This week in space from Fraser Cain | | I know, I know, it's all about Musk. But seriously, congrats again to SpaceX for figuring out how to reuse another part of rockets: the fairing. Here's half of the fairing from the recent SpaceX launch from Vandenberg, picked up by Mr. Steven, their new boat. These things are normally destroyed as they fall into the ocean or burn up into the atmosphere, so it's great to see an attempt made to use even more of the rocket.
The next attempt will happen on March 29th, and maybe this time the boat will catch it.
On a side note...
I just wanted to let you know that all the video and audio we create is also available as a podcast, just in case you're not a fan of going to YouTube. And I don't blame you, I'm always listening to podcasts when I'm going for walks, working out, doing chores, etc.
There's Astronomy Cast, obviously. iTunes, RSS
There's the video version of the Guide to Space. iTunes, RSS
Audio edition of the Guide to Space. iTunes, RSS
Audio edition of the Weekly Space Hangout. iTunes, RSS
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today
As always, if you have comments or questions, or suggestions on how I can improve this newsletter, please don't hesitate to reply this email or send me an email at frasercain@gmail.com. | | 
Take a second and wrap your brain around what you're looking at. This is a photo of the Martian moon Deimos, with Saturn just behind it. It was taken by ESA's Mars Express orbiter, as part of its operations to capture images of both Phobos and Deimos. You're going to want to click through to see the rest of the images.
Okay, this is the last time I'm going to post this photo for a while. Researchers have determined that bacteria on Musk's space Tesla can probably survive the harsh environment of space, protected in the nooks and crannies of the car, and in the far future, could return this life to Earth or even to Mars if there's a collision. Planetary contamination or backup copy of life on Earth? Genetic blueprints for an army of Musk clones?
The Atacama Desert is a really hard place to life, where years can go between rainfalls. And yet, researchers have found that life can survive in the soil for hundreds or even thousands of years, waiting for the rains to return. This could be good news for the search for life on Mars.
Although life can last for a while in hibernation here on Earth, it looks like organic material on Mars won't be that well preserved. Researchers have created simulated Martian mud and found that organic material within this stuff disappears pretty quickly. This might explain why we haven't seen any large deposits of organics on Mars yet.
After nearly 20 years of service, NASA's Cassini spacecraft was destroyed when it entered the atmosphere of Saturn. Just before impact, it captured images of the region that it was going to crash into, although the actual collision happened on Saturn's night side, away from our view. Farewell Cassini.
NASA scientists have been analyzing data from two lunar missions and discovered that water is actually pretty widely distributed across the Moon. No matter which part of the Moon they looked, they found the signal of water. The problem is that this water probably isn't very easy to get to, so not the best resource for a future Moon colony.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission just celebrated 22 years of observing the Sun. This is an important milestone because it's a complete cycle of the Sun's solar activity, where it moves from its maximum activity to its minimum and back again. This cool image shows the Sun in each year.
NASA is going to decide between a comet sample return mission or a helicopter on Titan. Which mission should it be? And after you've watched my video, watch Tim's on the Dragonfly mission.
The gigantic Stratolaunch aircraft, which will eventually air-launch rockets rolled out onto the runway this week and completed a taxi test at 40 knots. If all goes well, this monster will take to the skies in 2019, working through more tests until it actually starts launching rockets in 2020.
Astronomers have a new explanation for how the Moon formed. Well, it's still pretty similar to the old idea; that a Mars sized planet crashed into the early Earth, vaporizing it into a cloud called a synestia. Then the Moon formed from within this cloud.
Pretty much every image of a black hole you've seen is an illustration. That's because they're invisible, absorbing everything, even the light that falls onto them. But astronomers have seen them indirectly and measured their impact on space around them.
Astronomers have created an unprecedentedly high resolution image of the core of the Milky Way, a region which hides a supermassive black hole with more than 4 million times the mass of the Sun. One of the strange mysteries about this region is why it actually has much less star formation than other galaxies like the Milky Way.
The three astronaut members of Expedition 54 returned to Earth after months on board the International Space Station. Mark Vande Hei, Joe Acaba and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin landed in their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on Feb. 28, 
Good news: Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun has planets. Bad news, the red dwarf star releases killer flares that probably scour all life off the surface of those planets. Now we just need to wait a few billion years for the star to settle down.
A recent survey of the Hubble Space Telescope has mapped out supernovae at unprecedented detail, confirming the discovery of dark energy and building a more precise distance ladder to study the largest distances in the Universe. Still no idea what's actually causing dark energy, though.
Other Interesting Space Stuff
Amazing Astrophotography
Who doesn't love the Pleiades Star Cluster, aka, the Seven Sisters, aka, the Subaru Logo? Here's a great photo from the @cosmic_adventurer. Using an 80mm Skywatcher refractor telescope.
We feature a different astrophotographer every day on our Instagram page. Want to do a takeover? Use the hashtag #universetoday and I'll check out your photos. | | | |
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