Category Archives: Mars Colony

"It's one of those scientific things where it's part of a larger body of work that will continue in many labs. The key here is that the more people that look at this problem from different viewpoints, the better it is,'" Norman Wagner, Unidel Robert L. Pigford Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware, tells IE.

"And the challenges will not only bring new, talented people to the problem but also existing scientists and other engineers who are working in a related field to read about the research and say, 'Oh, I can contribute to this," he continues.

Wagner and his colleagues are also on the bandwagon, with a less peculiar and more feasible concept - using clay-like topsoil materials collected from the moon or Mars as the base for extraterrestrial cement.

This mosaic shows layered sedimentary rocks in the face of a cliff in the delta, as well as one of the locations where the rover abraded a circular patch to analyze a rocks composition.

Space exploration will require infrastructure such as buildings, housing, bases, and rocket landing pads that don't yet exist.

For obvious reasons, including weight and space constraints, we can't take "bags of concrete with us we need to use local resources," Wagner says.

Fortunately, Wagner and his colleagues were already working on a couple of solutions for use on our planet, which proved to be largely helpful in their quest to 'make' concrete in space.

It started with finding a substitute for ordinary Portland cement, which has a "host of problems". "Firstly, it requires limestone, which isn't easy to find. Secondly, and more importantly, converting the limestone into a clinker is used to make concrete, which requires high-temperature processing and oxidation. This releases carbon dioxide. Cement production causes about seven to eight percent of all the carbon dioxide produced by humanity. It's a serious issue," Wagner tells me.

As a sustainable alternative, Wagner considered the idea of geopolymers.

Geopolymers are inorganic polymers formed from aluminosilicate minerals found in common clays everywhere. When mixed with a solvent that has a high pH, such as sodium silicate, the clay can be dissolved, freeing the aluminum and silicon inside to react with other materials and form new solid ceramic-like materials that can be used like cement.

Simultaneously, Wagner was also working with NASA on a couple of projects associated with the lunar and Martian regolith. This refers to a region of loose, unconsolidated rock and dust that sits atop a layer of bedrock - it is found on the Earth, other planets, and asteroids.

"We were working with NASA on regolith from the standpoint of the contamination of the spacesuits, which is a major problem. The Apollo astronauts got a tremendous amount of serious technological and health issues associated with the dust due to the regolith adhering to their clothing. It's very abrasive and is like volcanic ash," he explains.

The Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon are suspected to be formed by a magma rich in silica, similar in composition to granite.

Amid all this, Maria Katzarova, a former associate scientist and member of Wagners lab at UD, wondered if it was possible to activate simulated moon and Martian soils to become concrete-like building materials using geopolymer chemistry. She proposed the idea to NASA and obtained funding via the Delaware Space Grant Consortium. The project included the help and expertise of then-UD doctoral student Jennifer Mills, who studied terrestrial geopolymers for her doctoral dissertation.

"The two of them partnered up and studied the different regolith that you find on the Moon and Mars. And they looked at the literature and realized that there hadn't been a clear scientific sort of standardization of how we approached this problem," says Wagner.

The researchers took a series of the most common materials that NASA has identified through the various missions to the moon. They compared them in a head-to-head manner that hadn't been done before, "as to how we can activate them and how we can create high strength cement structure with the minimum amount of material required because obviously, we can't take a lot with us when we go to the Moon and Mars," says Wagner.

"We realized that the same chemistries we were using here on Earth to create essentially geopolymer cement are the same we need to do on the surface of the Moon and Mars when we go there to build landing pads and habitats," says Wagner, whose team worked on the problem and recently converted simulated lunar and Martian soils into geopolymer cement.

The results were published recently in Advances in Space Research.

A crushed geopolymer cube made from simulated lunar topsoil, inset shows magnification of lunar topsoil particles which have been activated and reacted to form the geopolymer binder.

For their research, the scientists mixed various simulated soils with sodium silicate then cast the geopolymer mixture into ice-cube-like molds and waited for the reaction to occur. After seven days, they measured each cubes size and weight, then crushed it to understand how the material behaves under load. They were intrigued to know if slight differences in chemistry between simulated soils affected the materials strength, according to a press release.

The researchers also calculated how much terrestrial material astronauts would need to take with them to build a landing pad on the surface of the moon or Mars. Fortunately, the estimated amount is well within the payload range of a rocket, anywhere from hundreds to thousands of kilograms.

Most importantly, the samples had to be subjected to different environments, including vacuum and very low and high temperatures.

"Looking at temperature and water are very important aspects of the problem. It is important to understand whether there are significant unexpected problems, or sometimes benefits, of being in an environment that's different than a controlled laboratory environment," Wagner says.

Under vacuum, some of the material samples did form cement, while others were only partially successful. While the geopolymer materials didnt react at all under low temperatures of about -80 degrees Celsius, at high temperatures, of about 600 degrees Celsius, the researchers found that every moon-like sample got stronger.

