Category Archives: Mars Colony

A high-definition image of the Mars Australe lava plain on the Moon taken by Japans Kaguya lunar orbiter in November 2007. Credit: JAXA/NHK

The Moon is set to gain one more crater. A leftover SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage will impact the lunar surface in early March, marking the first time that a human-made debris item unintentionally reaches our natural satellite.

In 2015 the Falcon 9 placed NOAAs DSCOVR climate observatory around the L1 Lagrange point, one of five such gravitationally-stable points between Earth and the Sun. Having reached L1, around 1.5 million km from Earth, the missions upper stage ended up pointed away from Earth into interplanetary space.

Artists impression of DSCOVR on the way to L1 on its Falcon 9 upper stage in 2015. Credit: SpaceX

This rendered a deorbit burn to dispose of it in our planets atmosphere impractical, while the upper stage also lacked sufficient velocity to escape the Earth-Moon system. Instead, it was left in a chaotic Sun-orbiting orbit near the two bodies.

Now credible public estimates forecast its impact with the Moon on March 4, 2022, at 12:25:39 UTC at a point on the lunar far side near the equator. Follow-up observations should sharpen the accuracy of the forecast, but the approximately 3 ton, 15 m long by 3 m wide upper stage is currently projected to hit at a speed about 2.58 km/s.

There are locations around a planets orbit where the gravitational forces and the orbital motion of the Sun and planet interact to create a stable location, from where a spacecraft can reside with little effort from the operators on the ground to keep it in place. These points are known as Lagrangian or L points, after the 18th century Italian astronomer and mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi Lagrancia). Credit: ESA

The European Ariane 5 that recently delivered the James Webb Space Telescope to its observing point flew a mirror trajectory to that of the Falcon 9 but the good news is that its upper stage has already evaded a comparable fate thanks to a specifically developed and qualified maneuver.

Europes Ariane 5 delivered the James Webb Space Telescope to L2, the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point behind instead of in front of our planet but after separating from Webb the upper stage used all its remaining fuel to escape the Earth-Moon system entirely, putting it into a stable heliocentric orbit.

Looking back to Earth from DSCOVRs Falcon 9 upper stage on the way to L1. Just before sunset at 6:03pm ET on February 11, 2015, Falcon 9 lifted off from SpaceXs Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, carrying the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite on SpaceXs first deep-space mission. Credit: SpaceX

Human-made objects have intentionally impacted the Moon before, starting as early as the 1950s, including Apollo upper stages used to induce moonquakes for surface seismometers.

In 2009 NASA crashed its LCROSS mission into the Moon, revealing water in the resulting debris plume, with the LADEE spacecraft doing the same on the lunar farside in 2013. ESAs Smart-1 spacecraft was crashed into the Moon in 2006, the subject of a worldwide observing campaign.

In 2009 NASAs LCROSS mission deployed a Centaur upper stage to intentionally impact the Moon before going on to crash into the lunar surface itself. The resulting debris plumes were observed from Earth, revealing water ice and other volatiles. Credit: NASA

This forthcoming Falcon 9 impact is a little beyond our usual area of interest, because we are mainly focused on the debris population in highly-trafficked low-Earth orbits, up to 2000 km altitude, as well as geosynchronous orbits around 35 000 km away, explains Tim Flohrer of ESAs Space Debris Office.

Our colleagues in the ESA Planetary Defence Office peer further into space, however. They use telescopes around the globe to track Near-Earth asteroids, and sometimes observe human-made objects as well. Extending our own remit into the cislunar space between Earth and the Moon has been discussed, due to the increasing use of the scientifically vital Sun-Earth Lagrange points in coming years.

This illustration shows ESAs SMART-1 spacecraft making scientific observations in orbit around the Moon. SMART-1 was launched in September 2003 and will conclude its mission through a small lunar impact on September 3, 2006. Credit: ESA C. Carreau

Detlef Koschny, heading ESAs Planetary Defence Office, adds: We use telescopic observations to pinpoint the orbits, mainly of natural objects in the space surrounding Earth. Occasionally, we also pick up man-made objects far away from the Earth, such as lunar exploration spacecraft remnants, and objects returning from Lagrange points.

Webb will orbit the second Lagrange point (L2), 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in the direction away from the Sun. There, its sunshield can always block light and heat from both the Sun and Earth from reaching its telescope and instruments. L2 is not a fixed point, but follows Earth around the Sun. Credit: ESA

For international spacefarers, no clear guidelines exist at the moment to regulate the disposal at end of life for spacecraft or spent upper stages sent to Lagrange points. Potentially crashing into the Moon or returning and burning up in Earths atmosphere have so far been the most straightforward default options.

The upcoming Falcon 9 lunar impact illustrates well the need for a comprehensive regulatory regime in space, not only for the economically crucial orbits around Earth but also applying to the Moon, says Holger Krag, Head of ESAs Space Safety Program.

Artists view of Ariane 6 and Vega-C. Credit: ESA D. Ducros

It would take international consensus to establish effective regulations, but Europe can certainly lead the way.

All the launchers developed by ESA during the last decade Vega, Ariane 6 and Vega C incorporate a built-in reignition capability, which ensures the safe return to Earth for atmospheric burn-up of their upper stages.

Since March 2017, the NELIOTA project has been monitoring the dark side of the Moon for flashes of light caused by tiny pieces of rock striking the Moons surface. This sequence of 12 consecutive frames shows a bright flash detected on 4 frames during observations on 1 March 2017. The red arrows point to the location of the impact flash, near the edge of the frame. Credit: NELIOTA project

Space rocks hit the Moon all the time. Researchers are interested in quantifying the frequency of these natural lunar impacts. Using a system developed through an ESA contract, the Greek NELIOTA project (Near-Earth object Lunar Impacts and Optical TrAnsients) detects flashes of light caused by small bodies striking the Moons surface, particularly across its shadowed face. NELIOTA can determine the temperature of these impact flashes as well as their brightness. From this, the impacting mass can be estimated.

