The Orion capsule will be launched on the Space Launch System, paving the way for the resumption of people to walk on Earth’s satellite again
Nasa has announced plans to launch an uncrewed flight around the Moon in February 2022, paving the way for astronauts to once again set foot on Earth’s satellite.
The US space agency said on Friday that it was in the final phase of testing to send its Orion capsule on an orbit around the Moon on its Space Launch System rocket.
Continue reading...Spacecraft with name inspired by a skeleton and the Beatles, and with lab-grown gems, starts 12-year quest
A Nasa spacecraft named Lucy has rocketed into the sky with diamonds on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids.
Seven of the mysterious space rocks are among swarms of asteroids sharing Jupiter’s orbit, thought to be the pristine leftovers of planetary formation.
Continue reading...Fresh off his trip to space, Jeff Bezos on Monday offered to cover up to $2bn in Nasa costs if the US space agency awards his company Blue Origin a contract to make a spacecraft designed to land astronauts back on the moon.
Nasa in April awarded SpaceX, owned by rival billionaire Elon Musk, a $2.9bn contract to build a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2024, rejecting bids from Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics. Blue Origin had partnered with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper in the bid.
Continue reading...Scientists from agency and Noaa say Earth’s ‘energy imbalance’ roughly doubled from 2005 to 2019 in ‘alarming’ way
The Earth is trapping nearly twice as much heat as it did in 2005, according to new research, described as an “unprecedented” increase amid the climate crisis.
Scientists from Nasa, the US space agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), reported in a new study that Earth’s “energy imbalance approximately doubled” from 2005 to 2019. The increase was described as “alarming”.
Continue reading...Juno passed within 645 miles of Ganymede, the closest any spacecraft has come to the moon since 2000
Nasa’s Juno spacecraft has provided the first closeups of Jupiter’s largest moon in two decades.
Juno zoomed past icy Ganymede on Monday, passing within 645 miles (1,038km). The last time a spacecraft came that close was in 2000 when Nasa’s Galileo spacecraft swept past our solar system’s biggest moon.
Continue reading...Nasa sets aside $1bn for two ventures, which will be first US exploration of the planet since 1989
Nasa is returning to Venus for the first time in more than three decades to gain a better understanding of the history of what scientists believe could have been the first habitable planet in the solar system.
Plans for two separate and ambitious deep space missions to Earth’s nearest neighbour were announced on Wednesday by the head of the US space agency, Bill Nelson. Launches were targeted for a 2028-2030 time frame, he said.
Continue reading...The sudden appearance of a small hole in a robotic arm aboard the international space station (ISS) has brought renewed attention to the danger posed by space junk.
Related: Chinese cargo craft docks with future space station in orbit
Continue reading...The picture is a composite of 370 observations made over the past two decades and depicts billions of stars and black holes
Nasa has released a stunning new picture of our galaxy’s violent, super-energized “downtown”.
Related: Manhattenhenge: miserable Memorial Day weather mars biannual fiery display
Continue reading...Problem with camera-based navigation system saw helicopter wobble through the air in biggest tech issue Ingenuity has faced
A navigation timing error sent Nasa’s Mars helicopter on a lurching ride, its first major problem since it took to the Martian skies last month.
The experimental helicopter, named Ingenuity, managed to land safely after the problem occurred, officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Osiris-Rex has been flying around the ancient asteroid since 2018 and collected nearly a pound of rubble last fall
With rubble from an asteroid tucked inside, a Nasa spacecraft fired its engines and began the long journey back to Earth on Monday, leaving the ancient space rock in its rearview mirror.
The trip home for the robotic prospector, Osiris-Rex, will take two years.
Continue reading...US agency accuses Beijing of failing to meet expected standards regarding its space debris
Remnants of China’s biggest rocket have landed in the Indian Ocean, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit and drawing US criticism over a lack of transparency.
The coordinates given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO), put the point of impact west of the Maldives archipelago.
Continue reading...Astronaut and pilot of the command module Columbia during 1969’s Apollo 11 mission
On 20 July 1969, Michael Collins, who has died aged 90, became the most solitary human in the universe – even if he derided that categorisation as “phony philosophy”. He orbited the moon alone, inside Apollo 11’s command module Columbia, and out of touch with ground control for 48 minutes on each orbit. Meanwhile, and more famously, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were becoming the first men to set foot on that rock, some 240,000 miles away from Earth.
As the command module pilot, on $17,000 a year, Collins was, he later wrote half-jokingly, “the navigator, the guidance and control expert, the base-camp operator, the owner of the leaky plumbing – all the things I was least interested in doing”. He was also, thought Aldrin, probably Nasa’s best-trained command module pilot.
Continue reading...Flight path of Kalahari’s six-tonne asteroid is first tracing of meteorite shedding rock to solar system origin
Astronomers have reconstructed the 22m-year-long voyage of an asteroid that hurtled through the solar system and exploded over Botswana, showering meteorites across the Kalahari desert.
It is the first time scientists have traced showering space rock to its source – in this case Vesta, one of largest bodies in the asteroid belt that circles the sun between Jupiter and Mars.
Continue reading...Ingenuity successfully takes flight, hovering at height of about 3 metres before touching back down
Nasa’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has completed the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, the space agency has announced.
The small helicopter successfully took flight on the red planet on Monday morning, hovering in the air at an altitude of about 3 metres (10 feet), before descending and touching back down on the Martian surface.
Continue reading...The Ingenuity helicopter, which arrived on the red planet in February, is expected to take to the skies on Wednesday
Nasa is gearing up to attempt the first controlled flight on another planet next week, with the tiny Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.
The helicopter is expected to take to the skies next week, with Wednesday being the earliest time scheduled.
Continue reading...Chunk of space rock was once the ‘poster child for hazardous asteroids’ but it will be a while before humans need to worry about it again
Nasa has given Earth the all clear on the chances of an asteroid called Apophis hitting our planet any time in the next century, having worried space scientists for over 15 years.
The 340-metre (1,100ft) chunk of space rock hit the headlines in 2004 after its discovery led to some worrying forecasts about its orbit. It became a “poster child for hazardous asteroids”, according to one Nasa expert.
Continue reading...Nasa’s latest Mars rover, Perseverance, has sent back the sounds of its six metal wheels driving across the planet’s surface. The recording was captured by one of its two onboard microphones, with Nasa releasing 16 minutes’ worth. Engineers are investigating whether a high-pitched scratching noise is caused by electromagnetic interference or the rover’s movement. Perseverance will continue to look for somewhere to launch the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a drone that it is carrying
Continue reading...Vehicle had no problem going 6.5 metres, turning and backing up, then photographed its own wheel marks on planet’s surface
Nasa’s Mars rover Perseverance has taken a short drive two weeks after touching down, mission managers have said.
The six-wheeled, car-sized probe went 6.5 metres (21.3 feet) during a half-hour test within Jezero crater, an ancient lake bed and river delta.
Continue reading...Space agency also reveals audio recorded by Perseverance on surface of red planet
Nasa has unveiled a first-of-its-kind video of its car-sized rover Perseverance making its sensational landing on Mars, and released the first audio recorded on the surface of the red planet.
The American space agency shared the footage on Monday, days after the spacecraft made its dramatic descent to the Martian surface.
Continue reading...Car-sized vehicle designed to seek signs of life is pronounced ‘healthy’ after dramatic descent to surface of the red planet
Nasa scientists have said the Perseverance Mars rover is “healthy” and is beaming back many stunning new images from the surface of the planet, promising significant scientific discoveries ahead.
Related: Perseverance’s mission to Mars – in pictures
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