Based on their results, the researchers figured that chemical composition and particle size were likely to play an important role in material strength.

But, due to the complex chemistry involved, the problem comes with a unique set of challenges every time.

"The molecular chemistry of these materials is so rich, and there are so many variations - a single method could produce two different samples, one of which will never lead to a viable engineering solution. And so we need to use tools like machine learning and artificial intelligence to accurately and rapidly process the materials. Unfortunately, where we are right now, the challenge is that we don't have a Ph.D. understanding of the problem from a scientific perspective, and that's what we're working on," says Wagner.

Wagner's team currently has a partnership with Georgetown University and Northeastern University funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), under the division of materials research, owing to their work on sustainable materials.

The advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence will aid the researchers in developing rules and engineering solutions to this problem as the science is too "big" and it isn't technologically viable from an economic and techno-economic standpoint.

"If you go anywhere in the world and put a shovel in the ground and dig up clay, you will find different chemistry. The question is how much work do you need to do so that you don't have to do a lot of work to successfully make the best geopolymer cement out of that local material? Also, when the astronauts go to the moon, they won't have a gigantic laboratory or analytical tools to do experimental testing and determine the right way to make the best cement. So we need to have a better understanding of the variations and local chemistry of aluminum silicate materials, such that we can more effectively convert them into cement," explains Wagner.

The researchers will continue to study how to process the materials, including the use of microwaves to enhance the formation of these materials, "which we've already proved. It's interesting because it can aid in the ability to make materials, especially in places where you have extreme environments like on the Moon and Mars," says Wagner.

They're also broadening the understanding in terms of the complex chemistries involved.

"Our collaboration with the NSF is geared towards taking an unknown material and properly converting it to this geopolymer cement with high strength and durability in a sustainable manner, such that we can make a viable material, put it in a 3D printer, and print a house or something. It's not a challenge that can be solved by the traditional methods that have been used in the past - we need new ways of thinking about the problem. And that's what we're trying to do," Wagner continues.

The team hopes that NASA will be interested in the technology and will consider adapting some of it in their actual plans for the habitation of the Moon and Mars.

"But that's ongoing work," Wagner adds.

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Space cement could be used to build houses on Mars and the Moon - Interesting Engineering

Talking about predictions in the world, many predictions of the French prophet Nostradamus have come true. Nostradamus wrote 6,338 prophecies before his death in 1566, including when and how our world would end. Many believe that Nostradamus made prophecies that set the contours of our world from revolution to war. People who believe in Nostradamus believe that he had already predicted the rise of Hitler, the Second World War and the terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center in America and Corona. Nostradamus has made many dangerous predictions for the year 2023. Lets know about them.third world war

Nostradamus wrote his prophecy in this way Seven months of great war, people who died of evil deeds. Many consider it to be a world war. People believe that the war between Russia and Ukraine will turn into World War III. At the same time, many people see it by linking it to the conflict between China and Taiwan. They believe that America will come to save Taiwan, which will take the form of a major war.

Nostradamus has predicted about Mars. Nostradamus wrote Light is falling on Mars. Many people believe that Nostradamus has prophesied about the arrival of humans on the Red Planet. At the same time, many people believe that a big success can be achieved this year in the mission related to bringing humans to Mars. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has spoken about establishing a human colony on Mars. He wants to send humans to Mars by 2029. In such a situation, it may be that in 2023, a mission related to Mars is in Elon Musks mind.

The changing of the Pope is also one of the prophecies of Nostradamus. If this happens, someone else will come in place of Pope Francis. According to Nostradamus, Pope Francis will be the last true Pope. Whoever replaces him will give rise to a scandal.

Nostradamus wrote Celestial fire on the royal building. Many people explain this with the rise of a new civilization. At the same time, many people interpret it as the end of the world, while many people interpret it with the new law of the world.

Nostradamus has interestingly talked about the formation of a new alliance of two great powers together. In the prophecy of Nostradamus, this alliance will be between a strong man and a weak male or female leader. Although he also said that its effects will be good but they will not last long.

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From space to the third world war, these are Nostradamus's top 5 predictions for 2023 - News Day Express

Brace yourselves, folks. I'm about to gush about The Expanse. But before I do, here are some things that arenot that greatabout The Expanse.

Whenever I go full hog trying to convince someone to watch The Expanse, I like to get this list out of the way. I want people to know from the outset: This TV show is not perfect. In fact, depending on what you value in your television, you could even call The Expanse "bad."

I do not think The Expanse is bad.

On the contrary, I think The Expanse is very good. Often it's good in spite of its flaws. Sometimes it's enhanced by those flaws.

