June 17, 2026
Six small satellites developed by universities and other organizations carried by the vehicle also were believed to be successfully separated, JAXA said.
https://apnews.com/article/japan-jaxa-h3-rocket-launch-9c64f2c59b9212d612902e74823b77b5
“Believed to be” successful. Very Japanese.
It’s a start. A late, very much delayed start. But at least it worked (finally).
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 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.
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.
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 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 18, 2026
Rocky objects traveling through space are known as meteoroids, but when they enter Earth’s atmosphere and create fireballs, they are called meteors. Any fragments that fall to Earth’s surface are meteorites.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/meteor-boom-ohio-pennsylvania-rcna263876
The Earth is bombarded on a daily basis from outer space.
Just not usually over urban areas during daylight.
In Ohio.
Not a whole lot going on there, apparently.
(On FaceCrap, people are posting things like “The sky literally exploded over Ohio!” Um. No, it didn’t, and that’s not possible. Morons.)
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 17, 2026
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