Tag: Planetary Science
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Japanese sample return craft departs asteroid, heads for Earth
The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Credit: JAXA Closing out a year-and-a-half of exploration, surveys and sampling operations at asteroid Ryugu, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft fired thrusters in a departure maneuver Wednesday and headed for Earth with specimens snatched from the asteroid’s dark and rocky…
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Ground teams studying setback with InSight’s subsurface heat probe
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) with comments from Bruce Banerdt, Insight’s principal investigator, about Level 1 requirements. Mars continues to surprise us. While digging this weekend the mole backed about halfway out of the ground. Preliminary assessment points to unexpected soil properties as the main reason. Team looking at next steps. #SaveTheMole…
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LRO’s view of Chandrayaan 2 landing site obscured by shadows
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft captured this view of the moon in 1992 on its mission to Jupiter. Credit: NASA An overflight last week of the Chandrayaan 2 landing site on the moon by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has turned up no clear sign of the lost Indian lander. Another flyover with better lighting conditions is scheduled…
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Launch of South Korean lunar orbiter delayed to 2022
The moon as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA The launch of South Korea’s first moon orbiter has been delayed from December 2020 until July 2022 after the mission encountered technical issues during development, officials recently announced. The design of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or KPLO, has grown beyond its original launch…
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NASA’s Juno spacecraft sees moon’s otherworldly shadow on Jupiter
The shadow of Jupiter’s moon Io is cast on the cloud tops of the giant planet in this view taken Sept. 12 by a camera on-board NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Kevin Gill, a software engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, created this mosaic from imagery taken by the JunoCam instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill Fresh images…
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Hayabusa 2 completes practice run for deployment of last asteroid lander
One of two target markers released by Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is seen in this overlay image with frames showing the target marker’s location at 4-second intervals. Credit: JAXA Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft deployed two target markers Monday above asteroid Ryugu in a rehearsal for the release of the mission’s final landing robot next month.…
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India’s first attempt to land on the moon appears to end in failure
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT) with Modi comments. A member of the Chandrayaan 2 team reacts after contact with the Vikram lander was lost Friday. Credit: ISRO Ground teams lost communication with India’s first lunar landing mission moments before its scheduled touchdown on the moon Friday, and the robotic research craft…
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Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander
Live coverage of the final descent and touchdown of India’s Vikram lander on the moon. Text updates will appear automatically below. ISRO’s live video webcast of Vikram’s landing on the moon begins at 1940 GMT (3:40 p.m. EDT) Friday.
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Indian moon lander ready for final descent
Artist’s concept of the Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander. Credit: ISRO The Vikram lander, part of India’s Chandrayaan 2 mission launched in July, will attempt to land near the lunar south pole Friday and deploy a rover to conduct the first on-the-ground scientific surveys away from the moon’s equatorial regions. The robotic spacecraft is set for…
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Mini-helicopter installed on NASA’s next Mars-bound rover
Members of the NASA Mars Helicopter team attach a thermal film to the exterior of the flight model of the Mars Helicopter. The image was taken on Feb. 1, 2019 inside the Space Simulator, a 25-foot-wide (7.62-meter-wide) vacuum chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory…