Moon Exploration and Science News

December 22, 2014

'Shooting the Moon' with Satellite Laser Ranging
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 23, 2014
Laser ranging from Earth to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was a milestone in the 50-year history of satellite laser ranging. Launched in 2009 and still orbiting the moon in 2014, LRO was the first spacecraft beyond Earth orbit to be routinely tracked using lasers, which were located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and other facilities. "The advantage of laser ranging is its accuracy, and that was apparent even in the earliest experiments," said John Degnan ... read more

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Signs of Europa Plumes Remain Elusive in Search of Cassini Data A fresh look at data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its 2001 flyby of Jupiter shows that Europa's tenuous atmosphere is even thinner than previously thought and also suggests that the ... more		Plans to Create Russian National Orbital Station Confirmed Russia's space agency Roscosmos is currently looking at plans to create a national space station that may be included in the new Federal Space Program, Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko said Monday. "I ... more		Moon Express testing compact lunar lander at Kennedy NASA is working with U.S. industry to develop the capabilities and cutting-edge technologies that will help send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. To achieve this goal, space travelers will need th ... more
				Cosmic Impacts Might Help Synthesize Organic Compounds Bullets of ice shot at high speeds can deposit organic compounds on surfaces they strike. The new findings suggest that comets might, indeed, have helped deliver key ingredients of life to Earth and ... more		How Did Life Become Complex, And Could It Happen Beyond Earth? When astrobiologists contemplate life on nearby planets or moons, they often suggest such life would be simple. Instead of there being some kind of multicellular organism on, say, Jupiter's moon Eur ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

UK Plans to Drill Into Moon, Explore Feasibility of Manned Base UK scientists have put forward goals for the country's recently-proposed Lunar Mission One program, the BBC reported on Monday. The researchers plan to drill 100 meters below the surface of th ... more		Portugal to integrate two scientific space exploration programs: media Portugal's Minister of Education and Science Nuno Crato said Wednesday that Portugal will integrate two scientific space exploration programs including the International Space Station, according to ... more		Stratolaunch secures major funding to scale hypersonic flight services Orion to advance IARPA system for tracking small space debris JAXA taps ispace for lunar debris mitigation and disposal study		Red Planet's Mystery While NASA plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 for extended missions in search of more water, scientists say it might be a good idea to drop by to Mars as well. In 2011, the first real pr ... more
				Losing air Today's atmosphere likely bears little trace of its primordial self: Geochemical evidence suggests that Earth's atmosphere may have been completely obliterated at least twice since its formation mor ... more		Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover "Andy" Carnegie Mellon University has unveiled Andy, a four-wheeled robot designed to scramble up steep slopes and survive the temperature swings and high radiation encountered while exploring the moon's p ... more

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

Why we should mine the moon To date, all human economic activity has depended on the material and energy resources of a single planet; understandably, perhaps. It is conceivable though that future advances in space exploration ... more		Service module of China's returned lunar orbiter reaches L2 point The service module belonging to China's unmanned lunar orbiter has reached the Earth-Moon second Lagrange Point (L2), the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defens ... more		Cleaner ship fuel is reducing lightning in key shipping lanes, research finds Solar cycles seen in Antarctic fast ice history Hot spring soaking reshapes parasite and microbe balance in Japanese macaques		Young Volcanoes on the Moon Back in 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts orbiting the Moon photographed something very odd. Researchers called it "Ina," and it looked like the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. There's nothing odd about ... more
NASA Opens Cube Quest Challenge for Largest-Ever Prize of $5 Million Registration now is open for NASA's Cube Quest Challenge, the agency's first in-space competition that offers the agency's largest-ever prize purse. Competitors have a shot at a share of $5 mi ... more		Russia Preparing Joint Moon Exploration Agreement With EU Scientists from Russia and the European Union are preparing an agreement on joint exploration of the Moon, Lev Zelyony, director of the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, s ... more		Extreme Shrimp May Hold Clues to Alien Life At one of the world's deepest undersea hydrothermal vents, tiny shrimp are piled on top of each other, layer upon layer, crawling on rock chimneys that spew hot water. Bacteria, inside the shrimps' ... more		Launched Russian satellites to reach 150 by 2025 Russia will increase the number of its orbital satellites to 150 by 2025, head of Russia's United Rocket Space Corporation (URSC) said Monday. "According to the federal space program's new project, ... more

	U.K. group to crowd-source funding for moon mission A group in the United Kingdom aims to launch a lunar probe and study the moon using money raised on crowd-funding website Kickstarter. ... more		After Mars, India space chief aims for the moon India now has its sights set on low-budget missions to the moon and the sun after becoming the first country in Asia to reach Mars, the head of its space agency said Tuesday. ... more

Keck backed team advances first graviton detector concept

Trump offers Egypt to mediate on Ethiopia dam

US to repeal the basis for its climate rules: What to know

Cassini Sails into New Ocean Adventures on Titan		China Exclusive: China developing Mars rover		China publishes Earth, Moon photos taken by lunar orbiter		China's Lunar Orbiter Makes Safe Landing, First in 40 Years		China examines the three stages of lunar test run
China gears up for lunar mission after round-trip success		China completes first mission to moon and back		Getting to Know You, Rocket Edition: Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage		Richard Binzel on NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission		Cassini Sees Sunny Seas on Titan

NASA's LRO Spacecraft Captures Images of LADEE's Impact Crater

NASA Identifies Ice Cloud Above Cruising Altitude on Titan

China launches first mission to moon and back

New lunar mission to test Chang'e-5 technology

Next Chinese mission to moon will return to Earth

China's lunar orbiter modifies orbit

NASA-led study sees Titan glowing at dusk and dawn

Organic molecules in Titan's atmosphere are intriguingly skewed

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