Author: Lonnie Shekhtman
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NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon Crater
It started as a routine data-quality check. But as Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scanned a giant Moon map on his computer screen, an unusually large bright spot circled by a dark halo caught his…
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Human-Related Microbes May Survive Moon’s South Pole, NASA Finds
Lee esta historia en español aquí. Some of Earth’s microbes likely to hitch a ride to space with human explorers could survive in the shaded nooks and crannies of the Moon’s South Pole region, NASA scientists say. Published on Aug.…
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NASA’s LRO Images Falcon 9 Crater on Moon, Learns New Details
Between Aug. 11 and 12, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater on the Moon. The crater formed on Aug. 5, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the surface following its…
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NASA Completes Astronaut-Deployed Science Instrument for Lunar Surface
NASA has declared “wrenches down” on the first completed payload designed for Artemis astronauts to deploy on the Moon’s surface. Engineers working on NASA’s Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, or LEMS, have completed hardware development and testing and the payload is…
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NASA’s MAVEN Illuminates New Understanding of Auroras at Mars
NASA MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission scientists have uncovered a key puzzle piece in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, finding that they form in a similar way to Earth-based auroras. Results published Thursday in Nature Communications…
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NASA’s Lucy Reveals Wobbling, Peanut-Shaped Asteroid
Even small asteroids lead complex lives. During its flyby of the asteroid Donaldjohanson last year, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft revealed the asteroid to be a wobbly, peanut-shaped body that has undergone a lot of activity in its relatively short history.
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Join NASA on Oct. 4 in Looking Up, Celebrating Moon
Join observers from around the world on Saturday, Oct. 4, for NASA’s International Observe the Moon Night. This annual event offers an opportunity for earthlings to celebrate the inspiring bond between Earth and the Moon, and, this year, to share…
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Regions on Asteroid Explored by NASA’s Lucy Mission Get Official Names
The IAU (International Astronomical Union), a global naming authority for celestial objects, has approved official names for features on Donaldjohanson, an asteroid NASA’s Lucy spacecraft visited on April 20.
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NASA’s Artemis II Lunar Science Operations to Inform Future Missions
While the Artemis II crew will be the first humans to test NASA’s Orion spacecraft in space, they will also conduct science investigations that will inform future deep space missions, including a lunar science investigation as Orion flies about 4,000…
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NASA’s Apollo Samples, LRO Help Scientists Forecast Moonquakes
Moonquakes pose little risk to astronauts during a mission lasting just a few days. But their effects on longer-term lunar surface assets could be significant.