A strange new type of star referred to by scientists as an “old smoker” has been discovered after a years-long astronomical study. 

According to four different studies recently published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, these recently discovered stellar objects are essentially really large and very old stars that emit puffs of what appears to be smoke and dust after many decades of inactivity. 

These stars were discovered using a powerful giant telescope located deep in the mountains of Chile. Lead author of one study and co-author of the other three, Phillip Lucas, said that thus far, scientists are not completely sure what creates this effect in the old smoker stars. 

“Everything we have been able to learn about them suggests that this is a case of stars throwing off puffs of smoke—for reasons that we don’t fully understand,” Lucas said. “We weren’t sure if these stars were protostars starting an eruption, or recovering from a dip in brightness caused by a disc or shell of dust in front of the star — or if they were older giant stars throwing off matter in the late stages of their life,” Lucas said

Originally the studies were focused at finding newborn stars, oftentimes surrounded by dust and gasses making them hard to see. This is why the VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope) in Chile, capable of seeing infrared light, was used to scan the skies for the stars other telescopes would not be able to see. As Dr. Zhen Guo, Fondecyt Postdoc Fellow at the University of Valparaiso in Chile and lead author of two studies explained, these newborn stars often help to form new solar systems over time. 

“Our main aim was to find rarely-seen newborn stars, also called protostars, while they are undergoing a great outburst that can last for months, years, or even decades,” Guo said. “These outbursts happen in the slowly spinning disc of matter that is forming a new solar system. They help the newborn star in the middle to grow, but make it harder for planets to form. We don’t yet understand why the discs become unstable like this,” Guo said.

The old smoker stars are a kind of red giant. Red giants are stars which have essentially expired, that is, they’ve run out of hydrogen fuel and have “died” in a sense. This often causes violent energy outbursts from the star for a while. Our own sun will go through this one day in the far off future, swallowing several of the inner planets in the course of its death according to NASA, though the fate of the Earth remains relatively unclear when this happens. Luckily, it’ll be several billion years before this occurs so it will more than likely be somebody else’s problem by then.  

The team of scientists involved with these studies found several red giants, 21 to be exact, that appeared to be a bit different than those found in the past. They chose seven of these stars to focus on and noticed unusual characteristics that puzzled them, most noticeably the smoke and dust they appeared to exert which is how they received the moniker ‘old smoker.’ 

“These elderly stars sit quietly for years or decades and then puff out clouds of smoke in a totally unexpected way,” said Dante Minniti, a professor in the department of physics at Andrés Bello University in Chile and coauthor on three of the studies, in a press release “They look very dim and red for several years, to the point that sometimes we can’t see them at all.”

Most of the stars the team studied were found near the center or the nucleus if you will of the Milky Way Galaxy, known as the innermost nuclear disc. Lucas explained that these newly discovered stars could potentially play a role in the way elements are distributed across the galaxies.

“Matter ejected from old stars plays a key role in the life cycle of the elements, helping to form the next generation of stars and planets,” Lucas said. “This was thought to occur mainly in a well-studied type of star called a Mira variable. However, the discovery of a new type of star that throws off matter could have wider significance for the spread of heavy elements in the Nuclear Disc and metal-rich regions of other galaxies.”

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Images taken using radar technology of an area near the equator of Mars have revealed what appears to be massive deposits of ice buried underneath the surface of the Red Planet.

According to a press release from the European Space Agency, if the radar images do turn out to be water ice, it would be enough to cover the entire planet in a shallow ocean of water anywhere from 1.5 meters to 2.7 meters deep. This could potentially prove an extremely useful discovery for future human exploration and potential occupation of Mars.

The European Space Agency’s Mars Express Orbiter was responsible for the discovery. The Mars Express was launched in June of 2003 and has been used to research the fourth planet from the sun ever since 2004. Since that time it has found striking evidence of current or past presence of water on Mars including the discovery of hydrated minerals which, according to NASA, form only in the presence of water. 

