Monthly Archives: March 2021

Floating in space watching your ship speed away rivals moments in Gravity or Interstellar and its one of the things that makes Outer Wilds among the best games ever made, says Jacob Aron

By Jacob Aron

A view of Timber Hearth, the home planet where Outer Wilds begins

Mobius Digital

Outer Wilds

Mobius Digital

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PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

THE first few months of any year are a slow time for video game launches, but whether it is due to the pandemic or the recent release of next-generation consoles, new games are thin on the ground at the moment. That is why I spent this month checking out 2019s Outer Wilds and I am glad I did, because it is one of the best games ever made.

A bold claim, but hear me out. Outer Wilds is set in a miniature solar system filled with planets bearing evocative names such as Giants Deep and Brittle Hollow. As the newest member of Outer Wilds Ventures, an organisation that is as much a bunch of trail hikers as it is NASA, you set off to explore these worlds and in 22 minutes, the sun explodes in a supernova, wiping out you and everything else in the solar system.

Moments later, the game resets and you begin another 22-minute session. This time limit, combined with the small solar system, gives you space exploration without the boring bits. After launching your trusty spacecraft, you can be walking on the surface of another planet within minutes. At the same time, everything operates under more-or-less realistic orbital mechanics, making space flight a challenge of matching orbits and velocities you cant just point at your destination and go.

I spent my first few runs getting to grips with the controls, which allow you to thrust in either direction along all three spatial axes, and more than once found myself falling into the sun, triggering an early reset. Yet little by little, I mastered my ship and was soon merrily exploring.

There are no new abilities to unlock as you play the only thing you gain is knowledge

I am deliberately avoiding saying much about what I found because Outer Wilds is about the joy of discovering things for yourself: it really is everything you could want from a space-exploration game. To give you a flavour, during my playthrough, I fell into a black hole, docked with a mysterious space station and landed on a comet, before falling off again.

But not all in a single go. Your ships computer records your discoveries, linking them together like a corkboard with strings. This doesnt reset, allowing you to uncover the games many mysteries over a number of runs. There are no new abilities to unlock as you play the only thing you gain is knowledge, so you could theoretically complete Outer Wilds in your first 22 minutes.

The result is that the game is full of aha! moments that are both incredibly satisfying and make you feel very clever, but it is also mechanically brilliant. Launching your spacecraft at the start of a run is always a tiny thrill as you rumble into orbit. Your spacesuit has limited oxygen and fuel, making it essential to manage your resources. If you run out of fuel, you can use oxygen as propellant in a last-ditch effort to get to safety.

This comes together to generate moments that easily rival Gravity or Interstellar. At one point, I was floating around a planet, separated from my ship, which was orbiting another planet.

I could see the ship was heading away from me, and doubted I would be able to catch up with my remaining fuel. Instead, I pulled open my map of the solar system so I could estimate when the two planets would have their closest approach. Timing things just right, I jetted off for what I thought would be a daring rendezvous. For a moment, it seemed like I was on course until I smashed into a moon, cracked my helmet and died. Thankfully, the next run was just a moment away.

Games

The Witness

Thekla

PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Android, iOS

The Witness is full of mysteries. Set on an island split into regions, each locale puts its own spin on grid-based logic puzzles. It is gorgeous, but extremely mentally taxing.

No Mans Sky

Hello Games

PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

No Mans Sky offers billions of procedurally generated worlds. This can make them feel samey, but the latest update lets you collect alien pets.

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Why Outer Wilds is a space-exploration game that's worth dying in - New Scientist News

Imagine running on a cement footpath, and then suddenly through dry sand. Just to keep upright, you would have to slow down and change the way you run. In the same way, a walking robot would have to change its gait to handle different surfaces.

Generally, we humans and most robots can only change how we run. But what if we could also change the shape of our bodies to run as fast and safely as possible on any surface?

We would like to rely on robots for difficult and dangerous tasks, from inspecting failed nuclear reactors to space exploration. For these tasks, a static body could limit the robots adaptability. A shape-shifting body could make the difference between success and failure in these unexpected environments. Even better, a shape-shifting robot could learn the best body shape for different environments and adapt to new environments as it encounters them.

In collaboration with the University of Oslo, we have successfully tested this idea with a four-legged robot that adapts its body to walk on new surfaces as it sees them, performing better than a static-body robot. Our research is published in Nature Machine Intelligence.

DyRET, the Dynamic Robot for Embodied Testing, or the animal in the Norwegian of its creator, Tnnes Nygaard, was designed to explore the idea of a shape-shifting robot. Each of DyRETs four legs has two telescopic sections, so that it can change the length of its thigh or shin bones. The adjustments are made by motors built into the legs and the lengths can be changed automatically while the robot is operating.