Set hundreds of years in the future when humans are spread out across the solar system, The Expanse is based on a series of hard sci-fi novels written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the pen name James S.A. Corey. It is dense with peerless universe building. It's a show about the very real perils of space travel and colonization, but also a surprisingly nuanced show that deals in interplanetary politics and class warfare.

In one corner we have Earth and all its citizens. In the other, Mars. The humans who have colonized Mars are a military-focused, tough group of people prone to resolving conflict with force. Those still on Earth are the preening, politically savvy elite.

The wild cards are the Belters, residents of outer planets and asteroid belts who have developed their own Creole-esque language and, alongside that, a culture completely separate from the humans on Earth and Mars. Sick of being trampled upon by the "Earthers," the Belters are threatening revolution, but lack the power or resources to truly strike back at their oppressors.

Everything that occurs in The Expanse stems from the tensions between these three discrete groups.

The tight knit crew of the Rocinante.

The magic of The Expanse is how effortlessly the show flits between genres. It's hard sci-fi at all times, but in its first couple of seasons, The Expanse plays out like a murder mystery. Later, it's a show about alien technology and the arms race associated with that. Then it becomes a show about exploring strange new planets. Ultimately, The Expanse is a show about all these things, but places its uniquely crafted universe at its core, giving it a through line lesser sci-fi shows don't have.

The show's aesthetic plays a similar trick. Not everyone enjoys its metallic, video-game-esque color scheme, but I like video games, so I'm a fan. The Expanse feels like how I think a Mass Effect show could feel, if that ever comes to fruition and is somehow decent. The Expanse is cool, clinical and smart -- and sometimes the wooden performances amplify that in ways that should be bad, but often feels good? In a universe that lacks warmth, dialed back, minimalist performances make sense.

Yeah, I'm confused too. But it works.

It's a very not good hat.

Ultimately, The Expanse is a show that will never disappoint you. Much like Dark -- for my money the best show on Netflix-- The Expanse is now fully complete and, unlike most sci-fi shows, defied the odds and finished well. Some of its six seasons are better than others, but The Expanse is incredibly consistent. You'll be shocked by how much ground it covers and how seamlessly it moves from one civilization-altering crisis to the next.

It's funny, but almost everyone I know who watches The Expanse, including myself, loves to complain about it. They'll complain about the clunky dialogue and the strange performances, but there's nothing else like it. It's a show that's stubbornly carried by its strengths, to levels of quality it has no right attaining. You owe it to yourself to watch, if only to create your own list of things in The Expanse that annoy you.

Just make sure that list includes Thomas Jane's hat. Unforgivable.

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More People Need to Watch The Absolute Best Sci-Fi Show on Prime Video - CNET

With renewed interest in space exploration, there is talk of establishing a human presence beyond Earth. Mars, Titan, and Europa dominate the conversation. But what about our closest neighbor?

Despite its role in the space race of the 1960s, and NASAs plan to return to the Moon by 2025, many doubt that a permanent human presence there is worthwhile.

This decade, NASAs Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway will succeed the International Space Station. It will orbit the Moon and serve as a laboratory and communications hub from which to stage deep space travel.

It will also simplify travel to the Moons surface. This is the first step in NASAs Artemis program, which ultimately aims to establish a base on the surface. But is this even possible?

The ideal location for a lunar base or colony is the Moons polar regions, especially the South Pole. The South Pole houses cold traps permanently shadowed craters containing confirmed deposits of ice. Astronomers theorize that most of this water came from asteroids, icy comets, and meteors that pounded the lunar surface in eons past.

Settlers could process these ice deposits into oxygen, hydrogen fuel, and most importantly, drinking water.

Artists illustration of Artemis base camp. Photo: NASA

The South Pole also contains consistently sunlit highlands, optimal for harnessing solar power. Experts propose building solar panel farms along the crater rims. These panels would rotate 360 to follow the suns movements.

Lunar skyscrapers could also harness this solar power. We can put these skyscrapers together with relative ease since the Moon experiences only one-sixth of Earths gravity. Low gravity also means that skyscrapers can reach several kilometres high.

For all these reasons, NASA chose the South Poles Shackleton Crater for the Artemis mission base camp.

The Artemis camp will include a small cabin for four astronauts. It will also feature lunar terrain vehicles, rovers, and even a mobile home. This small habitat would only cater to short stays. NASA has not confirmed the precise design or the materials involved.

Architectural firm Fosters and Partners is experimenting with 3D printed designs for the habitat. They are proposing lunar regolith (lunar soil) as the building material. Regolith is a powdery gray soil, composed mainly of iron and silica. It is the result of millions of years of scorching from meteoroid impacts and constant solar radiation.

South Pole Aitken Basin rim. Photo: Apollo 8/NASA

One potential design consists of an inflatable dome and interconnecting cylindrical modules covered in regolith, or protective lunar soil, as a shield from meteoroids, radiation, cosmic rays, and solar winds.