This is not the first time evidence of ice has been found on Mars, but the new discovery represents the largest potential deposits of ice found thus far in an area known as the Medusae Fossae Formation, which was studied about 15 years ago for its deposits which were not able to be clearly seen at the time. 

“We’ve explored the MFF again using newer data from Mars Express’s MARSIS radar, and found the deposits to be even thicker than we thought: up to 3.7 km thick,” said Thomas Watters of the Smithsonian Institution USA, lead author of both the new research and the initial 2007 study. “Excitingly, the radar signals match what we’d expect to see from layered ice, and are similar to the signals we see from Mars’s polar caps, which we know to be very ice rich.”

The MFF is an area of Mars known for its massive amounts of dust which can create harrowing dust storms all around the planet. When the Mars Express originally identified images of the deposits 15 years ago, it was suspected the deposits might just be more dust, but researchers have said that the new images show greater evidence that the deposits appear to be water ice. 

“Here’s where the new radar data comes in! Given how deep it is, if the MFF was simply a giant pile of dust, we’d expect it to become compacted under its own weight,” said co-author Andrea Cicchetti of the National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy. “This would create something far denser than what we actually see with MARSIS. And when we modeled how different ice-free materials would behave, nothing reproduced the properties of the MFF – we need ice.”

The discovery was made from an orbiting spacecraft far above the surface so it will likely be several years, decades even, before we can find out for certain but the European Space Agency emphasized the importance of the discovery as crucial information to a well-rounded understanding of the planet which very well could house humans one day.

“This latest analysis challenges our understanding of the Medusae Fossae Formation, and raises as many questions as answers,” said Colin Wilson, ESA project scientist for Mars Express and the ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). “Unfortunately, these MFF deposits are covered by hundreds of meters of dust, making them inaccessible for at least the next few decades. However, every bit of ice we find helps us build a better picture of where Mars’s water has flowed before, and where it can be found today.”

In the event that a human-occupied spacecraft lands on Mars, it’s near impossible with current technology to land near the polar caps of Mars, which have been known for a while to contain water ice. If the MFF deposits do turn out to be water ice, it would be a much easier area to access based on proximity to potential landing zones for humans to access water. 

“How long ago did these ice deposits form, and what was Mars like at that time? If confirmed to be water ice, these massive deposits would change our understanding of Mars climate history. Any reservoir of ancient water would be a fascinating target for human or robotic exploration,” Wilson said. “Together, our Mars explorers are revealing more and more about our planetary neighbor.”

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After a major media outlet sounded the alarm about Elon Musk’s suspected psychedelic use, officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were called in, but quickly cleared the billionaire’s company of wrongdoing. This is just the latest round of NASA safety reviews of SpaceX after a series of pot- and psychedelic-related stunts by Musk.

Thanks to a Jan. 6 explosive, snitchy report in The Wall Street Journal about Elon Musk’s alleged rap sheet of drug use, including ketamine, LSD, cocaine, MDMA, and shrooms, NASA was forced to investigate. The Wall Street Journal raised concern about Musk’s “mental-health issues” in its report, supposedly linking it to psychedelic drug use in the workplace.

Business Insider reports that the WSJ revealed that some executives at SpaceX said they were troubled by Musk’s erratic behavior at a 2017 all-hands meeting when he allegedly “slurred his words and rambled for around 15 minutes.” Two days later, SpaceX released a video recording of one of its all-hands meetings from the same year at X. It’s not clear if that’s the same meeting, but it was obviously posted as a response to the WSJ story.

In SpaceX’s video of the 2017 all-hands meeting, Musk stumbles over his words, and in one instance, he confused the day for Friday instead of Tuesday and announced incorrect timing for a series of SpaceX launches. SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwellb corrected him twice in the video.

