Wednesday, August 06, 2025

On This Day in 2005: My First Skydive!

About to touch down at the drop zone following my first-ever jump at Skydive San Diego...on August 6, 2005.

Today marks 20 years since I went skydiving for the very first time! The jump took place at Skydive San Diego from an altitude of 13,000 feet...which was also the same altitude when I leaped out of another aircraft above Skydive Perris nine months later. I went on to skydive three more times—in 2013 with the HALO jump in Tennessee (at an altitude of 29,190 feet), in 2014 at Skydive Elsinore for my 35th birthday (at an altitude of 12,500 feet) and in 2018 at GoJump Oceanside for birthday #39 (once again at an altitude of 13,000 feet).

Will I go skydiving again, you ask? Hm. If my finances weren't dogshit right now, yes!

My certificate for my first-ever jump at Skydive San Diego...on August 6, 2005.

Saturday, August 02, 2025

Lakers Update: The Luka Era Is Officially Here!

Luka Dončić will be a Los Angeles Laker till at least 2028.
ESPN

Earlier today, 5-time NBA All-Star Luka Dončić officially solidified his place with the Los Angeles Lakers when he signed a 3-year contract extension worth $165 million. Dončić can become a free agent in 2028...which will mark his 10th year in the league and allow him to seek a 5-year deal worth $418 million with the Lakers. This financial windfall is dependent on Dončić declining a player option for the 2028-29 season, though.

So with Luka's future with the Lakers now secured, it remains to be seen what other moves the Lakers will make before NBA training camp starts on October 1st. And before I forget— Welcome to the Lake Show, Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart! (I already blogged about Deandre Ayton's arrival to L.A. a month ago.)

The Lakers still have ways to go before they can match up with the defending champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Luka securing his spot as the successor to LeBron James once the 22-year veteran retires (or leaves the Lakers for another team before the 2026-27 season) is a start! Happy Saturday.

Friday, August 01, 2025

The Latest Update on America's Newest Jupiter-bound Orbiter...

A computer-animated screenshot showing NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft about to fly past Mars for a gravity assist.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA’s Europa Clipper Radar Instrument Proves Itself at Mars (News Release)

The agency’s largest interplanetary probe tested its radar during a Mars flyby. The results include a detailed image and bode well for the mission at Jupiter’s moon Europa.

As it soared past Mars in March, NASA’s Europa Clipper conducted a critical radar test that had been impossible to accomplish on Earth. Now that mission scientists have studied the full stream of data, they can declare success: The radar performed just as expected, bouncing and receiving signals off the region around Mars’ equator without a hitch.

Called REASON (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface), the radar instrument will “see” into Europa’s icy shell, which may have pockets of water inside. The radar may even be able to detect the ocean beneath the shell of Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon.

“We got everything out of the flyby that we dreamed,” said Don Blankenship, principal investigator of the radar instrument, of the University of Texas at Austin. “The goal was to determine the radar’s readiness for the Europa mission, and it worked. Every part of the instrument proved itself to do exactly what we intended.”

The radar will help scientists understand how the ice may capture materials from the ocean and transfer them to the surface of the moon. Above ground, the instrument will help to study elements of Europa’s topography, such as ridges, so scientists can examine how they relate to features that REASON images beneath the surface.

Limits of Earth

Europa Clipper has an unusual radar setup for an interplanetary spacecraft: REASON uses two pairs of slender antennas that jut out from the solar arrays, spanning a distance of about 58 feet (17.6 meters). Those arrays themselves are huge — from tip to tip, the size of a basketball court — so that they can catch as much light as possible at Europa, which gets about 1/25th the sunlight as Earth.

The instrument team conducted all of the testing that was possible prior to the spacecraft’s launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 14, 2024. During development, engineers at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California even took the work outdoors, using open-air towers on a plateau above JPL to stretch out and test engineering models of the instrument’s spindly high-frequency and more compact very-high-frequency antennas.

But once the actual flight hardware was built, it needed to be kept sterile and could only be tested in an enclosed area. Engineers used the giant High Bay 1 clean room at JPL, where the spacecraft was assembled, to test the instrument piece by piece. To test the “echo,” or the bounceback of REASON’s signals, however, they would have needed a chamber about 250 feet (76 meters) long — nearly three-quarters the length of a football field.

