• Space Quotes: Worry about Asteroids, Not Aliens

    “This paper attempts to provide an estimation of the prevalence of hostile extraterrestrial civilizations through an extrapolation of the probability that we, as the human civilization, would attack or invade an inhabited exoplanet once we become a Type-1 civilization in the Kardashev Scale capable of nearby interstellar travel. The estimation is based on the world’s…

  • A Day in Astronomy: Viking 1 Begins Obit of Mars

    On this day in 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft began its orbit of Mars. Launched in August 20, 1975, it took the Viking 1 spacecraft 11 months to travel to Mars. Viking 1 was a combination of orbiter and landing craft. The attached lander did not land on the Martian surface until July 20th, setting down on…

  • More Studies of the Moon – This Time Volcanoes

    Earlier this month, NASA announced plans to to study volcanoes on the Moon as part of the Artemis Program. The mission, called the Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) investigation, will involve a stationary lander and mobile rover. The mission will entail a 10-day survey of the summit of one of the Gruithuisen Domes to…

  • Nearby Planetary System Discovery: Two Earth-sized Planets

    MIT News reports a star about 33 light years away contains two Earth-like planets, one that is 1.2 times the size of the Earth and the second that is about 1.5 times the size. The discovery of these exoplanets orbiting the M-dwarf star, named HD 260655, came about when scientists combined data from NASA’s Transiting…

  • Pic of the Week: The Helicopter’s Shadow

    This week’s image, and the related animated gif, are from the navigation camera aboard NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 25th flight on April 18, 2022 over the surface of Mars. Here is a little more information from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL): The first frame of the clip shows the view about one second…

  • Space Quote: NASA and ESA Cooperation

    “From understanding our changing planet to exploring Mars, I hugely value the cooperation we have with NASA…By contributing key European hardware and services to exciting programmes such as Artemis and Mars Sample Return, we are building Europe’s autonomy while also being a reliable partner.” -Statement by ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher as part of the…

  • Chinese Map of the Moon

    Earlier this month, China released a geological map of the Moon’s surface. It is to a scale of 1:2,500,000. Here is the accompanying description of the map: Geologic maps of the Moon provide comprehensive information about the geologic strata, structural features, lithologies, and chronology of the lunar crustal surface, which reflect the evolution of the…

  • Astra Rocket Failure Impacts TROPICS Mission

    This weekend we witnessed another example that space operations are risky. On Sunday, Astra’s Rocket LV0010 launched from Cape Canaveral but was unable to place two satellites into orbit. The satellites were part of NASA’s TROPICS-1 mission. The main issue was the engine on the upper portion of the rocket. As described by Astra on…

  • Russians Hijack A German Space Telescope

    Remember all those sanctions and cancelled projects following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how we hoped scientists would rise above it? Well, the Russians will have none of it. They have decided to switch on Germany’s eROSITA space telescope. Built by the Max Planck Institute and launched in 2019 together with the Russian ART-XC space…

  • The Chinese Elon Musk?

    Have you read about the Chinese car company with space ambitions? In a June 2 press release, we learn that a unit of the Chinese automaker Geely (owner of Volvo, Polestar, and Group Lotus) already sent 9 communications satellites into orbit this year, with plans for a total of 240 such satellites in a constellation…