• Audit Results: More Concern About NASA’s Space Launch System

    First, the US Government Accountability Office reported that NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is unaffordable, and now NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) doubles down on that earlier finding, reporting that the SLS, a key component of the Artemis program, has costs that are spinning out of control. In its report, NASA’s Transition of the…

  • The Psyche Mission Begins

    It may be Friday the 13th, but the news has been positive about the Psyche spacecraft, which earlier today successfully launched from  NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here is part of a statement by Arizona State University Professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Psyche mission, from back in 2017 as she…

  • Pic of the Week: Eyeing the Ring Nebula

    This week’s image comes from the Jame Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). It shows the Ring Nebula, which is approximately 2,500 light-years away. It looks like a heavenly eyeball. with an Earth-colored iris. Here is more on the image from NASA: The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has observed the well-known Ring Nebula…

  • NASA Gets Ready for a Thursday Launch to Asteroid Psyche

    After a number of delays, the Psyche mission appears ready to go as the spacecraft sits at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch is scheduled for tomorrow at 10:16 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft will not reach the metal-rich asteroid Psyche until 2029. It will then orbit the asteroid for…

  • Annual International Mars Society Convention

    If you missed the Annual International Mars Society Convention last weekend in Arizona, you will soon be able to catch up on all of the presentations. First, you can find abstracts on all of the convention presentations here, which includes many topics, such as: Next, you can find the recordings of many of the presentations…

  • Space Stories: Fancy Space Suits, Giant Blinding Satellites, and More Russian Space Station Leaks

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Dezeen: “Prada Designing Lunar Spacesuits for NASA Moon Mission“ Fashion house Prada has teamed up with commercial space company Axiom Space to create lunar spacesuits for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which will be the first crewed moon landing since 1972. Called Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), the suits will…

  • Movie: A Million Miles Away

    I recently watched the movie A Million Miles Away after experiencing a summer with no blockbuster films addressing anything interesting related to space travel or alien life. I was happy that this new movie (available on Amazon Prime last month) addressed both, but the “alien” life related to migrant farmers seeking a better life in…

  • Amazon’s Project Kuiper is Underway

    If you were worried about satellite traffic and its impact on astronomy, then you have one more thing to worry about. Yesterday, two prototype satellites were launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They are part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which may lead to 3,200 additional satellites orbiting the…

  • Space Quote: Astronomers Have a New Term – JuMBOs

    “We find them down as small as one Jupiter mass, even half a Jupiter mass, floating freely, not attached to a star…Physics says you can’t even make objects that small. We wanted to see, can we break physics? And I think we have, which is good.” –Statement by Mark McCaughrean, a senior adviser for science…

  • Pic of the Week: Dusty Spiral Arms of NGC 1087

    This week’s image comes from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.  It is an image of the grainy-textured, colorful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1087, which is about 80 million light-years away. Here is more about the galaxy from NASA: It has a diameter of 87,000 light-years and a very small nucleus, or center. The galaxy’s dust…