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Supernova Remnants Found in Oceanic Samples, Scientists Look to Moon
Scientists have identified supernova debris in deep-sea sediments, including a rare plutonium isotope linked to a kilonova. Researchers believe a neutron star collision occurred nearly 10 million years ago, scattering radioactive material across space. To validate this theory, they plan to analyze lunar soil, which remains undisturbed by Earth's ge...
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Chandrayaan-5 Approved: ISRO Plans 350kg Rover, India-Japan Collaboration
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan confirmed the Centre’s approval for Chandrayaan-5, advancing India’s lunar exploration plans. The mission, which includes a 350kg rover, will be developed in collaboration with Japan. ISRO is also working on Chandrayaan-4, focusing on sample collection, and has outlined plans for an independent space station by 2035. ...
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NASA’s Space Station Research Aids Lunar Missions With Key Technologies
Research aboard the International Space Station is advancing lunar exploration. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission-1, which landed on 2 March 2025, carries three experiments linked to space station studies. LEXI observes X-ray emissions to study space weather, RadPC tests radiation-tolerant computing, and LuGRE detects GNSS signals for lunar ...
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ISRO Expands with Two Launchpads, Chandrayaan-4 to Launch in 2028 with Lunar Sample Return Mission
Isro is developing two new launchpads in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to support its growing space program. Chandrayaan-4, a 9,200 kg mission planned for 2028, will involve a lunar sample return. The organisation is also collaborating with NASA on the NISAR satellite for environmental monitoring. In the past decade, Isro has launched 433 satellite...
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A Fourth 'Mysterious' Form Of Water That Could Form On Alien Planets Observed
Even the icy planets in our solar system such as Neptune, Uranus or Jupiter's moon Europa, might have harboured plastic ice VII.
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Enceladus' Geysers May Not Come from Underground Ocean, Study Suggests
Enceladus, one of Saturn’s most intriguing moons, has long been thought to have water plumes erupting from its underground ocean. However, a recent study proposes an alternative explanation, suggesting the plumes may originate from a semi-liquid layer within the moon’s ice shell. Researchers believe shear heating along fractures creates slushy,...
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NASA Launches Satellite On Mission To Detect Water On The Moon
Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about 440 pounds (200 kg) and measures about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, is being sent to find and map this water on the moon's surface.
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Scientists Observe Rare Plastic Ice, A Hybrid Form of Ice and Water, Under Extreme Pressure and Heat
Researchers have observed plastic ice, a phase where water molecules rotate while staying in a solid structure. The discovery, made under extreme pressure and heat, could provide new insights into the composition of icy exoplanets and moons. The findings suggest plastic ice VII may have existed in Europa and Titan's interiors and could influence nu...
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ISRO's Chandrayaan-4 to Land on Moon and Bring Back Lunar Samples in 2027
India’s space agency ISRO is gearing up for the Chandrayaan-4 mission, scheduled for 2027. This ambitious mission will involve a complex system of five modules, launched using two LVM3 rockets. Once in lunar orbit, two modules will descend to the surface, with one collecting samples and the other remaining on the Moon. The sample return module wi...
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Asteroid 2024 YR4 Has a 2.3 Percent Chance of Hitting Earth in 2032, Says NASA
Asteroid 2024 YR4, measuring 180 feet wide, has a 2.3% chance of impacting Earth on 22 December 2032, according to scientists. A smaller 0.3% risk of the asteroid colliding with the moon has also been noted. While the Earth impact could release energy equal to 8 megatons of TNT, a moon strike may create a visible crater. Researchers are using the J...
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UCLA Unveils SPLITTER, a Tethered Jumping Robot for Space Exploration
Researchers at UCLA’s RoMeLa lab have developed SPLITTER, a robotic system designed for planetary exploration through tethered jumping. The system consists of two quadrupedal robots connected by a tether, allowing efficient movement in low-gravity environments like the Moon and asteroids. Unlike traditional rovers, SPLITTER’s design enables sta...
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Moon's Geological Activity: New Evidence Suggests Surface Changes Persist
New research suggests the Moon may still be geologically active, as 266 newly discovered wrinkle ridges indicate recent surface changes. The study estimates these ridges formed within the last 160 million years, challenging the belief that lunar activity ended billions of years ago. Scientists believe continued contraction could cause moonquakes, p...
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NASA Looks for Private Partners To Revive VIPER Moon Rover Mission
NASA is inviting private companies to collaborate on deploying the VIPER moon rover, initially halted due to budget constraints. The rover, designed to locate lunar water ice, was previously set to launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander. Companies must submit proposals by February 20, 2025, with final selections expected mid-year. Chosen firms...
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Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-29 Conducts First Lunar Gravity Simulation
Blue Origin successfully launched its NS-29 mission, marking the first lunar gravity simulation on its New Shepard vehicle. The capsule rotated mid-flight to replicate Moon gravity for research payloads, including NASA-supported experiments on lunar dust behaviour and fire safety. Over half of the 30 payloads focused on Moon-related technologies. T...
-
New Study Finds Active Lunar Tectonics, Challenges Moon’s Dormancy
A recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal reveals that the moon is still experiencing tectonic activity. Scientists identified 266 small ridges on the far side of the moon, formed within the last 160 to 200 million years. The study suggests these ridges result from geological forces like lunar shrinking and orbital shifts. The findi...
