National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lunar and Planetary Science

What's New in Lunar & Planetary Science

The JAXA (Japan) Hayabusa 2 mission completed its first touchdown and ascent from asteroid Ryugu at approximately 22:30 UT on 21 February (7:30 a.m. JST 22 February). An image of the touchdown site shows the shadow of the spacecraft and the discolored area of the touchdown.

The Israeli Beresheet lunar lander mission launched successfully on 22 February at 01:45 UT. The mission is scheduled to land on the Moon on 11 April.

On 3 January, the CNSA (China) Chang'e 4 lunar mission made the first landing ever on the far side of the Moon and deployed the Yutu-2 rover. They successfully ended hibernation after their second lunar night at the end of February and are continuing operations.

The NASA New Horizons mission flew within 3500 km of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 (nicknamed "Ultima Thule") on 1 January 2019 at 05:33 UT. Data and images from the flyby continue to trickle in. For more information, see the New Horizons Press Release.

This Day in Planetary and Lunar Exploration History

1959
First successful reception of radar return signals from Venus announced by MIT scientists.

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