#breaking: nasa lands earth’s first manned spacecraft on mars
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My minibang fic is mutichap so here we go for Invisobang 2022! For the minibang I was partnered with the fabulous and talented @astravis whose art will be posted along with the sixth and final chapter on Friday, so stay tuned!
(Chap two) (Ch 3) (ch. four) (five) (and 6)
BREAKING: NASA Lands Earths First Manned Spacecraft on Mars!
The creepy Fenton kid and the town's resident ghost hero go missing on the same day, and for weeks Amity Park is all abuzz about it. If the timing is suspicious, the doctors Fenton don't think anything of it. But Sam and Tucker think they can find Danny and bring him back. In fact, they're certain of it.
On a cold, steel table, in a certain lab, in a sprawling, labyrinthine, top secret facility, there is a boy named Danny.
[A tragedy following the wake of Danny's disappearance and the strange set of circumstances revealed between five points of view. But how did he get caught in the first place? And where did he go?]
Chapter 1: Space Case (Read it on AO3)
[Warning: dissection/vivisection, dissociation]
On a cold, steel table, in a certain lab, in a sprawling, labyrinthine, top secret facility, there is a boy named Danny. He is strapped down tightly with electrified restraints, his chest and abdomen cut wide open to make his insides easily accessible to the scientists examining him, a large needle lanced through his temple into his brain. Any other boy would be dead in Danny's condition. However, Danny is only half dead, and more importantly, he is half alive.
The situation he is in has lost all of its novelty to him. Though he has no idea how long he's been there, maybe days, maybe months, maybe longer or less—the horrific has become mundane. Where once he felt indescribable pain, he now feels nothing. Where once he screamed, he now is silent. Desensitized to the agony, absent from his senses, his mind wanders—as it often did before being ripped from his ordinary life, and brought here—to space. None of this would be happening to him if he was in space, he thinks.
Space is unfathomably enormous. So big, he's heard it said, that in the time it would take for one to finish describing its vastness, it would already have fucktoupled in size. The thought would once have quirked his lips up in a smile, but now his lips are stone. Space is home to trillions of planets, and trillions of stars, and trillions of other celestial bodies, and based on those numbers, it's statistically impossible that humans are the only intelligent life in the universe.
However due to the gargantuan nature of the universe, it is equally unlikely that humans will ever meet other intelligent life forms from across the many galaxies, light-years upon light-years away. Danny has always taken that as a challenge. He is going to go to space one day. No matter how much the odds are against it, he wants to discover alien life-forms. Even if he doesn't, he thinks, he'll fail among the stars, and that's a whole lot more interesting than failing in the dirt.
Before all this, Danny always kept up with the latest advancements in space travel and astronomy, and he wonders how much he's missed while trapped here. He used to try to escape, but now he's just tired. At least he has plenty of time to think now. Since he was four years old, he's been studying to be an astronaut. If research and development go smoothly, according to his timeline, he thought he'd be an astronaut in time to join the first manned mission to Mars.
That doesn't look as likely now.
No Mars Rover engineer ever cut open a fourteen-year-old. At least, he's pretty sure. And in space there are no ghosts, and no suffering, and no grossly unethical science. He could still do it, he thinks, as though he is not on a table, in a lab, in a top secret facility.
It's hard to be present in his own body now, to feel, to see, to taste, and hear, and smell. It's easier to forget where he is, who he is. He can't tell if he's Fenton or Phantom anymore. He can check, open his eyes, force his blurry vision to focus long enough to see if the hair falling into his face is black or white but... which belongs to which? He looks down and sees a slimy pink organ being roughly jerked upwards, out of his open torso.
Fenton then. Phantom doesn't have any of those, he thinks as he feels himself floating upwards, looking down on himself, and the scientists, watching everything, but at the same time not really paying attention. He hasn't moved, but he's not there anymore, not as far as he can tell.
He can remember some of the discoveries in the first day or two, the feeling of foreign fingers sifting through the ectoplasmic goo in Phantom's chest cavity where Fenton has a heart and lungs, the dreadful, icy feeling when a gloved fingernail brushed against his core, and he froze the whole lab and everyone there in an instant, defending his ghost half's only vital organ. They have the technology to clear the ice quickly, though they decided to put off experimenting with his core to a later date.
As Fenton, however, there is no soft bubbling and fizzing of ectoplasm, instead the sloshing and squishing of flesh and fluids fills the air, along with the smell of antiseptic and raw meat. The sensation of someone else's hand, reaching inside him and pulling out foot after foot of intestine where in his ghost form there is only green fog and ghostly swamp sludge.
"Subject continues to regenerate lost organs," says a male voice which Danny has grown familiar with, though he still has not been able to put a name to it. The man is referred to as Dr. H, and nothing else. "Thus far there does not appear to be an upper limit to the subject's healing factor, even when deprived of oxygen. According to our sensors, the subject has not taken in oxygen in the last six days and nine hours, approximately."
Has he really not breathed in over six days? Danny wonders. He hasn't even thought about it, but in retrospect, that seems right. Breathing hurts—everything hurts—so he stopped doing it. He doesn't try to breathe. He doesn't hurt anymore, doesn't feel anything.
A door opens. The door. There's only one door in the room as far as Danny is aware, and no windows. He remembers checking when he first got there, but it takes him a few seconds to remember why. It was probably the getting nabbed and strong armed into ghost proof bonds that put him off to the idea at first, but the clinical laboratory, suspicious vials of colored goo, and medical equipment that looks like torture devices, didn't ease his worries.
"Ah, Miss Fenton," Dr. H greets. "I was hoping to get a quick evaluation of the subject's psychological state. It hasn't screamed in over a week, and hasn't been breathing lately. It doesn't appear to be in danger of destabilizing or dissolving, which would put a halt to our research, but I am worried that it may be in danger of turning into a full ghost and losing its human attributes if it cannot maintain its humanoid psyche."
"Danny?" It's Jazz. Jazz is here! She's here! Why... why does that matter? "Are you there?"
"Somewhere," he responds, voice floating out of his mouth with no force behind it. To speak without breath always felt strange to him in the past, but he's not thinking about that now. He's excited to see his sister, though he can't remember why. He's angry, or maybe he's afraid. Maybe he feels nothing at all. Should he?
She smiles at him, a sad, pitying smile, but there is horror behind her eyes, and he vaguely wonders why. "Are you in pain? How are you feeling?"
"Dunno... should I be?" he asks. "How can I be?"
"Well?" Dr. H cuts in. "Can I continue or not?"
"I believe his body is fine." She sounds relieved. Her voice is wracked with guilt when she speaks again. "In my opinion, he seems to have entered a severe dissociative state. He is aware of his situation, but his brain has disconnected itself from everything to protect him, so he may feel as though he does not exist, or as though he is watching what's happening like a movie, rather than experiencing it."
"Excellent," says Dr. H, as though that's the best possible answer she could have given. "That means the subject is complacent, and in an excellent state to be moved for the next stage of experiments." A radio crackled with static. "Agent Q, ready the ecto-repulsive vacuum chamber, over."
"Affirmative, Dr. H, over and out," a voice hissed back through the radio.
"I do not believe that's the best—" Jazz tries to say, but she doesn't get to the end of her sentence before Dr. H cuts her off dismissively.
"Thank you Miss Fenton, that will be all. I have to stitch it back up before we can begin experimenting in the vacuum chamber." After a moment, the door opens and closes again. "Activating subject's spectral transformation to increase the speed of its healing factor and thus the likelihood that it will be able to withstand vacuum chamber experiments." Dr. H tweaks the needle in Danny's brain and as the white rings wash over his body, he is hypnotized by them.
They are like the rings of Saturn, thin and white and cold, made of ice and rock and space dust, a hundred and seventy thousand miles across, and only thirty feet thick, circling the gaseous planet like fan blades. He knows it's unlikely, but Danny hopes to see them in person one day, too. Maybe as mankind encroaches further outward into space, they'll send a manned mission to Titan, or Enceladus. Maybe he can be on it.
By the time Dr. H and Agent Q transfer Danny into the vacuum chamber, his mind is long gone again, in a vacuum of its own, marveling at the beauty of Saturn's rings as he looks down from one of its moons. Outer space never ceases to amaze, and Danny is struck dumb by its radiance.
#dissection tw#dissociation tw#human experimentation tw#danny phantom#danny fenton#guys in white#angst#dp#space science#space imagery#fic#invisobang 2022#breaking: NASA lands earth’s first manned spacecraft on mars#why oh why did I give it such a long title T-T#chapter one#things i wrote
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FIRST BOOTS ON MARS: NASA ANNOUNCES PHANTOM ONE HAS LANDED
My piece for the minibang, working with the remarkable and wonderful @raaorqtpbpdy!
Go check out their fic: BREAKING: NASA Lands Earth’s First Manned Spacecraft on Mars on AO3 :D Come get your angst
Non-animated illustration under the cut-
#Danny phantom#dp minibang#dp fanart#had to drop the quality a lot for the gif but hey you can still see his breath#my art#my gif#my edit#I guess I should tag this as animation#I know it counts#but it feels like cheating when I'm mostly just dragging things around#yes I know I'm being silly#definitely the most animated art piece I've posted#minibang
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NASA Counts Down to Twenty Years of Continuous Human Presence on International Space Station
ISS 20th Logo patch.
Nov. 5, 2019
On Oct. 31, 2000, veteran NASA astronaut William “Shep” Shepherd left Earth on a journey to the International Space Station with the distinction of becoming its first commander, beginning almost two decades of continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit.
The Expedition One crew members aboard the International Space Station
At the time, the space station was a small orbiting complex of just three modules, not the sprawling research complex that today is as large as a five-bedroom home with a gym, two bathrooms and a 360-degree bay window looking at Earth below.
Before Shepherd, who lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft, and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev of Roscosmos opened the hatches to their new home two days later, only six visiting crewmembers had been inside after connecting the first two modules, one a U.S.-funded, Russian built and launched power and control module called Zarya, and the other the first U.S. connecting node named Unity.
The STS-88 crew members pose for the traditional inflight crew portrait
For Shepherd and the two cosmonauts who made up Expedition 1, entrance into the early station marked the beginning of an unprecedented era of peaceful cooperation in space, paving the way for hundreds of residents and visitors from countries around the world who conduct science in the name ofbenefitting humankind and furthering space exploration for NASA's Artemis program to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in preparation to go on to Mars.
