*The banner is a photo by astronaut Don Pettit from space in January 2025 as the sun began to rise over a cloudy Pacific Ocean. It is a long-exposure image that displays the wide band of the Milky Way Galaxy above the aurora and airglow that shine closer to Earth's horizon (paraphrased from a description of the photo on NASA's tumblr)
*The icon is an artist's imagining of one of the Cassini probe's final orbits before it plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn and burned up, just a bright streak of light between Saturn's rings and the gas giant itself.
*blog title is the motto of Starfleet in Star Trek. It's Latin for "to the stars through hardship".
NOTES
*Please ask questions if there's something unclear. I try to explain things but there will always be something I think is obvious and basic knowledge that isn't either of that to someone who hasn't grown up reading tons about space and space exploration.
*Speaking of, posts about space exploration might end up being very American centric since I have easy access to information about NASA and its history. I highly encourage folks to send in asks letting me know about space exploration based in other countries, even if it's just "hey can you tell me more about this person, they were the first astronaut from my country to go to the ISS". Half the reason I made this blog is because I want to learn more.
*Politics is an unavoidable topic in space exploration, as is talking about the contributions of companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin. Both are going to happen here, but they will be tagged so that you can block those posts as needed.
*If spoilers for a book, tv show, or movie are a concern for you, they will be tagged with their full title so you can block as needed (you can also ask me what tag i intend to use for them).
Image description: 1 - picture of a pot of moss growing outside the international space station with the text "moss survived nine months outside the international space station"
2 - screen shot of a post by tonysopranoproskater69420 that says "it is like talking to a fucking genie with you people"
Hilarious comment, but this actually is a really cool thing that moss can do.
While lunar gardens are still out of reach, the study sheds more light on terrestrial biology that may not be limited to our planet's surfac
This illustration shows the relative scale of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and a Tyrannosaurus rex. Roman is over 42 feet (12.7 meters) long — about the length of a T. rex — and over 14 feet (4.4 meters) wide when fully deployed. Roman also weighs around 18,000 pounds, or 8,000 kilograms (dry mass), which is the approximate mass of a T. rex as well.
Did you know NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is both roughly as long and as massive as a Tyrannosaurus rex? This observatory, which will move to the launch site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida very soon, is over 42 feet (12.7 meters) long and weighs around 18,000 pounds (8,000 kilograms), not including the fuel. Let’s explore some of the components that bring Roman to T. rex proportions.
Artist's concepts of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (left) and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (right), highlighting the 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) primary mirrors that sit in the heart of each observatory.
At the observatory’s heart sits a mirror that’s 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) across and 410 pounds (186 kilograms), or about the length and weight of a protoceratops! Roman’s primary mirror is the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope’s main mirror, but less than one-fourth the weight thanks to major improvements in technology.
Technicians installed Roman’s primary instrument, the Wide Field Instrument (pictured at left), in the fall of 2025.
The mission’s 300-megapixel infrared camera, called the Wide Field Instrument, is over 8 feet (about 2.5 meters) tall, which is about the length of a triceratops skull. It will give Roman the same angular resolution as Hubble while capturing an area of sky at least 100 times larger. The mission will gather data up to 1,000 times faster than Hubble.
Its sweeping cosmic surveys will help scientists discover new information about planets beyond our solar system, untangle mysteries like dark energy, and map how both normal matter and dark matter are structured and distributed throughout the universe. Casting such a wide, deep “net” into space will give astronomers plenty of cosmic bycatch as well; Roman’s crisp, panoramic views will offer practically limitless opportunities for astronomers to do all kinds of exciting science.
The Coronagraph Instrument was installed on Roman’s instrument carrier in October 2024.
Roman’s Coronagraph Instrument is about as wide (5.5 feet, or 1.7 meters) as a velociraptor is long. The Coronagraph is designed to demonstrate new technologies for directly imaging planets around other stars. It will block the glare from a star and make it possible for scientists to see the faint reflected light from planets in orbit around them.
The Coronagraph aims to photograph worlds and dusty disks around nearby stars in visible light to help us see giant worlds that are older, colder, and in closer orbits than the hot, young super-Jupiters direct imaging has mainly revealed so far.
This photo shows Roman’s 18 detectors, which are the heart of the mission’s 300-megapixel camera.
Roman’s “eyes,” 18 saltine cracker-sized detectors in its primary instrument, are each about as tall as an allosaurus tooth. They each have about 16.8 million tiny pixels for a total of 300 million, which means Roman’s images will be super hi-res. Each detector is made of millions of mercury-cadmium-telluride photodiodes (sensors that convert light into an electrical current), one for each pixel.
