Category Archives: Moon Colonization

Hopes of one day making a lunar colony may have found some extra encouragement. Normally, the surface of the Moon reaches upwards of 260 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Then, it drops to a chilling minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit at night. However, research shows some lunar pits stay around 63 degrees Fahrenheit, providing much-needed safety from the elements.

These stable temperatures could provide additional protection for a possible Moon-based colony. Additionally, access to caves and other formations that humans can shelter it may be found within such pits. If we were to create a lunar colony on the surface of the Moon, building it within such a pit may prove worthwhile in helping protect from intense temperatures.

We first discovered pits on the Moon in 2009. Since then, scientists have long wondered whether they might lead to caves or underground structures. While we cant say for sure, this new research proves that they have much more stable temperatures than other surface areas on the Moon.

These stable temperatures are important for the viability of a lunar colony for multiple reasons. First, if the temperatures are stable and stick around 63 degrees Fahrenheit, we could build systems that work well within those areas. Whereas if we built those same structures on the main surface, wed have to account for the wild temperature changes.

NASA is already planning to send humans back to the Moon in the next few years. However, being able to create a long-term lunar colony would be astounding. Additionally, doing so would allow us to open a new door to studying the Moon and its surface.

Not only could be test the long-term effects of the lower gravity on humans, but we might also be able to make some breakthroughs on creating artificial gravity. That would help combat any long-term effects the lower gravity of places like the Moon and Mars might have on the human body.

Additionally, building a lunar colony could allow us better on-site testing of growing plants in lunar soil. Growing plants in places that arent normally acclimated for it would be a huge breakthrough for space exploration ad colonization. The researchers published their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Heres where we might really be able to set up a colony on the Moon - BGR

Elon Musk is a singular visionary driving humanity toward a better futureor at least thats what he and his admirers want us to believe. For the past two decades, supporters and news outlets have praised him for the bold narratives hes woven around Tesla and SpaceX, and by extension allowed him to evade scrutiny and become the worlds richest man. Any time Musk sends a tweet, you can check his replies to see the devotion of his millions of followers.

As his profile has been elevated by relentless media attention, Musk has become the figure everyone was looking for: a powerful man who sold the fantasy that faith in the combined power of technology and the market could change the world without needing a role for the government. (Just dont talk about the billions in subsidies that kept his companies going over the years.)

But that collective admiration has only served to bolster an unaccountable and increasingly hostile billionaire. The holes in those future visions, and the dangers of applauding billionaire visionaries, have only become harder to ignore.

As CEO of Tesla, Musks plan was to use luxury vehicles to fund a more affordable electric car. The Model 3 was supposed to be that vehicle, starting at $35,000. But the current starting price is $46,990, and most buyers end up paying even more. Teslas are supposed to be the model for green automobility, but the emissions required for the production of each individual vehicle are on the rise, and there are persistent problems with production quality which means theyre at risk of not lasting as long as vehicles from other carmakers.

More importantly, those vehicles dont have a clean, green supply chain. Around the world, mining companies are salivating at the opportunity presented by a shift to battery-powered vehicles because theyre so much more mineral-intensive than the ones we drive today. The International Energy Agency expects demand for battery minerals to soar by 2040, including up to 2,100 percent for cobalt and 4,200 percent for lithium.

But that extraction comes with serious consequences for local environments and nearby communities. In 2019, Tesla was named in a lawsuit over the deaths of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo who died mining cobalt at sites owned by British mining company Glencore. Despite talking about cobalt-free batteries, Musk proceeded to sign a deal with Glencore in 2020 to supply its Berlin and Shanghai factories. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2021, but in April of this year, an investigation from Global Witness found that Tesla was among a number of companies that may be getting minerals from mines using child workers in the DRC.

It may be easy to overlook consequences that exist at the other end of Teslas supply chain, but these problems extend deep into the heart of its manufacturing operation. Black workers dubbed the companys Fremont factory the plantation after being subject to racist abuse and a number of women described sexual harassment at the facility as nightmarish. Meanwhile, workers at the Nevada Gigafactory are suing after a mass firing of over 500 people, following reports that Musk praised workers in Teslas Shanghai factory for burning the 3 am oil by working 12-hour shifts and six-day weeks while sleeping on the factory floor.

To top it off, Teslas customers are also being put in harms way. Its vehicles have slammed into highway medians, emergency vehicles, transport trucks, and more, while using its supposedly self-driving Autopilot feature. Musk continually misleads the public about how safe and capable the system really is, even as the U.S. traffic safety regulator is poised to recall hundreds of thousands of vehicles. And Tesla is just the tip of the iceberg.

Elon Musk has wielded a virtual monopoly on how we think about the future, but will his visions really deliver better lives for most people in our society? For all the tech industrys talk of disruption, keeping us all trapped in cars for decades into the future by equipping them with batteries or upgraded computers doesnt feel like much of a revolution.

A much more sustainable alternative to mass ownership of electric vehicles is to get people out of cars altogetherthat entails making serious investments to create more reliable public transit networks, building out cycling infrastructure so people can safely ride a bike, and revitalizing the rail network after decades of underinvestment. But Musk has continually tried to stand in the way of such alternatives.

He has a history of floating false solutions to the drawbacks of our over-reliance on cars that stifle efforts to give people other options. The Boring Company was supposed to solve traffic, not be the Las Vegas amusement ride it is now. As Ive written in my book, Musk admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that Hyperloop was all about trying to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in Californiaeven though he had no plans to build it.

Several years ago, Musk said that public transit was a pain in the ass where you were surrounded by strangers, including possible serial killers, to justify his opposition. But the futures sold to us by Musk and many others in Silicon Valley didnt just suit their personal preferences. They were designed to meet business needs, and were the cause of just as many problems as they claimed to solveif not more.

As Musk sets our collective sights on Mars, a town in south Texas and nearby wildlife reserve are being sacrificed on the altar of his personal ambition. SpaceX recently fired employees who wrote an open letter asking it to distance itself from its increasingly controversial CEO, while astronomers and Indigenous groups have expressed concern about what Starlink is doing to the night sky. Meanwhile, scientists will tell you living on Mars wont be an easy task. In service of his dreams, Musk is purposefully obscuring those challenges.

In crafting his future visions, Musk draws on the libertarian tendencies of Robert Heinlein and a technocratic longtermism inspired by Isaac Asimovs Foundation series, not to mention the dreams of Nazi-turned-NASA rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. Future visions cribbed from the pages of science fictionoften of the dystopian varietyand reshaped to fit the desires of the richest man in the world dont serve the broader public. But there are other authors who provide very different answers to the questions of technology and the future.

In 1985, Ursula K. Le Guin took aim at this imperialistic kind of science fiction that inspires Musk, in which space and the future are synonymous: they are a place we are going to get to, invade, colonize, exploit, and suburbanize. The renowned novelist explained that science fiction is not actually about the future; its about us and our thoughts and our dreams. But when we get confused about that, we succumb to wishful thinking and escapism, and our science fiction gets megalomania and thinks that instead of being fiction its prediction.

