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☆ New fossils could reveal origin of ancient ‘hobbit’ humans
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

More bones followed, and at first, archaeologist Thomas Sutikna and his team thought they had uncovered the ancient fossils of a child. And the newly studied fossils represent an earlier hobbit who was 2.4 inches (6.1 centimeters) shorter than the first specimen. Homo erectus was the first ancient human to migrate out of Africa about 1.9 million years ago. Together, the Homo floresiensis fossils paint a portrait of a hardy species able to adapt and thrive despite the presence of hulking Komodo dragons. Defying gravityAstronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have long outstayed a planned eight days in low-Earth orbit after traveling to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June.

Persons: Bua, Thomas Sutikna, floresiensis, Homo floresiensis, erectus, Homo erectus, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, SpaceX’s, Williams, David Brunetti, Pharaoh Djoser, NASA's, squaretail groupers, China’s Chang’e, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, International Space, NASA, Sutton, Exploration Rover, Rover, CNN Space, Science Locations: Indonesian, Flores, Africa, African, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England, Sutton, Turkey, China, India’s

☆ VIPER moon rover: Inside the scramble to save NASA’s canceled lunar vehicle
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-04 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

And the availability of the VIPER spacecraft piqued the company’s interest for future projects, Intuitive Machines told CNN. To get reach that goal, Intuitive Machines will likely have to dip into its own funds to complete VIPER’s finishing touches before liftoff. The Simulated Lunar Operations Lab at NASA Glenn Research Center tested planetary roving vehicle systems and components for vehicles such as the VIPER Rover. The Astrobotic Griffin lunar lander (pictured here in a rendering) is now slated to take off no earlier than late 2025. The lunar lander was designed to carry NASA’s VIPER rover as its main payload.

Persons: There’s, ”, Jack Kiraly, VIPER, Tim Crain, Thomas Zurbuchen, Aubrey Gemignani, Crain, ” Crain, “, Josh Marshall, it’s, Astrobotic, Griffin, John Thornton, Chandan Khanna, Griffin’s, Thornton, ” Thornton, Kiraly, I’m, Sen, Shelley Moore Capito, luncheons, Craig Hudson, Jerry Moran, ” Kiraly, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Exploration Rover, NASA, Planetary Society, Research, Goddard Space Flight, Machines, NASA Glenn Research Center, VIPER Rover, Technology, United, Cape Canaveral Space Force, Getty, VIPER, Republican, Reuters Lawmakers, Commerce, Justice, Science, Kansas Republican Locations: Houston, Maryland, Nova, California, Pittsburgh, Cape, Cape Canaveral , Florida, West Virginia, Washington, Washington ,, China, Kansas

☆ Tara Shakiti will be the first artist from Madagascar to send her work to the moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-24 | by ( Leah Collins | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —From a young age, award-winning artist Tara Shakti knew she wanted to pursue a career creating paintings that empowered other women. Tara Shakti will be the first Malagasy artist to have her work sent to the moon. The main criterion for nomination is that artists’ work should have been included in a curated exhibit, collection, anthology or similar. Tara ShaktiThe artist was invited by Peralta to submit her work for the project after he discovered her paintings through social media earlier this year. “To have my work launched to the moon is an honor of immeasurable magnitude,” Shakti told CNN in an email.

Persons: Tara Shakti, Shakti, ”, “, NASA ”, Samuel Peralta, ” Peralta, Peralta, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakti's, Shakti’s, NASA’s, Tara Shakti “, Tara Shakti’s, Ada Limón, Didi Mendez, they’re Organizations: CNN, SpaceX, NASA, Codex Polaris, Heavy, Embassy of, NASA’s Europa Clipper Locations: Madagascar, Africa, Florence, Paris, Canadian, Toronto, New York, Embassy, Embassy of Madagascar, France, Cuban American

☆ NASA Spent $450 Million on a Moon Rover. Now It’s Canceling the Mission.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-17 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

NASA will spend about $800 million to not send a robotic rover to the moon. The rover, known as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is already built. The launch is still scheduled to take place late next year, but VIPER will not be aboard. However, delays with both the VIPER rover and the privately built spacecraft that was to have landed the rover on the moon’s surface led to uncertainty about the mission’s timeline. “Decisions like we’ve been discussing today are extremely difficult to make,” Nicola Fox, the associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate, said during a news conference.

