• NASA’s Travel Agency

    If you are getting tired of staying home these days, NASA has some fun destinations in mind for you. Late last year, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) put together “Visions of the Future” to show you where the space agency hopes to go someday. You may not want to pack just yet, but whether it…

  • Pic of the Week: SpaceX Dragon Approaches the ISS

    This week’s picture shows SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour carrying Crew-2 to the International Space Stations (ISS) in April 2021 as seen through a window of the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience. The Resilience brought Crew-1 to the ISS in November 2020. You can read more about the ISS and the SpaceX mission here.

  • How Many Satellites Are Too Many?

    You may have remembered my earlier post showing all of the items already in orbit around the Earth. Well, it appears Elon Musk believes we can handle billions of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). And while the current number of orbiting satellites is only in the thousands, Mr. Musk’s SpaceX has already placed 1,700…

  • Whatever Happened to Mars-One?

    I remember the image above from Mars One and thinking that maybe the private sector could find an innovative way to beat governments to Mars. I also remember the profiles of individuals volunteering for a one-way trip to Mars to be part of the proposed Martian colony. So much for that idea. Mars One ran…

  • Where is This?: The January 17, 2022 Quiz

    Take a look at the image above. Can you determine where in the solar system this image originated? Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the menu and selecting the “Where is this?” page.

  • Dead End: No Life Found in Martian Rock

    A 4-billion-year-old meteorite from Mars did not show any signs of life, according to The Guardian newspaper. That said, the 4-pound rock found in Antarctica in 1984 that presumably broke off of Mars’ surface billions of years ago does have compounds that could lead to life. More samples should be on their way if NASA’s…

  • Is the U.S. Running Low on Astronauts?

    Does NASA need more astronauts than it has for upcoming missions? The Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) office believes NASA may have a problem. In a January 11, 2022 OIG report, NASA’s Management of its Astronaut Corps, the auditors found: The processes NASA uses to size, train, and assign astronauts to specific missions are primarily…

  • Television: The End of “The Expanse”

    This week Amazon Prime released the final episode of the The Expanse, a brilliant space drama that has been running for six seasons, first on Syfy and later on Amazon Prime. Based on a series of books written by James S. A. Corey (a two-person team), it tells the story of a settled solar system…

  • Pic of the Week: Perseverance and Ingenuity

    This week’s photo is from the Planetary Society’s Year in Pictures collection. The photo shows NASA’s latest Mars rover, Perseverance, as well as the helicopter Ingenuity in the background (hard to see at first). A better image of the helicopter is provided below. The rover landed on Mars in February 2021 at the Jezero Crater…

  • Videos: The Golden Record on the Voyager Spacecraft

    Years ago, two spacecraft exited our solar system at about 35,000 miles per hour with a message to anyone who finds them detailing our location in the galaxy, the beauty of the Earth, and our culture in terms of warm wishes, music, and natural sounds. Crafted by Carl Sagan and others, the golden discs or…