Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration: Control, we have cleared the tower!

[rebs]

This is the pulsar-map on Voyager;



It shows Earth's exact-position from nearby pulsar-stars; but, the thing is, to read the map, you have to be aligned, on the north or south pole of the pulsars; if you, are say, at Gliese 445, and the Klingons missed, the star map may not be readable because the north/south poles of the pulsars may not be aligned with your position in space; so, in other-words, the star-map is only readable from Earth.

That all fits. 

I've heard it's not really accurate to begin with since the measurements used to produce it were flawed, but it was a nice gesture.  You not only have to be oriented in the correct way, you also have to know what points to ignore but keep the good ones.

Aliens who figure it out may be inclined to not go there thinking it's an ambush.  They've seen it before...  Unless they come in force.

[Prospernia]

The map is only useful, if you're from a nearby star-system, like Proxima Centauri.  And we know there are no aliens there, at all. Except the Grays, but they already know where Earth is.

[Daryk]

Congrats on the 2,000,000th post to the board since the last crash! :)

[SeeM]

The map is only useful, if you're from a nearby star-system, like Proxima Centauri.  And we know there are no aliens there, at all. Except the Grays, but they already know where Earth is.

That map has a long way to go beyond nearby stars, so it will probably be tracked down and retrieved before it goes out of sync.

If not, maybe they could measure its trajectory and adjust the map for every star on its path.

[rebs]

It’s still going to take a lot of trying to make heads or tails of that map with all the flawed distances involved.

They’re better off tracking where we leave our junk and finding our radio signal spew.

[rebs]

Double post

[Prospernia]

That map has a long way to go beyond nearby stars, so it will probably be tracked down and retrieved before it goes out of sync.

If not, maybe they could measure its trajectory and adjust the map for every star on its path.

That's perfect if something finds it in the next few thousand-years.   But chances are (very-slim), that if anything finds it, it will be billions of years from now and all those stars would have drifted apart from each other.

[rebs]

SpaceX awarded another contract from NASA.  This one is to deliver to orbit NASA's fast gamma ray burst space telescope planned for launch in 2027.

Let's hope it all goes as planned.

https://www.space.com/spacex-launch-contract-nasa-cosi-space-telescope

[Prospernia]

Just a thought: How come there's no Olympus-Mons on Mercury?  It's the same mass as Mars, and should have been volcanically-active:  did, at one point, Mercury have plate-tectonics?

[Natasha Kerensky]

Mercury was very volcanically active up to ~3.5B yrs ago.  But it was characterized by large lava flows that filled in and flattened the landscape, rather than the shield dome building seen at Olympus Mons.  A thin crust and certain magma types may be causes.  But I don’t know that planetary science has a good, unifying theory explaining the differences in volcanism among the rocky inner planets.  But they are different.  More here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123859389000407

[Frabby]

First launch of the Ariane 6 today, and it was a success! We finally got a new rocket.

[worktroll]

Nasa astronauts from Boeing’s Starliner may be stuck in space until August

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/10/nasa-astronauts-boeing-starliner

In more positive news: A 2,600-year wait to see T Coronae Borealis explosion is almost over. The Blaze Star is due to blaze any day now:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/01/starwatch-a-2600-year-wait-to-see-t-coronae-borealis-explosion

[rebs]

Above image illustrating large "crack" on the face of Mars, longer than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Link below is to the article from where it came.  Enjoy.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/new-satellite-images-show-giant-scar-on-mars-surface-longer-than-grand-canyon/ar-BB1pTeK4?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=73894aec99564104a655d5f3f7bc0ec9&ei=18

[worktroll]

When you consider Valles Marineris is roughly as long as CONUS or Australia, the 'Grand' Canyon ain't so grand ;)

[Daryk]

Continuing to prove "space is big"! ;D

[rebs]

Continuing to prove "space is big"! ;D

Indeed, much larger than the state of Arizona!

[ANS Kamas P81]

Indeed, much larger than the state of Arizona!

Space is almost as big as Texas, if you believe them!

[Wrangler]

Caves of the Moon.

A pair of Italian scientists using radars and cross checking with other data determined that one flyby was actually a opening for a cave. 

Reported here on the BBC.

The cave is believe to be 100 meters deep, possible created by ancient lava flows when moon was first formed.  Its located the opening of the pit located in a rocky plain referred to as  Mare Tranquillitatis.  It's near where the Apollo 11 had landed.

