All articles tagged with #robotic missions
Scientists are leveraging existing space missions and data to prepare robotic explorers for future human missions to the Moon and Mars, focusing on water resource identification, radiation shielding, and dust management, with new tools and instruments being developed to address these challenges.
A decade after the release of 'The Martian,' robotic missions have surpassed human efforts in Mars exploration, revealing the planet's past habitability and raising questions about future colonization, amid shifting space policy priorities and funding challenges.
A decade after 'The Martian,' actual Mars exploration has focused more on robotic discoveries and scientific research than human landings, with ongoing missions revealing new insights into Mars' climate history and potential habitability, despite shifting priorities and funding challenges.
While 'The Martian' predicts humans reaching Mars by 2035, current exploration relies heavily on robotic missions that have significantly advanced our understanding of Mars' climate, geology, and potential habitability, though human colonization remains a complex and uncertain goal amid shifting priorities and funding challenges.
Three separate missions, led by Japan's space agency JAXA, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines, are all set to land on the Moon in January 2024. If successful, this would make it the busiest month ever for new spacecraft arrivals on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander is scheduled to launch between January 12-16 and touch down on the Moon's South Pole on either January 19 or 21. JAXA's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is also expected to land on the same day, while Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander is set to launch on December 24 and land on January 25.
NASA has suspended all Mars missions from November 11 to November 25 due to solar conjunction, where the Sun lies directly between Earth and Mars, causing potential disruption to radio commands. While communication will be limited, the Martian rovers, satellites, and helicopter will continue their pre-planned scientific objectives and send health checks during this period. The distance between Earth and Mars during solar conjunction increases to about 235 million miles, making communication challenging. However, NASA's robotic missions will resume normal operations after the two-week hiatus.