South Korean lunar mission to search for minerals, ice and future landing sites

South Korean lunar mission to search for minerals, ice and future landing sites

Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 5, 2022 A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Aug. 4, 2022, with South Korea’s first Moon mission: the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, called Danuri. Later missions will include an orbiter, lander, and rover. Danuri, from the Korean words dal and nurida, means “enjoy the Moon” and its […]

No, ‘Rogue One’ isn’t anti-Trump; It’s about selfless sacrifice and ‘hope’

No, ‘Rogue One’ isn’t anti-Trump; It’s about selfless sacrifice and ‘hope’

December 28, 2016 Let’s be clear — “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” won’t replace “The Empire Strikes Back” as the best film in the beloved franchise. That doesn’t mean “Rogue One” isn’t both satisfying and grittier than any film in the “Star Wars” canon. … We finally learn how those Death Star plans were […]

NASA launches probe to return samples from Asteroid Bennu

NASA launches probe to return samples from Asteroid Bennu

September 11, 2016 David Dickinson, Sky and Telescope The dusk skies lit up over Cape Canaveral on September 8th, as NASA’s ambitious Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security and Regolith Explorer (Osiris-REX) mission started its long round trip journey. Its mission: meet up and explore Earth-crossing Apollo asteroid 101955 Bennu and bring samples of it […]

Cassini’s coming collision with Saturn

Cassini’s coming collision with Saturn

Aug. 1, 2016 [CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute] What’s behind Saturn? The first answer is the camera itself, perched on the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting behind the planet with the most grand ring system in our Solar System. The unusual perspective places Cassini on the far side of Saturn from the […]

View from and of a robotic observatory in the Canary Islands

View from and of a robotic observatory in the Canary Islands

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Mads Fredslund Andersen, Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Aarhus Univ., Denmark] Near first quarter, the Moon in March lights this snowy, rugged landscape, a view across the top of Tenerife toward La Palma in the Canary Islands Spanish archipelago. The large Teide volcano, the highest point in Spain, looms over the […]

Meanwhile, on Mars it’s just another day, but where does Curiosity go for a tire change?

Meanwhile, on Mars it’s just another day, but where does Curiosity go for a tire change?

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS] Where is NASA’s rover Curiosity going on Mars? Its geographical goals are on the slopes of Mount Sharp, whose peak is seen in the background on the right. A key scientific goal, however, remains to better assess when and where conditions on Mars were once suitable […]

Home away from home

Home away from home

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, STS-132 Crew, Expedition 23 Crew, NASA] The International Space Station is the largest object ever constructed by humans in space. The station perimeter extends over roughly the area of a football field, although only a small fraction of this is composed of modules habitable by humans. The station is […]

After 14-year dance with Saturn, Cassini prepares for grand finale

After 14-year dance with Saturn, Cassini prepares for  grand finale

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Cassini Imaging Team, SWRI, JPL, ESA, NASA] Cassini, a robot spacecraft launched in 1997 by NASA, became close enough in 2002 to resolve many rings and moons of its destination planet: Saturn. At that time, Cassini snapped several images during an engineering test. Several of those images were combined […]

Billionaires to fund nano-tech search for alien life with tiny craft traveling at one-fifth the speed of light

Billionaires to fund nano-tech search for alien life  with tiny craft traveling at one-fifth the speed of light

Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner just announced a bold new initiative to visit Alpha Centauri — the second-closest star to Earth — within our lifetimes. “For the first time in human history we can do more than just gaze at the stars, we can actually reach them,” Milner told a crowd […]

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a UFO . . . it’s a drone?

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a UFO . . . it’s a drone?

[There have been few UFO sightings in recent years, with the exception of India (see one example below). But there has been a dramatic increase in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).] The Indian Air Force, and security agencies at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, have been put on alert for aerial threats […]