Tag: Earth’s Moon

New Evidence Adds to Findings Hinting at Network of Caves on Moon

NeRD

These images from NASA’s LRO spacecraft show a collection of pits detected on the Moon. Each image covers an area about 728 feet wide. An international team of scientists using data from NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) has discovered evidence of caves beneath the Moon’s surface. In re-analyzing radar data collected by LRO’s Mini-RF (Miniature Radio-Frequency) instrument in 2010, the team found evidence of a cave extending more than 200 feet from the base of a pit. The pit is located 230 miles northeast of the first human landing site on…

Read More

NASA Deputy Administrator Strengthens Ties in Japan, Republic of Korea

NeRD

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy gives keynote remarks during the 37th Space Symposium, April 5, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy will visit Japan and the Republic of Korea beginning Thursday, July 11, to underscore the critical role of international cooperation in advancing space exploration and technology development. During her week-long visit to the region, Melroy will engage with ministers and other senior government officials in both countries, including leaders from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and KASA (Korea AeroSpace Administration) to strengthen…

Read More

NASA’s New Mobile Launcher Stacks Up for Future Artemis Missions 

NeRD

The foundation is set at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launching crewed missions aboard the agency’s larger and more powerful SLS (Space Launch System) Block 1B rocket in support of Artemis IV and future missions. On May 9, 2024, teams with NASA’s EGS (Exploration Ground Systems) Program and contractor Bechtel National Inc. transferred the primary base structure of the mobile launcher 2 to its permanent mount mechanisms using the spaceport’s beast-mode transporter – the crawler.   On Thursday, May 9, 2024, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program…

Read More

A Moonlit Trio

NeRD

NASA/Bill Ingalls The Moon (left), Saturn, and Jupiter (lower right; Saturn is above and to the left of Jupiter) were seen in the sky above the Washington Memorial on Dec. 17, 2020. At the time, Saturn and Jupiter were nearing each other in the sky, culminating in a “great conjunction” on Dec. 21, where they appeared a tenth of a degree apart. Great conjunctions between Jupiter and Saturn happen every 20 years, making the planets appear to be close to one another. This closeness occurs because Jupiter orbits the Sun…

Read More

Navigating the Moon with Art

NeRD

NASA An artist uses an airbrush to recreate the lunar surface on one of the four models comprising the LOLA, or Lunar Orbit and Landing Approach, simulator in this November 12, 1964, photo. Project LOLA was a simulator built at Langley to study problems related to landing on the lunar surface. In “Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo,” James Hansen wrote: “This simulator was designed to provide a pilot with a detailed visual encounter with the lunar surface; the machine consisted primarily of a cockpit, a…

Read More

NASA’s LRO Finds Photo Op as It Zips Past SKorea’s Danuri Moon Orbiter

NeRD

NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), which has been circling and studying the Moon for 15 years, captured several images of Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri lunar orbiter last month. The two spacecraft, traveling in nearly parallel orbits, zipped past each other in opposite directions between March 5 and 6, 2024. The dark spot centered in the bottom third of this image is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri orbiter, smudged because it was traveling quickly in the opposite direction of NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) when LRO snapped the photo.…

Read More

NASA Selects First Lunar Instruments for Artemis Astronaut Deployment

NeRD

Artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA NASA has chosen the first science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during Artemis III. Once installed near the lunar South Pole, the three instruments will collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, the lunar interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the Moon, which will help prepare NASA to send astronauts to Mars. “Artemis marks a bold new era of exploration, where human presence…

Read More

Total Solar Eclipse 2024: The Moon’s Moment in the Sun

NeRD

5 min read Total Solar Eclipse 2024: The Moon’s Moment in the Sun Artist’s representation of a total solar eclipse, with a new moon in the foreground and the Sun’s corona visible in the background. Download the Poster NASA/Vi Nguyen On April 8, 2024, much of North America will experience a solar eclipse: a cosmic alignment of Sun, Moon, and Earth, in that order. The Moon’s shadow path will make landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast, cross the United States from Texas to Maine, and exit North America via Newfoundland, Canada,…

Read More

Into the Belly of the Rover: VIPER’s Final Science Instrument Installed 

NeRD

A team of engineers prepares to integrate TRIDENT – short for The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain – into the belly of NASA’s first robotic Moon rover, VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. NASA/Bill Stafford A team of engineers prepares to integrate TRIDENT – short for The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain – into the belly of NASA’s first robotic Moon rover, VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover).  TRIDENT, designed and developed by engineers at Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California, is the fourth and…

Read More

NASA’s LRO Spots Japan’s Moon Lander 

NeRD

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) On Jan. 19, 2024, at 10:20 a.m. EST, the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on the lunar surface. Five days later, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft passed over the landing site and photographed SLIM. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) SLIM lander on the Moon’s surface on Jan. 24, 2024. SLIM landed at 13.3160 degrees south latitude, 25.2510 degrees east longitude, at an…

Read More