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Now available! Bringer of Light
March 27, 2024
What to tell a white and nerdy college kid…
June 16, 2026
What is something you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self?
That by the time you are able to support a family, everyone on the planet will be just as geeky as you…with a mini-computer in their pocket 24/7, obsessed with scifi and super hero movies, and desperate to stay in the loop on the most recent multi-player game.
Nancy Grace Roman telescope is a GO
June 16, 2026
“In the mission’s first five years, it’s expected to unveil more than 100,000 distant worlds, hundreds of millions of stars, and billions of galaxies,” [Julie McEnery, senior project scientist] said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-roman-space-telescope-launch-fastest-ever-rcna349773
It should be ready for launch in August, to be parked at the L2 Lagrange space near James Webb ((which has been there since 2021).
Two decades in the making. Yet “under budget and ahead of schedule”? Really?
I’m all for discovering tens of thousands of possibly inhabited worlds and learning more about dark energy and dark matter. But I’d also like to see a little more practical tech from NASA. How will this help us settle the solar system and figure out how to visit other systems?
Farewell, MAVEN, the most successful NASA Mars probe yet
June 4, 2026
Originally designed to operate for just one year around Mars, MAVEN’s mission was repeatedly extended, enabling the most extensive research into the workings of the Martian atmosphere ever attempted.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-declares-end-mars-orbiter-maven-mission
Thanks to MAVEN, we know how the Mars atmosphere has been eroded by solar wind over billions of years. Designed to work for a single year, it operated for over eleven years.
First Hong Konger in space
May 25, 2026
Li Jiaying, a 43-year-old police officer and mother of three, serves as the payload scientist in the three-member crew who made their way to China’s Tiangong space station on Sunday night.
Congratulations to her!
But is it really important that she is a “mother of three”? I never see anything about male astronauts being a “father of three.”
Presumably she got sent into space because she qualified for the job, not because she has three children. Sexist reporting like this has to stop.
Sir Pat, Claude, and the Bard
May 22, 2026
“Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired…”
I dearly wish I had though of this. Then again, I don’t know Patrick Stewart…
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/patrick-stewart-ai-schooled-shakespeare-rcna344945
Happy Dune Day!
May 9, 2026
“New” planetoid discovered farther than Pluto?
May 5, 2026
Just 300 miles or so across, this mini Pluto is thought to be the solar system’s smallest object yet with a clearly detected global atmosphere bound by gravity, said lead researcher Ko Arimatsu of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/atmosphere-icy-world-beyond-pluto-rcna343509
The planetoid, called “(612533) 2002 XV93” (good luck remembering that one), was discovered and tracked by three separate observatories in Japan in 2024.
So why is it being only announced now?
Because scientists are cautious folk. They still want other observers to document this in other countries, to increase the validity of their finding.
The fact that the planetoid has an atmosphere (ridiculously thin, something like five to ten million times thinner than that of the Earth’s) came as a surprise.
So is this the famed “Planet X”? Or “Nibiru”?
No worries. It’s not rogue and won’t destroy the Earth in 3600 years. Sorry.
May the Fourth Be With You, Always…
May 4, 2026
Astronomers have discovered 27 new potential planets that orbit two stars, like the fictional desert planet Tatooine from the Star Wars universe…
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/04/scientists-discover-27-potential-new-planets
And now you know what a “Circumbinary planet” means. Happy Star Wars Day!
Artemis II, welcome home. Now let’s go again. And stay.
April 14, 2026
“The moon really is its own unique body in the universe. When we have that perspective and we compare it to our home of the Earth, it just reminds us how much we have in common. Everything we need, the Earth provides, and that, in and of itself, is somewhat of a miracle.”
Should have posted this a couple days ago, but better late than never.
Just like this mission. It’s better to delay a mission than scrub it.
And DJT should stop trying to take credit for it. He’s still trying to slash NASA’s budget to practically nothing. Get rid of him already.
More good news like this, please. No more war. Space awaits all of us.
You can probably sense a pattern here…
April 7, 2026
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
If I could, I’d be Columbo.
But if TV shows are out, then I’d be the Grandfather from The Princess Bride.
I pretty much already act like both anyway 😆
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