HiPOD 21 Apr 2022: Slow Changes at an Old Impact Crater
New impact craters on Mars are often darker than their surroundings and have lots of boulders in their interior. The crater in this image has all those attributes and looks like it may have occurred very recently; however, it’s been seen in images dating back 50 years to the Mariner 9 mission.
HiRISE has imaged this crater a few times (most recently in January 2022) to check for changes. We expect that over time the dark coloring will fade and many of the boulders will be buried by sand and dust. Learning how fast this process happens helps us understand changes on the Martian surface today. So far however, this crater has been rather persistent and shows little change from our first image in 2007.
Enhanced color image is less than 1 km across.
ID: ESP_072719_1970 date: 30 January 2022 altitude: 273 km
NGC 2841 is a beautiful example of a flocculent spiral galaxy – a type with discontinuous, featherlike, and patchy arms. A bright cusp of starlight distinguishes the galaxy’s center from the dust lanes that outline the group of almost white middle-aged stars. The far younger blue stars trace the spiral arms.
Right now, the Hubble Space Telescope is exploring #GalaxiesGalore! Find more galaxy content and spectacular new images by following along on Hubble’s Twitter,Facebook, and Instagram.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration; Acknowledgment: M. Crockett and S. Kaviraj (Oxford University, UK), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), B. Whitmore (STScI), and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee
Colonizing Antarctica just so the “we’ll never colonize space since we haven’t even colonized Antarctica” people no longer have a point
ok mutuals who wants to do this with me
colonising space to encourage the Antarctica people to get a fuckin’ move on
There is actually a very good reason not to colonize Antarctica even if we want to colonize space, namely that Antarctica is tightly connected to all the places we already live in. If we try to defrost Mars or otherwise modify it for human life, in the worst case we fuck up an already lifeless planet millions of kilometers across the void. Worst of the worst, we lose the colonists we’ve already sent, and everyone else is fine. If we try to defrost Antarctica, or otherwise get something wrong in the process of colonizing it, that fucks up the global environment of Earth – hundreds of meters of sea level rise and such.
Space colonization? History teaches us that colonial empires were never able to escape their original sin: that it’s bad in general when a person moves from one place to another place, regardless of circumstances. Woe to he who disregards this grim lesson.
Actually I’m sorry but space colonization is inherently fascistic in nature because of its historical roots in the occupation and settlement of Mars by the Italian fascist regime, as clearly proven by this historical document:
(anyway, happy 25th of April, Day of Liberation from nazism and fascism)
From as early as Genesis, Jews have pondered the expanse that surrounds our planet, as well as their place in them. Astronomy, mathematics, and other sciences appear frequently in books published by rabbis and scholars in Hebrew and other languages during the 17th-19th centuries.
By the 20th century, Jewish astronauts and cosmonauts had successfully orbited the Earth and began to explore the very heavens their ancestors studied. As Jewish writers and filmmakers embraced these achievements (and other fantastic possibilities) on the screen and the page, science fiction and pop culture were changed for generations to come.
Jews In Space brings together dozens of out-of-this-world artifacts highlighting the indispensable contributions of Jewish scientists, astronomers, explorers, writers, and entertainers, including:
Rare 18th and 19th-century rabbinic tomes on astronomy in Hebrew, German, and Yiddish
Judaica taken aboard the Space Shuttle by Astronaut Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman
Yiddish, English, Polish, and Russian works of science fiction
Rare science fiction periodicals
Stay tuned throughout May for additional events, including:
Stardate 04.15.2018–All ages family program, with arts, crafts, and curator-led tours
Stardate 05.06.2018–All ages family fun program starting before the Center opens! We’ll be offering special sensory-specific fun and activities in a calm, crowd-free environment.
Stardate 05.07.2018–Meet five-time Space Shuttle astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman and listen to him discuss his experiences as a Jew in orbit! Hoffman will be joined by Dr. Valerie Neal, curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, who will provide an overview of the history of Jewish astronauts and their achievements in space.
