Category Archives: Moon Colonization

Establishment and development of settlements by people or animals

Colonization, or colonisation refers to large-scale population movements where the migrants maintain strong links with theiror their ancestors'former country, gaining significant privileges over other inhabitants of the territory by such links. When colonization takes place under the protection of colonial structures, it may be termed settler colonialism. This often involves the settlers dispossessing indigenous inhabitants, or instituting legal and other structures which systematically disadvantage them.[1]

In its basic sense, colonization can be defined as the process of establishing foreign control over target territories or people for the purpose of cultivation, often through establishing colonies and possibly by settling them.[2]

In colonies established by Western European countries in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, settlers (supplemented by Central European, Eastern European, Asian and African people) eventually formed a large majority of the population after killing, assimilating or driving away indigenous peoples.

In other places, Western European settlers formed minority groups, often dominating the non-Western European majority.[3]

During the European colonization of Australia, New Zealand and other places in Oceania, explorers and colonists often regarded the landmasses as terra nullius, meaning "empty land" in Latin.[4] Owing to the absence of Western farming techniques, Europeans deemed the land unaltered by mankind and therefore treated it as uninhabited, despite the presence of indigenous populations. In the 19th century, laws and ideas such as Mexico's General Colonization Law and the United States' manifest destiny doctrine encouraged further colonization of the Americas, already started in the 15th century. Despite countless declarations and referendums from the UN on the independence of colonial countries and peoples, implemented since 1946, there are still over 60 colonies in the world, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and Bermuda.[5][6][7]

The term colonization is derived from the Latin words colere ("to cultivate, to till"),[8] colonia ("a landed estate", "a farm") and colonus ("a tiller of the soil", "a farmer"),[9] then by extension "to inhabit".[10] Someone who engages in colonization, i.e. the agent noun, is referred to as a colonizer, while the person who gets colonized, i.e. the object of the agent noun or absolutive, is referred to as a colonizee,[11] colonisee or the colonised.[12]

In ancient times, maritime nations such as the city-states of Greece and Phoenicia often established colonies to farm what they believed was uninhabited land. Land suitable for farming was often occupied by migratory 'barbarian tribes' who lived by hunting and gathering. To ancient Greeks and Phoenicians, these lands were regarded as simply vacant.[citation needed] However, this did not mean that conflict did not exist between the colonizers and local/native peoples. Greeks and Phoenicians also established colonies with the intent of regulating and expanding trade throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Another period of colonization in ancient times was during the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire conquered large parts of Western Europe, North Africa and West Asia. In North Africa and West Asia, the Romans often conquered what they regarded as 'civilized' peoples. As they moved north into Europe, they mostly encountered rural peoples/tribes with very little in the way of cities. In these areas, waves of Roman colonization often followed the conquest of the areas. Many of the current cities throughout Europe began as Roman colonies, such as Cologne, Germany, originally called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium by the Romans, and the British capital city of London, which the Romans founded as Londinium.

The decline and collapse of the Roman Empire saw (and was partly caused by) the large-scale movement of people in Eastern Europe and Asia. This is largely seen as beginning with nomadic horsemen from Asia (specifically the Huns) moving into the richer pasture land to the west, thus forcing the local people there to move further west and so on until eventually the Goths were forced to cross into the Roman Empire, resulting in continuous war with Rome which played a major role in the fall of the Roman Empire. During this period there were large-scale movements of peoples establishing new colonies all over western Europe. The events of this time saw the development of many of the modern-day nations of Europe like the Franks in France and Germany and the Anglo-Saxons in England.

In West Asia, during Sassanid Empire, some Persians established colonies in Yemen and Oman. The Arabs also established colonies in Northern Africa, Mesopotamia, and the Levant, and remain the dominant majority to this day.[13][14][15][16][17]

The Vikings of Scandinavia also carried out a large-scale colonization. The Vikings are best known as raiders, setting out from their original homelands in Denmark, southern Norway and southern Sweden, to pillage the coastlines of northern Europe. In time, the Vikings began trading and established colonies. The Vikings discovered Iceland and established colonies before moving onto Greenland, where they briefly held some colonies. The Vikings launched an unsuccessful attempt at colonizing an area they called Vinland, which is probably at a site now known as L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, on the eastern coastline of Canada.

In the Colonial Era, colonialism in this context refers mostly to Western European countries' colonization of lands mainly in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The main European countries active in this form of colonization included Spain, Portugal, France, the Kingdom of England (later Great Britain), the Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Prussia (now mostly Germany), and, beginning in the 18th century, the United States. Most of these countries had a period of almost complete power in world trade at some stage in the period from roughly 1500 to 1900. Beginning in the late 19th century, Imperial Japan also engaged in settler colonization, most notably in Hokkaido and Korea.

While many European colonization schemes focused on shorter-term exploitation of economic opportunities (Newfoundland, for example, or Siberia) or addressed specific goals (Massachusetts or New South Wales), a tradition developed of careful long-term social and economic planning for both parties, but more on the colonizing countries themselves, based on elaborate theory-building (note James Oglethorpe's Colony of Georgia in the 1730s and Edward Gibbon Wakefield's New Zealand Company in the 1840s).[18]

Colonization may be used as a method of absorbing and assimilating foreign people into the culture of the imperial country, and thus destroying any remnant of the cultures that might threaten the imperial territory over the long term by inspiring reform. The main instrument to this end is linguistic imperialism, or the imposition of non-indigenous imperial (colonial) languages on the colonized populations to the exclusion of any indigenous languages from administrative (and often, any public) use.[19]

The Soviet regime in the 1920s tried to win the trust of non-Russians by promoting their ethnic cultures and establishing for them many of the characteristic institutional forms of the nation-state.[20] The early Soviet regime was hostile to even voluntary assimilation, and tried to derussify assimilated non-Russians.[21] Parents and students not interested in the promotion of their national languages were labeled as displaying "abnormal attitudes". The authorities concluded that minorities unaware of their ethnicities had to be subjected to Belarusization, Yiddishization, Polonization etc.[22]

By the early 1930s this extreme multiculturalist policy proved unworkable and the Soviet regime introduced a limited russification[23] for practical reasons; voluntary assimilation, which was often a popular demand,[24] was allowed. The list of nationalities was reduced from 172 in 1927 to 98 in 1939[25] by revoking support for small nations in order to merge them into bigger ones. For example, Abkhazia was merged into Georgia and thousands of ethnic Georgians were sent to Abkhazia.[26] The Abkhaz alphabet was changed to a Georgian base, Abkhazian schools were closed and replaced with Georgian schools, the Abkhaz language was banned.[27] The ruling elite was purged of ethnic Abkhaz and by 1952 over 80% of the 228 top party and government officials and enterprise managers in Abkhazia were ethnic Georgians (there remained 34 Abkhaz, 7 Russians and 3 Armenians in these positions).[28] For Knigsberg area of East Prussia (modern Kaliningrad Oblast) given to the Soviet Union at the 1945 Potsdam Conference Soviet control meant a forcible expulsion of the remaining German population and mostly involuntary resettlement of the area with Soviet civilians.[29]

Russians were now presented as the most advanced and least chauvinist people of the Soviet Union.[23]

Large numbers of ethnic Russians and other Russian speakers were sent to colonize the Baltic states after their reoccupation in 1944, while local languages, religions and customs were banned or suppressed.[30] David Chioni Moore classified it as a "reverse-cultural colonization", where the colonized perceive the colonizers as culturally inferior.[31] Colonization of the Baltic states was closely tied to mass executions, deportations and repression of the native population. During both Soviet occupations (19401941; 19441952) a combined 605,000 people in the Baltic states were either killed or deported (135,000 Estonians, 170,000 Latvians and 320,000 Lithuanians), while their properties and personal belongings, along with ones who fled the country, were confiscated and given to the arriving colonists Soviet military, NKVD personnel, Communist functionaries and economic refugees from kolkhozs.[32]

The most dramatic case was Latvia, where the amount of ethnic Russians swelled from 168,300 (8.8%) in 1935 to 905,500 (34%) in 1989, whereas the proportion of Latvians fell from 77% in 1935 to 52% in 1989.[33] Baltic states also faced intense economic exploitation, with Latvian SSR, for example, transferring 15.961 billion rubles (or 18.8% percent of its total revenue of 85 billion rubles) more to the USSR budget from 1946 to 1990 than it received back. And of the money transferred back, a disproportionate amount was spent on the region's militarization and funding repressive institutions, especially in the early years of the occupation.[34] It has been calculated by a Latvian state-funded commission that the Soviet occupation cost the economy of Latvia a total of 185 billion euros.[35]

Conversely, political economist and world-systems and analyst Samir Amin asserts that, in contrast to colonialism, capital transfer in the USSR was used not to enrich a metropole but to develop poorer regions in the South and East. The wealthiest regions like Western Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic Republics were the main source of capital.[36]

In 1934, the Soviet government established the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the Soviet Far East to create a homeland for the Jewish people. Another motive was to strengthen Soviet presence along the vulnerable eastern border. The region was often infiltrated by the Chinese; in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek had ended cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party, which further increased the threat. Fascist Japan also seemed willing and ready to detach the Far Eastern provinces from the USSR.[37] To make settlement of the inhospitable and undeveloped region more enticing, the Soviet government allowed private ownership of land. This led to many non-Jews to settle in the oblast to get a free farm.[38]

By the 1930s, a massive propaganda campaign developed to induce more Jewish settlers to move there. In one instance, a government-produced Yiddish film called Seekers of Happiness told the story of a Jewish family that fled the Great Depression in the United States to make a new life for itself in Birobidzhan. Some 1,200 non-Soviet Jews chose to settle in Birobidzhan.[39] The Jewish population peaked in 1948 at around 30,000, about one-quarter of the region's population. By 2010, according to data provided by the Russian Census Bureau, there were only 1,628 people of Jewish descent remaining in the JAO (1% of the total population), while ethnic Russians made up 92.7% of the JAO population.[40] The JAO is Russia's only autonomous oblast[41] and, aside of Israel, the world's only Jewish territory with an official status.[42]

According to Elia Zuriek, in his book "Israel's Colonial Project in Palestine: Brutal Pursuit", Israeli settlements in the West Bank is an additional form of colonization.[43] This view is part of a key debate in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

The transmigration program is an initiative of the Indonesian government to move landless people from densely populated areas of Java, but also to a lesser extent from Bali and Madura, to less populous areas of the country including Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.[44]

In 1884 Britain declared a protective order over South East New Guinea, establishing an official colony in 1888. Germany however, annexed parts of the North. This annexation separated the entire region into the South, known as "British New Guinea" and North, known as "Papua".[45]

Due to marginalisation produced by continuous Resettlement Policy, by 1969, political tensions and open hostilities developed between the Government of the Philippines and Moro Muslim rebel groups in Mindanao.[46][failed verification]

Many colonists came to colonies for slaves to their colonizing countries, so the legal power to leave or remain may not be the issue so much as the actual presence of the people in the new country. This left the indigenous natives of their lands slaves in their own countries.

The Canadian Indian residential school system was identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Canada) as colonization through depriving the youth of First Nations in Canada of their languages and cultures.[47]

During the mid 20th century, there was the most dramatic and devastating attempt at colonization, and that was pursued with Nazism.[48] Hitler and Heinrich Himmler and their supporters schemed for a mass migration of Germans to Eastern Europe, where some of the Germans were to become colonists, having control over the native people.[48] These indigenous people were planned to be reduced to slaves or wholly annihilated.[48]

Many advanced nations currently have large numbers of guest workers/temporary work visa holders who are brought in to do seasonal work such as harvesting or to do low-paid manual labor. Guest workers or contractors have a lower status than workers with visas, because guest workers can be removed at any time for any reason.

