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Getting a glimpse inside the moon![]() Edmonton, Canada (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 New research from University of Alberta physicists provides the first-ever model of our Moon's rotational dynamics, taking into consideration its solid inner core. Their model helps to explain why, as seen from Earth, the Moon appears to wobble on its axis. The answer, said physicist Mathieu Dumberry, lies in the complex geometry of the Moon's orbit, locked in what is known as a Cassini state. "The Moon goes around the Earth, but its orbit is inclined by about five degrees with respect to th ... read more |
Israeli spacecraft gets special passenger before moon journeyYehud, Israel (AFP) Dec 17, 2018 Israeli scientists making final preparations to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon added a special passenger on Monday that will accompany the journey. ... more
NASA seeks US partners to develop reusable systems to land astronauts on MoonWashington DC (SPX) Dec 14, 2018 As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA announced plans on Dec. 13 to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for ... more
China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbitBeijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018 China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Spac ... more
Learning from lunar lightsParis (ESA) Dec 10, 2018 Every few hours observing the Moon, ESA's 'NELIOTA' project discovers a brilliant flash of light across its surface - the result of an object hurtling through space and striking our unprotected rock ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Dec 20 | Dec 19 | Dec 18 | Dec 17 | Dec 16 |
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NASA Announces New Partnerships for Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery ServicesWashington DC (SPX) Nov 30, 2018 Nine U.S. companies now are eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the lunar surface through Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts, as one of the first steps toward long-term scie ... more
Construction of Russian Lunar Orbital Station May Be Launched in 2025Moscow (Sputnik) Nov 30, 2018 The construction of the Russian lunar orbital station may start in 2025 with the launch of the base module, according to a report entitled "Roadmap to the implementation of the lunar program," prepa ... more
Detective mission to characterize and trace the history of a new African meteoriteJohannesburg, South Africa (SPX) Nov 28, 2018 Researchers from Wits and colleagues from the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar are on a "detective mission" to describe, classify and trace the history of a meteorite that landed in and arou ... more
Roscosmos, NASA to work together on concept of Lunar orbital stationMoscow (Sputnik) Nov 20, 2018 Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation and NASA will work on the concept of a lunar orbital station that may be built with the fully-fledged participation of Russia, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozi ... more
2028 moon mission pitched at US National Space Council meetingWashington DC (Sputnik) Nov 17, 2018 A potential mission to the moon in 2028 was presented Thursday to the US National Space Council's (NSC) Users' Advisory Group in response to US President Donald Trump's idea of going to the Moon. ... more |
![]() App to the Moon
Lunar Outpost unveils lunar resource prospecting roverBoulder CO (SPX) Nov 14, 2018 Lunar Outpost, a space technology startup developing enabling technologies for a sustained presence on the Lunar surface, announced their Lunar Prospector designed to search for and map the Moon's n ... more |
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European-built Service Module arrives in US for first Orion lunar missionKennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Nov 07, 2018 The powerhouse that will help NASA's Orion spacecraft venture beyond the Moon is stateside. The European-built service module that will propel, power and cool during Orion flight to the Moon on Expl ... more
Roscosmos to Study Possibility to 3D Print Lunar Soil Details for Space RepairsMoscow (Sputnik) Nov 06, 2018 Russian space agency Roscosmos is planning to explore the possibility to 3D print details made of lunar soil in order to use them for space hardware repairs on the Moon, Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos ch ... more
First moon walk's commemorative plaque sold for $468,500New York (AFP) Nov 4, 2018 A commemorative plaque brought to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission went under the hammer for $468,500 in Texas, as part of a huge collection that once belonged to late astronaut Neil Armstrong, auctioneers said. ... more
Maxar Technologies' MDA to design lunar rover concept for Canadian Space AgencyBrampton, Canada (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 MDA has been selected by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to provide a conceptual design of a lunar rover for science exploration and to prepare for human missions on the lunar surface. As part ... more
Neil Armstrong's huge souvenir collection to be auctionedNew York (AFP) Oct 31, 2018 Talk about a pack rat: thousands of things that Neil Armstrong saved over the course of a career that saw him become the first man to walk on the moon will be auctioned off this week. ... more |
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Mars Express gets festive: A winter wonderland on Mars Paris (ESA) Dec 21, 2018
This image shows what appears to be a large patch of fresh, untrodden snow - a dream for any lover of the holiday season. However, it's a little too distant for a last-minute winter getaway: this feature, known as Korolev crater, is found on Mars, and is shown here in beautiful detail as seen by Mars Express.
