Moon Exploration and Science News

December 30, 2014

Revisiting a 2009 Space Exploration Architecture Proposal
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Dec 30, 2014
Several recent articles in space publications have called into question NASA's ability to assemble a reasonable space exploration program plan. In summary, NASA is apparently building the Space Launch System (SLS) which supports an exploration architecture that is quite similar to that used for the Apollo Lunar Program, i.e., launch the entire mission equipment and crew on one launch vehicle for travel beyond low earth orbit. Thus, in order to send three men to the moon, with the ability to land a ... read more

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Risky Business In April 2013, NASA announced that it was in the early phases of planning a robotic mission to snag an asteroid and haul it into lunar orbit for study. At the time, NASA chief Charles Bolden said th ... more		'Shooting the Moon' with Satellite Laser Ranging 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 ... more		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

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

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		Greenland truce or Trump win? Davos "framework" pauses tariffs but not the takeover boasts Greenlanders doubtful over Trump resolution EU says ready to sign defence and security pact with India		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		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

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

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		Trump vows to relaunch Egypt-Ethiopia talks on dam row China's birth rate falls to lowest on record Chile police arrest suspect over deadly wildfires		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		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

Quantum transport method reads open quantum states

Scientists uncover new quantum state that could power future technologies

Early universe dark matter born red hot before cooling

U.K. group to crowd-source funding for moon mission		After Mars, India space chief aims for the moon		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

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