China has landed on the moon’s mysterious far side — again. The robotic Chang’e 6 mission touched down inside Apollo Crater, within the giant South Pole-Aitken basin, at 6:23 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday (June 2) , according to Chinese space officials. It was 6:23 p.m. EDT (2223 GMT) on June 1 at the time […]
China is headed back to the moon’s mysterious far side — and this time, the nation will bring back some souvenirs. The robotic Chang’e 6 mission launched today (May 3) at 5:27 a.m. EDT (0927 GMT; 5:27 p.m. Beijing time), riding a Long March 5 rocket off a pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, […]
Launch preparations are quickening for China’s next spacecraft sendoff to the moon — the robotic Chang’e 6 mission. The spacecraft now sits atop a Long March 5 rocket at its departure site in Wenchang, in China’s Hainan province. Chang’e 6 is reportedly scheduled to launch on Friday (May 3) at 3:50 a.m. EDT (0759 GMT; […]
A small rover built in Europe has arrived in Japan in preparation for its voyage to Mars. The autonomous 55-pound (25-kilogram) rover is called IDEFIX and is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) probe that aims to collect samples of the Mars’ moon, Phobos. The little, four-wheeled rover recently […]
Engineers working on China’s Chang’e-6 mission have foregone family reunions over the Lunar New Year to help get the spacecraft ready for launch. The components of the complex Chang’e-6 moon sample return mission arrived at Wenchang spaceport on Hainan island in early January. There, a team of engineers and researchers, many with extensive experience from […]
While the clamoring to bring bits and pieces of Mars back to Earth for intensive study continues, scientists are also devising instruments and techniques that can be sent to the Red Planet to perform on-the-spot probes for life. Could these low-cost approaches usurp the early need for samples shot directly from Mars? That option brings […]
NASA is seemingly caught between a Mars rock and a hard place. The space agency’s best-laid plan to robotically retrieve prized samples of the Red Planet for scrutiny back on Earth has been decades in the making and is seen as a “must-do” by many planetary scientists. Now it has gone awry, imperiled by a […]
NASA has awarded funding to 13 innovative space technology concepts that could shape future missions to Venus, Mars and worlds beyond our solar system. The space agency’s NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) program supports the development of early-stage technology ideas from America’s innovators and entrepreneurs. Each Phase 1 award is worth up to $175,000, according […]
Japan has postponed the launch of a mission seeking to bring samples of a Martian moon to Earth until 2026. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission was due to launch in September of this year on the country’s new H3 rocket. However, the first flight of the flagship H3 failed […]