#01

NASA took delivery of their first manned x-plane in over 20 years. The curious looking  X-57 is not meant to fly high and fast like previous X-planes, but will be the first all-electric X-plane. By flying and testing it, NASA hopes to prove out electric propulsion technologies and open the door for future use in general aviation (remember to thank NASA 20 years from now when get into that Uber airlift!)

Also in work is the X-59 aircraft being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, which just passed a critical design review. That means that the design is close to finalized, and engineers can start to fabricate and assemble components. This X-plane aims to demonstrate low noise supersonic booms over populated areas, technology that would enable overland supersonic flights in the future. 

Lastly in the world of aviation, the Stratolaunch aircraft has new owners. With a test flight last spring this behemoth overtook Howard Hughes's spruce goose as the biggest aircraft ever to leave the ground. The original intent was to launch rockets from the belly of Stratolaunch, but the death of its main backer, Paul Allen, a year ago along with this transfer of ownership to an undisclosed entity leaves the future of this amazing machine in question.

#02

There is a mole on Mars and its stuck in a hole! Not a furry critter, but an instrument on NASA's Insight Mars lander which has been on the surface of the red planet for nearly a year now. The mole was supposed to burrow 16 ft underground to take the temperature of Mars, but got stuck only 14 inches from the surface. Luckily, NASA has a plan to fix it. If you've very wondered why it might be useful to have astronauts on Mars, solving problems like this is one of them!

Elsewhere on Mars, the Curiosity rover has stayed busy. Soil and rock samples collected in 2017 revealed evidence for dozens of shallow briny ponds. This contrasts evidence from lower elevations showing longer lived freshwater lakes. "The research has offered scientists a glimpse of a planet transitioning from its the water-rich past to the cold, arid landscape of present."

#03

Speaking of solving problems in space, the Juno spacecraft recently completed a maneuver to "jump" Jupiter's shadow. The spacecraft, which is the first to use solar panels past the asteroid belt, was never supposed to end up in the shadow of Jupiter, but a mischievous thruster early in the mission caused a change in plans. An interesting bit of insight into spacecraft operators adjust to changing circumstances.

#04

The failure of Insreali and Indian efforts to land robots on the moon earlier this year has apparently not dissuaded others. "The United Kingdom is set to make its own giant leap soon, with a very small rover. A 2.2-lb. four-legged robot built by London-based Spacebit will launch aboard Astrobotic's Peregrine moon lander in July of 2021." 

#05

Have you ever heard of the Beaufort Gyre? Neither had I, but it turns out to be important. The BG is "a slowly swirling bowl of icy water north of Alaska ten times the size of Lake Michigan.  This major reservoir of Arctic fresh water holds at least twice the amount of fresh water that is stored in the sea ice." We don't know much about it because "the BG is one of the most hostile and inaccessible areas of the globe, so that most of it has never been measured or observed." Fortunately, that is slowly changing. Researchers just returned from the area in the most recent iteration of the Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project, and you can read their day-by-day accounts here. 

#06

The BBC is producing a 3-part mini-series based on The War of the Worlds by HG wells. Are you excited? Becasue I am!

#07

On a more somber note, the world's first spacewalker, Alexei Leonov, died. Fittingly news of his death came during the second of five planned spacewalks on the International Space Station.

What I'm Reading

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

Ever wonder what it takes to actually land something on the moon? Well so did David Mindell, and you can learn from his insights in Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight. As the title in the book suggests, it is not just about control algorithms and methods, but also about the pilots in the loop and how they would interact with the technology. I found the book to be both approachable and very relevant in today's world of increased automation. A particularly thought provoking quote on the difference between science and exploration: "We can make this oversimplified distinction: science involves collecting observations to learn about the natural world, whereas exploration expands the realm of human experience. Sometimes the two overlap but not always. Exploration has always had significant components of state interest, international competition, technological display, public presentations, national and professional identity and personal risk - components ideally suited to human spaceflight (under the right political and cultural conditions). Hence the existence of these nonscientific elements in Apollo seems less anomalous than sensible in a historical context."

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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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