The Kryoneri Observatory the worlds largest eye on the Moon. Credit: Theofanis Matsopoulos

ESAs Space Safety program is interested in this research as a way of assessing the number of incoming objects ranging in size from tens of centimeters to meters across. This is useful because the precise number of objects in this range is not known very well.

This research might also be valuable for future lunar colonists. One of the dangers they might face is small meteoroids doing damage to their infrastructure NELIOTA results are helping to quantify the danger. Without an atmosphere to burn up such bodies, it is likely that future permanent lunar structures will be underground, to provide shielding against impacts as well as space radiation.

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Incoming! SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket on Collision Course With the Moon - SciTechDaily

The International Space Station (ISS) will retire at the end of this decade and replacement efforts for the same are well underway. However, there is a twist. This time around, instead of an intergovernmental space station, a potentially private one is likely to be sent into the low Earth orbit.

The US space agency NASA is encouraging private firms to make a strong foothold in the space industry. NASA veteran Michael Suffredinis company Axiom Space is at the forefront of the effort to make a privately-owned space station operational. And it plans on making this space station 97% cheaper than the ISS.

The ISS is almost three decades old and is about to retire. NASA believes that with upgrades, the station can go on to remain operational till 2028 or slightly longer than that. There are no plans for another intergovernmental successor to ISS as of yet.

Instead, NASA is encouraging commercial replacements, in a bid to create an ecosystem where the agency pays the firms behind these replacements for services such as hosting astronauts or conducting research in microgravity.

NASA calls the plan for this enterprise, the Commercial Low-Earth-Orbit Destinations (CLD) project.

In October last year, a consortium led by Lockheed Martin announced its plans to build a permanently crewed commercial space station named Starlab. They plan on launching it into orbit around Earth by 2027.

Soon, Jeff Bezos firm Blue Origin also unveiled plans for Orbital Reef, a joint venture with Boeing and some other firms. The Reef will host up to 10 people and is supposed to serve as a mixed-use business park. This orbiting industrial estate is expected to open by the end of the decade.

Although private-enterprise missions such as the ones offered by Elon Musks rocketry firm SpaceX have existed for several years, these projects are significant because they are planned on a much grander scale.

It is projected that sometime this decade, these efforts are likely to result in the first real colonization of outer space by private enterprise.

NASA awarded a $140 million contract to Houston-based Axiom Space, which has already started manufacturing parts of a station. In March, Axiom Space will send the first-ever private mission to ISS.

The mission comprising a team of researchers will conduct key studies and experiments. This first mission, named Axiom-1, has received permission from NASA and has secured a Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX.

However, the bigger plan is to send modules for a space station over a period of a couple of years to put the first private space station in Earths orbit.

The first module is slated to be launched in September 2024. The plan is to let it dock at one of the ISSs two ports. In the span of six months, it will be joined by a second module and then, the third one in another six months.

After a fourth and final module, to be equipped to generate extra solar power, arrive in 2027, Axiom Station will separate itself and become a free flyer with nearly double the usable volume of the ISS.

The Axiom Station will be significantly cheaper than the ISS, which cost $100 billion. Additionally, it costs NASA around $3.5 billion every year simply to maintain and operate the station.

This covers about three-fouth of the cost, with the rest being paid by Canada, Japan, Russia, and other participating European countries. In contrast, Axiom Spaces co-founder Michael Suffredini expects their space station the first four modules and a power tower to cost about $3 billion.

Axioms low cost is partly due to the scraping off of the waste that is found often in government spending. In addition to that, the firm is using lessons learned from the ISS to cut costs for things such as blocking radiation, recycling urine to recovering water from rubbish.

Another influencing factor is the fact that technology has evolved and much of the kit is cheaper and better now than in the 1990s when the ISS was designed. The Axiom station will be using lots of easily available components developed for smartphones and cars.

Axiom claims it has a distinct advantage over its competitors: it can rely upon the expertise of its employees with the ISS and its power source. However, it will face stricter security requirements compared to free-flying space stations because it will be attached to the ISS at least in the initial stages.

Its revenue model relies upon making money from offering space tourism. The company has also said that most of its revenues will eventually come from companies and industries that want to take advantage of a microgravity environment.

UK-based studio Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE), which is producing Tom Cruises upcoming unnamed space movie, has already announced a deal with Axiom to build an in-orbit studio.

Suffredini also has bigger goals in mind. According to him, if the plan stays on track, then the goal for the second half of the century would be to have cities in orbit with schools, stores, ponds, and parks spinning around to create artificial gravity with centrifugal force.

For now, that is a couple of decades away and what one does have to look forward to is the flight in March which is being organized by Axiom Space and will be done using a SpaceX Dragon 2 a semi-reusable spacecraft. While it has experience with flying government astronauts for NASA, this will be the Dragons first time taking a private crew into space.

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Worlds First Private Space Station: As ISS Nears Retirement, Hi-Tech Corporates Vie To Build The Next Space Base - EurAsian Times

While governments continue to focus on building planned housing for the rich & the middle class and relocation of slum clusters, unauthorised colonies, which are somewhere in between, are left behind as missing piece of the mainstream housing discourse. Instead of focusing on regularisation of unauthorised colonies only during the election season, consistent efforts must be made for monitoring successful implementation of the scheme. This will provide relief to thousands of families in a time-bound manner, enabling them to tap into additional financial opportunities and welfare benefits.

The II and III-tier cities in India also need to focus on provisioning for low-income/affordable housing to avoid vast pockets of land within the city from becoming unauthorised colonies.

A sound regularisation programme with dedicated handholding support is the only way forward to enable upgradation of these colonies. This programme must be holistically planned with proper provisioning for basic infrastructure and social services by the local authorities in close consultation with residents.

This way, the government has a golden opportunity to recognise the inherent and organic way in which the city-makers, ie, the poor, have built the city over decades, which the post-colonial understanding of city planning in the Global South has historically ignored.

