QUICKREADS

US to launch next Moon mission on Valentine's Day
US companies are set to launch for the Moon on February 14, less than a month since a similar mission ended in failure with the spaceship burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, NASA said Wednesday. The upcoming attempt features a lander built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines fixed to the top of a SpaceX rocket, while the last try involved a United Launch Alliance rocket and Astrobotics lander. But the stakes remain just as high: achieving America's first soft touchdown on the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo-era five decades ago, and the first ever by private industry.

Potential presence of primitive lunar mantle materials on Chandrayaan-3 landing site: Study
Chandrayaan-3's landing site revealed high sulphur levels, suggesting presence of primitive lunar mantle materials from the South Pole-Aitken basin's formation 4.3 billion years ago, offering insights into early lunar evolution and composition.