Permission Granted

 The FAA has given Virgin Galactic permission to begin manned commercial suborbital flights.

VG plans to commence commercial operations next year.

Hypersonic

 The Pentagon says it will test hypersonic vehicles next year,

Russia says it already has them.

Mars

 Scientist are looking at new. less expensive ways ti explore Mars.

Bringing in New Space approaches could open new areas ti exploration.

WASP-127b

 WASP-127b is a hot, low density world 524 light years away.

Scientists are probing deep into its atnosphere and finding a strange type of water vapor and sodium where it shouldn't necessarily be.

Moon

 A new study suggests creating the Moon required two collisions of Earth and another body, not just one.

That would make the Moon as it exists an extremely unlikely object.

Void

 Astronomers have found a void in space 500 light years wide.

They think it's due to a supernova.

Marsquakes

 NASA's InSight lander has recently detected three marsquakes.

They were magnitude 4.3 and 4.2.

Starliner

 The second test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule may slip into next year.

The first one, s failure, took place in 2019.

Mars

 A new study argues Mars is simply too small to maintain a magnetic field and hold onto a robust atmosphere.

So, that fabled Martian civilization was never in the cards.

Inspiration4

 Inspiration4 is safely home after splashing down in the Atlantic.

It broadens possibilities for human space travel generally.

Timr Crystals

 Physicists have made time crystals inside a quantum computer.

Time crystals, first predicted only nine years ago, skirt the second law of thermodynmics, and opens the way to a new physics.

Shenzhou-12

 The crew of  Shenzhou-12 has landed safely home.

It had spent three months on China's latest space station.

Inspiration4

 Inspiration4 successfully launched into orbit last night.

The orbit3is deeper into space than that of ISS.

Jupiter

 Jupiter, as it often is, was hit by a space rock Monday night.

An amateur astronomer in Brazil captured the event.

VG Delay

 Virgin Galactic is delaying its next spaceflight due to a possible defect in one hardware component.

That next flight will now be no earlier than mid-October.

Humans To Mars

 The 2021 Humans to Mars conference is currently underway.

It will wrap up Wednesday.

Inspiration4

 Inspiration4, SpaceeX's first private, all-civilian human spaceflight, is ready to go on an orbital trip.

Launch is set for Wednesday evening.

STAR TREK

 STAR TREK debuted on NBC 55 years ago this week.

The franchise is still going strong, still spawning new series.

Signals

 Astronomers have detected a strange radio emission coming from the center of the galaxy.

So far, they don't know what is causing them.

JWST

 The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has been delayed yet again.

Now, launch is set for December.

Sampling Mars

 Perseverance has collected its first Mars sample.

The plan is for a future mission to bring the sample to Earth.

Big Ships

 China is looking at funding a tiny study of how to build huge spaceships in orbit.

Interestingly, given recent Pentagon acknowledgement that something we don't understand is in our skies, people have reported seeing huge UFOs.

FAA

 The FAA has banned Virgin Galactic from human spaceflight until it completes its investigation of the Branson flight.

That flight deviated from its filed flight path and left its proscribed envelope.

Vesta

 Vesta, the largest asteroid if you count Ceres as a dwarf planet, has two huge troughs running across its surface.

Scientists cannot yet explain them.

X-59

 NASA is working on a supersonic plane, the X-59. that will produce only a soft sonic boom.

Test flights could begin next year.