The journal Acta Astronautica for Sep 2025 (vol. 234) has: Hosonuma, T. Miyabara, T. Ozaki, N. et al. Autonomous optical navigation for DESTINY*: Enhancing misalignment robustness in flyby observations with a rotating… Pgs. 117 .2025.04.023Li, Y-H. Lien, W-C. Liu, S-W. Development… Read More »Note, Paper: Whip, Slip, and Flip
Now for the annual Smallsat Conference (smallsat.org), hosted as always by Utah State University, August 11-13. See the overview: https://smallsat.org/conference/schedule/ https://smallsat.org/conference/keynote/https://smallsat.org/conference/flash-talks/https://smallsat.org/conference/posters/ In case you don’t see the connection: Hera is currently flying with the Milani and Juventas 6U CubeSats, to… Read More »Smallsat meeting, 2025
Publications on our interstellar guest 3I/ATLAS continue, as they should- we have only months before it passes behind the Sun. Publications on the arXiv platform: arXiv:2507.14916 Yang, B. Meech, K. J. Connelley, M. et al. Spectroscopic Characterization of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS:… Read More »3I/ATLAS Grab Bag
Since we’re talking about an object penetrating our Solar System from other parts of the galaxy, it was inevitable that this would draw wider media coverage. That coverage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HeTCmtNJSUJul 3, 2025 Scott Manley We Just Discovered The Fastest Interstellar Comet… Read More »3I/ATLAS Patch
The journal called “Space Science Reviews” means all three. Just now (vol. 221), they have covered the Lucy mission, and covered it quite well: Levison, H.F. Marchi, S. Noll, K.S. et al. NASA’S Lucy Mission to Trojan Asteroids: Unraveling the… Read More »Space Science Reviews Lucy
Yes, it’s time for the 33rd Meeting of the NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG). https://www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/meetings/sbagjune2025/ See the schedule: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/sbagjune2025/technical_program/?session_no=101 Really, the overarching theme was the strangling of planetary science, and not just at small bodies. We are talking about… Read More »Summer 2025 SBAG Meeting, Day 1
In Acta Astronautica for July (vol. 232): Kuppa, K. McMahon, J. W. Dietrich, A. B. Autonomous shape modeling of small bodies using infrared image silhouettes P. 215 .2025.03.005Iwakawa, A. Mizojiri, S. Hall-effect thruster system of fully water propellant with microwave… Read More »Note, Paper: Acta Now
Previously (Winter’s SBAG), I briefly posted about D. Adamo’s research into asteroid way-stations on the path to Mars. Alongside, Lopez and Conte corroborated Adamo’s general idea with their own paper. Adamo’s paper has been published, by the AIAA’s Journal of… Read More »Note, Paper: Layover-Station Paper
Beresheet crashed.Vikram crashed.Hakuto-R crashed.Luna-25 crashed.Peregrine crashed.Resilience crashed. Hayabusa bounced. It then continued its mission, and… returned to Earth. Almost 20 years ago. The gravity of Earth’s natural satellite is one-sixth Earth’s gravity… and that of Ceres, the largest asteroid, is… Read More »“Low Gravity” Indeed
The White House 2026 budget request that covers NASA has been released… and it’s as bad as other White House actions on science would indicate. There hasn’t been carnage to this level since the ’80s abandonment of planetary exploration. The… Read More »FY2026 NASA Budget Request- Regress