AUSTRALIAN PLANETARY SCIENCE

19 Sep 24 The Space Review: Navigating new frontiers: Assessing the opportunity for US entities to launch and return space missions in Australia
15 Nov 22 TPS: LightSail 2 is about to burn up - After 3.5 years, 18,000 orbits of the Earth, and 8 million kilometers (5 million miles) traveled, The Planetary Society’s successful LightSail 2 solar sail spacecraft will burn up as it reenters the Earth’s atmosphere in the next few days. We always knew this would be the eventual fate for the spacecraft. It’s actually taken longer than originally predicted. Comment: A brilliant success for TPS. Interesting that its re-entry will be close to the planned launch of Artemis 1.
28 Sep 21 Broadsheet: Coming Soon: Sydney’s Getting a New Immersive Exhibition All About Space Travel.
26 May 2021 Timeanddate.com: Total Lunar Eclipse - visible from Sydney starting at 6:47pm, peak at 9:18pm - possibly clear skies!
8 Mar 21 n2yo: ISS passes over Sydney this evening. Look to south west at 19:40. It will be almost directly overhead at 19:46:30 and "set" to the NE at 19:51. Hoping the cloudy skies clear by then {it was patchy cloud but the ISS was visible and very bright!}
19 Feb 21 The Guardian: Mars rover landing: Nasa's Perseverance safely touches down in search of life - brilliant team work
8 Jan 21 The Conversation: Six space missions to look forward to in 2021.
30 Nov 20 Tinmes-Call: Skywatcher's Guide: December's nights of rarities (e.g. conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on 21st Dec and Moon occulation of Venus on 12th Dec in Colorado, USA) + ABC: Jupiter and Saturn come together in a 'once in a lifetime' show in the December sky (Sydney: "...around an hour after sunset on December 21" & "...on December 13... you'll be rewarded with the crescent Moon and Venus near each other on the eastern horizon around half an hour before sunrise." )
11 Nov 2019: There will be a transit of Mercury but it won't be observable from Australia - Space.com: Mercury Transit 2019: Here's Why This Celestial Event Is So Rare.
22 Jul 19 Lightsail2 will be unfurling its solar sails this week. n2yo.com has a webpage for working out when it might be visible over your skies. It looks like it might be too far North for clear observations from Sydney but Queensland should get a good view. Update 24 Jul 19 Scientific American: Solar Sailing Success: Planetary Society Deploys LightSail 2
21 Jul 19; I have been watching NASA's replay of the moonwalk. Here are my recollections of the Apollo astronauts:

I was 17 and living in Australia the day of the Moon landing. I listened to the landing at about 6am and decided to take the day off high school to watch the live broadcast of the moonwalk. I sensed the tension during the landing that turned out to be due to a computer "failure" (overload) and the need to avoid rougher than expected terrain while nearly running out of fuel.
I watched the moonwalk at around 1pm on a small black and white TV in our loiungeroom, surrounded by cardboard boxes to keep out the daylight. When the first picture came through I remember realising that it must be upside down before NASA fixed it. At least that was a minor consequence of Murphys Law!
Since the early 1960s I had collected newspaper and magazine clippings of the “space race” and still have the scrapbooks. They make fascinating reading with lots of wild speculation.
In 1990 I was delighted to attend a talk by Buzz Aldrin co-organised by the Planetary Society (which I had recently joined). After the talk I suggested to my 9 year old son, David, that he ask Buzz for an autograph. He was first in the queue but the organisers (not TPS people) decided to move to another room for autograph signing. Buzz kindly shepherded David through the crowd so that he would not miss out. I didn’t get a chance to thank Buzz for that moment but it confirmed my view of the thoughtfulness of astronauts.
My experience watching the Apollo program was a factor in my taking up a career in engineering which included crash testing cars. I also developed a hobby in much larger cosmic collisions (asteroids and comets or “microplanets”). I created a “spaceguard” web page in 1997 following a letter from TPS co-founder Lou Friedman about the Australian Government cancelling Duncan Steel’s asteroid detection program: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/horsts/spacegd.html
That hobby led me to having lunch in Sydney with Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart to discuss the threat to Earth and we have stayed in touch since then. I am also proud that moonwalker John Young referred to my spaceguard efforts when he wrote about the asteroid threat in an essay "The Big Picture Ways to Mitigate or Prevent Very Bad Planet Earth Events” [Space Times: Magazine of the American Astronautical Society 42 (January-February 2003)].
It is clear that space travel gives people a sense of the fragility of the Earth.

11 Jul 19 Space.com: LightSail 2 Beams 1st Photos Home from Orbit! How to Track the Little Satellite + TPS: LightSail 2 Mission Control.
14-16 May 19: Humans to Mars Summit in Washington DC
26 Jul 18 ABC: Mars has a vast liquid water lake beneath its southern pole, scientists believe (strengthens the case for Earth-life reaching liquid water on Mars)
8 Jun 18 NASA TV: NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars (called "organic" but not associated with life). Current methane in the atmosphere changes by a seasonal pattern, with summer levels three times that of winter - intriguing!
22 Apr 18 Canberra Times: Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke and Mission Control flight director Gerry Griffin visit Canberra - LOSA: Tickets for Mission Control: The unsung heroes of Apollo.
28 Mar 18 n2yo.com: Tiangong-1 space station reentry - see "next pass over your current location"! Journalists take note - it is not "friction", in the conventional sense, that heats up objects entering the Earth's atmosphere. Instead it is the heat generated by compressing the air, particularly the supersonic shock wave. Think how much a tyre pump heats up air when raising the pressure by a few atmospheres then multiply that effect thousands of times. Update 2 Apr: The re-entry time has been narrowed to between 10am and 2pm Sydney-time today (Apr2). If it goes a little further is is due to cross skies just north of Sydney at 2:37pm (see table below). By my guess re-entry is likely to place over the Middle-East (!), Indian Ocean or North-Western Australia. If you observe the re-entry take note of your location, time and direction and inform ESA (so they can refine their monitoring of space debris) Update 2 Apr - only out by a quater of an orbit! :)
6 Feb 18 (Revised time) Space.com: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket due to be launched at 20:40 GMT (7.40am 7th Feb in Sydney) - live coverage.
4 Dec 17 The Planetary Society end-of-year fund-raiser: The Planetary Fund
4 Dec 17 December issue of Scientific American ($) has a brilliant feature by Alan Stern: Pluto's Secrets Revealed - this lends support to my suggestion that the Pluto-Charon system be regarded as a binary planet
18 Aug 17 New section added: Hot springs from asteroid impacts
5 Aug 17 BBC: How to watch a solar eclipse safely
17 Mar 17 News.com.au: NASA plan to land a probe on Jupiter’s moon Europa on the budget cutting room floor.
15 Mar 17 The Verge: Bill Nye has a few tips for President Trump on how to manage NASA
23 Feb 17 NASA telescope reveals largest batch of Earth-size, habitable-zone planets around single star + Nature: These seven alien worlds could help explain how planets form.
22 Feb 17 USA Today: Will Pluto have the last laugh? NASA scientists want to make Pluto a planet again (see Microplanets)
22 Feb 17 NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System - NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets +BBC: What has Nasa discovered 'beyond our solar system'?
25 Jan 17 ScienceAlert: The internet is freaking out over this spooky prediction by Carl Sagan about the future (see also Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit)
25 Aug 16 ESO:Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star - Pale Red Dot campaign reveals Earth-mass world in orbit around Proxima Centauri + Nature paper
9 Oct 15 (Australia) News.com.au: Senior planetary scientist Dr Alan Stern said NASA to make ‘amazing’ announcement about Pluto. Update: NASA: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto.
30 Sep 15 TPS: Humans Orbiting Mars - A Critical Step Toward the Red Planet (see also Mars Indirect: Phobos as a Critical Step in Human Mars Exploration)
14 Jul 15 - Pluto encounter day! New Horizons will whizz past (binary system) Pluto and Charon at 9:49pm Sydney time.

NASA page.
TPS page.
A brilliant NASA app for Mac and PC that simulates the fly-by. [Tip from NASA] To change the distance units to metric, press the button on the bottom right of the screen, the one with an arrow pointing up from a horizontal line - to display the dock. Then you'll see "Visual Controls" on the right of control dock that rises. Click the Visual Controls header and look for the "Metric Units " radio button.
NASA TV.
Use this Exploratorium page to calculate a scale model of the solar system (eg use 500mm for the Sun's diameter).

21 May 15 TPS: Liftoff! LightSail Sails into Space aboard Atlas V Rocket. Mission Control- congratulations to the team. It passes over Sydney tonight just before 9pm (see map below) BUT the sail will not be unfurled for another 28 days or so - then it should be easily visible. The best opportunity will be around 18th June (currently the N2YO website only shows up to 30th May). Update 2 Jun 15: LightSail Team Prepares for Sail Deployment (maybe on 3rd June). Unfortunately it won't be visible from Sydney at dawn or dusk for the next 10 days
20 Mar 15 BBC: Skywatchers await solar eclipse - see also How to watch a solar eclipse safely + Tips for safe observing
9-10 Jul 14 TPS: Tune in tomorrow, Wednesday July 9 at 7:00 pm PDT, to planetary.org for a major live announcement! That's noon on Thursday in Sydney)
29 Apr 14 News.com: Ring of Fire solar eclipse is coming and Australia gets front row seats (commences 4:15pm in Sydney, peaks at 5:15) - see Tips for safe observing
25 Mar 14 TPS: Urgent petition to restore funding to NASA's slashed science budget - see links for US and non-US residents.

Dr Mr President
I am the Australian Volunteer Co-ordinator of the US-based Planetary Society and have been personally following the brilliant US planetary science missions since the 1960s.
These missions have led to major improvements in our understanding of climate, the threat of asteroid/comet impacts with Earth and the uniqueness of the Earth as a home for life. These are all important for the long-term survival of our civilisation.
Unfortunately it seems that "long term" is not a term understood by the Office of Management and Budget and they have repeatedly slashed NASA's planetary science budget.
The thousands of Australian supporters of the Planetary Society urgently request that you:
* Restore funding for NASA's Planetary Science Division to its historical average of $1.5 billion per year for the next five years.
* Ensure that NASA pursues the goals defined in the National Research Council's "Decadal Survey" report for Planetary Science, including a sample return from Mars and a mission to Europa.
* Maintain operations of existing spacecraft to ensure the highest science return on investment.