The motors can change the height of DyRET by around 20%, from 60cm to 73cm tall. That 13cm makes a dramatic difference to the robots walk. With short legs, DyRET is stable but slow, with a low centre of gravity. In its tallest mode, DyRET is more unstable while it walks but its stride is much longer, allowing it to travel faster and to step over obstacles.

DyRET also has sensors to keep track of what its walking on. Each of DyRETs feet has a force sensor that can feel how hard the ground is. A 3D camera points at the ground between DyRETs front legs to estimate how rough the ground is.

When DyRET is walking, it continuously senses the environment through its feet and 3D camera. When the robot detects a change in ground conditions, it can change to the best leg length. But how does the robot know what body shape works best?

We explored two ways for DyRET to learn the best leg configuration for different situations: a controlled environment, indoors with known surfaces, and a real-world test outside.

In our controlled tests, DyRET walked inside boxes about 5 metres long containing different walking surfaces: sand, gravel, and hard fibre-cement sheeting. The robot walked on each material in each of 25 different leg configurations to record the efficiency of its movement. Given this data, we tested the robots ability to automatically sense a change in the walking surface within the boxes, and to choose the best body shape.

While our controlled experiments showed DyRET could adapt its body successfully to surfaces it had walked on before, the real world is a much more variable and unpredictable place. We showed this method could be extended to unseen terrain by estimating the best body-shape for any surface that the robot encounters.

Read more: How do robots 'see' the world?

In our outdoor experiments, DyRET used a machine learning model, seeded with knowledge about the best leg configuration for a given combination of terrain hardness and roughness taken from the controlled tests. As the robot walks, it continuously predicts the best body shape for the terrain as it encounters it, while updating its model with measurements of how well it can walk. In our experiments, DyRETs predictions improve as it walks, allowing it to quickly generate efficient movements, even for terrain it hasnt seen before.

DyRET explores the idea of embodied cognition in a robot: that is, that a robots hardware body can be used to solve problems in collaboration with its software brain by tightly linking them to the environment. Instead of DyRETs body being a constraint on its movement, it is itself an adaptive way of solving problems in challenging environments.

This is incredibly beneficial, especially when we cant predict the exact environmental conditions beforehand, which makes picking a single good robot shape very challenging. Instead, these robots would adapt to a wide variety of environmental conditions through shape-change.

Our proof of concept has powerful implications for the future of robotic design, unlocking currently impossible environments that are very challenging and variable. Future shape-shifting robots might be used on the sea floor, or for long-term missions in space.

Read more: Were teaching robots to evolve autonomously so they can adapt to life alone on distant planets

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Shape-shifting robots in the wild: the DyRET robot can rearrange its body to walk in new environments - The Conversation AU

China and Russia are joining forces to build an international space station on the moon.

Leaders from both countries' space programs earlier this week signed an agreement for the joint construction of what they call the International Scientific Lunar Station a complex of experimental research facilities located on the surface or in the orbit of the moon.

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A memorandum of understanding on the project was signed by Dmitry Rogozin, general director of Russias Roscosmos State Corporation, and Zhang Kejian, head of Chinas National Space Administration, on Tuesday.

The two countries said they will use their collective experience in space research to develop a roadmap for the construction of the lunar base. Details of what the proposed station will look like are not clear at this time.

The International Lunar Research Station is a comprehensive scientific experiment base that can carry out multi-disciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities such as the moon's own exploration and utilization, moon-based observation, basic scientific experiment and technical verification on the lunar surface or lunar orbit, and long-term autonomous operation, the Chinese National Space Administration said Tuesday.

Russias space agency said in a statement the complex will support a variety of research experiments, with the possibility of long-term unmanned operation with the prospect of human presence on the moon.

The research station will be open to all interested countries and international partners in an effort to strengthen research cooperation and promote space exploration for peaceful purposes in the interests of all mankind, Chinas space agency said.

The move marks Beijings latest push to explore the moon alongside rivals such as NASA, which is prohibited from working with China under a 2011 law. China is looking to carry out crewed missions to the moon by the 2030s. If successful it would be only the second country to put a human on the lunar surface behind the U.S.

The agreement also suggests Russia, which has had a decades-long relationship with NASA on the International Space Station (ISS), sees its future in space exploration primarily as a cooperative effort with China.

NASA has secured agreements with nine other countries to participate in the U.S. Artemis program. The program is aiming to carry out humanitys return to the moon with plans to send astronauts to the lunar surface over the next decade to establish a long-term, sustainable human presence.

While the U.S. and Russia have had a long collaborative relationship in their space exploration efforts, Russia is not among the countries participating in the U.S. lunar program.

