Welcome to the first edition of Explore and Observe! This one is mainly to figure out formatting and such, but I hope you all (and by that I mean Isaac because you're still the only subscriber) like it!

#01

The Japanese Hayabusa II spacecraft, which has been orbiting the asteroid Ryugu since the summer of 2018, is still hard at work deploying robots in the asteroid belt. Initial results from its MASCOT lander, which landed on the asteroid in October 2018 and survived for about 17 hours have been released along with a fun video of what it's like to tumble around on the surface of an asteroid. The spacecraft released two other landers called Minerva-II1 last fall, and will release a fourth before the Hyabusu departs the asteroid for Earth in 3 months time. If all goes well, it'll return with a precious scientific payload of samples from the asteroid in December 2020.

#02

This week an uncrewed Russian Soyuz capsule docked with the space station after the first attempt was aborted due to a faulty guidance component. Although there were no people on board, the capsule did contain a humanoid robot. Dubbed Skybot F850, the robot (which has an uncanny resemblance to the early Terminator) will remain on station for only a couple weeks of testing before returning to earth.

#03

NOAA researchers on-board the vessel Okeanos Explorer are currently participating in a 21 day campaign to map and study the seafloor of a relatively unexplored region known as the U.S. and Canadian Atlantic continental margin. Currently a couple hundred miles offshore Canada between Halifx and North Kensignton, the crew is encountering submarine canyons, slope habitats, seamounts, and all sorts of other areas to enhance our knowledge of these unique deepwater regions. Read more about the complete mission from NOAA. And the coolest thing? They are providing live video feeds from the remote submersibles so you can watch from home!

#04

Not to be outdone, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently completed an expedition on the R/V Western Flyer. Called the Bioinspiration Expedition, the crew was specifically focused on how we can create better technologies and methods by studying phenomenon in nature. Instead of the seafloor, the group is studying the often neglected mid-water regions where animals are adapted to live in cold, dark regions with patchy distributions of animals. 

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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