Russia last landed on the Moon with mission Luna-24, in 1976. They tried again a couple days ago, and came up with the clever name all these years later of Luna-25. Not surprisingly, the module failed to land and deploy it's study craft, because the rocket crashed into the Moon. Fortunately, no humans were on board. India now will be the next country to try and land on the Moon.
I have a weird respect for the way Russians name things. "Why is it an AK-47?" "Well the A stands for automat, because it's an automatic rifle. And the K stands for Kalashnikov, the guy who made it. The 47 is the year it was made." "What about the AK-74" "We updated the AK-47 in 1974"
Changed calibers in 74. They have updated it continually through the years. They went from a 7.62x39 to a 5.45x39.
India becomes the fourth to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon, but is the first to touch down on the relatively unexplored lunar south pole. https://news.sky.com/story/india-ha...a-spacecraft-on-the-moons-south-pole-12945556
All the video of the landing looks so fake or animated. They had some video a couple days ago of the lander coming in https://news.sky.com/video/india-prepares-for-historic-moon-landing-on-moons-south-pole-12945685 but, I can't seem to find any live footage of the actual successful landing. Is it because they shot down the Russian one a few days ago? lol That's so odd: nobody much going to the moon, but then Russia & India within days of each other, and the landing areas were pretty close. Is this a good time to do it because of orbital positioning, or something?
The video of that part is clearly an animated representation of what's happening. Like, they didn't have another camera already there filming the landing. Usually, our SpaceX or NASA videos say "simulation" on it. But, there was actual video of earlier in the mission from a camera on the side of the lander. But, in the official video, they cut to the Prime Minister or the simulation. There was a shot of the control room where you could see the data (10.00 meters from the surface, getting smaller) and the other video. I don't know why they didn't release that footage instead of the PM and everybody clapping. Odd. Clearly I'm spoiled by other footage.
Like, this was from the wider control room shot earlier in the video: But, for some reason, instead of showing the actual touchdown, they just show the PM and people clapping.
Some people here may enjoy this... it's about processing the data from the James Webb telescope. I dig his vibe... "astronomy has always been a hobby, and it is very compatible with drinking, another hobby of mine..."
Juno craft is delivering some great camera work of Jupiter and moons Ganymede, Europa and Io. https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/...sas-juno-mission-spots-eerie-face-on-jupiter/ This one of Io is terrific: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/Vault/VaultOutput?VaultID=49637&ts=1693251476
China's spacecraft is about to land back on Earth in 30 min or so. They're showing a live feed of it, as well as inside the capsule, which might not be a great thing in hindsight if it's made of chinesium
I love the James Webb Telescope images and that Juno is out there still poking around Jupiter and all that, but the public doesn't seem to be quite as enraptured when we go way out. I'm looking forward to 2024 when there's going to be "lots of Moon stuff" so it gets more media coverage. Hopefully, that will generate interest, which generates funding, which - I think - still advances technology. both Jan 2024 and Feb 2024 will have robotic landings on the Moon, and then (hopefully Nov 2024), actual humans of Artemis 2 will land there. https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/kennedy/kennedy-space-center-looks-ahead-busy-2024/ ETA: Oh, I meant to add that the film known as Project Artemis finally has a release date: July 12, 2024 via Sony. I don't know what the new title will be, but I worked on it a year ago, and it's set during the 60s space race. So, that may generate some interest, too, if it's any good. Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Wood Harrelson, Ray Romano. Plot is super secret and I have no idea what it's about.
Yeah, I blame the current state of the MSM and mass media in general. They promote the most useless shit, and people eat it up. It really is amazing what the JW is doing right now... and I wish there was more detailed coverage of it. Haven't heard of the Project Artemis flick... I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the heads up.
Well, dang. Off to a bad start. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/world/peregrine-lunar-lander-anomaly-astrobotic-nasa-scn/index.html
Coming in hot in a few minutes! Look out, South Pacific! https://spacenews.com/astrobotic-confirms-peregrine-reentry-plans/