Another possible habitat location is the Moons lava tubes caves and long underground tunnels created by volcanism. The tubes in the Marius Hills run 40m deep and 500m in diameter. They too would protect from radiation and solar winds and add insulation.

Solar energy will power the settlement and the all-important mining activities. According to NASA, the Moon has water, helium-3, and rare earth materials. Rare earths such as scandium and yttrium power our electronics. The Moons silicon, calcium, titanium, iron, and manganese can serve as building materials. Countering environmental objections, NASA estimates that it would take about two centuries to impact merely 1% of its surface.

The cost of transporting people, equipment, and supplies to the Moon is roughly $10,000 per kilogram. The Artemis program will cost around $93 billion ($4.1 billion per launch). This is why some scientists believe it would be more economical for people to live on the Moon.

But this would require great self-sufficiency from settlers. They would need to grow food in lunar soil, recycle water, compost waste, and much more.

Lunar South Pole. Photo: NASA

The lack of atmosphere and exposure to space creates major hurdles. Intense radiation, extreme temperatures in the sunlit regions, and meteor impacts jeopardize both humans and the materials theyd rely on. Approximately 33,000 golf ball-sized meteoroids traveling at 96,000kph strike the Moon every year. No region is secure. Luckily, larger impacts are rare.

Lastly, the settlement and its occupants must be careful to keep airlock and pressurizing systems functioning smoothly. The same for space suits. Constant hyper-vigilance is exhausting and can become a strain on mental health.

Living on the Moon could have many benefits. We can learn more about the Earth and Moons history and geology. We can mine valuable resources. Astronauts could observe deep space without interference from Earths radio signals. And last but not least, a lunar base could become a gateway to Mars

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Should We Create a Permanent Base On The Moon? Explorersweb - ExplorersWeb

Non-fungible tokens, aka NFTs, are gradually becoming mainstream in the ever-expanding metaverse. As per BBC, the use of the acronym grew by 11,000% in 2021, while CNBC reported that trading in NFTs amplified by 21,000% in the same year. It seems theres no looking back to this trend as brands across various industries are ready to hop on the bandwagon.

As per NFTs expert John G, the digital artwork is attracting brands to expand beyond traditional marketing mix. Whether its Coachella offering digital blooms to paid participants or Super Bowl turning tickets into collectible NFTs, 2022 so far has witnessed some of the most exciting ways brands have utilized NFTs to engage with audiences. From Dolce & Gabbana to Coachella and Adidas, numerous brands are leveraging NFTs in their marketing campaigns.

John G shares that this trend will only grow from here. NFTs have struck a chord with the fashion industry, among many others. Renowned brands are selling their clothing as non-fungible tokens besides participating in virtual fashion weeks, he adds.

Companies like Adidas have expanded their brand strategy into the metaverse. Their collaborations with Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Punks Comic are the baby steps towards their mega plan to influence the metaverse, says John G.

Besides attracting brands, NFTs have become a dependable medium for artists worldwide. Today digital artwork is selling in millions on NFT platforms, and artists receive royalties every time their art exchanges hands. John G believes that the NFT world has rewarded artists like never before. Artists consider NFTs as the future of their craft.

Talking about virtual real estate, John G reveals that the NFT ecosystem is also witnessing massive sales of lands on platforms like Decentraland and The Sandbox. Creators on these platforms offer immersive experiences to audiences that span from mazes to colonies on planet Mars.

Lastly, NFTs and crypto tokens across the globe thrive on the foundation of a young active community. NFTs are proving to be more than just hype. The real users behind these digital assets are leaving no stone unturned to make their projects a super success. With the #WAGMI spirit felt unanimous in its communities, the future of NFTs looks bright and surreal, elucidates John G.

In a nutshell, NFTs continue to innovate the metaverse and touch our lives in several ways. The hypergrowth of NFTs is poised to prosper in the coming years. Its a tsunami that will take over the metaverse and build it block by block.

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Heres Why NFTs Are Poised To Witness Hypergrowth, Per John G - News Ghana

There are no humans on Mars, a NASA spokesperson confirmed yesterday, likely to no avail.

The problem, of course, is that the people who needed to be told this wont believe itbecauseits coming from an official NASA spokesperson and those folks already expect official denials of their claims. Official denials are part of their conspiracy theory involving a secret Martian colony so, for them, hearing a NASA official deny the colonys existence is received asconfirmationof the conspiracy.

This conspiracy, by the way, involves the abduction of children who are then shipped to Mars where they will serve as sex slaves for depraved plutocrats until they (the children) are slaughtered and their blood and body parts can be harvested and consumed by the plutocrats.

Yes, its Satanic baby-killers on Mars.

