Solar System – Page 16 – Spaceflight Now

NASA’s Juno spacecraft sees moon’s otherworldly shadow on Jupiter

September 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

Fresh images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft show an ethereal shadow cast by Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io on the planet’s swirling cloud tops.

Hayabusa 2 completes practice run for deployment of last asteroid lander

September 17, 2019 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft deployed two target markers Monday above asteroid Ryugu in a rehearsal for the release of the mission’s final landing robot next month.

NASA, ESA officials seek formal approvals for Mars sample return mission

September 16, 2019 Stephen Clark

After crystallizing a partnership to retrieve samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth, NASA and European Space Agency officials are seeking government funding commitments before the end of this year to carry out a multibillion-dollar robotic mission that could depart Earth with a pair of rocket launches as soon as 2026.

NASA lunar orbiter to image Chandrayaan 2 landing site

September 12, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will try to locate India’s Vikram lander on the moon during a flyover of the landing site Tuesday. Indian space officials said they found the disabled spacecraft on the moon using the country’s own Chandrayaan 2 orbiter, but declined to release any images.

India’s first attempt to land on the moon appears to end in failure

September 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

Ground teams lost communication with India’s first lunar landing mission moments before its scheduled touchdown on the moon Friday, and the robotic research craft apparently crashed during final descent.

Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

September 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

Indian ground teams lost contact with a robotic lunar lander and rover minutes before their scheduled touchdown near the moon’s south pole. India was attempting to become the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon.

Indian moon lander ready for final descent

September 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

The Vikram lander, part of India’s Chandrayaan 2 mission launched in July, will attempt to land near the lunar south pole Friday and deploy a rover to conduct the first on-the-ground scientific surveys away from the moon’s equatorial regions.

Mini-helicopter installed on NASA’s next Mars-bound rover

September 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California have attached a flying helicopter drone to the belly of the Mars 2020 rover set for launch next July.

ExoMars rover leaves British factory, heads for testing in France

August 28, 2019 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover left its Airbus factory in Britain on Wednesday, heading for a round of testing in France before integration with its carrier and descent modules on pace for launch toward the Red Planet next July.

Astrobotic lunar lander to launch on ULA’s first Vulcan rocket

August 20, 2019 Stephen Clark

Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based company developing a robotic lunar lander, will launch its first moon mission under contract to NASA on the debut flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket in 2021, officials announced Monday.