Category Archives: Transhuman News

An EF-3 tornado that struck North Texas in October created such widespread damage that its path can be seen from space.

A new image taken Dec. 6 from the International Space Station captured all of Dallas-Fort Worth, including several lakes, DFW International Airport and everything in between.

Upon zooming in, the image also shows the more than 15-mile path of the Oct. 20 tornado from northwest Dallas into Richardson.

At its widest and strongest, the tornado expanded to nearly three-quarters of a mile, with estimated wind speeds of up to 140 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The Dallas tornado topped out at EF-3 but its power ebbed and flowed during its 32-minute track. Tree damage and minor roof damage near State Highway 348 and Luna Road in northwest Dallas helped storm surveyors determine the tornados starting point.

Farther east, extensive damage to businesses and homes near Harry Hines Boulevard and Walnut Hill Lane showed signs that it had strengthened to an EF-1 and then to EF-2. More than 15 miles later, east of Arapaho and Jupiter roads in Richardson, tree damage was consistent with 70 mph winds, indicating that the tornado had weakened to an EF-0 before it dissipated.

The Insurance Council of Texas has estimated about $2 billion in insured losses as a result of 11 tornadoes across North Texas on Oct. 20, including the one in Dallas. That would mean the tornadoes are the costliest severe weather event in North Texas history, according to Camille Garcia, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Council of Texas.

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See what the path of Dallas' EF-3 tornado looks like from space - The Dallas Morning News

A bandana-clad flight test dummy, named after 20th century feminist icon Rosie the Riveter, will be the first to fly on Boeing's Starliner vehicle this week.

This Friday (Dec. 20), Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will make its inaugural trip to the International Space Station with its Orbital Flight Test (OFT). This will be a major step toward Starliner eventually carrying humans to space in the commercial vehicle. And to ensure the safety of these future space travelers, Boeing is sending along a special, inhuman passenger aboard Starliner with the OFT: Rosie the Astronaut, nicknamed "Rosie the Rocketeer" by some.

Now, Rosie isn't actually an astronaut, she is an Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD), or a flight test dummy. She looks just like a mannequin in a spacesuit. But she serves an incredible purpose.

Related:In Photos: Boeing's Starliner Pad Abort Test Launch

Rosie is a brand-new ATD outfitted with a multitude of sensors that will monitor, measure and track critical data points, including the G-forces that Rosie experiences during the trip. Most of the sensors are strategically placed around the base of the skull, the neck and the base of the spine, Josh Barrett, the CST-100 Starliner Communications Specialist at Boeing, told Space.com. These sensors will provide teams back on Earth with critical data about what human astronauts might experience during their flights. This will be necessary to ensure that the future Starliner crews have safe flights to and from space.

This space-bound test "astronaut" will fly to the space station sitting in Starliner's commander seat. Though the seat will be similar to the one that astronauts will sit in for future crewed flights, the seats that human astronauts will use will have 3D-printed inserts (compared to Rosie's stock insert). Rosie's spacesuit will also be very similar to what human crewmembers will wear on Boeing's crewed flights, Barrett said.

Rosie got her name from one of the most popular icons of the 20th century, Rosie the Riveter, who became famous with the "We Can Do It" poster, which featured Rosie as a factory worker in a red polka-dot bandana, flexing her muscles. Rosie the Riveter served as a role model for working women during World War II and continues to serve as an inspiration for women around the world today.

Rosie the astronaut was named by Leanne Caret, president of Boeing's Defense, Space & Security division, who hopes that the spacefaring Rosie will encourage women to join the aerospace workforce, Barrett said.

"Rosie is a symbol of not only the women who are blazing a trail in human spaceflight history, but also of everyone who has shown grit and determination while working tirelessly to ensure the Starliner can transport astronauts safely to and from the International Space Station," Caret said in a statement. "She's flying for everyone on our team who took on the challenge of human spaceflight and said, 'We can do it.'"

Follow Chelsea Gohd on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Rosie, a Bandana-Clad Test Dummy, Will Be the First to Fly on Boeing's Starliner - Space.com

Scientists have created the first "hotspot" map of the surface of a strange star, thanks to a telescope on the International Space Station.

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) got a view of a pulsar, a fast-rotating remnant of an exploded star. With these observations, scientists found that this pulsar, called J0030+0451 (or J0030 for short), has even weirder hotspots than they'd imagined.

Pulsars are the leftovers from huge stars that collapsed under their own gravity during supernova explosions. A pulsar's magnetic field is typically shaped like the curves generated from a household bar magnet, scientists suggest.

