Fate of Japan’s ‘Lunar Sniper’ in Doubt After Precision Landing Attempt
Japan’s SLIM is on the Moon and sending data to Earth, in what is a monumental achievement for Japan—it’s now the fifth country to accomplish the feat. The successful soft…
These Failed Missions to the Moon Remind Us That Space Is Hard
The Apollo 13 Saturn rocket being rolled out to the launch pad in 1970.Photo: NASA For millennia, our species looked at the Moon as a place that would forever be…
NASA Shows Off Concept for an Alien-Hunting ‘Cryobot’ Probe
Astrobiologists suspect there could be alien life just out of reach in our solar system, in oceans hidden beneath icy crusts on moons circling Jupiter and Saturn. But unlike the…
NASA to Rewrite Mars Sample Return Mission So It Can Actually Happen
NASA is considering alternative ways to bring back samples from Mars after its budget and schedule for the sample return mission was deemed unrealistic in a recent report by an…
The Last Images From Doomed Space Probes
Venus, in all its stinking hot glory.Image: USSR Academy of Sciences / Brown University Decades before the other missions on this list, the USSR launched a series of probes to…
Space Collision Concerns Delayed India’s Moon Launch
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission launched on July 14, headed towards a historic touchdown on the lunar surface. But before the lunar lander took off, it had to wait a few seconds…
India Continues Efforts to Rouse Its Sleeping Lunar Lander
The Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon.Image: ISRO India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover have been asleep on the surface of the Moon while efforts to revive the pair continue until the…
Watch Live as Japan Launches Moon Landing Mission, X-Ray Satellite
An illustration of the XRISM spacecraft.Illustration: NASA Japan is gearing up for its first landing attempt on the Moon, launching a lunar lander designed to accurately touch down on the…
That Was the Episode of Ahsoka We’d Been Waiting For
That sound you heard last night was the internet breaking over just how enjoyable the latest episode of Star Wars: Ahsoka was. After three episodes of mostly set up, the…
NASA Probe Spots Crashed Russian Moon Lander
A view of the suspected Luna 25 crash site. Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University NASA’s trusty Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images revealing a fresh crater…