Tag: Planetary Science
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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…
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Chandrayaan 2 arrives in lunar orbit, targets moon landing next month
Artist’s illustration of the Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft, including the lander and orbiter, at the moon. Credit: ISRO India’s Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft braked into orbit around the moon Tuesday, positioning the robotic science mission for a landing in the moon’s south pole region Sept. 6. The spacecraft ignited its main engine at 0332 GMT Tuesday (11:32…
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NASA terminates lunar lander contract with OrbitBeyond
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) with new CLPS on-ramp announcement. OrbitBeyond’s Z-01 lunar lander. Credit: OrbitBeyond NASA has terminated a $97 million contract with OrbitBeyond, a New Jersey-based company with plans to build robotic moon landers in Florida, just two months after announcing an agreement to send science instruments to the lunar…
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Japanese spacecraft snags second sample from asteroid
A camera on-board Hayabusa 2 shows the spacecraft’s sampler horn contacting the asteroid’s surface, then kicking up rocky debris after firing a sampling projectile. Credit: JAXA Scientists celebrated another success with Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft late Wednesday (U.S. time), when the robot explorer accomplished a second pinpoint touch-and-go landing on asteroid Ryugu, this time to…
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Hayabusa 2 cleared for second touchdown on asteroid
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft touching down on asteroid Ryugu. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Ground teams have approved plans for Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sample return mission to briefly land on asteroid Ryugu for the second time July 11, aiming for a targeted touch-and-go to gather material exposed by an explosive impactor released by the…
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NASA approves development of flying drone to explore Saturn’s moon Titan
Artist’s concept of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. Credit: NASA NASA officials announced Thursday that the agency will move forward with the development of a plutonium-powered robotic quadcopter drone to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, a hazy world covered with dunes and methane lakes that scientists say is reminiscent of the ancient Earth. The…
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10 years since its launch, NASA lunar orbiter remains crucial for moon landings
Artist’s concept of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA Scientists marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Tuesday, celebrating a mission that has greatly outlived its original one-year design life and continues taking high-resolution pictures to help U.S. companies and international space agencies select destinations for moon landers. LRO…