Three small particles of lunar matter were on sale at Sotheby’s Space Exploration auction, which took place in New York this month. Sotheby’s described these items as the only known documented “moon rocks”  legally up for private ownership.

The moon rocks were sent back to Earth after a USSR uncrewed mission to the moon in the 1970s, led by renowned Soviet rocket engineer, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.

The lunar matter was believed to have sold for between $700,000 to $1 million at the Nov. 29 auction.

Today, South Korea successfully performed a rocket engine test launch, according to officials. This paves the way for the development of Korea's’ own space launch vehicle.

Video footage portrayed the single-stage rocket, propelled by a liquid fuel engine, lift off from the Naro Space Center on the southern coast and fly into the sky, trailing yellow and blue flames.

Vice Science Minister Lee Jin-gyu told journalists that the test vehicle was successfully launched and flight data that was collected showed the engine was functioning properly.

According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the rocket has a mass of 52 tonnes and measures 25.8 metres (84.6 feet) long. It was equipped with a single engine capable of 75-tonne thrust.

China has unveiled a Conceptual Design Report (CDR) marking the next stage of their plans to develop a next-generation particle collider.

Geoffrey Taylor from Australia’s University of Melbourne and the chair of the International Committee for Future Accelerators said during an international workshop in Beijing that this marks a significant milestone along the way to such a vital facility for fundamental physics.

Construction of the Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC) should begin in 2022 and be completed in 2030.

Are you excited about the next generation particle collider? How do you think it will surpass the physics of the Large Hadron Collider? 

Let us know in the comments below!