New in PNAS (Pub. Natl. Acad. Scis.) as of Dec 9, 2025 (vol. 122 #49): Mojarro, A. Aponte, J. C. Dworkin, J. P. Prebiotic organic compounds in samples of asteroid Bennu indicate heterogeneous aqueous alteration e2512461122 pnas.2512461122 Organic compounds: yes, asteroids… Read More »Note, Paper: Bennu Stew New Amino
They say any publicity is good publicity, but… we could use better publicity: interestingengineering.com/future-of-space/future-of-asteroid-mining-explainedKaif Shaikh, 5 Nov The future of asteroid mining: Missions, resources, and challenges explained Shaikh does a decent enough job- nothing we don’t already know in this… Read More »Asteroid Tri-Mining Tabloid?
It’s the day before Halloween, but Space Sci Rev (vol. 221) makes it feel like Christmas: Horányi, M. Tucker, S. Sternovsky, Z. et al. Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) OnboardNASA’s Interstellar Mapping And Acceleration Probe (IMAP) art. 102 s11214-025-01230-1Wang, Y. Zhang,… Read More »Space Science Reviews, …whew
Everybody’s getting in on planetary science; LPSC was the first but is no longer the only game in ‘town’. The Planetary Science Conference 2025 starts tomorrow, Krakow, Poland, until Oct 25: https://mars.uj.edu.pl/index.php/planetary-science-conference/planetary-scienceconference-2025/ As per this blog, my pick of relevant… Read More »Polish Planetary Science Conference
USA Today is hardly cutting-edge as journalism goes, but publicity is publicity: www.usatoday.com/story/studiog/life/2025/10/07/asteroid-mining-brings-private-companies-into-the-space-race/85710633007/Hope Hodge Seck Oct 7 Asteroid Mining, a Gold Rush in Space Note that the URL ‘title’ is horrendous. Private companies defy traditional notions of a “Space Race”.… Read More »“Asteroid Mining” Lines
This is already out, but in case you missed it… The solicitation for the 2026 Schweickart Prize has been announced. The Prize, named after Apollo astronaut and B612 Foundation co-founder Rusty Schweickart, is for a graduate student or recent postdoc… Read More »2026 Schweickart Prize Now Open
In Acta Astronautica for October (vol. 235): Broslav, T. Dreyer, C. Sercel, J. Optical mining of carbonaceous chondrite simulants: Testing and lessons learned in asteroid mining research p. 1 .2025.04.033Wang, Y. Zhu, Y. Ding, Y. Research on the ignition characteristics and… Read More »Note, Paper: Light this Rocket, Little Rock edition
Yes, we’re in the middle of meeting season. A meeting happened a week and a half ago- in my defense, it was all in Chinese, and that’s not one of my languages. It’s also the third annual Tiandu Forum (“International… Read More »Tiandu (Int’l Deep Space) Meeting 2025
(see also Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) My picks (biased, clearly) from the 2025 MetSoc: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2025/technical_program/ Thursday, July 17, 2025 Carbonaceous Chondrites and Chondritic Components 2 Swain S. et al.Mineralogy of C1, C2 and CM-Like Clasts in Chondrite and Achondrite… Read More »Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025, Day 4
Good Acta Astronautica, Volume 229, April: Fantino, E. Flores, R. Donnarumma, G. et al. Direct low-energy trajectories to Near-Earth Objects Page 333 Kakavand, M. Zhu, Z. H. Geometric mechanics framework for tethered de-spinning of massive asteroids by small tug using passivity-based… Read More »Note, Paper: Activities Astronautica