Enter Mars

The mission’s primary goal in flying by Mars on March 1, less than five months after launch, was to use the planet’s gravitational pull to reshape the spacecraft’s trajectory. But it also presented opportunities to calibrate the spacecraft’s infrared camera and perform a dry run of the radar instrument over terrain that NASA scientists have been studying for decades.

As Europa Clipper zipped by the volcanic plains of the Red Planet — starting at 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) down to 550 miles (884 kilometers) above the surface — REASON sent and received radio waves for about 40 minutes. In comparison, at Europa the instrument will operate as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) from the moon’s surface.

All told, engineers were able to collect 60 gigabytes of rich data from the instrument. Almost immediately, they could tell that REASON was working well. The flight team scheduled the full dataset to download, starting in mid-May.

Scientists relished the opportunity over the next couple of months to examine the information in detail and compare notes.

“The engineers were excited that their test worked so perfectly,” said JPL’s Trina Ray, Europa Clipper deputy science manager. “All of us who had worked so hard to make this test happen — and the scientists seeing the data for the first time — were ecstatic, saying, ‘Oh, look at this! Oh, look at that!’ Now, the science team is getting a head start on learning how to process the data and understand the instrument’s behavior compared to models. They are exercising those muscles just like they will out at Europa.”

Europa Clipper’s total journey to reach the icy moon will be about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) and includes one more gravity assist — using Earth — in 2026. The spacecraft is currently about 280 million miles (450 million kilometers) from Earth.

Source: NASA.Gov

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An artist's concept of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft with the two pairs of antennas belonging to its REASON science instrument visible underneath both solar array wings.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

A portion of the radargram that NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft took with its REASON science instrument at Mars...on March 1, 2025.
NASA / JPL - Caltech / UT - Austin

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Photos of the Day: A Summer Tour at NASA JPL...

An image of the ASTHROS science instrument inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

Just thought I'd end this month by sharing pictures I took during a public tour, held on July 17, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

Unlike previous tours that I attended over the past couple of years, there was no spacecraft like Europa Clipper or the Perseverance Mars rover currently being built inside JPL's historic Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Instead, a science instrument known as ASTHROS (Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths) was being prepped for an upcoming high-altitude balloon mission that will deploy above Antarctica. The balloon that will send ASTHROS 130,000 feet (25 miles) into the stratosphere itself is pretty impressive; when fully-inflated, the helium-filled sphere will reach a diameter of 460 feet, which is about the size of Dodger Stadium here in Los Angeles!

While it's cool to see an airborne science instrument being constructed at JPL, it remains to be seen when the venerable laboratory will get to assemble a spaceborne payload (for a mission like Mars Sample Return) once again. Thanks to the loss of hundreds of laid-off employees and an uncertain NASA budget for next year thanks to Donald Trump, it may be quite a while till JPL gets to construct another robotic explorer that will venture somewhere in our Solar System.

In the meantime, JPL will just have to remain the "Center of the Universe" for current deep space missions that won't be affected by the lousy policies of a convicted felon in the White House. Carry on.

Taking part in another public tour at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

'Space deer' at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

Building 180, a.k.a. the Administration Building, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

My lanyard for the public tour at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

A full-scale replica of NASA's Galileo spacecraft inside the JPL Museum...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

A full-scale replica of NASA's Galileo spacecraft inside the JPL Museum...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

Inside the Space Flight Operations Facility, a.k.a. the 'Center of the Universe,' at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

Taking a selfie with the ASTHROS science instrument inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, CA...on July 17, 2025.
Richard T. Par

A sign inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility explaining how the ASTHROS balloon mission will be conducted above Antarctica.
Richard T. Par

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

A Fourth Blue Ghost Lander Will Head to the Lunar Surface Four Years from Now...

