• Another Russian Casualty: Mars

    Yesterday, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that another space program has been impacted by the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Regarding the ExoMars programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely. ESA’s Director General will analyse all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward…

  • Ukraine and Starlink

    Three cheers for SpaceX’s assistance to Ukraine during this difficult time. After Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made a plea to SpaceX for assistance with its Internet, Mr. Must approved the shipment of Starlink terminals to Ukraine to allow the country to use the company’s satellites for its communications. Vice Prime Minister Fedorov had…

  • Russia Interrupts Space Missions

    Be prepared. With the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related U.S. and European sanctions, we can expect some delays and cancellations in upcoming space missions. The latest news story is Russia’s pull out of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, leading to the delayed launch of two European Space Agency (ESA)…

  • Remnants of Another Galaxy Found in the Milky Way

    The European Space Agency (ESA) reported scientists found the remnants of another galaxy that collides with our galaxy 8-10 billion years ago. This would be the sixth such grouping or galaxy to be found within the Milky Way. We commonly hear about merging planets in the early stages of our solar system, but that is…

  • Space Quote: Sanctions and the ISS

    “If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from uncontrolled deorbiting and falling on US or European territory?” –Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, Director General of Roscosmos, commenting on US sanctions against Russia’s aerospace industry resulting from that country’s invasion of Ukraine this week. The ISS is expected to stay aloft until 2031, assuming…

  • Pic of the Week: Giant Star on the Edge of Destruction

    This week’s image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows an erupting star, as explained by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hubble site: The giant star…is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction. The star, called AG Carinae, is surrounded by an expanding shell of gas and dust — a nebula — that is…

  • Should We Return to Uranus?

    In an earlier posting, I highlighted some scientific papers calling for a return to Neptune rather than Uranus, in part because of Neptune’s moon Triton. But what is the argument for a mission to Uranus? Below I highlight one of the papers submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 arguing the merits…

  • Is the U.S. Falling Behind in the Space Race?

    As much as we talk about cooperation in space, it is always nice to be the first nation to pass a milestone, be it the first man on the Moon or the first probe of Pluto. The U.S. has plenty of great stories about space travel, as do the Russians, and now the Chinese are…

  • Unity on the International Space Station

    As we await peace or war between Russia and Ukraine, US astronaut Leroy Chiao shared his thoughts about his cooperation with Russians at the International Space Station (ISS). He served as the copilot of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS as well as the commander during Expedition 10.  In his CNN editorial, he emphasizes…

  • Another Exoplanet Discovered Nearby

    Earlier this month, astronomers utilizing the European Space Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope identified what appears to be a third exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system at about 4.2 light years away. The ESO press release shared the following details: The newly discovered planet, named Proxima d, orbits Proxima Centauri…