The future of Mars (and beyond) is multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual.
Also, this is a pretty cool website design.
Hope Probe Countdown!
July 11, 2020
SpooQy-1 action at a distance!
June 30, 2020
“In the future, our system could be part of a global quantum network transmitting quantum signals to receivers on Earth or on other spacecraft,” says Aitor Villar, lead author of the study. “These signals could be used to implement any type of quantum communications application, from quantum key distribution for extremely secure data transmission to quantum teleportation, where information is transferred by replicating the state of a quantum system from a distance.”
OK, OK, so it’s not the first time quantum entanglement has been demonstrated. But it sure is the smallest. Only 20 cm by 10 cm!
Now we only need a few thousand of these things and a way of somehow making tangled photons actually carry encrypted messages…
(Sorry, thinking of the SF novel I should have published by now…still figuring out the last two chapters!)
See more at New Atlas (note: I seriously doubt the CubeSat actually looks like that picture when it’s doing its thing).
Giant asteroid flying by Earth next week looks like it’s wearing a face mask
April 24, 2020
On April 29, an asteroid estimated to be 1.2 miles wide will fly by Earth, but it’s not on a destructive path. And new images of the asteroid make it appear as though it’s wearing a face mask.
😷
— Read on edition.cnn.com/2020/04/23/world/asteroid-1998-or2-face-mask-scn-trnd/index.html
Quasar winds with record energy levels were seen fleeing a distant galaxy
April 1, 2020
“The most energetic outflow came from a quasar called SDSS J1042+1646 with 5×1030 gigawatts, or 5 million trillion trillion gigawatts. For perspective, a nuclear reactor puts out about one gigawatt of energy, while the total energy of all Milky Way stars is about 1028 gigawatts.”
Tired of corona-related news. Time to relax with a completely science-based, “you are somewhat insignificant in the greater scheme of things” post.
Enjoy.
Nasa’s 2020 rover: Can we finally answer the big question about Mars?
March 8, 2020
“So, let’s bring the samples back. So if those extraordinary claims are made, they can be verified.”
One likely extraterrestrial form of life might resemble a terrestrial form: the stromatolite.
They basically look like big rocks. I visited one site in Western Australia in 2003 with a group of Japanese students who were told by a local guide that the stromatolites were “3.5 billion years old.” (They’re not, but they do look like what life might have looked like at that point.”
So NASA is sending another rover to see if they can find evidence of a similar life form.
Sorry. No Slurm (yet?).
— Read on www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/science-environment-51544476
New mini-moon! — well, at least until we kick it out of orbit
February 28, 2020
He added that the mini-moon appears to have been orbiting our planet since it was first captured by Earth’s gravity three years ago. Early observations also suggest it is small enough to fit in just about any garage or shed, with an estimated diameter between 2 and 3.5 meters (about 6 – 11 feet).
The photo obviously doesn’t match the actual size of this “mini-moon” but you get the idea.
There was another one a few years ago, by the way. It stayed a few months and then got booted out of orbit.
Super Bowl 2020: All the space-themed commercials
February 2, 2020
“Being able to get humans on Mars and actually collecting one of these samples would be such an incredible moment, I would kind of hope it would almost bring us back to the moon days of everyone being glued to the TV.”
Um. Well. OK. TV is dead so we’ll all be watching it streamed on our smartphones, but the point is taken.
And how much did they pay for this? 💰 👽 📺
— Read on http://www.livescience.com/amp/super-bowl-space-commercials.html
Have some Proxima Centauri with ESPRESSO
January 20, 2020
“Proxima is our closest neighbor in an immense universe. How could we not be charmed by it?”
Well, the planet may or may not exist (the confirmation data won’t be publicly available for another couple years).
And it is most likely not inhabitable — despite being dubbed a “Super-Earth” (which really only refers to size and not whether it’s “Earth-like” or not).
Still, regardless of these facts, the most important part of this article in Scientific American is the science:
“We tried different tools to prove ourselves wrong, but we failed. However, we have to keep the doors open to all possible doubt and skepticism.”
Yes, the astronomers tried to prove their own discovery was a mistake. That’s how it works, folks. Challenge your assumptions, not jump to conclusions. Continue Reading
It’s a Nice Model you’ve got there, Mars. Be a shame if something happened to it…
January 12, 2020
“Without this instability, Mars likely would have had a mass closer to Earth’s and would be a very different, perhaps more Earth-like, planet compared to what it is today.”
Damn you, Jupiter and Saturn! Why couldn’t you have just stayed in your orbits and left Mars alone? (Shakes fist futilely at night sky.)
New “habitable” Earth? 🌍
January 10, 2020
The newly discovered exoplanet, called TOI 700 d, is located about 100 light-years away from us and is roughly 20% larger than Earth.
Okay, not exactly close, but looking good…
A year on TOI 700 d takes 37 days.
Um. Wait. What?
One thing astronomers have discovered though is that TOI 700 d is tidally locked to its star, which means that one half bathes in eternal sunlight, and the other half always exists in darkness.
Oy.
And even better…
One of the burning questions is whether the planet has an atmosphere or not.
Is this really the best way to phrase this? 😂
I vote we pass on this one…
PS I’ve been trying futilely to get WordPress not to screw up the formatting. To no avail.
