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Sensors Advance Lunar Landing Project

NASA is developing technologies that will allow lunar landers to automatically identify and navigate to the location of a safe landing site while detecting landing hazards during the final descent to the surface. This is important because future lunar missions will need this capability to be able to land safely near specific resources that are located in potentially hazardous terrain.

Taking A SMART Sidelong Look At Lunar Peak Of Eternal Light

Three-dimensional views of the mountainous terrain surrounding a “peak of eternal light” near the Moon’s south pole have been released by the European Space Agency.

NASA’s Dirty Secret: Moon Dust

The Apollo Moon missions of 1969-1972 all share a dirty secret. "The major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust," says one researcher. Fine as flour and rough as sandpaper, Moon dust caused 'lunar hay fever,' problems with space suits, and dust storms in the crew cabin upon returning to space.

Robot Scout: Fly Me (Safely) To The Moon

The first attempt to land humans on the moon -- Apollo 11 -- was a triumph that almost ended in disaster. The landings for NASA's return to the moon are likely to be even more challenging. Mission planners want to be able to set down on the edge of enormous craters in the polar regions, because the crater rims will be bathed in gentle but nearly-permanent sunlight. Steady sunshine provides a reliable source of power for long-term expeditions.

NASA Developing Fission Surface Power Technology

NASA astronauts will need power sources when they return to the moon and establish a lunar outpost. NASA engineers are exploring the possibility of nuclear fission to provide the necessary power and taking initial steps toward a non-nuclear technology demonstration of this type of system.

Partial Lunar Eclipse On 16th August

People across the world will have the chance to see a partial eclipse of the Moon on the 16th August.

Solar Eclipse On The Morning Of August 1st

On 1st August 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible from Canada, northern Greenland, Svalbard, the Barents Sea, Russia, Mongolia and China. From the whole of the British Isles observers will see a partial solar eclipse, with between 1/10th and 1/3rd of the Sun obscured by the Moon.

New Project To Develop GPS-like System For Moon

The same researcher who is helping rovers navigate on Mars is leading a new effort to help humans navigate on the moon. When NASA returns to the moon -- the space agency has set a target date of 2020 to do so -- astronauts won't be able to use a global positioning system to find their way around, explained the professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science.

Evidence Of Water Found Deep Within The Moon: Dampens Moon-formation Theory

A Brown-led research team has for the first time found evidence of water deep within the moon. Researchers believe the water was contained in lunar magmas ejected more than 3 billion years ago. The discovery strongly suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence -- and perhaps since it was first created.

Moon-Bound NASA Spacecraft Passes Major Preflight Tests

Engineering teams are conducting final checkouts of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS, that will take a significant step forward in the search for water on the moon.

NASA Tests Lunar Robots And Spacesuits On Earthen Moonscape

Conditions on the moon will be harsher, but prototype NASA robotic vehicles braved sand storms and unprecedented temperature swings this month on sand dunes near Moses Lake, Wash., to prepare for future lunar expeditions. Teams from seven NASA centers and several universities conducted the tests from June 2-13.

Giant Telescope Mirrors For The Moon Could Be Made With Carbon, Epoxy And Lunar Dust

Scientists working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have concocted an innovative recipe for giant telescope mirrors on the Moon. To make a mirror that dwarfs anything on Earth, just take a little bit of carbon, throw in some epoxy, and add lots of lunar dust.

Astronaut Health On Moon May Depend On Good Dusting

To prepare for a return to the moon, researchers are evaluating how dust deposits in the lungs in reduced gravity in order to assess the health risk of long-term exposure to lunar particles. The findings will influence the design of lunar bases and could also provide benefits for health care on Earth, such as improved delivery of aerosol medications to the lungs.

Exhaling For Exploration: Scientists Test Lunar Breathing System

Imagine yourself hip-to-hip, shoulder-to-shoulder, inside a room the size of a walk-in closet for eight hours with five people you just met. Does that make you sweat? Or maybe make your breathing a little more animated? For three weeks, 23 volunteers dedicated time to do just that -- sweat and breathe -- inside a test chamber so NASA scientists at Johnson Space Center in Houston could measure the amount of moisture and carbon dioxide absorbed by a new system being developed for future space vehicles. The system is designed to control carbon dioxide and humidity inside a crew capsule to make air breathable and living space more comfortable.

Moon Gets A Lashing From Earth's Magnetotail

Behold the full moon. Ancient craters and frozen lava seas lie motionless under an airless sky of profound quiet. It's a serene, slow-motion world where even a human footprint may last millions of years. Nothing ever seems to happen there, right? Wrong. Scientists have realized that something happens every month when the moon gets a lashing from Earth's magnetic tail.

NASA Sets Sights On Lunar Dust Exploration Mission

NASA is preparing to send a small spacecraft to the moon in 2011 to assess the lunar atmosphere and the nature of dust lofted above the surface.

NASA Spacecraft Images Mars Moon In Color And In 3D

A new stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons, has been captured by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of Phobos 10 minutes apart on March 23. Scientists combined the images for a stereo view.