Colonization may be a domestic strategy when there is a widespread security threat within a nation and weapons are turned inward, as noted by Paul Virilio:

Some instances of the burden of endo-colonization have been noted:

There has been a continued interest and advocation for space colonization. Space colonization has been criticized as unreflected continuation of settler colonialism and manifest destiny, continuing the narrative of colonial exploration as fundamental to the assumed human nature.[51][52][53]

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Colonization - Wikipedia

The Moon awaits. After long decades in which no human being set foot on the lunar surface, we are heading back. And quite soon.

As part of the NASA-led Artemis program, astronauts are returning to the lunar environment as soon as 2024, with a view to ultimately establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon a place we haven't seen in person since 1972.

To live and work on the Moon, though, astronauts will need power and plenty of it, and there's no power grid on the Moon.

While any number of creative solutions might be able to help fix that problem, for years NASA has viewed nuclear fission as the most practical power option for future astronaut colonies, and now the space agency is taking the next step in making a nuclear reactor on the Moon a reality.

"Plentiful energy will be key to future space exploration," says Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).

Illustration of a conceptual fission surface power system on Mars. (NASA)

After years of investigating the possibilities for lunar nuclear fission under its former Kilopower project, NASA is spearheading a new drive in fission surface power research, working in conjunction with the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The two organizations are now putting out the call for American industry partners to submit design concepts for nuclear fission power systems that could run on the lunar surface and be ready to launch and demonstrate their potential on the Moon within the decade.

According to NASA, a small, lightweight fission system capable of operation on a lunar lander or lunar surface rover could provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power, which would be sufficient to satisfy the electricity demands of several average households.

In the context of lunar operations, power usage would be different to what households require on Earth, of course: running life support systems, charging lunar rovers, and helping scientists to conduct experiments.

According to the NASA and DOE brief, future fission systems will ultimately need to produce at least 40 kilowatts of energy, which NASA says could power approximately 30 households for up to 10 years.

At those anticipated levels, there should be enough energy not only to make a sustained lunar presence possible, but also one day to enable exploration and even colonization of Mars which is the scientific stretch goal Artemis's endeavors are ultimately bringing us closer to.

Illustration of a spacecraft with a nuclear propulsion system. (NASA)

In fact, NASA says today's research into lunar fission power systems could also help inform proposed nuclear propulsion systems that may one day enable astronauts to journey to the red planet on spacecraft traveling at faster speeds for shorter missions.

One step at a time, though, as we are still likely years away from seeing a lunar fission reactor actually working on the Moon. While NASA and the DOE have enjoyed some success with Kilopower prototypes in previous experiments, nobody has yet had a chance to test something like this on the Moon, which is where it counts.

To get us closer to that, NASA and the DOE will select the most promising design proposals it receives between now and late February 2022, and will help to develop those concepts for a 12-month period.

After those projects are assessed, what researchers learn will go on to guide the design and build of one final flight-qualified fission power system, which will be launched to the Moon on a demonstration mission, hopefully sometime this decade.

Then, at long last, the Moon should have the beginnings of its very own power grid and humanity's base of operations in space will be on a new level to anything we've built before.

"The feedback and enthusiasm we continue to see for space nuclear power systems has been very exciting, and understandably so," says senior engineer Sebastian Corbisiero, the Fission Surface Power Project lead at the DOE's Idaho National Laboratory.

"Providing a reliable, high-power system on the Moon is a vital next step in human space exploration, and achieving it is within our grasp."

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NASA Reveals Bold Plan to Put a Nuclear Reactor on The Moon Within 10 Years - ScienceAlert

In our lifetimes, it is almost certain we will see humans set foot on Mars. If the modern-day space racebetween private companies and nations continues, it is not out of the question that we will see a long-term human presence on either the Moon or Mars in that time frame too, an incredible yet insane concept.

But and it is a big but researchers simply have no idea how a team of astronauts isolated almost 380 million kilometers (236 million miles) from home would fare insuch a scenario. Wouldthey maintain constant communication with Earth and work perfectly as a team? Or would they descend into anarchy, even cutting communication withtheir superiors and forming an autonomous colony? Russian researchers are aiming to figure that out beforethey spend billions on the real deal, by placing a group of individuals in a Mars colonizationsimulation.

ProjectSIRIUS (Scientific International ResearchInUniqueterrestrialStation yes, they reached a bit to make theacronym cool) is an effort to understand the psychology of astronauts during long space flights. The results have recently been published inFrontiers in Physiology. Seventeen and 120-day isolation experiments in 2017 and 2019, respectively, were designed to simulate a team isolated in an extraterrestrial environment.

The results confirmed their worries the delay in communication due to the distance, coupled with the extended period away from Mother Earth, resulted in the astronautsbecoming detached from mission control and becoming almost autonomous.

Previous simulations suggested that once the astronauts left on their voyage, there was a strong chance that they would begin to disconnect from mission control,reducing the number of situations they would report on.Toconfirmthe results of previous simulations, namely the Mars-500 missions, the researchers carried out the two isolations using a mixed-gender, international crew. The missions were testing how participants communicated withmission control and how well they worked together to form a successful colony.

They began with a take-off procedure, before landing on the inhospitable environment of a specialized area withinthe training facility. The crew were then locked away in pods together, given minimal rations and supplies, and subjected to the full isolation of the real deal.

Analysis of the experiments suggested a number of conclusions, some positive, while others were more problematic. The crewactually increased their communication with the mission controlcenter(MCC) at the halfway stage of the simulation, which involved theMars landing, but then subsequentlybecamedetached,reducing the volume of communicationwith MCC. They relied less on the recommendations of MCC, becoming more autonomous as they adapted to their mission.

While it is positive the crew were able to take matters into their own hands and live autonomously, a disconnect from MCC is a worrying phenomenon.

"The negative side is that the mission control loses the possibility to understand the needs and problems of the crew, which consequently hinders mission control's ability to provide support," said co-author Dmitry Shved of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Aviation Institute, in a statement to CNET.

There was also an interesting correlation between the male and female crew members. Similarto previous experiments, thewomenreported on problems to the MCC more often, and expressed their support, while their communication styles were more emotional. The men, however, were less likely to report to MCC. Interestingly, by the end of the simulation, both the men and womenhad adapted to each other's communication styles, forming a similar level of emotion and regularity of communication.

Of course, due to only 12 people taking part in the simulations, it is also possible that deviances between groups and individuals are purely down to individual differences, so generalizations cannot be made before more research is conducted.

In the meantime,anotherProject SIRIUS experiment is now underway,involvingan 8-month isolation that began on November 4th.

Continued here:
Scientists Are Testing Astronauts In Long Mars Simulations, And The Results Are Worrying - IFLScience

From the earliest days of hip-hop, rap artists have referenced the extraterrestrial to help us escape our earthbound existence.

In Rapper's Delight the pioneering 1979 rap song by the Sugarhill Gang that ushered hip-hop into the mainstream Master Gee recites: Im gonna freak ya here, Im gonna freak you there / Im gonna move you outta this atmosphere.

Since then, rap artists have regularly invoked outer space. They have even seen their tracks played on planets other than Earth. In 2012, will.i.am teamed up with NASA to debut his song Reach for the Starson Mars via the rover called Curiosity.

Others in the hip-hop community have been less enthused by interplanetary exploration. In their 2016 song, The Space Program, the legendary rap group, A Tribe Called Quest, casts doubt over whether Americas space program is meant for everyone, namely poor people and people of color.

The group laments that they would prefer to leave us where we are so they can play among the stars.

Were taking off to Mars, got the space vessels overflowing / What, you think they want us there? / All us n-gg not going.

As a scholar and hip-hop artist, I know that how rap lyrics talk about space tells us as much about what is going on Earth as it does our imaginings of beyond.

My view on the future of space exploration hovers somewhere between the optimism of will.i.am and the pessimism of Tribe. That is to say, while I know that space exploration is an inevitable part of the human journey, I also believe that it pays to remember both past and present realities here on Earth, particularly when it comes to issues of race and oppression.

Along those lines, its also important to examine how space is viewed, what purpose it will serve and for whom. Will it be for everyone? Or will it be yet another attempt at the expansion of white global dominance?

I believe our world is shaped by the language we use to describe it. Various scholars and Black astronauts from aspiring to retired have called attention to worrisome language being used to describe humanitys aims and objectives in outer space.

For instance, retired NASA astronaut Leland Melvin known as @Astro_Flow in the Twittersphere has pointed out how its problematic to talk about colonizing Mars.

Even if words like colonization have a different context off-world, on somewhere like Mars, its still not OK to use those narratives, because it erases the history of colonization here on our own planet, Melvin told National Geographic in 2018.

How we talk about outer space can influence whether children of color see themselves going in the future, argues Shelli Brunswick, chief operating officer at the Space Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for space innovation as well as diversity and inclusion.

People are not inclined to consider fields where they dont have a role model or where they cant find someone with whom they can identify, whether its by their race, gender, economic situation, educational background or something else, Brunswick told The Conversation for this article. This is especially true with children.

As stated by education professor Gloria Ladson-Billings a pioneer and proponent of what is known as culturally relevant pedagogy one effective way to inspire students is through hip-hop, one of the top music genres in the U.S. and the world.

With those things in mind, anyone concerned with the future of space exploration might do well to consider how Americas classrooms are fitted for sound and whats playing through the speakers.

As poet Nikki Giovanni stated in Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: To successfully go to Mars and back / You will need a song.

In that spirit, what follows is a 10-song hip-hop space exploration playlist one that spans four decades with interplanetary lyrical references.

Ill be your cosmic tour guide on this trip through the galaxy /

Ill fly no destination, heres the edge of the Milky Way /

Until were at this party, so please do what I say /

So follow me and while youre thinking you were first /

"Lets travel at magnificent speeds around the universe /

"What could you say as the Earth gets further and further away /

"Planets as small as balls of clay /

"Astray into the Milky Way, worlds out of sight /

"Far as the eye can see not even a satellite

Samples a speech by JFK:

The moon and the planets are there /

"And new hopes for knowledge and peace are there /

"And therefore, as we set sail, we ask Gods blessing /

"On the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure /

"Of which man has ever embarked

Tell my pops Im out earthbound with the crew /

"He said, "Butterfly may the boogie be with you /

Left my moms a note with these quotes on a trunk /

"It says I split to earth to resurrect the funk

Cause in a sense see we all be kind of fly /

"Just cant be scared to spread your wings, head to better things /

"Maybe the mockingbird and nightingale they want to sing /

"Keeping this thing alive, to the tables what we bring /

"We like hailstorms and blizzards in the middle of the spring /

"Extraterrestrial, out of this world

We gon take it to the moon, take it to the stars/

"How many people you know can take it this far? /

"Im supercharged /

"We bout to take this whole thing to Mars (lift off) /

"Now we gon take it to the moon, take it to the stars /

"We dont know what we could do to make it this far /

"So many scars /

"We bout to take this whole thing to Mars

We gon take it to the moon, take it to the stars/

"How many people you know can take it this far? /

"Im supercharged /

"We bout to take this whole thing to Mars (lift off) /

"Now we gon take it to the moon, take it to the stars /

"We dont know what we could do to make it this far /

"So many scars /

"We bout to take this whole thing to Mars

Reach for the Stars, by will.i.am (2012)

Im packing my space suit /

"And Im taking my shit and moving to the moon /

"Where there no rules

This may be the night that my dreams might let me know /

"All the stars are closer, all the stars are closer, all the stars are closer /

"This may be the night that my dreams might let me know /

"All the stars are closer, all the stars are closer, all the stars are closer

You would probably see a star if you looked a little further /

"Lifes like a jump off the edge /

"Hope my wings form fore this fall ends /

"They told me shootin for the stars was the answer /

"Yeah, I took a trip to the stars, no rocket fuel, no NASA /

"Black astronaut, tell me, what more could you ask for? /

"The path wasnt never there

Earth is ghetto I wanna leave /

"Can you beam me up Im out on the street_

"By the corner store, you know the one on 15th /

"Got a bright shirt on so Im easy to see /

"I been down here stranded indefinitely /

"I cant reach my planet but I need to leave /

"You should see these people its hard to believe /

"How they treat each other its hard to conceive

From stargazing escapism to resisting earthly oppression, the lyrics in this playlist are part of a Black American tradition in art and music from Sun Ra to Funkadelic and onward that often makes reference to space and imagines a better future in which Black people thrive, known as afrofuturism, perhaps aptly illustrated in the aforementioned Nikki Giovanni poem in which she suggested the music to go to Mars:

NASA needs to call Black America. /

"They need to ask: How did you calm your fears? /

"How were you able to decide you were human even when everything said you were not? /

"How did you find comfort in the face of the improbable to make the world you came to your world? /

"How was your soul able to look back and wonder? /

"And they will tell them what to do

Continued here:
'Earth is Ghetto' and other hip-hop songs to take you on a voyage into space - News24

Soon enough stories started to roll in at a steady pace and the page kept growing. Alongside, peoples inclination to study their region or tribes tattoos increased and curious about these patterns, they even started replicating these motifs on their bodies.