Highlights of space station statistics include:
- The primary pieces of the space station were delivered on 42 assembly flights: 37 on the U.S. space shuttles and five on Russian Proton/Soyuz rockets. Elements were constructed independent of one another around the globe and assembled for the first time in space.
- The space station took 11 years to fully construct. Its current configuration measures 357 feet end to end with a mass of nearly 1 million pounds. Elements of space station are continually added and reconfigured.
- There have been 221 spacewalks for space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades.
- It took a collaborative effort by 15 nations to construct the space station in orbit, and that collaboration continues today. The principal space agencies are the United States’ NASA, Russia’s Roscomos, ESA (European Space Agency), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
- 239 individuals from 19 countries have visited or enjoyed extended stays on the space station.
- Peggy Whitson holds the record for cumulative days in space by a NASA astronaut at 665 days. She also holds the record for longest duration by a woman astronaut at 289 days.
- Christina Koch is set to break that record December, 2019.
- Scott Kelly holds the record for longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut at 342 days where he participated in the One-Year Mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.
- More than 2,700 investigations have been conducted on the space station from 108 different countries.
Astronaut Scott Tingle is pictured during a robotics maintenance spacewalk
Around 250 scientific investigations are conducted on the station at any given time, and an expedition astronaut’s usual stay aboard the orbiting laboratory is six-months. The space station serves as a test bed for innovative technologies like recycling waste plastic and carbon dioxide filtration that are critical for long-duration missions on the lunar surface in the Artemis program.
Crew member safety also is important for lunar missions, so data collected from bone scans and eye exams helps inform what happens to the human body in space.
State-of-the-art facilities on board station help NASA increase understanding of what it will take to expand human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, and microgravity research into protein crystal growth and fiber-optic cables offers scalable commercial opportunities and benefits for humanity.
Astronaut Anne McClain installs of the Thermal Amine Scrubber in the Destiny module
The space station has expanded these efforts to open for more commercial activities with the goal of building a self-sustaining commercial economy in low-Earth orbit where NASA can be one of many commercial and international customers.
The 19th anniversary of Shepherd’s launch to the station kicks off NASA’s year of recognition that will continue through the 20th anniversary of his Expedition 1 launch, and the beginning of a continuous human presence on the International Space Station that continues today. Throughout the year, NASA will make new content available, such as archival footage, feature videos, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) products, special events, and unique logos for the general public. The content will recognize not only the anniversary, but also demonstrate how the research conducted and lessons learned on the space station will serve as a launching pad for future lunar and Mars exploration under the banner of NASA’s Artemis program and the continued international and commercial cooperation that will continue to return benefits for all humankind.
The Soyuz rocket lifts off with the Expedition One crew on Oct.31, 2000
Engage with the International Space Station on social media:
#SpaceStation20th
http://www.facebook.com/ISS
https://twitter.com/Space_Station
https://twitter.com/ISS_Research
http://instagram.com/iss
Spot the Station in the Night Sky: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
Humans in Space: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/humans-in-space
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
Full article
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Shrinking moon may be generating moonquakes
The Moon is shrinking as its interior cools, getting more than about 150 feet (50 meters) skinnier over the last several hundred million years. Just as a grape wrinkles as it shrinks down to a raisin, the Moon gets wrinkles as it shrinks. Unlike the flexible skin on a grape, the Moon's surface crust is brittle, so it breaks as the Moon shrinks, forming "thrust faults" where one section of crust is pushed up over a neighboring part.
"Our analysis gives the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely producing moonquakes today as the Moon continues to gradually cool and shrink," said Thomas Watters, senior scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. "Some of these quakes can be fairly strong, around five on the Richter scale."
These fault scarps resemble small stair-step shaped cliffs when seen from the lunar surface, typically tens of yards (meters) high and extending for a few miles (several kilometers). Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt had to zig-zag their lunar rover up and over the cliff face of the Lee-Lincoln fault scarp during the Apollo 17 mission that landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley in 1972.
Watters is lead author of a study that analyzed data from four seismometers placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts using an algorithm, or mathematical program, developed to pinpoint quake locations detected by a sparse seismic network. The algorithm gave a better estimate of moonquake locations. Seismometers are instruments that measure the shaking produced by quakes, recording the arrival time and strength of various quake waves to get a location estimate, called an epicenter. The study was published May 13 in Nature Geoscience.
Astronauts placed the instruments on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 missions. The Apollo 11 seismometer operated only for three weeks, but the four remaining recorded 28 shallow moonquakes -- the type expected to be produced by these faults -- from 1969 to 1977. The quakes ranged from about 2 to around 5 on the Richter scale.
Using the revised location estimates from the new algorithm, the team found that eight of the 28 shallow quakes were within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of faults visible in lunar images. This is close enough to tentatively attribute the quakes to the faults, since modeling by the team shows that this is the distance over which strong shaking is expected to occur, given the size of these fault scarps. Additionally, the new analysis found that six of the eight quakes happened when the Moon was at or near its apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit. This is where additional tidal stress from Earth's gravity causes a peak in the total stress, making slip-events along these faults more likely.
"We think it's very likely that these eight quakes were produced by faults slipping as stress built up when the lunar crust was compressed by global contraction and tidal forces, indicating that the Apollo seismometers recorded the shrinking Moon and the Moon is still tectonically active," said Watters. The researchers ran 10,000 simulations to calculate the chance of a coincidence producing that many quakes near the faults at the time of greatest stress. They found it is less than 4 percent. Additionally, while other events, such as meteoroid impacts, can produce quakes, they produce a different seismic signature than quakes made by fault slip events.
Other evidence that these faults are active comes from highly detailed images of the Moon by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has imaged over 3,500 of the fault scarps. Some of these images show landslides or boulders at the bottom of relatively bright patches on the slopes of fault scarps or nearby terrain. Weathering from solar and space radiation gradually darkens material on the lunar surface, so brighter areas indicate regions that are freshly exposed to space, as expected if a recent moonquake sent material sliding down a cliff. Examples of fresh boulder fields are found on the slopes of a fault scarp in the Vitello cluster and examples of possible bright features are associated with faults that occur near craters Gemma Frisius C and Mouchez L. Other LROC fault images show tracks from boulder falls, which would be expected if the fault slipped and the resulting quake sent boulders rolling down the cliff slope. These tracks are evidence of a recent quake because they should be erased relatively quickly, in geologic time scales, by the constant rain of micrometeoroid impacts on the Moon. Boulder tracks near faults in Schrödinger basin have been attributed to recent boulder falls induced by seismic shaking.
Additionally, one of the revised moonquake epicenters is just 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Lee-Lincoln scarp traversed by the Apollo 17 astronauts. The astronauts also examined boulders and boulder tracks on the slope of North Massif near the landing site. A large landslide on South Massif that covered the southern segment of the Lee-Lincoln scarp is further evidence of possible moonquakes generated by fault slip events.
"It's really remarkable to see how data from nearly 50 years ago and from the LRO mission has been combined to advance our understanding of the Moon while suggesting where future missions intent on studying the Moon's interior processes should go," said LRO Project Scientist John Keller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Since LRO has been photographing the lunar surface since 2009, the team would like to compare pictures of specific fault regions from different times to see if there is any evidence of recent moonquake activity. Additionally, "Establishing a new network of seismometers on the lunar surface should be a priority for human exploration of the Moon, both to learn more about the Moon's interior and to determine how much of a hazard moonquakes present," said co-author Renee Weber, a planetary seismologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Moon isn't the only world in our solar system experiencing some shrinkage with age. Mercury has enormous thrust faults -- up to about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and over a mile (3 kilometers) high -- that are significantly larger relative to its size than those on the Moon, indicating it shrank much more than the Moon. Since rocky worlds expand when they heat up and contract as they cool, Mercury's large faults reveal that is was likely hot enough to be completely molten after its formation. Scientists trying to reconstruct the Moon's origin wonder whether the same happened to the Moon, or if instead it was only partially molten, perhaps with a magma ocean over a more slowly heating deep interior. The relatively small size of the Moon's fault scarps is in line with the more subtle contraction expected from a partially molten scenario.
NASA will send the first woman, and next man, to the Moon by 2024. These American astronauts will take a human landing system from the Gateway in lunar orbit, and land on the lunar South Pole. The agency will establish sustainable missions by 2028, then we'll take what we learn on the Moon, and go to Mars.
This research was funded by NASA's LRO project, with additional support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. LRO is managed by NASA Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The LROC is managed at Arizona State University in Tempe.
