• Video: Another Look at Pluto’s Status as a Planet

    You may enjoy last week’s Astronomy magazine video that is part of This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher titled “Is Pluto a Planet?“. The issue on the table is whether scientists were a little too quick to dismiss Pluto’s status under new criteria given that we may have not understood whether the Earth even…

  • Space Quote: Meteorite Hunters

    “We get a piece for our collection and a new meteorite sample for potential research…In turn, they know what they can sell the specimen for because they know what kind of meteorite it is.” -Statement by Alan Rubin, a research geochemist and curator of the University of California, Los Angeles meteorite collection, in a Wall…

  • Travel to Moon and Mars Not Most Important Missions for the Public

    While both Buzz Aldrin and I believe that lunar and Martian colonies are important, it would appear the public has other ideas about NASA’s priorities. The graphic above shows in a recent Pew Research Center study indicates the more Americans are interested in monitoring the Earth’s climate as well as watching for asteroids. Even finding…

  • Pic of the Week/A Day in Astronomy: Moon Landing

    On this day in 1969, the Apollo 11 crew stepped on the Moon for the first time, showing that mankind could actually travel to another world. The image above shows Astronaut Buzz Aldrin preparing the step on the Moon as the second human to ever walk on the lunar surface. Buzz Aldrin has plenty of…

  • Space Stories: More Moon Missions, a Two-Faced Star, and Missing Dark Matter

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Ars Technica : “NASA Starts Building Ice-hunting Moon Rover“ The search for ice at the Moon’s poles has loomed large in the field of lunar science since an instrument on an Indian satellite discovered water molecules inside shadowed crater floors more than a decade ago. NASA is now assembling a…

  • Russia is also Heading to the Moon

    As noted in an earlier post, India left for the moon’s south pole last week, but it won’t be alone for long. Russia is planning to launch its Luna-25 spacecraft, also called the Luna-Glob-Lander, next month. According to NASA, the mission has two primary scientific objectives at the Moon’s south pole: to study composition of…

  • Two Space Probes will be Mothballed

    The delay in the launch of the Psyche spacecraft to visit the asteroid Psyche is having ripple effects on another NASA mission. The $50 million Janus mission with its two probes was supposed to accompany Psyche on the mission to observe two binary asteroid. However, too much time has passed for this separate mission be…

  • Rocket Launches: Good and Bad News for Lunar Launches

    First, the good news is that India successfully launched a rocket to the Moon last Friday. The Chandrayaan-3 mission, or “moon craft,” includes an orbiter as well as a rover that will explore the southern pole of the Moon. This is India’s second attempt to land on the lunar surface after a failed attempt back…

  • Study Findings: Diverse Organic-mineral Associations in Jezero Crater, Mars

    Nature abstract of the study findings: The presence and distribution of preserved organic matter on the surface of Mars can provide key information about the Martian carbon cycle and the potential of the planet to host life throughout its history. Several types of organic molecules have been previously detected in Martian meteorites and at Gale crater, Mars. Evaluating…

  • Television: Season Two of Foundation

    If you are not watching Foundation on Apple TV+, I recommend you give it a try. Season two begins today. We need it during a summer with very few if any films touching on space fantasies (without Marvel or DC Comics superheros). The season two trailer will show you what is in store this season,…