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China and Russia will build space station on moon together, snubbing NASA | TheHill - The Hill

Enlarge / Artist concept of the Space Launch System.

Update: After this story was published, NASA released the following statement at 11pm ET on Monday regarding the internal study:

NASA is conducting an internal study of the timing and sequence of lunar missions with available resources, and with the guidance that SLS and Orion will be providing crew transportation to the Gateway. The backbone for NASAs Moon to Mars plans are the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, ground systems at Kennedy Space Center, Gateway in lunar orbit and human landing system. We currently are alsoassessing various elements of our programs to find efficiencies andopportunities to reduce costs, and this exercise is ongoing.This will include conversations with our industry partners.Budget forecasts and internal agency reviews are common practice as they help us with long-term planning.The agency anticipates taking full advantage of the powerful SLS capabilities, and this effort will improve the current construct associated with executing the development, production and operations of the NASAs Artemis missions.

The original story appears below.

Original story: NASA is conducting an internal review of the Space Launch System rocket's affordability, two sources have told Ars Technica.

Concerned by the program's outsized costs, the NASA transition team appointed by President Joe Biden initiated the study.The analysis is being led by Paul McConnaughey, a former deputy center director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, as well as its chief engineer.

The SLS rocket program has been managed by Marshall for more than a decade. Critics have derided it as a "jobs program" intended to retain employees at key centers, such as Alabama-based Marshall, as well as those at primary contractors such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Such criticism has been bolstered by frequent schedule delaysthe SLS was originally due to launch in 2016, and the rocket will now launch no sooner than 2022as well as cost overruns.

For now, costs seem to be the driving factor behind the White House's concerns. With a maximum cadence of one launch per year, the SLS rocket is expected to cost more than $2 billion per flight, and that is on top of the $20 billion NASA has already spent developing the vehicle and its ground systems. Some of the incoming officials do not believe the Artemis Moon Program is sustainable with such launch costs.

McConnaughey is leading the study for Kathy Lueders, NASA's chief of human spaceflight. Even before the study's initiation, McConnaughey had been pushing for the SLS program to become more cost-effective. One goal of this analysis is to find ways for the large NASA rocket to compete effectively with privately developed rockets as part of the agency's Artemis Moon program.

For example, although SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket does not have as much lift capacity as the SLS rocket, it has the advantage of being already in use and costing about one-tenth as much per flight. Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance are also developing heavy-lift rockets that are intended to deliver components of a Human Landing System to lunar orbit.

Perhaps most significantly, SpaceX is continuing a flight test campaign of its Starship Launch System, which may make its first orbital flight in the next 12 months. This is a launch vehicle that could potentially out-lift the SLS rocket, be reusable, and cost a fraction of the price. If SpaceX succeeds in getting Starship into orbit, there would be little technical justification for continuing government subsidization of the less capable SLS booster, which is expendable and costs much, much more.

Proponents of the SLS rocket are not blind to this. Some believe SpaceX will not succeed with its Starship program, and indeed myriad technical challenges remain. Others think NASA could find ways of making the SLS rocket more competitive, and that is one point of this study.

Another reason for the new analysis, however, is to assess whether NASA really needs the SLS rocket at all as part of the Artemis Program. Already, companies are planning to deliver the lunar lander to the Moon with private rockets. The main job left for the SLS rocket is launching Orion, with crew, to the Moon. Launching Orion may also be doable with private rockets, or the crew could simply launch on SpaceX's Starship, obviating the need for Orion itself.

Although the Biden administration has committed to continuing the Artemis Program started under President Donald Trump, it has other priorities for the space agency, particularly ramping up Earth science activities to better understand climate change. If the Office of Management and Budget no longer needs to spend $3 billion annually to "develop" the SLS rocket and its ground systems, the White House will at least look at the possibility.

One initial step may involve slowing or ending work on an upgrade for the SLS rocket, sources indicated. After NASA completes the first iteration of the Space Launch System rocket, the plan is to upgrade it to "Block 1B," the main part of which is an upgraded second stage. This piece of hardware is known as the Exploration Upper Stage. In the FY 2021 budget bill, Congress provided $400 million for development of this stage.

However, some senior NASA officials would like to at least pause work on this upper stage. To them, it is premature to work on an upgraded rocket while the first version of the SLS rocket is yet unproven, especially if Biden space officials determine the SLS rocket will only play a limited role in future exploration plans. One source said Biden White House may seek to fly SLS only a handful of times, halt work on the Exploration Upper Stage, and plan the future of Artemis around commercial launch vehicles.

All of this remains in flux, however, and the US Congress will have a big say in whatever the future of NASA's deep-space exploration programs hold.

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NASA has begun a study of the SLS rockets affordability [Updated] - Ars Technica

One small Canadian built computer can make a world of difference in the amount of science done during the first wave of commercial exploration missions on the Moon.

