Welcome home

The Astronauts returned back safely.

The real news is that this is more a reset than a pioneering mission: To remind Yanks of their past so they can get proper backing to NASA to embrace the future. The article at the link explains why.

Good news for a change.

solar flares affecting flights?

 

from Phil Inquirer; 

PAL, Cebu Pacific cancel domestic flights after Airbus technical advisory....

In a statement, Airbus said its advisory stemmed from an analysis of a recent incident involving an A320 Family aircraft, which revealed that “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.”

from CNN:

Thousands of passenger planes need to be fixed to avoid pilots losing control during a solar storm...Thousands of the most popular passenger aircraft in the world need immediate maintenance to protect from a problem that injured passengers and caused an emergency landing last month...

.“Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls,” Airbus said in a statement.

so sort of a Carrington event?

and what about modern weapons that could do this?

Stories under the fold

 

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more on my Makaipablog. And strategy page has a summary of Islamic and tribal terrorism (which often is now being influenced by ISIS etc) in Africa. Note: You don't need ISIS: The Rwanda massacres were done by Christian and and tribal religion believers, and indeed many who were followers of Islam refused to cooperate with the massacres.

...

and the podcast from yesterday that is burning up the internet,,, 2,978,141 views  so far

,,,

a completely uncovered story: The US lost their ability to build ships 

How to get to space orbit

 Frazer Cain has an interview with a scientist about using a sky hook vs a space elevator vs cheap reusable rockets.

that is a bit technical. But a cartoon version can be found here

and here

....

I first ran across the space elevator concept in Heinlein's R rated space chick spy  book Friday  

Space X landing

starship's tenth test flight was a success.

The flight test began with Super Heavy successfully lifting off by igniting all 33 Raptor engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. Successful ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver, with Starship’s upper stage igniting its six Raptor engines to separate from Super Heavy and continue the flight to space. Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster completed its boostback burn to put it on a course to a pre-planned splashdown zone.

Incredible Close Up Shot of Space X Starship Landing! 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/QBq25Iiwy3

— Mark Lewis (@Maga4liberty) December 23, 2024

could a solar flare disrupt society?

I might say that it wouldn't affect us so much, 

but you know, when we were hit by a bad typhoon and lost power for a week, it meant no water or ATM/Bank or computer or TV... but our cellphones worked as did my portable short wave radio.

but we had a generator as long as the local gas station could supply us with fuel for the generator to run our water pump and charge our cellphones. That last part is important: within a day the local shops not only were selling bottled water, but had signs outside saying "cellphone charge 25 pesos" (fifty cents). So people could get in touch with relatives, and also get on line to get the news, or to play games or surf the net.

 Would cellphones be affected by the solar flare? 

Grok says:

A solar flare could affect cellphones, but the impact depends on the flare's strength and the phone's exposure. Solar flares release bursts of electromagnetic radiation and charged particles, which can disrupt satellite communications, GPS signals, and power grids,...

However, a strong flare could interfere with cellular networks by disrupting satellites or ground-based infrastructure, potentially causing signal loss or dropped calls. For example, a massive solar flare in 1859, known as the Carrington Event, disrupted telegraph systems, and a similar event today could affect modern tech...

when the typhoon hit, the roads were blocked but we are rice farmers and could buy produce locally. Everyone has a motorcycle or tricycle (motorcycle with side car) so food delivery was not badly affected. But what about trucks? Trucks would be needed to deliver food to cities...

So would a solar flare disrupt the computers that run our cars and trucks, either those with computerized carborators or electric cars and trucks etc.( here in the Philippines we are starting to switch to e-jeepneys and e-tricycles, replacing the old pollution emitting engines).

  

Grok answers:

Yes, a solar flare could potentially disrupt computerized car engines and electric cars, but the extent depends on the flare's intensity and the car's design.

 Key Factors: Flare Strength:

Only powerful flares (e.g., X-class) pose significant risks.

Shielding: Automotive electronics are designed with some EMI protection, but not necessarily for extreme solar events.

Infrastructure Impact: Both types of vehicles could be indirectly affected if flares disrupt power grids or communication networks. No specific data on recent flares is provided here, but I can search for real-time solar activity to assess current risks if you’d like. 

Yup. even modern cars are computerized, so might be affected  which is why we keep our old jeep just in case. And of course we grow rice, and even if we had no cars, we could use a bicycle to get supplies...But in an advanced country, this could result in cities not getting food or supplies. How many people are prepared for this?

The example of what could happen was seen in the March 1989 geomagnetic storm when not only communications were affected, but the power grid of Quebec went down:

Sigh.