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SHRINKING MOON MAY BE GENERATING MOONQUAKES The Moon is shrinking as its interior cools, getting more than about 150 feet (50 meters) skinnier over the last several hundred million years. Just as a grape wrinkles as it shrinks down to a raisin, the Moon gets wrinkles as it shrinks. Unlike the flexible skin on a grape, the Moon’s surface crust is brittle, so it breaks as the Moon shrinks, forming “thrust faults” where one section of crust is pushed up over a neighboring part. “Our analysis gives the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely producing moonquakes today as the Moon continues to gradually cool and shrink,” said Thomas Watters, senior scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. “Some of these quakes can be fairly strong, around five on the Richter scale.” These fault scarps resemble small stair-step shaped cliffs when seen from the lunar surface, typically tens of yards (meters) high and extending for a few miles (several kilometers). Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt had to zig-zag their lunar rover up and over the cliff face of the Lee-Lincoln fault scarp during the Apollo 17 mission that landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley in 1972. Watters is lead author of a study that analyzed data from four seismometers placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts using an algorithm, or mathematical program, developed to pinpoint quake locations detected by a sparse seismic network. The algorithm gave a better estimate of moonquake locations. Seismometers are instruments that measure the shaking produced by quakes, recording the arrival time and strength of various quake waves to get a location estimate, called an epicenter. The study was published May 13 in Nature Geoscience. Astronauts placed the instruments on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 missions. The Apollo 11 seismometer operated only for three weeks, but the four remaining recorded 28 shallow moonquakes -- the type expected to be produced by these faults -- from 1969 to 1977. The quakes ranged from about 2 to around 5 on the Richter scale. Using the revised location estimates from the new algorithm, the team found that eight of the 28 shallow quakes were within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of faults visible in lunar images. This is close enough to tentatively attribute the quakes to the faults, since modeling by the team shows that this is the distance over which strong shaking is expected to occur, given the size of these fault scarps. Additionally, the new analysis found that six of the eight quakes happened when the Moon was at or near its apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit. This is where additional tidal stress from Earth’s gravity causes a peak in the total stress, making slip-events along these faults more likely. “We think it’s very likely that these eight quakes were produced by faults slipping as stress built up when the lunar crust was compressed by global contraction and tidal forces, indicating that the Apollo seismometers recorded the shrinking Moon and the Moon is still tectonically active,” said Watters. The researchers ran 10,000 simulations to calculate the chance of a coincidence producing that many quakes near the faults at the time of greatest stress. They found it is less than 4 percent. Additionally, while other events, such as meteoroid impacts, can produce quakes, they produce a different seismic signature than quakes made by fault slip events. Other evidence that these faults are active comes from highly detailed images of the Moon by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has imaged over 3,500 of the fault scarps. Some of these images show landslides or boulders at the bottom of relatively bright patches on the slopes of fault scarps or nearby terrain. Weathering from solar and space radiation gradually darkens material on the lunar surface, so brighter areas indicate regions that are freshly exposed to space, as expected if a recent moonquake sent material sliding down a cliff. Examples of fresh boulder fields are found on the slopes of a fault scarp in the Vitello cluster and examples of possible bright features are associated with faults that occur near craters Gemma Frisius C and Mouchez L. Other LROC fault images show tracks from boulder falls, which would be expected if the fault slipped and the resulting quake sent boulders rolling down the cliff slope. These tracks are evidence of a recent quake because they should be erased relatively quickly, in geologic time scales, by the constant rain of micrometeoroid impacts on the Moon. Boulder tracks near faults in Schrödinger basin have been attributed to recent boulder falls induced by seismic shaking. Additionally, one of the revised moonquake epicenters is just 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Lee-Lincoln scarp traversed by the Apollo 17 astronauts. The astronauts also examined boulders and boulder tracks on the slope of North Massif near the landing site. A large landslide on South Massif that covered the southern segment of the Lee-Lincoln scarp is further evidence of possible moonquakes generated by fault slip events. “It’s really remarkable to see how data from nearly 50 years ago and from the LRO mission has been combined to advance our understanding of the Moon while suggesting where future missions intent on studying the Moon’s interior processes should go,” said LRO Project Scientist John Keller of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Since LRO has been photographing the lunar surface since 2009, the team would like to compare pictures of specific fault regions from different times to see if there is any evidence of recent moonquake activity. Additionally, “Establishing a new network of seismometers on the lunar surface should be a priority for human exploration of the Moon, both to learn more about the Moon’s interior and to determine how much of a hazard moonquakes present,” said co-author Renee Weber, a planetary seismologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Moon isn’t the only world in our solar system experiencing some shrinkage with age. Mercury has enormous thrust faults -- up to about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and over a mile (3 kilometers) high -- that are significantly larger relative to its size than those on the Moon, indicating it shrank much more than the Moon. Since rocky worlds expand when they heat up and contract as they cool, Mercury’s large faults reveal that is was likely hot enough to be completely molten after its formation. Scientists trying to reconstruct the Moon’s origin wonder whether the same happened to the Moon, or if instead it was only partially molten, perhaps with a magma ocean over a more slowly heating deep interior. The relatively small size of the Moon’s fault scarps is in line with the more subtle contraction expected from a partially molten scenario. NASA will send the first woman, and next man, to the Moon by 2024. These American astronauts will take a human landing system from the Gateway in lunar orbit, and land on the lunar South Pole. The agency will establish sustainable missions by 2028, then we’ll take what we learn on the Moon, and go to Mars. TOP IMAGE....This is a view of the Taurus-Littrow valley taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The valley was explored in 1972 by the Apollo 17 mission astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. They had to zig-zag their lunar rover up and over the cliff face of the Lee-Lincoln fault scarp that cuts across this valley. Credits: [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University CENTRE IMAGE....This prominent lunar lobate thrust fault scarp is one of thousands discovered in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images. The fault scarp or cliff is like a stair-step in the lunar landscape (left-pointing white arrows) formed when the near-surface crust is pushed together, breaks, and is thrust upward along a fault as the Moon contracts. Boulder fields, patches of relatively high bright soil or regolith, are found on the scarp face and back scarp terrain (high side of the scarp, right-pointing arrows). Image LROC NAC frame M190844037LR. Credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Smithsonian LOWER IMAGES....This prominent lunar lobate thrust fault scarp is one of thousands discovered in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images. The fault scarp or cliff is like a stair-step in the lunar landscape (left-pointing white arrows) formed when the near-surface crust is pushed together, breaks, and is thrust upward along a fault as the Moon contracts. Boulder fields, patches of relatively high bright soil or regolith, are found on the scarp face and back scarp terrain (high side of the scarp, right-pointing arrows). Image LROC NAC frame M190844037LR. Credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Smithsonian
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The Tesla Titan
research paper by David Wacker ⌂
Part I: The Tesla Titan
“Tesla Titan, he’s a hero! Gonna bring emissions down to zero!” Now that may be a clear rip off of the classic Captain Planet theme song, but the Tesla Titan deserves the same recognition as the beloved pollution fighter. The Tesla Titan is not only stopping the crimes of fossil fuel overconsumption and outdated automobiles, but also making space travel less environmentally destructive. Reusable rockets have decreased cost and waste by a big margin. He has also promised that moving to Mars in the future is possible. Though he wouldn’t be able to do all of these amazing feats if it weren’t for his infinitely smart Artificial Intelligence by the name of OpenAI (needs a better nickname). It is said that Tony Stark himself went to the Tesla Titan for pointers on how to be a world-saving superhero. The Tesla Titan keeps giving more and more to our wonderful planet; he is a true hero and spectacle.
His only flaw would be that he hasn't done a good job at keeping his identity hidden. Just about anyone with a WiFi connection knows the Tesla Titan’s real name which of course is Elon Musk. Musk is one of the richest people on the planet, and he has been doing his best to use it for good! The Tesla Titan’s Origin Story begins in the country of South Africa, where he began toying using computers at a young age. At the young age of twelve he sold a video game he had developed to a magazine company. It was a space-themed “shoot-em-up” called Blastar, and it made the future billionaire a cool 500 dollars. You can actually play it in your browser now with a little digging.
At the age of seventeen, while continuing to get more adept with computers, Musk decided to get a Canadian passport. His reasons were based around not wanting to support apartheid—a segregation order in South Africa—with military service as well as chasing better economic opportunities in North America. He first attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, but then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees. From there, Musk went to Stanford for graduate school, quitting after a mere two days. He thought that the future was with the internet, and he was correct; in a relatively short amount of time, Musk sold his first online company, Zip2, for 309 million dollars (Gregersen).
Elon Musk, aka the Tesla Titan, has become a dominant figure in the tech industry over the past decade, and for good reason, too. He has brought about paradigm shifts in many different fields with relative ease. This is a result of his influence that he has gained over the years. He has the capability to alter public thinking quicker than it would otherwise change. A paradigm shift is comparable to a scientific revolution, something that generally requires a lot of marketing, money, and, usually, time. Throughout this essay I will compare his ability to sell products to the abilities of the Marvel character Tony Stark, aka, Ironman. Both have helped invent and create amazing pieces of technology. They also have much success selling these technologies, and the similarities go on and on.
The Tesla Titan gets his name after the electric car company he co-founded and where he continues to hold the title of CEO. The car company was founded in 2003 with the idea of fun-to-drive electric vehicles in mind. They launched their first full electric vehicle in 2008, named the Tesla Roadster. The Model S was launched in 2012, becoming the best in its class in every category. The company has released many more vehicles over the years, and just last year, it announced the Cybertruck, which currently has over 650,000 orders. Tesla is also close to releasing a self-driving semi-truck, which promises a 500-mile range on a full charge. From Tesla’s beginning right up to today, “Elon leads all product design, engineering and global manufacturing of the company's electric vehicles, battery products and solar energy products” (Tesla).
Recently, Tesla became the highest valued car company in the world, reaching an estimated $208 billion value in July of 2020. It is now being valued at $387 billion by Yahoo Finance today, with the possibility of another jump in value after it was announced that Tesla is joining the S&P 500. In its seventeen-year lifetime, Tesla became the forefront of electric vehicles, and it has reached farther than any other car brand before it.
Although Tony Stark never released his own brand of vehicles, he is known to be the owner of many expensive sports cars. He also created the Model 52 Iron Man Armor, which could fully transform into a flying car, equipped with two circular jets on the bottom to keep it off the ground. So there’s some comparisons to be made between these two men. In the movie, Spiderman: Homecoming, a Stark Cargo Plane is robbed. Where this might not be the best example of its abilities, it still has the capability to cloak itself and stay off radar. So they both have their experience in transporting goods.
The Tesla Titan’s highest reaching feat is SpaceX, which he founded just a year before Tesla. SpaceX has also reached the forefront in its field of sending rockets to space and, now, landing them back on earth. Falcon 9 was the first ever successful landing of an orbital rocket booster back in 2015. Since then, there has been nowhere to go but up! Following the Falcon 9 was the Falcon Heavy in 2018 and then the revolutionary Super Heavy Starship System this year. The Starship System can carry a total of 220,000 pounds. It is designed to travel quickly to different cities around the globe. It doesn’t stop there, though; the System was also built with the idea of transporting supplies and people to and from the Moon and Mars. It does all this at a fraction of the cost of SpaceX’s closest competitor, Boeing. SpaceX has even transported multiple astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) with its Dragon spacecraft (Gregersen). Just recently, four astronauts were successfully transported to the ISS in association with NASA (Wattles).
A clear paradigm shift occurred when Falcon 9 became the first booster to land itself back on Earth. A mere thirteen years after its founding, the company managed to break a barrier no one had come near breaking before. The main thing that Tesla and SpaceX have in common is their fearless leader, The Tesla Titan. With the amount of success that Elon Musk has had over just the past two decades in these two fields, a connection has to be made with his influence. After so many successes, it would be hard for the world not to believe in his hero-like abilities being behind some of today’s paradigm shifts.
Connecting this to Tony Stark comes a little easier than comparing a single transforming car suit. Stark Industries has connections to the creation of the original Helicarrier that is used by the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. Tony proposed the original idea to S.H.I.E.L.D., and with the help of Dr. Reed Richards and the former Xman Forge, they were able to design and eventually build the aircraft. Not that readers are able to see much of it, but there has also been a mention of the Stark Industries Aerospace Division, which supposedly created the first spaceship capable of space travel. It was first brought up in Iron Man, Vol. 1, #60, back in 1973, but not much has been said about it since.