OTTAWA, Ontario (PRWEB) March 15, 2021

Mission Control Space Services Inc. (Mission Control) is pleased to announce a $1.16M contribution award from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop and commercialize a novel computing system for Lunar missions. This technology development funding is part of the CSAs Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program and is intended to help Mission Control enter the supply chains of companies offering commercial Lunar missions. In this project, Mission Control will develop a dedicated flight computer that can be easily installed on Lunar spacecraft to manage data from multiple payloads and offer edge computing.

In the emerging commercial space exploration sector, landers will deliver multiple payloads to the Lunar surface, each with different and potentially conflicting priorities and operational needs. Large amounts of data could be left behind on the Moon due to constrained data transfer rates. Mission Controls payload data management system will offer dynamic quality of service with end-to-end data security such that operators receive the right data at the right time to meet their mission objectives.

A dedicated flight computer managing data and adding computational power will drastically improve the payload customers experience, commented Kaizad Raimalwala, Product Manager of the Payload Data Management System.

On the ground, Mission Control Software, a near real-time, cloud-based software suite can be coupled with the onboard payload data management to provide an end-to-end system to streamline operations.

Were grateful to the CSA for this opportunity, said Ewan Reid, CEO of Mission Control. This funding goes towards our core R&D and helps us continue to engage with American and international companies paving the way for Canadian participation in the cis-Lunar economy.

The project will culminate in a demonstration of the entire system in a high-fidelity mission scenario at our indoor Lunar test facility in 2022. Following this demonstration, Mission Control aims to launch the product for missions as early as 2023. Beyond streamlining the user experience during the mission itself, this off-the-shelf product will also help reduce mission development costs and risk.

Were very excited to offer this system to ultimately help payload scientists and operators maximize the value and science return of their payloads, said Dr. Melissa Battler, Chief Science Officer of Mission Control. One small Canadian built computer can make a world of difference in the amount of science done during the first wave of commercial exploration missions on the Moon.

About Mission Control, https://www.missioncontrolspaceservices.com/ Mission Control is a space exploration and robotics company with a focus on mission operations, onboard autonomy and artificial intelligence. We develop end-to-end robotic command and control software. Our technology allows customers to operate and automate systems deployed in harsh and remote environments like Mars, the Moon, or even here on Earth improving the autonomy, productivity, safety, and scientific return of missions. We are also committed to inspiring the next generation of explorers through our immersive technology-based education program, Mission Control Academy, which allows students to operate a real rover, as if it were on Mars. How can we help you navigate the newspace landscape?

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Mission Control Awarded $1.16M from Canadian Space Agency to Develop Payload Data Management System for Streamlining Operations in Lunar Missions - PR...

Moscow Russia and China unveiled plans on Tuesday for a joint lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to recapture the glory of its space pioneering days of Soviet times, and Beijing gears up its own extraterrestrial ambitions.

Though Moscow was once at the forefront of space travel it sent the first man into space its cosmic ambitions have dimmed thanks to poor financing and endemic corruption.

It has been eclipsed by China and the United States, which have both clocked major wins in space exploration and research in recent years.

The Russian space agency Roscomos said in a statement that it had signed an agreement with Chinas National Space Administration (CNSA) to develop a complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in the orbit of the Moon.

The CNSA, for its part, said that the project was open to all interested countries and international partners in what experts said would be Chinas biggest international space cooperation project to date.

Moscow is seeking to re-take the lead in the space race.

This year, it celebrates the 60th anniversary of Russias first-ever manned space flight it sent Yuri Gagarin into space in April 1961, followed by the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, two years later.

The United States NASA space agency launched its first manned space flight a month after Russia, in May 1961, sending Alan Shepard up aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.

But Moscow has lagged behind both Washington and Beijing in the exploration of the Moon and Mars in recent years.

In the meantime, China which has sought a closer partnership with Moscow has started a successful space program of its own.

Last year, it launched its Tianwen-1 probe to Mars that is currently orbiting the red planet.

And in December, it successfully brought rock and soil samples from the Moon back to Earth, the first mission of this type in over 40 years.

Chen Lan, an independent analyst specializing in Chinas space program, said the joint lunar space station was a big deal.

This will be the largest international space cooperation project for China, so its significant, Lan said.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter that he had invited CNSA chief Zhang Kejian to the launch of Russias first modern lunar lander, Luna 25, scheduled for Oct. 1 the first lunar lander to be launched by Russia since 1976.

The U.S. space agency NASA has now set its sights on Mars, with its Perseverance rovers last week conducting their first test drive on the planet.

NASA eventually intends to conduct a possible human mission to the planet, even if planning is still at a very preliminary stage.

