Category Archives: Transhuman News

Recent news accounts suggest the race to go to Mars has begun in earnest, with two of our countrys richest men, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, competing with each other to take the lead.

Jeff Bezos Blue Origin spaceflight company launched a rocket into space last month and returned both the rocket and an empty crew capsule safely to earth. By 2024, Bezos hopes to send astronauts to the moon, which he sees as a necessary stepping stone to a Mars flight. Musks Space X company just returned four astronauts safely from the International Space Station. He hopes to land humans on Mars by 2026.

The Red Planet has long fascinated humans, and scientists have long wondered whether there might have once been water on this large barren rock. This new interest in Mars by the private sector seems to be motivated more by ego and monetary concerns than by scientific ones.

At first glance, it might seem odd for billionaires to spend money on space exploration when we have so many problems on our planet they could address with their excess funds. But I think that misses the point.

Isnt it understandable that, given the growing problems we have sustaining ourselves on earth pollution, overpopulation, war, climate issues, extensive poverty and disease the worlds two richest men might think it is time to escape before earth collapses into warfare over resources, especially if they can make some money on the way out?

If we could find some underground sources of water on Mars and figure out a way to exist in the thinner air there, we might have a place to go once we have drained all the aquifers here on earth in an attempt to stay alive and beat the heat that is coming.

The problem with this thinking is that while climate change is certain to cause enough death and destruction to make the COVID-19 pandemic really seem like the flu, there is nothing we might do to colonize the moon or Mars in time to prevent massive loss of life on Earth.

Bezos and Musk both worry about carbon emissions, but they want to use technology to capture carbon rather than the simpler solution of reforestation or planting crops that sequester carbon in the soil. Many scientists question the idea that we can use technology alone to save our planet (Sam Snead, CNBC 4-19-21).

But we humans tend to reject the idea of sacrificing our comforts by limiting ourselves or our enjoyments. We would rather invent our way out of problems by creating something to collect pollutants rather polluting less in the first place. We will buy an electric car to reduce carbon emissions while also tearing up land a chuck in Idaho to mine the lithium to power electric car batteries. Driving less or car-pooling is not nearly as glamorous as impressing your friends with an expensive new Tesla.

There are many good scientific reasons for space exploration, and even for learning more about Mars. But what Musk and Bezos do in space, with government support, can distract us from the more serious and immediate problems facing our planet which cannot be solved by settlements on Mars 50 years from now. Neither technology nor colonization of other planets can prevent the disasters that could be caused this century alone by climate change.

Some nave liberals like myself might say that space exploration is morally questionable in the face of a climate disaster that could end our species.

Jeff Bezos net worth floats between 175 and 200 billion dollars. Musk is not far behind. How many COVID vaccinations could we distribute with some of this money and that of other very wealthy people and foundations? How much birth control could we dispense to ease planetary overcrowding? How much could we use feed and house victims of war in the middle east? How many trees we could plant to reduce carbon emissions with just a small portion of what these men have? Pick and choose.

Ill bet we would still have a few coins left to build a colony or two on the moon in the next century after making things better on earth in this one.

Ken Wolf is a Democrat and a retired Murray State University history professor. He speaks here as an individual and not as a representative of either of these organizations. He can be reached at wolken43@gmail.com.

Link:
Should we go to Mars? | Opinion | murrayledger.com - Murray Ledger and Times

The European Space Agency (ESA) selected SpacePNT of Neuchatel, Switzerland to develop an advanced spaceborne GPS/Galileo receiver for agencys the Lunar Pathfinder Spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. The receiver is intended to demonstrate, for the first time, the use of terrestrial GNSS signals for real-time and autonomous orbit determination and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). The contract includes the development, qualification, and delivery of one proto-flight model (PFM) and two engineering models of the NAVIMOON receiver, SpacePNTs very high-sensitivity version of its NAVILEO high-performance GNSS spaceborne receiver.

