M. Thomas Apple's Blog, page 2

Gas…stations…in…space…! ⛽️

Jas Tiruvuru, business development manager for Orbit Fab in the UK and Europe, said the company was aiming to successfully demonstrate the technology in space by 2027.

“This will essentially be the first ever satellite to satellite refuelling demonstration funded here in the UK,” she said.

“Once we’ve proven that we can refuel to two spacecrafts we’ll be able to unlock a huge market potential.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3wzlvnn2o

You know, maybe it’s just me, but I think 2027 may be a little optimistic. Just like the figure given in the article for how much the satellite sector will be worth in the future.

Aren’t there too many satellites already?

I’d like to see how this would help us colonize the solar system.

Actually, I’d like to see how they plan to get fuel up there in the first place.

Maybe my novel’s idea of using certain moons of Jupiter or Saturn as giant space gas pumps might help?

A taurid of meteorites now…

This is over China four years ago…

The Taurids meteor showers get their name because the shooting stars appear to stream from a point in the sky where the Taurus constellation is located. Taurid meteors can be seen from pretty much anywhere on the planet except the South Pole.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/meteor-showers-taurids-orionids-leonids-november-shooting-stars-rcna177143

I waited too long to post this! The meteor shower peaked last week, but might still be visible. The Orionids ended already (they appeared to fall from, you guessed it, the constellation of Orion, while the Taurids came from Taurus.

If you can’t see them, not to worry: the Leonids are on their way from next week (falling from, right again, Leo).

Very imaginative, these names. At least it makes them easier to spot.

Japan launches world’s first wooden satellite

Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3qzd5ql9o

The researchers argue that “if” trees could be planted on Mars…

OK, just stop right there. I’m pretty sure Mars will struggle to support even grass, let alone trees.

And the argument that, due to a lack of oxygen, flammable wooden structures in space would not be in danger strikes me as a bit ludicrous…surely there would be oxygen inside the wooden structures?

And, you know, I do think I’ve seen this before some where…nah…

Lots of catching up to do!

Hey, everyone. It’s been a while since I posted anything. Things just got way too busy.

I hope you look forward to a bunch of articles about space!

FB is a piece of festering algorithmic garbage

Yesterday, I wrote a (what I thought was a) rather benign post about Earth’s new “mini-moon,” a tiny asteroid that will orbit us for about two months.

Within hours, Faceturd flagged it as “spam.” It was blocked from my FB page because it “tried to get likes” and etc.

First off…so what? Is’t the point of FB to get “likes”? Nobody sees the post otherwise, right?

Second…it was about a mini-moon! All of three people on WordPress saw this! I seriously doubt this went viral. How does sharing a blog post constitute a “violation of community standards”?

And then it occurred to me….FB is merely trying to corner the market.

It is a monopoly. Pure and simple.

They’re terrified that the recent veto by the Gov of Cali on their control of the internet will not actual stem the anger against their control.

And so they assert it.

FB must go. It must be destroyed. It must be regulated, divided, monitored, and controlled as a utility by the government.

This is censorship, pure and simple. Zuckerberg et al are trying to control who writes what, who posts what, who spreads information about what.

Pure and simple

%&$#% YOU FACEBOOK!

I write what I want. This is not rocket science.

Then again, only an anti-scientific company would understand this.

That’s no mo…why, yes, it is…

The scientists hope to learn about the asteroid’s surface composition and how fast it rotates, he said. Those observations could help researchers figure out its origin, which in turn could shed light on other asteroids, including ones that could be dangerous to Earth.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/mini-moon-asteroid-to-orbit-earth-temporarily-rcna172264

This is of course not the first “mini-moon” to have been discovered. These are wandering asteroids that get trapped briefly by Earth’s gravity well before being flung back into space.

Read the article for more information about the “school-bus sized” 2024PT5!

Interstellar! If only…

According to Thorne, who served as a consultant on the science of Interstellar, quantum mechanics could hypothetically explain a way to time travel via wormhole. So far, it’s a thought experiment that leads to the conclusion that you’d lose information along the way—not very practical.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a62175728/interstellar-travel-wormholes

First off, I’m incredibly annoyed at the way WordPress has screwed up the “quotation” function. It seems they are more focused on encouraging bloggers to use AI to write.

Uh. I don’t need AI. I blog. The end. WTH is the point of using AI to write my thoughts? It’s already being trained to USE my blog in the first place! Idiots.