An artist's concept of Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander, the MoonRanger rover and a Canadian Space Agency rover on the surface of the Moon.
Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Awarded $177 Million NASA Contract for Mission to the Moon’s South Pole (Press Release)

Cedar Park, Texas – Firefly Aerospace, a market leading space and defense technology company, was awarded a $176.7 million NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract to deliver five NASA-sponsored payloads to the Moon’s South Pole in 2029. The mission will utilize Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander to enable payload operations that include evaluating the Moon’s South Pole resources, such as hydrogen, water and other minerals, and studying the radiation and thermal environment that could affect future astronauts and lunar infrastructure.

“Firefly is honored to support another NASA CLPS task order as a proven, reliable partner for robotic missions to the Moon,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “Following our first Blue Ghost mission that made history just a few months ago, this bold Firefly team proved we have the right mix of grit, innovation and dedication to not only stick the landing, but also complete all scientific objectives for our payload partners. We’ve set the bar high, and we aim to continue setting new records in our missions to come with our active production line of Blue Ghost landers.”

During Blue Ghost Mission 4 operations, Firefly’s Elytra Dark transfer vehicle will first deploy the Blue Ghost lander into lunar orbit and remain on orbit to provide a long-haul communications relay for the mission. Blue Ghost will then land in the Moon’s South Pole region, deploy the rovers, and enable payloads operations with data, power and communications services for more than 12 days on the lunar surface.

The NASA-sponsored payloads onboard Blue Ghost include two rovers – the MoonRanger rover and a Canadian Space Agency rover – as well as a Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer (LIMS), a Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA), and the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS), which also flew on Blue Ghost Mission 1. These payloads will help uncover the composition and resources available at the Moon’s South Pole, advance lunar navigation, evaluate the chemical composition of lunar regolith, and further study the effects of a lander’s plume on the Moon’s surface during landings.

Following Blue Ghost Mission 4 operations, Elytra Dark will remain operational in lunar orbit for more than five years in support of Firefly’s Ocula lunar imaging service. The mission enables a third Elytra Dark in Firefly’s growing constellation to provide customers with faster revisit times for lunar mapping, mission planning, situational awareness, and mineral detection services. The first two Elytra Dark vehicles will launch as part of Blue Ghost Mission 2 to the far side of the Moon in 2026 and Blue Ghost Mission 3 to the Gruithuisen Domes in 2028.

“Firefly’s Elytra Dark spacecraft are great companions for Blue Ghost – they’re highly maneuverable vehicles built with the same flight-proven components and propulsion system that successfully landed Blue Ghost on the Moon,” said Chris Clark, Vice President of Spacecraft. “As our Elytra constellation continues to grow in lunar orbit, Firefly is in a unique position to provide lunar imaging services and a communications relay for missions anywhere on the Moon’s surface. And with extra payload capacity on both Elytra and Blue Ghost, we invite additional government and commercial customers to join our fourth mission that’s built upon the same reliable architecture and led by the same trusted team.”

Source: Firefly Aerospace

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An artist's concept of Firefly Aerospace's Elytra orbiter deploying a Blue Ghost lunar lander in orbit above the Moon.
Firefly Aerospace

Monday, July 28, 2025

The Orbital Test Vehicle Is Ready to Fly Again...

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will launch on its next mission, OTV-8, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than August 21, 2025.
U.S. Space Force

U.S. Space Force Scheduled to Launch Eighth X-37B Mission (Press Release)

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The U.S. Space Force, in partnership with the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, is scheduled to launch the eighth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-8) on August 21, 2025, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

X-37B Mission 8 will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, designated USSF-36, with a wide range of test and experimentation objectives. These operational demonstrations and experiments comprise of next-generation technologies including laser communications and the highest performing quantum inertial sensor ever tested in space. Mission partners include the Air Force Research Lab and the Defense Innovation Unit, respectively.

Mission 8 will contribute to improving the resilience, efficiency and security of U.S. space-based communications architectures by conducting laser communications demonstrations involving proliferated commercial satellite networks in low-Earth orbit. Laser communications are integral to the future of space communications as the shorter wavelength of infrared light increases the amount of data that can be sent with each transmission. Additionally, they are more secure than traditional radio frequency transmissions owing to the more targeted nature of laser beams.

The use of proliferated relay networks enhances the resilience of U.S. space architectures by ensuring that they contain no single point of failure.

