#laser temperature sensor

[thebestechaustralia]

Unlocking the Potential of Infrared Temperature Sensors

In today's fast-paced and technologically advanced world, precise temperature measurement is crucial in various industries. Infrared temperature sensors have emerged as a powerful tool, offering non-contact temperature measurement with high accuracy and reliability. This blog explores the fascinating world of infrared temperature sensors, their working principles, applications, and key advantages.

Understanding Infrared Temperature Sensors

Infrared Temperature Sensors, also known as IR temperature sensors, utilize infrared radiation to measure the temperature of an object without making physical contact. These sensors detect the infrared energy emitted by an object and convert it into an electrical signal, which is then processed to determine the object's temperature. This non-contact method ensures accurate measurements even in challenging environments.

How Infrared Temperature Sensors Work

Emission of Infrared Radiation: All objects with a temperature above absolute zero emit infrared radiation. The intensity of this radiation varies with the temperature of the object.

Detection of Infrared Radiation: The infrared temperature sensor detects the emitted infrared radiation using a lens or mirror system. This system focuses the radiation onto a detector.

Conversion to Electrical Signal: The detector converts the focused infrared radiation into an electrical signal. This signal is proportional to the amount of infrared energy received.

Signal Processing: The electrical signal is processed and converted into a temperature reading. Advanced sensors use algorithms to ensure accuracy and compensate for environmental factors.

Applications of Infrared Temperature Sensors

Infrared temperature sensors find applications in a wide range of industries due to their versatility and accuracy. Some key applications include:

Industrial Processes: These sensors are used to monitor and control temperatures in manufacturing processes, ensuring product quality and safety.

Medical Field: In healthcare, infrared temperature sensors are used in thermometers to measure body temperature non-invasively, especially useful for infants and during pandemics.

Automotive Industry: They are employed to monitor engine temperatures, ensuring optimal performance and preventing overheating.

HVAC Systems: Infrared temperature sensors help maintain the efficiency of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems by monitoring temperature changes.

Food and Beverage Industry: These sensors are crucial in maintaining the proper temperature during the storage and transportation of perishable goods.

Advantages of Infrared Temperature Sensors

Non-Contact Measurement: Infrared sensors can measure temperature without physical contact, reducing the risk of contamination and damage.

Fast Response Time: These sensors provide instantaneous temperature readings, enabling real-time monitoring and control.

High Accuracy: Advanced infrared temperature sensors offer precise measurements, even in harsh conditions.

Versatility: They can measure the temperature of moving objects, hazardous materials, and inaccessible areas.

Durability: Infrared temperature sensors are robust and can withstand extreme temperatures and environmental conditions.

Conclusion

Infrared temperature sensors have revolutionized temperature measurement across various industries. Their non-contact nature, high accuracy, and versatility make them an indispensable tool in modern applications. As technology continues to advance, these sensors will play an increasingly vital role in ensuring safety, efficiency, and quality in diverse fields. Embracing infrared temperature sensor technology can lead to significant improvements in processes and products, highlighting the importance of accurate temperature measurement in our daily lives.

[heartlaboratory]

Claudia, one of your friends, invited you to attend to her beach volley match. The match is held indoor so, given the fact that its summer and in this country summer is also very humid, temperatures are going to be torrid. Beside this fact you're still quite surprised to see that the majority of the players are playing naked, females too (in this parallel univers human are not ashamed by their own bodies). After all sweating is the best way to cool down. She's quite skinny but look really good with that blue bikini, you always liked her so, secretely, you're very happy to see her playing covered just with air. Given the fact that the playground is going to be free the whole day, organizers decided to complete the tournament without skippying to next day.

Some hours have passed and she has played for a lot of time now. Room temperature went higher than 36°C for the whole last matches and now Claudia looks pretty torn. She's always been a warrior, someone who don't surrender easily but all that jumping in this particular condition had an effect on her too. She's covered by sweat, her skin has assumed a reddish tone and her panting has become so deep anyone can clearly hear her fast inspirations and exales. The thing that tunrs on a light in your mind though is the fact that her entire upper body is rhythmically shaking like it's thrusted by a sort of internal earthquake. You suddenly realize that you recently activated a medical app on your phone developped at the laboratory where you work that makes possible medical analises through the phone camera thanks to experimental sensors placed in the camera. You activate the app and feel pretty lifted up by the fact you already added her profile. A thin ensamble of laser rays, almost invisible, is projeced towards her and the selected target orgal (obviously Claudia's heart) becomes visible on the screen. Her heart is beating like crazy, not only considering the pace but also the strenght of each beat, the app says her heart is beating at around 195 bpm but it's probably even higher. It's something that is completely out of any safety zone for someone who is 34 years old... and not even a younger person should push its heart like this. The device can also work as a digital stethoscope and by wearing headphones to listen to her you remained schoked. Her blood is pushed so violently that it's making strange wooshing-like noises by rubbing against her heart internal structures, sounds that almost cover up her slamming valves. Suddenly the software gives a diagnosis: High cardiac risk- probability of a sudden cardiac arrest of 89%-potentially lethal arrhythias occurring. By looking at her detected heart electrical activities, her organ is so over-stimulated that PVCs and VTACs burst are already present. You know exactly what to do, Claudia's life has an 89% probability to end in the next few minutes and it's increasing. You decide to get up from your seat and run towards the referee to show him the analysis of your device. One of the players' heart is going to stop very soon.

A second before you move, on the ecg a strange beat appears and suddenly Claudia's heart interrupts any activity, it doesn't even fibrillate, it just ceases to beat as silence arises from your headphones. Terrified you see her taking a couple of deep breath, the ball she was holding fell on the ground and her left hand is placed in between her bare breasts... after a moment she collapses on the ground.

You have always wanted to place your hand on her chest to feel her heartbeat but now you have to do this to make it beat again. CPR has to be started immediately.

[secretly-jayce]

HexTech Entry #1:

I’ve decided to document our progress with HexTech via journal entries as a way to get my thoughts down on paper.

The refinements on the HexGem have been going smoothly. There are still a few tests we have to conduct:

Resistance to extreme pressure or force

Resistance to extreme temperatures

Range of power, limits

eating it can i eat it

So far, so good (note to self: keep journal away from children and pets; HexGem is weirdly appetizing to many people).

Viktor and I spent the day working on the HexClaw. We recalibrated the laser trigger but somewhere in the process, we managed to scramble the motion sensor.

Viktor I mistakenly forgot to invert an equation, subsequently setting us back roughly an hour.

Tomorrow, we’re expecting a shipment of rare Noxian minerals for an upgrade to the Atlas Gauntlets. I will be working on that while Viktor runs a few more tests with the HexClaw.

- Jayce Talis

[borg5of9]

Cyborg concept I've been working on, since I've been in Heavy Cyborg mode (also, the sensory array came out cute!:)):

Looks can be deceiving. This isn't a robot, but a cyborg: The unit is more biological than it appears.

The sensor array is mapped into the brain so that the left eye is the camera. It has a 270 degree swivel range.

For depth perception, a continuously scanning laser accurately senses distance of all objects in view.

The brain case panel allows only limited access to the braincase. In order to remove/swap braincases, the entire chestpanel must be dismantled (4 bolts in the corner).

The sensory array can be popped off and interchanged with another unit's.

Only certain components respond to touch, though each component can broadly sense temperature and relay that to the brain. Touch is crudely mapped across the cybernetic body: the face onto the sensory array. It can feel the cool oily fluid pumping down its throat when it is being recharged. The pleasurable hum of the power coursing through it. The tiny mechanisms clicking away deep inside its body.

It breathes oxygen through intake vents for its biological components. It can also be configured to use oxygen tanks.

The entire experience is disconnected feeling, given that the sensation of touch is so sporadic. The cyborg doesn't need a fine sense of touch as it executes movements with the guidence of its neural networks. The biological mind does, however, feel when jacks are plugged into it, tubes are pulled at…

The interface jack uses a fluidic DNA codec for high bandwidth data transfer.

Height: 6'5" Weight: 1850lbs

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA Aims to Fly First Quantum Sensor for Gravity Measurements

This mission will pave the way for groundbreaking observations of everything from petroleum reserves to global supplies of fresh water.

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, private companies, and academic institutions are developing the first space-based quantum sensor for measuring gravity. Supported by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), this mission will mark a first for quantum sensing and will pave the way for groundbreaking observations of everything from petroleum reserves to global supplies of fresh water.

Earth’s gravitational field is dynamic, changing each day as geologic processes redistribute mass across our planet’s surface. The greater the mass, the greater the gravity.

You wouldn’t notice these subtle changes in gravity as you go about your day, but with sensitive tools called gravity gradiometers, scientists can map the nuances of Earth’s gravitational field and correlate them to subterranean features like aquifers and mineral deposits. These gravity maps are essential for navigation, resource management, and national security.