Little Red dots

 BehindtheBlack reports that the Webb Telescope has discovered a new phenomenum:

Using the WebbSpaceTelescope astronomers have begun to compile a small catalog of what they call “little red dots” [LRDs], objects in the very early universe that are very small, too small to be galaxies and are thus a mystery.,,

The present most popular theory to explain the dots...is that the dots are newly formed black holes, their red light caused by material falling into the hole at millions of miles per hour.

That theory has of course problems. For example, it doesn’t explain why we don’t see these dots in more recent times. Nor does it explain why the dots are dim in X-rays, a radiation expected from accreting black holes.

..

Space news

BehindTheBlack reports space news: 

And the latest post points out that deliveries to and from the space station are now so routine that this doesn't make the headlines anymore. 

 For NASA, SpaceX is acting as its UPS delivery truck, bringing back to several tons of experiments. And like all UPS delivery trucks, making a delivery is not considered news. And yet, this is a private commercial spacecraft returning from space, after completing a profitable flight for its owners 

 From NASA: 

Four station astronauts worked together throughout their day loading several tons of completed science experiments and station hardware inside Dragon.

 NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers kicked off their shift loading and securing a variety of cargo inside the spacecraft ahead of its departure and undocking planned for 12:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Toward the end of their shift, they removed portable science freezers containing research samples from station EXPRESS racks and installed them inside Dragon.

 

my only comment: Why do the lady astronauts let their hair be long and float around? The lose hairs could clog the filters and spread germs. That is why we wore caps in the operating rooms...

welcome home

 

behindTheBlack report here.

In watching the live stream, it is important to once again note that no one involved in this recovery operation is a government employee. The entire operation is being run by SpaceX, a private American company doing this work for profit.

Polaris Dawn: Space cowboys at work

 I knew there was a new mission by Space X, but I was not aware that it was being funded by one of those going into space.

from the BBC:

Billionaire Jared Isaacman has taken off in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for what he hopes will be the first ever privately funded spacewalk...

A vanity project, some might say, but in addition to experiments and trying out new designs for space suits, it has long term goals. 

Ms Gillis said that it was a necessary part of Space X’s plans to send people to other worlds....“ Space X has huge ambitions to get to Mars and make life multiplanetary. In order to get there, we need to start somewhere. And the first step is testing out the first iteration of the EVA spacesuit  ...

and the billionaire funding the project is one of those going into space: 

“Isaacman is actually the most experienced astronaut of the crew – he alone has been to space before, on another self-funded mission with SpaceX, where he also took the position of Commander. In the context of the mission, he is the natural choice,” he told BBC News. 

This short film discusses the program (and uses the word space cowboys to describe these astronaut businessfolk)

the term space cowboys is an old theme in science fiction, but the term has been used in  Cowboy Bebop, the Clint Eastwood film Space Cowboys, and the song by Steve Miller's band. And the success of various private space exploration reminds me of an old almost forgotten TV series Salvage One...

Musk to the rescue again?

 yesterday's discussion about the stranded astronauts:

Today's behind the black report :

In a briefing today, NASA’s administrator Bill Nelson announced that Boeing’s Starliner capsule, launched in June on its first manned mission, will return unmanned and that the two astronauts it brought to ISS — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — will return in February 2025 as part of the crew of the next Dragon manned mission, scheduled to launch in late September.

decisions decisions

 

NASA to decide on how to bring home stranded astronauts by end of the month https://t.co/Jq3NV0w3MB

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 15, 2024

from the AJ article:

NASA needs to decide whether to use the Starliner or a spacecraft from SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk. If the space agency chose SpaceX, they could potentially launch their scheduled Crew-9 mission to the ISS on September 24 with just two astronauts rather than the usual four.

Behind the Black webpage has the story here:

...Third, and most important, the wording of those statements repeatedly indicated they are looking at Dragon return more seriously. For example, NASA’s chief astronaut Joe Acaba suggested strongly that the two astronauts were now well prepared for an eight month mission, rather than coming home in August 2024.

which of course would save face by Nasa/Boeing. 

Other statements by officials suggested they themselves are less confident about returning on Starliner.

Though the data suggests they can return safely, there remains enough uncertainty to make some people uncomfortable. One factor not stated but is certainly controlling the situation now is the upcoming election in November.

italics mine. 

