Daily Archives: February 6, 2021

Events depicted in Amazon's"The Expanse," which just wrapped its fifth season,take place two centuries in the future when humankind has colonized Mars and cultivated a downtrodden working class in the asteroid belts between Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Apparently no amount of time diminishes the solid charms of a classic joke setup, because early on in the season an Earth admiral attempts to lighten a deposed politician's dark mood by telling his version of the classic "A, B and C walk into a bar . . ."

This joke stars a Belter, an Earther and a Martian. The Belter orders the finest Martian whiskey from the bartender, and the Martian orders Earther tequila. Both give the same explanation for their choices: "Drinking like my enemy helps me think like my enemy." Before the admiral can get to the punchline they're interrupted by urgent business, which turns out to be a warning about an impending disaster enormous in scale.

Six full episodes transpire before the admiral, Felix Delgado (Michale Irby) gets to the punchline. By that point in the season millions have been slaughtered on Earth, Mars and a Belter colony instigated by sadistic Belter extremist Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander), shifting the solar system's power balance.

The politician, Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) has been restored to power as the acting Secretary-General of the United Nations after her predecessor orders a military strike against the economically devastated Belter outpost Inaros once called home, leading most of his cabinet to resign.

In a moment of calm and candorshe asks Delgado to finish the joke, and the admiral complies: "The Earther says, 'Give me a shot of the finest Belter liquor you have, the best the Belt has to offer.' The bartender says, 'Because it helps you think like your enemy?' And the Earther says, 'No, because I'm trying to drink less. The best the Belt has to offer is terrible!'"

Neither Delgado nor Avasarala laugh, and in those seconds the Admiral's flippant twinkle melts. "It used to be funnier," he flatly offers.

Simple exchanges like thisremind viewers why "The Expanse" is consistently underappreciated in the realm of epic dramas. Here we see two people tasked with serving humanity and seeking peace revealing their arrogance and prejudice by way of a derogatory joke; they are leaders and ostensibly diplomats. To use a familiar and loaded 2021 term, they are the "elites."

But even these supposedly wise leaders are not above ignorant wisecracks about the presumed inferiority of the downtrodden or, we should say, they didn't used to be. By the time the joke has stopped being funny the Belt has delivered a wallop to the systemthat threatens to bring the established order to its knees.

Several times, including very recently, I've written about the limited appeal of end-of-the-world dystopias to audiences living in the middle of one, and on the surface it may be tempting to lump "The Expanse" in with other examples of apocalyptic visions. It was never that type ofshow.

From the beginning "The Expanse" has always extrapolated the probable direction our future would take with an eye on humanity continuing, not ending. In the same ways some hoary, dumb jokes don't really change, neither does humankind's greedy nature and its ages-old habit of optimizing civilization's function to benefit the wealthy and leaving the rest to struggle over scraps. Ever imagine what happens to a society that never quite makes it beyond late capitalism? Watch this show.

And I recommend that you do because "The Expanse" thisseasonserved up several disaster movies, a bullet-riddled action thriller and family drama, and it did a spectacular job with each. Each of its 10 episodes is a spectacle that refuses to sacrifice its stunning aesthetics even in the worstof circumstances. This also differentiates "The Expanse" from, say, an endless grind to survive a zombie world or a desperate frozen locomotive.

As terrible as the situation gets for the show's protagonists, the worlds depicted never look anything less than interesting, and the writing gives us a view into humanity's shortsightedness in broad strokes and intensely personal ones.

Human greed and perseverance will always be this show's roiling guts, especially once we know these characters and all they're capable of, for better or for the absolute worst.

Season 5 breaks free of the show's habit of viewing the solar system's intense political machinations, class warfare and economic disparity from the somewhat neutral view of the Rocinante, an independent gunship whose crew consists of Captain James Holden (Steven Strait) and chief engineer Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), who originate from Earth; pilot Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar), a citizen of Mars; and executive officer Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), a Belter.

Spaceship crews that transcend cultural and political strife are a sci-fi mainstay, but the Rocinante's tight family sticks together because they don't fully trust any government while maintaining connections to each faction through their individual relationships. They've also bonded over their perilously close interactions with the story's X-factor, a sentient phenomenon known as the protomolecule that can wipe out entire colonies. Through the protomolecule the Roci crew also discovers a network of gates to other parts of the universe, some with inhabitable planets and some containing dead space.

Over the show's five seasons the Roci has contended with various factions wanting to use the protomolecule for their own benefit, but only recently Holden and his cohorts believed they had banished it from this system. But where there are zealots there must be world-ending weapons for them to steal.

