atomic 6 debris shields selected for Portal Space Systems mission China starts large scale production of T1000 carbon fiber		August supermoon will be brightest this year A supermoon is the term for a full moon that rises during the portion of the moon's orbit when it comes closest to Earth - the moon's perigee. ... more
				NASA Experts, Russia Sign Radiation Safety Protocol Despite Sanctions NASA experts have signed a protocol with Russia on radiation safety for space flights despite the new set of US sanctions against Moscow, the director of Moscow State University's Institute of Nucle ... more		SwRI-led team's research shows giant asteroids battered early Earth A new terrestrial bombardment model developed by an international group of scientists led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) indicates that Earth's surface was heavily reprocessed - or melted, m ... more

A Hellacious Two Weeks on Jupiter's Moon Io Three massive volcanic eruptions occurred on Jupiter's moon Io within a two-week period in August of last year. This led astronomers to speculate that such "outbursts," which can send material hundr ... more		Extreme Volcanism On Io During the middle of 2013, Jupiter's moon Io came alive with volcanism. Now, an image from the Gemini Observatory captures what is one of the brightest volcanoes ever seen in our solar system. The i ... more		Ancient nitrogen enzyme study illuminates early Earth conditions and life detection Cleaner ship fuel is reducing lightning in key shipping lanes, research finds Geoscientists use satellite to determine not the shape of water, but how water shapes land		Manned Moon Mission to Cost Russia $2.8 Bln A manned mission to the Moon will cost Russia 100 billion rubles (about $2.8 billion), Igor Mitrofanov, laboratory director at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute said Sunday. ... more
Tidal forces gave moon its shape The shape of the moon deviates from a simple sphere in ways that scientists have struggled to explain. A new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz shows that most of the moon's overall shape can be ... more		New NASA Research Shows Giant Asteroids Battered Early Earth New research shows that more than four billion years ago the surface of Earth was heavily reprocessed - or melted, mixed, and buried - as a result of giant asteroid impacts. A new terrestrial bombar ... more		Riddle of bulging Moon solved at last Far from being perfectly round, the Moon has a weird shape, with a highland bulge on the side facing the Earth and another bulge on its far side - a riddle that has fascinated scientists for decades. ... more		MIPT-based researcher models Titan's atmosphere A researcher from MIPT, Prof. Vladimir Krasnopolsky, who heads the Laboratory of High Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of Planetary Atmospheres, has published the results of the comparison of his mo ... more

	China's biggest moon challenge: returning to earth China's lunar probe, Chang'e-5, will be launched around 2017 and its mission to collect samples from the moon and return to earth is the most challenging yet, according to Wu Weiren, chief designer ... more		NASA's Next Giant Leap The first humans who will step foot on Mars are walking the Earth today. It was 45 years ago that Neil Armstrong took the small step onto the surface of the moon that changed the course of history. ... more

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Low frequency lasers modeled to greatly boost nuclear fusion rates

Lunar rock collisions behind Yutu damage		Lunar Pits Could Shelter Astronauts, Reveal Details of How 'Man in the Moon' Formed		Manned mission to Moon scheduled by Roscosmos for 2020-2031		NASA Seeks Proposals for Europa Mission Science Instruments		Ten-Year Endeavor: NASA's Aura Tracks Pollutants
Sky-gazers can expect one 'Supermoon' per month for the next three months		Landsat Looks to the Moon		Newfound Frozen World Orbits in Binary Star System		Models suggest stretching forces shaped Ganymede's surface		Yutu designer's bittersweet

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Discovery expands search for Earth-like planets

Russia plans super-heavy rocket for Lunar, Mars missions

Rover Has Enough Energy for Some Late-Night Work

NASA plans to colonize Mars

Chinese scientists prepare for lunar base life support system

Upside-down drive: NASA tests under-ice space rover

China plans to land rover on Mars by 2020

Computing Paths to Asteroids Helps Find Future Exploration Opportunities

Mysterious 'Magic Island' appears on Saturn moon

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