Here’s a video from 1965 on the state of the art in manned spaceflight. Jump to 4:04 for a tour through the interior of a Gemini capsule.
One Year
I find this video mesmerizing. You are down there somewhere, going about one year of your life. What were you doing from July 2015 to July 2016? The question I keep coming back to is: was it important?
Save “The Expanse”
Deeply plotted with engrossing character development, The Expanse is truly great science fiction. It was recently canceled by SyFy for obscure reasons. Sign the petition to show Amazon (or somebody else) the value of picking it up. And if you haven’t tried it, do yourself a favor and check it out on Amazon Video.
X (formerly Twitter) Moms in Space
Logos!
We have logos!
The first is the mission badge for the colony in which the kids live. The colony calls itself Dawn, signifying the beginning of a new era in human development. The motto, “Ut melius faciat”, translates as “To do better”, a noble and ambitious sentiment for these first humans on Mars as they go about developing an entirely new culture.
The second is the official series logo. It too is a mission badge. Initially created by the younger sister as a gift to her older sibling, the parents liked the idea so much that they formalized it to be the official badge for kids born on Mars. The arms open to the sun, reflected in the helmet visor, signify this generation’s embracing of their future in this new era.
Both badges were developed by Graham Blake, illustrator extraordinaire.
Viking imagery redux
Some really nice reprocessing of old Viking imagery.
“I am fond of the Viking missions. Their orbits took them far above Mars (as far as 56,000 kilometers from the surface), giving them the ability to take sweeping images of entire hemispheres. Modern missions mostly don’t stray so far from Mars’ surface, and can’t fully capture the same sweeping vistas captured by the Viking Orbiters. ”
The Planetary Society To Mars, dammit
With the perfection of the Falcon 9, SpaceX is turning its attention to the BFR.
Ars Technica You need a vision
“The moon is certainly achievable, we have been there already, but from what I can see there is no vision there – you need a vision of going somewhere, doing something that is hard, going further than humans have ever been before,” she said.
the Guardian Info on NASA’s InSight Lander
“As early as May 5, 2018, NASA is set to launch Mars InSight, the very first mission to study the deep interior of Mars. We’ve been roaming the surface of Mars for a while now, but when InSight lands on Nov. 26, 2018, we’re going in.”
NASA Solar System Exploration Space Debris
At some point, we’re going to have to clean up a bit. In the meantime, Amber Yang is tracking orbital debris.
https://www.vox.com/videos/2018/4/25/17279414/19-year-old-space-debris-ai-solution-seer-tracking
Image: Vox