This week’s image comes from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which captured these images of Jupiter’s north polar region. The spacecraft came within 6,800 miles of the clouds you see.
Launched in August 2011, the Juno spacecraft has been studying Jupiter since 2016 to better understand the origin and evolution of the planet.
You can learn more about the Juno mission here.
“The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
-Statement tweeted by Elon Musk regarding the two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) following issues with the Boeing Starliner. Of course, the issue was already resolved by NASA via mission rotations, so Mr. Musk’s comments are needless and self-serving. It’s just one more chance for him to get attention as though he has not already done enough to warrant it, including that very odd hand gesture he made on stage.
Here are some recent stories of interest.
—Space News: “Astronomers Seek Global Ban on Space Advertising“
Astronomers are calling on nations to ban advertising in space that can be seen from the ground, calling it the latest threat to the dark and quiet sky. At a briefing during the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month, the organization rolled out a statement calling for bans on “obtrusive space advertising” because of the interference it could cause for groundbased astronomy. Obtrusive space advertising is defined in U.S. federal law as “advertising in outer space that is capable of being recognized by a human being on the surface of the Earth without the aid of a telescope or other technological device.” Such advertising is banned in federal law through prohibitions on granting launch licenses for missions carrying payloads to carry out space advertising.
—Jewish News Syndicate: “Israeli Female Astronaut Will Go to Space with NASA“
Israel has reached an agreement with NASA to send the first Israeli woman astronaut into space, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Gila Gamliel said on Monday. The remarks come as Israel is expanding cooperation in space technology with longtime allies such as the U.S., Italy and Azerbaijan, as well as with regional parties to the landmark 2020 Abraham Accords such as the United Arab Emirates.
—Anexartiti: “20 Mysterious Signals Discovered! What Could They Mean for Astronomy?“
A team of researchers from Australia has made a remarkable discovery by identifying over 20 intriguing signals from deep space. This achievement has been compared to the daunting task of finding a single grain of sand on a vast beach. Utilizing innovative technology pioneered by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), these findings have been documented in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
“President Trump recently issued a Presidential Memorandum (PM) titled “Return to In-Person Work,” the text of which is included below. NASA intends to fully comply.
‘Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.‘
…Please continue to remain focused on the mission. Right now, we have dozens of spacecraft studying different aspects of our solar system and the distant universe. We have four American astronauts living and working in space, with several crew members on Earth training for upcoming missions. And we have engineers and researchers working on technology development that will advance the future of flight and space exploration.”
-Information emailed to NASA staff on January 24, 2025 from NASA’s acting Administrator Janet Petro (see below). This follows a message earlier in the week shutting down all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The earlier email also asked employees to report on one another if DEI appeared anywhere. This latest email orders everyone back to work and then is nice enough to remind them that they left four astronauts in space who still need tending to. Not exactly a good week a NASA workforce that “already exceeds…expectations.”
Almost the first words the NASA employees heard from their acting administrator was the end of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts within the agency.
In an email earlier today, Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro stated, in part:
Notice the use of “Radical” in the executive order and the Office of Personnel Management email address including “truth,” favorite words of the incoming administration. Are we using federal dollars for this latest “witch hunt” (to use more of the favorite words)? None of this will help to calm the fears of hard-working NASA employees trying to focus on space missions rather than the political silliness in Washington, DC.
It does make you wonder what is coming down the road. For example, the Artemis mission on NASA’s website is pretty clear in terms of what it hopes to accomplish:
Will the goal of landing the first woman, person of color, and international partner be seen as encouraging too much diversity? The Artemis II crew, shown below, already meets the mission profile, but maybe that will change with the Artemis III crew that lands on the Moon. At this point, it would not be too surprising ito find the Artemis III crew consists of four white billionaires using a rover as a golf cart to hit balls across the lunar surface.
We’ll see what happens, as they say.
Our Awesome Universe 