NASA prepares for Seven Minutes of Terror; UAE and China also enroute to Mars
The “Seven Minutes of Terror” is approaching fast for NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission with a touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet at Jezero crater slated of occur in just under weeks on February 18. The groundbreaking astrobiology mission will continue the search for evidence of past or present life on Mars. …
SpaceX launches record 143 satellites into polar orbit
A recycled SpaceX Falcon 9 soared to orbit Sunday morning with a record-setting number of small satellites in a single flight on their first dedicated SmallSat Rideshare Program mission dubbed Transporter-1, also flying on a rare southern trajectory from Florida’s Spaceport. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-1 rideshare mission carrying a total of 143 SmallSats …
Curiosity celebrates 3,000 days since landing on Mars
The view from Mars on Sol 3,000 – simply spectacular !!! As she snapped a dramatic new self portrait backdropped by alien scenery from the Red Planet NASA’s groundbreaking Curiosity rover is celebrating 3,000 Sols, or Martian days, of exploration on the Red Planet since she touched down on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012 inside …
China’s Chang’e-5 returns first lunar rock samples since 1976
China’s ambitious Chang’e-5 Moon landing probe successfully brought back over 1.7 kilograms (3.8 pounds) of soil and rock samples gathered from the lunar surface, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA) which operated the groundbreaking mission. “Chang’e-5 probe retrieved about 1,731 grams of samples from the Moon, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). …
Japan’s Hayabusa2 brings back dust and rock samples from asteroid
Japanese space scientists are positively gleeful as they have now confirmed that their ambitious Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully collected over 5 grams of pristine black as coal soil and rock samples gathered from the ancient near-earth asteroid Ryugu in a re-entry capsule that parachuted safely to Earth earlier this month after a six-year roundtrip scientific journey …
Hubble captures new storm barreling across Jupiter
A spectacular new image of Jupiter was taken last month by NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which celebrated its 30th year of operation during 2020. The image unveils never-before-seen detail, including a newly formed giant white-colored turbulent storm swirling at over 300 mph in the northern latitudes as our solar system’s largest planet was …