Tag: moon
Pacific sees a ‘Blood Moon’ rising
by Andrew BEATTY Agence France Presse Stargazers across the Pacific Rim cast their eyes skyward on Wednesday night to witness a rare “Super Blood Moon”, as the heavens align to bring an extra-spectacular lunar eclipse. The first total lunar eclipse in two years will happen at the same time as the Moon is closest to Earth, in what astronomers say will be a once-in-a-decade show. If the skies are clear, anyone living in the Pacific […]
Successful test for NASA’s giant Moon rocket
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA successfully carried out a key static test of its troubled Space Launch System rocket on Thursday, a win for the agency as it prepares to return to the Moon. The second “hot fire” test saw all four of the rocket’s RS-25 engines fire simultaneously at 4:40 pm Eastern time (1940 GMT) for the full duration of eight minutes, producing a maximum of 1.6 million pounds of thrust (7.1 million […]
Planetary pact: China and Russia to launch lunar space station
by Anastasia CLARK Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – Russia and China unveiled plans Tuesday for a joint lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to recapture the glory of its space pioneering days of Soviet times, and Beijing gears up its own extraterrestrial ambitions. Though Moscow was once at the forefront of space travel — it sent the first man into space — its cosmic ambitions have dimmed thanks to poor financing and […]
Fly me to the Moon: Japan billionaire offers space seats
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — It’s the sort of chance that comes along just once in a blue Moon: a Japanese billionaire is throwing open a private lunar expedition to eight people from around the world. Yusaku Maezawa, an online fashion tycoon, was announced in 2018 as the first man to book a spot aboard the lunar spaceship being developed by SpaceX. Maezawa, who paid an undisclosed sum for the trip expected to launch around 2023, […]
China’s space probe sends back its first image of Mars
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s Tianwen-1 probe has sent back its first image of Mars, the national space agency said, as the mission prepares to touch down on the Red Planet later this year. The spacecraft, launched in July around the same time as a rival US mission, is expected to enter Mars orbit around February 10. The black-and-white photo released late Friday by the China National Space Administration showed geological features including the Schiaparelli […]
Chinese space probe carrying lunar samples returned to Earth: state media
BEIJING, China (AFP) — An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said. The return module of the space probe known as Chang’e-5 landed in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration. Beijing is looking to catch up with the US and Russia after taking […]
NASA buying Moon dust for $1
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US space agency NASA awarded contracts to four companies on Thursday to collect lunar samples for $1 to $15,000, rock-bottom prices that are intended to set a precedent for future exploitation of space resources by the private sector. “I think it’s kind of amazing that we can buy lunar regolith from four companies for a total of $25,001,” said Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Division. The contracts […]
Chinese probe lands on Moon to gather lunar samples
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China landed a probe on the Moon on Tuesday, said Beijing’s space agency, which aims to bring back to Earth the first lunar samples in four decades. China has poured billions into its military-run space program, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022 and of eventually sending humans to the Moon. The latest mission’s goal is to collect lunar rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the […]
China launches Moon probe to bring back lunar rocks
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Tuesday launched an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks — the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades. A Long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Center on the southern island province of Hainan at 4:30 am (2030 GMT Monday), the official Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing […]
Moon richer in water than once thought
by Juliette Collen and Kelly Macnamara PARIS, France (AFP) — There may be far more water on the Moon than previously thought, according to two studies published Monday raising the tantalizing prospect that astronauts on future space missions could find refreshment — and maybe even fuel — on the lunar surface. The Moon was believed to be bone dry until around a decade ago, when a series of findings suggested that our nearest celestial neighbor […]
Nokia and NASA to install 4G on the Moon
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — With competition among Earth’s telecoms providers as fierce as ever, equipment maker Nokia announced its expansion into a new market on Monday, winning a deal to install the first cellular network on the Moon. The Finnish equipment manufacturer said it was selected by NASA to deploy an “ultra-compact, low-power, space-hardened” wireless 4G network on the lunar surface, as part of the US space agency’s plan to establish a long-term human presence […]