Related: NICER Telescope Spots Brightest X-Ray Burst Ever Observed

Additionally, pulsars have hotspots that glow in X-rays at their magnetic poles. That's because a pulsar's magnetism is so strong it can actually tear particles away from its own surface. A few of those particles follow the magnetic field lines and then slam into the other side of the object at its pole.

Yet, observations of J0030 show no hotspots at all in the pulsar's northern hemisphere the only area of the pulsar we can see from Earth. Researchers ran simulations and found that up to three hotspots may appear in its southern hemisphere, but we can't say for sure which interpretation is correct.

One team attempted to re-create the X-ray signals "using overlapping circles of different sizes and temperatures," NASA said in a statement, and then running the results through a supercomputer. With this method, the team found two hotspots: a small, circular one and a larger, crescent-shaped long one. This work was led by Thomas Riley, a doctoral student in computational astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam.

Another team did the same thing, but used ovals of different temperatures and sizes and a different supercomputer. Their simulation came up with two equally possible solutions. The first solution suggested that there are two ovals in the same locations found by the first team. Alternatively, there could also be a fainter, cooler spot that is a little away from the pulsar's south rotational pole, lingering amid the two ovals. This team was led by Cole Miller, an astronomy professor at the University of Maryland.

"Previous theoretical predictions suggested that hot spot locations and shapes could vary, but the J0030 studies are the first to map these surface features," NASA added. "Scientists are still trying to determine why J0030's spots are arranged and shaped as they are, but for now it's clear that pulsar magnetic fields are more complicated than the traditional two-pole model."

Through independent measurements of J0030, these teams also arrived at similar results for the pulsar's mass and size: Riley's team determined that the pulsar is roughly 1.3 times the mass of the sun and 15.8 miles (25.4 kilometers) in diameter, while Miller's team estimated that J0030 is 1.4 times the mass of the sun and about 16.2 miles (26 km) in diameter.

Several papers about NICER's observations of J0030 were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, including the ones led by Riley and Miller.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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First Map of a Pulsar's Surface Reveals 'Hotspots' in Unexpected Places - Space.com

A computer simulation showing how a pulsars magnetic field might result in multiple hot spots in one hemisphere. Image: Goddard Space Flight Center

A modest X-ray telescope aboard the International Space Station has provided the first accurate measurements of an isolated neutrons stars size and mass. Taking advantage of how the concentrated gravity of massive stellar remnants bends light, the researchers even managed to peer beyond the targets visible face to track the movement of million-degree hot spots across its surface.

From its perch on the space station, NICER is revolutionising our understanding of pulsars, said Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Pulsars were discovered more than 50 years ago as beacons of stars that have collapsed into dense cores, behaving unlike anything we see on Earth. With NICER we can probe the nature of these dense remnants in ways that seemed impossible until now.

When stars like the Sun run out of nuclear fuel, fusion stops, gravity takes over and cores collapse to form slowly cooling white dwarf stars. But when much more massive stars burn out, gravity is strong enough to crush core material beyond white dwarf densities, producing neutron stars just a few miles across. Spinning neutron stars are known as pulsars because of polar jets that sweep across space like light house beacons.

NASAs Neutron star interior Composition Explorer telescope, or NICER, aboard the International Space Station was used to study a pulsar known as J0030 located about 1,100 light years from Earth in the constellation Pisces. The pulsar spins on its axis 205 times per second.

The northern hemisphere of J0030 is visible as viewed from Earth, but the intense gravity makes the star appear larger than it actually is, warping the surrounding space and bending light from the far side enough to keep hot spots in view as the pulsar rotates.

Theory predicted one near each pole, the result of powerful magnetic fields, but the NICER data shows J0030 sports two and possibly such hot spots, all in the southern hemisphere. The results indicate the pulsars magnetic field is much more complicated than predicted in the traditional two-pole model.

NICER also allowed two teams of researchers, using independent methods, to calculate J0030s mass and size with an uncertainty of less than 10 percent. One team, led by Thomas Riley, a doctoral student at the University of Amsterdam, concluded the pulsar has a mass of about 1.3 times that of the Sun crammed into a body just 25.4 kilometres (15.8 miles) across.

The other team, led by Cole Miller, an astronomy professor at the University of Maryland, came up with values of 1.4 solar masses and a diameter of 26 kilometres (16.2 miles).

