• Musk and the Drug Issue, Again

    You might think a company would love to be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and that is generally true, but not when the headline is this one: “Some Tesla, SpaceX Leaders Worried by Musk Drug Use.” The article states: …they fear the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive’s drug use could have…

  • Bad News for Latest US Moon Mission

    We started with high hopes, yet a problem has already threatened the success of Astrobotic’s mission to the Moon. Shortly after a successful lift off earlier this morning, the Peregrine lunar lander started reporting issues with its propulsion system, which impacted its ability to charge its batteries. Fortunately, the charging issue was resolved, yet the…

  • The US Aims to be Back on the Moon Next Month

    After ending launches to the Moon’s surface more than 50 years, NASA is funding a lunar mission that launches tomorrow morning. United Launch Alliance (ULA) will be using its new Vulcan rocket to launch the Astrobotic mission towards the Moon. ULA, as noted earlier, has a lot riding on this new rocket as it seeks a…

  • Looking for Canadian Space News?

    This site generally covers space news from a US perspective, but there are plenty of other perspectives to consider as well. I will try to point out more of them as I go along. On viewpoint is that of the Canadians. I found a nice website that covers the space news for that country. I…

  • Space Quote: No One Owns the Moon

    “No one, and no religion, owns the moon, and, were the beliefs of the world’s multitude of religions considered, it’s quite likely that no missions would ever be approved…Simply, we do not and never have let religious beliefs dictate humanity’s space efforts — there is not and should not be a religious test.” -Statement by…

  • Pic of the Week: The Last Full Moon of 2023

    This week’s image is from Astronomy magazine’s Picture of the Day, labeled “The year’s last Full Moon.” Here is what the caption states: The last Full Moon of 2023 rises over the Mediterranean as seen from Aci Castello on Dec. 26. The ten frames in this composite image ranged from 1/800 to 1/100 second at…

  • AstroForge Readies Secret Asteroid Mission

    If you were the operator of an airline yet you refused to share the planned destination of your planes, I can assure you that the Federal Aviation Administration would have issues. Yet AstroForge is planning to do just that – set off into the wild blue (or black) yonder in a spacecraft named Odin towards…

  • Space Stories: A Volcanic Moon, an Indian X-ray Launch, and New Chinese Communication Satellites

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Forbes: “A NASA Spacecraft Just Had A Close Encounter With A Volcanic Moon—See The Stunning First Image“ NASA’s spacecraft Juno just had a super-close encounter with the most volcanic world in the solar system—but its stunning first image could be among its last after 56 orbits of Jupiter. On…

  • Top Astronomy Stories in 2023

    I wanted to start out the new year by first remembering all of the great missions from 2023. I also decided to group this work rather than focus on single missions. Here is what I came up with: NASA’s Moon Mission: We saw more progress towards the next steps in the Artemis program to put humans…

  • Happy New Year!

    If you have any questions about the reason January 1 is the start to the year, Earthsky has a good explanation of the holiday’s Roman roots. Enjoy yourself, but please do not sacrifice any rams. You will understand after you read the Earthsky piece.