#01

NASA selected three companies to develop lunar lander concepts in support of a 2024 return to the moon. Blue Origins, the rocket company owned by Jeff Bezos, is probably the furthest along. They have been developing lunar landing technology for years and assembled an impressive team including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grunman, and Draper Labs. SpaceX has the most ambitious proposal featuring the massive Starship spacecraft. The vehicle is so large astronauts would actually need an elevator to get to the ground. Rounding out the field is Alabama based Dynetics with a unique proposal for a squat looking single-structure landing system. NASA has yet to commit to any particular architecture. The companies are given 10 months to further develop their concepts, after which NASA will continue to winnow the field.

Speaking of SpaceX, I've made fun of them in the past for destroying a couple of Starship prototypes during pressure tests, so I think it's only appropriate to note that they got it right!

#02

"It really was this stark contrast, because, of course, the Earth didn't look any different to us," she said. "It looked just as gorgeous, equally as stunning, as it had before everything happened. And to then think about what was going down on the surface and that every person, all 7½ billion people on the planet, were being affected by this and only three of us who were in space at the time weren't. That was really difficult to comprehend." Astronaut Jessica Muir, with a fascinating take on returning to Earth in the middle of a pandemic after spending 200 days in orbit.

As COVID-19 continues to psread across the planet, preparations are underway and precautions taken for the first crewed launch from American soil in nearly a decade. The SpaceX capsule is scheduled to launch with two astronauts May 27th from Cape Canaveral.

Back on Earth, Antarctica remains the only continent to be free of the virus, and scientists studying there hope to keep it that way.

#03

"Inside, the permafrost tunnel itself is even stranger than its exterior. A metal boardwalk crosses a floor thick with fine, loose, cocoa-colored dust. Fluorescent lights and electrical wires dangle above us. The walls are embedded with roots suspended in a masonry of ice and silt, with a significant content of old bacteria and never-rotted bits of plant and animal tissue." Welcome to the Fox Permafrost Tunnel in Alaska, one of only two facilities of its kind in the world dedicated to studying that odd concoction water, dirt, and organic matter known as permafrost.

#04

Every year humpback whales migrate to relatively warm and protected waters near Hawaii to give birth to their young. For the first time, researchers have attached cameras to nursing calves to better understand the relationship with their mother. 

#05

"For the first time, the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped and uniformly classified by scientists from the USGS Astrogeology Science Center ... The lunar map, called the “Unified Geologic Map of the Moon,” will serve as the definitive blueprint of the moon’s surface geology for future human missions and will be invaluable for the international scientific community." I love a good map, you can download your own here!

#06

If you're feeling lonely lately, maybe you just need a robot? Meet CIMON-2, a space-faring intelligent assistant designed to help astronauts and investigate how such robots could be used to help astronauts cope with isolation.  

The Bookshelf

Most people have heard of Lawrence of Arabia, but markedly fewer are familiar with Gertrude of Arabia. Gertrude Cox, a contemporary of Lawrence in the early 1900's, fell in love with the Middle East as a young woman. She traveled extensive in the region by camel, regularly dined with whatever desert sheikhs she happened across, and became an expert on ancient archaeology. Her singular personality and unique status as a British woman in what was largely a man's world made her well known across the scattered tribes of Arabia. During and after WWI, she worked tirelessly in Baghdad to establish the modern state of Iraq, became a confident of the king, and literally drew the lines which mark the country today. Her story, told in Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallach, is truly extraordinary and adventurous. 

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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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