• Cosmos

Chinese Rocket Debris Hits Ocean Near Maldives

• China
• rockets
• space

by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer Debris from an out-of-control rocket from China hit the Indian Ocean near the Maldives on Saturday, causing NASA to criticize China for not meeting “responsible standards.” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement: “Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of […]

• Cosmos

Are we there yet? A journey to more clearly see the changing planet

• American Jobs Plan
• climate change
• Earth Observation
• NASA
• space
• US Global Change Research Program

By Nancy Colleton and Anne Hale Miglarese We’ve all been there. Either as a child, in the back of your parents’ car, probably squashed between two obnoxious siblings or, as a parent of a restless toddler, 15 minutes into a four-hour road trip, the question always arises, “Are we there yet?” Those of us in […]

• Cosmos

Space Tourism — the Final Commercial Frontier — Blasts Off This Summer

• Blue Origin
• commercial space
• Elon Musk
• Jeff Bezos
• New Shepard
• space
• SpaceX
• Virgin Galactic

Jeff Bezos’ commercial space venture, Blue Origin, plans to launch its first crewed ship to space on July 20, aboard its suborbital space tourism rocket, New Shepard. The company announced on Wednesday that one seat aboard that flight will be auctioned off to support its Club for the Future Foundation. 

Why this Matters:  After much anticipation, space tourism is finally happening.  Really. 

• Cosmos

One Space Thing: NASA’s Big Week

• Ingenuity Helicopter
• international space station
• Mars
• NASA
• Perseverence Rover
• SpaceX

Last week was so busy with what was happening on Earth, there was hardly time to talk about what happened in space.  To start the week, NASA launched a helicopter (named Ingenuity) on Mars — it did not just roll like the Perserverence rover — it flew and that was an amazing first that would […]

• Cosmos

The Supermoon Is More Than Pretty, It’s Powerful

• climate change
• high tide
• Miami
• moon
• sea level rise
• supermoon

Don’t underestimate the power of the moon. Super full moons like the one last night happen when the moon is closest to Earth, and they bring higher tides. For coastal cities like Miami or Boston or Norfolk, high tides also mean an increased risk of flooding.

Why This Matters: “In short, the moon has very strong control over how we experience sea level. It doesn’t affect sea-level rise, but it can hide or exaggerate it,” writes Brian McNoldy, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

• Cosmos

One Wobbly Thing: The Earth’s Shifting Axis

• axis
• climate change
• Earth
• groundwater
• ice
• poles

A study published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that the Earth’s axis, which shifts naturally, is now shifting 17 times faster than before 1981. Scientists use satellites that track gravity to assess “polar drift” and what they have discovered is that water is the greatest cause of the shifts.  Even more unnerving […]