Central planning is literately central to any communist country, though its history has mixed results. As part of that planning, bureaucrats in all parts of the government are occasionally tasked with coming up with goals and milestones for their specific part of the government. These usually take the form of a five- or 10-year plan, which is what the China National Space Agency (CNSA) released on January 28.

This is the fifth such report, with previous releases in 2000, 2006, 2011 and 2016, and the current plans for future space exploration build on the efforts of the past plans. At more than 7,500 words, the document itself is hefty but still a relatively high-level overview of what the agency hopes to achieve. Some main focal points include improving the sustainability of their rocket launches, improving their global position system, partnering with Russia on lunar exploration, maintaining and expanding the Tiangong space station, researching the underlying technology for a Mars sample return mission, and building a global partnership to build a research station on the moon.

This image from ESA's Mars Express shows part of possibly the largest single source of dust on Mars: a wind-sculpted feature known as the Medusae Fossae Formation, or MFF.

The MFF is not only a veritable dust factory, but also remarkably extensive—it is the largest sedimentary deposit on the planet and stretches out discontinuously for more than 5,000 km, covering an area about the size of India. It is named for the Greek mythological Gorgon Medusa, who was able to turn those who looked into her eyes to stone, with the suffix 'fossae' being Latin for trenches or hollows.

The formation is found along the boundary between Mars' southern highlands and northern lowlands (known as the martian dichotomy), and sits between the planet's two most prominent volcanic regions (Tharsis and Elysium). It also contains the Eumenides Dorsum mountain range, the edges of which can be seen in the gentle elevation extending out of the bottom right of the frame (northeast).

Scientists say China's Yutu-2 rover, part of the Chang'E-4 mission, has found several small glass globules on the moon's far side. While tiny glass beads have been found previously in lunar samples brought back by the Apollo astronauts, the ones found by Yutu-2 are much bigger and translucent.

The discovery was made by Dr. Zhiyong Xiao, one of the lead scientific team members of the Chang'E-4 mission. They beads were found by looking at panoramic images taken by the rover. Since the rover doesn't have sampling capabilities and is not a sample return mission like it's older sibling, the Chang-E-5 mission, there is no compositional data on the glass beads, only observational evidence.

NASA mission managers updated Artemis I progress ahead of the March rollout of the massive Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B for what the agency calls a wet dress rehearsal.

While it's targeting March 16 at 6 p.m. for the 322-foot-tall rocket to make the 4.2-mile journey to the pad, the agency will need a month or more for testing and a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building before NASA signs off on a launch attempt. So an April launch window has been taken off the board.

"April is not a possibility. We're still evaluating the tail end of May," said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development. "But I want to be really careful once again, being straightforward with you. You know, we really need to get through this next few weeks here, see how we're doing."

The next possible windows for launch are from May 7-21, June 6-16 and June 29-July 12.

The majority of work inside the VAB is done ahead of the wet dress rollout, Whitmeyer said, including the last major hardware testing that involved the installation of the explosives on the vehicle that would be used in the event of an abort launch scenario.