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Moon

U=(N/T)M*G: Shaun

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Artemis - NASA

It always surprises me when NASA is about to do something major, and their collective goofiness as people and nerds smacks me right in the face. The Artemis launch is one such example, though there have been many. The Mission Control mohawk guy is probably still one of my favorites. I have no doubt the Artemis mission will be a success, and with it humanity’s ambitious plan to set up the first major part of our path to Mars. It’s a wildly exciting time for space nerds like me and I’m vibrating in my chair with anticipation. A lot of … Read more

What If: The Moon Were Twice as Close to the Earth?

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moon - pixabay

In the 2003 Jim Carrey movie “Bruce Almighty,” Carrey’s character suddenly acquires God-like powers, and uses those powers to lasso the full moon and pull it closer to Earth to woo his beloved. Later in the movie, background shots show TV news reports about massive, unprecedented flooding around the world. While the film is obviously fantastical, it does raise a question: What would happen if the moon were twice as close to Earth than it is today? In fact, the flooding scenario from the movie isn’t far from what might actually happen if the moon were suddenly much closer to … Read more

SPACE: Musk’s Firm Wins Contract for New Lunar Lander

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Moon Landing - Deposit Photos

NASA said on Friday it has awarded billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to fly astronauts to the moon, picking it over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc. The bid by Tesla Inc chief Musk beat one from Amazon.com Inc’s founder Jeff Bezos, who had partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. Bezos also owns the Washington Post. The U.S. space agency made the announcement in a videoconference. “We should accomplish the next landing as soon as possible,” said Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator. … Read more

SPACE: Russia Planning Moon Landing in October

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luna 25 - Roscosmos

Russia is revisiting its Soviet space heritage for a new series of missions that will take the nation back to the moon. The first of those missions, dubbed Luna 25, is scheduled to launch this October, ending a 45-year drought of Russian moon landings with the nation’s first arrival at the south pole, where, like everyone else targeting the moon, Russian scientists want to study water locked below the surface in permanent ice. “The moon is the center of our program for the next decade,” Lev Zelenyi, scientific advisor for the Russian Space Research Institute, said during a virtual presentation … Read more

NASA Plans to Land First Person of Color & First Woman on the Moon by 2024

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Artemis Program - Amazon

NASA will land the first person of color in addition to the first woman on the moon with the Artemis program, NASA’s Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk revealed today (April 9). Today, President Joe Biden’s administration submitted a budget proposal outlining its priorities for discretionary spending for the fiscal year 2022 to Congress. The proposed budget includes a funding increase that will support Mars sample return, research, climate science and more at NASA. Jurczyk responded to the news in a NASA statement and additionally revealed that the agency will be landing the first person of color on the moon with the … Read more

How Long Would It Take to Walk Around the Moon?

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Moon Landing - Deposit Photos

From our vantage point on Earth, the moon looks small. But if you were to hop in a spaceship, don a spacesuit and go on an epic lunar hike, how long would it take to walk all the way around it? The answer depends on myriad factors, including how fast you can go, how much time every day you spend walking, and what detours you’ll need to take to avoid dangerous topography. Such a trip around the moon could take longer than a year, but in reality, there are a lot more challenges to overcome. A total of 12 humans … Read more

Lava tubes in Hawaii could be a dress rehearsal for Lunar/Martian colonies

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Thurston Lava Tube - Deposit Photos

When humans build the first bases and habitats on other worlds, they’ll confront dangers and challenges unlike any faced by the astronauts who went before them. To prepare for such challenges, scientists are descending deep underground into lava tubes in Hawaii that simulate conditions on rocky alien worlds. There, mission crew members navigate uneven volcanic terrain and endure the physical constraints of performing research in a hostile environment. Wearing bulky suits like those required for extraterrestrial exploration, the scientists study the geology and organisms found in lava tunnels and caverns at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano. This unique research station at … Read more

Is There a Protoplanet Inside the Earth?

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planet collision - pixabay

A protoplanet slammed into the Earth about 4.5 billion years ago, knocking loose a chunk of rock that would later become the moon. Now, scientists say that remnants of that protoplanet can still be found, lodged deep inside Earth, Science Magazine reported. If remains of the protoplanet, known as Theia, did stick around after the impact, that may explain why two continent-size blobs of hot rock now lie in the Earth’s mantle, one beneath Africa and the other under the Pacific Ocean. These massive blobs would stand about 100 times taller than Mount Everest, were they ever hauled up to … Read more

Storing DNA on the Moon

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earth from moon - deposit photo

A “lunar ark” hidden inside the moon’s lava tubes could preserve the sperm, eggs and seeds of millions of Earth’s species, a group of scientists has proposed. The ark, or gene bank, would be safely hidden in these hollowed-out tunnels and caves sculpted by lava more than 3 billion years ago and would be powered by solar panels above. It would hold the cryogenically preserved genetic material of all 6.7 million known species of plants, animals and fungi on Earth, which would require at least 250 rocket launches to transport to the moon, according to the researchers. Scientists believe the … Read more

SPACE: China and Russia to Establish Moon Base

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moon base - deposit photos

China and Russia want to build a shared moon base. The two countries agreed to the plans on Tuesday (March 9), saying the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) would be “open to all interested countries and international partners.” The “memorandum of understanding” between the two countries, announced by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), described the ILRS as a “comprehensive scientific experiment base with the capability of long-term autonomous operation, built on the lunar surface and/or on the lunar orbit that will carry out multi-disciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities such as the lunar exploration and utilization, lunar-based observation, basic … Read more