NASA’s first mission to the Trojan asteroids integrates its second scientific instrument
L’TES instrument in the cleanroom at Arizona State University. Credits: NASA/ASU NASA’s Lucy mission is one step closer to launch as L’TES, the Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer, has been successfully integrated on to the spacecraft. “Having two of the three instruments integrated onto the spacecraft is an exciting milestone,” said Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, Lucy project manager […]
What has Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission accomplished?
In this file image taken and released on July 11, 2019, by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft lands on an asteroid to collect samples. A small capsule from the Hayabusa2 successfully landed in a sparsely populated desert in the Australian Outback on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. (JAXA via AP, File) […]
Voyager mission finds a new type of electron burst at the edge of our solar system
The Voyager probes left our Solar System years ago, yet even as they travel through interstellar space, they are still detecting bursts of cosmic rays from our Sun, more than 23 billion kilometers (14 billion miles) away. A detailed analysis of recent data from both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 has now revealed the first bursts […]
New research flies on 21st SpaceX cargo mission
Technicians work on the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 29, 2020, preparing the facility for its flight to the International Space Station. The first commercially funded airlock for the space station provides payload hosting, robotics testing, satellite deployment, and more. Credit: NASA/KSC […]
China launches historic Chang’e 5 mission to collect the first moon samples since 1976
The first lunar sample-return mission since the 1970s is underway. China’s robotic Chang’e 5 mission launched today (Nov. 23) from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, rising into the sky atop a Long March 5 rocket at about 3:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT; 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 24 local time in Hainan). If all […]
U.S.-European mission launches to monitor the world’s oceans — ScienceDaily
A joint U.S.-European satellite built to monitor global sea levels lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Saturday, Nov. 21, at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). About the size of a small pickup truck, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will extend a nearly […]
‘Baby Yoda’ revealed as astronauts’ zero-g indicator on SpaceX Crew-1 mission
The astronauts who lifted off on SpaceX’s first operational crewed mission for NASA are proving “this is the way.” A few hours after launching to the International Space Station on Sunday (Nov. 15), the Crew-1 astronauts showed off their fifth crew member — a small plush doll of “The Child.” “And as you can see […]
SpaceX set to launch first fully-crewed ISS mission Saturday
We’re likely just days away from the first fully-crewed SpaceX launch. Elon Musk’s company has launched two people into space to date: NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, who rode to the International Space Station May 30 aboard a Crew Dragon capsule mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket. That test flight, termed DEMO-2, marked […]
