survive

There’s a total lunar eclipse coming. How will these 2 solar-powered moon probes survive the darkness?

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composite image showing the stages of a total lunar eclipse with the moon turning progressively more red as Earth's shadow sweeps across it.

When the moon falls into Earth’s shadow Thursday night into Friday (March 13-14), observers will be treated to views of a “blood moon” total lunar eclipse. But given that lunar spacecraft are solar-powered, how do they survive when they’re cut off from the sun? For NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been orbiting the … Read more

Meet Endurance, a pioneering NASA moon rover designed to survive the frigid lunar night

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It is robotic moon machinery on steroids. Tagged as the Endurance sample return mission, it would collect bits and pieces from key lunar locations for later retrieval by future astronauts in NASA’s Artemis program. Furthermore, high-value collectibles snagged from those distant spots would be hauled back to Earth by astronauts. NASA has begun blueprinting the … Read more