Thats exactly where we find ourselves now: having our future dictated by powerful people who seek to recreate the space colonies or dystopian virtual reality worlds they read about as kids without considering the consequences. Kim Stanley Robinson, whose Mars trilogy helped inspire some of the recent interest in colonizing the red planet, has called Musks plan the 1920s science-fiction clich of the boy who builds a rocket to the moon in his backyard and one thats dangerously distracting us from the real problems we face here on Earth.

For Le Guin, part of the problem is how we tell the human story: as one where a singular hero aggressively pushes it toward resolution, whether its the hunter with their bow or the Great Man driving society forward. It also infects our conception of technology, positioning it as a heroic undertaking, Herculean, Promethean, conceived as triumphor as a call to buildrather than the active human interface with the material world and the more mundane technologies we rely on every day.

Make no mistake: there is a need for people to think about the future and what a better one looks like, especially as we face serious challenges like the climate crisis. But we also need to question the idea of progress being sold to us and who it ultimately benefits. The tech industry enjoys casting itself as our savior, delivering empowerment and convenience, but along with it has come an unprecedented expansion of surveillance, an erosion of workers rights, and the empowerment of white nationalist and fascist groups.

For years, Elon Musk sold us fantasies to distract from the reality of the future hes trying to build, and to get people to accept his growing belligerence. What we really need right now is not more cars, colonization dreams, and technokings, but a collective project to improve the lives of billions of people around the world while taking on the immediate challenges we face regardless of whether it generates corporate profits. Thats something Elon Musk can never deliver.

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Elon Musk's Flawed Vision and the Dangers of Trusting Billionaires - TIME

Living in Micronesia means youre just a quick plane ride away from experiencing the rich cultural and ecological diversity all over the region.

Palau is a popular destination thanks to its unparalleled diving but is it worth it for those of us who dont relish trying to breathe normally 60 feet underwater while surrounded by sharks?

As someone still working up the courage to get dive-certified, I can confidently tell you that yes, Palau is filled to the brim with beauty everywhere you look.

Though the flight is a brief two hours, a round trip flight to Koror, Palau, will run you just about $1,300 in the economy cabin. Pricey, yes, and so if you arent diving or visiting loved ones the cost may not be worth it to you.

For now flights from Guam are every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday night, and departures from Palau are very early as in 1 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Most hotels have a shuttle you can arrange for pickup, or you can opt to rent a car.

Palau, like Guam, is not designed to be particularly walkable. There are taxi services your hotel can connect you to but if you can rent a car, do. Your visit will be much more comfortable.

Good vibes abound at The Canoe House, where you can mingle with locals and visitors alike as they enjoy drinks and live music in Koror, Palau.

Three days is enough time to hit Korors highlights, though it wont leave much time for relaxation. If you can stay through Tuesday night and leave Wednesday morning, you wont need to rush your excursions, and it will leave you ample time for poolside lounging.

We stayed in Koror at Cove Resort Palau, which is near several other hotel properties and is a 45-minute walk into downtown. It has its own restaurant and bar, The Hungry Marlin, as well as a pool. The rooms are spacious and the showers are spectacular.

A reconstructed bai, or traditional meeting house, outside the Belau National Museum on July 16, 2022. The bai has been constructed using traditional methods, meaning it is fit together without using any nails, screws, or pegs.

There are also hotels closer to the city center, like the Palau Central Hotel, which allow for more walkability to restaurants and shopping or hotels off the beaten path that offer a touch of nature, like Ngellil Nature Island Resort.

It may not make much of a difference for your airfare, but booking your hotel well in advance can save you some money. Most rates in Koror span from $80 to $400 a night depending on location, amenities and timing.

A golden jellyfish beneath the surface of Jellyfish Lake in Palau on July 17, 2022.

Alright, so youre not into diving. I get it! But youd be a fool to visit Palau without at least snorkeling. Lucky for you, there are multiple companies offering day or half day trips that include a visit to the famed Jellyfish Lake and snorkeling spots throughout the Rock Islands.

You can poke around for one that suits your interests and schedule, but we booked a half day tour with Sams Tours that cost about $215, including lunch and the $100 permit to access Jellyfish Lake.

Bring your own snorkeling equipment or borrow from the company, and be warned that the trail to Jellyfish Lake includes a steep staircase.

For me, this was the absolute highlight of the trip. The journey via boat to Jellyfish Lake is magical in its own right sailing through rich, teal water amidst the verdant Rock Islands is hard to beat.

If youre unfamiliar, Jellyfish Lake is nothing short of a miracle. Thousands of years ago it was below sea level and as water levels receded, the jellyfish were left behind.

A golden jellyfish beneath the surface of Jellyfish Lake in Palau on July 17, 2022.

Now, an estimated 12,000 years later with no natural predator, they have evolved without the ability to sting. This allows visitors to serenely snorkel alongside thousands of stunning golden and moon jellyfish, who gracefully bob alongside you completely unbothered. Its unlike anything Ive ever experienced.

Following our Jellyfish Lake adventure, we headed to Cemetery Reef to snorkel with a wider variety of ocean life.

This area was teeming with vibrant fish, but the real delight for me was seeing the coral reef itself. To be so close to this elegant, natural architecture when so many around the world are disappearing feels sacred.

Goodies at the Q-Lala Snack House tent at the 680 Night Market in Airai on July 17, 2022.

Since we stuck to downtown Koror restaurants, I have to admit to not finding much in the way of authentic Palauan food. Learn from my mistakes and do some research on where to go! Otherwise youll be stuck with a surprising amount of pizza, pasta and burgers.

Standout restaurants included The Taj, an Indian restaurant downtown featuring an extensive, mouthwatering menu and warm atmosphere. I will be dreaming about their lamb vindaloo and kashmiri naan for weeks.

Koror mangrove clams in white wine and garlic at Elilai Seaside Dining on July 18, 2022.

Elilai Seaside Dining was also spectacular, both for its magnificent waterfront sunset views and for its food. The Koror mangrove clams were melt-in-your-mouth creamy, and the local white snapper served Korean style with red chili paste, leeks, and jasmine rice was divine.

If you find yourself in Palau on a Saturday night, make sure to visit the 680 Night Market if theyre on that week you can visit their Facebook page to check.

Located on the Airai side of the Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge connecting Koror and Babeldaob Islands, the market is often themed and features local dance groups, live music, food vendors and artisans.

You can also catch live music at The Drop Off or The Canoe House in Koror, both of which have lively weekend crowds enjoying drinks and dancing with family and friends.

A lover bag in the Searching for Indigenous Art exhibit, which highlights the indigenous people of Taiwan, at the Belau National Museum on July 16, 2022. This bag, carried by the Amis people, traditionally features patterns that reflect their family background and is used as part of a matchmaking ritual.

There are two major museums in Palau, and both are worth your time. Etpison Museum has a $10 entry fee and features a remarkable exhibit about the traditional first child birth ceremony in Palau. At the time of my visit, it also had an extensive collection of works by storyboard masters.

LAmarena, a charming gelato shop owned by an Italian family from Verona, is just up the street and is the perfect place to relax after an hour or two of learning. Their signature cherry gelato is not to be missed!

