The MoonBots 2.0 Challenge tries to get the 9-17 year olds thinking about the problems associated with lunar exploration.

The latest initiative of The X PRIZE Foundation and the LEGO Group tries to bring closer the excitement of the Moon, robotics, and team building to students and their families. This second annual contest will challenge teams of youth to design, program, and construct robots that perform simulated lunar missions similar to those required to win the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE. To further this purpose, the X PRIZE Foundation and the LEGO Group have partnered with WIRED magazine and FIRST robotics.

“In the MoonBots 2.0 Challenge, students get to produce videos, gain computer programming skills, and learn the latest in technological advances at it relates to space exploration. It is important to inspire this generation with the Google Lunar X PRIZE and help kids understand that Moon exploration is still relevant and exciting,” – said Chanda Gonzales, Google Lunar X PRIZE Education Manager.

Teams will be asked to submit fun, scientific video clips that talk about space exploration. In addition to the video, each team will be asked to write a proposal explaining why their robot should be funded togo to the moon, similar to the proposals authored by actual Google Lunar X PRIZE teams. MoonBots 2.0 Challenge is perfect for getting the 9-17 year olds thinking about the problems associated with lunar exploration – says Steven Canvin of LEGO Group.

Free registration and Phase One of the contest will be open from May 9th through June 13. Phase Two of the contest begins June 27th through August 15th. To learn more about the MoonBots 2.0 Challenge and to find out how to register a team visit http://www.moonbots.org.

Fly me to the Moon, sang Frank Sinatra and now Space Adventures turns it into reality for a mere $150 million. The company that sent several clients to the International Space Station in the 2000s now offers two tickets to fly around the Moon during an eight-day trip in a Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz in itself can't leave low-Earth orbit of course, it will need and additional booster to do that. So Space Adventures plans two separate launches, one of which will lift the spacecraft with the two passengers and presumably a third professional astronaut. The second rocket will carry the Russian Block-DM booster, commonly used as third stage on Russian rockets, and an additional habitation module to maximize comfort. The two vehicles will then rendezvous in low-Earth orbit and head towards the Moon. The first launch may occur in 2015.

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) celebrates the 60th anniversary of its foundation. The 60th Anniversary Award of the organization goes to the Global Positioning System (GPS), nominated by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The GPS has earned the acknowledgment because it demonstrates that the implementation of space exploration and space science benefits humanity on an every day basis.

NASA’s Lunar Reconaisance Orbiter (LRO) opens the possibility for researchers to create the most detailed and complete map of the Moon’s complex, cratered surface ever. Data collected by the probe will be a fundamental reference for several future Moon missions.

On the 4th of January, 2011, the Sun will be obscured by the Moon during a partial solar eclipse. The rare phenomenon will be visible from most of Europe, parts of Asia and the Middle-East. The Moon will cover nearly 80% of our star in the morning hours. In the animation below, the event can be viewed from various perspectives.

As the Moon orbits around our planet, from time to time it gets between the Sun and Earth. When this happens, the Moon casts a shadow on us, this we experience as a solar eclipse. As the Moon is about 400 times smaller than our star, but by mere coincidence it is nearly exactly 400 times closer, the two bodies appear in similar size on the sky. Thus the Earth is a rare and exceptional planet, as near exact total solar eclipse can happen, meaning the Moon can entirely block the sundisk, but not its corona. In Europe, such a rare event happened in 1999, but just Tuesday morning a near total overlap will happen. Over Hungary, this will mean an approximately 77-78% coverage, which will happen in the morning hours, reaching its peak at 9:37 local time at Budapest.