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1The Book of Elsewhere’ by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville The Book of Elsewhere’ by Keanu Reeves and China MiévilleThe acclaimed British ‘weird fiction’ author Miéville has stepped in to spin off his take on Reeves’s unstoppable (but inevitably sensitive, world-weary and introspective) brand of killing machine.There’s going to be a Netflix anime adaptation. And a live-action movie. In the interim, acclaimed British ‘weird fiction’ author China Miéville has stepped in to spin off his take on Reeves’s unstoppable (but inevitably sensitive, world-weary and introspective) killing machine. Miéville has clearly enjoyed the challenge, exploiting the comic’s dilated historical space between our hero’s current gig with a US ultrasecret special-ops unit and his earlier lives. Ladling in his own erudite predilections for occult lore and gnostic historical knowledge, Miéville ruminates on science, magic, the possibility of gods and the meaning of life and death. All the while conjuring characteristically vivid scenes of gore-drenched battle and grotesque biotech horror. It’s a breathless ride, even if Miéville seems content to pastiche styles of sci-fi prose. It’s the compromise of working to another’s brief. And there’s more than a hint of the sense that this is more about Reeves than anything else: the actor comfortably typecast forever. He kills, he dies, he comes back. Image credit: https://tvovermind.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image_66a3c81b3aba7.jpg Netflix anime adaptation. And a live action movie (no details on who and where). | 2Astronaut captures gorgeous green aurora Astronaut captures gorgeous green aurora"The Soyuz hangs from the station in a stream of aurora." A gorgeous view of auroras an astronaut spotted in space may leave you a little green with envy.
International Space Station (ISS) astronaut Matthew Dominick recently captured auroras dancing behind a Russia Soyuz spacecraft on the orbiting complex.
"Recent solar activity pushed the aurora closer to us. The Soyuz hangs from the station in a stream of aurora," NASA's Dominick wrote Aug. 2 on X. Image Credit: The Russia Soyuz spacecraft in front of an aurora, as captured by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick on the International Space Station during Expedition 71 in 2024. (Image credit: Matthew Dominick/NASA/X)
International Space Station (ISS)
| 3Max Original Clone High Max Original Clone HighTwenty years after they were frozen, Abe, Cleo, JFK and Joan are thrust into the modern world and left to navigate a fresh batch of historical clones. Released in August 2024. I wrote about this in BLOG #26 BIZARRE SCIFI CANCELLATIONS A quirky show that got into trouble in Europe and now is brought back. Image Credit: https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/5ISosstgRiQJZjkVmS0C7OPjdLx.jpg
Max
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| 4 | 5 | 6Commerce Department and space traffic coordination service Commerce Department and space traffic coordination serviceThe Department of Commerce remains on schedule to begin the initial version of its space traffic coordination service by the end of September while it works to add capabilities to it.
In an Aug. 6 presentation at the Small Satellite Conference here, Christine Joseph, policy advisor in the Office of Space Commerce, said phase 1.0 of the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, will be turned on in September, maintaining a schedule that the office outlined more than a year ago. That initial version of TraCSS will be open to a limited number of beta testers, who will use it through the existing Space-Track.org system operated by the U.S. Space Force. Those beta users will get conjunction data messages, or CDMs, generated by TraCSS every four hours through Space-Track. That screening is twice as frequent as currently provided by Space-Track. Image Credit: The Office of Space Commerce is preparing to beta test its Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). Credit: NOAA
LOGAN, Utah
| 7Chinese rocket breaks apart after megaconstellation launch Chinese rocket breaks apart after megaconstellation launchThe Aug. 7 incident created more than 300 pieces of trackable debris. The first launch for a coming Chinese internet megaconstellation turned out to be quite messy.
On Tuesday morning (Aug. 6), a Chinese Long March 6A rocket launched the first 18 satellites for the Qianfan ("Thousand Sails") broadband network, which will eventually host up to 14,000 spacecraft.
The rocket successfully delivered the satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO). But its upper stage broke apart shortly thereafter, generating a cloud of debris that's now racing around our planet, according to United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). Image Credit: This composite image, from Slingshot Aerospace’s low Earth orbit-focused Horus optical fences, shows a series of bright, unexpected objects moving along the same orbital path as a Long March 6A rocket body and the 18 Qianfan satellites it deployed on Aug. 6, 2024. These objects are part of the debris cloud spawned by the breakup of the rocket body. (Image credit: Slingshot Aerospace)
Low Earth Orbit
Chang'e-5 Mission Discovers Water in Moon Soil Chang'e-5 Mission Discovers Water in Moon SoilThere's water on the Moon, and scientists have just confirmed where a lot of it may be hiding.
