Moon
Hardware, storefront and ecosystem news for Moon.
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NASA may reroute Perseverance’s Earthbound twin to the lunar south pole
NASA is considering repurposing a ground-based engineering test model of its Perseverance rover, potentially as a hybrid with the Curiosity rover, for a lunar south pole mission named PROMISE. This rover would utilize a plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generator for continuous operation, independent of sunlight, to survey the lunar south pole for water ice and characterize the environment. The project, estimated to cost between $700 million and $1.3 billion, is not expected to launch before the early 2030s.
Ten Months of Polar Night, 12 Crew Members, and a Result That Undercuts Mars Assumptions
Research conducted at Antarctica's Concordia Station during a ten-month overwintering period found that increased social interaction among 12 crew members correlated with rising conflict and diminished performance, challenging the assumption that companionship always fixes loneliness. The study utilized proximity sensors to objectively track interactions, revealing that prolonged closeness in confined environments can become a stressor and that crew members tended to cluster by language or nationality, potentially fostering social divides. These findings have implications for planning long-duration space missions to Mars and the Moon, highlighting the psychological weight of habitat design and crew scheduling over traditional team-building.
Korean lunar orbiter snaps first pics of the SpaceX Falcon 9 crash site on the moon
A Korean lunar orbiter has captured the first images of the impact site on the Moon caused by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA estimates the resulting crater to be approximately 60 feet wide, providing new data on the rocket's lunar descent.