• Pic of the Week: Surfboards in Space

    This week’s image is one from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) showing galaxies from long ago. Many of these galaxies have an elongated shape similar to a surfboard. Again, JWST is opening our eyes everyday to the wonder and weirdness of the universe. Here is more about the image from NASA: Researchers analyzing images…

  • Tap Into an Upcoming Mars Discussion

    The Mars Society’s President and founder Dr. Robert Zubrin is in Europe this week to meet with fellow Mars enthusiasts. You can tap into one of those discussions tomorrow if you are interested. On January 18, Dr. Zubrin will hold a discussion with UK Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees on the topic “How to Explore…

  • Video: A Tale About the End of Time

    If you are interested in a fascinating tale about the end of the universe, I recommend you watch a recent Cool Worlds Lab video where Professor David Kipping narrates a version of the deep future where mankind is replaced by machines as they slowly expand into and consume the known universe. The episode, titled Outlasting the Universe,…

  • Space Stories: Old Stars Harboring Exoplanets, a Hot “Earth” Located, and the Role of Exomoons

    Here are some recent stories of interest related to exoplanets. —Phys.org: “Old Stars May Be the Best Places to Search for Life“ Once upon a cosmic time, scientists assumed that stars apply an eternal magnetic brake, causing an endless slowdown of their rotation. With new observations and sophisticated methods, they have now peeked into a star’s…

  • Will China Beat Us to the Moon?

    With the newly announced delays related to the Artemis lunar program, it is fair to ask whether the U.S. might fall behind the Chinese when it comes to a crewed lunar mission (of course, we won that battle 50 years ago, but you know that I mean). All reports indicate that the Chinese wants to…

  • Space Quote: Another View of Elon and Drugs

    “If we’re going to link performance to attitudes about drugs, maybe Musk should be setting the tone for NASA. Perhaps a microdosing schedule would get federal employees out of their ruts and set their creative juices flowing.” -Statement by J.D. Tuccille in his Reason magazine article, “Let Elon Musk Enjoy Drugs.” The libertarian magazine has…

  • Sample Return: NASA Just Needed the Right Tool

    It is amazing that we have the ability to launch a spacecraft that can chase an asteroid millions of miles away, but we lack a wrench here on Earth to open the sample container when some of that asteroid is sent home. You may remember the problems NASA had last year opening the lid on…

  • Pic of the Week: Dwarf Irregular Galaxy UGC 8091

    The image this week is from the NASA/European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope. It shows an irregular dwarf galaxy, UGC 8091, that is about seven million light-years away. What I see appears to be jellyfish within some cloudy water. I also the variety of other galaxies you can see throughout the image (see below).…

  • Sidebar: The Griffin Mission

    I did not follow up on yesterday’s post when Astrobotic said it was moving onto its Griffin mission. What is that? The Griffin mission involved a lunar lander as well, but this time the destination will be the Moon’s South Pole. The lander will deploy NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), which will be…

  • Moon Malaise This Week – Two Missions Impacted

    NASA said we would have weeks like this one. First we have the compromised Peregrine Lunar Lander floating in space. Astrobotic posted this update earlier today: Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the Moon. However, we do still have enough propellant to continue to operate the vehicle…