[Prospernia]

I've been pessimistic on Earth-like exo-planets recently; either as Mars-like worlds, that had their atmospheres stripped down, which is probably the case for most, "Earth-like", worlds orbiting a red-dwarf, or, they're Venus-like; if Earth never evolved photosynthesis, we'd have a thicker, methane-rich atmosphere that would be on the way to a Venus-like world by now (average temperature: 50°C).

[SeeM]

Caves of the Moon.

A pair of Italian scientists using radars and cross checking with other data determined that one flyby was actually a opening for a cave. 

Juan Romero might still be there. This is a nice find. I jeard from somehere, that those caves could shield colonost from space radiation a bit.

[Wrangler]

Juan Romero might still be there. This is a nice find. I jeard from somehere, that those caves could shield colonost from space radiation a bit.

Hope so, we'll find out if the area can be claimed in time before claim jumpers get it.

[Wrangler]

NASA Rover Curiosity on Mars discovered by yellow crystals of Sulfur.

[Kit deSummersville]

It just needs to locate some saltpeter to be ready to defeat the Gorn.

[DEZOAT]

Nasa astronauts from Boeing’s Starliner may be stuck in space until August

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/10/nasa-astronauts-boeing-starliner

In more positive news: A 2,600-year wait to see T Coronae Borealis explosion is almost over. The Blaze Star is due to blaze any day now:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/01/starwatch-a-2600-year-wait-to-see-t-coronae-borealis-explosion

       Why do I have a bad feeling about this. I think Boeing really screwed up on the Starliner I just hope they come home safe.

[Wrangler]

Starliner problems seem to be narrowed down at least.   NASA and Boeing are keeping what their going to do close to their chest.

It's reported (SpaceNews) their going to be thruster tests while docked to the ISS 7/27 - 7/28.

It's believed that working that higher temperatures in the "doghouse" where thrusters are located maybe causing the fuel to vaporize before it could given enough thrust. They also found out that manual flight puts too much extra stress on the thrusters.

My commentary: Good lord, didn't they do enough battery tests on the service module to begin with??   It seems they must have really skipped some tests with the RCS that their not able handle high temperatures without failing.  Over heating the and causing vaporization of the fuel is quite thing to me you can't simulate on Earth.

[worktroll]

I confess if I was one of the two stuck astronauts, I'd be ... concerned ... about coming back down in it.

"Manual flight puts too much stress on the thrusters"? That ... just ... so many layers of bad.

[Wrangler]

I confess if I was one of the two stuck astronauts, I'd be ... concerned ... about coming back down in it.

"Manual flight puts too much stress on the thrusters"? That ... just ... so many layers of bad.

I've been reading and listening to neutral sources on the manner, pointing out Boeing's management became more Investor-centric when they merged McDonald Douglas way back in the 1990s.  It got worse as decades rolled along, as managed cutting corners, outsourcing to less tested (or didn't tested) third-party sources.  Among other things. Remember this commercial program for space is completely different from the money grab contracts Boeing other legacy carriers are used too, as in Get Paid when you got job done.  SpaceX (ignoring it's ownership issues) has been pretty diligent on things, even when they're given less than other companies.

Boeing big issue is they've cut a lot quality controls over the years, now these past few years it's finally come to past.  It's damn shame, since they had no competition domestically in the US, everyone was allowed merge merge and merge, thus nothing to keep them on their toes or incentive to keep up quality on their end.   NASA is stuck with them, because good chunk of politicians are in Boeing's pockets to keep those jobs in those politicians' home states.

[Daryk]

John Oliver had an interesting piece on Boeing a few weeks back that discussed the consequences of that merger...

[worktroll]

ISS astronauts on eight-day mission may be stuck until 2025, Nasa says

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/aug/07/spacex-delay-international-space-station-boeing-nasa

Short form, they're still not happy with bringing them back down in Starliner, and the next scheduled resupply flight (SpaceX) is in February next year. No-one's talking about offering an Uber for them. Final decision to be made in the next couple of weeks.

[Kit deSummersville]

ISS astronauts on eight-day mission may be stuck until 2025, Nasa says

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/aug/07/spacex-delay-international-space-station-boeing-nasa

Short form, they're still not happy with bringing them back down in Starliner, and the next scheduled resupply flight (SpaceX) is in February next year. No-one's talking about offering an Uber for them. Final decision to be made in the next couple of weeks.

The Starliner needs to be renamed the Minnow.