Mars landing missions only succeed about half the time, a rate largely determined by the entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase, according to the researchers who designed Tianwen-1's control systems.  They published their guidance, navigation and control approach for Tianwen-1 on October 16 in Space: Science & Technology.

"The EDL phase, which begins at the Mars atmosphere interface and ends with a surface touchdown, is crucial for a Mars landing mission," said Xiaolei Wang, researcher professor at Beijing Institute of Control Engineering.

Wang explained that most failures occur during this phase, typically because the communication delay between Mars and Earth is too large to accommodate the time urgency of the EDL phase.

"The spacecraft must perform autonomous guidance, navigation and control (GNC) to provide reliable key event triggers, as well as accurate and reliable state estimates to implement accurate and reliable trajectory and attitude controls," Wang said.

Blazing along at space-record speeds that would get it from Earth to the Moon in under an hour, NASA's Parker Solar Probe completed its 10th close approach to the sun on Nov. 21, coming within 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) of the solar surface.

The close approach (known as perihelion), also at a record distance, occurred at 4:25 a.m. EST (8:25 UTC), with Parker Solar Probe moving 364,660 miles per hour (586,864 kilometers per hour).

Engineering teams have completed additional testing confirming NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is ready for flight, and launch preparations are resuming toward Webb's target launch date of Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 7:20 a.m. EST.

Additional testing was conducted this week to ensure the observatory's health following an incident that occurred when the release of a clamp band caused a vibration throughout the observatory.

On Wednesday, Nov. 24, engineering teams completed these tests, and a NASA-led anomaly review board concluded no observatory components were damaged in the incident. A "consent to fuel" review was held, and NASA gave approval to begin fueling the observatory. Fueling operations will begin Thursday, Nov. 25, and will take about 10 days.

The Webb Space Telescope is an international partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies. It will explore every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, and everything in between. Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries, and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it.

A NASA spacecraft the size of a golf cart has been directed to smash into an asteroid, with the intention of knocking it slightly off course. The test aims to demonstrate our technological readiness in case an actual asteroid threat is detected in the future.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) lifted off aboard a SpaceX rocket from California on November 23, and will arrive at the target asteroid system in September, next year.

The mission will travel to the asteroid Didymos, a member of the Amor group of asteroids.