Some of the most common markings on the India Ink Archive are the trajva designs. These tattoos originate from tribes in northwestern Indian states like Rajasthan and Gujarat and feature motifs like scorpions, snakes and camels. The pigment is made by mixing soot with tannin from the bark of trees and is applied with a single needle from a gourd bowl. Usually tattooed on throats, forearms and calves, these trajvas were extremely painful and made to test the resilience of the members of the tribe who got them on their bodies.

Most recently, the page documented a Tamil-descent Trinidadian named Vena whos grandmother, Tyar, carried her tattoo traditions with her across the ocean. Her tattoo is of Krishnas throne/crown, flanked by peacocks on either side. She also had a 7 dotted flower motif on her left hand and V shaped motif on her right hand. These are part of godna markings commonly seen on people as it was customary when they got married. Not all of her markings had a special meaning; some were just for the style they evoked like the tattooed line down her forehead. Recently, Vena and her cousin replicated the V shaped dotted motif on her own hands in the memory of her grandmother and her lineage.

According to Shah, The most fascinating part of these traditions was that it was traditionally a female pursuit but was not limited to them. The women in the family would be the ones to bear the tattoos and also the ones to apply them stick-and-poke style. Stick-and-poke tattoos use one or multiple long needles tied together to manually create the desired tattoo.

Today, many modern tattoo artists like Shah are returning to this style as well as creating a connection with ancient Indias tattoo heritage. Through efforts like the India Ink Archive, the largely undocumented history of this art form is finally getting a platform as well as providing inspiration for the current generation of tattoo enthusiasts.

For me, this project started off as a way to reconnect with my roots. Its rewarding to see I could help other families do the same. says Shah.

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This tattoo artist is preserving Indias tattoo traditions through an online archive - Cond Nast Traveller India

NASA / JSC

Exobiology: Pseudo-fossils could mislead the search for life forms on Mars; Gravitational waves would have made the Big Bang turbulent spacetime. The Moon contains enough oxygen to allow 8 billion people to breathe for 100,000 years

The United States, Europe, China, Russia, brutal missiles, the Moon. Add a touch of geopolitical tensions to it and weve got the perfect cocktail for a new space race. Are we right to believe this? And if so, who could be the winner?

Read more about Futura Sciences

When the brilliant Richard Feynman started the quantum computer revolution, he planned to use it to perform simulations of quantum systems that challenged analytical computations and numerical simulations on classical computers. Weve been seeing this dream come true for a few years and today it looks like a quantum computer, made by IBM, is about to unlock some of the secrets of the protons and neutrons that make up our bodies and stars.

Read more about Futura Sciences

Many geological structures formed through chemical reactions look like two drops of water like the fossils of microbes, animals, or fungi. Two researchers from the University of Edinburgh have warned of a dangerous source of confusion that requires that any new announcement of the discovery of extraterrestrial life be taken with extreme caution.

Read more about Futura Sciences

Spacetime is not a physical medium, but its dynamics are similar to the dynamics of fluids. Like them, it could have become turbulent, especially at the time of the Big Bang, when it was traversed by gravitational waves. Numerical simulations support the existence of this phenomenon, which appears to provide an alternative to the standard inflation scenario in primitive cosmology.

Read more about Futura Sciences

In the atmosphere of our moon, there is not enough oxygen to breathe. But researchers believe that the top layer of the satellites surface, made up of the famous regolith, could contain enough of this element necessary for human life to allow colonization. As long as you can extract it!

Read more about Futura Sciences

Certified gamer. Problem solver. Internet enthusiast. Twitter scholar. Infuriatingly humble alcohol geek. Tv guru.

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Has a new race for the moon started? ; A quantum computer reveals the secrets of protons and neutrons for the first time - Tech News Inc

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Taiwan and human rights were among the issues on which United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping disagreed during their recent first virtual summit meeting.

Xi warned, If Taiwan independence separatist forces provoke us or cross our red lines, we will have to take decisive measures.

While reaffirming Washingtons one China policy, Biden strongly criticized behavior that would unilaterally change the situation or harm peace and stability in the region.

The rivalry between the United States and China is part of a larger clash between democracy and despotism.

In this contest, it is extremely important that members of the Western camp beginning with the United States and including Western Europe, Japan, and other democracies help defend democracy in Taiwan from Chinese pressure. We cannot knuckle under to threats from Beijing.

At the start of the video conference, Biden said, We two leaders have the responsibility to avert confrontation between the United States and China. Xi in turn compared China and the U.S. to two giant ships that needed to be steered properly to avoid a collision.

A senior U.S. government official said the give-and-take between the two leaders was seen as an attempt to find ways to responsibly manage the US-China rivalry.

The two countries are currently searching for areas where they might cooperate, such as issues related to climate change and COVID-19 policies. They have, for example, issued a joint statement calling for climate change measures to be strengthened during this decade.

Nevertheless, Chinas maritime expansionism ignoring international norms and its violations of fundamental human rights are unacceptable.

We must rigorously distinguish areas where we can cooperate with China from areas where that is impossible. We cannot compromise our principles for the sake of cooperation. Conversely, confrontation in areas where it is not necessary gains us nothing.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of major nations to absolutely avoid unintentional clashes. Both the United States and China are nuclear powers. Both countries therefore realize that they must manage their rivalry within acceptable parameters. We would like to see them continue to consult on that point.

The Chinese Communist Party recently adopted a historical resolution designed to enhance Xis authority. The way of thinking in Beijing is totally different from in the United States. We need to proceed cautiously regarding whether China should be considered as a counterpart that will truly adhere to managed competition.

President Biden has expressed his concern to China about a wide range of human rights issues, including Chinas behavior towards the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. China has replied with the stock phrase that it opposes interference in its domestic affairs. However, even if we know the reaction will be beforehand, we still must repeat necessary criticisms.

The Biden administrations basic approach for restraining China relies on deterrence through collaboration with allies and other friendly countries.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should visit the United States as soon as possible and, with President Biden, work out a joint strategy for dealing with China. Then together they should take the lead in establishing a perimeter to stop Chinese expansion.

(Read the Sankei Shimbun editorial in Japanese at this link.)

Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun

Continued here:
EDITORIAL | U.S., Allies Should Help Defend Democracy in Taiwan from Chinese Pressure - JAPAN Forward

Wanderlust is a real thing. Hunger is a real thing. And in a year when you couldnt stand to look at your Instant Pot anymore and had to delay that vacation to Paris, when you craved something more than travel shows and takeout, the most satisfying way to feed the need for a journey was to go to a restaurant, feel taken care of, and try at least one thing from the menu that youd never had before.

The transportive power of food, the soul-stirring nature of hospitalityreal things, too. This is all to say that in these not normal times, we need both the normalcy and the escape of restaurants now more than ever.

And we want to support an industry that still needs it. So, to shine a spotlight on a larger number of our favorite new places this year, we enlisted not one, not two, but four people to eat around the country: seasoned food writers Omar Mamoon and Joshua David Stein, our former food and drink editor Jeff Gordinier, and yours truly. Together and separately, we traveled thousands of miles and dined at hundreds of restaurants to deliver a list nearly twice as large as last years.

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As we ate around America, we were drawn to food made with raw, elemental fire and charcoalits never gone out of style, after all these millennia. The char called to us whether it graced the elote from a Sonoran grill at Bacanora in Phoenix, the ends of gyro meat at Andros Taverna in Chicago, or the dry-aged Wagyu at Austins Hestia. We couldnt stop talking about delicious, nonpreachy vegan meals that would make even the most ardent meat eater crave vegetables. (Heres a mini list, the most transcendent vegan options of the year: 1. Fried lasagna at Cadence, New York. 2. Mushroom, corn truffle, and potato at Oyster Oyster, Washington, D.C. 3. Sunflower bread and butter at Eleven Madison Park, New York.) We even fell back in love with multicourse tasting menus at Chicagos Ever and Houstons March. In the hands of the right team, they can still be a sublime, luxe experience rather than the pricey, interminable drag they oftentimes veer into. And youll see that theres more New York representation than in previous years. Why? Because New York is undeniably back in a big way.

Perhaps most significant: We found ourselves digging into comfort, sure, but we also leaned into the unfamiliar. Into adventure. Eating at the very best restaurants is like winning a ticket to another place, another time. To the past and the futureand sometimes both at once. To Macau via pork chop; to the graciousness of a Wisconsin supper club when your martini glass is refreshed with a frosted one; to central Texas and the Black South through brisket; to a Scandinavian grandmothers kitchen by way of an apple-pie crust ladened with lard; to a precolonized America via the sweet, nutty flavors of hand-harvested wild rice.

Our minds have been warped. The experiential miles we logged will last us a very long time (or at least until we start reporting next years Best New Restaurants list). And we hope youll be able to take some of these culinary, cultural journeys as well. When youre ready, get out there and support these places, those on our previous years lists, and any of your local favorites. Because sometimes that escape is closer than you think. Kevin Sintumuang

Eat. Sweat. Swoon. Drink. Repeat. At this Technicolor corner of the Lower East Sides Essex Market, chef Chintan Pandya and restaurateur Roni Mazumdar create Indian food with a visceral, transportive energy by showcasing the fringes of the cuisine: a paplet fry, which is a whole, fried pomfret fish, dusted with ginger and cumin, an ideal partner to beer; a fiery, funky gurda kapoora, made with goat kidneys and testicles; a Bengal curry with baby shark. It is the stuff of homes and street stalls thousands of miles away. And yes, it is spicy. It calls for you to put down the phone. The tapping and scrolling can make the world feel small, but is that really the case? Eat, sweat, swoon, drink, repeat, and realize: Theres so much to this world, so much to try. Dhamaka at 119 Delancey Street, New York, New York K.S.

