Category Archives: Mars Colony

My science magazine made an off-handed comment this month about whether aliens might pass up Earth because weve made such a mess of the environment.

It is the kind of comment you hear once in a while from the sci-fi clique. From the pop-culture we know for a fact that aliens would openly land and stay in order to force us to solve our worlds problems. Otherwise we get obliterated. Its about as simple as that.

We love to speculate what aliens would do. And we love to speculate what or how we might benefit or not from their actions.

In my usual curmudgeon style, I reversed the magazines assessment. Aliens would love it here, perhaps as a vacation spot, because our polluted environment matches their own. After all, why do we think aliens are neat freaks? I am entertained by the idea of Martians being sloppy and fat and burp a lot.

One image is the commander of the alien ship that has just landed in East Tennessee who inspects a house by running his (its) finger along the top of the door lintel looking for dust buildup. I can see where his appendage is of a slightly soluble material and he leaves a ghastly streak through too much waxy buildup! From that one analysis the Commander determines earthlings are going to have to do better, or else. But, gee whiz, wouldnt you just hate an uppity alien telling us how to live?

In the past, we were always threatened with annihilation if we didnt clean up our act. Nowadays maybe theyll just take away our cell phones.

Stay tuned, of course, the commanders space maids (with a new guest star team member) will reinspect and make new demands again next week, same time, same station.

Because we are a failed and sinful but noble race, aliens are challenged to provoke us to do better and correct our sins. They also never seemed to appreciate Beethoven or Jeff Beck. Except, of course, as humans we cant do better because we are human. Arent we destined to sin? Which leads me to speculate if the likes of Idi Amin or Pol Pot or Hitler were never threatened by an alien?

Which means if the Martians or Uranus-ians wished to tour Iris Glen instead of Roan Mountain we ought not be offended.

If Iris Glen would be an alien attraction, with hundreds of likes, doesnt that explain why Ray Bradbury in his Martian Chronicles didnt include some kind of dump site on Mars? All those beautiful outer-space paintings and colonies never seem to have a pile of garbage or spare parts.

NASA has a priority in keeping germs out of the Mars environment using the capsule as a garbage hauler, too, which seems to also suggest very strong and sturdy garbage bags for such an extended voyage. We can only presume that any form of life we pick up on Mars wont survive the trip much less the croaky environments here. If that stowed-aboard life form can survive, then what happens? We tend to think of alien life forms as fully-functioning beings instead of germs.

Mostly, we avoid that image in the popular culture because germs would be hard for the famous alien-scientist, living a life of leisure in the quiet mountains of Carter County, to communicate with.

But then, another possibility of alien sightings is that we have already been visited and are still being visited.

This is the most newsworthy, of course. Might I even suggest we are the visitor? More than a few theologians and authors have found good reason to muse at the absurdities of self-indulgence and self-destruction. God must be laughing, some say. William Kent Krueger, a Minnesota writer of some acclaim, tells his grandkids he is as old as the universe. Well, obviously we scoff at such nonsense. Robert Fulghum is famous for saying were all made of star stuff. But if Krueger and Fulghum are right, in a wise-old-folks way, then it follows we can say with a straight face that we are still being visited by visitors from outer space.

My pal Pogo Possum said it best and I paraphrase, with apologies: I have met the alien and they is us.

Charles Moore lives in Johnson City.

Charles Moore Lives in Johnson City.

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Gee whiz! An uppity-alien tells us how to live. - Johnson City Press (subscription)

Doctor Who is currently swept up in the massive Time Lord Victorious crossover, so let's look at where the title comes from.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the first episode of the Doctor Who animated series Daleks!, "The Archive of Islos," available now on YouTube.

Currently, the Doctor Who franchise is featuring a massive and ambitious crossover:Time Lord Victorious. The multi-platform event stretches across comics books, novels, audio stories, magazines and even a new animated series. While all of these stories can be understood on their own, they are interconnected and part of a tapestry that formsTime Lord Victorious.

So, with all of this attention being given to the "Time Lord Victorious," let's look at where the title comes from. As it turns out, the answer can be found in the past of the fan-favorite television series, as the title was previously mentioned in the Doctor Who episode "The Waters of Mars."

RELATED: Doctor Who: A Mysterious Ancient Race Is Coming for the Daleks

"The Waters of Mars" aired in 2009, and it was the last special to air before David Tennant's two-part finale as the Tenth Doctor. In the episode, Tennant's Doctor was without a companion and paid a visit to Mars. There, he found the first human colony on the red planet, a group of scientists he knew, thanks to the history books, were fated to die very soon. However, since their deaths were such an important part of history, the Doctor couldn't do anything about it. While the Time Lord is known to save as many lives as he can, in this particular case, his hands were literally tied by the laws of time.