The Belau National Museum is much larger and costs $15 for nonresidents. You could easily spend two or more hours here, soaking up the wealth of information starting with the origin story of Palau and carrying visitors through the known history of the area pre-contact, through the colonization of the Spanish, German, and Japanese, through World War II, and finally as an independent nation.

Robiul Alam hard at work carving a storyboard at the Tebang Woodcarving Shop in Koror on July 19, 2022.

Among the treasures in this museum are many stories shared from locals about their experiences before, during and after World War II, drawings of daily life from Japanese artist Toshiko Akamatsu, and examples of Palauan glass money.

At the time of my visit there was also a beautiful exhibit focused on indigenous people of Taiwan, called Search for Indigenous Art.

The exhibit included examples of bright textiles, baskets, and tools from the 16 indigenous tribes recognized in Taiwan.

A lover bag in the Searching for Indigenous Art exhibit, which highlights the indigenous people of Taiwan, at the Belau National Museum on July 16, 2022. This bag, carried by the Amis people, traditionally features patterns that reflect their family background and is used as part of a matchmaking ritual.

Finally, if youre seeking a souvenir, storyboards are widely available in gift shops all over Koror but the cream of the crop is at the Tebang Woodcarving Shop.

Located just off the main road you can easily visit this shop to watch the woodcarvers at work, chat with owner Ling Inabo, and choose a handmade storyboard to bring home.

If you know youll be back to pick it up, you can even commission a piece with a story of your choice.

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Travel Bug: You don't have to be a diver to enjoy Palau - Pacific Daily News

James Cameron's politically charged film is spellbinding for a multitude of reasons. While "Avatar" tells a moving story, the film also achieved a lot in its technical aspects through its complex level of cinematography that made the sweeping, colorful landscapes of Pandora possible. Cameron was inspired by the works of Ray Harryhausen, a pioneer of stop-motion animation, and paid him tribute through the film.

With films such as "Jason and the Argonauts" and "One Million Years B.C.," the special effects legend inspired a generation of filmmakers, including Cameron, who, with "Avatar," hoped to capture the kind of "wonder" he experienced as a kid watching Harryhausen's films. In an interview with FilmFestivals.com, Cameron noted that he wanted to do something "beyond the ordinary" with "Avatar":

"I've made other big-budget Hollywood action movies that were not transformative, so there was an evolution to it and a consciousness about 'Avatar' that we were going to do something beyond the ordinary."

The legendary filmmaker went on to list his goal for the film, to replicate the visuals as seen in the fantasy film "Jason and the Argonauts" and others.

"I didn't know how it was done, I couldn't begin to guess how it was done. But I didn't care, whether it was "Mysterious Island" or "Jason and the Argonauts" with the skeletons coming out with swords and fighting. I didn't know what stop-motion animation was, it didn't matter."

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Avatar Was James Cameron's Tribute To A Legend Of VFX Filmmaking - /Film

Sonic Youth carved their path to becoming the quintessential band of the American underground on the very thing their name projects: Sound. From their early no wave recordings on deeper into the 80s, Sonic Youth found inspiration not just in songwriting but in manipulating their instruments to warp and bend in ways not intended by manufacturer specifications, whether through homemade modifications, unusual tunings or playing them with implements other than a pick. Which might not have been half as effective had they not also written great songs, they just werent great songs that sounded like anyone elses.

Sound was their medium, but every artist likewise has a subject, and for Sonic Youth that often shifted, from abstract variations on songs of love and lust to actual pop cultural critique. But for much of their career, particularly during an intensely productive period in the mid-1980s, Sonic Youths songs displayed a particular doomed fascination with the ideas of America that reached dubiously mythical status in the Reagan years. As the groups atypically constructed noise rock anthems found a nationwide audience through regular touring and increased presence on college radio, Sonic Youth entered a creative streak that produced three albums that represent a masterful trilogy of albums informed by the myth of America as well as being haunted by its shadow: Bad Moon Rising, EVOL and Sister.

A kind of woozy, amorphous darkness pervaded Sonic Youths music from the mutant dissonance of their earliest no wave recordings, but on Bad Moon Rising that darkness began to take on a more defined shape. The album shares a title with a ubiquitous entry in the classic rock canon by Creedence Clearwater Revival, both suggesting something quintessentially American while evoking the impending doom of apocalypse. Its cover art, likewise, depicts a similar intersection of ominous Americana, the Jack-O-lantern head of a scarecrow burning bright in front of a cityscape, which only looks out of place if you dont imagine the metropolis in the background descending into dystopia.

Where 1983s Confusion is Sex thrived on a kind of stylized atonality, the songs on Bad Moon Rising were just that, not always entirely congealed from the eerie mist whence they came, but taking on a hypnotic form all the same. The groove in a track like opener Brave Men Run (In My Family) is undeniable even if its not so overtly catchy, though the off-kilter tonal quality it harbors, as does much of the album, lends it an unsettling quality that shadows the burning pumpkin head and its suggestion of a coming endtimes.

Implied though that apocalypse might be, its uniquely American, from the atrocities committed in the name of colonization (They gave birth to my bastard kin, Kim Gordon chants in Ghost Bitch, America it is called) to the sensationalism of the Manson family cult murders in Death Valley 69. Death Valley, still deeply unnerving more than 35 years later, paired Sonic Youths first proper college radio-ready single with what remains their most nightmarish imagery. It opens with a blood-curdling scream and descends deeper into Hell, Thurston Moore and Lydia Lunch depicting a gradually unfolding scene of violence (I didnt wanna, but she started to holler, so I had to hit it) as the tension in the music grows precarious close to climactic collapse. Its harrowing; its exquisite.

Moments of abrasion disrupt otherwise more immediate pop songs in much the same way the bands evocations of chaos and infamy emerge alongside images of celebrity and glamour.

The release of 1986s EVOL signaled the completion of Sonic Youths evolution from mutant atonalists into the pioneering noise rock group that eventually released the game-changing Daydream Nation. Two notable events coincided with this arrival; the first, drummer Steve Shelley became a permanent member of the group, replacing Bob Bert and remaining the urgent, versatile backbone of the band up until their breakup in 2011. And second, it was the bands first release for iconic California punk label SST, signaling both Sonic Youths escalation toward greater visibility while the label itself was moving farther away from its hardcore punk roots. The partnership didnt last very longas was the case with many famous SST-affiliated artistsbut it yielded two of their best albums, EVOL included.

Sonic Youth understood the language of pop but, during the first half of the 80s at least, rarely chose to speak it. That changed in large part with EVOL, which boasted at least one bonafide pop song, Starpower, at least a pop song created in their own image. Both dissonant and disorienting yet brimming with hooks, Starpower seems like a contradiction on its face, but its more aligned with the driving post-punk singles of the early 80s than what Sonic Youth were creating just a few years before. Whats more, its a love song, or at least a depiction of infatuation. Spinning dreams with angel wings, torn blue jeans, a foolish grin, Kim Gordon sings, her delivery evoking detached cool even in describing a moment of ecstasy.

