May 23rd, 2019
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The Vinyl Frontier – The Story of the Voyager Golden Record by Jonathan Scott; Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc., New York, May 2019; hardcover: 288 pages, $28.00 As I write this, those long-gone NASA spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are respectively 13,475,095,569 miles and 11,175,244,034 miles from Earth. Voyager 2 launched in August 1977, and […]
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If anything that has come forward in the 21st century it’s the art of self-healing. Not to be outdone by “I’m okay, you’re okay” philosophy, NASA has developed a new polymer material that can self-heal in micro-seconds after bullet strikes, other high-velocity punctures, and even non-high-speed projectiles in certain environments. This expertise — originally developed […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2414 science duties. “Curiosity is investigating an area that is very high in potassium, and we’re trying to characterize the distribution and the source of that potassium,” reports Ashley Stroupe, a mission operations engineer at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California. The robot recently completed a short drive […]
India is now gearing up for the July launch of Chandrayaan-2, a robotic lunar orbiter/lander/rover combo that is slated to touch down at a predetermined site close to lunar south pole. According to a statement from the Department of Space of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) the country’s moonshot will fly atop a Geosynchronous […]
Apollo’s Legacy: Perspectives on the Moon Landings by Roger Launius; Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C., 2019; hardcover: 264 pages, $27.95 Space historian Roger D. Launius has authored this unique and notable book, one that recollects the triumph that was Apollo…but also Apollo’s less positive aspects. “Each chapter of the book focuses on a major them […]
Early praise for Moon Rush – The New Space, published by National Geographic: “We are in the middle of the ‘New Space’ era, and Moon Rush is the roadmap that shows us how we got here, where we are going, and why. Leonard David’s keen insight into space exploration puts the Moon into […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2412 duties. Curiosity is continuing the investigations at “Rigg,” reports Susanne Schwenzer, a planetary geologist at The Open University; Milton Keynes, U.K. The robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is allowing detailed investigation of the materials that make up the field of sand ripples. Color and luster […]
The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility by Robert Zubrin; Prometheus Books, New York, 2019; hardcover: 395+ pages, $25.00 There is an on-going revolution in spaceflight. But where will this uprising in technological prowess take us? Robert Zubrin has written a compelling account of the trajectory […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2410 duties. The robot has used its front wheel to dig a small trench in a ripple at the ripple field named “Rigg,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona. The plan then called for focus on what that […]
The Lunar Planetary Institute’s (LPI) has released the Lunar South Pole Atlas – a new online reference for mission planners. NASA has been directed to land astronauts at the lunar south pole by 2024, an objective with a five-year timeline. Speed, safety, and efficiency are key priorities driving this implementation of Space Policy Directive-1, […]
