#01

"And yet, from certain angles, with its snowshoe paws and a face like a bear cub’s, it can appear cuddly. It is not. A wolverine will attack an animal ten times its size, chasing a moose or caribou for miles before bringing it down... Even the bears don’t mess with them little guys." And there is still a lot we don't know about them which is why the Wildlife Conservation Society is conducting a comprehensive field study of the arctic carnivore. The researchers have been learning more about wolverines' use of tunnels in the snowpack, which "might reach ten feet deep and extend 200 feet along a snow-buried riverbank," crucial information considering the rapidly changing arctic climate. Wolverines also turn out to be devoted parents. Female wolverines live with their young for years. The cubs "spend a lot of time just playing. They’ll play with each other, and then they’ll go bug mom, who’s taking a nap. It looks like a family scene from any species you can think of. They’re cute and roly-poly.” A good reminder that even what we see as a fearsome predator is really just an animal trying to survive, and maybe even have some fun.

#02

Scientists released a batch of new papers outlining discoveries made by the Insight Mars lander. Among other items, the probe's seismometer "has found more than 450 seismic signals to date, the vast majority of which are probably quakes", magnetic field measurements 10x what was expected, and dust devils swirling by the lander. Unfortunately, a burrowing instrument affectionately called the Mole is still stuck at the surface, though mission operators have released a new plan to get it digging again.

NASA's new Mars rover has a name: Perseverance! Or Percy, which I sure hope catches on. Keep an eye out for Percy's launch in July of this year. Not to be outdone, Curiosity is still roaming around Mars. The spacecraft recently completed a drill campaign and found a route to ascend a geographic feature known as the Greenheugh Pediment. You can follow the rover's motion day-by-day on the Mission Updates page.

Europe's mission to Mars this year increasingly looks like it might be delayed after all due a spat of issues with the parachute.

#03

“We’re pushing the boundaries of what many thought would be impossible,” said Tom Wilson, president of SpaceLogistics (a subsidiary of Northrp Grunman) after the company's Mission Extension Vehicle 1 successfully docked with and refueled a 19 year old communication satellite. Robotic servicing is a long talked about capability and its great to see it actually happen. In short, this was a big deal. 

#04

The Monterey Bay Research Institute has kicked off the 2020 expedition season with a cruise along the California coast to study sponge and coral population and revisit the Octopus Garden. The week long trip will visit an underwater ridge that " is rich with beautiful coral and sponge gardens containing centuries-old corals towering two-to-three meters tall like small oak trees, sponges one-to-two meters wide that may be even older, as well as a suite of fishes, sea stars, and other species that call these coral gardens home."

#05

"Inside a cavernous hangar at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility along the Virginia coast, a gleaming white P-3 Orion aircraft sits parked under harsh floodlights. It’s just after midnight and a group of scientists, technicians and graduate students cluster underneath a wing, peering at a 5-inch crack in one of the ailerons that the pilot uses to maneuver the plane." Learn more about the trials and tribulations of climate researchers flying in and around snowstorms to determine what makes them tick.

#06

One of the things I admire about SpaceX is the company's willingness to fail early and learn from mistakes. It also makes for some entertaining videos! The Starship SN1 recently burst during a pressure test, following an apparently similar failure of the MK1 prototype last fall. Starship is Musk's ambitious plan to build a rocket that can send 100 into space at once. These are just early prototyping efforts though, so don't count SpaceX out just yet!

In an example of why failing late is a bad idea, more questions arise about Boeing's Starliner capsule. The capsule failed to dock with the International Space Station back in December due to a number of software bugs. It turns out Boeing "did not perform a full, end-to-end integrated test of Starliner in a Systems Integration Lab with ULA’s Atlas V rocket" which could have caught the issues early on.

#07

After a fault back in January, the venerable Voyager 2 spacecraft is once again fully operational, or at lease as fully operation as you'd expect of a 43 year old spacecraft 13 billion miles from Earth. Hopefully the spacecraft will remain in its healthy state. NASA is performing upgrades on the Deep Space Network, a series of antennas located around the globe to enable communication with spacecraft beyond Earth's orbit. The upgrades are necessary to handle upcoming traffic to Mars, but will take key pieces of equipment out of operation 11 months. We'll still be ale to hear from Voyager 2, but can't talk to the spacecraft if anything happens.

The Bookshelf

Will Thrall lived in Los Ageles from the 1880s until his death in the 1960s. During that time he became one of the most well known advocates of the San Gabriel mountains. He promoted outdoor recreation through numerous magazine articles and a newspaper column, led water conservation efforts, worked on the Mt. Lowe railway, and discovered and explored lost pioneer roads and Native American trails. As an amateur historian, he provides a crucial bridge between the early days of mining in the mountains, through the golden age of hiking, and up to modern usage of the area. A study of Will Thrall is a study of the mountains themselves, and for that reason I found Will Thrall and the San Gabriels: A Man to Match the Mountains by Ronald Woolsey well worth the 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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