Space Stories: New Lunar Lander on Display, Caltech Approves a Radio Telescope, and Missing Galactic Dark Matter

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Astrobotic Technology’s Griffin-1 lunar lander. (Astrobotic Technology)

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—Satnews: “Pittsburgh’s Moonshot: Astrobotic Unveils Griffin-1 Lander Ahead of Historic NASA ‘Moon Base II’ Mission“

Emerging as a powerful symbol of regional industrial pride and the rapid privatization of deep-space logistics, Astrobotic Technology has officially unveiled its massive Griffin-1 lunar lander. The vehicle, which has been formally designated by NASA as the primary infrastructure vehicle for the Moon Base II task order under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, represents a critical stepping stone toward establishing a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on the lunar surface. Unlike smaller, first-generation commercial scouts, the Griffin platform is an “infrastructure-class” logistics vehicle engineered to transport heavy industrial cargo. Boasting a massive 625 to 650-kilogram payload capacity, the stout aluminum isogrid lander is designed to ferry bulky machinery, scientific sensor arrays, and alternative energy installations directly to the rugged, hazardous terrain of the lunar south pole.

—Newser: “Giant Nevada Project Could Transform Astronomy“

Caltech has approved the final design for the Deep Synoptic Array, a $200 million radio telescope project that will blanket a chunk of desert with 1,650 dishes over roughly 120 square miles—an array designed to scan the sky about 100 times faster than any existing telescope. Backed in part by Schmidt Sciences, the philanthropic effort of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy, the project is slated to be finished by 2029 and will be powered by a supercomputer that turns torrents of radio signals into sharp images on the fly.

—W.M. Keck Observatory: “Astronomers Discover Third Galaxy Without Dark Matter“

Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, have discovered the third known galaxy apparently lacking dark matter, part of a strange linear structure that may have formed during a violent collision between galaxies. The discovery strengthens evidence for a rare and previously unseen process in which ordinary matter becomes separated from dark matter, offering astronomers a powerful new way to study one of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

Note: Here is the podcast version of this post.

Space Quote: Some Question Lack of Female Astronaut on Artemis III Crew

Posted on by onespaceman2000

“The office gets what it needs when it needs it, and we’ll certainly have all these other people that you mentioned, you know, female military test pilots or just other female astronauts, that’ll be picking up on the follow-on Artemis missions.”

-Statement by Artemis III mission commander Randy Bresnik, as quoted by CBS News. He was noting NASA’s diversity of personnel that is ready for the various missions after some criticized NASA for not having a female astronaut among the Artemis III crew. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also noted his work with women throughout his career, adding in the same news story that:

The last astronaut candidate class selected under this administration was majority female [six women and four men] because they were the best of the best, including one astronaut [Anna Menon] I previously went to space with.

Note: It is worth mentioning that in March 2025 NASA eliminated from its webpage its earlier pledge to land the “the first woman, first person of color” on the lunar service as part of Artemis III mission. The removal was said to be related to an anti-DEI Executive Order. Of course, we are now dealing with a different Artemis III, with the Artemis IV mission now scheduled to be the first to land a crew on the Moon.

Artemis III Has a Crew

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Artemis III crew members (from left: Andre Douglas, Luca Parmitano, Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio). (NASA/Bill Stafford)

Earlier today NASA announced its new four-member crew for the next set of Artemis tests. The two week long Artemis III mission will test spacecraft in low Earth orbit in preparation for Artemis IV, which will entail an actual crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.

The new crew are three NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut from Italy. NASA has a full profile of each crew member, but here are the basics:

NASA may have a crew, but does it have any partners that are really ready for a lunar landing?

To date, the only fully operational spacecraft is the Orion capsule, which will be sent aloft via the Space Launch System. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin plan to send up demonstration lunar landers that will not contain all of the necessary components for humans preparing for a Moon landing. This sounds a little dangerous given that the real reason for Artemis III is a dry-run in space. It sounds more like a dry-run for a dry-run, but NASA may not have time to complete a true test.

In additon to lunar lander delays, SpaceX is busy trying to make a fortune with its IPO, while Blue Origin is still licking its wounds after the recent explosion at Cape Canaveral.

These four astronauts may be the best news out of NASA for some time to come, so it may be best to raise a toast to the four of them and then simply hope for the best.

Space Stories: ESA & China Are Smiling, Blue Origin Beats SpaceX to the Moon, and JWST Analyzes Exoplanet Atmosphere

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—European Space Agency: “Smile Lifts Off on Quest to Reveal Earth’s Invisible Shield Against the Solar Wind“

The Smile spacecraft lifted off on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 04:52 BST / 05:52 CEST (00:52 local time) on 19 May 2026. The launch marks the beginning of an ambitious mission to better understand solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and the science of space weather…Smile is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It will reveal how Earth responds to the streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun, using an X-ray camera to make the world’s first X-ray observations of Earth’s magnetic shield, and an ultraviolet camera to watch the resulting northern lights non-stop for 45 hours at a time.

—The Guardian: “Nasa Selects Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin for First of Three Uncrewed Lunar Missions“

Nasa announced on Tuesday ambitious plans for three uncrewed lunar missions this year to kickstart construction of a $20bn moon base, and said it had chosen the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to conduct the first...[NASA’s Administrator] said the three missions planned for 2026 would be followed by “more than a dozen” more in the coming years to test systems and equipment. He said the highly successful Artemis II mission last month that sent four astronauts around the moon for the first time since 1972 had been both a catalyst and incentive to advance the moon base plan.

—Astrobiology: “Astronomers Observe Exoplanet Atmospheres With New Cloud-detecting Method“

Every morning, clouds roll in, and by evening, they have cleared off. This sounds like a weather forecast for a coastal city here on Earth — but it’s for WASP-94A b, a well-studied gas giant orbiting a star located nearly 700 light-years away. A new study published in the journal Science documents the first detection of repeating cloud cycles on a hot Jupiter exoplanet. The first author of the study is Sagnick Mukherjee, a 51 Pegasi b postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration. Mukherjee is part of a research team that analyzed data from the James Webb Space Telescope targeting WASP-94 A b, a gas giant in the constellation Microscopium. The team discovered that the planet’s morning side is blanketed in clouds of magnesium silicate, the same mineral found in common rocks, while its evening side is under clear skies.

Note: Here is the podcast version of this post.

Twelfth Starship Launch Successful

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Credit: SpaceX

Fortunately, the first SpaceX Starship launch of the year (and the twelfth for the rocket) went well yesterday with only a few bumps along the way. While it was not perfect, given that it was the first test of a new version of the rocket, it was a good night for the rocket-maker and NASA.

Here is SpaceX’s description of some of the bumps last night:

Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver and attempted its boostback burn. It was unable to light all planned engines and performed a partial boostback burn that ended early. Super Heavy attempted to reignite its engines for the landing burn before experiencing a hard splashdown in the Gulf of America. During its ascent burn to space, Starship lost one of the Raptor 3 vacuum engines but demonstrated its engine-out capability and achieved its planned trajectory.

This latest test is encouraging, but would be more encouraging is a solid schedule of more tests this year to ensure the Starship will be ready for the Artemis III low Earth orbit tests next year. SpaceX is still significantly behind schedule on it launches. For instance, this twelfth launch was delayed many times.

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are racing to be part of the Artemis III test in late 2027 to see if NASA is really ready for a crewed landing on the Moon in 2028. This latest launch brings SpaceX that much closer.