The NAVIMOON receiver implements very high-sensitivity algorithms able to receive and process signals extremely attenuated coming from the spillover around the Earth of the signals transmitted by GNSSs. It will combine these signals measurements with advanced on-board orbital forces filters to achieve directly onboard the spacecraft and in real time an unprecedented target orbit determination accuracy of 100 m rms at Moon altitude. This is is well below the typical accuracy that can be achieved today with terrestrial radio ranging that involves the use of costly deep space station ground infrastructures.

As explained in a March 26 news story, GNSS constellations already deliver usable signals as far away as the moon, even though they were not purposed to do so. Most of the energy of their navigation antennas radiates directly towards Earth, which blocks its use further away in space. However, explains Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA GNSS Senior Advisor, navigation signal patterns also radiate sideways, like light from a flashlight, and past testing shows these antenna side lobes can be employed for positioning, provided adequate receivers are implemented.

Given the high interest in Moon exploration and colonization (over 50 commercial and governmental missions have been announced between now and 2024), it is expected this NAVIMOON receiver technology will play a significant role in the next decade not only on Earth-Moon transfer orbits, but also to provide enhanced PNT services for the Moon users with the deployment of a lunar constellation that will allow the provision of lunar navigation in Moon-obstructed areas.

Due for launch by the end of 2023 into lunar orbit, the public-privateLunar Pathfindercomsat will offer commercial data relay services to lunar missions while also stretching the operational limits of satnav signals.

For an overview of lunar PNT techniques and upcoming missions, see Inside GNSS Working Papers columns Across the Lunar Landscape Exploration with GNSS Technology (Sept//Oct 2020) and Across the Lunar Landscape: Towards a Dedicated Lunar PNT System (Nov/Dec 2020).

SpacePNT will partner with European Engineering & Consultancy (EECL) from Kingston-upon-Thames, UK as a sub-contractor for the electronics design, manufacturing, and qualification.

See original here:
NAVIMOON Space Receiver to Orbit Aboard Lunar Pathfinder, Generate Real-Time PNT Data from Earthly GNSS - Inside GNSS

China has made it to to Mars, becoming only the second country to puta rover to the red planet. Its a breakthrough scientifically, economically andpolitically for a country increasingly focused ontechnological self-reliance. Beijings first such attempt, an orbiter launched by piggybacking on a Russian spacecraft in 2011, failed. A decade later, it hasdone a lot more and achieved it alone.

Thepropaganda value of a landing on another planet, as the Communist Party prepares to celebrate its centenary, is not lost on Beijing. Reaping the soft power benefits abroad, though, will requiremore than headlines. Timely, plentiful shared technical and scientific information from its Mars missionwill go a long way toward building credibilityand towarddefusing some of the tension around overlapping civilian and military usethat have made collaborationin space so fraught.

So far, Beijing appears to have chosen not to release possibly imperfect early images from the actual landing. It may still be awaiting the deployment of thesix-wheeled Zhurong rover. Its alsojust the sort of openness that has impact. The lesson fromCovid-19 vaccines was clear: Prestige and trustcomes with transparency and so too does scientific cooperation of the sort that China and the rest of the world badlyneeds.

After a series of major launches in 2020, Mars has been a hive of activity. The United Arab Emirates Hope craft, aimingto study weather and climate systems, arrived in Mars orbit in early February, joining others already studying the planet.Tianwen-1, Chinas mission, followed. NASAs Perseverance rover landed on Mars surfacein mid-February, with the Ingenuity helicopter probe. Its not all aboutElon Musk-styleambitions of colonization, though: Scientists hope the planet most similar to Earthcan answer questions about the evolution of our own home.

Talk of a race is misleading, but China, with bigambitions andan annual budget estimated at around$9billion, the second-largest globallyafter NASA, is clear on the scientific benefit and economic necessity of space prowess. It landedChange-4on the far side of the Moon in 2019 a first and saw the first seeds sprout. Its agreed to team up with Russia for a permanent lunar base and last month, it launched the first module of its planned space station. And now, Mars.