Its remarkable, and also very reassuring, that the two teams achieved such similar sizes, masses and hot spot patterns for J0030 using different modelling approaches, said Zaven Arzoumanian, NICER science lead at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. It tells us NICER is on the right path to help us answer an enduring question in astrophysics: What form does matter take in the ultra-dense cores of neutron stars?

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Seeing beyond the horizon of a space-warping pulsar - Astronomy Now Online

Welcome to 321 Launch, our wrap-up of the biggest space news you might have missed over the last week. Here's what's happening:

The Monday night SpaceX launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, as seen from along the Indian River in Rockledge.(Photo: TIM SHORTT / FLORIDA TODAY)

SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket and commercial communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday, a fiery kickoff to a week that will include yet another high-profile mission before the weekend.

Up next: Boeing and United Launch Alliance, which will launch an uncrewed Starliner capsule on an Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at 6:36 a.m. Friday. The mission, labeled Orbital Flight Test, will demonstrate the capsule's capabilities to carry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Read about both here.

Spacecraft are high-tech wonders of engineering. But one technology that aerospace experts have had a hard time mastering is one that has been around for centuries: Parachutes.

Most spacecraft employ parachutes to slow the vehicle as it returns to the ground. But making sure that the chutes deploy properly is a task that still gives engineers fits.

Learn more about the problems with parachutes here.

A team of students from the University of Minnesota is heading back up north $25,000 richer after a visit to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center.

The team earned the money by launching a rocket to more than 500 feet using some unusual rocket fuel: Alka-Seltzer tablets and water.

Read about the Alka-Rocket challenge here.

Contact McCarthy at jmccarthy@floridatoday.com or 321-752-5018.

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321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week - Florida Today

An eagle feather from Chilliwack flew all the way to the International Space Station with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques.

Believed to be the second eagle feather in space, it will be a source of inspiration for all soon from the Sto:lo Service Agency in Chilliwack, now that it has touched back down to Earth.

The story starts with the At Home in Space Program, where some UBC researchers were studying ways to reduce stress on astronauts, and help them adapt to the isolating effects of working on the space station. One of the psychology researchers, Peter Suedfeld, has close familial ties to Michael Suedfeld, who does research and communications for Sto:lo Service Agency (SSA).

My father offered us the chance to send something of note into space with David Saint-Jacques, Michael Suedfeld recounted, explaining how the item from Sto:lo territory ended up hurtling through in space.

Suedfeld sought out SSA colleague, Kelowa Edel, Sto:lo Health Director, to come up with a suitable suggestion.

Edel said she glanced over at a bookshelf where she kept an eagle feather.

It was perfect.

Its light. Its significant. Its our connection to creator, Edel said, adding that the eagle is known across Turtle Island as the messenger.

Edel, who is not Sto:lo but of Ojibway ancestry, said the eagle feather was gifted to her at one point for her work with Sto:lo people.

We want to really encourage our people, Edel said. You really have to reach for the stars. If you really want something, you can reach higher and higher.

Its just like the feathers trajectory to the space station.

The feather went up, and the feather came back down to earth, Edel said.

As a keepsake, Saint-Jacques snapped a photo of the two-toned eagle feather floating weightlessly in space against the backdrop of Earth, through the cupola window portal on the space station.

That was a really nice gesture on the part of Saint-Jacques, Suedfeld said about the picture.

READ MORE: Saint-Jacques completes spacewalk

Suedfeld said hed been told by Sto:lo elders, that when the eagle reaches the moon, true reconciliation can begin, and his understanding is that this is the first ever eagle feather on the ISS.

So for anyone reading this story, or seeing the small feather, his wish is that they take hope and inspiration from it.

And theres an official certificate of authenticity that came with a note that reads: It is with great pleasure that we are returning to you this item which flew aboard the International Space Station during David Saint-Jacques Mission.

The feather is set to be mounted in a special frame, and will be eventually on display in Chilliwack, along with the space station mission patch, and space agency certificate, after a small ceremony is held in the new year.

Space exploration enriches humanity with new perspectives on ourselves and the work, Saint-Jacques wrote about his mission.

The astronaut was aboard the ISS from Dec. 3, 2018 to June 24, 2019.

I thank the At Home in Space study team for symbolically taking part in the adventure through this feather that was on board with me.

