Morgan James – Dream On
An evening pause: An Aerosmith cover with Postmodern Jukebox.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Category: Behind The Black
Distorted floor of a Martian crater
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on February 18, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the science team labels “Mantle Layers in Southern Mid-Latitudes.”
I would be less vague. These strangely shaped features invoke the typical glacial features seen throughout the mid-latitudes of Mars. The knobs and outcrops suggest some underlying breakdown that the top layers of glacial material has covered. They also suggest some form of sublimation or erosion process to the glacier itself.
The white rectangle inside the inset on the overview map above marks this location, covering the floor of an unnamed 10-mile-wide crater in the cratered southern highlands at 41 degrees south. In this region all the craters show some evidence of this sublimation, all suggesting that there is a near-surface underlying ice layer that when exposed vanishes to leave depressions or hollows. Here however it appears that ice layer is mostly intact, the knobs and ridges indicating the shape of the bedrock and large breakdown below.
Who blew up the dam in the Ukraine?
Taken from ISW’s report on June 6, 2023. Click for original.
Since the news broke yesterday that someone had blown up the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River, there has been endless speculation by numerous pundits attempting to pin the blame. It seems that half say Russia, and half say the Ukraine.
Let me provide my readers the answer right up front: We as yet haven’t got the foggiest idea who did it.
Why am I so sure? Because in reviewing all the information I can glean from many different sources, it appears both sides had good reasons to do it, as well as good reasons to not want it to happen at all. Let’s list those reasons.
» Read more
Astronomers downsize their proposal for rebuilding Arecibo
Faced with little interest from the National Science Foundation to spend the half a billion dollars required for their initial proposal to rebuild the Arecibo radio telescope, astronomers have now downsized their proposal significantly.
[I]n 2021 Anish Roshi, the observatory’s head of radio astronomy, unveiled a proposal to replace the telescope with a phased array of 1112 parabolic dishes each 9 m in diameter, placed on a tiltable, plate-like structure. This new facility, with an estimated cost of $454m, would provide the same a collecting area as a 300 m parabolic dish. “It would have a much wider sky coverage and would offer capabilities for radio astronomy, planetary, and space and atmospheric sciences,” Roshi says. “It would be a unique instrument for doing science that competitive projects couldn’t do.”
A lack of support from the NSF, however, has forced researchers to go back to the drawing board to make the array “more cost-effective both for construction and operation” as Roshi puts it. In the revised proposal, submitted to arXiv late last month, his team now envisions a downsized version of the original concept. Dubbed NGAT-130, it would consist of 102 dishes each 13 m in diameter that would in combination have a collecting area equivalent to a single 130 m dish.
No cost estimates are as yet available for this new proposal. Nor has the NSF expressed any opinion on whether it is even interested. At the moment its only action at Arecibo has been to propose converting the observatory into an education center, one that is located far from anything, is hard to reach, and will likely see few students or visitors.
Gemini telescope in Hawaii fixed, captures nearby supernova
Click for original image.
The Gemini telescope in Hawaii, which was damaged in 2022 during normal maintenance operations, has now been fixed and resumed observations, beginning with a spectacular image of the newly discovered supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy, only 20 million light years away.
The Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, has returned from a seven-month hiatus literally with a bang, as it has captured the spectacular aftermath of a supernova, a massive star that exploded in the large, face-on, spiral Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101). The supernova, named SN 2023ixf [as indicated by the arrow], was discovered on 19 May by amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki.
Since its discovery, observers around the globe have pointed their telescopes toward Messier 101 to get a look at the burst of light. Over the coming months, Gemini North will allow astronomers to study how the light from the supernova fades and how its spectrum evolves over time, helping astronomers better understand the physics of such explosions.
As one of the closest supernova to occur in years, SN 2023ixf has become a major target by astronomers. This type of supernova signals the collapse and death of a star 8 to 10 times the mass of the Sun. Since the life cycle of such massive stars is not yet fully understood, this nearby supernova provides a great opportunity for astronomers to learn more.
Firefly delays NASA launch to August
According to papers filed with the FCC, Firefly’s July launch attempt of its Alpha rocket, carrying a set of NASA cubesats, has now been delayed one month to August.
Meanwhile, a second launch by Firefly for the Space Force is presently tentatively scheduled for June, and the company says it is wrapping up preparations for that launch. That contract’s prime focus is to demonstrate to the military the ability to launch with only a 24-hour notice.
