Moon and Saturn

StarDate

This has been a big year for exploring the Moon. The highlight came in June, when a Chinese mission landed on the lunar farside – the side we never see from Earth. Chang’e 6 then scooped up some samples and brought them to Earth for study – the first samples ever collected from the farside.

A couple of less-ambitious missions touched down earlier in the year. Both landers tipped over, but they managed to transmit some pictures.

More lunar missions had been scheduled for later this year.

The headliner was a rover called Viper. It was designed to hunt for ice near the south pole, along with other materials that might help support future human bases on the Moon. Viper was scheduled to spend 100 days trundling across the surface, including some areas that receive little or no direct sunlight.

This summer, though, NASA canceled the mission. Viper had already cost $450 million during several years of development and testing. But it wasn’t ready for flight, and neither was its ride to the Moon. NASA decided it would be too expensive to finish out. Instead, it’ll use the rover’s instruments for other projects – possible highlights for lunar exploration in future years.

Look for the gibbous Moon rolling across the southern sky tonight. The planet Saturn is to the left of the Moon at nightfall, and looks like a bright star. Saturn will be a little closer to the upper right of the Moon tomorrow night.

Script by Damond Benningfield