As the scientistsstarted to die one by one, the Tenth Doctor headed back to his TARDIS, ready to leave the moment as a fixed point in time. However,thisproved to be too torturous for the Doctor -- he simply couldn't let these people die, so he intervened and saved those he could, knowing full well what this would do to history. At the end of the episode, an angry Doctor, who was now contemplating his impending death, revealed why he had changed his mind because the laws of time were once enforced by the Time Lords. But he was now the only Time Lord left in existence, which means these laws were now his to command. With this, the Doctor declared himself the "Time Lord Victorious."

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Doctor Who: Where the 'Time Lord Victorious' Title Comes From - CBR - Comic Book Resources

What did the starry sky look like on the occasion of the very first Thanksgiving? And what was the state of astronomy back then? It may come as a surprise to many of you that almost everything we know about the first Thanksgiving comes from a single eyewitness report.

In September 1620, when the Mayflower finally set sail after three abortive attempts from England, there were 102 passengers and a crew of about 30 on board. When they made landfall on Cape Cod in early November, these pilgrims continued their journey to what ultimately would become Plymouth by late December, eventually forming the first permanent settlement of Europeans in New England.Sadly, about half of those passengers who made that perilous trip on the Mayflower died during the harsh winter of 1621. But those that survived were able to secure peace treaties with neighboring Native American tribes and built a largely self-sufficient economy within five years.

It was a man by the name of Edward Winslow, one of those on board the Mayflower and who survived that first frigid winter, who wrote about the first Thanksgiving. Today, in the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November. But 400 years ago, the pilgrim's first Thanksgiving took place over a three-day interval. It was a veritable feast that was considered a celebration of the harvest.

Related: A brief history of Thanksgiving turkey in space

Unfortunately, there is uncertainty as to exactly when this celebration took place. Ironically, for an event that is revered among the annual holidays today, Winslow's account written in the form of a letter did not provide a specific date and his description was relatively brief, but most reference sources today indicate that it presumably occurred sometime between late-September and mid-November.

William Bradford, Plymouth's governor in 1621, also wrote of the event in"Of Plymouth Plantation," his chronicle of the colony, but he too gave it relatively short shrift and did not write about his recollections until more than two decades after the feast itself.

Adding to the confusion, the dates referred to by Bradford, were made using the old Julian Calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII refined the Julian Calendar mathematically, because the Julian calendar system had not perfectly calculated leap years and had caused the calendar dates to become out of sync with celestial and religious events.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars amounted to 10 days. Most of the civilized world was using the Gregorian Calendar, but England, unhappy with the Church of Rome, refused to go along with the new calendar. That is why the date when the Mayflower finally began its journey across the Atlantic was listed as Sept. 6 "Old Style," whereas in the Gregorian Calendar that date is recognized as Sept. 16. They made landfall on Nov. 9 (Old Style). Not until more than a century later in 1752 would England (and its American colonies) convert to the Gregorian Calendar.

So far as the pilgrim's knowledge of astronomy was concerned, celestial navigation took the form of measuring the altitude of the North Star, Polaris at night and the sun at noon. Incidentally, Polaris wasn't as good a pole star as it is today, being 2.8 degrees from the celestial pole due to the wobbling of Earth's axis known as precession (in our time, Polaris is only two-thirds of a degree away from the celestial pole).

Navigation in those days was imprecise to say the least. While latitude was easy enough to determine on a clear night or sunny day, determining longitude was at best, an educated guess. Stormy weather encountered during the second half of their 66-day voyage pushed the Mayflower off course; their intended destination was the mouth of the Hudson River, which was considered to be North Virginia back then. But as we all know now, they actually ended up near Cape Cod, roughly several hundred miles to the northeast.

We don't know if anyone brought along a telescope a relatively new invention developed by a Dutch spectacle maker just a decade before.

Since the harvest feast might have occurred as late as mid-November, and since our own Thanksgiving celebrations also occur that month, let's turn our minds backward to Nov. 5, 1621 (Old Style), which corresponds to Nov. 15, 1621 on our current Gregorian Calendar. What would the night sky have looked like?

They were, in many respects, familiar skies. The constellations the patterns that the stars form in the heavens were the same then as now. Those stars are so distant that, although they move through space at speeds measured in miles per second and though most are traveling helter-skelter in different directions, their movements are not apparent to the human eye, even over a span of 400 years.

But there were also wanderers in the sky: the moon and the planets. On this selected night, as soon as darkness fell, a lovely sight awaited those looking low toward the southwest. There we would have seen a slender sliver of a crescent moon and hovering a few degrees to its lower left would be the dazzling "evening star," the planet Venus. Both would have been in view for a couple hours after sunset.

