Photonic propulsion is very much in the news , being touted as a way of taking a crew to Mars in good time (in practical terms, about five weeks) at a potentially large ( 30% ) proportion of the speed of light.
Its simplicity (solar power) makes it economical, and its potential for upscaling makes it suitable for interstellar use - no more rockets laden with heavy fuel - it is seriously threatening the much touted SLS as a means of travel.
I imagine that light sails could become quite a common mode of travel within our solar system. It is environmentally friendly, using a renewable power source , it ticks all the boxes - the only down side to carrying humans would be the sheer scale of the thing - small is beautiful seems to be the key at present, with the possibility of tiny satellites being made of smartphones !
The excitement from the recent discovery of gravitational waves continues with news that radio telescopes can be set to do likewise, and NANOGrav are now monitoring 54 pulsars (which can witness the collision of binary black holes ).
Further news tells us that the source of a mysterious FRB has been found to be a galaxy some 6 billion light years away - it is possibly a collision from two neutron stars.
Nothing greatly exciting then - and this info comes to us from the Parkes observatory in Australia.
Last year, they told us excitedly of a massive radiation burst from deep space - which turned out to be the microwave oven next door.
Ahem.
Any excuse for a fun day off...
An indepth new view of the milky way reveals more of everything.
The view was taken by ATLASGAL - APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy.
Almost makes the DART * acronym ( Demonstration of Autonomous Reconnaisance Technology) seem simple...
Meanwhile, back on Mars...
If you watched 'The Martian' wishing you were there (despite the deadly irradiated landscape) , then you can get the next best thing - an ordinance survey map of the planet !
Yes, the standard piece of kit for any fell walker in the uk now covers the Red Planet too.
Did you know that the O.S. department in the U.K. was spawned by the volume of accurate measurements required for the building of the Embankment in London ?
Remaining on (virtual) Mars, apparently tomatoes or even strawberries would make good first crops, rather than the humble potato.
I'm not sold on the logic, although the water content of tomatoes might be a bonus on such a dry, arid world.
Back on Earth -
Preserved in amber, and 15 million years too late to be a crop on Mars (although I'm sure a mad scientist may see opportunity for disabling the populace), is a beautiful , but deadly strychnos flower, the ancestor of strychnine and cyanide , much admired by the Borgias, for example.
The online world is a battlefield.
Everyone thinks they have the answer, and social media is full of opinions - like this one.
Of course, in this topsy - turvy world we now live in , we get extremes - hence the re-appearance of Flat-Earthers .
Ahem.
I'm sure there are those who deliberately 'farm' strong opinions - certainly on FB, after all it adds a degree of interest to any newsfeed - and people like the opportunity to air their views; we tend to surround ourselves with like - minded friends, and so are often ' preaching to the converted', whereas a wider audience involves fresh opinions and input.
Of course, occasionally things descend into the 'trolling' level of personal insults , but that is generally the response from someone who feels cornered and threatened - either through a lack of ability to reason or to argue a point, or just through playing 'devils advocate'.
This pointless waffle brings me neatly to a potential image for debate - a map of the world according to the friendliness of nations !
I was in two minds about including the map purporting to show nations according to how welcoming they are, on the grounds that it may be biased , and lets not introduce political favour - but although this is generated in the U.S.A, it doesn't favour that country - infact the U.S.A. is about halfway - Canada seem to be the friendly guys here - and speaking of friendly (and outwardly hostile) , this link takes you to a map showing hostilities worldwide - if you drill down to the original site, you can manipulate the dates etc, for greater accuracy. It's obviously incomplete, and very Euro-centric, but even so, a rather grim rendition of battles mostly around us.
It's almost midnight here (GMT), and the candle is guttering here in the shed, so I shall post this piece, and repair to the great beyond.
It's almost impossible to know when to stop at the moment, as there is an abundance of space related stuff out there - perhaps it's the season, or just an exponential increase, following high profile stuff like Ceres and the asteroid landing and last years Pluto flypast.
What I'm saying is goodnight, and watch the sky, and this space !
TTFN !
Its simplicity (solar power) makes it economical, and its potential for upscaling makes it suitable for interstellar use - no more rockets laden with heavy fuel - it is seriously threatening the much touted SLS as a means of travel.
