NASA’s Perseverance Rover Chokes on Mars Pebbles While Collecting a Rock Sample

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has some rocks stuck in its throat. Perseverance drilled and collected its sixth Red Planet rock sample late last month, but the car-sized rover hasn’t been able to seal up the titanium tube containing the material yet. “I recently captured my sixth rock core and have encountered a new challenge. Seems some … Read more

Perseverance Mars rover collects 6th Red Planet rock sample but chokes on some pebbles

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has some rocks stuck in its throat. Perseverance drilled and collected its sixth Red Planet rock sample late last month, but the car-sized rover hasn’t been able to seal up the titanium tube containing the material yet. “I recently captured my sixth rock core and have encountered a new challenge. Seems … Read more

Moon ‘mystery hut’ is just a rabbit-shaped rock, Chinese rover finds

This zoomed image of the “mystery hut” spotted by China’s Yutu 2 rover in Von Kármán crater on the far side of the moon shows it to be a rabbit-shaped rock called “jade rabbit.” (Image credit: Ourspace/CNSA) China’s Yutu 2 rover has reached the so-called “mystery hut” on the far side of the moon that … Read more

Chinese Lunar Lander Makes The First Ever On-Site Detection of Water on The Moon

When China’s Chang’E-5 probe visited the Moon in December of 2020, it didn’t just collect a sample of lunar material to return to Earth. While it was there, the mission took observations of the surrounding lunar rock – data vital for contextualizing the sample in future studies.   Those observations have turned out to be … Read more

Remember That Weird ‘Cube’ on The Moon? Yutu-2 Finally Took Closer Pictures

China’s mysterious “Moon cube” is a mystery no longer. The big reveal: It’s a rock that’s not even shaped like a cube. The nation’s Yutu-2 rover discovered the object – which appeared to be a gray cube looming on the lunar horizon – in early December. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) dubbed it ‘mysterious hut’, playfully … Read more

Volcanoes: Plumes of rock that feed volcanic hotspots are surprisingly cold

Geologists may need to come up with a new explanation for the sources of volcanic activity in places like Iceland and Hawaii Earth 6 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupting in 2018 U.S. Geological Survey via Getty Images The plumes of rock feeding Earth’s volcanic hotspots are much cooler than previously thought, … Read more

Asteroid Ryugu: Space rock sample brought to Earth has a strange dark colour

Last year, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid explorer returned samples from the asteroid Ryugu, and now the first analysis of the rock shows it has a primitive composition and a curiously dark colour Space 20 December 2021 By Alex Wilkins Artist’s impression of Hayabusa 2 near Ryugu Akihiro Ikeshita The asteroid Ryugu contains some of the … Read more

Moon rock collected by Apollo 17 astronauts reveals new details about lunar evolution

An image of the Apollo 17 moon rock troctolite 76535. (Image credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center) A lunar rock brought to Earth nearly half a century ago is revealing new information about the moon’s complex history. NASA’s Apollo 17 mission left the moon to return to Earth 49 years ago Tuesday (Dec. 14) and humanity hasn’t … Read more

Moon rock: Apollo 17 rock sample hints lunar surface cooled faster than we thought

A rock sample collected from the moon during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 has been re-examined, and the results suggest the lunar surface might have cooled in just 20 million years Space 14 December 2021 By Chen Ly NASA image of Troctolite 76535 NASA/Johnson Space Center A rock collected from the moon during the … Read more