NASA announced Wednesday (Dec. 21) that its InSight lander, designed to understand the geologic life story of Mars, has completed its mission on the Red Planet. The spacecraft relied on solar power, and after four years on Mars, its sunlight-collecting panels have built up too much dust to generate enough power to run the lander. For months now, the InSight team have been expecting the lander to fall silent. Now, the robot has missed two calls home; scientists last heard from the robot on Dec. 15. NASA will keep listening, but doesn’t expect to hear anything more from the lander.

WASHINGTON — Two African countries became the first from the continent to join the Artemis Accords as the United States works to bring more emerging space nations into the agreement.

Riding on the shoulders of the Apollo generation, the Artemis missions will pave the way for humans to return to the moon, begin human exploration of Mars, and someday for humanity to reach the edges of our solar system and beyond.

Rocket Lab said Dec. 15 that its first Electron launch from Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, has slipped two days to Dec. 18 between 6 and 8 p.m. Eastern. The company said that NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration were still working to complete range documentation needed for the launch. A backup launch opportunity is available Dec. 19.

HELSINKI — China launched a Long March 11 solid rocket from Xichang early Friday, completing a campaign of seven orbit launch attempts in just over a week which included the debut of two new launch vehicles.

The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 6:46 a.m. Eastern Dec. 16. The rocket’s upper stage released the payload, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft, into an 890-kilometer orbit 52 minutes later. The rocket’s first stage, making its sixth flight, landed back at the launch site seven and a half minutes after liftoff.

The discovery of a potential signal indicating the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus caused a sensation in 2020. This is because phosphine is a possible biomarker, or indicator of potential life.

Space rocks that fall to Earth are ancient time capsules, and scientists who merged two imaging techniques may be able to tell us if and how they brought water to Earth. 

You can now “adopt” one of three remaining Saturn V moon rockets as seen at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama. (Image credit: U.S. Space & Rocket Center)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force announced Nov. 28 it delivered the second and final military communications payloads that will launch in 2023 on Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission known as ASBM.

SEOUL, South Korea — President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea said Nov. 28 that the country will land a robotic spacecraft on the moon in 2032 and on Mars in 2045, when the nation will mark the 100th anniversary of liberation from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule.

TAMPA, Fla. — Dutch remote monitoring specialist Hiber is demanding $1.5 million from cash-strapped Astrocast after plans to be sold to the company ran out of time, according to the Swiss small satellite operator.

NASA has awarded the Texas-based company ICON $57.2 million for its Project Olympus, which is working to develop technology that will allow humanity to build outposts on the moon and Mars using locally available dirt and rock.

Three astronauts launched aboard the Shenzhou 15 spacecraft on Tuesday (Nov. 29) and docked with the Tiangong space station 6.5 hours later. Chen Dong, commander of the three-person Shenzhou 14 crew already aboard the newly-completed Tiangong, opened the hatch between the space station and spacecraft at 6:33 p.m. EST (2333 GMT). 

Titan is a strange world — a little bit Earthlike, if land were made of water ice, rivers and seas were filled with liquid methane and other hydrocarbons, and the atmosphere were thick and hazy, dotted with methane clouds. And now, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb or JWST) has observed two of those clouds during observations on Nov. 4 that have thrilled scientists, according to a NASA statement.

NASA’s bold mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon is facing tight schedules getting instruments installed and ready for the planned 2024 launch.