(Aditya Ajith and Ritu Kataria are co-founders of Corurban Foundation, a social impact organization based out of Delhi-NCR working on providing access to infrastructure in rural and urban low-income communities. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the authors' own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)

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Delhis Unauthorised Colonies: An Issue Only for the Election Season? - The Quint

Happy New Year! While salutations of akemashite omedet gozaimasu (Happy New Year) filled the air in most parts of the country at the start of the month, my home was filled with exclamations of a different sort.

So thats where the lost karuta game card went, I heard my wife shout. Try to keep your dried ramen snacks in your mouth in the future, not under the sofa! that was her again, as was, Ooh, its been dead quite a while, I think. That last one came upon the discovery of a cockroach husk found under the refrigerator.

The Japanese have a lovely custom called sji, or big cleaning, during the New Year holidays. Thats when we clean the dark corners, hard-to-reach spots and most bothersome places in our homes. I say its a lovely custom, but I graciously let my wife take the lead on doing most of it. She is the Japanese one in our relationship, after all, and I would never dream of cultural appropriation. In Scotland, a certain amount of dirt and mess is believed not only to build character but antibodies, too.

However, I do my part to keep our son busy so that the yearly ritual can take place without any obstacles. And, caught with the cleaning bug, I thought Id tidy up a years worth of news tidbits from Japan in order to retain some essential stories and wisdom for 2022. May this small service in some way compensate for errant strands of dried ramen found in inappropriate spots around my home.

What if control of outer space were left to the Japanese? Well, maybe not all of it, but wouldnt it be nice if Japan played a bigger role in extraterrestrial affairs?

This thought came to me when rereading an article from around the beginning of last year stating that Sumitomo Forestry and Kyoto University were partnering to try to construct wooden satellites, which would burn up upon re-entry to Earth, and thus cut down on space junk.

Western culture portrays space as the final frontier, or at least Star Trek does. For me, this narrative evokes an image of brave pioneers chopping down obstacles and pacifying native inhabitants in order to clear a path for colonization. Space entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk tend to give the same impression.

Other highly militarized nations such as Russia and China seem to enjoy blowing things up in space, and testing weapons there. So I think a little more wabi-sabi could be brought to the inky blackness. That is, an appreciation for and accommodation with the beauty of natures complexities and imperfections, rather than an attempt to bring things under complete human mastery.

Before his fifth birthday last year, my son went through an intense Astro Boy phase. The now decades-old anime depicts the struggles of a robot boys acceptance into human society. Surely, this Cant we all just get along? message is a better way to step into the future or the galaxy than visions of Klingon wars or chest-bursting Alien nightmares? (That film, by the way, is set in 2122, 100 years from now. Kids born today may actually live to see it come to fruition!)

If Japan did rule space, those warp-speed portals would run like clockwork relatively speaking. If the Sol System to Alpha Centauri Express were just a minute out, the unfortunate pilot would be scrubbing Portaloos on Pluto for a week.

I think we need a word that is equivalent to punctual but negative. We Scots like to think of ourselves as cannily frugal. Some others, such as Englands Samuel Johnson, have characterized this as tight-fistedness. You may be praised as meticulous, but take it too far and you will be criticized as fussy. But where is the word or expression for someone who is too fussily concerned about punctuality?

In November, it was revealed that a JR West train driver was suing his employers after he was docked 56 for driving his empty shinkansen to the depot a minute later than scheduled. I like an on-time train as much as the next person, but surely this is a clear case of punctual-retentiveness? Or hyper-punctuality Japonica disorder?

Fuhin the panda is given some traditional new year decorations to bring in 2022. The result, predictably, is very cute. | KYODO

In an alternative career teaching English, I have a student in her 60s who refers to herself as bs-seito, which you could translate as student running wild. She refers to herself in this way to apologize whenever she gives an awkward answer to my innocuous conversation-starter questions. She doesnt have a television or smartphone, and tends to profess a dislike of any cultural staple I put forward as an easy topic that couldnt fail to elicit a positive response: I dont like the Beatles. They have such small faces, or, I cant pick a favorite temple in Kyoto, I hate the place.

Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara was once dubbed bs-rjin, or old man running wild, for going off on far-right tangents in the media.

Last year showed that albeit to a lesser degree than Ishiharas extremism, and in a less endearing way than my students quirkiness a certain generation of Japanese politicians is still prone to running wild while on mic. There are so many examples I could pick out, but the gold medal has to go to former Prime Minister Yoshiro Moris sexist gaffe ahead of the Olympics. The then-83-year-old, and then-President of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee said, If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying.

Moving forward, I dont think we should just forget this kind of comment, or shrug it off with an excuse like, 83-year-old men will be 83-year-old men. Due to an ageing population and declining birth rate, younger Japanese are really going to have to push hard to exert greater influence. Well never get rid of fax machines at this rate!

But if I ever had to win the votes and affection of Japans disadvantaged youth, or any depressed underclass for that matter, 2021 taught me how to do it.

When Ueno Zoos panda Shin Shin gave birth to twins in June, shares in hospitality venues nearby were reported to have jumped in value in anticipation of a glut of visitors to the zoo. Hospitality venues no doubt deserve a boost, given the coronavirus-related difficulties they have had to put up with in recent times. But what is it with pandas?

Japan even has an expression that encapsulates the emotional, or dare I say irrational, appeal that pandas provoke: hitoyose panda. This literally refers to a panda that can draw in crowds of people, but it has been applied to celebrity politicians who may not know much about politics, but will nevertheless draw in voters. Were not expecting you to actually do much, this expression suggests, just sit there and look cute, and youll nevertheless attract a certain kind of voter.

Just sitting there and munching bamboo might be a winner if youre Shin Shin, but your spouse isnt likely to find it cute if you sit around munching dried ramen snacks while they clean. At least, thats what the sji has taught me.