I imagine that light sails could become quite a common mode of travel within our solar system. It is environmentally friendly, using a renewable power source , it ticks all the boxes - the only down side to carrying humans would be the sheer scale of the thing - small is beautiful seems to be the key at present, with the possibility of tiny satellites being made of smartphones !
The excitement from the recent discovery of gravitational waves continues with news that radio telescopes can be set to do likewise, and NANOGrav are now monitoring 54 pulsars (which can witness the collision of binary black holes ).
Further news tells us that the source of a mysterious FRB has been found to be a galaxy some 6 billion light years away - it is possibly a collision from two neutron stars.
Nothing greatly exciting then - and this info comes to us from the Parkes observatory in Australia.
Last year, they told us excitedly of a massive radiation burst from deep space - which turned out to be the microwave oven next door.
Ahem.
 |
| Artist impression of AIM image ©ESA |
One craft heading into space soon (well, 2020) is the Asteroid Impact Mission - now that ESA have proved that it is possible to land on an asteroid (although sadly, there is no more word from the lander Philae), they have decided to launch the Asteroid Impact Mission , which along with the NASA DART* mission will test our capability for deflection of rogue asteroids from potential collision with Earth - infact, for lovers of morbid scenarios in which doom arrives from space in the form of an errant asteroid, 30th June is Asteroid Day, raising awareness of the threat of potential global destruction.
So hurrah for that -Any excuse for a fun day off...
 |
| Our Galaxy pic byESA |
An indepth new view of the milky way reveals more of everything.
The view was taken by ATLASGAL - APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy.
Almost makes the DART * acronym ( Demonstration of Autonomous Reconnaisance Technology) seem simple...
Meanwhile, back on Mars...
If you watched 'The Martian' wishing you were there (despite the deadly irradiated landscape) , then you can get the next best thing - an ordinance survey map of the planet !
Yes, the standard piece of kit for any fell walker in the uk now covers the Red Planet too.
Did you know that the O.S. department in the U.K. was spawned by the volume of accurate measurements required for the building of the Embankment in London ?
Remaining on (virtual) Mars, apparently tomatoes or even strawberries would make good first crops, rather than the humble potato.
I'm not sold on the logic, although the water content of tomatoes might be a bonus on such a dry, arid world.
Back on Earth -
Preserved in amber, and 15 million years too late to be a crop on Mars (although I'm sure a mad scientist may see opportunity for disabling the populace), is a beautiful , but deadly strychnos flower, the ancestor of strychnine and cyanide , much admired by the Borgias, for example.
 |
| Lucrezia Borgia |
The online world is a battlefield.
Everyone thinks they have the answer, and social media is full of opinions - like this one.
Of course, in this topsy - turvy world we now live in , we get extremes - hence the re-appearance of Flat-Earthers .
Ahem.
I'm sure there are those who deliberately 'farm' strong opinions - certainly on FB, after all it adds a degree of interest to any newsfeed - and people like the opportunity to air their views; we tend to surround ourselves with like - minded friends, and so are often ' preaching to the converted', whereas a wider audience involves fresh opinions and input.
Of course, occasionally things descend into the 'trolling' level of personal insults , but that is generally the response from someone who feels cornered and threatened - either through a lack of ability to reason or to argue a point, or just through playing 'devils advocate'.
This pointless waffle brings me neatly to a potential image for debate - a map of the world according to the friendliness of nations !
I was in two minds about including the map purporting to show nations according to how welcoming they are, on the grounds that it may be biased , and lets not introduce political favour - but although this is generated in the U.S.A, it doesn't favour that country - infact the U.S.A. is about halfway - Canada seem to be the friendly guys here - and speaking of friendly (and outwardly hostile) , this link takes you to a map showing hostilities worldwide - if you drill down to the original site, you can manipulate the dates etc, for greater accuracy. It's obviously incomplete, and very Euro-centric, but even so, a rather grim rendition of battles mostly around us.
It's almost midnight here (GMT), and the candle is guttering here in the shed, so I shall post this piece, and repair to the great beyond.
It's almost impossible to know when to stop at the moment, as there is an abundance of space related stuff out there - perhaps it's the season, or just an exponential increase, following high profile stuff like Ceres and the asteroid landing and last years Pluto flypast.
What I'm saying is goodnight, and watch the sky, and this space !
TTFN !
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