#01

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are safely on the International Space Station after riding a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule into orbit, the first manned rocket launch from American soil in nearly a decade! The picture perfect launch occurred Saturday afternoon and was the first time a private company has launched a person into orbit, the product of nearly a decade of collaboration between NASA and the private industry. The pair will stay on the station for up to a few months before returning back to Earth in classic splashdown fashion. But that is all in the future. Today it's time to savor the fact that America is once again a space faring nation. 

In the interest of editorial balance, SpaceX also blew up yet another prototype of their Starship rocket over the weekend.

#02

Part Indiana Jones, part Anthony Fauci, part That-guy-who-thrives-at-every-damn-sport-he-tries, Dr. Johan Hultin is the hero we need now. He may be 95, but his work as an adventurer/pathologist—two times traversing the Alaskan wilderness to solve the riddle of the 1918 pandemic—is helping fight the coronavirus today." Meet Dr. Johan Hultin, a man who could make an honest claim at being the most interesting man in the world and is the type of hero we need today.

Speaking of interesting people, Angela Madsen is up there. She gave this interview from her rowboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 700 miles southwest of Los Angles, only partway through her 3,500 mile journey from LA to Hawai'i. And if that's not impressive enough, she's also a paraplegic and can't use her legs. 

#03

Still feeling cooped up at home these days? Maybe it would help to virtually visit some coronavirus free exotic locations. Take a delightful short video tour of Union Glacier Camp in Antarctica, a jumping off point for all sorts of activities on the continent. Or is a long term stay more your thing? How about Villas Las Estrellas, one of the only continuously inhabited communities in Antarctica. The catch? You just have to remove your appendix before moving in! Unfortunately, I can't get you all the to Mars. If you've really got wanderlust for the red planet, you could try the northern end of Canada's Devon island in the high arctic. The location (at a real impact crater site!) is home to the Haughton-Mars Project which aims to validate technologies to for future use on the Moon or Mars through use of field testing on Earth. 

#04

"Bruce Robison’s robot submarine stumbled across an octopus settling in to brood her eggs. It seemed like a small moment. But as he went back to visit her, month after month, what began as a simple act of motherhood became a heroic feat that has never been equaled by any known species on Earth." Follow along with Radiolab and Monterey Bay Research Institute scientists as they uncover a remarkable discovery.

#05

The German icebreaker Polarstern is heading for land for a resupply and crew transfer after having spending more than 6 months frozen into arctic ice as part of an effort to better understand climate change. Hear from some of the scientists who will be returning to changed world.

#06

The far north has often been a popular region for research parties. Scientists might fly in to a remote Inuit community, jump on a helicopter and get to work, and leave the country without ever interacting with the locals. Fortunately, that is slowly changing as Inuits become more and more involved in local research activities.

On the other side of the world New Zealand has embarked on a long term quest to rid the islands of imported predators and save dozens of endemic bird species from extinctions. And in typical Kiwi fashion, its working.

#07

Considering the last couple newsletter have featured maps, I think it appropriate to note the United States is about to get a little bit shorter. No, we're not actually sinking, but mapmakers are re-calibrating the reference system used to determine something as seemingly uncontroversial as height above sea level. The last "height modernization" was completed in 1988 before GPS was widely available so there's a lot of new info to take into account. The adjustment will affect different regions differently. Southern Florida will basically stay at the same, whereas Seattle will lose over 4 ft. 

The Bookshelf

It's hard to go wrong with the classics, and I certainly wasn't disappointed in H.G. Wells's First Men in the Moon. In his typical journalistic style, Wells tells the story of a fledgling business man who stumbles into a partnership with an aloof scientist who invents a material that is unaffected by gravity. They duo make a spacecraft with this material and travel to the moon on it. There they find a breathable atmosphere, ample life, and an extensive subterranean civilization. The story may seem credulous with the benefit of today's scientific knowledge, but at the root of thsi story is the spirit that I think drives many of the best scientists and engineers today:

"But look here, Cavor," I said, "after all, what's it all for?"

He smiled. "The thing now is to go."

"The moon," I reflected. "But what do you expect? I thought the moon a dead world." He shrugged his shoulders.

"What do you expect?"

"We are going to see."

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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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