Theres a different kind of star power on album closer Madonna, Sean and Me, or at least the suggestion of it, one of many references to Madonnaa frequent subject of fascination for Sonic Youththat would show up throughout their career, culminating in the release of the experimetal-but-fun one-off Ciccone Youth album in 1988, featuring covers of both Burning Up and Into the Groove. Both Madonna and Sonic Youth had risen up from the same New York underground scene in the early 80s, and performed at the same clubsthe band had even sent Ciccone Youths The Whitey Album to Madonnas sister to earn her blessing, which she graciously gave them. But Madonna, Sean and Me isnt about Madonna any more than opener Tom Violence is strictly about Tom Verlaine (or violence), its droning noise-rock freakout and ominous lyrics sharing more in common with the Manson family visions of Bad Moon Rising standout Death Valley 69, opening with Moores portentous threat, Were gonna kill the California girls. It ends in a locked groove repeating the notes F# and A, just a half-step away from the infinite loop as noted (and very likely influenced by this brief snippet of music) on Godspeed You! Black Emperors debut LP.

Elsewhere Lee Ranaldo offers dark visions of highway violence on In the Kingdom #19, his recitations of lines like Still out ghosting the road/Death on the highway take on an eerier quality in the aftermath of the death of The Minutemens D. Boon in a van accident the year prior. It, incidentally, features the first recorded music from the bands Mike Watt since Boons death, in addition to the sound of actual firecracker explosions happening inside the studio, lending even more chaos and terror to the tense, spoken-word track. And Shadow of a Doubt nods to another American icon, Alfred Hitchcock, referencing two of his films, the titular Shadow of a Doubt and Strangers on a Train.

Where Sonic Youth waded into pop on EVOL, they fully dive in on Sister, embracing accessibility without leaving behind the darkness or abstraction that defined their material up to that point. Simply put, Sister remains a very weird album, but its a weird album thats driven by more overt melodies than those that precede it. Even its most urgent moments, like Tuff Gnarl or Pipeline/Kill Time, still descend into middle sections of scrape and drone. Moments of abrasion disrupt otherwise more immediate pop songs in much the same way the bands evocations of chaos and infamy emerge alongside images of celebrity and glamour.

Pop culture by and large informs Sister as much as actual pop music, particularly the science fiction of Philip K. Dickthe sister referenced in the title is Dicks fraternal twin, who died shortly after being born and which left a heavy impression on the writer that followed him throughout his life. The authors influence appears in songs like Stereo Sanctity, where Moore references Dicks novel Valis with Satellites flashing down Orchard and Delancey and how I cant get laid because everyone is dead. The connection to his sister arises in Schizophrenia, which is intertwined with Gordons relationship with her own brother, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. But the insidious influence of American pop culture shows up more subtly in other places, the original release of the album featuring an image of Disneys Magic Kingdom that was later covered up due to unauthorized use.

Sister is also, by and large, a remarkably beautiful album by the standards of a band that emerged from a kind of loosely organized noise. The hazy Beauty Lies in the Eye is gorgeous in its melancholy, but obscured and distant, dripping with mystique. And for the first time on any Sonic Youth album, Moore and Gordon can be heard singing together in harmony (sort of) against an unsteady squall on Cotton Crown, its narcotic romance still carrying a strange sort of sweetness as they sing, Angels are dreaming of you. Even amid the sublime moments and the driving, rhythmic post-punk that define Sister as one of Sonic Youths most focused and simply best albums, the terror of the fringe menace of Bad Moon Rising still simmers under the surface, bubbling up to a boil on the abrasive grind of Pacific Coast Highway as Gordon chants, Come on get in the car, lets go for a ride somewhere/I wont hurt you, as much as you hurt me. Though Sister is as much about a kind of intoxicated dreaminess as much as it is an imagining of a potentially broken futurean American hallucination as much as an American dreamviolence somehow still feels inescapable.

If Sister isnt regarded as Sonic Youths finest momentthe place where each disparate part connects and the groups yen for dissonance finds a suitable companion in rhythmic drive and immediacyits only because Daydream Nation showed up one year later. From the epic opening anthem Teen Age Riot, they signaled a step toward brighter frontiers, with the bloodthirsty cults, junkie couples and flashy Disney and MTV figures fading to a blur in the background as Sonic Youth became icons themselves. Moving away from the reflections of the flawed and sometimes harsh America as it was, they imagined an entirely new one, guided by President J Mascis to unite the youth under a new platform of freedom and noise.

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Sonic Youth : Sister, EVOL, Bad Moon Rising - The trilogy | Treble - Treble

Data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has led scientists to conclude that the Moon hosts around 200 "pits" that offer stable and human-friendly temperatures.

The pits "always hover around a comfortable 63F/17C, NASA stated on Wednesday.

A steady 17C contrasts markedly with the rest of the Moon's surface, which fluctuates between 127C/260F to -173C/-280F across a full Lunar day.

Coping with those temperatures vastly complicates lunar exploration, for machines and humans.

Warm spots on the Moon are therefore hot property.

Since the discovery of pits on the Moon by JAXA's SELENE spacecraft in 2009, there has been interest in whether they provide access to caves that could be explored by rovers and astronauts, wrote researchers who published information on the pits in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The paper's three authors, UCLA professor of planetary science David Paige, Paul Hayne of the University of Colorado Boulder, and UCLA researcher Tyler Horvath, used data from The Diviner instrument onboard the LRO, which had monitored temps on the lunar surface for more than 11 years.

The researchers focused on a mostly cylindrical pit inside Mare Tranquillitatis, the same region visited by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969, as its thermal environment was more hospitable than any other place on the lunar surface.

The group ran time-dependent 2-D and 3-D models using the data to understand the geometry and heat transfer that could lead to the elevated temperatures.

The researchers concluded that the temperature inside the pit was not only a comfortable temperature, it was very possibly attached to a cave that would also have a similar stable environment.

The Mare Tranquillitatis pit crater. Image: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University. Click to enlarge.

If a cave extends from a pit such as this, it too would maintain this comfortable temperature throughout its length, varying by less than 1C over an entire lunar day, wrote the researchers, who hypothesized the pit and others like it were created by the ceiling of a collapsed cave.

For long term colonization and exploration of the Moon, pits may provide a desirable habitat: they are largely free from the constant threats of harmful radiation, impacts, and extreme temperatures, wrote the researchers. Thus, pits and caves may offer greater mission safety than other potential base station locales, providing a valuable stepping stone for sustaining human life beyond Earth.

Better still, the boffins have spotted many pits on the Moons nearside, a location that offers the chance for direct-to-Earth communications.

NASA is returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners to both further scientific knowledge and expand human presence in space.

The space orgs Artemis program aims to take humans to the lunar south pole by 2025 in the first crewed lunar landing since 1972s Apollo 17.

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NASA's Lunar Orbiter spots comfortably warm 'pits' all over the Moon - The Register

If you have been following along for a while, you certainly know that additive manufacturing is playing an important role in the aerospace sector and especially in space travel. Already it is being used for applications in missions to both Mars and the moon and now there is another we can add to the list. Impulse Space and Relativity Space have announced the first commercial mission to Mars where Relativitys 3D printed launch vehicle, Terran R will be used to deliver Impulses Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander. The companies note that they hope the partnership will help to rapidly advance their shared goal of a multiplanetary existence for humanity.

