Dominique Luchart's Blog, page 670
March 24, 2021
Reddit says it has cut ties with a controversial former UK politician who it had recently hired, after 200+ subreddits, like r/Music, went private to protest (Paul Tamburro/GameRevolution)
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The importance of love language on Mars — Commander’s report: sol 14, ,
Dr. Michaela Musilova is the director of Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation ( HI-SEAS ) program, which conducts analog missions to the moon and Mars for scientific research at a habitat on the volcano Mauna Loa. Currently, she is in command of the two-week Valoria 2 mission and contributed this report to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights .
Sol 14 (Feb. 17, 2021)
It’s our last night on Mars and I can’t help myself from feeling sad, again. Yet another great mission is coming to a close. I’m already dreading the goodbyes that will start tomorrow night and I can’t help myself from missing my crewmembers, even though they’re still right next to me. It is with great effort that I’m trying to focus on the last tasks and research projects that I need to attend to before we’ll be leaving the simulated martian station tomorrow.
We started the mission with an inside joke that we’re spending 90% of our time together laughing and I can’t say that that was an exaggeration. The crew was able to find fun moments and a positive side to most things, under all circumstances. Every activity that we did, whether it was performing a research project or something mundane like cleaning the habitat, we always ended up having a good time. I hope that their laughter will continue to echo throughout the HI-SEAS habitat, even long after they’ll be gone.
My crew’s cheerfulness and endless jokes ended up being vital for me, as I had to face several difficult personal challenges unrelated to our mission. No matter how sad I felt, all I needed was to spend a few minutes with my martian family and I found my optimism again. I am very grateful to them for this moral support that they may not even be aware of having given me. Future space missions will truly depend on how well the crews will get along and be able to support one another.
Related: The Valoria 2 crew turns to the ‘dark side,’ changing HI-SEAS into Horror-SEAS
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Valoria 2 crewmembers exploring lava caves for astrobiology research. (Image credit: Paul Tomko)Valentine’s Day on analog Mars was a great example of how the Valoria 2 crew was able to work together to create a very welcoming and caring atmosphere in our habitat. To start, we requested help from our Mission Support volunteers. At HI-SEAS, we’re very grateful to have a number of volunteers all around the world that help the crew while they are on mission. Mission Support members act essentially as the crew’s “Google” search engine, since the crew has a very restricted access to the internet.
My crewmembers’ request that day was for Mission Support to send us the “love language” test. Once we took the test, we could better understand how we express our friendship and our needs towards one another. Taking the test together was also very insightful for each crewmember, since most of us were at least partially surprised by the results of the test. I was also very pleased with how comfortable we all are sharing such information between all members of the crew.
The huge feast, by simulated martian standards, was a perfect reflection of our individual love languages. Some crewmembers cooked a delicious meal and baked cupcakes and garlic knots (a crew favorite started by the Sensoria M3 crew). Others spent time embellishing the habitat with origami hearts and other original decorations. The crewmembers that were less crafty and not as skilled in the culinary arts contributed by cleaning up after the party. We also had a very pleasant and deep conversation about very personal topics, which brought us even closer together.
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Valoria 2 crewmembers during a sunset Marswalk outside the HI-SEAS habitat. (Image credit: Paul Tomko)Before we wrapped everything up this evening, we had one last session with Science Communications Officer Lain Velasco. Her study on proprioception and body awareness has been surprising in many ways. The crew advanced quicker than expected and they familiarized themselves with being upside down in only two weeks. They also reported feeling more confident and in control when doing exercises they deemed impossible at the start of the mission.
Lain not only got the data she needed, but she is genuinely proud of how hardworking the Valoria 2 crew has been. She feels humbled the crewmembers trusted her enough to keep them safe throughout the mission. Post-mission, Lain is looking forward to checking in with the crew as they continue their training programs independently.
Operations Officer Rilee Kaliher was very happy to complete her in situ research utilization research project during our mission. She conducted multiple tests on a variety of lava rock samples, which included studying their textures, hardness, load strength and other geological characteristics. Rilee conducted some of the tests with instruments that she built at HI-SEAS and they worked to her satisfaction. She is now looking into applying her new knowledge to future research projects related to Mars.