After they left the sky, we could look for Mars, shining brightly with a yellow-orange tinge against the dim stars of the constellation Capricornus, the sea goat. Mars set in the southwest at mid-evening, around 9 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, two more planets were ascending the east-northeast sky to take its place. Both are in the constellation of Gemini, the twins. First comes Jupiter, followed by Saturn; reminiscent of what is playing out in our current evening sky of 2020 with both planets evident after sundown in our southwest sky.

Back in 1621, these two bright luminaries mixed in with the brilliant stars of the impending winter season, led by Orion, the hunter. In all, it would have been a glorious celestial scene for any of the pilgrims who gazed skyward during that first Thanksgiving.

Related: Get ready for the 'Great Conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn

We see many stars by light that started its immense journey before our country was born. Are there any stars that are just 400 light-years away? Because of the difficulty in measuring parallaxes (distant objects' changing positions when viewed from Earth), astronomers cannot determine such distances with an accuracy of one light-year. However, the 2020 "Observer's Handbook" of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, in its table of 288 brightest stars, lists two that are above the horizon on November evenings that are 400 light-years away: Third-magnitude Algenib, the star in the lower left corner of the Great Square of Pegasus, and second-magnitude Almach, at the end of the chain of stars marking the constellation of Andromeda, the princess. If you see either of these stars on your next clear night, keep in mind that you are looking at light that started on its journey to Earth about the same time that the first pilgrims were arriving in what we now call the state of Massachusetts.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York'sHayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy forNatural History magazine, theFarmers' Almanacand other publications. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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The first Thanksgiving night sky: What did the Pilgrims see when they looked up? - Space.com

Biodiversity benefits humanity in many ways.

It helps make the global economy more resilient, it functions as an integral part of our culture and identity, and research has shown its even linked to our physical health.

However, despite its importance, Earths biodiversity has decreased significantly over the last few decades. In fact, between 1970 and 2016, the population of vertebrate species fell by 68% on average worldwide. Whats causing this global decline?

Todays graphic uses data from WWFs Living Planet Report 2020 to illustrate the biggest threats to Earths biodiversity, and the impact each threat has had globally.

Before looking at biodiversitys biggest threats, first things firsthow exactly has biodiversity changed over the years?

WWF uses the Living Planet Index (LPI) to measure biodiversity worldwide. Using data from over 4,000 different species, LPI tracks the abundance of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians across the globe.

Heres a look at each regions average decline between 1970 and 2016:

Latin America & Caribbean has seen the biggest drop in biodiversity at 94%. This regions drastic decline has been mainly driven by declining reptile, amphibian, and fish populations.

Despite varying rates of loss between regions, its clear that overall, biodiversity is on the decline. What main factors are driving this loss, and how do these threats differ from region to region?

While its challenging to create an exhaustive list, WWF has identified five major threats and shown each threats proportional impact, averaged across all regions:

Across the board, changes in land and sea use account for the largest portion of loss, making up 50% of recorded threats to biodiversity on average. This makes sense, considering that approximately one acre of the Earths rainforests is disappearing every two seconds.

Species overexploitation is the second biggest threat at 24% on average, while invasive species takes the third spot at 13%.

When looking at the regional breakdown, the order of threats in terms of biodiversity impact is relatively consistent across all regionshowever, there are a few discrepancies:

In Latin America and Caribbean, climate change has been a bigger biodiversity threat than in other regions, and this is possibly linked to an increase in natural disasters. Between 2000 and 2013, the region experienced 613 extreme climate and hydro-meteorological events, from typhoons and hurricanes to flash floods and droughts.

Another notable variation from the mean is species over-exploitation in Africa, which makes up 35% of the regions threats. This is higher than in other regions, which sit around 18-27%.

While the regional breakdowns differ slightly from place to place, one thing remains constant across the boardall species, no matter how small, play an important role in the maintenance of Earths ecosystems.

Will we continue to see a steady decline in Earths biodiversity, or will things level out in the near future?

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Visualizing the Human Impact on the Earth's Surface - Visual Capitalist

Programming the Future: Technologies That Will Change It All

Once the stuff of science fiction, we are slowly beginning to see a path towards a future imagined by writers, movie makers and the general populous. From flying cars to colonies on Mars and even the Moon, its all going to be possible for the world. Yet, lets not forget that with the advance of technologies, our opportunities to have fun and enjoy ourselves have increased multiple-fold as well. So much, that if you were a roulette fan, you would be able to find many roulette games listed at Roulette77. Today, though, we will talk about specific technologies that are going to shape our future. True, they might shape the way we play games, including roulette.

Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality

The most imminent technologies coming our way are Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality. Both of those hold a precious promise to change the way we see and imagine the world completely. AI is already sorting out through so many things. An AI can already write meaningful texts; it can play video games, beating humans with decades of experience, and more.