In recent years, China has cemented its position as a major space power

Source: CSIS Aerospace Security Project

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Not everything has been perfect.Aprils launch of themodule for itsfuture space station had the worldfretting after the rocket made an uncontrolled re-entry, eventually splashing into the Indian Ocean. We dont know exactly how much of the technology is homegrown, even with Chinas pushto avoid relianceon Western inputs.Yet Tianwen-1 is already an impressive mission, giventhe immense technical challenges of landing on Mars, explainsKatarina Miljkovic of Curtin University in Australia. Thats because ofthe existence of an atmosphereand the need to use parachutes to slow the descent, unlike on the Moonnot to mentionthe fact that landings have to bedone autonomously,because of the communications time lag with Earth.

But thequestion is not so much whether Beijing, which has made huge strides since putting itsfirst man in space in 2003, can succeed. Unquestionably, history points in Chinas favor, with its deep pockets, steadfast political commitment and a massive internal market for satellites and more. Already, the International Space Station is agingjust as Beijingbuilds its own version, perhaps leavingChina with the only sustained human presence in orbit.

The question is whether that success can be shared and amplified for the common good, or whether Chinas inward-looking push for self-reliance, its opacity andWestern worries about technological transfer dictate the opposite. David Flannery at Queensland University of Technology, who has been working with NASAs Mars 2020team, says Chinas mission reflects the scientific goals of the wider community. He points out information from the Moon mission was shared, so there is an encouraging precedentbut theres room for more.Thats true even if getting to NASA-levels of disclosure say, live-streaming launches will be challenging for Beijing to accept.

China is certainly clear that there arebenefits, offering up Moon samples and the ability to place experiments on its space station. It can go a lot further.

Theres room for the West to act, too. TheU.S.can provide encouragement by reconsideringtight limitson collaboration. Excluding China hasnt worked. The rules wereintended tocounter espionage,but have dented multilateralism,fueled Beijings ambitions and not aided Washingtons.

That would give us even more reason tocheer Tianwen-1.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:Clara Ferreira Marques at cferreirama@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

Read more from the original source:
China's Mars Landing Will Be a Greater Feat With the Release of More Data - Bloomberg

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China has made it to to Mars, becoming only the second country to puta rover to the red planet. Its a breakthrough scientifically, economically andpolitically for a country increasingly focused ontechnological self-reliance. Beijings first such attempt, an orbiter launched by piggybacking on aRussian spacecraftin 2011, failed. A decade later, it hasdone a lot more and achieved it alone.

Thepropaganda value of a landing on another planet, as the Communist Party prepares to celebrate itscentenary, is not lost on Beijing. Reaping the soft power benefits abroad, though, will requiremore than headlines. Timely, plentiful shared technical and scientific information from its Mars missionwill go a long way toward building credibilityand towarddefusing some of the tension around overlapping civilian and military usethat have made collaborationin space so fraught.

So far, Beijing appears to have chosen not to release possibly imperfect early images from the actual landing. It may still be awaiting the deployment of thesix-wheeled Zhurong rover. Its alsojust the sort of openness that has impact. The lesson fromCovid-19 vaccines was clear: Prestige and trustcomes with transparency and so too does scientific cooperation of the sort that China and the rest of the world badlyneeds.

Also read: What Cyclone Tauktae tells us about Arabian Sea & why the coast is seeing more severe cyclones

After a series of major launches in 2020, Mars has been a hive of activity. The United Arab Emirates Hope craft, aimingto study weather and climate systems, arrived in Mars orbit in early February, joining others already studying the planet.Tianwen-1, Chinas mission,followed. NASAs Perseverance rover landed on Mars surfacein mid-February, with the Ingenuityhelicopter probe. Its not all aboutElon Musk-styleambitions of colonization, though: Scientists hope the planet most similar to Earthcan answer questions about the evolution of our own home.

Talk of a race is misleading, but China, with bigambitions andan annual budgetestimatedat around$9billion, the second-largest globallyafter NASA, is clear on the scientific benefit and economic necessity of space prowess. ItlandedChange-4on the far side of the Moon in 2019 a first and saw the first seeds sprout. Its agreed to team up with Russia for a permanent lunar base and last month, it launched the first module of its plannedspace station. And now, Mars.