But in the video, he explained that he was deprived of sleep. “Sorry, I’m like slurring my words and I want to try to enunciate my words,” Musk says at another point. “Sorry, I got almost no sleep last night, brain’s not working properly.”

Musk slammed The Wall Street Journal on X, tweeting, “After that one puff with Rogan, I agreed, at NASA’s request, to do 3 years of random drug testing. Not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol. 

“The Wall Street Journal is not fit to line a parrot cage for bird.”

It’s not the first time the publication has come after him for the same reason: The Wall Street Journal reported in a juicy article last July that Musk was taking ketamine.

“The agency does not have evidence of non-compliance from SpaceX on how the company addresses the drug- and alcohol-free workforce regulations,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Thursday in a statement. “We expect our commercial partners to meet all workplace safety requirements in the execution of those missions and the services they provide the American people.”

Since buying Twitter, Musk changed its name to X, changed the concept of verified accounts with a blue check mark, and reinstated controversial accounts such as Donald Trump’s account, or suspected Neo Nazi accounts.

The Blunt that Started it All

Most of these controversies surrounding drug use can be traced back to a single incident nearly six years ago, when NASA and government officials lost their minds after he smoked a blunt on camera.

Musk shared a blunt with Joe Rogan on his show in 2018, shocking Tesla investors in the process. The high-profile smoke session was live streamed via YouTube on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Musk also reportedly sipped whiskey during the recording of Rogan’s podcast, which included conversation about luxury watches, artificial intelligence, and Mars.

Rogan and Musk had been talking for about two hours when the show’s host pulled out a blunt to smoke, explaining that it was “marijuana inside of tobacco,” according to media reports.

“I think I tried it once,” Musk replied.

Before taking a hit, Musk clarified with Rogan that he would not be breaking the law.

“I mean, it’s legal, right?” he asked.

High Times’ Jimi Devine asked if that was the most expensive blunt of all time—given the safety review SpaceX was forced to undergo because of the blunt.

NASA ended up paying SpaceX $5 Million to conduct the review, and it was the first time it’s been reported that taxpayers footed the bill for it. Boeing, SpaceX’s rivals in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program outsourced trips to the space station so the agency can focus its time on more distant efforts like Mars, were also forced to go through a review.

The Washington Post reported last fall that the reviews would take months and involve hundreds of interviews that would dive into the workplace culture at SpaceX and Boeing. 

Musk also tweeted last year that the test flight of SpaceX’s highly anticipated Starship rocket—eventually en route to the moon and Mars—was delayed from its original launch date on April 19, 2023, and rescheduled for a new day, April 20. It’s the second time he’s joked about the holiday on social media.

On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted he was mulling over taking Tesla private, quoting a price of $420 per share for the buyout.

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Two American companies will attempt to land on the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions, and the first attempt launched early Monday morning. 

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology launched their lunar lander Monday morning and Houston-based Intuitive Machines launches in mid-February in tandem with a SpaceX flight, though both companies are aiming to land on the moon around the same time. Whichever company, if either, manages to safely land on the moon first will become the first private company in history to do so. 

“They’re scouts going to the moon ahead of us,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to the Associated Press. 

Astrobotic Technology’s rocket will take about two weeks to get to the moon after which it will orbit the moon for about a month before attempting to land. Intuitive Machines has more of a straight shot and should land within a week of liftoff, but it’s either company’s game here due to the nature of space travel to be subject to delays or unexpected issues. 

Neither company is bringing people on these missions, though NASA has expressed the desire to send people back to the moon in the near future. They currently have a manned mission slated for 2025 under their Artemis program but they have said it might be closer to 2027. The last two men to walk on the moon were Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission which marked the end of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as interest shifted away from space exploration due to the Vietnam War. 