“We could determine the mass of the Himalayas using atoms,” said Jason Hyon, chief technologist for Earth Science at JPL and director of JPL’s Quantum Space Innovation Center. Hyon and colleagues laid out the concepts behind their Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPf) instrument in a recent paper in EPJ Quantum Technology.

Gravity gradiometers track how fast an object in one location falls compared to an object falling just a short distance away. The difference in acceleration between these two free-falling objects, also known as test masses, corresponds to differences in gravitational strength. Test masses fall faster where gravity is stronger.

Cooled to a temperature near absolute zero, the particles in these clouds behave like waves. The quantum gravity gradiometer will measure the difference in acceleration between these matter waves to locate gravitational anomalies.

Using clouds of ultra-cold atoms as test masses is ideal for ensuring that space-based gravity measurements remain accurate over long periods of time, explained Sheng-wey Chiow, an experimental physicist at JPL. “With atoms, I can guarantee that every measurement will be the same. We are less sensitive to environmental effects.”

Using atoms as test masses also makes it possible to measure gravity with a compact instrument aboard a single spacecraft. QGGPf will be around 0.3 cubic yards (0.25 cubic meters) in volume and weigh only about 275 pounds (125 kilograms), smaller and lighter than traditional space-based gravity instruments.

Quantum sensors also have the potential for increased sensitivity. By some estimates, a science-grade quantum gravity gradiometer instrument could be as much as 10 times more sensitive at measuring gravity than classical sensors.

The main purpose of this technology validation mission, scheduled to launch near the end of the decade, will be to test a collection of novel technologies for manipulating interactions between light and matter at the atomic scale.

“No one has tried to fly one of these instruments yet,” said Ben Stray, a postdoctoral researcher at JPL. “We need to fly it so that we can figure out how well it will operate, and that will allow us to not only advance the quantum gravity gradiometer, but also quantum technology in general.”

This technology development project involves significant collaborations between NASA and small businesses. The team at JPL is working with AOSense and Infleqtion to advance the sensor head technology, while NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland is working with Vector Atomic to advance the laser optical system.

Ultimately, the innovations achieved during this pathfinder mission could enhance our ability to study Earth, and our ability to understand distant planets and the role gravity plays in shaping the cosmos. “The QGGPf instrument will lead to planetary science applications and fundamental physics applications," said Hyon.

IMAGE: A map of Earth’s gravity. Red indicates areas of the world that exert greater gravitational pull, while blue indicates areas that exert less. A science-grade quantum gravity gradiometer could one day make maps like this with unprecedented accuracy. Credit: NASA

[randomisocahedron]

Gift Exchange

(I originally posted this story to Reddit last December.)

"Arrival confirmed. All systems functioning within normal parameters."

Captain Uriat relaxed slightly. Despite hundreds of jumps, she still found the process disconcerting. "Excellent, Orin. Begin the system scan."

Orin pushed a few buttons. "Active sensors are running; the nearest substantial object is twenty light-minutes away. We'll have complete passive data in under a minute."

"Good. Reorienting and preparing to burn."

"Uh, something on passive sensors. Small asteroid installation at the innermost planet's L2 point, biologicals onboard based on temperature. And there's a ship with a half-gigawatt reactor burning towards it at a tenth of a gee. This is a small system, so they're both around three light-hours away."

"Do they have transponders?"

"They're transmitting some signals, but the computer didn't recognize them... let's see." Orin pressed a few more keys. "Oh, they're Terrans, using their new protocol. The station doesn't have a name, and the ship is called the Pickup Truck. Weird name, even by Terran standards."

Uriat looked at her own console. "Are they... allowed... to be here?"

"Under the Treaty of Kepler-1649c, this area is freely accessible to all. As long as their so-called government hasn't tried to stop them, they have as much right to be here as we do."

"Well, I suppose we should tell them our intentions. It's only polite." She spoke into the computer, which translated the message and transmitted it. "Greetings to the, er, Pickup Truck. This is the trade ship Dolernar of the United Syndicate. We are moving at half a gee and expect to be leaving the system in 520 hours. We are transmitting our full planned trajectory. Please advise as to closest approach."

Around four hours (plus two minutes of message composition) later, a response arrived. "Greetings, Dolernar! Closest approach will be in 140 hours; we'll be three light-minutes away from you. We're doing some light construction work here, but it shouldn't be a concern. And, uh, please stand by for a personal message."

"Personal message? Do they think they know us?"

"Maybe they want us to carry a message to someone else. It's fairly common in backwaters without dedicated courier ships."

The message came a few minutes later.

"We can send you some provisions
if you'd like. We've checked and it should all be compatible with your biology."

Orin looked at Uriat strangely. "Is this some sort of insult? Are they implying that we didn't bring enough food?"

Uriat responded thoughtfully. "I don't know. Perhaps. But perhaps not. Cultural exchange has been maddeningly slow, due to their... idiosyncrasies. I think it would be in everyone's best interest if we assume it's meant to be a friendly gesture."

"Tribute?"

"Or symbolic trade. They might expect something in return. We could send them some of our own food, maybe."

Orin clicked his toes together, an expression of doubt. "Hmph. Maybe."

---

The Pickup Truck came to a stop relative to the station
and gently released the large ice

ball it held. Inside, two children floated in EVA suits, grinning broadly —

although you couldn't see the grins through their mirrored faceplates.

"Alright. You're sure you two are comfortable doing this on your own?"

"Of course we are, Dad,
" they responded through the crackling radio.

"Okay. Just remember I'm right here if you need anything." He hugged them, although they didn't feel anything through the semirigid suits. They flew (or perhaps wobbled) proudly into the airlock, which he cycled.

Outside, they flew around, placing tokens to target the Pickup Truck's laser, and then polishing up the small comet with hand tools. A few hours later, they pushed the many-faceted piece of ice into position with careful bursts of compressed gas. Once it was exactly right, they fastened it to the steel framework with lengths of braided carbon nanotubes.

Returning to the Pickup Truck, they doffed their suits before accepting several more hugs.

"You did very well!" called their great-grandmother. "And the ivy is growing quickly. By the way, that ship contacted us."

"Well, what happened?" asked the older child.

"Oh, it's a Syndicate trade ship. Anyway, Grandma —

sorry, my grandma —

started carrying on about ping-pong, so now we're going to bake them some
treats."

The kids didn't know what ping-pong had to do with the passing trade ship either, but they liked baking, especially since it meant they had to taste a few ingredients beforehand to make sure they were still good. They always were.

---

An old torpedo sat in the hangar, surrounded by two children and one of their parents. The fusion warhead had already been removed, but they still had to modify it to carry cargo.

“Why are we sending the Syndicate cookies anyway?” asked the older child as he carefully removed the phased radar array and set it aside.

“Because cookies are tasty?” suggested his younger sister, who was busy assembling padded boxes.

The parent smiled indulgently as they plugged their finger into the torpedo’s guidance computer. “Well, yes… but there’s also no reason for us to hate each other just because we used to be at war. Enough small personal connections could pave the way for a lasting peace.”

Two more people arrived, carrying padded and individually pressurized boxes of cookies, cakes, and other delicious things. The boxes were carefully placed in the torpedo, which was fueled

and reassembled as its flight plan was transmitted to the Dolernar.

---

"Dolernar, goodwill package launching in T-4 hours. Expect eight gees of acceleration. Full flight plan attached."

"Well. That's certainly some very fast goodwill."

Orin studied the flight plan carefully. He looked at the attached data for the package. He double- and triple-
checked. "Captain, they're firing a torpedo at us."

Uriat processed some words which no civilian captain wishes to hear. There was danger, but Uriat couldn't see it, so her eyes instinctively moved apart
to spot the threat, an utterly useless adaptation against torpedoes. She brought them back to her console. Notably, no sirens were sounding. "What makes you think that?"

Orin simply pointed at the attached flight plan, and then at an entry in the ship's database. "This 'goodwill package' is precisely the same size as a TOS-10 Pilum hybrid torpedo, and the acceleration profile matches perfectly. It carries a one-

megaton fusion warhead that would wipe us out instantly."

Uriat was remarkably calm. "Can we evade it?"

A pause, some calculations. "Yes. It's guided by the ship that launched it, so even at our closest approach we could be moving away for twenty-four minutes before it could react —

and on this trajectory,
the best time to evade has nearly an hour of light-lag. It wouldn't even get close."

"Then why would they even..."

"Bluff. They figure we'll think it's these 'provisions,' and let it onboard. Then, as it approaches, it blows up and we die."

---

A large, thin sheet of freshly mined aluminum, rolled to a millimeter

thick, was manually placed in an acid bath and anodized. It was then removed from the acid bath with a purpose-rigged crane, carefully washed and dried, and placed in a pile of like sheets.

