The current solar cycle has been relatively weak. The coming solar cycle is expected to be weak also, but not significantly weaker than the current cycle. Graph via NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. A NOAA/NASA co-chaired international panel – charged with forecasting the upcoming 11-year solar cycle, Solar Cycle 25 – released a preliminary forecast… Continue reading Latest predictions for the coming solar cycle
Tag: Space
A 3-step process for delivering tough feedback
Seventeen years ago, I’d earned my first leadership role and become responsible for roughly ten direct reports. Two weeks into the role, my boss took me for a coffee to chat about how things were going. “I’m not getting what I need from you,” she said. The statement left no ambiguity, no wiggle room, and… Continue reading A 3-step process for delivering tough feedback
If Mars Had Water, Where Did It Go?
It’ll be a fine day for Poland Spring, when Mars is finally colonized: bottled’s the only option, when you’re living on a planet whose last substantial traces of flowing liquid water disappeared a few billion years ago. That ancient water has occasioned much study and debate, and provided the name for at least one …… Continue reading If Mars Had Water, Where Did It Go?
Scientists close in on mysterious Mars methane
Artist’s conceptof Mars Express in orbit around Mars. New analysis of data from the spacecraft has independently confirmed the first detection of methane by NASA’s Curiosity rover in 2013. Image via DLR Institute of Planetary Research. Where does Mars’ methane come from? That is one of the most intriguing mysteries for Mars scientists in recent… Continue reading Scientists close in on mysterious Mars methane
New evidence for life in a Martian meteorite?
Thin slice of the martian meteorite ALH-77005. The melt pocket region, inside the rectangle is where scientists found evidence for microbial mediation. Image via Gyollai et al. Has there ever been life on Mars? We are still awaiting a definitive answer to that long-standing question, although evidence has continued to build that there may indeed… Continue reading New evidence for life in a Martian meteorite?
Curiosity rover captured 2 solar eclipses on Mars
This series of images shows the Martian moon Phobos as it crossed in front of the sun, as seen by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359). Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Last month (March 2019), cameras on NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover captured a solar eclipse by each of the planet’s moons, Phobos… Continue reading Curiosity rover captured 2 solar eclipses on Mars
NASA Plans Mission to Bring Apollo Astronauts’ Poop Back From the Moon
It should come as no surprise that NASA is always thinking about astronaut poop/feces/urine/waste. In fact, it should please us that so much goes into what comes out of space travelers. Most people know that the residents of the International Space Station recycle liquid waste and eject the solid stuff. It’s easy to figure out… Continue reading NASA Plans Mission to Bring Apollo Astronauts’ Poop Back From the Moon
A Japanese Probe Just Bombed an Asteroid
Humanity just successfully bombed an asteroid for the first time in history. According to a Friday press release from the Japanese space agency JAXA, the Hayabusa2 space probe launched in 2014 has completed the latest phase of its mission—deploying a small explosive to the surface of the asteroid Ryugu, located about 200 million miles from… Continue reading A Japanese Probe Just Bombed an Asteroid
Astronomers find a planet fragment orbiting a dead star
Artist’s concept of planetary fragment orbiting the star SDSS J122859.93+104032.9, leaving a tail of gas in its wake. Image via University of Warwick/Mark Garlick. Astronomers from University of Warwick in Coventry, England, said on April 4, 2019, that they’ve detected a relatively large fragment from a former planet, orbiting in a disk of debris encircling… Continue reading Astronomers find a planet fragment orbiting a dead star
Did deep groundwater cause these mysterious dark streaks on Mars?
The long, thin dark streaks on the steep walls of this Martian crater are called “recurring slope lineae” by scientists. New research suggests they originate from deep groundwater. A collection of many additional images is available on the HiRISE website. Image via Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/Lujendra Ojha et al./Geophysical Research Letters. Modern day observations… Continue reading Did deep groundwater cause these mysterious dark streaks on Mars?