Space Stories: A Massachusetts Meteor, The Red Dwarf Diet, and an Extra Ice Giant in Our Solar System

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): A exploding meteor off the coast of Massachusetts as captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper on May 30, 2026. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—WCVB5 News: “Meteor That Rattled Massachusetts Was Bigger Than First Thought, NASA Says“

A meteor that created a sonic boom heard by thousands in Massachusetts and parts of the Northeast Saturday afternoon was larger than previously believed, NASA said Monday. Scientists now say the meteor was 5 feet in diameter, up from the initial thought of 3 feet, NASA said. “The meteor was about 5 feet (1.6 meters) in diameter with a mass of 5.6 metric tons and entered Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 42,000 mph,” NASA said Monday. Scientists believe it traveled through the atmosphere from northwest to southeast for 26 miles before breaking up at an altitude of 31 miles and producing a meteorite fall into Cape Cod Bay.

—Royal Astronomical Society: “Red Dwarf Stars Detected ‘Eating’ Earth-like Planets“

Astronomers have found some of the strongest evidence yet that stars can swallow their own planets. A new study, published in Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society, supports the long-held belief that young stars are capable of ‘eating’ nearby worlds as planetary systems form. Researchers from Keele University and the University of Exeter studied thousands of stars and found evidence that six different red dwarfs – the smallest, coolest, and most common type of star in the universe – had engulfed Earth-like rocky planets.

—Phys.org: “One of Our Planets May Be Missing, And it Could Explain Why the Solar System Looks the Way it Does“

Our solar system has two ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, but there may have been a third. According to a new study published in the journal Icarus, this extra world might have triggered a violent planetary shuffling billions of years ago that could have disrupted some of Jupiter’s and Uranus’s moons and possibly led to the formation of others.

Note: Here is the podcast version of this post.

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.

Space Stories: Martian Contract Questions, French Spacesuit Travels to ISS, and China Readies Next Space Station Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): View of Mars from the NASA Mars Global Surveyor MOC wide angle cameras. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—Ars Technica: “One Mars Spacecraft, Two Senators, and a Cloud of Questions“

NASA released a much-anticipated contract solicitation for a Mars-orbiting spacecraft late last week, kicking off what is sure to be a hotly contested and potentially controversial procurement. At issue is $700 million, already appropriated by Congress, to build a spacecraft, launch it to Mars, and once there to serve as a vehicle to relay communications between the red planet and Earth. But the stakes may be even bigger than this, including the possible resurrection of the recently canceled Mars Sample Return mission. As part of the new solicitation, NASA says it will conduct the acquisition “as a full and open competition.” But will it? That’s the question that several people involved with this procurement process are asking. And it could turn messy, quickly.

—European Spaceflight: “French Spacesuit Prototype Delivered to the International Space Station“

A European intravehicular activity (IVA) spacesuit prototype developed under a CNES-initiated programme was transported to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The spacesuit will be tested aboard the station by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot. The EuroSuit project was initiated by CNES in December 2023 as part of the agency’s Spaceship FR programme, which aims to foster the development of core technologies required for future crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit.

—China Global Television Network: “China to Launch Shenzhou-23 Crewed Mission to Space Station in Coming Days“

The combination of the Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft and the Long March-2F Y23 carrier rocket was transferred to the launchpad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. All facilities and equipment at the launch site are in good condition. Various pre-launch functional inspections and joint tests will be carried out as scheduled in the coming days. The launch is planned to take place in the coming days.

Update: Here is a podcast version of this story if you sometimes prefer to digest the news in this way. It is created by AI. To note, it’s not replacing anything or anyone. It’s simply offering an option if listening while driving is preferable to you. I do not use AI in the written articles. I will also start posting the latest podcasts in the sidebar.

Space Stories: Earth Similar to Vesta, Comet 3I/ATLAS is from a Strange Cold Place, and a US/China Telescope Battle in South America

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Dawn spacecraft image of Vesta. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA)

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—BBC Sky at Night: “We Were Truly Astonished” – Astronomers Say Earth Formed from the Same Material as Mars“

Planetary scientists say they’ve taken a step closer to solving the mystery of where the material that formed Earth comes from. While Earth resides in the inner Solar System with Mercury, Venus and Mars, it’s been proposed that up to 40% of the material that formed our planet came from the outer reaches, beyond the orbit of Jupiter. But a new study looking at the chemistry of meteorites has found that Earth is likely made entirely from the inner Solar System. In particular, Earth’s make-up is strikingly similar to that of Mars and Vesta, one of the biggest objects in the asteroid belt.

—SciTechDaily: “Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Came From a Place Nothing Like Our Solar System“

A comet from beyond our solar system is giving astronomers a rare look at how alien planetary systems may form under conditions very different from those that shaped our own cosmic neighborhood. The object, called 3I/ATLAS, was discovered less than a year ago as it traveled through our solar system. Although scientists still do not know exactly where it originated, new research led by the University of Michigan suggests the comet formed in an extremely cold region of space…“Our new observations show that the conditions that led to the formation of our solar system are much different from how planetary systems evolved in different parts of our galaxy,” said Luis Salazar Manzano, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the U-M Department of Astronomy.

—New York Times: “U.S.-China Rivalry Reaches South American Skies“

In the foothills of the Argentine Andes, the enormous Chinese radio telescope sits in one of the world’s premier stargazing locations, surrounded by vast, undulating mountain ranges and beneath skies untouched by light pollution. It is also on the opposite side of the planet from Beijing, offering China a window on the half of the heavens it would not otherwise see. But the Chinese telescope at the site, the Cesco observatory in San Juan Province, picks up no signals. After the U.S. government repeatedly pressed them on the issue, the Argentine authorities stopped the project’s completion. Lacking key parts, the telescope now sits dismembered, its gigantic antenna pointing blindly at the sky.

Space Stories: New Artemis II Photos, JWST Studies Exoplanet Surface, and Japanese Space Sake for Sale

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): One of the new photo from the Artemis II mission recently released by NASA. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—ABC News: “NASA Releases More Than 12,000 Images from Historic Artemis II Moon Mission“

Over the weekend, NASA made public more than 12,000 photos from the historic Artemis II lunar mission…Over the course of the mission, NASA released dozens of images of the astronauts, Earth, the moon and even a total solar eclipse. However, the new trove reveals some never-before-seen photos as well as new angles of objects in space, primarily using Nikon cameras and iPhone 17s.

—ZME Science: “Astronomers Determine the Surface of a Rocky Planet Beyond Our Solar System for the First Time“

A rocky planet nearly 50 light-years away appears to be airless, dark, and covered in volcanic or weathered rock, according to new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the first time that astronomers have obtained details about the surface of a rocky planet outside our solar system. The planet, LHS 3844 b, is not habitable. It is about 30 percent larger than Earth, orbits its star every 11 hours, and has one side permanently pointing towards the Sun, baked at about 725°C.

—The Korean Times: “Space-fermented Sake by Japanese Brewer Dassai Sells for $700,000“

Japanese brewer Dassai has sold a 100-milliliter bottle of sake fermented on the International Space Station for 110 million yen ($700,000). Dassai partnered with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to ferment sake ingredients in space, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported Monday. Using the space-fermented mash, or moromi, the brewery finished brewing the sake on Earth, yielding 116 milliliters. Dassai sold a 100-milliliter bottle of the final product to an unnamed Japanese buyer. The company plans to donate the proceeds to Japan’s space program.