OK. Second, the Popular Mechanics article I’m linking to is entitled “Interstellar travel is possible if we break into a higher dimension, scientists say.”

Only, that is NOT what scientists say. It’s still a thought experiment!

Wormholes have become part and parcel of Sci-fi since the 1950s (when the term was first coined).

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 famously was entirely due to the concept of a stable wormhole created by “the Prophets” (aka “Wormhole aliens”).

But so far, no actual wormhole has ever been observed. None. Nada. Zilch.

So, what is a wormhole?

To picture what a wormhole does, imagine a scarf with an ant at one end. The scarf is perhaps six feet across, and the ant would spend a few minutes crossing from one side to the other. Now imagine picking up both sides of the scarf and folding them so the opposite ends are close together. In the middle, place a cardboard tube connecting the two sides. Now, the ant can traverse the scarf’s length in mere seconds.

This was famously depicted in “A Wrinkle in Time,” and called a “tesseract,” with the image of an ant crossing over a string whose ends were brought together. Technically not true, but still helpful. (A rotating hypercube is not exactly the same as a wormhole…)

At any rate, I haven’t blogged in a while bc I’ve been bummed out at all the bad science reporting worldwide, from the botched Boeing “Starliner” BS to the Space X helium leak (although eventually they got to risk life and limb to do spacewalks with no mishap) to NASA launching a solar sail (what’s the point ? it doesn’t get us to start a Mars colony…).

Ah, well. At least we have two people who are definitely not young fighter pilots up in space through the New Year. It may help us better understand how the average person will fare in space (I have a hunch the answer is not pretty…).

Chinese scientists “create” water from lunar soil

Using the new method, one metric tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51 to 76 kilograms of water, equivalent to more than a hundred 500-millileter bottles of water, or the daily drinking water consumption of 50 people, the state broadcaster said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/chinese-scientists-use-lunar-soil-produce-water-rcna167951

The soil was from the 2020 expedition, which was the first in 44 years to bring back soil from the Moon.

Considering all of NASA’s problems, it looks like China will have a moon base years before the US does…and probably in prime resource locations as well.

And don’t forget that the hydrogen in the soil can also be used for rocket fuel. It would be a lot easier to launch ships to Mars and beyond without having to deal with Earth’s gravity…

“The fungus among us”: biohybrid machines and mushrooms

Researchers at Cornell have come up with a novel way to control a walking robot: with a mushroom.

Cornell explained in a press release that these four-legged “biohybrid” robots were built by researchers who literally grew mycelia, the belowground connective threads that allow fungal communities to communicate, into the robot itself.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/mushroom-robot-brain

This is a little freaky…

This robot is alive. Incorporated into its electronics are living fungal tissues that change the robot's behavior when exposed to intense light. That and more of the best from @ScienceMagazine and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: https://t.co/dpFdWgt11M pic.twitter.com/0uC1oy0TCH

— Christie Wilcox (@NerdyChristie) August 30, 2024

Believe it or not, there actually is some science behind Star Trek: Discovery’s “spore drive.” This robot is just one small step…

Psyche! There are no “mycelial network” in space, and the drive would only work if we could somehow find a fifth spatial dimension (this was discussed a few years ago).

Too bad the spore drive is “laughably ridiculous,” said one scientist, and if all Star Trek ships had one, over half its episodes wouldn’t have happened.

Oh well. At least a “sporebot” is possible.

Hmm.

Wow, so realistic! Uh, waitaminute here…

Footage making the rounds on social media shows what appear to be astonishingly lifelike humanoid robots posing at the World Robot Conference in Beijing last week.

But instead of showing off the latest and greatest in humanoid robotics, two of the “robots” turned out to be human women cosplaying as futuristic gynoids, presumably hired by animatronics company Ex-Robots.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinese-company-humanoid-robots-humans

During the World Robot Conference 2024 in Beijing from Aug 21 – Aug 25, animatronics company EX-Robot (or EX Robots as reported by some news media) hired 2 women cosplayed as robots to spice up the exhibition.

Hmmm… two human beings mimicked the movements of robots that… pic.twitter.com/hRGxgfe4mD

— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) August 26, 2024

Apparently some people were convinced these women were actually robots.

For real? This just seems like another crass, sexist attempt at titillating fanboys.