The oldest thing on Earth

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Jack Hills, Western Australia – a hot, dry and barren place where very little lives. But it is here that the oldest known materials on Earth have survived from shortly after the formation of the Earth until the present day. … Continue reading →

Dawn at Vesta

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As dawn is breaking on the UK tomorrow the Dawn spacecraft will have begun its year-long orbit of the asteroid Vesta. Data will start being gathered in August. Dawn is a ground-breaking mission, the first to orbit a main-belt asteroid … Continue reading →

The End Of An Era

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Space Shuttle Atlantis has lifted-off from Cape Canaveral in Florida for the last ever shuttle mission. Earlier today the final ever Space Shuttle mission (STS-135) successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The launch had been in doubt all … Continue reading →

Hold up on Mars exploration delays sample return mission

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In February our bloggers were at LPSC reporting on the Decadal Survey that sets out NASA’s planetary exploration priorities for the next decade. Top of the list was a Mars rover and a Mars sample return mission. Achieving this depends on a partnership between … Continue reading →