Strangely enough, the protomolecule is not season's greatest ordeal nor itsmain strength.

Following a mild restart in the fourth season (the first to stream on Amazon after Syfy dropped the show) showrunner Naren Shankar's decision to temporarily break up the Roci crew to pursue personal missions refreshes the series yet again. Doing so expanded the development of Tipper's Naomi and Chatham's Amos, and enabled the writers to humanize the figures that could have been most easily written off as terrorists.

"The Expanse" cast's performances are powered with the same level of devotion to profundity that the producers give to getting the details of physics and space travel right. It follows that the series would operate with the same steadiness in its shift from a political saga fueled by struggles over resources into a provocative warning about ignoring so-called fringe actors and their passions.

"The Expanse" isn't shy about depicting Inaros as a self-serving, dangerous cult leader, to be clear. But through Naomi, who goes in search of the son she has with Inaros, Filip (Jasai Chase-Owens), we are given a tight shot on how easily abusive personalities can radicalize the disillusioned . . . which is entirely relevant at the moment.

Naomi is never seduced by his message but her son is fully indoctrinated, and through both of their stories we come to understand why and how a figure who begins the season as the system's most wanted man ends it as its most feared. Everything comes back to that punchlineand the political arrogance of underestimating a livid underclass. Designate people as a joke for long enough and eventually they'll make it their mission to turn their oppressorsinto one.

Amos returns to Baltimore, just in time to coincide with the Inaros faction's crippling attack. Earth's dire disarray pushes Amos to use his abilities as a strategist and negotiator instead of relying on brute force, and allows Chatham to spread his dramatic range wider than he has before. He also was part of the underclass. Now he has the Earth's chief executive on speed dial.

Anvar's Alex probably received the least amount of expansion next to Strait's character, but given that most of "The Expanse" makes Holden the center of the story sidelining him in order to beef up Naomi and Amos is excusable.

Alex's deemphasis may have been in the editing, however; the actor was fired in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations brought against him in the summer of 2020. If you didn't know that, his sudden death-by-stroke in the finale may have taken you by surprise.

Nevertheless, the Rocinante crew finishes this season as heroes celebrated by Avasarala as the exemplar of what Inaros hates: an assembly of people pittedagainst one another by the powers that be, now working together for the common good. "All we have to do now is turn Belter, Martian and Earther into this," she says with a warm smile, adding, "This is how we win."

Genre fiction teaches us that whenever a character delivers a line like this with pure certainty, evil will surely test it and right on time Inaros responds in another part of space, setting the table for a sixthand final season that looks like it could be an existential battle pitting a pseudo-democracy against fascism.

Ignoring the real-world parallels that may hit too close to home for some people, the painstaking level of intricacy laced through every corner of "The Expanse" could make the prospect of leaping into this series daunting especially in a time when everyone's attention span has been taxed beyond belief.

Then again, right now much of the country is blanketed in snow, and many millions more are slumped into the midwinter doldrums. We crave some element of departure from the world's woe, but prestige habit also dictates that the writing gives us enough realism to hold onto.

"The Expanse" is a journey removed enough from reality to release us from its gravity, but relatable enough to draw us in. If you ever considered taking on the show, it would be tough to come up with a better time than right now.

All five seasons of "The Expanse" are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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"The Expanse" shows the dangers of treating extremism as a joke - Salon

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency teamed up to look for brilliant ideas for food production in space, particularly in the upcoming Mars mission in 2024.

They are willing to give $500,000 for the best idea to help feed the astronauts on long-term space missions that are different from the dried and packaged food from Earth, Slash Gearreported.

This project is known as the Deep Space Food Challenge. Interested innovators have until May 28 to register, and NASA will award $25,000 for up to 20 teams.

Both NASA and CSA are trying to look for more feasible ways to use technology into bringing nutritious food into the spacecraft that will be used in the Artemis missionbut also making sure that it will not weigh down or produce more waste.

Specifically speaking, the contest said that they are calling for innovators to find "palatable, nutritious, and safe foods that require little processing time for crew members." Fox News reported that the contest's website specified that this technology should be designed to feed a crew of up to four astronauts for three years.

"NASA has knowledge and capabilities in this area, but we know that technologies and ideas exist outside of the agency," said Grace Douglas, NASA lead scientist for advanced food technology at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"Raising awareness will help us reach people in a variety of disciplines that may hold the key to developing these new technologies," she added.

