February 21, 2025
Hi, everyone. I know I haven’t posted in a while now (about three months).
Things happened. I’ll see if I can deal with that in a post this weekend before returning to regularly blogging about astronomy and etc.
Winter is still here! (In the northern hemisphere.) Going on walks and hiking in 3C windy weather only makes hot chocolate taste that much better…
☕️
November 14, 2024
The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought.
Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say.
Cue the jokes in five…four…three…
“So, you mean there really is life in…ah…”
Note that this is not from new data. It’s a re-analysis of what Voyager 2 sent back decades ago. Basically, it just had a bad day, with magnetic storms screwing up the scan.
Still…
There could be moons there that could have the conditions that are necessary for life, they might have oceans that below the surface that could be teeming with fish!
I think this is a bit of an exaggeration…
November 13, 2024
Jas Tiruvuru, business development manager for Orbit Fab in the UK and Europe, said the company was aiming to successfully demonstrate the technology in space by 2027.
“This will essentially be the first ever satellite to satellite refuelling demonstration funded here in the UK,” she said.
“Once we’ve proven that we can refuel to two spacecrafts we’ll be able to unlock a huge market potential.”
You know, maybe it’s just me, but I think 2027 may be a little optimistic. Just like the figure given in the article for how much the satellite sector will be worth in the future.
Aren’t there too many satellites already?
I’d like to see how this would help us colonize the solar system.
Actually, I’d like to see how they plan to get fuel up there in the first place.
Maybe my novel’s idea of using certain moons of Jupiter or Saturn as giant space gas pumps might help? 🪐
November 12, 2024
Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.
The researchers argue that “if” trees could be planted on Mars…
OK, just stop right there. I’m pretty sure Mars will struggle to support even grass, let alone trees.
And the argument that, due to a lack of oxygen, flammable wooden structures in space would not be in danger strikes me as a bit ludicrous…surely there would be oxygen inside the wooden structures?
And, you know, I do think I’ve seen this before some where…nah…
September 26, 2024
According to Thorne, who served as a consultant on the science of Interstellar, quantum mechanics could hypothetically explain a way to time travel via wormhole. So far, it’s a thought experiment that leads to the conclusion that you’d lose information along the way—not very practical.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a62175728/interstellar-travel-wormholes
First off, I’m incredibly annoyed at the way WordPress has screwed up the “quotation” function. It seems they are more focused on encouraging bloggers to use AI to write.
Uh. I don’t need AI. I blog. The end. WTH is the point of using AI to write my thoughts? It’s already being trained to USE my blog in the first place! Idiots.
OK. Second, the Popular Mechanics article I’m linking to is entitled “Interstellar travel is possible if we break into a higher dimension, scientists say.”
Only, that is NOT what scientists say. It’s still a thought experiment!
Continue Reading
September 4, 2024
Using the new method, one metric tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51 to 76 kilograms of water, equivalent to more than a hundred 500-millileter bottles of water, or the daily drinking water consumption of 50 people, the state broadcaster said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/chinese-scientists-use-lunar-soil-produce-water-rcna167951
The soil was from the 2020 expedition, which was the first in 44 years to bring back soil from the Moon.
Considering all of NASA’s problems, it looks like China will have a moon base years before the US does…and probably in prime resource locations as well.
And don’t forget that the hydrogen in the soil can also be used for rocket fuel. It would be a lot easier to launch ships to Mars and beyond without having to deal with Earth’s gravity…
June 26, 2024
But China has also offered to share at least some of its new moon samples with American researchers, and NASA is allowing the U.S. scientists to submit proposals.
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/24/nx-s1-5015208/china-return-first-ever-sample-return-moon-far-side
This is a welcome change of heart. International politics need not prevent international space exploration.
On the other hand…
China is not planning a mere short-term, flags-and-footprints presence on the Moon. Their ambition is more like Nasa’s Artemis than it is Apollo. China plans to launch two separate missions to the south pole of the Moon around 2026 and 2028 – including testing using lunar soil to 3D print bricks – as precursors to a lunar base.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240510-change-6-is-just-the-tip-of-chinas-space-ambitions
A little competition might be just what’s needed to get humanity into space.
But a little competition might also go a bit too far…
“May you live in interesting times…”
June 17, 2024
Starliner, the Boeing spacecraft whose launch was delayed by a helium leak, has now developed four additional helium leaks after docking successfully with the ISS.
They had to delay the docking due to a little problem with thrusters…
Five of the 28 thrusters were not operating but, after troubleshooting, Boeing recovered four of Starliner’s malfunctioning jets and NASA allowed the spacecraft to dock.
So their return to Earth has been delayed so that they can run some more tests.
I sure hope they have built some redundancies to this system. Remember, this is Boeing. QC is not exactly high on their priorities list…
May 7, 2024
Over time, that water has nearly all been lost. Figuring out how, when and why Venus lost its water helps planetary scientists like me understand what makes a planet habitable — or what can make a habitable planet transform into an uninhabitable world.
https://theconversation.com/venus-is-losing-water-faster-than-previously-thought-heres-what-that-could-mean-for-the-early-planets-habitability-229342
The process in which Venus lost most of its water is called “hydrodynamic escape.” When Venus got too hot, the hydrogen in its atmosphere left. (The linked article explains this using a metaphor of having too many blankets on your bed.)
However, Venus is still losing hydrogen, even though there is too little of it for hydrodynamic escape to work. So, logically, there must be another process at work: “HCO⁺ dissociative recombination,” in which individually positively charged atoms of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen in the atmosphere react with negatively charged electrons. The process was first examined on Mars, and based on a reexamination of results from previous missions (Pioneer Venus 1 and Pioneer Venus 2), the same research group thinks it’s time to try it on Venus…perhaps a first step to seeing whether Venus had life at some point.
April 23, 2024
NASA says it is once again able to get meaningful information back from the Voyager 1 probe, after months of troubleshooting a glitch that had this venerable spacecraft sending home messages that made no sense.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1246392066/nasa-voyager-1-spacecraft-talks-back
Hmm. Just a short while ago, Voyager’s days were numbered.
I guess these things were built to last… (also built when NASA got a lot more funding…)
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