Last year, NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. It was a good thing.

Nearly a year has passed since NASA deliberately crashed a $300 million spacecraft into an asteroid. In a first-of-its-kind feat, the agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) craft slammed into the space rock Dimorphos at 14,000 miles per hour on September 26, 2022. Dimorphos orbits another asteroid called Didymos, and while neither object posed a threat to Earth, the feat showed the world that NASA could nudge an asteroid and alter its trajectory—an action that might come in handy if a planetary defense scenario were to materialize in the future.

The test was a success, and potentially means we won’t need to send Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, or any oil drillers into space to save the planet in the future. However, following last year’s impact, a high school class in California has discovered that the asteroid’s orbit around Didymos has degraded more than initially expected. In short, Dimorphos is acting strangely.

I can relate, Dimorphos. I can relate.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio was supposed to spend six months in space. Things did not quite work out that way, with Rubio’s return delayed by half a year. I’ve been finding myself contemplating how that might have played out.

• “Well folks, I’m excited to be coming home next week! Oh…what’s…no? A delay? Huh, OK. Well, how long, a day or two? Oh. Oh I see.”

When Rubio comes home later this month, he’ll at least have earned a new American space record.

Over on Mars, NASA has been generating oxygen. That’s very cool!

When the Perseverance rover touched down on Mars in February 2021, one of the instruments it carried was a 40-pound, microwave-sized device called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, aka MOXIE.

MOXIE has been working over the last 2.5 years to extract the trace amounts of oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere, which is mostly carbon dioxide (95%) and nitrogen (3%). On its 16th and final run on August 7, the instrument made 9.8 grams of oxygen, bringing the total to 122 grams.

However, the current results from MOXIE aren’t exactly jaw-dropping on their face. In fact, the headline “NASA generates enough oxygen on Mars for a small dog to breathe for ten hours” sounds more than a little ridiculous. In truth, however, this system has worked even better than expected. In the future, it’s possible that large dogs could breath for weeks, months, or even years on Mars. Also, humans, I suppose.

When it comes to popular date nights, it’s wise to plan ahead. That said, you can perhaps hold off on scheduling a romantic night out for Valentine’s Day 2046. On that day, a recently discovered asteroid may crash into Earth.

Back in July, I posted about the first images NASA showed from the new James Webb Space Telescope. I followed up with a second post showing off comparisons between the Webb and the old Hubble telescope.

Now, NASA has another new comparison image, recreating a 1995 shot called “The Pillars of Creation”. Once again, it is something to see.

[Photo credit: NASA]

I’m still amazed at just how high quality these images are.

Almost exactly one decade ago, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in truly incredible fashion.¹ One year later, the robot was programmed to hum “Happy Birthday” to itself, which is somehow simultaneously adorable and deeply sad. In subsequent years, however, there was no celebration.

This year, in a marketing gimmick that’s still worth writing about, robots on earth will do the singing. Autonomous home lawn mowers from Husqvarna will be able to serenade Curiosity, and that’s pretty great.

I don’t have a lawn, and thus have never shopped for a robot lawn mower. However, thanks to this stunt, I’ve learned that Husqvarna’s mowers look like tiny Batmobiles:

That’s pretty great too.

Footnotes:

1. While writing this post, I once again watched NASA’s “Seven Minutes of Terror” video. Everything about it still fills me with awe. ↩︎

When I posted about the new James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday, I also linked to a similar image from the Hubble. Now, there’s a fantastic site to compare images between the two space telescopes: WebbCompare.com.

Left: Hubble; Right: Webb

It’s not unlike the switch from standard definition television to HD. It’s a stark and astounding improvement.

One planet over, on Mars, NASA has deployed five different rovers over the years. To our knowledge, however, only one of them has a pet.

Stowaway

Yes, the Perseverance rover has acquired a pet rock, and that’s adorable.

Texas congressman Louie Gohmert has never been thought of as the brightest crayon in the box. However, his recent question to the U.S. Forest Service was enormously stupid on two distinct levels.