A mineral in Moon dust collected by China's Chang'e-5 lander and ferried to Earth was recently found to contain so much water, it makes up 41 percent of its weight.
The mineral is similar to novograblenovite, which was only identified a few years ago in basaltic rock from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Both the lunar and terrestrial versions have the chemical formula (NH4)MgCl3·6H2O, and have similar crystalline structures. Image credit: A visualization of a lunar mineral containing molecular water. (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
The Moon
| 8Hubble image shows a doomed star about to go boom! Hubble image shows a doomed star about to go boom!Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024: A stunning image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2019 shows the star Eta Carinae in exquisite detail. If the image was taken five years ago, why are we sharing it today?
Well, we might not get another chance. After all, Eta Carinae is living on borrowed time! The star, which is 100 times as mass as the sun, could explode any day now. Alternatively, the star could have another million years to blow! Either way, Eta Carinae is doomed! Image Credit: An image taken by Hubble in 2019 shows the star Eta Carinae, a star about to explode (Image credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt)
Star Eta Carinae
The 82nd World Sci Fi Convention (Worldcon) The 82nd World Sci Fi Convention (Worldcon)Worldcon is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). It was first held in 1939 and, after a hiatus during WWII, has been held continuously since 1946. The membership of WSFS is every member of the current Worldcon.
The Scottish Events Campus (SEC), Glasgow, ScotlandAugust 8-12, 2024 | 9Borderlands 2024 PG-13 1h 42m Borderlands 2024 PG-13 1h 42mBased on the best-selling videogame, this all-star action-adventure follows a ragtag team of misfits on a mission to save a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power. Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous bounty hunter with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home, Pandora, the most chaotic planet in the galaxy. Her mission is to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Ramírez), the universe's most powerful S.O.B. Lilith forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits - Roland (Hart), a seasoned mercenary on a mission; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral preteen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina's musclebound protector; Tannis (Curtis), the oddball scientist who's seen it all; and Claptrap (Black), a wiseass robot. Together, these unlikely heroes must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of Pandora's most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands - but they'll be fighting for something more: each other.—Lionsgate Image Credit: Theatrical release poster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderlands_(film)
August 6, 2024 (Los Angeles)August 9, 2024 (United States) Is there a launch today?  Is there a launch today?The record-breaking rocket launch pace on Florida's Space Coast slowed in July amid the Federal Aviation Administration's 16-day grounding of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fleet.
But after hosting 53 orbital rocket launches during the first seven months of 2024, the home of NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station should still shatter the annual record of 72 launches. SpaceX will launch the latest batch of Starlink internet satellites.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
| 10SpaceX launches 21 satellites from Florida; another one set SpaceX launches 21 satellites from Florida; another one setAug. 10 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched 21 Starlink satellites into orbit from a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday morning in clear skies from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, one day after the mission was scrubbed because of poor booster recovery conditions.
The 230-foot rocket lifted off at 8:50 a.m. from pad 40. It was Space X's 52nd launch this year from Florida. Image Credit: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 21 Starlink satellites on Aug. 10, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
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11New Biomaterial Could Finally Repair Damaged Cartilage New Biomaterial Could Finally Repair Damaged CartilageThe body is pretty good at repairing itself, but some parts of our anatomy struggle to bounce back after an injury.
One such material is cartilage – the spongy yet firm connective tissue that keeps our bones from rubbing and jarring against each other. Over time, the translucent or 'hyaline' components of cartilage can become heavily degraded, resulting in painful conditions like osteoarthritis and chondromalacia.
Scientists have been working on a way to regenerate hyaline cartilage for years, and now a team led by Northwestern University in the US has achieved a breakthrough. They have developed a biomaterial that, injected into damaged cartilage in living sheep, acted as a scaffold that promoted cartilage regrowth in active joints. Image Credit: The microstructure of the new material, with the peptide filament bundles in pink and the hyaluronic acid in purple. (Samuel I. Stupp/Northwestern University)
Northwestern University, Illinois
How to watch the Perseid meteor shower live online this week How to watch the Perseid meteor shower live online this weekConditions look great for this year's Perseid meteor shower so why not sit back, relax and enjoy the show! The Perseid meteor shower peaks overnight on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, the best time to look for Perseids is in the predawn hours.