Not everything has been perfect.Aprils launch of themodule for itsfuture space stationhad the worldfretting after the rocket made an uncontrolled re-entry, eventually splashing into the Indian Ocean. We dont know exactly how much of the technology is homegrown, even with Chinas pushto avoid relianceon Western inputs.Yet Tianwen-1 is already an impressive mission, giventhe immense technical challenges of landing on Mars, explainsKatarina Miljkovic of Curtin University in Australia. Thats because ofthe existence of an atmosphereand the need to use parachutes to slow the descent, unlike on the Moonnot to mentionthe fact that landings have to bedone autonomously,because of the communications time lag with Earth.

But thequestion is not so much whether Beijing, which has made huge strides since putting itsfirst man in space in 2003, can succeed. Unquestionably, history points in Chinas favor, with its deep pockets, steadfast political commitment and a massive internal market for satellites and more. Already, the International Space Station is agingjust as Beijingbuilds its own version, perhaps leavingChina with the only sustained human presence in orbit.

The question is whether that success can be shared and amplified for the common good, or whether Chinas inward-looking push for self-reliance, its opacity andWestern worries about technological transfer dictate the opposite. David Flannery at Queensland University of Technology, who has been working with NASAs Mars 2020team, says Chinas mission reflects the scientific goals of the wider community. He points out information from the Moon mission was shared, so there is an encouraging precedentbut theres room for more.Thats true even if getting to NASA-levels of disclosure say, live-streaming launches will be challenging for Beijing to accept.

China is certainly clear that there arebenefits, offering up Moon samples and the ability to placeexperimentson its space station. It can go a lot further.

Theres room for the West to act, too. TheU.S.can provide encouragement by reconsideringtightlimitson collaboration. Excluding China hasnt worked. The rules wereintended tocounter espionage,but have dented multilateralism,fueled Beijings ambitions and not aided Washingtons.

That would give us even more reason to cheer Tianwen-1.-Bloomberg

Also read: This 16-year-old Star Trek-Star Wars fan from Pune has captured epic, viral image of Moon

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Chinas Mars landing will be a greater feat with the release of more data - ThePrint

The following is a list of books for adults and for young readers focused on the history, culture, survival, and contemporary lives and storytelling of Indigenous peoples.

Return to the main feature: Retelling the History of Indigenous People.

ADULT:

ATRIA

From the Ashes: My Story of Being Indigenous, Homeless, and Finding My Way

Jesse Thistle, June

The Mtis-Cree authors memoir of overcoming trauma, prejudice, and addiction as he struggles to find a way back to himself and his Indigenous culture.

BISON

Black Snake: Standing Rock, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Environmental Justice

Katherine Wiltenburg Todrys, June

Spotlights four leadersLaDonna Allard, Jasilyn Charger, Lisa DeVille, and Kandi Whiteand their fight against the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline that made world headlines in 2016.

BLACK PRIVILEGE

State of Emergency: How We Win in the Country We Built

Tamika D. Mallory, out now

An in-depth, intersectional look at America's history of colonialism and systemic racism, offering a hopeful look to the future and tangible solutions for dismantling white supremacist structures.

CELADON

Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation in Montana

Abe Streep, Sept.

Follows a high school basketball team on a reservation in the American West along with their teammates, coaches, and families, as they balance the pressures of adolescence, shoulder the dreams of their community, and chart their own individual courses for the future.

COMMON NOTIONS

Feminicide and Global Accumulation: Frontline Struggles to Resist the Violence of Patriarchy and Capitalism

Edited by Silvia Federici, Liz Mason-Deese, and Susana Draper, Aug.

Gathers stories, memories, and experiences of struggles against the murder and assassination of women and violence in all its forms, based on the first-ever International Forum on Feminicide among Ethnicized and Racialized Groups.

HARPER

By the Light of Burning Dreams

David Talbot and Margaret Talbot, June

Uses exclusive interviews, original documents, and archival research to explore critical moments in the lives of a diverse cast of iconoclastic leaders of the twentieth century radical movement, including Russell Means and the warriors of Wounded Knee.

