News tagged with lunar surface

How the Moon produces its own water

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 15, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (15) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Moon is a big sponge that absorbs electrically charged particles given out by the Sun. These particles interact with the oxygen present in some dust grains on the lunar surface, producing ...

Researchers show small robots can prepare lunar surface for NASA outpost

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Feb 25, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (13) | 13

(PhysOrg.com) -- Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA's Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical ...

IBEX spacecraft detects fast neutral hydrogen coming from the moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 18, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (11) | 8

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has made the first observations of very fast hydrogen atoms coming from the moon, following decades of speculation and searching for their existence.

Beyond Apollo: Moon Tech Takes a Giant Leap

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Apr 09, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (13) | 12

The flight computer onboard the Lunar Excursion Module, which landed on the Moon during the Apollo program, had a whopping 4 kilobytes of RAM and a 74 KB "hard drive." In places, the craft's outer skin was ...

Scientists save India's moon mission from failure

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 17, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 0

(AP) -- India's only satellite orbiting the moon came close to failure after overheating but scientists improvised to save it and have achieved more than 90 percent of the mission's objectives, an official ...

NASA Radar Provides First Look Inside Moon's Shadowed Craters

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jan 16, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (10) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a NASA radar flying aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists are getting their first look inside the moon's coldest, darkest craters.

Lunar rock-like material may someday house moon colonies

Technology / Engineering

Jan 05, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (9) | 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dwellings in colonies on the moon one day may be built with new, highly durable bricks developed by students from the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech.

Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 03, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (8) | 2

Four months after the success of Apollo 11, NASA launched Apollo 12 in November 1969. Almost exactly 40 years later, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has seen the landing site.

Chandrayaan-1 now in lunar orbit

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 10, 2008 | 4.9 / 5 (7) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) lunar orbiter, was captured into orbit around the Moon on 8 November. One day later, the spacecraft performed a manoeuvre that ...

New high-res map suggests little water inside moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Feb 12, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (7) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- The most detailed map of the Moon ever created has revealed never-before-seen craters at the lunar poles. The map is also revealing secrets about the Moon's interior -- and ...

NASA launches LCROSS Lunar Impactor

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 19, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (7) | 3

NASA launched its first moon shot in a decade Thursday, sending up a pair of unmanned science probes that will help determine where astronauts could land and set up camp in years to come.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's first moon images available

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 02, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (7) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted its first images since reaching the moon on June 23. The spacecraft's two cameras, collectively known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ...

Microwaving Water from Moondust (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 08, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 2

NASA is figuring out how to make water from moondust. Sounds like magic? "No magic--" says Ed Ethridge of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center "-- just microwaves. We're showing how microwaves can extract water ...

Four Out of Six Apollos

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 24, 2008 | 4.5 / 5 (6) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Their names are now part of exploration history - Sea of Tranquility, Ocean of Storms, Frau Mauro, Hadley Rille, Descartes and Taurus-Littrow. They are the sites on the lunar surface visited ...

Museum battles to preserve moon suits for posterity

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

They have travelled further than any fashion item on Earth, surviving a hostile environment and extremes of heat and cold on a world far from ours. But now age is catching up with NASA spacesuits.