Category Archives: Mars Colonization

Matt Wolfs Sundance Film Festival documentary Spaceship Earth arrives at quite a moment in history, as the film ponders a science experiment that wanted to find the good, and science-expanding possibilities, in self-imposed quarantine. Check out the first trailer for the film below, which Neon will release in May on digital platforms including the websites of restaurants, bookstores, and other small non-theatrical businesses as distributors get used to skipping theatrical in these crazy times.

Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction adventure of eight visionaries who, beginning in 1991, spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered biome called Biosphere 2. The glass terrarium deep in the Arizona desert sought to replicate earths ecosystem, end became a pilot program for Mars colonization. The experiment became a global phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life-threatening ecological disaster, from food shortages to oxygen deprivation, while contending with growing assumptions from the media and beyond that the Biosphere inhabitants were nothing but a mad cult. Biosphere 2 soon found itself labeled as the product of science-fiction, not credible science, from a pack of 60s hippies. The $200-million research facility, of course, became a tourist attraction, tarnishing its integrity and reputation along the way.

Out of Park City, Variety called the film a lovely, engrossing documentary flashback. Spaceship Earth reclaims Biosphere 2 from the pop-culture-footnote dustbin, capturing the spirit of genuine idealism and earnest scientific inquiry An involving, oddly poignant tale that should have broad appeal to those on the lookout for distinctive documentary features has the excitement and involvement of a fictive sci-fi narrative.

Matt Wolfs previous documentaries include Recorder, about activist and pioneering television archivist Marion Stokes, who taped 35 years worth of cable news on her eight VCRs; Wild Combination, a documentary about cult queer musician Arthur Russell, who died of AIDS in 1992; and Teenage, about the evolution of youth culture throughout history based on a book from Jon Savage. Spaceship Earth, which looks to blend Wolfs interests in science and in counterculture, world-premiered in the US Documentary Competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it competed for the Grand Jury Prize.

Spaceship Earth is another entry in distributor Neons growing slate of distinctive documentary films, including last years Honeyland, which earned multiple Academy Award nominations, and Apollo 11. Watch the trailer below.

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Spaceship Earth Trailer: Experience the 1991 Quarantine Experiment That Rocked the World - IndieWire

Amid all the coronavirus worries, heres a positive development: NASA this month began taking applications for new astronauts.

You probably wont qualify: Candidates must have STEM backgrounds, and the odds of being accepted in the last round were 50 times worse than those for Harvard applicants.

Plus NASAs at least four years away from getting anyone to the moon though thats far from the only manned mission now on the planning boards.

On the other hand, firms like Axiom Space and Elon Musks SpaceX are starting to offer regular commercial trips that are (literally) out of this world and you dont need to be a real astronaut.

Its not cheap: You need to fork over $55 million for a seat on the first fully private-sector spaceflight, slated for next year complete with two days of space travel and eight days at the International Space Station. (Better act fast: Only two of the three available seats are left, reports The New York Times.)

But prices will come down, as the long-term prospects for off-planet exploration and residency are improving.

NASA is forging ahead with its Moon to Mars program, with a planned lunar landing date in 2024.

The moon leg, called Artemis (Apollos twin sister), includes an orbiting spacecraft with room for astronauts to live for up to three months, while shuttling back and forth to the lunar surface.

Thatll allow for extended periods of exploration and access to more moon sites, including, notably, the lunar South Pole, which is thought to hold hundreds of millions of tons of ice. (Off-Earth ice is a huge asset for further space exploration.)

NASA hopes to establish a permanent human presence on the moon as it searches for scientific discoveries and lays the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.

Artemis will also help NASA prepare for a trip to Mars in the 2030s. And the agencys not alone with its Martian dreams: SpaceX and other private firms are eyeing colonization of the next planet out from the sun.

Its important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars, says Musk, whose company is working on plans to get there. The Red Planet is far enough away that, in the event of a war, its more likely mankind can survive there than on the moon.

Musk hopes to ferry 1 million people to Mars by 2050 via 1,000 Starships a year, each with 100 people and materials to sustain them, for 10 years.

Such visions are ambitious. But space exploration and development come with big payback: They broaden knowledge, create possibilities for new applications and hold out enormous economic potential, with resources to be mined and space jobs to be filled.

And even if Musks worry about a humanity-ending war is excessive, having an off-Earth refuge may be handy for other reasons such as an outbreak of something even worse than COVID-19.

