Breaking News & Random Musings on Space, Technology, Sci-Fi & the View From A Writer’s Window
Say what you will, but the man has panache, and a keen sense of the moment. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1178014342031298561
This is the just-assembled Starship Mk1 Prototype, which will make its first test flight (to 20 km) next month. It's intended to be a reusable spacecraft that will go to the moon and Mars.
Curiosity enjoying a beautiful, peaceful and possibly lonely afternoon on Mars. https://twitter.com/marsrader/status/1176488000383045633
Originally posted on Twitter.
"NASA’s New Black Hole Simulation Will Completely Melt Your Brain": https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-black-hole-visualization
It really is stunning. Follow the link above for the trippy visualization flow.
During a recent perijove pass, Juno caught an absolutely incredible image of Io's shadow cast upon Jupiter.😲😍
Unless it's actually millions of monoliths devouring Jupiter's atmosphere. Which is, frankly, equally as likely.
Hi-res quality: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmgill/48745739051/
Source and credit: https://twitter.com/kevinmgill/status/1173741101515079680
Originally posted on Facebook.
For the second time this year, a lunar lander has experienced an error and crashed in the final meters of its descent to the surface.
SPACE IS HARD, guys. I know I make it look easy in my books (as well as cool, fun and exciting 😋), but it's hard. And it's going to continue being hard for a while yet.
Originally posted on Facebook.
From inside the eye of Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 1. Source: https://twitter.com/GBlack22wx/status/1168273327531679744.
Bless the insane people who bring us these incredible images. 😮
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Is Finally 100% Assembled: https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-complete.html
Originally posted on Twitter.
"NASA launched its Spitzer Space Telescope into orbit around the Sun on Aug. 25, 2003. Since then, the observatory has been lifting the veil on the wonders of the cosmos, from our own solar system to faraway galaxies, using infrared light.
Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Spitzer enabled scientists to confirm the presence of seven rocky, Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. The telescope has also provided weather maps of hot, gaseous exoplanets and revealed a hidden ring around Saturn. It has illuminated hidden collections of dust in a wide variety of locations, including cosmic nebulas (clouds of gas and dust in space), where young stars form, and swirling galaxies. Spitzer has additionally investigated some of the universe's oldest galaxies and stared at the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Spitzer's primary mission lasted five-and-a-half years and ended when it ran out of the liquid helium coolant necessary to operate two of its three instruments. But its passive-cooling design has allowed part of its third instrument to continue operating for more than 10 additional years. The mission is scheduled to end on Jan. 30, 2020.
In honor of Spitzer's Sweet 16 in space, here are 16 amazing images from the mission.": http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/2195-ssc2019-15-Sixteen-Images-for-Spitzer-s-Sweet-16
Behind the Scenes at Earth's Most Beautiful Rocket Launch Site: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/08/behind-the-scenes-at-earths-most-beautiful-rocket-launch-site/
Who’s up for a vacation to New Zealand?
EUROPA. We just *cannot* leave well enough alone....😋 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/europa-clippers-mission-to-jupiter-s-icy-moon-confirmed
*insert ‘all these worlds’ pithy remark*
You all remember how Starshine was 155K words, and that was awesome? Good.🤗
...
I've written over 45K words on this book, and those cover the skeletal first drafts of around 1/3 of the scenes depicted here. #Imjustsaying
I don't post about other books often, mostly because I fully appreciate that readers are a finnicky lot. You like what you like, and just because you like my books doesn't mean you'll like the books I choose to read. Go forth and make your own book choices!
But I'm going to mention the anthology I just finished, "MISSION CRITICAL," edited by Jonathan Strahan, for two reasons. One, I figure there's at least 1 or 2 stories in it that each of you will enjoy; two, a couple of the stories genuinely stoked my imagination.
The premise of the anthology is an exploration of what people will (or won't) do when everything goes wrong (in space), and their actions in the next seconds or minutes or hours will determine who lives and who dies.
I won't comment on the stories I didn't enjoy or were meh/forgettable, because, again, you may disagree. The ones I DID enjoy:
"The Empty Gun" by Yoon Ha Lee. It features an unlikable protagonist and a dark, doom-upon-the-world mood, yet it nonetheless struck a strong chord with me. While I've long been aware of Lee's acclaimed Machineries of Empire books, I've never read them - but when I finished this story I immediately went and purchased Ninefox Gambit.