ESA's Mars Express mission launched on 2 June 2003, and reached Mars six months l ... more |
NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" Rate Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.
"We estimate that this 'ring rain' drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming p ... more |
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Ultima Thule's First Mystery: Lack of a 'Light Curve' Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is bearing down on Ultima Thule, its New Year's flyby target in the far away Kuiper Belt. Among its approach observations over the past three months, the spacecraft has been taking hundreds of images to measure Ultima's brightness and how it varies as the object rotates.
Those measurements have produced the mission's first mystery about Ultima. Even though sc ... more |
NASA astronaut, crewmates return to Earth after 197-Day mission in space Houston TX (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Three members of the International Space Station's Expedition 57 crew, including NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor, returned to Earth Thursday, safely landing at 12:02 a.m. EST (11:02 a.m. local time) in Kazakhstan.
Aunon-Chancellor and her crewmates, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev, launched June 6 and arrive ... more |
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Pitt chemical engineers develop new theory to build improved nanomaterials Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Thanks in part to their distinct electronic, optical and chemical properties, nanomaterials are utilized in an array of diverse applications from chemical production to medicine and light-emitting devices.
But when introducing another metal in their structure, also known as "doping," researchers are unsure which position the metal will occupy and how it will affect the overall stability of ... more |
NZ-Dutch space startup raises 3M dollars Auckland NZ (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Dawn Aerospace, a New Zealand-Dutch startup building 100% reusable rockets for satellite delivery, has this week raised $3.35m (NZD) of investment from Kiwi, American and Dutch investors.
The money will be used to commercialise its world-leading satellite propulsion systems and begin development of it's Mk-II Spaceplane.
The company makes reusable rockets designed to carry small sa ... more |
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China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit Beijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018
China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent fr ... more |
NASA industry team creates and demonstrates first quantum sensor for satellite gravimetry Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
NASA and the Sunnyvale, California-based AOSense, Inc., have successfully built and demonstrated a prototype quantum sensor capable of obtaining highly sensitive and accurate gravity measurements - a stepping stone toward next-generation geodesy, hydrology, and climate-monitoring missions in space.
The prototype sensor, developed in collaboration with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in ... more |
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New squeezing record at GEO600 gravitational-wave detector Hannover, Germany (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
The detection of Einstein's gravitational waves relies on highly precise laser measurements of small length changes. The kilometer-size detectors of the international network (GEO600, LIGO, Virgo) are so sensitive that they are fundamentally limited by tiny quantum mechanical effects.
These cause a background noise which overlaps with gravitational-wave signals. This noise is always presen ... more |
Webb Telescope wrapped in a mobile clean room Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Before moving NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, and to assure that it's kept clean and safe, Webb got a very special wrapping treatment. The wrapping acts as a "mobile clean room," safeguarding the technological marvel from contaminants.
All satellites and observatories are created in clean rooms. Clean rooms filter out harmful contaminants, as even a speck of dust or a fingerprint could ... more |
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China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit Beijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018
China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent fr ... more |
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Preparing for discovery with NASA's Parker Solar Probe Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 13, 2018
Weeks after Parker Solar Probe made the closest-ever approach to a star, the science data from the first solar encounter is just making its way into the hands of the mission's scientists. It's a moment many in the field have been anticipating for years, thinking about what they'll do with such never-before-seen data, which has the potential to shed new light on the physics of our star, the Sun. ... more |
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst returns to Earth for the second time Paris (ESA) Dec 21, 2018
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst returned to Earth earlier this week alongside NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev.
Returning in the same Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft that flew them to the International Space Station on 6 June 2018, the trio landed in the Kazakh steppe on 20 December at 05:06 GMT (06:06 CET).
Alexander is now flying directly to Colo ... more |
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Navigating NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroids Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the navigational acrobatics required in order to guarantee real-life mission success.
In 2021, the feat of navigation that is the Lucy mission will launch. To steer Lucy towards its targets doesn't simply involve programming a map into a spacecraf ... more |
Self-driving rovers tested in Mars-like Morocco Paris (ESA) Dec 21, 2018
Robots invaded the Sahara Desert for Europe's largest rover field test, taking place in a Mars-like part of Morocco. For two weeks three rovers and more than 40 engineers tested automated navigation systems at up to five different sites.
This marked the end of the first phase of the strategic research cluster on space robotics technologies, a scheme funded by the European Union's Horizon 2 ... more |
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