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NASA and private sector have big plans for space travel and they're recruiting - New York Post

A Russian lawyer who specializes in LGBT+ advocacy has offered the boldest solution yet to the coronavirus crisis colonize the Moon and Mars.

Maria Bast is the chair of the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights. And in particular she helps LGBT+ people get asylum abroad. She also fights to legalize same-sex marriage, for better laws for LGBT+ people.

But she also has another job as a manager in the space industry.

And yesterday she issued a message to the inhabitants of the planet Earth about COVID-19.

In it, she argues that coronavirus is a result of overpopulation. And she therefore proposes that we expand our home to fix the problem.

Bast made a video which she particularly addressed to those people who are smart people farmers, workers, businessmen, leaders of countries, politicians, officials, activists etc.

She explained: You have heard now the phrase coronavirus. Coronavirus is a crisis of human civilization. A global crisis. Coronavirus shows there are no borders and no nations [anymore]. Everyone is connected by one world with one problem.

Coronavirus is a result of overpopulation. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second we strain resources of our planet.

In particular, she says people living in megacities concentrates viruses.

What should we do in this situation? It is my suggestion we should leave megacities. We should leave megacities in favor of space exploration. We should expand our home. Because it is overwhelmed.

We have been forced to leave this planet, to [take] the next step into space. To make space bases on other planets, for example the Moon, Mars and other planets.

Indeed, the world population is expected to hit 7.8billion people this year. But as recently as 1960 it was just 3billion. Moreover, by 2030 it is set to exceed 8billion.

However, colonization of other planets may be a way off. Nobody has stepped foot on the Moon since 1972 and no human has yet visited Mars.

And some people think that washing their hands is a big ask.

But while Basts solution to the immediate coronavirus problem may generate some laughter, she is right about one thing:

We are all connected now. If we want to defeat coronavirus we need to join our resources, we need to join our efforts.

Meanwhile, in more practical COVID-19 news:

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LGBT+ campaigner and space expert's solution to coronavirus: Colonize the Moon - Gay Star News

A bold mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to Mars two moons, including a lander component for one of them, is all set to enter the development phase after the plan was submitted to the Japanese governments science ministry this week.

Dubbed the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, the goal is to launch the probe in 2024, using the new H-3 rocket being developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is expected to launch for the first time sometime later in 2020. The probe will survey and observe both Phobos and Deimos, the two moons that orbit the Red Planet, which are both smaller and more irregularly shaped than Earths Moon.

The MMX lander will park on Phobos, while the probe studies the two space-based bodies from a distance. This is the first-ever mission that seeks to land a spacecraft on one of the moons of Mars, and itll include a rover that is being developed by JAXA in partnership with teams at German space agency DLR and French space agency CNES.

The mission will include an ambitious plan to actually collect a sample of the surface of Phobos and return it to Earth for study which will mean a round-trip for the MMX spacecraft that should see it make its terrestrial return by 2029.

NASA is also planning a Mars-sample return mission, which would aim to bring back a sample from the Red Planet itself using the Mars 2020 six-wheel rover that its planning to launch later this year.

Both of these missions could be crucial stepping stones for eventual human exploration and colonization of Mars. Its possible that Phobos could act as an eventual staging ground for Mars missions, as its lower gravity makes it an easier body from which to depart for eventual astronauts. And Mars is obviously the ultimate goal for NASAs Artemis program, which seeks to first establish a more permanent human scientific presence on the Moon before heading to the Red Planet.

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Japanese mission to land a rover on a Martian moon and bring back a sample is a go - TechCrunch

(Photo : Pixabay)The moon as seen from the red planet - Mars

Mars, the red planet, is humming. The source of this alien music remains unknown as the quiet, constant drone periodically pulses with the beat of quakes rippling around the planet. Does this mean that there is life on Mars?

This Martian hum isdescribed in five studiesjust recently inNature GeoscienceandNature Communications.It was NASA's Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, which detected seismic activity and ground vibration in the planet.

Since 1976, the InSight mission has only been NASA's eighth successful landing in Mars.On November 26, 2018,NASA's InSightmission landed in Elysium Planitia. InSight is used to develop a thorough understanding of the differentiation and subsequent thermal evolution of Mars that affects its surface geology and volatile process using information gathered by the InSight such as its interior structure, composition, and thermal state.

"It's such a relief to finally be able to stand up and shout, look at all this great stuff we're seeing," says principal investigator of the InSight mission, Bruce Banerdt.

