Moon Exploration and Science News

October 07, 2014

Solving the mystery of the 'man in the moon'
Boston MA (SPX) Oct 06, 2014
New data obtained by NASA's GRAIL mission reveals that the Procellarum region on the near side of the moon - a giant basin often referred to as the "man in the moon" - likely arose not from a massive asteroid strike, but from a large plume of magma deep within the moon's interior. The Procellarum region is a roughly circular, volcanic terrain some 1,800 miles in diameter - nearly as wide as the United States. One hypothesis suggested that it was formed by a massive impact, in which case it would h ... read more

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Origin of moon's 'ocean of storms' revealed Oceanus Procellarum, a vast dark patch visible on the western edge of the Moon's near side, has long been a source of mystery for planetary scientists. Some have suggested that the "ocean of storms" ... more		'Man in the Moon' was born from lava - scientists A dark lunar basin that, seen from Earth, produces the "Man in the Moon" effect, was created by an outpouring of lava and not an asteroid strike, astronomers said Wednesday. ... more		China to improve earth observation service China will promote the application of satellite earth observation technologies to better serve the economy, officials and experts said. China has already built a network of satellites and othe ... more
				Cassini Watches Mysterious Feature Evolve in Titan Sea NASA's Cassini spacecraft is monitoring the evolution of a mysterious feature in a large hydrocarbon sea on Saturn's moon Titan. The feature covers an area of about 100 square miles (260 square kilo ... more		Turning the Moon into a cosmic ray detector Scientists from the University of Southampton are to turn the Moon into a giant particle detector to help understand the origin of Ultra-High-Energy (UHE) cosmic rays - the most energetic particles ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

China Exclusive: Mars: China's next goal? Mars receives two visitors from the Earth this week. NASA's new spacecraft MAVEN entered the orbit around Mars on Sept. 21 to hunt for the planet's lost water. and India's first Mars probe has reach ... more		Russia to Launch Full-Scale Moon Exploration Next Decade Russia's space agency Roscosmos plans to launch a full-scale Moon exploration program in late 2020s or early 2030s, the agency's head Oleg Ostapenko said on Tuesday. "We are planning to comple ... 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		Miranda: An Icy Moon Deformed by Tidal Heating Miranda, a small, icy moon of Uranus, is one of the most visually striking and enigmatic bodies in the solar system. Despite its relatively small size, Miranda appears to have experienced an episode ... more
				Lunar explorers will walk at higher speeds than thought Anyone who has seen the movies of Neil Armstrong's first bounding steps on the moon couldn't fail to be intrigued by his unusual walking style. But, contrary to popular belief, the astronaut's pecul ... more		Year's final supermoon is a Harvest Moon The supermoon is making an encore, its last appearance before the moon's perigee - the portion of its orbit closest to Earth - and 2014 slowly fade away. ... more

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

Evidence of 'Diving' Tectonic Plates on Jupiter's Moon Europa Scientists have found evidence of plate tectonics on Jupiter's moon Europa. This indicates the first sign of this type of surface-shifting geological activity on a world other than Earth. Researcher ... more		China Sends Life to Moon Later this year, China will launch a spacecraft to the Moon and back. A scale replica of the Shenzhou astronaut capsule will be carried atop a boxy spacecraft based on the Chang'e lunar orbiter, and ... 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		How much gravity is enough? Keeping upright in a low-gravity environment is not easy, and NASA documents abound with examples of astronauts falling on the lunar surface. Now, a new study by an international team of researchers ... more
Titan's subsurface reservoirs modify methane rainfall The international Cassini mission has revealed hundreds of lakes and seas spread across the icy surface of Saturn's moon Titan, mostly in its polar regions. These lakes are filled not with water but ... more		China Aims for the Moon, Plans to Bring Back Lunar Soil Chinese scientists are in the course of developing a recoverable lunar robotic spacecraft Chang'e 5 that is to reach the Moon by 2017 with a mission to deliver samples of rock and soil back to Earth ... more		Same-beam VLBI Tech monitors Chang'E-3 movement on moon By using the same-beam VLBI technology, differential phase delay successfully monitored the lunar rover's movement during the Chang'E-3 mission when rover and lander was carrying out the tasks of se ... more		How Titan's Haze Help Us Understand Life's Origins Where did life on Earth come from? There are several theories as to what might have happened. Maybe comets came bearing organic material, or life was transported from another planet such as Mars, or ... more

	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		Voyager Map Details Neptune's Strange Moon Triton 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 ... more

Hydrogen nuclei experiment sharpens view of quarks inside matter

Oak Ridge team plans powerful test facility for next generation fusion components

Low frequency lasers modeled to greatly boost nuclear fusion rates

NASA, Partners Reveal California Meteorite's Rough and Tumble Journey		Follow the radio waves to exomoons		Cassini Tracks Clouds Developing Over a Titan Sea		American Spaceports		China to test recoverable moon orbiter
China to send orbiter to moon and back

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