November 12, 2025 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.
- Northern Lights set to dazzle UK and US this week due to possible ‘severe’ geomagnetic storm
From Jay: “I saw it outside while observing the Starlink ‘train’ of satellites, a deep red color. NOAA has it listed as a ‘G4 (severe) storm.'” Sounds terrible, but don’t panic. The biggest threat is to the power grid, and utilities have now spent decades planning for these kinds of storms.
- On this day in 1966, NASA launched the last Gemini mission, Gemini-12
Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin spent close to three days in orbit, with Aldrin performing three spacewalks, proving it was possible to do productive work in a spacesuit.
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.
- Northern Lights set to dazzle UK and US this week due to possible ‘severe’ geomagnetic storm
From Jay: “I saw it outside while observing the Starlink ‘train’ of satellites, a deep red color. NOAA has it listed as a ‘G4 (severe) storm.'” Sounds terrible, but don’t panic. The biggest threat is to the power grid, and utilities have now spent decades planning for these kinds of storms.
- On this day in 1966, NASA launched the last Gemini mission, Gemini-12
Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin spent close to three days in orbit, with Aldrin performing three spacewalks, proving it was possible to do productive work in a spacesuit.
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


I live in SW Indiana and the aurora filled the northern half of the sky from about 11 PM until shortly before daybreak. I took pictures for my wife, who was on a work trip at Fort Worth, TX. She couldn’t see them because of light pollution, but I’ve seen pictures of the aurora taken as far south a El Salvador. Last night must’ve been one of the most powerful solar storms since the Carrington Event.
The solar storm delays the launch of the Mars Escapade mission.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/ongoing-solar-storm-delays-blue-origin-launch-of-nasa-mars-probes
Intense solar storm delays Blue Origin launch of NASA Mars probes
News
By Josh Dinner published 8 hours ago
There’s definitely some irony in ESCAPADE’s Mars space weather probes being delayed by space weather.
Sierra Space has just pumped out a lengthy press release about the latest round of tests they have run on Dream Chaser.
https://www.sierraspace.com/press-releases/sierra-spaces-dream-chaser-spaceplane-successfully-completes-critical-pre-flight-milestones/
They posted a follow-up on X promising a video of the tow test, which they say is currently being edited.
Also a post answering a question about when the flight will be. “Targeting Q4 of 2026”
https://x.com/SierraSpaceCo/status/1989006473569972528
I think this has more to do with chasing certain defense procurement dollars at a critical juncture than anything else. And no, I don’t think any of us should expect it to fly in 2026. But there you go.
Richard M: This Sierra Dream Chaser update will be a full post, once the New Glenn launch finishes. It is most revealing, and not in a good way.
Book on life in space
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-life-space-beginner-universe.html
More
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-mind-rogue-planets-moons-life.html
AI and math
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ai-math-genius-accurate-results.html
“At the 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), one competitor did so well that it would have been awarded the Silver Prize, except for one thing: it was an AI system. This was the first time AI had achieved a medal-level performance in the competition’s history. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers detail the technology behind this remarkable achievement.The AI is AlphaProof, a sophisticated program developed by Google DeepMind that learns to solve complex mathematical problems. The achievement at the IMO was impressive enough, but what really makes AlphaProof special is its ability to find and correct errors. While large language models (LLMs) can solve math problems, they often can’t guarantee the accuracy of their solutions. There may be hidden flaws in their reasoning.”
“AlphaProof is different because its answers are always 100% correct.”
Uh-huh…
Peat and repeat are on a logarithm
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-code-complexity-science-p-np.html
“Everyone working in computer science and mathematics knows about the ‘P vs. NP’ problem,” Seth says. “It’s one of the notorious Millennium Prize Problems: so famous and so difficult that solving one will earn you a million dollars.” The paper, “A Tolerant Independent Set Tester,” was presented at the 2025 Symposium on Theory of Computing. The findings are published on the arXiv preprint server.
If four quarters are worth a dollar–how much is a bunch of nickels?
Are you married or happy?
Is it as warm in the summer as it is in the country?