19 Mar 14 TPS: Major donation to TPS - the Society will be able to do more worthwhile things but still needs a strong membership for advocacy. Please consider joining or donating the Society.
11 Nov 13: Australian TPS members who would like to participate in the Volunteer Network and assist with organising events in Australia should contact Casey Dreier at TPS HQ and inform Michael Paine in Australia.
30 Aug 13 TPS: Vale Bruce Murray (1931-2013)
10 May 13 ABC: Your guide to the 2013 'Ring of Fire' eclipse (starts at 7:50am in Sydney where one quarter of the Sun will be covered by the Moon - see Tips for safe observing)
18 Apr 13 (11 a.m. PDT) - NASA Hosts Media Briefing on Kepler Planetary Discovery.
11 Apr 13 (Sydney time): Emergency webcast about the NASA budget - Join Bill Nye tonight, April 10th, at 6:00pm PDT / 9pm EDT (or 0100h UTC - 11am 11 April in Sydney)
29 Mar 13 TPS: A Major Political Victory for The Planetary Society - New Funds for 2013 Restore $223 million to Planetary Science at NASA - BUT see above item
14 Nov 12 Total Solar Eclipse visible from Cairns, North Queensland. Note that it starts at 5.45 am and it is the start of the wet season so there is a risk of cloud. NASA info. ABC Science tips - in Sydney the partial eclispse starts at 7.07am and ends at 9am. It peaks at about two-thirds at 8am. Never ever look directly at the Sun or through a telescope or binoculars - see Tips for safe observing
17 Oct 12 SpaceDaily: Nearest Star Has Earth Mass Planet
26 Aug 12: Neil Armstrong - the Right Stuff.
6 Aug 12 Curiosity touchdown
2 Aug 12: Landing of Curiosity Rover on Mars will be covered by NASA TV at 05:31 Aug 6 Universal Time (3.30pm Aug 6 in Sydney) . The Planetary Society is holding Planetfest 2012 in Pasadena at this time. NASA Press Kit. Two live feeds of video during key landing activities from mission control rooms at JPL will be carried on NASA TV and on http://www.ustream.tv between 8:30 and 11:00 p.m. PDT (California) on Aug. 5 (11:30 p.m. Aug. 5 to 2:00 a.m. Aug. 6 US EDT), and between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. PDT on Aug. 6 (3:30 to 4:30 a.m. US EDT).The NASA TV Public Channel and http://www.ustream. tv/nasajpl will carry a feed including commentary and interviews. The NASA TV Media Channel and http:// www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 will carry an uninterrupted, clean feed.
1 June 12: Transit of Venus visible from Australia on Wed 6th June: The Conversation: Transit of Venus: a must-see for everyone … no seriously + An upcoming transit + NASA: The 2012 Transit of Venus + Table of timing for cities around the world + ASA Factsheet for Australia (From Sydney starts at 8:16am and ends at 2:44pm - plus see Tips for safe observing)
15 Jan 12 Lizard-tail: Real-time tracking of Phobos-Grunt spacecraft.
2 Oct 11: Carl Sagan's books are now available from Kindle - but only for residents of the USA :(
23 May 11 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: The detection of extra-terrestrial life and the consequences for science and society (Feb 2011- authors include: Paul Davies, Charles Cockell, Chris McKay, Frank Drake, Colin Pillinger...a who's who of astrobiology)
26 Apr 11 Mars Society: Paul Davies to Discuss 'One-Way Mission to Mars' at Dallas Convention (4-7 Aug 2011, Texas)
12 Apr 11 UT: Countdown to Yuri’s Night and the 50th Anniversary of Human Spaceflight
4 Jan 11 JB Hifi: Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV series on sale for AU$35 - this multi Emmy Award winning series is arguably the most popular and stunningly influential science programme ever produced.
3 Dec 10 NewSci: Arsenic-eating bacteria point to new life forms.
30 Nov 10 SpaceDaily: NASA To Announce Astrobiology Finding: Major Impact On Search For Life (6am 3/12 Sydney time)
3 Aug 10: Need a vehicle for astronauts in bulky spacesuits to make short (5km) trips on the surface of Mars? Try the Segway - it is highly manoeuvrable and surprisingly controllable - 2Mb WMV video.
1 May 10 TPS: New Headquarters for The Planetary Society
10 Mar 10 Scoop NZ: Chance to meet Buzz Aldrin at Auckland [technology] Conference - Planet 2010 (12-13 Mar)
12 Feb 10 TPS: The New NASA Plan -- a live Ustream interactive video, Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 11:00am (PST - or 6am 13 Feb in Sydney!).
21 Nov 09 TPS: BE A PART OF OUR MOST EXCITING CHALLENGE EVER...LIGHTSAIL! We’re taking solar sailing to the next level… Now we need your help to launch LightSail. A generous Planetary Society Member has given us
$1 million dollars, BUT he is challenging us to raise the rest ($420,000) and be ready for launch by the end of next year. It’s the biggest project in our history ... with your help our multi-part LightSail mission will launch NEXT YEAR.
2 Nov 09 TPS: An open letter to President Obama from the Executive Director
17 Sep 09 TPS: Planetary Society Urges Support for the Augustine Committee Conclusions.
1 Sep 09 TPS: MY ROAD LEADS TO MARS! CAMPAIGN 2009 - letter to President Obama.
9 May 09 TPS: Make a donation to the FINDS Exo-Earth instrument at the Lick Observatory.
15 Mar 09 Google Earth now has a great Mars exploration feature. First you need to install Google Earth 5. Then just click on the globe icon in the top toolbar. More instructions at Google.
8 Mar 09 Arizona State Uni Beyond Center lectures and conferences on astrobiology now on iTunesU.
26 Aug 08 TPS: Support The Planetary Society Phobos LIFE Project - urgent request for donations to send microbes on a round trip to the Martian moon to test the transpermia hypothesis.
26 May 08 NASA: Phoenix due to land on Mars this morning. First signal should be received just before 10am, Sydney time. NASA TV coverage starts at 8.30am (Sydney)
3 May 08: [Australian] Senate Economics Committee Inquiry into The Current State of Australia's Space Science & Industry Sector - submissions sought
22 Apr 08 Astrobiology Science Conference 2008, Santa Clara, California April 14–17, 2008 - papers available
2 Feb 08 Universe Today: “Across the Universe” Day for NASA and Beatles Fans - NASA will use its Deep Space Network to transmit a song across the universe. And fittingly, the song is “Across the Universe” by the Beatles. On Feb. 4 at 7 pm EST, the song will be beamed towards the North Star, Polaris, located 431 light years away from Earth. As part of the celebration, the public around the world has been invited to participate in the event by simultaneously playing the song at the same time as the transmission by NASA. That is Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 11:00 AM in SE Australia.
20 Jan 07 Partial solar eclipse on 7 Feb 08. Starts at 14:52 in Sydney, peaks at 15:44 - see Paul Floyd's Fact Sheet. Tips for safe observing.
18 Jan 08 UT: Has a Signal from ET Really Been Detected? Bad Astronomy: No alien signal
14 Nov 07 Space.com: Wow! Moon Probe Captures 'Earth-rise' in High Definition - see also these other pictures of Earth from deep space. Australia is the most prominent Earth feature in this image, with the Moon's South Pole at the top.
25 Sep 07 SpaceDaily: NASA aims to put man on Mars by 2037.
9 Jun 07 The Australian: ACA closure 'short-sighted' - NASA's Australian-born astronaut Andy Thomas has joined international condemnation of the decision to shut down the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University in Sydney. Update 2008: ACA has moved to UNSW!
18 Apr 07 TPS: Life Experiment: Phobos - In an ambitious new initiative, the Society is studying the possibility of sending a collection of living organisms on a three-year trip to the Martian moon Phobos and back to Earth. This will be test of the Transpermia Hypothesis. Donations are sought.
25 Mar 07 TPS: Reports from the 2007 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
20 Jan 07 Science: Astrobiology Fights for Its Life - A decade after NASA pledged to create a robust program to find and understand life in the universe, researchers face a debilitating budget crunch and skepticism within their own agency.
28 Dec 06 Planetary Society: Visions of Mars: A Message to the Future - funds being sought to support this innovative project. TPS members should receive a letter about this project. They can fax their donation to +1 626 793 5528.
24 Dec 06 Planetary Society: Where Would We Be With Carl? by Ann Druyan + NASA: Pale Blue Orb - view of Earth from Saturn. More images of Earth from deep space. (updated URL)
23 Dec 06 SciAm:What Is a Planet? + Astronomical Journal What is a planet? by Steve Soter - see also Microplanets
7 Dec 06 BBC: Water flowed 'recently' on Mars + New Scientist: Water flows on Mars, before our very eyes + NASA multi-media.
9 Nov 06: For Eastern Australian residents the Transit of Mercury will be visible from just after dawn on Thursday 9th of November to late morning. See Paul Floyd's webcast. ASA Factsheet. Tips for safe observing. Thanks for the tips Ian Musgrave. SOHO live coverage.
7 May 06 Free Planetary Society Podcasts at Apple iTunes Store - search for "Planetary Radio".
26 May 06 Planetary Society: Don't Trash Space Science - please support this crucial campaign.
5 May 06 NASA: NASA and Partners Release New Movies of Titan (touchdown)
28 Mar 06 SpaceDaily: Eclipse of the Sun on 29 March - see these precautions about viewing the Sun.
10 Mar 06 Space.com: Commentary: Destroying Astrobiology Would be a 'Disaster'.
16 Feb 05 Planetary Society Charges Administration with Blurring its Vision for Space Exploration - It seriously damages the hugely productive and successful robotic exploration of our solar system and beyond.
27 Jun 05 TPS: The Story of Cosmos 1 is Not Over: A Personal Report - There seems to be some indication that the spacecraft was injected into a low orbit, one that would quickly decay and cause the spacecraft to fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere...I do know that we are committed to trying again, for The Planetary Society exists to make space exploration happen. Dec 05; Solar Sail Update: Getting Started
17 May 05: PDF of talk given at Australian Centre for Astrobiology in 2003: Asteroids - now for the good news.
6 May 05 Nature: Fear and rambling at NASA (PDF) - Only a confused space agency would consider shutting down the Voyager spacecraft as they approach the uncharted edge of the Solar System...
10 Mar 05 Nature (Subs!): NASA's funding shortfall means journey's end for Voyager probes - Mission to the edge of the Solar System may shut down in October to save cash
10 Feb 05 Starry Night software now available for Mac OS X.
16 Jan 05 ESA: First Results from Huygens - first picture from the surface of another moon. Panoramic picture during descent.
3 Dec 04 Science: Special Issue: Opportunity at Meridiani Planum
22 Oct 04: Astronomy Online has opened a store in Brookvale (map) - Northern Sydney. Carl Sagan's Cosmos DVD is on special.
7 Oct 04 Abstracts for the proceedings of Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the Stars now available at
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
The Planetary Society Aim for Mars! website
13 Aug 04 ABC: Site chosen for Mars training lab - The Mars Society of Australia is to begin searching for investors to help fund a proposed Mars research station at Arkaroola in northern South Australia.
Reports on Progress in Physics: Astrophysical and astrochemical insights into the origin of life (Abstract + full article is free!) - this is a milestone study + Quantum fluctuations and life by Paul Davies
Astrobiology Magazine: Interview with Ann Druyan and Steven Soter [coauthors of Cosmos and numerous other Carl Sagan books] - life, the Universe and everything! Plus the book Cosmic Connections, written by Carl Sagan in 1973 has been re-released with updates by Ann Druyan, Freeman Dyson and David Morrison - recommended reading.
Carl Sagan's brilliant Cosmos TV series is now available on DVD - still highly relevant after 20 years. Australian supplier.

Aims

We promote education in planetary exploration and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
We promote space science and expand the knowledge of the universe by facilitating the communication of information and ideas between scientists.
We speak for earth and all life.
We cherish and develop the invaluable potential for intelligence of each member of our space-faring civilisation.
We joyously venture forth to the planets, stars and galaxies beyond.

There can be no thought of finishing, for 'aiming at the stars', both literally and figuratively, is a problem to occupy generations, so that no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.

Is your name on Mars? (here is a Romanian translation of this page by Alexander Ovsov)
Join TPS

Planetary News (planetary exploration, SETI, astrobiology, extra-solar planets...

For microplanet (NEO / comet / asteroid) news see Australian Spaceguard Survey.

TPS (US) News

Astronomy Online

Sky & Telescope

Victor Noto's News Links

NASA's live news broadcast

Panspermia What's New(CA)

NASA Astrobiology News

Science Magazine

Universe Today

15 Dec 24 Livescience (tip: use Reader to avoid annoying, intrusive ads): China aims to be 1st to bring samples back from Mars | Live Science.
29 Nov 24 New Scientist: Meteorite crystals show evidence of hot water on ancient Mars + Bacteria found in asteroid sample – but they’re not from space (see Rocks from Space) + A new life on Mars? Expect toxic dust, bad vibes and insects for lunch
12 Nov 24 BBC: New research prompts rethink on chances of life on Uranus moons - reanalysis of Voyager data to take account of a powerful solar wind on the days of the fly-by
23 Oct 24 The Guardian: ‘Humanity would watch helplessly as space junk multiplies uncontrollably’: has the number of satellite launches reached a tipping point?
4 Sep 24 The Conversation: Life on alien planets probably wouldn’t experience day and night – here’s how that may change evolution. See also a new book The Secret Life of the Universe (also an Apple eBook)
4 Sep 24 The Space Review: An alternative Mars Sample Return program.
13 Aug 24 ABC News : Mars study suggests an ocean's worth of water may be hiding beneath the red dusty surface.
2 Aug 24 New Scientist:

Oldest rocks on Earth may contain strange and ancient life forms
Mars rover found a rock with possible signs of ancient life - but uncertainty about a sample return mission means we may never find out
Moon bases will need to be 3 metres underground to avoid radiation
Should we put a frozen backup of Earth's life on the moon?

