Space and Astronomy News 24th January 2026

Artemis II in on the launch pad. What's next?

NASA's Artemis II mission took another major step forward this week as its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion crew capsule arrived at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  NASA has a range of launch dates from the 6th of February onwards available for launch.

Artemis II on its launch pad. Image via NASA/Keegan Barber

Assuming this mission is a success, with the crew of four astronauts looping around the Moon and returning safely after their 10-day spaceflight, when does NASA intend to land humans on the Moon again?

Artemis III.

This next Lunar mission planned by NASA is Artemis III. This aims to return humans to the Moon's surface, something that NASA last achieved in December 1972.

It will land two astronauts to a region near the Moon's south pole for a period of about a week ,while two others will remain in orbit. A number of spacewalks on the Lunar surface are planned.

The reason the south pole is a destination for both Artemis III and robotic landers to explore is that that water has been discovered in craters hidden from sunlight. This is a valuable resource for extended Lunar stays.

The original plan was for astronauts to land on the Moon using the SpaceX Starship HLS (Human Landing System). This is a "Lunar Lander" version of the SpaceX Starship.

Starship HLS.  Image via SpaceX

Given the  ongoing issues with the Starship program NASA has been investigating other commercial suppliers the landing craft for Artemis III.

Refuelling in-orbit 

Artemis and other programs are aiming for more permanent human presence on the Moon's surface. This will entail not just landing and returning crews, but also the establishment of bases, laboratories and even power supplies. As an example, only a few days ago NASA and US Department of Energy announced their plans for nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030.

Hoisting such large payloads out of Earth orbit and towards the Moon are going to require larger rockets and a major weight component of these is the fuel. Artemis III and future missions will have fuel brought up into Earth orbit by other rockets. They will then refuel by transferring propellants and oxidisers from one or more launches before heading to the Moon.

Refuelling in orbit is something that hasn't been done before. The mechanics of moving large amounts of  volatile fluids between two vehicles in a vacuum in microgravity environment is something that needs to be mastered before Artemis III heads to the Moon.

Ok, when?

Despite all these challenges, Artemis III is scheduled for lift-off in 2028. 

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

The first potentially bright comet for 2026 has been discovered!

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) imaged by Alain Maury and Georges Attard on the 17th of January 2026

It was found on the 13th of January 2026 at a distance of approx. 308 million kms from the Sun. It's Kreutz sungrazer, which means it will pass close to the Sun. This new discovery is also likely a fragment of a much larger comet. Many of the other "Great Comets" have been sungrazing comets.

Close approaches to the Sun can cause large amounts of the frozen gases and water from comets to evaporate or "sublimate" into space, resulting in one or even two cometary tails. These can sometimes be millions of kms long and from Earth, stretch across the night sky.  They can also break up entirely as they get close to the Sun. Perihelion, the closest approach to the Sun for C/2026 A1 is early April 2026.

If it survives perihelion, this comet might be become a bright object in the night sky.

We'll leave Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) for another week or two to see what further observations might say about it 

Meanwhile, you can get current rise and set times for Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) for major Australian cities here.  Please note that it is still extremely faint. 

It looks like Mars effects Earth's ice ages 

What's a Milankovitch cycle?

Scientists know that the Earth undergoes long periods of extreme cold weather with much warmer periods between. We're currently in a warmer, interglacial period called the Holocene. This started almost 12,000 years. The Holocene has seen the entire history of human society, civilisation, agriculture, technologies, art, sciences and more rise during this period.  Prior to this, our own species alongside a number of other human species did struggle to survive and thrive given the Earth's climate

The next ice age is due in about 10,000 years for those keen on keeping their diary up to date*. Ice ages and interglacial periods occur due to a combination of factors including the eccentricities of the Earth's orbit and the slight movement or precession of the poles among others. These combine to produce Milankovitch cycles that describes the regular ice ages and periods of warmth between.

They are the results of the small changes to the tilt and wobble of the Earth's orbit that occur over long periods. Even these tiny changes influence the amount of solar radiation that arrives on our planet producing warming and cooling eras.

There are several Milankovitch cycles, such as that's an influence of Jupiter and Venus and takes around 430,000 years and this tracks with the spread of ice sheets.

Astronomers have now found another influence on these long-term cycles: the planet Mars.

While Mars is small and distant, it does seem to have a major influence in both the Earth's climate and even the evolution of life. 

“I knew Mars had some effect on Earth, but I assumed it was tiny,” said Professor Richard Kane, professor of planetary astrophysics at University of California Riverside. “I’d thought its gravitational influence would be too small to easily observe within Earth’s geologic history. I kind of set out to check my own assumptions.”

Professor Kane then ran a series of computer simulations of the inner Solar System's behaviour over a long term to check the variations of Earth's orbit and based on this, how much sunlight reaches our planet's surface.

The 430,000 year cycle stayed no matter the involvement of Mars in these simulations. However, when Mars was removed, one cycle that takes 100,000 years and another longer 2.3 million cycle disappeared entirely.

“When you remove Mars, those cycles vanish,” Kane said. “And if you increase the mass of Mars, they get shorter and shorter because Mars is having a bigger effect.”

Climate has a long term impact the spread and development of animal and plant species humans. 

“Without Mars, Earth’s orbit would be missing major climate cycles,” Kane added. “What would humans and other animals even look like if Mars weren’t there?”

More here.

Cheers,

Earl White

BINTEL

24th January 2026

*There's a non-zero chance that climate change brought on by human greenhouse gas emissions will kick the can down the road for the next ice age. It's "due" to begin sometime in the next 10,000 years when the Holocene ends, however there's a lot of debate as to when this will happen, or even if it will happen on human timescales.