Space Stories: Stories from Apollo 8, Dealing with Space Weather, and a Militarized Moon

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Here are some recent stories related to the upcoming Artemis II launch.

—Associated Press: “Apollo vs. Artemis: What to Know about NASA’s Return to the Moon“

NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time. As four astronauts get set to blast off on humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and NASA’s new Artemis program are inevitable. The world’s first lunar visitors orbited the moon on Apollo 8. The Artemis II crew will play it safe and zip around the moon in an out-and-back slingshot. Another key difference: Artemis reflects more of society, with a woman, person of color and Canadian rocketing away.

—Scientific American: “How NASA Will Keep the Artemis II Astronauts Safe from Space Weather“

The hazards that the Artemis II crew must navigate during their 10-day flight are plentiful, starting from the second they launch aboard the most powerful rocket to ever carry humans and continuing all the way through their return to Earth nestled inside the Orion capsule. Many threats the crew will face are obvious, but not all of them are. Take, for example, radiation, which with moderate exposures can increase an astronaut’s long-term risk of cancer and with heavy doses can cause acute sickness. The Artemis II crew will be the first humans in decades to travel beyond low-Earth orbit, fully discarding the protection of Earth’s magnetic field. And while most aspects of cosmic radiation are straightforward to plan for, the outlier is space weather.

—Ars Technica: “NASA is Leading the Way to the Moon, But the Military Won’t Be Far Behind“

Today, potential conflict zones in space are limited to a region between low-Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit, from a few hundred miles altitude up to 22,000 miles. The Space Force is in the final stages of developing a roadmap for the next 15 years, identifying where the service needs to grow and evolve to respond to changing threats and priorities. The document hasn’t been released publicly, but Pentagon officials have said it will address the possibility of the the Moon or cislunar space, the region of space around the Moon, becoming a theater for military operations.

Space Stories: The Fate of Juno, the End of a NASA Probe, and “Extragalactic Archeology”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Jupiter’s North Pole at minimum emission angle as captured by the Juno spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Thomas Thomopoulos)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Ars Technica: “A Mission NASA Might Kill is Still Returning Fascinating Science from Jupiter“

Jupiter’s colossal storms generate lightning flashes at least 100 times more powerful than those on Earth, according to scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The findings were published March 20 in the journal AGU Advances. Researchers used data recorded by Juno in 2021 and 2022, after NASA granted an extension to the spacecraft’s operations upon completing a five-year science campaign at Jupiter. Juno remains in good health, but NASA officials have not said if they will approve another extension for the mission. The issue is money.

—Astronomy.com: “NASA’s Van Allen Probe A Burns Up Over the Pacific after 14 Years in Space“

NASA’s Van Allen Probe A re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, March 11, at 6:37 a.m. EDT, marking the final chapter for a spacecraft that reshaped scientists’ understanding of the radiation environment around our planet. The U.S. Space Force confirmed the spacecraft came down over the eastern Pacific Ocean. NASA said most of the 1,300-pound (600 kilograms) probe burned up during reentry, though some pieces may have reached the surface. Its twin, Probe B, remains in orbit and is not expected to re-enter before 2030. The twin probes launched together on Aug. 30, 2012, on what was supposed to be a two-year mission. They operated for nearly seven years instead, circling Earth inside the Van Allen radiation belts — zones of high-energy charged particles held in place by the planet’s magnetic field. 

—Carnegie Science: ““Extragalactic Archeology” Reveals Nearby Galaxy’s Evolution“

A team of astronomers, including Carnegie Science’s Jeff Rich and other former Carnegie Observatories astronomers, have for the first time traced the history of a galaxy outside our own Milky way by studying chemical fingerprints in deep space, a new approach they are calling “extragalactic archeology.” Their findings are published in Nature Astronomy. “This is the first time that a chemical archaeology method has been used with such fine detail outside our own galaxy,” said lead author Lisa Kewley of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian.

Space Stories: Meteor Shakes Ohio, Executive Order Could Impact Pluto, and Musk May Muck Up Space Again

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Image (Credit): Dwarf planet Pluto. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Fox 8 News: “NASA Confirms Boom was 17,000-pound Meteor“

A loud “boom” was reported across Northeast Ohio just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday. People around Northeast Ohio flooded the FOX 8 newsroom with reports of what heard like a “large explosion” lasting several seconds and causing homes and businesses to “shake.” NASA has confirmed a 6-foot, 17,000-pound meteor traveled 44,000 miles per hour over northeast Ohio. It was 50 miles above Lake Erie when the first flash was detected.

