spacecraft
-
Japan’s Lunar Mission Is Lying Face Down on the Moon
A new photo reveals what’s happened to SLIM lander, which made a historic pinpoint landing on the Moon.
-
US Space Force Purchases $25 Million ‘Fuel Truck’ for Satellites
Zipping far above Earth, it’s not exactly easy for satellites to find a corner gas station when the fuel gauge gets low. To tackle this cosmic conundrum, a Space Force-funded initiative is working on an innovative solution to refuel distant satellites on-the-fly. On Wednesday, Space Force awarded Astroscale a $US25.5 million contract to design and…
-
A Possible Explanation Arises for the Lunar Mission Failure
The Peregrine lander has less than a day to live, and the company behind the spacecraft may have figured out why its mission was doomed shortly after its launch. Astrobotic is blaming a faulty valve for Peregrine’s critical fuel loss, which made its soft landing on the Moon unachievable, the Pittsburgh-based company shared in its…
-
A SpaceX Booster Falls and Breaks, and More Science News of the Week
Our top science stories this week include a physics experiment to turn light into matter, an update from NASA’s Juno mission (it’s about to make a close encounter with Jupiter’s moon Io), and a roundup of the best archaeological discoveries of 2023. Physicists Designed an Experiment to Turn Light Into Matter An artist’s impression of…