These experiments come as part of a broader push across the U.S. Space Force to uphold the safety and security of the space domain by enhancing the resilience and flexibility of U.S. orbital systems. Commenting on the significance of this demonstration, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman stated, "OTV-8's laser communications demonstration will mark an important step in the U.S. Space Force's ability to leverage proliferated space networks as part of a diversified and redundant space architectures. In so doing, it will strengthen the resilience, reliability, adaptability and data transport speeds of our satellite communications architecture."

Additionally, Mission 8 will demonstrate the world's highest performing quantum inertial sensor ever used in space. This demonstration will inform accurate unaided navigation in space by detecting rotation and acceleration of atoms without reliance on satellite networks like traditional GPS. This technology is useful for navigation in GPS-denied environments and consequently will enhance the navigational resilience of U.S. spacecraft in the face of current and emerging threats.

As quantum inertial sensors would be useful for navigation in cislunar space, they additionally promise to push the technological frontiers of long-distance space travel and exploration.

Speaking on the quantum inertial sensor demonstration, Col. Ramsey Horn, Space Delta 9 commander, asserted, "OTV-8's quantum inertial sensor demonstration is a welcome step forward for operational resilience in space. Whether navigating beyond Earth-based orbits in cislunar space or operating in GPS-denied environments, quantum inertial sensing allows for robust navigation capabilities when GPS navigation is not possible. Ultimately, this technology contributes significantly to our thrust within the Fifth Space Operations Squadron and across the Space Force guaranteeing movement and maneuverability even in GPS-denied environments."

The Fifth Space Operations Squadron, within USSF Delta 9 conducts day-to-day on-orbit operations of the X-37B in partnership with the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

The X-37B is a dynamic and responsive spacecraft responsible for conducting a range of tests and experiments that expedite the development of critical next-generation technologies and operational concepts for reusable space capabilities.

Source: United States Space Force

Thursday, July 24, 2025

The Latest Update on America's Newest Jupiter-bound Orbiter...

A digitally-processed image of Mars and its two moons Deimos and Phobos...taken by NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on February 28, 2025.
NASA / JPL - Caltech / ASU / SwRI

Europa Clipper Captures Mars, Phobos and Deimos (Photo Release)

NASA's Europa Clipper captured this infrared image of the heat radiation from Mars and its moons Phobos (closest to Mars) and Deimos (seen in upper left corner) on February 28, 2025, as the spacecraft approached the Red Planet while en route to the Jupiter system to investigate the icy moon Europa. The mission flew by Mars the next day, using the planet's gravity to help shape the spacecraft's trajectory.

When the image was taken by the mission's Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS), the spacecraft was about 560,000 miles (900,000 kilometers) from the Red Planet. The image is composed of 200 individual frames, part of a continuous scan of 1,100 frames taken roughly a second apart over a period of 20 minutes. Scientists are using the tiny, point-like images of the moons to check the camera's focus.

The image was captured using the middle of E-THEMIS's three long-wave infrared wavelength bands, which extend from about 14 to 28 micrometers. (A previously released E-THEMIS image of Mars used the shortest of the instrument's wavelength bands, extending from 7 to 14 micrometers and showing Mars in higher contrast.)

The dark oval near the top of Mars is the planet's cold northern polar cap and is about -190° Fahrenheit (-125° Celsius). The circular feature seen on Mars is the region around Elysium Mons.

The faint halo seen around the planet is due to the processing of the image. The two moons are about 250 times fainter than Mars, so scientists brightened the image (except for a region circling the planet) to make the moons more visible. The brightening also makes image noise more visible; the area surrounding Mars within the halo appears comparatively dark because it wasn't brightened.

Figure A (below) is an annotated version of the image with the moons labeled.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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FIGURE A: An annotated image of Mars and its two moons Deimos and Phobos...taken by NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on February 28, 2025.
FIGURE A: NASA / JPL - Caltech / ASU / SwRI

A computer-animated screenshot showing NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft about to fly past Mars for a gravity assist.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

Thursday, July 17, 2025

America's Newest X-Plane Moves One Step Closer to Flight...

The X-59 QueSST aircraft conducts a low-speed taxi test across the tarmac at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California...on July 10, 2025.
NASA / Carla Thomas

NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Begins Taxi Tests (News Release)

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has officially begun taxi tests, marking the first time that this one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft has moved under its own power.