The Democrats who control Washington and the White House will allow nothing to happen that could hurt their election chances. We must therefore assume people in the White House are now in control and are the ones who now intend to make the decision about Starliner’s return.

 the original press releases were insisting they could just stay in space for eight months but as the BBC notes:

A return on their arch-rival’s spacecraft and the astronauts wearing SpaceX suits would be deeply embarrassing for Boeing, but it would not be the end of the line for Starliner, especially if it makes it back to Earth safely in an uncrewed landing. Nasa has repeatedly said that it is committed to developing two independent means to take crew and cargo into space. It is likely that the Space Agency will give Boeing every chance to do that.

Hmm... which would look worse for Biden/Harris? Astronauts left in space even though Dragon could rescue them (which would be viewed by those who are following the story as a political move not to acknowledge Elon Musk could save the day)? Or to let Dragon bring them back and then have their minions in the US mainstream media bury the rescue story so no one hears about it?

SpaceX leads the world in the space race, but he is now an embarrassment to the Biden/Harris administration who seems to value DEI/political correctness over expertise and strict scientific standards.

for example, the US Gov't is doing their best to slow down Space X.

 

..........................................

a movie about the last time when politics was more important than science, and how it was almost covered up until a pushy scientist spoke truth to power.

......

Voyager 1 back on line

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more here. and UKGuardian article HERE.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 was designed with the primary goal of conducting close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn in a five-year mission. However, its journey continued and the spacecraft is now approaching a half-century in operation. Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space in August 2012, making it the first human-made object to venture out of the solar system. It is currently travelling at 37,800mph (60,821km/h).

Hi, it's me. - V1 https://t.co/jgGFBfxIOe

— NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) April 22, 2024

I was a bit confused. Apparently there are two Voyager satellites out there.

LINK:

Launched in 1977, the Voyager 1 and 2 probes were both cutting-edge pieces of technology for their time. The computers at the heart of their operations consisted of three systems, each with dual-redundancy, that worked together to enable the probes to journey to Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond: the Computer Command System (CCS), the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), and the Attitude and Articulation Control System (AACS). What is amazing is that even after four decades of traveling through the harsh, sometimes unpredictable, environment of space, both probes continue to function and call home with new insights and data. It is taking longer and longer to be able to communicate and upload new routines to the probes, but the fact it is still possible with technology from a bygone era is a testament to the quality of engineering put into these spacecraft.

how old is it? It used Fortran.

The original software for the Voyager probes was written using Fortran 5 then ported to Fortran 77, and today there is some porting in C. Low-level, light-weight software is increasingly important as the probes move farther and farther away from Earth and communication becomes slower.

and trivia fact: A fictional Voyager 6 morphed to be the bad guy in the original Startrek movie.

Beer in space

 

the case of the lost space tomatoes

Those who read the book or watched the movie The Martian knows about the importance and difficulties of growing food in space:....

  .

...so on the international space station they grew some tomatoes. 

YEAH! 

but then: the tomatoes.... disappeared.

WTF?

then hurray they were found. Scitechdaily reports:.

 Astronaut Frank Rubio’s experiences with lost tomatoes and growing dwarf tomatoes highlight the challenges and advancements in space farming....

The experiment uses hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without soil or other growth media and could provide suitable solutions for plant systems needed for future space exploration missions.,,, 

so voila: Space tomatoes.

But then a few went missing. Were they eaten? Inquiring minds want to know.

Alas, no: just mislaid. 

Two rogue tomatoes have been recovered nearly a year after astronaut Frank Rubio accidentally lost track of them while harvesting for the XROOTS experiment, proving Rubio did not eat the tomatoes as they previously suspected.

The rogue fruit was found in a plastic bag dehydrated and slightly squished with some discoloration but with no visible microbial or fungal growth.

whoops. Solar storm coming

SpaceX changing the price of space exploration and telecommunication

 while the woke are attempting to destroy STEM, and the trust in the medical system has fallen due to it's it's willingness to push propaganda, and pushing inaccurate information while censoring those who wanted to discuss problems, it is nice to see some science is still working.

Falcon 9 launches the @ESA Euclid mission on a trajectory toward the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 - nearly one million miles away from Earth! pic.twitter.com/Y3QRi7QbOo

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 1, 2023

So the European Space Agency has had SpaceX launch it's satellite to examine the puzzle of dark matter and dark energy..

.Euclid will observe billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years to create the largest, most accurate 3D map of the Universe, with the third dimension representing time itself. This detailed chart of the shape, position and movement of galaxies will reveal how matter is distributed across immense distances and how the expansion of the Universe has evolved over cosmic history, enabling astronomers to infer the properties of dark energy and dark matter.

