Latest Luna programme Stories

WASHINGTON, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Forty years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts were completing their checklist to leave the Moon when they discovered that they had forgotten something. Buzz Aldrin had already climbed back into the lunar module, Eagle, when Armstrong reminded him about a small package that contained encrypted messages on a tiny disc. Aldrin quickly remembered that he had it in his sleep pocket, removed it, and threw it onto the Moon's Sea of Tranquility. (Photo:...

The U.S. space agency says it plans to launch two satellites that are designed to gather new information about the moon. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the satellites -- to be launched June 17 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida -- are the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. NASA said the LRO will help identify safe landing sites for future manned lunar missions, locate potential resources, characterize...

NASA on Thursday announced plans for the launch of two satellites in June that will prepare the way for the space agency's return to the Moon.NASA detailed the two missions of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS).Slated to launch June 17 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the two satellites will pave the way for a new era of lunar exploration."We had the original target of providing...

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a briefing about two upcoming lunar missions scheduled to launch in June that will begin a journey to better understand the moon. A briefing with members of the mission and science teams will be held Thursday, May 21, at 4 p.m. EDT, in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street, SW, in Washington. The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's Web site. (Logo:...

NASA will hold a briefing about two upcoming lunar missions scheduled to launch in June that will begin a journey to better understand the moon. A briefing with members of the mission and science teams will be held Thursday, May 21, at 4 p.m. EDT, in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street, SW, in Washington. The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's Web site.The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, focuses on the selection of safe...

As the race to the moon between private firms heats up, many have high expectations for Astrobotic Technology Inc.Formed by Red Whittaker, a professor and roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University, Astrobotic is among a collective of 17 teams competing against each other for their piece of the $30 million Lunar X prize being offered up by Google.In order to win, the Astrobotic team hopes to become the first privately funded team to send a robot rover to the Apollo 11 site where NASA astronauts...

VANCOUVER, April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Luna Gold Corp. (TSXV-LGC) ("Luna") is pleased to announce that it has appointed Steven Krause as a director of Luna. Mr. Krause is a Chartered Accountant and is the President of a Langley based Chartered Accounting practice. Mr. Krause received his Chartered Accountant designation in 1997 and he also holds a Certified Public Accountant designation in the United States. He has worked extensively with mineral exploration and development stage...

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Apollo Moon Program struggled with a minuscule, yet formidable enemy: sticky lunar dust. Four decades later, a new study reveals that forces compelling lunar dust to cling to surfaces "” ruining scientific experiments and endangering astronauts' health "”change during the lunar day with the elevation of the sun.The study analyzes the interactions on the Moon among electrostatic adhesive forces, the angle of incidence of the sun's rays, and lunar gravity. It...

A US space engineering and technology development firm has developed a new device that may one day offer astronauts the ability to grow fresh vegetables in space.Tuscon, Arizona-based Paragon Space Development Corporation has designed a miniature sealed greenhouse that will be the first step toward growing flowers, and eventually vegetables, on the Moon.Paragon hopes its so-called "Lunar Oasis" will get the chance to prove its capabilities with lunar lander Odyssey Moon, which is currently...

The flight computer onboard the Lunar Excursion Module, which landed on the Moon during the Apollo program, had a whopping 4 kilobytes of RAM and a 74 KB "hard drive." In places, the craft's outer skin was as thin as two sheets of aluminum foil.It worked well enough for Apollo. Back then, astronauts stayed on the lunar surface for only a few days at a time. But when NASA sends people back to the Moon starting around 2020, the plan will be much more ambitious "” and the hardware is...