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A shinkansen to space (and other news found beneath the sofa) - The Japan Times

Some fans were irritated with the way the show ends and how quickly the robots change their mind about humans. Penny finds the solution to the robot problem by helping one android when it's injured, much as Will does in the first season with, uh, Robot. In a discussion of the last episode, "Trust," on the r/lostinspace subreddit, u/warren_peace66 cracked the joke, "Hey kids, don't make robots your slaves to pilot your spacecraft. Make friends with them instead."

U/TrashAccount2908 similarly wrote that it was way too easy for the robots to change course on killing humanity: "Okay, so all the alien robots needed was for someone to show compassion and they go from murderous to friendly, I don't get it." U/relloek concurred, calling the shift "bad and lame writing."

While u/Schwartzy94 still liked the ending, "One thing I didnt like at all how easily the robots just switched sides when penny and her friends helped them... Way too easy and made the og robot and will's scene in the first season not as special." The plot beat hasn't completely ruined the series finale of "Lost in Space" for fans, but it wasn't exactly embraced by already frustrated viewers either.

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The Lost In Space Season 3 Scene That Went Too Far - Looper

What are some new restaurants near me?

Its not a secret that restauranteurs have been feistily fighting for survival over the last two years. Knowing this, its encouraging to see new places continue to open up in Collin County, where, also not a secret, we love to dine out.

These ten Collin County restaurants opened in 2021 (or just before) and are working hard to make a name for themselves as they invite first-timers to dine with them, and hope for their return. Among them might be your new favorite spot!

5872 TX-121 | #104 | Plano

Suburban Yacht Clubs coastal cantina invites guests to embrace the tide and sail away with tropical cocktails and chef-driven Boardwalk fare. While the restaurants West Coast-inspired atmosphere suggests that its a place for seafood-only, the menu is heavily inspired by Californias Baja region and features beachy street food, sandwiches, and a creative selection of Drinking Snacks like Queso and Pepitas or Chili Salt and Lime Edamame.

1016 E. 15th Street | Plano

At Bar-Ranch, all of the steaks come fromthe best prime and prime plus beef consisting of 100%Koroge Washu,Akaushi, American Wagyu and Aberdeen Angus.They choose only the best prime cuts, which are aged for a minimum of 30 days in their custom aging room (with a dry-aging process that incorporates Himalayan salt for an outstanding flavor).

The lunch menu includes bread bowls and soups, dry-aged burgers, and of course, amazing steaks. Or, come for dinner and enjoy a featured dinner for two. Bonus: they have Whiskey Keep and Steak Locker memberships.

5454 Main Street | #123 | Frisco

Hoffs Steak and Steins is a Texas-German-style steak house that opened its doors near Toyota Stadium in 2021 (in the former British Lion space). Similar to the lively German-inspired establishments youll find in central Texas, Hoffs is known for great food, a large beer selection, and a relaxed atmosphere.

Sit upstairs, sit downstairs, or relax in Adirondack chairs in Hoffs Texas Beer Garden.This meat-centric steakhouse offers a range of artisan steaks, ribs and beef that is carefully sourced from local farms for the best flavor and texture. Stop by for brunch on the weekend.

104 S. Chestnut Street | McKinney

What started as a food truck has transformed into one of downtown McKinneys most eclectic little food joints, Guave Tree Cuban Cafe and Cantina. The counter-order menu has Cuban streetfood favorites like El Cubano with fresh Plantain Chips and Braised Shredded Flank Steak with Black Beans. Try the Loaded Yuca Fries and pair them with a Mojito. Youll find guava in most of their sauces, as well as in the must-try guava and cream cheese puffed pastry.

Guavas expansive patio is family and dog-friendly and often features live music on Saturday nights. By the way, they still have the food truck and you can book it for your next event!

1400 Coit Road | Plano

Salad and Go is on a mission to debunk the myth that you cant eat healthy while on the go, nor do healthy meals have to be expensive. Their drive-through salad concept is simple, straightforward, convenient, and best of all affordable.

All of their hearty, made-to-order salads and wraps are only $5.74,while their 24-ounce drinks are just $1, proving that fast food can be good food. Youll also find cold-brew iced coffees, organic teas and house-made lemonades. In a hurry? Pre-order what you want on Salad and Gosapp.

1070 Watters Creek Boulevard | Allen

Have you ever wanted to take your dog out for a drink? Now you can!MUTTS Canine Cantinas off-leash dog park, bar and grill caters to both two-legged and four-legged friends alike! Its a place where like-minded peeps and friendly pups can eat, drink, play or even have a birthday pawty!

Peeps can try the Mutts Burger or the Grilled Cheese and Hot Pickle Sandwich, while their pups might delight in a Pupsicle (frozen peanut butter and beef broth stick) or a Doggie Dog (a bite-sized beef frank).

5755 Grandscape Boulevard | The Colony

Windmills Brewery is a creative space with an intellectual feel, a place where all age groups can enjoy great music, books, craft beer and food. Windmills marries comfortable seating, a wide stage area, fresh food and handcrafted beers to create a destination that immediately feels comfortable whether youre visiting for the first time or the hundredth.

Eclectic live music and thousands of books make Windmills a truly unique and special place. Whether youre here for a drink or a show, consider adding some Lemon Cumin Shrimp, a Bourbon Ribeye or some Cheese Curds Pakora. The Indian-inspired menu includes a weekend brunch and is sure to impress.

6495 Dallas Parkway | Suite 200 | Frisco

Proudly serve veteran-owned coffee and tea, this cozy coffee house and cafe believes your coffee should be as strong as your country (and that goes for your tea too). American Coffee and Tea brews a cup thats bold, just like the veterans that have fought for all of our freedoms for over two centuries.

The extensive coffee menu is as impressive as the food options, which include breakfast sandwiches, wraps, salads, and delicious baked goods. Feel free to use the drive-through if youre in a hurry, but youll appreciate the many respectful nods to Veterans throughout the interior. The cafe is on the small side, but a cozy couch, plenty of tables and friendly, loyal patrons give this place home away from home potential.

