Television: Pluribus and Kepler-22 b

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA provide of Kepler-22 b. (NASA)

We will have to wait for season two of Apple TV’s Pluribus series before learning more about the inhabitants of the fictional Kepler-22 b, which is the source of the “virus” that turned humans in to docile livestock. In the meantime, we can look into facts about the actual exoplanet.

According to NASA, we know that Kepler-22 b is:

  • potentially a rocky world, that is larger than Earth,
  • orbits within the habitable zone of a G-type host star (similar to our sun),
  • the only exoplanet discovered around this host star to date, and
  • about 635 light-years away.

You might also remember this exoplanet from HBO Max’s series Raised by Wolves. It is the exoplanet that the main characters escape to after a brutal war on Earth. Kepler-22 b is a strange world in the series, contained odd vegetation, bottomless pits, and an acidic sea. It is not what space dreams are made of, but at least it is not sending out signals to destroy other exoplanets hundreds of light-years away.

While we may not learn anything more about Kepler-22 b from Pluribus, I suppose it may encourage a few individuals to seek out information on the Kepler mission. Who knows, it may even stimulate more interest in our SETI efforts. Then again, if this is the future of space communications, we may want to reconsider the whole enterprise.

Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech 

Note: Under the Kepler numbering scheme, the “22” in Kepler-22 b means that it was the 22nd host star discovered, while the “b” indicates it was the first exoplanet found orbitting that host star.

The Shutting Down of Earth Science at NASA

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The first edition of The Earth Observer from March 1989. (NASA)

While most of the press stories have been focused on this week’s closing of a NASA largest research library located at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, NASA is quietly shutting down a key news source called The Earth Observer. This newsletter was a source of information and data related to the multiple satellites surrounding the Earth and monitoring its health.

In its October to December 2025 edition, Executive Editors Alan Ward stated:

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that NASA Earth Science Communications has directed The Earth Observer to conduct an orderly shutdown of the publication. No new content will be published after Dec. 31, 2025.

This comes at a time when the White House is drastically cutting the Earth science programs at NASA, somehow assuming that if we don’t know what it happening with our planet then we do not need to worry. NASA is being told to shift its focus to other distant worlds where we will probably never go instead of helping to preserve the only world we have.

Space Daily reported that we have already witnessing the end of three critical satellites monitoring Earth as a natural product of time – Terra, Aqua, and Aura – but they are not being replaced to keep the monitoring alive.

In the article, Space Daily noted:

Satellite aging was expected. What was not, Earth scientists say, is the policy shift coming from Washington. The FY26 presidential budget request would cut NASA’s Science Mission Directorate by nearly half, with Earth science funding falling from about 2.14 billion dollars to roughly 1.04 billion dollars, a 52 percent reduction. Commentators and advocacy groups describe the proposal as the steepest single year hit to NASA science since the post Apollo drawdown.

Shutting libraries, deleting data, and ending investments in the future will come back to bite us. Many in the world are interested in keeping this world vibrant and alive, and will do so with our without the United States. While cost-cutting can be justified if it done intelligently, the ongoing scientific suicide is something else entirely.

As Carl Sagan said in his very relevant book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark:

We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

Space Quote: Houston, Discovery May Not Be Landing

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The official Artemis II mission crew patch. (NASA)

“We’ve got spacecraft that are going around the moon with Artemis II, III, IV and V. One way or another, we’re going to make sure that Johnson Space Center gets their historic spacecraft.”

–Statement by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to CNBC when asked about the planned move of the Discovery space shuttle from the Smithsonian Museum in Chantilly, VA to the Space Center Houston museum. He said this after highlighting the costs and risks related to this proposed move. Some in Congress have opposed the move for these very reasons, in addition to it being a political gimmick by the White House that makes little sense.

Space Stories: A Lopsided Universe, Cosmic Rings, and Clipper Captures Comet

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by mastershaff0 from Pixabay

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Phys.org: “The Universe May Be Lopsided, New Research Suggests“

The shape of the universe is not something we often think about. My colleagues and I have published a new study that suggests it could be asymmetric or lopsided, meaning not the same in every direction. Should we care about this? Well, today’s “standard cosmological model”—which describes the dynamics and structure of the entire cosmos—rests squarely on the assumption that it is isotropic (looks the same in all directions), and homogeneous when averaged on large scales.

—Daily Galaxy: “Astronomers Stunned By 400 Cosmic Rings Etched Around Baby Star“

A groundbreaking discovery published in Nature Astronomy has revealed a cosmic phenomenon that may finally settle a 30-year-old mystery surrounding the early life cycles of stars. Astronomers observing the binary system SVS 13 within the NGC 1333 reflection nebula, located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus, have identified more than 400 bow-shaped rings created by violent ejections from a newborn star.

—Southwest Research Institute: “Europa Clipper Instrument Uniquely Observed Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS“

The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft has made valuable observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which in July became the third officially recognized interstellar object to cross into our solar system. UVS had a unique view of the object during a period when Mars- and Earth-based observations were impractical or impossible. “We’re excited that this opportunity to view another target on the way to Jupiter was completely unexpected,” said SwRI’s Dr. Kurt Retherford, the principal investigator for Europa-UVS. “Our observations have allowed for a unique and nuanced view of the comet.”

A Day in Astronomy: Death of Hermann Oberth

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Image (Credit): Hermann Julius Oberth. (European Space Agency)

On this day in 1989, rocket pioneer Hermann Julius Oberth died. He was born in Austria-Hungary in 1894 and at a young age was inspired by the rockets in the fictional stories by Jules Verne, such as From the Earth to the Moon.

Oberth’s interest in the stories of Verne led him to build his first rocket at the age of 14. His doctoral dissertation was on rocketry, he wrote books on rocketry, and he later joined an amateur rocketry group called the “Spaceflight Society” where he mentored other rocket enthusiasts, including Wernher von Braun.

Oberth was unable to get a security clearance to work on the Nazis V-2 rocket, thereby limiting his value to Americans following World War II, unlike Wernher von Braun and others who came to the United States under Project Paperclip and later assisted with NASA’s Apollo program.

Wernher von Braun was still able to get Oberth a position with the U.S. Army after the war and paid tribute to his mentor by stating:

I have a boundless admiration for the solitary genius which enabled him to bring into focus all of the essential elements of a gigantic concept, together with the human greatness which allowed him, in shy reserve, to bear with equanimity the “crucify him” as well as the “hosannas” of public opinion. I myself owe him a debt of gratitude not only for being the guiding light of my life but also for my first contact with the theoretical and practical aspects of rocket technology and space travel.

Oberth continues to be known today as the “Father of Space Travel.”