https://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/callforproposals/ There’s still time to submit observing bids for NASA’s IRTF (infraRed Telescope Facility). The window for the late-2026 semester (2026B) opened on March 1… and closes April 1, 5pm Hawaii Standard Time. As I’ve mentioned, IRTF is one of… Read More »IRTF Late-2026 Call for Proposals
The Lunar and Planetary Science Conference continues into day 3-4, Wednesday and Thursday. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/ https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/program/ See also: Part I Of the (large) program, here’s my small-body selections: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 Differentiated Bodies: Petrology and Cosmochemistry Neumann W. et al. … Read More »LPSC 2026- Part II
It’s time for the 12th cometary dust meeting, 17th – 19th March in Graz, Austria (venue: Space Research Institute): https://www.oeaw.ac.at/iwf/events/dust-workshop “This meeting is the twelfth of a series of workshops dedicated to share, compare and discuss cometary dust studies to… Read More »12th Cometary Dust Meeting
Breaking news from the arXiv preprint site: Astrophysics > Earth and Planetary Astrophysics arxiv.org/abs/2603.10350Ren, X. Yan, W. Zhao, R. et al. Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Observed from Mars by China’s Tianwen-1 Spacecraft Standard Disclaimer: ArXiv is ArXiv. If you haven’t gathered… Read More »China Flight Sights 3I
Some quasi-appropriate goodies from Sky & Tel, March (vol. 151 #3): skyandtelescope.org/sky-and-telescope-magazine/inside-the-march-2026-issue/Christopher M. Graney, Dennis Danielson Lord Kelvin and Space Seeds p. 28 In short, a writeup on the panspermia theory. Longer version: starting way back in the history of… Read More »Sky Flying Bio Hindsight
More ‘scoops’ (potentially…) from the arXiv.org preprint server: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics > arxiv.org/abs/2602.14218Li, J. Shi, X. Hui, M-t. et al. Pre-Perihelion Volatile Evolution of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Indicating Significant Contribution from Extended Source in the Coma My usual disclaimer:… Read More »Hyperactive ATLAS Gas Secondhand
Now up: a lecture, available online, about petrologic Type 1 meteorites and other astromaterials: https://meteoritical.org/society/ed-scott-lecture-series The series, as you might have guessed, are in tribute to Dr. Ed Scott, who died in 2021. Scott was a published and celebrated meteoriticist… Read More »Type 1 Meteorite/Flights, Online…
Just up now from Space Science Reviews (vol. 222): Hegarty, K.P. Kubota, S. Cully, M. et al. The IMAP Observatory Overview Art 16 s11214-026-01272-z No, this isn’t redundant to a previous post. That article was about the IMAP program (including the science… Read More »Space Science Reviews IMAP (the probe)
Catching up with Advances In Space Research for 1 Jan 2026 (vol. 77 #1): Tan, X. Li, C. Wang, J. et al. Ground validation of dust multi-properties analyzer onboard Tianwen-2 Pg 1206 .2025.10.086Lin, C-M. Yang, I-C. The characteristics of the… Read More »Note, Paper: Grain Stain Explainers
Nothing from Space Science Reviews for a while, then Boom (vol. 222): Palomba, E. Dirri, F. Gisellu, C. et al. VISTA: Dust and Volatile Sensor for the ESA Hera Mission 10 s11214-026-01266-x The Hera mission to asteroid Didymos and its… Read More »Space Science Reviews Milani-VISTA