AI is here to contribute us up to a point completely and reshape our world in new and meaningful ways. If in the past sorting through years of information would take just that much time, today an AI can sort out through databases in the blink of an eye and produce results. Of course, there have been people who have cautioned us about AI. Bill Gates and Elon Musk are among them, but we are now seeing our future changing in a fantastic new way, and AI is part of that transformation.

Augmented reality is also an influential thing. It is being used in medicine, for example, to train surgeons where to cut and where not. In reconstructive surgeries, surgeons can use augmented reality to be able to attach the arteries and blood vessels again so that a person can have their limb back, for example.

Robotics and Robots

Yes, AI is great, but it would never actually get out there in the real world for us to see. Well, hold on to that thought because companies such as Boston Robotics are already out there and developing robots capable of quite the physical feats. That does sound a bit threatening and scary, but dont jump into apocalyptic scenarios just yet. Instead, lets think about the positives here.

For example, thanks to the work of companies such as Boston Robotics, we can all enjoy significant advancement in prosthetics. Robotic arms are going to be coming sooner than you think, and we are not just talking any robotic arm. We are talking about an autonomous limb that makes it quite possible to live a normal life.

Biometrics and Facial Recognition

Someone can use these two technologies to a detriment, but once again, its important to imagine how these pieces of technology would change the world for the better and make it a better place to live in. Facial recognition and biometrics will help with many things.

Yes, it can have a slightly utilitarian aftertaste to it, but using robots to track criminals and prevent crimes before they happen is always a good idea. Of course, biometrics and facial recognition can get a little intrusive, but this is where governments come in to ensure the safety of their citizens.

Overall, technologies throughout the 21st century are going to introduce some significant changes. We will travel across the stars, cure disease, and advance our collective human knowledge even further. Its going to be an exciting century, and there is no way to deny this.

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How Our Technologies Are Shaping the Future We Live In - Programming Insider

MY.GAMES has released a new update for Warface this week as players can now experience the Swarm Season. Yes, that is correct, they don't number seasons, they name them. This update is currently only available on PC, and it features a special co-op PvE mission under a code name inspired by 1980s horror classics. Have fun guessing what the films are as you play. They've also added in new PvP maps, four brand-new weapons, new sinister enemies, and a number of new seasonal rewards for you to collect. We have the details and a trailer for you here, as the update will come to consoles sometime next year.

At the center of the new season is the special operation, Swarm. It takes place in a town on the border of the Mojave Desert where people have started to mysteriously disappear. The Warface forces has been told that the Blackwood corporation held samples of an unknown life form from the ship of Martian colonists. The strange creatures have broken free and are now posing danger to all living beings. To combat this threat, the Warface corporation has sent out the elite Sigma-3 squad. Squad members will need to escort cargo through enemy territory and defeat the entity that controls the insects. Team coordination will be vital for success.

Gavin is the current Games Editor for Bleeding Cool. He has been a lifelong geek who can chat with you about comics, television, video games, and even pro wrestling. He can also teach you how to play Star Trek chess, be your Mercy on Overwatch, recommend random cool music, and goes rogue in D&D. He also enjoys hundreds of other geeky things that can't be covered in a single paragraph. Follow @TheGavinSheehan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vero, for random pictures and musings.

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Warface Has Released The Swarm Season Intro The Game - Bleeding Cool News

The fiftieth anniversary of the first Moon landing has been a cause for celebration, admiration, nostalgia and much contemplation. How far could space exploration and industry have travelled by now if the Apollo programme had not been cancelled, how realistic are the hopes and dreams of humanity becoming a space-dwelling, multi-planetary species and, most importantly for some, when will we take the next giant leap? In this article, based on extracts from his latest book, David Whitehouse presents readers with brief snapshots of humanitys future in space over the next 50 years up to the 100th anniversary of the Moon landing.

Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon were subdued at the International Mars Base despite the optimism on display in the EarthMoonMars link-up and the messages from world leaders. Events happening 500 million kilometres away inevitably seemed remote from the viewpoint of honorary Martians. For some it reminded them, as if they needed reminding, that they depended on Earth for their survival, being always just two resupply trips away from extinction.

The Martians, 18 of them in the International Mars Colony, eight at the Chinese base many fewer than at the lunar colonies called themselves Martians, though they had all been born on Earth and it was to Earth they would likely eventually return, even if they could never really feel at home there after their time on an alien planet. Privately some of them knew in their heart of hearts that they could not face the voyage home, and that eventually they would join the other sealed graves on Mars.

This article is based on extracts from the book Space 2069 (Icon Books, August 2020, ISBN: 9781785786471, e-book and audio book formats).