Finally, the last evidence I will provide for The Tesla Titan’s ability to perform paradigm shifts in a single bound comes in the form of Open AI. He founded the company alongside Sam Altman and others with a beginning pledge of one billion dollars. Since its inception, the company has worked on many different AI-related projects, from a fully AI Dota 2 team that regularly beats the best of the best human teams, to slightly less impressive—when it comes to competitive gaming—but still impressive bipedal AI simulations that learned to sumo wrestle one another. Moreover, Open AI developed an AI-trained robot hand that can solve a Rubik’s Cube. Then there’s the music generating AI, Jukebox, that has its own Soundcloud. But maybe the most impressive use so far is GPT-3, a unique text-suggestion software that can gather data in split seconds and fill out a full Excel sheet with data after a simple topic search and a few button presses.
In 2018, Musk left the company’s board but still remains a donor. He left the company because of possible future contests between it and the AI that runs his Tesla vehicles’ self-driving. While he might not be with the company anymore, the amount the company accomplished while he was associated with it is still nothing to scoff at. This is another great example of how someone of his status and income can significantly increase the rate of technological progress.
These accomplishments provide the easiest area to find similarities between The Tesla Titan and Iron Man. Both have their hands in the super intelligent AI basket. Tony Stark, of course, has his AI-assistant Jarvis with him wherever he goes, whether it’s in a pair of super fancy Heads-Up Display Glasses, in his massive super smart home, or of course while he’s in his trademark Iron Man suits. Jarvis is used for instant information, hacking, and even controlling certain aspects of the various Iron Man armors.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jarvis ends up inhabiting a Vibranium-based body that eventually leads to him becoming Vision. The body was constructed under the instruction of another super AI, Ultron, who intended on using the body as his most powerful form yet. As some will know, Ultron turns out to be an evil Artificial Intelligence with the classic, “exterminate the human race” mindset. Thinking quickly, Stark puts Jarvis into the body so it cannot be inhabited by Ultron. Vision is “powered” by the Mind Stone (one of the six world creating Infinity Stones) which gives Jarvis full sentience.
My claim earlier about Tony Stark going to Elon Musk for inspiration was not that far fetched. Robert Downey Jr. did in fact go to Musk for tips on how to play the super-rich, tech playboy that is Tony Stark. And this completely makes sense, as The Tesla Titan is very comparable to Marvel’s Iron Man. It is a good thing that The Tesla Titan is on the good side, as it would be quite dangerous if he suddenly turned evil. He would have all the money and equipment he could need to possibly take over the world…
Part II: Neuralink The Nefarious
Neuralink The Nefarious, comes from a different timeline than The Tesla Titan, a timeline where the man behind the mask chooses to use his influence for evil rather than good. Neuralink The Nefarious sees the world as being infected by the parasite that is the human race, and he plans to use whatever resources he has—and he has plenty of resources—to expel the Earth of its sickness. But he won’t stop there—why conquer one planet, when you can conquer two, plus a moon? He develops spaceships with the cover story of cheaper space travel and commercial use for everyone. Behind the scenes, though, he schemes in the shadows. Along with his plans for stealing worlds, he is developing his mode of extinction for the human race in the form of mind-altering brain implants, which he markets as a possible cure for previously incurable diseases. The idea of self enhancement can drive practically anyone to madness, and he feeds on that desire. The implants are said to also provide information to the user just by thinking. While he’s at it, he has also sold “Not Flamethrowers” to the general public, another tool in his master plan. Neuralink the Nefarious will stop at nothing to become the Earth’s one true owner.
This section of the essay will go over how not only does Elon Musk have similarities to those of Superheros, but he is also very capable of becoming a super villain. I will also go over the idea that when paradigm shifts do happen so quickly because of his influence, Technological Disjunction is rarely part of the equation. Technological Disjunction is what happens when society doesn’t fully agree with a new technology that is being developed. For example, the use of drones by the public—many people worried about personal privacy. This has led to many regulations, including the requirement that the operator have a license to fly their drone over another’s property. Without a lot of technological disjunction, products that maybe should not be put on the market become available. Throughout this portion of the essay, I will compare Musk’s projects to multiple villains spread across pop culture, comparing their views and evil plans with those of Neuralink the Nefarious.
Once again, Neuralink the Nefarious gets his name after one of his evil companies. Elon Musk founded Neuralink in July 2016, with a goal of solving paralysis and improving the human being by tampering with neurons in the brain. The “link” will be implanted into the person’s head with very thin “neural threads” reading interactions between the neurons that are used for movement in the brain. Their plan is to begin by creating a wireless link between users’ brains and their mobile devices: “The Neuralink app would allow you to control your iOS device, keyboard and mouse directly with the activity of your brain, just by thinking about it” (Neuralink). As Neuralink learns more from its different iterations, the ability to help those with paralysis and other disabilities comes next. Or so they say.
I believe that Neuralink the Nefarious got this idea straight from the 2014 Action Film Kingsman: The Secret Service. The film’s antagonist is Richmond Valentine, a rich tech mogul looking to provide the world with “Free Calls, Free Internet, For Everyone, Forever.” He does so by implanting a chip directly connected to the brain. Sound familiar? It is later revealed that Valentine had an ulterior motive with his fancy Wi-Fi chips; not only do the chips provide said services, but they can also be used to make everyone who has one go into a murderous rage. So he markets and sells the chips around the world, and most of the first world ends up with one within a matter of a few weeks. He then activates their murder function and anyone with a chip begins doing whatever they can to hurt and kill everyone around them. Then of course the protagonist saves the day, but that’s besides the point. The point is this: if Neuralink the Nefarious really is inspired by Valentine—or vice versa—who knows what else these “links” will do to us.
A few months after founding Neuralink, Musk founded the Boring Company whose primary goal is to devise and create new methods of transportation. They plan to market underground tubes made for getting places quicker. However, for this essay, I will be focusing on one of the Boring Company’s previous products: in 2018, The Boring Company sold “Not a Flamethrower” to anyone who had a 500 dollars to burn. The 20,000 units sold out, generating ten million dollars for the company. Selling items similar to a flamethrower to the public doesn’t sound safe, obviously, as there is always the distinct possibility of someone wielding one with evil intentions.
I was not able to find a villain that specifically sold flamethrowers to the public. However, there is Norman Osborn, a prominent figure in New York, who is the head of Oscorp, which is a leader in various technologies. Behind the scenes though, Norman is the Green Goblin, one of Spiderman’s oldest foes. After taking an intelligence- and strength-enhancing serum, Osborn ends up going insane, which spurs his liking of destruction. I wouldn’t put selling flamethrowers off the radar for Mr. Osborn, whatever it takes to drive the city to the ground. Neuralink the Nefarious was pretty unique with this one, selling flamethrowers to almost anybody is something not many super villains have thought of, perhaps making him more villainous than the most evil of super villains.
These two companies of his are prime examples of technological disjunction being forgotten. Through vigilant marketing, economic class, and a wide influence, Elon Musk and his reputation have survived, even thrived, where others would have found themselves in the proverbial doghouse. Of course there will always be articles about how what he is doing is wrong, but they haven’t been impactful enough to keep Musk from continuing his work. He has accomplished so much that it has become hard to stop his Neuralink the Nefarious side—if it exists.
Conclusion
Whether we are in the Tesla-Titan or the Neuralink-the-Nefarious timeline, Elon Musk has made major strides in whatever line of work he steps into. His companies have accomplished more in under twenty years than many have accomplished in over 100. There are so many more examples from his life to support both sides of this argument, but I ultimately align myself with the Tesla Titan, not only because he’s the good guy but because there is more evidence for Elon being “good” rather than “bad.” I appreciate his thoughts on renewable energy and his efforts to save the planet from climate change. While I was writing this, my dad sent me an article about the announcement of ZETA, a group of electric vehicle manufacturers, including Tesla, arguing for no more sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2030, moving our world closer to the electric vehicle paradigm.
To reiterate, Elon Musk is in a special place in the science world. He is highly intelligent and very well known, giving him the power to trigger paradigm shifts in pretty much every industry he touches, which so far has been for the positive. But if he continues to avoid Technological Disjunction, he could potentially turn toward evil, which could negatively impact all of humanity. It’s the job of the public to keep figures like Musk in check, to make sure they remain the Tesla Titans rather than become Nefarious Neuralinks.
Works Cited
~Brockman, Greg. “OpenAI API.” OpenAI , OpenAI, 28 Sept. 2020, openai.com/blog/openai-api/.
~CB Insights. “8 Industries Being Disrupted By Elon Musk And His Companies.” CB Insights Research , CB Insights, 21 Sept. 2020, www.cbinsights.com/research/report/elon-musk-companies-disruption/
~Chandler, Simon. “Elon Musk Is 'Distracting Us' From Real Tech Issues, AI Figures Warn.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 19 May 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2020/05/18/elon-musk-is-damaging-te ch-and-the-tech-industry/?sh=6206e5e19b8d.
~“Elon Musk.” Tesla, Inc , www.tesla.com/elon-musk.
~Evannex. “A Transportation Paradigm Shift Is Coming Thanks To Tesla's Elon Musk.” InsideEVs , InsideEVs, 22 Feb. 2020, insideevs.com/news/400142/tesla-elon-musk-transportation-paradigm-shift
~Fandome Contributors. “Iron Man Armor Model 52.” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Iron_Man_Armor_Model_52.
~Fandome Contributors. “Norman Osborn (Earth-616).” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Norman_Osborn_(Earth-616).
~Fandome Contributors. “S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/S.H.I.E.L.D._Helicarrier.
~Fandome Contributors. “Stark Industries Aerospace Division/Appearances.” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Stark_Industries_Aerospace_Division/Ap pearances.
~Gibbs, Samuel. “Elon Musk Sells All 20,000 Boring Company 'Flamethrowers'.” The Guardian , Guardian News and Media, 1 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/01/elon-musk-sells-out-boring-c ompany-flamethrowers-fire.
~Gregersen, Erik. “Elon Musk.” Encyclopædia Britannica , Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 27 Aug. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Elon-Musk.
~Hern, Alex. “Elon Musk: the Real-Life Iron Man.” The Guardian , Guardian News and Media, 9 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/09/elon-musk-the-real-life-iron- man.