301 Eldorado Parkway | McKinney

All the rage these days, The Stix Icehouse is the latest indoor/outdoor playground to hit Collin County. The 14-acre complex offers food and drink for all ages, as well as a nine-hole disc golf course, Wiffle ball, corn hole, ping pong, swings, a treehouse, and a large space available for events.

Inspired by some of your favorite Texas watering holes, Stix is a fun, chill place where the community can hang out and connect with one another. Kids can safely run free while adults enjoy good company, drinks, and a robust menu of good ol American comfort food. Stix is the vision of Don Day, downtown McKinney advocate, and food and beverage veterans Mike Luther and Rae Phillips-Luther (Jamba Juice, Zoes Kitchen, UP Inspired Kitchen).

1104 E. 14th Street | Plano

The same folks who brought us Urban Crust (woodfired pizza) and Urban Rio (Mexican food) opened a seafood spot in downtown Plano in 2021. Inspired by New England destinations like Nantucket and Boston, Urban Seafood Companys menu features coastal favorites like a warm lobster roll, wood-grilled fish specials and house-made pasta dishes.

Try the fresh oyster bar with daily offerings sourced from the East Coast and beyond, shucked bar-side. A hearty bowl of Cioppino might entice you, or perhaps the Nantucket Seafood Pasta.

Another favorite of ours that opened this year? The Puttery at Grandscape. Check it out!

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10 of the best new restaurants in Collin County you probably missed in 2021 - Local Profile

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has once again stated his growing concern about the massive decline in the global population.

Musk stated that it isn't just the population decrease that he is worried about, but at the same time a population extinction due to the expansion of the sun.

According to Express, the most notable mass extinction experienced on Earth was the 66 million-year-old asteroid that took off the dinosaurs, from the five mass extinction events the Earth has experienced.

As a result of the asteroid collision, 76% of the world's species were wiped off.

The asteroid's destruction was unprecedented.

The disturbing new study that indicated the Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction enraged the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, which made him turn to social media to express his views on the recent problem.

He shared his take with this recent study to his more than 70.6 million followers on Twitter as he thinks there is a way to avert the extinction of the human species.

Musk Tweeted, "There is a 100 [percent] chance of *all* species extinction due to expansion of the sun unless humanity makes life multi-planetary."

The CEO wants people to feel the weighing seriousness of the drastic decrease in birth rate, hoping to encourage other people to take action on it.

Following a general decline in birth rate amid the pandemic, the entrepreneur shared his worries in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

In the US, the country's lowest number of births since 1979 was experienced during 2019 to 2020, the birth rate fell 4%.

Following a general fall in birthrate amid the pandemic, the CEO is also worried that the drastic and continuous fall in the birth rate might affect the future population on Mars.

With that, the entrepreneur expressed his concerns in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Jan.19.

Musk, the creator and CEO of the space exploration business SpaceX, wants to establish a human colony on Mars.

In a recent podcast, he stated that SpaceX's Starship rocket will land humans on the planet in five to ten years.

However, he claims that if the population catastrophe continues, there will not be enough people to populate Mars.

The study was led by biologists from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France, and published in Biological Reviews.

Recalling that the five previous extinctions of biodiversity were caused by natural phenomena,

Experts warn that the sixth mass extinction is already underway and has been caused entirely by human beings and their activities

Macrareported that the lead author of the study and research professor at the UH Manoa Pacific Biosciences Research Center in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), stated that "Including invertebrates was critical in establishing that we are truly witnessing the onset of the Sixth Mass Extinction in Earth's history.

Unfortunately, 7.5% and 13% of its two million known species have already been lost to extinction on Earth since the year 1500,

Read Also: Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites Are Cat Magnets; Can It Cause Internet Problems?

Since 1960s, there has been a consistent downward trend experienced in the global birthrate as reported by World Bank.

According to Business Insider, a market research firm on the World Economic Forum website, CEO of Ipsos, Darrell Bricker, stated that the Economic uncertainties the COVID-19 pandemic brought contributed massively to the downward trend of birthrates.

The falling birthrate isn't just experienced in the US, the phenomenon is also seen in China and India, which are two of the most populous countries in the world.

The birth rate in China dropped to a record low of 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021 as recorded by China's Department of Statistics.

This happened despite the country permitting couples to have up to three children and scrapping up its decades-old one-child policy in 2016.

In addition to that, as reported by the Times of India, India's fertility rate fell below a critical replacement level last year.

Related Article: Elon Musk Is Captain Planet: SpaceX Wants to Turn Carbon Dioxide to Rocket Fuel, But Is It Possible?

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SpaceX Elon Musk: Population Decline Will Negatively Affect Mars Colonization, Provides Mass Extinction 'Solution' - iTech Post

In 2020, scientists with the European Space Agency announced that they had successfully used bacteria to extract rare earth minerals from basalt inside a small bioreactor onboard the International Space Station. The experiment was meant to simulate the microbial harvesting of elements from rocks similar to those found on the Moon and Mars, a process called biomining. Its success suggested genuine potential for what may seem like a science fiction future: using microbes to extract useful materials on the Moon, Mars, and beyond that can sustain space colonies.

If humans ever hope to establish permanent settlements elsewhere in the solar system, we are going to need a steady supply of water; oxygen; essential nutrients for plant nutrition as well as our own; gaseous elements like hydrogen, nitrogen, and helium to make fuel; and metals like iron, copper, and vanadium for structures and electronic components. Luckily, these all can be obtained from extraterrestrial rocks, and microorganisms can help.

Right now on Earth, specialized microbes are used to leach precious metals from rocks. Around 20-25% of copper and 5% of gold are harvested with biomining. Bacteria can also extract zinc, nickel, cobalt, uranium, and various other elements straight from mineral ores. What if we could do the same thing in space? The process would require relatively little energy and mitigate the need to import materials from Earth.

