Great News for a Mars Colony!

lotr10 said:
The three big Mars missions taking place this summer:

phys.org

A trio of Mars missions in the starting blocks

"We have lift-off, we have lift-off!"
phys.org phys.org

The summer race to land a space probe on Mars is off to a hot start.

Three countries—The Hope Probe (United Arab Emirates), Tianwen-1 (China) and Mars 2020 (United States)—have all taken their positions, hoping to take advantage of the period of time when the Earth and Mars are nearest: a mere 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) apart.
Click to expand...
Two out of three would be a success, IMO.

Meatloaf concurs, "Two out of three aint' bad."
 
Venus probably has active volcanoes right now

Scientists have long known that Venus remained active long after fellow rocky planets Mercury and Mars lost their geological mojo. The second rock from the sun sports far fewer craters than those two worlds, a count that's consistent with a global resurfacing event some 500 million to 700 million years ago. (Our solar system's other inner rocky planet, Earth, remains extremely active today, of course.)

But recently, evidence has been building that Venus' volcanic activity continued much later into the planet's history — perhaps even through to the present day. And the new study bolsters that viewpoint.
Click to expand...
www.space.com

Venus probably has active volcanoes right now

Not all of the hellishly hot planet's volcanoes are dead, a new study suggests.
www.space.com www.space.com
 
1596070607239.png


A Freaky Elongated Cloud Has Reappeared on Mars

Like clockwork, a strange cloud has returned high above the Martian surface.

This long, thin cloud was spotted on July 17 and 19 by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) attached to Mars Express, a satellite that’s been in orbit around Mars since 2004. These images were made possible owing to Mars Express’s elliptical orbit and the VMC’s wide field view, as noted in a European Space Agency press release.
Click to expand...
gizmodo.com

A Freaky Elongated Cloud Has Reappeared on Mars

Like clockwork, a strange cloud has returned high above the Martian surface.
gizmodo.com gizmodo.com
 
Mars map with water: incredible terraforming image shows Elon Musk’s dream

What would Mars look like if most of its surface was covered with water? Thanks to a new project released this week, we may have a better idea.

A new map shows what the red planet would look like if 71 percent of its surface area was covered with water — around the same proportion as Earth.
Click to expand...
www.inverse.com

Mars map with water: incredible terraforming image shows Elon Musk’s dream

A new visualization imagines what Mars would look like with 71 percent of its surface area covered with water.
www.inverse.com www.inverse.com

1596917335098.png


1596917345983.png
 
Anyone who has read the books or watched the TV series "The Expanse" is familiar with Ceres.

phys.org

Mystery solved: Bright areas on Ceres come from salty water below

NASA's Dawn spacecraft gave scientists extraordinary close-up views of the dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By the time the mission ended in October 2018, the orbiter had dipped to less than 22 miles (35 kilometers) above the surface, revealing...
phys.org phys.org

NASA's Dawn spacecraft gave scientists extraordinary close-up views of the dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By the time the mission ended in October 2018, the orbiter had dipped to less than 22 miles (35 kilometers) above the surface, revealing crisp details of the mysterious bright regions Ceres had become known for.
 
Considering how 2020 is going so far is this in our future?

phys.org

Exploding stars may have caused mass extinction on Earth, study shows

Imagine reading by the light of an exploded star, brighter than a full moon—it might be fun to think about, but this scene is the prelude to a disaster when the radiation devastates life as we know it. Killer cosmic rays from nearby supernovae could be the culprit behind at least one mass...
phys.org phys.org

"To put this into perspective, one of the closest supernova threats today is from the star Betelgeuse, which is over 600 light-years away and well outside of the kill distance of 25 light-years," said graduate student and study co-author Adrienne Ertel.

The team explored other astrophysical causes for ozone depletion, such as meteorite impacts, solar eruptions and gamma-ray bursts. "But these events end quickly and are unlikely to cause the long-lasting ozone depletion that happened at the end of the Devonian period," said graduate student and study co-author Jesse Miller.

