#Interplanetary

[theofficialastronomy101]

ISS view of the pacific ocean

[harrison-armory-incorporated]

So jimbo if you had to choose a song that would best fit each of your companies mechs what would they be, and why?

@ips-northstar-official? A sea shanty, of course.

@horus-unofficial? Machine God.

@smith-shimano-corpro? The Citizen Sleeper soundtrack kind of fits so why not.

HA? Self explanatory.

@ktbofficial? Ferdinand only deserves the best taste in music.

@hra-official? They're survivors and I respect that. You get a very emotional track, one of my favorites actually on this list.

[bismarck1323]

Hello, I have a couple of images from my modded career mode playthrough of KSP. I did a self imposed challenge of doing aircraft only based on the mod list of a youtuber doing a similar playthrough. Anyways here is the JPSP-5 (Janis Passenger Space Plane model 5) Tarrasque.

For the one and only mission it flew it transport tourists around both Minmus and the Mun.

Here is a good image to view its engines. It uses six modded S.A.B.E.R. engines (might have gotten the name wrong) which function very similar to the R.A.P.I.E.R. engines from stock apart from better performance at higher speeds. It also has two Nerv atomic rocket motors. If I remember correctly it had a total of around 6000m/s of delta v in orbit.

Here is a good image showing the top of the SSTO.

[romilly-jay]

Thoughts About The "Thoughts About The Expanse" Panel

***spoilers, natch***

This was one of the sessions I actively wanted to go to but Managing Worldcon Life got in the way. (If I've reconstructed correctly - never certain!- this session was on the same day as the big Worldcon philharmonic concert and immediately before it? If that's right - in theory, it should have been possible to do both, one straight after the other, BUT in reality, this hour got eaten up in queueing time.

So, delighted to find it in the replays and an early priority to listen to - and very glad I did, if mainly to feel the waves of joy and affection rising as I was reminded how VERY MUCH I loved this show*.

*Yes, I know that The Expanse is also an impressive series of novels and novellas as well, but I have mostly - not read these. Yet. They are firmly IN my TBR but as with Worldcon, life has so far Intervened.

=========================================

Right, I'd written the bits above and below the === then got called away [dinner awaits no blogging, dahlings] and then... forgot to return - so the middle segment was NEARLY just the following:

Some of the panel content here.

But - hurrah - started on the next blog and wanted to link it to what that clever Caroline Mersey said about it, only to discover that... she said nothing (as reported here). Oops and - corrected.

In fact almost all of the next part is CM's pitch for why The Expanse is the greatest TV SF series of the 21st century // worldcon Aug 2024

Her pitch revolved around the treatment of sexuality and gender:

This show is the most progressive recent SFF show, particularly in the way it queers gender and sexuality in ways we rarely see on TV.

The power is how it normalises and embeds its treatment. It has poly relationships – almost unheard of in commercial productions. Holden’s family of origin. It’s not just about the tax breaks. Drummer’s crew of space pirates. More complex than a traditional love triangle (tho Draomi is a canon relationship YAY.) This is a show that consistently queers and interrogates expected gender roles. Bobby Draper: not sexualised, not all-powerful, seeks help. Peaches: classic tale of angry superhero on a revenge trip who earns her redemption. Drummer: uber-competent but also with brittle edges.

The exception to the excellence is Julie Mao – the fetishised object of a middle aged white guy’s obsession. CM comments that book one was pretty standard male-oriented SF – very blokey, testosterone-fuelled – but complimented the two writers for how they responded to receiving that feedback, gender flipping certain characters from book two onwards and allowing the story to unfold as it did.

CM's summary of what she loves about the show is made with reference to the final three episodes of S5:

The story around Naomi’s resilience – her desperate determination to save the Roci from Inaros’s trap – we don’t breathe until she does again – amazing engineering ingenuity – while she’s trying to send a signal and break the trap. We have Amos and Peaches and their hugely daring escape from Earth. Avasarala’s coup. Drummer’s torn loyalties – but we’ve also got: how you best deal with your sex pest cast member by writing them out in a way that respects the character but conclusively rules out a return. Those episodes exemplify the most striking and my favourite things about the series.

There was really only one point I *really* wanted to grab from the rest of the session and I *believe* it was lawyer Wes Rist who made it:

Noting the benefit to the quality of the story - its complexity, its ambiguity, the kinks away from expected narratives - that they had several “goes” at it. The role playing game. The books (and novellas filling out the world between the main stories). And then the show.

=========================================

Finishing up by I'm listing out the panel members, incl their varied backgrounds, along with a sort-of-summary of what they said about themselves. To me, this is synecdochal (??) of the identity and value-set of the series and the quality of its appeal i.e. appeals to and relevant to, well, lots of people but almost certainly including:

people who are interested in politics and/or international relations and/or Marxism and/or debating between different philosophies;

people who like hard science and realistic space battles - slash - pouring of liquids in zero G;

people who want to imagine human futures across and within the solar system and the social - slash - economic - slash - politics impacts and implications involved in becoming a bi-planetary species and/or a multi-space location capitalist construct; and

people who want to imagine alternative gendered futures.

