Change'e 5 landing site overview. Credit: Chinese National Space Agency's (CNSA) Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center On Dec 1, 2020, China landed the Chang’e 5 mission on the near side of the moon. Three days later, that little lander lifted back off with about 1.7 kg lunar rocks and soil. On Dec 16 this mission would successfully return to Earth and analysis would begin. In this sample, researchers found tiny glass beads produced in Lunar Volcanoes. Analysis of their chemical composition indicates these beads were formed as recently as 120 million years ago. It is unclear...
Perseverance collects a River of Science
Jezero Crater as Seen by ESA's Mars Express Orbiter: This image shows the remains of an ancient delta in Mars' Jezero Crater, which NASA's Perseverance Mars rover will explore for signs of fossilized microbial life. Credit: NASA The remnants of ancient dunes aren’t...
How Rivers Flow: Here, Mars & Titan
This false-color image shows Titan’s second-largest body of liquid, Ligeia Mare, in the moon’s northern hemisphere. Scientists think that rivers flowing into large bodies of liquids like this one should form deltas. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell New research...
Geoarchaeology: Protecting humanities record of exploration
Apollo 15 lunar module with Mons Hadley in the background. Credit: NASA / JSC / ASU / Andy Saunders I don’t know about you, but there have been a lot of random times when I or someone near me has said, “Someday archaeologists are going to have a field day with…” as we...