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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

If you have been a regular reader and a fan of my work and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider doing so. I take no ads, I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands (most of the time). Thus, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

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5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
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Contact restored with InSight after dust storm

The InSight science team has regained communications with the lander on Mars following a dust storm that caused it to shut down all operations entirely.

Though the tweet from the science team says the space craft is out of safe mode, that really doesn’t appear to be the case. Safe mode is a condition where a robot ceases all science operations, hunkers down, and awaits further orders. All that has happened here is that the engineers have regained contact after communications were lost on January 7th. No science is being done.

The resumption of communications is excellent news, however. They must now access how much power the lander’s solar panels are generating to see if they can turn InSight’s main instrument, its seismometer, back on. Those panels might be badly covered with dust, preventing operations.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Concerned

    They have a manipulator arm—too bad they didn’t include a whisk broom.

  • Andi

    Small edit in first sentence: “science team has”

  • Questioner

    July 15, 1965: The death of the Martian dream.

    “Since Mars offered by far the most promising habitat for extraterrestrial life in the solar system, it is now virtually certain that the Earth is the only life-bearing planet in our region of the galaxy,” said Norman Horowitz, one of Viking’s principal scientists. “We have awakened from a dream (Remark by commenter: by far not everybody).”

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mars-exploration-nasa-mariner

    “Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science.” 2011, by Howard V. Hendrix

    “Seventeen wide-ranging essays explore the evolving scientific understanding of Mars, and the relationship between that understanding and the role of Mars in literature, the arts and popular culture. Essays in the first section examine different approaches to Mars by scientists and writers Jules Verne and J.H. Rosny. Section Two covers the uses of Mars in early Bolshevik literature, Wells, Brackett, Burroughs, Bradbury, Heinlein, Dick and Robinson, among others. The third section looks at Mars as a cultural mirror in science fiction. Essayists include prominent writers (e.g., Kim Stanley Robinson), scientists and literary critics from many nations.”

  • wayne

    Concerned-
    Hilarious!

    Questioner–
    referencing broadly; “America’s Love Affair with Mars.”
    I’d date it to around 1912…….

    “The story behind John Carter, Edgar Rice Burroughs”
    -preview trailer-
    https://youtu.be/QiQ13b8ar0A
    2:59

  • Questioner

    Wayne:

    Thanks very much. Have you already heard of the famous book “Two Planets”? A Mars novel by Kurd Lasswitz, published in 1897!!
    A review:

    “One of the classics of 19th century science fiction.

    “This nineteenth-century German science fiction novel (“The Two Planets” or “Auf zwei Planeten”) by Kurd Lasswitz (1848-1910), a mathematician, philosopher, and scholar of Kant, was not translated into English until 1971 (by Hans H. Rudnick). Thus, it had very little influence in the development of English or American science fiction. Nevertheless, the novel did have a significant impact. It was a popular book of young German boys, particularly Wernher von Braun and Willy Ley. Thus, the novel had an influence in the development of our space age. It “fired” their imaginations and had a big effect on German astronautics. The “two planets” are Earth and Mars. Three German and Austrian explorers are traveling in a balloon in an attempt to reach the North Pole. They find that a group of intelligent beings, very similar to humans, have set up a base at the Pole. Their balloon is inadvertantly drawn in by the Martian’s antigravity device and two of the explorers find themselves guests of the Martians. The Martians have come to Earth to educate mankind, to assist in the development of a utopian Earth, and to ask for air and solar energy in return. However, through a misunderstanding, a “war” arises between the Martians and England, resulting in the formation of a Martian Protectorate over Europe. Unfortunately, a number of Martians soon exhibit the corrupting influences of power, and the Martian rule becomes despotic. An underground movement develops, keeping the positive aspects of Martian (and Kantian) philosophy, to rid Earth of the Martian yoke. This is accomplished with the help of American engineers, who are able to build their own spaceships to challenge the Martians. The “good” of both planets win and a new era begins in Earth and Martian relations. And, in all of this, Lasswitz has two love stories as subplots, one of which is between one of the explorers and a Martian. When Martian probes began to map the surface of Mars, one of the newly discovered Martian craters was named after Lasswitz. This is a classic volume in science fiction and serious students of science fiction literature should read it.”

    https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0026QVRXU/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=39CE76VFD2LIG&keywords=Kurd+Laßwitz&qid=1643043957&sprefix=kurd+laßwitz%2Caps%2C229&sr=8-2

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