Latest Luna programme Stories

GREENBELT, Md., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing, which simulates the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space LRO will experience after launch. This milestone concludes the orbiter's environmental test program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide...

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing, which simulates the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space LRO will experience after launch. This milestone concludes the orbiter's environmental test program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and increase our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting...

VANCOUVER, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Luna Gold Corp. (TSXV-LGC) ("Luna" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has renegotiated the terms of the agreement relating to its Cachoeira project, which was originally announced on October 9, 2007. The amended terms extend the period of time that Luna has to complete its earn-in obligations to acquire 100% of the Cachoeira project, subject to a royalty and back-in rights. The original terms have been amended as follows: -...

VANCOUVER, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Luna Gold Corp. (TSXV-LGC) ("Luna" or the "Company) is pleased to announce new assay results from the Company's 2008 drill program at the Tucano zone on the Cachoeira gold project. Significant mineralized intercepts are highlighted below. - 21.45 meters @ 5.87 g/t Au including 7.95 m @ 14.96 g/t Au and 11.00 meters @ 1.67 g/t Au including 3.00 m @ 4.29 g/t Au in hole LCD-026 - 1.00 meter @ 17.30 g/t Au in hole LCD027...

A robot rover designed by a Bremen university team has won an ESA contest to retrieve soil samples from a lunar-style terrestrial crater. Eight student teams fielded rovers during the event, their progress monitored by an advanced 3-D viewer already flight-tested in space and planned for eventual deployment on the Moon.Craters surrounding the Moon's poles are a top 21st Century science target. Lunar researchers believe these craters may be 'cold traps', preserving ancient water ice deposits....

The Teide volcanic peak on the island of Tenerife acted as a mock-up of the Moon landscape last week, with eight European student teams tuning, testing and driving their lunar rovers in preparation for a robotics competition that took place during the dark nights of last weekend. Roving on the Moon is not easy. Lunar robotic explorers have to travel in a vacuum, over rough and steep terrain covered by crust and dust. The Sun heats the rovers up to 110°C and, when driving into a...

The Apollo Moon missions of 1969-1972 all share a dirty secret. "The major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust," says Professor Larry Taylor, Director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute at the University of Tennessee. Fine as flour and rough as sandpaper, Moon dust caused "˜lunar hay fever,' problems with space suits, and dust storms in the crew cabin upon returning to space.Taylor and other scientists will present their research on lunar dust at the "Living on a...

Partial elipse to test China's lunar probe TIANJIN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's first lunar probe satellite, Chang'e 1, will have its solar energy supply tested on Sunday, when the earth eclipses the sun. This will be the satellite's second such challenge this year, after it successfully ran on battery power for two hours during a full eclipse on Feb. 21. Sunday's eclipse would occur between 3:35 a.m. and 6:44 a.m., when the satellite would be hidden from the solar rays and switch to...

China's solar-powered lunar probe satellite Chang'e 1 stood the test of a partial eclipse on Sunday as scientists altered its orbit and temporarily turning off some facilities. Based on the signals sent by the satellite after the eclipse, the Chang'e 1 was operating as expected, Monday's Beijing News quoted Liu Junze, of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC), as saying. The ground control center changed the orbit of the satellite to shorten the time it was out of direct sunlight to 168...

Hundreds of scientists are meeting this week in California as part of the celebration of the 39th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The Lunar Science Conference at NASA Ames Research Center, which runs through Wednesday, was designed to give scientists an opportunity to review the state of knowledge of the moon, the evolution of the solar system, effects of the lunar environment on humans and robots, and opportunities for using the moon as a platform for performing scientific...