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Commander Michaela Musilova preparing the Mission to Mars (Misia Mars) student competition in Slovakia. (Image credit: Paul Tomko)The project that got the whole crew talking and competing every day was Crew Engineer Chris Jackson testing the Amazon Halo equipment on us. Chris observed that seemingly inaccurate readings of the devices have the potential to discourage the entire crew from reviewing data from their own devices on a regular basis. However, under certain conditions, the device’s readings can support healthy competitions between crewmembers. While becoming more aware of their tone of voice, sleep patterns and physical activity, the crew had not drastically changed their behavior based on the device’s readings. Overall, Chris reported that even though the crew liked learning more about themselves, they were also comfortable being themselves.
Plant Biology Officer Paul Tomko dedicated most of the mission to his food related projects and an unplanned documentary that the crew ended up creating. Paul was able to provide the crew with two harvests of lettuce and mixed sprouts, along with one legume mix harvest to boost the crew’s nutritional needs. The Valoria 2 mission documentary initially started as a spoof of some aspects of living at HI-SEAS during analog missions (the so-called “Horror-seas” Easter egg video I mentioned in my third report for this mission). Even though the movie ended up being rather dark, its content is meant to help future crews learn how to manage surviving at HI-SEAS better.
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Valoria 2 crewmembers learning to do more challenging tricks while in a handstand. (Image credit: Chris Jackson)As for me, I was happy that I was able to find some time to work on my collaborative project with NASA Goddard that focuses on understanding how life survives in lava caves on Earth. This is particularly relevant these days with the hope of finding biosignatures on Mars (signs of past or existing life on Mars) with a number of upcoming martian missions. The whole crew is looking forward to hearing news about the Mars 2020 mission, whose Perseverance rover and helicopter Ingenuity are meant to land on Mars tomorrow.
Tomorrow is also going to be the day that I’ll also be launching a competition for high school students called Mission to Mars in Slovakia, in collaboration with the company Slovenske Elektrarne. I will perform the experiment of the winning team during an analog space mission at HI-SEAS later this year. I’m really looking forward to what exciting and new space relevant experiments students will come up with.
Commander Musilova signing off feeling sad and hopeful at the same time. I will miss the Valoria 2 crew very much, but I’m certain that we’ll keep in touch and meet again somewhere on Earth in the near future. Until then, I have a lunar Selene III mission to look forward to in a few days’ time.
Follow Michaela Musilova on Twitter @astro_Michaela. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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Russian Soyuz rocket launches 38 satellites on first fully commercial mission, ,
A Russian Soyuz rocket sent 38 satellites into space Monday (March 22), marking a historic rideshare mission for Russian company GK Launch Services.
This was the first time the company sent a fully commercial space mission aloft with no main, Russian government satellite on the rocket, according to media reports.
The rocket lifted off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:07 a.m. EDT (0607 GMT or 11:07 local time). It was painted blue and white in honor of the cosmodrome’s long history of sending people into space, with the 60th anniversary of the first-ever human spaceflight coming up April 12.
Video: Blastoff! Soyuz rocket launches 38 satellites on rideshare mission
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A Soyuz rocket lifts off on the first-ever fully commercial Soyuz mission, on March 22, 2021. (Image credit: GK Launch Services via Roscosmos)“This is the first time this rocket is painted in a white and blue color scheme instead of the standard gray-orange color combination,” Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a machine-translated statement, adding the inspiration is the Vostok rocket that sent Gagarin into space in 1961.
Video footage from Baikonur, broadcast by Roscosmos, shows the Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifting off and disappearing into the clouds despite rainy conditions at the launch site. The launch had been delayed two days due to a detected problem in the upper Fregat stage of the rocket, Space News said.
Eighteen countries participated in the rideshare. The Fregat upper stage was expected to send the various satellites into three sun-synchronous orbits, GK Launch Services said, which gives consistent lighting conditions of each satellites’ viewpoint of Earth.
The company confirmed all satellites were deployed on Twitter on Monday, and said it is “awaiting confirmation from customers about establishing contact with the spacecraft.” Each customer will then take over operations of its own spacecraft.
The largest satellite of the bunch was the CAS500-1 remote sensing spacecraft from the Republic of Korea, according to Space News. Quoting the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Space News said that satellite will first do six months of testing in orbit before starting high-resolution Earth observations in October.
The various other satellites have mandates such as scientific experiments, technology demonstrations, Earth observations and solar observations, according to GK Launch Services. Notably, the Italian-led Unisat-7 mission will release six nanosatellites, largely for technology, educational and research purposes.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
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To be declassified: UFO broke sound barrier with no sonic boom, ,
More inexplicable sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) will be released for public scrutiny in June — including a UFO that broke the sound barrier without producing a sonic boom.
