NASA touts lunar landing tech, and Blue Origin says there’ll be a flight test ‘soon’

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong famously had to dodge a boulder-strewn crater just seconds before the first moon landing in 1969 — but for future lunar touchdowns, NASA expects robotic eyes to see such missions to safe landings. And Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture is helping to make it so. Today NASA talked up a precision landing system known as SPLICE (which stands for Safe and Precise Landing - Integrated Capabilities Evolution). The system makes use of an onboard camera, laser sensors and computerized firepower to identify and avoid hazards such as craters and boulders. NASA says… Read More