Lunar

Fancy your own full-scale lunar module?

15:29 December 8, 2009 PST

Space Toys' full scale lunar model replicas will set the buyer back a cool US$89,000.

Anyone with a serious fondness for the moon landings and the craft that got us there, or even just those with a penchant for big toys, will be sure to sit up and take notice at Space Toys built to order full scale lunar modules. Offering “amazing details and fantastic authenticity”, the fully customizable replicas can be matched to specific landing missions and crafted with or without an interior. Just make sure you have the US$89,000 and a 20 X 30ft spare room ready. Read More

RESEARCH WATCH

Eureka! NASA strikes water on lunar surface

By Darren Quick

19:16 November 17, 2009 PST

The ejecta plume about 20 seconds after the LCROSS impact (Images: NASA)

Scientists have long speculated about the source of significant quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the moon's lunar poles, and just a few months ago NASA announced that water molecules were indeed present, but in relatively small amounts. Now the Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) that was employed to shed some more light on the presence of water on the moon, looks like it has done just that with preliminary data indicating the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently-shadowed crater. Read More

AERO GIZMO

Build a lunar lander and win $1 million

By Paul Lester

17:38 September 1, 2009 PDT

Armadillo Aerospace will be competing at level 2 following success with its PIXEL lander

The X-Prize foundation, who teamed up with Google in 2007 to create the USD$30 million Google Lunar X Prize competition, has recorded plenty of interest. Since Odyssey Moon’s registration, a further ten parties moved swiftly to take up the gauntlet last year. Read More

GOOD THINKING

NASA and Goodyear develop puncture proof tire for the 21st Century

By Paul Ridden

02:31 August 16, 2009 PDT

On test: the lunar truck simulator at the Rock Yard of Houston's Johnson Space Center

It looks like seventies science fiction television is (finally) going to meet reality with NASA planning to set up a real Moonbase Alpha by 2020. In order to meet the heavy load/long range transport requirements of life on the moon, NASA recently teamed up with Goodyear to review and redesign some 40-year-old technology in the shape of the airless tires first seen on the Lunar Rover Vehicles of Apollo missions. Read More

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

The search for ice on the moon heats up

By Jeff Salton

19:58 August 2, 2009 PDT

An artist's impression of the LRO spacecraft taking hi-res images of the moon's surface (I...

Special sensing technology developed by Raytheon for the US Navy's miniaturized radio frequency system is aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), one of two spacecraft hoping to find photographic evidence that the polar regions of the moon contain ice. Until now, man hasn’t been able to confirm if there is ice on the moon because it is thought to exist only in permanently dark patches, or poles, on the lunar landscape – which means we haven’t been able to take detailed photos yet. NASA in particular is interested in determining the extent to which lunar ice exists, if at all, as the agency prepares for future manned exploration and possible habitation on the moon. Read More