A hundred years after Apollo 11, humankind had journeyed into the solar system and faced a new barrier, one that would probably take another hundred years to overcome, if overcome it could be. From Mars we stared out towards the asteroid belt and beyond to the gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn, and the ice giants of Uranus and Neptune in the cold, dark outer reaches of the solar system beyond.

Then, in the century after the Apollo centenary we could imagine a voyage into the asteroid belt, perhaps overseeing the artificial intelligence swarms that roamed among these rocky bodies. But we could go no further. The vast distances and the long durations of the flights were too much at present, let alone the radiation. The humans that would go out there would be different. Modified, enhanced, resilient and protected in a way that space travellers had thus far not been. A human voyage to Jupiter and its remarkable moons, to Saturns moon Titan and the beguiling Enceladus belongs to the centuries to come, and to different people. Looking inward towards the Sun, we cannot live on Venus or Mercury. For humans, Earth marks the inner boundary of our reach into the solar system.

Artists graphic of a Mars transit spacecraft.

Encompassing the Moon and Mars will not just be about the journey, the technology of travel and survival in space. It will include all of the science we will discover in the next five decades. Better control of our bodies and brains, our new attitudes, our new and ancient fears which perhaps are the same. Space colonists will not be the Mayflower pilgrims of the 21st century, looking for release from old ways and oppression. We will take our tyrannies with us, along with our tragedies, fears and hopes. For the next 50 years we will take our Earth thinking with us, reflecting and amplifying the politics of our home planet, perhaps acting out its battles.

Unlike the Sea of Tranquillity where Apollo 11 landed near the Moons equator, it is very difficult to see Artemis 3s landing zone from Earth. Even under the most favourable conditions it is only a thin sliver of light seen at the very edge of the Moon. It lies in the ancient, rugged southern uplands and to find it through a telescope you have to hop from one crater to another, starting at Tycho with its impressive ray system. Then your eye moves southwards to the magnificent crater Clavius, one of the Moons oldest formations, with its picturesque curving chain of internal craters. Thence over the terraced ramparts of Morteus and beyond the dark shadows of Cabeus.

During the return to the Moon, Artemis 3 will descend under power towards the Moons shadowy south polar zone with the Sun beaming into its cabin from the left. Nearing the landing site, the Artemis astronauts will arrive at Mt Malapert, five kilometres high and with its peak almost always in sunlight. They are now in the final stage of the landing, within two craters of their destination.

Rising out of a vast shadow zone before them is the bright rim of the Shackleton Crater that marks the Moons south pole. Flying over the dark nothingness that is the depth of Shackleton, they head for its illuminated far rim. The beacon and other pieces of equipment already positioned there are flashing their red lights as they begin the terminal phase of the landing 400 metres above the primary landing zone. The astronauts slow their forward motion, look carefully at the ground below, reducing thrust, kicking up some dust as they touch down, 52 years after the last time.

A future lander on Jupiters moon Europa sometime in the 2030s.

The first missions for the pressurised rover will probably be driving around the rim of Shackleton, some 62 kilometres, and then along the ridges leading to the rims of nearby craters. In the 2040s the long-range exploration of the Moon will begin. The most exciting of these early trips will be to Mount Malapert and back, a round trip of about 350 kilometres.

A longer trip that could be considered is from Shackleton to Schrdinger Crater and back, lasting about 90 days and covering about 1100 kilometres. It is thought that Schrdinger might have mantle rocks excavated from a depth of 200 kilometres during the formation of the south polar Aitken Basin by a giant impact billions of years ago. The baseline for this mission is four astronauts working in teams of two. They would take two rovers and a logistics vehicle. In many scenarios the rovers need to be recharged for 24 hours after three days of use. They will have a top speed of about five kilometres an hour and will be driven for eight hours a day. Earlier expeditions could place what are called Portable Utility Pallets (PUPs) along the route. The PUPs would carry batteries that could be used to replace depleted ones in an emergency. Science packages could be left in Schrdinger basin. Other science activities include panoramic visual surveys, laying geophones for active seismic sensing, collecting interesting rocks and acquiring regolith samples.

With such expeditions, the Moons expanses will be opened up as we see sights we have only imagined.

A concept to explore dark lunar craters.

By 2069 humanity will have survived on Mars for 6,750 Martian days, or sols, continuously. For everyone who has been a part of it, Mars has either become more beautiful or more of a struggle with each passing day. There are those back on Earth who lived for many years on Mars and in between the planets. Having spent so long in the trackless deserts and empty plains of Mars, the Earth is overwhelming. Each breath a reminder of just how alien is the red planet, and how it never leaves your soul.