Suzanne Smrekar, the deputy principal investigator of the Insight Mission said that one cannot make a model just from Earth but rather, more data points are still needed. "It's just super exciting that we some of these things, and that we are trying to understand Mars," she added.

Recording these movements could help scientists answer many questions that have remained unanswered for many decades now.Nicholas Schmerr, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland ponders on the question of life on Mars, "Can it support life, or did it ever? Life exists at the edge, where the equilibrium is off."

He added that like some areas here on Earth, we use energy from thermal vents deep in the ocean ridges to support life on our planet.

Schmerr also said that once the presence of the liquid magma is confirmed on Mars, scientists can locate which part of the planet is most geologically active and it might help future missions searching for potential life.

The InSight rover is said to be the first mission to focus directly on taking geophysical measurements of Mars that could provide an understanding of the red planet's interior structure and processes. The data is collected by both InSight and itsseismometer, an instrument used to detect and record ground motions like an earthquake.

Within 235 Mars days, the scientists were able to pick up 174 marsquakes. 150 of those were categorized as high-frequency events similar to the ones recorded on the moon. The other 24 ground motions were classed as low-frequency quakes.

An associate professor of geology in UMD and co-author of the study, Vedran Lekic said that we can identify geologic layers within Mars and determine the distance and location to the source of quakes based on how the different waves propagate. The 24 low-frequency quakes were really exciting because through them we will be able to know how to analyze them and extract information about the subsurface structure.

Since the InSight is much more improved than those used in the previous missions, it can also provide important information about the weather on Mars. This includes the so-called dust devils, which are whirlwinds the humans would have to muddle through if one day they decide to colonized Mars.

Dust devils form in the morning with help from the Sun and in the afternoon when atmospheric pressure drops, but their occurrence eventually stops in the evening. This is definitely a factor when humans finally decide to spend their everyday lives on another planet.

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Is There Life on Mars? NASA InSight Rover Detects Quakes - Science Times

NASA, the United States space agency has revealed that a group of students in Florida will get a chance to communicate with astronauts who are currently onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The space agency will broadcast the live earth to space calls on February 20, 2020, at 12.40 PM EST.

Which NASA astronaut will answer the question of students?

As per a recent press release published on the NASA website, astronaut Andrew Morgan will answer the questions of K-12 students from the School District of Lee County.

"Schools within the district have connected as part of a year-long program that celebrates 50 years since the Apollo 11 Moon landing and looks forward to NASA's return to the Moon through the Artemis program," wrote NASA on their website.

NASA astronauts have been conducting various experiments in the International Space Station for the past two decades, and they are playing a crucial role in giving valuable inputs which will help space scientists to explore deep nooks of the space. The upcoming Artemis space program aims to land humans on the moon again, as a strong platform to achieve the ultimate aim of Mars colonization.

Did a UFO recently pay a visit to the ISS?

Conspiracy theorists and alien enthusiasts were all pulled to a state of ecstasy recently as alien hunter Scott C Waring released a video that showed a UFO following the International Space Station for more than 20 minutes. After releasing the video, Waring claimed that he made this discovery from NASA's live feed.

Interestingly, the alleged flying vessel was moving at the speed as the ISS which moves at approximately 7.67 kilometers per second. At the end of the video, this mysterious flying vessel shot upwards and vanished from sight. Waring claimed that this video is an indication of extraterrestrial aliens from deep space visiting the earth.

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These school students will talk to NASA astronauts onboard ISS tomorrow - International Business Times, Singapore Edition

Indigenous video artist Thirza Cuthand's NDN Survival Trilogy is showing at the Canadian embassy in Berlin.

The Canadian embassy in Berlin is a striking modern building on Leipziger Platz, constructed of some of the finest materials extracted from home, including Douglas fir and Manitoba limestone. Inside its elegant walls youll find envoys hard at work selling the idea of Canada to the largest economy in Europe. For the moment, though, youll also find something much more surprising: A pointed critique of Canadas extraction economy and its debilitating effects on Indigenous communities.

NDN Survival Trilogy is a trio of short films by artist and performer Thirza Cuthand, currently showing as part of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. On opening night, guests crowded into the Marshall McLuhan Salon of the botschaft, or embassy, to watch Cuthands witty, personal take on extraction capitalism, artistic complicity, the role of gas masks in protest and sex play, and just who, exactly, is going to be invited to colonize Mars. In her opening-night speech, Cuthand, who is of Plains Cree and Scottish descent, gave a shout-out to the Wetsuweten protesters, as the screens behind her showed a series of chemical refineries and open-pit mines.

