Image (Credit): The weather tower at the Mount Washington Observatory. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
With all of the excitement last week regarding Chinese balloons, which is continuing into this week with two “unidentified object” incidents in Alaska and Canada, I forgot to mention the -108 F wind chill temperature at the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire on February 3rd. The Washington Post reported that this may be the lowest temperature ever reported in U.S. history.
In fact, the Mount Washington temperature was lower than the temperature experienced that day by the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater on Mars. It is still autumn in the crater, so temperatures could still fall to -225 F during winter. Let’s not try that in New Hampshire.
Europe may be complaining about the unusually warm mountain temperatures this year, but you will not hear this talk from the Yankees up north. They are getting the full Martian treatment and staying close to their wood stoves.
Image (Source): Early February temperatures experienced by the Mars Curiosity rover. (NASA)
Image (Credit): Jupiter as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
Jupiter was already the king of the solar system, and new discoveries give the massive planet another way to reign supreme: It now has the most moons. Twelve new moons discovered orbiting Jupiter have been confirmed, bumping the count from 80 to 92, and knocking Saturn — which has 83 moons — down a peg.
In 2015, when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountered the Pluto-Charon system, the Southwest Research Institute-led science team discovered interesting, geologically active objects instead of the inert icy orbs previously envisioned. An SwRI scientist has revisited the data to explore the source of cryovolcanic flows and an obvious belt of fractures on Pluto’s large moon Charon. These new models suggest that when the moon’s internal ocean froze, it may have formed the deep, elongated depressions along its girth but was less likely to lead to cryovolcanoes erupting with ice, water and other materials in its northern hemisphere.
…perhaps the biggest question of all — that of “Are we alone in the Universe?” — remains a mystery. While the current generation of ground-based and space-based telescopes can take us far into the Universe, this is a question that’s currently beyond our reach. To get there, we’ll need to directly image Earth-like exoplanets: planets with sizes and temperatures similar to Earth, but that orbit Sun-like stars, not the more common red dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri or TRAPPIST-1. Those capabilities are precisely what NASA is aiming for with its newly announced flagship mission: the Habitable Worlds Observatory. It’s an ambitious project but one that’s well worth it. After all, finding out we’re not alone in the Universe would quite possibly be the biggest revolution in all of science history.
Image (Credit): NASA’s Cassini spacecraft lifts off on Oct. 15, 1997, atop a Titan IVB rocket. (NASA)
“NASA should educate the public about why nuclear propulsion is not only something nice to have, but is a necessity if human civilization is to spread beyond the Earth on a greater scale than a few explorers. Access to the mineral and energy resources of the solar system would be a boon to all humankind and would be worth the infinitesimal risk of launching nuclear fuel into space.”
-Statement by Mark R. Whittington in an editorial in The Hill titled “Will the NASA-DARPA nuclear engine test cause environmental protests?” In his piece, Mr. Whittington discusses plans to build a nuclear-powered rocket for a Mars mission and highlights how protests surrounded the 1997 launch of the nuclear-powered Cassini probe to Saturn, with one scientist estimating that “an explosion on the launch pad could spread radioactive plutonium across Central Florida, potentially cause more than 1 million casualties…” Mr. Whittington is the author of various space exploration studies, such as Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?.
Image (Credit): Chinese balloon and jet airplane sharing the sky over North Carolina. (The Dallas Morning News)
It is not clear why China chose to test the U.S. this past week with a surveillance balloon, but it ended yesterday with the Air Force shooting down the device. These Chinese balloons have been seen all over the world, and this is not the first time they have visited the U.S. (having been sighted under the last president as well). What a balloon can do that a satellite cannot is somewhat unclear at the moment, and whether this action this puts our own surveillance craft observing China’s territory at risk is anyone’s guess.
It is unlikely this was an innocent error on the part of the Chinese, though the head of the China Meteorological Administration was fired anyway. NASA was even called in to give it opinion on the balloon, which makes sense given NASA’s experience with Earth-monitoring balloons.
And what about the U.S. Space Force? Would this fall under their jurisdiction? Does the Air Force end and the Space Force begin so many miles up?
The Space Force posted a press release on the balloon incidence, but was silent about its role in the matter. On its website, the Space Force seems to rely on the U.S. Air Force for quite a bit:
As a new military service, the U.S. Space Force will leverage the Department of the Air Force for more than 75 percent of its enabling functions to significantly reduce cost and avoid duplication. The Department of the Air Force will provide support functions that includes logistics, base operating support, IT support, audit agencies, etc.
Maybe that support includes the necessary muscle to take down balloons.
It is somewhat amusing that all these years the government has been saying UFO sightings related to silly, harmless “weather balloons,” and now we are sending military fighter jets to take on threatening “weather balloons.” We are living in strange times.
Image (Credit): A NASA Super Pressure Balloon just before launch from Wanaka, New Zealand. (NASA)
Image (Credit): U.S. Capitol Building. (U.S. Capitol Police)
The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, which oversees NASA’s programs, may have a chance to get some things done this year. Earlier in the week, New York Congressman George Santos stepped down from the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology as well as the House Committee on Small Business. With all of the problems following this man, his presence on either committee would have been a pure distraction.
The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has a broad jurisdiction beyond just NASA:
The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has jurisdiction over all energy research, development, and demonstration, and projects thereof and all federally owned or operated non-military energy laboratories; astronautical research and development, including resources, personnel, equipment, and facilities; civil aviation research and development; environmental research and development; marine research; commercial application of energy technology; National Institute of Standards and Technology, standardization of weights and measures and the metric system; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Science Foundation; National Weather Service; outer space, including exploration and control thereof; science scholarships; scientific research, development, and demonstration, and projects therefor. The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology shall review and study, on a continuing basis, laws, programs, and Government activities relating to non-military research and development.
Given the Artemis program as well as the other NASA endeavors currently underway, the Committee should be focusing as much time as possible on space missions rather than bogus resumes and lies to the public.
We need a serious Congress if we are going to conduct serious science and space exploration. Let’s hope Washington DC can keep its focus on the real stars (rather than the political black holes that can suck in all light and common sense).
Our Awesome Universe 