Science & Technology

In September 1969, Washington University in St. Louis scientists were among the first to receive samples collected from the historic Apollo 11 moon mission. At this year’s Lunar and Planetary Science Convention, a student, a faculty member and an alum remind us of the value of these samples and share cutting edge research on decades-old rocks.

Humans have already learned much from the very first moon samples collected by the Apollo program astronauts. As NASA plans for its next manned mission by 2024, a leading lunar expert shares his science priorities for the return: “We need to learn how to live and work off Earth and beyond the low Earth orbit.”

Washington University in St. Louis announced that its X-Calibur instrument, a telescope that measures the polarization of X-rays arriving from distant neutron stars, black holes and other exotic celestial bodies, launched from McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Washington University in St. Louis announced that its SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument, which studies the origin of cosmic rays, successfully launched today from Williams Field at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

Long before GPS satellites and NASA, Washington University astronomers played a central role in the scientific observation of total solar eclipses — including a search for the elusive planet Vulcan in the late 1800s.

Chancellor William Chauvenet nurtured Edward S. Holden’s interest in astronomy on the campus of Washington University, but Holden’s initial fascination with the field sprang from a series of circumstances associated with childhood tragedy.

Edward S. Holden’s 1883 expedition report to the National Academies was written with all due respect. However, a handwritten note, written in rhyme, from a crew member of the U.S.S. Hartford suggests the voyagers enjoyed lighter moments as well.

New Horizons team members just pulled off “eclipse” observations of a body at the far outer reaches of the solar system, showing August eclipse tourists how it’s done.

Dante Lauretta, PhD ’97, mission chief, and Kate Crombie, PhD ’97, project data archivist, are a husband-and-wife team working on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.

Pluto is thought to possess a subsurface ocean, which is not so much a sign of water as it is a tremendous clue that other dwarf planets in deep space also may contain similarly exotic oceans, naturally leading to the question of life, said one co-investigator with NASA’s New Horizon mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.