-
Supernova Remnants Found in Oceanic Samples, Scientists Look to Moon
Scientists have identified supernova debris in deep-sea sediments, including a rare plutonium isotope linked to a kilonova. Researchers believe a neutron star collision occurred nearly 10 million years ago, scattering radioactive material across space. To validate this theory, they plan to analyze lunar soil, which remains undisturbed by Earth's ge...
-
Chandrayaan-5 Approved: ISRO Plans 350kg Rover, India-Japan Collaboration
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan confirmed the Centre’s approval for Chandrayaan-5, advancing India’s lunar exploration plans. The mission, which includes a 350kg rover, will be developed in collaboration with Japan. ISRO is also working on Chandrayaan-4, focusing on sample collection, and has outlined plans for an independent space station by 2035. ...
-
NASA’s Space Station Research Aids Lunar Missions With Key Technologies
Research aboard the International Space Station is advancing lunar exploration. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission-1, which landed on 2 March 2025, carries three experiments linked to space station studies. LEXI observes X-ray emissions to study space weather, RadPC tests radiation-tolerant computing, and LuGRE detects GNSS signals for lunar ...
-
ISRO Expands with Two Launchpads, Chandrayaan-4 to Launch in 2028 with Lunar Sample Return Mission
Isro is developing two new launchpads in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to support its growing space program. Chandrayaan-4, a 9,200 kg mission planned for 2028, will involve a lunar sample return. The organisation is also collaborating with NASA on the NISAR satellite for environmental monitoring. In the past decade, Isro has launched 433 satellite...
-
A Fourth 'Mysterious' Form Of Water That Could Form On Alien Planets Observed
Even the icy planets in our solar system such as Neptune, Uranus or Jupiter's moon Europa, might have harboured plastic ice VII.
-
Enceladus' Geysers May Not Come from Underground Ocean, Study Suggests
Enceladus, one of Saturn’s most intriguing moons, has long been thought to have water plumes erupting from its underground ocean. However, a recent study proposes an alternative explanation, suggesting the plumes may originate from a semi-liquid layer within the moon’s ice shell. Researchers believe shear heating along fractures creates slushy,...
-
NASA Launches Satellite On Mission To Detect Water On The Moon
Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about 440 pounds (200 kg) and measures about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, is being sent to find and map this water on the moon's surface.
-
Scientists Observe Rare Plastic Ice, A Hybrid Form of Ice and Water, Under Extreme Pressure and Heat
Researchers have observed plastic ice, a phase where water molecules rotate while staying in a solid structure. The discovery, made under extreme pressure and heat, could provide new insights into the composition of icy exoplanets and moons. The findings suggest plastic ice VII may have existed in Europa and Titan's interiors and could influence nu...
-
ISRO's Chandrayaan-4 to Land on Moon and Bring Back Lunar Samples in 2027
India’s space agency ISRO is gearing up for the Chandrayaan-4 mission, scheduled for 2027. This ambitious mission will involve a complex system of five modules, launched using two LVM3 rockets. Once in lunar orbit, two modules will descend to the surface, with one collecting samples and the other remaining on the Moon. The sample return module wi...
-
Asteroid 2024 YR4 Has a 2.3 Percent Chance of Hitting Earth in 2032, Says NASA
Asteroid 2024 YR4, measuring 180 feet wide, has a 2.3% chance of impacting Earth on 22 December 2032, according to scientists. A smaller 0.3% risk of the asteroid colliding with the moon has also been noted. While the Earth impact could release energy equal to 8 megatons of TNT, a moon strike may create a visible crater. Researchers are using the J...
-
UCLA Unveils SPLITTER, a Tethered Jumping Robot for Space Exploration
Researchers at UCLA’s RoMeLa lab have developed SPLITTER, a robotic system designed for planetary exploration through tethered jumping. The system consists of two quadrupedal robots connected by a tether, allowing efficient movement in low-gravity environments like the Moon and asteroids. Unlike traditional rovers, SPLITTER’s design enables sta...
-
Moon's Geological Activity: New Evidence Suggests Surface Changes Persist
New research suggests the Moon may still be geologically active, as 266 newly discovered wrinkle ridges indicate recent surface changes. The study estimates these ridges formed within the last 160 million years, challenging the belief that lunar activity ended billions of years ago. Scientists believe continued contraction could cause moonquakes, p...
-
NASA Looks for Private Partners To Revive VIPER Moon Rover Mission
NASA is inviting private companies to collaborate on deploying the VIPER moon rover, initially halted due to budget constraints. The rover, designed to locate lunar water ice, was previously set to launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander. Companies must submit proposals by February 20, 2025, with final selections expected mid-year. Chosen firms...
-
Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-29 Conducts First Lunar Gravity Simulation
Blue Origin successfully launched its NS-29 mission, marking the first lunar gravity simulation on its New Shepard vehicle. The capsule rotated mid-flight to replicate Moon gravity for research payloads, including NASA-supported experiments on lunar dust behaviour and fire safety. Over half of the 30 payloads focused on Moon-related technologies. T...
-
New Study Finds Active Lunar Tectonics, Challenges Moon’s Dormancy
A recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal reveals that the moon is still experiencing tectonic activity. Scientists identified 266 small ridges on the far side of the moon, formed within the last 160 to 200 million years. The study suggests these ridges result from geological forces like lunar shrinking and orbital shifts. The findi...
