January 31st, 2025
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This video makes use of ethereal images recently taken on the International Space Station (ISS). Don Pettit, NASA astronaut, is a talented photographer of Earth. Currently on orbit (his 4th mission to the ISS) he took a series of long-duration photos, revealing tracks of urban night lights as the ISS passed over. The stars show […]
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Autonomous access to the Moon by Europe is getting a boost by development of the Argonaut Lunar lander – a cargo delivery project. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space in Italy have inked a new contract to have that aerospace firm develop Argonaut to deliver cargo, infrastructure and scientific instruments to the […]
Uncontrolled space debris reentries are of growing concern. The prospect of leftovers from space hotfooting into the Earth’s atmosphere can create a collision risk with aircraft in flight. While the probability of a strike is low, the consequences could be catastrophic. Mishap investigation Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required SpaceX to perform a mishap […]
The Athena Moon lander is now at Cape Canaveral, Florida, targeted for a four-day launch window that opens no earlier than February 26. Built by Houston, Texas-based Intuitive Machines, the spacecraft is the second of four manifested lunar missions as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Payload customers The factory-equipped Athena is […]
Be it on Earth’s Moon or distant Mars, the elixir for long-term space exploration is the critical role of water. That topic is captured in a new issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). “The inclination to explore across vast expanses has been a continual part of human history. In […]
Exploration of Earth’s Moon beckons – not solely as a time capsule, indeed a witness plate, to help piece together the puzzling history of our solar system. The Moon is also a rocky, airless world of energy, mineral, and water resources to help fuel a projected cis-lunar economy. Enter Interlune, a Seattle-based group founded in […]
What Are UFOs? – Can science reveal the secrets of mysterious objects seen in our skies? That’s the central theme of a new NOVA program premiering tonight, January 22, at 9 pm on PBS television stations. “For decades UFOs have captivated the public, even as many scientists saw them as too taboo to investigate. Now, […]
The European Space Agency is sparking a new initiative, one that aims at small-scale missions to explore the Red Planet. An element of the ESA LightShip propulsion tug concept is engaging select groups to independently scope out what a small, low-cost Mars satellite platform looks like as a LightShip passenger. ESA’s LightShip is a propulsive […]
The trio of crewmembers onboard China’s Tiangong space station will soon begin spacewalking tasks. According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the Shenzhou-19 crew is moving forward on preparations for their second set of extravehicular activities (EVAs). According to the CMSA, the three astronauts — Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze — are […]
In the beginning…there was a thud. It was an unwanted sound and one that resonated around the world. Think back over 20 years ago to September 8, 2004. That’s when NASA’s Genesis return sample capsule slammed into an isolated part of the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It was an unintended, full-stop, smashing […]
