July 6th, 2018
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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 has been busy reconnoitering its target asteroid, Ryugu. Brian May, the lead guitarist from the British rock band, Queen, has created a stereoscopic image of Ryugu from photographs captured with the Optical Navigation Camera onboard Hayabusa2, so that the asteroid can be viewed in three dimensions. Planetary defense […]
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An international team has taken a hard look at the potential existence and utilization of “minimoons.” The minimoon source population, the set of objects from which minimoons are drawn, are Earth’s co-orbital asteroids. Within a few years, they suggest, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will either begin to regularly detect temporarily-captured orbiters (TCOs) — […]
When it comes to planetary protection and assuring valid and safe scientific exploration for extraterrestrial life, there’s a new space sheriff in town. The job comes with central celestial duties: Avoid forward contamination of other worlds by terrestrial organisms carried on spacecraft. Also, prevent toting back to Earth “creature features” or bioactive molecules in samples […]
“Curiosity is back on top of the Vera Rubin Ridge once more, having completed our drive over the weekend as we move toward our next drilling target in the ‘Pettegrove Point’ geological member,” reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “After climbing back onto the ridge, […]
A just-released study recommends that NASA should update policies that protect planets and other solar system bodies during space exploration missions. The current process for planetary protection policy development is inadequate, the report explains, and also notes that private-sector space exploration activities are another reason why planetary protection policies need re-examination. The new report […]
Update July 3: Preliminary Findings from the Nautilus Meteorite Hunt “In July 2018, Exploration Vessel Nautilus attempted to locate and recover fragments of a rare, large meteorite fall that was recently observed in NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Washington. An overnight multibeam sonar survey on July 1 attempted to identify […]
That thick dust storm on Mars continues. The storm caused NASA’s Opportunity rover at Meridiani to suspend science operations. The Martian dust storm began on May 30. Latest status What’s the latest status on the solar-powered Opportunity rover, now in Sol 5132? “We have not heard from the rover for a couple of weeks,” explains […]
A solar sail to be used in NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Scout has been deployed in a ground test facility. The test was performed in an indoor clean room at the NeXolve facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) is a small satellite designed to study asteroids close to Earth. The successful deployment […]
Now performing Sol 2096 duties, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has made a steep drive on Sol 2094 and is back over the crest of Vera Rubin Ridge and enjoying the view of flatter terrain ahead. That’s the report from Lauren Edgar, a planetary geologist at the USGS in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Everything was going smoothly and […]
I have become perplexed at the status of the Just Wait Space Telescope (JWST)! Read this first: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/webb_irb_report_and_response_0.pdf Iconic astrophysics In my writings on this icon of astrophysics to be – and given the latest appraisal – I do wonder what role smallsats could play in: Breaking up the mission into smaller pieces?; […]
