#( ABOUT MARS. )

[incognitopolls]

For the purposes of this poll, define "had sex" in whatever way makes the most sense to you.

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We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[ink-the-artist]

Love the contrast between the Americans’ “Apollo” and the Soviets’ “Sputnik.” You got the Americans naming their rocket after a Greek god trying to communicate the grandness and importance of this rocket. And you got the Soviets naming their rocket “fellow traveler.” Like a friend you go on an  adventure with together. This rocket is our little friend lol 

[deep-space-netwerk]

So Venus is my favorite planet in the solar system - everything about it is just so weird.

It has this extraordinarily dense atmosphere that by all accounts shouldn't exist - Venus is close enough to the sun (and therefore hot enough) that the atmosphere should have literally evaporated away, just like Mercury's. We think Earth manages to keep its atmosphere by virtue of our magnetic field, but Venus doesn't even have that going for it. While Venus is probably volcanically active, it definitely doesn't have an internal magnetic dynamo, so whatever form of volcanism it has going on is very different from ours. And, it spins backwards! For some reason!!

But, for as many mysteries as Venus has, the United States really hasn't spent much time investigating it. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, sent no less than 16 probes to Venus between 1961 and 1984 as part of the Venera program - most of them looked like this!

The Soviet Union had a very different approach to space than the United States. NASA missions are typically extremely risk averse, and the spacecraft we launch are generally very expensive one-offs that have only one chance to succeed or fail.

It's lead to some really amazing science, but to put it into perspective, the Mars Opportunity rover only had to survive on Mars for 90 days for the mission to be declared a complete success. That thing lasted 15 years. I love the Opportunity rover as much as any self-respecting NASA engineer, but how much extra time and money did we spend that we didn't technically "need" to for it to last 60x longer than required?

Anyway, all to say, the Soviet Union took a more incremental approach, where failures were far less devastating. The Venera 9 through 14 probes were designed to land on the surface of Venus, and survive long enough to take a picture with two cameras - not an easy task, but a fairly straightforward goal compared to NASA standards. They had…mixed results.

Venera 9 managed to take a picture with one camera, but the other one's lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 10 also managed to take a picture with one camera, but again the other lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 11 took no pictures - neither lens cap deployed this time.

Venera 12 also took no pictures - because again, neither lens cap deployed.

Lotta problems with lens caps.

For Venera 13 and 14, in addition to the cameras they sent a device to sample the Venusian "soil". Upon landing, the arm was supposed to swing down and analyze the surface it touched - it was a simple mechanism that couldn't be re-deployed or adjusted after the first go.

This time, both lens caps FINALLY ejected perfectly, and we were treated to these marvelous, eerie pictures of the Venus landscape:

However, when the Venera 14 soil sampler arm deployed, instead of sampling the Venus surface, it managed to swing down and land perfectly on….an ejected lens cap.

[auden-dahn]

“LUCKY YOU.”

read @laikascomet 💫

[blodwyrm]

𝔞𝔰𝔥𝔣𝔲𝔯

[holographic-mars]

The missile is very tired

(Edit: NOT SHIP ART‼️)

[tinyfaust]

I just read an excellent fic yesterday wherein the author fully invented a whole Romulan novel just for Julian and Garak to talk about. Being as invested as I was, I commented on the fic letting the author know how interested I was in an expansion of their ideas of Romulan history or more details about the fictional novel itself.

This beautiful fucking human being replied to be WITH A WHOLE FUCKING ESSAY DETAILING THE PLOT OF THE NOVEL AND THEIR HEADCANONS ON ROMULAN CULTURE IN REGARDS TO ITS INFLUENCE ON THIS FAKE FUCKING NOVEL!!

Im devastated this novel will never exist! I need it so badly! But also like. Star Trek fans? Nobody is doing it like they are. They’re fucking crazy (affectionate). They’re inventing whole cultures, art forms, books, paintings, people, etc.. They’re creating whole Tolkien-esque worlds for a 4k fanfic about a fucking pretty boy doctor and his gay ass lizard homie.

Comment on fics besties! Comment on fics!! Whole worlds of information are waiting to be infodumped on you if you just make it known you liked their work! Everything is yours IF YOU JUST COMMENT ON FICS 💖💖💖💖

[demaparbat-hp]

“Feeding and checking on two animals a couple of times a day is hardly a chore for you. Meanwhile, I've got to deal with a sexist and—even worse—a stupid piece of koalasloth dung.”

“Still not my problem.”

“I'll make it your problem,” she growls.

She wanted murder. He needed sleep.

Technically, the scene this dialogue is from doesn't match the artwork, but the vibe is most important! Their banter must be one of my favorite things about Itch, Akai Kotou's second chapter (read it here!). The dynamic between Suki and Jian Li is terribly amusing, isn't it?

[risibledeer]

happy christmas or merry holidays <3

i threw symbolism on this thing like glitter on a school diorama.

[clumsypuppy]

can i offer you some furries in this trying time

@laikascomet

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[mxmarsbars]

wild life impdog summarized

[jaennisck]

i’ve been thinking a lot about this scene so i had to do a quick drawing

[holographic-mars]

Losers flirting

[intriga-hounds]

We went for an extended stroller ride for the first time today. Went to the park and saw dogs and kids. Kallista and Bonnie might’ve slept the entire time…Felix really enjoyed watching the world go by tho.

[schrodingerspsycho]

I’ve been reading a lot of Bishova fanfiction lately, and I love all the different takes on how good/bad they both are at flirting. Every different dynamic is so much fun, but I think I’ve finally figured out my own headcanon on the matter.

Does Kate have confidence? Absolutely. Is she smooth? Absolutely not. I think she gets by mainly with her charm and cheesy pickup lines, which are more than enough for Yelena.

Yelena, on the other hand, is very smooth- but only when she’s not trying to be. I think she’s the kind of person who makes everyone think she’s flirting with them without even realizing it, but as soon as she actually tries to flirt with Kate she can only say the most awkward thing.

Ava, Bob, and John have all thought she was flirting with them on at least one occasion (all parties were equally disturbed at the thought), and Kate has asked her numerous times if something happened or if she did something wrong, because “you’re acting weird, Yelena.”

Yelena just blushes and goes quiet, which only confuses Kate more