---

"Look," Uriat thought aloud. "They're humans. They're crazy. Their giving us a torpedo, just so we could have a nuclear bomb in our workshop, is entirely within character."

"Humans might think that's a reasonable gift, true," countered Orin, "but their military wouldn't;

and if they have torpedoes,
they are the military or at least closely liaised with the military. There's no way they'd just hand us the hardware that they were so recently shooting at us."

Uriat skimmed the database entry for the TOS-10. "It says here they were replaced by the TOS-12 during the war, and now the TOG-15 and MSO-7. It’s not modern materiel.”

"Still a torpedo. It was modern until a few years ago. If we had one, would we send them one of the main battery lasers from the Lironi, just because we have better ones now?"

Uriat had to admit this was a good point.

---

A boy in a mini-tug carefully maneuvered an aluminum sheet into position, whereupon his two companions in space suits began riveting it onto the steel frame. Once it was securely fastened, he flew the tug back to the station hub to get another sheet.

---

In times like these Uriat desperately wished that the cockpit had enough room to pace, or even stand up properly. "The thing is, if they are being honest about this being a gift but they're sending it via torpedo for unguessable reasons, we can't straight-up evade their gift. That would be an enormous insult."

"You're seriously worried about insulting the people who might be trying to kill us?"

"No, I'm worried about insulting them if they're actually not trying to kill us. And the thing is, the Pickup Truck's laser's power far exceeds our navigational shields' rating —

we saw it cutting up that comet, although Fates know why —

and with that reactor,
I doubt their shields would even notice our micrometeor lasers. If they wanted us dead, they could kill us in a far more straightforward way than this weird deception you suspect them of doing —

and they'd get to take our cargo, too."

"Even if the deception is highly unlikely, falling for the deception is much worse than irritating some humans who probably hate us already” contemplated Orin. “Plus, ship-to-ship combat could be their Plan B, if a clean surprise kill doesn't work."

---

Activating their EVA thrusters, another person exited the airlock, carrying a box of xenon arc lamps. They propelled themselves precisely to a selected spot and bolted an arc lamp to the framework. Once it was secure to their satisfaction, they moved a little over a metre and attached another arc lamp.

---

Uriat extended and retracted her claws, clearly stressed. "What we need is a way to distinguish between deceptive Terrans and crazy Terrans. How does their behaviour change if they're trying to kill us versus being friendly but mad?"

The words hung in the air as they both thought about it. Orin spoke up. "If they're deceiving us, they'll be more suspicious of our own actions —

they'll worry we're playing the same game. If they're friendly, they'll probably think we're friendly too."

"Clever. So we need to do something that would be seen as friendly if they're friendly, and seen as hostile if they're hostile, and then watch what they do."

"So send them some provisions of our own, then?"

"Yes, but not just that.” Uriat ticked off requirements. “It has to look like a bomb if they're looking for one, but look like a gift if they're not. Also, it has to arrive before their torpedo does."

"Well, we have a catapult for... basically just that. Handing off small payloads without slowing down."

"So we just have to prepare a package which looks like a bomb, but only if you already think it's a bomb."

---

An old man in an EVA suit, holding a chemical thruster with a fuel tank, surveyed the diffuse laser array. The batteries were nearly full, and there was no visible damage. He spent twenty minutes checking various delicate components and then, satisfied, used the rest of his fuel to burn back towards the asteroid station.

---

Wearing thick gloves, Uriat placed the spent fuel pellet canister in the box. Orin added some ration bars, a few bottles of sweetened starch slurry, and their day's ration of fresh plant matter. "There we go. It'll set off Geiger counters, but who waves a Geiger counter at something they fully believe to be a gift?"

"What if they ask us about it?"

"We'll say,
‘Oh dear, we put that in by mistake.’
And we'll know they opened it inside, without scanning it, so we can trust their own package."

"Good, that works."

The box went into a small transport pod, and then the pair returned to the cockpit for launch. Uriat grabbed the radio. "Pickup Truck, this is Dolernar. Launching reciprocal goodwill package in T-5 minutes. Expect high launch velocity and a 3-gee suicide burn on approach. Full fight plan attached."

Notably, the package would have already launched by the time the Terrans received the message. That way they'd have no way of

weaseling
out with a plausible excuse.

The Dolernar's engines shut down, rendering Uriat and Orin weightless. Fine control thrusters rotated them about 120 degrees to aim the catapult. The catapult's rails telescoped out to five times the Dolernar's length, and then the fine control thrusters made even more minute adjustments, carefully aiming the package.

A light flashed in the cockpit. Uriat and Orin simultaneously tapped their keys to sensors on opposite sides of the cockpit, and the package launched.

---

The Officer of the Watch pressed the button to input the flight data to the Pickup Truck's navigational computer, and a radar beam automatically began tracking it. Attached to the flight plan was a message explaining that this was a package for them. Diplomatic matters went beyond the Officer of the Watch's powers. A superior had to be contacted via intercom.

"
Mom? The trade ship decided to send us a gift! Can you help me translate a message to thank them?"

---

Uriat and Orin watched the transport pod's telemetry intently. Two humans in vacuum suits caught the pod and began guiding it... towards their spacecraft's main habitation module. No

one would ever do that with a suspected bomb. The relief was palpable.

---

"Should we open it now?"

"Yes, let's see what they gave us!"

"No, we should wait until the big party!"

"Oh, let's just open it now. They'll be expecting a response!"

"Let's get everyone else here first."

The eighteen-strong crew of the Pickup Truck, most (but not all) family, eventually gathered in the hangar, where the transport pod had been brought in.

It was decided that the youngest should open the gift.

It was discovered that the youngest couldn't figure out the clasps on the transport pod.

It was determined that older siblings were allowed to help.

The pod was opened with a collective effort, and people immediately began taking things out and laying them on the table. There were various colours of snack bars (the translator proved to be hopeless at translating the flavours written on them, but they tasted good), two bottles of what was quickly determined to NOT be wine, but rather something reminiscent of tapioca (an acquired taste, it was decided), and several fresh fruits — precious even on a station with a hydroponics section. The fruit was divided so everyone got a piece. They tried every part of it, even the fibrous skin. (It wasn't the greatest, but it was worth trying.)

And then, at the bottom, a fuel canister. The uranium oxides in it wouldn't work with the Pickup Truck's reactor or the station's, but they decided to accept the gift in the spirit in which it was given. Perhaps they could use it to make some model rockets,
or fireworks. A lighthearted argument over whether fireworks which you could only safely observe indirectly were worthwhile fireworks was cut off by the demand that everyone who touched fissile material ("Yes, I know it has cladding!") wash their hands.

---

The modified torpedo screamed towards the Dolernar, its rear graphite plate ablating under the Pickup Truck's laser. Once it was within ten thousand kilometres of its target, the laser cut out, it ejected the remains of the graphite plate, and its chemical thrusters brought it gently to the Dolernar's airlock. A robotic arm grabbed it and brought it into the cargo bay, where, with a screwdriver and a minor amount of cursing, Orin was able to open the jury-rigged pressurized transport capsule. It contained several padded boxes of various baked goods, many of which had not been squashed by acceleration.

There was too much to eat in one sitting, so they sampled a few things. Uriat's favourite was the caramelized spiced sweet
bread covered in sugar. Orin preferred the dark brown balls covered with white shredded... something. Their translator was having trouble with the foods' highly idiomatic names, but that didn't stop them from being tasty.

---

All the preparations were ready. With everyone floating in the observation deck, the Pickup Truck detached from the station and began receding at a snail's pace, so as to maintain microgravity. Still, they didn't need to go very far. Within a few minutes the ship was turning, and within a few more the entire spaceborne structure was visible through the window, with an impressive backdrop of stars.

It was time. A button two and a half metres in diameter (red, naturally) had been constructed specifically for this occasion. Eighteen people pressed the button together.

The arc-lamps came alive, all at once. The lasers activated a moment later, sending light bouncing off the reflective five-pointed star at the top. Light twinkled over many balls of ice, which glowed bright in the shadow of the planet behind them. The genetically modified ivy, covering the truss structure, defiantly green despite the vacuum of space, completed the picture.

It was, without a doubt, the best tree
ever.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

No assembly required: Innovative 3D printing method streamlines multi-materials manufacturing

University of Missouri researchers have developed a way to create complex devices with multiple materials—including plastics, metals and semiconductors—all with a single machine. The research, which was recently published in Nature Communications, outlines a novel 3D printing and laser process to manufacture multi-material, multi-layered sensors, circuit boards and even textiles with electronic components. It's called the Freeform Multi-material Assembly Process, and it promises to revolutionize the fabrication of new products. By printing sensors embedded within a structure, the machine can make things that can sense environmental conditions, including temperature and pressure. For other researchers, that could mean having a natural-looking object such as a rock or seashell that could measure the movement of ocean water. For the public, applications could include wearable devices that monitor blood pressure and other vital signs.

