November 14th, 2023
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Today, Russia’s SIRIUS-23 crew has begun a year-long ground-based isolation experiment. Mission crew: Chebotarev,Yuri (Russia) – crew commander; Parfenova, Anzhelika (Russia) – flight engineer; Orlova, Ksenia (Russia, resident of the state of Asgardia) – crew doctor; Mastitskaya, Olga (Belarus) – researcher; Shishenina, Ksenia (Russia) – researcher; Rustam, Zaripov (Russia) – researcher. While on Earth, […]
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Albeit a hell hole of a world, the planet Venus is a tantalizing, cloud-enveloped cool place for scientific scrutiny to ferret out its history, evolution and gauge its present state. Touted in 2021 as a “triple crown” moment for Venus researchers, a spacecraft trio — VERITAS, DAVINCI, and Europe’s EnVision — would be sent […]
Russia is kicking off another of its SIRIUS Project initiatives, a 360-day isolation of individuals to mimic flight conditions of interplanetary space flight. The work is being done under the auspices of the renowned Institute for Bio-Medical Problems (IBMP) under the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moon landing sims As part of the lengthy, anchored on […]
Yes, it’s a cliché, but with meaning: “If we can go to the moon, why can’t we…?” You fill in the blank with your favorite want-to-have. While landing humans on the moon was indeed historic and the boot-kicked lunar dust has settled, perhaps that achievement was even more impactful as a long-standing societal […]
The U.S. military’s unique X-37B robotic space plane is being readied for its next flight, a mission that is expanding the vehicle’s past space portfolio of skills. Right at the start, at launch that’s slated on December 7, the mission is distinctive. For the first time, the Boeing-built craft is being hurled spaceward atop a […]
Experts around the planet agree: Earth orbit is a heavenly mess and getting messier. Decades in the making, human-made space clutter now encircles our planet, from discarded rocket stages, lifeless satellites, and other sorts of cosmic compost. Add into the mix that the space environment is becoming ever more crowded. For one, there’s the escalating […]
NASA’s Mars helicopter at Jezero Crater has powered up making flight #66, doing so on November 3, and after flying the day before. According to a NASA/JPL-Caltech posting, the Ingenuity aerial vehicle covered roughly 2 feet in horizontal distance during a 23 second jaunt, reaching a maximum altitude of some 3 meters (roughly 10 feet). […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 4,001 duties. The Mars machinery reached a milestone on the Red Planet with the planning of a 4,000th sol of exploration – a span of time covering almost 11 years and 3 months. Lauren Edgar, a planetary geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science […]
Last month, I wrote a story for Space.com that focused on the issue of finding evidence of life on Mars…but would we recognize it? Go to: https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-search-for-life-on-mars-is-difficult Indeed, NASA’s Perseverance rover is on-duty, scurrying around on the Red Planet, wheeling and dealing with Jezero […]
NASA’s Mars helicopter at Jezero Crater has powered up making flight #65, doing so on November 2. According to a NASA/JPL-Caltech posting, the Ingenuity aerial vehicle flew a horizontal distance of roughly 23 feet (7 meters); reached a maximum altitude of some 33 feet (10 meters) and flew for 48.0 seconds. Samples of imagery taken […]