There is a jar, neatly covered in an aluminum wrapper, like a yogurt cup. Open it and, poof, smoke wafts into your nostrils, and instinctively you lick the emulsions artfully placed on the underside of the wrapper. Trippy. The second course arrives with a tiny skull made of almond cream, as if to say, Get ready for a mind-altering ride, dude. And so begins a journey into chef Curtis Duffy and Michael Musers fantastical slow burn of a tasting menu, which, even with the serious modernist hijinks, is delicious and playful. (Yes, thats Matthew McConaughey reading from his memoir on the bathrooms speaker.) The pairings of esoteric wines are downright magical, an extra dimension to what feels like a mellow acid trip. Ever at 1340 West Fulton Street, Chicago K.S.

Helen was a real woman who wore pearls and had a grill inside her house. Her facility with coals lives on in her grandson Rob McDaniels restaurant: Witness the twenty-two-ounce, dry-aged Kansas City strip, drizzled with beef-and-herb-infused duck fat, and the fennely porchetta with a crackling skin. The chef describes the place as not a steakhouse. But, he says, I want them to know were here. They will. If not for the meat, then for the sides, like corn ribs, eighths of a cob served elote-style, that curl up like a rib, or a smile, when eaten under the benevolent gaze of the portrait of Helen hanging from the wall. Helen at 2013 Second Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama Joshua David Stein

Among the glass towers of Austins downtown, fire in all its Promethean and primal glory is on display at Kevin Finks Hestia. It springs forth from a twenty-foot, white-oak-fed hearth adorned with medieval-looking levers manned by drawn-looking chefs. (Fink says that, on average, his chefs lose fifteen pounds during their first weeks in front of the grill.) With heat reaching 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, inches and seconds matter. Hard to believe that the same fire that tenderly cooks the halibutkept three feet above the flame and served with an iridescent mirror glaze of a brown-butter sauceis responsible for the ferocious char on the dry-aged Wagyu bavette, with its sunset-red center, accompanied by lacquered layers of potato and butter coiled into a tight, croissant-like bun. Youll even find an element of flame buried in the matcha kakigori (above), the best of the desserts. Within that frigid magic mountain of lavender and rhubarb salted cream lurks a scoop of burnt-honey ice cream, like a secret smoldering heart. Hestia at 607 West Third Street, #105, Austin, Texas J.D.S.

Youll have to line up early to enjoy pitmaster Matt Horns smoky meats, but the wait is worth it. Brisket is the movesmoked low and slow for up to sixteen hours over white oak. The fatty parts melt in your mouth, the leaner ends stay firm yet juicy, and the bark maintains a pronounced bite. This combination of central Texas barbecue and Black foodwayswhich Horn and his wife, Nina, describe as West Coast barbecuefeels major, but you can also tell that big things are just getting started. Horn Barbecue at 2534 Mandela Parkway, Oakland, California Omar Mamoon

Twice a year, the menu at Felipe Riccios ambitious new restaurant pivots its inspiration from one area of the Mediterranean to another. In between, the place shuts down for a month while the staff travels the region, gathering knowledge. But the dining room doesnt feel like a classroom. The current nine-course tasting menu probes dishes of Andalusian cuisine with abstract aplomb. Angulas, tiny eels that look like white spaghetti with eyes, are in the fried tortilla. Mariscos en conserva, often pickled and served in jars, is a wonderland of escabeched clams finished in jamn fat. March, as the name implies, is a steady movement toward the avant-garde. March at 1624 Westheimer Road, Houston, Texas J.D.S.

The ingredients are ancient, but for most, experiencing things like hand-harvested wild rice, sweet and nutty, is new and revelatorythe taste of a past nearly destroyed by colonization. At chef Sean Sherman and Dana Thompsons restaurant, built in a former mill along the Mississippi River, tasting dishes made entirely from indigenous ingredients is soul-nurturing. A reclamation. There are the indigenous tea blends. A conifer-preserved rabbit dotted with fresh berries. And the wild-rice tart, made with no colonized ingredients (like flour or refined sugar), is electrifying. To eat here is to experience both the past and the future. Owamni at 420 First Street South, Minneapolis, Minnesota K.S.

As the frost on my martini waned, a server appeared with a freshly chilled glass and poured the remaining elixir into it lest I take another sip that wasnt maximally cold. The Harvey House charms with Great Lakes supper-club elegance. But its Shaina Robbins Papach and chef Joe Papachs deceptively simple menu that will have you longing to return to the upper Midwest. A relish tray with pressed celery and sous vide deviled eggs topped with roe. Walleye sauted atop a crouton-crisp layer of bread and its own mousse. Apple pie served pavlova-style in a delicate meringue shell. Yes, its classical technique meets midwestern food, but the sum is so much more: delight, surprise, and then some. The Harvey House at 644 West Washington Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin K.S.

From a narrow sliver of a space on New Yorks eclectic East Seventh Street, Cadence delivers a cri de coeur in the form of vegan southern food that cuts through the chaos. The word vegan can be divisive, but Cadence serves immensely flavorful, ingeniously conceived dishes that happen not to contain any animal products. Because does it really matter if chef Shenarri Freemans black-eyed-pea-and-garlic pancakedwelling in between sweet and savory, topped with caviar-like pickled mustard seedsdoesnt have dairy? Do you need to know that no cows were harmed in the making of the Bolognese, part of a sensational deep-fried lasagna? No. Thats what they call gravy. And whether its vegan gravy or not is just noise. Cadence at 122 East Seventh Street, New York, New York J.D.S.

Chef Mohammad Abutaha offers large, juicy spits of seasoned spicy chicken, which is marinated in yogurt, sliced, seared, placed in a large wrap, then slathered in garlicky toum sauce, a popular condiment found in the Levant. It is insanely delicious. Even better: going Abboudi-stylethat is, adding french fries. The entire thing is the size of your forearm, and somehow each bite manages to get better, right down to the last, when the juices concentrate and drip down your wrists. Shawarmaji at 2123 Franklin Street, Oakland, California O.M.

The romance is unexpected. Graffitied room, perched atop an old art deco high school, a sprawling terrace with science-lab tables and plastic school chairs, lit by string lights and the moon (if youre lucky), with sweeping views of the low-slung row houses and the Walt Whitman Bridge. And then chef Michael Ferreris modern Sicilian fare is rolled out by a gracious staffa fritto misto with succulent shrimp and fried lemons, handmade al dente twists of trofie pasta, a perfect caponata. Natural wines are poured, Prince comes on, and all of a sudden South Philly feels like the most hip, romantic place around. Irwins at 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania K.S.

The menu leans on the highly sustainable mushroom oyster and the bivalve kind. Even the candles are made from used oyster shells. But this is not a preachy place. Its one of experimental exuberance, where chef Rob Rubba serves watermelon with peanuts and oysters (it just works) and a dish of mushroom, corn truffle, and potato that tastes like the forest floor in the best way possible. The $75 bargain of a tasting menu will make you believe that an oystertarian future can be damn delicious and fun. Oyster Oyster at 1440 Eighth Street NW, Washington, D.C. K.S.

The hummus might do itthat crunchy, earthy topsoil of fennel pollen and sesame seeds. Or maybe itll be the glistening meat of the quail kebab. Whatever it is, at some point at Iris youll find yourself surprised. Surprised by the flavor combinations, by a Turkish wine on sommelier Amy Racines awareness-expanding list, by the alacrity of the service, and overall that chef John Fraser has managed to bring this Greek/Turkish jewel to a stretch of midtown Manhattan associated with lonesome office buildings. Iris at 1740 Broadway, New York, New York Jeff Gordinier

A current of wildness runs beneath the surface at Myriel. On the ground floor, it looks like hygge central, with well-scrubbed customers packed into a cozy room for plates of lamb meatballs and apple pie; meanwhile, in the basement below, chef Karyn Tomlinson and her team are butchering whole hogs. This is Scandinavian midwestern grandma cooking with a touch of Swedens Fviken, where Tomlinson spent time in the kitchen. Myriel is one of the most revolutionary new spots in America, even if Minnesotans are too modest to say so. Myriel at 470 Cleveland Avenue South, St. Paul, Minnesota J.G.

As the name suggests, anchovies are the star of the show at the Anchovy Bar (actually more of a restaurant), from the team that brought you the much-celebrated State Bird Provisions. When in season, fresh live anchovies from the citys surrounding water arrive daily and are pickled into tart boquerones, served with yogurt, cucumber, mint, and spicy fermented turnips. But the restaurant also celebrates the great canned Cantabrian anchovy, imported from Spain and served simply with a light, crusty white bread and fresh accoutrements. The rest of the menu includes seafood-centric small plates that feature an array of local sea creatures prepared in different waysraw, cured, or cookedlike a halibut ceviche or geoduck clams with somen noodles. The Anchovy Bar at 1740 OFarrell Street, San Francisco, California O.M.

The doughnuts taste like melting cumulus clouds. The New England pizza, strewn with clams and bacon, tastes like clam chowder if it spent a few months in Italy and had an epiphany in Naples. The menu at Nanas is full of stuff you see all over Connecticut, but everything rises to a higher level thanks to deep fermentation and the careful hands of baker David Vacca and chef James Wayman, one of the unsung pioneers in American cooking. Nanas Bakery & Pizza at 32 Williams Avenue, Mystic, Connecticut J.G.

Its not standard for a pizzeria to make its own hand-pulled mozzarella. Even less common is double baking a pizza in a gas deck oven and a wood-fired oven. But over at Dimos, proprietor Doug Miriello does all of the above in an effort to re-create the coal-oven-baked, extra-charred, thin and crispy, long and oblong-shaped apizza that he ate as a kid in Connecticut. Dimo's Apizza at 701 East Burnside Street, Portland, Oregon O.M.

The cold-fermented dough here is so good that you can eat it alone, along with a side of anchovies, as a puffy, slightly charred rosemary bread. Then get a few of the artfully rustic pies, which owner Javier Ramirez perfected while throwing parties at his home. Go for the one with the local burrata (left), the white pie with scallions and numbing Szechuan peppercorns, and then get one to go. La Natural at 7289 Northwest Second Avenue, Miami, Florida K.S.

At first the tasting menu at Javier Javi Becerra and Erico Rico Mackinss place might look like a Worship Thy Chef ordeal, but it is just the right type of weird. The menu is autobiographical but not solipsistic, a synthesis of Mexican and Spanish cuisines, gently raked through Japanese technique, as in a double-fried octopus tentacle curled atop garlic-and-orange-infused buttermilk. But the true brilliance was when Mackins served a savory golden baba, made with yogurt and Castelveltrano puree. Its rare to have no idea how a thing is going to taste. Rico then replenished the baba with butter like a modern Mister Softee, quietly mouthing, Whip it, whip it real good. Degust at 7202 Long Point Road, Houston, Texas J.D.S.

Dinner at this cozy, dimly lit neighborhood gem might seem all over the place: Theres Moroccan kefta-spiced cauliflower, plump fennel sausages with an Italian Calabrian chile caramel, and Chinese broccoli covered with crispy garlic, preserved lemon, and salty, flaky bacalao. But this menu is linked by comfort. Dont skip the burger as a shared midcourse or mainchef Sam Engelhardt had a hand in the famed Au Cheval beast nearby. The man knows what hes doing with beef and buns. En Passant at 3010 West Diversey Avenue, Chicago, Illinois O.M.