As it turns out, landing a rocket ship or any kind of space-traveling vessel on the moon is very difficult to pull off without crashing, not to mention incredibly expensive. The moon has a very limited atmosphere so there’s nothing to slow the rockets down as they come in for landing, which also essentially makes it near-useless to try and use a parachute. Anything that wants to land on the moon has to navigate and slow itself down using thrusters, which is much more difficult than it might sound given the moon is full of giant cliffs and craters and such. Attempts to land on the moon made by Russia, India, an Israeli nonprofit and a private Japanese company have all resulted in crash landings in the past. 

“It’s going to be a wild, wild ride,” said Astrobotic’s chief executive John Thornton to the Associated Press

Both companies have received grants in the ballpark of $80 million from NASA to develop their rockets and get them to the moon. According to the Associated Press, the Astrobotics rocket is about six feet tall with four legs and will be aiming to land on an area of the moon called the Bay of Stickiness. The Intuitive Machines rocket will be about 14 feet tall with six legs and will be aiming for what can be described as the moon’s south pole. This area is almost always covered in shadows and is believed to hold billions of pounds of ice which could be used to provide water and make rocket fuel.

“It’s so rocky and craggy and full of craters at the south pole and mountainous, that it’s very difficult to find a lighted region to touch down safely,” said Intuitive Machines chief executive Steve Altemus to the Associated Press. “So you’ve got to be able to finesse that and just set it down right in the right spot.”

Unfortunately, the Astrobotics rocket which took off Monday morning may already be experiencing issues. The company released statements shortly after launch explaining that their Peregrine rocket may be experiencing propulsion issues which could jeopardize the success of the mission. 

“Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant. The team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture,’’ Astrobotics said in a statement on their website. “We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.”

The Astrobotic’s lander was carrying several experiments for NASA as well as the ashes of 70 people intended to be spread on the moon. According to the Associated Press, ashes or DNA from another 265 people were stored on the upper part of the rocket which was intended to circle the sun after separating from the lunar lander. 

Of those remains, ashes from three original Star Trek cast members and strands of hair from three U.S. presidents including George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy were all on board. It was not immediately clear what would happen to all these remains if the Astrobotic’s mission were to fail, nor has anyone offered a satisfactory explanation as to why or how we have hair from all those presidents just lying around still.

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NASA is taking steps to prepare for future long-term occupation on the Moon by seeking input from the lunar and scientific communities on ways to convert lunar soil and other naturally-occurring compounds into oxygen. 

The nation’s leading space organization made an announcement Monday asking for input on In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies, which in this case means using materials found on the moon, the vast majority of which are moon dust, to produce fuel, oxygen, water and other resources human beings might use or consume. These processes may one day make it possible for human beings to enjoy a sustainable presence on the moon or other planets without the need to shuttle resources to and from Earth. 

NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) for ISRU technologies which essentially allows them to start officially gathering information from outside parties for their future Lunar Infrastructure Foundational Technologies demonstration, also known as LIFT-1. LIFT-1 can be described as the foundation for the next phase of American lunar occupation, NASA’s officially designated program to put American boots back on the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in December of 1972.

“Additional LIFT-1 objectives may include demonstrating new landing technologies, surface operations, and scalable power generation in the Moon’s South Pole region,” a NASA press release said. “With the RFI, NASA is asking for input from the lunar community to inform an integrated approach inclusive of launch, landing, and demonstration of surface infrastructure technologies as part of a subscale ISRU demonstration.”

One of the many issues standing in the way of human occupation on the Moon or anywhere else beyond Earth is that it’s very difficult, expensive and time consuming to bring enough resources for everybody. Launching a rocket ship from Earth costs multiple millions of dollars no matter how you slice it and every pound on board makes it monumentally more expensive. As such, long term space occupation isn’t really practical or feasible without ISRU technology. 

NASA leadership described ISRU technology development as a crucial necessity for the longevity of our astronauts, their equipment, and the possibility of one day creating permanent human settlements on the Moon or beyond. 