~Klebnikov, Sergei. “Tesla Is Now The World's Most Valuable Car Company With A $208 Billion Valuation.” Forbes , Forbes Magazine, 1 July 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/07/01/tesla-is-now-the-worlds- most-valuable-car-company-with-a-valuation-of-208-billion/?sh=6d99944f5334
~Neuralink , neuralink.com/.
~“Not A Flamethrower.” The Boring Company, www.boringcompany.com/not-a-flamethrower. xxx Peterson, Andrea. Even Elon Musk Knows He's a Good Supervillain Candidate . 25 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/04/17/even-elon-musk- knows-hes-a-good-supervillain-candidate/.
~“Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Valuation Measures & Financial Statistics.” Yahoo! Finance , Yahoo!, 18 Nov. 2020, finance.yahoo.com/quote/tsla/key-statistics/?guccounter=1.
~Vaughn, Matthew, et al. Kingsman: the Secret Service . 20th Century Fox, 2015.
~Wall, Mike. “Wow! SpaceX Lands Orbital Rocket Successfully in Historic First.” Space.com , Space, 22 Dec. 2015, www.space.com/31420-spacex-rocket-landing-success.html. ∎
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Recent Lunar Mission Success Could Be An Indicator For Boots On The Moon
New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/recent-lunar-mission-success-could-be-an-indicator-for-boots-on-the-moon/
Recent Lunar Mission Success Could Be An Indicator For Boots On The Moon
On August 15, 1976, the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 probe successfully landed on the moon, collected 117 grams of soil, and returned these samples to Earth. This soil was the last samples collected from the moon… until this week. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is poised to complete its first sample return mission with the Chang’e-5 probe. On December 9, the Chang’e-5 collected 2 kg of lunar soil, which will return to Earth on December 17.
BEIJING, Dec. 2, 2020 — This image taken from video animation at Beijing Aerospace Control Center … [] BACC shows Chang’e-5 spacecraft landing on the moon. China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft successfully landed on the near side of the moon late Tuesday and sent back images, the China National Space Administration CNSA announced. (Photo by Jin Liwang/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Jin Liwang via Getty Images)
This impressive feat of science and engineering sets the stage for the future of space exploration. Not only did the CNSA have to land a probe on the moon, that probe had to launch itself back into space to rendezvous with an orbiter. The orbiter was moving at 1 mile per second, which is twice that of a speeding bullet. The orbiter then has to break orbit and returns to Earth with the collected payload.
China is now posed to be the third country to successfully complete a sample return mission, joining the ranks of the Soviet Union and Japan. The Soviet Union was able to complete the first successful sample return mission in 1970, when the Luna 16 returned 101 grams of lunar soil. It subsequently completed two more missions. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed a successful sample return mission to the Itokawa asteroid in 2010. Earlier this month, JAXA completed its second successful sample return mission, this time to the Ryugu asteroid. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently launched a sample return mission to the Bennu asteroid. The samples were collected in 2019 and should arrive back on Earth in 2023.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sits on its workstand August 20, 2016 with its launch fairing (R … [] background) in a servicing building at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket September 8, 2016 on its mission to the asteroid Bennu. / AFP / AFP PHOTO / Bruce Weaver (Photo credit should read BRUCE WEAVER/AFP via Getty Images)
With these successes have come a number of failures. Undeniably, sample return missions are so complex that they have a very low success rate. The Soviet Union had five failed missions prior to completing its first successful mission. Altogether, it had three successful missions out of ten attempts. More recently, the Russians attempted a sample return mission to a Martian moon in 2011 which never escaped Earth’s orbit. Even the successful JAXA mission to Itokawa failed to collect even a gram of asteroid material.
Despite the low success rate, sample return missions are important for two reasons. First, they provide extraterrestrial material that can offer insight into the cosmos. These samples help explain the composition of asteroids and answer questions about water on the moon. But in a broader sense, it provides an understanding of the history of the Earth. Since the moon was formed from debris from Earth, material from the moon provides a snapshot of the composition of a very young Earth. Moreover, many of the resources on Earth, including water, are believed to have been delivered by asteroids.
Lunar module, Inhabited section of the craft; enabled two men to walk on the Moon and spend a few … [] days there before returning to dock with the Apollo capsule. (Photo by: QAI Publishing/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The second purpose of sample return missions is that they set the stage for manned exploration. Traditional space probes, like the Mars Rovers, are one-way missions; meanwhile, sample-return missions require bringing the payload back to Earth. Manned missions similarly require bringing the payload (astronauts) back to Earth. As such, a manned mission goes through the exact same phases as a sample return mission. Indeed, the Soviet Luna missions were intended to test their guidance systems for a future lunar manned mission which never came to fruition. Navigating the lander to re-connect with the orbiter requires a very advanced guidance system. This guidance system was the most intricate part of the Apollo missions, and had it failed, the astronauts would not have returned to Earth. Sample return missions offer the opportunity to test this guidance system without the risk of killing astronauts.
Despite a long hiatus on sample return missions, the recent successes have spurred a number of new missions in the coming years. The CNSA plans to launch the Chang’e-6 to the Moon in 2023, and JAXA is planning to launch the MMX to a Martian moon in 2024. Meanwhile the NASA Perseverance rover is slated to collect and store drilled sampled from the Martian surface, with the notion that a follow-on mission will collect these samples from the rover. These sample return missions will not only provide valuable material for analysis, but also allow the testing of new guidance systems. The success of these sample return missions will set the stage for future unmanned and manned missions.
From Aerospace & Defense in Perfectirishgifts
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Landing on Mars
Following the excitement over ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 journey, I wrote a short story in two parts for Deccan Herald’s School Edition on Indian astronauts journey to Mars.
Landing on Mars
Janaki Murali
Part 1
1 a.m.
‘Earth calling Manas. Earth calling Priya.’
‘Nothing? Call again.’
‘Earth calling Manas. Earth calling Priya.’
The message played out loud, echoing around the large room.
But there was no answer.
‘Keep calling until you get a reply,’ said the director of Mission Control, as he moved from one scientist to the other, monitoring the Mars mission.
‘What’s happening? Do you have any signal?’
‘No Sir, the space ship went silent just before landing.”
There was palpable tension in the Mission Control Room in Bengaluru. Everyone was glued to their screens. Only a few moments before, they had all applauded, when the descent to Mars was going as per plan. But a few seconds before landing, the space ship had gone silent.
It was nearly 2 am, almost an hour after they lost communication with the astronauts and they were still clueless as to what had happened to them.
The entire room was silent as they waited for some signal, any signal from the spaceship or of the lander. Nobody wanted to articulate what everyone was thinking. Had the lander crashed on the red planet, killing both the astronauts? The nation was watching live on news channels and the rest of the world was watching via live streaming on the internet.
Beyond the Mission Control Room, sat some 50 students who had been picked from Schools across India to witness the Mars landing. The Prime Minister was there, sitting on a sofa along with other senior scientists, waiting and watching. Beside him on another sofa, sat the families of the two astronauts, holding hands. They tried not to show their anxiety, trying to keep calm, but the lines of strain appeared on their faces.
Everyone around the world, watched with bated breath, as the scientists kept calling out to the astronauts, but there was no answer.
***
‘Captain, we have lost communication with earth,’ said Priya, as she reached over her head to crank a lever.
‘Try again, I can see the red planet, we are only seconds away from landing.’
‘No, nothing, they must be thinking, we crashed.’
‘But we didn’t. Or we haven’t yet.’
Their lander had separated from the Orbiter around Mars as scheduled and they had been in communication with the Mission Control Room until then. They had even heard the applause coming from Bengaluru. Yet, in the space of a few seconds they had lost all communication.
‘I am unable to get Mission Control at Bengaluru. I tried even the Nasa control room, but nothing. I tried all space stations across the world, with no luck. We are on our own captain, even the orbiter has moved away,’ said Priya.
‘Not to worry. We will follow all the steps like we have been trained. I am sure we’ll be able to establish communication with earth very soon,’ said Manas.
‘Okay Captain, I’ll keep trying.’
‘Meanwhile, let’s get ready to land.’
‘Yes, captain.’
‘Check space suits, are oxygen tanks in place and working.’
‘Yes captain.’
Manas ran through the whole check list of things they had been taught to do before landing. As he read out the list, Priya cross checked if they were in order.
For precious seconds before their spacecraft went into the gravitational pull of the red planet, the two astronauts concentrated on doing everything right. So much so, they didn’t realise the space around them had changed. It was subtle at first, then it was swift.
‘Oh my god, what’s happening?’ asked Priya as she saw it first.
‘What?’ said Manas.
Everything turned dark and then bright, then dark and bright again. Then there was a burst of light, much like Diwali firecrackers, a spurt of brightly coloured twinkling stars. It was like they were hurtling through a kaleidoscope. There was a screeching sound on their radio. It seemed as though their communication channel was open once again.
‘Hello, is that Mission Control? This is Priya, are we glad to reach you. We’re hurtling through some kind of tunnel. It’s so beautiful outside. Like Diwali firecrackers in the sky.’
***
‘They are safe, they are safe,’ one of the scientists yelled. She was the first one to hear Priya’s message.
A cheer went around the Mission Control Room. The students stood up and clapped. Someone went to tell the Prime Minister and the families the good news. He too stood up and clapped.
Across all the TV news channels the message was emblazoned as breaking news. ‘Communication established with the astronauts. They’re safe.’
Then everyone heard a huge thud and a crashing sound and then was silence again.
A huge gasp went around the Mission Control Room.
‘What happened?’ asked the Mission Control Director.
Nobody said anything. Nobody wanted to say it. But the strain was visible on everyone’s faces.
‘Wait, that’s not Mars, they landed on,’ said a scientist. ‘They’ve veered off course.’
‘When we lost communication with them, they were only moments from landing. But it’s been an hour since then, before we re-established contact with them,’ said another scientist.
‘They told us they were hurtling through some kind of tunnel and from all that the world has learnt about Mars, they nowhere near Mars,’ said yet another scientist.’
‘So, where are our young astronauts?’ asked the Mission Control Director.
(To be continued)
Landing on Mars
Janaki Murali
Part 2
3 a.m.
The neon lights burned bright, the screens flickered, the radar beeped.
In the Mission Control Room in Bengaluru, everyone held their breath as they waited for communication to be re-established with the young astronauts.
