WASP-189b

 Astronomers have found the atmosphere of WASP-189b is layered like Earth's-- a first for an exoplanet-- but the atmoaphere also contains various vaporized metals.

WASP-189b is a hot gas giant 322 light years away.

China

 China says it plans to continue developing its space technology, including a heavy lift launch capability, over the next five years.

It also plans to continue laying the foundation for a crewed lunar landing.

GLEAM

 Astronomers have found an object 4,000 light years away that brightens fiercely and disappears completely within a few hours.  They call it GLEAM.

They have no idea what it is.

China

 A  Chinese company is developing a fully reusable, suborrbital, point-to-point travel spaceplane.

First scheduled crewed flight is set for 2025.

TESS

 NASA's TESS planet hunter has found over 5,000 objects of interest in four years.

Most of those objects likely will turn out to be planets, but some could be something else.  Astronomers need to follow up with more detailed studies.

Opportunity

 On this date in 2004, the Opportinity rover landed on Mars.

Instead of its original 90-day mission, Opportunity explored Mars for several years-- one of NASA's great achievements.

Voyager 2

 On this date in 1986, Voyager 2 flew past Uranus.

It has since entered interstellar space.

UFO

UFO skeptics have argued that we should get more good evidence of UFOs, if they are real craft, with the advent of smartphones, for example, and they hadn't seen any such surge.

In 2021, that's precisely what we saw.

Mars

 Ingeniity's scheduled flight earlier this month was delayed due to weather.

It was the first such delay on another world.

Radian

 Radian Aerospace is developing a fully reusable orbital spaceplane that will launch from and land on runways.

It could be delivering humans and cargo to orbit by 2030.

Perspective

 Unitedhealth has reported quarterly revenue of over $73 billion..

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

Life

 Some scientists are questioning the current definition of "habitable planet."

They argue a broader concept is needed.

NoKo

 North Korea seems to have test launched four ballistic missiles recently.

All seem to have been short range.

UFO

 A new office investigating UFOs has been established within the Pentagon.

MUFON, for one, is not thrilled.  It doesn't trust the military.

Exomoons

 Astronomers now have two exomoon candidates.

The second might be a mini-Neptune orbi7ting an exoplanet the size of Jupiter.

SLS

 NASA reports "great progress" in putting together its huge Space Launch System rockets.

SLS is scheduled to carry astronauts to the Moon in 2024.

China

 China's Chang'e 5 lander has detected lunar water at its landing site.

The site, appropriately enough, is on the Ocean of Storms.

Diamond Rain

 Scientists have confirmed that it rains diamonds in certain layers of the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune.

Carbon is put under intense pressure, creating diamonds, which then move through the air.

STAR TREK

 The debate over who was the best captain, Kirk or Picard, is still alive and well among Trekkers.

Of course, that leaves out Janeway, Sisko, and Archer.

NoKo

 North Korea claims it has test flown a hypersonic vehicle.

U. S. officials are skeptical.

Gravity

 A new study finds gravity works the same on matter and antimatter.

That gives physicists little help in understanding the nature of antimatter.

Milky Way

 A new study suggests the outer arms of the Milky Way are lumpy and choppy, not long and graceful.

The study used Hubble data.

MUFON

 Worldwide, 594 UFO sightings were reported o MUFON last month.

Of those, 497 were in the U/ S.

Apollo 20

 On this date in 1970, NASA cancelled Apollo 20.

The Nixon administration had decided to cut NASA's budget.

JWST

 NASA is delaying deployment of the JWST sunshield.

It's studying the telescope's power system.

ISS

 The Biden administration has directed NASA to keep ISS operational theough 2030.

That's an extension from 2025.