Carnival of Space

The Carnival of Space is a round up of astronomy and space-related blogs that started back in 2007. Every week, a different webmaster or blogger hosts the carnival, showcasing articles written on the topic of space. This week, it's our turn to host the Carnival here on the Chandra blog. Enjoy!

There’s a lot of news happening out there on the ground so let’s make sure we keep an eye on the latest from space in this week’s Carnival of Space.

At Universe Today, there were a slew of good posts to consider:

Artist’s impression of SpaceX’s proposed Mars Base Alpha. Credit: SpaceX

Author Matt Williams discusses how his experience as a science journalist helped become a better science fiction writer. https://www.universetoday.com/140285/how-science-journalism-helped-me-be...

Tammy Plotner takes us on a tour of the globular cluster NGC 6681, a.k.a. Messier 70, in their series of Messier Monday. https://www.universetoday.com/37776/messier-70-1/

A report on the recent acquisition of a Danish freighter by Blue Origins updates us on the latest from the race to affordability by private space companies: https://www.universetoday.com/140375/blue-origin-will-be-landing-its-roc...

There’s a new cloud near Arsia Mons, a 12-mile-high mountain on Mars, but what is it? (Spoiler: not an eruption.) https://www.universetoday.com/140365/theres-a-funny-cloud-on-mars-perche...

Credit: ESA

And, an excellent explanation for ways that scientists are using gravitational wave detections to ask and answer big questions, including how quickly the Universe is expanding. https://www.universetoday.com/140340/gravitational-waves-were-only-recen...

Speaking of gravitational waves, we have a first-person account of a new study of a doppelganger of famous GW170817 source here at Chandra’s blog: http://chandra.si.edu/blog/node/693

Alyssa Carson

Meet Alyssa Carson, she’s 17 years old and has a dream to be a future Mars astronaut! She's also the youngest person to have graduated from the Advanced Space Academy. Check out Alyssa's interview by Zain Husain at Brownspaceman.com and be sure to catch her TED Talk too! https://brownspaceman.com/alyssa-carson-journey-mars-astronaut/

Over at The Next Big Future, Brian Wang discusses the possibility that SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and NASA crewed launches could fund BFR if they get lucky: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/10/spacex-falcon-heavy-and-nasa-crewe...

Could the SpaceX BFR be used to go anywhere on earth in under an hour for the US Air Force? https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/10/us-air-force-talks-spacex-bfr-for-...

Drop in on the discussion of super materials and their potential uses for energy and space: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/10/discussion-of-80-gigapascal-super-...

Meanwhile, Chandra went into safe mode on October 10th — and thankfully resumed science operations on October 21st! The cause was a glitch in one of the telescope’s four gyroscopes. We posted two Q&A’s in the blog to keep folks up to speed.
http://chandra.si.edu/blog/node/692
http://chandra.si.edu/blog/node/694

The Hill examines what role space might play in the Senate race in Texas: https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/413285-cruz-vs-orourke-race-puts-na...

Always stay curious!