The Prime Minister had been led away into an ante-room. The families of the two astronauts had been led away too. The TV cameras continued to pan the expressions on each scientist’s face. The school children in the next room watched with their hands in their mouths. Across India and the world, nobody had gone to sleep, as viewers watched the live telecast on TV screens and streaming channels on the internet.
It was a tense hour or so, since they had lost communication.
***
Priya unstrapped herself from her upside-down position from the toppled lander. She checked to see if her captain was alright, and then she saw his thumbs up sign. ‘Thank god, we are both safe.’
‘But the lander has toppled. It’s surely damaged,’ said Manas. ‘Oh my god, what is that? Is that a Martian?’
Someone or something was peering into the glass window of their spacecraft. The object was like two green balls tied together. Its eyes were large and it had a small dot for a nose and a slash for a mouth and small hands and thin, long legs and leaf like extensions on its limbs. The creature looked like it was standing on stilts.
‘Are they really leaves on its arms? Oh no, there are more of them, they are coming out of rocks and…and burrows from the surface. What if they’re hostile?’ said Priya.
Normally if everything had gone according to Plan A, Manas would have stepped out in the Rover and explored the planet, while Priya manned the craft. But if they were accosted by hostile life, they were to go into Plan B and take off immediately back to the mother spacecraft. But now they were trapped, as they did not know how badly damaged their craft was.
Manas and Priya watched as the creatures surrounded the lander and began banging on it. They were gesturing to them. It seemed to be some kind of code message.
‘I am going to see if I can repair the spacecraft, you are the communications expert, try to fathom what they’re saying,’ said Manas, as he unstrapped himself from his seat and went to check all the control panels.
The parachute which was to open to soften their landing, had not opened. The lander’s solar panels were not open and soon they would lose power. The lander was sitting belly up, its legs hadn’t opened either.
While Manas was finding out all this, Priya was going through all the code languages she had learnt in her training. She kept trying out various combinations and permutations to see if she could understand what the creatures were saying. The creatures kept sending the same message again and again, as they continued to bang on the lander. Some of them were pushing it and the lander began titling dangerously.
Suddenly, the microphone crackled and they heard scientists from the Mission Control Room, ‘Are you there, Manas, Priya, are you all right?’
‘Yes, yes, we are fine, but the lander is damaged, we landed belly up. We found life on Mars. We are surrounded by several odd creatures. With leaf like arms and legs. They’re banging away on the lander and pushing it. They seem to be repeating a message again and again,’ Priya said into the microphone. ‘We can’t set in motion Plan B, we are trapped. Manas will update you on the damage to our craft.’
Manas took another microphone and updated the scientists in the Mission Control Room on the damages to the lander.
In the Mission Control Room, scientists worked remotely and feverishly to fix the damaged lander. They kept giving instructions to Manas which he followed.
Meanwhile, communication experts worked with Priya to try to decipher what the creatures were saying.
‘We are from Earth. We have come in friendship. We come in peace,’ Priya kept saying in different code languages to the creatures outside, but they didn’t respond, except to keep sending the same message again and again. They kept pushing the lander until it tilted again and miraculously righted itself.
‘Those creatures are not Martians. According to our calculations, you veered off course and the tunnel you went through can’t have been near Mars,’ said a scientist to the astronauts. ‘From the pictures you sent us, we think those creatures could be some form of plant life. Don’t attempt to open the hatch or try to touch them. They don’t look very friendly.’
The world watched as the scientists in the Mission control room worked with the astronauts to get the lander working again. The solar panels opened and the legs righted itself.
Suddenly, with a whirring sound, the lander took off from the surface of the strange planet. The blob like green creatures screeched and gestured wildly, as they dispersed helter-skelter and went back to their burrows or into the rocks.
The strange planet was behind them soon. The lander docked with the mother spaceship.
‘Phew that was a close call,’ said Manas, echoing what everyone felt in the Mission Control Room. ‘We are safe now.’
Everyone in the control room cheered and clapped.
‘You can now call back the families of the astronauts and the Prime Minister back into the control room,’ said the Mission Director. ‘But what planet was that and what were they saying?’
‘Sir, we have to analyse our data for that, but it seems as though our young Indian astronauts found a new planet. As for what they were saying, it sounded like, Namaste India,’ said a grinning young scientist.
(Concluded)
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Alright final chapter and the fic is complete! This chapter has incredible art by @astravis if you look on AO3! There’s also a gif version of it!
(Chap 1) (CH two) (chapter 3) (ch. 4) (chaps 5)
(Read the whole thing on AO3)
The creepy Fenton kid and the town's resident ghost hero go missing on the same day, and for weeks Amity Park is all abuzz about it. If the timing is suspicious, the doctors Fenton don't think anything of it. But Sam and Tucker think they can find Danny and bring him back. In fact, they're certain of it.
On a cold, steel table, in a certain lab, in a sprawling, labyrinthine, top secret facility, there is a boy named Danny.
[A tragedy following the wake of Danny's disappearance and the strange set of circumstances revealed between five points of view. But how did he get caught in the first place? And where did he go?]
Chapter Six: Breaking
NASA Lands Earths First Manned Spacecraft on Mars
#breaking: nasa lands earth’s first manned spacecraft on mars#invisobang 2022#fic#chapter six#final chapter#ao3#complete fic#the way I’m posting this on tumblr kinda kills the impact of this chapter#ah well#dp#danny phantom#things i wrote
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These 75 Iconic Photos Will Define The 21st Century So Far. Everyone Needs To See This.
Mark Pygas
This is how future generations will remember us as people of the early 21st century. Take a moment with me to reflect on the conflicts, triumphs, and world changing moments all of us have witnessed together in the past 14 years. We chose this list of 100 photos to capture the most iconic moments so far.
The world welcomes in the new millennium. [2000]
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Source: Wikimedia
Zanjeer the bomb dog is laid to rest with full military honours for saving thousands of lives. [2000]
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Source: Pune Mirror
Steve Jobs introduces the first iPod [2001]
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Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
President Bush's reaction to news of a second plane striking the Twin Towers. He was reading to children at a Florida elementary school. [2001]
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Source: LIFE
Firefighters raise the American flag on the ruins on the World Trade Centers [2001]
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Source: Thomas Franklin
Archaeologists discover some of the oldest artworks known to man in Dordogne, France - over 12,000 years old. [2001]
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A young Afghan woman shows her face in public for the first time after 5 years of Taliban Sharia law. [2001]
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Source: Reuters
People gather water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat. More than 1 billion people still lack access to clean drinking water. [2003]
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Source: Amit Dave
Ballerinas practice with medical masks during the SARS outbreak. [2003]
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New York City is plunged into darkness after a power failure [2003]
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A month and a half after the invasion began, U.S. Marine Kirk Dalrymple watches as a statue of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein falls in central Baghdad. [2003]
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Source: Reuters
U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, holds a child after she was separated from her family during a firefight [2003]
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Source: Damir Sagolj
President Bush addresses sailors in the famous "Mission Accomplished" speech, declaring the end of major combat in Iraq. [2003]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
The Columbia Space Shuttle breaks apart during re entry [2003]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
The first waves of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, which killed over 200,000 people, hit the shore.
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Source: Unknown Photographer
A Ukrainian woman places carnations into shields of anti-riot policemen standing outside the presidential office in Kiev. Ukraine, during the 2004 Orange Revolution. [2004]
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Source: Vasily Fedosenko
Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moscovitz in 2004, after they had just lauched FaceBook.
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Source: Daily Finance
The Hubble Telescope takes a picture of what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago [2004]
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Source: NASA
A Russian police officer carries a released baby from the school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan. [2004]
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Source: Victor Korotayev
The Christian world mourns the passing of Pope John Paul II [2005]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
A heart-wrenching picture of a mother and child at an an emergency feeding centre in in Tahoua, Niger. [2005]
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Source: Finbarr O'Reilly
Isabelle Dinoire after receiving the world's first partial face transplant [2005]
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Source: AP
Kevin Berthia is talked out of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge by police officers. He has since become an advocate for suicide prevention and has started a family. [2005]
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Source: John Storey / San Francisco Chronicle
Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James of Dallas embraces Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke Jr. who lost a hand, leg, and eye while defusing a bomb in Iraq. [2005]
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Source: Dallas Morning News
Tanisha Blevin, 5, holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina victim Nita LaGarde, 105, as they are evacuated from the convention center in New Orleans. [2005]
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Source: Eric Gay
The Cassini spacecraft takes a picture of Saturn from deep space. The tiny speck of light circled in red is Earth. [2006]
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Source: NASA
The Tribute in Lights shines on the skyline of lower Manhattan in New York. [2006]
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Source: The Atlantic
Terri Gurrola is reunited with her daughter after serving in Iraq for 7 months. [2007]
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Source: BuzzFeed
Thousands gather to mourn after the Virginia Tech shooting [2007]
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An indigenous woman holds her child while trying to resist the advance of Amazonas state policemen in Manaus who have been sent to evict natives. [2008]
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Source: Luiz Vasconcelos
Michael Phelps celebrates after winning his 14th gold medal, setting the all-time record for most Olympic gold medals. [2008]
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Wall Street on the midst of the Global Financial Crisis [2008]
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Barack Obama wins the 2008 election, becoming the first African American President.
