Now that the Perseverance rover has dropped off ten regolith and rock sample tubes for a future sample return mission to retrieve, the plans for such a mission are coming together. The mission is a joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency, and ESA has agreed to build a 2.5-meter-long robotic arm to pick up tubes and then transfer them to a rocket for the first-ever Mars samples to be brought to Earth.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Europe's JUICE mission to Jupiter's moons preparing for April 14 launch
Europe's mission to explore three icy moons of Jupiter is all set to begin its voyage to the outer solar system.
China wants to launch over 200 spacecraft in 2023
China last year performed 64 orbital rocket launches and finished building its own space station, but the country is planning an even busier year for 2023.
Galactic collisions act as a 'cosmic delivery service' for hungry monster black holes
Astronomers may finally know what delivers the gas that feeds the powerful phenomena surrounding active black holes.
Celestron SkyMaster 12x60 binocular review
An excellent choice for entry-level astronomers the Celestron SkyMaster 12x60 binos are great for long-range terrestrial observing.
NASA's Geotail spacecraft ends 30-year mission studying Earth's magnetosphere
After 31 years in orbit, NASA's magnetosphere-studying mission Geotail has come to end after the spacecraft's final data recorder failed.
Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope review
The NexStar 4SE is a good scope for beginner astronomers — quick to set up and easy to use, automatically finding night sky objects for that instant wow factor.
Optical illusion gives rare green comet an 'anti-tail' that seemingly defies physics
C/2022 E3 (ZTF), a comet that has recently made headlines as it flies closer to Earth, briefly developed an ethereal third tail thanks to a weird optical illusion.
Truck-Sized Asteroid Flew Past Earth Yesterday, Coming Within 3,600 km
On January 26, a truck-sized asteroid flew past Earth, coming extremely close – within 3,600 km (2,200 miles) above the planet’s surface. This is well within the orbit of geosynchronous satellites and NASA says this flyby is one of the closest approaches by a near-Earth object ever recorded.
NASA to launch Psyche asteroid probe in October 2023 after delays
NASA's Psyche asteroid mission is targeting an October 2023 launch, after a one-year delay due to software issues.
Iceberg larger than London breaks off Brunt
Video: 00:04:25
An iceberg around the size of Greater London broke off Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf due to a natural process called ‘calving’. The iceberg, measuring 1550 sq km, detached from the 150 m-thick ice shelf a decade after scientists first spotted massive cracks in the shelf.
See the moon eclipse Mars on Jan. 30 in free telescope webcast
The moon will eclipse Mars on Monday (Jan. 30), and you can watch the event from the comfort of your own home thanks to a livestream from the Griffith Observatory.
'Juno: New Origins' indie game lets you launch rockets and build planets
The gaming sandbox includes rockets, airplanes, cars and anything else that you want to subject to realistic physics.
James Webb Space Telescope discovers water ice at ringed asteroid Chariklo 'by remarkable luck'
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers observe a stellar occultation and discover the first clear evidence for water ice in the Chariklo system.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, January 27 – February 5
Comet ZTF is at its best this week — but every night moonlight encroaches on the scene until a later and later hour. Along the way, the Moon occults Mars for the southern U.S. and again forms isosceles triangles with naked-eyestars.
ESA branded merchandise made easy
We’ve just made it easier to use the ESA brand to create merchandise or materials for events. If you are interested in producing and selling merchandising that shows the ESA logo, the ESA flags patch or ESA’s mission patches, there is now a simple way to request the use of ESA emblems.
Tempestuous young stars in Orion
Image: Tempestuous young stars in Orion
Webb NIRISS Instrument has Gone Offline
The JWST is having a problem. One of its instruments, the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS,) has gone offline. The NIRISS performs spectroscopy on exoplanet atmospheres, among other things.
NASA funds nuclear probes for icy moons, huge new space telescopes and other far-out tech ideas
NASA has funded a new set of visionary concepts for space exploration that could one day prove useful — and perhaps even transformative.
Lucy Adds Another Asteroid to its Flyby List
In October 2021, NASA launched its ambitious Lucy mission. Its targets are asteroids, two in the main belt and eight Jupiter trojans, which orbit the Sun in the same path as Jupiter. The mission is named after early hominin fossils (Australopithecus afarensis,) and the name pays homage to the idea that asteroids are fossils from the Solar System’s early days of planet formation.
NASA's Lucy asteroid mission adds 10th space rock target
NASA's Jupiter Trojan asteroid-scouting mission has been given an additional space rock to visit, bringing the journey's total to 10 asteroids.
