13 years ago this week, Curiosity landed on Mars and began an incredible journey of exploration that is still going strong. NASA put together a collage of 13 of Curiosity’s most memorable images so far.
Star Trails
Astronaut Don Petit is back on Earth now, but while he was on the ISS, he took thousands of incredible pictures and videos from orbit, and many of them are only now being catalogued and shared. Visit his X feed regularly to see a constant stream of beautiful images.
In his words: “High resolution star trail from the SpaceX Crew 9 Dragon, marked by a fleet of flashing Starlink satellites, glowing atmosphere, soon to rise sun, and arcing stars. Captured over the Pacific Ocean with Nikon Z9, Sigma 14mm f1.4 lens, effective 24 minute exposure compiled from individual 30 second frames, f1.4, ISO 1600.”
Sunshine
Ace astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy captured a banger of a photo of the ISS against the sun recently (see it here). Now he’s released an incredible bonus shot from the session. This is one hell of an optical illusion!
P.S.: The title of this post is a reference to a quirky but excellent 2007 movie, “Sunshine,” about a team of astronauts sent on a mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb.
Two Worlds, One Sun
This stunning visual was created by NASA, the Curiosity rover, and photographer Damia Bouic.
The Sun appears slightly smaller from Mars than from Earth, since Mars is 50% further from the Sun than Earth. More striking, perhaps, is that the Martian sunset is noticeably bluer near the Sun than the typically orange colors near the setting Sun from Earth. The reason for the blue hues from Mars is not fully understood, but thought to be related to forward scattering properties of Martian dust.
The terrestrial sunset was taken in 2012 March from Marseille, France, while the Martian sunset was captured in 2015 by NASA's robotic Curiosity rover from Gale crater on Mars.
Destination Mars
On Thursday, Elon Musk shared SpaceX's plans for Mars over the next 8 years (and a permanent moon base, since it's on the way ) - and beyond, to make humanity a multiplanetary species.
It is ambitious, perhaps even audacious. But the suite of technologies Elon has built are, it turns out, all positioned to make this a reality. Rockets, robots, autonomous and hardy vehicles, tunnel diggers, a space-based communications system, battery packs, cutting-edge astronaut suits...it's almost like he had a plan all along.
There will be challenges and setbacks along the way, but I am so here for this.
- First Starship to Mars planned for 2026
- Enlarging future generations of Starship
- Mars settlement in 2030s
- Robotic + human labor used
- Moon Base in planning
- 100s of Mars landings
Here’s the link to the entire presentation, if you'd like to watch it: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1928185351933239641
Jupiter's Limb
What a remarkably clear, crisp image by JunoCam. It was taken on Jan. 28th, during its 69th flyby of Jupiter. Cassini will always (probably) be my favorite, but Juno has delivered some truly incredible images.
You can download it in high resolution here.
Cosmic Tornado
Wow. Now THIS is the kind of imagery I am here for. Look at that crispness and clarity! And the galaxies in the background.... On behalf of amateur space aficionados everywhere, I declare that JWST was worth the time, trouble and money it took to build and deploy.
“NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this beautiful juxtaposition of the nearby protostellar outflow known as Herbig-Haro 49/50 with a perfectly positioned, more distant spiral galaxy. Due to the close proximity of this Herbig-Haro object to the Earth, this new composite infrared image of the outflow from a young star allows researchers to examine details on small spatial scales like never before.
Herbig-Haro objects are outflows produced by jets launched from a nearby, forming star. The outflows, which can extend for light-years, plow into a denser region of material. This creates shock waves, heating the material to higher temperatures. The material then cools by emitting light at visible and infrared wavelengths.”
Blue Ghost's Farewell Message
On March 16, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander completed its mission as lunar night arrived. It was a spectacular success in every sense and marks a new era for commercial space missions.
As the craft shut down, it sent one final message home.
Don't worry, Blue Ghost. You'll have plenty of friends - human and robotic - to keep you company soon.
SPHEREx
What a hauntingly beautiful shot of NASA’s SPHEREx craft and Earth shortly after deployment. SPHEREx will study the origins and evolution of the universe, map the galaxies in our sky, and search for life's essential ingredients within our galaxy. I can't wait to see what we learn from it.
The Needle Galaxy
Photographed by Andrew McCarthy using an 8” telescope from his backyard. Andrew is an incredibly talented astrophotographer, and if you love beautiful images of space near and far, you should absolutely be following his work.
Source: https://x.com/AJamesMcCarthy/status/1898758092147282411
Andrew’s website: https://cosmicbackground.io/
I have words on the moon!
It's a historic day for private space exploration. Early Sunday morning, Firefly Space's Blue Ghost stuck the landing, making it the first fully successful private, commercial moon landing!
On a tiny nanofiche onboard Blue Ghost reside two of my short stories, "Apogee" and "Solatium," as part of the Lunar Codex. All the thanks to Samuel Peralta for making so many writers' and artists' dream come true.
Blue Ghost is ALSO carrying a bucketload of science. Instruments will investigate the structure and composition of the moon’s mantle, the heat flow at different depths beneath the lunar surface, the interaction of solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, and the impact of solar radiation on the lunar surface.
