Category Archives: The moon

Trump order encourages US to mine the moon

Posted on by

Executive order says US will oppose any international effort to bar it from removing chunks of moon, Mars or elsewhere in space

The world may be racked by the coronavirus, but Donald Trump has less earthly concerns on his mind, too, after signing an executive order encouraging the US to mine the moon for minerals.

The executive order makes clear that the US doesn’t view space as a “global commons”, opening the way for the mining of the moon without any sort of international treaty.

Continue reading...

Chandrayaan-3: India unveils fresh $35m attempt to put a rover on the moon

Posted on by

Space programme seeks to bounce back after 2019 project ended with a crash landing on the lunar surface

India plans to make a fresh attempt at an unmanned mission on the moon this year, the head of the country’s space programme has said, after a 2019 bid ended in a crash landing.

Work was going “smoothly” on the Chandrayaan-3 mission to put a rover probe on the moon’s surface, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan said. “We are targeting the launch for this year but it may spillover to next year,” Sivan said. Indian sources said authorities had set November as a provisional target for launch.

Continue reading...

International Space Station astronauts play with fire for research

Posted on by

Tests to study behaviour of flames in zero gravity suggest fires could be more dangerous on moon than Earth

Playing with fire can be dangerous and never more so than when confined in a space capsule floating 250 miles above the Earth. But in the past week astronauts onboard the International Space Station have intentionally lit a series of blazes in research designed to study the behaviour of flames in zero gravity.

The scientists behind the experiment, called Confined Combustion, say it will help improve fire safety on the ISS and on future lunar missions by helping predict how a blaze might progress in low gravity conditions.

Continue reading...

India’s crashed Vikram moon lander spotted on lunar surface

Posted on by

Nasa satellite sends back images showing wreckage of Chandrayaan-2 mission, with debris found scattered nearly a kilometre away

A Nasa satellite orbiting the moon has found India’s Vikram lander, which crashed on the lunar surface in September, the US space agency said on Monday.

Nasa released an image taken by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that showed the site of the spacecraft’s impact and associated debris field, with parts scattered over almost two dozen locations spanning several kilometres.

Continue reading...

India moon mission: Vikram lunar lander found on surface

Posted on by

Efforts are underway to establish contact, days after communications were lost during failed landing

The lander module from India’s moon mission has been located on the lunar surface, the day after it lost contact with the space station, and efforts are underway to try to establish contact with it, the head of the nation’s space agency said.

The cameras from the moon mission’s orbiter had located the lander, said K. Sivan, the chairman of the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) according to the Press Trust of India news agency. He added: “It must have been a hard landing.”

Continue reading...

Tardigrades may have survived spacecraft crashing on moon

Posted on by

Scientists believe the Beresheet’s unusual cargo may be alive and well on the moon

The odds of finding life on the moon have suddenly rocketed skywards. But rather than elusive alien moonlings, the beings in question came from Earth and were spilled across the landscape when a spacecraft crashed into the surface.

The Israeli Beresheet probe was meant to be the first private lander to touch down on the moon. And all was going smoothly until mission controllers lost contact in April as the robotic craft made its way down. Beyond all the technology that was lost in the crash, Beresheet had an unusual cargo: a few thousand tiny tardigrades, the toughest animals on Earth.

Continue reading...

India’s Chandrayaan-2 moon mission lifts off a week after aborted launch

Posted on by

With first mission to land on lunar south pole, India aims to join club comprising Russia, US and China

India’s mission to the moon has blasted into space one week after a technical glitch forced scientists to abruptly halt its scheduled launch.

Thousands gathered to watch Chandrayaan-2 take off at 2.43pm local time (0913 GMT) on Monday from Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai.

Continue reading...

India launches mission to explore south pole of moon – video

Posted on by

India’s mission to the moon has blasted into space one week after a technical glitch forced scientists to abruptly halt its scheduled launch. Thousands gathered to watch Chandrayaan-2 take off on Monday from Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai. It will travel to the little-explored south pole of the moon

Continue reading...

Apollo 11: Buzz Aldrin greeted by cheers on moon landing’s 50th anniversary

Posted on by
  • Aldrin accompanies Mike Pence to launch site in Florida
  • Vice-president repeats Trump push for Mars mission

As Donald Trump reiterated his determination that Americans should walk on Mars, Mike Pence marked the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing at the Apollo 11 launch site in Florida on Saturday.

Related: Trump revives the idea of a ‘white man’s country’, America’s original sin | Nell Painter

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on moon landings: a new race for space | Editorial

Posted on by

The Apollo 11 mission inspired the world. What has happened in the ensuing half-century?

When Neil Armstrong stepped on to the moon 50 years ago, it was down to a giant leap of political and scientific imagination. His footprints on the powdery lunar surface changed the way we saw ourselves, confirming that humanity could escape its earthly coils. The mission unleashed a dream of what we as a species might do. Yet only a dozen people have walked on the moon, all between the summer of 1969 and the end of 1972.

