China’s Chang’e 5 moon mission – which successfully returned moon rocks to Earth in December, 2020 for the first time in 44 years – is now headed toward the Earth-sun Lagrange point, for the goal of making sun observations. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/china-change-5-moon-mission-extended-to-l1-sun…
Tag: moon mission
‘Major Component Malfunction’ Ends SLS Rocket Test Early. NASA Considers New Timeline
“NASA’s rocket charged with taking the agency back to the moon fired its four main engines Saturday afternoon, but the test in Mississippi was cut short after a malfunction caused an automatic abort,” reports Florida Today… “We did get an MCF on engine four,” a control room member said less than a minute into the test fire, using an initialism that…
Watch NASA Test-Fire Its SLS Mega-Rocket Engines
“The date is set,” NASA tweeted yesterday, thanking its partners Boeing Space and Aerojet Rocketdyne for Saturday’s “hot fire” test of the SLS’s core stage. “One of NASA’s main goals for 2021 is to launch Artemis I, an uncrewed moon mission meant to show the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket can safely send humans to our lunar neighbor,” reports…
How will the U.S. space program fare under Joe Biden?
Joe Biden is the United States presidential election winner, but his plans for NASA remain unclear. And while citizens digest the election results, the space industry is left wondering what comes next. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/how-will-the-u-s-space-program-fare-under-joe-biden…
Meet PitRanger: Tiny rover designed to probe the lunar underworld
Researchers have been busily building a prototype of a 33-pound (15 kg) lunar mini-robot, set to be the key instrument in a future mission aimed at capturing high-definition images of moon pits. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/meet-pitranger-a-tiny-rover-to-probe-lunar-underworld…
Canadian will join Moon mission for first time in 2023
A Canadian astronaut will take part in a lunar mission for the first time in 2023, as part of the NASA-led Artemis project, the minister for innovation, science and industry announced Wednesday. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-canadian-moon-mission.html…
NASA outlines goals for crewed Moon mission
In addition to landing humans on the Moon, the Artemis III mission will aim to achieve several scientific goals. Launching aboard an Orion spacecraft … Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/341650/nasa-outlines-goals-for-crewed-moon-mission…
China Launches Ambitious Mission To Land On Moon and Return Samples To Earth
BeerFartMoron shares a report from CBS News: China launched its most ambitious moon mission yet Monday: a robotic spacecraft expected to land on the lunar surface by the end of the week. The spacecraft is expected to collect about four pounds of rock and soil samples, and return them to Earth next month for laboratory analysis. If successful, the Chang’e 5…
NASA to test its SLS megarocket in the coming weeks
The ongoing pandemic has slowed testing for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket, but the process is resuming and has checked off a key milestone: powering up the core stage. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-megarocket-sls-tests-core-green-run-hot-fire-test…
Safety Panel Has ‘Great Concern’ About NASA Plans To Test Moon Mission Software
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: An independent panel that assesses the safety of NASA activities has raised serious questions about the space agency’s plan to test flight software for its Moon missions. During a Thursday meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, one of its members, former NASA Flight Director Paul Hill, outlined the panel’s concerns after…