Ben Collins reports on this new, extraterrestrial twist on the archetypal immoral panic,NASA Denies That Its Running a Child Slave Colony on Mars.Collins first heard about this conspiracy theory on Alex Jones Infowars radio show a program admired and recommended by President Donald Trump. And so, as a good reporter, he called that poor NASA spokesperson for their response.

There are no humans on Mars. There are active rovers on Mars. There was a rumor going around last week that there werent. There are, Guy Webster, a spokesperson for Mars exploration at NASA, told theDaily Beast.But there are no humans.

Being part of NASAs Mars exploration team is a great gig, but Webster may have the worst job on that team. He sounds like a man who gets a lot of phone calls like this one and has to respond regularly to whatever the latest nonsense somebodys crazy uncle is posting on Facebook. Oh for goodness sake, what is itnow? he must think, every time his phone rings.

We can appreciate his exasperation. It must be exhausting, having to field so many inquiries about outlandish and impossible theories about whats really going on up there on Mars. When Collins asked him about this one rumor being spread on talk radio and the Internet, Webster replied, Theres only one stupid rumor on the Internet? Now thats news.

Its appropriate to see the humor in this particularly given the extreme incoherence and implausibility of this dead-earnest nonsense. After all, the same people who claim to believe that NASA has been smuggling abducted children to a secret Martian colony for 20 years also claim that NASA faked the Moon landing. And they also believe Pizzagate which posits that these same Satanic baby-killers are operating child-abduction-sex-slave-blood-harvesting rings in secret tunnels beneath their neighborhood pizza parlors. Why go through all the risk and expense of building a secret colony on Mars if youve already got all the pedophilia-and-human-sacrifice you need just down the block?

But while this latest Martian twist is ridiculous and hilariously bonkers, theres nothing funny about the way the underlying mythology here is actually shaping life in America. Our politics and our religion are shaped by precisely the same laughable silliness that were hearing from Alex Jones and his purportedly CIA insider guest.

Most of the 80 percent of white evangelicals who support Donald Trump would join us in laughing at this Martian conspiracy theory.They know that theres no secret colony on Mars harvesting the bodies of children because thats what they think Planned Parenthood is already doing. They believe with as much sincerity as theyre able to trick themselves into faking that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts.

Yes, theyve surely seen how those edited sting videos have been thoroughly debunked but, again, official denials were already factored in as part of the conspiracy theory, so they can receive that debunking as a kind of perverse confirmation. Medical professionals, courts, women and The Media are allin on it.

They believe in Satanic baby-killers. And given the nature of this superlative evil, they believe opposition to Satanic baby-killers must be our top priority at all times, eclipsing every other concern. And everything must be reshaped to conform to this priority our politics, our religion, our piety, our charity, our education, our parenting all must be repurposed toward this one priority. Only then will we achieve the one thing that can, at last, bring an end to the secret reign of terror of these Satanic baby-killers: a return to Lochner Era jurisprudence.

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6/30 Flashback: It's the freakiest show | Fred Clark - Patheos

Written and directed by Jed Rothstein

The documentaryWeWork:Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, available on Hulu, concerns the meteoric rise and breathtaking six-week collapse of a real-estate start-up. A unicorn is a privately held company valued at over $1 billion.

Written and directed by Jed Rothstein, the film treats the period from 2008in the wake of the stock market crashto 2019, and chronicles the operations of Adam Neumanns WeWork, in essence, anoffice rental firm. Billing itself as a revolutionary high-tech company, the enterprisewould sign long-term leases on office space, subdivide the latter into smaller areas and then rent those out on a short-term basis. Israeli-born Neumann professed a desire to create a more communal corporate world, which he envisioned as a kind of capitalist kibbutz.

The years following the 2008 global financial crisis were marked by speculative parasitism soaring to stratospheric heights. Neumanns grotesque, New Age company, which he founded withMiguel McKelvey in Soho, New York in 2010,arose within these conditions.Neumann eventually walked away with a $1.7 billion severance package after a failed Initial Public Offering [IPO] in 2019, at which time the firms actual financial state of affairs came to light.

In retrospect, theNew Republicmagazine suggested in a November 2020 article, Neumanns knack for amassing billions of dollars in venture capital with no viable business model was one of the greatest scams of the twenty-first century.

WeWork went from two locations in New York City and 450 tenants in 2010 to 800 locations in 111 cities across 29 countries, with 527,000 tenants, by the second quarter of 2019. The workforce nearly quadrupled from 4,000 employees at the end of 2017 to 15,000.

Rothsteins documentary interviews a phalanx of former employees, journalists and customers, drawing as well on extensive video footage of Neumann. His pretentious, pie-in-the-sky marketing concepts were crucial for rebranding his company as a pioneering tech company as opposed to a mundane, but risky real estate venture. What stands out is how effectively Neumann was able to manipulate people who thought they were following a prophet, not a garden variety huckster.

