December 2006 Top Stories
»» NASA GRC Solicitation: Development of Replicate Apollo Roving Vehicle Wheels
[Friday, December 1, 2006] NASA is working to design and evaluate wheels for future lunar roving vehicles. For the purpose of establishing a baseline to compare with new wheel designs, NASA would like to replicate and test the wire mesh LRV wheels used on the Apollo missions.
»» Lunar Leonid Strikes
[Friday, December 1, 2006] Meteoroids are smashing into the Moon a lot more often than anyone expected. That's the tentative conclusion of Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, after his team observed two Leonids hitting the Moon on Nov. 17, 2006.
»» NASA: Global Strategy for Exploring Moon Unveiled
[Monday, December 4, 2006] NASA on Monday unveiled the initial elements of the Global Exploration Strategy and a proposed U.S. lunar architecture, two critical tools for achieving the nation's vision of returning humans to the moon.
»» Global Exploration Strategy and Lunar Architecture Briefing (transcript)
[Wednesday, December 6, 2006] "The next logical question, after you have made a determination about an outpost, is location, and what we are looking at is polar locations, both the North Pole and the South Pole. "
»» Foundation Joins Planetary Society Call for An International Lunar Decade
[Friday, December 8, 2006] The International Lunar Decade, following in the tradition of years of focused scientific research, such as the International Geophysical Year, will create a global space agency framework.
»» NASA Looking for Future Explorers for Educational Challenge
[Friday, December 15, 2006] NASA is searching for the next generation of space explorers to participate in the fun, exciting and educational challenge of designing and building their own version of NASA's lunar rover or "moonbuggy" to compete in NASA's 14th Great Moonbuggy Race.
»» ESA polls stakeholders to inform its long-term exploration strategy
[Wednesday, December 20, 2006] On 8 and 9 January, ESA and BNSC are to hold a workshop to define European long-term strategy for space exploration and set the scene for the decisions to be taken at the ESA Council meeting at ministerial level scheduled for 2008.
»» True Fakes: Scientists make simulated lunar soil
[Thursday, December 28, 2006] Life is tough for a humble grain of dirt on the surface of the Moon. It's peppered with cosmic rays, exposed to solar flares, and battered by micrometeorites--shattered, vaporized and re-condensed countless times over the billions of years.
»» Europeans psych themselves up for a trip to Mars
[Friday, December 29, 2006] Last December a second Italian-French crew took up residence in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. They will stay there for over a year. The aim: to help the European Space Agency (ESA) with preparations for a human mission to Mars.
