Alien Sats

A new study suggests we would be able to detect geostationary satellites around exoplanets within 100 light years distant if there were a sufficient number of them,or if they were large.

This would be another approach to SETI.

Resource Prospector

According to reports, NASA has cancelled the Resource Prospector mission that would have assayed the lunar polar regions.

Of course, the leaves the task open for private missions.

White Holes

A new study suggests white holes, the reverse of black holes, may be made of dark matter.

It also suggests they might predate the Big Bang.

WASP-140b

Astronomers have found a hot Jupiter 486 light years away that appears to be totally black.

WASP-140b absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the light that falls on it.

PR Success

Planetary Resources has proven its asteroid surveying technology in space.

The company plans to launch missions to several asteroids in 2020.

Rare Double Sunsets

A new study suggests planets orbiting double stars will be rare due to complex gravitational interactions/

Only 11 such worlds have been found so far.

EMP

According to reports, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea all have the use of an electromagnetic pulse in their war plan.

An EMP-- a nuclear detonation in space-- could take down the American  power grid.

Giant Moons

A new study suggests Saturn's gravity may have influenced the formation of Jupiter's Galilesn moons.

It further suggests that giant moons are more common in multiple planet systems.

Bridenstine

The Senate has finally confirmed Jim Bridenstine as NASA Administrrator.

The vote was strictly along party lines.

TESS

NASA's TESS spacecraft has been successfully launched.

TESS is the agency's next generation planet hunter.

Ozma

On this day in 1960, Project Ozma began the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

So far. SETI has found nothing.

Asteroid Threat

NASA says there are 25,000 near-Earth asteroids big enough to do major damage if they hit us still to be identified.

So far, NASA has found 8,000.

Phosphorus

A new study suggests phosphorus is unevenly distributed throughout the universe.

If phosphorus is essential for life, life, therefore, might be unevenly distributed.

Back To Flight

Virgin Galactic successfully completed the first powered test flight of its new SpaceShipTwo this week.

VG plans to start commercial flights later this year.

Luxury Space Hotel

A startup called Orion Span is planning to have paying customers enjoying its luxury space hotel in Earth orbit in 2022.

Cost for a 12-day stay will be $9.5 million.

Life On Venus?

A new study suggests life could exist in a specific layer in the clouds of Venus.

That would be remarkable.

Milky Way

A new study finds the Milky Way galaxy is expanding.

Stars are being created in the galaxy's outskirts.

2001

This is the fiftieth anniversary year of the classic science fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It will always be a landmark in sci-fi and movie history.

Tiangong-1

China says its Tiangong-1 space station crashed into the South Pacific this morning.

There are no reports of injury.