Persons: we’ve, ” Nicola Fox, ” Organizations: NASA, Exploration Rover

Astrobotic Technology said contact and then tracking was lost as its lunar lander reentered Earth's atmosphere Thursday, 10 days after launching from Florida. It was the first U.S. lunar lander in more than a half-century. Right before Friday’s U.S. news conference, a lunar lander from Japan touched down on the moon, but it was unable to generate crucial solar power. The U.S., Russia, China and India have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon and only the U.S. has landed astronauts. Flight controllers were able to turn on some experiments and collect data,The company is already is working on an even bigger lunar lander that will carry NASA's Viper rover to the moon in a year.

Persons: company’s, moonshot, John Thornton, ” Thornton, Astrobotic, Thornton, Peregrine, NASA —, Gene Roddenberry Organizations: —, Pacific, Astrobotic Technology, . Space Command, NASA, Pittsburgh, Engineers, “, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, U.S, Florida, Japan, Russia, China, India

☆ After Peregrine failed to land on the moon, Astrobotic still plans to launch another lunar lander in November
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This month, Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander failed to reach the moon due to a fuel leak. Despite the setback, Astrobotic plans to launch a second lunar lander in November. AdvertisementEarlier this month, the space company Astrobotic launched its Peregrine mission toward the moon, but the spacecraft never made it and ultimately burned up in Earth's atmosphere. During Astrobotic's first press conference since its failed Peregrine mission, the company's CEO, John Thornton, said Astrobotic is more excited than ever to attempt to send another lunar lander to the moon. AdvertisementAn illustration showing Astrobotic's Griffin moon-landing system deploying NASA's VIPER ice-hunting robot to the lunar surface.

Persons: Astrobotic, —, Astrobotic's, Peregrine, John Thornton, Thornton, it's, Griffin, that's, Astrobotic's Griffin, Joel Kearns, Kearns, hadn't, NASA hasn't Organizations: Service, Peregrine, Astrobotic's, NASA, NASA NASA, Payload Locations: NASA's

☆ Former SpaceX engineers explain how the US's first moon landing mission in decades may have gone wrong and how to prevent similar anomalies
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-11 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Space company Astrobotic's lunar lander won't reach the moon after a fuel leak. Most space companies don't operate like SpaceX does, they said, which can lead to mistakes. The NASA-backed mission was meant to be the first time a private company's spacecraft landed on the moon. This is far from the first time a private space company has experienced an anomaly . Two former SpaceX engineers told Business Insider that space companies that invest heavily in testing and robust software processes tend to be successful and learn from their failures .

Persons: —, Peregrine, Karthik Gollapudi, Jason Hunter, Hunter, Gollapudi, Astrobotic's Peregrine, NASA's Organizations: SpaceX, Service, NASA, Companies

☆ How India landed on the moon and flew to Mars at a fraction of the cost of NASA and Russia missions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Maiya Focht | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

India has become the first nation to land a robotic mission to the crucial south pole of the Moon. AdvertisementAdvertisementSmall spacecraft, small costsIndian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3, the word for "moon craft" in Sanskrit, travels after it was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. Aijaz Rahi/AP PhotoIndia's main strategy for being frugal on the moon seems to be that it kept the spacecraft small. NASA/JSCThis wasn't India's first attempt to land on the moon's south pole. It aimed to make a soft landing on the south pole of the moon, where nobody had succeeded yet.

Persons: NASA's, Elon Musk, Aijaz, That's, Satish, Robert Braun, Andrew Coates, Anatoly Zak, They've, Braun, Russia's Luna Organizations: Service, Hollywood, ISRO, SpaceX, Twitter, Indian Space Research Organization, New York Times, NASA, Space, Chandrayaan, Space Exploration, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, MAVEN, BBC, Planetary Society, JSC Locations: Wall, Silicon, India, Bengaluru, Sriharikota, Soviet Union

☆ Russia is racing to beat the US, India, and China to the south pole of the moon in its first lunar mission since the 70s
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

If successful, it could be the first to do a soft landing on the south pole of the moon. Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, launched the Luna-25 mission on Friday morning from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, Reuters reported. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket is carrying a lander, which Roscosmos will try to land on the south pole of the moon on August 21, Reuters reported. The south pole is a crucial strategic objectiveRussia isn't the only nation vying for the south pole. Russia's ambitious return to the moon was delayed by invading UkraineRussia's Luna-25 mission, the first moon mission in over a decade, aims to put a rover on the south pole of the moon.

Persons: Roscosmos, Lev Zeleny, Luna, Maxim Litvak, Peter Byrne, Ukraine Russia's Luna, space.com Organizations: Service, Russia, Luna, Vostochny, Reuters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, NASA, REUTERS Luna, European Space Agency Locations: Russia, India, China, Wall, Silicon, Amur, Liverpool, Ukraine, Handout, Luna

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