• Speaking of Soil Samples…

    In addition to the asteroid Bennu sample, a lunar sample from 1972 is also grabbing headlines. It appears that the lunar sample collected by the Apollo 17 crew indicates the Moon may be about 40 million years older than previously believed. In a study published in the journal Geochemical Perspectives Letters, titled “4.46 Ga Zircons…

  • Can Someone Give NASA a Hand with its Asteroid Canister?

    Remember when you had to run the pickle jar under the faucet before you could take off the lid? Well, this can even happen to scientists. In fact, it has happened with NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) sample canister. NASA has reported that it is still trying to get the…

  • Movie: Dune, Part Two Not Due Until Next Year

    I had been posting the planned November 3, 2023 date for the premiere of the film Dune, Part Two, but the movie has had some issues and it is not planned for March 15, 2024. Yes, I know, it’s a big disappointment. Many of you probably already know this. I guess I haven’t been watching…

  • Space Quote: The 8 Billion-Year-Old Signal

    “We were lucky to be looking at that little spot in the sky for that one millisecond after the eight billion years the pulse had travelled to catch it.” -Statement by Ryan Shannon, an astrophysicist at Australia’s Swinburne University and co-author of a study describing the signal that was received June 10th last year, as…

  • India Has Even Greater Space Ambitions

    After recently sending a rover to the Moon and a spaceship to the Sun, India announced plans to build its own space station by 2035 and also send its own astronaut to the Moon by 2040. It also wants to start work on missions to Venus and Mars. How is that for ambitious? In a…

  • Pic of the Week: Annular Solar Eclipse Over the U.S.

    This image of last week’s annular solar eclipse was captured by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) imager carried aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCVR), which is a joint venture between NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Air Force. NASA made this statement regarding the image: An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in…

  • Podcasts: The Search for Intelligent Life in the Galaxy

    Last month there were a few podcasts worth checking out on our search for intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy. The first was an episode from The Planetary Society’s podcast Planetary Radio titled Alone but not lonely with Louis Friedman. Dr. Friedman, co-founder of The Planetary Society, is very skeptical about the Search for Extraterrestrial Life (SETI) efforts,…

  • Space Stories: Roving Students, Preparing for Roman Times, and a New Space Center

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —NASA: “Dozens of Student Teams Worldwide to Compete in NASA Rover Challenge“ NASA has selected 72 student teams to begin an engineering design challenge to build human-powered rovers that will compete next April at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight…

  • Television: The First Season of Star Wars: Ahsoka

    So now that I have seen the full series of the Star Wars TV series Ahsoka, I can say that it was better than I expected. However, it was pretty slow all the way up until episode 6 when a another galaxy far, far away was introduced. The first five episodes where slow, predictable, and…

  • Space Quote: Rich Bounty from the Asteroid Bennu Sample

    “As we peer into the ancient secrets preserved within the dust and rocks of asteroid Bennu, we are unlocking a time capsule that offers us profound insights into the origins of our solar system…The bounty of carbon-rich material and the abundant presence of water-bearing clay minerals are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. These…