China’s space program might have been slowed by the pandemic in 2020, but it certainly didn’t stop. The year’s highlights included sending a rover to Mars, bringing moon rocks back to Earth, and testing out the next-generation crewed vehicle that should take …Continue reading
This is what NASA wants to do when it gets to the moon
When NASA finally gets back to the moon—probably not till sometime after 2024—it will start the groundwork for the first extraterrestrial colony in the history of human civilization, and for future missions to Mars. But America’s return for the first time since the …Continue reading
China just brought moon rocks back to Earth for the first time in its history
China’s Chang’e 5 mission successfully delivered samples of lunar rock and dust to Earth on December 17. It marks the first time in 44 years that moon rocks have been brought back to our planet, since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission …Continue reading
Spaceflight does some weird things to astronauts’ bodies
Astronaut Scott Kelly famously lived and worked on the International Space Station for 340 days—the longest time an American has spent in space. His mission gave scientists some vital insight into what happens to the human body during long-duration stays in orbit. …Continue reading
China’s Chang’e 5 mission has successfully landed on the moon
China has just landed a new spacecraft on the surface of the moon. The mission, Chang’e 5, will collect lunar rocks and soil to bring back to Earth, as part of China’s first-ever sample return mission. What happened: China launched Chang’e 5 on …Continue reading
China launches its first mission to bring moon rocks back to Earth
China launched its Chang’e 5 mission to the moon early Tuesday morning local time from the country’s launch site on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The country is seeking to bring soil and rock samples from the lunar surface back …Continue reading
Soon, satellites will be able to watch you everywhere all the time
In 2013, police in Grants Pass, Oregon, got a tip that a man named Curtis W. Croft had been illegally growing marijuana in his backyard. So they checked Google Earth. Indeed, the four-month-old satellite image showed neat rows of plants growing on …Continue reading
The black hole at the center of a dwarf galaxy is way smaller than we thought
Astronomers found that the mass of the black hole at the center of the small galaxy NGC 4395 (pictured above) is just a 40th what researchers had predicted. What they found: Located about 14 million light-years away from Earth, the black hole …Continue reading
Why is the moon flashing? A new telescope might find out.
Some background: For thousands of years astronomers have observed strange flashes on the lunar surface, known as transient lunar phenomena. They’re there one second, and gone the next. There have been many guesses at what these lights might be. Maybe meteors are …Continue reading
This 3D-printed beehive could be our future home on Mars
If we want to put humans into deep space, we will need to pack lightly. That means we will need to take advantage of whatever resources we find when we’re out there. Since 2015, NASA has been running the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge …Continue reading
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