The day began with an 85% chance that bad weather would cause a launch delay: it ended with ESA’s Hera mission successfully in space and en route to the Didymos binary asteroid system.

At 16:52 CEST (14:52 UTC) on 7 October 2024, Hera took to the skies aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. After a smooth 76-minute ascent, the spacecraft separated from its launcher, and, a few minutes later, ESA’s ESOC mission operations centre in Germany assumed control of the spacecraft.

Here is what

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 08, 2024
NASA's Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life - with evidence for widespread liquid water on the surface - to a surface that is inhospitable to terrestrial life as we know it. Although the surface of Mars is frigid and hostile to life today, NASA's robotic explorers at

Williamsburg VA (SPX) Oct 08, 2024
NASA plans to send humans on a scientific round trip to Mars potentially as early as 2035. The trip will take about six to seven months each way and will cover up to 250 million miles (402 million kilometers) each way. The astronauts may spend as many as 500 days on the planet's surface before returning to Earth. NASA's Artemis program plans to return humans to the Moon this decade to prac

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Oct 10, 2024
China has entered the critical phase of its manned lunar exploration program, aiming for a manned lunar landing by 2030. A significant challenge that researchers face in this endeavor is the management of lunar dust, which poses considerable risks to the equipment and astronauts on the lunar surface. Researchers from Xidian University have developed a promising anti-dust shield solution us

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 8, 2024
Private industry in the United States will have an opportunity to provide NASA with designs for a lander and vehicle that will help supply future Artemis missions to the moon. NASA in September announced its request for proposals for lunar vehicle designs to overcome deficiencies in its lunar mobility and provide logistics that are needed to support planned missions to the moon's surfac