READ MORE: David Saint-Jacques announced science winners from space

@CHWKjournojfeinberg@theprogress.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The eagle feather that flew to space along with the mission patch from the At Home in Space program. (Jennifer Feinberg/ The Progress)

Sto:lo Nation Health director Kelowa Edel and Michael Suedfeld of Sto:lo Service Agency gingerly holding the first eagle feather ever to make it aboard the International Space Station. (Jennifer Feinberg/ The Progress)

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VIDEO: Eagle feather from BC flew to space with Canadian astronaut - Surrey Now-Leader

20Death Stranding

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima crafts a strange, highly contemplative dystopian adventure about a deliveryman who must bring hope, along with couriered parcels, to the lonely survivors of a supernatural cataclysm.

What we said: This uncompromising, unashamedly political work of artistic intent is 2019s most interesting blockbuster game by a distance. Read the full review

The cleverest puzzle game of the year is this series of lo-fi mazes, in which blocks containing nouns, conjunctions and verbs can be rearranged to remix the rules of each conundrum. Ingenious and mind-bending.

What we said: From a simple premise, Teikari spins dozens of ingenious challenges an invitation to play the role of a chaotic god, rewriting the rules of the universe. Read the full review

Waking early on a ship bound for the furthest human colony in the galaxy is the intriguing start point for Obsidians epic and amusing role-playing adventure. With beautiful worlds and interesting characters, this treatise on unencumbered space capitalism is a joy.

What we said: The Outer Worlds is vital proof that mid-sized indie teams can take on the big guns at their own game, and leave them looking a little foolish. Read the full review

Described as a pop album video game, this joyous adventure sends you scorching through a brash, electric neon landscape, collecting hearts and dodging obstacles to a synth-drenched soundtrack.

What we said: Embellishes its ideas in step with its fizzing tracks, which sustain second and third listens as you try to beat your score. Stylish, memorable game-making. Read the full review

An overlooked treasure, Horace is both an innovative and brilliant genre-bending platform-adventure game and an unexpectedly moving story about a robot butler, stuffed with references to the pop-cultural obsessions of its British creators. It spirals outwards from deceptively humble beginnings into a sprawling and singularly strange experience.

The grand tactical role-playing adventure returns, this time pitting three regal households against each other in a quest to rule the land. Players swap between battlefields and academy classrooms in a mix of war and romantic entanglements.

What we said: By turns grandiose and silly, but always engrossing, this bubbling school soap opera is a game to spend a summer with. Read the full review

A Gothic-horror space exploration game, where every journey between space stations is a life-or-death gamble. Inspired by the novels of HG Wells and Jules Verne, this is a singular sci-fi role-playing game, filled with weird characters fighting it out to survive in a galactic Victorian empire.

What we said: Depending on what you want from it, Sunless Skies is a merciless odyssey of oddball sci-fi survival, or a fantasy novel trilogys worth of wild, written ideas. Read the full review

On a space station floating in the ether, something has gone very wrong and you watch it unfold not from the perspective of the astronauts, but as the stations AI. A novel, intelligent space thriller that draws from several cinematic sci-fi greats, and doesnt suffer by comparison.

What we said: An idea so good that you wonder why it hasnt been done before. Its unsettling and unconventional, and I was totally unable to turn away. Read the full review

A supremely clever, funny detective game set in a surreal recreation of the early-90s internet, complete with obscure message boards, dodgy low-bitrate music downloads and MySpace beef. Youll never have played anything like it.

What we said: Rather than lazily pastiching the ugliness and awkwardness of turn-of-the-century web pages, it really conjures that time, when the internet was a place to go rather than a liminal omnipresence. Read the full review

Of all the games to jump on the battle royale bandwagon, Tetris was surely the least expected but it turns out that 99-player Tetris is genius. Insanely moreish, competitive and just chaotic enough to keep things interesting, this is one of 2019s best multiplayer games.

What we said: Forget serene, calming Tetris, where you arrange blocks into pleasing configurations to make them disappear. This is survival Tetris, where youre squeezing tetrominos into teensy gaps at high speed as the screen fills. Read the full review

A resurgent Capcom resurrects a dormant series to great effect. The screaming guitars and gothic fashions might be a bit early 2000s, but the hack-and-slash action is unquestionably stylish and the challenge enticing.

What we said: Its bloody, spectacular and irresistible, all cheesy one-liners, guns, swords, explosions, and it plays like a dream. Read the full review.

Stealing peoples shoes and glasses, knocking over pints, fleeing from irate gardeners: who could have foreseen the fun there was to be had in waddling around as a horrible goose? There are those who remain resolutely uncharmed by Untitled Goose Games ramshackle whimsy, but we are not among them.

What we said: Certainly not fowl, most definitely worth a gander, its a whimsical little game full of charm and joy, a wonderful experience for just about anyone. Read the full review.

