Orbiter

After extensive efforts to detect extraterrestrial intelligence, a message from outer space was picked up by three prominent Earth-based radio astronomy observatories today. The signal originated in the vicinity of Mars, and its contents remain hidden at present. However, contrary to initial excitement, the message is not of extraterrestrial origin. It was deliberately transmitted as part of a simulation to mimic an actual communication from aliens. This exercise serves as a dress rehearsal, enabling us to gauge our…

Japan and ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander appears to have met a startling end, according to new photos captured by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter. Based on the new images, astronomers say they have finally spotted the Japanese moon lander’s crash site, finally bringing closure to the failed touchdown, which first made headlines in late April. The HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lander was expected to touchdown on the surface of the Moon on April 26, around 1:40 a.m. JST. However, communication between the lander and the…

In late April, a privately-owned Japanese lunar lander failed in its attempt to land on the Moon, crashing on the lunar surface to never be heard from again. Although we may not have seen the lander’s final moments, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured an overhead view of the spacecraft’s crash site, revealing the point of impact surrounded by scattered debris.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewOn April 26, LRO captured a series of ten images around the estimated…

Artist Concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA has retired the 17-year-old CRISM instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The device, which helped generate high-resolution mineral maps of Mars and guided the selection of landing sites, used visible and infrared light to identify water-related minerals. Despite the end of its active service, the data CRISM collected will continue to be used in future Mars research. Credit: JPL/NASAOne of six instruments aboard the agency’s <span class="glossaryLink"…

A pair of lunar orbiters recently crossed each other’s paths around the Moon, with one flying overhead and capturing an image of the orbiting spacecraft below. The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, also known as Danuri, snapped the streaked, fuzzy photo of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as both spacecraft circled the Moon.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewThis wasn’t entirely a coincidence, though, as the two mission teams coordinated the orbital rendezvous. On April 7,…

ESA’s Sun-explorer Solar Orbiter is an advanced scientific lab that aims to uncover the mysteries of the Sun’s behavior by capturing close-up images and examining its unexplored polar regions. Researchers are analyzing data from various instruments to address questions about the Sun’s magnetic activity cycle, coronal heating, solar wind generation, and its effects on Earth. Credit: ESA/MedialabESA’s Solar Orbiter may have taken another step towards solving the eighty-year-old mystery of why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is…

South Korea's unmanned space vehicle Danuri has sent photos of the moon's far side during its mission to collect selenographic data, the science ministry said.Danuri, which is rotating around the moon 100 kms above the surface, took pictures of the Tsiolkovskiy crater on March 22 and the Vallis Schrodinger and Szilard M craters each on March 24 with its high-definition cameras, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).They are the first photos of the moon's far side…

NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft passes above Mars’ south pole in this artist’s concept illustration. The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since October 24, 2001. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechMeasuring the fuel supply on Odyssey, a decades-old spacecraft without a fuel gauge, is no easy task.Since <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space…

For nearly two years, NASA engineers had been worried that the fuel supply of the Mars Odyssey orbiter was running low, bringing a tragic end to the precious spacecraft. But as it turns out, they had miscalculated what’s left in the orbiter’s gas tank and that it’s good to go for another two years, according to NASA.The Mars Odyssey has been orbiting the Red Planet for over two decades, traveling a distance equivalent to 1.37 billion miles (2.21 billion kilometers) in space. When it launched in 2001, the orbiter had 500…

The Malapert massif region near the Moon’s lunar south pole is one of several possible locations where NASA astronauts could land later this decade. A new image from the space agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals it to be a bleak, dreary, andbeautiful place for us to visit.NASA’s LRO captured this view of Malapert massif on March 3, when the intrepid probe was roughly 106 miles (170 kilometers) from Shackleton crater, according to Mark Robinson, principle investigator with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera…