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Space Quote: NASA’s Mars Simulator Has Long-term Guests
“They are about to embark on an analog mission that encompasses operations, logistics, and research of living and working on Mars. The importance of this study cannot be overstated…NASA scientists will learn critical insights on the physical and behavioral aspects of a mission on Mars.” -Statement by Judith Hayes, NASA’s Chief Science Officer in the…
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A Success for Virgin Galactic
Last Thursday, Virgin Galactic successfully brought paying customers to space, or at least to the edge of space. In this case, it was three Italians, an instructor, and two pilots. You can watch a video of the flight here. Below is the statement by Virgin Galactic’s CEO: Tourist flights (at $450,000 per seat) are expected…
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ESA’s Euclid Space Telescope Safely Launched
Earier today, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid Space Telescope was safely launched from Cape Canaveral on a Space X Falcon 9 rocket (though the original plan was to use a Russian Soyuz rocket until the invasion nixed that idea). The space telescope is destined for the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), which is an…
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Pondering ‘Oumuamua on International Asteroid Day
On International Asteroid Day, I thought it was worth revisiting an earlier video from Cool Worlds Lab on the first detected asteroid from outside our solar system. The video, “‘Oumuamua: An Interstellar Visitor,” notes that scientists have never seen an asteroid within our solar system with these cigar-shaped dimension. Scientists now believe that more that…
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Pic of the Week: Solar Flare X1 from AR2994 in ‘Motion’
This week’s image is one of the finalist photos in the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist held by the Royal Museums Greenwich. Check out the site for other fascinating finalist images. Here is a little more about this solar flare image from photographer Miguel Claro taken in the Dark Sky Alqueva region, Évora…
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Study Findings: Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010
Geophysical Research Letters (plain language) abstract: Melting of polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers has been understood as a main cause of sea level rise associated with contemporary climate warming. It has been proposed that an important anthropogenic contribution is sea level rise due to groundwater depletion resulting from irrigation. A climate model estimate for…
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Remember International Asteroid Day
This Friday, June 30th, is International Asteroid Day as adopted by the United Nations to “…observe each year at the international level the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908, and to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard.” NASA has set up page to celebrate the day,…
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Is the Backlash to the Titan Tragedy Coming for the Space Industry?
Axiom has an interesting article, “Titanic Sub Tragedy Stokes Fears for Space Tourism,” on how the recent Titan tragedy may impact the space tourism industry, noting: Congress has explicitly prohibited the Federal Aviation Administration from enacting any regulations designed to protect the safety of people flying into space. It can only concern itself with the…
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Television: Black Mirror Has Another Space Episode
While I recommend the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to anyone looking for a good program (now that the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard has ended), you can also tune into the new season of Netflix’ Black Mirror for a space episode. You may remember the “USS Callister” episode…