27 Feb 24 BBC: Japan Moon lander survives lunar night.
27 Feb 24 Japan Today: Private U.S. spacecraft is on its side on the moon with some antennas covered up.
27 Feb 24 SpaceDaily: Japan successfully launches next-gen H3 rocket.
27 Feb 24 Japan News: Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ Moon Has Hidden Secret: Its Subsurface Ocean.
19 Feb 24 ABC: Gilmour Space Technologies prepares to launch rocket into orbit from Bowen, Queensland.
30 Jan 24 ABC: Japan's SLIM lunar probe regains power after nine days.
21 Jan 24 ABC: Japan's SLIM 'Moon sniper' makes historic landing, but probe can't generate solar power.
18 Dec 23 SpaceDaily: Engineers Working to Resolve Issue With Voyager 1 Computer
21 Nov 23 Space Review: Why you should care about life beyond Earth (and space exploration - see also astronaut John Young's Afterword in The Lunar Base Handbook)
15 Sep23 Science: Costly Mars Sample Return is squeezing smaller NASA missions.
14 Sep 23 Space Review: Key issues for the Japanese government regarding exploration and development of space resources.
29 Jul 23 Japan Today: NASA lab hopes to find life's building blocks in asteroid sample.
28 Jul 23 New Scientist: It may have been snowing on Mars 400,000 years ago (see also Snow on Mars)
6 Jun 23 A Sign in Space - Decode and Interpret the Message
22 Dec 22 New Scientist ($): Mars has enough wind to power bases near the poles all year round.
10 Dec 22 Science ($): Organic geochemistry in Jezero crater
8 Dec 22 The Guardian: Are we alone in the universe?’: work begins in Western Australia on world’s most powerful radio telescopes.
29 Nov 22 The Conversation: Artemis: why it may be the last mission for Nasa astronauts.
29 Nov 22 New Scientist ($): NASA awards $2 million to advance rainbow-coloured solar sail project.
28 Oct 22 BBC: Nasa space probes document big [?] impacts on Mars - "using the seismometer on the US space agency's InSight lander. The probe picked up the ground vibrations.Confirmation came from follow-up imagery acquired by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)"..."huge chunks of buried water-ice have been excavated and thrown around the edges of the crater. Buried water-ice has never before been seen so close to Mars' equator. " [comment: this is a very significant discovery, firstly because it will enable scientists to refine their models for impact cratering (the meteoroid was about 10m in diameter) and secondly because of the confirmation of water ice near the surface of Mars.]
27 Oct 22 Space.com: Extremophiles on Mars could survive for hundreds of millions of years (increases the odds for live microbes in my estimates)
28 Jul 22 Sci-news: Rare Mineral from Martian Crater was Created in Explosive Volcanic Eruption Over 3 Billion Years Ago.
2 Jul 22 Space.com: Rock samples from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover contain key ingredient of life.
2 Jul 22 ScienceAleret: Mars Has So Much Radiation, Any Signs of Life Would Be Buried Six Feet Under.
3 Feb 22 The Conversation: We’ve found the first ever ‘shocked’ zircon crystal from Mars. It provides a new view on when conditions for life may have arisen.
3 Feb 22 Republic World: Mars Had Environment Like Costa Rica's Toxic Volcano Crater Housing Bacteria: Study.
26 Jan 22 ScienceAlert: Mysterious Signal of Hidden Lakes on Mars May Not Be What We Thought + [Comtrary view] Phys.org: Confirming liquid water beneath Martian south polar cap + The Moon That Resembles The Death Star Has Been Hiding Another Epic Secret.
26 Jan 22 JPL: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Measures Intriguing Carbon Signature on Mars
16 Jan 22 The Guardian: New study of 1980s Mars meteorite debunks proof of ancient life on planet (see this 2004 report: Major Milestone For Detecting Life On Mars ) + Science ($): Organic synthesis associated with serpentinization and carbonation on early Mars - "...abiotic production of organic molecules operated on Mars 4 billion years ago..."
26 Oct 21 The Conversation: A mysterious signal looked like a sign of alien technology — but it turned out to be radio interference.
21 Oct 21 Nature: Venus might never have been habitable.
4 Oct 21 New Scientist: Life on Venus may have only been possible for its first billion years (see Venus & transpermia)
1 Oct 21 New Scientist: The deepest canyons on Mars were rapidly formed by devastating floods
25 Sep 21 Devdiscourse: Mars habitability limited by its small size: Study.
15 Sep 21 JPL: NASA’s Perseverance Rover Collects Puzzle Pieces of Mars’ History.
6 Sep 21 The Science Times: Humans Growing Plants on Mars Impossible Due to Cosmic Radiation Exposure Rather Than Martian Soil.
6 Sep 21 New Scientist ($): Martian cave entrances may offer a life-friendly radiation shield
6 Sep 21 JPL: NASA’s Perseverance Rover Successfully Cores Its First Rock.
6 Sep 21 National Goegraphic: Planet 9 [X!] may be closer and easier to find than thought—if it exists
6 Sep 21 The Conversation: A quarter of Sun-like stars eat their own planets, according to new research.
7 Aug 21 CNN: Planets similar to those in our solar system found around nearby star - 35 light years away "There may be as many as five planets in orbit around it, including an ocean world, a potentially habitable planet and one of the lightest-ever exoplanets ever discovered..."
7 Aug 21 The Conversation: I’m training to become Australia’s first woman astronaut. Here’s what it takes.
7 Aug 21 Science Advances: Intense subaerial weathering of eolian sediments in Gale crater, Mars - postulates that the layered sediments observed by the Curiosity rover did not form in a ancient lake
1 Aug 21: Updated my lightsail balloon concept with a possible design for steerable inflatable sails
10 Jul 21 UT: Cassini Saw Methane in Enceladus’ Plumes. Scientists Don’t Know How it Could be There Without Life + Unfortunately, There are Other Viable Explanations for the Subsurface Lakes on Mars.
9 Jul 21 Science ($): Brine-driven destruction of clay minerals in Gale crater, Mars + JPL: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Patches of Rock Record Erased, Revealing Clues.
7 Jul 21 ScienceAlert: Simulations Reveal The Most Likely Place For a Galactic Civilization in The Milky Way.
15 Jun 21 The Conversation: Do aliens exist? We asked five experts.
28 May 21 ScienceAlert: Hints of Hidden Volcanoes Deep Inside Europa Boost Its Chances of Hosting Alien Life. (see also "Beyond Mars" on these notes about Transpermia)
24 May 21 Air & Space: Could We Really All Be Martians? - Considering the likelihood of an exchange of microbes between Earth and Mars. (see also transpermia)
24 May 21 Astrobiology ($$!): Life on Mars: Independent Genesis or Common Ancestor? + Uninhabitable and Potentially Habitable Environments on Mars: Evidence from Meteorite ALH 84001.
22 May 21 UT: 60 Years Later, is it Time to Update the Drake Equation?
22 May 21 Cornell Uni: Detectability of Artificial Lights from Proxima b (see also Can we detect asteroid impacts with rocky extrasolar planets?)
17 May 21 ABC: China reports successful spacecraft landing on Mars, deploys rover in massive leap for space program.
14 May 21 Researchgate.net: Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior From Sequential Images BUT see Cnet: No, NASA photos are not evidence of fungus growing on Mars, sorry (see also Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life)
11 May 21 UT: We Could Detect Extraterrestrial Satellite Megaconstellations Within a few Hundred Light-Years (see also Can we detect asteroid impacts with rocky extrasolar planets?)
11 May 21 PSI: Volcanoes on Mars Could Be Active, Raise Possibility of Recent Habitable Conditions (see also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact)
5 Apr 21 UT: Clear Signs of Recent [wind] Erosion on Mars
11 Mar 21 The Diplomat: China, Russia Agree to Cooperate on Permanent Moon Base (US laws ban NASA from joining in)
11 Mar 21 Gizmodo: Elon Musk Explains Why the Starship SN10 Prototype Exploded After Landing.
24 Feb 21 SMH: Why life on Mars could be a bad omen for humankind (but see Transpermia) - note that the Milky Way is about 200,000 light years across, not 200 million light years.
23 Feb 21 Space Review: It only looks easy: Perseverance lands on Mars + NASA tests the perseverance of some space enthusiasts
8 Jan 21 The Guardian: Scientists looking for aliens investigate radio beam 'from nearby star' + The Conversation: SETI: new signal excites alien hunters – here’s how we could find out if it’s real
4 Jan 21 The Guardian: I lived like an astronaut for months in isolation.
16 Dec 20 UT: If There’s Subsurface Water Across Mars, Where is it Safe to Land to Avoid Contamination? (already "contaminated"? - see Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact )
16 Dec 20 ScienceAlert: Astronomers Just Found Cosmic 'Superhighways' For Fast Travel Through The Solar System.
16 Dec 20 Nature: Surprise! First peek inside Mars reveals a crust with cake-like layers.
5 Dec 20 ABC: Astrogeologist Gretchen Benedix is on a mission to solve the mysteries of space NASA can't [e.g. automating the counting of craters on planetary surfaces to determine the age of features like volcanos]
1 Dec 20 The Conversation" We’ve mapped a million previously undiscovered galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Take the virtual tour here
29 Nov 20 Science: Potential signs of life on Venus are fading fast.
24 Oct 20 Monthly Notices of RAS: Which stars can see Earth as a transiting exoplanet?
6 Oct 20 New Scientist ($): NASA may have found signs of life on Venus in 1978 without realising
25 Sep 20 Astrobiology: Transfer of Life Between Earth and Venus with Planet-Grazing Asteroids +
25 Sep 20 NewSci: Have we spotted alien life floating in the clouds of Venus? + The Conversation: If there is life on Venus, how could it have got there? Origin of life experts explain + SpaceRef: Breakthrough Initiatives to Fund Study into Search for Primitive Life in the Clouds of Venus +
13 Sep 20 PNAS ($(: Mechanism of water extraction from gypsum rock by desert colonizing microorganisms.
13 Sep 20 Astrtobiology ($): A SETI Survey Of The Vela Region Using The Murchison Widefield Array: Orders Of Magnitude Expansion In Search Space + ScienceAlert: Across 10 Million Stars, Not a Single Whisper of Alien Technology.
13 Sep 20 The Guardian: Are aliens hiding in plain sight?
13 Sep 20 Frontiers in Microbiology ($): DNA Damage and Survival Time Course of Deinococcal Cell Pellets During 3 Years of Exposure to Outer Space.
2 Sep 20 ScienceAlert: Ancient Mars Had Planet-Wide Rainstorms So Intense They Breached Its Lakes.
2 Sep 20 UNSW: Microbes living on air a global phenomenon.
21 Aug 20 LiveScience: Interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua could still be alien technology, new study hints.
30 Jul 20 New Scientist: Mould from Chernobyl nuclear reactor tested as radiation shield on ISS.
10 Jun 20 The Conversation: Half the matter in the universe was missing – we found it hiding in the cosmos.
18 May 20 UT: One Step Closer to Interstellar Travel. A Successful Microgravity Test of a Graphene Light Sail.
12 May 20 ScienceAlert: Scientists Find The First Animal That Doesn't Need Oxygen to Survive. See also extremephiles.
7 May 20 SienceAlert: Some Astronomers Think We Should Be Looking For Hydrogen-Breathing Aliens. Here's Why.
27 Mar 20 ScienceDaily: Ancestor of all animals identified in Australian fossils.
27 Mar 20 New Scientist: Mars may once have had right conditions for RNA to develop into life + Solar flares and cosmic rays may make Proxima b warm enough for life.
11 Mar 20 ScienceAlert: Organic Molecules Found on Mars Could Have a Biological Origin, Study Shows + Astrobiology: Thiophenes on Mars: Biotic or Abiotic Origin?
3 Mar 20 ScienceAlert: Earth Could Have Once Been a Waterworld Covered by a Global Ocean, Study Suggests + What Is The Deal With This Weird Hole on Mars?
1 Mar 20 LiveScience: Freeman Dyson, quantum physicist who imagined alien megastructures, has died at 96.
28 Feb 20 Space.com: Alien-life hunters are eyeing icy ocean moons Europa and Enceladus.
28 Feb 20 ABC: NASA InSight mission confirms Mars has quakes, but its atmosphere and magnetic fields are weird.
23 Feb 20 Tech Explorist: Our planet formed much faster than previously thought - The new results support a more recent, alternative theory about the formation of planets through the accretion of cosmic dust. [comment: but there have still been huge collisions in our solar system - tilting Uranus, forming our Moon etc]
18 Jan 20 UT: LightSail 2 is Still Solar Sailing, But it’s Getting Lower and Lower with Each Orbit + TPS: Orbit and Attitude Performance of the LightSail 2 Solar Sail Spacecraft.
3 Jan 20 New Scientist: Meeting the NASA Mars rover that might find life on the Red Planet
14 Dec 19 New Scientist: Should SpaceX be allowed to contaminate Mars with Earth microbes? [but see Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact ]
28 Nov 19 The Conversation: Why the idea of alien life now seems inevitable and possibly imminent.(mentions transpermia)
12 Nov 19 ABC: Calls for a Mars research station to be built in outback South Australia at Arkaroola (brilliant location - see ajacent photo! MSA also proposed this in 2004)
20 Oct 19 SciAm: I’m Convinced We Found Evidence of Life on Mars in the 1970s by Gibert Levin (but see Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life - my Space.com article from 2001) + Aerogel Mars - A novel idea for the local terraforming of Mars raises interesting possibilities
16 Oct 19 Space.com: Venus May Not Have Been As Earthlike As Scientists Thought.
8 Oct 19 JPL: NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds an Ancient Oasis on Mars.
7 Oct 19 The Conversation: Red planet rumbles: NASA’s recordings of ‘marsquakes’ let us listen to the martian heartbeat.
1 Oct 19 Cosmos: Earliest life found in ancient Aussie rocks.
30 Sep 19 Japan Today: Musk unveils SpaceX rocket designed to get to Mars and back.
12 Sep 19 The Guardian: Water found on most habitable known world beyond solar system.
26 Aug 19 SciAm: The Solar System’s Loneliest Planets [Uranus & Neptune], Revisited
26 Aug 19 Canberra Times: ANU scientists shed light on Mars methane mystery.
26 Aug 19 Livescience: Alien Oceans Could Hold Way More Life Than Earth’s Waters Ever Did, New Research Suggests [then again, none at all]
2 Aug 19 The Conversation: Australia can pick up its game and land a Moon mission.
2 Aug 19 Space.com: Could There Be Life? This Newfound 'Super-Earth' May Be Habitable - "could have water on its surface..."
26 Jul 19 NASA: Remembering Chris Kraft
5 Jul 19 9News: NASA Curiosity Rover detects methane spike on Mars, indicating signs of life [?]
5 Jul 19 Space.com: LightSail 2 Sends Back 1st Signals from Its Solar-Surfing Test Flight.
31 May 19 SciNews: Planetary Scientists Find Ancient Ice Caps beneath Martian North Pole.
29 May 19 Space Review: Book Review: Mysteries of Mars
25 May 19 Space.com: How Dead Aliens Could Help Save Humanity.
10 May 19 Space.com: Could There Be Life on Mars Today [see also this 2010 paper]
5 Apr 19 ABC: Rivers on Mars raged for more than a billion years, according to new study.
25 Mar 19 Space.com: The Risk of Apollo: Astronauts Swap Harrowing Tales from NASA's Moon Shots.
19 Mar 19 Space Review: NASA’s flawed plan to return humans to the Moon + Pow, right to the Moon.
4 Jan 19 NewSci: China’s Chang’e 4 makes historic first landing on the moon’s far side.
3 Jan 19 Space.com: Alien Hunters, Stop Using the Drake Equation.
27 Dec 18 ABC: Former NASA astronaut Bill Anders says sending people to Mars would be 'stupid'.
11 Dec 18 The Conversation: Australia is still listening to Voyager 2 as NASA confirms the probe is now in interstellar space.
7 Dec 18 Space.com: 'Blueberries' on Mars Have a Watery Past. But Scientists Are Still Baffled.
22 Nov 18 Livescience: Are These Earth's Oldest Fossils of Life? Dispute Has E.T. Implications.
29 Oct22 Nov 18 SMH: Not ideal: Old cars account for 80 per cent of teenage drivers' deaths.The Biggest Story of the Century Needs More Coverage 18 The Guardian: Scientists call for ‘mega-mission’ to find ancient life on Mars.
25 Oct 18 SciAm: Oxygen-Rich Liquid Water May Exist on Mars - Brines suffused with the life-giving gas could offer hope for past and even present microbes on the Red Planet, according to a new study [strengthens the case for Earth-microbes reaching habitable conditions on Mars]
17 Oct 18 Space.com: Paul G. Allen, Billionaire Stratolaunch Founder Who Pushed for Private Space Travel, Dies at 65
