Some recent Moon-news.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar module has returned to Earth on Tuesday 25 June, successfully completing its historic mission to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon in a major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program.
Chang'e 6 is the sixth robotic lunar exploration mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the second CNSA lunar sample-return mission, which is the Chang'e 5. It is humanity's first lunar mission to retrieve samples from the far side of the Moon, as all previous collective sample-return missions were done from the near side.
NASA has announced on Wednesday (17 July) its intent to discontinue the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project.
The rover would have been tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in the lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of water ice. The mission is built on an also cancelled NASA rover concept called Resource Prospector. That program was cancelled in 2018.
Multiple cost increases/escalations and delays has led to this cancellation. The rover is planned to be sold or disassembled and its instruments and components reused for other lunar missions.
NASA expects to save $84 million by canceling the mission, which has cost $450 million so far.
Following a comprehensive internal review, NASA announced Wednesday its intent to discontinue development of its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar
www.nasa.gov