https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new paper released today documents the first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples collected by NASA for return from Mars. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas astrobiologist leading the specimen selection team discusses what the samples so far reveal. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-roving-red-planet-paper-documents.html Astrobiology Thu, 06 Feb 2025 16:09:05 EST news658080539 Imagine designing technology that can survive on the moon for up to a decade, providing a continuous energy supply. NASA selected three companies to develop such systems, aimed at providing a power source at the moon's South Pole for Artemis missions. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-houston-moon-johnson-thermal-vacuum.html Space Exploration Wed, 20 Nov 2024 10:59:04 EST news651322742 Should NASA return to the moon, or go straight to Mars? Maintain its focus on climate science, or pivot away? https://phys.org/news/2024-11-big-trump-musk-redefine-space.html Space Exploration Sat, 16 Nov 2024 05:47:03 EST news650958418 China has repeatedly stunned the U.S. intelligence community in the last five years with rapid progress in its space exploration program, landing a rover on the far side of the moon and completing its very own space station orbiting Earth. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nasa-urgency-mars-idaho-scientists.html Space Exploration Mon, 27 Nov 2023 07:33:42 EST news620292816 European Space Agency director Josef Aschbacher promised a "transformation" of the continent's space sector in the coming years during an interview with AFP, including more collaboration between government and private industry. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-european-space-agency-chief-eyes.html Space Exploration Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:29:20 EDT news601136957 It's not just rocket fuel propelling America's first moonshot after a half-century lull. Strategic rivalry with China's ambitious space program is helping drive NASA's effort to get back into space in a bigger way, as both nations push to put people back on the moon and establish the first lunar bases. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-space-china-urgency-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 15 Sep 2022 04:10:01 EDT news582433723 NASA's Artemis 1 mission is poised to take a key step toward returning humans to the moon after a half-century hiatus. The launch was scheduled for the morning of Aug. 29, 2022, but was postponed due to an issue with one of the rocket's engines. The next opportunity to launch the rocket is Sept. 2, 2022. The mission is a shakedown cruise—sans crew—for NASA's Space Launch System and Orion Crew Capsule. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-artemis-mission-stage-routine-space.html Space Exploration Tue, 30 Aug 2022 09:41:03 EDT news581071261 The United States on Tuesday voiced regret over Russia's announcement that it would exit the International Space Station after 2024 and said it was taken by surprise. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-russia-exit-space-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 26 Jul 2022 17:05:53 EDT news578073948 Moscow said Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-russia-international-space-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 26 Jul 2022 08:31:53 EDT news578043109 Three Chinese astronauts arrived at the country's space station on Sunday, the Chinese space agency for human flights said, the latest stride in Beijing's aim to become a major space power. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-chinese-astronauts-space-station.html Space Exploration Sun, 05 Jun 2022 10:55:35 EDT news573645329 Fifty years after his Apollo 16 mission to the moon, retired NASA astronaut Charlie Duke says he's ready for the U.S. to get back to lunar exploration. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-years-apollo-moonwalker-space.html Space Exploration Sat, 30 Apr 2022 03:38:35 EDT news570508710 With many countries, companies and individuals intensifying their space exploration programs, questions about rights, ownership and the feasibility of manned space missions are coming to the fore of public debate. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-universe.html Space Exploration Mon, 20 Dec 2021 08:39:58 EST news559211992 Adding a crew to China's new orbiting space station is another major advance for the burgeoning space power. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-significance-china-space-station.html Space Exploration Thu, 17 Jun 2021 04:40:02 EDT news543123298 China's Mars rover drove from its landing platform and began exploring the surface on Saturday, state-run Xinhua news agency said, making the country only the second nation to land and operate a rover on the Red Planet. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-china-mars-rover-roaming-red.html Space Exploration Sat, 22 May 2021 05:02:14 EDT news540878525 Former Florida senator Bill Nelson was sworn in Monday as head of NASA, hailing a "new day" for space exploration as the United States seeks to return to the Moon. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-bill-nelson-nasa-hails-day.html Space Exploration Mon, 03 May 2021 17:12:53 EDT news539280770 China on Thursday launched the main module of its first permanent space station that will host astronauts long term, the latest success for a program that has realized a number of its growing ambitions in recent years. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-china-main-1st-permanent-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 29 Apr 2021 03:59:13 EDT news538887547 China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week in the latest big step forward for the country's space exploration program. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-china-heavenly-harmony-space-station.html Space Exploration Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:03:09 EDT news538804984 Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan blasted off from the Taurus-Littrow valley on the moon in their lunar module Challenger on December 14 1972. Five days later, they splashed down safely in the Pacific, closing the Apollo 17 mission and becoming the last humans to visit the lunar surface or venture anywhere beyond low-Earth orbit. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-artemis-ever-changing-space-policy-moon.html Space Exploration Fri, 26 Feb 2021 08:48:21 EST news533551697 Astronauts blasted into orbit from the U.S. for the first time in nearly a decade, three countries sent spacecraft hurtling toward Mars, and robotic explorers grabbed rocks from the moon and gravel from an asteroid for return to Earth. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-world-space-bright-stressful.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Dec 2020 13:20:46 EST news527347243 A United Arab Emirates spacecraft rocketed into blue skies from a Japanese launch center Monday at the start of a seven-month journey to Mars on the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-uae-amal-spacecraft-rockets-mars.html Space Exploration Mon, 20 Jul 2020 03:04:48 EDT news514433077 NASA has selected proposals for four missions that would study cosmic explosions and the debris they leave behind, as well as monitor how nearby stellar flares may affect the atmospheres of orbiting planets. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-nasa-volatile-stars-galaxies-cosmic.html Space Exploration Tue, 17 Mar 2020 08:49:42 EDT news503653779 From the Soviet Union's pioneering satellite to the first man on the Moon 50 years ago, here are 10 key dates in space exploration. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-exploration-space-key-dates.html Space Exploration Sat, 20 Jul 2019 01:10:38 EDT news482803804 Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, the world watched as Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. Since then, space agencies around the globe have sent rovers to Mars, probes to the furthest reaches of our galaxy and beyond, yet humanity's curiosity and fascination with the Moon has never abated. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-china-mysteries-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 18 Jul 2019 14:00:10 EDT news482673636 NASA has replaced the head of its human space exploration directorate in a major shake-up, US media reported Wednesday, as the agency scrambles to meet President Donald Trump's ambitious deadline to return astronauts to the moon by 2024. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-major-shuffle-nasa-trump-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 11 Jul 2019 07:09:18 EDT news482047753 In March 2019, Vice President Mike Pence stated that the goal of NASA should be to return humans to the Moon by 2024. While the cost of such a venture isn't known yet, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has supported the effort and gone as far as naming the 2024 Moon mission, Artemis. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-women-space-exploration-woman-moon.html Space Exploration Tue, 09 Jul 2019 09:49:09 EDT news481884534 NASA has selected a new mission that will help scientists understand and, ultimately, forecast the vast space weather system around our planet. Space weather is important because it can have profound impacts – affecting technology and astronauts in space, disrupting radio communications and, at its most severe, overwhelming power grids. https://phys.org/news/2019-02-nasa-mission-space-weather-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 26 Feb 2019 10:30:02 EST news470396994 Three moon rocks brought to Earth nearly half a century ago and the only known documented lunar samples in private hands, sold for $855,000 in New York on Thursday, Sotheby's said. https://phys.org/news/2018-11-moon-york-sotheby.html Space Exploration Thu, 29 Nov 2018 14:52:11 EST news462725524 Sixty years ago, spurred by competition with the Soviet Union, the United States created NASA, launching a journey that would take Americans to the moon within a decade. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-nasa-revival-moon-glory-days.html Space Exploration Fri, 27 Jul 2018 11:20:01 EDT news451905877 China's ambition to soft-land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon later this year faces considerable challenges, but if successful would propel the country's space program to the forefront of one of the most important areas of lunar exploration, experts say. https://phys.org/news/2018-05-experts-china-side-lunar-mission.html Space Exploration Tue, 22 May 2018 03:42:41 EDT news446179353 The U.S. space exploration program should continue to focus on robotic sample recovery and human missions to Mars, says Scott Hubbard, Editor-in-Chief of New Space. He details the benefits and risks of this strategy in an editorial entitled "Keeping the Focus on Mars," published in New Space. https://phys.org/news/2017-12-space-focus-mars-editor.html Space Exploration Thu, 07 Dec 2017 16:46:10 EST news431887559