The protesters have given her hope, she says when she returns to the embassy for an interview the next day. As a child in Saskatoon, she saw her uncle Brad Larocque on the nightly news when he was part of the Oka protest (thats him standing nose-to-nose with a Canadian soldier in one of the defining images of the 1990 crisis). The same spirit is galvanizing Indigenous communities and their allies today, Cuthand says. What were seeing in Canada is that there are multiple ways things could change at any moment. Its a kind of joyful chaos that Im relying on.

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As we sit and talk, we can hear her voice echoing from the next room, a voiceover from the film Extractions. A group of viewers sits in the room named after one of Canadas most celebrated modern philosophers, having walked past the embassys waterfall and canoe to confront a less idealized version of Canada one in which Indigenous children are disproportionately taken into care by the government and the legacy of colonialism leaves scars on the land and communities.

The films are deeply personal, rooted in Cuthands identity as a queer Indigenous person who lives with bipolar disorder. The work is also, at times, quite hilarious. In the mock-documentary Reclamation, a group of Indigenous people, played by Cuthands friends, lament the mess theyve been left with after the rest of the planet has fled to Mars. I hope they find their god up there, one of them says, dryly.

That film, which was shot in Haida Gwaii and Saskatchewan, was inspired by Elon Musks grand plan to colonize Mars. You hear that and you think, who is really going to Mars? Its not going to be poor people. Probably not Indigenous people.

Without humour, she says, You just feel defeated and upset. It gives hope to people who are struggling. Ive talked to people who say that the film gives them hope. It may seem like were going through an apocalypse, but maybe theres something after that brings us back to a wholeness.

Hope is the bright thread that runs through all three films. In Extractions, Cuthand uses found footage of oil wells and ravaged landscapes to compare the extraction of natural resources to the extraction of Indigenous children from their homes and communities. But then, in the next scene, shes injecting herself with fertility drugs she wants to have a baby. Its a way of reclaiming hope and self-determination.

At the same time, she wrestles with the idea of complicity. Also in Extractions, she travels through the chemical valley that enriches Southwestern Ontario, on her way to give a workshop sponsored by a chemical company. And in the final video, Less Lethal Fetishes, she peers from behind a gas mask as she relates the story of a particular ethical dilemma. Last year, she was thrilled to be invited to show a film at the Whitney Biennial in New York until word got out that the vice-chair of the Whitney Museum, Warren Kanders, owned a company that manufactured tear gas. Artists in the Biennial staged protests, and Cuthand was torn: Should she stay in the show and help her career, or pull out in accordance with her beliefs? Fortunately for her, Kanders resigned from the Whitney before she had to make a decision, and her film was shown.

In Less Lethal Fetishes, Cuthand peers from behind a gas mask as she relates the story of an ethical dilemma surrounding a film festival in New York.

It was such a distressing time for me, Cuthand says. Did I make enough of a statement? As an artist who deals with politics in my work, I wondered how much responsibility I bear in a situation like that.

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Cuthands films are showing as part of the Berlinale, which runs until March 1. After that, shell return to her home base in Toronto, where shes working on her video game, A Bipolar Journey (level three features players in a group home fighting over a TV remote, and level four requires them to adjust their medication so theyre able to buy a hot dog) as well as working on a feature-film script about a queer Indigenous woman who can set fire to people and things with her mind. In other words, work that is funny and hopeful and political, all at once.

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In Berlin, Indigenous artist Thirza Cuthand interrogates Canadas extraction economy - The Globe and Mail

Home News How To Watch The Moon and Venus Switching Places in Upcoming Beautiful Cosmic Dance

While so many astronomers are seeking and finding outstanding sights way beyond our solar system and even beyond the galaxy, there are plenty of beautiful wonders very close to our planet that can amaze us forever.

One such event is represented by the Moon switching places with Venus on the night sky, an event that can be viewed tomorrow evening, February 27. The two celestial objects are creating a truly rare event only several hours after our beloved sun does its daily job and leaves the scene.

Venus and the Moon are the brightest objects in the night sky, and thats why it will be such a big deal to see them kissing each other.

Venus will be shining more brightly than usual since its in a period of several months called greatest elongation. The planet shall be at its furthest distance from the sun, and its expected to shine stronger until June.