 

This is about theoretical science, but not all space projects are an esoteric exploration of God's universe: 

in mid June, SpaceX launched a telecommunications satellite for Indonesia. LINK

this satellite will be in a stable orbit and allow internet communication in rural areas of that country. This seems to be similar to the internet satellite (and TV satellite) systems we used years ago when we lived in isolated area on Indian reservations.  

The satellite will occupy the orbital slot above Indonesia's eastern Papua region. It has a throughput capacity of 150 gigabytes per second and will provide internet access to 50,000 public service points, the Indonesian government said.The project is a public-private partnership between the government and Indonesian satellite service provider PT Satelit Nusantara Tiga.

StrategyPage has a short essay about this satellite launch and about how SPACEX, with it's reusable rockets, has lowered the price of launching satellites......

The less expensive SpaceX SLV launches have made it possible to put a lot more of these communications satellites in orbit over areas with little or no affordable communications services, including broadcast video as well as Internet service.

One big difference since we moved here is the availability of telecommunications: everyone has smart phones (using cellphone towers) and  all the kids are able to use the internet.

We are still on wired intenet by PLDT, but Huawei is putting up 5G towers all over the place (Kuya turned them down when they wanted to put them on our rice land) but Joy has a Huawei internet connection for her business.  So far, China  don't have a monopoly but you can see the problem if half our internet coverage is being run by China who could hack it or shut it down in case of war or just to pressure us not to complain about their stealing our resources in the West Philippine Sea. 

Back in 2006, the internet cables that go by Taiwan got cut by an earthquake . So if China decides to cut internet cables to isolate Taiwan (something they have already started to do.) this could isolate the Philippines. It could be just one more way to pressure the Philippines not to let the US/Japan/Australia/Korea use the Philippines in their fight to stop Chinese  aggression in East Asia.

(and not just internet: some local solons worry they could hack and shut down our electric grid too.).

the newer internet Starlink is going to be available in the Philippines in the near future also. Which is nice in case the infrastructure starts blowing up (from war, sabotage, earthquakes, volcanos, or typhoons)

Noodles (and sphaghetti) in Space

 AnnAlthouse has a link to an article about scientists discovering gravity waves, which is apparantly a big thing.

But what caught my attention is this part of the WaPost article (behind paywall) that ends with this comment:

[T]he newly announced waves are not one-shot wonders, and theorists are noodling the many potential explanations for why the cosmic sea ripples in such a fashion....

italics mine.

Noodling?

In Oklahoma, that word means the practice of digging into the mud with your bare hands to catch a catfish.

or does it refer to noodles? 

Or is it because the word noodle resembles the word google (the oo sound is similar in both words) and googling meaning to search on the internet for something

So I did google the word

That apparantly is a new word, because the Cambridge dictionary defines it as: 

to do or think about something without giving it full or serious attention:

wordnik adds these definitions:

Noun: The practice and sport of noodling (fishing for catfish using the bare hands).

 

Noun:Musical improvisation.

 This isn't the first time I ran into a food word used as a scientific description: In an earlier blogpost I did note the use of the word Spaghettification, which means a stretching an object into long noodles as it gets sucked into a black hole.

well, anyway, here is a video explaining why discovering gravity waves is so important. 

and one irony about this is that it was found partly thanks to the now destroyed Arecibo radiotelescope. 

Why destroyed? It collapsed in 2020 Because no one apparently was doing proper inspections of the supporting cables

The UKGuardian noted:

a socket holding the auxiliary cable that snapped failed in what experts believe could be a manufacturing error.

italics mine. Bought from the lowest bidder?

or was maintanance the problem? Steel corrosion is a problem in a damp environment where hurricanes happen all the time. 

The National Science Foundation, which owns the observatory that is managed by the University of Central Florida, said crews who evaluated the structure after the first incident determined that the remaining cables could handle the additional weight. But on 6 November another cable broke.

and after two of them snapped, they took their time to fix it, so the whole thing collapsed. DUH.

a Nature article from 2015 notes that the lack of funding was a major problem for the telescope even then. 

The article ends with a quote about seeking outside funding from private donations (instead of the NSF) and in view of what happened is ironic: 

Efforts to find an outside donor have been ongoing for some time, to no avail, Nolan says. Users can be expected to pay for telescope time, but “someone has to pay for the base operations — keeping the grass cut, keeping the big steel structure from falling out of the sky,” he says. “And that’s the part everyone’s finding too expensive.”

italics mine. 

or as the saying goes 

 For want of a nail socket the shoe cable was lost. For want of a shoe cable the horse telescope was lost. 

and the loss of an expensive telescope points to a larger problem:

Regular cable inspiection is an important  issue for bridges that are not being inspected and repaired.

