Washington DC (UPI) Nov 15, 2024
Friday marks the final supermoon of 2024, the last of four consecutive instances of the phenomenon to end the year. On the U.S. East Coast, the Full Beaver Moon will be visible in its entirety beginning at 4:28 p.m. EST Friday, however it has already appeared near-full to observers over the last two days. The Full Beaver Moon name is derived from the Old Farmer's Almanac, with th

Albuquerque NM (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
With the Taurid meteor shower now hitting the night skies worldwide, look for what could be a celestial treat - you might see shooting stars, and maybe even fireballs, the biggest and brightest meteors. As the full moon begins to wane after Nov. 15, the sky will be darker, due to diminishing moonlight, so finding the meteors will get easier. That said, the best visibility for the meteors t

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
The Moon's near and far sides show significant differences in geomorphology, topography, chemical composition, crustal structure, and volcanic history. To gain deeper insight into these distinctions, Professor XU Yigang and his team at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, analyzed lunar soil samples from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, returned by the Chang'e-

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
Basalt samples collected by China's Chang'e-6 mission have shed light on volcanic activity on the Moon's farside, revealing eruptions occurring 2.8 billion years ago (Ga) and 4.2 Ga. This significant finding was made by Prof. LI Qiuli's lab at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and recently published in 'Nature'. "Unraveling the volcanic history of the lu

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) announced that its prototype lunar rover, developed for upcoming manned lunar missions, has advanced to the initial phase of development. The rover, designed with a modular, foldable structure, is capable of carrying two astronauts for surface operations. A released concept image depicts the vehicle as an open-top off-road model, inspired by the

Washington DC (UPI) Nov 16, 2024
Officials with NASA are at odds with their counterparts at the Russian space agency Roscosmos over the severity of a leak aboard the International Space Station. The fear among NASA officials is that an existing air leak in a Russian-controlled section of the ISS could eventually result in a "catastrophic failure." Both agencies have known about the leak since 2019, but disagree

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
For the 14th consecutive year, NASA has earned an unmodified, or "clean," audit opinion on its fiscal year 2024 financial statements from an independent external auditor. This top-tier audit result indicates that NASA's financial statements align with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for federal agencies and accurately represent the agency's financial status. The result underscores

Houston TX (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
Before taking part in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), Emma Randall, a recent graduate of Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona, said the most leadership experience she had was heading a small group project in English class. After a year of working on her SSEP project with classmate Ella McTaggart, she entered college with strong leadership skills and first-hand experience

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 16, 2024
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the country's primary space contractor, is preparing for the inaugural flights of two new carrier rocket models in the coming months. Ma Tao, deputy head of spacecraft operations at CASC, announced that the first launch of the Long March 8A is planned for January 2025 at the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center in Wench

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 17, 2024
In a provocative recent article published in Nature, astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch proposes that the ongoing quest to detect life on Mars may need a complete rethinking. His comment underscores that while NASA's Viking landers were groundbreaking for their time, the experimental approach taken might have inadvertently hindered the detection of Martian life by using methods unsuitable for it