Moscow and Washington are also collaborating in the space sector one of the few areas of cooperation left between the Cold War rivals.

However, Russia did not sign the U.S.-led Artemis Accord last year for countries that want to participate in a lunar exploration scheme spearheaded by NASA.

Under the Artemis program announced during the tenure of former U.S. President Donald Trump, NASA plans to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024.

In another blow to Russias space reputation, Roscosmos last year lost its monopoly for manned flights to the International Space Station (ISS) after the first successful mission of the U.S. company Space X.

Elon Musks SpaceX has become a key player in the modern space race and has announced plans to fly several members of the public to the Moon in 2023 on a trip bankrolled by a Japanese millionaire.

A SpaceX Starship prototype exploded after landing in Texas in March,after climbing to an altitude of 10 kilometers. The test flight was part of the companys ambitious project to take people to Mars.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

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China and Russia to launch lunar space station - The Japan Times

The Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest revealed its winners for 2020, and the photos are astounding. Taken all around the world, they highlight fish, other aquatic species and plants found in sanctuaries and the open ocean.

My particular favorite is Johan Sundelins Waiting for the Kiss, which shows a grumpy-looking toad sitting on a bright pink underwater plant.

The photos are a treat to look through. But like any underwater content, I am always left with the sense that were missing something, that theres more to be seen or discovered. Some of the photos show animals in front of a black background, except its not just a background. It is the ocean the pitch black ocean.

Thats kind of spooky, right?

These animals exist at a depth that we cannot even see through without a flash from the camera or an external light source. Yet, this is what most of the ocean looks like.

Over 80% of it is unexplored. Weve reached nearly every land-point on Earth and even explored parts of outer space, but the oceans depths are largely unknown.

This largely stems from the sheer difficulty of exploring most of the ocean.

The underwater pressure is the biggest challenge. The average depth for the ocean is about 2.3 miles, and that far down, the pressure is about 25,000 pounds per square inch. No human is fit to withstand that amount of pressure, and most submarines are not either. There are, however, certain water crafts that are specifically designed to travel at that depth and pressure.

A visual example is the opening minutes of James Camerons 1997 blockbuster Titanic. The film opens with a submarine expedition, and some of the footage comes from Camerons actual visit to the wreck filmed two years prior.

The deepest spot of the ocean, Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench, is about 36,200 feet. The Titanic ruins are a measly 12,500 feet in comparison, and Mount Everest, its height going in the opposite direction, is 29,032 feet.

Beyond the difficult terrain, deep ocean dives are expensive.

Triton submarines, a Florida-based company, was working on a $48.2 million sub that could return to Challenger Deep. Only three have made the journey, two explorers in 1960 and Cameron in 2012.

Its a dangerous, expensive and time-consuming trip. So is it worth it?

To learn about our planet, yes, it is.

Ocean exploration strikes at two of my main fears: water and small spaces. But Im not the one doing the dives. Discovering the ocean is just as important and worthwhile as space exploration or any other form of study.

Exploration is also crucial given the effects of climate change and humanitys negative behavior toward ocean preservation.

The ocean absorbs heat, leading to increased temperatures in the waters, then resulting in melting ice, tropical storms and current changes. The ocean also absorbs excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and an abundance of the gas will change the chemical base of the water. Certain species and plants and, on a larger scale, entire ecosystems will be at risk.

Trash and some recyclables pollute the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a devastating reality of our disregard for the oceans health. From this and other waste, animals and water habitats are in danger and frequently harmed. Weve seen the detrimental results of oil spills, both on the waters cleanliness and the animals living in the area. On top of that, industries like whaling and fishing can drastically change ecosystems. Overfishing depletes wildlife populations.

All of these examples are changing the ocean. We already know so little. We dont know what were missing with each day that passes.

Ocean exploration may be expensive and deep dives may occur once every few years, but if they can provide any extra information about the ocean, they are worth it. We can learn how to protect and preserve Earths most abundant area.

The Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest is proof of the beauty in water environments. The animals depicted are worth protecting, and the ocean is worth studying. We can continue to study our planet, in tandem with land and space exploration. The oceans depths have so much to offer. Who knows what well find on the surface or at the pitch-black bottom?

Maddie Peters can be reached at pete9542@stthomas.edu.