NASA test pilot Nils Larson and the X-59 team, made up of NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin personnel, completed the aircraft’s first low-speed taxi test at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on July 10, 2025.

The taxiing represents the X-59’s last series of ground tests before first flight. Over the coming weeks, the aircraft will gradually increase its speed, leading up to a high-speed taxi test that will take the aircraft just short of the point where it would take off.

During the low-speed tests, engineers and flight crews monitored how the X-59 handled as it moved across the runway, working to validate critical systems like steering and braking. These checks help ensure the aircraft’s stability and control across a range of conditions, giving pilots and engineers confidence that all systems are functioning as expected.

The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s QueSST mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight by reducing the loud sonic boom to a quieter “thump.” Data gathered from the X-59 will be shared with U.S. and international regulators to inform the establishment of new, data-driven acceptable noise thresholds related to supersonic commercial flight over land.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Monday, July 14, 2025

On This Day in 2015: Remembering New Horizons' Historic Flyby of Pluto and its Moons...

A composite image of Pluto and its largest moon Charon...using photos that were taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015.
NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute

So it was 10 years ago today that NASA's New Horizons spacecraft became the first-ever robotic probe to explore the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons (Charon, Nix, Styx, Kerberos and Hydra) up-close. Even though Pluto has been a dwarf planet since the summer of 2006...when the International Astronomical Union demoted the former ninth planet from the Sun, this flyby completes NASA's robotic investigation of all the classical worlds (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) in our Solar System. Dozens of other objects have been discovered in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Pluto since then, but the 2015 encounter marked a major milestone in planetary exploration.

New Horizons is now destined to become the third functioning spacecraft to reach interstellar space—behind Voyager 1 and 2. Of course, saying that New Horizons will still be functional when it leaves the heliosphere may be a bit optimistic, as Trump lackey Russ Vought wants New Horizons to be one of the dozens of space missions that gets decommissioned under the White House's crappy budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026. Fortunately, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reject the attempt by Vought to impose his PROJECT 2025 nonsense to NASA's venerable planetary science program.

We'll see what happens when the FY 2026 budget supposedly becomes enacted on October 1st. Stay tuned.

Monday, July 07, 2025

ANOTHER TRUMP FAILURE: The Planetary Society Has Something to Say About Russ Vought's Stupid Attack on the U.S. Space Program...

An artist's concept of the Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft...which might be decommissioned thanks to the White House's 2026 budget proposal for NASA.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

Every Living NASA Science Chief Unites in Opposition to Unprecedented Budget Cuts (Press Release)

Seven former leaders of NASA’s Science program urge Congress to reject the wasteful 47% cuts proposed in the White House’s FY 2026 budget proposal

Pasadena, CA — In a joint statement, every living former head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate SMD — the agency's top science leadership position — has condemned the White House's proposed 47% cuts to NASA science activities in the White House’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal. This letter has been transmitted to the leadership of the House and Senate appropriations committees.

The letter, publicly released today, warns that the White House’s budget proposal would “walk away from dozens of current, extraordinarily successful and productive science missions” and halt nearly all future investments in exploration and innovation. The signatories — John Grunsfeld, Alphonso Diaz, Lennard Fisk, Wesley Huntress, Alan Stern, Edward Weiler and Thomas Zurbuchen — each served as Associate Administrator for NASA's science program. They are calling on Congress to preserve U.S. leadership in space exploration and reject the unprecedented cuts to space science concocted by the White House’s Budget Director, Russ Vought.

“NASA science endeavors are exercises in long-term national commitment that pay dividends to the American people,” they write. “Given the scale of the proposed cuts, their long-term consequences, and the potential loss of human knowledge and inspiration, we unanimously urge Congress to reject the proposed cuts.”

Together, the signatories span nearly four decades of NASA’s scientific leadership serving under every administration from Reagan to Biden.

The full letter can be read here.

Source: The Planetary Society

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An excerpt of the letter that was sent to the House and Senate appropriations committees...asking Congress to reject the White House's 2026 budget proposal for NASA.
The Planetary Society