All along Rawhide Creek, Muscovy ducks waddle blithely. If only they knew that a block away, Tiffany Derry, chef of Roots Southern Table, is making hay of their cousins fat. Its what gives her brined and marinated fried chicken its snow-crunch crust, her potatoes their golden skin. Its benedictions are felt on every table. Additionally, the cornbread tastes like the skillet it comes in, charred and sweet. Shrimp and grits becomes gooey, arancini-like, jalapeo-studded balls. Roots is plangent proof that Black southern cooking from the Creole coast, incorporating as it does elements of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean traditions, alchemizing as it does migrations forced and otherwise, is both the countrys greatest culinary patrimony and its path ahead. Roots Southern Table at 13050 Bee Street, Suite 160, Dallas, Texas J.D.S.

There is an elegant decadence to the classic Louisiana fare of Alon Shayas Miss River, located just beyond the Chandelier Bar (get the martini) inside the new Four Seasons. Blue crab au gratin is served with saltines fried in clarified butter. At dinner, dirty rice is elevated to marquee status served bibimbap-style in a clay pot, adorned with pt, a duck yolk, and, for good measure, roast duck. At lunch, the muffuletta is a stunner: A crisp sesame bun filled with artisanal cured meats, its the size of a hubcap and presented under a silver dome. Miss River is built for celebrations, but the food is so craveworthy that being alive seems like a good enough reason to swing in. Miss River at 2 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana K.S.

Grab a bar seat close to the kitchen and watch Sonoran-born chef/owner Rene Andrade and his team play with literal fire as they command the flame from the massive custom-built grill. At any given moment, youll find elote blackening (above), homemade flour tortillas warming, spatchcocked chickens charring, and massive bone-in rib-eye steaks searing, all above burning mesquite. Dont snooze on the small-plate specialsAndrade will often do cold crudos and acidic aguachiles that help balance the menu. Bacanora at 1301 Northwest Grand Avenue, Unit 1, Phoenix, Arizona O.M.

The day begins with dirt, fire, stones. Then, once the morning fog has burned off, chef JuanMa Caldern, partner Maria Rondeau, and chef Victor Guadalupe (left) gather in their backyard among the Green Mountains and layer in hunks of pork, fava beans, and other vegetables. This is the pachamanca, a Peruvian tradition of cooking food underground. Hours later, as the guests arrive, all hands get involved in extracting a meal that is, miraculously, perfectly cooked. Esmeralda is further proof that a restaurant doesnt need four walls. Esmeralda at 740 Stigers Road, Andover, Vermont K.S.

When the fish sandwich arriveda catfish fillet, delicately flaky in the middle, crunchy on the outside, scented with turmeric and lemongrass, hugged by a pillowy curry milk-bread bunit was devoured, and immediately we asked for another, and some extra milk bread, too. We did the same with the simple charred cabbage with pineapple and even got another epic ga chien fried chicken, layered with a chile-maple fish sauce, for the road. Chef Kevin Tiens dishes are an exploration not only of Vietnamese cuisine but of maximum craveability. Moon Rabbit at 801 Wharf Street SW, Washington, D.C. K.S.

A resurrected restaurant can be a Dr. Frankenstein mess or something Christlike. Chef Sohui Kims glimmering second coming of Brooklyns historic steakhouse is, praise be, the latter. Walk through the door and the mirrored, fabric-walled dining room opens before you much as it did in 1879, when the restaurant first opened. (It closed in 2004.) The team has inhaled much of what made G&T so beloved, including favorites from the eighties, when culinary giant Edna Lewis was head chef, like the she-crab soup (above), creamy as ever and laced with roe. But this isnt just historic-steakhouse cosplay. Kims major twist is grass-fed steaks that, under their handsome darkened swirls of char, reveal great tenderness. Gage & Tollner at 372 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York J.D.S.

Earth-friendly sushi is Rosellas calling card. You wont find large-carbon-footprint items flown in from a Tokyo fish market here. And while delicious nigiri from local and sustainable ingredientslike scallops from Montaukis worth snagging a seat for in the jewel-box-sized space, its everything else on Rosellas tight menu that leaves the bigger impression. Fish paitan, made from the heads, is a briny, soul-warming broth reminiscent of the ocean. The spicy XO sauce conjured from shellfish is so umami-rich, youll wish you could take a bottle home and make everything better. Rosella at 137 Avenue A, New York, New York K.S.

Theres a bit of magic happening at Pearl River Deli, in Los Angeless Chinatown, where youll find chef Johnny Lees soulful, intensely flavorful take on Cantonese cuisine. His char siu (left) features pork collar cooked sous vide, then roasted, so that its simultaneously juicy and chewy. The Macau pork-chop bun is slathered with creamy, umami-maggi-infused mayo and topped with a sofrito of stewed tomatoes, onion, and garlic spiked with capersa nod to the Portuguese influence on the region. Pearl River Deli at 936 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, California O.M.

Who gets to enjoy a restaurant? Swing by Contento, in Harlem, and youll find a place thats asking that questionand answering itin a new way. Many people are here in wheelchairs and with guide dogs, because they know that the entire restaurant has been engineered with access in mind. People are here for Yannick Benjamins boundary-smashing wine list and chef Oscar Lorenzzis chickpea fritters and ceviches, and because they sense that Contento is a place that treats the idea of hospitality as an article of faith. Contento at 88 East 111th Street, New York, New York J.G.

The pancit is made from fresh, handmade noodles, springy to the touch, and topped with plump scallops, calamansi, and corn (top left). The sauce that brings it all together is a funky housemade XO, which starts its life as shrimp paste, scallops, and chiles. Juicy fried pork lumpia (center left) are served with herbs, lettuce wraps, and an apple ketchup (also made in-house) that gives whats usually a deep-fried snack a lightness and brightness. Making Filipino classics with a subtle Californianess was the calling card of chef Francis Ang and Dian Ang at their lively Pinoy Heritage pop-ups, and, thankfully, thats also the case at their first restaurant, Abac. Bring friends and order plentyits a party. And dont skip the dessert: Francis started his culinary career as a fine-dining pastry chef, and hes still got it. Abac at 2700 Jones Street, San Francisco, California O.M.

Not a brunch person? Andros Taverna, from husband-and-wife duo Doug Psaltis and Hsing Chen, will change that. Start with Chens gigantic baklava bear claw and a refreshing cappuccino freddo (right). And then the Olympia, chef Psaltiss modernized, thoughtful nod to a Greek diner staple: sunny-side eggs, fries with an uncanny crunch-to-fluff ratio, and strips of gyro made from pork shoulder and neck and served with kisses of char. Still not convinced you can be a brunch person? Then come for dinner and experience the gyro to end all gyros. Andros Taverna at 2542 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois K.S.

Omas Hideaway is chef Thomas Pisha-Dufflys sister restaurant to his Indonesian hit, Gado Gado. For his sophomore spot, he takes inspiration from his Chinese-Indonesian heritage, Southeast Asian hawker fare, and, of course, his oma (grandmother). Youll find chewy egg noodles and silky dumpling wrappers made from scratch for his wonton mee, and flaky, buttery roti canai with a creamy curry topped with puffed sorghum. Pair it with a cocktail crafted by bar manager Emily Warden, like the vodka mixed-berry/pear homemade Jell-O shots or the tequila Aperol shiso slushies. Omas Hideaway at 3131 Southeast Division Street, Portland, Oregon O.M.

You might not be expecting much as you pull up to the window on Broome Streetor as you wait for your order at a wobbly table outside. Once you start eating, though, youll find yourself hunting for more table space to accommodate extra orders of smashed cucumbers and sticky rice dumplings and bok choy and mushroom sloppy sandwiches on sesame pancakes. Thanks to chef Justin Lee, Fat Choy is the vegan Chinese street party of your dreams, with nothing pricier than ten bucks and everything tastier than a lot of tasting menus that cost 50 times more. Fat Choy at 250 Broome Street, New York, New York J.G.

The bookshelves are crowded with works by Ellison and Baldwin, and the few tables with vegans, not-vegans, family, and friends. Aunts et Uncles, the vegan cafe opened by Mike and Nicole Nicholas in October 2020, is the kind of place you want to spend all day doing whatever at. Mostly eating, though. Its relatively rare that Caribbean food goes through the vegan ringer at all, let alone as skillfully as its done here. Saltfish and bakethe bake fluffy, the saltfish creamyis made with hearts of palm (and a neon orange, blazingly hot peppa sauce). Those same hearts are used to great effect in a lobster roll that not so much imitates lobster as shows it up. The burger is Beyond and the cauliflower, called Cryin Ryan, is roasted in a sweet peanut sauce. You'll want to bring along everyone you know. Including, of course, your aunts and uncles. Aunts et Uncles at 1407 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, New York J.D.S.

There are many lines to draw between the cuisines of Latin America and the Mediterranean, and chef Enrique Limardo of Seven Reasons sketches them purposefully yet playfully across several artful, luxe dishes. Foie gras is served atop a crunchy plantain brioche and a compote of the tropical soursop fruit. The ancient grain salad is an exercise in layers of textures: couscous, quinoa, pickles, sunchoke. Tuna tartare takes a surprising turn with the acid and spice of guajillo chiles and tomatillo. There are no straight lines here, but then again, the name of the place is not Perfecto. Imperfecto at 1124 Twenty-Third Street NW, Washington D.C. K.S.

Khakis. Fanny packs. French fine dining. Coolness comes in cycles, and right now, were in the ebb of aspic and terrine. That makes Angie Mar, known previously as the consigliere of carnivores at the Beatrice Inn, either foolhardy or prescient for embarking upon the project of Les Trois Chevaux. Her ambition is much larger than the 48 seats in the West Village where a jacket is required (YSL is on hand), the snails, served with chanterelles, are flown in from Burgundy, and the buttery croissant comes stuffed with truffles. Mars mad mission is the star here, but save shine too for Jose Rodriguez, the saucier, whose airy champagne beurre blanc tops the frogs legs, whose shimmering sauce creme rests beneath a veal brain quenelle, and whose earthy yet crystalline bouillon accompanies the pot-au-feu de foie gras de canard. As per arcane French custom, the salad, exactly three leaves of it, arrives after the main course to cut the richnessgood fucking luck!before briskly moving to dessert. Is it cool? Well, its weird and delicious and thrilling. Once, eating like this was au moment, and it will be again. If Mar has anything to do with it, those days are coming sooner rather than later. Les Trois Chevaux at 283 West Twelfth Street, New York, New York J.D.S.

The views of the Pacific from this perch at the Alila Marea Beach Resort can mesmerize, but the curiosity of chef Claudette Zepedas cooking, a personal journey that gathers influences from her life in Mexico and San Diego and environs, will soon grab your attention. Octopus is decorated with a pepita sauce, tortilla-like bao buns are filled with succulent brisket, a whole sea bass is delicately wood-fired. For all of the restaurants thoughtfulness, theres an easiness to it that matches the sea-swept vibe of this little corner of California. The sea is sort of the secret ingredient. VAGA at 2100 North Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, California K.S.

No small plates. No tweezered microgreens. No boring sermons about the provenance of your potatoes. Just a big-ass menu full of big-ass flavor. Maybe you start with a mound of Jurassic-sized chicken livers piled on top of sourdough and flooded with red-wine gravy. Maybe you follow that with a slab of lasagna bigger than your face. Then maybe you find room for profiteroles or lemon icebox cake. Chef Mark Strausman makes bagels in the morning and pasta at night. Hes got sandwiches and latkes and French fries, and everythings served with a no-guff generosity that most of us havent witnessed since, oh, 1985. Mark's Off Madison at 41 Madison Avenue, New York, New York J.G.

