• Space Stories: New Canadian Radio Telescope, Our Empty Corner of the Universe, and Fortunate Collisions with Earth

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —McGill University: “CHORD Will Be a Huge Leap Forward for Canadian Radio Astronomy“ Construction is underway of CHORD, the most ambitious radio telescope project ever built on Canadian soil. Short for the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector, CHORD will give astronomers an unprecedented opportunity to explore some…

  • Did China Just Install HAL in its Space Station?

    Is it possible the space station engineers in China failed to watch Stanley Kubrick’ film 2001: A Space Odyssey? I ask this because earlier this summer the Chinese government installed an artificial intelligence chatbot named Wukong on the Tiangong space station. It is designed to assist the taikonauts with navigation and tactical information planning. A…

  • Pew Study Reports on NASA’s Support Among the Public

    A recent Pew Research Center report titled Republicans’ Views of Justice Department, FBI Rebound as Democrats’ Views Shift More Negative found that NASA was among the fourth most favorably viewed federal agency from among 16 agencies. Not surprisingly, the IRS placed last. However, it was joined at the bottom by ICE and the Department of…

  • Space Quote: Happy Labor Day, NASA

    “The agencies and agency subdivisions set forth in section 2 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is also hereby determined that Chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner…

  • The Few, The Proud, The Moon Watchers

    NASA is looking for volunteers to assist next year’s Artemis II mission, which is expected to take place in April 2026. The volunteers will help track of the Artemis II Orion crewed spacecraft as it travels around the Moon. The volunteers will monitor Orion’s signal using their respective ground antennas to help track and measure…

  • Pic of the Week: “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers”

    ZWO’s annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest recently highlighted its 2025 shortlisted images, such as the image above from photographer Tianyao Yang titled “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers.” Here is the photographer’s description of the photo: This photograph captures a red Full Moon rising beside Shanghai’s tallest skyscrapers in Lujiazui. Taken from…

  • Starship: The 10th Try Was a Success

    On Tuesday, Starlink finally launched its 10th test flight after a rough patch of three bad launches. Regarding this tenth test, SpaceX stated: Every major objective was met, providing critical data to inform designs of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy. Everything from the booster splash landing in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after…

  • Space Stories: Dragon Docks with ISS, a Braille Astronomy Book, and an Exoplanet with No Atmosphere

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —NASA: “SpaceX Dragon Docks to Station Delivering New Science, Supplies“ At 7:05 a.m. EDT, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the forward port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module.  The spacecraft carried over 5,000 pounds of scientific investigations and cargo to the orbiting laboratory on SpaceX’s 33rd…

  • SpaceX is Eager to Launch the Next Starship

    Elon Musk is eager to get his Starship launches back on track, but the 10th launch scheduled for yesterday had to be scrubbed due to “ground system” issues. The launched was pushed by a day or two. The most recent reminder of the difficulties getting this rocket into orbit came in June, when a pre-flight…

  • The X37-B Mini-Shuttle Returns to Orbit

    While the space shuttles are all safely stored in space museums around the country, the U.S. Space Force’s X37B space plane (or uncrewed mini-shuttle) is still in business. The spacecraft returned to Earth orbit late last week, launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The X-37B can stay in orbit for multiple years, powered by both…