• Executive Order to Ensure American Space Superiority

    Just as Jared Isaacman, NASA’s new Administrator, started to settle into his new post, the White House updated the nation’s space priorities. A new executive order on Thursday, titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” provides clear goals for NASA, which includes: Adding nuclear reactors as its own goal seems a little odd since it could simply…

  • Video: The Eschatian Hypothesis

    I recommend you check out the latest Cool Worlds Labs video for an intriguing new theory about mankind’s contact with an alien civilization. British astronomer and associate professor at Columbia University David Kipping narrates this new idea, called the Eschatian Hypothesis, in his latest video titled “Our First Contact with Aliens Will Be Their Last…

  • Pic of the Week: Moonrise Perfection over the Dolomites

    This week’s image is one of the winning photographs in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 contest. The photograph, ranked as highly commended under Skyscapes, was submitted by Fabian Dalpiaz and is titled “Moonrise Perfection over the Dolomites.” It was taken on November 15, 2024 in Santuario di Pietralba, Deutschnofen, South…

  • NASA Has a New Administrator

    Earlier today, Jared Isaacman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new administrator of NASA. The final Senate vote was was 67-30, which is an encouraging sign showing that he is off to a good start. Anything bipartisan is unique in this environment. Sean Duffy, the acting administrator, can now go back to the…

  • Final Gift Ideas: Memberships and Magazines

    Okay, you are running out of time to buy the perfect gift. Yet you do not need to fret. You still have some good options for that friend or family member. First, why not consider getting this person a membership in a space-advocacy organization. In this way, they can stay abreast of space news while…

  • Space Stories: JPL Rover Operations Center Opens, Chinese Protect Space Station, and Roman Telescope Will Scan for Voids

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —NASA JPL: “NASA JPL Unveils Rover Operations Center for Moon, Mars Missions“ NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Wednesday inaugurated its Rover Operations Center (ROC), a center of excellence for current and future surface missions to the Moon and Mars. During the launch event, leaders from…

  • Television: For All Mankind & Star City

    While all the talk right now is ranking the TV shows of 2025 (which I have yet to do), I am already looking forward to 2026. If you are not happy about the two-year delay in the return of season five of Apple TV’s For All Mankind, you can rest easy knowing that 2026 will…

  • Space Quote: Another Theory Accounting for the Star of Bethlehem

    “A comet could stay in one place if it was basically on a ‘collision course’ with Earth,…That’s exactly what you would expect of an object that’s going to pass very, very close to the Earth.” -Statement by Mark Matney, a planetary scientist at NASA, as quoted in Scientific American. He has proposed in his paper…

  • Study Findings: Satellite Megaconstellations will Threaten Space-based Astronomy

    Nature abstract of the study findings: Rapidly growing satellite constellations have raised strong concerns among the scientific community. Reflections from satellites can be visible to the unaided eye and extremely bright for professional telescopes. These trails already affect astronomical images across the complete electromagnetic spectrum, with a noticeable cost for operations and mitigation efforts. Contrary to…

  • Pic of the Week: Capture the Dark 2025 Photo Contest

    This week’s image is from the Capture the Dark 2025 contest sponsored by Dark Sky International. The third place winning photo is “Land of Ice” by Kavan Chay. The photo was taken in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, New Zealand. The 2025 contest had over 2,200 entries from over 22 countries. You can see the other winning images…