Leak

The Soyuz spacecraft docked at ISS sprung a leak yesterday.

The station crew successfully plugged it.

Spy Satellites

The next generation of U. S. spy satellites will be cheaper, more numerous, and fly in low Earth orbit.

They will be designed to respond to rapidly changing threats.

Prospecting Luna

Russia and Europe are cooperating to search for water and other volatiles on the Moon.

It's another step towards settlement.

Jupiter

Jupiter seems to have hit a slow patch in its growth early on, a new study says.

The study suggests the planet grew by accreting medium-sized bodies.  Collisions with larger bodies produced more heat than added mass.

Signals

The merger of binary neutron stars could serve as a platform for the signal of a civilization seeking attention, a new paper suggests.

It could even work beyond the home galaxy.

ET

In the wake of the revelation of Pentagon interest in UFOs, Linda Moulton Howe is predicting an announcement about extraterrestrial life yet this year.

We'll see.

Time Reversal?

According to a new study. the creation of a black hole may produce time-reversed gamma ray bursts.

Yes, it's strange.

Exoplanet Water

A new study indicates most worlds two to four times larger than Earth have plenty of water.

That would raise interesting possibilities.

Lunar Water

A new study found water on the surface of thr Moon near both poles.

That's good news for future settlement.

India

India is aiming to launch its first astronaut into space by 2022.

It would become only the fourth nation to do so.

Opportunity

NASA hasn't heard from Opportunity since June 10.

The planet-wide dust storm on Mars is weakening, however.

Melting Permafrost

A NASA study argues that as permafrost melts it will release underground carbon and methane-- greenhouse gases-- into the atmosphere, thus accelerating climate change.

The process could take mere decades.

Minimoons

Earth's gravity temporarily captures many tiny asteroids.  They are called minimoons.

They could provide relatively easy asteroid sampling opportunities.

Perspective

Walmart has announced quarterly revenues of $128 billion.

That's more than six times NASA's annual budget.

WOW

On this day in 1977, astronomers at Ohio State detected the WOW! signal.

To date, the signal remains unexplained in natural terms.

STAR TREK

A new STAR TREK project is in the works.

Patrick Stewart will again star as Jean-Luc Picard.

Success

NASA successively launched its Parker Solar Probe Sunday.

Parker is a seven year mission to study the Sun.

Launch Delay

Launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe was delayed this morning due to a glitch with the rocket.

NASA plans to try again Sunday morning.

Space Force Continued

The Trump administration is planning to have a space force up and running in 2020,with an initial expenditure of $8 billion.

Much of America's critical infrastructure is now in space and vulnerable to attack.

The Next Battlefield

The plan to build a U. S. Space Force is moving ahead.

The Trump administration sees space as "the next battlefield."

Mars Conference

SpaceX is hosting an invitee-only conference on Mars in Boulder, Colorado, this week.

The company seems to be reaching out to the broader science community in order to strengthen its colonization effort.

Cargo Rockets

The Pentagon is looking at using rockets to deliver badly needed cargo to far-flung places.

Point-to-point transportation is an emerging industry.

Curiosity

Six years ago today, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars.

Since then, it has performed exceedingly well, strengthening the case for life.

Fast Radio Bursts

On July 25, a mysterious signal from space was picked ip.

At least one researcher says alien contact cannot be ruled out.

New Astronauts

NASA introduced its first class of commercial astronauts today.

They will fly the SpaceX Dragon and the Boeing Starliner.

SETI Scale

SETI researchers are developing a scale to tell the public how important a signal they pick up might be.

Zero would be unimportant, while 10 would be extremely important.

Mars

Today, Mars is the closest it's been to Earth since 2003.

It won't be as close again until 2287.