Posts by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
(DIR) Post #AQp5kH1qzritcF8KKe by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2022-12-16T22:09:42Z
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Thirty years ago, there were zero confirmed exoplanets. Today, there are 5,284. That's an average of about one exoplanet discovery every two days over that time span. I never seem to get over this! #space #astronomy
(DIR) Post #ASM9GoR2c3cuiVqI3k by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-02-05T03:08:41Z
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@lauren Your joke clearly went over their head, just like the balloon itself.
(DIR) Post #ATalSxUs7UHMvHxIVU by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-03-14T02:14:42Z
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@lauren WCGW? :-/
(DIR) Post #AUA7NYgtEbRoWfwmZ6 by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-03-31T03:35:12Z
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@lauren Law and order, you know.
(DIR) Post #AUxPgVDzefynEw3Ge8 by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-04-23T18:12:59Z
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Judith Love Cohen was the engineer who made Apollo's Abort Guidance System, which was crucial to saving the ill-fated Apollo 13. She finished it while in labor, then (the same day) delivered her younger son -- the actor Jack Black.This is one of those utterly remarkable #space stories that I stumble over once in a while and it blows my mind afresh every single time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Love_Cohen
(DIR) Post #AV7vAbvaL01ksOsRxw by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-04-29T00:00:55Z
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@lauren I think this is also true of books, but it is not an argument against books.
(DIR) Post #AV82pN84ximcX26YXg by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-04-29T01:26:55Z
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@lauren Many people might get the same impression from having their book published. :-)
(DIR) Post #AVhStsaJpsPv9e0hTk by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-05-16T03:32:22Z
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Remember those grainy, black-and-white TV images from Apollo? Artemis will upgrade that to 4k color video beamed home via lasers. https://hackaday.com/2023/05/14/artemis-ii-will-phone-home-from-the-moon-using-laser-beams/
(DIR) Post #AVvw4qfqm6yvXs42Iy by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-05-23T03:06:45Z
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@lauren Picard, but I'd go out drinking with Mudd every time.
(DIR) Post #AXmqVh4o8IC1FKA9lg by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-07-09T01:13:23Z
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Torturing the men held at Guantánamo is among the worst things the US has ever done. Not absolutely the worst: slavery, for example, was worse yet. But it features among the foulest, most vile things that have ever been done in our name.We should indeed help these victims, of course. But we should also relentlessly pursue everyone involved in the decision to torture them, without exception, wherever that trail may lead. Justice demands it, and god damn it, so do I.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/07/guantanamo-bay-un-visit-torture-treatment
(DIR) Post #AXr8eVjVBZiYZq1a8e by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-07-19T15:17:06Z
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@lina I wish I could really disagree with you. I think the truth is a lot more nuanced than what you say here, but ... but you're also not exactly *wrong*. :-/
(DIR) Post #Aa707HGOeNPPa6nRpY by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2023-09-25T01:50:13Z
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Survived seven years in #space. Took samples from a surface that was nothing like what they expected. Handled 32g deceleration and temperatures as high as those on the surface of the sun. And made it safely home.That's a truly epic mission right there -- and it continues, too: after dropping off their priceless sample as casually as I drop off dry cleaning, they're zooming to another asteroid (Apophis) next.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-asteroid-samples-landing-osiris-rex-bennu/
(DIR) Post #AlIOsfi65HvJIOuzU8 by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2024-08-24T06:40:55Z
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There's exactly one right answer here: do not fly humans home on Starliner. You don't know what's wrong, so you can't assess the risk, so you must assume the risk is unacceptable -- and that's only one of my rationales. You want more, I got more.Fly Starliner back uncrewed, then validate the vehicle by flying uncrewed cargo resupply missions until Boeing can get it right (assuming that ever happens). There's no justification for risking human lives on this. No-go.https://arstechnica.com/?p=2044954
(DIR) Post #Arhk52INu345zCsz1U by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2025-03-04T06:39:43Z
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This image, from the moon's newest resident -- Firefly's Blue Ghost lander -- is you. That white blot at the top is everything and everyone you've ever known, and everywhere you've ever been. That's where you live, along with every other human being in existence.It's a small, fragile world. Do what you can to fill it with kindness. #space
(DIR) Post #AyaqhxwD9VHVenMLrs by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2025-09-26T07:39:19Z
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Now here's a #space story I hadn't heard before: Apollo 11's landing -- and its crew -- were saved by a meteorologist working with top secret data.https://hackaday.com/2025/09/25/spy-tech-the-nro-and-apollo-11/
(DIR) Post #AzDCtMwm5g4ZPAwWjg by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2025-10-14T19:15:40Z
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Once again, NASA's fabled Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is being literally decimated -- around 10% of the Lab (actually 11%) is being laid off today.If you're having déjà vu, that's not your imagination: around 10% of the Lab was laid off *last* year as well, and that was *on top of* shedding a whole bunch of contractors before *that*.At some point, you don't have enough people left to run your Mars rovers, your deep space orbiters, your Earth orbiters. It dies.https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpl-workforce--update/
(DIR) Post #AzDCtO5JrOVAvxwrh2 by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2025-10-14T20:18:18Z
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Among the genuinely terrible results of the JPL layoffs: they laid off Jennifer Herman. JENNIFER HERMAN. She's not only one of the absolutely nicest people I know, she is also -- in Gene Kranz's terms -- tough and competent. She's an irreplaceable power subsystem engineer: hard-working, endlessly valuable, and a hell of a lot smarter than the people who laid her off.Here's more about an utterly remarkable engineer I consider myself lucky to know: https://deepspace.social/@marsroverdriver/114120211890011633#space
(DIR) Post #B2ncbJANh12ypMOTcO by marsroverdriver@deepspace.social
2026-01-30T04:30:25Z
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@historyofpunkrock I have tickets to see Subhumans for the first time ever in just a couple of months! I'm excited -- I've been a fan for more years than I care to admit. ;-)