You might ask yourself the following question: if Venus is so close, couldnt we send humans to it instead of thinking to colonize Mars? There is only one answer to the question, and that is a big NO!

Venus is the most hostile rocky planet from our solar system. It has hundreds of degrees Celsius at its surface, and it has a very thick and toxic atmosphere. The atmosphere from Venus contains mainly carbon dioxide, and thick clouds of sulfuric acid that are completely covering the planet. You can easily conclude that thats no place for humans to be. Religious people might say that the more they learn about Venus, the less they doubt the existence of Hell.

On the other hand, humans went to the Moon, and they plan to do it again in the current year.

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How To Watch The Moon and Venus Switching Places in Upcoming Beautiful Cosmic Dance - Webby Feed

The Bud and Irene Hopkins Foundation made several stops in Emporia on Tuesday.

Foundation Vice President Michelle Hopkins-Molinaro joined several district administrators and board members in presenting the Hopkins Project Awards. Hopkins-Molinaro tells KVOE News this is a natural extension of the foundation's willingness to help the district after it organized the Star Performer and WOW! awards for individual teachers for years.

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Board member Leslie Seeley says the program helps teachers as they meet student needs.

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Nearly 15 projects were awarded across the district, with grant amounts ranging from $620 to over $5,000.

Since 2002. the Hopkins Foundation has handed out almost $450,000 to better than 230 teachers and support staffers across USD 253.

*Katrina Goscha, Emporia High: Lightboard*Randy Wells, Emporia High: Lebert Buddy System trainers*Misty Lawson and Rick Jones, Emporia Middle School: Learning About the Past*Samuel Barrett, Logan Avenue Elementary: Logan Avenue disc golf course*Emily Joplin, Logan Avenue Elementary: Mars Colonization PBL field trip*Randielle Houser, Riverside Elementary: Flexible seating for fourth grade*Jenna Adkins, Timmerman Elementary: Math PBL projects*Tabatha Granado, Timmerman Elementary: Resource room*Annisa Lord, Village Elementary: STEAM productions*Hannah Prophet and Ashlee Anno, William Allen White: Growing Our Health Together*Marilyn Dalton, Carol Taylor, Jennifer Wendling, Karen Horton, Roberta Shafer, William Allen White Elementary: Books in Kids Hands, Kids in Parents Laps*Melanie Curtis, William Allen White Elementary: Green Screen Storytelling*Stephanie Yoho, Walnut Elementary: The Eagles Nest

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Hopkins Project Awards offer teachers another avenue to enhance learning experience - KVOE

Musician Grimes appears to have an interest in going to Mars, much like her boyfriend, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

In a candid new interview with British fashion and culture magazine The Face, Grimes discussed everything from her pregnancy to the harmful effects of social media. She also touched on her ambitions for the future, including her dreams of going to Mars.

Interviewer Michelle Lhooq asked Grimes whether she'd "rather go to Mars or upload your consciousness to the cloud," Grimes described going to Mars as one of "the main things I'm trying to do."

Here's her response in full:

"WOW, what a question. Ummmmm.. I would very much like to do both of these things. Like, these are the main things I'm trying to do. I guess I'd like to upload my consciousness, and then when it's technologically possible, have my consciousness live in some kind of humanoid vessel that can speak and move freely, and then that body can go to Mars and other planets with my mind inside it."

Mars is also the focus of Grimes' boyfriend, Elon Musk's, rocket company, SpaceX. Musk founded the company in 2002 with the goal of making spaceflight cheaper by a factor of 10. SpaceX's long-term goal is to make colonizing Mars affordable, and Musk has said that the company won't file for an initial public offering until what Musk calls the "Mars Colonial Transporter" is flying regularly.

Musk currently has plans to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050 and build a city there. The plan includes building 1,000 fully reusable spaceships, called Starships, over the next 10 years. Eventually, the goal is to launch three Starships each day.

"Needs to be such that anyone can go if they want, with loans available for those who don't have money," Musk recently wrote.

Musk and Grimes have been together since 2018, debuting their relationship at that year's Met Gala. Since then, the couple has weathered the storm of Musk's "funding secured" fiasco at Tesla, have shown up for each other's big career moments, and may now be expecting a baby together. Grimes has said that she's seven months pregnant, but more details about the pregnancy, such as whether she is having the baby with Musk, are not clear.

Read Grimes' full interview with The Face here.

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Grimes says going to Mars is one of her main goals - Business Insider - Business Insider