Space 2030

There is an initiative at the United Nations, in which small nations like Malta and Cyprus are taking major roles, to develop space policy for the years ahead.

The initiative is called "Space 2030."

Musk On Mars

Elon Musk says we could have a base on Mars by 2028.

Musk has always pushed the envelope on such predictions, but he has also made lots of things work.

Exploring

NASA plans to build a space station in lunar orbit starting in 2022, have astronauts there by 2026, and go to Mars in the 2030s.

That would be an interesting couple of decades.

Oumuamua

The asteroid Oumuamua is from another solar system, but which one has been a mystery.

Scientists have now narrowed the possibilities to four stars.

Underground Martians

A new study finds life could have survived underground on Mars for an extremely long time.

The question is whether life arose in the first place.

Antarctic Greenhouse

A greenhouse experiment in Antarctica has produced a substantial harvest of veggies and herbs over the brutal polar winter.

It's encouraging news foe future settlers of Mars.

Hoppimg Rovers

Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has successfully landed two tiny rovers on the asteroid Ryuga.

The rovers will traverse the surface by hopping.

Ice Volcanoes

A new study suggests Ceres was once home to several ice volcanoes.

Now, there's only one huge one left.

Bezos

According to reports, Blue Origin plans to fly people into space next year.

Also, Jeff Bezos will invest $1 billion in BO next year.

To The Moon

SpaceX will fly a Japanese billionaire around the Moon using its giant BFR rocket.

The flight is scheduled to go by 2023.

NASA

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the creation of NASA.

It was created in response to Sputnik, as a Cold War agency, beat the Soviets to the Moon, gave us a new understanding of the universe, and is poised to put humans on Mars.  Not bad.

Sunspot

The Sunspot Observatory in New Mexico is re-opening today after being shut down for ten days by the FBI.

The FBI was apparently conducting a criminal investigation.

Leak

Russia is leading an investigation into the August 30 leak in a Soyuz docked at ISS.

The station crew quickly plugged the leak.

To The Moon

SpaceX plans to fly a private passenger to the Moon atop its BFR rocket.

Details of the flight will be announced Monday.

Highly Habitable

Sophisticated new computer simulations show Proxima Centauri b could have large amounts of surface water.

The closest exoplanet to Earth, 4.22 light years away, might be "highly habitable."

Wolf 503b

Wolf 503b is a rare find-- a world larger than Earth, but smaller than Neptune.  For whatever reason, there seems to be few worlds in that gap.

It's also only 145 light years away, so it can be studied in detail.

FRBs

Astronomers don't know what FRBs are-- they might be alien energy pulses that push starships-- but they have discovered they might find more of them using AI.

Applying AI to an August 2017 event turned up 72 more FRBs.

Pluto

The Great Pluto Debate is on again.

Some researchers are arguing for a simpler definition of a planet, based largely on mass, that would include Pluto.

Musk Speaks

Elon Musk, in a podcast, said our universe is likely a simulation.

He also argued it's extremely important that humanity moves into space.

Kepler Lives

Kepler, NASA's planet hunting spacecraft, which was shut down in July, has come back online.

It's not known whether the spacecraft will be useful.

Life

New research suggests life could exist on water worlds.

That expands once again the possibilities for life.

TRAPPIST-1

New research shows all seven of the worlds in the TRAPPIST-1 system are rocky and have water.

The system id only 40 light yeats away.

Leak

NASA says the leak on ISS has been patched.

Astronauts had to tend to the leak Saturday.

Water On Juputer

A new study suggests water may be abundant in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Specifically, water seems to be associated with the Great Red Spot.

FIRST MAN

FIRST MAN,  a film version of Neil Armstrong's life, will leave out the scene showing Armstrong planting the American Flag on the Moon.

The movie's producers argue the first lunar landing was an accomplishment of humanity, not a single nation.  Whatever weight that may have, not showing a climactic scene in an historic story seems odd.