ALSO READ: Growing Plants In Space: Astronauts Eats First Radish Grown in Space

According to UPI, NASA has set a deadline until July 30 for teams to submit their ideas, the time when they will choose the idea.

The Deep Space Food Challenge was inspired by the problems that astronauts face with food boredom aboard the International Space Station, the news outlet reported.

Douglas wrote in a paper in 2020 that astronauts report that the fresh fruits and vegetables and some semi-shelf-stable specialty items brought to them several times a year gives them a profound psychological benefit.

Douglas wrote a paperin 2020 with two colleagues, published in the Journal of Nutrition, that outlined the problems astronauts face with food boredom aboard the International Space Station.

Moreover, the paper outlined the efforts of astronauts in producing food in space, including the limited cultivation of greens and radishes. They have also started experimenting with yeast to grow nutrients that supplement the diets of astronauts, but none of these could provide a significant volume of food to the astronauts.

Last year, astronauts aboard the ISS have already harvested the first radish grown in space, which they were able to eat some before sending most of it back to Earth.

Douglas warned that NASA might not be able to provide the same to deep space missions in the future because the fastest possible roundtrip is about 250 days, making resupply nearly impossible.

Meanwhile, Science Times previously reported that the Mars City platform had launched an annual challenge of Mars City Design Challengesto promote Marschitecture that encourages innovators to design architecture that balances Urban Farming on Mars.

Competitions such as this and the Deep Space Food Challenge could perhaps someday make the dream of creating a Mars colony possible in the future.

RELATED STORY: Top 5 Winning Farm Ideas on Mars

Check out more news and information on NASA Mars Missionon Science Times.

Original post:

NASA and CSA Will Give $500,000 To The Best Idea of Food Production In Space - Science Times

NASA satellite crashed into Saturn

In an attempt to make human beings a multi-planetary species, space agencies like NASA have long been trying to create a permanent colony on Mars. However, the journey to Mars will not be very easy, as astronauts will face several challenges that include space radiation and the supply of food. In an attempt to overcome the challenges associated with food supply, NASA in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and the Privy Council Office (PCO) has launched the Deep Space Food Challenge.

NASA offers prize money of$500,000

Under the Deep Space Food Challenge program, scientific foodies have the opportunity to win prize money of$500,000, if they find a way to feed astronauts more efficiently in deep space.

Representative imagePixabay Images (Collage using Photoscape X)

According to the Deep Space Food Challenge website, scientific foodies from all over the world can provide their ideas or systems that ''require minimal inputs and maximize safe, nutritious, and palatable food outputs for long-duration space missions, and which have potential to benefit people on Earth."

With this program, the space agency is trying to find an effective way to provide nutritious food in the challenging space environment. The new technique should produce less waste, and it should not increase the weight of the spacecraft.

Food scientists have the opportunity to register until May 28, 2021. After analyzing the inputs provided by the participants,NASAwill award $25,000 to up to 20 teams.

Advancement in technology could catalyze future space missions

"NASA has knowledge and capabilities in this area, but we know that technologies and ideas exist outside of the agency.Raising awareness will help us reach people in a variety of disciplines that may hold the key to developing these new technologies,"Grace Douglas, NASA lead scientist for advanced food technology at Johnson Space Center told UPI.

NASA is currently gearing up with the Artemis missionaimed at landing humans on the moon to set up a colony on the lunar surface. According to space experts, setting up a human colony on the moon is very vital to achieve the ultimate aim of human colonization on Mars.

Original post:

Attention foodies: $500,000 on offer if you find a way to feed astronauts [details] - IBTimes India

For most of its two decades of existence, Blue Origin was like Willy Wonkas chocolate factory in the childrens book by Roald Dahl.

It was a rocket company founded by Jeffrey P. Bezos, the billionaire who had created Amazon. That much was known. What the company was actually doing was shrouded in mystery.

But everyone wanted to get in, laughed Carissa Christensen, founder and chief executive of Bryce Space and Technology, an aerospace consulting firm.

Mr. Bezos announced on Tuesday that he would be stepping down as chief executive of Amazon this summer and becoming executive chairman. In his letter to Amazon employees, he said he wanted to put time and energy into other passions and listed Blue Origin among them.

The coming years for Blue Origin promise to be busy flying tourists on short suborbital jaunts, launching satellites on a new rocket, developing a lunar lander for NASA.

Does that mean Mr. Bezos will take a bigger day-to-day role at his rocket company?

If Jeff chose to spend more time at Blue Origin during the next phase of his career, that would be a very good thing for Blue, said Rob Meyerson, who was president of Blue Origin from 2003 to 2017. He brings great intelligence, great operational expertise and great mission passion to the business.