A musical Zelda spin-off thats suffused with love and respect for Nintendos peerless series of colourful adventure games, remixing both the music and the sword-swinging monster-bashing.

What we said: Stylish and excellent fun, this tribute captures the excitement and sense of discovery that makes Zelda what it is: a real adventure. Read the full review.

Supernatural adventure specialist Remedy Entertainment returns with another bewildering sci-fi romp, this time following Jesse Faden of the Federal Bureau of Control, a secretive agency invaded by paranormal forces. Literally nothing not even the furniture is what it seems in this dizzying thrill ride.

What we said: Remarkably, it all manages to hang together, providing a meaty, exciting and utterly unforgettable video game experience. Read the full review.

The follow-up to the fascinating CCTV thriller Her Story uses a similarly voyeuristic interface as you raid stolen National Security Agency archives for phone videos and webcam footage that may or may not implicate a group of characters in a major investigation.

What we said: Telling Lies requires a deliberateness from its players that turns us from viewers to active plot participants. Its a game that doesnt hold your hand, and ultimately its down to you to decide the truth. Read the full review.

Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment takes on the battle royale genre, with 100 players descending on a bright, detailed sci-fi landscape to do deadly battle. Smooth controls, excellent weapon balancing and thoughtful co-op features make this a true contender to the mighty Fortnite.

What we said: You cant really blame this talented team for shooting at the biggest target in modern gaming. And with Apex Legends, it scores a direct hit. Read the full review.

Among the most difficult games of the modern era, Hidetaka Miyazakis sublime samurai game is punishing, extraordinary and dense with meaning for those with the time and skill to delve into it.

What we said: If you have frequent long evenings to throw at its mountainous challenges, you will find here an exquisite game whose subtle themes, gradually unfurling mysteries and beautiful sights reward the determined and skilled player. Read the full review.

Arguably the finest title in Capcoms survival horror series is brought chillingly up to date with rookie cop Leon Kennedy and student Claire Redfield exploring a redesigned version of the zombie-filled Raccoon Police Station. All the old monsters and puzzles are there, but not necessarily in the places that veteran players expect.

What we said: A reminder of how beautifully crafted survival horror games were in their heyday. From a terrifying orphanage to the festering sewers beneath the city, the feel of the action is always perfectly matched with the aesthetics of the setting. Read the full review.

An amnesiac detective wakes up in a grotty hotel room with the hangover from hell and a murder to solve. From this noir-esque opening comes an open-world role-playing adventure like no other, mixing grim psychodrama with wonderful comic writing.

What we said: This is a quietly important game, singular in direction, filled with unexpected, thrilling effects on its player. Read the full review.

Outer Wilds asks you to plumb the depths of space in a ramshackle ship with a primitive clutch of gadgets, probing the mysteries of a capsule universe of bizarre planets without firing any guns or killing any aliens. Survive long enough without getting swallowed by a space creature or crashing fatally into an asteroid and the nearby sun goes supernova but every time you die, you wake up at the start of a time loop, ready to piece together more knowledge of this mysterious little solar system and progress towards learning its secrets. Offbeat and exceptional, Outer Wilds is a game for the curious and the contemplative, an intricate and endearing space adventure with the ambience of a camping trip.

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Top 20 games of 2019 | Games - The Guardian

Anyone whos watched any sort of episodic television series could tell you that the setup for the most recent episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian meant that the main character was due for trouble.

The setup: In the episode, Mando arrives on a desolate space station where he meets with some old associates from his past. He agrees to pull a heist job for them rescuing a prisoner from a New Republic space station.

What happens: In the second half of the episode, we see the contention between Mando and the pack unravel. We see Mayfield turn on Mando. Burg and Mando battle in their own little fight. Zero attempts to steal Baby Yoda. Everything goes wrong, just as you imagine it would.

But still: The episode has a lesson for us about instant certainty. Mando could have seen everything that happened to him from a parsec away. He could have realized that these fellow bounty hunters were going to turn on him. Previous episodes of the show indicate that bounty hunters are ruthless and willing to take him down for the promise of fortune.

The bottom line: Thats the whole point of any Star Wars show, isnt it? Hope. The entire franchise kicked off with Princess Leia asking Obi-Wan Kenobi to help her. He was her only hope. Luke Skywalker became her hope, too. A new hope. Were constantly looking for hope in the Star Wars franchise. You cant find hope if you make your mind up instantly. Sometimes you need to open up and trust a little bit to find it.

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Star Wars: The Mandalorian episode 6 review: What we learned about instant certainty - Deseret News