He exploited the fact that millennials, many of them economically distressed, werent just looking for a job or a career, they wanted a calling. His overblown sale pitches were bound up with a self-indulgent, do what you love ethos that attracted not only potential employees and customers but also wealthy investors, such as Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase. Other investors included Goldman Sachs, Benchmark Capital, Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF), Harvard Management Co. (the company that manages Harvards endowment funds) and Legend Holdings (the Chinese holding company and controlling shareholder of Lenovo Group), among others.

TheWeWorkdocumentary contains footage of the firms annual summer camp, an alcohol- and rave-filled event, that was mandatory for employees, who were then monitored with wrist trackers. The company segued to WeLive, in which members were invited to live indorm-type accommodation. Plans were afoot for schools (WeGrow), gyms (WeWork Wellness) and even a colony on Mars.

Neumann even trademarked the word We. WeWork paid him $5.9 million to license it. TheWall Street Journal reported that he took $700 million out of the company before the failed IPO.

On his way to the top of the dung heap, Neumann had flopped with various money-making schemes, such as retractable heels for womens shoes and infant clothing with knee pads.(My generation will not accept our babies crawling on the floor with their knees hurting!)

Rebekah Neumann, Adams wife, a certified Jivamukti yoga instructor and a cousin of actress and professional confusionist Gwyneth Paltrow, guided the company into the mystical realm, claiming the mission was to elevate the worlds consciousness.

According to Equilar, Inc., an executive compensation analysis firm, the 200 highest-paid CEOs at public companies had a median salary of $18.6 million in 2018. Neumanns consulting fee alone was about ten times that amount.

While lavishing riches on Neumann, the company required cash infusions from SoftBank, a Japan-based conglomerate and WeWorks largest investor.According to the filmmakers,its founderMasayoshi Son encouraged Neumanns outlandish behavior. But in 2019, when the cultish real estate outfit filed an IPO, all the pixie dust vanished.

What emerged was one bizarre account after another of the executive-gurus extravagant spending on homes and jets, as well as his abuse of employees. One believer in Neumanns pabulum tearfully tells the filmmakers that she required therapy to unwarp her mind. More to the point, the S-1 filing,the paperwork required to go public, revealed massive losses and unethical business practices.

WeWorks unicorn valuation fell from $47 billion to just $8 billion, as the hot air balloon deflated.

But despite the job massacre, the Neumanns were given their golden parachute and, according to the documentary, planned to open a private school, Students Of Life For Life, or SOLFL (pronounced soulful), but with soul-destroying tuition of $42,000 a year. In addition to the layoff of some 3,000 employees, the company had to remove over 2,000 phone booths in North American locations that were tainted by formaldehyde.

The blame for this wreckage, says director Jed Rothstein in an interview, lies with this incentive structure where youre just signing as many deals as possible and growing as fast as possible, and its like building a rocket ship as its flying.

Unfortunately, Rothsteins documentary never looks behind this incentive structure, or more generally, into the character of the recent epoch.

The persistent tendency toward the creation of speculative bubbles arises out of deep-rooted contradictions in the development of the world capitalist system, especially bound up with the historical decline in the global position of American capitalism,commentedWSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North in January 2008.

Trillions have been pumped into the financial system by the worlds central banks since 2008. The stock markets have climbed and climbed, and ever-more arcane forms of speculation (and swindling) have emerged. What has this apparently unlimited supply of cash produced? The result has been the almost unimaginable concentration of wealth, an explosion of imperialist militarism and violence, the re-emergence of fascism, ferocious attacks on democratic rights and a relentless increase in the exploitation of the working classin short, the opposite of the kinder, kibbutz capitalism promoted by Neumann and company.

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WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion UnicornThe fantasy of kibbutz capitalism - WSWS

From glamping in space-age sky pods to arctic off-roading in the White Desert.

The idea of wilderness plays a crucial and curious role in the ongoing evolution of travel. Conquering the wild was once central to our pioneer narratives of progress. Nowadays exploring the frontier can take on a myriad of meanings for different travelers. Whether the notion conjures remote lands, or the thrilling prospect of tracking apex predators, here are ways to get your wild onfrom the South Pole to the South Sandwich Islands.

An entirely 21st Century upgrade in travel to the White Continent is finally here, ready to quite literally rock your world and properly blow your mind. White Deserts newest camp, Echo, debuts this December. The new camp is located inland of Antarcticas north coast, three miles from Wolf s Fang, a sister camp that opened in December 2021 on a glacier in Queen Maud Land.

A power player in the sustainable polar travel arena, White Desert is the only luxury hospitality company in the world to fly business jets to Antarctica. Their 9,800-foot runway is exclusively for private jets, either the companys Gulfstream G550, a privately-chartered A340 or those of camp guests, which have included the likes of Prince Harry, Bear Grylls, and Buzz Aldrin.