Relativity Space is one of the leading companies using additive manufacturing for space travel. They are especially known for their Terran R which is the first entirely 3D printed rocket in the world. Though the Terran R is not expected to launch from Cape Canaveral, FL until 2024, already its younger, partially 3D printed sibling Terra 1 is undergoing testing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company strongly believes in using 3D printing as a way to make more innovative, optimized rockets for cheaper, allowing for lower-cost space travel.

The Terran 1 (left) and Terran R (right) side by side (photo credits: Relativity Space)

As fellow commercial providers working on more affordable space travel, the partnership between Impulse and Relativity is a logical one. Under the deal, Relativity will launch Impulses Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander in Terran R from Cape Canaveral, FL until 2029. By working together, the two companies hope to overcome the difficulties in landing on Mars as well as enable research and development on the surface which will help build toward humanitys multiplanetary future. This mission will be the first commercial flight to Mars, a huge step forward for the industry, though it should be noted that commercial launches are already underway through companies like SpaceX for travel to the moon.

The Importance of 3D Printing for Multiplanetary Existence and Travel to Mars

The idea of multiplanetary existence is one that has been around since humanity achieved space flight in the 60s. Whether through speculation over whether other species might be alive somewhere else in the galaxy or if it would be possible for humans to live on another planet, as a species we are consistently fascinated with the idea of space colonization. But it is an idea that is increasingly coming closer to fruition at least partly thanks to 3D printing. In this latest case, Relativitys 3D printed rockets are helping pave the way for Impulse to explore Mars in the coming years.

Though it may seem that the traditional methods of constructing rockets may be preferable, additive manufacturing actually has a number of benefits that are enabling this impressive feat. In order to travel to Mars, rocket designs need to be more complicated in order to include an aeroshell for the necessary glide stage before landing. The more intricate a design, the harder it is to make using traditional methods, whereas additive manufacturing is often used for more optimized, geometrically complex parts. Not to mention, additive manufacturing should enable cheaper production of rockets faster and more efficiently, both key factors in space travel.

Tim Ellis, Cofounder and CEO of Relativity concluded, We believe building a multiplanetary future on Mars is only possible if we inspire dozens to hundreds of companies to work toward a singular goal. This is a monumental challenge, but one that successfully achieved will expand the possibilities for human experience in our lifetime across two planets. With the delivery capabilities of Terran R coupled with Impulses in-space transportation, we are bringing humanity one step closer to making Mars a reality. This is a historic, impactful partnership with Tom and the entire Impulse team through the collaboration of two low-cost commercial providers that will establish and expand our presence on Mars.You can find out more about the mission in Impulse Spaces press release HERE.

What do you think of Relativity Space and Impulse Spaces announcement for the first commercial mission to Mars? Do you think 3D printing is playing a critical role in the future of space travel? Let us know in a comment below or on ourLinkedIn,Facebook,andTwitterpages! Dont forget to sign up for our free weeklyNewsletter here, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox! You can also find all our videos on ourYouTubechannel.

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Will 3D Printing Be Used for the First Commercial Mission to Mars? - 3Dnatives

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The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, as widely reported, caused a ripple of sadness in public opinion internationally. It also invited thinking into the legacy of Japans longest-serving prime minister. The overwhelming opinion both in Japan and internationally is that Abe, who held the prime ministers office twice in the past two decades, first in 2006-7 and then from 2012 to 2020 succeeded in bringing his country to a prominent position on the global stage.

Considered an astute practitioner of diplomacy, Abe was respected in the West for playing a seminal role in expanding Japans role including its military role as a more forward-leaning defender of the liberal order. The academic journal Telos, well known for its New Left theoretical leanings, has described Abes assassination as an incredible loss for Japan and for the rest of the world.

However, given the Japanese militarys recent history of brutal attacks and war crimes beginning in the late 19th century in China and in the first half of the 20th century in both Korea and China there have been mixed reactions to the assassination and Abes legacy in China and South Korea. In both China and South Korea, public reactions to Abes gruesome killing were heavily marked by the word but. As one Chinese commentator noted, No doubt Abe, especially during his first term as prime minister, did a few things beneficial to China-Japan relations but overall, he was a far-right, staunch anti-China politician.

While far-away foreign leaders rushed to send their sympathies as soon as the news of the brutal killing of Abe spread, Chinese President Xi Jinping and incumbent South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol reacted relatively slowly. While the two leaders did maintain diplomatic protocols, they took time in conveying condolences and personal sympathies to the aggrieved family. Similarly, while some of Japans closest allies and partner countries observed one day of flying national flags at half-staff to honor the assassinated global statesman, those reactions were starkly at variance in Japans two closest neighboring countries.

Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.

The lack of reverence for the late prime minister was a reflection of Abes having repeatedly angered the Chinese and Korean people with his visits six in total to Yasukuni Shrine.

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The shrine honors Japanese war dead including 14 designated war criminals and the affiliated museum glorifies the Japanese militarys actions during World War II. Conservative, right-wing Japanese politicians visits to the shrine are perceived in China and the two Koreas as glorifying Japans war of aggression. A visit to Yasukuni Shrine also serves the purpose of reminding China and the Koreas that Japan continues to be proud of its colonial past.

Abes Relations With South Korea

Just as President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol was preparing to send a goodwill delegation to Tokyo in late April, indicative of a potential turnaround and departure from the outgoing anti-Japan Moon Jae-in government, Abe paid a visit to Yakusuni Shrine. At the time, Abe was out of office yet remained the most influential voice in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The Korean government expressed regret over the provocative move and urged Japans responsible figures to face up to history and show humble and genuine reflection on history with appropriate actions.

On three contentious issues the people of Korea feel most sensitive about Koreans forced into labor by Japan during the war, Korean women coerced into sexual slavery as comfort women, and Japans adamant, rigid defense of distortion of history in its textbooks Abe unabashedly downplayed the Korean sentiments. While he was prime minister, he not only downplayed the extent to which Japan used Koreans as enslaved labor, but he even suggested that the Japanese colonization helped modernize the Korean Peninsula. Additionally, throughout his tenure, his government denied Japan had forcibly recruited Korean (and other) comfort women or that they were sex slaves.

As a sign of how strongly the Korean people feel about this issue, it is important to recall that, since 1992, a crowd has gathered once every week in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, demanding that the government in Tokyo acknowledge that the imperial Japanese military forced Korean women into sexual enslavement during World War II.

Chinas Relationship With Abe

Abe was even more disliked in China than in South Korea. As mentioned, the Abe governments policy of denying Imperial Japans war crimes and refusal to acknowledge the forced recruitment of comfort women and enslavement of hundreds and thousands of Asian men as slave labor caused fury in China as well, as many Chinese were also victims.

Moreover, owing to the century-old feud between China and Japan, few Chinese people felt deeply sad about Abes murder. Some Chinese social media users even welcomed the news of his death with open joy.

However, what did not get mentioned in the international press is that some Chinese intellectuals also cited the Confucian classic Book of Rites and asked fellow citizens to view Abes death with rationality. Furthermore, the news of Japan-based Chinese reporter Zeng Ying crying bitterly while breaking the news of Abes assassination was widely circulated in the Chinese media even though some harshly criticized her for it on Weibo, Chinas largest social media, calling her unpatriotic.

