An orbital view of Daedalus, a high-rimmed lunar farside crater that offers extra shielding from Earth’s radio chatter, which can contaminate delicate scientific observations. The crater could someday become a protected lunar site. Credit:ÌýNASA

Astronomers Battle Space Explorers for Access to Moon’s Far Side

April 7, 2020

From Scientific American: As countries and private companies race to return to the moon, the need to protect the lunar far side—the hemisphere of Earth’s companion that always faces away from our planet—continues to grow. For decades, scientists have argued that the far side’s unique combination of accessibility and isolation...

As depicted in this illustration, a giant surges of solar particles erupts off of the Sun.

NASA Selects Mission to Study Causes of Giant Solar Particle Storms

March 30, 2020

From NASA: NASA has selected a new mission to study how the Sun generates and releases giant space weather storms – known as solar particle storms – into planetary space. Not only will such information improve understanding of how our solar system works, but it ultimately can help protect astronauts...

Concept image of the Astrobotic Peregrine robotic lander, which will launch on an United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket, and deliver 11 NASA payloads to the Moon.

First Commercial Moon Delivery Assignments to Advance Artemis

Jan. 23, 2020

From NASA: NASA has finalized the first 16 science experiments and technology demonstrations, ranging from chemistry to communications, to be delivered to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program. Scheduled to fly next year, the payloads will launch aboard the first two lander deliveries of the agency’s Commercial...

The Far Side Of The Moon Is The Perfect Place For a Radio Telescope artist illustration

The Far Side Of The Moon Is The Perfect Place For a Radio Telescope

Jan. 21, 2020

We’ve now passed the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, and all eyes are back on the Moon. NASA is planning to return to the Moon by 2024 with its Artemis mission, the Chinese have put the Moon firmly in their plans for space exploration, and even SpaceX thinks...

DAPPER Mission concept in orbit around Moon

Under a DAPPER Moon: NASA Eyes Wild Radio Science Projects on the Lunar Farside

Dec. 23, 2019

From Space.com: NASA's quest to return humans to the moon could boost a field of research that might not seem particularly lunar in nature: cosmology. But the far side of the moon could be a powerful place to answer some of the most compelling questions about the universe — and...

Artist illustration of FARSIDE using the Lunar Gateway, or similar Lunar asset, for communication with Earth.

Moon FARSIDE: Lunar Astronomy Proposal Takes Aim at Cosmic Dark Ages and Exoplanets

Dec. 15, 2019

From Space.com: The far side of the moon is an attention grabber for many reasons. A new mission idea capitalizes on those reasons in a project dubbed the Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets, shortened to this enlightened abbreviation: FARSIDE. The concept would place...

Illustration of FARSIDE on lunar surface with base station and antennas notated

Moon FARSIDE: Proposal for Dark Ages and Exoplanet Investigations

Dec. 5, 2019

From Leonard David’s Inside Outer Space: The Moon’s farside is an attention grabber…for many reasons. For good measure, enter the Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets, shortened to enlightened shorthand: FARSIDE. This concept is to place a low radio frequency interferometric array on the...

Illustration from article showing the Sun and particles

A step closer to the Sun’s secrets

Dec. 4, 2019

From Nature: Although the Sun is quite near to us compared with other stars, it has always kept intriguing and fundamental scientific secrets from us. For instance, we still don’t know how the solar corona — the Sun’s outermost atmosphere — maintains temperatures in excess of one million kelvin, whereas...

NASA Logo

2020 Decadal Survey Planning

Nov. 18, 2019

From NASA Science: This page describes the activities of NASA's Astrophysics Division in preparation for the 2020 Decadal Survey. To learn more about Astro2020 : Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics process, please visit the National Academies website. Prior Decadal Reports are also available on that site. Listed below are...

China's Chang’e-4 lander and its small rover, Yutu 2

Alien Hunters Need the Far Side of the Moon to Stay Quiet

Nov. 15, 2019

From Wired: China made history earlier this year when its Chang'e-4 lander became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon. During the two-week lunar days, the lander and its small rover, Yutu 2, beam images and other data to an orbiter for relay back to...

Pages