News Archive
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145 articles
VideoIsrael’s Beresheet lander heads for make-or-break lunar capture maneuver
An Israeli spacecraft has one shot Thursday to swing into orbit around the moon with a six-minute engine firing, a critical maneuver that will set up for the privately-funded probe's historic landing attempt April 11.
VideoHayabusa 2’s asteroid touch-and-go comes to life in dramatic new video
A camera riding on Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft recorded stunning views of the probe's final descent to asteroid Ryugu last month, showing the rocky debris kicked up by the robot explorer's touch-and-go landing to collect a sample for return to Earth.
VideoChina releases more images from far side of the moon
Chinese officials on Friday released more imagery from the Chang'e 4 mission, a robotic lander and rover exploring the far side of the moon after a successful landing Jan. 3.
VideoLive coverage: New Horizons flyby target comes into focus
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made a historic New Year's encounter with an object nicknamed Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt a billion miles beyond Pluto. The NASA space probe passed Ultima Thule at a distance of around 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) on Jan. 1, making it the most distant planetary body ever explored up close.
VideoChina launches historic mission to land on far side of the moon
A robotic lander and rover lifted off Friday (U.S. time) from China's Xichang space center, kicking off a journey that will culminate in an attempt in early January to touch down on the far side of the moon for the first time.
VideoLive coverage: InSight probe lands on Mars
NASA's robotic InSight spacecraft, carrying a pair of European-built science instruments, successfully landed Monday on a broad, flat equatorial Martian plain named Elysium Planitia. Touchdown was confirmed at 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) to begin a science mission focused on studying the deep interior of Mars.
VideoVideo: JPL’s Rob Manning explains InSight’s entry, descent and landing
JPL chief engineer Rob Manning, a veteran of Mars mission teams dating back to Mars Pathfinder more than two decades ago, describes how the InSight spacecraft will enter the Martian atmosphere and touch down on the red planet.
VideoLive coverage: Probe heading to Mercury blasts off from French Guiana
The nearly $1.9 billion BepiColombo mission to Mercury jointly developed by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency lifted off Friday night from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Launch occurred at 9:45 p.m. EDT Friday (0145 GMT Saturday).
VideoLive coverage: MASCOT lander begins exploring asteroid Ryugu
Track the progress of the MASCOT lander, a tiny robot developed in Germany and France, as it explores asteroid Ryugu for a daring mission to hop across the austere world’s boulder-strewn landscape, taking pictures and collecting scientific data along the way. The robotic probe was released from the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft around 0200 GMT Wednesday (10 p.m. EDT Tuesday), and touched down a few minutes later.
VideoDescent begins for European asteroid lander
A German-built landing probe the size of a microwave oven carrying a camera and a suite of scientific instruments was closing in on an asteroid Tuesday, riding aboard Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to join two other robots deployed to the asteroid's surface last month.