Solar System

Chandrayaan 2 arrives in lunar orbit, targets moon landing next month

August 20, 2019 Stephen Clark

India’s Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft braked into orbit around the moon Tuesday, positioning the robotic science mission for a landing in the moon’s south pole region Sept. 6.

NASA directs Alabama space center to manage lunar lander program

August 16, 2019 William Harwood

Despite protests from Texas lawmakers, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will manage the agency’s plans to build a lunar landing system that will carry the next man and the first woman to the surface of the moon in 2024, agency Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Friday.

ExoMars parachute failures could jeopardize 2020 launch date

August 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency has confirmed a parachute for the ExoMars rover mission set for launch next July failed during a test over Sweden earlier this month, the project’s second parachute test accident since May.

NASA’s first interplanetary smallsats may struggle to stay under cost caps

August 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

The first set of proposals for a new class of small robotic probes NASA wants to dispatch across the solar system came in with higher cost estimates than agency officials expected, a NASA manager said Sunday.

Mars 2020 rover on track for launch next July

July 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch of NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is less than a year away, and the steady pace of work inside the craft’s pristine assembly hall in California is keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff from Cape Canaveral next July, despite growing costs, according to mission managers.

NASA terminates lunar lander contract with OrbitBeyond

July 30, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA has terminated a $97 million contract with OrbitBeyond, a New Jersey-based company with plans to build robotic moon landers in Florida, just two months after announcing an agreement to send science instruments to the lunar surface as soon as next year.

NASA taps Northrop Grumman in sole-source agreement to build Gateway habitat

July 23, 2019 Stephen Clark

Racing against the clock to meet the Trump administration’s 2024 deadline to land astronauts on the moon, NASA plans to select Northrop Grumman to build a pressurized habitation module derived from the company’s Cygnus cargo craft for living quarters for crews transiting to and from the lunar surface.