[Also, people who think about the Roman empire alot. Perhaps daily.]

These, then, are the panellists:

Sven von Vittorelli is a conservation biologist from Germany, who told the room that his day job is often filled with frustration, with the sense of coming up against the boundaries of what's possible, and so chooses to enrich his life through engaging with science fiction.

[Writing - he's working on the first novel in a hard SF series, which appealed to me immediately because it namechecks Shackleton in the title, Shackleton Ridge. And as a fan - he won me over again by naming Firefly and Battlestar Galactica as series he loved on the way to becoming a fan of The Expanse.]

Wes Rist is an international human rights lawyer whose day job involves working on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity - clearly, seriously heavy, and also, deeply relevant to the political context, themes and developments of The Expanse series.

[He clarified, of course, that his views expressed here, are personal - he's working in some capacity for the US government but not speaking for his employer HERE.]

Bob Hranek has a tech background, initially for the US Airforce (5 yrs), then for the US min of defence (35 years) focused on aerospace systems - he pointed out that any views expressed were his own and not those of his employer (prompting the same from WR).

He joked that given his background he would generally, in the context of The Expanse, be expected to be representing [Evil! Tech! And Weapons! Giant!] Protogen.

Caroline Mersey is a cos player and book nerd and organises lots of book events in her spare time, including the 'Super Relaxed Fantasy Bookclub' - every second Tuesday in London. [Must attempt to go...]

And the panel moderator, Michael Pea, is senior writer at Friends of Comic Con and self-declared *uberfan* of The Expanse.

[libraryofbaxobab]

April 13, 2024:

Based on how much I loved her other book, Dead Silence, my expectations were too high. I spent the first half of this book concerned that this was wayyy too similar to We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen but by the time the good stuff (i.e., the horrors) started happening I finally perked up.

I just love when a character is losing their mind, tries to speak, and then hears what they *actually* said. It must be so hard to write that in a way that scans, but it also wouldn't work in any other format. That scene was fantastic.

However, in general, the characterization "ineffectual psychologist who is more damaged and neurotic than literally everyone else" does not speak to me. Somehow they're always overly concerned with subtle power dynamics & what every little utterance or facial expression could mean, while also simultaneously acting clueless, overreacting, & speaking like they've never studied psychology. They're more like paranoid sociologists but it's harder to shoehorn in a sociologist into an interplanetary mission (hello, Invisible Things by Mat Johnson, I see you). People who watch Dr. Grande's YouTube channel have more clinical knowledge. To be fair, this particular Unwelcome Sci-Fi Psychologist is the best one I've come across, but I still just generally don't like it. Personally.

I was also waiting for a big twist and there wasn't one. I also didn't like how happy the ending was. For what was going on and the impossible position the characters were in, that pulled punch was way, way too soft. Not that everything has to be grimdark edgy shit, but this ending was all just a little too convenient.

6.5/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

[alakotila]

My partner's space fantasy adventure novel just had its 6-month anniversary! You can get Big Noise in Spaceland on bookshop.org or better yet, order it through your local bookshop, request it at your library, or get it online from most places. (There is an e-book too!) If you are looking for space adventures focused on your average people -- they're musicians on a co-op ship that lost its star drive thanks to a strange phenomenon that knocked out communications -- and are now just looking for a way to get back to the stars and continue their journeys. When they finally get to a planet, they find that all the bigwigs on the corporate planet simply left, leaving everyone else behind. Abandoned structures include an amusement park, fully ready and set to open... Their best hope for what they need lies within that park, Spaceland, but its untested AI wasn't ready for them, or the aliens that also found themselves stranded on the planet. If they want to get back to the stars though, they've got to push through this wild ride! I think if you liked Becky Chamber's books like A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet you may like Big Noise in Spaceland. (YES, there are a lot of queer characters!) Cover by Jennifer Rackham. PS Also please accept this image of our cat. Clover immediately stole the pink thing I was using as a backdrop for taking these pictures lol.

[mistfunk]

Mistigram: this #textmode art screen by @littlebitspace, "Interplanetary", figured prominently in last month's spooky MIST1024 artpack collection, because... wtf! So there's a cosmic conjunction of celestial spheres, fine! But what's up with the colossal, planet-sized skull? Is there an immense headless torso somewhere out there in orbit around Jupiter? Does the skull have a molten core, an atmosphere even? Every answer opens the door to weirder questions.

[cat-eye-nebula]

Utopic community of the future, with free-energy and anti-gravity technology. ♥･ﾟ:✧*✧･ﾟ

[dinnickhowellslikes]

Great series of 3D space craft renders from Element115 , which he describes as "Concept art from non-existent space programs. NoAI." His clouds and planet surfaces are beautifully done, but it's the design of his space craft, and incredible detail, that are most impressive. I also love the aberration in the lens effects that many of the images feature that feel like they were "shot" in the very bright, single light source of the sun.