According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, there are 171.5 million crossings per day on over 45,000 structurally deficient U.S. bridges—a significant number of which have bridge cable corrosion issues.

italics mine.....some back story here and here.

 

Asteroids, Armadillos and Leprosy

Science headline of the day:

 
Asteroid the size of 33 armadillos to pass Earth Sunday - NASA...

Asteroid 2023 FL2 is 35 meters, which is as much as almost 33 nine-banded armadillos lined up tail-to-snout. However, it won't hit us, and armadillos might even be more dangerous.The asteroid in question has been designated 2023 FL2 and was discovered just this year, according to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Headsup Instapundit

So how big are nine banded armadillos?

  Wikipedia says:

Nine-banded armadillos generally weigh from 2.5–6.5 kg (5.5–14.3 lb), though the largest specimens can scale up to 10 kg (22 lb). They are one of the largest species of armadillos.[7] Head and body length is 38–58 cm (15–23 in), which combines with the 26–53 cm (10–21 in) tail, for a total length of 64–107 cm (25–42 in).

Most people north of Oklahoma or Texas only have seen them dead as road kill, which is the idea behind this  comment on the Instapundit site:

Nine-banded armadillos are Texas truck mines, waiting on the road to perfectly time their defensive behavior jump to enter into the fan housing of your average (older) truck. Such a mess.

their tendency to jump to avoid predators  explains why so many become road kill.

When startled, the nine-banded armadillo can jump straight upward about three to four feet into the air. This reflex may help scare off predators in the wild. Unfortunately, many armadillos are killed when they jump into the underside of moving vehicles.

But please be careful when you touch an armadillo: They are the only non human animal that carries Hansens disease, aka Leprosy.

Smithsonian article discusses this.

This is a minor problem in the USA where only a couple dozen cases a year catch this disease, but as poor people move into the Amazon to farm, they also tend to eat meat from local animals, including the armadillo. 

Nat Geo explains:

The U.S. documents around 200 cases of leprosy each year—only around 25 percent of which are associated with armadillos. But Brazil records around 25,000 cases annually, which may actually be an underestimate according to Spencer’s research.

Note: the research was on a small number of people and most had antibodies, suggesting exposure, but no active disease

And while it’s true that armadillos can serve as a reservoir for leprosy that can sometimes spill back into humans, it’s worth noting that we gave them the disease first. “People brought leprosy from Europe, with the ships that came from the colonizers,” Spencer says.

uh, stop blaming Europe as the source of the disease: it came from Africa via the European slave traders.

actually leprosy, which was common in medieval Europe, sort of disappeared after the black plague killed most of the lepers, while leprosy in west Africa, where the Europeans obtained slaves, is still a health problem.

40 years ago, when I worked in Liberia, I knew the nun who ran the leprosy treatment outreach clinics there.

She was funded by the Knights of Malta, who are one of the NGOs who work with the WHO to are trying to eradicate the disease there.).

  Atlas obscura article about the Knights of Malta,

Also known as the Knights or Hospitallers of Malta, the Order has a global staff of some 42,000—mostly medical personnel, from a range of religions—and almost twice that many volunteers. There are national associations empowered to set their own humanitarian agendas, and no central, governing authority for these programs. The Order’s staff has provided disaster relief after typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, as well as care for people afflicted with ebola or leprosy in West Africa and Southeast Asia, and operates specialized dementia facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.

Leprosy is easily treated nowadays and with aggressive treatment, can be eliminated from countries. 

This site has up to date statistics and information on how the disease is eradicated. And it seems to be working:

Over the past 20 years, more than 16 million leprosy patients have been treated. The prevalence rate of the disease has dropped by 99%: from 21.1 cases per 10 000 people in 1983 to 0.2 cases per 10 000 people in 2015. A dramatic decrease has been achieved in the global disease burden: from 5.2 million people with leprosy in 1985, to 805 000 people in 1995, 753 000 in 1999, and 176 176 people with leprosy at the end of 2015.

Big Bang Goes Bust?

There are stories out there that galaxies seen by the Webb Telescope mean that the big bang theory may not be true. PhysOrg explains

All of Erica's galaxies look like saucers, except one. I stare at the little red dot on the screen. That is no UFO. And then it hits me: This is something very different. Much more important.

 Read the whole thing.

Summary here: 

scientists are going back to the drawing board to figure out if the observations are true, or if they just have to reconfigure their theories.

..

.....,more here: