Curiosity’s Spare Rover Heads to the Moon: Gravity Reconnection, Record-Cold Atoms...
Show notes NASA turns Curiosity's spare test-bed rover into PROMISE, a nuclear-powered rover bound for the Moon's south pole, as part of a sweep of Moon Base awards. Plus: a theory of 'gravitational reconnection' hidden in Einstein's equations, a record 9.7-picokelvin quantum gas aboard China's Tiangong space station, ESCAPADE's twin burns over southern Australia, and a both-hemispheres skywatch. NASA's PROMISE rover and the Moon Base awards NASA Release 26-095 (7 Nov 2026) and PROMISE mission page. JPL is converting the duplicate Curiosity test-bed rover, powered by a flight-spare MMRTG, for a late-2028 launch and an 18-month mission at the lunar south pole. Blue Origin: $94M base + $140M option to deliver it on Mark 1. Also: eight CLPS 2 companies ($10B maximum, 10 years), CLPS 1 raised to $4.2B, six VADR task orders (~$1.3B), a 2028 Starship cislunar communications demo. https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-moon-base-transportation-technology-science-projects/https://www.nasa.gov/mission/promise/ Gravitational reconnection Comisso (Columbia) & Asenjo (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez), 'Reconnection of Gravitational Fields', Physical Review D 114, 084095, 28 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1103/lmqy-pf9k; preprint arXiv 2609.25241 (Sept 2026). Theoretical only. https://news.columbia.edu/news/can-gravitational-fields-break-and-reconnect-einsteins-equations-suggest-they-canhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25241 Quantum gas below 10 picokelvin on Tiangong 'Quantum gases below 10 picokelvin in space', Science (First Release, 5 Nov 2026), DOI 10.1126/science.aea5324. ~20,000 Rb-87 atoms, 9.7 pK equivalent temperature, 7 s observation (CAS). Peking University, SIOM and CSU-CAS. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea5324https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lowest-temperature-china-space-station ESCAPADE's powered Earth flybys NASA ESCAPADE blog (2 Nov 2026). Blue's burn 8:51 p.m. AEDT 7 Nov; Gold's 9:51 p.m. AEDT 9 Nov, both over southern Australia; Mars arrival 7 and 9 Sept 2027. https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/escapade/2026/11/02/nasas-twin-escapade-spacecraft-to-slingshot-past-earth-on-way-to-mars/ Quick hits Starship Flight 15 targeted Fri 13 Nov, 22:45 UTC, pending regulatory approval; Voyager 1 one light-day ~18 Nov; Euclid DR1-Foundation due in November. https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/spacex-plans-to-launch-starship-15-flight-on-nov-13/https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/euclid/dr1-timeline Skywatch New Moon 9 Nov. Venus about 1° from Spica before dawn 9–10 Nov (higher from the north). Mars and Jupiter close to ~1.2° on 16 Nov (our calculation). Crescent Moon ~2° from Antares on the evening of 11 Nov (southern-favoured). Saturn high in southern evenings. Northern Taurids 11–12 Nov; Leonids 17 Nov. Four-galaxy challenge for southern observers. Solar viewing only with ISO 12312-2 certified filters.
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