Charles S. Cockell and Rosa Santomartino, scientists at the UK Centre for Astrobiology and the University of Edinburgh, along with Luis Zea, an assistant research professor in aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado, are a few of the thinkers trying to lay the groundwork for space-based biomining. In a recent article published in the journal Extremophiles, they explained how it might work.

For starters, any biomining would require liquid water and need to take place in sophisticated bioreactors where internal conditions can be controlled. Bioreactors would protect microbes from damaging radiation, hold in oxygen if the microbes require it, maintain internal pressure, and keep a suitable temperature. Regolith and rock would be loaded in, then microorganisms added depending upon the material type and what elements users seek to extract. After a certain amount of time, the bioreactor is opened and the materials inside removed for use.

Thanks to new, exciting advances in bioengineering, microorganisms could be engineered to improve their biomining abilities.

Although synthetic biology applications to biomining are still young, approaches to ameliorate resistance to space conditions, to enhance extraction of elements under these, or overcome issues, could be an excellent opportunity for space biomining, Cockell, Santomartino, and Zea write.

As biomining has already been demonstrated to work in small quantitites in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station, a next logical location to try it would be on the surface of the Moon in a larger bioreactor. After all, water is widely available on the lunar surface and lunar regolith (soil) contains heaps of useful elements. Such a specialized experiment would be difficult to perform robotically, however, and thus would likely require human boots on the ground, a tall task in and of itself.

If we want those boots to stay there long term, however, we will probably need to sort out biomining. Maintaining a constant supply line from Earth would be taxing and treacherous, but biomining has the potential to make space colonies self-sustaining. Pair the practice with advanced 3D printing, and we may just have a blueprint for long-term human habitation of the solar system.

See original here:

How biomining could sustain space colonies - Big Think

[Ed. note: This article contains major spoilers for The Expanse books and the end of the TV show.]

The American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn first coined the phrase paradigm shift in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe the point at which scientists are confronted by a phenomenon that proves their previous understanding of how the universe worked was flawed. While Kuhn was describing transitions like the move from Newtonian mechanics to quantum mechanics, the term became a useful way to talk about other major changes in the way humans saw the world, from the first images of Earth from space jumpstarting the environmentalist movement, to the way COVID-19 changed how people view remote work.

The best science fiction isnt about predicting the future but commenting on the present, and The Expanse ultimately reflected on all the ways humanity has dealt with recent paradigm shifts. Throughout the series six seasons spread across Syfy and Amazon, the origins, abilities, and motives of the shows aliens remained fairly cryptic.

But Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who wrote the series of science fiction novels the show is based on under the pen name James S. A. Corey, seemed to mostly be interested in how humans handled the discovery of extraterrestrial technology. Those extraterrestrials were never really characters so much as an external pressure that pushed the shows various characters and political factions to quickly adapt.

Plots involving the protomolecule, a sort of self-sustaining probe sent to Earths solar system by a long extinct alien civilization, often felt at odds with the very recognizably human stories that the writers of The Expanse were otherwise telling. Viewers initially tuning in to the tales of the well meaning and scrappy crew of the Rocinante, or the sci-fi noir of Detective Josephus Miller investigating a disappearance that turns out to be at the heart of a conspiracy, might have been understandably baffled as the stakes ramped up to include an asteroid gaining sentience and heading on a collision course to Earth.

That divide was perhaps never as keenly felt than in the series sixth and final season, which wraps on Friday, where most of the alien weirdness was taking place in an entirely different solar system from the main action, on a Martian colony called Laconia. Considering the truncated length of the final season, and that the interludes on Laconia had little payoff beyond setting up a theoretical spinoff, its easy to feel like time spent there was replacing more moments of sweet bonding on the Rocinante, or tense standoffs between the United Nations fleet and the Belter Free Navy. Instead, precious screen time was dedicated to worrying about how some dog-like aliens were able to resurrect people.

Yet the brilliance of The Expanse was in placing almost all of the agency in the hands of its human characters. The creators of the protomolecule had the fairly benevolent desire to explore the galaxy and share it with other lifeforms, but their work became the center of numerous all-too-recognizable conflicts.

The protomolecule kills or transforms most people who come into contact with it, but it has no real malice. In fact, the vast majority of the harm it causes is directly orchestrated by humans looking to understand and weaponize it. In season 1, the ruthless tycoon Jules-Pierre Mao conspired to kill hundreds of thousands of Belters as part of an experiment designed to unleash the protomolecules power, and worked with Mars to create human-protomolecule hybrids to use as super soldiers.

And so, the protomolecule set off a new arms race, with various factions scheming to ensure they werent left behind (or at the mercy of the protomolecule). Rocinante crew member Naomi Nagata secretly gave a sample to Belter leader Fred Johnson, only to have it fall into the hands of Marcos Inaros after his loyalists assassinated Johnson. Inaros in turn sold it to the rogue Martian admiral Winston Duarte in exchange for the technology Inaros used to attack Earth.

While its origins may be extraordinary, the paradigm shift of the protomolecule has more in common with the early days of nuclear physics than more conventional first contact stories. As the series progressed, the writers effectively retread post-Cold War human history with the protomolecule serving as the primary catalyst for change. Individual leaders certainly had huge influences on how the people they represented responded to the all-too-interesting times they were living in. But the primary conflict always boiled down to how well a faction could react to radical changes in the world order they were used to.

The Martian marine Bobbie Draper represented successful, if turbulent, adaptation to the times. She was betrayed by her own people, the sole survivor of an attack by a protomolecule-human hybrid and wound up defecting to the United Nations to uncover the conspiracy. She was cleared of treason but then got in trouble again when the first Ring appeared and she tried to diffuse the situation there but her own soldiers disobeyed her orders to stand down.