For many new Martians, the Sun is an unnerving sight, strangely shrunken, with no warmth as far as its possible to tell from inside a spacesuit or habitat. There are two hours of Martian daylight remaining. The shadows are lengthening as night-time creeps over Xanthe Terra the Golden-Yellow Land and the great outwash plains that merge into Chryse Planitia the Plain of Gold and approaches the eastern canyons of the Valley of the Mariners, overwhelming the depths of Capri and Eos Chasma.

The vehicles shadow is spreading over a terrain similar to Earths Gobi Desert; dust scattered over everything, brown and pink stains against ochre, rocky outcrops, blocky seams, rippled terrain, gravel fields, a hint of stone ramparts on the horizon. The region is termed geologically complex, which in this case meant that it has seen fire, ice and water, though that was billions of years ago. Signs of ancient water are everywhere, but the landscape is dead: only wheels and shadows move.

Its a 20-minute drive back to the base and excursion rules say its time to return. Although the base is within sight, there are illuminated waypoint markers and the rover with its human cargo makes its way automatically. They leave behind the ice drill they were using to determine ice depth in the region to be explored for resources. The drill was being used to confirm the data from the ground-penetrating radar that indicated the ice was 20 metres down. It was essential that the colony gain access to it, but just you try drilling on Mars.

To the rovers left, several hundred metres away, is a region cordoned off with blue markers. That was off-limits to almost everyone, a region that had been identified years earlier from orbit as an area where life could possibly have hung on for millions if not billions of years. A special protocol was required when approaching that area.

As the rover reached the habitat the last rays of sun were glinting on the solar panel fields and the vegetation modules. The temperature was declining rapidly. There was to be a celebration tonight.

Many new details of Jupiter have been revealed by the Juno probe which arrived in 2016.

In human experience there will never be an isolation as total as that of Mars. If its visitors stepped outside the habitat modules, they would find nothing in the way of comfort. No movement except for the little caused by the wind and the rare landslide. No sound other than their own breathing in their pressure suits. If any of them were to climb the nearest hill, all they would see would be more hills and desert plains, an endless vista for the next 21,344 kilometres until they arrived back at their base. The circumference of the Earth is almost double that of Mars but because the Earth is mostly oceanic, one could travel further in a straight line on Mars than on Earth and find no one. Travel around the red planet and you may find the wreckage of a spacecraft or a worn-out rover, but for the most part there is nothing human there.

Just like to the explorers of the heroic age of polar exploration 150 years ago, celebrations were important for morale. They were vital for crew overwintering in Antarctica. At mid-winter in the extreme dark and cold they would open their bottles of claret, tinned anchovies and corned beef as they sat around their stoves. They thought little of the fire that kept them warm and nothing of the air they were breathing. That was the constant backdrop of their environment. On Mars there is no such backdrop. Every breath has to be measured, every calorie counted, every scrap of energy generated and accounted for, every crew member and relationship tolerated, every second of life planned for and appreciated. There is no claret on Mars.

About the author

Dr David Whitehouse read physics at Manchester University and obtained a doctorate in astrophysics from the world-famous Jodrell Bank radio observatory. He later carried out research at University College Londons Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Already a regular science writer and commentator in the UK media he became the BBCs Science Correspondent in 1988 working mostly in radio. He later became science editor of BBC News Online. He has won many awards including European Internet Journalist of the year and the first Arthur award for space reporting. He has written seven acclaimed books and has made more broadcasts on astronomy and space topics than anyone else. Asteroid 4086 Whitehouse is named after him.

Excerpt from:

Space 2069 - back to the Moon, to Mars and beyond - Room: The Space Journal - ROOM Space Journal

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Redd, 16 Oct 2020You obviously don't own both brands like I do. So you can't make an objective analys... moreWell, that's you personal opinion, and that's fine.It's only that it's not true for most other people. You can look every list, many reviewers, and whole lot of people that compare these. And most of them say: Huawei is the best brand. Just because you have one device from that brand and making a horrible experience, doesn't make it bad.For me, as someone who reviews these devices, the clear winner is Huawei (talking about top model) in terms of power, and price/performance win goes to Honor. Now for the 3rd generations of their phones in a row.That's just my personal experience. And no one on this planet can say something more than their personal experience without a broad and controlled scientific experiment with double-blind studies. Because something like a "best smartphone" is a very subjective thing, you know.

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Stairmaster, 14 Oct 2020Yeah, quite true. I think the only thing left for Huawei to do is look at this list and think ... moreMost of these are just US & friends saying "no bad Huawei" for selling things to people they do not like, when they also say same thing when they sell to people they like? I am fairly sure that make no sense at all... Sounds more like them trying to bankrupt a company just because they do not like it rather than anything else!

