NASA's decades-long success at enabling ground-breaking discoveries about our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, our origins and the billions of other planets out there is one of the crown jewels of our nation's collective inventiveness and will, and surely of our global soft power. Others have of course made major contributions as well. But …
The Northern Lights (Part Two)
In my recent column about The Northern Lights, the Magnetic Field and Life, I explored the science and the beauty of our planet's aurora borealis, one of the great natural phenomenon we are most fortunate to see in the far North (and much less frequently in the not-quite-so-far North.) I learned the hard way that …
The Northern Lights (Part Two)
Northern Lights at a latitude of about 70 degrees north, well within the Arctic Circle. These photos were taken about 30 miles from the town of Alta. (Lisa Braithwaite)In my recent column about The Northern Lights, the Magnetic Field and Life, I explored the science and the beauty of our planet's aurora borealis, one of …
Cassini Inside the Rings of Saturn
The triumphant Cassini mission to Saturn will be coming to an end on September 15, when the spacecraft dives into the planet. Running out of fuel, NASA chose to end the mission that way rather than run the risk of having the vehicle wander and ultimately land on Europa or Enceladus, potentially contaminating two …
Has America Really Lost It’s "Lead in Space?"
I was moved to weigh in after reading Vice President Mike Pence's comments last week down at the Kennedy Space Center -- a speech that seemed to minimize NASA's performance in recent years (decades?) and to propose a return to a kind of Manifest Destiny way of thinking in space. The speech did not appear …
Continue reading "Has America Really Lost It’s "Lead in Space?""
Has America Really Lost It's "Lead in Space?"
I was moved to weigh in after reading Vice President Mike Pence's comments last week down at the Kennedy Space Center -- a speech that seemed to minimize NASA's performance in recent years (decades?) and to propose a return to a kind of Manifest Destiny way of thinking in space. The speech did not appear …
Continue reading "Has America Really Lost It's "Lead in Space?""
NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa; Updated
As I prepare for the Astrobiology Science Conference (Abscicon) next week in Arizona, I'm struck by how many speakers will be discussing Europa missions, Europa science, ocean worlds and habitability under ice. NASA's Europa Clipper mission to orbit that moon, scheduled for launch to the Jupiter system in the mid 2020s, explains part of the …
Continue reading "NASA Panel Supports Life-Detecting Lander for Europa; Updated"
Ocean Worlds: Enceladus Looks Increasingly Habitable, and Europa’s Ocean Under the Ice More Accessible to Sample
It wasn't that long ago that Enceladus, one of 53 moons of Saturn, was viewed as a kind of ho-hum object of no great importance. It was clearly frozen and situated in a magnetic field maelstrom caused by the giant planet nearby and those saturnine rings. That view was significantly modified in 2005 when scientists …
A Vision That Could Supercharge NASA
Let your mind wander for a moment and let it land on the most exciting and meaningful NASA mission that you can imagine. An undertaking, perhaps, that would send astronauts into deep space, that would require enormous technological innovation, and that would have ever-lasting science returns. Many will no doubt think of Mars and the …
How to Give Mars an Atmosphere, Maybe
The Many Worlds site has been down for almost two weeks following the crash of the server used to publish it. We never expected it would take quite this long to return to service, but now we are back with a column today and another one for early next week. Earth is most fortunate to …
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