September 4th, 2020
Author: 
Researchers continue to plumb data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) that was carried onboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission. As the first Indian lunar probe under the country’s Chandrayaan program, the orbiter was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in October 2008. The Moon-circling probe operated until August 2009. M3 was a NASA-supported […]
Posted in 
China launched an experimental reusable spacecraft Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Boosting the craft spaceward was a Long March-2F carrier rocket. It’s the first mission of a small re-usable space plane, possibly associated with China’s space station program and may be intended for long duration missions before return to Earth, posts Robert Christy […]
Key Governance Issues in Space is a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to advancing practical ideas to address the world’s greatest challenges. The report explores the global landscape of national space policies concerning space sustainability, rendezvous and proximity operations, and insurance […]
The term and concept of the “Overview Effect” were coined in 1987 by writer Frank White. He explored the theme in his seminal 1987 book The Overview Effect — Space Exploration and Human Evolution, describing it as the cognitive shift in awareness that results from the experience of viewing Earth from orbit or the […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2872 tasks. “Curiosity successfully drilled into the rock target named “Mary Anning 3,” producing a beautiful new drill hole and associated drill tailings,” reports Mark Salvatore, a planetary geologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Over the next several days, […]
Hawaiian basalt is being converted into “tiles” to show the way to construct launch pads on the Moon or Mars. The tiles are being fabricated to handle dynamic rocket blasts from arriving and departing spacecraft. The work is being championed by the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration (PISCES), a state-funded, Hawaii aerospace agency. Tile […]
The hunt for technosignatures from extraterrestrials is getting an overhaul of existing data. To date, no confirmed technosignatures have been detected, but as more and more comprehensive searches are carried out, astronomers can place tighter and tighter limits on how many stars in our neighborhood might be home to powerful radio transmitters – and the […]
In the U.S. national security space policy debate, there has been a dichotomy between a “sanctuary” space policy and a “contested” space policy. Policymakers have chosen between preventing conflict in space by delegitimizing attacks on satellites on the one hand and preparing for conflict through warfighting doctrines and weapons systems on the other. A new […]
The U.S. Department of Defense has issued an annual report – Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2020. Within its pages, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) space enterprise is spotlighted. Among observations in this just-issued DoD report: — The PRC’s space enterprise continues to mature rapidly. Beijing has devoted significant […]
Between 1969 and the end of 1972, twelve U.S. astronauts kicked up the powdery regolith, the topside dust and rock of the Moon. They were later dubbed the “dusty dozen.” Along with invaluable lunar samples, Apollo moonwalkers brought back a significant message to Earth: The Moon is a Disneyland of dust. A team led by […]