A supernova, on the other hand, delivers a one-two punch, the researchers said. The explosion immediately bathes Earth with damaging UV, X-rays and gamma rays. Later, the blast of supernova debris slams into the solar system, subjecting the planet to long-lived irradiation from cosmic rays accelerated by the supernova. The damage to Earth and its ozone layer can last for up to 100,000 years.

It's a good thing we're outside the Betelgeuse kill zone:

www.sciencealert.com

Betelgeuse Is Dimming Again

Just as you thought it was safe to go back to ignoring Betelgeuse, the red giant star started acting up again.
www.sciencealert.com www.sciencealert.com
 
lotr10 said:
Considering how 2020 is going so far is this in our future?

phys.org

Exploding stars may have caused mass extinction on Earth, study shows

Imagine reading by the light of an exploded star, brighter than a full moon—it might be fun to think about, but this scene is the prelude to a disaster when the radiation devastates life as we know it. Killer cosmic rays from nearby supernovae could be the culprit behind at least one mass...
phys.org phys.org

"To put this into perspective, one of the closest supernova threats today is from the star Betelgeuse, which is over 600 light-years away and well outside of the kill distance of 25 light-years," said graduate student and study co-author Adrienne Ertel.

The team explored other astrophysical causes for ozone depletion, such as meteorite impacts, solar eruptions and gamma-ray bursts. "But these events end quickly and are unlikely to cause the long-lasting ozone depletion that happened at the end of the Devonian period," said graduate student and study co-author Jesse Miller.

A supernova, on the other hand, delivers a one-two punch, the researchers said. The explosion immediately bathes Earth with damaging UV, X-rays and gamma rays. Later, the blast of supernova debris slams into the solar system, subjecting the planet to long-lived irradiation from cosmic rays accelerated by the supernova. The damage to Earth and its ozone layer can last for up to 100,000 years.

It's a good thing we're outside the Betelgeuse kill zone:

www.sciencealert.com

Betelgeuse Is Dimming Again

Just as you thought it was safe to go back to ignoring Betelgeuse, the red giant star started acting up again.
www.sciencealert.com www.sciencealert.com
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I've always been fascinated by the distances between the planets, stars and galaxies in the universe. Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, is somewhere between 600-700 light years away.

Doing the math: a light year is approx. 5.88 trillion miles, therefore Betelgeuse is over 3,528,000,000,000,000 miles away (using the lower estimate of 600 light years away). An incomprehensible distance.

More math: if we are in a spaceship traveling 100,000 mph, it would take over 4 million years to get there. Amazing. Bring plenty of snacks for the trip.
 
BlackHawk said:
I've always been fascinated by the distances between the planets, stars and galaxies in the universe. Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, is somewhere between 600-700 light years away.

Doing the math: a light year is approx. 5.88 trillion miles, therefore Betelgeuse is over 3,528,000,000,000,000 miles away (using the lower estimate of 600 light years away). An incomprehensible distance.

More math: if we are in a spaceship traveling 100,000 mph, it would take over 4 million years to get there. Amazing. Bring plenty of snacks for the trip.
Click to expand...
My favorite science author has a great book for explaining time travel, historical and cognitive perspectives and he doesn't skimp the math at least as far as special relativity (not that hard really).
s-l300.jpg
 
NASA JPL Says Tiny Asteroid Approaching, May Strike Earth Election Eve

Amid a pandemic, civil unrest and a divisive U.S. election season, we now have an asteroid zooming toward us.

On the day before the presidential vote, no less.
Click to expand...

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

NASA JPL Says Tiny Asteroid Expected To Pass Near Earth On Election Eve

A small asteroid known as 2018VP1 is projected to come close to Earth on Nov. 2, with a less-than-one-percent chance of striking the planet.
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
 
Yappi said:
NASA JPL Says Tiny Asteroid Approaching, May Strike Earth Election Eve



sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

NASA JPL Says Tiny Asteroid Expected To Pass Near Earth On Election Eve

A small asteroid known as 2018VP1 is projected to come close to Earth on Nov. 2, with a less-than-one-percent chance of striking the planet.
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
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From the article: NASA says there are three potential impacts but, “based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days,” the agency has determined the asteroid probably — phew! — won’t have any deep impact — let alone bring Armageddon.

