Now in Acta Astronautica for April (vol. 241): Dorrington, S. Olsen, J. Parametric economic modeling of asteroid mining architectures Pg 19 .2025.11.006Gavira-Aladro, M. Bombardelli, C. Exhaustive search of gravity assist trajectories for rapid reconnaissance and deflection of fictitious asteroid PDC2025 Pg 325… Read More »Note, Paper: Asteroids, Found, Fictional, Feasible…
There’s an opportunity for you, yes you, to do your part in asteroid research, and potentially planetary defense. The Daily Minor Planet crowdsourcing project (www.zooniverse.org/projects/fulsdavid/the-daily-minor-planet) allows Net users to scour telescope images for potential moving objects, i. e., asteroids. Now,… Read More »Zooniverse Views, II (Daily Minor Planet)
YouTube is a trash magnet. There, I said it. YouTube gives a platform to incompetents and competents alike, and therefore enables misinformation, disinformation, and outright lying. But every so often, a competent posts content, and YouTube is a distribution mechanism.… Read More »Schwamb “Into the Rubinverse” Lecture
The site Oort Cloud Report happens to bring up our (upcoming) asteroid champion: https://oortcloudreport.github.io/news/space_article/planet9.html[astrophysics staff], March 19 Vera Rubin Observatory’s Search for Planet Nine If you haven’t already heard, the Vera Rubin telescope will revolutionize sky surveying. Never before will… Read More »Oort Cloud Physicists Root Loud
I don’t say much about asteroid mining, because mining companies don’t work via peer review and can stay in stealth mode for a while. Still: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/a-private-space-company-has-a-radical-new-plan-to-bag-an-asteroid/Eric Berger, March 18 A private space company has a radical new plan to bag… Read More »TransAstra Astero-Plan (…Ars Markup)
The torrent of images has not only begun, it’s bringing meta-information: https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=1770317703 Salgundi, A. Andreoni, I. Anumarlapudi, A. et al. AT 2026epw: Discovery of a possible nova from Vera C. Rubin Observatory27 Feb 2026; 21:00 UT In my last update,… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Mar ‘26)
The March Acta Astronautica (vol. 240) brings us: Szabó, N. O. Sárneczky, K. Kiss, L. L. et al. NEO and imminent impactor discoveries from Hungary: Recent results and lessons learnt Pg 1 .2025.11.055Coates, A. Wheeler, L. Dotson, J. Risk knowledge… Read More »Note, Paper: Detecting, Inspecting… Deflecting?
The “February” issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society brings us: Volume 545, Issue 4, February 2026 Morate,D. Mahlke,M. Álvarez-Candal,A. et al. JaMONCITO: the Javalambre – Moving Objects New Catalog from Investigations of Time-domain Observations staf2052Buendia, E. Valdés,… Read More »Note, Paper: Now Browsing; Then Dousing?
The Vera Rubin Observatory goes live tonight (in a sense). Shakedown operations with the Vera Rubin ‘scope have been going on for months now, finding the last issues and optimizing the procedures for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time.… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Feb 2026)
Kelly Fast, current head of NASA’s PDCO (Planetary Defense Coordination Office), explains IAWN (the International Asteroid Warning Network) in a Nature piece (well, Nature Reviews Physics– a Nature title). https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00912-7May Chiao, 05 January 2026 Inside the International Asteroid Warning Network… Read More »Nature Interviews Kelly Fast