Mars, which built its civilization on noble sacrifice for a terraforming project that would benefit future generations, all but collapsed when the Ring gates gave its citizens the chance to immediately live free under blue skies. Bobbie struggled to find new purpose, at first resorting to criminal activity, but then choosing a different path after seeing the harm her actions caused. She became a symbol for cooperation between old enemies as she allied herself with United Nations Secretary General Chrisjen Avasarala, and even helped push Avasarala to rethink her previously monstrous treatment of Belters.

Duarte expresses many of the same emotions Bobby went through in a monologue that serves as one of the most powerful moments of season 6. He mourns the dream that he and his people lost while sharing his ambitions for Laconia as a new force in the galaxy. I needed something to make it more than just death, he said. I needed to make it a sacrifice.

Ultimately, his position of power helps sidestep much of the awkwardness Bobbie experienced: While all of The Expanses protagonists are focused on stopping Inaros, the Belter leader is just being used by Duarte as a distraction so he is unhindered in his efforts to learn more about the technology of the Ring Builders and use it to make himself the self-appointed protector of the newly expanded galaxy. The breakthrough he reached is only hinted at within the finale, but in the books Duarte turns Laconia into a new empire.

The distance between whats happening on Laconia and the fight against the Free Navy may seem great, but the two plots are tightly connected. Duarte is a symptom of the collapse of Mars that Earth initially viewed as a victory, their long-time rivals demoralized and fragmented, and hes empowered by the desperate Belters using violence to get the Inners to take them seriously. The fact that almost everyone in the show is oblivious to what is happening on Laconia underscores one of the defining themes of the show: humanity is terrible at predicting the next threat because we have such a hard time looking beyond our current paradigms.

Those few people who can see what is on the horizon must struggle to make themselves heard, often fighting entrenched interests. Holden has a unique connection to the protomolecule, which allowed it to communicate with him through a manifestation of his dead friend Miller. He understands its incredible power and always pushes humanity to work together to deal with the danger it poses, constantly appealing to the better natures of the more morally ambiguous people around him.

That connection allowed him to understand that something was becoming angered by humanity traversing the galaxy. In season 6, that force took action by destroying ships. Like the Ring Builders, the new threat is not something that people can talk to. Its more akin to climate change, a terrible side effect to the rapid expansion of human progress that can only really be grappled with through collective action the kind of cooperation Holden urges throughout the series, exasperating the powers that be even if he does earn credibility by repeatedly saving the world.

The Expanse could have used more time to give its rich characters the sendoffs they deserved and explore the ways that the Ring gates and scientific advancements made with the protomolecule were changing the world. Yet the final season stayed close to its central themes by showing that dramatic change is inevitable, but humanity should meet new innovations and crisis with collaboration to make the best decisions possible. The writers ended the show on an optimistic note, with the creation of a new governing board for Ring travel formed with the help of Holden and all of the factions that started the series at each others throats. The transportation union not only allows for safe exploration of the galaxy but finally places the perpetually oppressed denizens of the Asteroid Belt on the same level as the residents of Earth and Mars. A new threat is coming from beyond the Ring, but the crew of the Rocinante once again saved the day and earned themselves the status of legends not only within the shows universe but within science fiction canon.

Independence Day, Watchmen, and Star Trek imagined that making first contact with aliens whether violent or peaceful would get humanity to put aside our differences and work towards something greater than ourselves. Abraham and Franck took a less simplistic view but one that still feels radically optimistic at a time when factionalism seems more pronounced than ever. With a crew representing people from Earth, Mars, and the Belt who have repeatedly saved humanity by acting as a voice of reason, the Rocinante could feel as utopian as the U.S.S. Enterprise.

The future of The Expanse is very recognizable in a world when space exploration is being dominated by billionaires who imagine Earth will eventually be a place people can just visit on vacation. If we do take to the stars en masse, we will likely bring with it all the worst aspects of capitalism and nationalism imagined in The Expanse. Yet, if were lucky, well also heed the shows message by occasionally pausing to question our assumptions about the way the world works and seeing if we can actually build something better.

The Expanse is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Read more:

The Expanse season 6 used aliens for a political message in the end - Polygon

Destiny 2 players will revisit Mars with The Witch Queen expansion--despite the fact that the planet was removed from the game with the Beyond Light expansion. Rumors about Mars returning to Destiny 2 began when the first The Witch Queen trailer showed Ikora glaring at her evidence board of photos, maps, and alchemic signs while surrounded by red terrain. Fans later noticed a Destiny 1 Mars map on her board which is easier to see from Bungie's teaser clips that gave a closer look at the board. The Game Awards live-action trailer explained that we revisit Mars for the first mission and meet the Light-bearing Savathun. It seems similar to how we ventured to Phobos, a moon of Mars, at the start of Destiny 1's expansion, The Taken King.

We've dug into what we've seen of The Witch Queen and the lore of Mars to run down every lingering lore thread and story tidbit that you might need to know about heading into the expansion.

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Now Playing: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen - The Game Awards Trailer

In the lore of Destiny, Mars has been a beacon for the Light and Darkness for centuries, but the live-action trailer creates more puzzling connections between the two. Firstly, I noticed the out-of-place crop field on Mars within a boundary that reminded me of the dark Taken splotches, which have a bright outline. Remembering that I've seen this crop field before, I looked up The Witch Queen's Collector's Edition and found that the photo of the Martian crop field is there as well. It seems like whatever is happening within the boundary is not from the present day--and if that's the case, then this is most likely an image from the Golden Age on Mars.

In Year 1 of Destiny 1, a pre-Golden Age opening cinematic showed three astronauts during the Ares One mission witness the Traveler in person for the first time while it was terraforming Mars, making it another habitable world of the solar system. Habitable conditions led to colonies, including agriculture. A Golden Age agriculture container in the wreckage of the Nessus colony ship proves that crops were a part of colonizing. Like Mercury, Mars could've been a completely different place when it was first terraformed. Even some Destiny concept art shows a different type of Mars during early exploration, including an area that looks like a swamp.