If you are unable to look for Perseids in person, check out these two free livestreams hosted by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project. The livestreams will use the project's all-sky camera, giving you a front-seat view of the dark skies over Maciano, Italy, weather permitting of course.
The first livestream will begin at 9 p.m. EDT on Aug. 11 (0100 GMT on Aug. 12,) the second will begin at 9 p.m. EDT on Aug. 12 (0100 GMT on Aug. 13) coinciding with the anticipated peak activity of the Perseid meteor shower. You can watch all the action unfold here on Space.com courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project, or directly on their WebTV page or YouTube channel. Image Credit: Every year, Earth passes through the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle. With the Perseid meteor shower's peak occurring when Earth passes through the densest, dustiest area. (Image credit: Future)
The Perseids appear from approximately the direction of the Northern Hemisphere constellation Perseus.
| 12New Mars study suggests water hiding beneath New Mars study suggests water hiding beneathNew Mars study suggests an ocean's worth of water may be hiding beneath the red dusty surface. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —Mars may be drenched beneath its surface, with enough water hiding in the cracks of underground rocks to form a global ocean, new research suggests. The findings released Monday are based on seismic measurements from NASA’s Mars InSight lander, which detected more than 1,300 marsquakes before shutting down two years ago. This water — believed to be seven miles to 12 miles down in the Martian crust — most likely would have seeped from the surface billions of years ago when Mars harbored rivers, lakes and possibly oceans, according to the lead scientist, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Photo Credit: FILE - This image provided by NASA shows the InSight Mars lander in a selfie photo composite on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP, File) SOURCE: NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP, File CAPE CANAVERAL, FlORIDA Photo Credit: FILE - This image provided by NASA shows the InSight Mars lander in a selfie photo composite on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP, File) SOURCE: NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP, File Odyssey Writing Workshop  Odyssey Writing WorkshopThe Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed with a simple yet inspiring mission: to help developing writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror improve their work.
If you’re a writer of fantastic fiction, Odyssey’s programs and resources are designed to help you take your writing to the next level. Odyssey is based on the principle that the journey to become the best writer one can be is lifelong. If writers want to reach their full potential, to have their work live and grow along with them, they need to constantly strive to improve. Because of this, the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust offers feedback and guidance to writers at all levels, from beginners to successful professionals. Become the writer you’ve always known you could be! The registration date has passed, of course, but it is a good idea to think about such a course if you are a writer. Image Credit: Logo of Odyssey Writing Workshops
Online
| 13Potential Evidence of Life Discovered on Mars Potential Evidence of Life Discovered on MarsNASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered an intriguing rock on Mars, named Cheyava Falls, showcasing potential signs of ancient life due to its unique chemical signatures and structural features.
This finding, supported by the presence of organic compounds and distinct color patterns suggestive of microbial activity, fuels ongoing research to determine Mars’s habitability.
Photo credit:NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Robotic Arm NASA’s Perseverance rover, a six-wheeled geologist, found a fascinating rock that has some indications it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago, but further research is needed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Paramount Begins Layoff of 15% of Workforce  Paramount Begins Layoff of 15% of WorkforceIn an internal memo, Paramount's co-CEOs said the company is at an "inflection point" where changes are necessary to strengthen the business.
The layoffs, which were announced during a post-earnings call last week, are expected to affect about 2,000 people. The layoffs will continue through the end of 2024, with 90% of the cuts expected to be completed by the end of September.
