Over billions of years, the surface of the Moon has been bombarded by solar wind, carrying high-energy particles that include a highly coveted resource, helium-3. Although the element is scarce on Earth, it has recently become in demand by several industries, including those working on quantum computing and nuclear fusion reactors. Moon Knight Gives Us … Read more
Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, is finally setting some ambitious timelines, saying it plans to conduct an uncrewed Moon landing in as little as a year from now, deploying a demonstration version of its Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) cargo lander. This ramps up the space rivalry big time, putting Bezos … Read more
House and Senate appropriators have released NASA’s final spending bill for the fiscal year 2024, focusing on the Artemis program’s goal of returning astronauts to the Moon. However, there’s still considerable uncertainty surrounding the agency’s plans for bringing back rocky samples from Mars. China’s Plan to Land Astronauts on the Moon NASA was allocated $24.875 … Read more
Nikon is making a camera you can take to space. In partnership with NASA, the company is developing a handheld camera for astronauts to use on the surface of the Moon for the upcoming Artemis missions. Moon Knight Gives Us Hope NASA and Nikon recently signed an agreement to design a camera that can withstand … Read more
Image: Photo: Shutterstock Graphics: Vicky Leta Renowned puzzler Peter Winkler invented the addictive word game, HIPE, with some friends when they were juniors in high school. While it may not have become the overnight success of Wordle, the game did earn Winkler admission to Harvard. According to his book, Mathematical Mind-Benders, he wrote a college … Read more
Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus landing during its descent towards the lunar surface. Image: Intuitive Machines It was a topsy-turvy month in spaceflight, with yet another lunar lander falling over and an upsetting new view showing NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter missing a rotor blade, among other memorable moments. February is the shortest month of the year, but it … Read more
A new photo of Odysseus released by NASA illustrates just how rough the lander’s journey to the Moon has been, shining a light on its spunky resilience against all odds. Moon Knight Gives Us Hope Taken on February 22, the day the lander touched down on the Moon, the photo shows Odysseus, affectionately called “Odie,” … Read more
Image: Photo: Shutterstock Graphics: Vicky Leta Survivor has produced a whopping 45 seasons, with more in development. If you remember the buzz around season 1 but can’t believe it’s been 45 years, it hasn’t. They’ve cranked out two seasons per year for most of its run to feed their insatiable fanbase. Each season, the mega-successful … Read more
Intuitive Machines’ private lander stumbled on its way down to the lunar surface and is possibly leaning over on a rock on the Moon. The vehicle is still operational and flight engineers are working to gather more data on its less than ideal position, the company said. China’s Plan to Land Astronauts on the Moon … Read more
Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the Moon on Thursday at 6:23 p.m. ET, becoming the first private company to pull off a soft landing on the lunar surface. China’s Plan to Land Astronauts on the Moon The IM-1 mission delivered 12 payloads near the Malapert A crater in the Moon’s South Pole region … Read more