2 Oct 18 Livescience: Pluto Should Be a Planet and So Should Earth's Moon, New Study Claims [see Microplanets]
13 Sep 18 LiveScience: The Closest Exoplanet to Earth Could Be 'Highly Habitable' - "Proxima Centauri b can sustain enormous areas of liquid water on its surface..."
11 Sep 18 TechCrunch: SETI neural networks spot dozens of new mysterious signals emanating from distant galaxy
21 Aug 18 Space Review: Rethinking the Mars terraforming debate.
3 Aug 18 Science: Liquid water on Mars - background on the discovery
3 Aug 18 Space.com: Planet Nine: 'Insensitive' Term Riles Scientists - "...we the undersigned believe the use of the term 'Planet 9' for objects beyond Pluto is insensitive to Professor Tombaugh's legacy....call it Planet X"
2 Aug 18 New Scientist ($): Terraforming Mars might be impossible due to a lack of carbon dioxide.
26 Jul 18 ABC: Mars has a vast liquid water lake beneath its southern pole, scientists believe (strengthens the case for Earth-life reaching liquid water on Mars)
16 May 18 Space.com: This May Be the Best Evidence Yet of a Water Plume on Jupiter's Moon Europa.
11 May 18 Science Alert: These NASA Scientists Think Pluto IS a Planet, And Here's Why + Forbes: You Won't Like The Consequences Of Making Pluto A Planet Again (see also Microplanets)
11 May 18 Inquisitr: Search For Alien Life: Breakthrough Listen Launches Massive Survey Of The Milky Way - using the Parkes radio telescope in Australia.
30 Apr 18 Cosmos: Viruses, ET and the octopus from space: the return of panspermia. See also Swapping Rocks.
29 Apr 18 The Guardian: Life on Mars? Scientists close to solving mystery of the red planet (methane detection)
20 Apr 18 Earth & Sky: New study suggests violent origin for Mars’ moons - this work suggests that, unlike normal asteroids, Phobos has very little water. This could affect its atttraction as a stepping stone to Mars.
3 Apr 18 Astrobiology: Venus' Spectral Signatures and the Potential for Life in the Clouds.
7 Feb 18 Air Space Magazine: The Lunar Anthropic Principle - Is humanity destined to live on the Moon? By Paul Spudis (see Moonbase)
17 Jan 18 Cosmos: Some species of bacteria produce methane - US research uncovers previously unknown greenhouse gas pathway (has implications for Mars astrobiology)
7 Jan 18 SMH: 'If astronauts have a hero, that hero is John Young': plaudits flow for NASA's longest-serving astronaut - John Young was certainly a hero to me, with that first Space Shuttle flight and his acknowledgement of the craft at the end of the flight. I am proud that he referred to my spaceguard research in an essay "The Big Picture Ways to Mitigate or Prevent Very Bad Planet Earth Events" {thanks Dana Holland]
5 Jan 18 Science ($): Earth-based planet finders power up + Mars methane rises and falls with the seasons
5 Jan 18 New Scientist ($): Tides and atmospheres on TRAPPIST-1 planets may help [possible] life thrive
30 Dec 17 ScienceDaily: Genes in Space-3 successfully identifies unknown [terrestrial] microbes in space
19 Dec 17 Quartz Media: Scientists finally confirm there was life on Earth 3.5 billion years ago. PNAS paper.
19 Dec 17 BBC: Interstellar object may hold 'alien' water.
15 Dec 17 ABC: NASA and Google discover [8th] Kepler-90i planet in alien solar system using Kepler Space Telescope - a scorching 427 degrees Celsius at the surface...
4 Dec 17 SpaceDaily: NASA successfully fires Voyager 1 thrusters after 37 years.
4 Dec 17 NewSci: Scorching hot springs house extreme life and a future ocean. (see also Extemophiles)
4 Dec 17 News.com.au: Russian cosmonaut claims extraterrestrial life was found on International Space Station.
22 Nov 17 Stuff: What Rotorua hot springs tell us about the origins of life and Mars.
22 Nov 17 ABC Science: Mars' liquid water hopes drying up as 'flowing streams' found to be sand avalanches - but there is still plenty of near-surface ice that is likely to have pockets of liquid water
5 Nov 17 (Tsunami awareness day) International Journal of Astrobiology: Darwin's aliens
11 Oct 17 Cosmos: Water (ice) found near Martian equator (see also Snow on Mars)
11 Oct 17 Brisbane Times: Astronaut Scott Kelly on the devastating effects of a year in space
4 Aug 17 SciAm ($): Life on Earth Came from a Hot Volcanic Pool, Not the Sea, New Evidence Suggests - Deep oceans were thought to hold life's origins. New evidence points instead to an active volcanic landscape [but see Shocked into life and Asteroids: now for the good news - impact craters are often associated with similar hydrothermal systems and are much more frequent than volcanoes on rocky planets.]
4 Aug 17 ABC: Where our Curiosity took us (5 years on Mars)
1 Aug 17 New Atlas: Proxima B's chances of hosting life may have just dropped.
30 Jun 17 NG Explorers Journal: Pushing the frontiers of human exploration, on Earth and beyond.
23 May 17 NewSci: Astronomers scramble as ‘alien megastructure’ star dims again.
22 Apr 17 NASA: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn (see also Earth from Space)
19 Apr 17 ARS Technica: NASA set an ignominious record last week—but don’t blame the space agency [longest period of not launching a human from USA]
19 Apr 17 7News: Mars spacecraft's first missions face delays, NASA says.
19 Apr 17 SMH: NASA finds ingredients for life spewing out of one of Saturn's icy moons.
15 Mar 17 The Verge: Bill Nye has a few tips for President Trump on how to manage NASA
13 Mar 17 New Atlas: Saturnian flying-saucer moon stars in new Cassini images.
13 Mar 17 News.com.au: Energy flashes 'could be alien spacecraft' [must be a huge number of them for the stray signal to hit us!]
2 Mar 17 Nature ($): Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates.
26 Feb 17 Icarus: Special issue on Pluto-Charon "binary planet" system.
26 Feb 17 Japan Times ($): NASA weighing risk of adding crew to mega-rocket’s first flight.
22 Feb 17 USA Today: Will Pluto have the last laugh? NASA scientists want to make Pluto a planet again (see Microplanets)
22 Feb 17 NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System - NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets +BBC: What has Nasa discovered 'beyond our solar system'?
8 Feb 17 Space.com: Mars Mystery - How Was Ancient Red Planet Warm Enough for Liquid Water?
8 Jan 17 Astrobiology Magazine: Microbes Could Survive Thin Air of Mars (strengthens case for Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact )
13 Jan 17 Science ($): Jilted again, Venus scientists pine for their neglected planet.
10 Jan 17 CSM: When is a shadow more than just a shadow? When it's a planetary secret.
5 Jan 17 SMH: Mysterious 'fast radio bursts' tracked back to galaxy 2.5 billion light years away.
5 Jan 17 TPS: Mars Exploration Rovers Update.
4 Jan 17 Inquisitr: Houses On Mars: NASA Release Concept Of The ‘Mars Ice Home,’ An Inflatable Dome With Ice (see also Riches in the rubble of the solar system - using ice to protect astronuats during inter-planetary missions "Water storage tanks could surround the habitable modules of spacecraft, like igloos in space.")
3 Jan 17 Inquisitr: China Mars Mission: Officials Say China Will Conquer Red Planet By 2020.
16 Dec 16 ABC: Oldest water on Earth found in Canada could provide clues to hidden life on Mars
16 Dec 16 NASA: Where is the Ice on Ceres? New NASA Dawn Findings.
8 Nov 16 ABC: Aliens: Australia to play strategic role in biggest ever search for extra-terrestrial life.
12 Oct 16 Science Alert: Two space agencies will attempt an historic [single] landing on Mars next week - "they’ll join NASA as the only space agencies in history to successfully land a spacecraft on Mars. And that will only be the beginning - the lander will then start a whole new quest to search for signs of life on the Red Planet..."
12 Oct 16 ABC: Barack Obama pushes goal to send humans to Mars by 2030s; awards contracts to build space 'habitats'
4 Oct 16 Space Review: Elon Musk’s road to Mars.
1 Oct 16 Space.com: A Tough Row to Hoe for Early Martian Microbes (see also Your ancestors may be Martian )
1 Oct 16 SMH: Mars awaits: Sydney rocket scientist to test ion drive in space (see also Riches in the rubble of the Solar System - ion drive using water from micro planets)
29 Sep 16 Japan Times: Elon Musk foresees cheap trips to Mars colony.
27 Sep 16 NASA: Possible Water Plumes on Jupiter's Moon Europa.
27 Sep 16 Space Review: Different paths to Mars
19 Sep 16 SMH/NYT: A vision of life on Mars in the depths of Earth - but are they looking for a shadow biosphere?
17 Sep 16 DailMail (!): Ancient lakes on Mars suggest the red planet could have hosted life for a BILLION [sic] years longer than we thought + JGR: A Cold-Wet Mid-Latitude Environment on Mars during the Hesperian-Amazonian Transition: Evidence from Northern Arabia Valleys and Paleolakes - "The authors speculate that these features may relate to melting of ice during transient periods of warming..."
3 Sep 16 ScienceAlert: Researchers just found a second 'Dyson Sphere' star.
2 Sep 16 ABC: 'Recent' ice volcano discovered on dwarf planet in asteroid belt
2 Sep 16 New Scientist: Mysterious SETI signal sends alien-hunting telescopes scrambling - "it’s far more likely that the signal isn’t an extraterrestrial beacon at all, but actually earthly interference..." The signal was first detected in 2015 and this article is about unsuccessful follow-up observations. Update: The aliens are from Earth - "an old Cold War military satellite is the culprit"
2 Sep 16 Space.com: 'Hibernating' Astronauts May Be Key to Mars Colonization
2 Sep 16 Space.com: Launchpad Explosion Destroys SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, Satellite in Florida
25 Aug 16 ESO:Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star - Pale Red Dot campaign reveals Earth-mass world in orbit around Proxima Centauri + Nature paper
16 Aug 16 SETI Institute: Seeking Signs of Life in an Ancient Martian Hot Spring (see also Asteroids - now for the good news - hydrothermal vents associated with impact craters on Mars)
12 Aug 16 NewSci ($): Alien oceans: Is there life in the solar system’s secret seas?
2 Aug 16 ABC: Mars gullies not caused by flowing water, NASA says.
18 Jul 16 NASA Camera Shows Moon Crossing Face of Earth - puts things in perspective!
12 Jul 16 SciAm: New Equation Tallies Odds of Life Beginning (Drake Equation)
5 Jul 16 SMH: NASA's spacecraft Juno enters orbit of giant planet Jupiter.
5 Jul 16 Nature ($): Accretion of Phobos and Deimos in an extended debris disc stirred by transient moons.
4 Jul 16 SMH: China eyes hunt for alien life with giant telescope - Its 19-beam receiver is being designed and built in Australia by CSIRO engineers...
17 Jun 16 Cornell Uni: Possibility of alien contact could be 1,500 years away - Combining the equations for the Fermi Paradox and the mediocrity principle, the authors suggests Earth might hear from an alien civilization when approximately half of the Milky Way Galaxy has been signaled in about 1,500 years...
28 May 16 ESA: Rosetta’s comet contains ingredients for life - “This is the first unambiguous detection of glycine at a comet,”
26 May 16 SciAm: Maybe Life in the Cosmos Is [extremely] Rare After All - The conclusion that the universe is teeming with biology is based on an unproved assumption + EPSL ($): Dense microbial community on a ferromanganese nodule from the ultra-oligotrophic South Pacific Gyre - deep sea life, but did they also search for a shadow biosphere?
21 May 16 Nature Scientific Reports: Giant tsunamis washed over ancient Mars - Meteorite impacts triggered enormous waves in now-vanished ocean + Tsunami waves extensively resurfaced the shorelines of an early Martian ocean - evidence for two enormous tsunami events possibly triggered by bolide impacts (this links together several of my web pages: Ice on Mars, Transpermia, Tsunami from asteroid impacts & Spaceguard)
10 May 16 Cosmos: NASA delivers data on Pluto's moon Hydra.
10 May 16 Space Review: Life on Pluto [speculation]
9 May 16 SMH: We just solved one of the biggest mysteries about how water flows on Mars
9 May 16 ABC: SpaceX successfully lands first-stage booster after half-tonne satellite launch.
2 May 16 Icarus ($): Former extent of glacier-like forms on Mars
22 Apr 16 NewSci: How two tiny dots defy the history of life and the solar system - Two specks of rock that formed when Earth was young suggest we've got to rethink everything from the story of the solar system to the origins of life
8 Apr 16 CNN: Bombardments likely enhanced conditions for life on Mars, study finds.
6 Apr 16 NewCsi: Ceres surprises with water ice and colourful bright spots + Asteroid barrage may have birthed a short-lived ocean on Mars.
24 Mar 16 ABC Science: Pluto may have an underground ocean: Latest New Horizons' data suggests.
12 Jan 16 Daily Mail (!): The mutation that made multicellular life[60mya]: Scientists reveal evolutionary transformation
17 Dec 15 SMH: Wolf 1061c: closest planet found orbiting in a star's habitable zone 14 light years from Earth.
14 Dec 15 NASA: GSDO Critical Design Review Marks Progress for NASA's Journey to Mars.
14 Dec 15 DNA India: NASA releases coloured images of Pluto + NASA: Pluto’s Close-up, Now in Color (stunning!)
10 Nov 15 News Room America: Four Months after Pluto Flyby, NASA’s New Horizons Yields Wealth of Discovery.
30 Oct 15 Japan Times: Trace of ancient alien life? Rosetta detects molecular oxygen in comet’s coma cloud.
16 Oct 15 News.com: Astronomers believe [?] bizarre light patterns from a star millions of miles away to be alien megastructures - Dyson Spheres “millions of miles away”?? (1480 light years!) - natural systems seem much more likely.
15 Oct 15 Mirage News: Australian-designed spacesuit worn aboard the International Space Station - congratulations to James Waldie and the RMIT team. This suit concept is for walking on Mars!
9 Oct 15 NASA: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto.
9 Oct 15 JPL: NASA's Curiosity Rover Team Confirms Ancient Lakes on Mars.
29 Sep 15 SMH: NASA Mars announcement: Evidence of liquid water discovered on Mars + NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today’s Mars (more chance of microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact )
12 Sep 15 NASA: Mars Panorama from Curiosity Shows Petrified Sand Dunes
30 Aug 15 UT: NASA and New Horizons team pick post-Pluto target … and serve up an awesome video. (the video beautifully illustrates my contention that Pluto-Charon is a binary planet system.
25 Aug 15 Space Review: The risks of Mars + several other great essays in this issue.
21 Aug 15 NewSci: Watery time capsule hints at how life got started on early Earth.
12 Aug 15 ABC Radio National: Are we alone in the universe? Paul Davies on the search for extraterrestrial life.
5 Aug 15 SMH: Why some think finding alien life would be a 'crushing blow' to humanity's future.
23 Jul 15 SciAm: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET.
2 Jun 15 Space Review: The Moon and Mars: a flawed article’s false choice.
14 Apr 15 BBC: Evidence of liquid water found on Mars - see also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact (make an estimate of the chances of microbes in a terrestrial meteoroid landing in liquid water on Mars)
12 Mar 15 ESA: Hot water activity on icy moon’s seafloor - hydrothermal activity on the seafloor of its icy moon Enceladus. The finding adds to the tantalising possibility that the moon could contain environments suitable for living organisms.
8 Mar 15 Space.com: Schweickart: Reliving the First Apollo Spacewalk (VIDEO) + Search for Alien Life Should Consider All Possibilities, Experts Say
27 Feb 15 The Atlantic: Jet Lag Is Worse on Mars - A Martian day is 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth—a seemingly small difference that adds up quickly.
17 Feb 15 The Australian: Mars One mission: The seven Australians bidding for one-way ticket.
26 Jan 15 The Register: Mystery radio signal picked up from beyond our galaxy.
26 Jan 15 NewSci: NASA chief scientist: First an asteroid, then Mars.
11 Jan 15 BBC: 'Planet' Pluto comes into view (see also Microplanets)
8 Jan 15 Space.com: Do Mars Rover Photos Show Potential Signs of Ancient Life? Patterns that are similar to "MISS that are 3.48 billion years old in the Western Australia's Dresser Formation, making them potentially the oldest signs of life on Earth."
8 Jan 15 SciAm ($): Planets More Habitable Than Earth May Be Common in Our Galaxy + Newfound Exoplanets Are Most Earth-Like Yet
8 Jan 15 The Register: ALIEN EARTHS ARE OUT THERE: Our planet not 'unique'
26 Dec 14 Icarus ($):

