Lunar Profits

NASA is charged with returning to the Moon by 2024, but private companies are also targeting lunar projects.

Such for-profit efforts could drive a maturation of space law.

Skylights

NASA and others are looking at "skylights" on the Moon-- open pits that could lead to underground lava tubes-- as possible keys to lunar colonization.

Huge underground lava tubes could provide an environment free of temperature swings and safe from radiation.

Planetary Defense

Over the last few days, a potential city-killer asteroid narrowly missed Earth, and a smaller asteroid smacked into the Atlantic.  Neither was detected before it would've been too late.

They're more reminders that planetary defense is essential.

Missiles

Both Iran and North Korea have test fired short range missiles this week.

The launches are seen as provocative in the West.

iSpace

The Chinese firm iSpace successfully put a satellite into orbit today.

It's the first "private" Chinese company to do so.

LightSail2

The Planetary Society's LightSail2 has successfully deployed its sail.

Now, the objective is to demonstrate spacecraft can be propelled by light.

India

India successfully launched its second probe to the Moon recently.

The probe contains a rover set to explore the south polar region and its water deposits.

Expanding Universe

It seems the expansion rate of the universe is open to question.

A new study using red giant stars as markers rather than Cepheid variables has yielded a slightly different rate.

White House

At the White House yesterday, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins told President Trump he preferred Mars Direct as America's next move in manned space, while his old crewmate Buzz Aldrin favors a return to the Moon, then on to Mars.

That's America.

China Moon

China plans to build a robotic research station on the Moon, probably in the southern polar region.

The station could be operational by 2030.

Msuna Kea

All the observatories on Mauna Kea are shut down as Native Hawaiian groups protest the construction of yet another observatory on the volcano.

Native Hawaiian culture holds the mountain to be sacred.

X-15

On this date in 1962, Bob White flew his X-15 to an altitude of about 50 miles, a record.

White was awarded his astronaut wings.

Apollo 11

Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.

A thousand years from now, that will be remembered.

Russia

Russia successfully launched the SPECTR-RG probe last week.

The probe will make an X-ray survey of the sky.

India

India is scheduled to launch a probe to the Moon on Monday.

It also plans to put humans into space in 2022.

No-Spin Universe

Science now has good evidence that the universe as a whole does not spin.

That's good to know if you're a cosmologist.

Lunar Lasers

Perhaps the simplest way to prove that men actually landed on the Moon is to note they set up lasers on the surface to measure the exact distance between Earth and the Moon.

Those lasers are still functioning.

Simulating Titan

Researchers are simulating the environment of Titan in glass cylinders in order to learn more about it.

The same technique could be used for other worlds.

VG

Virgin Galactic is planning to go public.

VG also plans to begin commercial flights this year.

Supermassive Black Holes

Scientists are postulating that the supermassive black holes powering quasars formed directly from huge clouds of gas.

They formed too early in the history of the universe to be the end results of giant stars.

Trump and UFOs

President Trump told Tucker Carlson that he has been briefed on UFOs, but he didn't want to get into the details.

Mr. Trump said he was skeptical on the matter.

Life In Enceladus?

Researchers estimate the ocean under the icy shell of Enceladus may be the perfect age to support life.

The research is based on computer simulations.

Aphelion

Believe it or not, Earth is at its farthest from the Sun for the year today.  It's called aphelion.

The northern hemisphere is hot now because Earth's axis is tilted toward the Sun, so the north gets more concentrated sunlight.

Trump and UFOs

Tucker Carlson says he asked President Trump about UFOs during their interview in South Korea earlier this week.

That part of the interview will air shortly.

World UFO Day

Today is World UFO Day.

This year, with continuing reports about the Pentagon's UFO program, and other reports, some UFOlogists feel a momentum is building towards a breakthrough.

Metallic Hydrogen

French researchers say they have created metallic hydrogen in the lab.

Physicists think metallic hydrogen exists deep in the atmospheres of planets like Jupiter.