November 28th, 2019
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The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Council at Ministerial Level, Space19+, has concluded in Seville, Spain. For the first time in 25 years, there will be a significant boost in funding for ESA’s world-class science program and stresses that the Program will also address requirements for developing in-situ resource utilization on the Moon. Among spotlighted ESA […]
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2599 duties, ready for a “feast for the eyes” during Sols 2600-2603. “Curiosity will be gorging on a feast of data this holiday weekend,” reports Melissa Rice, a planetary geologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. “We plan to acquire over 12,000 Mb of data in […]
A new sculpture of Mars is ideal for studying the surface of the Red Planet up close and in three dimensions. Artist Luke Jerram, based in the U.K. was commissioned by the Kunsthal KAdE museum in the Netherlands for a group exhibition, One Way Ticket to Mars. In the dark main room, the luminous colossal […]
The Consequential Frontier: Challenging the Privatization of Space by Peter Ward, Melville House Publishing, New York & UK; October 2019; hardcover, 224 pages, $26.99. As 2020 promises to loom large for the commercial space sector, this book is a timely read regarding the privatization of outer space. The book’s title speaks volumes with Peter Ward […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2598 tasks. “We arrived at our parking spot for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, and Mars gave us plenty to be grateful for in and around the workspace,” reports Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Springs, Maryland. Each bedrock slab in the workspace, Minitti […]
In the past three decades over 4,000 exoplanets have been revealed. This “discovery rate” will surely grow unabated year after year. Some researchers now estimate that the average number of planets per star is greater than one. Given a convergence of ground and space-based capability, AI/machine learning research and other tools, are we on the […]
The antennas of a radio astronomy experiment have been deployed from China’s Queqiao lunar relay satellite. The detector is a joint development by Dutch and Chinese scientists, designed to measure radio waves originating from the period directly after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies were formed. Queqiao, meaning Magpie Bridge, was launched […]
Earlier this month, NASA announced that scientists have a head scratching finding on Mars. There has been a baffling result from measuring the seasonal changes in the gases that fill the air directly above the surface of Gale Crater on Mars. That’s home base for the Curiosity Mars rover. Over the course of three Mars […]
The fifth installment of “Apollo 17: Diary of the Twelfth Man” is now available, commemorating the 45th Anniversary of the December 7, 1972 launch of the Apollo 17 Mission. Apollo 17 moonwalker, Jack Schmitt, has authored this impressive work with the new addition, Chapter 11, titled “It’s Orange!” Shorty crater One of the Apollo 17 […]
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released its 2019 Annual Report to Congress on November 14, 2019. This extensive report includes an informative chapter on China’s global ambitions. Flagged in the chapter’s section 3 is “China’s Ambitions in Space: Contesting the Final Frontier.” Within that section, China’s “Space Dream” is highlighted, including a look […]
