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A view of Ganymede, as imaged by the Juno probe. Image: NASAJUICE is scheduled to perform 35 Jovian moon flybys, but the mission will end with the spacecraft settling into a circular orbit around Ganymede, where it will work for an estimated six months and come as close as 311 miles (500 km) to its surface. By doing so, “Juice will be the first spacecraft to ever orbit a moon in the outer Solar System,” ESA claims. The space agency chose a good target, as Ganymede, the biggest moon in the solar system, is the only known…

Orion’s view of the Moon on December 5, the 20th day of the mission.Photo: NASANASA’s Artemis 1 mission concluded with Orion’s immaculate splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday. Seemingly a billion years—and most assuredly a few billion dollars—in the making, the mission ended far too quickly for space junkies like me. But in those short few weeks, it managed to nail all its primary objectives. Artemis 1 was strictly meant as a demonstration mission, a way for NASA to test its new SLS megarocket and Orion…

The ground team at ESA’s control room in the Netherlands monitored the arm’s movements in space.Image: ESAThe European Space Agency’s giant mechanical arm just pulled off its first maneuver, quietly moving a suitcase-sized payload from one side of an orbiting science module to another. It’s been a rough ride for the European Robotic Arm. Its journey towards installation has been marred by political tensions and failed spacewalks, but despite these external hardships, the 37-foot-long (11.3-foot-long) arm has remained…

Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev outside the ISS on April 28, 2022 to activate the European robotic arm. Photo: NASATwo Russian cosmonauts are preparing to venture outside of the International Space Station to continue setting up a giant robotic arm, despite recent threats from Roscosmos to withhold access to the handy machine. The spacewalk is scheduled to take place Wednesday at 9:20 a.m. ET, and NASA is broadcasting the microgravity maintenance work live on NASA TV. Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. ET, and you…