Earthy mushrooms with plenty of soy and vinegar make the Filipino adoboa tart, tangy braised dish usually made with chickenwonderfully vegetarian. Fluffy potato rolls filled with buttery egg, melty American cheese, and crispy hash browns or griddled longanisa sausage could be breakfast or lunch, or both. A savory, flakey, and multi-layered Danish piped with creamy raclette cheese and topped with shaved jamn serrano is almost like a ham and cheese croissant, but better. These are just a few reasons there's always a line at Kasama, chefs Genie Kwon and Tim Flores's modern Filipino restaurant-slash-bakery. These chefs have a serious fine-dining background, and it shows in every bite. Kasama at 1001 North Winchester Avenue, Chicago, Illinois O.M.

The rice with red beans. The stewed greens. The thick, gumbo-like stews. The salt. The heat. There has always been a connection between the cuisines of the Caribbean, Haiti especially, and that of New Orleans. And at Fritai in Treme, the deep parallels become even more apparenthow one influenced the other, and with chef Charly Pierres playful cooking, vice versa. (The restaurants namesake sandwich of stewed-and-fried pork between two large pieces of smashed-and-crisped plantains is a must.) New Orleans is sometimes called the northernmost Caribbean city, and here, with a cold Ti' Punch made with funky clairin in hand and a bowl of fried akra close by, that sentiment has never felt more true. Fritai at 1535 Basin Street, New Orleans, Louisiana K.S.

Nothing captures the spirit of Fish & Bird quite like the harmonious combination of a crispy tempura of briny sea beans mixed with sweet corn and dusted with heady matcha salt. This isnt your standard izakaya. But besides all sorts of other inventive bites throughout the menu, the real draw is the yakiniku, a DIY grill setup that burns binchotan brightly and slowly, warming you up as you eye the platter before you. From that platter, pick plump prawns and shiny scallops, gorgeously marbled cuts of A5 Wagyu beef, or whatever vegetables happen to be in season, you know, for the health. Pro tip: The yakiniku is an outdoor situation only, and it takes 45 minutes to prepare, so take your time and enjoy the eccentricity of Shattuck Avenue as you wait. Fish & Bird at 2451 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California O.M.

First, two words: chili butter. Fragrant of garlic, deep with the spice of cayenne, and, yes, buttery, it is what transforms the seafood boils of gulf shrimp, blue lake crab, corn, and potatoes at this Uptown corner spot into something dizzyingly irresistible. You will want it on every bite, and subsequently washed down with an Abita so that you can go in for more. There may be some of that red goodness left over, so be sure to order a basket of succulent fried catfish or shrimp to sop up the remainder. Caitlin Carney and chef Marcus Jacobss restaurant has the look of a seafood shack that drifted onto the front porch of a house, so, you may find yourself hanging around longer than you anticipated. But thats okay, because, did you know you can get anything on the menu tossed in chili butter? Seafood Sally's at 8400 Oak Street, New Orleans, Louisiana K.S.

You're in Maui. Youve spent a few hours laying on the beach in Kihei, and youre tired from doing all that nothing under the blazing sun. Youre also hungry, so you head to the Shell (yes, the gas station) because you heard it dispenses literal cheeseburgers in paradise. Island native chef Zach Sato's delightfully messy smash burgers are the crowd pleasers at Havens, but the menu leans further into the eclecticism of the island with hearty dishes like Wagyu chow fun, and spicy tuna hand rolls dressed in ponzu and topped with plump roe that pops in your mouth. Plus, crinkle fries. The plan might be to bring your haul back to the beach, but youll likely not make it past the hood of your car. Havens at 30 Manao Kala Street Suite 102, Kihei, Hawaii O.M.

Owamni is an empowering place filled with knowledge of the way food should have been and will be. It will enlighten you. But this is just one part of the mission. Sherman and his partner Dana Thompsons Indigenous Food Lab continues to make meals for Minnesotas tribal communities and teach future generations how to cook with indigenous ingredients, and it will soon sell those foods in bulk. Sherman is also working on a follow-up to his seminal book, The Sioux Chefs Indigenous Kitchen, tentatively called Turtle Island: The Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America. Hes a leader in reclaiming indigenous foodways for people here and, soon, across continents.

Imagine starting a restaurant that gets even meat eaters talking about how a vegan fried lasagna can be this damn goodand doing it before youve graduated from culinary school. Thats Shenarri Freeman in 2021. In a year when eating vegan blew up across the country, Freemans vegan soul-food cooking was a firecracker.

The dessert course might be our favorite part of Marlenas affordable, $65 four-course tasting menu. Pastry chef/co-owner Serena Chow Fisher has worked pastry in fine-dining restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and offers her own unique interpretations of classic desserts, like her mini-masterpiece: burned Italian meringue topped with chocolate ganache, pieces of brown-sugar cake, and a hazelnut graham-cracker crumble. Garnished with marigold petals, it evokes a smore. (The flower mimics the campfire.) Creative, nostalgic, and delicious.

Turkey. Greece. Croatia. Tasmania. Lebanon. The sprawling wine list that Amy Racine has cultivated at Iris is a master class in what the average drinker may find to be a mystery. But with Racines guidance, youll be led from a brut Tselepos Amalia from the Peloponnese, a fragrant and lively sparkler, to the windswept salinity of an Assyrtiko thats perfect for seafood, and even a big, earthy Thymiopoulos Naoussa, a red worth brooding with.

When the pandemic hit and longtime Los Angeles cook Rashida Holmes was out of work, she started selling buttery baked patties filled with sticky oxtail out of her house via Instagram. They became a hit. A few months later, she formalized her business, moved into a commercial kitchen, and expanded her menu to include flaky, chewy rotis filled with creamy curry chicken, Trinidadian doubles filled with spicy green chickpea curry on fluffy fried flatbreads, and other fiery Caribbean fare she grew up eating. Shes been popping up at bars and restaurants since and has aspirations to open up her very own brick-and-mortar sometime in 2022. 672 South Santa Fe Avenue

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40 Best New Restaurants in America 2021 - Where to Eat This Year - Esquire

A Problem of Memory:

Spanning over two thousand years, the history of East Asia permeates the modern-day relations of China, Japan, and South Korea. The three countries share similar traditions, values, and institutions; however, the similarities are often masked by periods of belligerence and violence. The often acrimonious relationship was further complicated with the addition of the United States at the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, effectively creating a divisive political arena with China and North Korea on one side and South Korea, Japan, and the United States on the other.

Furthermore, the relationship between the United States, South Korea, and Japan faces constant challenges regarding a unified approach towards issues in East Asia, often rooted in the problem of memory. History has continued to play a factor in the relationship between Japan and South Korea. Anger and resentment concerning Japanese colonization and labor issues perpetrated from 1910 to 1945 continue to bubble to the surface. Many Koreans believe the Japanese have not atoned for their crimes, and Japans actions counter the apologies. For instance, Japanese government legislation erases the nations atrocities committed during World War II from Japanese textbooks.

On the other hand, Japan has expressed its exasperation of South Korean rejection of its attempts to apologize. The political disputes between Japan and South Korea have the potential to lead to global repercussions; however, issues regarding the growing tension in Asia have led to successful talks between Japan and South Korea. Previous controversies demonstrate how to conclude these arguments and how the United States involvement can help ameliorate tensions between Japan and South Korea.

Japan and the Republic of Koreas similarities can help bridge the gap between the two countries. Both have a burgeoning population composed mainly of the elderly. Second, the societies have become more and more globalized in recent years, leading to trade between Japan and South Korea to intertwine. Moreover, both countries are at the center of significant security issues with North Koreas proliferation of arms and aggressive tactics as well as Chinas growing power and aggression.

The Biden Administration and Regional Incursion Effects on Relationship Development:

The United States still holds influence over Asia and has historically played an active role in mediating Japan and South Korea relations. The Biden administration has emphasized its desire to repair the tenuous relationship, particularly as tensions increase in East Asia with North Korean nuclear threats and increasingly volatile Chinese actions.

Although China does not directly sow discord in the relationship between Japan and South Korea, its actions in the region are a cause for concern. Most recently, on October 1, 2021, China engaged in a four day-long incursion into Taiwanese airspace, with around 150 aircraft flying into Taiwans self-defense zone. Analysts believe these actions signal a warning to Taiwans President amidst growing domestic support for an official declaration of independence. These intrusions are marked by similar acts of aggression for over a year and increasingly aggressive behavior in Chinas foreign policy. The increasing antagonism China has demonstrated towards Taiwan should cause alarm in Seoul and Tokyo and force cooperation. In recent years, Chinas actions have demonstrated its readiness for regional conflict through its aggressive military build-up.

Although South Korea-Japan relations are at an all-time low, to use a common phrase that resurges with every East Asain crisis, historical accords, such as the 1965 Normalization Treaty and the Comfort Women Agreement created in 2015, are proof that Japan and South Korea are capable of coming together and working towards regional security. However, the United States still plays a vital role as a conciliator. As a mediator, the U.S. should continue to create avenues to restore the relationship for functional cooperation and, hopefully, nurture the relationship into a more lasting reconciliation. While the involvement of the United States should not be considered a panacea for the historical grievances by any means, it is an avenue that requires continuous exploration as it fosters constant dialogue.

The Quad:

Throughout the years, Japan has remained a steadfast ally of the United States. Thus, its reactions to China are dependent on the United States assurance of its reliability. Additionally, the United States relies on Japan to act as a stronghold of American foreign policy in Asia. The mutually beneficial relationship is built upon various agreements, one of which is the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, consisting of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia. Starting as a maritime cooperation agreement, the Quad has expanded to address other issues such as economics, security, and health concerns in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While China is a concern of the group, the Biden administration has advertised the coalition as an organization investing in the shared values of freedom and openness in the Indo-Pacific region. However, as China becomes increasingly more aggressive in the Pacific Ocean, the Quad serves as a buffer between China and its participatory members.

South Korea would benefit significantly from joining this coalition. Over the years, South Korea has actively promoted its role in regional affairs and strived to become a significant player in Asia, mainly through development assistance and economic outreach in Southeast Asia. The addition of South Korea to the Quad would only further increase the nations strength in Southeast Asia, an area of great interest to Seoul. Ultimately, South Korea earns a bargaining chip for its foreign policy goals with the United States by joining the Quad, particularly in future negotiations about North Korea.

Chinas reaction to South Korea joining the Quad is a concern for the Moon administration, although it does not necessarily mean retaliation on Chinas part. South Korea can look towards the example of Japanese involvement in the Quad while still maintaining a stable relationship with China, particularly where trade is a concern. If the Quad expands, its focus will continue to broaden to various subjects outside of China, such as cooperation amongst its members, as advertised by the Biden Administration. Therefore, retaliation seems less likely as more members join. However, Seoul can further emphasize its cooperation with China through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), of which both Japan and Australia are also participants.

Nevertheless, Chinas continuous shows of aggression should be a clear signal to Japan and South Korea to strengthen their relationship and actively cooperate. The United States must take a more active role as a mediator and promote a functional relationship between Japan and South Korea, convincing South Korea to join the Quad. The United States, can and should, offer South Korea more influence or say in negotiations regarding North Korea. The inclusion of South Korea in the Quad would only further strengthen the United States hold and power in the region, acting as a solid counter-balance to China and greatly benefit South Korea in its foreign policy pursuits.