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Hhaing The Yu, 29, holds his face in his hand as rain falls on the decimated remains of his home after a cyclone stroke Myanmar’s capital of Yangon. [2008]
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Source: Brian Sokol
Four of the last seven Northern White Rhinos in the world are airlifted from a zoo in the Czech Republic to a park in Africa in an attempt to save their entire species. [2009]
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Source: National Geographic
US Airways Flight 1549 floats on the Hudson river after crash landing, miraculously, everyone survived [2009]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
fireman rescues a koala during Australian bushfires. [2009]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
Kiki, age 7, is pulled from the ruins left by the Haiti earthquake and into the arms of his mother. [2010]
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Source: Polaris / eyevine
Elite runner Jaqueline Kiplimo helps a disabled Chinese athlete drink during the 2010 Zheng-Kai marathon. She stayed with him for several miles, costing her the 1st place finish and the $10000 prize. [2010]
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Tracy Caldwell looks down on Earth from the International Space Station [2010]
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Source: NASA
Smoke billows from a controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico coast line. [2010]
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Live images of the Chilean miners trapped in a mine for 21 days. [2010]
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Source: Unkown Photographer
Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, are finally able to get married in New York. In the past decade, 17 US States, alongside 15 countries have legalized gay marriage. [2011]
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Source: AFP/Getty Images
A couple kisses on the pavement during the Vancouver Riot [2011]
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Source: Rich Lam/Getty images
Christians protect Muslims in prayer at Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution [2011]
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Source: Nevin Zaki
Robert Peraza, who lost his son, mourns 10 years after the 9/11 terror attacks [2011]
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Source: New York Post
A dog soaks in an adoring crowd in Mexico by following the Pope [2011]
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Source: Yuri Cortez
An Egyptian woman kisses a policeman, who had refused to fire on protestors, during the revolution against the Mubarak Government [2011]
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A police officer pepper-sprays Occupy protesters at the University of California [2011]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
Barack Obama and Government staff watch as commandos conduct a raid, which ends with the killing of Osama bin Laden [2011]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
New York firefighters, many of whom lost friends in the 9/11 attacks, learn of Osama bin Laden's death [2011]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
Norwegian citizens hold a flower march after terrorist attacks by Anders Breivik killed 77. [2011]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
Capt. Michael Potoczniak marries his partner Todd Saunders, in a ceremony in San Francisco. [2011]
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Source: AP
Billy Stinson comforts his daughter on the steps where their cottage once stood before it was destroyed by Hurricane Irene [2011]
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Source: Scott Olson / Getty Images
A 4-month-old baby girl is rescued from the rubble four days after the Japanese tsunami. [2011]
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Source: Reuters
The US rover, Curiosity, takes a selfie on Mars [2012]
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Source: NASA
Meghan Vogel, a high school runner, helps her exhausted rival cross the finish line. [2012]
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Source: AP
The Middle East sees snow for the first time in over 100 years [2012]
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Three young women from the New York Fashion Week pose next to a homeless man. [2012]
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Source: Spiegel
A mother comforts her daughter after the Sandy Hook shootings [2012]
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Source: Reuters
Greg Cook hugs his dog Coco after finding her inside his destroyed home in Alabama following the Tornado. [2012]
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Source: The Decatur Daily
Pakistani Muslims form a human chain to protect Christians during Mass [2013]
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Source: The Express Tribune
Dzhokar Tsarnaev, one of the brothers behind the Boston Marathon bombing, on the boat where he was eventually caught, with sniper lasers on his forehead. [2013]
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Source: Unknown Photographer
The anti-government Syrian town of Kafr Anbel sends a message to Boston after the marathon bombing. [2013]
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Boston replied with their own message. [2013]
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A child runs to safety as armed police hunt gunmen who went on a shooting spree at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi. [2013]
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Source: Reuters
San Francisco comes together to help batkid save the city - and to grant the wish of an ill child. [2013]
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Source: Raphael Kluzniok
Carlos Arredondo helps Jeff Bauman after the Boston Marathon bombings. The two are now best friends. [2013]
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Source: AP
Pope Francis embraces Vinicio Riva, a man scarred by a genetic disease. This was one of many progressive acts that the new leader of the Church made. [2013]
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Source: EPA
A woman is peper-sprayed at Turkey's Gezi Park protest. [2013]
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Source: Reuters
The world says goodbye to Nelson Mandela [2013]
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Source: Peter Dejong
Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan, lies down in front of the grave of her brother, Ryan, who served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan [2013]
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Source: Reuters
Kiev's Independence Square before and after the revolution [2014]
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Source: reddit.com
Afghan women turn out to vote in the first democratic transfer of power the country has ever seen. [2014]
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Source: Anja Niedringhaus
Markiyan Matsekh plays piano for police during the Ukranian revoloution. [2014]
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Source: Markiyan Matsekh
It's hard to believe we still have 86 years of history left to write. As I created this list, I was reminded that regardless of our differences in ideology, we're all people of the 21st century together. When students in the future look back, they will see us as one unified generation who overcame incredible obstacles and made swift social progress, despite little certainty of what lies ahead.
I hope you enjoyed, and please share these powerful photos with others.
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Shrinking Moon May Be Generating Moonquakes
The Moon is shrinking as its interior cools, getting more than about 150 feet (50 meters) skinnier over the last several hundred million years. Just as a grape wrinkles as it shrinks down to a raisin, the Moon gets wrinkles as it shrinks. Unlike the flexible skin on a grape, the Moon's surface crust is brittle, so it breaks as the Moon shrinks, forming "thrust faults" where one section of crust is pushed up over a neighboring part.
"Our analysis gives the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely producing moonquakes today as the Moon continues to gradually cool and shrink," said Thomas Watters, senior scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. "Some of these quakes can be fairly strong, around five on the Richter scale."
These fault scarps resemble small stair-step shaped cliffs when seen from the lunar surface, typically tens of yards (meters) high and extending for a few miles (several kilometers). Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt had to zig-zag their lunar rover up and over the cliff face of the Lee-Lincoln fault scarp during the Apollo 17 mission that landed in the Taurus-Littrow valley in 1972.
Watters is lead author of a study that analyzed data from four seismometers placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts using an algorithm, or mathematical program, developed to pinpoint quake locations detected by a sparse seismic network. The algorithm gave a better estimate of moonquake locations. Seismometers are instruments that measure the shaking produced by quakes, recording the arrival time and strength of various quake waves to get a location estimate, called an epicenter. The study was published May 13 in Nature Geoscience.
Astronauts placed the instruments on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 missions. The Apollo 11 seismometer operated only for three weeks, but the four remaining recorded 28 shallow moonquakes -- the type expected to be produced by these faults -- from 1969 to 1977. The quakes ranged from about 2 to around 5 on the Richter scale.
Using the revised location estimates from the new algorithm, the team found that eight of the 28 shallow quakes were within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of faults visible in lunar images. This is close enough to tentatively attribute the quakes to the faults, since modeling by the team shows that this is the distance over which strong shaking is expected to occur, given the size of these fault scarps. Additionally, the new analysis found that six of the eight quakes happened when the Moon was at or near its apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit. This is where additional tidal stress from Earth's gravity causes a peak in the total stress, making slip-events along these faults more likely.
"We think it's very likely that these eight quakes were produced by faults slipping as stress built up when the lunar crust was compressed by global contraction and tidal forces, indicating that the Apollo seismometers recorded the shrinking Moon and the Moon is still tectonically active," said Watters. The researchers ran 10,000 simulations to calculate the chance of a coincidence producing that many quakes near the faults at the time of greatest stress. They found it is less than 4 percent. Additionally, while other events, such as meteoroid impacts, can produce quakes, they produce a different seismic signature than quakes made by fault slip events.
Other evidence that these faults are active comes from highly detailed images of the Moon by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has imaged over 3,500 of the fault scarps. Some of these images show landslides or boulders at the bottom of relatively bright patches on the slopes of fault scarps or nearby terrain. Weathering from solar and space radiation gradually darkens material on the lunar surface, so brighter areas indicate regions that are freshly exposed to space, as expected if a recent moonquake sent material sliding down a cliff. Examples of fresh boulder fields are found on the slopes of a fault scarp in the Vitello cluster and examples of possible bright features are associated with faults that occur near craters Gemma Frisius C and Mouchez L. Other LROC fault images show tracks from boulder falls, which would be expected if the fault slipped and the resulting quake sent boulders rolling down the cliff slope. These tracks are evidence of a recent quake because they should be erased relatively quickly, in geologic time scales, by the constant rain of micrometeoroid impacts on the Moon. Boulder tracks near faults in Schrödinger basin have been attributed to recent boulder falls induced by seismic shaking.
Additionally, one of the revised moonquake epicenters is just 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Lee-Lincoln scarp traversed by the Apollo 17 astronauts. The astronauts also examined boulders and boulder tracks on the slope of North Massif near the landing site. A large landslide on South Massif that covered the southern segment of the Lee-Lincoln scarp is further evidence of possible moonquakes generated by fault slip events.
"It's really remarkable to see how data from nearly 50 years ago and from the LRO mission has been combined to advance our understanding of the Moon while suggesting where future missions intent on studying the Moon's interior processes should go," said LRO Project Scientist John Keller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Since LRO has been photographing the lunar surface since 2009, the team would like to compare pictures of specific fault regions from different times to see if there is any evidence of recent moonquake activity. Additionally, "Establishing a new network of seismometers on the lunar surface should be a priority for human exploration of the Moon, both to learn more about the Moon's interior and to determine how much of a hazard moonquakes present," said co-author Renee Weber, a planetary seismologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Moon isn't the only world in our solar system experiencing some shrinkage with age. Mercury has enormous thrust faults -- up to about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and over a mile (3 kilometers) high -- that are significantly larger relative to its size than those on the Moon, indicating it shrank much more than the Moon. Since rocky worlds expand when they heat up and contract as they cool, Mercury's large faults reveal that is was likely hot enough to be completely molten after its formation. Scientists trying to reconstruct the Moon's origin wonder whether the same happened to the Moon, or if instead it was only partially molten, perhaps with a magma ocean over a more slowly heating deep interior. The relatively small size of the Moon's fault scarps is in line with the more subtle contraction expected from a partially molten scenario.
NASA will send the first woman, and next man, to the Moon by 2024. These American astronauts will take a human landing system from the Gateway in lunar orbit, and land on the lunar South Pole. The agency will establish sustainable missions by 2028, then we'll take what we learn on the Moon, and go to Mars.
This research was funded by NASA's LRO project, with additional support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. LRO is managed by NASA Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The LROC is managed at Arizona State University in Tempe.
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Five reasons to forget Mars for now and return to the moon
by Ian Whittaker and Gareth Dorrian
Shutterstock
Hopes of colonising Mars rest on the premise that we could terraform the red planet, making it habitable for humans with a breathable atmosphere and clement temperatures. However, a recent study cast doubt on the idea, concluding that terraforming is impossible with present technology.
With colonising Mars on hold, it’s a good time to reevaluate the relationship we have with our nearest cosmic neighbour, the moon. The first successful lander on the moon was the Russian spacecraft Luna 9 in 1966. This mission revealed the barren lunar landscape in fine detail for the first time.
The first close-up images of the moon’s surface, from 1966. NASA
Since the dawn of the space age, there have been over 60 successful missions to the moon, including eight that were manned. The most famous being Apollo 11 in July 1969 which resulted in the first human presence on the moon.
