• Looking for Canadian Space News?

    This site generally covers space news from a US perspective, but there are plenty of other perspectives to consider as well. I will try to point out more of them as I go along. On viewpoint is that of the Canadians. I found a nice website that covers the space news for that country. I…

  • Space Quote: No One Owns the Moon

    “No one, and no religion, owns the moon, and, were the beliefs of the world’s multitude of religions considered, it’s quite likely that no missions would ever be approved…Simply, we do not and never have let religious beliefs dictate humanity’s space efforts — there is not and should not be a religious test.” -Statement by…

  • Pic of the Week: The Last Full Moon of 2023

    This week’s image is from Astronomy magazine’s Picture of the Day, labeled “The year’s last Full Moon.” Here is what the caption states: The last Full Moon of 2023 rises over the Mediterranean as seen from Aci Castello on Dec. 26. The ten frames in this composite image ranged from 1/800 to 1/100 second at…

  • AstroForge Readies Secret Asteroid Mission

    If you were the operator of an airline yet you refused to share the planned destination of your planes, I can assure you that the Federal Aviation Administration would have issues. Yet AstroForge is planning to do just that – set off into the wild blue (or black) yonder in a spacecraft named Odin towards…

  • Space Stories: A Volcanic Moon, an Indian X-ray Launch, and New Chinese Communication Satellites

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Forbes: “A NASA Spacecraft Just Had A Close Encounter With A Volcanic Moon—See The Stunning First Image“ NASA’s spacecraft Juno just had a super-close encounter with the most volcanic world in the solar system—but its stunning first image could be among its last after 56 orbits of Jupiter. On…

  • Top Astronomy Stories in 2023

    I wanted to start out the new year by first remembering all of the great missions from 2023. I also decided to group this work rather than focus on single missions. Here is what I came up with: NASA’s Moon Mission: We saw more progress towards the next steps in the Artemis program to put humans…

  • Happy New Year!

    If you have any questions about the reason January 1 is the start to the year, Earthsky has a good explanation of the holiday’s Roman roots. Enjoy yourself, but please do not sacrifice any rams. You will understand after you read the Earthsky piece.

  • A Second Japanese Moon Mission

    Japan is determined to get onto the moon as soon as possible. An attempt to land on the Moon earlier this year by a private Japanese company ended in failure, but things are looking good so far with the latest mission. Launched on September 6th, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spacecraft, called the Smart…

  • Study Findings: Atmospheric Carbon Depletion as a Tracer of Water Oceans and Biomass on Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets

    Nature Astronomy abstract of the study findings: The conventional observables to identify a habitable or inhabited environment in exoplanets, such as an ocean glint or abundant atmospheric O2, will be challenging to detect with present or upcoming observatories. Here we suggest a new signature. A low carbon abundance in the atmosphere of a temperate rock`y planet, relative to other…

  • Pic of the Week: The Space Plane is Back in Orbit

    This week’s image is a little more than an hour old. It shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy’s launch of the USSF-52 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier today. The mission involves the Air Force’s top secret X-37B, which will stay in orbit for an undisclosed period of time doing whatever it does…