The lander also carries the Lunar PlanetVac, which is designed to collect regolith from the lunar surface that could be returned to Earth as part of a separate mission, and the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment, which will test the ability to use GPS signals at lunar distances.
Blue Ghost will operate for about 14 Earth days on the lunar surface. On March 14, Firefly expects to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse when the Earth blocks the sun above the moon’s horizon. How amazing is that going to be?
Athena Mission
That’s one heck of a selfie, Athena!
This image is from the Intuitive Machines Nova-C “Athena” lunar craft, which is currently headed toward the moon for a scheduled March 6 landing.*
* Wholly incidentially, with a digital recording of three of my short stories, Venatoris, Re/Genesis and Chrysalis, on board (along with hundreds of other stories, novels and art). I am super excited!
Are We Alone?
Nah.
The math of the universe is in our favor. Given the staggering number of planets, it's impossible that we're alone. Still, the more the merrier! Call me an optimist (if you've read my books, you already know I am), but I don't believe "The Dark Forest" theory is correct. And I don't like a future in which we have to hide, anyway.
"Are We Alone? Intelligent Life May Be More Common Than We Thought, New Penn State Study Suggests": https://thedebrief.org/are-we-alone-intelligent-life-may-be-more-common-than-we-thought-new-penn-state-study-suggests/
As Above, So Below
ISS astronaut Don Petit and National Geographic photographer Babak Tafreshi teamed up to photograph the same subjects from Earth and space at once, and the results are extraordinary. The beauty and majesty of space *and* Earth brought together as mirrors of one another.
You’ll need to go to X to see all the images - it’s worth it: X Thread
A Universe of Galaxies
100 years ago this week, Edwin Hubble proved that our galaxy is just one small island in a vast cosmic sea. It is absolutely wild to consider how we've only know about other galaxies for a hundred years. What a golden age of learning about our universe this century has been - but I can't help but wonder what is yet to be discovered.
Read more about Hubble’s discovery in Corey S. Powell’s essay on the anniversary: “The 100th Birthday of the Universe”
New Glenn
Blue Origin was successful on its first test launch of the New Glenn rocket! Official statement:
“New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today's NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective. The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well. We lost the booster during descent. We knew landing the first stage on the first try was ambitious. We'll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch in the spring. We're thrilled with today's outcome.”
Learn more here: https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-ng-1-mission
To The Moon
Two of my short stories, APOGEE and SOLATIUM, are trying for the moon again! Overnight, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket carrying (among numerous NASA and commercial payloads) the Lunar Codex, Samuel Peralta's passion project, a beautiful collection of stories, art, music and more. I am honored beyond words to have my these stories reach the stars and find a home on the moon!
It'll be a little while before Blue Ghost attempts a lunar landing, however. It will spend the next 25 days in Earth orbit, undergoing a variety of systems checks and gathering data. It will then conduct an engine burn and hopefully reach the moon 4 days later, where it will orbit for 16 days before attempting a touchdown in Mare Crisium.
If the landing is successful, Blue Ghost will deliver the Lunar Codex to its home on the lunar surface. Then it spend 2 weeks capturing imagery of the lunar sunset and provide critical data on how lunar regolith reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk conditions, before retiring with the lunar night.
The Horizon of Earth
This might be the most beautiful photograph ever taken from the ISS. Snapped by astronaut Don Petit this weekend, it features the Milky Way, Zodical light, Starlink satellites as streaks, stars as pin points, the atmosphere on edge showing OH emission as burned umber, the soon to rise sun, and cities at night as streaks - all in one image.
Source: https://x.com/astro_Pettit/status/1878900589238923290
Predictions Progress Report
Five years ago, at the dawn of 2020 (not forseeing the crisis that awaited us in a mere two months), I made the following predictions (and asked for your thoughts on Facebook):
We're in the 2020s now, and this had damn well better be the decade where some mind-blowing technological advances happen. With that in mind--
Which of the following do you think we are MOST LIKELY to have in 2030:
(1) A fully functioning lunar base, where astronauts live and work on the surface for 6+ months at a time and (rich) tourists visit.
(2) Boots on Mars, and not the robotic kind.
(3) Effective anti-aging/life-extension medication or treatments - not to make us immortal (yet), but to extend our *healthy* lifespan well into the 100s.
(4) Practical brain-computer interfaces - chips in our brains, or at least subcutaneous/on-skin hardware that communicates with our brains.
(5) Discovery of microbial alien life in our solar system and/or confirmation of a clear technological signature (advanced alien life) out there.
5 years later, #1, #2 and #5 (microbial) are looking reasonably likely to be achieved by 2030. #3 and #4 are moving a little more slowly, but I’m hopeful we’ll see the beginnings of them within a decade.
You know what wasn't on this list of mine? Artificial General Intelligence. Leaving it off * might * have been an error on my part....
Merry Christmas Everyone!
A perfect celestial Christmas tree in NGC 2264, courtesy of NASA, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Webb telescope, and astrophotographer Michael Clow.