The Taking of Jemima Boone: The True Story of the Kidnap and Rescue That Shaped America

Matthew Pearl, Oct.

Explores the kidnapping of legendary pioneer Daniel Boones daughter and the dramatic aftermath that rippled across the nation.

HARPER PERENNIAL

Horse Girls

Halimah Marcus, Aug.

An essay collection that smashes stereotypes and redefines the meaning of the term horse girl, broadening it for women of all cultural backgrounds, including "Unconquered," an essay by Braudie Blais-Billie about how horses bridged a connection between her Seminole and Quebecois heritage.

HENRY HOLT

Ridgeline: A Novel

Michael Punke, June

An account, based on real people and events, of the violence and horror of a Wyoming massacre that presaged the Battle of Little Big Horn.

HERALD

The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery

Sarah Augustine, June

The author, a Pueblo (Tewa) woman, reframes the colonization of North America as she investigates ways that the Doctrine of Discoverya set of laws rooted in the 15th century that gave Christian governments the moral and legal right to seize lands they discoveredcontinues to devastate Indigenous cultures, and the planet itself, as it justifies exploitation of both natural resources and people.

HIGHWATER

Splxm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence

Nicola I. Campbell, Sept.

The authors memoir as an intergenerational survivor of Indian Residential Schools, and her journey of overcoming adversity and colonial trauma to find strength and resilience through creative works and traditional perspectives of healing, transformation, and resurgence.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT

When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky: A Novel

Margaret Verble, Oct.

In 1926 Nashville, Two Feathers, a death-defying young Cherokee horse-diver on loan to Glendale Park Zoo from a Wild West show, must get to the bottom of a mystery that spans centuries.

INHABIT MEDIA

What I Remember, What I Know: The Life of a High Arctic Exile

Larry Audlaluk, out now

The author describes his familys struggle to survive following the High Arctic Relocation of the 1950s in which Inuit families were relocated by the Canadian government to Grise Fiord, one of the coldest inhabited places in the world. Juxtaposed with excerpts from official reports that conveyed the relocatees plight as a successful experiment, he describes broken promises, a decades-long fight to return home, and a life between two worlds as southern culture begins to encroach on Inuit traditions.

The Man of the Moon

Gunvor Bjerre, illus. by Miki Jacobsen, July

Published in English for the first time, a collection of Greenlandic myths and legends that have been passed down orally for generations, featuring young protagonists.

IVP

First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament

Terry M. Wildman, Aug.

A dynamic equivalence translation of the Creators Storythe Christian Scripturesfollowing the tradition of Native storytellers' oral cultures, capturing the simplicity, clarity, and beauty of Native storytellers in English, while remaining faithful to the original language of the New Testament.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIV.

Bkejwanong Dbaajmowinan / Stories of Where the Waters Divide (Makwa Enewed)

Monty McGahey, out now

A collection of stories from the elders of Bkejwanongformerly known as Walpole Island, Ontariowho understand the importance of passing on the language to future generations to preserve the legacy of the community. With English translations, this resource is essential for Anishinaabemowin learners, teachers, linguists, and historians.

The Founding Mothers of Mackinac Island: The Agatha Biddle Band of 1870

Theresa L. Weller, Aug.

A comprehensive history of the lineage of the seventy-four members of the Agatha Biddle band in 1870, which began as a small handful of unrelated Indian women joined by the fact that the U.S. government owed them payments in exchange for land given up in the 1836 Treaty of Washington, D.C.

Louise Erdrich's Justice Trilogy: Cultural and Critical Contexts

Connie A. Jacobs and Nancy J. Peterson, Oct.

A collection of essays focusing on the three novels that comprise Erdrich's justice trilogyThe Plague of Doves, The Round House, and LaRosewhich are set in northern North Dakota, where small towns and reservation life bring together a cast of characters whose lives are shaped by history, identity, and community.

MILKWEED EDITIONS

Peyakow: Reclaiming Cree Dignity

Darrel J. McLeod, Aug.