Evidence for large reservoirs of water/mud in Utopia and Acidalia Planitiae on Mars - consistent with the existence of an extensive single body of water (an ocean) in the northern plains of Mars.
Widespread surface weathering on early Mars: A case for a warmer and wetter climate - lead author John Carter! - Mars experienced an early era (>3.7 Ga) of widespread aqueous alteration consistent with surface weathering.
Solar panel clearing events, dust devil tracks, and in-situ vortex detections on Mars - not a Martian car-washing service then

24 Dec 14 UT: Meteoric Evidence Suggests Mars May Have a Subsurface Reservoir + NewSci: Asteroid soil could fertilise farms in space (thanks Paul Curnow)
18 Dec 14 Space.com: Glaciers on Mars Likely Helped Carve Red Planet's 'Grand Canyon'.
18 Dec 14 SpaceDaily: Goddard instrument makes first detection of organic matter on Mars + NASA: NASA Rover Finds Active, Ancient Organic Chemistry on Mars (including methane)
12 Dec 14 Inquisitr: Life On Mars Found? [No!] Tissint Meteorite May Show Evidence Of Organic Life [chemicals!] In Space (thanks Paul Curnow) + Livescience: Experts Cast Doubt on Meteorite Study's Claims of Martian Life.
8 Dec 14 NASA: NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to How Water Helped Shape Martian Landscape - Mount Sharp was built by sedim12 Dec 14 Inquisitr: Life On Mars Found? Tissint Meteorite May Show Evidence Of Organic Life In Space (thanks Paul Curnow)..suggests ancient Mars maintained a climate that could have produced long-lasting lakes at many locations on the Red Planet. More chance of transpermia!
18 Sep 14 Wikipedia: Dendrogramma - "an early branch on the tree of life, with similarities to the 600 million-year-old extinct Ediacara fauna."
16 Sep 14 Space Review: Schedule slips raise alarms about NASA’s exploration program.
10 Sep 14 NASA: Scientists Find Evidence of 'Diving' Tectonic Plates on Europa.
21 Aug 14 NewSci: First samples of Antarctic lake reveal thriving life - water is habitable space, even if it's at sub-zero temperatures and there is no sunlight...
12 Aug 14 Space Review: ARM and the Mars-Forward NASA + For the future of Mars exploration, the past is prologue + Feeling strongARMed + The ExoLance project and the search for life on Mars + The Moon or Mars?
5 Aug 14 SMH: Australian scientist Abigail Allwood first woman to lead project team for life on Mars + NASA scientist says Australian science cuts 'embarrassing'
17 Jul 14 ABC Science: NASA predicts finding evidence of extraterrestrial life within 20 years - "predicts" or speculates?
11 Jul 14 NASA: NASA Spacecraft Observes Further Evidence of Dry Ice Gullies on Mars - most of the freash gullies seen on Mras appear to be created by dry ice, not water ice (but there is still lots of water ice locked in glaciers and underground)
7 Jul 14 SMH: Life on Mars: Meet the Australians preparing for the [one way] mission of a lifetime.
24 Jun 14 PSRD: The Importance of When - Isotopic analyses at the microscopic scale indicate an ancient age for an impact mixture from Mars and appear to confirm a young age for a group of basaltic lava flows.
11 Jun 13 Space.com: Pluto Planethood Debate? Stern Challenges Tyson
9 Jun 14 UT: Curiosity Captures Stunning New Mount Sharp Panorama ‘On The Go’
6 Jun 14 NewSci: Ancient exoplanet may have the right stuff for life.
6 Jun 14 UT: Jill Tarter Explains in 30 Seconds Why We’re Searching for Aliens
29 May 14 SpaceDaily: A habitable environment on Martian volcano ( see also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact)
13 May 14 Space Review: Red Planet dreams - vale Colin Pillinger
2 May 14 NASA: Ganymede May Harbor 'Club Sandwich' of Oceans and Ice.
30 Apr 14 NewSci: Epic Mars flooding triggered by collapsed crater lake.
30 Apr 14 SpaceDaily: Traces of recent water on Mars
27 Apr 14 NewSci: Spark of life: Metabolism appears in lab without cells + Instant fossils found trapped in asteroid impact glass.
24 Apr 14 Space.com: Mars Missions Could Make Humanity a Multi-Planet Species, NASA Chief Says.
23 Apr 14 SpaceDaily: NASA's Human Path to Mars + John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95 - lunar-orbit rendezvous (LOR) was not only the most feasible way to make it to the moon before the decade was out, it was the only way...
22 Apr 14 The Space Review: Lucky Planet (review of new book) + Humans and robots to the Moon and Mars: a unified and integrated space program strategy + The uncertain road to Mars.
18 Apr 14 NASA: NASA's Kepler Telescope Discovers First Earth-Size Planet in 'Habitable Zone' + Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI.
11 Apr 14 NASA: Faraway Moon or Faint Star? Possible Exomoon Found.
11 Apr 14 ESA: Beauty from chaos.
8 Apr 14 Space Review: Europa on the cheap + Competing forums: an asteroid or the Moon?
4 Apr 14 ESA: Icy moon Enceladus has underground sea.
3 Apr 14 EPSL: Formation of aqueous solutions on Mars via deliquescence of chloride–perchlorate binary mixtures (salty liquid water can exist under Mars conditions)
23 Mar 14 BBC: Doubt cast on evidence for wet Moon.
18 Mar 14 Space Review: Rebooting Cosmos (TV show)
18 Mar 14 Icarus ($): Evidence for very recent melt-water and debris flow activity in gullies in a young mid-latitude crater on Mars +
18 Mar 14 NewSci ($): Most Mars meteorites may be from same giant crater
10 Mar 14 Space.com: 'Cosmos' for a New Generation: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains We Need It
4 Mar 14 Space Review: Apollo 9: testing the lunar module - a good review of the challenges of this important stepping stone to the Moon
4 Mar 14 ABC Science: No 'life as we know it' on super Earths.
28 Feb 14 JPL: NASA Scientists Find Evidence of Water in Meteorite, Reviving Debate Over Life on Mars - newly discovered different structures and compositional features within the larger Yamato meteorite suggest biological processes might have been at work on Mars hundreds of millions of years ago.
27 Feb 14 Space.com: Meteorite May Harbor Evidence of Mars Life: Study.
30 Jan 14 SpaceDaily: Ten years on Mars leads to liveable mud - ([Opportunity findings indicate that] around four billion years ago Mars had liquid water so fresh it could have supported life...
10 Jan 14 SpaceDaily: Gaia enters its operational orbit.
20 Dec 13 ESA: Liftoff for ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia.
17 Dec 13 Space Review: Apollo 8: humanity’s first voyage to the Moon - Christmas 45 years ago!
16 Dec 13 SpaceDaily: China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover sends first photos from moon - brilliant engineering!
10 Dec 13 NewSci: Surprisingly youthful Mars surface helps alien hunt + The 19 superbugs that rule Earth's hidden depths + Alien life could have basked in big bang's afterglow + Europa's choppy ocean looks friendly to life.
10 Dec 13 ABC: NASA's Curiosity rover uncovers evidence of freshwater lake on Mars.
13 Nov 13 ABC: Rock microbes found in WA's Pilbara could be earliest signs of life on Earth.
30 Oct 13 SpaceDaily: On the Path to Pluto, 5 AU and Closing.
18 Oct 13 NewSci ($): Cosmic chemistry: Life's molecules are made in space.
18 Oct 13 NYT: Scott Carpenter, One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead at 88.
16 Sep 13 The Space Reporter: NASA looks to Voyager’s future and how it prepares us for deep space.
16 Sep 13 The North West Star: Queensland scramjet aiming for Mach 8.
29 Aug 13 BBC: Earth life 'may have come from Mars' (see also Your ancestors may be Martian)
6 Aug 13 TPS: The Goal is Mars + Planetary Radio The Ancient Snows of Mars (see also snow on Mars)
1 Aug 13 ESA: [Past] Water in a martian desert.
31 Jul 13 Cosmic Ancestry: Did NASA's Opportunity rover find evidence for life on Mars in 2004? + ASU: The case for alien life.
20 Jul 13 NewSci ($): NASA urged to seek live Martians with 2020 rover (see also Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life - the late Harold Klein was the team leader for the Viking missions)+ There may already be aliens on Mars + Overprotection may be hampering hunt for Mars life + Lake Vostok may boast a thriving ecosystem + UK proposes piggy-backing to search for alien signals.
19 Jul 13 NASA: NASA Interplanetary Probes to Take Pictures of Earth (today) - see also Earth from Space
18 Jul 13 Space.com: Ancient Mars River May Have Flowed into Huge Ocean.
23 Jun 13 SpaceDaily: Mars had oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago.
19 Jun 13 SMH: 50th anniversary of first woman in space.
12 Jun 13 SpaceDaily: China launches its longest-ever manned space mission - Astronaut Wang will teach lessons to schoolchildren via video link from space...
9 Jun 13 SpaceDaily: The floodwaters of Mars
4 Jun 13 NewSci: Nearest exoplanet to Earth may be a ghost world - Doubt is cast on the apparent detection last year of an Earth-like planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, just 4.3 light years away
29 Apr 13 NewSci ($): Deep life: Strange creatures living far below our feet. See also Nanobes and Extremophiles
8 Apr 13 Washington Post: President Obama wants NASA to grab an asteroid, send astronauts to study it.
31 Mar 13 ZeeNews: Liquid water of frozen Alaskan sand dunes hints of a wetter Mars (see microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space from Earth )
24 Mar 13 New Scientist: Curiosity's discoveries hint at life's cradle on Mars (strengthens the case for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space from Earth )
21 Mar 13 Space.com: NASA's Voyager 1 Probe May Have Left Solar System - congratulations to Ed Stone and the team UPDATE: spoke too soon: Spacedaily: NASA denies report that Voyager left solar system.
13 Mar 13 NASA: NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars.
28 Feb 13 BBC: US private sector hopes to send older couple to Mars.
23 Feb 13 NewSci ($): We need a piece of Mars to continue search for life (see also Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life) + Rusty rocks reveal ancient origin of photosynthesis - bacteria & iron 3.8Bya
23 Feb 13: SMH: Fresh hope for life on watery world
21 Jan 13 NASA: Martian Crater May Once Have Held Groundwater-Fed Lake - see also snow on Mars
18 Jan 13 ESA: Reull Vallis: a river ran through it - good 3D images
6 Jan 13 Icarus ($): 3D modelling of the early martian climate under a denser CO2 atmosphere: Temperatures and CO2 ice clouds + Global modelling of the early martian climate under a denser CO2 atmosphere: Water cycle and ice evolution
5 Jan 13 NASA: Billions and Billions of Planets
4 Jan 13 Nature: Meteorite carries ancient water from Mars (thanks Paul Curnow)
2 Jan 13 WP: Bacterial traces from 3.5 billion years ago are ‘oldest fossils,’ experts say. Comment: This appears to support findings reported in "Earliest Life on Earth" where microbial remains ~3.49 Ga-ago have been studied in detail from black cherts from the North Pole dome in the central Pilbara of Australia.
1 Jan 13 [Happy New Year] Space Review: Last thoughts about working with the First Man + Youtube: Apollo 11 Descent: Film and LRO Imagery [stunning reconstruction that impressed Neil Armstrong]
29 Dec 12 Space.com: First 'Alien Earth' Will Be Found in 2013, Experts Say.
20 Dec 12 SciAm: The Fight to Save Planetary Science, and Why the New Mars Rover Doesn’t Mean Victory.
20 Dec 12 SpaceDaily: Nearby star is good candidate for Earth-like planets - the Sun-like star has five planets that orbit it in a balmy zone
8 Nov 12 Nature: Hopes linger for Mars methane - But negative signal from the Curiosity rover raises questions about planned European mission.
17 Oct 12 SpaceDaily: Nearest Star Has Earth Mass Planet
12 Sep 12 Space.com: Hunting for Life's Building Blocks on Mars: Q&A With Danny Glavin.
12 Sep 12 NASA: [Very] Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets.
5 Sep 12 Space Review: The next best thing (robotic missions) + Farewell, Mr. Armstrong + Many steps
29 Aug 12 NASA: NASA Rover Returns Voice and [superb] Telephoto Views from Mars.
2 Aug 12 NewSci: Meteorite's left-handed molecules a blow to ET search.
26 Jul 12 SciAm ($): NASA's Planetary Science Program Endangered by Budget Cuts "In a fraught fiscal climate, NASA should focus on what it does best and on what offers the best return on investment. Solar system exploration meets both criteria..."+ Curiosity Rover Zeroes In on Traces of Past Habitats on Mars.
26 Jul 12 TPS: Notes from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
25 Jul 12 TPS: Sally Ride, 1951 - 2012.
18 Jun 12 NASA: Study Finds Heat is Source of 'Pioneer Anomaly' .
29 Jun 12 NewSci: SETI chief still waiting for ET to call - After 35 years of searching, Jill Tarter is retiring as Earth's top alien hunter.
29 Jun 12 NASA: Cassini Finds Likely Subsurface Ocean on Saturn Moon.
25 Jun 12 SpaceDaily: Extensive Water in Mars Interior.
19 Jun 12 EPSL: Modelling the liquid-water vein system within polar ice sheets as a potential microbial habitat + Water storage and early hydrous melting of the Martian mantle.
1 Jun 12 UT: Meteorites Could Provide New Explanation for Mars Methane (thanks Paul Curnow)
30 May 12 NewSci: Buried microbes exist at limit between life and death (see extremophiles) + The outermost ocean in the solar system.
16 May 12 TPS: Earth’s toughest life could survive on Mars (see also Transpermia and Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact)
5 May 12 ESA: Signs of ancient flowing water on Mars.
3 May 12 ABC: Mission hopes to find fish on Jupiter's moons.
2 May 12 Space.com: Mars Volcanic Glass May Be Hotspot for Life.
2 May 12 NewSci: California meteorite is rare rock laden with organics.
27 Apr 12 UT: We Really Hope ET is Out There, But There’s Not Enough Scientific Evidence, Researchers Say.
17 Apr 12 Space.com: Asteroid Impacts Could Help out Underground Life + BBC: Asteroid craters could provide clue to life on Mars (see also Asteroids - now for the good news - 2003)
16 Apr 12 SpaceDaily: NASA Planning Group Takes Key Steps For Future Mars Exploration.
14 Mar 12 SpaceDaily: Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life's Components.
27 Feb 12 Yomiuri: Construction firm aims at space elevator in 2050.
23 Feb 12 BBC: Distant 'water-world' confirmed.
23 Feb 12 NewSci: Rolling stones could mean Mars still rocks - and has warm, wet hydrothermal systems?
2 Feb 12 PSRD: A Summer Fall - Martian meteorite, Tissint, fell in Morocco in July, 2011.
30 Jan 12 UT: Large Amounts of Water Ice Found Underground on Mars (see also Glaciers on mars)
28 Jan 12 NewSci: [Claims that ]Arsenic life does not exist after all.
28 Jan 12 SciAm: Dozens and Dozens: NASA's Kepler Spies Packs of New Exoplanets.
28 Jan 12 SpaceDaily: Mars Rover Finds New Evidence of Water.
28 Jan 12 BBC: Newt's long shot at the Moon.
18 Jan 12 BBC: Alien hunters: What if ET ever phones our home?
12 Jan 12 SpaceDaily: Russia was well aware of Phobos-Grunt mission risks.
12 Jan 12 Space.com: 160 Billion Alien Planets May Exist in Our Milky Way Galaxy.
31 Dec 11 Space.com: Martian Life Might Thrive in Lava Tubes, Study Suggests.
30 Dec 11 Daily Mail: Any search for [intelligent] extra-terrestrial life should begin with the Moon - see also this extract from an early Carl Sagan book "Planets" (1966!) + China reveals five-year 'space plan'... and putting a man on the Moon is a top priority.
22 Dec 11 PSRD: Formation of Carbonate Minerals in Martian Meteorite ALH 84001 from Cool Water Near the Surface of Mars - carbonate minerals in Martian meteorite ALH 84001 formed at 18 ± 4C!
22 Dec 11 Seattle PI: Astronomers say Earth may have two moons right now (captured asteroids)
22 Dec 11 NewSci: Earth, life's only home + Icy 'hand' moves boulders on Mars.
22 Dec 11 Space.com: Surface of Pluto May Contain Organic [carbon] Molecules.
21 Dec 11 UANews: Meteorite Shockwaves Trigger Dust Avalanches on Mars (thanks Paul Curnow)
21 Dec 11 NASA: NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System.
14 Dec 11 Nature: Super-Earths give theorists a super headache - An abundance of medium-sized worlds is challenging planet-formation models.
13 Dec 11 SpaceDaily: Life possible on 'large parts' of Mars: [Australian] study (see also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact )
13 Cec 11 Space Review: Innovations in exoplanet search.
8 Dec 11 UT: Not Giving Up Yet: ESA Resumes Effort to Communicate with Phobos-Grunt.[but it seems dire]
8 Dec 11 NASA/JPL: NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water - "This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock..."
6 Dec 11 NASA/JPL: NASA's Kepler Confirms Its First Planet In Habitable Zone.
15 Nov 11 UT: Mars Likely Not Ever Warm and Wet Enough for Life – At Least on Surface + Were Martian Rocks Weathered by Water?
15 Nov 11 Space Review: An uncertain future for solar system exploration + Phobos-Grunt: a legal analysis of potential liability and options for mitigation + Review: Astrobiology: A Brief Introduction + (previous week) Red moon around a Red Planet + Will Russia end its curse at Mars?
4 Nov 11 NewSci: China's space lab links up with the Heavenly Palace [congratulations to the Chinese space agency ]
3 Nov 11 UT: Mars Likely Not Ever Warm and Wet Enough for Life – At Least on Surface.
30 Oct 11 UT: Russia Fuels Phobos-Grunt and sets Mars Launch for November 9.
22 Oct 11 Icarus Volume 216, Issue 1, November 2011 ($):