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Redd, 16 Oct 2020You obviously don't own both brands like I do. So you can't make an objective analys... moreMy dear sir I would argue that camera quality is a very subjective and often differ depending on the person you ask rather than any scientific data, sure there is the DxO score but I have noticed most often do not consider them as a valid argument for one camera over another. In most cases it depends on software of said phone and in most cases I would argue that even a 200$ smartphone if the camera software aint rubbish, would be fine for the vast majority of lads and ladettes out there my good sir. c:

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Anonymous, 15 Oct 2020This is your misunderstanding there is not any comparison b/w xiaomi and huwaei. Huwaei is far... moreYou obviously don't own both brands like I do. So you can't make an objective analysis. Xiaomi is leagues ahead even in cameras at all price points. I have 3 Xiaomi phones(mi 10 ultra, MI 9t, redmi note 9s) and 1 Huawei p40 pro. I gave the Huawei to my youngest child and I use the mi 10 ultra. It is far better than the p40.

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Mark, 15 Oct 2020You watching too much of Expanse matey!Nope Elon Musk said Mars colony is possible in 28 years, if the first starship launch is successful by 2024.

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wasox, 14 Oct 2020It might be, but, its past will haunt itBecause? You know that Honor has nothing to do with Huawei's 5G tech that US is beware of, right?

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MarOMG, 14 Oct 2020If Xiaomi (for example) buys Honor brand, they will make Honor phones without any ban becouse ... moreThis is your misunderstanding there is not any comparison b/w xiaomi and huwaei. Huwaei is far good from xiaomi

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Anonymous, 14 Oct 2020In 50 years after world war 3 , and Mars settlement interplanetary citizens won't be af... moreYou watching too much of Expanse matey!

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this could be the best move for huawei

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Nick Tagataka, 14 Oct 2020..Unless they sell the Honor brand to other OEMs.It might be, but, its past will haunt it

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Maame Raggae, 14 Oct 2020Huawei is trying to raise cash to support Harmony OS on phonesIts not even forsale, i use Huawei Honor and Huawei has made it clear that this story is false.

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Huawei is trying to raise cash to support Harmony OS on phones

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Nick Tagataka, 14 Oct 2020What loophole? What are they exactly trying to avoid in this case then, care to explain?Im sure nick knows something as always, tell us nick

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NotAnOpinion, 14 Oct 2020This seems like another loophole that Huawei is trying to circumvent the U.S. embargo.Hono... moreIf Xiaomi (for example) buys Honor brand, they will make Honor phones without any ban becouse Huawei wouldn't have anything with development of such device. Honor is basicly rebranded Huawei now, and later would be rebranded Xiaomi, just like Poco, or Redmi.

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NotAnOpinion, 14 Oct 2020This seems like another loophole that Huawei is trying to circumvent the U.S. embargo.Hono... moreIn 50 years after world war 3 , and Mars settlement interplanetary citizens won't be afraid of another US embargo .

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It's very funny to hear it as Honor was a model of most Chinese phone manufacturers to enter other regions of non chinese. Poco of Xiaomi was remodeled of Honor - a new brand to separate Xiaomi, a chinese name, with more common world-wide name - similar to Honor to Huawei. And of course Realme from Oppo, iQoo from Vivo, and many more. Now, the Honor itself started to cease.

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wasox, 14 Oct 2020Honor, just by being an offspring of huawei, is equally doomed, there will be no way around... more..Unless they sell the Honor brand to other OEMs.

w757241

Honor, just by being an offspring of huawei, is equally doomed, there will be no way around it, that honor was to be affected, is just a logical effect of the impending death of huawei in the mobile equipment market, overyone meets its fate, sooner or later, thankfully

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NotAnOpinion, 14 Oct 2020This seems like another loophole that Huawei is trying to circumvent the U.S. embargo.Hono... moreWhat loophole? What are they exactly trying to avoid in this case then, care to explain?

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Huawei negotiating the sale of parts of Honor's smartphone business - comments - GSMArena.com

WHEN the end of the Kardashian TV series was announced, Elon Musk was probably the last person you thought would be getting a TV show.

However, a new SpaceX series is in the works at HBO and it will tell the origin story of the company and its famous CEO.

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In a slightly more unusual turn of events, Magic Mike starChanning Tatum will be an executive producer of the series.

It will show how Musk set up the company and his plans for space.

The series will be largely based on the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Futureby Ashlee Vance.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will simply be called 'SpaceX' and will follow Musk as he "pursues his lifelong dream of making humanity a multi-planetary species".

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Viewers should expect to see how Musk chose a team of rocket engineers and all the SpaceX attempts to get a rocket successfully off the ground and back.

We'll see the origin of theFalcon 9 rocket that went all the way to the International Space Station.

Musk isn't said to be directly involved in this project.

However, he and SpaceX are thought to be working with Tom Cruise to film a movie in space.

That project is predicted to set Musk back at least $200 million (153 million).

Who is Elon Musk?

Here's what you need to know...

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971.

