M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

Have Gravity Link Spaceship, Will Travel?

October 16, 2019
MThomas

Youtuber smallstars has proposed a concept that he calls the Gravity Link Starship (GLS), a variation of SpaceX’s Starshipthat will be able to provide its own artificial gravity.

Hm, I guess we’re at the point where YouTubers have better ideas than NASA…

But who pays for this? is the several billion dollar question. Not just the construction of the “hub and truss” system, but the expense of getting it into space in the first place.

Seems like science fiction at this point. But still worth a read/look:

www.universetoday.com/143368/real-artificial-gravity-for-spacexs-starship/

“We already found life on Mars!” Um. Sorry, no, you didn’t.

October 15, 2019
MThomas

“What is the evidence against the possibility of life on Mars?” Levin wrote. “The astonishing fact is that there is none.”

Uh, no, sorry. That’s an illogical fallacy called “begging the question.”

Often phrased like this: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

Or, as a friend once joked, “Just because you haven’t found any aliens doesn’t mean there aren’t any!”

Well, yeah, but that doesn’t prove anything except that we just don’t know.

See, science doesn’t work like that. It demands skepticism, careful theorizing based on positive evidence.

And replication.

If findings can’t be independently confirmed and reproduced by an outside observer, then the evidence isn’t strong enough.

Sorry. No smoking gun. Yet.

(Believe me, if scientists knew that Mars had life, we’d hear about it ad infinitum. Carl Sagan put it best: Scientists are terrible at keeping secrets.)

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/10/15/us/nasa-life-on-mars-intl-hnk-scli/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Factories…In…Space…

October 13, 2019
MThomas

 

 “Once you’ve exploited the solar system, there’s nowhere left to go.”

Frankly, the idea that we puny humans could ever even begin to damage the solar system is laughable.

What would be more worrisome is who – or what – would be doing the work. Why hire people if you could make robots to do the work for you?

https://futurism.com/billionaires-dead-serious-space-factories?fbclid=IwAR1lizqBfz9yQ4zwcdPlHqr4DnWKvf_Me6exwewJ3sPrb2UTksz65YQM_eI

Space Hopper Go!

October 10, 2019
MThomas

I have a vehicle in my novel called a “Hopper.”

Damn you, Musk! Must you steal ALL my ideas??

www.syfy.com/syfywire/amazing-video-spacex-starhopper-test-hop-to-a-height-of-150-meters

Interstellar Travel Tech — oh, Really?

April 27, 2019
MThomas

Interstellar

“It is time to venture beyond the known planets, on toward the stars.”

Yes, I agree, but I don’t see how any of the ideas in this article will help us achieve that goal. I think the problem is the reliance on conventional means of propulsion. Clearly some sort of bending of space/time is needed to leave the solar system faster than, say, a decade, let alone reach other star systems.

Dawn already used an ion engine (way too slow). The solar gravitational lens is neat but it won’t take us there physically. The “space-based laser” idea is funky but impractical.

Getting off Earth should help (Moon Base, Mars, somewhere else like Triton). Escaping our own planet’s gravity well takes way too much effort. But after that, it’s time to forget about rockets and start thinking of truly “wacked out” ideas.

For starters, Discover, how about dumping your absolutely awful page design? Yeesh, this page is hard to read.

http://discovermagazine.com/2019/apr/new-technologies-could-let-us-explore-beyond-the-solar-system

No “Planet McPlanetface” option. Sorry.

April 15, 2019
MThomas

planetoid

The three choices fit IAU naming regulations and are associated with mythological creatures and figures that reflect aspects of 2007 OR10’s physical properties, which include rock, water ice, possibly methane ice, and a surface that’s red in color.

Your three choices?

Gonggong (共工, the bringer of floods 洪 and chaos)

Holle (which I always thought was Hulda or Holda)

Vili (which I knew as Wela in English class)

At least these scientists learned an important lesson from our recent past…

22xp-boaty-articleLarge

Info here: www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/scientists-launch-public-vote-for-the-name-of-a-distant-world/

Vote here: https://2007or10.name

First ever black hole image (not counting Disney)

April 10, 2019
MThomas

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“What we see is larger than the size of our entire Solar System,” he said.

“It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. And it is one of the heaviest black holes that we think exists. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe.”

So this demonstrates two things.

One – Einstein was right (when wasn’t he, at this point).

Two – We need a Disney remake.

MV5BOGEzN2M5YTItZDRkZS00OWMxLTk3MTktZjZkNzExYWRjYjA5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4MjA5MzA@._V1_

Calling Christopher Nolan!


www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47873592

Gateway now includes Canada, eh

April 3, 2019
MThomas

_105864206_gateway_orion_approaching

Now that Trudeau has agreed to help out, if anything goes wrong we can always “Blame Canada!”

No, no, it’s a joke, alright, eh. Sorry, sorry.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47426798

Water moves on the Moon — well, molecules do, at any rate

March 13, 2019
MThomas

NASA and other scientific groups have discussed the potential of using the Moon as a sort of jumping-off point for missions deeper into space. If water could be collected on the Moon it could prove to be a great resource for manned missions headed deeper into the solar system.

Interesting, but I have a feeling that Lunar Base occupants will need slightly more than a few “bouncing” molecules to drink (or to create hydrogen for rocket fuel or colony energy needs).

bgr.com/2019/03/11/water-on-the-moon-surface-lunar-regolith/

Black holes, Hawking radiation, and quantum physics: Feeling dense yet?

March 8, 2019
MThomas

Modern physics dictates that, after being consumed, information about this matter should be forever lost to the universe. But a new experiment suggests that there might be a way to use quantum mechanics to gain some insight into the interior of a black hole.

Black hole sun / won’t you come / to drive away the rain? 🎶

www.space.com/black-hole-information-paradox.html

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