—USA Today: “NASA’s Isaacman Latest to Endorse Trump Reclassifying Pluto as a Planet“

President Donald Trump campaigned on “America first,” but some of his supporters and appointees apparently want Pluto to once again be … ninth. The ninth planet in our solar system, that is. Ever since Pluto was infamously stripped of its planetary status two decades ago, debate has raged for years over the distant icy world – half the size of the United States – and just what sort of cosmic body it should be classified as. Now, Jared Isaacman, NASA’s new chief, has appeared to signal his support for Trump to designate Pluto as a planet once again through executive order.

—Newsweek: “New 1M‑Satellite Plans Could ‘Permanently Scar’ Night Sky, Astronomers Warn“

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has issued a stark warning over proposals by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the California-based startup Reflect Orbital, saying the plans could cause lasting damage to ground‑based astronomy and dramatically alter the night sky for skywatchers. In comments submitted to U.S. regulators, the RAS said the scale and brightness of the proposed satellite constellations risk overwhelming astronomical observations from Earth. The society, alongside the European Southern Observatory (ESO), has formally opposed both projects in filings to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where the companies have sought approval.

Space Stories: DART Did Its Diversionary Duty, A New Moon Crater, and A New Private Space Telescope

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Image (Credit): The collision of DART with Dimorphos, as captured by the Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube. The larger asteroid above is Didymos. (ASI/NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Nautilus: “NASA’s DART Mission Offers Proof of Protection Against Asteroid Impacts“

In November 2021, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) aimed at finding out whether or not we could redirect the trajectory of a near-Earth object simply by crashing into it…The mission was a success, making it the first time a human-made object has altered a celestial body’s path around the sun, but it would take more time to find out the magnitude of the success. Now, two years later, NASA scientists have calculated that DART’s collision with Dimorphos shortened the orbit of both asteroids by around 33 minutes.

—SciTechDaily: “The Moon Was Hit Again: NASA Scientists Discover a Newly Formed Crater“

Researchers working with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera found one such crater by comparing detailed photographs of the same lunar locations taken at different times. By examining images captured before December 2009 and others taken after December 2012, they were able to narrow down when the impact occurred, even though no one actually observed the collision. The crater measures 22 meters in diameter, comparable to a large house. What makes it particularly striking is not its size but its brightness. The collision ejected material tens of meters from the crater rim, creating distinctive rays that spread outward in a sunburst pattern. This bright, fresh material contrasts sharply with the surrounding darker regolith, making the crater stand out like a new freckle on familiar skin.

—Daily Galaxy: “In a First, Private Investors Will Fund a Telescope Bigger Than Hubble for $500 Million“

A new private space observatory, the Lazuli Space Telescope, is on track to surpass Hubble with its larger mirror and cutting-edge technology. Funded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy, the project is already turning heads in the space community…At its core, Lazuli’s three-meter mirror will make it one of the largest space telescopes ever built, capable of observing both optical and infrared light.

Space Stories: Rubin Observatory Data Alerts, Upcoming Total Lunar Eclipse, and Exoplanet Astronomer Murdered

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Image (Credit): The Rubin Observatory. (Rubin Obs./NSF/AURA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—GeekWire: “Rubin Observatory Sends Out Thousands of Data Alerts with an Assist from Seattle Astronomers“

An astronomical alert system developed at the University of Washington started off with a bang this week, sending out 800,000 notifications about moving asteroids, exploding stars and other celestial changes detected by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Tuesday night’s surge was just the first wave of alerts. Eventually, the Alert Production Pipeline is expected to produce up to 7 million alerts per night. Astronomers around the globe will use the system to sift through the torrent of data, zeroing in on events ranging from newly detected asteroids to supernovas, variable stars and active galactic nuclei.

—Sky&Telescope: “Get Ready for the March 3, 2026, Predawn Total Lunar Eclipse“

On Tuesday, March 3rd, the full Moon glides through the darkest portion of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, to create a dramatic total lunar eclipse. In the Western Hemisphere, the event occurs in the hours before dawn, while across Asia it happens during the evening. During the eclipse, Earth’s shadow is seen gradually edging across the face of the full Moon until the entire lunar disk glows deep orange or red. Then the sequence of events unfolds in reverse order, until the shadow leaves the lunar disk completely and the Moon returns to full brilliance.

—Futurism: “Astronomer Who Discovered Water on Distant Planet Murdered Outside Home“

A renowned Caltech astronomer who studied distant exoplanets was shot and killed outside his home in a rural area near Los Angeles, the LA Times reported…Among his most notable contributions to the field was leading research published in 2007 that, for the first time, captured enough light from distant exoplanets to identify the molecules in their atmospheres…and soon made the “monumental” discovery of detecting signs of water on another planet.