21 Oct 11 SMH: Birth of a planet caught on camera.
21 Oct 11 EPSL($): Abiotic [non-biological] methane flux from the Chimaera seep and Tekirova ophiolites (Turkey): Understanding gas exhalation from low temperature serpentinization and implications for Mars + Columbia Hills — An exhumed layered igneous intrusion on Mars?
21 Oct 11 Nature: Finding puts brakes on faster-than-light neutrinos.
21 Oct 11 Space.com: Comet-Seeded Alien Oceans Could Be Common.
21 Oct 11 UT: Paul Spudis’ Plan for a Sustainable and Affordable Lunar Base - see also Moon Base
6 Oct 11 BBC: Impacts 'more likely' to have spread life from Earth - see also Transpermia.
6 Oct 11 UT: Were Martian Rocks Weathered by Water?
6 Oct 11 Space.com: Huge Mars Crater an 'Intriguing' Target for Next NASA Rover.
8 Sep 11 NewSci: Giant Mars crater hints at steamy past + ($) Scour Earth for traces of intelligent aliens
8 Sep 11 Acta Astronautica ($): Footprints of alien technology + SETI: The transmission rate of radio communication and the signal's detection + Flight status of IKAROS deep space solar sail demonstrator + SETI and astrobiology: The Rio Scale and the London Scale
3 Sep 11 BBC: Volcanic rock rafts 'could have been cradles of life'.
2 Sep 11 Space.com: At Mars Crater, NASA Rover Finds Evidence of Ancient Water Hotspot - see also Asteroids - now for the good news
31 Aug 11 SpaceDaily: Epic search for evidence of life on Mars heats up with focus on high-tech instruments.
31 Aug 11 UT: Human Mission to an Asteroid: Asteroid Field Testing + Jaw-Dropping 3-D Rock Garden on Mars.
26 Aug 11 The Australian: Neil Armstrong urges return to the moon to train for Mars.
26 Aug 11 Icarus ($):

24 Aug 11 WP: Oldest ‘microfossils’ raise hopes for life on Mars.
24 Aug 11 BBC: Impacts 'more likely' to have spread life from Earth. (see also Swapping Rocks)
24 Aug 11 UT: Human Mission to an Asteroid: Why Should NASA Go? - “The human mission to an asteroid is an extremely important national goal,” Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart told Universe Today. “It will focus both NASA’s and the nation’s attention on we humans extending our capability beyond Earth/Moon space and into deep space. This is an essential capability in order to ultimately get to Mars, and a relatively short mission to a near-Earth asteroid is a logical first step in establishing a deep space human capability.”
23 Aug 11 NewSci: Evidence for Mars floods all dried up? Lava, not water, may have carved the biggest channels on Mars. [maybe both sources? Many channels end in huge alluivial deposits from water]
22 Aug 11 NewSci: Oldest reliable fossils show early life was a beach- The oldest compelling fossil evidence for cellular life has been discovered on a 3.43-billion-year-old beach in western Australia...But the new find does open a new line of inquiry for astrobiologists looking for life on Mars...
9 Aug 11 NASA: NASA Research Shows DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space + Space.com Video.
7 Aug 11 NYT: For NASA, Return Trip to Jupiter in Search of Clues to Solar System’s Origins.
7 Aug 11 ABC: Flowing water on Mars could hold key to life - interview with Phil Christensen
5 Aug 11 NASA: NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowing on Mars. See also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact [my estimate for Earth-life-bearing meteoroids landing in liquid water on Mars might be way too conservative]
1 Aug 11: Watch Amazon for the release of Carl Sagan's many books in Kindle format.
26 Jul 11 Space.com: Evidence Builds For Water on Mars - plus NASA: Next Mars lander headed for Gale Crater.
22 Jul 11 (back from vacation!) SpaceDaily: NASA's Hubble Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto + Dawn Spacecraft Beams Back New Photo [of Vesta].
1 Jun 11 SciAm: What's Flinging Comets Out of the Oort Cloud? A planet-size object could be behind the odd departure of some comets from the Oort Cloud--and toward us
1 Jun 11 Nature: Enceladus named sweetest spot for alien life.
30 May 11 BBC: Robots and humans target asteroids
30 May 11 Nature: Critics weigh in on arsenic life.
26 May 11 SciAm: A Mars Panorama Mosaic: Bidding Farewell to NASA's Spirit Rover.
25 May 11 Nature: Evidence mounts for liquid water on [Saturn's] Enceladus.
25 May 11 SciAm: Change Rattles Arecibo Radio Telescope.
24 May 11 Space Review: A transorbital railroad to Mars.
23 May 11 SciAm: The Myth of Evil Aliens + Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: The detection of extra-terrestrial life and the consequences for science and society (Feb 2011- authors include: Paul Davies, Charles Cockell, Chris McKay, Frank Drake & Colin Pillinger...)
20 May 11 NewSci: Where should NASA land its next Mars rover?
18 May 11 Space.com: Is the Rocky Alien Planet Gliese 581d Really Habitable?
8 May 11 UT: More Evidence of Liquid Erosion on Mars?
8 May 11 SpaceDaily: A Water Ocean on Titan [?]
21 Apr 11 Space.com: One Possible Small Step Toward Mars Landing: A Martian Moon - see also Phobos mission
8 Apr 11 Catalyst: Where Are All the Aliens?
6 Apr 11 Cosmos Magazine: Pioneer anomaly solved.
5 Apr 11 Space Review: Review: First Contact.
30 Mar 11 ABC Science Show: Gemini images distant planets - maybe this telescope can also detect asteroid impacts with rocky extrasolar planets
29 Mar 11 EPSL ($): Mud volcanoes in the geologic record of Mars: The case of Firsoff crater.
28 Mar 11 SciAm: The Origin of Life (a bit lean on detail)
22 Mar 11 NewSci: NASA and ESA 'divorce' over money - space missions in jeopardy
22 Mar 11 Space.com: New Estimate for Alien Earths: 2 Billion in Our Galaxy Alone
18 Mar 11 Space.com: NASA Probe Becomes First Spacecraft to Orbit Mercury.
8 Mar 11 Space Review: A dark future for exploration by Lou Friedman
8 Mar 11 UT: Claim of Alien Life in Meteorites Needs Further Review + Space.com: Scientists Dubious Over Claim of Alien Life Evidence in Meteorite.
8 Mar 11 NewSci: NASA should bring Mars rocks back to Earth, says panel.
18 Feb 11 Space.com: Meet Mimas: Saturn's Death Star Moon.
3 Feb 11 Space.com: NASA Identifies 54 Potentially Habitable Alien Planets
3 Feb 11 NASA: Earth-Size Planet Candidates Found in Habitable Zone - "Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets..."
3 Feb 11 UT: Martian Meteorite Reveals Ancient Water Flows, Methane.
2 Feb 11 Acta Astronautica Volume 68 (selection):

Apollo: Learning from the past, for the future
Project Icarus: A review of local interstellar medium properties of relevance for space missions to the nearest stars
A gravity loading countermeasure skinsuit (Dr James Waldie)
A novel autonomous low-cost on-board data handling architecture for a pin-point planetary lander
Europa Orbiter tour design with Io gravity assists
Ultralight deployable booms for solar sails and other large gossamer structures in space
Investigation of nuclear electric powered interstellar precursor missions
Northern light drill for Mars: Performance evaluation

28 Jan 11 Space.com: Mars Hides More Water [near equator] Than Thought, Study Suggests. See also ice on Mars.
27 Jan 11 BBC: 'Life chemicals' may have formed around far-flung star.
27 Jan 11 SpaceDaily: New images of martian moon [Phobos] released.
13 Jan 11 Australian Science ($): Is Intelligence Out There? + Fossilised Stromatolites Push Back Date for the Great Oxidation Event + Fool’s Gold: The Search for Early Life
11 Jan 11 NASA: NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Its First Rocky Planet.
11 Jan 11 Space Review: Review: Talking About Life + Human operations beyond LEO by the end of the decade: An affordable near-term stepping stone.
6 Jan 11 NewSci: Mysteries of Lake Vostok on brink of discovery + Apollo 13: Houston, we've had a problem (new transcripts) + The solar system spins onto the iPad (vendor)
4 Jan 11 Space.com: Surface of Mars Possibly Shaped By Plate Tectonics In Recent Past.
4 Jan 11 SciAm: Contact: The Day After - Frank Drake
30 Dec 10 SpaceDaily: Viking Results Revisited - see also Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life (2001)
24 Dec 10 NewSci: Did 'Martian' methane signal come from Earth?
24 Dec 10 NASA JPL: Phobos Passes in Front of Sun's Face (video) + Opportunity Studying a Football-Field Size Crater
23 Dec 10 EPSL($): Earliest microbially mediated pyrite oxidation in ~ 3.4 billion-year-old sediments
21 Dec 10 SpaceDaily: NASA's arsenic life-form scientist answers critics. More at www.ironlisa.com (Fe + lisa!)
21 Dec 10 Space Review: Rocket to nowhere (by Lou Friedman) + How I Killed Pluto (book review)
15 Dec 10 NewSci: Voyager 1 probe reaches new solar system frontier.
14 Dec 10 Space Review: 2010 the year commercial human spaceflight made contact + The case for a human asteroid mission + Breaking the shackles of Apollo.
10 Dec 10 NASA: Odyssey Orbiter Nears Martian Longevity Record - excellent slide show of Odysssey images.
7 Dec 10 The Space Review: Searching for ET - by Lou Friedman (TPS co-founder)
3 Dec 10 NewSci: Arsenic-eating bacteria point to new life forms.
3 Dec 10 Space.com: Martian Meteorite Not Evidence of Extraterrestrials, Scientists Say.
3 Dec 10 NewSci: Hardy bugs could survive a million years on Mars - see also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact
17 Nov 10 SpaceDaily: A Strategy To Search For Life On Mars.
17 Nov 10 Space.com: Search for Life on Mars a Top Priority for Robot Probes, Scientists Say + Dwarf Planet Eris May Be Smaller Than Pluto After All.
8 Nov 10 UT: Sagan Day Essays + NASA Kepler: Sagan Celebration (Sagan Day is 9th November) . TPSAV links.
4 Nov 10 BBC: Gravity suit mimics Earth's pull for astronauts.
1 Nov 10 NewSci: Superhero suit to strengthen astronauts' bones - congratulations to Australian Dr James Waldie for this method of overcoming bone wastage on long spaceflights
1 Nov 10 UT: Ancient Hot Springs Spotted on Mars + SpaceDaily: Ancient Mars Was Wet, Cozy And Life Friendly + NASA: Silica on a Mars Volcano Tells of Wet and Cozy Past.
1 Nov 10 TPS: Like Sand on a Beach: New Study Suggests Earth-Size Planets are “Everywhere”.
30 Oct 10 NASA: Study Links [some] Fresh Mars Gullies to Carbon Dioxide + Trapped Mars Rover Finds Evidence of Subsurface Water.
22 Oct 10 Space.com: Meteorite-Based Debate Over Martian Life Is Far from Over.
18 Oct 10 NewSci ($*): Arctic bugs may have the longest life-cycle on Earth - with a hibernation period of up to 100 million years, [thermophile] bacteria discovered on the Arctic sea floor may have the longest life cycle of any known organism. Perfect for transpermia * New Scientist has "improved" its online services and I now find it impossible to log-in and view full articles. If you also have problems let them know by clicking on the Contact link at the foot of their pages.
18 Sep 10 Acta Astronautica: Special Issue on Searching for Life Signatures
14 Sep 10 Space Review: Debating the future of human spaceflight + The real mistakes of the space shuttle program.
14 Sep 10 Space.com: Building Blocks for Life on Mars Possibly Seen By Viking Probes, Study Suggests (see also Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life )
10 Sep 10 NASA: NASA Data Shed New Light About Water and Volcanoes on Mars.
1 Sep 10 Space.com: NASA Narrows List of Asteroid Targets for Manned Mission.
25 Aug 10 6 Meeting on Oct 10 in Sydney: Buzz [Aldrin] at Australian Geographic Annual Awards Dinner
20 Aug 10 SpaceDaily: Mud Volcanoes On Mars (another place for microbe-laden Earth rocks to land)
18 Aug 10 Dymocks has a book with great pictures of Mars on special (at stores only): Visions of Mars by Oliver de Goursac
18 Aug 10 NewSci: Found: World's oldest animal fossils - Flinders Ranges South Australia.
17 Aug 10 Space.com: Proof of Aliens Could Come Within 25 Years, Scientist Says.
7 Aug 10 Space.com: Solar Sail Spacecraft Steers with Sunlight for First Time.
5 Aug 10 NSA JPL: Hundreds of New Views from Telescope Orbiting Mars.
5 Aug 10 SciAm: Mercury Rising: MESSENGER Reveals Volcanism, Magnetic Storms and a Complex Exosphere on the Solar System's Smallest Planet.
31 Jul 10 TPS: Update on the NASA Authorization Bill - "a mess"
30 Jul 10 BBC: Mars site may hold 'buried [fossilised] life' - not sure what is meant by "dark side of Mars"? See also Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact
24 Jul 10 NASA: NASA Spacecraft Camera Yields Most Accurate Mars Map.
20 Jul 10 Space.com: New Planet-Hunting Method Could Find Earth-Like Alien Worlds - maybe even exoplanet impacts?
20 Jul 10 UT: Developers Say Lunar Elevator Could be Built Within a Decade.
3 Jul 10 Nature: [Very] Early multicellular life + ($) Large colonial organisms with coordinated growth in oxygenated environments 2.1 Gyr ago (thanks Duncan Steel)
2 Jul 10 White House: NATIONAL SPACE POLICY of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA - The Administrator of NASA shall: Set far-reaching exploration milestones