Nevertheless, people in China, in general, are not in mourning over Abes killing, and they rationalize it for the following reasons. First, as one Chinese commentator pointed out, the joy of [some] Chinese toward Abes death shows their true feelings about Japan.

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More specific to Abe personally, he was known to most Chinese as a far-right nationalist closely connected with the Japanese ruling class remilitarization drive. As prime minister, Abe not only did not apologize for Japans war of aggression against China, but he also downplayed the Nanjing Massacre, or Rape of Nanjing (1937-38), when Japanese soldiers rampaged for over a month and a half through the then-Chinese capital city, killing an estimated 300,000 Chinese.

For many Chinese, though, more than Abes defense of Imperial Japans military brutalities, his more recent anti-China belligerence was a cause for concern. Abe challenged the One China policy by working to increase ties with Taiwan and suggesting Japan would become involved in any cross-strait conflict. He advocated introducing U.S. nuclear weapons to Japan in order to thwart the threat posed by China. He also exerted all efforts to achieve constitutional reform in the Diet, including establishing the legality of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and the eventual abolition of Article 9, in order to more aggressively coordinate with U.S. war preparations targeting China. While Abe did not succeed at this last point during his tenure, the current government is well-positioned to achieve his dream.

To conclude, Seoul now has a newly elected leader willing to put aside past acrimony toward Tokyo and keen to join a Japan-South Korea-U.S. security alliance aimed at containing China. Yet Abes strain of historical revisionism could still scuttle that. The South Korean government is not willing to interfere in the lawsuit filed against Japanese companies by Koreas wartime forced laborers, as Japan is demanding.

On the other hand, the majority of Japanese affairs specialists in China believe Abes passing away will further strengthen the conservative trend in Japanese politics. Pointing out that since stepping down in late 2020 Abe proactively continued his belligerent attitude toward China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) researcher L Yaodong pointed out that Abes visit to Nara [the city near Osaka where he was fatally shot] was to promote the ruling Liberal Democratic Partys constitutional revision program.

After Abes death, some in China might have been quiet simply out of cultural etiquette, recalling the ancient saying: When there is a funeral in the neighborhood, dont sing work songs when pounding rice, and dont sing in the alleys. But there is no denying that in China and South Korea, Abes death evoked little sympathy or empathy for a leader the whole world is eulogizing.

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Abe Leaves Behind Complex Legacy in Japan's Neighborhood - The Diplomat

"One of the other firsts that we've done here at General Motors is we put the first lunar rover on the Moon," said Brent Deep, chief developmental engineer for the joint program between GM and Lockheed Martin. "We're proud to be able to supply the first rover [...] It's very humbling for me to be a part of [the rover's history], and to look at what [the Lunar Roving Vehicle engineers] did back in the Sixties to develop that rover for a really unknown environment."

Fast-forward to today, GM and Lockheed Martin are gunning for the big contract with NASA to build the Lunar Terrain Vehicle. Unlike the partnership between the General and Boeing, which was more to determine if driving on the Moon was even possible, the new partnership takes the knowledge gained from the LRV as part of the foundation in building a ride for the long-term. After all, the main mission of the Artemis program is to establish a base of operations on the Moon's South Pole, the first step in the push to colonization of the Solar System and beyond, with Mars as the next step.

Of course, it's going to take a lot to get there from here. Luckily for GM and Lockheed Martin, the key piece of the puzzle is already being drip-fed into showrooms. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here; we've got a simulator to check out first.

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Moon Off-Roading In The Wild GM Electric Car That Makes Hummer EV Look Normal - SlashGear

HAMPTON Detonations echoed across the Back River as dynamite planted under tree stumps liberated them from the loamy swamp. Away from the blasts, the chatter of men filling in craters mingled with the sounds of axes chopping and saws gnawing at Virginia pines.

And 105 years ago, the construction of the flying field in Hampton had begun.

The U.S. government had acquired the swath of land once a closely knit neighborhood of plantations between the branches of the Back River in Elizabeth City County for the militarys first installation devoted to air power. On the fringes of the Army airfield, the first laboratories of NASAs predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, were born.

Today, the chest-rattling roar of the F-22 Raptors thunders above Langley Air Force Base, which employs some 15,000 airmen and 5,000 civilians. It is the headquarters of Air Combat Command and home of the 1st Fighter Wing and 633rd Air Base Wing. The neighboring NASA Langley Research Center plays a critical role in the U.S. space program and has contributed to the first manned missions to the moon.

Perhaps lesser known but no less fascinating are the people who lived on Langley before it was Langley. Their gravestones still rest alongside military housing; the name of a plantation remains on buildings. Their stories include conquest and colonization, revolution and a daring slave escape, Civil War blunders and federal land buyers in disguise.

The second Shellbanks farmhouse, built by Hampton Institute in 1902 after fire destroyed the first, has been preserved as Langley Air Force Bases Building 90. (SSgt Gabriel Macdonald/U.S. Air Force photo)

Stop reader stop! Let Nature claim a Tear. A Mothers last and only Child lies here.

Thats the epitaph on the gravestone of Frances Hollier, who died at age 16 in 1798. She rests next to her younger sister, Ann, who died two years earlier at age 12. Their marble stones are shaded by trees among brick houses in what is still called the bases Lighter-Than-Air area from which massive airships such as the Roma once lumbered above Hampton Roads.

Another burial ground is more prominently displayed in the parking lot of the bases Riverview Event Center once the Officers Club where the Sherwood plantation house once stood. There, a set of plaques marks the remains of the Booker family along with a few other notable names: Marshall, Armistead, Von Schilling, Houseman and Jones.

Then theres Shellbank. The name is on the Shellbank Gym and on the out-of-service Shellbank Pool, and in common use it refers to a section of the base that stretches from the King Street Bridge to LaSalle Avenue.

The name conjures images of seagulls dropping oysters from lofty heights to crack them on the granite rip rap that lines the Back River. But Shellbank derives from Shellbanks, or Shell Banks. Old names for a plantation.

An unused postcard shows the Hampton Normal and Agricultrual Institute's Shellbanks Industrial Home on what is now Langley Air Force Base. Built in the early 1900s, the farmhouse served as a dormitory and classroom and has been preserved as the base's Building 90. (Courtesy of Hampton History Museum)

In 1621, Capt. Thomas Purifoy boarded the George, leaving his home in Leicestershire for a rapidly transforming Elizabeth City County an occasion noted by a plaque in the Sherwood burial plot.

The Virginia Company of London was sending settlers to the New World to find wealth and a shortcut to China.

They were colonizing an area that had been occupied for 12,000 years by Indigenous peoples. By the 1600s, Powhatan tribes such as the Kecoughtan farmed the wooded banks of the rivers that split Hampton the town formed there in 1610.

Two years before Purifoy set sail, a privateer named the White Lion docked at nearby Old Point Comfort and delivered a cargo hold of Africans beginning the slave trade in the colonies.