The Genesis Rock was formed at least four billion years ago, during the birth of our solar system. NASA/Wikimedia Commons
These space pioneers broadened our understanding of Earth and the universe. The Apollo 15 mission of 1971, for example, recovered the so-called “Genesis Rock”, one of the oldest rock samples ever found from a crater on the moon. Analysis of other surface samples supported the “giant impact hypothesis”, a now predominant view that the moon formed from a giant impact on the Earth some 4.5 billion years ago.
Since then, however, our gaze has shifted away from the moon and onto Mars. In the 1990s, after a string of failures, Mars Pathfinder delivered the first rover onto the surface of Mars. This was the first successful landing on Mars since the Viking probes of the late 1970s. The pictures that the probe returned set the public’s imagination aflame, stoking interest in new missions to the red planet.
Rather than mourning the immediate prospect of a manned Martian mission today, we present five reasons why the moon deserves another look – and more than just a flying visit.
We’ve only scratched the surface of our moon’s potential interest to humanity. NASA
1. A staging post in space
To overcome the pull of gravity and reach another body in space you need to achieve a certain speed. A journey to Mars from Earth’s surface requires a minimum total speed of nearly 30,000mph (approximately 13.1km/s). This requires large rockets, tonnes of fuel, and complex orbital manoeuvring. Due to the moon’s weaker gravitational field, the same journey from the lunar surface would “only” require a speed of 6,500mph (2.9km/s). This is roughly one third of that necessary to reach the International Space Station from Earth.
The moon also possesses a wealth of mineral resources, including valuable metals and the ingredients for rocket fuel, which is produced by breaking down water ice (recently confirmed on the moon’s surface) into hydrogen fuel and oxidiser.
The mineral troilite, an iron-sulphur compound rare on Earth, is also present in the lunar crust. The sulphur from troilite can be extracted and combined with lunar soil to produce a building material stronger than Portland Cement, meaning a settlement could be constructed on the moon using locally sourced material.
Establishing a lunar base from which to launch deep space missions would massively increase the payload to fuel ratio, allowing us to explore the solar system at a fraction of the current cost and effort.
2. Fuelling the future
Nuclear fusion, the process that fuels stars, could provide our future energy supply. Fusion reactors of the future will use Helium-3, a lighter version of the helium used in party balloons. This isotope is rare on Earth but abundant on the moon where it could be mined, something which has already attracted interest from a number of businesses and governments willing to ship it to Earth.
The core of a nuclear fusion reactor. Shutterstock
This initial burst of commercial interest could provide the incentive and finance needed for our first forays into establishing a permanent human presence on the moon.
3. Rock of ages
The moon is an inactive world – no major geological changes have occurred in the last three billion years. On Earth, surface features are weathered by rain, tides, wind or plant growth. The lunar landscape proudly displays a record of its violent past in the form of impact features, offering a preserved history of the solar system which is ready for us to explore.
4. Observing the universe
The atmospheric density of the moon is thin, a ten trillionth of that on Earth. This absence provides the perfect conditions for astronomical observatories across the full breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum. A radio observatory on the far side of the moon would be completely shielded from the radio chatter of Earth.
The low-density atmosphere also makes a ground-based X-ray or gamma ray telescope possible, unlike on Earth where short wavelength light from space is blocked. Such observatories could be maintained and upgraded by a human presence on the moon far more easily than an orbiting telescope.
The lunar observatory could search deeper into space than an Earth-bound equivalent. Les Bossinas/NASA
5. Humans in space
One of the major hurdles for a Mars mission is understanding how human health is affected by a long-term voyage into space. If anything unexpected occurs, resupply or rescue is over two years away. By testing human tolerances on the moon first and developing technology and experience, further exploration of Mars or beyond will be far more practical. If an emergency occurs on a lunar base, Earth is only three days away.
Another major concern about going to Mars is the inadvertent contamination of the pristine martian environment by earthly organisms. The Moon is almost certainly sterile, so such concerns are moot.
While the first scientific research conducted on the moon was performed in the late 1960s, in the subsequent half-century we have come no closer to a sustained human presence there. This is despite an ever-increasing technological capability which far surpasses what was available to the Apollo missions. Before we can take another giant leap into space, it might be worth taking some small steps closer to home.
About The Author:
Ian Whittaker is a Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Gareth Dorrian is a Post Doctoral Research Associate in Space Science at Nottingham Trent University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
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Moon to Earth: WA to host space communications station An optical communications station capable of receiving high-speed data transmissions from space is set to be built in Western Australia. The advanced communications ground station will be able to receive data from spacecraft anywhere between low-Earth orbit and the surface of the Moon. It has the potential to support ground-breaking space projects, including NASA's Artemis mission to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. The station will be installed at The University of Western Australia (UWA). It is a joint initiative of UWA's Astrophotonics Group, which is part of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), as well as the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) and UK industry partner Goonhilly Earth Station. ICRAR-UWA Astrophotonics Group leader Dr Sascha Schediwy said optical communications is an emerging technology expected to revolutionise data transfer from space. "Most current space communications rely on radio waves--it's the same technology that brought us the voice of Neil Armstrong when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon in 1969," he said. "Free-space optical laser communications has several advantages over radio, including significantly faster data rates and hack-proof data transfer. "It's the next-generation of space communications, and it's likely to be how we'll see high definition footage of the first woman to walk on the Moon." The ground station was launched today to coincide with the world's premier global space event, the International Astronautical Congress. It will be part of a larger Australasian optical ground station network, led by the Australian National University, and with partners in South Australia, and New Zealand. EQUS' Director, Professor Andrew White, said the project, which could be the first 'on-sky' optical communications ground station in the Southern Hemisphere, is a prime example of fundamental research delivering real-world outcomes. "EQUS delivers major impacts by encouraging and enabling our people to translate their research into tangible technologies and applications. We are building a culture of innovation, translation and commercialisation amongst quantum science researchers in Australia." Besides space communications, the ground station could also be used for applications ranging from cutting-edge fundamental physics to precision earth science and resource geophysics. Professor White said the ground station would contribute to the development of the 'quantum internet'--secure global data transmission using quantum-key distribution via optical links to quantum satellites. He said it will stand as an example of cutting-edge science partnering with forward-looking businesses and delivering impacts for both. The station will use make use of a 0.7m observatory-grade optical telescope donated to ICRAR by Perth local Colin Eldridge. It will be fitted with advanced atmospheric-noise suppression technology developed at UWA. The station will be connected to Goonhilly's supercomputer data centre in Cornwall via high-speed fibre. Goonhilly handles data traffic and supports secure communications links for the world's major satellite operators, including Intelsat, Eutelsat and SES Satellites. The company is also a partner in the European Space Agency's Lunar Pathfinder Mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2022. Goonhilly chief executive Ian Jones said he was delighted to join forces with ICRAR and EQUS to establish an optical communications ground station in Western Australia. "We've been at the forefront of satellite communications since the start of the space age, and this is driving it into the next generation of systems and technologies to support the enormous data volumes emanating from space missions," he said. "This data arises from science and other missions and, in the future, will come from Lunar and Mars missions that involve remote operations, robotics and AI. "We're proud to be joint trailblazers in the practical implementation of coherent optical communications." Dr Schediwy said WA's ground station will help launch Australia's space communications capacity. "This will cement Australia's position as a leader in optical data transmission, and position the nation to tap into the multi-billion-dollar space communications market," he said. The $535,000 station is expected to be 'on-sky' in early 2021 and open for business later that year. IMAGE....A 0.7-metre optical telescope that will be used for the ground station. CREDIT ICRAR / UWA
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July 21st 2011
On this day in 2011, NASA’s space shuttle program completes its final, and 135th, mission, when the shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the program’s 30-year history, its five orbiters—Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour—carried more than 350 people into space and flew more than 500 million miles, and shuttle crews conducted important research, serviced the Hubble Space Telescope and helped in the construction of the International Space Station, among other activities. NASA retired the shuttles to focus on a deep-space exploration program that could one day send astronauts to asteroids and Mars.
In January 1972, two-and-a-half years after America put the first man on the moon in July 1969, President Richard Nixon publicly announced that NASA would develop a space transportation system featuring a space vehicle capable of shuttling “repeatedly from Earth to orbit and back.” Nine years later, on April 12, 1981, at Kennedy Space Center, the first shuttle, Columbia, lifted off on its inaugural mission. Over the course of the next 54 hours, the two astronauts aboard NASA’s first reusable spacecraft successfully tested all its systems and orbited the Earth 37 times before landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In 1983, a second shuttle, Challenger, was put into service. It flew nine missions before breaking apart shortly after the launch of its 10th mission, on January 28, 1986. All seven crew members were killed, including high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who had won a national contest to be the first U.S. civilian to fly aboard the space shuttle. In the aftermath of the disaster, the shuttle program was grounded until 1988.
The program’s third shuttle, Discovery, made its first flight in 1984. Atlantis entered the fleet in 1985, and was followed by Endeavour in 1992. The shuttle program experienced its second major disaster on February 1, 2003, when just minutes before Columbia was scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center and conclude its 28th mission, it broke apart while re-entering the atmosphere over Texas. All seven astronauts on board perished.
Afterward, the shuttle fleet was grounded until July 2005, when Discovery was launched on the program’s 114th mission. By the time Discovery completed its 39th and final mission (the most of any shuttle) in March 2011, it had flown 148 million miles, made 5,830 orbits of Earth and spent 365 days in space. Endeavour completed its 25th and final mission in June 2011. That mission was commanded by Capt. Mark Kelly, husband of former U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
On July 8, 2011, Atlantis was launched on its 33rd mission. With four crew members aboard, Atlantis flew thousands of pounds of supplies and extra parts to the International Space Station; it was the 37th shuttle flight to make the trip. Thirteen days later, on July 21, Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center at 5:57 a.m., after a journey of more than 5 million miles, during which it orbited the Earth 200 times. Upon landing, the flight’s commander, Capt. Christopher J. Ferguson, said, “Mission complete, Houston. After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle has earned its place in history, and it’s come to a final stop.” During its 26 years in service, Atlantis flew almost 126 million miles, circled Earth 4,848 times and spent 307 days in space. The estimated price tag for the entire space shuttle program, from development to retirement, was $209 billion.
After completing their final missions, the orbiters were sent to museums around the country: Discovery went to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, Endeavour to California Science Center in Los Angeles and Atlantis to Kennedy Space Center. A space shuttle prototype, the Enterprise, is now housed at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.
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