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A Fractured Relationship in A Fiery Region THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS REVIEW - International Affairs Review

Second largest Galilean moon of Jupiter and third largest in the solar system

Callisto , or Jupiter IV, is the second-largest moon of Jupiter, after Ganymede. It is the third-largest moon in the Solar System after Ganymede and Saturn's largest moon Titan, and the largest object in the Solar System that may not be properly differentiated. Callisto was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. At 4821km in diameter , Callisto has about 99% the diameter of the planet Mercury but only about a third of its mass. It is the fourth Galilean moon of Jupiter by distance, with an orbital radius of about 1883000km.[3] It is not in an orbital resonance like the three other Galilean satellitesIo, Europa, and Ganymedeand is thus not appreciably tidally heated.[10] Callisto's rotation is tidally locked to its orbit around Jupiter, so that the same hemisphere always faces inward. Because of this, there is a sub-Jovian point on Callisto's surface, from which Jupiter would appear to hang directly overhead. It is less affected by Jupiter's magnetosphere than the other inner satellites because of its more remote orbit, located just outside Jupiter's main radiation belt.[11][12]

Callisto is composed of approximately equal amounts of rock and ices, with a density of about 1.83g/cm3, the lowest density and surface gravity of Jupiter's major moons. Compounds detected spectroscopically on the surface include water ice,[13] carbon dioxide, silicates, and organic compounds. Investigation by the Galileo spacecraft revealed that Callisto may have a small silicate core and possibly a subsurface ocean of liquid water[13] at depths greater than 100km.[14][15]

The surface of Callisto is the oldest and most heavily cratered in the Solar System.[16] Its surface is completely covered with impact craters.[17] It does not show any signatures of subsurface processes such as plate tectonics or volcanism, with no signs that geological activity in general has ever occurred, and is thought to have evolved predominantly under the influence of impacts.[18] Prominent surface features include multi-ring structures, variously shaped impact craters, and chains of craters (catenae) and associated scarps, ridges and deposits.[18] At a small scale, the surface is varied and made up of small, sparkly frost deposits at the tips of high spots, surrounded by a low-lying, smooth blanket of dark material.[6] This is thought to result from the sublimation-driven degradation of small landforms, which is supported by the general deficit of small impact craters and the presence of numerous small knobs, considered to be their remnants.[19] The absolute ages of the landforms are not known.

Callisto is surrounded by an extremely thin atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide[8] and probably molecular oxygen,[9] as well as by a rather intense ionosphere.[20] Callisto is thought to have formed by slow accretion from the disk of the gas and dust that surrounded Jupiter after its formation.[21] Callisto's gradual accretion and the lack of tidal heating meant that not enough heat was available for rapid differentiation. The slow convection in the interior of Callisto, which commenced soon after formation, led to partial differentiation and possibly to the formation of a subsurface ocean at a depth of 100150km and a small, rocky core.[22]

The likely presence of an ocean within Callisto leaves open the possibility that it could harbor life. However, conditions are thought to be less favorable than on nearby Europa.[23] Various space probes from Pioneers 10 and 11 to Galileo and Cassini have studied Callisto. Because of its low radiation levels, Callisto has long been considered the most suitable place for a human base for future exploration of the Jovian system.[24]

Callisto was discovered by Galileo in January 1610, along with the three other large Jovian moonsGanymede, Io, and Europa.[1]

Callisto is named after one of Zeus's many lovers or other sexual partners in Greek mythology. Callisto was a nymph (or, according to some sources, the daughter of Lycaon) who was associated with the goddess of the hunt, Artemis.[25] The name was suggested by Simon Marius soon after Callisto's discovery.[26] Marius attributed the suggestion to Johannes Kepler.[25]

... autem celebrantur tres fmin Virgines, quarum furtivo amore Iupiter captus & positus est... Calisto Lycaonis... filia... me vocatur... Quartus denique Calisto... [Io,] Europa, Ganimedes puer, atque Calisto, lascivo nimium perplacuere Jovi.

... three young women who were captured by Jupiter for secret love shall be honoured, [including] Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon... Finally, the fourth [moon] is called by me Callisto... Io, Europa, the boy Ganymede, and Callisto greatly pleased lustful Jupiter.[27]

However, the names of the Galilean satellites fell into disfavor for a considerable time, and were not revived in common use until the mid-20th century. In much of the earlier astronomical literature, Callisto is referred to by its Roman numeral designation, a system introduced by Galileo, as Jupiter IV or as "the fourth satellite of Jupiter".[28]

There's no established English adjectival form of the name. The adjectival form of Greek Kallisti is Kallisti-os, from which one might expect Latin Callistius and English *Callistian, parallel to Sapphian for Sapphi[29] and Letian for Lti.[30] However, the iota subscript is often omitted from such Greek names (cf. Inan[31] from ni[32] and Argan[33] from Argi[34]), and indeed the analogous form Callistoan is found.[35][36][37]In Virgil, a second oblique stem appears in Latin: Callistn-,[38] but the corresponding Callistonian has rarely appeared in English.[39] One also sees ad hoc forms, such as Callistan,[19] Callistian[40] and Callistean.[41][42]

Callisto is the outermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. It orbits at a distance of approximately 1880000km (26.3 times the 71492km radius of Jupiter itself).[3] This is significantly larger than the orbital radius1070000kmof the next-closest Galilean satellite, Ganymede. As a result of this relatively distant orbit, Callisto does not participate in the mean-motion resonancein which the three inner Galilean satellites are lockedand probably never has.[10]

Like most other regular planetary moons, Callisto's rotation is locked to be synchronous with its orbit.[4] The length of Callisto's day, simultaneously its orbital period, is about 16.7 Earth days. Its orbit is very slightly eccentric and inclined to the Jovian equator, with the eccentricity and inclination changing quasi-periodically due to solar and planetary gravitational perturbations on a timescale of centuries. The ranges of change are 0.00720.0076 and 0.200.60, respectively.[10] These orbital variations cause the axial tilt (the angle between rotational and orbital axes) to vary between 0.4 and 1.6.[43]

The dynamical isolation of Callisto means that it has never been appreciably tidally heated, which has important consequences for its internal structure and evolution.[44] Its distance from Jupiter also means that the charged-particle flux from Jupiter's magnetosphere at its surface is relatively lowabout 300 times lower than, for example, that at Europa. Hence, unlike the other Galilean moons, charged-particle irradiation has had a relatively minor effect on Callisto's surface.[11] The radiation level at Callisto's surface is equivalent to a dose of about 0.01 rem (0.1 mSv) per day, which is over ten times higher than Earth's average background radiation.[45][46]

The average density of Callisto, 1.83g/cm3,[4] suggests a composition of approximately equal parts of rocky material and water ice, with some additional volatile ices such as ammonia.[14] The mass fraction of ices is 4955%.[14][22] The exact composition of Callisto's rock component is not known, but is probably close to the composition of L/LL type ordinary chondrites,[14] which are characterized by less total iron, less metallic iron and more iron oxide than H chondrites. The weight ratio of iron to silicon is 0.91.3 in Callisto, whereas the solar ratio is around 1:8.[14]

Callisto's surface has an albedo of about 20%.[6] Its surface composition is thought to be broadly similar to its composition as a whole. Near-infrared spectroscopy has revealed the presence of water ice absorption bands at wavelengths of 1.04, 1.25, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 micrometers.[6] Water ice seems to be ubiquitous on the surface of Callisto, with a mass fraction of 2550%.[15] The analysis of high-resolution, near-infrared and UV spectra obtained by the Galileo spacecraft and from the ground has revealed various non-ice materials: magnesium- and iron-bearing hydrated silicates,[6] carbon dioxide,[48] sulfur dioxide,[49] and possibly ammonia and various organic compounds.[15][6] Spectral data indicate that Callisto's surface is extremely heterogeneous at the small scale. Small, bright patches of pure water ice are intermixed with patches of a rockice mixture and extended dark areas made of a non-ice material.[6][18]

The Callistoan surface is asymmetric: the leading hemisphere is darker than the trailing one. This is different from other Galilean satellites, where the reverse is true.[6] The trailing hemisphere of Callisto appears to be enriched in carbon dioxide, whereas the leading hemisphere has more sulfur dioxide.[50] Many fresh impact craters like Lofn also show enrichment in carbon dioxide.[50] Overall, the chemical composition of the surface, especially in the dark areas, may be close to that seen on D-type asteroids,[18] whose surfaces are made of carbonaceous material.

Callisto's battered surface lies on top of a cold, stiff, and icy lithosphere that is between 80 and 150km thick.[14][22] A salty ocean 150200km deep may lie beneath the crust,[14][22] indicated by studies of the magnetic fields around Jupiter and its moons.[51][52] It was found that Callisto responds to Jupiter's varying background magnetic field like a perfectly conducting sphere; that is, the field cannot penetrate inside Callisto, suggesting a layer of highly conductive fluid within it with a thickness of at least 10km.[52] The existence of an ocean is more likely if water contains a small amount of ammonia or other antifreeze, up to 5% by weight.[22] In this case the water+ice layer can be as thick as 250300km.[14] Failing an ocean, the icy lithosphere may be somewhat thicker, up to about 300km.

Beneath the lithosphere and putative ocean, Callisto's interior appears to be neither entirely uniform nor particularly variable. Galileo orbiter data[4] (especially the dimensionless moment of inertia[h]0.35490.0042determined during close flybys) suggest that, if Callisto is in hydrostatic equilibrium, its interior is composed of compressed rocks and ices, with the amount of rock increasing with depth due to partial settling of its constituents.[14][53] In other words, Callisto may be only partially differentiated. The density and moment of inertia for an equilibrium Callisto are compatible with the existence of a small silicate core in the center of Callisto. The radius of any such core cannot exceed 600km, and the density may lie between 3.1 and 3.6g/cm3.[4][14] In this case, Callisto's interior would be in stark contrast to that of Ganymede, which appears to be fully differentiated.[15][54]

However, a 2011 reanalysis of Galileo data suggests that Callisto is not in hydrostatic equilibrium; its S22 coefficient from gravity data is an anomalous 10% of its C22 value, which is not consistent with a body in hydrostatic equilibrium and thus significantly increases the error bars on Callisto's moment of inertia. Further, an undifferentiated Callisto is inconsistent with the presence of a substantial internal ocean as inferred by magnetic data, and it would be difficult for an object as large as Callisto to fail to differentiate at any point.[55] In that case, the gravity data may be more consistent with a more thoroughly differentiated Callisto with a hydrated silicate core.[56]

The ancient surface of Callisto is one of the most heavily cratered in the Solar System.[57] In fact, the crater density is close to saturation: any new crater will tend to erase an older one. The large-scale geology is relatively simple; there are no large mountains on Callisto, volcanoes or other endogenic tectonic features.[58] The impact craters and multi-ring structurestogether with associated fractures, scarps and depositsare the only large features to be found on the surface.[18][58]

Callisto's surface can be divided into several geologically different parts: cratered plains, light plains, bright and dark smooth plains, and various units associated with particular multi-ring structures and impact craters.[18][58] The cratered plains constitute most of the surface area and represent the ancient lithosphere, a mixture of ice and rocky material. The light plains include bright impact craters like Burr and Lofn, as well as the effaced remnants of old large craters called palimpsests,[i] the central parts of multi-ring structures, and isolated patches in the cratered plains.[18] These light plains are thought to be icy impact deposits. The bright, smooth plains constitute a small fraction of Callisto's surface and are found in the ridge and trough zones of the Valhalla and Asgard formations and as isolated spots in the cratered plains. They were thought to be connected with endogenic activity, but the high-resolution Galileo images showed that the bright, smooth plains correlate with heavily fractured and knobby terrain and do not show any signs of resurfacing.[18] The Galileo images also revealed small, dark, smooth areas with overall coverage less than 10,000km2, which appear to embay[j] the surrounding terrain. They are possible cryovolcanic deposits.[18] Both the light and the various smooth plains are somewhat younger and less cratered than the background cratered plains.[18][59]

Impact crater diameters seen range from 0.1kma limit defined by the imaging resolutionto over 100km, not counting the multi-ring structures.[18] Small craters, with diameters less than 5km, have simple bowl or flat-floored shapes. Those 540km across usually have a central peak. Larger impact features, with diameters in the range 25100km, have central pits instead of peaks, such as Tindr crater.[18] The largest craters with diameters over 60km can have central domes, which are thought to result from central tectonic uplift after an impact;[18] examples include Doh and Hr craters. A small number of very largemore than 100km in diameterand bright impact craters show anomalous dome geometry. These are unusually shallow and may be a transitional landform to the multi-ring structures, as with the Lofn impact feature.[18] Callisto's craters are generally shallower than those on the Moon.

