#01

Wash your hands! We're all used to hearing it by now. But keeping things clean takes on a different significance when you're trying to control microbial growth on a self-contained space station. "By 1998, after 12 years in orbit, Russian space station Mir was showing its age. Power cuts were frequent, the computers unreliable and the climate control system was leaking. But when the crew began a study to assess the types of microbes they were sharing their living space with, even they were surprised at what they found."

The coronavirus pandemic is beginning to take its toll on spaceflight operations. NASA recently announced that the facilities producing the Space Launch System mega-rocket are putting a hold on work, which will likely lead to further delays for the beleaguered program. The good news is that, work on the Perseverance Mars rover, set to launch in July, and the James Webb Space telescope, scheduled for a 2021, is continuing. And although additional precaustions are put in place, an April 9th launch of astronauts to the space station is also still on track. Astronauts typically go through a two week quarantine before launch anyway to avoid carrying harmful bugs into space.

#02

In honor of Women's History Month, National Geographic featured of 21 female explorers who changed the world. My personal favorites: "Grandma" Emma Gatewood who at 67 became the first woman to hike all 2,050 miles of the Appalachian trail by herself. As the legend goes (according to her wiki page) she commenced the great adventure by simply telling her grown children she was going for a walk. And Dervla Murphy who cycled toured from Ireland to India and wrote a book on her experience called Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle which is definitely going on my list.

#03

The European Mars Rover Rosalind Franklin has officially been delayed until 2022. The move has less to do with the ongoing pandemic than it does with multiple technical problems surrounding the parachute, solar panels, and electrical wiring. Yup, good move. You're going to want those.'

Have you ever wondered how the Mars rover Curiosity takes selfies? Well, wonder no more! Curiosity just made a video of itself taking a selfie. The selfies are a mosaic of dozens of images taken with Mahli, a camera on the end of the robotic arm. A camera on the rover's mast captured the action while the arm was going through its motions to produce such a mosaic. Pay attention to the Mahli camera itself, which stays fixed in space as the arm manipulates it. Real cool stuff, kudos to Doug and Camden for making this video happen!

Also on Mars, the Insight lander has renewed efforts to burrow into Mars, this time by literally pushing on the instrument with a shovel.

#04

Progress continues towards the first crewed spaceflight from US soil in in nearly a decade as NASA and SpaceX officially invite media to the launch of SpaceX's Demo-2 flight test. The flight is now scheduled to take place in mid to late May. This news came only a couple weeks after the the mishap report from Boeing's troubled unmanned launch in December was released. The report labeled the incident a "high visibility close call" and included 61 recommendations for improvement. 

NASA has removed the Lunar Gateway from critical path for a 2024 lunar landing, meaning that it will not be used for the initial return to the moon. The gateway, which will remain in development, is a small space station planned to orbit the moon and facilitate access to the surface.

#05

Swarm missions utilize a large number of small and cheap vehicles instead of a single large and expensive one to explore a target. I've always wanted to see a swarm launched to space, and that vision is coming closer to reality with the latest iteration of JPL's PUFFER foldable robotic platform, which incorporates more autonomous features than its predecessors. With some luck, you might see this technology flying on commercial lunar landers within the next few years.

#06

"Buzz Aldrin knows a thing or two about quarantines. After returning from the Moon in 1969, Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins spent 21 days in quarantine to prevent the spread of any contagions they might have brought back from the lunar surface. Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, [Eric Berger] spoke with Aldrin by telephone. 'Buzz, what are you doing to protect yourself from the coronavirus?'.

"Lying on my ass and locking the door," he replied, without hesitating.

Buzz Aldrin, ladies and gentlemen. A national treasure."

The Bookshelf

David Mearns has made a career of finding difficult to locate shipwrecks, and you can read about his exploits in The Shipwreck Hunter: A Lifetime of Extraordinary Discoveries on the Ocean Floor. Mearns recounts a handful of his most extraordinary finds ranging from crumbling wooden remnants of Vasco da Gama's 16th century fleet, to the remains of the HMS Hood which was sunk in duel with the German flagship Bismark. Mearns not only shares his technical achievements, but also the human stories that surround dramatic wrecks, making this one 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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