Designing A Lunar Telescope To See Into The Dark Ages

Scientists and engineers will study how to design a telescope on the moon for peering into the last unexplored epoch in the universe's history. There was an interval, now called the "Dark Ages," in which the Universe was unlit by any star.

NASA's Newest Concept Vehicles Take Off-Roading Out Of This World

In a car commercial, it would sound odd: active suspension, six-wheel drive with independent steering for each wheel, no doors, no windows, no seats and the only color it comes in is gold. But NASA's latest concept vehicle is meant to go way, way off-road -- as in 240,000 miles from the nearest pavement, driving on the moon. NASA is working to send astronauts to the moon by 2020 to set up a lunar outpost, where they will do scientific research and prepare for journeys to destinations like Mars.

NASA Views Landing Site Through Eyes Of Future Moon Crew

NASA has obtained the highest resolution terrain mapping to date of the moon's rugged south polar region, with a resolution to 20 meters per pixel. The imagery generated by the data has been incorporated into animation depicting the descent to the lunar surface of a future human lunar lander and a flyover of Shackleton Crater.

February's Red Moon: Lunar Eclipse On 21 February

People across the western hemisphere may be surprised to see a rust-coloured Moon in the sky on 21 February. Early that morning (the evening of the 20 February for observers in North and South America) will be this year's first and only total eclipse of the Moon. In a total lunar eclipse, the Earth, Sun and Moon are almost exactly in line and the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. The Moon is full, moves into the shadow of the Earth and dims dramatically but usually remains visible, lit by sunlight that passes through the Earth's atmosphere. Stronger atmospheric scattering of blue light means that the light that reaches the lunar surface is predominantly red in colour so observers on Earth see a Moon that may be brick-coloured, rusty, blood red or sometimes dark grey, depending on terrestrial conditions.

Lowest Frequency Radar Echo From The Moon Ever Detected

Scientists have detected the lowest frequency radar echo from the moon ever seen with earth-based receivers. In the lunar echo experiment a high power transmitter in Alaska, launched high power radio waves toward the moon. The reflected signal, weakened because of the long distance to the moon and back, was detected by receiving antennas in New Mexico.

Deep Impact 'Celebrates' New Year's Eve With Earth Flyby

This New Year's Eve the Deep Impact team will again celebrate a holiday in a way that few can match, when their Deep Impact spacecraft "buzzes" the Earth on a flyby that marks the beginning of a more than two-and-a-half-year journey to comet Hartley 2.

Earth's Magnetic Field Could Help Protect Astronauts Working On The Moon

It has been 35 years since humans last walked on the moon, but there has been much recent discussion about returning, either for exploration or to stage a mission to Mars. However, there are concerns about potential radiation danger for astronauts during long missions on the lunar surface. New research indicates that Earth's magnetic field can provide some protection from radiation for humans on the moon, new research shows.

New NASA Mission To Reveal Moon's Internal Structure And Evolution

At a Dec. 10 meeting of the American Geophysical Union, NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Alan Stern announced the selection of a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history. The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or Grail, mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. It will cost $375 million and is scheduled to launch in 2011. Grail will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

Travel Maps Of The Lunar North Pole

A new map shows the geography and illumination of the lunar north pole. The lunar poles are very interesting for future science and exploration of the Moon mainly because of their exposure to sunlight. They display areas of quasi-eternal light, have a stable thermal environment and are close to dark areas that could host water ice – potential future lunar base sites.

World's First HDTV Image Of 'Earth-rise' Over Moon

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have successfully performed the world's first high-definition image taking of an Earth-rise by the lunar explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE), which was injected into a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km on October 18, 2007.

China And ESA Launch Moon Mission -- Chang'e-1

A bold new mission to the Moon was launched by the Chinese National Space Administration. Chang'e-1 blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan, atop a Long March 3A rocket. This represents the first step in the Chinese ambition to land robotic explorers on the Moon before 2020.

Robot For Lunar Prospecting Under Development

A robotic prospector is being built for NASA that can creep over rocky slopes and then anchor itself as a stable platform for drilling deep into extraterrestrial soils. Called "Scarab," this four-wheeled robot will never leave the Earth. But it will demonstrate technologies that a lunar rover will need to find concentrations of hydrogen, possibly water and other volatile chemicals on the moon that could be mined to produce fuel, water and air that are essential for supporting lunar outposts.

Google Sponsors Lunar X PRIZE To Create A Space Race For A New Generation

The X PRIZE Foundation and Google Inc. announced on September 13 the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a $30 million prize purse. Private companies from around the world will compete to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.

Japan's KAGUYA Spacecraft Blasts Off To Explore The Moon

Japan has successfully launched a new unmanned spacecraft to explore the Moon -- the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. KAGUYA will investigate the entire moon in order to obtain information on its elemental and mineralogical composition, its geography, its surface and sub-surface structure, the remnant of its magnetic field, and its gravity field.

