January 3rd, 2017
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A Chinese Space Station (CSS) will support their long-term goals for space exploration, including missions to the Moon and Mars. This overview offers insight into the development of the CSS, compares China’s space station with those of other countries, and explores how China may use piloted space missions to bolster domestic innovation. Go to […]
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The White House has released a National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy – a document developed by the Interagency Working Group (IWG) for Detecting and Mitigating the Impact of Earth-bound Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) (DAMIEN). According to the strategy document it “seeks to improve our Nation’s preparedness to address the hazard of near-Earth object (NEO) impacts by […]
The first Moon-sample return to Earth mission in over four decades is being readied for launch by China. Chinese engineers are completing work on the Chang’e-5 lunar mission for a launch later this year. If successful, this robotic spacecraft would attempt the first lunar sample return to Earth in over 40 years. Historical notes […]
This week there’s an impressive gathering of astronomers at the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The celestial confab is taking place January 3-7 in Grapevine, Texas. Along with a host of papers and speakers is a special AAS session on “Geoengineering the Atmosphere to Fight Climate Change: Should Astronomers Worry about It?” […]
A major Mars finding in recent years has been discovery of recurring slope lineae in certain areas of the Red Planet. These dark fingers of mystery – RSL in Mars shorthand — emerge from steep, rocky exposures. They incrementally grow, fade, and reform on a seasonal basis. What RSL truly represent is debatable, but […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is nearing Sol 1567, landing on the planet in August 2012. As the robot wheels toward its fifth year of operations on the Red Planet in 2017, the rover is finding patterns of change in rock composition at higher, younger layers of a mountain. A factor favorable for possible […]
A fact-filled new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report spotlights today’s status of the commercial space industry. The report — Commercial Space Industry Launches a New Phase – is authored by Bill Canis, a CRS specialist in industrial organization and business. Changing face This document explains that the face of the U.S. space industry is changing […]
As the administration of President-elect Donald Trump kicks into high-gear, just how the country’s civil and military space agenda will be treated is on the table. For space advocates is there a move on to burst the Washington, D.C. space bubble? Late in the 2016 Trump campaign, the idea of re-launching a National Space […]
China’s Information Office of the State Council on December 27 released an expansive white paper on that country’s space activities in 2016, and projected looks at its space agenda in coming years. In an associated press conference marking the release of the white paper, vice administrator of the China National Space Administration, Wu Yanhua, […]
When we look for aliens, why do we always find ourselves staring back? Narrated by the British science writer Philip Ball, an Aeon original video argues that, in order to stand a chance of succeeding, the modern scientific search for aliens needs to ditch science fiction’s frequently simplistic and solipsistic views in favor of a […]