Are you the leader of a #GirlScouts troop or other youth group that would like to earn a special #JewsInSpace badge for exploring the stars?
The Center would love to take your aspiring astronauts on a tour through the solar system! Email [email protected] to plan a group visit.
For artifact sneak-peeks, external reviews/coverage, and additional event announcements, search for #JewsInSpace on Instagram and Twitter!
Jews In Space: Members of the Tribe In Orbit is proudly co-presented by the Center for Jewish History & YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and financially supported by the generosity of Lisa and Joshua Greer, Kepco, Inc. & the Kupferberg Foundation.
Sword of the Orion spacecraft visiting a small scientific and refueling outpost on Ophelia, one of the tiny moons of Uranus. With negligible surface gravity and abundance of water ice, this moon is a perfect place to produce valuable fuel for visiting spaceships, as well as conduct scientific observations of Uranus and search for Kuiper Beltobjects.
As always, prints of this and other artworks are available in my society6.com and deviantART.com shops.
Ok, so SpaceXandElon Musk launched Tesla Roadster into space. What a time to be alive, but imagine what can happen years into the future. Here’s my little tribute to that successful Falcon Heavy demo flight :)
“Sir, our scans indicate it’s a… ehmm, a car?”
As always, prints of this and other artworks are available in my society6.com and deviantART.com shops.
Here’s HOTOL on a runway somewhere in Australia, being secured by recovery teams after safe return from orbit. HOTOL was single-stage-to-orbit concept craft developed by British Aerospace in the 80s, unfortunately it has never been built.
To learn more about HOTOL, you can visit links below:
Astronauts inspecting water extractors on the surface of Deimos.
It’s an alternative version of the “Death on Mars” illustration, that I did for NASA and ASU’s book. While the book was being put together, there were some changes made to the story, and I reworked the image to better fit the new narrative.
Last year, in cooperation with ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I had a great chance to create 8 illustrations for the project called “Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities” - a research-based collection featuring narratives by top science fiction authors and essays by experts on future possibilities for exploring Mars, Asteroids, Low Earth Orbit, and Exoplanets.
Thank you Andrew for the feature and thanks everyone for your constant support! I really appreciate this and it’s always great to hear that you like what I do :) And some nice things (I hope) are coming up soon, so stay tuned!
Another one in my Martian rovers series. This time it is, now nonoperational, Mars Exploration Rover “Spirit”, which roved Mars for over 5 years until it got stuck in a soft soil.
It is really important to me that all of you learn about Al Bean, astronaut on Apollo 12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon, who after 20 years in the US Navy and 18 years with NASA during which he spent 69 days in space and more than 10 hours doing EVAs on the moon , retired to become a painter.
He is my favorite astronaut for any number of reasons, but he’s also one of my favorite visual artists.
Like, look at this stuff????
It’s all so expressive and textured and colorful! He literally painted his own experience on the moon! And that’s just really fucking cool to me!
Just look at this! This is one of my absolute favorite emotions of all time. Is Anyone Out There? is like the ultimate reaction image. Any time I have an existential crisis, this is how I picture myself.
And then there’s this one:
The Fantasy
For all of the six Apollo missions to land on the moon, there was no spare time. Every second of their time on the surface was budgeted to perfection: sleeping, eating, putting on the suits, entering and exiting the LEM, rock collection, setting up longterm experiments to transmit data back to Earth, everything. These timetables usually got screwed over by something, but for the most part the astronauts stuck to them.
The crew of Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon) had other plans. Conrad and Bean had snuck a small camera with a timer into the LEM to take a couple pictures together on the moon throughout the mission. They had hidden the key for the timer in one of the rock collection bags, with the idea being to grab the key soon after landing, take some fun photos here and there, and then sneak the camera back to Earth to develop them. They had practiced where they would hide the key and how to get it out from under the collected rocks back on Earth dozens of times.