Elsewhere on the Virginia Peninsula, tensions between the English, who had settled Jamestown in 1607, and the Indigenous tribes were simmering. The colonists had become increasingly dependent on the Powhatan confederation for food and as an early warning system for anticipated attacks from Spain. The tribes relied on the English for metal tools and technology.

But the tribes soon realized the colonists were not here to trade. They wanted the land.

Purifoy arrived in Virginia months before the Indian Massacre of 1622 and enlisted as a commander in the second Anglo-Powhatan War, which lasted until 1632. He served in several capacities for Elizabeth City County, and by 1635 King Charles I granted him a 2,000-acre plot of land on the eastern side of what is now Langley Air Force Base.

This combo image shows a portion of the 1892 Semple Map and a Google Maps screenshot of present-day Langley Air Force Base. (Library of Congress/Google Maps screenshot)

By the 1630s, a sweet-tasting strain of tobacco developed by Jamestown settler John Rolfe was wildly popular in Europe, and the plant had become the No. 1 cash crop in Virginia. The town of Hampton was a port central to this trade.

But tobacco quickly depleted the soil and many families eventually began raising corn, wheat, alfalfa and barley.

Purifoys land was split into two plantations, with Shellbanks descending to the Lowry family and Sherwood going to the Hand-Marshall-Booker line. Other settlers established plantations in the area, including John Layden, who around 1609 became the father of the first child of English parentage born in Virginia, and Benjamin Syms, who founded the first free school in America around 1647.

George Wythe (New York Public Library)

Perhaps the most prominent farm was Chesterville, first patented by Thomas Wythe in 1676. Ruins of the plantation house still stand on NASAs Langley Research Center.

George Wythe was born on Chesterville in 1726 and became one of the nations founding fathers and a framer of the U.S. Constitution. He studied at William & Mary and became the schools first professor of law.

Wythe represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He even helped design the state seal. In 1776, he was among the first to sign the Declaration of Independence.

The Revolutionary War had raged for nearly six years when, in March 1781, a British force of about 400 sailed up the Back River.

Led by Lt. Col. Thomas Dundas, the troops landed at the mouth of Wythe Creek near present-day NASA and marched north toward an American outpost in the Tabb area. The redcoats were later met by a patriot force of about 40 men, led by Col. Francis Mallory of Hampton, in the area now known as Big Bethel. Mallory died in the skirmish, which ended in a British victory.

Seven months later and just 15 miles north, the British surrendered to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown.

According to family legend, Washington paid several visits to John Lowry at Shellbanks during his stay on the Virginia Peninsula.

Wythe had moved to Williamsburg before the Revolution and was an absentee landowner in Elizabeth City County; Lowry was one of its largest resident farmers. Lowrys 525 acres included 100 head of cattle and a substantial dairy operation along with three boats, more than 20 horses and at least 12 enslaved people. Lowry contributed to the patriot cause, according to public records, exchanging 2,400 pounds of beef for 30 British pounds.

This cyanotype photo shows the Sherwood plantation house around 1892. The home served as a barracks and then a guard house before being razed in the 1920s for the site of the Officers' Club now the Riverview Event Center. The photo was taken by Charles Herbert Hewins or Jesse Andrus Hewins, possibly for Hampton Institute's Camera Club. (Courtesy of Hampton History Museum)

Next door at the Sherwood plantation, George Booker filed a claim to recover expenses for 30 pounds of bacon and 252 pounds of beef provided to American troops. He was a prominent landowner who served in the House of Delegates and as a high sheriff and a county court justice. He was able to generate wealth and power on the backs of the 27 enslaved people who farmed his plantation.

This draft of a deposition given by Paul D. Luke, the Old Point Comfort lighthouse keeper, describes fugitive slaves of Catherine Lowry enlisting into British service during occupation in the War of 1812. The document reads: "between the fourth and tenth of July 1813 while the British troops had possession of Old P. comfort where I resided as keeper of the light House I saw three young Negro Men who I was told had just come in standing together in company with several Soldiers I walk'd up to them and ask'd where they were from and who they had belong'd to they said they were from back River and belong'd to the Widow Lowry I afterward heard a British officer ask them the same questions and receive the same answer the next day Capt Stewart of the first or second Batalion of the Royal marine Corps who commanded the Guard upon the point came up stairs into a room adjoining where I was after seating himself at a table he order'd his servant to go and tell serjeant such a one to bring one of those black fellows up when the fellow came the Capt ask'd him his name and whether he chose to enlist as a Sailor or Soldier he said as a Soldier his name was immediately taken down and the Serjeant was order'd to go down with him and bring up another and in succession a third was brought all of whom enter'd as Soldiers these were the same fellows I spoke to the Day before as mention'd above they all answer'd to the name of Lowry but I do not recollect the Christian names (...) them which was Randal as the (...)" The document is cut off at the bottom. (Courtesy of Dr. Jean Marshall von Schilling and Martha Booker, in memory of Hunter Russell Booker & Martha Chisman Booker/Courtesy of Hampton History Museum)

Paul D. Luke was the lighthouse keeper on Old Point Comfort while it was under control of the British during the War of 1812.

In July 1813, he spotted an unusual sight: Three young Black men and two Black women in the company of several soldiers.

The three men said they were enslaved fugitives from Back River and answered to the name Lowry. One woman belonged to the widow Catherine Lowry of Shellbanks; the other, to George Booker of Sherwood.

The men enlisted as soldiers with the Royal Marines, according to Lukes account, but the fate of the two women isnt documented.

Though Congress banned the trans-Atlantic slave trade starting in 1808, the domestic slave trade continued until the end of the Civil War. Some 21,000 enslaved people were shipped from Hampton, Norfolk and Portsmouth to the cotton mecca of New Orleans between 1819 and 1860, according to the Historic New Orleans Collection research center.

Rarely could enslaved people expect to spend their life on one farm among the same people, according to a 1975 dissertation on Elizabeth City County by Sarah Shaver Hughes, then a Ph.D. candidate at the College of William & Mary.

For the slaves of the post-revolutionary generation, as for the free people, life was more likely to yield disruption and discontinuity than tranquil attachment to one place and group of people, Shaver Hughes wrote, though with the difference that for the slave these changes were imposed, not chosen.

Even the enslaved people who remained faced the prospect of being sold or rented out to other families.

You suffered the horror of having your children, spouse, parents, siblings, beloved friends sold from you, never to see them again, historian, author and Norfolk State University professor Colita Nichols Fairfax said in an interview.

Still, Black labor was different in Elizabeth City County than in places such as New Orleans.

The farms were smaller than the massive sugar and cotton plantations of the deep South. Overseers werent necessary because the enslaved workers had a considerable understanding of their animals and crops, Shaver Hughes wrote.

Free Blacks also had more privileges than in the rest of the antebellum South thanks to their skilled labor, the demise of tobacco farming and intermixing with white families.

But when it came to basic necessities, enslaved people most often had to fend for themselves. This would include clothing made from fabric scraps, furniture built from leftover materials, improvised medical care and diets centered on food that whites didnt want.

