The future leaves
signals in time.

Japan has launched the Martian Moons eXploration mission, which aims to return 10 grams of material from Mars's moon Phobos back to Earth.

Perseverance achieved a major milestone on Mars, reaching 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles) on Sol 2006, setting a new record for the farthest distance driven on another celestial body.

According to Scientific American, an authoritative new report offers suggestions on where astronauts should go on the moon beyond building crewed outposts at the lunar south pole. The available context does not name the specific sites.

NASA's CASALS instrument will combine machine learning with an ultra-compact lidar to adaptively sweep large swaths of Earth's surface from orbit. Current space-based laser instruments measure forests and terrain one narrow line at a time, leaving millions of acres never directly measured, and CASALS aims to bridge those gaps.

Solstar Space's Wi-Fi technology connected NASA's R5-S10 cubesat with Momentus' Vigoride-7 orbital service vehicle during a proximity operations demonstration and relayed data to NASA's Johnson Space Center, according to SpaceNews.

NASA announced plans to build Space Reactor-1 Freedom, which is intended to be the first nuclear-reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft. This uncrewed mission is scheduled to fly to Mars by the end of 2028, arriving in 2029.

NASA announced at its "Ignition" event that Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, intended for Mars and beyond, will be humanity's first fission-powered spacecraft to travel outside Earth's orbit, demonstrating nuclear electric propulsion in deep space. Work is underway on its nuclear power module.

NASA researchers are developing new rotorcraft blade designs using high-fidelity computer simulations and wind tunnel tests, laying the groundwork for future Mars helicopters that could fly higher and farther while conducting science on the Red Planet.

NASA shared a progress update on its Moon Base effort, saying crewed and robotic lunar rovers will support early development through technology demonstrations, astronaut transport, terrain mapping, science investigations and resource prospecting. Data from these early missions is intended to inform future mobility systems and infrastructure for astronauts living and working on the Moon.

AnySignal announced an agreement with Reflect Orbital to provide space-to-Earth communications for three of Reflect Orbital's inaugural missions.

According to the European Space Agency, the MMX mission has lifted off, heading for Mars's moon Phobos. No further mission details are provided in the source beyond the launch.

Japan has launched the MMX mission, which aims to bring a piece of the Martian moon Phobos back to Earth. The mission's climax will come in 2029, when the spacecraft will attempt up to two landings on Phobos.

Written by Atmospheric Scientist Alex Innanen at York University, the blog marks the start of a new Mars year at the vernal equinox. Seasons on Mars are tracked by counting degrees of solar longitude.

According to Ars Technica, the Russian spacecraft Kosmos 2612 closed from hundreds of kilometers away to "extreme proximity" with ICEYE-X36, a satellite reportedly used by Ukraine.

Japan has launched a probe for the Martian Moons Exploration mission, which aims to collect and bring back rock samples from Phobos, one of Mars's moons. The report provides few further details.

NASA reports that rockets vibrate, shake and flex intensely during ascent, and spacecraft with delicate instruments must survive those forces. Engineers in NASA's Launch Load Dynamics' Dynamic Environments Group work to predict how these stresses affect every spacecraft part before launch, and the agency says it has improved its shock and vibration analysis methods.

JAXA is leading an international mission to Mars' moon Phobos to collect and return soil samples to Earth. According to the report, success could unlock new clues about the history of the solar system.