The lander, built by an Israeli company, will survive on the surface for just a few days. It will capture magnetic field data and conduct an experiment with a lunar orbiter.
spacecraft
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Windy Weather in the Thermosphere
The weather in the thermosphere includes winds that buffet spacecraft as they orbit the Earth, but how well can these winds be modeled?
Posted inNews
Opportunity Rover Mission Complete
The rover explored Mars’s surface for nearly 15 years and discovered ample evidence of the planet’s wet history.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Hints About How Martian Moons Formed
A new study finds that Phobos includes chunks of Martian crust.
Posted inNews
Future Mars Rover Named for DNA Pioneer Rosalind Franklin
The rover will explore a once water rich region on Mars’s surface and search for evidence of current and past life.
Posted inNews
Lander Gives First Look at Moon’s Farside
The mission aims to explore this relatively unstudied hemisphere and learn about its age, composition, and geologic history.
Posted inNews
Martian Crater Will Be the Landing Site for a Future Rover
The impact crater is a dry lake bed that contains evidence of ancient water flows and perhaps signs of ancient microbial life.
Posted inNews
Mercury Mission Will Map Morphology and Measure Magnetics
BepiColombo may launch as early as this weekend. It seeks to unravel the mysteries of Mercury’s geologic and magnetic past and map the small planet’s cratered surface.
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First Spacecraft to Touch the Sun Awaiting Launch
The Parker Solar Probe will study the Sun’s corona and its electric and magnetic fields, as well as the mechanisms that drive the solar wind, all from behind an advanced protective heat shield.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Predicting and Avoiding Collisions in Space
Solar wind drivers affecting the satellite environment have about a one hour predictive horizon, but solar wind speed periodicities and ensemble modeling can extend the forecast interval.