An earlier post described the European Space Agency’s Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), which in 2020 will send a probe to the Didymos binary asteroid system. AIM will initially “perform high-resolution visual, thermal and radar mapping of the moon”, i.e. the smaller of the two asteroids, “to build detailed […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Archive for September, 2015
Lunar Mission One is a non-profit organization seeking to raise public funding for space science projects. Their primary space science goal is to put a robotic spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon in 2024 to investigate water and other resources there. A […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
In this brief video, Doug Archer, Planetary Scientist at NASA Johnson Space Center, talks about perchlorate salts, a compound that absorbs water on Mars. Archer addresses how perchlorate can serve as a valuable resource for human exploration missions to Mars […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The NASA briefing today about a “Mars Mystery” will present evidence for seasonal flows of liquid water, heavily salted with perchlorates that raise the boiling temperature, down the slopes of some hills on the Martian surface. They do not see the water directly but […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week: SPECIAL TIME: 1. Monday, Sept. 28, 2015: 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CDT): This program is a special Open Lines show. I will discuss my […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Dante Lauretta is a professor at the University of Arizona and the Principal Investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission to return a sample of an asteroid back to earth. (Hear his recent interview SpaceGeeks Ep. 13: Dante’s Paradiso – SpaceNews.com .) He has developed […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
NASA sponsored the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge in which entrant teams develop 3D printing systems and techniques for building habitats on Mars. Thirty finalists were chosen in August. See descriptions of each team’s concept at Design Competition Finalists. At the Maker Faire underway this weekend in […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
There will be a lunar eclipse tonight that will particularly unusual. The Moon will be at the closest approach (perigee) of its orbit to earth when it can be as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when the Moon is at […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
NASA is holding a press briefing on Monday to announce that a “Mars Mystery” has been “solved”. (See NASA statement below.) Here are some articles speculating as to what the announcement is about: What’s Behind NASA’s Upcoming Mystery Announcement About […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Check out the latest high-resolution image of Pluto made by the New Horizons probe during its fly-by in August: The Rich Color Variations of Pluto = NASA NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Universe Today hosts the latest Carnival of Space.
The latest TMRO.tv show is now online: An update on Commercial Space – 8.28 – YouTube This week we take a look at a few different commercial space companies and see where they are are. SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Virgin Galactic return to […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The HobbySpace Space Radio section has lots of information and web resources about home reception of satellite signals, especially for obtaining images from low earth orbit weather satellites. The price for such DIY systems was modest and now has gotten even cheaper. Previously, […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here’s this week’s Space to Ground report on activities related to the Int. Space Station:
This week the Houston Grand Opera presented the new chamber opera O Columbia, which has a space theme: Don’t miss the world premiere of O Columbia, a new chamber opera that celebrates the wonder of exploration and reflects upon the necessary risks of discovering new […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here is a SETI Institute seminar on a lesser known way to detect and measure exoplanets: Detecting Exoplanetary Systems with Micolensing – Scott Gaudi (SETI Talks) From the caption: Measurements of the demographics of exoplanets over a range of planet […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
More images and videos of Pluto: * This is What a Flyover of Pluto’s Heart-Shaped Region Would Look Like – Roman Tkachenko adds a new Pluto fly-over animation to his collection of New Horizons videos – * Art Meets Science in New Pluto Aerial Tour […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft went into orbit around the Red Planet on Sept. 14, 2014. To celebrate its first year of operation, the Indian space agency ISRO has released an atlas of images (pdf) taken by the orbiter: Celebrating one year of Mars Orbiter Mission in […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Via ESA Hubble comes some beautiful new Hubble Telescope images of the Veil Nebula: Revisiting the Veil Nebula The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope imaged three magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula in 1997. Now, a stunning new set of images from Hubble’s […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here’s a short but poignant video about a future astronaut: