January 7, 2026 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- China sends 28 astronauts on week-long underground cave trip
This is the same PR silliness that NASA and ESA have done. Caving is fun and it does teach survival skills, but those skills also have little to do with what astronauts will do in space or on other worlds.
- Starlink provides free broadband service to the people of Venezuela through February 3
Gee, isn’t it nice when Americans actually support the idea of freedom and liberation from dictators?
- On this day in 1998, Lunar Prospector was launched to the Moon
It was the first NASA mission to the Moon in a quarter century. Its data confirmed data from Clementine, an earlier Defense Department lunar orbiter, that suggested there was water ice in the Moon’s permanently shadowed polar craters. That conclusion as yet however remains unproven.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- China sends 28 astronauts on week-long underground cave trip
This is the same PR silliness that NASA and ESA have done. Caving is fun and it does teach survival skills, but those skills also have little to do with what astronauts will do in space or on other worlds.
- Starlink provides free broadband service to the people of Venezuela through February 3
Gee, isn’t it nice when Americans actually support the idea of freedom and liberation from dictators?
- On this day in 1998, Lunar Prospector was launched to the Moon
It was the first NASA mission to the Moon in a quarter century. Its data confirmed data from Clementine, an earlier Defense Department lunar orbiter, that suggested there was water ice in the Moon’s permanently shadowed polar craters. That conclusion as yet however remains unproven.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
That’s METAL snowflake to you
https://phys.org/news/2026-01-snowflake-emergence-phenomenon-metal-nanocrystals.html
Speaking of metal
https://phys.org/news/2026-01-antiferromagnetic-metal-diode-behavior-external.html
Is Minneapolis burning, yet?
Hoppewave
Hans Herman Hoppe
“Absurdistan” The Music Video
https://youtu.be/x15LTalV1b0
4:33
From Jeff Foust last night: “One note from the STScI town hall at #AAS247 today: the median reentry date for Hubble, based on current modeling, is 2033; a <10% chance of reentry by 2029."
https://x.com/i/status/2009007873200980291
Perhaps the guy who just over NASA as admin might have 'em take another look at a Polaris reboot mission.
There appears to be a serious medical situation developing with one of the astronauts on the ISS. It started with a cancelled EVA, but now NASA is openly discussing an early return of Crew-11, which would be unprecedented.
“As an update to our earlier communication regarding a medical situation aboard the International Space Station, the matter involved a single crew member who is stable. Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission. These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely. We will provide further updates within the next 24 hours.”
https://x.com/i/status/2009129900637143450
Ars, Reuters, NBC, Fox and SpaceNews have stories up now, among others. But I’m sure Jay and Bob are already on the story.
It doesn’t rain but it pours.
Bob has discussed how most of professional astronomy was funded privately before World War 2. It has been objected that this just isn’t feasible with stuff like space telescopes because of cost barriers to entry and lack of market. Well, take a look at this development today:
Eric Berger, “Former Google CEO plans to singlehandedly fund a Hubble telescope replacement,” Ars Technica, Jan 8, 2026
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/eric-schmidt-will-massively-invest-in-private-telescopes-including-hubble-replacement/
The comment section largely isn’t happy, no surprise there. Collectivists and the tax-the-rich types (who are usually the same people) bemoan private efforts, but in my opinion ignore the difficulty in persuading disparate groups with opposing priorities to pay for their favored projects. The ESA should be a prominent example of this-as much international collaboration as any statist could wish for, and yet they don’t accomplish very much, and are dependent on NASA for larger missions (despite the European economy having been comparable to the USA’s for many years).
A related development, just made public in the last hour: As protests escalate, the Iranian government has shut down internet and phone access — but it is now being reported that Elon Musk quietly enabled free Starlink access across the country.
It’s up to (and should be up to) Iranians to terminate this vile regime. Elon’s move may be a tipping point to allowing them to finally make that happen.