• Television: 60 Minutes Goes to Mars

    Just a heads up. Tune into CBS’s 60 Minutes next Sunday to learn more about NASA’s efforts to design what may be future habitats on Mars. It involves 3D-printing technologies, which have also been discussed as a means of building a lunar base. In fact, NASA has issued contracts for such construction on the Moon.…

  • Television: Space Tourism

    CBS News had a recent broadcast called “Space Tourism: The Next Great Leap.” Here is the CBS summary: In the aftermath of the Titan submersible tragedy, extreme travel has come under fresh scrutiny. But one industry stands out for both its allure and the lack of regulation protecting participants’ safety: space tourism. CBS Reports explores…

  • Space Quote: New Horizons for New Horizons

    “The New Horizons mission has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide extraordinary opportunities for multidisciplinary science for NASA and the scientific community…The agency decided that it was best to extend operations for New Horizons until the spacecraft exits the Kuiper Belt, which is expected in…

  • Pic of the Week: Herbig-Haro 211

    This week’s image is from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It shows a colorful and expansive Herbig-Haro 211, with a Herbig-Haro (HH) being “…luminous regions surrounding newborn stars, formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from these newborn stars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds.” NASA…

  • Space Stories: Remembering the Solar System Delivery System, Many More Milky Ways, and AI Investigates Alien Life

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —NASA: “New US Postage Stamp Commemorates NASA’s Asteroid Sample Delivery“ On Sept. 24, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) spacecraft will speed past Earth and – at precisely the right moment – jettison its sample capsule containing material from asteroid Bennu…To help…

  • Future Plans for a Spaceship to Decommission the ISS

    How much does it cost to decommission a space station? Well, according to NASA as cited by London’s Daily Mail, it will cost at least $1 billion to ensure the International Space Station (ISS) finds a safe spot to crash. And NASA even has a name for the spacecraft that will be needed to steer…

  • Queen’s Brian May and Bennu?

    I was surprised to hear from Queen’s Brian May regarding the recent landing of the asteroid Bennu sample in the Utah desert. Here is what he posted and stated on his page: “Today is the day – the long awaited day – when the sample of a piece of material From Bennu – the asteroid…

  • Space Missions: Good News for an Asteroid Sample, But Bad News for a Lunar Rover

    First, let discuss the good news. The capsule carrying the sample material from the asteroid Bennu successfully landed in the Utah desert earlier today, as planned. NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission was a success. The space agency has plenty to celebrate. And now for the bad news. India’s Chandrayaan-3…

  • A Day in Autonomy: The Discovery of Neptune

    On this day in 1846, astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the ice giant Neptune, the eighth and most distant planet in the solar system. Two other astronomers are credited with coming up with the mathematical calculations related to the discovery – France’s Urbain Le Verrier and England’s John Couch Adams. Here are some interesting facts about…

  • Asteroid Sample Coming to Earth This Weekend

    This weekend will should see the safe landing of a asteroid sample from far away. On Sunday, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will return to Earth with sample material from asteroid Bennu, which it encountered two years ago. Launched on Sept. 8, 2016, the spacecraft spent about two years…