Hey everyone,

Some exciting news this week! Here at Explore and Observe HQ we've decided to boldly enter the year 2009 and create Twitter and Facebook feeds for the newsletter. If you're on either of those platforms, follow the links and don't hesitate to share with your friends! I'll be posting content that doesn't quite make it into this newsletter, sharing up to date info about events like rocket launches and field expeditions, and writing down some of my own insights and musings. Hope you enjoy it!

- Evan

#01 TO SPACE

+ In what has been a tumultuous year, space travel has been a rare bright spot. The first crewed space launch from US soil in nearly a decade occurred back in May and a trio of robots launched towards Mars in July. This evening (Sunday), NASA and SpaceX hope to keep the good vibes flowing with the first operational launch of SpaceX's Dragon capsule to the space station, known as the Crew-1 mission. The launch back in May was a test mission, but this one is when NASA’s Commercial Crew Program truly come to fruition. It will be the first time SpaceX will launch as a fully certified human spaceflight provider and will mark the beginning of SpaceX's participation in regular station crew rotations.  The launch is currently scheduled for 7:27pm EST (4:27 PST) with coverage starting at 3:15pm EST (12:15 PST) on NASA TV. 

#02 AT SEA

+ "The most daunting stretch is the Southern Ocean surrounding the coast of Antarctica. Here, the skippers must battle tempest-ravaged seas, house-sized swells, and icebergs... 'I’ve never seen another vessel. There’s nobody,' says Merron," a three-time competitor in the Vendée Globe, a solo, nonstop, around the world sailing competition. This year's entrants set sail on November 8th, and of the 33 individuals who will test the limits of human endurance and hope to complete the 26,000 nautical mile 3-month journey, six are women, a record for the competition.

+ The Woods Hole Oceanic Institute is taking remote work to new extremes. The institute recently featured its Wave Glider autonomous surface vehicle. Unlike the deep-sea submersibles Woods Hole is known for, Wave Glider would ride on the surface and provide a communications link back to scientists. This would free up research vessels that are normally needed to support the deep dives to do other science, and could even enable scientists to operate the deep sea vehicles from the comfort of their own home! 

#03 SEARCH AND RESCUE

+ Various governments from around the world employ small armies to make Antarctic research stations safe and relatively comfortable for visiting scientists and researchers. But things inevitably go wrong at some point, and when that happens the base's Search and Rescue (SAR) team takes over. From the National Science Foundation, a podcast explores what it takes to be on an elite rescue team in one of the harshest environments on Earth.

+ Meet Richard Prideaux, the guy who teaches wilderness search and rescue teams about the wilderness.

#04 FIRST PEOPLES

+ Caribou populations in the west British Columbia have been declining for decades. That is until the First Nations people who live on the land took things into their own hands. Recently, the West Moberly and Saulteau Nations signed a historic agreement with the government committing to a robust recovery program for the caribou. Initial efforts have resulted in a rise of numbers, and the nations involved hope to someday be able to return to subsistence hunting. The "recovery work reflects a larger movement within their communities to address food sovereignty, cultural survival, and their link to first foods."

+ "Record numbers of an endangered turtle species have hatched in Mexico this year — thanks to reduced human activity during the pandemic and dedicated efforts of an Indigenous conservation group." Tortugueros del Desemboque, a conversation group run by the Comcáac (also known as Seri) people released over 2,250 sea turtles this year, more than double the usual number of 500-1,000. 

+ Thanks to a collaboration between the Tulalip Tribes and the City of Snohomish in Washington, two more unnecessary dams have been removed along the Pilchuck River. The removal will open nearly 40 miles of pristine and culturally important river habitat to various species of salmon whose presence in the region has dropped from a historic high of 12,000 returning individuals to less than 100 a year.

#05 ON THE BALLOT

+ In the first-ever statewide approval to reintroduce an animal to the ecosystem, Coloradans have narrowly voted for Proposition 114, which will allow grey wolves to be reintroduced into the western part of the state after being hunted to extinction in the state in the early 1900s. Although opposed by ranchers who fear the wolves may attack cattle, proponents are encouraged by the successful reintroduction of wolves into the northern Rockies in the 1990s. As a keystone predator, wolves help keep balance in an ecosystem. Reintroduction in Colorado could lead to a connected population of wolves from Canada all the way to Mexico, increasing the genetic diversity of isolated populations.  

#06 IN THE FIELD

+ The Peruvian Tern's desert camouflage makes it almost impossible to track. So how do scientists count the animals? You just have to look very, very closely. "It would take us four months to survey more than 1,851 acres, battling sandstorms, stifling heat, and impossible landscapes inside Paracas National Reserve — terrain that the Peruvian tern has mastered."

#07 A GOOD BOOK

+ Shipwreck divers are a unique breed. They willingly dive hundreds of feet underwater with limited air supplies, penetrate inside unstable vessels with no promise of easy escape in the case of trouble, and risk getting killed by decompression sickness (i.e. the bends) if they ascend to the surface too fast. Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson is the story of two of the best. In the early 1990s, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler were part of an elite team of wreck divers that identified a sunken German U-boat in US waters off the coast of New Jersey. The submarine was a complete mystery. No one, not even the US Navy or the German government, knew why it was there. Identifying the vessel, and understanding the story of the nameless crewmen on board, became an obsession for Chatterton and Kohler over the next 6 years. The pair, originally rivals, risked everything in the deep dark waters of the Atlantic to recover just a single identifying scrap from the sunken U-boat. In the process, they would discover much about themselves, and what it means to be a true explorer.

"Many of the deep wrecks hadn't been seen since their victims last looked at them, and would remain lost while nature pawed at them until they simply didn't exist anymore. In a world where even the moon had been traveled, the floor of the Atlantic remained uncharted wilderness, its shipwrecks beacons for men compelled to look." 

That's all for this week! You can respond to this email to tell me about anything you liked or didn't like, tell me about a project you're working on, or suggest a story. You might also forward this email to a friend so they can subscribe too!

- Evan Hilgemann

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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