Happy Friday, Earthlings! We’re back this week with another Star Letter.
This week’s theme is necessity. From water on one of Jupiter’s moons, to the head of NASA admitting to the existence climate change (thank GOODNESS!), and the fact that we are one step closer to heavily drinking in outer space.
But wait…speaking of space (do we do much else, honestly?), SpaceX’s new rocket is now going to make space travel more accessible….so we can all enjoy a cold one up there.
Oh, and speaking of Falcons of the spaceship variety, the new Han Solo movie is apparently great.
Freshen your drinks, friends, and bottoms up. ‘Cuz here we go…
A Long Gone NASA Probe Unknowingly Discovered Water Plumes on Europa
“Scientists have uncovered the biggest evidence yet that water may be spewing from the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa — a revelation that was buried deep within the archives of a long-dead NASA spacecraft. In 1997 the Jupiter probe, Galileo, flew near a geyser when it passed close by Europa, collecting data that went overlooked at the time. But now, the rendezvous has been unearthed 20 years later, and it provides scientists with their first up-close measurement of one of Europa’s water plumes.”
Read: The Verge
An artistic rendering of NASA’s Galileo spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA
Oh Good, The Head of NASA Believes in Climate Change
“The new administrator of nasa held a town hall Thursday at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Jim Bridenstine is about four weeks into the job, and his path here was mired in controversy. After a few opening remarks, he started taking some questions. The first was about what Bridenstine thinks makes him qualified to be the head of nasa. The second was, as the moderator put it, “one more easy one—because it’s about climate change.”“
Read: The Atlantic
Image Credit: NASA
It Was Only A Matter of Time Until They Created Space Beer
“With companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin making massive leaps toward the existence of space tourism and long duration space exploration, we at Star Letters have been concerned about one thing…
WILL WE DRINK BEER IN SPACE? IF SO WHAT KIND?
And if we do, is it going to be out of a squeezy pouch like Astronauts use? Because we’re down.”
Read: Star Letters
Image Credit: 4 Pines Brewery
Can SpaceX’s New Rocket Make Space More Accessible?
“SpaceX has successfully launched the maiden flight of its new Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu-1 geostationary satellite.
The next and final incarnation of SpaceX’s workhorse rocket, the most launched in the world in 2017, lifted off from historic Apollo 11 Pad 39A at 4:14 PM Eastern and flew back to sea for a landing atop the autonomous drone ship Of Course I Still Love You after delivering its payload to orbit.”
Read: Star Letters
Image Credit: SpaceX
Relief: The Han Solo Star Wars Movie is Actually Good!
“SpaceX has successfully launched the maiden flight of its new Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu-1 geostationary satellite.
The next and final incarnation of SpaceX’s workhorse rocket, the most launched in the world in 2017, lifted off from historic Apollo 11 Pad 39A at 4:14 PM Eastern and flew back to sea for a landing atop the autonomous drone ship Of Course I Still Love You after delivering its payload to orbit.”
Read: Gizmodo
Image Credit: Disney
