#01

On September 6th the Indian Space Agency (ISRA) attempted to do something only 3 other countries have done successfully, land an unmanned probe on the moon. Unfortunately, contact was lost with the lander about a mile above the surface of the moon. Despite some initial reports that India had located the lander and was trying to communicate with it, no contact has been made with the wayward spacecraft. Furthermore, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter failed to find the lander in a recent set of images. Not all is bad for India though, the parent spacecraft, Chandrayaan-2, is still safely in orbit and sending back data with an impressive suite of science instrument. 

#02

"This is the first time a modern research icebreaker will operate in the direct vicinity of the North Pole year-round, including the nearly six-month long polar night during winter. In terms of the logistical challenges involved, the total number of participants, the number of participating countries, and the available budget, MOSAiC represents the largest Arctic expedition in history." - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with news of an ambitious program to freeze an icebreaker into the arctic ice. The expedition was launched from Tromso, Norway on September 20th. Night vision goggles to watch for polar bears during the 6 month long night? Check!

#03

"A team of WHOI scientists and engineers is headed to the Arctic Ocean with the goal of exploring, for the first time, an active hydrothermal vent beneath an ice-covered ocean. In addition, they are hoping to study the geological, chemical, and biological processes that might also exist on ice-covered ocean worlds in our outer solar system." - An expedition by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to study environments that might by similar to those underneath the surface of icy moons in our own solar system.

#04

The Titanic was back in the news this month. It was recently visited by a manned submersible for the first time in 14 years to film 4k video for a National Geographic special called "Mission Titanic".  The crew noticed increased deterioration on the sunken vessel and there is some speculation about how long the hull will remain intact.

#05

"With the design nailed down, SpaceX plans to move fast. The company wants to reach Earth orbit with a Starship prototype in about six months. And people could start flying aboard the vehicle in the next year or so if the test program continues to go well, Musk said." - Elon Musk and SpaceX reveal the latest Starship prototype, a massive rocket that could someday launch 100 people into orbit and eventually to Mars.

What I'm Reading

reading material that I've found worthwhile, often related to exploration, sometimes just a good book worth picking up!

Alan Rabinowitz has recently become one of my favorite writers. He's an American conservationist and has been described as the "Indian Jones of Wildlife Conservation" by Time Magazine. I recently read Rabinowitz's Jaguar: One Man's Struggle to Establish the World's First Jaguar Preserve and was drawn into this first hand account. Rabinowitz describes the years he spent as a young researcher in Belize gathering information on the country's elusive Jaguar population. The book sometimes read as a 19th century adventure story with snake bites and airplane crashes included, but uniquely provides a view into the head of a field researcher on a lonely assignment. Rabinowitz does not hide the isolation he feels nor the sometimes raw emotional connection he creates with the cats he is there to study, and I think that all makes this a very worthwhile read.

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This newsletter was produced as a private venture and not in the author's capacity as an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology or of Griffith Observatory. Any views and opinions expressed herein or on exploreandobserve.com are his own and not those of his employers.

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