"Something in the Air" by Carolyn Ives Gilman. This story takes a concept near and dear to my writer heart, our (limited) understanding of quantum indeterminacy and entanglement, and turns it right on its head. In the early pages I thought I saw clear as day where the story was going, and I was wrong. I do feel like it would work better as a novella, as the story was thin in several places, felt rushed and ultimately left so much on the table. But damn if it didn't get me thinking!
"Genesong" by Peter F. Hamilton. Everyone here knows I'm a Hamilton fan, but the interesting thing about this story is how un-Hamilton it is. He's known for his impressive worldbuilding and the epic scale of his stories - not for his stories' emotional depth or resonance. The technological premise did borrow a bit from his Edenists in The Night's Dawn trilogy, but the story was poignant and soulful, even downright heartbreaking. I know how tough it is to stray outside your writing comfort zone, so props to Mr. Hamilton.
"Lost in Splendor" by John Meaney. This one maybe wasn't as unique as the other three, but the GenGs reminded me a lot of the Prevos in Renegades, and Shep was a notably likeable protagonist. Also, silver spiders and golden monkeys....😵
Originally posted on Facebook.
Master “plan” of the universe revealed in new galaxy maps. In the renderings, our Milky Way galaxy is a tiny speck in the midst of other galaxies and colossal voids.
It’s a compelling reminder - however big I go in my books, the scope is still just a tiny speck of dust compared to the entire universe.
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/master-plan-universe-revealed-new-galaxy-maps-ncna1040936
This new Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet's trademark Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter's atmosphere. More info: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-new-portrait-of-jupiter
Originally posted on Twitter.
A total solar eclipse reflected in an Argentine lake called La Cuesta Del Viento (The Slope of the Wind). By astrophotographer Thierry Legault. Via NASA’s Astonomy Picture of the Day.
Originally posted on Twitter.
An update from the indomnitable Mars rover Curiosity: “Can't stop. Won't stop. I've been exploring #Mars for seven years, traveled 13 miles (21 km), climbed 1,207 feet (368 m), found conditions on ancient Mars were favorable for life as we know it, and I'm not done yet. Here's what's new (plus a 360 view): https://go.nasa.gov/2YtGgMg”
Originally posted on Twitter.
The Beresheet lunar lander scattered tardigrades all over the moon when it crashed: https://www.wired.com/story/a-crashed-israeli-lunar-lander-spilled-tardigrades-on-the-moon/
As Shannon Stirone said on Twitter, "And thus began the story of how the tardigrades took over the moon."
If you don't know about the incredible creatures that are tardigrades, you can start your rabbit hole adventure here: https://www.americanscientist.org/article/tardigrades
Originally posted on Facebook.
Email I received from Pyper Down today.😎 I'm sharing it here for 2 reasons:
(1) ⭐️Audiobook listeners⭐️: this means she only has 7 more chapters to record. ALMOST DONE! [UPDATE: 2 more chapters to go ;).]
(2) If you've read TSLG, you may instinctively know to what chapter she's referring. I'll just say that it's from "Nika's" POV and takes place on a certain space platform.
I'm not trying to humble-brag (though I probably am anyway, aren't I?), but I'm more proud of this chapter than I am of just about anything I've written - and it makes me giddy with happiness whenever anyone suggests that pride might be well placed.☺️
Originally posted on Facebook.
"The galaxy is not flat, researchers show in new 3D model of the Milky Way": https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/01/the-galaxy-is-not-flat-researchers-show-in-new-3d-model-of-the-milky-way/
Yay for sensationalistic headlines. 😏 No, no one was asserting the Milky Way is "flat" flat; there's no "Flat Galaxy Society" out there posting YouTube videos where they make their case (at least, I don't THINK there is).
The question, rather, was whether the Milky Way was essentially a pancake. Unfortunately, we can't "see" the Milky Way the way we can other galaxies, because we're IN it, and it's going to be a little while before wen can send a probe out at superluminal speeds to snap a pic from beyond the galaxy's edge.
So scientists used Cepheid variable stars to map out a fairly direct series of measurements of the shape of the galaxy. And it turns out, it's shaped like a sombrero that got warped. Possibly because someone sat on it, or stuffed it in the overhead bin of a plane, or left it out in the blazing summer heat for several days.
Originally posted on Facebook. (The comments to this post have been fantastic.)