Mr. Meyerson noted that Mr. Bezos other ventures include the Bezos Earth Fund, which last year gave a $100 million grant to the Environmental Defense Fund to build and operate a methane-detecting satellite. Amazon, where Mr. Bezos will continue to be involved, is developing Project Kuiper, a constellation of satellites to beam internet service to Earth.

Its clear that space will be a prominent theme, Mr. Meyerson said.

Mr. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 two years before Elon Musk started the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX.

But while Mr. Musk and SpaceX have already built a thriving business launching satellites and NASA astronauts to orbit and developing a huge rocket named Starship that is intended to take people to Mars someday Blue Origin seems to lag.

In its early days, the company only occasionally offered drips of news. Reporters would call Blue Origins public relations firm to obtain a perfunctory declined to comment from the company.

In November 2006, a gumdrop-shaped test craft successfully rose a modest 285 feet into the air and then returned gently back to the ground at a test site in West Texas. Mr. Bezos reported the success in a blog post on the Blue Origin website one and a half months later.

There were no other updates for four and a half years until Mr. Bezos acknowledged that a test vehicle had crashed, but only after The Wall Street Journal had reported the failure.

Over the years, Blue Origin became less secretive. Five years ago, Mr. Bezos welcomed a group of reporters for a tour of the companys headquarters in Kent, Wash., a few miles south of Seattle. During lunch, he happily answered questions. Its my total pleasure, he said then. I hope you can sense that I like this.

Since then, Blue Origin has grown quickly. It has a NASA contract for developing a lander that might take astronauts to the surface of the moon in a few years. It sells rocket engines to another rocket company, United Launch Alliance. It charges customers to fly science experiments on New Shepard, a suborbital spacecraft.

But those are so far modest in scope. Blue Origin has yet to start sales for New Shepards primary business taking tourists on short rides to the edge of space or even had people aboard on any of the test flights so far.

New Glenn, a larger rocket that would compete with SpaceXs Falcon 9 workhorse, will not take off on its maiden flight until at least later this year.

They have grand plans, but they have yet to actually launch any humans aboard any of their craft, said Laura Seward Forczyk, owner of Astralytical, a space consulting firm.

Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos have periodically sparred about their rockets and whether humans should aim for Mars Mr. Musks ultimate destination or build free-floating colonies as Mr. Bezos envisions.

In an interview with Maureen Dowd last year, Mr. Musk offered faint praise for Mr. Bezos and Blue Origin: The rate of progress is too slow and the amount of years he has left is not enough, but Im still glad hes doing what hes doing with Blue Origin.

That does not necessarily mean Blue Origin is far behind.

During his tour with reporters in 2016, Mr. Bezos pointed to an image in the headquarters central area. It showed two tortoises holding an hourglass and gazing upward toward the cosmos. Below was Blue Origins motto: Gradatim ferociter, which is Latin for step by step, ferociously.

Blue Origin may hope to turn out to be the tortoise of the fable where slow and steady eventually wins over the speedy hare. Mr. Bezos wealth he has been selling billions of dollars in Amazon stock to help finance Blue Origin has allowed Blue Origin to follow a methodical, long-term plan without needing to generate much revenue in the short term.

Mr. Bezos has spoken in more detail about a future where millions of people live and work in space. The aim of Blue Origin, he said, is to help people get there.

We are going to build a road to space, Mr. Bezos said during a presentation in 2019 when he unveiled a design for a lunar lander. And then amazing things will happen.

Blue Origin now has a rocket engine factory in Huntsville, Ala., and huge facilities just outside NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida for assembling the New Glenn rockets.

In 2016, Mr. Bezos said he spent one day a week at Blue Origin. Although he majored in electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton as an undergraduate, Mr. Bezos let his engineers talk about the technical aspects of the Blue Origin spacecraft to reporters.

By contrast, Mr. Musk, with the title of chief engineer, is deeply involved with engineering details at SpaceX, although Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer, handles much of the companys day-to-day details.

Thus, as Blue Origin shifts from research and development to a pursuit of revenue and profits, now may be an ideal time to bring in someone with the business successes of Amazon.

He is a business person who knows how to make money, Ms. Christensen said. Maybe this is the moment in time where its just too enticing for him to stay away.

She added: Amazon was like no other company before it. If Jeff Bezos is truly going to devote more time to Blue, I wonder if it is going to become like no other launch company before it.

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Jeff Bezos Renews Focus on Blue Origin, Which Has Been Slower to Launch - The New York Times