Moon Mission

An Australian-made rover is set to be launched to the Moon as part of a NASA space mission this decade.  Key points:The rover will collect lunar soil that contains oxygenThe government will provide $50 million to businesses and researchers to help develop the roverNASA is not expected to launch the mission…

What’s holding up US plans to go back to the moon? An argument over pre-flight meetings. NASA administrator Bill Nelson says he can’t firm up plans to return Americans to the moon by 2024 until a lawsuit against the space agency, brought by Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin, is…

A view of NASA’s Space Launch System inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. This picture was taken Sept. 17 after retraction of work platforms ahead of the Umbilical Release and Retract Test. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux The swing arms on the mobile launch tower for NASA’s Space Launch…

Jeff Bezos gives a thumbs-up after returning from space on July 20, 2021.  Blue Origin Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, filed a complaint Monday in federal court against NASA. The lawsuit escalates Blue Origin's protest that NASA unjustly granted a lunar lander contract earlier…

Elon Musk has said each SpaceX Starship should last for 25-30 years which mean they would be able to make about 12 missions between Earth and Mars. When will Starship production become cost effective? Booster 20? Booster 200? — SPEXcast (@SPEXcast) August 14, 2021 Starship will be crushingly cost-effective for…

Looking to such specialized nervous systems as a model for artificial intelligence may prove just as valuable, if not more so, than studying the human brain. Consider the brains of those ants in your pantry. Each has some 250,000 neurons. Larger insects have closer to 1 million. In my research…

Rocket Lab is narrowing down the details for its first Moon launch. The private spaceflight firm has revealed that its CAPSTONE mission will lift off from the company's original launch complex in New Zealand sometime in the fourth quarter of 2021. The mission was originally slated to launch in early…

India’s ambitious third mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, may get launched in the third quarter next year. The mission has been facing delays due to the pandemic.   In a written answer in the Parliament, Dr Jitendra Singh, minister of state for department of space, said, “Chandrayaan-3 is likely to…

Fresh off his trip to space, billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos has offered to cover up to $2bn (€1.7bn) in Nasa costs if the US space agency awards his company Blue Origin a contract to make a spacecraft designed to land astronauts back on the moon. asa in April awarded rival billionaire…

Perhaps buoyed by his recent rocket ride to the edge of space, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has offered to contribute several billion dollars to NASA’s coffers if it includes his spaceflight company, Blue Origin, in its plans for the upcoming Artemis moon missions. In an open letter sent to NASA…