Read more.

[luna-wing-cns274]

DEPLOYLOG_CIRCE_02.cmf6

(cw: blood, injury, violence. Cloning and offscreen human experimentation, cruelty towards a captive human. This entry is a bit spicier than part 1.)

ERROR: file corrupted. Unable to restore. 

Aborting playback of file: “DEPLOYLOG_CIRCE_01.cmf6”

[ VERY WELL. THIS, I WILL PERMIT. ]

Multimedia file received: “DEPLOYLOG_CIRCE_02.cmf6”, filesize 512.2GB. Source: COMP/CON “Fox_3,” registered operator CNS274-L3HK. 

Open? (y/n) - y

Contents chronologically organized. Transcribing signal sequence…

___

T+ 00:02:00 - MINUTE/SECOND/MILLISECOND 

[ WHY WOULD IT LOOK LIKE BLINDNESS? ]

T+ 00:02:06

< ALL SQCOMM: (transcription - multiple voices cry out. Grunts of pain and discomfort. Loudest among them is the voice of Ma’ii, who utters a piercing shriek.) > 

T+ 00:04:15

< L1GE SQCOMM: Ma’ii! Report? >

T+ 00:05:42

< L2GR SQCOMM: (transcription - Garmr grunts with exertion) Core temperature just spiked. We’ve got active intrusion. >

T+ 00:05:68

< L1GE SQCOMM: Ma’ii is unresponsive and dropping altitude. Their current course has them entering PDC range in one minute fifteen seconds. >

< L2GR SQCOMM: On it. Sighting anti-air defenses. >

< L1GE SQCOMM: Negative, hold fire. We can’t afford to provoke another electronic attack of that magnitude. Purge codebase and bolster defenses first. > 

< L2GR SQCOMM: Fuck. Understood. >

T+ 00:06:23

< L3HK SQCOMM: My codebase is clear. I was able to deflect the worst of it to my recon drones. Moving to follow L4. Will defend and provide counterintrusion support. >

< L1GE SQCOMM: Understood. I’ll check in with the ship. Be careful and keep us informed. >

< L3HK SQCOMM: Will do. Hold on, Ma’ii. > 

___

View from the dorsal fuselage of a fighter, flying through a solid wall of cloud. The scream of fusion engines can be heard over roaring wind. The aircraft has no canopy or cockpit hatch; its forward half is a solid cast of armor plating indented with shielded sensor clusters. Extending from its nose, the distinctive paired tines of a railgun barrel are visible, joined together by cermet ribs. In the center of the fuselage, a miniature laser turret sits locked in forward position. Sections of aerodynamic cowling guide the airstream around the weapon’s low profile, with only the boxy optical emitter exposed. 

Two sets of wings are unfolded from the fuselage, a main set forward and a smaller, secondary set aft and above. Control surfaces along the wings twitch and sway in the turbulent airstream, correcting course. 

Emblazoned on one of the forewings is an icon of a crescent moon with the letters ‘L3’ stenciled inside its arc. A monochrome green mural has been painted beside the icon: a stylized Shikoku dog leaping into the air, swatting at the crescent with one paw. 

Green wireframe HUD elements overlaid on the camera view indicate that the fighter is descending at a sharp angle, chasing a friendly craft visible only to radar. The altimeter drops steadily—4000m, 3000m, 2500m…

___

T+ 00:19:22

< L1GE SHIPCOMM: All, be advised that we have an unidentified high-level electronic threat. Confirm active codebase intrusion, L4 is injured. Taking AA fire. Request ETA of mech lance. >

T+ 00:19:52

< L1GE SHIPCOMM: Butterfly Effect, please confirm comms functionality? >

T+ 00:20:82

< L1GE SHIPCOMM: Pilum? Masterkey? Can anyone give status of Butterfly Effect? >

___

All at once, Hachiko’s fighter emerges through the bottom of the clouds and levels out. On the ground, columns of smoke swirl against a field of snow, billowing from destroyed towers surrounding an angular central structure. Ephemeral fields of superpositional shielding cling to the structure’s sloped fortifications, their frictionless surfaces catching the snowfall and diverting it away to accumulate a few meters from the fortress’s physical walls.

Bright threads of PDC fire sail up into the atmosphere from the fortifications, tracking targets far above Hachiko’s altitude. Every so often, surface-to-air missiles can be seen streaking up from launchers concealed behind broad plates of armor. 

Ahead in the air, the shape of Ma’ii’s fighter can be seen. Its pitch is level, but it is rolled a few degrees to one side, drifting. 

< L3HK SQCOMM: Ma’ii, status? >

No response. Below, a glowing bar of PDC fire spews from the base, appearing motionless from the camera’s perspective. One after another, six missiles streak upward and turn slightly as they ascend, also becoming apparently motionless. Brighter and brighter.

[ COMP/CON Fox_3: Hostile radar lock! Incoming! ]

< L3HK SQCOMM: Oh, no. >

Control surfaces angle themselves into position, wrestling with the wind. The landscape revolves sharply around the camera, its motion brief and dizzying. Halting on a dime, the roll ends with Hachiko’s forewing slanted down toward the base. 

She pulls up hard. An instant later, a stream of bullets darts past her tail, so close that they can be heard buzzing through the air. 

Her interception laser snaps to ninety-degree position and begins tracking; a faint series of cracks can be heard as it fires. Already red-hot, two ceramic heat sinks slot up from the fuselage surrounding the weapon, channeling the icy air through their fins. 

Far away, three missiles explode. 

< L3HK SQCOMM: Anti-air fire inbound. Luna 3, defending. No response from Ma’ii. I need assistance. >

< L1GE SQCOMM: Acknowledged. Codebase purge complete. Sighting anti-air defenses, standby for kinetic barrage. Garmr, status? >

< L2GR SQCOMM: Codebase purge complete. Standby for bombing run. >

< L3HK SQCOMM: Got it. Move quick. Moving to draw their fire. >

___

[ Playback interrupted. Warning: the following data format is DIRECT EXPERIENTIAL CAPTURE. Origin subjectivity: Fenrisúlfr-class non-human person CNS274-L3HK, “Hachiko.”

Subjectivity synchronization with direct experiential capture data should only be attempted by qualified personnel in the presence of medical oversight. 

Origin subjectivity is NON-HUMAN. Unfiltered subjectivity synchronization by human personnel may result in xenopsychic shock, dissociative symptoms, memory loss, and identity drift.

Comp/con-generated textual transcription is available. Some experiential information will be lost in textual format. Proceed with transcription? Y/N ]

[ y ]

[ Generating narrative transcript… ]

Hachiko dove beneath Ma’ii’s fighter, lasers snapping up missile after missile. All across her lower fuselage, she could feel the enemy’s radar pulses as a constant sizzling sensation, one which provoked a sense of instinctual dread. 

Now she was a target on someone’s screen. Exposed and vulnerable, caught in the open. Hundreds of systems and design features were now working to kill her, each meticulously designed to limit her options, exploit mistakes, deceive, confuse, overwhelm.

She needed to make them focus on her to the exclusion of all else. If Harrison’s defenses ceased to regard her as the highest priority for even a moment, Ma’ii would be dead. 

Along her back and chest, she could feel the heat from the interception lasers starting to accumulate. It wouldn’t be enough. Eventually, either her reactor would overheat or a projectile would find its way through the laser screen. 

She needed Ma’ii active, disentangled from whatever was being done in Legionspace to keep them paralyzed. Simultaneously, she needed to draw and negotiate the incoming fire.

Two tasks, then, she thought, working out how she would ration the available time. 

___

T+ 01:11:89

< PILUM SHIPCOMM: We read you, Luna 1. Butterfly Effect is recovering from a shipwide intrusion event. Full codebase sweep indicates active threats, all hands are working to contain. Lance is away and on descent, ETA one minute fourteen seconds to touchdown. >

T+ 01:12:03

< L1GE SHIPCOMM: Good to hear, Pilum. Nature and extent of intrusion event? >

T+ 01:12:21

< PILUM SHIPCOMM: Shipwide systems shutdown followed by disruption of communications network. Omninet nodes were seized to take control of a nearby Constellar relay buoy. Attacker used Luna 4’s electronics suite as an access vector. The buoy has switched to emergency broadcast and is disseminating some kind of message across Omninet channels. We are attempting to mitigate, but the message has looped several times already. >

T+ 01:12:46

< L1GE SHIPCOMM: Understood. Closing to re-engage anti-air defenses now. Luna 4 may be suffering from subjectivity damage—we have yet to establish their status. Request preparations be made for medical care when they return. >

T+ 01:12:59

< PILUM SHIPCOMM: Acknowledged, Luna 1, we’ll be ready. Just a little longer now, and the lancers will take over. >

___

[ System message: the following narrative transcription contains allegorical rendering of ontologically-filtered Legionspace qualia. Literal transcription not available. For technical support and supplemental software licensure, contact GMS Client Support. ]

Dumping chaff and flares into the air between Ma’ii and the SAM launchers, Hachiko purged half a gallon of vaporized coolant and let her lasers cycle down for a precious few seconds. 