This June 29, 1861, Harper's Weekly illustration shows the 5th New York Infantry, also known as Duryee's Zouaves, during an assault on the Confederate position at Big Bethel. (Courtesy of the Casemate Museum)

In June 1861, Union Gen. Benjamin Butler and Maj. Theodore Winthrop led two columns of some 3,500 Union soldiers toward the slave-built Confederate earthworks at Big Bethel which today is the site of a recreational park and some off-base housing owned by Langley.

The troops coming from Hampton and Newport News were to converge and launch a surprise attack at dawn.

But the Hampton force mistook their Newport News counterparts for rebel troops. A skirmish ensued. The gunfire signaled to Confederate Cols. D.H. Hill and John B. Magruder that an attack was imminent, allowing them to rally their troops. And after a three-hour battle, the Southern forces repelled the Yankees, allowing the Confederates to retain control of much of the Peninsula.

But the Union troops maintained their stronghold at Fort Monroe, and by August, Magruder ordered the town of Hampton burned to keep it from falling into enemy hands.

Robert S. Hudgins II grew up on the Lamington (or Lambington) plantation, which bordered Sherwood, and later witnessed the establishment of Langley Field on his land. He served as a sergeant in the 3rd Virginia Cavalry for the Confederate army, fought in the Battle of Big Bethel and saw the burning of Hampton from an area called Sinclairs Corner near the southwest end of what is now Fox Hill Road.

Hudgins later recounted his experiences at Kellys Ford, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Yellow Tavern and Appomattox in the book Recollections of an Old Dominion Dragoon.

More destruction followed when Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan landed his army at Fort Monroe and embarked northwest on the Peninsula campaign.

George Booker of Sherwood served as a major in the Confederate army under Magruder. He fell ill and resigned his commission. As Union troops ransacked the Peninsula, Booker and his family fled to Petersburg.

Thomas Whiting Lowry, at age 68, remained on Shellbanks. His granddaughter, Eliza C. Fletcher, described a night in 1861 when Union troops took him from his home without time to put on shoes then carried him by boat across the Back River. They forced him to walk 5 miles to Old Point Comfort to take an oath of loyalty to the Union.

They had ransacked the place after he left, Fletcher recounted in a family newsletter. There were several ladies in the family and one boy whose sister put him under her bolster so they wouldnt find him when they searched the room.

(Courtesy of the Air Combat Command History Office)

When Robert Hudgins returned from the war, the Lamington farm was a wreck.

Fences were down and four years growth of weeds and saplings had nearly reclaimed what was once some of the most fertile farmland in the region, he recounted. The house had fallen into disrepair. ... Only a few of the slaves had remained; the rest, having been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, had scattered to the four winds.

Hudgins made an agreement with the remaining freed slaves to stay and help salvage the farm in exchange for housing and food until some money could be made.

One of George Bookers daughters, Mollie, remained at Sherwood with her husband, a German named Franz Wilhelm von Schilling. They tried farming again, but the fields had been neglected and livestock depleted. They moved to the Washington, D.C., area.

Meanwhile, Franzs brother Louis von Schilling stayed on the Shellbanks plantation and attempted to plant white Dinkel wheat and fruit trees sent from Germany. The crops failed, and Louis was evicted in 1872. But descendants of the von Schillings remained in Hampton. They included Ilma von Schilling, who was a principal of the Syms-Eaton Academy, and U.S. Army Col. Leopold Marshall Winks von Schilling. A road in Hamptons Coliseum Central district bears the familys name.

In 1875, Thomas Tabb a lawyer who was one of the largest landowners in Elizabeth City County bought the Shellbanks tract and three years later sold it to Boston philanthropist Mary Tileston Hemenway.

She in turn donated the land to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, which was founded in 1868 with the mission to educate Blacks whose population in Hampton had boomed after the Civil War and later Native Americans.

The school used Shellbanks for hands-on and experimental agricultural education. The Shellbanks farmhouse served as a dormitory and classroom until it burned down in 1902. Hampton Institute built a new farmhouse that has since been preserved as Air Force Building 90.

The same year as Hemenways donation of Shellbanks, a couple named Junius and Lucy Jones bought the Sherwood tract. They sold it in 1881 to James Sands Darling, a prominent oysterman and entrepreneur.

By that time, oyster farming and aquaculture were playing a vital role in the rebuilding of Hampton.

Local historian, preservationist and author John Quarstein called Darling, who was born in New York and moved to Elizabeth City County after the Civil War, a visionary industrialist and one of the largest oyster producers in the world. Darling also invested heavily in the menhaden and lumber industries, along with trolleys and a hotel.

He had to own everything he could that made his industry successful, Quarstein said in an interview. Hes one of those carpetbaggers that then became the gentry.

Darlings son, Frank, inherited the farm before the U.S. government took interest in the land in 1916.

This aerial photo of Langley Field is dated March 10, 1920. Construction of the base had begun in earnest just three years earlier. At the lower right is the King Street Bridge. (Courtesy of Hampton History Museum)

The military was looking for land near Fort Monroe that was convenient for over-water flying with a proximity to industry, as well as a temperate climate.

So a group of federal investigators dressed themselves as hunters and fishermen to prowl and survey the Sherwood tract without revealing the governments interest in purchasing it.

The ruse didnt work.

Three men with political ties Harry H. Holt, H.R. Booker and Nelson S. Groome learned of the governments interest and bought options on the land encompassing Sherwood, Lamington, Tide Mill, Downing Farm and portions of others.

The men then lobbied the government to build its airfield there and sold it to the Army in 1916 for $290,000 (about $8.1 million in todays dollars).

They did it quietly and they did it essentially, surreptitiously. They made no noise about it, said Wythe Holt, a local historian and the grandson of Harry H. Holt. And it was a bonanza for them.

By 1917, Hamptons Gannaway-Hudgins Co. began flattening the landscape to accommodate a pair of runways for the flying machines.

A large portion of that land which hadnt been farmed was still thickly wooded marsh.

One of the first arrivals at the airfield described the grounds:

Natures greatest ambition was to produce in this, her cesspool, the muddiest mud, the weediest weeds, the dustiest dust and the most ferocious mosquitoes the world has ever seen. Her plans were so well formulated and adhered to that she far surpassed her wildest hopes and desires.

The Sherwood plantation house served as a barracks and then a guard house before being razed in the 1920s to make way for the Officers Club.

The Shellbanks farm remained the property of Hampton Institute until 1941. The feds had paid for portions of the land to accommodate a road and a large ditch, but bought the remaining 770-acre tract consisting of Shellbanks, Canebrake and Elmwood on Feb. 26 of that year for $155,000 ($3.2 million today).

Meanwhile, Langleys influence on the region was well underway.

Mike Cobb, who retired as the Hampton History Museums founding curator, described the sweep of history during an interview.

The Hampton that had existed for so long is forever changed by the advent of technology, the modern age, he said. And in no other place in Elizabeth City County is that more striking than what is Langley today.

Some of the volumes consulted for this story. (Matt Cahill)

The son of two Air Force veterans, Matt Cahill researches genealogy and for several years has worked maintaining the grounds at Langley Air Force Base.

Matt Cahill, matthew.cahill@pilotonline.com

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Before Langley Air Force Base: The muddy history of Shellbanks, Sherwood and other plantations of Elizabeth City County - Daily Press