But when they got to the moon, the key was nowhere to be found. Al Bean spent precious time digging through the collection bags before he called it off. The camera had been pushing their luck anyways, he couldn’t afford to spend anymore time not on the mission objectives. Conrad and Bean continued the mission as per the NASA plan while Dick Gordon orbited overhead.
Fast forward to the very end of the mission. Bean and Conrad are doing last checks of the LEM before they enter for the last time and depart from the moon. As Bean is stowing one of the collection bags, the camera key falls out. The unofficially planned photo time has come and gone, and he tosses the key over his shoulder to rest forever on the surface of the moon.
This painting, The Fantasy, is that moment. There have never been three people on the moon at the same time, there was never an unofficial photo shoot on the moon, this picture could never have happened.
“The most experienced astronaut was designated commander, in charge of all aspects of the mission, including flying the lunar module. Prudent thinking suggested that the next-most-experienced crew member be assigned to take care of the command module, since it was our only way back home. Pete had flown two Gemini flights, the second with Dick as his crewmate. This left the least experienced - me - to accompany the commander on the lunar surface.
"I was the rookie. I had not flown at all; yet I got the prize assignment. But not once during the three years of training which preceded our mission did Dick say that it wasn’t fair and that he wished he could walk on the moon, too. I do not have his unwavering discipline or strength of character.
"We often fantasized about Dick’s joining us on the moon but we never found a way. In my paintings, though, I can have it my way. Now, at last, our best friend has come the last sixty miles.” - Al Bean, about TheFantasy.
Even though it doesn’t include minifigures (but three microfigures instead), this latest LEGO Ideas set is simple too amazing not to share it with you.
I guess the press release about covers it all (pay special attention to the piece count, just one of many lovely details):
The wait is over! After a year in development we’re incredibly proud to unveil and present the first official images of the LEGO Ideas 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V designed by LEGO Ideas members Felix Stiessen (saabfan) and Valérie Roche (whatsuptoday).
You’ll be able to find the 1 meter high (approximately 1:110 scale) icon of space exploration in stores from the 1st of June, 2017 for a recommended retail price of just USD 119.99 / EURO 119.99 / GBP 109.99. With 1969 LEGO elements the 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V rockets its way into LEGO Ideas history as the tallest LEGO Ideas set, as well as the one containing most elements.
Here is the official description:
Make history with the LEGO® NASA Apollo Saturn V, the first rocket to put people on the Moon! Build the 3 stages of this stunning meter-high rocket and display it on the stand or launch into orbit. Offload the S-IC and S-II sections, dock the lunar lander with the command service module, and complete a successful Moon landing mission!
The set also includes 3 stands to display the model horizontally, 3 new-for-June-2017 astronaut microfigures for role-play recreations of the Moon landings, plus a booklet about the manned Apollo missions and the fan designers of this educational and inspirational LEGO Ideas set.
Felix and Valérie’s collaboration was guided by a shared passion for space exploration
Despite never meeting in person, space and LEGO fans Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche beat the odds with their wonderfully brick built version of the iconic Apollo rocket. It was a collaboration that tested their skills in numerous ways but, as it turns out, the long-distance collaboration also proved to be a significant benefit to their project, as Felix states “there were often times when one of us abandoned the project for a few weeks and came back to it later; however, thanks to the fact that it is a collaborative project, it was always the case that one of us continued making progress on the project and re-motivated the other”.
Felix and Valérie’s collaborative spirit was tranferred to the LEGO design team as well, who took over the project once it was approved, in order to ensure it lived up to LEGO quality standards. Two designers, Michael Psiaki and Carl Thomas Mirriam, motivated by their enthusiasm for space, teamed up to bring the final model to life. “We were actually not asked. I was so excited when I heard that the project was potentially going to happen, and told Carl about it because I knew he was also a space fanatic. We decided it would be really cool to work together since it is such a big mode, so we approached the Ideas team about helping develop the product”, Michael said.