Speaking on Fox News, the former director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said Saturday (March 20) that the sightings are “difficult to explain.” Ratcliffe, who served in the Trump administration, said he’d hoped to declassify the reports during his tenure but that they will be released by the Pentagon by June 1.
It’s not the first time the military has released strange reports, and even videos, of UFOs, known in military parlance as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). In April 2020, the U.S. Navy released three videos appearing to show aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound. And Senate intelligence reports reveal that the Pentagon is still on the hunt for UFOs or UAPs. But check your excitement, Fox Mulder — the military is generally more concerned about whether UAPs might be secret aircraft or weapons developed by other nations than it is about finding evidence of ET in our midst.
According to Newsweek, Ratcliffe said the upcoming Pentagon report will include more sightings and reports of objects moving in seemingly impossible ways or breaking the speed of sound without an accompanying sonic boom. The unexplained sightings occurred all over the world, he said, and include events picked up on automated sensors and not just by human eyes.
“There are instances where we don’t have good explanations for some of the things that we’ve seen,” Ratcliffe told Fox News.
The report and declassification is required under the Intelligence Authorization Act for 2021.
However, the sightings may not even represent advanced Earth technology. Debunkers have suggested that the apparent extreme speed of the aircraft in the videos released in April 2020 could be an optical illusion called parallax. This effect occurs when an object close to a camera lens appears to be moving, sometimes quite quickly, as the camera moves, just because it’s closer to the lens than objects in the background. (A video example is available at SyfyWire.) Thus, the objects in the video could be as mundane as passenger planes or weather balloons. Some of the sudden movements in the videos may be artifacts of the camera zooming or sharpening the image, Vice reported.
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There are also declassified experimental aircraft that can do things like break the speed of sound without the enormous “crack” of a sonic boom. NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft, which is under construction and not yet in flight, is designed to fly faster than sound without making more than a gentle thump to listeners on the ground. It’s unknown if governments have similar, secret technology in testing or use.
Whatever the to-be-released videos show, it’s a time of unprecedented document release around UFOs. In January, the CIA unveiled three decades’ worth of documents about mysterious incidents reported to or investigated by the agency.
Originally published on Live Science.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
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Amazon delivery drivers have to consent to AI surveillance in their vans or lose their jobs,
Amazon is well-known for its technological Taylorism: using digital sensors to monitor and control the activity of its workers in the name of efficiency. But after installing machine learning-powered surveillance cameras in its delivery vans earlier this year, the company is now telling employees: agree to be surveilled by AI or lose your job.
As first reported by Vice, Amazon delivery drivers in the US now have to sign “biometric consent” forms to continue working for the retailing giant. Exactly what information is being collected seems to vary based on what surveillance equipment has been installed in any given van, but Amazon’s privacy policy (embedded below) covers a wide range of data.
The data that drivers must consent to be collected includes photographs used to verify their identity; vehicle location and movements (including “miles driven, speed, acceleration, braking, turns, following distance”); “potential traffic violations” (like speeding, failure to stop at stop signs, and undone seatbelts); and “potentially risky driver behavior, such as distracted driving or drowsy driving.”
It’s this last point that seems to be the most contentious. In February, Amazon announced it would start installing AI-powered cameras built by tech firm Netradyne in its delivery vans. These cameras record “100% of the time” and are supposed to identify dangerous behavior, like if a driver is yawning or checking their phone. The systems can then provide real-time feedback, telling a driver to take a break or keep their eyes on the road.
This level of micro-management — and the potential for the AI systems to get it wrong — seems to have angered some drivers. One driver speaking to the Thomson Reuters Foundation earlier this month said the cameras were an “invasion of privacy.” “We are out here working all day, trying our best already,” the driver, 22-year-old Henry Search, told the publication. “The cameras are just another way to control us.”
Other drivers have simply refused to sign, reports Vice. “It’s a heart-breaking conversation when someone tells you that you’re their favorite person they have ever worked for, but Amazon just micromanages them too much,” the owner of one Amazon delivery company told the publication.
When news of the cameras’ installation was announced earlier this year, Amazon defended the technology as a boon for safety. “We are investing in safety across our operations and recently started rolling out industry leading camera-based safety technology across our delivery fleet,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Verge. “This technology will provide drivers real-time alerts to help them stay safe when they are on the road.”