“Using in-situ resources is essential to making a sustained presence farther from Earth possible. Just as we need consumables and infrastructure to live and work on our home planet, we’ll need similar support systems on the Moon for crew and robots to operate safely and productively,” said Dr. Prasun Desai, acting associate administrator of the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 

NASA has already showcased certain ISRU technologies, most notably MOXIE, a small instrument onboard the Mars Perseverance Rover which successfully converted atmospheric carbon dioxide into usable oxygen on April 20, 2021. This type of conversion is useful on a planet like Mars which has an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. However, the moon has virtually no atmosphere according to NASA, so technology must be created to extract oxygen from naturally occurring minerals in the ground. 

NASA has several investments in ISRU technology already in the way of prospecting, extraction and mining initiatives as well as several outstanding academic and industry partnerships but the RFI issued Monday, which is open until December 18, is specifically looking for information on chemical processes capable of harnessing resources from lunar dust and soil. 

“Chemical and thermal process developments may provide options to break down naturally occurring minerals and compounds found on the Moon and convert them to propellant or human consumables,” the press release said. “Other potential longer-term applications could lead to extraterrestrial metal processing and construction of lunar surface structures using resources found on the Moon.”

Another representative from NASA leadership said in a written statement that the idea of harnessing oxygen and other usable resources from the ground has been theorized about for a long time but the idea may soon be utilized for real life space travel. 

“An ISRU technology demonstration approach has been a topic of discussion within the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative and Consortium communities for several years,” said Niki Werkheiser, director of Technology Maturation in STMD. “This RFI is the next phase to make it a reality.” 

The LIFT-1 RFI can be found here and is open for responses through Dec. 18 at 5:00 p.m. EST. Additionally. NASA will host an industry forum on Monday, Nov. 13 at 1 pm EST.

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Some routine repairs on the International Space Station unveiled something mysterious last week when a Russian astronaut found holes drilled into the side of the orbiting vessel.

According to a NASA press release, two Russian astronauts by the names of Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were on a spacewalk on October 25, attempting to repair a radiator that was leaking coolant into the vacuum of space when they found an additional irregularity.

According to an article in Space, Kononenko was inspecting one of the outer panels of the leaky radiator when he noticed what appeared to be multiple holes drilled into the surface of the radiator panel. 

“The holes have very even edges, like they’ve been drilled through,” Kononenko said to the flight controllers working in Moscow Mission Control. “There are lots of them. They are spread in a chaotic manner.”

Neither NASA nor Roscosmos, which is essentially Russia’s post-Soviet-Union-Era version of NASA, had addressed the holes as of the time this article was written to offer speculation as to how the holes may have ended up there. The only information about the holes online is all sourced back to the same information in the Space article. This is not uncommon for space agencies, however, as NASA and Roscosmos both have long-standing reputations for being very selective with what they disclose publicly, without going too deep into conspiracy theories.

After locating and documenting the mysterious holes, the spacewalk took another unexpected turn when Kononenko and Chub encountered a large blob of coolant which had broken free from the leaky radiator, posing a contamination risk.

“During the spacewalk, Kononenko and Chub inspected and photographed an external backup radiator on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module, as well as isolated the radiator from Nauka’s cooling system,” a NASA press release said. “During the radiator inspection, a bubble of coolant liberated at the leak site and the crew wiped down their suits prior to continuing the spacewalk.”

The radiator was originally reported leaking on October 9 and was a backup radiator for another which is used to regulate temperature inside the ISS. Coolant supply for the backup radiator was cut off shortly before repairs were made, which is believed to be what led to the coolant bubble forming. According to Space, the bubble reportedly came close enough to Kononenko that one of his tethers became contaminated and had to be bagged and left outside the ISS after the spacewalk. Tethers are cables used to keep the astronauts attached to the orbiting space vessel rather than hurtling off into space (and certain death).

