News Archive / Tagged: Moon

• Laser communications modem being developed for NASA’s Orion spacecraft

  Tomasz NowakowskiNovember 12th, 2018

  An optical modem capable of sending HD video at significantly-greater rates than standard radio frequency systems is being developed for NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: Two craters named in honor of Apollo 8

  Tomasz NowakowskiOctober 10th, 2018

  This December marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon. The International Astronomical Union has found a special way to honor the occasion.

• Cassini data reveals another feature that suggests Titan is similar to Earth

  Laurel KornfeldSeptember 25th, 2018

  Is Titan similar to Earth? New data from the Cassini orbiter suggests it is.

• Japanese billionaire named as 1st passenger to fly around Moon in SpaceX BFR

  Derek RichardsonSeptember 18th, 2018

  HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Japanese citizen Yusaku Maezawa has booked a journey to the Moon atop SpaceX’s yet-to-be-built Big Falcon Rocket and he wants to bring six to eight artists with him—for free.

• NASA Administrator Bridenstine: ‘We’re not going to do flags and footprints again’

  Derek RichardsonAugust 30th, 2018

  In the first-ever televised NASA Advisory Council meeting, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine described the United States' latest effort to return to the Moon as one about sustainability.

• Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles

  Jim SharkeyAugust 28th, 2018

  A team of researchers using data collected by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice at the Moon's poles. While most of the ice at the southern pole is concentrated in lunar craters, the substance is more widely, but sparsely distributed, at the northern pole.

• Astrobotic awarded NASA contracts to develop lunar lander technologies

  Michael ColeAugust 22nd, 2018

  NASA recently awarded Astrobotic two contracts that could help move the Pittsburgh-based company closer to making its first lunar landing. The contracts are for developing technologies for the company's Peregrine lander, but could possibly make lunar landings easier and more accessible to others in the future.

• NASA broadcast commemorates Great American Eclipse anniversary

  Laurel KornfeldAugust 22nd, 2018

  To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the total solar eclipse that swept across the U.S. Aug. 21, 2017, NASA hosted an online Live Science Chat focusing on new data from the event and the impact it had on millions of people.

• India’s Chandrayaan-2 Moon mission slips to 2019

  Tomasz NowakowskiAugust 9th, 2018

  Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon has, according to Indian media outlets, been delayed again. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now targeting a January 2019 launch date.

• Israeli company eyes Moon landing in early 2019

  Tomasz NowakowskiJuly 14th, 2018

  SpaceIL has unveiled its plan to land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon in early 2019. The company announced that the mission would be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket in December 2018.

• NASA seeking industry proposals for first element of Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway

  Lloyd CampbellJuly 5th, 2018

  NASA is asking for proposals from industry to partner with the space agency in developing the first piece of its proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway through a draft broad agency announcement. The space station proposed to be a cislunar outpost for deep space exploration missions, both robotic and human.

• Contact lost with China’s DSLWP-A1 lunar microsatellite

  Tomasz NowakowskiJune 1st, 2018

  China has apparently lost contact with one of its two lunar radio astronomy microsatellites sent into space last week together with a communications relay spacecraft for Chang’e 4 lunar mission.

• Long March 4C sends Chang’e 4 relay satellite toward Moon

  Tomasz NowakowskiMay 21st, 2018

  Using a Long March 4C rocket, China launched the first spacecraft of its Chang’e 4 lunar mission along with two smaller satellites. The booster lifted off at 5:28 p.m. EDT (21:28 GMT) May 20, 2018, from Launch Complex 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the country's Sichuan Province.

• First spacecraft for China’s Chang’e 4 lunar mission launching Sunday

  Tomasz NowakowskiMay 19th, 2018

  China's Queqiao communications relay satellite is undergoing final preparations before launch. It is the first spacecraft of the country's ambitious Chang'e 4 mission, which will culminate in the first spacecraft to soft-land on the far side of the moon in late 2018.

• NASA’s exploration goals come into focus with updated road map

  Curt GodwinApril 20th, 2018

  Four months after President Trump directed NASA to return to the Moon, the agency has presented a road map to meet the goals outlined in Space Policy Directive-1. The updated plan shifts focus from the previous "Journey to Mars" campaign back to the Moon, and—eventually—to the Red Planet.