Principal technician Billy Keim installs a cover plate over Roman’s detectors.
The detectors are secured to a silicon electronics board that will help process the light signals using indium, a soft metal that has roughly the same consistency as chewing gum. Together, these ultra-sensitive detectors can capture vast areas of sky in a single shot while still revealing incredibly fine detail, allowing Roman to map the cosmos faster and more precisely than ever before.
Roman’s electrical wiring was installed on the spacecraft flight structure in the summer of 2023.
There are 1,000 pounds, or 450 kilograms, (the weight of a pachycephalosaurus) of electrical cabling, made up of about 32,000 wires and 900 connectors, laced throughout the observatory. If the wires were laid out end-to-end they would span 45 miles — nearly enough to trace the entire perimeter fence in the imagined Jurassic Park! Functioning as the Roman’s “nervous system,” the cabling enables different parts of the observatory to communicate with one another, provides power, and helps the central computer monitor the observatory’s function.
The Roman observatory was fully integrated on Nov. 25, 2025, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Roman’s six solar panels each measure about 7 by 10 feet (2 by 3 meters), collectively giving Roman a “wingspan” similar to a pteranodon’s! Together, they will provide a total of 4 kilowatts of power, which is about the same rate that a modest rooftop solar panel system produces during the daytime.
Over the course of two days in June 2025, eight technicians installed Roman’s solar panels onto the outer portion of the observatory.
The panels are covered in a total of 3,902 solar cells that will convert sunlight directly into electricity much like plants convert sunlight to chemical energy. When tiny bits of light, called photons, strike the cells, some of their energy transfers to electrons within the material. This jolt excites the electrons, which start moving more or jump to higher energy levels. In a solar cell, excited electrons create electricity by breaking free and moving through a circuit, sort of like water flowing through a pipe. The panels are designed to channel that energy to power the observatory.
Roman’s high-gain antenna will provide the primary communication link between the spacecraft and the ground.
The radio dish that will send data across a million miles of intervening space back to Earth spans 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) in diameter. That’s about the size of the largest known dinosaur footprints, yet it weighs only 24 pounds (10.9 kilograms). Its large size will help Roman send radio signals across a million miles of intervening space to Earth. The dual-band antenna will use one frequency band to receive commands and send back information about the spacecraft’s health and location. It will use another frequency band to transmit a deluge of data at up to 500 megabits per second.
We’re only a few months out from launch, and so close to a completely new understanding of the universe and our place within it. Follow along with Roman’s road to launch at nasa.gov/roman, and virtually tour the Roman observatory here.
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Image description: a photo taken by a camera on one of Integrity's solar panels that includes the crew capsule on the left, the moon in the middle (showing mostly the side away from earth in darkness), and the earth (just barely visible as it sets)
Jeremy called down to request the naming of two unnamed craters, the first for the name of the artemis II capsule (integrity) and the second in honor of Astronaut Reid Wisemans wife who passed earlier during the Artemis II training.
The Carroll crater is on the limb of the moon, just on the Earth visible side, so while it won't always be visible, when it is it will be a bright spot on the edge of darkness.
Jeremy was getting choked up as he was speaking and the second he was done Reid launched himself at him for a hug.
And then drew everyone else in for a group hug in space <3
Image description: a photo of a pyramid like shaped vehicle on display in a musuem. It is mostly white with half of the NASA meatball logo visible. The other half is missing because a section has been removed and replaced with a transparent panel to allow better viewing of the crew compartment inside.
The Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a key part of NASA's Artemis missions, as it is part of how the Artemis crew will be getting to the Moon.
Built by Lockheed Martin and Airbus, it can support a crew of four beyond low earth orbit for three weeks undocked and six months docked.
Despite noticeable similarities to Apollo's crew vehicle when compared side by side, the Orion capsule has improved computer technology and the ability to be at least partially reused where as the Apollo cv was not reusable and limited by the computer technology of the 60s. The Orion capsule also has better thermal shielding among other technological improvements.
I full on cried during that. And then cried more when I learned about the wake-up message today from Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 and 13 astronaut), recorded for them before his death last year.
“Hello, Artemis II! This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood! When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity’s first up-close look at the Moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world. I’m proud to pass that torch on to you — as you swing around the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars … for the benefit of all. It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be. But don’t forget to enjoy the view. So, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you – good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth.”
