Science

MIT engineers have designed a walking lunar robot cleverly inspired by the animal kingdom. The “mix-and-match” system is made of worm-like robotic limbs astronauts could configure into various “species” of robots resembling spiders, elephants, goats and oxen. The team won the Best Paper Award last week at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Aerospace Conference.

NASA and Axiom Space are finally ready to show what Artemis III astronauts will wear when they walk on the Moon. The two have unveiled a prototype spacesuit that crews will use for moonwalks near the lunar South Pole. As promised, the design is meant to accommodate a wider range of body types. It's also more flexible than past suits, and includes exploration-oriented tools.

NASA has chosen Axiom Space's proposal yet again for the third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The two parties have already signed a mission order, and they're hoping to launch sometime in November 2023 and beyond from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A more specific date will be announced later, since it will depend on the timing of other flights to the ISS, as well as on in-orbit activity planning. 

NASA has shared an image from the James Webb Space Telescope that could help astronomers one day answer longstanding questions about our universe. The capture you see above shows WR 124, a star located in the constellation Sagittarius, approximately 15,000 light years away from Earth.

Is it a handy tool — or a ticking time bomb?

SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission has safely returned to Earth. On Saturday evening, the company’s “Endurance” Dragon spacecraft splashed down off the coast of Florida following a five-month stay at the International Space Station. The capsule was carrying NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japan’s Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.