The two Russian astronauts reportedly gave their spacesuits a thorough wipe-down before they returned to the ISS and ended their spacewalk. Contamination risk by unknown microorganisms poses a much bigger threat in the vacuum of space than it would on Earth, according to information published by NASA, the National Institute of Health, and many others. These risks necessitate astronauts to sterilize their tools and suits before re-entering the spacecraft. 

“At the end of the spacewalk, before reentering the Poisk airlock, the two spacewalking cosmonauts as usual inspected the Roscosmos Orlan spacesuits and the tools used during the spacewalk to look for signs of coolant and wipe off any coolant as necessary,” NASA said. “The cosmonauts also wiped down their suits and tools as usual after repressurization to further reduce introduction of trace contaminates into the space station environment. Additional filtration will then be used inside the space station in order to quickly scrub the atmosphere of any remaining traces of contaminant.”

This is not the first time Roscosmos has reported holes drilled into the ISS. A Russian news agency accused a NASA astronaut of drilling holes into the ISS in 2021 due to a failed romantic relationship with another astronaut, though this was never confirmed. Another report of small holes in the ISS came earlier this year. Another report of a coolant leak from last December was caused by small meteorites, according to the Russians. In fact, there are many stories online about small holes in the ISS that go back years, many of them having to do with Russia. That is not to say the information is untrue, just a small caveat to what appears to be an ongoing problem.

Kononenko and Chub reportedly ended their spacewalk after seven hours and 41 minutes without any further complications. The Oct. 25 spacewalk was reportedly the sixth such walk in Kononenko’s career, a first for Chub and the 268th in the history of the ISS. The next spacewalk for the ISS, undertaken by NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, was actually underway at the time this article was written. It began at 8:05 a.m. EDT Monday morning and was scheduled to last about six-and-a-half-hours.

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An employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pleaded guilty to using COVID relief designed for small businesses to fund an illegal cannabis operation.

A NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) employee agreed to plead guilty to defrauding a government loan program developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He admitted that he used part of the proceeds to fund an illegal cannabis grow operation, the Justice Department announced on July 24.

“Armen Hovanesian, 32, of Glendale, a cost-control and budget-planning resource analyst for the JPL, a federally funded research and development center operated by the California Institute of Technology for NASA, agreed to plead guilty to a single-count information charging him with wire fraud,” the Justice department wrote. “Both the information and a plea agreement were filed Thursday in United States District Court. Hovanesian is expected to make his initial court appearance on August 11.” 

Per the plea agreement, between June 2020 to October 2020, Hovanesian applied for three loans, using the names of business entities under his control to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL), a program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided low-interest financing to small businesses, renters, and homeowners, in this case, for businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Hovanesian admitted to making false and fraudulent statements in the loan applications concerning the gross revenues each of the businesses had generated in the preceding year as well as false and fraudulent statements concerning his intended use of loan proceeds.” 

The SBA requires—under penalty of perjury—that grantees “use all the proceeds” of the loans for which he applied and caused others to apply for “solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by disaster” consistent with the terms and limitations of the EIDL program. 

But instead of using it for COVID relief, Hovanesian used the proceeds for his own benefit, repaying a personal real-estate debt and funding his illegal cannabis cultivation operation. 

The Justice Department says Hovanesian fraudulently used the SBA to transfer via interstate wire EIDL proceeds amounting to $151,900.

The punishment is serious: After Hovanesian pleads guilty, he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Fraudsters Take Advantage of COVID Relief

Abusing COVID relief funding is commonplace. To combat this, the United States Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021, and hundreds of alleged criminals have been charged as part of the task force’s work.

COVID relief programs including SBA funding and Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, were commonly abused. COVID relief loan schemes dominated the years following the pandemic.

NBC News reported how COVID relief funds were abused to buy Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Teslas, and Bentleys.

​​Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who oversees COVID relief spending, told NBC anchor Lester Holt that COVID relief programs were structured in ways that made them especially easy to take advantage of, and businesspeople were caught buying expensive sports cars and other luxuries using the money.

