Landers / Rovers

The Moon's surface seen by the Chang'e-5's lander, including its shadow (Photo courtesy China National Space Administration/CLEP)

1

It was night in China when the lander and ascent vehicle of the Chinese Chang’e-5 mission successfully completed their Moon landing maneuvers. The various modules that make up Chang’e-5 were launched when it was November 24 in China and reached the Moon’s orbit in recent days. At that point, a series of maneuvers begun to make its orbit circular, the modules that were scheduled to land separated, and everything went well. Very soon, the lander was scheduled to begin its excavation work to collect soil and subsoil samples that will be sent into orbit to be returned to Earth around mid-December.

Mars Rover Perseverance and Mars Helicopter Ingenuity blasting off atop an Atlas V 541 rocket (Image NASA)

1

A little while ago NASA’s Mars 2020 mission blasted off atop an Atlas V 541 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Almost 58 minutes after launch, the spacecraft regularly separated from the rocket’s last stage went en route to the planet Mars, where is scheduled to enter its orbit in February 2021. There, the Mars Rover Perseverance and the Ingenuity helicopter will land on the red planet.

Tianwen-1 blasting off atop a Long March 5 rocket (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Cai Yang)

1

A few hours ago the Chinese mission Tianwen-1 blasted off atop a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang center in China. About 36 minutes after the launch, the spacecraft regularly separated from the rocket’s last stage and entered the trajectory that is scheduled to bring it into the planet Mars’ orbit in February 2021. There, a lander and a rover will separate from the space probe that will remain in orbit and will land on the red planet.

Jezero Crater on Mars

0

Two articles published in the journal “Icarus” report as many studies on Jezero Crater on Mars. Two teams of researchers used data collected by ESA’s Mars Express space probe to reconstruct various parts of the history of Jezero Crater which, with its approximately 49 kilometers in diameter, in the past used to host a lake. It dried out long ago, but left traces such as clay materials that only form in the presence of water. The diversity of minerals is also due to an ancient volcanic activity that affected the entire region. NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, with the Mars Rover Perseverance, will land in Jezero Crater, if all goes well, in February 2021 to also look for possible traces of life, present or past.