Volcanic rock samples collected during NASA’s Apollo missions bear the isotopic signature of key events in the early evolution of the Moon, a new analysis found. Those events include the formation of the Moon’s iron core, as well as the crystallization of the lunar magma ocean—the sea of molten rock thought to have covered the Moon for around 100 million years…
Tag: Apollo Missions
Aiming for the moon with NASA’s Artemis I
Artemis I is the first in a series of NASA missions that will enable human exploration on the moon again, and ultimately Mars, scheduled to launch in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/all-about-nasa-artemis-1-mission…
Water on the Moon: Research unveils its type and abundance – boosting exploration plans
The Moon was for a long time considered to be bone dry, with analyses of returned lunar samples from the Apollo missions showing only trace amounts of water. These traces were in fact believed to be due to contamination on Earth. But over the past two decades, re-analyses of lunar samples, observations by spacecraft missions, and theoretical modeling have proved this…
Blue Origin’s New Shepard completed its 7th launch and landing this week
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket successfully launched an uncrewed test flight on October 13, with both its capsule and booster later executing a flawless landing. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/blue-origin-new-shepard-7th-launch-landing-oct-13-2020…
Astonishing AI restoration brings Apollo moon landing films up to speed
Artificial intelligence transformed NASA footage of Apollo missions to the moon, making decades-old events look like they were shot on high-definition video. Source: https://www.livescience.com/moon-landing-footage-remastered.html
10 proofs the Moon Landing was real, debunking conspiracy theories
How is the flag waving on the Moon? Why aren’t there any stars in the Apollo photos? EarthSky debunks these Moon Landing conspiracy theories and more. Source: https://earthsky.org/uncategorized/10-proofs-the-moon-landing-was-real-debunking-conspiracy-theories…
NASA scientists find depletion of halogens due to giant impact
It’s been more than 50 years since the Apollo missions, and in that time, chemical analyses of the recovered lunar materials have revolutionized our understanding of planetary materials. One of the major findings as a result of this research is the recognition that the moon is exceptionally depleted in particular volatile elements, and that these moon rocks also exhibit large chemical…
A Spaceflight Engineer Recovers the Lost Software For Apollo 10’s Lunar Module
Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: Vintage computing enthusiasts have recreated NASA’s legendary “Apollo Guidance Computer,” the 1960s-era assembly-language onboard guidance and navigation computer for the Apollo missions to the moon. Unfortunately, the software had been lost for the Apollo 10 mission (a manned “dress rehearsal” mission which flew to the moon eight weeks before Neil Armstrong’s famous moonwalk mission). But spaceflight…
Lunar Flashlight to seek ice on the moon
Future astronauts on the moon will need to have water, and now NASA has designed a new CubeSat spacecraft to search for ice in lunar craters using laser beams. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/lunar-flashlight-moon-ice-infrared-laser-beams…
ESA helps analyze untouched Moon rocks
Almost 50 years after the Apollo missions returned lunar material to Earth, ESA experts are helping to uncover the secrets of two previously unopened samples to learn more about ancient processes on the Moon—and to refine and practice techniques for future sample return missions. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-04-esa-untouched-moon.html…