By 2025, begin crewed missions beyond the moon, including sending humans to an asteroid. By the mid-2030s, send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth...
Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects (thanks Duncan Steel)

25 Jun 10 ESA: Was Venus once a habitable planet? (see also transpermia)
25 Jun 10 NASA: New Clues Suggest Wet Era on Early Mars Was Global.
22 Jun 10 Space Review: The true benefit of human Mars exploration + The need to elevate the debate + Making the path for human spaceflight less rocky.
8 Jun 10 BBC: Huge seas 'once existed on Mars' (4 billion years ago!)
8 Jun 10 Space.Daily: Experts Say Life Could Survive On Mars.
8 Jun 10 UT: Alien Life on Titan? Hang on Just a Minute…
3 Jun 10 UT: Voyager 2 Update from Dr. Ed Stone.
27 May 10 NASA: NASA Orbiter Penetrates Mysteries of Martian Ice Cap.
22 May 10 National Space Society's International Space Development Conference: Zubrin to Debate Rusty Schweickart on New Space Policy at ISDC - May 27 Chicago
18 May 10 NewSci: Mysterious ball lightning may be a hallucination - a plausible explanation for UFOs on Earth and in space?
11 May 10 BBC: 'Cosmonauts' chosen for Mars test [simulation]
11 May 10 Space Review: Destination: onward - Reinventing NASA to meet the challenge of its new mission + The post-American Moon.
8 May 10 Icarus ($): Testing the survival of microfossils in artificial martian sedimentary meteorites during entry into Earth’s atmosphere : The STONE 6 experiment - living organisms probably need to be protected by at least 5 cm of rock in order to be shielded from the intense heat of entry. (see also transpermia)
30 Apr 10 Space.com: Seeing [meeting?] Aliens Will Likely Take Centuries.
29 Apr 10 (busy morning for planetary news!) Nature: Asteroid ice hints at rocky start to life on Earth - "The old-fashioned picture of the Solar System in which asteroids are asteroids and comets are comets is getting harder to sustain." (see microplanets) + BBC: Asteroid Themis has 'frosted surface'
29 Apr 10 Space.com: Search for Alien [microbe] Life Set to Take Giant Leap Forward
29 Apr 10 SpaceDaily: Earth Microbes May Contaminate Search For Life On Mars
29 Apr 10 NewSci: We're flying to an asteroid – but which one? + Common Mars rock can preserve microfossils after all.
27 Apr 10 NewSci: Stephen Hawking says Earth should not phone ET [a bit late - they have been watching "I Love Lucy" for decades!] + Obama: Asteroid is NASA's next stop in space + Martian tubes could be home for 'cavenauts' + Self-starter: Life got going all on its own [seems a little optimistic]
26 Apr 10 SpaceDaily: Poor Pluto: Number Of Dwarf Planets Increases (see my essay on "microplanets" from 1999)
25 Apr 10 WSJ: Is Anybody Out There? by Paul Davies - based on the book The Eerie Silence: Are we Alone in the Universe - a great introduction to astrobiology and SETI
16 Apr 10 SpaceDaily: Obama aims to send astronauts to Mars orbit in 2030s + BBC: Obama sets Mars goal for America + UT: Obama Wants Mission to Asteroid by 2025, Mars by mid-2030's (see Phobos mission and the TPS 2008 Roadmap)
16 Apr 10 Space.com: Oldest Mars Meteorite Younger Than Thought. (ALH84001!)
4 Apr 10 Icarus: Temporary liquid water in upper snow/ice sub-surfaces on Mars? + A photohabitable zone in the martian snowpack? A laboratory and radiative-transfer study of dusty water–ice snow (See also snow on Mars + Glaciers on Mars - a safe landing for hitchhiking microbes from Earth) + Methane adsorption on a martian soil analog: An abiogenic explanation for methane variability in the martian atmosphere +
31 Mar 10 UT: Astronaut Explains Why We Should Return to the Moon.
26 Mar 10 Nature: Comet crash creates potential for life.
26 Mar 10 NewSci: Microbes thrive in harsh, Mars-like lakes.
25 Mar 10 NASA: Mars Rover Examines Odd Material at Small, Young Crater - if only it was "desert varnish"
24 Mar 10 NASA: NASA Mars Rover Getting Smarter as it Gets Older.
19 Mar 10 Science ($): An Evolving View of Saturn’s Dynamic Rings + Saturn: Atmosphere, Ionosphere, and Magnetosphere
18 Mar 10 BBC: New exoplanet like 'one of ours'.
18 Mar 10 EPSL: Tungsten isotopic evolution during late-stage accretion: Constraints on Earth–Moon equilibration + Magnetic properties of lunar materials: Meteorites, Luna and Apollo returned samples
16 Mar 10 ESA: Phobos flyby images + BBC: Mars moon Phobos seen in detail by European probe.
16 Mar 10 Nature: Japan prepares for Venus countdown.
14 Mar 10 BBC: Obama Nasa plans 'catastrophic' say Moon astronauts.
10 Mar 10 Nature: Old rocks drown dry Moon theory - Samples collected during Apollo missions suggest a wet interior, raising questions about lunar origins.
3 Mar 10 UT: Buzz Aldrin Says We Can Get to Mars by 2019.
3 Mar 10 NASA: Radar Map of Buried Martian Ice Adds to Climate Record - Extensive radar mapping of the middle-latitude region of northern Mars shows that thick masses of buried ice are quite common beneath protective coverings of rubble.
3 Mar 10 UT: Follow Closest Flyby of Phobos in Real Time + Phoenix Still Silent as Martian Ice Recedes.
3 Mar 10 BBC: Ice deposits found at Moon's pole.
27 Feb 10 NASA: NASA Announces 2010 Carl Sagan Fellows.
26 Feb 10 Science ($): Iceball Mars Proving a Tough Place to Find Liquid Water.
25 Feb 10 ABC: There's iron in them thar Martian hills - research by Malcolm Walter, Michael West and Jonathan Clarke published in Planetary and Space Science special issue: Exploring other worlds by exploring our own: The role of terrestrial analogue studies in planetary exploration.
19 Feb 10 NewSci: [Frank] Drake wants off-world listening post for alien messages.
19 Feb 10 BBC: Nasa rides 'bucking bronco' to Mars (Mars Science Laboratory)
17 Feb 10 Space.com: Martian Hunting: The Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes - see also Your ancestors may be Martian
17 Feb 10 ESA: Phobos flyby season starts again.
16 Feb 10 NewSci: Dusty mirrors on the moon obscure tests of relativity.
12 Feb 10 NewSci ($): Martian sheen: Life on the rocks + Space 2020: what NASA will do next + NASA moon plan was an illusion, wrapped in denial.
11 Feb 10 Selected LPSC2010 papers:

6 Feb 10 BBC: Could life exist on Jupiter moon? See also Estimated flux of rocks bearing viable lifeforms exchanged between Earth and Mars (discusses chances of Earth-life reaching the ocean of Europa)
4 Feb 10 New Scientist: Destination Phobos: humanity's next giant leap (see Phobos mission)
29 Jan 10 Space.com: President Obama to Propose Abandoning NASA's Moon Plan (and Mars?)
28 Jan 10 Acta Astronautica ($): A concept for the entry, descent, and landing of high-mass payloads at Mars + Update on the Ares V to support heavy lift for U.S. space exploration policy.
28 Jan 10 NewSci: Destination Phobos: humanity's next giant leap (see Phobos mission)
27 Jan 10 Nature: Plans for alien contact found wanting.
27 Jan 10 UT: No More Roving for Spirit + Popular Australian Astronomer Honored For Service to Astronomy
24 Jan 10 NewSci: Hello ET, we come in peace + Exolanguage: do you speak alien? + Ares 1 is 'safest choice' to replace shuttle.
12 Jan 10 Space.com: Arthur C. Clarke's '2010' Still Beyond Reality.
12 Jan 10 Space Review: Complexity and danger + The exoplanet explosion + The future of American human space exploration and the “Critical Path”.
5 Jan 10 BBC: Mars' ancient lake beds spied by Nasa probe
5 Jan 10 Space Review: Why should humans go to Mars?
1 Jan 10 Science ($): Obama Backs New Launcher And Bigger NASA Budget - President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to cancel work on a new rocket and instead fund a heavy-lift launcher to take humans to the moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars.

News archive (from Nov 1997)

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan in Ithaca 1995.

Carl Sagan is one of the founders of TPS. He died on Dec.20, 1996 after 62 revolutions around our star. Carl and Ann's main works include

1. Billions and Billions (new),
2.Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
3. The Demon-Haunted World
4. Cosmos (TV series and book) Now available on DVD.

review

New

"Carl Sagan's Universe"

extract from an early Sagan book "Planets"

"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers."
[Carl in Cosmos 1980]
"May your husband be an inspiration to all for the search for truth."
[Horst to Ann 1/1/97]

Horst's Tribute to Carl Sagan - updated 14 Feb 1998.

24 Dec 06 Planetary Society: Where Would We Be With Carl? by Ann Druyan

Contact details: Carl Sagan Productions (West) Inc.
7165 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California 90046-4417 USA
Contact: Kent Gibson or Ann Druyan
www.carl-sagan.com
Quote:"The COSMOS series has recently been fully acquired by Carl Sagan Productions but it cannot be sold until the music rights have been re-cleared. We are planning to re-issue it on DVD and VHS after the legal work is complete." (20 Oct 1999)
12 Nov 2000 Project Voyager: OneCosmos represents the realization of a shared lifelong hope to organize and lead a team that will deliver the vision of Cosmos through every available screen: spectacular living Internet, engaging television and cinematic works of art.

Related sites:

Links with rankings
Astronomy magazine Oct 1999 Carl Sagan's Coming of Age
ONE LIFE, TWO TAKES (Scientific American, Sept 1999)
Planetary Society Tribute
Cornell University press release on Dr Sagan's death
NASA's Carl Sagan page
Carl Sagan Home Page
WWW Places of Interest to Dr. Sagan
CSICOP/Skeptical Inquirer (Dr Sagan was one of the founders)
'Kidnapped by UFOs?' Nova interviews Sagan
Carl Sagan's Honors
Interview with Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan Photo Gallery
Clark Chapman's tribute
The Baloney Kit from the Demon Haunted World
Scientific American's Review of 1997 is a tribute to Carl Sagan - many of the scientific achievements of the year were linked to him.
Marie Smith's webpage.
NASA Solar System Exploration - Solar System missions could not exist without the brilliant minds behind them. Carl Sagan and Donna Shirley represent two such minds. They have been among the most important contributors to the efforts of space exploration.
1 Aug 11: Watch Amazon for the release of Carl Sagan's many books in Kindle format.

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Founders of The Planetary Society

The founders of the Planetary Society: Bruce Murray, Carl Sagan and Louis Friedman in front of the TPS home in Pasadena, California.

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About TPS Australian Volunteer Coordinators

The Australian Volunteer Coordinators are members of The Planetary Society (an international non-profit organisation based in the USA). They help with planetary-science related events in Australia. There are several such groups around the world (see web links).

TPSAVC Seminars

SETI from Australia, Canberra, October 9, 1993.
Dr Roberta Vaile, late CSIRO Honorary Fellow, University of Western Sydney.
Dr Jeff Kingwell, CSIRO Office of Space Science & Applications, Canberra.
Mr Ted Ankrum, NASA Senior Representative in Australia, Canberra.
Dr Guillermo Lemarchand, The Planetary Society, University of Buenos Aires, S.A.
Mr Wilson da Silva, Reuters and 21C Magazine, Melbourne.

SETI SEMINAR, Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 1994.
Professor Marcus Price, Director, Parkes Radiotelescope, ATNF CSIRO.

PLANETARY SOCIETY SEMINARS, Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 1995.
Dr Jill Tarter, Chief Scientist, Project Phoenix, SETI Institute, California.
Ms Erica Sloan, NSSS - ANU, Russian Soyuz Society, Canberra.
Dr Malcolm Walter, Macquarie University, NASA-Mars Pathfinder, Sydney.

PLANETARY SOCIETY SEMINAR, Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 1996.
Dr Raghbir Bhathal, Chair, SETI Australia Centre, University of Western Sydney.

PLANETARY SOCIETY SEMINAR, Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 1997.
Dr Malcolm Walter, Macquarie University, NASA-Mars Pathfinder, Sydney.

PLANETARY SOCIETY SEMINAR, Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 5, 1998.
Dr Miriam Baltuck, NASA Senior Representative in Australia, Canberra.

"Collision Course" seminar, Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 5, 1999. Dr Ken Russell, Anglo-Australian Observatory, asteroid hazards.

"Australian Astronomy in the New Millennium", Australian Science Festival, Canberra, May 3, 2000
Prof Ray Norris, Head, Astrophysics and Computing Group, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility.

Is there water on Mars? Lecture by Dr Nick Hoffman, 7:30 pm, April 5th, 2001 Old ArtsTheatre D (Building 149, ground floor), University of Melbourne. Tickets $2 at the door - contact Kevin Walsh

Diary - Planetary Events in Australia

See also Ian Musgrave's 'Southern Sky Watch' page and Paul Floyd's Space Events for amateur astronomy events. See this TPS page for (mostly) US events.

