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Welcome to this edition of Over a Cup of Coffee!

In this newsletter

• Danger on Mars: Toxic Dust Presents Health Risks

• Starliner's next launch delayed to 2026

• NASA Launches Rockets into Northern Lights

• Water storage is down, impacting agriculture

Danger on Mars: Toxic Dust Presents Health Risks

According to the research by researchers at the University of California, Martian dust storms pose respiratory and disease risks to astronauts visiting the Red Planet. Dust storms on Mars are regular and periodic, seen during southern summer months and every three Martian years (five and a half Earth years) and even visible from Earth.

Researchers are worried that a nine-month-long one-way journey to the Red Planet using conventional means of transportation would mean that astronauts will experience physiological changes from microgravity.

Microgravity causes muscle atrophy, bone loss, and cardiovascular weakening. A return trip could last three years, including a year in Martian gravity. A 2005 NASA study linked lunar dust to vision problems and respiratory irritation in Apollo astronauts. 

Martian dust, beyond lung and vision issues, contains toxic perchlorates, silica, iron oxides, gypsum, and trace metals of unknown abundance. Treating astronaut illnesses on Mars is considerably more challenging than on the ISS or Moon due to the extended transit time. Radiation exposure can lead to lung disease, exacerbating the lung damage caused by dust.

Crews on these missions must be highly self-reliant for medical care. The primary defense will be to minimize dust entering habitats and to filter any that does effectively. Studies suggest vitamin C and iodine can mitigate chromium and perchlorate health risks but these countermeasures need to be taken carefully. 

The findings were published in Universe Today.

Starliner's next launch delayed to 2026

Boeing’s Starliner launched its first-ever crewed flight to the ISS last June but became famous for returning without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. In-flight issues like helium leaks and RCS thruster malfunctions forced Wilmore and Williams to stay on the ISS till March this year. 

Back on Earth, NASA and Boeing reactivated Starliner’s four failed RCS thrusters and traced the original failure to engine pod overheating. However, work on resolving helium leak problems is expected to continue for several more months where teams will also test new seal designs. 

Work is expected to continue on the certification of the Starliner to conduct extended, contracted astronaut transport missions to and from the ISS and the next flight could only happen in 2026. 

The insights were published on Space.com.

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NASA Launches Rockets into Northern Lights

On March 25, 2025, NASA launched two rockets from Alaska, creating unusual blue lights and white vapor trails against the Northern Lights, a spectacle seen across central and northern Alaska. The plan was for all three rockets to launch within a roughly three-hour timeframe. A problem was discovered with the Malemute motor of the third rocket. An auroral substorm was the target of two sounding rocket launches from Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range at dawn.

Launched late, the rocket measured auroral magnetic and pressure data between 50 and 110 miles. Soon after the first launch, a 70-foot Black Brant XII rocket, in four stages, deployed a payload of pink, blue, and white vapor tracers at four different levels over central Alaska. Scientists used the AWESOME experiment to investigate the effects of auroral activity on the thermosphere, which lies between 50 and 350 miles above Earth.

Researchers sought to discover whether auroral substorms destabilize the thermosphere by transferring energy and momentum. Atmospheric composition changes impact communication, navigation, and spacecraft operation. The goal of this experiment is to simplify and improve the accuracy of space weather forecasting. Scientists could use the results to determine how auroral substorms affect Earth's upper atmosphere.

The findings were published by Forbes.

Water storage is down, impacting agriculture

Global warming has significantly depleted global water storage in soil, lakes, rivers, and snow, leading to potentially irreversible consequences for agriculture and sea level. Researchers highlight the shift of water from land to oceans as a major concern for farming and advocate for reduced water overuse. The research found a drop of over 2,000 gigatons in Earth's soil moisture during the last 20 years.

There's been a rise in the frequency of decade-level agricultural and ecological droughts, accompanied by global sea level increases and a shift in Earth's pole. The findings highlight a reality farmers know well: heavy rainfall following drought, even if causing floods, doesn't replenish underground water reserves. It appears that land has lost its elasticity to recover the previous levels. The return of that elasticity hinges on human action to address climate change and drastically alter water consumption.

Agriculture's unsustainable water usage, particularly in irrigated areas, is exacerbated by plant heat stress and the ongoing release of greenhouse gases. Long-term climate changes of the past, with the potential to reoccur, could theoretically reverse the current trend, but this is improbable in our lifetimes. 

The research was published in the paper Science.

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Until next time,
Adya