NASA’s Mars science rover Perseverance has collected and stashed away the first of numerous mineral samples that the U.S. space agency hopes to retrieve from the surface of the Red Planet for analysis on Earth, NASA said on Friday. Tools attached to Perseverance and operated by mission specialists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near…
NASA’s Mars Rover Collects First Planetary Samples for Return to Earth
NASA Confirms Mars Rover’s 1st Rock Sample Grab, 40 to Go
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA’s newest Mars rover has completed its first sample grab, tucking away the tube of rock for return to Earth. The Perseverance rover team confirmed last week’s successful drilling and collection, after reviewing photos of the core sample. NASA wanted to be certain the sample was safe inside the titanium tube, before sharing…
‘This Is Bad’: Russian Cosmonauts Find Tiny Cracks in International Space Station
Russian cosmonauts have found small cracks on the International Space Station (ISS), prompting fears from officials that the fissures could widen. “Superficial fissures have been found in some places on the Zarya module,” Vladimir Solovyov, the chief engineer of rocket and space corporation Energia, told the state-run RIA news agency. “This is bad and suggests…
Mystery of Space Inspired New Zealand Rocket Man’s Journey to Nasdaq
WELLINGTON—New Zealand entrepreneur Peter Beck said his space firm Rocket Lab was the result of a lifelong quest for signs of life outside earth, as the startup hit a new milestone with a Nasdaq listing on Thursday. The small satellite launch firm, often compared to Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX, listed on the Nasdaq…
Solar Orbiter Spacecraft Captures Venus Glare
This is the moment Solar Orbiter passed Venus earlier this month. The images show a dark area of the planet that is hidden from the Sun and a bright crescent of light—glare from Venus’s incredibly bright sunlit side. The footage was filmed by the Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager, SoloHI, as the spacecraft made its second…
Astronaut’s Undisclosed Minor Medical Issue Delays Spacewalk
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA is delaying a spacewalk at the International Space Station this week because of an undisclosed medical issue involving one of its astronauts. Officials announced the postponement Monday, less than 24 hours before Mark Vande Hei was supposed to float outside. Vande Hei is dealing with “a minor medical issue,” officials said in…
What Makes Gold so Great?
Gold has long been considered the king of metals, but why? What makes this lustrous material so alluring? Why does it remain so valuable? From a purely practical standpoint, gold has a lot of desirable properties. For one, it’s durable—it does not tarnish or rust. In fact, it’s one of the least reactive elements on…
NASA Halts SpaceX Work on Lunar Lander After Blue Origin Suit
WASHINGTON—NASA agreed on Thursday to temporarily halt work on a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX after rival billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin sued the U.S government, an agency spokeswoman said. Blue Origin has said its lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims last week, was “an attempt…
Japan Aims to Bring Back Soil Samples From Mars Moon by 2029
TOKYO—Japanese space agency scientists said Thursday they plan to bring soil samples back from the Mars region ahead of the United States and China, which started Mars missions last year, in hopes of finding clues to the planet’s origin and traces of possible life. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, plans to launch an…
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