Topic: Pamela Gay
Starship: Dreaming of Mars, struggling for LEO

Starship: Dreaming of Mars, struggling for LEO

by | Jun 26, 2025 |

I think it is fair to say that humans have dreamed of going to Mars for as long as we have known that Mars is a planet. We see these dreams in amazing books, like The Martian Chronicles and John Carter of Mars, and even in Percival Lowell’s attempts to map what we now see as fictional canals. Humanity’s first successful Mars mission was the 1965 Mariner 4 Flyby, and today, two US rovers explore the Red Planet. Mariner 4 was 60 years ago, and if the dreamers get what they want, we will have humans on Mars before the 70th anniversary of Mariner 4. … I’m just not sure that is going to happen,...

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In physics, 3 is the hardest number

In physics, 3 is the hardest number

by | Jun 16, 2025 |

Galaxy meger NGC 520. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and B. Whitmore (STScI The diversity in galaxy mergers is amazing, and entire careers and catalogs have been dedicated to systems. A favorite pastime for many merger...

The Jet that Pierced a Galaxy

The Jet that Pierced a Galaxy

by | Jun 15, 2025 |

An artist's illustration of the cosmic joist with the actual data embedded. Illustration Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser. Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Balashev and P. Noterdaeme et al. Researchers are learning that the jets associated with black holes can do more...

The mystery of ASKAP J1832-0911

The mystery of ASKAP J1832-0911

by | Jun 13, 2025 |

A graph of Chandra data and a fit to the data superimposed on an image that combines x-ray, IR, and radio data. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/IPAC; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk I...

The biggest cuts NASA’s ever faced

by | Jun 12, 2025 |

Credit: Planetary Society On May 2, the president released his target bottom line numbers for NASA, the National Science Foundation, and other federal agencies. This budget includes a 44% cut over FY25 to the NASA budget and a 56% cut to NSF. If Congress takes these...

Astronauts dive into Mk-2 Training

Astronauts dive into Mk-2 Training

by | Jun 10, 2025 |

Recent aerospace news hasn’t been the happiest, but there was one moment of watery goodness I’d like to share.  On June 10, Blue Origin shared a video taken at the Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Tank that shows astronauts climbing around in and on a...

The Fermi Paradox at 75

The Fermi Paradox at 75

by | Jun 6, 2025 |

Enrico Fermi. Credit: Liz Zonarich / Harvard Staff The idea that bad things happen to good solar systems is a recurring theme in science fiction, with everything from natural disasters, to biological disasters, to disasters of life’s own making wiping out worlds in...

CERN did Alchemy, turning Lead to Gold

CERN did Alchemy, turning Lead to Gold

by | May 16, 2025 |

Reaction for lead to transmute into gold. Credit: CERN Showing that alchemy is possible if you have a big enough particle accelerator, researchers using the Large Hadron Collider have managed, not entirely on purpose, to transform Lead into Gold. According to a press...