28 Nov 11 Sydney: Jonathan Nally, freelance astronomy and space writer and broadcaster will bring us up to date on the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission.Monday 28 November 2011 from 7pm at the Discovery Room (basement), Sydney Observatory, Watson Road, The Rocks. All welcome.
29 Aug 11 Sydney ObServatory: Bernie Davison from the Australian Space Research Institute will talk about their Woomera launch campaigns. Free.
Sydney Space Association meeting at Sydney Observatory, Monday 29 August 2011 at 7pm, Watson Rd, The Rocks.
26 August 11 Sydney Powerhouse Museum: Your chance to sleep on Mars! Two children (and two friends) will win a free sleepover with an extra twist – they will be allowed exclusively to sleep on the museum's amazing simulated Martian landscape. Details at Ultimo Science Festival's Big Science Sleepover.
25 July 11 Sydney: Professor Salah Sukkarieh, Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney - Sydney Space Association meeting, Sydney Observatory, Discovery Room, The Rocks, Monday 25 July from 7pm.
30 May 11 Sydney - Sydney Space Association: The Space Station – speaker Wayne Short NSSA, Monday, 30 May 2011 from 7pm at Sydney Observatory.
7-15 Mar 11 Most major cities: Engineers Australia: Advanced Composites Technologies for Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles by Dr Mark Shuart from NASA.
28th Feb-3rd Mar 2011 Australian International Aerospace Congress in Melbourne
16 Feb 11 Sydney Space Association meeting, 7pm sharp, Powerhouse Museum Learning Centre, Harris Street, Ultimo.
17 Nov 10 Sydney: Sydney Space Society - Great Expectations. Powerhouse Museum. 7pm.
6 Oct 10 Sydney: Nemesis: The Search for Antimatter in the Universe - Presented by Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Federation Fellow at the University of Sydney, Wednesday 6 October 2010, 5:45pm - 6:45pm
6 Oct 10 Sydney: Buzz [Aldrin] at Australian Geographic Annual Awards Dinner
19 Sep 10 Sydney Observatory: Walking in Space: NASA astronaut Dr. James Reilly
18 Aug 10 Sydney - Sydney Space Association: ‘Situation of wonder’ the evolution of the universe presentation. Wednesday, 18 August at 7pm sharp Powerhouse Museum Ultimo.
15 Jul 2010 Canberra: Prof Jim Bell will be speaking about the Mars rovers at the CSIRO Discovery Centre, North Science Rd, 6pm Thu 15th July.
20 Aug 09 Sydney Space Association Public meeting, Thursday 20 August 2009, 7pm sharp at the Powerhouse Museum, Learning Centre 2nd level. Continues the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing with a video.
17-19 Jul 2009 Adelaide Mars Society of Australia: 9th Australian Mars Exploration Conference, Adelaide.
10 Jul 09 Melbourne: Mars Exploration Rovers: Overview of Geologic, Geochemical, and Mineralogic Results
Dr. Jim Bell, President, The Planetary Society, Friday July 10, 2009, 4:00 pm, Fritz Loewe Theatre School of Earth Sciences
University of Melbourne Corner of Swanston and Elgin Sts. Free
9 Jul 09 Sydney: Sydney Space Association special video evening. Thursday, 9 July at 7pm sharp. Powerhouse Museum Learning Centre, 2nd level, Harris St Ultimo.
23 Apr 09 Sydney MSA: "Analogue Mars Base Scenario" by Dr Jason Held, Time: 5:30 pm, Location: Lecture Room 5, Physics Building, University of Sydney
28 Jan 09 AAO + CSIRO + Science in Public: Launch and update of events for the International Year of Astronomy in Australia, to be held at the National Science and Technology Centre, Questacon, 10:00-11:00 am on Wednesday 28 January.
20 Aug 08 Sydney Space Association: Extraordinary Meeting at Powerhjluse Museum, 6.30pm. Contact Val Rogers: 4367 2408.
4 Jul 08 Mars Society of Australia: The 8th Australian Mars Exploration Conference will be held in Adelaide over the weekend of 4th - 6th July, 2008.
7 Feb 08 East Coast of Australia: Partial solar eclipse. Starts at 14:52 in Sydney, peaks at 15:44 - see Paul Floyd's Fact Sheet. Tips for safe observing.
9 Oct 07 Sydney: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Exploring Mars: The Journey of the Mars Exploration Rovers - Dr Mark Adler, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Tuesday 9th October 2007. Free. Please be seated by 6:20pm. For further information, contact Ron Houghton or Jeff Lock
6-14 Oct Sydney: 50th Anniversary of Space Celebrations at the Powerhouse Museum:

Australia in Space, Sat 6 October, 1.30pm , Prof. Iver Cairns, Research Professor in Space Physics, University of
Sydney.
The Drake Equation: a modern review, Sat 6 October, 3.30pm, Wilson da Silva, Editor-in-Chief, Cosmos Magazine
Blast Off: adventures from the dawn of the Space Age to the present , Sun 7 October, 2.00pm , Dr. Ken McCracken, Research Fellow, University of Maryland
50th Years of Spaceflight: the highlights, Wed 10 October, 12.30pm , Kerrie Dougherty, Curator, Space Technology, Powerhouse Museum
The Spitzer Space Telescope, Sun 14 October, 3.30pm, Robert K. Wilson, the Spitzer Project Manager
Surfing the Solar System with Lucy Hawking - the young person's guide to
the universe Sunday 14 October 2.00 - 3.00pm

5 Oct 07 Sydney WEA: Sputnik: 50 Years in Space. 6pm $35.
28 Aug 07 Total Lunar Eclipse - visible from most of Australia. Partial eclipse starts 6.50pm AEST, full eclipse starts 7.52pm. Ends 9.22pm. See Paul Floyd's newsletter.
18 July 07 Sydney 7pm: Astrophotography and the Discovery of the Universe - free talk by Prof David Malin at Warringah Council Chambers - Dee Why.
13-15 July 2007 Perth: 7th Annual Mars Exploration Conference (AMEC) by the Mars Society of Australia.
7 April 07 Eastern Australia around 8.30pm: The Moon will pass in front of or 'occult' Antares (the brightest star in the ancient Greek constellation Scorpius The Scorpion) on the evening ofSaturday 7 April 2007. Information Sheet from Paul Floyd.
18-21 Jan 07 Hunter Valley NSW: The IceInSpace AstroCamp at Lostock is a new star party, in only it's 2nd year, being organised by the IceInSpace community. The event will be held over 3 nights, from the 18th to the 21st of January 2007, at Lostock Scout Camp, Lostock in the beautiful Hunter Valley area of NSW.
9 Nov 06: For Eastern Australian residents the Transit of Mercury will be visible from just after dawn on Thursday 9th of November to late morning. See Paul Floyd's webcast. ASA Factsheet. Tips for safe observing. Thanks for the tips Ian Musgrave.
13-15 Oct 06 Melbourne: MSA - Australian Mars Exploration Conference - AMEC 2006
2 Sep 06 Sydney: Powerhouse Museum, "Roving on Mars: The Continuing Saga of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover
Missions" - Dr. James W. Rice, Jr, Arizona State University, 2:00pm - 3:00pm, Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum (thanks MSA)
21-22 Jun 06 Canberra: From Stars to Brains: pathways to consciousness in the natural world - Manning Clark House, 20-21 June, 2006, at the Academy of Science, Canberra, A.C.T
5 Apr 06 Sydney Uni: Sydney Science Forum with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.
13 Mar 06 Sydney Uni Dean's Annual Lecture: "My personal experiences as an astronaut" by Andy Thomas + "Astronaut Training" by Shannon Walker. Mon 13 Mar at 5.30pm. Invitation (PDF)
26-30 Jan 06 Star Party DownUnder at Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia - magnificant scenery, geology and astronomy.
1 Dec 05 Uni Sydney: Time: 6.30pm, Location: Eastern Avenue Auditorium, F19, Camperdown campus , Cost: Free "Seeking extraterrestrial physics and intelligence during the international year of physics" by Dr Jill Tarter, of the SETI Institute, (thanks for news tip Michael West)
7 Nov 05 MSA: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - Jim Graf, Project Manager for the Mission, NASA JPL - Common Room, School of Physics, Old Main Building, UNSW,Monday November 7, 3pm
13-16 Sep 05 Melbourne: NSSA 5th Australian Space Science Conference.
25 Aug 05 Brisbane: "Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet" by Steve Squyres, 3.15pm for 3.30pm, Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, Please phone 3403 2578 after 11am, Tue to Sun. (thanks Paul Floyd)
19-21 Aug 05 Canberra: MSA 5th Australian Mars Exploration Conference (AMEC) - keynote speaker Steve Squyres from the Mars Rover mission.
13-21 Aug 05 Everywhere: National Science Week 2005 - Astronomy resources from Paul Floyd.
13 Jul 05 Sydney: MSA "Beyond FMARS: The Next Required Evolution of the Mars Analogue Program" by
Jason Held, 6pm, Engineering Conference Room, Level 3, Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Sydney. Contact
nswATmarssociety.org.au
4 Jul 05 Sydney: CSIRO/UniSyd: The Brightest Explosion in History: Amazing Magnetars and the Giant Flare of 27th December by Bryan Gaensler (Harvard), Monday 4 July, 7:30pm - 9:00pm.Webster Theatre, Veterinary Conference Centre, University of Sydney, Contact outreach@physics.usyd.edu.au (thanks Paul Floyd)
23-26 Jun 05 Everywhere, Paul Floyd: [Very] rare June planetary conjunction - see three planets close together just after sunset.
21 Jun 05 Sydney: MSA "AstroVision: The Future of Satellite Imagery or Australia's First Weather Satellite" by Shubber Ali, 6pm , Engineering Conference Room, Level 3, Mechanical . Details from Michael West, NSW MSA.
Engineering Building, University of Sydney - Map Ref N25
17 & 18 Jun 05 Sydney: Sydney Observatory Festival of the Stars
16 Jun 05 ABC TV: Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets - from the producer of Walking With Dinosaurs
16 Jun 05 Queensland: Paul Floyd Daytime occulation of Jupiter bythe Moon - starts around 3.30pm.
17 May 05 Sydney: MSA "Hydrothermal Systems on Mars - the latest from ESA Mars Express and the NASA
Rovers" Location: Engineering Conference Room, Level 3, Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Sydney at 6pm. See also this ACA talk.
14 Apr 05 Frankston, Vic: National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers (NACAA)
4 Apr 05 Sydney AIAA: Sydney Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics will be holding a guest lecture on Monday 4th April at Sydney University. The speaker will be Dr. Allan J. McDonald recently retired as the Science
and Engineering Deputy and Technical Director for Thikol Propulsion. Dr McDonald will speak on his involvement in attempting to delay the launch of the Challenger and the lessons learned from his experiences with the media, the Presidential Commission and the US Congress investigation.
Details: Monday 4th April 2005, Time: 5.30pm for 6.00pm
Venue: Sydney University, Camperdown, Lecture theatre N 205
Off the main quadrangle, opposite side to the clock tower. For more information contact Ron Houghton
14 Feb 05 Perth, MSA: Weathering, erosion and landscape processes on Mars identified from recent rover imagery, and Earth analogues by Dr Colin Pain. Senior Lecture Theatre, Trinity College, Trinity Ave, East Perth. Tuesday, 15th February 2005, 7 for 7.30pm, $5 for Adults, $2 for Under 18s. Further information from Dave Cooper outreach@marssociety.org.au
8 Feb 05 Sydney: SSFS: The Nasa Plan for Space Exploration - Sydney Space Frontier Society Chapter Meeting, 7:30 pm,
SCHOOLS Briefing Room, Level 3, POWERHOUSE Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo. Contact Wayne Short.
22 Jan 05 Sydney: Cosmology talk by Paul Davies at Sydney Observatory.
14 Jan 05 Mornington Peninsula, Vic: Starry Nights Forever - Astronomy on the Move (and many more throughout the year)
14 & 15 Jan 05 Sydney: Sydney Observatory Open Night - Saturn viewing. Note that Hugyens lands on Titan on 14 Jan.
28 Nov 04 Sydney: Powerhouse Museum, 'Australia from Space' by NASA Astronaut Dr Story Musgrave. 12.30pm at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
21 Nov 04 Perth: Monthly Meeting of Mars Society, WA branch. Guildford 6pm.
20 Nov 04 Sydney: Australian Museum TAMS lecture: Mars Attacks! - Dr Phil Plait (the "Bad Astronomer")
17 Nov 04 Melbourne: ANZAAS, Victorian Division: "Exploring Mars with robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity"MARION ANDERSON (School of Geosciences, Monash University). All welcome, free entry. No booking needed. Kaleide Theatre (RMIT), 360 Swanston Street, Melbourne. Refreshments following the talk. Starting 8 pm.
16 Nov 04 Sydney: Geological Society of Australia free public lecture: 'The Search for Life on Mars, Professor Malcolm Walter (plus other topics), Australian Museum, 6pm.
15 Nov 04 Canberra: Australian Skeptics Society:The Face on Mars - Dr Phil Plait (the "Bad Astronomer"), 8pm, Haydon-Allen Tank, ANU, Canberra
13 Nov 04 Sydney: Australian Skeptics Society: "The Moon Landing Hoax" - Dr Phil Plait (the "Bad Astronomer"), Convention at UTS.
11 Nov 04 Sydney: National Space Society of Australia (and others): Spacecraft to Mars - Garry Lyles, NASA Office of Exploration Systems, Thursday 11th November 2004, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm, Rex Vowels Theatre (Electrical Engineering), University of New South Wales. For RSVP or more details, please contact Jenny Simpson by Ph: 02 9934 5133 or jenny.simpson[AT]weirwarman.com
10 Nov 04 Melbourne: The Planetary Society would like to invite you to a lecture by Dr. Nick Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman is a well-known Mars expert and the originator of the 'White Mars' hypothesis. The exciting new results from NASA's Mars rovers seem to show 'water, water, everywhere', and yet the story is not quite that simple. Although there are widespread signs of the action of water on Mars, the duration of that activity is quite limited. There is also no evidence for an Earth-like climate on Mars, and instead we need to invoke highly acidic solutions that would flow in the ultra-cold conditions that characterise Mars even today. Orbital and surface images are studied to determine the present and past environment of Mars, to learn more about our neighbour in space and our place in the Universe. Is Earth truly a lonely planet?
The talk will be held in the Prince Phillip Theatre, School of Architecture, University of Melbourne, 7:30 pm, Wednesday Nov. 10. The lecture is free and open to the public. For further information, including directions and parking information, please e-mail Kevin Walsh at kevin.walsh[AT]unimelb.edu.au.
9 Nov 04 - Adelaide: National Space Society of Australia (and others): The Spacecraft for Mars - A free public lecture by Garry Lyles, Deputy Director, Development, Division, Office of Exploration Systems, Tuesday 9th November 2004 6:30 to 7:45 pm University of South Australia. Registration at http://www.unisa.edu.au/itee/ (thanks MSA)
9 Nov 04 - Melbourne: Australian Risk Engineering Conference, Engineers Australia. RISK 2004.Keynote Speaker - Duncan Steel,
20 Oct 04 Sydney: Geological Society of Australia free public lectures: 'Are we alone? - Earliest life on Earth, life on Mars and the search for the extra-terrestrial life' Dr Charley Lineweaver and Professor Malcolm Walter (also Canberra 26 Oct, Brisbane 27 Oct)

Request addition to this list.
Other Australian sites with astronomy events: Paul Floyd, Sydney Observatory, ABC lab ...

The Science Show

Nanobe discoverer Philippa Uwins,
TPS Volunteer Michael Paine and
Cosmologist Paul Davies in the ABC studio.

THE PLANETARY SOCIETY - AUSTRALIAN VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS

email: planetary.society(at)tpg.com.au

Regional Co-ordinators

ACT & INT - Mr Matthew L. James, Canberra (see below for postal address).

QLD Dave Burton - email

NSW & WWW - Mr Michael Paine, Sydney. email

VIC & TAS - Dr Kevin Walsh, Melbourne of University School of Earth Sciences & Richard Tonkin - email

Website founder Horst Sommer - email

Offers of help from TPS members are welcome.

TPSAVC Postal Address: Mr Matthew L. James, Australian Coordinator,
The Planetary Society, G.P.O.Box 2086, Canberra 2601.
Critical Vista Flaw Leads Patch Tuesday Lineup

_{Maintained by Michael Paine
(home page) : email: mpainesyd!gmail.com (replace ! with
@)}
_{Last update - see news items.}

_{Background: Image of Jupiter by NASA - from the Voyager
Mission.}

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