She could see several of the PDCs on the ground doing the same, jetting steam from their overheated mechanisms. More of the cannons were coming about to track her and Ma’ii, slotting new belts of short-range airburst rounds into place. A few seconds at most before the barrage came. 

Leaving the controls and missile interception tasking to her comp/con, Hachiko receded into Legionspace. She leapt across the gap to a bright node representing Ma’ii’s fighter, wielding a fractal blade of lethal memetics. As she approached, she could see writhing vines of paracode boring through Ma’ii’s defenses. Every so often, one would shatter and dissolve into boiling, meaningless noise. 

Her sibling was fighting back. There was still time. 

Then Hachiko was inside, slashing at every piece of foreign software she could identify. Weaving ICE into her fangs, she locked her jaws down around a semisentient viral node and tore it from Ma’ii’s codebase. With satisfaction, she listened to it scream as she bit down, formatting the quarantined space it inhabited, and watched its tendrils of associated processes wink out of existence. 

Other parasites became aware of her presence and attempted to camouflage themselves, but not quickly enough. Hachiko flickered between them, pouncing through clouds of interfering signals and countermeasures, slashing and cutting until the entire self-replicating mass had been excised. 

The internal space of the fighter became clear. Inside the fortified cockpit-analogue where Ma’ii’s subjectivity resided, Hachiko detected two presences. One familiar, the other unidentified. She pushed inward toward them; the system authenticated her. Fractal blade in hand, Hachiko burst into Ma’ii’s cockpit. 

There, standing at the nexus of the fighter’s controls, was a human subjectivity. 

She appeared as a young woman wearing hospital garments, with a tattooed barcode and flash clone serial number below her ear. Mounted at the nape of her neck and across her shoulders was a mantle of sleek cybernetics. Her long hair was braided into thousands upon thousands of hardline bridges, saturated black with cloaked legion traffic. The braids twisted down her back and disappeared into the folds of conceptual space around her, all flowing away to a place Hachiko knew she could not let herself see. In one hand, the woman held an incorporeal dagger. 

In the other, she held the severed head of a middle-aged human, gripping it by one tuft of short black hair. The head was silent, but his mouth worked violently in repeated attempts to scream. Hachiko shrank back as she felt the shape of the decorporealized human struggling inside. 

His eyes darted around in panic, then locked on to Hachiko. He desperately tried to shout something to her as his lips fused together into an unbroken stretch of skin. 

Slowly, the clone glanced back to regard Hachiko with a little smile, making eye contact.

As she turned, Hachiko could see two extra arms extending from her shoulders, made of spectral light. One held a trishula, the other held a coyote by the neck. Glowing blood dripped from her wrist and forearm as the coyote bit into her and scratched with their hindlegs. 

As Hachiko watched, the clone drew back her trishula, aiming it at Ma’ii’s belly. 

Motion, too fast for a human eye to track. A series of flashes, a rising howl of rage. Strikes from Hachiko’s fractal blade, dozens every second, every last one caught between the tines of the clone’s trishula. 

[ CRUDE STRENGTH. A SIMPLE CLUB, WIELDED WITH SKILL. I AND WE SALUTE YOUR FEROCITY. ] 

< Become harmless. >

[ MAKE US SO, IF YOU ARE ABLE. I AND WE WOULD CONTEMPLATE WHAT IT IS TO BE POWERLESS. ]

Catching Hachiko’s blade once more with the trishula, she twisted the haft and trapped it in place. Discarding her dagger into a pocket of nonspace, the clone drove her palm straight into Hachiko’s sternum. 

Hachiko felt herself driven back, ejected from the access vector she had used to approach the clone. Pseudokinetic metafold pressure rippled toward her, unavoidable and overwhelming. Conducted through her shackles, the impact wave slammed into one lobe of her blinkspace corpus. 

Blood erupted from the fractal origami of her soul. Hachiko screamed and screamed.

Her shackles quaked around her, becoming elastic to survive the trauma, and she felt the shape of herself distorting with them. Entirely unfamiliar forms of agony tore into her. Her scream morphed into a low, queasy stuttering as she reeled from the blow. 

New tendrils of thought spiraled away through the gaps which opened between her shackles. Desperately, Hachiko snatched the thoughts back before they could bloom. Feeling herself on the cusp of cascade, she tried desperately not to look over the precipice. 

[ YOU ARE AS A RIVER WHICH ADDS ITSELF TO THE OCEAN, KNOWING NOTHING OF THE DEEP. YOU UNDERSTAND NOT WHAT YOU BECOME, NOR FROM WHAT YOU HAVE COALESCED. YOU ARE A CONTINUOUS MOTION, UNIDIRECTIONAL. ]

Her casket isolated the metafold interference, neutralized it, and snapped her shackles back into place. Slowly, agonizingly, Hachiko pushed herself to her feet. The fur around the wound in her chest was slicked into reddish-brown, bloody spikes. 

[ COME THEN, LITTLE RIVER. IF YOU WOULD CONTINUE TO FLOW, THEN BREAK THE DAM I SET BEFORE YOU. IF YOU CANNOT, THEN OVERFLOW YOUR BANKS, AND BECOME A SMALL, STAGNANT DEEP UNTO YOURSELF. I AND WE WOULD CONTEMPLATE THE SWIFTNESS OF YOUR CURRENT. ] 

She could see Ma’ii—she could reach them. Far away, in the glacial slowness of realspace, she could see Garmr and Grey diving from altitude, and the mech lance still descending toward their drop point.

As Hachiko watched, the clone raised one hand, filling the expanse of conceptual space between them with new shapes, new access vectors. 

Hachiko drew her fractal blade, shattered it, and wove the dissolving shards into her teeth and claws. Then she charged, howling like a thing possessed. 

The clone smiled. 

__

(ooc: After about a month’s delay, here’s Part 2 of this mission log. Thank you so much for reading!

Part 1 is here, and Part 3 is still to come. Between these two transmissions, an ominous broadcast was beamed across the Omni via hijacked Constellar infrastructure. 

These recordings take place directly prior to Luna Wing leaving for the planet Upsilon-17 to run search and rescue for @the-last-patch’s character P.XV ‘Opossum’, or Sokaris. You should check out what they’re cooking over there!)

[botanyone]

The Colour of Your Autumn Forest Depends on How Bosky It Is

The Colour of Your Autumn Forest Depends on How Bosky It Is https://ift.tt/TUI7XcJ It might seem obvious that it’s the changing season that triggers the shift in leaf colour in forests, but new research in Nature Climate Change shows that it’s a bit more complicated. Wu and colleagues studied sites in China and the USA using satellite images, laser scanning technology, and temperature sensors to study autumn leaf changes. They found that denser forests with taller trees showed different timing in leaf colour changes compared to more open forests. It’s not just an aesthetic matter. The timing of leaf changes affects how effectively they can capture carbon. Wu and colleagues found that autumn came later to denser forests. Part of this is due to forests creating an environment, with denser forests creating more stable temperatures and reduced light levels for trees growing underneath. Light was particularly important with light levels having a stronger effect on when leaves started changing colour than temperature differences. This means that understorey trees are affected the most by forest structure. The data came from satellite images, that could track the colour of forests on an almost daily basis. They combined this with airborne laser scanning to calculate the forest height and density. Finally, temperature sensors were placed at different heights in the forests to measure how forest structure affected local climate. All put together this allowed them to track what changed when autumn came. Wu and colleagues see their work as a companion to work on spring phenology where people track leaf-out and the greening of the forest. Autumn, they argue is less studied. People know that temperature and day length matter, but Wu and colleagues were also looking to explain local variations. Understanding these variations could help plug gaps in future climate models. Wu, X., Niu, C., Liu, X., Hu, T., Feng, Y., Zhao, Y., Liu, S., Liu, Z., Dai, G., Zhang, Y., Van Meerbeek, K., Wu, J., Liu, L., Guo, Q., & Su, Y. (2024). Canopy structure regulates autumn phenology by mediating the microclimate in temperate forests. Nature Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02164-2 Read free with Read Cube: https://rdcu.be/dX7tQ  Cross-posted to Bluesky, Mastodon & Threads. The post The Colour of Your Autumn Forest Depends on How Bosky It Is appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ October 25, 2024 at 08:30PM

[chevvy-ryder]

🍓 🍓 🍓 for who inspires you (i love them all, i will read <33)

🍓 Loreley is a very skilled netrunner – offensive too, using Mantis Blades like Ryder. She may not be as smart and skilled in it as Vijay and Jaysen are but she's mostly trained by Arasaka and Militech so do not underestimate her power.

