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The latest flyby views of Mercury, from BepiColombo

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Just hours ago, the teams operating BepiColombo, Europe and Japan’s mission to travel to and orbit Mercury, released images from the spacecraft’s third flyby of the closest planet to our sun. With each pass, the spacecraft gets closer, takes more images, and reveals never-before-seen views of the elusive rocky surface.

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The latest mission to help find extraterrestrial life launches

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European Space Agency’s (ESA) JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft successfully launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana this month. It’s the latest collaboration between ESA, NASA, and other international partners to study Jupiter’s icy moons and determine their potential habitability. Here’s a quick rundown:

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Moon o’clock?: Europe pushing for lunar ‘time zone’

With humanity on the cusp of returning astronauts to deep space, one organization is attempting to garner support to give the Moon a time zone.

Spearheading this is the European Space Agency, which says space organizations agree “a common lunar reference time” for timekeeping is important for all lunar systems to reference, be they robotic missions or human surface stays.

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NASA’s InSight falls silent, its mission complete

On December 21, NASA reported that the Mars lander InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) missed replying to its second call from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, likely as a result of the power waning.  This led to NASA officially concluding its four-year mission on Mars. There are several elements that led to the lander’s loss of power, leading many to question how the vehicle could have been saved. Followers of the mission have common questions about how the vehicle could’ve been saved. They also ask about the fate of Mars’ other remaining operational vehicles.

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