Did we lose our primordial urge to explore? Almost certainly not – though Buzz Aldrin this week decried “50 years of non-progress”, probes have travelled to Pluto and beyond. But times have changed. The cold war rivalry that catalysed the space race vanished. The Soviet Union was first with a satellite, dog and astronaut in space. Today Washington and Moscow play the great game in the Middle East, not the heavens, although both are now contemplating a return to the moon: Donald Trump wants to make America great again by putting astronauts there by 2024, though some think China may get there first; Russia talks of landing cosmonauts by 2030.

Continue reading...

Lunar eclipse 2019: from Australia to the UK, stargazers enjoy bright side of the moon

Posted on by

Photographers from Sydney to Brasilia capture July’s stunning partial lunar eclipse

Stargazers around the world have enjoyed a view of a global lunar eclipse, delighting people from Dehli to Dublin.

The partial eclipse was visible in nearly every part of the world except for North America and the polar climes of Greenland and northern Russia.

Continue reading...

India’s Chandrayaan-2 moon mission called off minutes before launch

Posted on by

Nation’s first attempt at a landing on the moon put on hold due to ‘technical snag’

India’s moon mission, destined for the uncharted south pole, has been put on hold less than an hour before take off, following a technical glitch.

The mission, which was scheduled to launch at 02:51 local time from Sriharikota space centre, north of Chennai, is India’s most ambitious to date.

Continue reading...

Apollo 11 tapes bought for $218 may sell for millions after nearly being lost

Posted on by

Tapes identified in 2008 as the only surviving original recording of the first moon landing in 1969 are to go up for auction in July

When Gary George bought a truckload of videotapes for $218 from a US government surplus auction more than 40 years ago, he planned to sell them to television stations – to record over.

Fortunately, he decided to hold on to the three tapes labelled “Apollo 11 EVA”, which have since been identified as the only surviving original recording of the first moon landing, in 1969.

Continue reading...

Trump attacks Nasa and claims the moon is ‘a part’ of Mars

Posted on by

President tweeted Nasa should focus on ‘Mars (of which the Moon is a part)’ over going to the moon, a reversal of previous remarks

Followers of astronomy were in for a surprise on Friday, when Donald Trump announced that the moon is part of Mars.

In a tweet, apparently commenting on his own administration’s space policy, the president said: “For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago.”

Continue reading...

‘We have not managed to land successfully’: Israel’s moonshot fails

Posted on by

Spacecraft crashes in to lunar surface after engine and communications breakdown

An Israeli spacecraft has crashed into the lunar surface, ending the first privately funded attempt to land on the moon.

About the size of a washing machine, the 585kg (1,290lb) robotic lander experienced an engine and communication failure in the last seconds of touchdown.

Continue reading...

Rare super worm moon will loom large as it coincides with equinox

Posted on by

Phenomenon last occurred in spring 1905 and won’t happen again until the year 2144

Those gazing up into the sky on Wednesday night are set to witness an unusual event: a super worm moon that coincides with the equinox.

It will be the third time this year a full moon has occurred near to the moon’s closest approach to the Earth – making it a supermoon – and will be the last such event in 2019. Those venturing out can expect to see the moon looming larger than usual in the night sky.

Continue reading...

Giant leap for art: Lichfield Cathedral to become ‘lunar landscape’

Posted on by

Installation will transform cathedral floor to mark 50 years since Apollo 11 moon landing

It’s hard to imagine anything less like a lunar landscape than the medieval glories of Lichfield Cathedral. But this summer, an artist will transform its magnificent tiled floor into a representation of the moon’s surface to mark half a century since Neil Armstrong took “one small step for [a] man and one giant leap for mankind”.

The three-spired cathedral in Staffordshire has commissioned the art installation as part of its annual summer show, which this year is called Space, God, the Universe and Everything. Peter Walker, the cathedral’s artist-in-residence, will also use light and sound installations inspired by space and the planets.

Continue reading...

Super blood wolf moon: rare total lunar eclipse to grace northern hemisphere skies

Posted on by

Last blood moon for two years will combine with a supermoon to create unusual celestial phenomenon

An unusual set of circumstances will combine in the early hours of Monday morning in the skies above the northern hemisphere, resulting in a phenomenon called a super blood wolf moon.

A total lunar eclipse will give an apparent reddish colour to the lunar surface – known as a blood moon. At the same time, the moon will be slighty closer to Earth than normal and appear slightly bigger and brighter than usual – a phenomenon called a supermoon.

Continue reading...

First green leaf on moon dies as temperatures plummet

Posted on by

Cotton plant perishes on lunar far side after sprouting on board China’s Chang’e 4 lander

The appearance of a single green leaf hinted at a future in which astronauts would grow their own food in space, potentially setting up residence at outposts on the moon or other planets. Now, barely after it had sprouted, the cotton plant onboard China’s lunar rover has died.

The plant relied on sunlight at the moon’s surface, but as night arrived at the lunar far side and temperatures plunged as low as -170C, its short life came to an end.

Continue reading...

Far side of the moon: China’s Chang’e 4 probe makes historic touchdown

Posted on by

Lander sends back first close-up shot of previously unexplored side of the moon

A Chinese spacecraft has become the first ever to land on the far side of the moon, according to state-run media, in a giant leap for human space exploration.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) landed the robotic probe Chang’e 4 in the unexplored South Pole-Aitken basin, the largest, oldest, deepest, crater on the moon’s surface.

Continue reading...