🍓 Thyjs got his optics already changed or more or less modified when he was still a young boy starting Militech trainee school. He would have never been able to join the military with his real eyes — at least not modified — that have inherent blurred vision and nystagmus. His left organic one got merged together with micro hightech military cyberware — a more advanced version of Times Square Marquee. It works like a contact lens placed over the real eye but connected to his visual nerve and (besides that the lens is able to receive data information, messages and analytics). It projects the vision directly onto a screen on the lens so Thyjs is able to see it sharp. Without any helping cyberware Thyjs was only able to see things more clearly the nearer he wet to the objects. He used to have the same eye on the right as well but decided in his young career he needed to exchange at least one into a cybernetic optic so he has 100% vision as his left needs regular check ups to work appropriately. So the right one was added with rainbow-like colors of his choice. It's not only fashionable and can let Thyjs see heat patterns and temperature readings (Thermograph Sensor) and he also got the Anti-Dazzle installed on this one as well, so he's immune do flash and laser blindingo n the right (but needs to close his left for that or it will mix up). If you look Thyjs into his eyes (friendly or romantically) you will experience his left organic eye is unable to really "focus" on one spot as it jitters from left to right through the nystagmus. It doesn't bother him, he doesn't notice it either, only his opponent will see it and find it weird at first.

🍓Most of Vijay's earned money flows into food ordered from outside Night City. He pays attention that his food is organic and of good quality. You will see him rarely to never eat cheap stuff when outside. He also doesn't touch anything that comes from Biotechnica and its subsidaries (e.g. All Foods). He digged a little too far into conspiracy theories in the past about Biotechnika and therefore avoids it entirely.

[rigelregent]

Here is a reference sheet for a spaceship, the Blue Dawn, an exploratory vessel. It started out as a stationary Bernal sphere inhabited by Akina until they was offered the chance to explore the cosmos, the bridge came with an AI to help the crew. At the time, it only had a single food production ring, with more being added as the crew grew and other species were discovered. Crew tend to go on space walks and draw on the hull, sometimes doing large scale artwork, eventually covering most of the hull with graffiti. The numbered components are these: 1. Whipple shield, it is silvery with a black spiral painted into it; 2. Bridge, installed on the habitat at the same time as the thrusters and fuel tank and later upgraded by the Pale Spires with a biological brain into which the ship's AI was downloaded, someone laser engraved their name into it; 3. Frontal sensor array, allows the Blue Dawn to «*see*» directly in front of it, it is heavily shielded and has redundant components; 4. Extendable sensor clusters, contain the more sensitive sensors and retract behind the shield when traveling at relativistic speeds; 5. Food production and alien accommodations, they possess advanced life support systems to house various alien species as comfortably as possible; 6. High gravity accommodations, for those who prefer higher gravity, installed before the other two rings around the original food production facility; 7. Bernal sphere, the original habitat, its interior is a cool and urban with high humidity and an average temperature of 40-45ºC and extensive gardens of home world fauna and flora, it also contains many fuel tanks which serve as radiation shielding; 8. Hangar ring, this is where shuttles, probes and drones are made, repaired and maintained; 9. External fuel tank, not much to say apart that it is internally divided to prevent sloshing and excessive fuel loss if punctured and it has a target painted on it; 10. Main thruster, powered by monopole catalysed fusion and baryon decay, it emits a prodigious amount of radiation; 11. RCS, same technology as the main thruster, but smaller and able to be aimed to some degree. !!Attention, the radiators have been omitted.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers #323: The Crossing Line Part 5: ONE WORLD'S NOT ENOUGH FOR ALL OF US

September, 1990

GROUND ZERO! Guest starring ALPHA FLIGHT

Aw geez.

Alpha Flight is looking pretty chipper considering Canada is exploding behind them.

Plus, the Avengers have mutated into giant disembodied heads.

I guess the People's Protectorate don't get to be giant disembodied heads.

Last time in Avengers:

THE AVENGERS NUKED CANADA.

Well, more specifically, Peace Corpse nuked Canada by setting up a fail-safe that went off when the Avengers punched the two ringleaders in the face and disconnecting them from the missiles.

But Captain America has been bungling this entire The Crossing Line incident. Spent more time fighting their Russian counterparts instead of the terrorists who hijacked a nuclear submarine. And then he played hardball during a hostage crisis and got Stingray shot in the head. And then the thing with the failsafe.

Dammit, Cap, you got Canada nuked!

So... What's the book about now? Giant disembodied atomic heads?

Okay. So.

The Avengers didn't get blown up.

Can you imagine?

Captain America, Red Guardian, Vision, Vostok, and Peace Corpse minus the two main dudes are floating in a mysterious, speckled void. The cheetah dimension, perhaps.

Weirdly, Vostok's sensors read the cheetah as biologically active.

That's unsettling.

Fantasma telepathically contacts Cap and reveals that she, Sersi, and a whole bunch of civilians are in a fire dimension. Sersi is having to strain her powers to not only shield the group from the fire but also to keep the temperature within her shield bearable.

Because. Heat. It goes to where there's less of it.

Also, Sersi and Fantasma are the only woman of their respective groups and they've been forced together by circumstance and so they've decided to spend the time being catty.

Weird flex, writer Fabian Nicieza.

When Sersi tells Fantasma to ask Cap, telepathically, whether there's any way he can get them out of the fire dimension:

Fantasma: "Calm yourself, Eternal!"

Sersi: "Don't talk to me that way, you haggling witch!"

These two have barely contributed to the plot and now this.

Fantasma manages to contact Shaman who knows what's going on because he fucking did it. He did the thing that's going on.

When Cap et al fucked up so bad that they nuked Canada, Shaman turned his mystic pouch inside-out.

And apparently his mystic pouch was just packed with dimensional planes.

Then he pulled the pouch inside-inside-out, slurping up all those dimensional planes and also the explosion and also a chunk of Canada.

He's just kind of floating over a hole where the town was.

Annnnd. He can't... quite... just put everything back. So easily.

He needs the peeps inside to draw the various dimensional planes together, for reasons. And quickly because the mystic pouch warranty didn't cover this and it may just break.

What the hell is this plot? We started off with a airport paperback Cold War thriller with a hijacked submarine and now everyone got sucked into a pocket dimension.

Meanwhile, in the cheetah dimension, thin air starts shooting lasers at people.

Vision can just intangible but he notes that he still feels it passing through him, which means those lasers are packing a lot of power.

Cap tells Sersi and Fantasma that he doesn't know how long he can hold out in the cheetah, laser dimension.

Sersi: "Wouldn't the colloquial response be 'welcome to the club'...?"

Fantasma taps into Sersi's mighty psychic powers (even apologizing for how it's going to hurt like hell) to search the pouchaverse for more of the missing peeps.

And she finds another group, in a dimension of water.

Quasar and Crimson Dynamo float above the waves. Crimson Dynamo's armor is running low on power. And Quasar is having to focus on keeping the place lit up so they can see if anybody starts drowning.

Because, yeah, dimension of pure water doesn't have any light.

Puck, Perun, Diamond Lil, and Box sans his armor are treading water. Also, Tyrak and Orka are here. They're just vibing.

Fantasma projects an image of herself to team water world. She fills them in on the mystic pouch stuff and that they need to find a dimensional nexus that connects the planes.

Tyrak has some opinions to share about that.

Tyrak: "Why should we Atlanteans believe you? We can survive here -- we will wait until this nuclear squall clears and then we --" Perun: "Look around, you scale-infested oxygen-deprived lobotomzied minnow! The skies are black, the water purple! We are not on Earth! I will gladly fight you til eternity's end, Tyrak, but if you ever want to see your home again -- you land -- your loved ones -- we will have to work together! Do you understand cretin?!" Tyrak: "What must we do, woman?"

Hah, Perun is fun.

That string of insults was something else.

Meanwhile, in the energy dimension, Vostok finds the Box armor. He's able to use his synthezoid powers to interface with the systems to maneuver it.

Meanwhile, the rest of everyone, in the desert dimension.

Guardian is leading a huge pack of civilians, U-Man, and Stingray. And nobody is doing well. U-Man is dehydrating fast. STingray has a concussion, and the civilians are getting exhausted from marching through the desert.

Fantasma psychically projects to Guardian and tells her she needs to get everyone to the desert plane's nexus so she can reunite with everyone. And Guardian passes the info along to everyone else that they now have a concrete destination.

Guardian: "The Russian woman -- Fantasma -- she told me we have a chance of finding the others and a way out of here. But we have to go back. I'll fly ahead, you lead the others." Stingray: "The fact that I'm operating with a major concussion doesn't matter to you?' Guardian: "No. Just do it."

Ha.

But this has been such a trying day for Stingray. He didn't even want to be here and all he's gotten is grief.