As a 12-year-old child he taught himself computer programming and sold the code of a video game to a PC magazine for $500 (300).

At 17, he moved to Canada to study, before gaining two degrees in physics and business at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.

At the age of 24 he moved to California to start a Ph.D. in applied physics and material science at Stanford University - but left the programme after just two days to pursue other projects.

Now 48, he is the founder and CEO ofSpaceX, co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, co-founder and chairman of SolarCity, co-chairman of Opan AI, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of X.com, which merged with PayPal.

He's also working on a human brain chip project called Neuralink.

His stated aim is to reduce global warming and save humans from extinction by setting up a colony on Mars.

The billionaire inventor is also working on the world's largest lithium-ion battery to store renewable energy.

SKY LIGHTSFireballs from Halley's Comet will fly overhead this week how to spot Orionids

ROCKY HORRORNasa probe will land on 'doomsday asteroid' Bennu TODAY watch it live here

SPACE SIGNALSNasa and Nokia are building a 4G network on the MOON so astronauts can text

ICY HORRORMelting glacier could create 'mega-tsunami' hundreds of feet tall THIS year

SKY LIGHTSWhen is the meteor shower tonight? How to watch the Draconids in the UK

EYES TO THE SKIESWhich planets can you see from Earth with the naked eye?

In other space news, Mars is looking three times as big in the sky this week.

ElonMusk's Tesla Roadsterrecently passed the Red Planet after he blasted it into space back in 2018.

And, Musk wants to send humans to Marsas early as 2024 aboard one of the huge rockets.

What are your thoughts on the SpaceX TV series? Let us know in the comments...

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk

Read more here:

Elon Musk getting a TV show that will reveal how he became genius space billionaire and Channing Tatum is - The Sun

When the first female astronaut walks on the moon, more than half a century after Neil Armstrong took that historic first step, it will probably be heralded as a small step for a woman but a giant leap for womankind.

But in the corridors of the UK Space Agency it will also be marked as the moment when Britain staked its claim to become a key player in the next frontier of space exploration the mission to Mars.

On Tuesday the UK, Nasa and other partners signed a historic accord that will govern the conduct of all countries on a joint Nasa-led mission to the moon, which scientists hope will act as a springboard for further exploration.

The Artemis project aims to return humans including the first woman to the moon by 2024 as well as establishing a lunar space station as an experimental hub for future space missions. Its aims are more ambitious, far-reaching and multilateral than that first ground-breaking voyage, Sue Horne, the head of space exploration at the UK Space Agency told the Guardian.

Where Apollo was all about that first mission to get humans to the moon, this is a plan for a sustained series of missions with the ambition of testing technologies so that we can then go on to Mars, she said, adding: And that ... its like Star Trek isnt it.

The Artemis accord underlined the UKs commitment to strengthening the UKs role in the global space sector, building on our existing strengths in satellites, robotics and communications, the science minister, Amanda Solloway, said.

UK businesses are set to produce kit vital for the smooth running of the planned Lunar Gateway, which will orbit the moon and act as a staging post for astronauts with a laboratory, sleeping quarters and a space garage for rovers and other robots.

Thales Alenia Space in the UK is expected to contribute to the refuelling system for the Lunar Gateway, known as Esprit (European System Providing Refuelling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications), a contract worth about 18m. Other businesses across the UK will also be involved in building the service module and habitation module of the Lunar Gateway, according to the UK Space Agency.

Involvement in refuelling could be a commercially savvy move for the UK, added Horne. One of the potential future businesses in space is servicing satellites in orbit rather than keep replacing them, and thats why were interested in refuelling, she said, adding that it would be a step in helping to prevent potentially catastrophic collisions between space debris, known to endanger the satellites that humans rely on.

As a country that does the right thing, that looks after things, we want to be involved in that, she said. But it is also looking after our own self-interest.

One key aim of Esprit will be to explore the moon for the presence of frozen water, which robot probes suggest exists. Finding it would be key to the construction of future lunar colonies, according to experts. Asked if the mission was the first step to establishing if humans could live outside of Earth, she responded: Put simply, yes.

But as well as providing developing new technologies and exploring the potential of space colonies, the UKs involvement in a mission that put the first woman on the moon would act as inspiration for a new generation of scientists here on Earth, Horne said.

I was six when I saw the original landing and that was so exciting, Horne said. We have put a lot of effort into encouraging young people, particularly girls to take science and technology subjects, and this will boost those efforts.

Children could learn about the exploits of Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut and the first woman to visit the Mir space station in May 1991 and Sir Tim Peake the first Briton to live on the International Space Station but the next generation could go one step further, she added: They could be part of that first cohort that goes to Mars.

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UK Space Agency hopes first woman on moon mission will make it key player - The Guardian