Echo is the next best thing to a stag party on Mars. Intimately scaled, its ideal for exclusive use by affluent families, C-suite executives, and bachelors gone rogue. On arrival, a welcome cocktail chilled with 10,000-year-old ice awaits in the central lounge.

Accommodating up to 12 explorers in serious style, Echos high-end execution of deliriously thrilling expeditions raises the bar on next-gen pop up possibilities. As with all White Deserts camps on the 7th Continent, Echo is designed to be completely dismantled, leaving no trace on the environment.

Inspired by the golden age of space exploration, the idyllic design of the Sky Pods is striking, to say the least, like superstructures from a parallel multiverse. Futuristic and nostalgic all at once, Echo is quite an aesthetic coup. Six heated pods were created using composite fiberglass with floor-to-ceiling windowslose yourself in the lunar-like landscape from the comfort of your bed. Waking up at Echo, encircled by otherworldly geological formations, feels like youve lifted off the planet without actually leaving Earth.

Each pod features original photography by Colonel Terry Virts, former International Space Station Commander, taken from the ISS. Virts was an early guest with White Desert, and the terrain spectacle clearly made a massive impression. Take it from one of the few astronauts who can legitimately boast this frame of comparative reference; says Virts of the Echo camp landscape, The mountains are the most beautiful I have seen across Earth, Venus and Mars.

Patrick Woodhead, White Desert founder and CEO, tips his hat to pop culture in his latest passion project. The inspiration behind the interiors of Echo Base comes from too many years of watching Star Wars as a kid, says Woodhead.

I loved the 1970s vision of what the future would hold. The real difficulty was trying to get the interior designers to fuse together the retro feel of the Millennium Falcon with the luxury of a boutique retreat! The polar explorercum-camp entrepreneur finds the greatest validation from those whove ventured into orbit, divulging, Weve hosted a couple of astronauts over the years, and hearing them speak about the beauty of the Antarctic landscape is quite something.

Fill your days with as much fat biking, skiing, and Ski-Dooing as you like. Or forge trails in a 44 arctic truck to ice-climbing and mountaineering sites. An expedition to the 28,000-strong Emperor Penguin colony is the peak bucket list moment for most guests. Be sure to avail yourself of the arctic-specific SPF100 on hand at camp or face the high-UV consequences, like the group of Saudi royals, who thought they were immune.

By nightfall, captains of industry sip snifters of Speyside Scotch served from a snow bar sculpted from Jurassic-era ice. A dining room serves up epicurean delights such as savory lamb shank, or velvety tagliatelle in a Parmigiano wheel, no small feat, considering youre carb-loading this close tothe South Pole. Beam us in a hologram of Wonderwall-era Jane Birkin, were hooked. This five-day fantasy can be yours from $780,000, for up to a dozen of your friends.

Nearly a century after the heroics of early Antarctic exploration, the elusive continent remains largely undiscovered. We cant think of a more thrilling frontier than the impassable Weddell Sea and imposing Larsen Ice Shelf. The big buzz on the high seas for the coming Antarctic cruising season? Ponant recently launched Le Commandant-Charcot, the worlds first luxury hybrid electric ice-class vessel, powered by LNG (currently the cleanest fuel on the market).

Le Commandant-Charcot is capable of sailing to parts of the Bellingshausen Sea that have been inaccessible until now. The volcanic Peter I Islandwhere fewer people have visited than have set foot on the moonis suddenly an option, to put this auspicious launch into rather wild perspective. Navigating the route first explored by Jean-Baptiste Charcot in 1909, National Geographic enthusiasts will surely be smitten by the oceanographic laboratory onboard. Far from a mere pleasure cruise, take part in what Ponant dubs participative science by helping to set up a station on an ice floe or taking water samples. Ponant polar itineraries also include the South Sandwich Islands and the Ross Sea.

Our continental frontier remains the Lamar Valleythe Serengeti of North Americain Yellowstone National Park. If wolves are your spirit animal (or just on your boos wish list), the Four Seasons Jackson Hole unveils a new encounter this summer designed to dive deeper into this connection. The resorts partnership with Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris allows for unrivaled access to view Greater Yellowstones apex predators in prime natural habitats. An expert naturalist guides you in safely tracking and photographing wolves, grizzlies and megafauna in a landscape right out of Jeremiah Johnson.

With Grand Teton and Yellowstone in their backyard, the Four Seasons Jackson Hole boasts a Swiss Army Knife of solutions when it comes to creative expeditions to Willow Flats, Pacific Creek, Hayden Valley within the parksall with an upscale spin. To disappear into the wild at dawn, revel in an emotional epiphany with wolves by dusk (or at least a certain awe), then feast on dry-aged Piedmontese ribeye slathered in black-truffle bone marrow butter is pretty priceless.

