Toggle light / dark theme

With the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) mounted on the NASA and European Space Agency Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been observing the Sun’s corona since 1995 to track space weather that may have an impact on Earth. However, LASCO has an observational gap that prevents scientists from seeing the middle solar corona, where the solar wind is generated.

A team of scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), NASA, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) has discovered web-like plasma structures in the Sun’s middle corona. The researchers describe their innovative new observation method, imaging the middle corona in ultraviolet (U.V.) wavelength.

The findings could lead to a better understanding of the solar wind’s origins and interactions with the rest of the solar system.

This is the — dark, cold — time of year when hibernating memes start flying around social media. ‘Wake me up in spring!’ being a classic example. It’s natural for humans to sleep a bit more in winter. Reduced light exposure tells the body to produce melatonin, a hormone that makes us sleepier.

A new video series highlights the hard work and passion of scientists and engineers who helped get this remarkable new satellite off the ground.

On December 16, 2022, the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission launched aboard a SpaceX

Commonly known as SpaceX, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company that was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the company designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

The fully reusable Starship is expected to overtake NASA’s SLS as the world’s most powerful rocket.

SpaceX is preparing for the orbital launch of Starship, the massive fully reusable rocket it hopes to use to eventually send humans to Mars.

As The Washington Post points out, there is no concrete date set for the first orbital flight of Starship, and several dates voiced by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Gwynne Shotwell have already come and gone.


SpaceX

40 SpaceX Starships are terraforming Mars. Slowly transforming the Martian atmosphere, water begins to flow on the surface. Building the foundation for long term Mars colonization.

Going beyond the ‘First 10,000 Days on Mars’ and 2050, this is a timelapse look into the future.

Humans are surviving on Mars underground, in a crater habitat. A deep crater is enclosed, creating a mini Earth that is open and breathable. Tunnel diggers dig into the sides of the crater, creating more space and connecting other craters, landing pads, and lava tubes to form an underground Mars colony network… In part, inspired by: Mars garden quote: The Expanse — Chrisjen Avasarala Living on Mars — TED Talk by Stephen Petranek • https://youtu.be/t9c7aheZxls Andy Weir (The Martian) — Conversations With Joe • https://youtu.be/4dgwnhFf_6Y — Building on Mars — Articles Join the newsletter to read my new articles about “Building on Mars.” Or you can view them at my website: www.vx-c.com. • From Dust to Structures: How to Create Concrete and Metal on Mars • The (Not So) Simple Act of Building on Mars: The Engineering Challenges of Constructing on the Red Planet — A terraforming sci-fi documentary, and a timelapse look into the future of Mars colonization. — Book recommendations from Elon Musk on artificial intelligence, Mars, future technology and innovations, and sci-fi stories (affiliate links): • Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies https://amzn.to/3j28WkP • Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence https://amzn.to/3790bU1 • Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era https://amzn.to/351t9Ta • The Foundation: https://amzn.to/3i753dU • The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: https://amzn.to/3kNFSyW — Other videos to watch: • TIMELAPSE OF FUTURE SPACECRAFT: 2025 — 3000+ https://youtu.be/RL74Jb4OU9U • NASA 1958 — 2100 (Timelapse of past & future technology) https://youtu.be/2qaDEt7PCMI • MOON BASE — THE FIRST 10,000 DAYS (Timelapse) https://youtu.be/XOhz7ZBZ_1U

In part, inspired by:

Austin, Texas-based 3D printing construction company ICON has gotten some pretty significant projects off the ground in recent years, from a 50-home development in Mexico to a 100-home neighborhood in Texas. This week the company won a NASA contract that will help it get an even bigger project much further off the ground—all the way to the moon, in fact.

The $57.2 million contract is intended to help ICON develop technologies for building infrastructure on the moon, like landing pads, houses, and roads. The goal is for ICON to build these lunar structures using local material—that is, moon houses built out of moon dust and moon rocks.