Nobody Cares! (Science & Tech Edition)

[Chalice Yao]

The usual picture or map of the solar system is not drawn to scale since the distances are so enormous. This web page is. On a pc, scroll with the right arrow key. I found it kind of fascinating, the amount of vast empty space.

If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel - A tediously accurate map of the solar system

The worst part about outer space is the fact that, despite countless and countless SciFi shows and games and prettied-up NASA photos telling us otherwise, once you leave the atmosphere, space just becomes...well, what you see on that website.

Pitch black to the eyes. Just a black void of nothing, no matter where you look. The light of the stars does not get scattered and visually intensified to the eyes anymore through the atmosphere, and it all vanishes.

And seeing earth from space surrounded by that black nothing gives most first-time astronauts a sense of sad depression, because they tend to realize hard just how much we're fucking up an absolute jewel down here.
William Shatner got hit hard when he went on his private space flight with Blue Origin.

 

[Free]

Some Flat Earth folk are having an event in Las Vegas. In October. So of course they called it

Flatoberfest 2023 – Flat Earth Festivals

flatearthfestivals.com

Sounds like a bad weight loss plan for people around Halloween.

 

[Free]

The failure of Luna 25 cements Putin’s role as a disastrous space leader

"There is no place for modernization, there is only the mission of survival."

arstechnica.com

On Saturday, the Russian space program lost the Luna 25 spacecraft, a relatively small vehicle that was due to land on the Moon this week. After a problem with the spacecraft's propulsion system, instead of entering a low orbit around the Moon, it crashed into the lunar surface.

The Russian mission to the Moon was one of several spacecraft that were to attempt a landing on the Moon in the next six months, alongside probes from Japan, India, and the United States. In this sense, Russia is just one of many nations participating in a second space race back to the Moon, alongside nations and private companies alike.

But unlike NASA, China, India, and several companies in the United States and Japan, the Luna 25 effort does not presage the coming of a golden era of exploration for Russia. Rather, it is more properly seen as the last gasp of a dying empire, an attempt by the modern state of Russia, and President Vladimir Putin, to revive old glories.

 

[Free]

India becomes the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon

Chandrayaan 3 landed closer to the Moon's south pole than any previous mission.

arstechnica.com

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

India becomes the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon

Chandrayaan 3 landed closer to the Moon's south pole than any previous mission.

arstechnica.com

Nice! A successful soft Moon landing, which is more than can be said about some other countries in the last few days.

 

[WolfEyes]

How many wars will be fought for territory on the moon? On Mars? In the asteroid belts?

We can't even take care of our planet of origin.

 

[Free]

Uh boy. More ancient alien stuff, but now (or rather, once again) we have the body as proof. Little alien lives!

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Jaime Maussan is a fraud.

 

[Free]

Well, there you go.

NASA clears the air: No evidence that UFOs are aliens

NASA attempts to make conversations about aerial phenomena more scientific.

arstechnica.com

 

[Free]

Baking trouble in Mexico.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Earth's Mysterious Core May Be Encased by an Ancient Ocean Floor: Study (businessinsider.com)

There's a lot we still don't know about our planet's core, which lies about 1,800 miles beneath our feet.

Now, a new study has revealed a discovery that could help researchers piece together its mysterious inner workings.

The research suggests that Earth's core could be encased in an ancient ocean floor that features giant mountains five times the size of Mount Everest.
Researchers made the discovery after creating the most detailed map yet of the geology beneath our planet's southern hemisphere.

 

[Free]

NASA spacecraft returns to Earth with pieces of an asteroid

Breathe easy; there's a bounty from Bennu inside.

arstechnica.com

A small capsule carrying pristine specimens from an asteroid parachuted to landing in the Utah desert Sunday, capping a seven-year voyage through the Solar System to bring home samples for eager scientists seeking clues about the origins of life.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission brought back the largest unspoiled sample of material ever returned to Earth from beyond the Moon, probably on the order of about 250 grams, or roughly 8 ounces, according to estimates. The spacecraft collected the samples from asteroid Bennu, a loosely-bound rocky world about the size of a small mountain, during a touch-and-go landing in October 2020.

It's the third asteroid sampling mission in history, and the first for the United States, following two Japanese spacecraft that returned a smaller quantity of asteroid specimens to Earth in 2010 and 2020.

If we can just get the Mars Sample Return project going. Right now things are not looking good for it.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

This is what I do call a great innovation: researchers at the MIT with fellow Chinese engineers have created a new way of sea water desalination; the device is completely passive, inspired by the ocean and powered by the sun only. The resulting water is even cheaper than tap water.

Researchers estimate, if scaled to the size of a small suitcase, their device would produce about 4-6 liters/hour, and could run for years before needing replacement of certain parts.

Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water

Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.

techxplore.com

 

[Essence Lumin]

This is what I do call a great innovation: researchers at the MIT with fellow Chinese engineers have created a new way of sea water desalination; the device is completely passive, inspired by the ocean and powered by the sun only. The resulting water is even cheaper than tap water.

Researchers estimate, if scaled to the size of a small suitcase, their device would produce about 4-6 liters/hour, and could run for years before needing replacement of certain parts.

Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water

Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.

techxplore.com

Articles like these, they never seem to actually happen. 4 to 6 liters per hour is more than enough for a household's drinking water. What does this cost initially? Is there a reason it can't be scaled much larger like for a town or city?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Govi]

"It's all done with mirrors."

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

They had basically this in a 19th century book I had as a kid. It was called "modern magic". It was mostly distinctive in that a number of the effects depended on the audience never having heard of electromagnets.

 

[Essence Lumin]

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Technically true which is the best kind of true.

 

[Innula Zenovka]