The new era of space exploration is opening entirely new possibilities, including the tantalizing prospect of mining for resources on the Moon and asteroids. Sounds exciting—and potentially very profitable—but the reality of the situation is that space mining is completely uncharted territory. Plenty of prospecting…
Rocket launches are expensive and laborious, but for decades they’ve been the price of doing business for space agencies hoping to get their latest satellite, telescope, or team of astronauts into the great blue yonder.
Update: September 7, 9:06 a.m. ET: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has succeeded in launching the H-IIA rocket, which blasted off yesterday from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander was spotted on the Moon just a few days after touching down on its cratered surface near the lunar south pole.
Following an eventful lunar day, India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has been put to sleep to wait out the dreadful darkness of the Moon’s nighttime.
NASA/Steve Seipel; China National Space Administration; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University; Insider
ISRO
Centre for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure-Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP
NASA’s trusty Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images revealing a fresh crater on the Moon’s surface. This crater is suspected to be the impact site of the ill-fated Luna 25 mission, Russia’s first lunar attempt in nearly five decades.
The Chandrayaan-3 rover is the first to leave its track marks on the Moon’s south pole, and the six-wheeled explorer has made a breakthrough discovery that could have major implications for establishing a future lunar habitat.