ED MORRISSEYOuch. The economic environment for media is very difficult at the moment, for lots of reasons, but mergers are part of the problem. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures, CBS Studios, Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures, while also including original series and films, live streaming sports coverage, and in the United States, live streaming of local CBS broadcast stations. Photo credit:https://wwwimage-us.pplusstatic.com/base/files/blog/01_p_brand_blog_promo_1920x1080_1.jpg New York, United States Photo credit:https://wwwimage-us.pplusstatic.com/base/files/blog/01_p_brand_blog_promo_1920x1080_1.jpg | 14 | 15Alien: Romulus The Movie Alien: Romulus The MovieAlien: Romulus is an upcoming American science fiction horror film. Directed by Fede Álvarez, who co-wrote it with Rodo Sayagues, the film was produced by Scott Free Productions and Brandywine Productions. It is the seventh installment in the Alien franchise and serves as a standalone interquel set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986).[2] It stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Image Credit" https://www.scified.com/u/Screenshot_20230618-153355_Instagram.jpg
Edinburgh International Film Festival August 15, 2024 Edinburgh, ScotlandThe United States August 16, 2024 The Space-Edge Accelerator  The Space-Edge Acceleratorin collaboration with Blue Origin, a multi-state program features an Arizona hub that offers a unique opportunity for Arizona’s biomedical sector to engage with and benefit from the emerging space economy. The global space economy is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2040, making business opportunities in space an unprecedented entrepreneurial area. Space-Edge Accelerator will connect entrepreneurs with experts and resources that will help them develop effective space-based business strategies. Applications will open Aug. 8, 2024. Image credit: https://news.asu.edu/b/20240725-spacefocused-accelerator-begins-process-applicants?j=6874379&sfmc_sub=459966558&l=15914_HTML&u=75014163&mid=518002275&jb=0
Online. Prospective participants can sign up via one of four university hubs: the University of Florida, Arizona State University, the University of Central Florida and Vanderbilt University. Participants must be based in Arizona to sign up with ASU, in Florida to sign up with UF or UCF and in the Mid-South region or the Tennessee Valley region to sign up with Vanderbilt University.
| 16Tracking the dinosaur's asteroid Tracking the dinosaur's asteroidGeoscientists from the University of Cologne have led an international study to determine the origin of the huge piece of rock that hit the Earth around 66 million years ago and permanently changed the climate. The scientists analysed samples of the rock layer that marks the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods. This period also saw the last major mass extinction event on Earth, in which around 70 percent of all animal species became extinct. The results of the study published in Science indicate that the asteroid formed outside Jupiter's orbit during the early development of our solar system.
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Illustration credit: https://media.sciencephoto.com/image/c0374885/800wm/C0374885-Extinction_of_the_dinosaurs,_illustration.jpg
Deep Space Food Challenge Deep Space Food ChallengeNASA invites the media and public to explore the nexus of space and food innovation at the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge symposium and winners’ announcement at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Aug. 16. Image credit: NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge directly supports the agency’s Moon to Mars initiatives.Credit: NASA Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Aug. 16 | 17Rocket Report: ULA is losing engineers; SpaceX is launching Rocket Report: ULA is losing engineers; SpaceX is launchingWelcome to Edition 7.07 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX has not missed a beat since the Federal Aviation Administration gave the company a green light to resume Falcon 9 launches after a failure last month. A quick turnaround for Rocket Lab. Defense contractors teaming up on solid rockets. SpaceX Going polar with crew. Russia's launch rate has plummeted. Stoke Space wants to walk before running. Engineers are reportedly leaving ULA. With a record number of launches due next year, United Launch Alliance is losing key staff to competitors, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, Bloomberg reports. Next three launchesAugust 16: SSLV | EOS-08 | Satish Dhawan Space Center, India | 03:47 UTC August 16: Long March 2D | Unknown Payload | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China | 07:35 UTC August 16: Falcon 9 | Transporter 11 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 18:20 UTC Our Space Industry Photo credit: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/07/13/science/13vulcan/13vulcan-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg | ||||||||
18Orbex working towards 2025 first launch Orbex working towards 2025 first launchOrbex, now projecting a 2025 first launch of its small launch vehicle, plans to focus on the small end of the market even as competitors shift to larger rockets.
In an interview during the Farnborough International Airshow in July, Phil Chambers, chief executive of the United Kingdom-based company, said the company was making progress on both its Prime small rocket and launch site at Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland.
“We expect the spaceport to be ready in early spring of next year,” he said. Vehicle subsystems are going through critical design reviews, with some flight hardware under construction.
“We are shooting for a 2025 launch,” he said, but declined to be more specific about a launch date other than to say that the company wanted to avoid a launch in winter because of poor weather conditions. “But I do want it to be 2025.”
Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland
Photo credit: Orbex expects to complete Spaceport Sutherland in early 2025 to support a first launch of its Prime rocket later in the year. Credit: Orbex
| 19Space Suit Designs Could Stall Boeing Starliner Astronauts Space Suit Designs Could Stall Boeing Starliner AstronautsButch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two astronauts Boeing's Starliner spacecraft ferried into space in June, face an interesting conundrum about how they finally get home. Their ride back to Earth is in question thanks to issues with Starliner, and NASA is poised to make critical decisions on the issue soon. One of the toughest questions about their return trip from space has nothing to do with rockets. Instead, the latest issue centers around space suit sockets and seats.
Suit casesIn case you missed it: Boeing's Starliner space capsule is "stuck" at the International Space Station after a number of thruster malfunctions during its launch in June. It might become unstuck at some point if NASA and Boeing engineers can agree on what went wrong and how to fix the engine issues. Even so, Wilmore and Williams aren't technically stuck the same way their capsule is -- a number of options exist to get them home. However, their space suits pose an unexpected challenge to some potential paths to the astronauts' return. Years-old design decisions by two competing space companies leave the space mission with a classic innovator's dilemma issue, wrapped up in high-tech aerospace gear. International Space Station Photo credit: Getty Images | 20Russians Baffled After Putin's 'Space Troops' Deployed Russians Baffled After Putin's 'Space Troops' DeployedRussians have been left baffled after President Vladimir Putin deployed his so-called "space troops" to defend the Kursk region due to a manpower shortage amid a Ukrainian incursion.
The deployment of temporary motorized rifle of Russia's Aerospace Forces to the Kursk region was first reported by independent investigative Russian outlet Important Stories.
Kursk, Russia
Photo credit: Contributor/Getty Images
The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program CrashedStrausbaugh reexamines the familiar topic of the Soviet Union’s initial lead in the space race with the United States, an advantage that lasted from 1957, with the launch of Sputnik, the first satellite, until the mid-1960s. Given the Soviet Union’s postwar devastation, poverty, and famine, this achievement was close to a miracle. And in Washington, it was a cause for anxiety and apprehension. In the early 1970s, a Soviet defector exposed Soviet achievements as “space bluff,” which hid failures and created illusions about technological capacities. A wealth of previously classified documents that have become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union mostly confirm the notion that the Soviet space program was not nearly as robust as it seemed. Strausbaugh’s book is based on those documents, as well as the vast existing literature. He writes about Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s burning desire to upstage the Americans, a drive that put Soviet engineers and spacecraft designers under enormous pressure, resulting in unsafe, slapdash contraptions and exposing the first Soviet cosmonauts to extremely high risks. These cosmonauts were squeezed into ridiculously small capsules, with virtually no protective gear and no hope for emergency evacuation. Astonishingly, they often pulled off successful launches and flights. The American landing on the moon put an end to the Soviet advantage in crewed flights. The book is interspersed with Soviet political jokes and, unfortunately, is not free of factual inaccuracies.
Russian
Image credit: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/wrong-stuff-how-soviet-space-program-crashed-and-burned
| 21 | 22Norwegian spaceport receives government license Norwegian spaceport receives government licenseA Norwegian spaceport is a step closer to hosting the first orbital launch for Isar Aerospace after receiving a government license.
Andøya Spaceport announced Aug. 22 that it received a license from Norway’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries that allows it to conduct launches from the site, located on the island of Andøya north of the Arctic Circle.
The spaceport will be the initial launch site for Isar Aerospace, the German company developing the Spectrum small launch vehicle. The spaceport formally marked completion of the pad that Spectrum will launch from last November.
the island of Andøya north of the Arctic Circle, Norway
Photo credit: Andøya Spaceport ©-Copyright-Andoya-Spaceport_Launch-Pad-A
| 23The Crow (2024 film) The Crow (2024 film)The Crow is an upcoming gothic[5] superhero film directed by Rupert Sanders from a screenplay by Zach Baylin and William Schneider. A reboot of The Crow film series, it is the fifth film in the franchise, and is the second film, after the 1994 film, to directly adapt the 1989 comic book series of the same name by James O'Barr.[a] The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric / The Crow, a murdered musician who is resurrected to avenge the deaths of himself and his fiancée, played by FKA Twigs. Image Credit: Theatrical release poster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crow_(2024_film)#Production
August 21, 2024 (France)August 23, 2024 (United Kingdom/United States) | 24 | ||||||||
| 25 | 26Polaris Dawn will feature the first-ever private spacewalk. Polaris Dawn will feature the first-ever private spacewalk.SpaceX is now targeting Aug. 26 for the launch of Polaris Dawn, a crewed flight to Earth orbit that will feature the first-ever private spacewalk.