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OPINION: The unexplored ocean depths should be discovered and protected - Tommie Media

Recent headlines aside, NASAs most exciting interplanetary mission for the early 21st century is arguably not a robot named Perseverance presently roving around Mars gathering samples for a future return to Earth. Instead it is a spacecraft, just now on the verge of being built, that could launch later this decade to Europa, an enigmatic moon of Jupiter that boasts an enormous oceanbigger than all of Earths oceans combinedbeneath an icy crust. Called Europa Clipper, the mission could lift off as soon as 2024 to study the moons subsurface abyss with the goal of gauging its potential habitability and the distinct possibility of discovering a second genesis there. Many astrobiologists consider Mars to be a prime target for seeking out signs of ancient, now extinct extraterrestrial life because of its relatively Earth-like conditions billions of years ago. Europa, by contrast, has never really been like Earth at all, but it still may offer the solar systems best prospects for harboring alien organisms that are alive right now.

That makes the central narrative of David W. Browns new book The Mission: A True Story all the more intriguing. Despite the overwhelming scientific and popular appeal of sending a spacecraft to look for life within Jupiters watery moon, the quest to make Europa Clipper a reality has been a decades-long uphill battle. The fact that the mission became NASAs next great planetary-science projectand that it even exists at allis a triumph over what, at times, seemed to be insurmountably long odds. Brown, a Louisiana-based journalist, spent several years following the key scientists, engineers, bureaucrats and politicians behind the mission. The result is a definitive account of Europa Clippers inceptionand of the often heroic and sometimes tragic human struggles behind each and every robotic emissary sent voyaging to worlds beyond.

Scientific American spoke with Brown about his book, Europa Clippers long journey to the launchpad, the reason Mars is the Death Star of planetary science, and more.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

First off, I want to commend you: Ive followed this topic for years, but I still learned an enormous amount by reading your book. By focusing on the people and the politics behind Europa Clipper, youve revealed the many other dimensions outside of science that must come together to make interplanetary exploration happen. I think theres an enduring value to your work here, in a historical sense, that goes beyond just telling a good story.

Im humbled. Thank you very much.

Youre welcome! What Im getting at is that one could say The Mission is not really about going to Europa at all because youve written and published it well before the spacecraft even reaches the launchpad. What would you say its about?

Thematically, this book is about how different people handle crossroads in their lives. Each of the characters, early on in his or her career, has some moment, some decision point, where things could have gone either way.

Consider the case of Louise Prockter, for example, who is now chief scientist of the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and was a crucial early contributor to Europa Clipper. She didnt travel through the typical grade-school-to-college-degree pipeline that most people in the field did. She was an adult with a career when she decided to make a life change and pursue a university degree. And she would go on to become one of the most important researchers in all of planetary science. Bob Pappalardo, the project scientist of Europa Clipper, throughout his career, could have, at any time, put the Europa project asideit would have been the smarter move, professionally. But something in his character wouldn't allow him to do that. He had to get a mission flying. At NASA headquarters, Curt Nieburs job as a program scientist in the planetary science division would have been so much easier if he had just marked a clean line across Europa in his portfolio and said, Next, but he didnt. And this goes down the line for every character in the book.

It also applies more broadly to NASA and even the field of planetary science as a whole. Institutions and communities have had to make hard decisions in terms of exploration priorities and how to handle the perennial financial maladies that come from pursuing pure science. All of these things, and many more, ultimately came together to yield admission to Europa. Any single element that had gone the other way might have derailed the entire project.

What inspired you to approach this subject in the first place?

The initial spark of a book emerged from a realization that after New Horizons flew by Pluto and after the planned conclusions of the Cassini mission at Saturn and the Juno mission at Jupiter, humankind would not have any active spacecraft exploring planets beyond the asteroid belt. The outer solar system would go dark for the first time since the 1970s.

Humanity was going to lose something important when that happened. And it bothered me a lotas an American, as a human being who sees our possible future on other worlds and as someone interested in science. You know, other than war, it sometimes seems like space exploration is the only sort of human endeavor where the pronoun used is always we: We go to war. We landed on the moon. And whenever that endeavor is diminished, I think its a loss for all of us.

At the time, Europa exploration was not much more than a series of studies. But it was obvious to me and so many others that it was our best hope for rekindling exploration of the outer planetsto say nothing of its implications. I mean, as a storyteller, youre always on the lookout for high-stakes narratives. And certainly, if, in fact, life is one day found in the oceans of Europaand conceivably complex lifeI mean, that would have implications for science, philosophy, religion and of course geopolitical priorities. It would be a galvanizing moment in human history. And I hoped desperately that there was a story there.

The first person I spoke with was Louise Prockter, who told me she had 15 minutes to talk. And I said, That's great. That's all I need. Three hours into the 15-minute conversation, I realized that after a decade of her working on one Europa study after another, this was probably the first time she had really opened up with any journalist about this amazing thing she was a part of and that had become a part of her.

And that seemed true for everyone who was part of the Europa mission. They fought in the trenches for so long to get this thing going. The more people I spoke with, the more I learned about the struggles and the setbacks, the heartaches and the loss, and the sheer adventure of it all. I fell in love with everybody in this book and with Europa. And, really, I fell in love with the whole field of planetary science.

