Space

Emissions from spacecraft landings on the moon can drift freely across its surface and may settle in — and contaminate — some scientifically precious real estate, according to new research. Many current and planned lunar landers rely on propellants that produce methane as a byproduct during the engine burns required to slow a spacecraft for touchdown. The new study finds that this exhaust…

An unusual ratio of potassium isotopes, found in samples of basaltic rock brought back to Earth from the moon’s South Pole–Aitken Basin by China’s Chang’e 6 sample-return mission, has provided further evidence for how the impact that formed this gigantic basin is responsible for the asymmetry between the moon’s near and far sides. The moon’s near side is familiar to…

Look toward the southwestern horizon at sunset on Jan. 22 to witness the slender crescent moon cozy up to the gas giant Saturn beneath the stars of the constellation Pisces. The moon’s 22%-lit disk will appear roughly 30 degrees above the horizon — roughly the width of three clenched fists held at arm’s length. Saturn will appear as a steady, bright star-like object less than 7…

The first emergency operation in the history of China’s human spaceflight program came to an end on Monday (Jan. 19) when an uncrewed Shenzhou 20 capsule parachuted into the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The spacecraft had spent 270 days in orbit, docked for nine months to the country’s Tiangong space station. And that wasn’t the…