Previously, Amazon’s deployment of this sort of technology has mostly focused on its warehouse workers, where “pickers” have to fulfill orders while being timed by handheld scanners. The company has patented wristbands that even track workers’ hands in real-time, using haptic feedback to nudge them when they reach for an incorrect item. And it recently expanded its use of opt-in “gamification” techniques that hustle workers into ever greater efforts in exchange for digital rewards.
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Hundreds of free software advocates sign open letter seeking removal of Richard Stallman and entire FSF board saying he “has no place” in their community (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)
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Lime adds features to make scooter-sharing less stressful,
Scooter-sharing giant Lime is updating its app to make renting one of the company’s battery-powered two-wheelers a little easier. Customers can now take advantage of new features like app-less riding, 10-minute reservations, and vehicle configurations to take some of the bite out of scooter-sharing.
Customers who don’t have the Lime app on their phone can still ride by taking a photo of the scooter’s QR code and paying through Apple Pay or Google Pay. Lime says it will be a useful tool for first-time riders who don’t want to commit or don’t have space on their phones. The functionality works by temporarily downloading a portion of Lime’s normal app. It uses the Instant Apps feature on Android, while on iPhones it makes use of the new App Clips feature, which arrived last year as part of iOS 14.
Reservations could be a potential boon to anyone who has thought to rent a nearby scooter, only to find it gone by the time they arrive at its purported location. After testing out the feature in a couple of key markets, Lime will now allow customers to reserve a scooter for 10 minutes in an effort to take some of the stress out of scooter riding.
Lime will also start recommending certain vehicles to its customers. So when you open the app, the company will refer you to the nearest vehicle with the best battery range. Combined with the reservation feature, Lime thinks this will help customers secure their vehicle faster, estimating it will take “less than 5 seconds” to reserve a scooter after opening the app.
And finally, Lime’s app is getting a dark mode to help customers see their options better while riding at night.
Lime, which operates in 120 cities across five continents, is in growth mode as the weather warms up in certain key markets. In addition to adding new products like electric mopeds and pouring money into a huge e-bike expansion, the company is said to be in talks to go public via a reverse merger. Lime says its customers took more than 200 million rides on its e-scooters and e-bikes last year, with the company expecting that number to grow significantly in 2021.
Update March 24th, 6:39AM ET: Added confirmation that app-less riding uses Instant Apps on Android and App Clips on iOS.
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Google says FLoC, its tool for advertisers to perform behavioral testing, might not be compatible with GDPR and hence is stopping its testing in Europe (Allison Schiff/AdExchanger)
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SpaceX launches 60 new Starlink internet satellites, nails latest rocket landing at sea, ,
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a new batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Wednesday (March 24) and nailed a landing at sea to top off the company’s latest successful mission.
The veteran Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:28 a.m. EDT (0828 GMT).
Approximately nine minutes later, the reusable rocket’s first stage returned to Earth for its sixth successful landing. SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” was stationed out in the Atlantic Ocean, standing by for the catch.
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink satellite megaconstellation launches in photos
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink internet satellites launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in a predawn liftoff on March 24, 2021. (Image credit: SpaceX)Join our launch chat!
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Today’s flight is the fourth Starlink mission this month for the Hawthorne, California-based rocket builder. SpaceX is inching closer to filling its initial internet constellation, which is planned to be 1,440 strong. Eventually that constellation could be tens of thousands of satellites strong as SpaceX has permission to launch as many as 30,000, with an option for even more.
It was a slightly cloudy morning in Florida as the Falcon’s flames lit up the night sky. Weather forecasters at the 45th Weather Squadron predicted ideal conditions for launch, with the only weather concerns being the potential for cumulus clouds. Mother nature did not disappoint
“This is the sixth landing for this booster and the 78th landing overall,” Andy Tran, a production supervisor at SpaceX, said on the launch webcast. “What a way to start the day.”
Related: Brilliant SpaceX rocket launch sparks fireball reports
Sixth flight’s a charm[image error]
SpaceX’s veteran Falcon 9 rocket booster made its sixth landing after delivering 60 Starlink satellites to orbit on March 24, 2021. This camera view, looking down from the top of the rocket, shows its standing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You after landing. (Image credit: SpaceX)The booster for today’s launch, called B1060, is one of six Falcon 9 boosters in SpaceX’s fleet of flight-proven rockets. The veteran flier now has six flights under its belt, including four different Starlink missions. In addition, the booster also lofted an upgraded GPS III satellite for the U.S. military in June 2020, and a communications satellite for Turkey in January of this year.