“The Small Business Administration, in sending that money out, basically said to people, ‘Apply and sign and tell us that you’re really entitled to the money,’” said Horowitz, the chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. “And, of course, for fraudsters, that’s an invitation. … What didn’t happen was even minimal checks to make sure that the money was getting to the right people at the right time.”

“Nothing like this has ever happened before,” said Matthew Schneider, a former U.S. attorney. “It is the biggest fraud in a generation.”

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“Imagine thousands of galaxies in one picture.” Okay we’re gonna need some top-shelf dankage for that, says America.

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In the annals of phony viral images, the one of former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield holding a bag of weed while aboard the International Space Station is right up there. 

The photo made the rounds in 2018, prompting a fact-check from the online watchdog Snopes.

In the original photo that was posted to Hadfield’s Twitter account in 2013, he is seen holding a bag of Easter Eggs. 

The internet being the internet, that same image was manipulated years later and reposted by a Facebook page (ironically named “Pictures in History”), this time with the eggs replaced with ganja. 

“Not only is the image of Chris Hadfield holding a bag of marijuana fake, but it’s unlikely that any similar (but genuine) photographs of astronauts with drug paraphernalia exist, as NASA has been a drug-free workplace since at least the mid-1980s,” Snopes said. 

But the spurious image may have been somewhat prescient. Late last year, Hadfield joined the board of BioHarvest Sciences, a biotech firm involved in medicinal cannabis. 

In an interview with Futurism that was published this week, Hadfield and BioHarvest CEO Ilan Sobel detailed how “space might even be the perfect environment to produce out-of-this-world, medical-grade cannabinoids.”

“We see the potential ability for valuable minor cannabinoids to be grown at significantly higher quantities compared to its growth on Earth,” Sobel told Futurism.

“These unique compositions of full-spectrum cannabis could have significant value in providing more optimized treatment solutions for many palliative diseases where current pharma synthesized compounds are not delivering adequate solutions,” he added.

But Hadfield told Futurism that cannabinoids are only one part of BioHarvest’s cultivation program, and what really drew him to the company “was the scalability of the biotech platform, and how it can solve a lot of the agricultural problems we face in feeding 10 billion people.”

As such, BioHarvest “is focusing its efforts on providing future astronauts—and humans back on the ground—with microgravity-enhanced nutrients, rather than a way to get high,” Futurism reported.

Hadfield joined BioHarvest’s Board of Advisers in December, saying at the time that the company’s “proprietary platform technology has the potential to make a significant impact on the world as well as in bio-space science.”

“The company has built a world-class team of scientists, and I look forward to working with them, with my fellow advisors, to scale BioHarvest’s solution,” Hadfield said in the announcement.

Sobel said at the time that Hadfield’s “unparalleled experience will help marry our plant cellular biology expertise with space science.”

“He is a great addition to our advisory board at this phase of our growth, and he’ll help us in our drive to be a global biotech leader,” Sobel said.

As for that infamous viral image, Hadfield told Futurism that toking in space might not be such a great idea.

“On the space station, if there’s an emergency, you are the fire department,” he said. “You can’t have intoxicated yourself or inebriated yourself or whatever, just because if something goes wrong, then you’ll die.”

He did leave open the possibility, however.

“Once the population gets large enough, once you get to a stable enough situation, people are gonna want, you know, a drink,” Hadfield told Futurism. “People are gonna want some pot.”

When it comes to cannabinoids and space, Hadfield and BioHarvest aren’t exactly going “where no man has gone before.” 

In 2020, the ag biotech company Front Range Biosciences announced that “it will be sending cell cultures of the hemp plant to the International Space Station on a resupply trip,” Rolling Stone reported at the time, adding that the “purpose of the project is to see whether or not these cells develop any genetic mutations in those conditions, and once they return, scientists will analyze their DNA to see if they have changed at all.”

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