Category: The Moon

Our moon

Watch NASA’s Artemis Orion moon spacecraft blow its top during testing (video)

NeRD

An uncrewed Orion spacecraft successfully traveled thousands of miles beyond the moon and back, demonstrating its ability to one day transport astronauts to lunar orbit — but there are a few more tests the spacecraft has to ace before setting out on that cosmic feat. The Artemis 1 mission that launched on Nov. 16, 2022 saw NASA’s Orion spacecraft fly 1.4 million miles around the moon and back — the farthest a spacecraft built for humans has ever gone — and then execute a planned splash down in the Pacific…

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NASA Mars probe spies dusty, retired Insight lander from orbit (photo)

NeRD

NASA’s InSight lander continues to contribute valuable knowledge about Mars, even after its retirement. Photos captured in late October by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show InSight resting on the Martian surface. While no longer active, the rover is providing researchers new data on how dust accumulates and evolves over time in the region. “Even though we’re no longer hearing from InSight, it’s still teaching us about Mars,” science team member Ingrid Daubar of Brown University said in a Dec. 16 NASA statement. “By monitoring how much dust collects on…

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Rocket Lab scrubs Strix radar satellite launch for Synspective over ‘sensor data’

NeRD

The spaceflight company Rocket Lab called off a planned launch of half a dozen commercial satellites due to concerns over sensor readings on Friday (Dec. 20). Rocket Lab scrubbed what was to be its 16th Electron rocket flight of 2024 less than 20 minutes before planned liftoff at 10:03 a.m. EST (1503 GMT) from the company’s primary launch site on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Fueling of the rocket had already begun at the time of the scrub. “We are standing down from today’s launch attempt for Synspective to take…

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It’s a bird! it’s a plane! It’s the 1st fantastic trailer for James Gunn’s ‘Superman!’

NeRD

The new DC Universe might have technically already launched earlier this month with Max’s animated series “Creature Commandos,” but that was just an appetizer for the Big Blue Boy Scout as he swoops in for the first official trailer today for director James Gunn’s “Superman.” Starring David Corenswet as the iconic Man of Steel, “Superman” (previously titled “Superman: Legacy”) strikes multiplexes on July 11, 2025 as the premiere DCU feature film delivered under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s newly-minted DC Studios leadership and expansive vision. This provocative preview represents 18…

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BepiColombo spacecraft flies by Mercury, sees volcanic plain and impact craters

NeRD

BepiColombo just imaged Mercury in a whole new light — mid-infrared light, to be precise. On the spacecraft’s fifth flyby of Mercury earlier this month (out of a planned six flybys) BepiColombo pointed its Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) at a swath of Mercury’s northern hemisphere. Mid-infrared light is invisible to human eyes, but it carries a wealth of information about the mineral makeup and temperature of very hot rocks like those on Mercury’s sun-baked surface. The Dec. 1 flyby marked the first time scientists have ever seen…

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SpaceX will launch Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander to the moon in mid-January with these 10 NASA payloads

NeRD

Firefly Aerospace’s first mission to the moon is nearly ready to fly. The company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Monday (Dec. 16) for integration with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the robotic probe — as well as the private Japanese moon lander Resilience — to space. Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, is scheduled to launch sometime within a six-day window that begins no earlier than mid-January. Firefly was chosen for the mission through…

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Potentially habitable planet TRAPPIST-1b may have a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere

NeRD

The innermost Earth-like planet in the famous TRAPPIST-1 system might be capable of supporting a thick atmosphere after all, according to new research. Since the system of seven tightly-packed, Earth-sized worlds was discovered in 2017, huddled in remarkable harmony just 40 light-years from Earth, astronomers have tried to determine whether any support atmosphere, which is critical to harbor life as we know it. Previous observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have suggested all planets in the system would be barren, airless rocks thanks to violent, atmosphere-stripping radiation unleashed…

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‘Exodus’ looks like a next-gen Mass Effect, but you get to fight an armored space bear (trailer)

NeRD

Despite abundant videos focusing on Exodus‘ alien species and uncharted worlds, it’s been a while since the last time we got a proper look at the game. Fortunately, studio Archetype Entertainment and publisher Wizards of the Coast are ready to start showing off meatier chunks of gameplay, and the new trailer is a must-watch. The official website had also given us plenty of in-universe history and lore to chew on, but we’d been dying to see more of the actual game. After missing last week’s Game Awards ceremony (which was…

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The Imperial Probe Droid is one of the best Lego Star Wars sets we have reviewed and you can now pick it up for a low price

NeRD

While the Imperial Probe Droid may have made only a brief but menacing appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, it is still one of Star Wars’ most iconic droids. It has been impressively recreated in this 683-piece Lego set which is currently on sale at a reduced price. The best price we found ahead of the holidays is at Walmart and given that it regularly retails for around and above $70, and is priced at $70 on Amazon, it’s pretty good value this holiday season. Unfortunately, Walmart says this will…

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Webb mail: US Priority Mail stamps to again star deep space images in 2025

NeRD

The universe of United States postage stamps featuring James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imagery is set to expand again in 2025. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Monday (Dec. 16) revealed that its upcoming Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express flat rate stamps will feature two deep space vistas captured by the Webb observatory. Scheduled for release on Jan. 21, the stamps will be the second set to use JWST photos after the pair issued this year. “USPS celebrates the continued exploration of deep space with an extremely high-definition image…

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