An old postcard from the Martian city named Freehold illustrated it as one of humanity's great achievements: a home away from home in Meridian Bay. But then the Darkness came and swept the Bay under the red dunes and led the solar system into the Dark Age. A sparrow ride through The Buried City, the remains of Freehold, revealed historic signage of Clovis Bray, Daito, and the Off World Transit (OWT) railway. With the absence of Earthlings, extraterrestrial enemies grew their presence on Mars with their Vex structures and Cabal zones.

The Vex created a gateway with the Darkness using portals to the Black Garden. In the lore piece Legend: The Black Garden, a Guardian named Pujari tells their vision of the Garden. "The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason." Pujari is referring to Mars as the iron world and signifying its mysterious relation to the Black Garden.

A Ghost scan in The Cistern on Nessus says, "A Conflux that's directly connected to Mars. The Vex there are having a heck of a time with the Red Legion, it seems like. 'Garden gate gone. Bay lost. Bastion fallen.' Huh." The Vex lost their strongholds on Mars while fighting Red Legion forces during the Red War in Destiny 2. It might be why we see Red Legion Psions and Cabal ships aggressively attack Savathun's Dreadnaught-looking ship in the live-action trailer.

Destiny 2's Warmind expansion took us to the icy caps of Hellas Basin, where something ancient lurked beneath Mars. Warsats crashing into the planet freed the banished son of Oryx named Nokris and the Hive God Xol--both were trapped under the Martian glaciers by the AI Warmind called Rasputin, whose core sat at BrayTech Futurescape. Ana Bray called Rasputin the most powerful weapon in the entire solar system so Xol sought to destroy the AI while Nokris commanded his Hive. Yet, we don't exactly know what attracted them to Mars.

A lore piece from Season of Arrivals may give a clue. During one mission, Ana Bray thanks the Guardian after you return an item to her called Helsom's Journal. In real life, Matt Helsom worked with Vicarious Visions and Bungie as senior environment artist and passed away in 2020. In the game, Helsom was a Golden Age xenoarchaeologist. Bungie's tribute to the artist through Ana Bray contains an interesting phrase about Mars. "He believed there were instances of contact between extrasolar species and humanity, long before the Traveler." Evidence from the Shadowkeep lore book Revelations proves that Darkness existed in our solar system pre-Collapse, hidden beneath our Moon's surface.

With the arrival of the Black Fleet, it was time to say goodbye to Mars and Rasputin, for now. In the view from Braytech Futurescape sat a gargantuan Pyramid ship. Season of Arrivals was about the new Tree of Silver Wings within the terraformed Cradle known as Last Eden on Jupiter's moon, Io. Ikora told our Guardian during the Red War that the Cradle and Io still had remnants of the Light since it was the last place the Traveler touched. Savathun interacted with Guardians for the first time during this season when she brought us into her Ascendant Court--preventing us from seeking the Pyramid ship's gift, the Seed of Silver Wings. It seemed like it was a different seed than the one from the Forsaken expansion where we received a Seed of Light through trees that grew from the Traveler's Light pulses on Io. This is relevant to the upcoming expansion because a perplexing scene in the live-action trailer showed a Cradle on Mars.

In the Tenebrous Tunnels mission on Mars, our Ghost says, "This rail system was endless. It connected colonies, dig sites. I'm even detecting a line that runs all the way up to the Cradle at the North Pole." However, this may conflict with the fact that Clovis Bray's research facility on Mars is also called the Cradle of Invention. Knowing that the Pyramid ship was viewable from BrayTech Futurescape, both of these Cradles might be near one another. The Exotic Titan armor called Ruin Wings from Destiny's Dark Below expansion says, "In the Garden grows a tree of silver wings. The leaves are ruin, the bark disaster. Of the seeds we do not speak." This may indicate that there are more seeds out there in other Cradles.

Myelin Games tackled many of the clues about the Cradle on Mars in their video covering the trailer and its themes. A cryptic Chartres-inspired labyrinth design seen recurringly related to the Light or the Darkness was shown at the center of the Cradle. I also noticed this symbol on The Singular Exegete lore book that had the labyrinth design inside Eris Morn's symbol and on the Psychometer Replica that holds the Hive Ghost shell in The Witch Queen Collector's Edition. Myelin also pointed out that Savathun's ship sits above the Martian Cradle like the Pyramid ships on Io in Season of Arrivals and how Savathun could have taken the Pyramid ship from Mars and placed it inside her Throne World. Removing a Pyramid ship could also free Mars from the anomaly that has hidden it, which would explain why we can reach the planet in The Witch Queen.

Mars, Io, Titan, and Mercury were taken by the Black Fleet by the end of the Season of Arrivals. A lore book called Captain's Log from the Season of the Chosen's Presage mission mentioned that in place of Mars lies an anomaly. In Presage, we discover that Cabal Emperor Calus was onboard the Glykon ship with his crew, heading to the anomaly. He was using the Crown of Sorrow, created by Savathun, to run experiments on the Scorn by merging minds as a way to communicate with The Entity, the intelligence that seems to be behind the powers of the Darkness. Interestingly, a scan from Presage reads, "It recounts a descent into the anomaly...Gravitational oscillations broke and reformed the Glykon many times over. It is as if every permutation of the ship's existence collided in one space." The Glykon was rearranged after contact with the anomaly, which suggests that the same thing could happen with Mars. We could be seeing various parts of Mars's existence becoming mushed into one.

In Season of the Lost, a conversation between Lord Saladin and Valus Or'ohk in the Peacebond lore tells us that there are Hive tombships near the Mars anomaly. Although the conversation turns towards Xivu Arath, those ships may be Savathun's preparations for her next trick at the end of the Season.

Even though we know Mars is returning, we don't know where the first mission is set or if we'll get more of Mars after that mission. However, we do know that Savathun's Throne World will be an explorable destination with many secrets.

Destiny 2 The Witch Queen launches on February 22.

Read the rest here:

Mars Remains Enigmatic As Ever Leading Up To Destiny 2 The Witch Queen - GameSpot