December 24, 2024 Quick space links
Today has been, not surprisingly, a very slow news day, so I’ve been spending it trolling the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) archive for more cool images from Mars.
BtB’s stringer Jay however found some quick links, so here they are. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Image from the Martian south pole taken by China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter on April 25, 2024
Lacking specific location information, my guess based on the formations as this is in or on the edge of the south pole’s dry ice cap.
- Chinese pseudo-company touts its space products
And it is doing so through Space News, which is now publishing press release advertising in exchange for money.
- “Look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!”
The words of Frank Borman as he saw his first Earthrise while orbiting the Moon, Christmas Eve 1968. The Air and Space Museum tweet shows the picture that Bill Anders took of that Earthrise, but orientates it incorrectly, as almost everyone on Earth always does. with the horizon on the bottom. Anders however framed it with the horizon on the right, as he told me himself when I interviewed him for Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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
Today has been, not surprisingly, a very slow news day, so I’ve been spending it trolling the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) archive for more cool images from Mars.
BtB’s stringer Jay however found some quick links, so here they are. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Image from the Martian south pole taken by China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter on April 25, 2024
Lacking specific location information, my guess based on the formations as this is in or on the edge of the south pole’s dry ice cap.
- Chinese pseudo-company touts its space products
And it is doing so through Space News, which is now publishing press release advertising in exchange for money.
- “Look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!”
The words of Frank Borman as he saw his first Earthrise while orbiting the Moon, Christmas Eve 1968. The Air and Space Museum tweet shows the picture that Bill Anders took of that Earthrise, but orientates it incorrectly, as almost everyone on Earth always does. with the horizon on the bottom. Anders however framed it with the horizon on the right, as he told me himself when I interviewed him for Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
”And it is doing so through Space News, which is now publishing press release advertising in exchange for money.”
Space News was bought by the same outfit that bought Doug Messier’s Parabolic Arc and ran it into the ground. I assume it will take a similar trajectory.
In response to a request posting by Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) on X, in which he said: {quoting…}
A limited-government genie appears to you and says “I’m going to shut down everything in the U.S. government except what you tell me to keep”
What do you say?
{/unQuote}
I posted the following:
Please don’t shutdown Nasa’s DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) probe!
This sun-orbiting probe photographs planet earth’s daylit side (stationed near the sun-earth ‘L1’ point, some 1 million miles sunward from earth) approximately every hour or two, 7 x 24, 365 days a year, through a 12-inch Cassegrain telescope.
If I recall correctly, the DSCOVR probe was shut down—as far as the public having any access to its data—during Trump’s entire first administration. But DSCOVR isn’t really a “Climate” observatory—despite its name—rather, DSCOVR observes earth’s _weather_ and the planet itself, providing a public service with this data—the only earth-observing probe to watch our planet from such a sun-centered and daytime-oriented vantage point.
For an example of its utility, much broader than just talking about “climate,” earlier this year I prepared an animated-gif based on DSCOVR pics showing Antarctica rotating round the south pole during the last (2023) southern summer solstice—as one can see below.
I humbly request that the DSCOVR probe not be shut down _this time_ during Trump’s second term in office. Thank you most sincerely for your attention!
@ElonMusk
@VivekGRamaswamy
@realDonaldTrump
Link to X