I recall talking to you a little about this book a few years ago, and at the time, the tentative title was One Inch from Earth. Now, of course, its The Mission (with a beautiful and elaborate subtitle). But as much as I love its current form, Im a bit disappointed I never got to learn the meaning of the books original title. What was that about?

I was attending an early test of the engines that are going to go into NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which was originally intended to send this spacecraft to Europa. Todd May, who was, at the time, head of the SLS program, gave a brief talk about the process of bringing the rocketor a missionto the launchpad. And he said that flying a spacecraft three billion miles is easy. Its getting it one inch off the launchpad thats hard. And hed meant that both on a technical level but also programmatically. It is very difficult to get these missions going, and I think most people dont realize that.

I remember when New Horizons flew by Pluto, I was telling a friend about how exciting it was, and she said, Why did they even go to Pluto? Its not even a planet anymore! And it impressed upon me the impoverished understanding that many people have about these sorts of missions. A lot of people seem to think a spacecraft is built in a matter of months, and then a rocket launches, and then the spacecraft just gets where its going in a few weeksalmost as if NASA had just pulled a spacecraft off the shelf and fired it at Pluto. If all you noticed was the final approach and flyby, it would have seemed like a quick and easy thing, when, in fact, it took more than a decade to get that mission approved and nine years of flight time to reach Pluto. I mean, these are projects that can take entire careers and sometimes entire lifetimes.

Theres obviously a direct connection to Europa, too. The phrase One inch from Earth, to me, was evocative not only of the programmatic struggles of interplanetary exploration but also of the notion that complex life might exist just two planets over on this creepy little moon orbiting this weird giant ball of hydrogen. If life can get started there, that probably means life in the universe isnt like a single cactus in the desert. Its more like a blade of grass in a meadow. Its going to be everywhere. And the idea of this cosmic discovery being so close to Earth really resonated with me, and it resonates within that phrase.

What most surprised you when you started writing this book?

What most surprised me was that I didnt know anything about the subject! I went into this thing, early on, feeling like I had a solid grip on the field of planetary science, how NASA works, how the scientific process works and the sorts of people who do this sort of work. But it struck me on almost the first day that I was clueless.

I remember the first time, several years ago, that I attended the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference near Houston, Tex. I went in ready to get all these amazing stories and learn all these spectacular things. But the science seemed as dense as a neutron star. I didnt know anything. I almost broke down in tears. It was bad! But it was liberating in a way, because as soon as I realized how little I knew, I was able to approach the subject with a total beginners mind and with a sense of wonder that I want the reader to experience, too. So I set a rule from the outset, which was that this book would have zero cynicism and irony. And I think I accomplished that goal.

You describe in the book the antagonistic relationship between Mars-focused folks and many others in planetary science, in which the Mars communitys success in lining up missions comes at the expense of other targets for otherworldly exploration. It seems like the power of the Mars contingent is a force that has shaped NASAs entire planetary science division and really the whole field itself. Is that still the case?

I like to say that Mars is like the Death Star from Star Wars. Because at any given moment, it could destroy plans for any of the planets or moons under consideration for exploration. The Mars community has always been astoundingly good at that on a program levelmaintaining a logical, carefully planned series of missions that all progressively lead to answering some high-impact science questions. But they are benefiting from another natural, built-in advantage: NASA is first and foremost a human spaceflight organization, and the agency wants to send astronauts to Mars. Astronauts are never going to land on Europanot outside of science fiction, anyway. Astronauts are never going to land on Titan, and theyre never going to land on Venus. But theyre going to land on Mars someday. And because of that, theres an urgency to understand Mars in a way that doesnt exist for the outer planets.

All things being equal, though, if given the choice, I think NASA as an organization would still prefer to go to Marsthat was certainly true during the darkest days of the efforts to send something to Europa.

What were the darkest days, exactly?

Probably when Mars Sample Return got the highest recommendation for a flagship mission in the last Planetary Science Decadal Survey [a planning effort that provides recommendations to NASA and other government agencies for major science priorities every 10 years]. Its difficult to overstate how much of a blow that was to the heroes of the book. If not for the intervention of Congressand particularly John Culberson, who was a Republican representative from TexasEuropa Clipper probably wouldnt have happened at all. Culberson wanted NASA to go to Europa because he thought finding life there could be a unifying force for the agencyincreasing the chances it would regain the sort of funding and spirit it had during the Apollo era. And Culberson made it happen.

So, with NASAs Mars fever in mind, are things getting more equitable in planetary exploration in terms of destinations and priorities?