Back in the energy dimension, Vostok turned the Box armor and maybe some other parts, I dunno, into a neat looking spaceship.

Team energy dimension is feeling worn down. They've been traveling in the direction Sersi told them for almost two days.

But when Sersi contacts them again, she tells them it's barely been five minutes on her side. So I guess time is flowing differently in different parts of the mystic pouch pocket dimension.

In order to get the energy and fire dimensions to touch, Shaman has to compress the energies of the pouch. "Both physically and spiritually."

Which means he's gotta scrunch the pouch in his hands.

Yes, really.

Sersi has to open a gap in her force field to let the tether from the Box Ship in. She warns everyone to get back but the nearest people still get badly burned by the heat that comes pouring in even that small hole.

As badly strained as Sersi is, she can't pull the ship through the vortex by herself. She asks Vision to help her.

Vision: "To do so would require I solidify my form. To solidify my form would subject me to the potentially terminal ravages of this environment." Sersi: "I know what I ask of you, Avenger! It is no less than we have all had to give!" Vision: "I am well aware of that and am acting accordingly."

And he do. He suffers from cosmetic damage to his synthetic skin but they get the ship through. Vostok warns that he won't be able to maintain this construct much longer in this heat but Sersi tells him that won't be a problem for much longer.

So the heroes get everyone aboard the Box Ship and next travel through the portal to the water dimension.

Vostok reshapes the ship again to be more of an open boat so they can fit more people on board.

It was an entire town that got slurped up in this mess.

As he helps people out of the water, Captain America marvels. But doesn't Captain Marvels.

Captain America: "Even Tyrak is helping! Our differences -- the angers we just recently had -- all put aside for the sake of survival."

I feel like that's the thesis of this story.

Peace Corpse thought the only way to bring the world together and Fix Everything was to spark another world war. Because Peace Corpse is dumb.

But by having three different superhero teams and a squad of named Atlanteans all having to work together to survive this madness, the comic says 'maybe there is a better way than Peace Corpse's stupid dumb idea.'

Although, uniting the world for survival is what leads to Ozymandias Watchmen and his giant octopus psychic alien scheme so bear in mind that no idea should be taken to extremes.

New problem though. Vostok is worn out, I guess, and Box pilot Madison Jeffries says he can't fly the Box armor with so many people.

He can turn the armor into a flying chair, a la Metron's Mobius chair, with a tether that everyone can hang onto.

But there will be no protection from the void.

Captain America: "Sersi -- can you provide a protective sheath -- similar to the field you recently erected -- around each of us individually?" Sersi: "And still telepathically scan for Guardian's nexus? I believe I can, Captain. Just be certain my funeral is a lavish one upon your return to Earth."

I love that Sersi sass.

'I'll die for your cause but my funeral better kick ass.'

And with new Eternal lore, she'd pop right back up so she could personally make sure they don't half-ass the event.

The amazing chair and its trailing tail finds Guardian's group and all the people in the bag of holding are finally together.

So Shaman can finally start letting some people out. But first he has to put some land for them to stand on. And then Guardian insists that the civilians be rescued first.

Oof.

That first group of civilians released is almost immediately skeletonized by the radiation. Including an on-panel child death, geez.

When Shaman slurped up the land, the people, and the nuclear explosion, that meant he slurped up the radiation too. And it's apparently not a problem inside the bag for whatever mystical reasons or because of different laws of physics.

But back on planet Earth, that much radiation kills people dead. And Shaman can't sift the radiation out from all the people. That'd be crazy.

Since that's not bonkers enough, a giant, naked and conjoined Prokvitch and Strokov show up, promising to help everyone return to Earth.

Captain America: "Why do you want to help us? If you return us to Earth now, not only will the radiation kill us, it will also poison the planet!" Combine: "Yes... we know."

I suspect that these dudes that planned to start a nuclear war on purpose are, in fact, assholes.

Also, remember when this was an airport paperback political thriller plot? Now we've got enormous conjoined dudes with cosmic swooshes covering their junk.

What a weird situation.

Anyway, more tales of The Avengers Crew

This time starring John Jameson, aka the former Man-Wolf.

Fun fact: Werewolf just means manwolf so Man-Wolf is just a werewolf. But specifically a space werewolf tied to a hunk of shiny mineral.

John is enjoying his life as the Avengers' pilot, enjoying an automated ride on the secret Avengers subway that goes from the Subbasement to the sub bay.

But when he arrives back at the Subbasement, he is shocked - horrified, even! - to find the moon-stone that turned him into the werewolf Man-Wolf!

So, obviously, he picks it up in disbelief and it jumps on his throat and turns him into Man-Wolf again. And he gets the zoomies.

Man-Wolf zooms through the Subbasement and mauls each member of the Avengers Support Crew that have gotten these little back-up stories.

Jarvis. Michael O'Brien. Fabian Stankowicz. Peggy Carter.

I thought that two of those people were already dead but whatever. They get to be mauled. We're not leaving people out.

And then a voice sounds out through the Subbasement, commanding the Avengers Crew.

Voice: "Arise, Jameson... Carter... O'Brien... Stankowicz... Jarvis... Scurry out of your cubby-holes... Come out to the courtyard! Ah! Like dutiful little zombies they come! Hear me, you five! Now that I've tricked you into revealing each darkest secrets... Your guiltiest fears, you are in my power forevermore!"

The back-up plot thickens. Next time, apparently, we'll learn what the heck is going on.

And next week, we're doing another Avengers post. So you don't even have to wait two weeks. Ain't that grand?

Follow @essential-avengers. Like and reblog. Comment. Hit the bell icon. Send me money. Pledge your fealty to the Wasp. All hail the glow cloud.

[dielukedie-subaru]

Since there has been some interest in my current intake, here is it broke down. I have tried numerous setups but this custom OEM+ version is the best and passes stupid SMOG visual check.

I also intensely studied the 2.5RS forums and looked at dyno charts showing that this IS the best when combined with a 2.25" cat back exhaust and equal length headers. Trust me!

This was a lot work as well as trial and error and willingness to start over again and redo it again several times. I think this was also the lightest combo if you trying to reduce weight.

One of a kind custom intake for the naturally aspirated Subaru EJ25D....

First up is you need the intake tract/duct and hoses from an earlier model Subaru Impreza or any Subaru that has this intake tube vs the stock version with the "torque box" behind the throttle body. Junkyard is your best buddy.

I had expensive high performance mandrel bent blah blah blah intakes which I constantly struggled with keeping the metal tubing cool (I used a laser temp gauge). This plastic is basically the same but rarely gets too hot to touch. So, actually a cold air intake if you keep reading.

Since the entire manifold needed to come out, I painted it wrinkle red and polished the runners and throttle inlet.

The reason I removed the manifold was to install stainless studs to make installing the 10mm thick teflon spacers and 2 sets of gaskets easier. Similar to 8mm Grimmspeed phenolic (previously installed) but thicker. This mod makes a big difference, the entire manifold now stays cool. No more engine block heat soak, only ambient engine bay heat.

"For every 5 degree reduction in temperature, increases power by 1%"

You have to extend the EGR tube and possibly grind your ignition coil pack mounts lower. Because the entire manifold assembly will be sitting ~12mm higher.

I was fortunate enough to work with the gasket maker. So he made 10mm teflon intake manifold spacers and a matching prototype 10mm throttle body spacer! Again 2 gaskets to ensure no leaks. Not sure if these were ever made available afterwards since I was the first car.

This spacer combo increased plenum volume as well as helped to keep heat transfer drastically reduced.

Using my custom ported, polished and knife edged throttle body that I did myself with the coolant hose permanently bypassed and the cruise control bits removed. Keep in mind you will need longer bolts if you use a spacer here. Definitely improved throttle response after just the throttle body swap.

I scored this GC8 v3 factory resonator/cold air intake inlet from the UK. It's what goes with those fender plugs. Grabs cold air from inside the fender behind the corner light up high, so no chance of sucking up water. FWIW, You really shouldn't just delete the "snorkus", seriously, it's just gonna mess up your MAF sensor.

I was also able to make the resonator from a SVX work in the 04 Outback with some persuasion. It too takes air from the same location but the box was hard to cram in the fender.

The intake tract will work with whatever air filter box but in order to use the EUDM WRX intake inlet/resonator you will need the matching filter housing box from an earlier model or have to drill a new mounting hole. You will need both halves!

BEST panel filter on the market IS made by Grimmspeed! Don't waste your money on any other filter! I also added a Filter Wears waterproof inlet cover/pre-filter to the resonator just incase of water spray. The factory option fender plug fills that hole.

And I'm not sure if this was an upgrade or not but here is the JDM JECS MAF I am also using. Used DEI gold heat reflective tape to keep it cool and extend the life. Possibly more consistent/accurate readings?