If you value lashings of personal attention and handcrafted, five-star meals, nirvana awaits at Westbank Grill, overlooking the resorts base camp. Many of this particular Four Seasons custom experiences are in some way geared towards physical and mental exploration, if not enlightenment. For those short on time, but big on rugged adventure with all the trappings of a posh holiday, this is as good as it gets.

Read more:

The Ultimate Guide To An Adventurous Antarctica Vacation - Maxim - Maxim

GOEPPERT-MAYER CRATER, VENUSSaying the team would return with invaluable knowledge about whats needed to survive in a hostile environment, NASA astronauts reportedly began preparing for a mission to Mars by spending a year living in a simulated colony on Venus. While it may not exactly mimic the planetary conditions astronauts might eventually face, Venuss 820 degrees Celsius days and unbreathable atmosphere of sulfur actually reasonably represent what they might encounter on a real-life mission to Mars, said NASA administrator Bill Nelson of the training mission before admitting that the experience of living 110 million miles away from their families on Venus could never match the psychological strain of being 138 million away on an actual Martian mission. Despite just being a simulation, its actually quite intense. Weve already seen one participant have to leave the mission due to the physical strain of having his skull crushed by gravity 90 times Earths surface. Thatand the challenges of growing their own food on a planet thats in a continual molten state without immediately catching fire themselvesmake this a small step on the path to taking another giant leap forward for mankind. NASA added that this simulation came after a training mission to Proxima Centauri 4.24 light years away failed to produce interesting results and the participants simply returned home.

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NASA Astronauts Prepare For Mission To Mars By Spending Year Living In Simulated Colony On Venus - The Onion

The first trial version of Mars4, a play-to-earn survival game, is now ready for Mars4 landowners. In this game, players will be able to learn essential mechanics and build their first Mars station or any other building. Mars4 is organizing a construction competition to add to the excitement: build, submit, and win rewards!

Bringing fun to NFT gaming Mars4

While crypto games offer a great deal earning from playing the game most of them have received well-deserved criticism: they are just not interesting.

The Mars4 project aims to create a game that is both fun and engaging. Its a AAA PvE game with a scientifically-inspired environment.

In the game, users mine for materials, explore their land for the best spot for their station, and build various structures to improve their chances of survival. Users can become pioneer colonists and terraform the Red Planet, gather into habitats, and earn money by playing the game.

Mars4 has classic gaming feel to it, but it also includes a play-to-earn element, making it the best of both worlds.

What NFTs does Mars4 offer?

With Mars4, users can obtain a piece of Mars land as an NFT. Later in the game, the former will be free to explore their property, dig the resources from it and even terraform it. These Mars land NFTs are analogous to the Red Planet out there since NASA data was used to construct them.

In the near future, more in-game NFTs will be added. Theyll include a wide range of things such as vehicles and avatars (colonists). These assets will enable gamers to make significantly more money in a shorter amount of time.

How can users make money using Mars4?

There are two ways to profit from Mars4: passively and actively.

Passive income is earned from the community pool, which is a revenue-distribution instrument. MARS4 dollars are continually contributed to the community pool from a variety of sources, including sales, in-game transactions, and advertising. Landowners have the option of opening the community pool and dividing the contents among investors. The productivity score, which improves as a result of gamers investment in Mars4, determines their portion of the community pool. This way users will earn more money if they have more NFTs (in-game and land).

The game is a source of active revenue as well. To acquire MARS4 dollars in the game, gamers may trade various items and complete tasks for other players. Users could, for example, also become a driver and transfer resources around the globe for other players with their vehicle NFT.

Play-to-earn: The bright future on the horizon

Many NFT games are in their initial stages of development with undetermined release dates. Its hardly surprising given how new the trend is. Since developing a game requires a lot of time, money, and specialized knowledge, we will not be able to play a lot of these games any time soon.

This is where Mars4 stands out: the game demo is available right now. In the demo, users get to build various constructions on Mars. The best projects will be rewarded as well, as Mars4 is planning to host a building competition.

Mars4 is making great progress toward creating a fully immersive Mars metaverse experience that incorporates blockchain technology. The fully finished game is expected to be released next year. The Mars4 team intends to release game versions before launching the whole metaverse. This is done to collect feedback and aid early players in mastering the games mechanics.

Conclusion

Mars4 is an example of Web3 since it gives participants the tools they need to govern the project and benefit from it. It combines the fun aspect of traditional gaming with a play-to-earn mechanism created by blockchain technology to provide the best of both worlds: an entertaining AAA game that allows participants to earn money. Since other games are still in the early stages of development, Mars4 is releasing the first game demo and leading the P2E market.

Now is a great time to join the rapidly increasing community and play the Mars4 game for the first time! To add to the excitement, Mars4 will conduct a construction competition that any landowner can enter.

Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be treated as news/advice.

More here:

Build on Mars and get rewarded: Mars4 releases their first game demo - AMBCrypto News