Hmm, this doesn’t look much like a dragon… 🐉 🤔
(First NASA manned launch in a decade. First NASA launch by a private company. We’ll likely see many, many more.)
SpaceX to launch 🚀 May 27
April 18, 2020
Honey, I Shrunk the Lunar Payloads!
April 13, 2020
NASA tells Inverse that the payloads will need to measure no more than 100 millimeters by 100 millimeters by 50 millimeters, around the size of a bar of soap. They will also need to weigh no more than 0.4 kilograms (0.88 pounds) and be able to withstand external temperatures between minus 120 degrees Celsius (minus 184 degrees Fahrenheit) and 100 degrees (212 degrees Fahrenheit). These are the maximum limits, but smaller and lighter is preferred.
Yow, that’s wicked tiny. But small price to pay to set up a Lunar Space Base from which humanity can expand into the expanse.
Er, the solar system. I meant the solar system.
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.
I Only Wanted to See You Under the Iron Rain…
March 14, 2020
Wasp-76b, as it’s known, orbits so close in to its host star, its dayside temperatures exceed 2,400C – hot enough to vaporise metals.
Hmm….this reminds me of…let me think for a minute…wait, I got it…
Yeah, that’s the one. I think.
(Seriously, check it out. Not even the Jedi could possibly handle an actual “inferno” planet.)
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
Five reasons why NASA is sending a Dragonfly to Titan
February 29, 2020
- It’s the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere.
- This atmosphere is more similar to Earth’s (especially ancient Earth’s) than any other atmosphere in the solar system.
- Chemistry, baby. Microbes, maybe.
- Labs take too long. Experiments on Titan would be short.
- The terrain is pretty wild.
Check out the link below for more detailed explanations and a neat video.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1184/why-is-nasa-sending-dragonfly-to-titan-here-are-five-reasons/
The Eagle has landed. Um. Again. Sort of.
February 18, 2020
‘As far as audio recordings, we previously had only 48 minutes of off-air audio of the BBC coverage from another source. Now thanks to you we have over eight hours!’
It’s been 50 years since The Eagle landed. There are plenty of existing video and audio recordings from US media sources (like this one on YouTube, clocking in at over 3 hours).
It’s been considerably less time since news recordings of Apollo 11 from *outside* the US were discovered. Just over half a year. Audio only. Bummer. But at least you get a different perspective (always a good thing when it comes to news).
Check it out (and download it, if you like), thanks to Steve Hurley at explainingscience.org/2020/02/17/british-coverage-of-apollo-11/
Forget Mars, Head to Europa?
February 7, 2020
“I think we’ve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.”
Hmm. Maybe. It seems more like that any life would be of the microscopic or worm-like variety. But we still have to get out there first to find out…
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
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.)
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