Presenting at this meeting of the National Academies' CAPS meeting in a few minutes. I'll be talking, with Vicky Hamilton, about recommendations we made for NASA's research and analysis programs in the 2023 planetary science Decadal Survey. www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DEP...

Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences - Meeting No. 1 on Planetary Research Program Metrics

This is an open session meeting of the Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences to discuss its task on metrics for the Planetary Research Program. The Statement of Task for this study is as f...

nationalacademies.org

Can life exist, full-cycle, in a planet's atmosphere? We know life spends time in our atmosphere, but does anything live there full time? How about Venus, other solar system planets, or exoplanets? How can we know? Atmospheres as Habitats, now in Astrobiology (open access) doi.org/10.1177/1531...

Atmospheres as Habitats - Noam R. Izenberg, Diana M. Gentry, Rakesh Mogul, Kevin McGouldrick, Paul A. Burke, Paul K. Byrne, Stephen R. Kane, Tom A. Nordheim, Kevin B. Stevenson, Michael J. Way, Thomas...

The potential of planetary atmospheres as habitats is understudied and likely underestimated. Although planetary atmospheres can provide the fundamental physica...

doi.org

Here's a picture of some Mars dirt for you.

Here's a picture of some Mars dirt for you.

Aperiodic reminder that Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus has a subsurface liquid water ocean that it's blasting into space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill.bsky.social)

Aperiodic reminder that Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus has a subsurface liquid water ocean that it's blasting into space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill.bsky.social)

Sunset on Mars. Photographed on 19 May 2005 by the Spirit rover.

Sunset on Mars. Photographed on 19 May 2005 by the Spirit rover.

The 30 July 2026 Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a remarkable shot of the Sun photographed through a wildfire smoke-filled sky that turned the star a deep red. So I tweaked it to look like we're orbiting an M-class red dwarf star with a close-in system of rocky planets, like TRAPPIST-1.

The 30 July 2026 Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a remarkable shot of the Sun photographed through a wildfire smoke-filled sky that turned the star a deep red. So I tweaked it to look like we're orbiting an M-class red dwarf star with a close-in system of rocky planets, like TRAPPIST-1.

The Solar System's seventh planet, the ice giant Uranus.

The Solar System's seventh planet, the ice giant Uranus.

I attempted to put upper and lower bounds on what it would cost to repurpose Perseverance's testbed twin and send it to the Moon. It's not the cheap and fast mission people hope it is. www.planetary.org/articles/the...

The Cost of a PROMISE

NASA may send an engineering test of the Perseverance rover to the Moon, but at what price?

planetary.org

Jezero Crater, Mars, seen on 27 July 2026. There is nothing—and I emphasise nothing—we humans could do to Earth that would make it less hospitable than Mars. So should we send astronauts there? Yes! Absolutely! But we will never colonise Mars, nor should we.

NASA Requires Astronauts In Training To Drop To 25 Pounds To Simulate Weight On Moon https://theonion.com/nasa-requires-astronauts-in-training-to-drop-to-25-pounds-to-simulate-weight-on-moon/

Jezero Crater, Mars, seen on 27 July 2026. There is nothing—and I emphasise nothing—we humans could do to Earth that would make it less hospitable than Mars. So should we send astronauts there? Yes! Absolutely! But we will never colonise Mars, nor should we.

Choose the form of the Destructor!

Barry Butler Photography@barrybutler9.bsky.social · last wk.

Lightning-Palooza. Without a doubt, the craziest lightning image I've ever captured. This is one image, not those ridiculous composite images you see too often. Captured on this day in Chicago three years ago.

Time to post the Cosmic Cliffs in Carina Nebula from #JWST again, just because.

Time to post the Cosmic Cliffs in Carina Nebula from #JWST again, just because.

I'm glad the space press is finally covering the reality that SpaceX doesn't have the heat shield technology it needs to make Starship rapidly reusable: arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...

Experts warn current Starship heat shield tech is a "dead end" for rapid reuse

NASA has not made substantial investments in thermal protection research for decades.

arstechnica.com

More insanity from a government looking to destroy decades of scientific leadership for a perceived short-term financial gain, this time in the UK. Defunding world-class astrophysics infrastructure to save £2.8M in a £10B annual budget.

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Look at this weird fuckin' rock on Mars that was photographed yesterday

Look at this weird fuckin' rock on Mars that was photographed yesterday

More insanity from a government looking to destroy decades of scientific leadership for a perceived short-term financial gain, this time in the UK. Defunding world-class astrophysics infrastructure to save £2.8M in a £10B annual budget.

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A solar eclipse. On Saturn. By Titan. Photographed from Earth. 📷: AJ Smadi (StardustAstro/Correct_Presence_936)

My teams have completed all necessary checks and testing of the Cebreros station. After careful review, we have declared the antenna GREEN for nominal operations as of 27 July.

Josef Aschbacher@josefaschbacher.esa.int · 2w ago

Based on current information, the Cebreros station appears to have remained unharmed. My deepest thanks go to the Spanish emergency services whose efforts helped protect the site as wildfires approached. Left: 24 July 19:57, Right: 25 July 07:54

A solar eclipse. On Saturn. By Titan. Photographed from Earth. 📷: AJ Smadi (StardustAstro/Correct_Presence_936)

Saturn.

Saturn.