Category: Solar System

Our solar system

Watch NASA astronaut, 2 record-breaking cosmonauts head home to Earth on Sept. 23

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A NASA astronaut and two record-setting Russian cosmonauts are set to head back to Earth on Monday (Sept. 23), and you can watch their homecoming live. Russia’s Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, with Tracy C. Dyson, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub aboard, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday at 4:37 a.m. EDT (0837 GMT) and land on the steppe of Kazakhstan about 3.5 hours later. You can watch all the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency. NASA’s coverage…

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What the 1st analysis of China’s Chang’e 6 lunar far side samples revealed

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We finally have a glimpse of the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the moon. The first paper on the samples collected from China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe reveals that the specimens differ in some ways from those collected from the moon’s near side. Thus, they could provide fresh insights and lead to new theories about the moon and its evolution. China launched its complex, 53-day-long Chang’e 6 lunar far side sample return mission in early May. A lander scooped and drilled for samples inside an area known…

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 129 —Back From Mars!

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Back From Mars! – Dr. Pascal Lee Returns to Discuss Recent Work at His Mars Simulation Base – YouTube Watch On On Episode 129 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Dr. Pascal Lee about his Mars Simulation Base in the Arctic. Devon Island, a polar desert in the High Arctic, is one of the most convincing Mars analogs on Earth. That’s why Pascal Lee built his NASA-affiliated research base there. On this episode he returns to discuss his summer field work, Martian volcanoes, and…

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NASA invites public to design Artemis moon mission navigation tech

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NASA is seeking the public’s help for innovative solutions to help Artemis astronauts navigate in and around the lunar south pole. The Artemis program aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions managed to achieve the feat over 50 years ago. Astronauts will land near the lunar south pole, where permanently shadowed regions may contain areas of water ice that could be accessed to support future missions to Mars. The Lunar Navigation Challenge, which officially opened on Sept. 4, seeks ideas for a…

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Boeing Space & Defense chief Ted Colbert is leaving: reports

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Boeing is getting a new space chief. Ted Colbert will no longer be CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, one of the aerospace giant’s subdivisions, according to media reports. Those reports cite a staff memo circulated today (Sept. 20) by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job in August. “At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world,” Ortberg said in the memo, according to…

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Cards Against Humanity sues SpaceX for $15 million over land dispute

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Cards Against Humanity has just filed a $15 million lawsuit against SpaceX. The Chicago-based Cards Against Humanity (CAH) — the company behind the bestselling adult party game in which players use cards to create either wonderfully clever or hilariously disturbing strings of phrases — distributed a statement on Friday (Sept. 20) blasting Elon Musk and SpaceX for allegedly encroaching upon and damaging land that CAH purchased in 2017. This land is located along the U.S.-Mexico border, and CAH bought it as part of a movement to thwart former President Donald…

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India aims for 2028 launch of Venus orbiter as part of ambitious space roadmap

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India has greenlit four major space projects, including the Chandrayaan-4 moon sample return mission, a Venus orbiter and the nations first space station module. The Indian government allocated $2.7 billion for the ambitious projects, a substantial investment that officials say is certain to encourage “maximum participation” from the nation’s burgeoning private sector.  “India’s ambitious space vision and roadmap have now been given the wings to fly high,” ISRO chairman S. Somanath told Indian news channel NDTV.  The $2.7 billion was approved on Wednesday (Sept. 18) by the nation’s cabinet chaired…

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SpaceX blasts proposed FAA fines in complaint letter to Congress

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SpaceX has taken its dispute with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to Capitol Hill. On Tuesday (Sept. 17), the FAA announced that it plans to fine SpaceX $630,000 for allegedly skirting regulations on two launches last year. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk responded to the news that same day, declaring on X (formerly Twitter) that the company intends to sue the FAA “for regulatory overreach.”  Now, the company has sent a letter to Congress contesting the proposed fine and calling out the agency for moving too slowly. The two…

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Europe’s Mars ‘fetch rover’ nails sample pick-up test in the field (video)

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European aerospace giant Airbus has taken two of its Mars rovers out for field tests in a quarry near London, showcasing for the first time a new robotic arm for autonomous sample collection on alien planets. The company also experimented with a model of its ExoMars rover, hoping to improve its navigation system to enable the robot to travel faster and explore more terrain once it reaches the Red Planet in 2028.  During the tests, the Mars Sample Fetch Rover demonstrator model named Codi received coordinates from a simulated ground…

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NASA’s Europa Clipper on track for Oct. 10 launch to Jupiter’s icy moon despite radiation worries

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Three weeks from now, NASA’s Europa Clipper probe will lift off and embark on a long-awaited mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which scientists think is one of the most promising places to look for life beyond Earth. The launch appears to still be on track for Oct. 10, as per the agency’s original schedule, which comes as a relief to scientists after the team discovered a few possibly defective transistors just months prior that threatened to imperil the mission. Any signs of life on Europa would likely be…

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