[theofficialastronomy101]

Think we’re alone? Were this close of finding life! As a matter of fact, we’re currently studying possible life right now and think we may have finally found it

1200 Megapixel

[rotuuumblr]

My new and improved sketch for my starship.

Given everything i've learned, i've decided to redo the design a bit. I'm rather content with this new iteration.

[yusufalioglu]

Strange Dreams by Yusuf Alioğlu Via Flickr: Strange Dreams My Interplanetary Memories Interplanetary Travel I began to have strange dreams. They are unusual and so meaningless. Maybe it seems that way to me. Sometimes I look into what my dreams mean. Every time I look at the meanings of my dreams, I think that I can find answers to the questions in my head. At least I'm looking for a sign about my future in my dreams. When I read the meanings of the dreams I had, the idea of returning to earth outweighs. However, I would like to state that I am still undecided on this issue. Yes, I know this topic is getting too long. But the fact that there was no concept of time where I was was causing me to take my decisions too late. The delay in my decision making actually affects only one of the two decisions. It just influences my decision to return to Earth. I'm already living out my other option, my plan to stay in space. The delay in making my decision lags behind the progress of time on Earth as time progresses. Although the concept of time was meaningless in space, it had a lot of meaning on Earth. And time was moving on in the world. Actually, in a way, the concept of time was also valid for me. As time progressed in the world, it continued to progress for me biologically. I was getting older. This could create a negative situation for me when I return to the world. Due to my advanced age, I would have a hard time starting a new life. Therefore, I knew that I had to make my decision as soon as possible. But even though I was conscious of it, I was taking everything too slow. I think I was terrified by the idea of returning to earth. I think I was expecting a "Come" Actually, I've had enough adventures in space. I saved thousands of memories on other planets. Maybe it's time to go back to the world and embark on new adventures. Maybe I should go back to Earth and make new memories. Maybe I should give myself another chance. Camera: Canon EOS Kiss X7i Photograph by Yusuf Alioglu Location: Outer space (space) Facebook Become a Patron! Instagram (Yusuf Alioglu Photography) Instagram (UnbornArt) Twitter Youtube iStock Blogger Vimeo UnbornArt deviantART Tumblr Check out this portfolio on Shutterstock!

[juliettepagacz]

A solar sail system — known as ACS3, by NanoAvionics; the aim is to replace conventional rocket propellants by developing and testing solar sails using sunlight beams to move the nanosatellite. These solar sail propulsion systems are designed for future small interplanetary spacecrafts destined for low-cost deep-space and science missions requiring long-duration and low-thrust propulsion.

[mobiletimestoda]

Interstellar Drive Engine Patent Application #romaniuk #interstellar #en...

[spacenutspod]

SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 09 Starship's Fiery End and Blue Origin's New Glenn Debut SpaceX's Starship experienced a dramatic explosion during its seventh test flight, marking both success and setback. While the super heavy booster was successfully caught by the launch tower's chopstick arms, the Starship upper stage exploded during ascent. Despite the fiery end, the mission demonstrated significant advancements in booster recovery technology. Blue Origin's New Glenn Maiden Flight Blue Origin's New Glenn mega rocket has completed its first flight, successfully reaching orbit. However, the mission wasn't flawless, as the first stage booster failed to land on a pre-positioned barge in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission's payload, a prototype for the Blue Ring orbital vehicle, was successfully deployed, marking a significant milestone for Blue Origin. Mysterious Stellar Pulsations Explained Astronomers have pinpointed the source of mysterious long-period radio transients, linking them to a binary star system comprising a white dwarf and a red dwarf. This discovery, made using data from the Murchison Wide Field Array and the Meerkat telescope, offers new insights into these enigmatic astrophysical events. 00:00 Space Time Starship destroyed in spectacular explosion during its seventh test flight 00:48 Super heavy booster successfully caught by launch tower's chopsticks during textbook landing 07:09 Debris spotted streaking over Caribbean Sea after SpaceX Falcon 7 launch 11:05 Blue Origin's new Glenn has successfully undertaken its maiden flight 16:55 Astronomers have discovered the source of mysterious extreme astrophysical event 20:50 Long period radio transients are mysterious new class of repeating radio source in space 29:08 Long period radio transients may be caused by binary M dwarf white dwarf systems 32:12 New study warns shallow groundwater is projected to warm by 3.5 degrees Celsius by 2099 34:29 All the hype about mysterious drones over New Jersey disappeared after LA wildfires www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com www.bitesz.com 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. Enjoy incredible discounts and bonuses! Plus, it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ Check out our newest sponsor - Old Glory - Iconic Music and Sports Merch and now with official NASA merchandise. Well worth a look... Become a supporter of this Podcast for as little as $3 per month and access commercial-free episodes plus bonuses: https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/about