In fact, this was the first rocket that the U.S. military allowed SpaceX to recover, a switch from its previous military launches where the company would discard the booster after it delivered its payload. NASA recently followed suit, permitting SpaceX to reuse its rockets on crew missions. The upcoming Crew-2 mission, set to launch no earlier than April 22, will be the first crewed flight to fly on a refurbished rocket. (That mission will also feature a reused Crew Dragon spacecraft.)
Wednesday’s launch marks the ninth flight overall for SpaceX in 2021, and the third flight this year for this particular booster. Its last flight took off on Feb. 4, and engineers spent just under 50 days getting it prepped and ready to fly again.
Having a fleet of flight-proven rockets at its disposal, allows SpaceX to keep up with its rapid launch cadence. However company officials have stressed that while booster recovery is a bonus, the main objective is to deliver whatever payload the rocket is carrying to space.
This is the 112th overall flight for Falcon 9, and the 58th reflight of a booster. In fact every single launch so far in 2021 for SpaceX has been on a flight-proven rocket. It also marks the fourth successful landing in a row for SpaceX, after the company lost one of its six-time fliers on Feb. 15 when the rocket lost an engine during flight and subsequently failed to land on the drone ship.
SpaceX has since attributed the anomaly to a worn out engine cover that allowed hot gases to seep into places they weren’t supposed to. This caused one of Falcon 9’s engines to shut down during flight. The rocket is designed to be able to complete its mission even if it loses an engine, but it was unable to slow itself enough to touchdown on the drone ship, and instead landed in the ocean.
An upgraded version of Falcon 9 debuted in 2018, and the company boasted that it expected each Falcon 9 first stage could fly an estimated 10 times with little-to-no refurbishments in between, and as many as 100 times before retirement.
One of SpaceX’s other boosters is very close to achieving that milestone as it hit its ninth launch and landing last week. B1051, is the fleet’s leader and could blast off on its historic flight in the near future.
Constellation competitionWith tonight’s launch success, SpaceX has launched more than 1,300 Starlink satellites into orbit, which includes some that are no longer operational. And there are many more launches coming as SpaceX’s initial Starlink constellation will consist of 1,440 satellites. However, the company has sought approval for tens of thousands more.
The company launched its massive constellation, with one major goal: to connect the globe. To that end, SpaceX designed a fleet of flat paneled broadband satellites that will fly over the Earth, providing users across the globe with internet coverage. In particular those in rural and remote areas who otherwise would not have connectivity.
Starlink review (hands on): How good is Elon Musk’s satellite internet service?
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SpaceX’s 60 new Starlink satellites can be seen in a stack over a brilliant blue Earth as dawn approaches after a successful launch on March 24, 2021. (Image credit: SpaceX)Currently Starlink is still in beta-testing as SpaceX works to fill out its initial constellation. Users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany and now New Zealand can access the service. SpaceX is taking preorders for when it rolls out full commercial services sometime later this year.
Users can reserve the service with a $99 deposit, by signing up on the company’s website.
SpaceX is not the only company with aspirations of connecting the globe. OneWeb, a London-based company, is preparing for a launch of its own. If all goes as planned, late Wednesday (US time), a Russian Soyuz 2.1b will carry 36 OneWeb satellites to space. The company launched its most recent mission in December.
OneWeb has a total of 19 flights planned, which will deposit a total of 650 internet-beaming satellites into space. And has launched five of those flights to date. (Amazon and Telstar also have constellations planned but have yet to launch any hardware.)
Falling fairingsSpaceX’s newest boat, the Shelia Bordelon, made its debut this morning as she pulled the rocket’s payload fairings out of the water. Fleet watchers were all a buzz as the boat, painted bright pink and blue, sailed into Port Canaveral last week and parked at the SpaceX docks.
It’s unclear if this boat will be a permanent member of the fleet or if the ship is just helping out short term. GO Ms. Chief and GO Ms. Tree have been sidelined for several missions now, as SpaceX has turned to its Crew Dragon recovery vessels to scoop the fairings out of the ocean. Those boats are going to have to return to Dragon duties as the next crew mission is quickly approaching.
Both of the fairing halves have flown before, and with any luck, they will fly again soon.
Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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