It’s time for another SBAG meeting (NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group, www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/). This one was a bit light; we’re in a moment of history where, by chance, missions are either pending launch (under construction), or launched (in cruise, and nothing… Read More »SBAG, Summer 2024 day 1
I don’t post much about Aerospace, a relatively new journal. It’s clear that space is second, aero (i. e., Bernoulli’s Law, not Tsiolkovskiy’s) is first. Still, there’s some space content: Aerospace vol. 11 #6, JunFarina, D. Machrafi, H. Queeckers, P.… Read More »Note, Paper: Space, …aero
Catching up with AJ (Astronomical Journal)- not a fertile field of silicate bodies. But Solar System astronomy is astronomy, eh: vol. 168 # 1, Jul 2024Moorhead, A. V. Vida, D. Brown, P. G. et al. A Reference Meteor Magnitude for Interco… a 16ad496eSilber, E. A. The Utility… Read More »Note, Paper: Target Insights
I mentioned the name-that-asteroid contest. (And I mentioned HSC…) But why just (re)name some existing celestial body when you can (co)discover one? web-coias.u-aizu.ac.jp COIAS is short for Come On! Impacting ASteroids. The COIAS program, new this May, is an opportunity… Read More »Virtual (Very large?) Observatory: COIAS asteroid hunt!
Acta Astronautica vol. 220 (Jul 2024) is a good one: Nath, A. Developing algorithms to determine an Asteroid’s physical properties and the succ… p. 62 2024.04.019 Schulc, M. Czakoj, T. Novák, Even et al. Validation of SiO2 neutron cross sections… Read More »Note, Paper: Push it
I gave an update on the Vera Rubin Observatory. Undeniably, VRO is (will be…) a game changer. Also noteworthy but less newsworthy: the SPHEREx spacecraft is built: spherex.caltech.edu SPHEREx, for Spectro-PHotometric ices and Epoch of Reionization Explorer, is a NASA… Read More »First Light (Flight) in Sight…
Our (consumer, off-the-shelf) telescopes are now made in China; what about the scientific-grade ones? The Chinese science program is no longer the world’s also-ran. You just need to look at author lists to see the obvious Chinese (including expat-Chinese) representation.… Read More »Note, Juan Zhu: CAA WA
Missed some from the June issue of Acta Astronautica (vol. 219). This one features speed, lots of speed: Salotti, J.-M. Can humanity survive to a giant comet impact? p. 603 .03.050 Karlapp, J. Heller, R. Tajmar, M. Ultrafast transfer of low-mass… Read More »Note, Paper: dV
The June (vol. 219) issue of Acta Astronautica is… impulsive, maybe brutish. Villegas-Prados, D. Cruz, J. Wijnen, M. et al. Emission and performance charaterization of io… p. 97 .224.03.013 Muniyasamy, S. B, S. Verma, V. et al. Periodicity and lifetime… Read More »Note, Paper: Abstract Blast
I have neglected the journal Acta Astronautica, despite March (vol. 216) being a good month: Casanova-Álvarez, M. Navarro-Medina, F. Tommasini, D. Feasibility study of a Solar Elect… p. 129 .2024.01.001 Zhang, Z. Yu, M. Ali, M. R. et al. Investigation on… Read More »Note, Paper: Zap!