November 30, 2020
The proposal is for a fission surface power system, and the goal is to have a flight system, lander and reactor ready to launch by 2026.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/15/why-nasa-wants-to-put-a-nuclear-power-plant-on-the-moon.html
The goal, apparently, is to generate 10 Kw, or about enough to power “five to eight large households.”
Um. That’s not really enough for an actual lunar base. Try again?
November 25, 2020
Visible from the Americas, Australia and Asia, the “Beaver Moon” will pass through Earth’s outer shadow (penumbra) at 07:32 Universal Time, causing a slight penumbral lunar eclipse that will see 83% of the Moon visibly darken at 9:42 Universal Time…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/11/22/the-moon-meets-mars-and-the-seven-sister-stars-what-you-can-see-in-the-night-sky-this-week/?utm_medium=40digest.intl.carousel&utm_source=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=campaign&sh=292a554e7c36
OK, I give up. “Universal Time”?
Continue Reading
November 19, 2020
…the team’s results suggest that, while the physical processes that drive the structure of the Universe and the structure of the human brain are extremely different, they can result in similar levels of complexity and self-organisation…
https://www.sciencealert.com/wildly-fun-new-paper-compares-the-human-brain-to-the-structure-of-the-universe?fbclid=IwAR1YjxGSpnNrJbgqRMs6_XNrRjiuloJ792UjzfT3L5NmVEEYxljyVcS4TQ8
As above, so below…
November 7, 2020
On the scorching hot planet, hundreds of light-years away, oceans are made of molten lava, winds reach supersonic speeds and rain is made of rocks. Scientists have referred to the bizarre, hellish exoplanet as one of the most “extreme” ever discovered.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/astronomers-discover-hell-planet-k2-141b-rock-rain-lava-oceans/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=103730808&fbclid=IwAR2W9JqL9gjnrBTJeZ4bMbV4XsnqO_1kScgP0GLq7eYbq__0bDtmqcbH4BM
I think we may have seen this kind of planet before…
Yep, that’s it.
November 6, 2020
According to NASA estimates there are at least 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, of which about 4 billion are sunlike. If only 7 percent of those stars have habitable planets — a seriously conservative estimate — there could be as many as 300 million potentially habitable Earths out there in the whole Milky Way alone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/science/astronomy-exoplanets-kepler.html
It takes a while to collect, sort through, analyze, write up, endure peer review, and publish data from scientific projects.
That’s why finally we’re seeing this, 11 years after Kepler was launched to scour the galaxy for exoplanets.
Now the real challenge will be figuring out how to get there…
It’s time to move on the next factor in the Drake equation for extraterrestrial civilizations: the fraction of these worlds on which life emerges. The search for even a single slime mold on some alien rock would revolutionize biology, and it is a worthy agenda for the next half-century as humans continue the climb out of ourselves and into the universe in the endless quest to end our cosmic loneliness.
November 6, 2020
Cyclopropenylidene is the second cyclic or closed-loop molecule detected at Titan; the first was benzene in 2003. Benzene is an organic chemical compound composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms…Cyclic molecules are crucial because they form the backbone rings for the nucleobases of DNA, according to NASA.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/28/world/titan-atmosphere-molecule-chemistry-scn-trnd/index.html
The only moon in the solar system that has an atmosphere…4 times denser than the Earth, actually.
Except it rains ethane and methane and is -270C. Not exactly a place to plan a vacation.
But the organic molecules may (BIG may) hint at life of some sort.
And we only have to wait until 2034 to find out!
(See more about the “Dragonfly” here: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/27/world/nasa-dragonfly-titan-mission-scn-trnd/index.html)
November 3, 2020
On the the exact date of the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn appear closer together in the night sky that and at any point since July 16, 1623.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/11/02/this-week-jupiter-aligns-with-saturn-what-happens-next-will-be-a-once-in-a-lifetime-sky-event/?sh=639906404b72
Mars to the East, Jupiter to the South…hey, is that a Saturn?
Also, go over to https://www.theplanetstoday.com to see how Jupiter and Saturn are both currently in a heliocentric conjunction (i.e., lined up with the Sun) on November 2nd.
November 2, 2020
It’s possible our galaxy is filled to the brim with these rogue planets, but this one is particularly unusual for one special reason: it is the smallest found to date — even smaller than Earth — with a mass similar to Mars.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rogue-planet-exoplanet-floating-through-space-discovery-milky-way/
And the video at the top of the page linked above has NOTHING to do with rogue planets.
Sigh.
October 30, 2020
Even more intriguing, the asteroid’s metal is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion (that’s 15 more zeroes), more than the entire economy of Earth.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/29/metal-asteroid-psyche-nasa-hubble-images/6069223002/
Leave it to USA Today—the paragon of journalistic integrity and unvarnished truth reporting—to grossly exaggerate “value.”
Imagine if someone dumped several hundred thousand tons of nickel and iron on the market?
It would immediately make nickel and iron worthless. Simple supply and demand. So it’s not monetary value that is important.
How do we create vehicles and domiciles for a space-faring future while avoiding the exorbitant cost of getting them into space in the first place? It’s the cost and weight of rocket fuel that’s the issue.
Solution: Build everything in space. No need to bring anything back to Earth.
Not needed now. Maybe someday.
October 26, 2020
The new research is especially topical given that NASA plans to land humans on the Moon in the 2020s and use lunar resources as part of its Artemis program, prompting thorny discussions about legal and ethical extraction of materials on the Moon.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7aqpz/nasa-found-a-lot-of-water-on-the-moon-in-breakthrough-for-human-habitation
“Micro cold traps.” The equivalent of a 12-ounce bottle in a cubic meter of soil. But not everywhere, and primarily at the polar caps.
So…how will this help, exactly? 🤔
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