The news, which the Polaris Dawn team announced today (Aug. 7) via a post on X, firms up a previously vague window; the most recent target for the groundbreaking mission was mid-August.
Polaris Dawn will send four people to Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission pose in front of a fighter jet. (Image credit: Polaris Program/John Kraus)
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
a free-flying mission that does not link up with the International Space Station (ISS). Polaris Dawn will circle our planet at an altitude of about 435 miles (700 kilometers), taking the crew farther from Earth than any mission since the Apollo era.
| 27SpaceX delays Polaris Dawn astronaut launch to Aug. 28 SpaceX delays Polaris Dawn astronaut launch to Aug. 28We'll have to wait at least another day to see SpaceX's historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission lift off.
Polaris Dawn, which will conduct the first-ever private spacewalk, had been scheduled to launch early Tuesday morning (Aug. 27) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But a helium leak has forced a delay of at least 24 hours.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
(Image credit: SpaceX)
| 28Scientists discover a long-sought global electric field Scientists discover a long-sought global electric fieldUsing observations from a NASA suborbital rocket, an international team of scientists, for the first time, has successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic fields.
The Endurance rocket ship launches from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
Credit: Andøya Space/Leif Jonny Eilertsen
Space Force No. 2 Says There Is Risk of China or Russia Space Force No. 2 Says There Is Risk of China or RussiaChina and Russia have been monitoring U.S. efforts to protect its space assets and are trying to devise ways to counter them, to include a potential large-scale attack, the Space Force’s No. 2 officer said Aug. 28.
The Space Force and the Department of Defense have turned to proliferated constellations to make the U.S. satellites less vulnerable to attack and say the U.S. remains ahead in space.
ROCKVILLE, Md.
Photo Credit: May 1, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich
| 29'One of the cleanest flights I've seen.' Blue Origin 'One of the cleanest flights I've seen.' Blue OriginBlue Origin launched and landed its eighth suborbital space tourism mission this morning.
Blue Origin, which is run by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, sent the six-person NS-26 flight to space from its West Texas spaceport today. Liftoff occurred at 9:07 a.m. EDT (1307 GMT; 8:07 a.m. local Texas time). The flight reached a maximum altitude of around 341,000 feet (104,000 meters) before coming back for a touchdown in the West Texas dust around 9:19 a.m. EDT (1319 GMT or 8:19 a.m. local time).
As the crew stepped out of the RSS First Step capsule, they cheered to the friends and family gathered to watch their return. "I went to space!" screamed passenger Nicolina Elrick as she pumped her hands in the air as the first crewmember out.
West Texas spaceport of Blue Origin 25 miles outside of West Texas town Van Horn
Photo Credit: Image credit: Blue Origin via YouTube
BOOKWORM (2024) REVIEW FOR FANTASIA: A CHARMING FAMILY TALE BOOKWORM (2024) REVIEW FOR FANTASIA: A CHARMING FAMILY TALEAnt Timpson’s charming family picture sets an estranged father and daughter on a quest for a cryptid cat, and for reconciliation.
First in the UK then in the USA
Illustration credit: https://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/bookworm-2024-review-for-fantasia-a-charming-family-tale/
| 30Post-apocalyptic education Post-apocalyptic educationLast summer, I wrote about the Homework Apocalypse, the coming reality where AI could complete most traditional homework assignments, rendering them ineffective as learning tools and assessment measures. My prophecy has come true, and AI can now ace most tests. Yet remarkably little has changed as a result, even as AI use became nearly universal among students.
United States
Illustration credit: Yes, AI can basically do all of the homework. I had Claude create this chart using data from the Llama 3.1 launch paper
NASA cuts 2 from next SpaceX flight for stranded 2 NASA cuts 2 from next SpaceX flight for stranded 2NASA on Friday cut two astronauts from the next crew to make room on the return trip for the two stuck at the International Space Station.
NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch in September aboard a SpaceX rocket for the orbiting laboratory. The duo will return with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore in February. NASA decided it’s too risky for Williams and Wilmore to fly home in their Boeing Starliner capsule, marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks.
Bumped from the SpaceX flight: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson. NASA said they could fly on future missions.
International Space Station in low Earth Orbit
Photo Credit: (SpaceX via AP)
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