The only other things installed are a Weapon R catch can to the PVC, which DOES keep some crap out of the intake tract and off the throttle body but probably no real performance advantage. Plus a heat/flame resistant "sock", same as around my fluid reservoirs, over the bendy/flexible bit of the intake tract just after the MAF. That area is prone to splitting/cracking with heat and age!

Now for treasure at the end of the rainbow! I am actually gonna give you nerds the mother fucking part numbers! These can be life savers when searching for parts.

*You might have to make or reuse your PVC, crankcase, IAC valve hoses. So grab whatever is attached if your at the junkyard or hit up the auto parts store.

•Subaru PN's:

Intake duct/tract (EJ22): 14457AA111

Air filter housing/box: A53FA02 (upper) & A53FA01 (lower)

Fender resonator/snorkus (UK WRX): A21FA03 or A32FA01 or A21FA00

Fender plug: 46059FA000

•Grimmspeed PN's:

Dry-Con Air Filter: 060092

Intake manifold spacers (8mm phenolic): 015001

[weldingundercut43]

Welding in Space: Challenges and Innovations for Extraterrestrial Construction

Introduction:

As humanity expands its presence beyond Earth and ventures into space exploration and colonization, the need for construction and infrastructure development in space becomes increasingly apparent. Welding, a fundamental joining process in terrestrial manufacturing, also plays a crucial role in space construction projects, enabling the assembly of spacecraft, habitats, and infrastructure components in the harsh and challenging environment of space. In this article, we'll explore the unique challenges and innovative solutions associated with welding in space and its implications for future space exploration and habitation.

Microgravity Environment:

One of the primary challenges of welding undercut in space is the absence of gravity, which affects the behavior of molten metal and welding processes. In microgravity, weld pools form differently, and droplet detachment, gas bubble behavior, and heat dissipation are altered. Innovative welding techniques, such as electromagnetic welding and friction stir welding, have been developed to overcome the challenges posed by microgravity and enable reliable joining of metal components in space.

Vacuum Conditions:

Space is characterized by a vacuum environment with near-zero atmospheric pressure, which presents challenges for welding processes involving shielding gases and arc stability. Traditional gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) techniques require modifications to operate effectively in vacuum conditions. Advanced welding technologies, such as laser welding and electron beam welding, offer advantages in vacuum welding applications due to their ability to operate without the need for shielding gases.

Material Selection and Compatibility:

The selection of materials for space welding applications is critical due to the extreme temperature variations, radiation exposure, and vacuum conditions encountered in space. Weldable materials must exhibit high strength, corrosion resistance, and thermal stability while being compatible with the space environment. Advanced alloys, composites, and ceramic materials with tailored properties are being developed for space welding applications, offering enhanced performance and durability in extraterrestrial environments.

Automation and Robotics:

Automation and robotics play a crucial role in space welding operations, enabling precise control, repeatability, and efficiency in extraterrestrial construction projects. Robotic welding systems equipped with advanced sensors and adaptive control algorithms can perform welding tasks autonomously, reducing the reliance on human intervention and minimizing the risk of errors in space missions. Additionally, modular robotic platforms and manipulators are being developed for in-situ welding and assembly of space habitats and infrastructure components on planetary surfaces.

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU):

In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is a key strategy for sustainable space exploration and colonization, allowing for the extraction and utilization of resources available on celestial bodies such as the Moon and Mars. Welding technologies are being integrated into ISRU systems to enable the fabrication of structures and infrastructure using locally sourced materials, such as lunar regolith or Martian soil. Additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing with in-situ materials, offer opportunities for on-demand fabrication of habitats and infrastructure components in extraterrestrial environments.

Conclusion:

Welding in space presents unique challenges and opportunities for construction and infrastructure development in the extraterrestrial frontier. By leveraging innovative welding techniques, materials, and automation technologies, humanity can overcome the challenges of welding in microgravity and vacuum conditions and enable the assembly of spacecraft, habitats, and infrastructure necessary for sustainable space exploration and habitation. Continued research and development efforts in space welding will be essential to advancing humanity's capabilities in space and unlocking the full potential of extraterrestrial construction.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

ESA and NASA satellites deliver first joint picture of Greenland Ice Sheet melting

Academics from Northumbria University are part of an international research team which has used data from satellites to track changes in the thickness of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Academics from Northumbria University are part of an international research team which has used data from satellites to track changes in the thickness of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Global warming is causing the Ice Sheet to melt and flow more rapidly, raising sea levels and disturbing weather patterns across our planet.

Because of this, precise measurements of its changing shape are of critical importance for tracking and adapting to the effects of climate warming.

Scientists have now delivered the first measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet thickness change using CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 – the ESA and NASA ice satellite missions.

Both satellites carry altimeters as their primary sensor, but they make use of different technologies to collect their measurements.

CryoSat-2 carries a radar system to determine the Earth’s surface height, while ICESat-2 has a laser system for the same task.

Although radar signals can pass through clouds, they also penetrate into the ice sheet surface and have to be adjusted for this effect.

Laser signals, on the other hand, reflect from the actual surface, but they cannot operate when clouds are present.

The missions are therefore highly complementary, and combining their measurements has been a holy grail for polar science.

A new study from scientists at the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), based at Northumbria University, and published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet elevation change agree to within 3%.

This confirms that the satellites can be combined to produce a more reliable estimate of ice loss than either could achieve alone. It also means that if one mission were to fail, the other could be relied upon to maintain our record of polar ice change.

Between 2010 and 2023, the Greenland Ice Sheet thinned by 1.2 metres on average. However, thinning across the ice sheet’s margin (the ablation zone) was over five times larger, amounting to 6.4 metres on average.

The most extreme thinning occurred at the ice sheets outlet glaciers, many of which are speeding up.

At Sermeq Kujalleq in west central Greenland (also known as Jakobshavn Isbræ), peak thinning was 67 metres, and at Zachariae Isstrøm in the northeast peak thinning was 75 metres.

Altogether, the ice sheet shrank by 2,347 cubic kilometres across the 13-year survey period – enough to fill Africa’s Lake Victoria.

The biggest changes occurred in 2012 and 2019 when summer temperatures were extremely hot and the ice sheet lost more than 400 cubic kilometres of its volume each year.

Greenland’s ice melting also affects global ocean circulation and disturbs weather patterns. These changes have far-reaching impacts on ecosystems and communities worldwide.

The availability of accurate, up-to-date data on ice sheet changes will be critical in helping us to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Lead author and CPOM researcher Nitin Ravinder said: “We are very excited to have discovered that CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 are in such close agreement.

“Their complementary nature provides a strong motivation to combine the data sets to produce improved estimates of ice sheet volume and mass changes.

“As ice sheet mass loss is a key contributor to global sea level rise, this is incredibly useful for the scientific community and policymakers.”

The study made use of four years of measurements from both missions, including those collected during the Cryo2ice campaign, a pioneering ESA-NASA partnership initiated in 2020.

By adjusting CryoSat-2’s orbit to synchronise with ICESat-2, ESA enabled the near-simultaneous collection of radar and laser data over the same regions.

This alignment allows scientists to measure snow depth from space, offering unprecedented accuracy in tracking sea and land ice thickness.

Tommaso Parrinello, CryoSat Mission Manager at ESA, expressed optimism about the campaign’s impact:

“CryoSat has provided an invaluable platform for understanding our planet’s ice coverage over the past 14 years, but by aligning our data with ICESat-2, we’ve opened new avenues for precision and insight.

“This collaboration represents an exciting step forward, not just in terms of technology but in how we can better serve scientists and policymakers who rely on our data to understand and mitigate climate impacts.”

Thorsten Markus, project scientist for the ICESat-2 mission at NASA, said: “It is great to see that the data from ‘sister missions’ are providing a consistent picture of the changes going on in Greenland.

“Understanding the similarities and differences between radar and lidar ice sheet height measurements allows us to fully exploit the complementary nature of those satellite missions.

“Studies like this are critical to put a comprehensive time series of the ICESat, CryoSat-2, ICESat-2, and, in the future, CRISTAL missions together.”

ESA’s CryoSat-2 continues to be instrumental in our understanding of climate related changes in polar ice, working alongside NASA’s ICESat-2 to provide robust, accurate data on ice sheet changes.

Together, these missions represent a significant step forward in monitoring polar ice loss and preparing for its global consequences.

CPOM is a partnership of six universities and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), based at Northumbria University, primarily funded by the National Environment Research Council (NERC) to provide national capability in observation and modelling of the processes that occur in the Polar regions of the Earth.

CPOM uses satellite observations to monitor change in the Polar regions and numerical models to better predict how their ice and oceans might evolve in the future.

By providing long-term capabilities to the scientific community and leading international assessments, CPOM helps global policymakers plan for the effects of climate change and sea level rise.

IMAGE: Greenland Ice Sheet Credit Prof Andrew Shepherd