The largest impact features on Callisto's surface are multi-ring basins.[18][58] Two are enormous. Valhalla is the largest, with a bright central region 600kilometers in diameter, and rings extending as far as 1,800kilometers from the center (see figure).[60] The second largest is Asgard, measuring about 1,600kilometers in diameter.[60] Multi-ring structures probably originated as a result of a post-impact concentric fracturing of the lithosphere lying on a layer of soft or liquid material, possibly an ocean.[35] The catenaefor example Gomul Catenaare long chains of impact craters lined up in straight lines across the surface. They were probably created by objects that were tidally disrupted as they passed close to Jupiter prior to the impact on Callisto, or by very oblique impacts.[18] A historical example of a disruption was Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

As mentioned above, small patches of pure water ice with an albedo as high as 80% are found on the surface of Callisto, surrounded by much darker material.[6] High-resolution Galileo images showed the bright patches to be predominately located on elevated surface features: crater rims, scarps, ridges and knobs.[6] They are likely to be thin water frost deposits. Dark material usually lies in the lowlands surrounding and mantling bright features and appears to be smooth. It often forms patches up to 5km across within the crater floors and in the intercrater depressions.[6]

On a sub-kilometer scale the surface of Callisto is more degraded than the surfaces of other icy Galilean moons.[6] Typically there is a deficit of small impact craters with diameters less than 1km as compared with, for instance, the dark plains on Ganymede.[18] Instead of small craters, the almost ubiquitous surface features are small knobs and pits.[6] The knobs are thought to represent remnants of crater rims degraded by an as-yet uncertain process.[19] The most likely candidate process is the slow sublimation of ice, which is enabled by a temperature of up to 165K, reached at a subsolar point.[6] Such sublimation of water or other volatiles from the dirty ice that is the bedrock causes its decomposition. The non-ice remnants form debris avalanches descending from the slopes of the crater walls.[19] Such avalanches are often observed near and inside impact craters and termed "debris aprons".[6][18][19] Sometimes crater walls are cut by sinuous valley-like incisions called "gullies", which resemble certain Martian surface features.[6] In the ice sublimation hypothesis, the low-lying dark material is interpreted as a blanket of primarily non-ice debris, which originated from the degraded rims of craters and has covered a predominantly icy bedrock.

The relative ages of the different surface units on Callisto can be determined from the density of impact craters on them. The older the surface, the denser the crater population.[61] Absolute dating has not been carried out, but based on theoretical considerations, the cratered plains are thought to be ~4.5billion years old, dating back almost to the formation of the Solar System. The ages of multi-ring structures and impact craters depend on chosen background cratering rates and are estimated by different authors to vary between 1 and 4billion years.[18][57]

Callisto has a very tenuous atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide.[8] It was detected by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) from its absorption feature near the wavelength 4.2micrometers. The surface pressure is estimated to be 7.5 picobar (0.75 Pa) and particle density 4108cm3. Because such a thin atmosphere would be lost in only about 4days (see atmospheric escape), it must be constantly replenished, possibly by slow sublimation of carbon dioxide ice from Callisto's icy crust,[8] which would be compatible with the sublimationdegradation hypothesis for the formation of the surface knobs.

Callisto's ionosphere was first detected during Galileo flybys;[20] its high electron density of 717104cm3 cannot be explained by the photoionization of the atmospheric carbon dioxide alone. Hence, it is suspected that the atmosphere of Callisto is actually dominated by molecular oxygen (in amounts 10100 times greater than CO2).[9] However, oxygen has not yet been directly detected in the atmosphere of Callisto. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) placed an upper limit on its possible concentration in the atmosphere, based on lack of detection, which is still compatible with the ionospheric measurements.[62] At the same time, HST was able to detect condensed oxygen trapped on the surface of Callisto.[63]

Atomic hydrogen has also been detected in Callisto's atmosphere via recent analysis of 2001 Hubble Space Telescope data.[64] Spectral images taken on 15 and 24 December 2001 were re-examined, revealing a faint signal of scattered light that indicates a hydrogen corona. The observed brightness from the scattered sunlight in Callisto's hydrogen corona is approximately two times larger when the leading hemisphere is observed. This asymmetry may originate from a different hydrogen abundance in both leading and trailing hemispheres. However, this hemispheric difference in Callisto's hydrogen corona brightness is likely to originate from the extinction of the signal in the Earth's geocorona, which is greater when the trailing hemisphere is observed.[65]

The partial differentiation of Callisto (inferred e.g. from moment of inertia measurements) means that it has never been heated enough to melt its ice component.[22] Therefore, the most favorable model of its formation is a slow accretion in the low-density Jovian subnebulaa disk of the gas and dust that existed around Jupiter after its formation.[21] Such a prolonged accretion stage would allow cooling to largely keep up with the heat accumulation caused by impacts, radioactive decay and contraction, thereby preventing melting and fast differentiation.[21] The allowable timescale of formation of Callisto lies then in the range 0.1million10million years.[21]

The further evolution of Callisto after accretion was determined by the balance of the radioactive heating, cooling through thermal conduction near the surface, and solid state or subsolidus convection in the interior.[44] Details of the subsolidus convection in the ice is the main source of uncertainty in the models of all icy moons. It is known to develop when the temperature is sufficiently close to the melting point, due to the temperature dependence of ice viscosity.[66] Subsolidus convection in icy bodies is a slow process with ice motions of the order of 1centimeter per year, but is, in fact, a very effective cooling mechanism on long timescales.[66] It is thought to proceed in the so-called stagnant lid regime, where a stiff, cold outer layer of Callisto conducts heat without convection, whereas the ice beneath it convects in the subsolidus regime.[22][66] For Callisto, the outer conductive layer corresponds to the cold and rigid lithosphere with a thickness of about 100km. Its presence would explain the lack of any signs of the endogenic activity on the Callistoan surface.[66][67] The convection in the interior parts of Callisto may be layered, because under the high pressures found there, water ice exists in different crystalline phases beginning from the ice I on the surface to ice VII in the center.[44] The early onset of subsolidus convection in the Callistoan interior could have prevented large-scale ice melting and any resulting differentiation that would have otherwise formed a large rocky core and icy mantle. Due to the convection process, however, very slow and partial separation and differentiation of rocks and ices inside Callisto has been proceeding on timescales of billions of years and may be continuing to this day.[67]

The current understanding of the evolution of Callisto allows for the existence of a layer or "ocean" of liquid water in its interior. This is connected with the anomalous behavior of ice I phase's melting temperature, which decreases with pressure, achieving temperatures as low as 251K at 2,070bar (207MPa).[22] In all realistic models of Callisto the temperature in the layer between 100 and 200km in depth is very close to, or exceeds slightly, this anomalous melting temperature.[44][66][67] The presence of even small amounts of ammoniaabout 12% by weightalmost guarantees the liquid's existence because ammonia would lower the melting temperature even further.[22]

Although Callisto is very similar in bulk properties to Ganymede, it apparently had a much simpler geological history. The surface appears to have been shaped mainly by impacts and other exogenic forces.[18] Unlike neighboring Ganymede with its grooved terrain, there is little evidence of tectonic activity.[15] Explanations that have been proposed for the contrasts in internal heating and consequent differentiation and geologic activity between Callisto and Ganymede include differences in formation conditions,[68] the greater tidal heating experienced by Ganymede,[69] and the more numerous and energetic impacts that would have been suffered by Ganymede during the Late Heavy Bombardment.[70][71][72] The relatively simple geological history of Callisto provides planetary scientists with a reference point for comparison with other more active and complex worlds.[15]

It is speculated that there could be life in Callisto's subsurface ocean. Like Europa and Ganymede, as well as Saturn's moons Enceladus, Dione and Titan and Neptune's moon Triton,[73] a possible subsurface ocean might be composed of salt water.

It is possible that halophiles could thrive in the ocean.[74]As with Europa and Ganymede, the idea has been raised that habitable conditions and even extraterrestrial microbial life may exist in the salty ocean under the Callistoan surface.[23] However, the environmental conditions necessary for life appear to be less favorable on Callisto than on Europa. The principal reasons are the lack of contact with rocky material and the lower heat flux from the interior of Callisto.[23] Scientist Torrence Johnson said the following about comparing the odds of life on Callisto with the odds on other Galilean moons:[74]

The basic ingredients for lifewhat we call 'pre-biotic chemistry'are abundant in many solar system objects, such as comets, asteroids and icy moons. Biologists believe liquid water and energy are then needed to actually support life, so it's exciting to find another place where we might have liquid water. But, energy is another matter, and currently, Callisto's ocean is only being heated by radioactive elements, whereas Europa has tidal energy as well, from its greater proximity to Jupiter.

Based on the considerations mentioned above and on other scientific observations, it is thought that of all of Jupiter's moons, Europa has the greatest chance of supporting microbial life.[23][75]

The Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 Jupiter encounters in the early 1970s contributed little new information about Callisto in comparison with what was already known from Earth-based observations.[6] The real breakthrough happened later with the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys in 1979. They imaged more than half of the Callistoan surface with a resolution of 12km, and precisely measured its temperature, mass and shape.[6] A second round of exploration lasted from 1994 to 2003, when the Galileo spacecraft had eight close encounters with Callisto, the last flyby during the C30 orbit in 2001 came as close as 138km to the surface. The Galileo orbiter completed the global imaging of the surface and delivered a number of pictures with a resolution as high as 15meters of selected areas of Callisto.[18] In 2000, the Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn acquired high-quality infrared spectra of the Galilean satellites including Callisto.[48] In FebruaryMarch 2007, the New Horizons probe on its way to Pluto obtained new images and spectra of Callisto.[76]

The next planned mission to the Jovian system is the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE), due to launch in 2023.[77] Several close flybys of Callisto are planned during the mission.[78]

Formerly proposed for a launch in 2020, the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) was a joint NASA/ESA proposal for exploration of Jupiter's moons. In February 2009 it was announced that ESA/NASA had given this mission priority ahead of the Titan Saturn System Mission.[79] At the time ESA's contribution still faced funding competition from other ESA projects.[80] EJSM consisted of the NASA-led Jupiter Europa Orbiter, the ESA-led Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter, and possibly a JAXA-led Jupiter Magnetospheric Orbiter.

In 2003 NASA conducted a conceptual study called Human Outer Planets Exploration (HOPE) regarding the future human exploration of the outer Solar System. The target chosen to consider in detail was Callisto.[24][82]

The study proposed a possible surface base on Callisto that would produce rocket propellant for further exploration of the Solar System.[81] Advantages of a base on Callisto include low radiation (due to its distance from Jupiter) and geological stability. Such a base could facilitate remote exploration of Europa, or be an ideal location for a Jovian system waystation servicing spacecraft heading farther into the outer Solar System, using a gravity assist from a close flyby of Jupiter after departing Callisto.[24]

In December 2003, NASA reported that a manned mission to Callisto might be possible in the 2040s.[83]

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