Space News

Earlier this week, the OSIRIS-REx touched down on and collected samples from asteroid Bennu. If the spacecraft returns as scheduled in 2023, it will be the first to return samples from an asteroid to the United States.

It seems to be human nature that we strive to answer the unanswerable about the universe. For thousands of years, people have been looking up to the sky, begging for connection — to higher powers, to nature, to others, and to themselves.

It might sound strange that an ethical movement on Earth could transcend the boundaries of our planet, but it is true. At some point in the (hopefully) not so distant future, humans will travel to and colonize Mars, and perhaps even further afield in our galactic neighborhood.

All of us probably were left a little numb after 2016. With so much upheaval in the world of politics, combined with a seemingly endless stream of celebrities passing away, including Ed Mitchell and John Glenn to name but two from the world of human exploration, Many of us simply could not wait for the year to be over.

This last week China announced their plans to place a robotic rover on the Martian surface by 2020.

Apologies in advance for not posting much earlier this year, we've been rocked here at the Space Collective not only by a personal loss in a family pet, but also, and probably more significant to so many people around the world, the incredibly sad news a few weeks ago, of the death of Gene Cernan.

Anyone who grew up in the shadow of the Apollo era will doubtless be almost apoplectic with excitement of what is hopefully to come over the next decade. Whilst the USA is in a major transition phase with respect to its leadership, the new incumbent appears to have a commitment to take the United States back in to the realms of exploration.

Here at The Space Collective, we have a healthy respect for all aspects of human and robotic space missions. Over the past few months our blogs have focused on many elements of this, both current and historical, but what about the other areas of space?

The outgoing Obama administration in the United States recently held a ceremony to honour some of the most remarkable people that the "Land of the Free" have ever produced.

As I sit here writing this, a team at the European Space Agency are still living with the faint hope that their lander has not become the latest victim of the "Curse of Mars".