Following up his award-winning debut memoir, Mamaskatch, which portrayed a Cree coming-of-age in rural Canada, the author confronts how both the personal traumas of his youth and the historical traumas of his ancestral line impact the trajectory of his life.

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Naadamaading: Dibaajimowinan Ji-Nisdotaading

edited by Anton Treuer, illus. by Jonathan Thunder, Aug.

Together with their other friends and family, Makoons and her friend Nigigoons go berrying and fishing, and listen to the stories of the elders. Created to encourage learning Anishinaabemowin, the language of Ojibwe people, these original stories are written in Ojibwe and a monolingual text presented only in Anishinaabemowin.

The Good Berry Cookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods

Tashia Hart, Sept.

The author, an ethnobotanist, follows the Anishinaabeg people of the Great Lakes region through seasons and spaces to gather wild foods and contemplate connections among the people and their plant and animal relatives.

The Cultural Toolbox: Traditional Ojibwe Living in the Modern World

Anton Treuer, Oct.

Provides the personal stories of one Ojibwe family's hunting, gathering, harvesting, and cultural practices and beliefswithout violating protected secrets.

Voices from Pejuhutazizi: Dakota Stories and Storytellers

Teresa Peterson and Walter LaBatte Jr., Oct.

Stories, from five generations of the family of Tasina Susbeca Win, that bring people together, transmit traditions, teach how to behave, and deliver heroes, especially those who do not appear in school or history books.

NIMBUS

I Place You into the Fire: Poems

Rebecca Thomas, out now

The first poetry collection from the Mi'kmaw spoken-word poet and former poet laureate of Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia.

NORTH ATLANTIC

Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond

Edited by Valerie Mason-John, July

A spiritual, political, and interdisciplinary anthology of wisdom stories from today's Black liberation thought leaders and teachers, including an essay reflecting on the author's African and Native American ancestry, mapping the erasure and oppression of both groups and the socially complex history they shared.

PRINCETON UNIV.

After One Hundred Winters: In Search of Reconciliation on America's Stolen Lands

Margaret D. Jacobs, Oct.

Confronts the harsh truth that the United States was founded on the violent dispossession of Indigenous people and asks what reconciliation might mean in light of this haunted history.

The rest is here:
New and Forthcoming Titles on Indigenous Peoples - Publishers Weekly

Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura (Getty Images)

A Japanese fashion magnate, who has booked an all-civilian SpaceX flight round the moon for 2023, has now announced that hes also making an earlier trip this December to the International Space Station. On Thursday, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa tweeted: Going to the ISS before the Moon . Sounds perhaps slightly more action-packed than the 2023 moon trip, which will consist entirely of orbiting a rock where nothing happens, and gazing at the Earth, a location where everything happens. Perhaps ponder the fact that money is no good on the moon, and then go home.

The trip is facilitated by space tour agency Space Adventures, which has arranged space tours for a handful of monied clients, primarily tech entrepreneurs, including billionaire engineer Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, and Anousheh Ansari. Maezawa will board the Russian Soyuz MS-20 from Kazakhstan and spend 12 days in space accompanied by a cosmonaut and his personal production assistant.

In a statement published by ABC News, Maezawa said Im so curious, Whats life like in space? So, I am planning to find out on my own and share with the world. He can tweet about it while hes up there.

Maezawa has also famously arranged the 2023 SpaceX mission dearMoon, aboard SpaceXs Starship rocket, a commercial civilian space flight. Maezawa has solicited the public for eight creatively-minded people to join, all expenses paid (applications are now closed). They expect to circle the moon, which will take six days in total.

I want to be reminded of how small, how insignificant I am, Maezawa said in a mission trailer. In space, I think I will realize anew how small I am, how much more I have to experience.

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But his star may fade after SpaceXs first all-civilian mission, to launch later this year, for nobody remembers space travelers unless they did something first up there. My colleague Tom McKay might urge Maezawa to cement his relevance as the first man to blow up the moon, which is madness, but would at least head off the inevitable global moon colonization Cold War.

Read this article:
Japanese Billionaire Making a Stop on the ISS Before His Big Trip to the Moon on Elon's Rocket - Gizmodo