Solar System – Page 21 – Spaceflight Now

Privately-funded Israeli probe set for daring moon landing attempt

April 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Israeli-built spacecraft financed through donations from billionaire philanthropists is set to make history Thursday when it tries to become the first privately-funded probe to land on the moon.

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe releases ‘bomb’ at asteroid

April 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft dropped an explosive charge on asteroid Ryugu on Thursday night in an audacious attempt to carve a crater on the object, exposing pristine underground rocks to be retrieved by the probe for return to Earth.

Israel’s Beresheet lander brakes into lunar orbit

April 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

Six weeks after launching from Cape Canaveral, an Israeli-built probe funded through private donations arrived in orbit around the moon Thursday, setting the the stage for the mission’s final descent to the lunar surface April 11.

Israel’s Beresheet lander heads for make-or-break lunar capture maneuver

April 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

InSight scientists not sure stalled Mars heat probe can be recovered

April 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

Ground teams analyzing data from a heat probe that got stuck soon after it started digging into the Martian crust under NASA’s robotic InSight lander still hope they can free the mole from an obstruction that halted its progress more than a month ago, but the mission’s chief scientist says the chances of completing the heat probe experiment — one of InSight’s two main science instruments — may not look promising.

Beresheet lander on course for the moon

March 19, 2019 Stephen Clark

The privately-funded Israeli Bersesheet lander is on course to enter orbit around the moon April 4 after another boost from its main engine Tuesday.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft finds particles flying off asteroid Bennu

March 19, 2019 Stephen Clark

The early months of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission’s exploration of asteroid Bennu have revealed big surprises, scientists said Tuesday, including plumes of particles streaming away from the asteroid, sometimes with enough velocity for rocks to break out of Bennu’s tenuous gravitational grip and escape into space.

Hayabusa 2’s asteroid touch-and-go comes to life in dramatic new video

March 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

Computer reset cancels orbit-raising burn on Israel’s moon lander

February 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

A computer reset on the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander forced has the postponement of the mission’s first engine firing to begin maneuvering closer to the moon, officials said Tuesday.

Japanese probe lands on asteroid to capture sample

February 22, 2019 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft briefly landed on an asteroid Thursday more than 200 million miles from Earth and fired a bullet to scoop up a rocky sample, successfully accomplishing one of the mission’s most challenging maneuvers before returning the asteroid specimen to scientists on the ground in December 2020.