New Information On Geological And Volcanic Activity On The Moon

Owing to SMART-1's high resolution and favorable illumination conditions during the satellite's scientific operations, data from Europe's lunar orbiter is helping put together a story linking geological and volcanic activity on the moon.

NASA Prepares For Performing New Science On The Moon

NASA has selected proposals, including two from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for future lunar science activities. In addition, the agency has established two new programs that will enhance research made possible by the Vision for Space Exploration. The proposals and programs are part of an effort by NASA to develop new opportunities to conduct important science investigations during the planned renewal of human exploration of the moon.

Moon Jobs Will Tax Mental Health Of Workers

Think your job is tough? Can’t wait for summer vacation to “get away from it all?" In the not-too-distant future, some jobs will challenge workers placed far, far away from it all. On the moon, in fact. Depression, anxiety, and low productivity will characterize the lunar jobs of tomorrow, says Rutgers-Camden human resources scholar.

Another Step Toward A Liquid Telescope On The Moon

Scientists have taken another step toward building a liquid telescope on the moon. Researchers have found a combination of materials that allows the creation of a highly reflective liquid mirror capable of functioning even under harsh lunar conditions.

European Meeting Fuels Future Space Exploration Missions To Mars And Moon

A European Science Foundation-led workshop sponsored by the European Space Agency has enabled 88 scientists from 11 European countries to agree on science goals for future Europe's planetary exploration program -- providing the continent with an ambitious roadmap to examine Mars and the moon.

Shine On, Shine On, Climate Monitoring Station: Moon-based Observatories Proposed

Global climate change is driven by an imbalance between incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy from Earth. Without understanding the climate system's inputs and outputs---its so-called energy budget---it is impossible to tease out the relative contributions of natural and human-induced influences and to predict future climate, according to one at least one geophysicist. He proposes setting up a network of observatories on the moon dedicated to studying climate change on Earth.

Calculating A Sharper View Of Moon Geochemistry

A method of processing lunar image data significantly improves how finely scientists can discern a key geochemical feature of the Moon's surface, a new study finds.

Shooting Marbles At 16,000 Miles Per Hour

NASA scientist Bill Cooke is shooting marbles and he's playing "keepsies." The prize won't be another player's marbles, but knowledge that will help keep astronauts safe when America returns to the Moon in the next decade. Cooke is firing quarter-inch diameter clear shooters -- Pyrex glass, to be exact -- at soil rather than at other marbles. And he has to use a new one on each round because every 16,000 mph (7 km/s) shot destroys his shooter.

SMART-1's Bridge To The Future Exploration Of The Moon

ESA's SMART-1 moon mission has become a bridge to the future of lunar science and exploration.

Walking Tall: Student Working On Space Suit Redesign For NASA

Space suits for astronauts may get a new and better design following a University of Houston doctoral student's locomotion stability research. Melissa Scott-Pandorf is a fellow of the Texas Space Grant Consortium. Using a weight suspension system and info from hours of lunar moon walk video, she's researching how the space suit can be made more stable for easier movement.

Study Shows Moon In New Light

Light has been shed on the dark parts of the Moon with experiments by University of Edinburgh researchers simulating billions of years of lunar evolution.

Probing NASA's Plans For A Lunar Colony

The success of NASA's plans for a permanent human outpost on the moon may depend on the availability of technology that exploits the moon's environment and natural resources to obtain essentials like electric power, according to an article in Chemical and Engineering News.

Twin Spacecraft Swing Past Moon, Preparing For 3-D Solar Studies

NASA's twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) spacecraft, built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., completed a series of complex maneuvers Sunday to position the spacecraft in their mission orbits. The spacecraft will be in position to produce the first 3-D images of the sun by April.

To The Moon! NASA To Build Lunar Base

NASA has unveiled the initial elements of the Global Exploration Strategy and a proposed U.S. lunar architecture to return humans to the moon. NASA's Lunar Architecture Team concluded that the most advantageous approach is to develop a solar-powered lunar base and to locate it near one of the poles of the moon.

Moon's Escaping Gasses Expose Fresh Surface

A fresh look at Apollo-era images combined with recent spectral data leads researchers to re-examine conventional wisdom. Several lines of evidence suggest that the moon may have seen eruptions of interior gasses as recently as one million years ago, rather than three billion years ago -- the date that has been most widely accepted.

Space Radiation Threats To Astronauts Addressed In Federal Research Study

A better understanding of solar storms and how best to protect astronauts from space radiation is needed as NASA pushes toward manned missions to the moon and Mars in the coming decades, according to a new National Research Council report by a committee chaired by a University of Colorado at Boulder administrator.

No Evidence Of Ice Reserves On The Moon

Using the highest resolution radar-signal images ever made of the moon -- images from the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Telescope in Arecibo, P.R., and the NSF's Robert C. Byrd Telescope in Green Bank, W.Va. -- planetary astronomers have found no evidence for ice in craters at the lunar south pole. Cornell University, Smithsonian Institution and Australian scientists report the findings in the latest Nature.