I wonder if NASA rounded the 12.968 days to the nearest 1/1,000 of a day? It was probably more like 12.9678371251 or maybe even 12.9681394425 or whatever (inquiring minds need to know...not). Obviously, getting it to the nearest 1/1,000 of a day (86.4 seconds) was important for NASA on this press release. ;)

I know NASA needs to be exact, but really? I found this pretty funny. This was for a press release. Round it to 13 days.
 
My guess is that the venting gases theory and not alien engines are responsible for any acceleration but.....................

www.space.com

Interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua could still be alien technology, new study hints

Aliens? Or a chunk of solid hydrogen? Which idea makes less sense?
www.space.com www.space.com

In 2018, our solar system ran into an object lost in interstellar space. The object, dubbed 'Oumuamua, seemed to be long and thin — cigar-shaped — and tumbling end over end. Then, close observations showed it was accelerating, as if something were pushing on it. Scientists still aren't sure why.

One explanation? The object was propelled by an alien machine, such as a lightsail — a wide, millimeter-thin machine that accelerates as it's pushed by solar radiation. The main proponent of this argument was Avi Loeb, a Harvard University astrophysicist.

Most scientists, however, think 'Oumuamua's wonky acceleration was likely due to a natural phenomenon. In June, a research team proposed that solid hydrogen was blasting invisibly off the interstellar object's surface and causing it to speed up.
 
lotr10 said:
This still seems like a long time:

www.space.com

Could carbon-foam probes bring interstellar flight within reach?

Solar-sailing 'bubblecraft' could get to Proxima Centauri in 185 years, a study suggests.
www.space.com www.space.com
Click to expand...

Stuff like this is always interesting and it pushes our science forward, but I'm usually a bit skeptical. There are an awful lot of "ifs" and "calculations" in their thinking, not to mention enormous costs. Still, this line of thinking drives our technology and science. While this idea might not work for this application, it might be used for some other purpose...or some other idea derived from it might work.
 
lotr10 said:
Hopefully they die of old age.

www.popularmechanics.com

Elon Musk Says Settlers Will Likely Die on Mars. He's Right.

But is that such a bad thing?
www.popularmechanics.com www.popularmechanics.com

But Musk is reminding us that risk averse society's. like the one we've become, will not settle the solar system. Someone else will.
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One of my dreams as a kid was visiting other planets. I doubt if I'll live long enough to see humans colonize Mars, or even visit Mars. I am not as optimistic as some of the "big thinkers" like Elon Musk (or lotr10!), but I do think humans will make it to Mars...eventually. The timetable for visiting Mars will be much longer than the "sometime in the 2030's" that we often hear. Too many obstacles and money constraints. However, assuming humans are still here a hundred years from now, I think we'll make it! (How's that for optimism?)
 
I think our trajectory is pretty clear at this point: if we avoid nuclear war and a global communist order, we'll become a society that utilizes implants (neuro, optical, limbs, whatever) and biological engineering to make of ourselves whatever is needed to accomplish the tasks required of us, partly to compete with AI for jobs, partly to push the envelope of human achievement (ex. colonizing space). It's not exactly a great trajectory, but overall we don't seem to be too concerned about it. I'm sure there will be people who resist to live a more analog life, but they'll be looked at like how we view the Amish.
 
Crusaders said:
I think our trajectory is pretty clear at this point: if we avoid nuclear war and a global communist order, we'll become a society that utilizes implants (neuro, optical, limbs, whatever) and biological engineering to make of ourselves whatever is needed to accomplish the tasks required of us, partly to compete with AI for jobs, partly to push the envelope of human achievement (ex. colonizing space). It's not exactly a great trajectory, but overall we don't seem to be too concerned about it. I'm sure there will be people who resist to live a more analog life, but they'll be looked at like how we view the Amish.
Click to expand...

As you noted this will be particularly key to space exploration and colonization.
 
probably all happen quicker under that global communist order. they don't even consult FDA before getting rid of a political rival. I don't see anything keeping them from plugging in the populace.
 
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