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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Ordering Enough Water for Early Planet Earth

Ordering Enough Water for Early Planet Earth

by | Feb 11, 2025 |

artist's depiction of planets colliding. While major asteroid and comet impacts have often been devastating for life on Earth, life on Earth wouldn’t be here without impacts that occurred early in our world’s history.  As the story goes, Due to our planet’s...

iSpace Has a Rubric for Mission 2 Success

iSpace Has a Rubric for Mission 2 Success

by | Jan 24, 2025 |

Over the past year, we've seen a variety of different commercial missions that do things I wouldn't necessarily consider successful. We've seen lunar landers unintentionally practice gymnastics by standing on their heads and flipping over sideways. We've seen...

Meteorite Strikes Walkway on Prince Edward Island

Meteorite Strikes Walkway on Prince Edward Island

by | Jan 23, 2025 |

The scattering of video cameras all over the world, as people mount them on dashboards and doorbells, is allowing us to see rare events. When it comes to meteorite collecting, the amazing security cameras and other nighttime images have made it significantly easier...

Protecting Historic Sites on Earth, Moon, and Mars

Protecting Historic Sites on Earth, Moon, and Mars

by | Jan 22, 2025 |

Dominion Observatory in Ottawa Our planet is dotted with old observatories and astronomical research centers that are no longer capable of doing science. Either their equipment is too small, their skies too bright, or both. Both is always an option. I've been lucky...

Don Pettit Proves Stars Can Be Tracked From ISS

Don Pettit Proves Stars Can Be Tracked From ISS

by | Jan 21, 2025 |

Photo taken by Astronaut Don Pettit from ISS: Milky Way with Zodiacal light and Starlink satellites streaking by. Astronaut Don Pettit is, among many other things, an amateur astronomer. One of the most delightful moments of my life with getting to hear him talk to...

Crew 10 Delayed Until March 2025

Crew 10 Delayed Until March 2025

by | Dec 30, 2024 |

Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in T-38 pre-flight activities at Ellington Field. Photo Date: August 16, 2022. Location: Ellington Field, Hangar 276/Flight Line. Photographer: Robert Markowitz In some late breaking news, NASA...