Dr. Tanya Harrison

A vibrant pink rocket, soaring towards the cosmos—this is the captivating image greeting readers of Mia and the Martians. The children’s book whisks imaginations to the red planet with its intrepid protagonist, Mia, and her feline co-pilot, Nebula. Through Mia’s eyes, children see a young explorer driven by her love for Mars, the very world she plans to showcase at the school science fair.

Astrophysicists Emma Louden and Tanya Harrison have skillfully crafted a tale of discovery and inspiration, with illustrator Wouter Pasman giving life to the eagerly awaited adventure. Louden, a dedicated scholar from Yale, takes readers on a journey that mirrors her own lifelong fascination with the stars. Her goal? To inspire a new generation to gaze upwards with wonder and possibility.

Read more: Young Astronomer’s Tale Aims to Ignite Cosmic Curiosity by Maya Edwards

Opening the newly published children’s book “Mia and the Martians,” readers see a young girl rushing to the edge of the page, proudly outstretching a pink rocket in her hand. The reader learns what the girl, Mia, is going to present for next week’s science fair.

“My favorite planet, of course! Mars!” exclaims the protagonist, Mia.

In her custom-built spaceship, Mia embarks on a fantastical journey to Mars with her co-pilot cat, Nebula. They meet the “Martians,” based on the real-life rovers of Mars throughout the story. Enlisting the rovers’ help, Mia learns the lesson of perseverance and finds a way back home to Earth. 

To bring this story to the page, astrophysicists Emma Louden GRD ’26 and Tanya Harrison partnered with Wouter Pasman, an illustrator and space enthusiast to co-author their debut children’s book.

Read more: Yale Astronomy Graduate Student Writes a Martian Adventure Children’s Book (Yale News)

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has landed in New Mexico, wrapping up a three-month test mission that faced technical issues and forced it to leave the two astronauts it carried temporarily stranded in space.

The spacecraft touched down at White Sands Space Harbor in the New Mexico desert at 04:01 GMT on Saturday. The two crew members it had flown to space – Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams – remained at the International Space Station (ISS) due to safety concerns with the craft.

[…]

Wilmore and Williams, whose mission was initially planned for just eight days, must return to Earth on a vehicle from Boeing’s rival SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, in February 2025.

“It must be demoralising in a way when you’ve gone expecting to be up there for eight days and suddenly your mission turns into eight months,” Tanya Harrison, a fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Outer Space Institute, told Al Jazeera.

“At the same time this is a highly trained crew that knows that stuff like this can happen … they’re trained, they’re ready,” she said.

Read more: Boeing’s Starliner returns to Earth – leaving crew behind

Some airlines are offering special flights to see April’s total solar eclipse, giving passengers a unique opportunity to witness the astronomical event from 30,000 feet.

The April 8 eclipse — when the moon passes between the Earth and sun, blocking out the sun’s rays — will pass over North America, and those in the right place will spend about 4-and-a-half minutes under the cloak of darkness. A lucky few will have the opportunity to observe the eclipse’s totality for longer as they soar through the sky chasing the early night.

Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are operating flights that will follow the eclipse’s path of totality in America. The Delta flight was so popular among astronomy enthusiasts that the flights sold out in 24 hours, prompting the airline to add a second. This next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States won’t occur until 2044.

[…]

Alaska Airlines in 2017 operated a special invitation-only flight that gave passengers an unreal look at the eclipse. Although the airline isn’t offering flights that chase this year’s eclipse, it’s offering flights to destinations that fall in the eclipse’s path of totality to get space nuts in the right place.

Tanya Harrison, a planetary scientist who works at the Earth and Planetary Institute of Canada, was one of the experts on the 2017 flight who took in the eclipse from the skies. She has also witnessed a nearly total eclipse in Arizona and said viewing it from an airplane “was hands down probably the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to do, including working on Mars Rovers.”

“There’s something about space that fascinates everyone,” she said. “The sky is a shared experience. We can all look up and see what’s going on.”

Read more: Airlines Operating Special Solar Eclipse Flights To Give Passengers a 30,000-Foot View of Phenomenon by Brinley Hineman

Mars looms large in the scientific imagination, as well as in fiction. Of all the worlds of the solar system, it’s the only one Earth-like enough for exploration with Earth-like tools: Its atmosphere is thin and transparent, its surface is dry and cold, and it’s close enough for regular study. From telescope eyepieces, we’ve probed the Red Planet for centuries. And over the past 50 years, we’ve even sent instruments for a closer look.

However, in geological terms, that’s just a sliver of time. Mars’s deep history remains a mystery.

Read more: Five Martian Mysteries That Have Scientists Scratching Their Heads by Matthew R. Francis

At the second Annual John S. MacDonald Outer Space Lecture on September 18, UBC welcomed an acclaimed Canadian-born NASA researcher to discuss her decades-long career at the forefront of space exploration.

Jan Chodas is a NASA icon. She’s enjoyed a successful 40-year career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and a stint as the Director of Planetary Science before retiring this year. Her leadership as project manager was integral to several NASA projects, including the Juno mission to Jupiter and the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The Outer Space Institute welcomed her to UBC with space tech company MDA.

Tanya Harrison, a fellow Canadian astrophysicist and Outer Space Institute fellow, moderated the talk as Chodas reflected on her out-of-this-world career, shared her hopes for the future and answered audience member’s burning questions about the great beyond

Read more: UBC welcomes former NASA Director of Planetary Science Jan Chodas by Sophia Russo