If so, then this new rocket company, which has only launched twice before, with the second launch barely reaching orbit, will be launching twice in only a matter of weeks, both times from its launchpad at Vandenberg.
OneWeb offers its satellite constellation broadband service to the maritime industry
With its full constellation of 634 satellites in orbit, OneWeb has now made its satellite constellation broadband service available to the maritime industry.
With 634 OneWeb operational satellites now in orbit, the OneWeb constellation is complete and fully operational down to 35 degrees latitude. OneWeb will have the final ground stations completed and operational requirements in place, ensuring the company remains on track to deliver full global maritime services by the end of the year. Now OneWeb will start selling services to the maritime industry, via its specialist maritime distribution partners.
OneWeb and its partners have also developed a range of hardware terminal products which are available from trusted maritime communications providers Intellian and Kymeta. Offering hardware terminal products from two established providers with different form factors enables greater choice for customers.
More information here.
NASA names winners in annual student rocket competition
NASA yesterday named the winners in its annual student rocket launch competition, which took place at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama on April 15, 2023.
The live stream of the competition is available here, cued to when the rockets begin launching.
The number of awards is a bit too many, making it seem that NASA wanted to make sure every team got some form of participation award. Nonetheless, these students demonstrated that they will soon be building real rockets, as part of the new and emerging rocket industry.
Space Show appearance rescheduled for June 8, 2023
David Livingston has solved the technical issues that caused the cancellation of my appearance last night, June 6, 2023, on the Space Show, and we have rescheduled that show for tomorrow, June 8, 2023, starting at 7 pm (Pacific).
I hope my readers listen in and call in. There is a lot to talk about in the world of space.
Heart – Crazy on You
An evening pause: I posted this same song in 2022 from a different performance during the same 1977 tour. This version however was recorded as part of a documentary and includes some backstage footage that is definitely worth watching.
Has tip Rex Ridenoure, who notes that “Heart was the first rock band with female leads who also wrote all their own songs.”
On the radio-CANCELLED
UPDATE: Due to technical problems outside of David Livingston’s control, the show tonight had to be cancelled. We will try to reschedule for another show within a week or so.
Original post:
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Tonight I will be doing another long appearance on the Space Show with David Livingston, beginning at 7 pm (Pacific). Please feel free to call in, as it is always more fun to talk to someone directly than to answer email questions.
The explanation as to why Democrats today are fearless in proposing insane policies
Don Lemon unwittingly reveals the Democrats’
assumed grip on power
A recent post at ZeroHedge made a big deal about how Don Lemon’s positions so drastically changed in less than a decade. As the article correctly noted, the positions Lemon took in 2013 would have had Don Lemon in 2023 label himself a white supremacist.
The video [from 2013] shows Lemon talking about what the black community should do to fix its problems, including stop littering, and encouraging kids to try harder in school. The host also extols the virtues of marriage, and warns about the problem of absent fathers, asserting “just because you can have a baby doesn’t mean you should.”
Lemon even tells young black men to stop using the N word and to pull up their pants and stop walking around with their asses hanging out looking like prison bitches.
If you dare say these things now you are called a racist and a white supremacist (no matter your skin color) exerting your white privilege. The Don Lemon of 2023 himself has done this exact thing.
What the article found most shocking however was the speed in which these things changed. As noted by this tweet:
It’s terrifying how fast society fell off the cliff
10 years ago Obama, Hillary, and Biden were defining marriage as “a man and a woman”
10 years ago Don Lemon was telling black people “pull your pants up”
10 years ago Dems only supported “safe, legal, and rare” abortions
Why? How did it become okay for Democrats and leftists to suddenly in less than a few years go from defending normal sex and marriage to supporting the genital mutilation of young children and to support cross-dressing men changing in women’s locker rooms? Why have inner city Democratic Party politicians gone from trying to arrest shoplifters in order to at least maintain a semblance of law to passing laws making illegal for any employees at a retail store from stopping shoplifting in any way, while simultaneously advocating “defunding the police” and routinely releasing murderers and criminals without charge?
How is any of this even possible in a democratic society? Shouldn’t Democrats be worried that their insane policies might be offending the vast majority of normal people who vote?
The answer lies in a false assumption most conservatives and ordinary people still have about our nation. » Read more