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.
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!
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.
April 7, 2026
“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed ahead of the flyby. “It is just unbelievable.”
Just like Apollo 8 in 1968.
History does not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.
April 2, 2026
Live up dates of the Artemis II mission to “cislunar space” (it will not actually land on the Moon but will take four astronauts farther away from Earth than anyone else so far).
March 23, 2026
Just four days after a meteor streaked through skies above Cleveland, another one broke apart above Houston.
My favorite quote from the woman whose house was targeted by a meteorite:
“It looked just like a rock, and ain’t no rocks got no business falling out of the sky.”
Um. Yeah. Ain’t no blogger got no business complaining about grammar what don’t make no sense, boy.
My favorite thing about the photo of the meteorite chunk: It was sent to the media from the Ponderosa Fire Department.
Now we’re cooking!
March 11, 2026
“For the average person, it will be a nice light in the sky if you get lucky and, otherwise, don’t worry about it,” Dr. McDowell said. “We have much more scary re-entries that happen. Occasionally, there is a 20-ton Chinese rocket stage that comes down. Those are much scarier for me.”
OK, granted that the odds are 1 in 4200. But still, we should figure out how to predict where pieces of satellites are going to land. There’s far too much stuff floating above our heads for us to feel 100% safe.
And an expectation of “7:45 pm give or take 24 hours” is not particularly helpful, either…
Especially when a private corporation is saying 11:45, give or take three hours.
Jeez.
March 4, 2026
Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft solar panels toward the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun.
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/nx-s1-5727622/nasa-lunar-trailblazer-moon-new-report-what-went-wrong
It took a year to figure this out.
A year.
To find out that the outsourced company in charge couldn’t even be bothered to test the product. They just happily pocketed $72 million of taxpayer dollars and laughed all the way to the bank.
Another symptom of a nation in decline…
February 22, 2026
Just one day after NASA said it was eyeing a potential March 6 launch date for the Artemis II lunar mission, the space agency said Saturday that complications with the rocket could delay all launch attempts in March from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/nx-s1-5722339/nasa-artemis-ii-march-launch-delay
Looks like you get what you pay for…
(Btw, WordPress, the “quote” field used to have a separate area where you could put a link to the quote’s source. Where did that go? Nothing like helping the spread of unverified fake news…)
February 19, 2026
NASA’s plans for Mars sample return are effectively cancelled as part of a bill approved by the U.S. Congress, ending efforts to collect Perseverance rover samples that could contain evidence of alien life.
Congratulations, America. You’ve managed to give Mars to China.
But do tell me how this makes America great again…
…and just how ironical the rover’s name is at this point…
And also WordPress, could you please fix the “quotation” block style? It refuses to turn off…
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