If you are in the market for a stamp to mail your Priority Mail package, then look no further than the two new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) stamps recently issued by the U.S. Postal Service.
You can enjoy the “Pillars of Creation” or “Cosmic Cliffs” stamps, both of which demonstrate some of the most amazing images captured by the telescope.
Here are some recent stories of interest.
—Planetary Science Institute: “Vast, Potential Ice-Rich Deposit Found in Martian Equatorial Region“
A potential ice-rich portion of the Medusae Fossae Formation deposits may contain the largest volume of water in the equatorial region of Mars. Data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) – a subsurface radar sounder on the Mars Express orbiter searching for water and studying the Martian atmosphere – reveals layering in the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) deposits. These layers are likely due to transitions between mixtures of ice-rich and ice-poor dust, analogous to those in Polar Layered Deposits, according to the paper “Evidence of Ice-Rich Layered Deposits in the Medusae Fossae Formation of Mars” in Geophysical Research Letters.
—University of California: “Small Solar Sails Could be the Next ‘Giant Leap’ for Interplanetary Space Exploration“
Nearly 70 years after the launch of the first satellite, we still have more questions than answers about space. But a team of Berkeley researchers is on a mission to change this with a proposal to build a fleet of low-cost, autonomous spacecraft, each weighing only 10 grams and propelled by nothing more than the pressure of solar radiation. These miniaturized solar sails could potentially visit thousands of near-Earth asteroids and comets, capturing high-resolution images and collecting samples.
—NASA: “NASA’s GUSTO Prepares to Map Space Between the Stars“
On a vast ice sheet in Antarctica, scientists and engineers are preparing a NASA experiment called GUSTO to explore the universe on a balloon. GUSTO will launch from the Ross Ice Shelf, near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station research base, no earlier than Dec. 21. GUSTO, which stands for Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory, will peer into the space between stars called the interstellar medium. The balloon-borne telescope will help scientists make a 3D map of a large part of the Milky Way in extremely high-frequency radio waves. Examining a 100-square-degree area, GUSTO will explore the many phases of the interstellar medium and the abundances of key chemical elements in the galaxy.
Take a look at the image above. Can you determine where this image originated? Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the “Where is This? The Answer Sheet” page.
Speaking of the crowded International Space Station (ISS), it appears things could be much worse if you had a chance to watch the newly release film I.S.S. This trailer is all you need to see. I am not sure watching the movie will be at all helpful to your mindset.
Don’t be fooled by the subtle description on the official movie page:
Tensions flare aboard the International Space Station between US and Russian astronauts in this high-stakes space thriller.
In the trailer, these people are going at each other with kitchen knives. This is not “tensions flare,” it is “Oh my God, it’s the end of the world!”
We have seen this before, and not so long ago. Remember The Midnight Sky in 2020 with George Clooney trying to warn an exploratory spacecraft away from a dying Earth? Or how about Rubikon in 2022 about a space station orbiting above a dying Earth?
In these earlier movies, the dying Earth was a mystery. In the case of this new film, it appears it is just trigger-happy governments wanting to end the human experiment once and for all.
I am not sure this stuff is worth the price of a movie ticket. I would rather watch NASA TV for now as it shows the events related to the real ISS and wait for the online release of this latest film if I truly run out of things to do with my day.
The seven real astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are now playing host to four visitors for the next two weeks after the Axiom Mission 3 crew came aboard the station earlier today.
Unlike the last two Axiom missions, all three paying members of the Axiom Mission crew are being supported by various European governments:
At the price of $55 million per seat, I am hoping the governments and space agencies feel they are getting their money’s worth versus being part of the normal 6-month astronaut rotation.
Supposedly, the extra hands will be working on 30 experiments that the normal crew did not have time for, though I would imagine they would be the less important experiments if they would otherwise not be performed at all.
If all of this is truly important work, then I expect such demand will justify the need for commercial space stations down the line to continue the work of the ISS. However, I expect a good chuck of future space interest will come from the tourist side.
In the meantime, I just hope the toilets on board the ISS can deal with the extra passengers.
Note: So as not to give all the attention to the visitors, the current Expedition 70 crew members aboard station are:
Our Awesome Universe 