Going into the next Decadal Survey, the relevant Mars-focused expert working groups are not recommending any flagship mission beyond sample return, which is the required next step after Perseverance caches its samples. (Another mission will be needed to actually pick them up and launch them back to here.) The Mars community apparently wants small missions going forwardto study the Martian subsurface and any deposits of water ice, and so on. That creates an opening for other bodies in the solar system to have their moment.

My suspicion is that a sample-cache-return craft is going to fly to Mars regardless of what the next Decadal endorses. That might be heretical to say aloud, but I think that were just too close to achieving this thing that scientists have been seeking since the 1980s. Were not going to let those sample tubes sit on Mars for another 20 years. Because NASA and Congress seem amenable to getting an outer-planets flagship flying, I think well start seeing dual flagships fly every decade. But I might be entirely wrong about this, and the next 20 years could be the new Dark Ages for interplanetary exploration.

When I first started writing this book, the realm of the outer planets was one of nothing but woe and sorrow. But now I get a sense of optimism that wasnt there before. A lot of it is because Europa Clipper was eventually approved and because things such as Dragonfly, a plutonium-powered quadcopter planned to launch to Titan in the late 2020s, are not only going to explore another body but are going to do so with panache. When you have these sorts of audacious strides to places that are just incredibly compelling, I think it has sort of a halo effect for the broader community.

I hope youre right. Lets talk a bit about where the book endsor rather the current status of the mission itself because, as you know very well, Europa Clipper is still not entirely built. The SLS rocket that was originally planned to launch it is not flying yet. Culberson, the Europa programs champion on Capitol Hill, lost in the 2018 election and is no longer in Congress. And were still waiting to see what the new Biden administration will want to do with NASA.

I knew, while writing this book, that I would be chasing a moving target. I mean, for example, I would still be writing the book if I had to keep updating the status of the SLS, which, for most of the projects history, was its notional ride to space. So I chose to end the story in 2015, when Europa Clipper officially became the flagship planetary science mission of the American space program. You dont need the clichd final scene with a rocket launch because thats nothing next to the epic struggle to make the mission real.

The Mission is in many ways a heist story. A group of smart people, each with different talents and connections, came together to achieve a common goal. Its like Oceans Eleven, but instead of robbing a casino in the end, they get a spaceship called Europa Clipper.

In terms of where Europa Clipper is right now, they have completed their critical design review and will now begin building their spacecraft in force. Youll soon be able to go to NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology and see this thing going from PowerPoint to realityunder construction in High Bay 1, a clean room where spacecraft are built.

Already, smaller elements are in development. For example, you can see the wiring harnessthe actual wiring thats going to fly to Jupiterin a clean room at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins. The missions scientific instruments are well into development. There are actual parts and pieces that you can see now for a spaceship that is actually going to fly to what may be the most likely place in the solar system, aside from Earth, to harbor life. And its thrilling to see how meticulous the process ishow many little things go into creating this giant thing.

When Europa Clipper is finished, the spacecraft is going to have the wingspan of a basketball court. But right now, its at a human scale, you know, of people twisting wires and bending metal. And that, to me, is deeply moving. Theyre doing some hard engineering right now, too. And as they do this hard engineering, the science is moving on. Were learning more about how plumes of water might be venting out of Europas subsurface seas, where theyre coming from, how the overlying ice behaves. NASAs Juno spacecraft, presently at Jupiter, just had its mission extended to do flybys of some of the planets icy satellites. So were going to be getting more data that hopefully help to shape the mission.

So is Europa Clipper out of the woods yet?

I think it would take a major crisis at NASA to actually shut the mission down, so its probably going to fly one way or another. So from that point of view, yes, its out of the woods. Now, in terms of the hard technical decisions that still need to be made and the financial elements that need to come together in the years ahead to keep the project on track, Im less sanguine. Will Europa Clipper have enough money to fly, for example, the wide-angle camera? I dont know. I hope it will, but it has already lost instruments along its long path to the launchpad. So its almost certainly going to fly. But what it looks like when it flies is still a little hazy.

In terms of the broader Europa exploration sequence, my Magic 8 Ball is much less optimistic. When John Culberson lost his election, Europa Lander, the follow-on mission in development, lost its greatest political champion and appropriator of funding. Europa Lander is important because Europa Clipper is probably not going to find life. It is studying Europas habitability and will help determine where life most likely might exist on the ocean world. It will take a lander to set down on the surface and dig or drill or melt into it, looking for evidence of things that once wiggled. Its an extraordinary mission and precisely the sort of dare mighty things project for which JPL is famous. More than $100 million has been spent on it, but work has now essentially stopped. If the lander gets an endorsement by the Decadal Survey, I have a feeling that work would resume immediately and that it would launch only a couple of years behind schedule. But that endorsement is a big if.

What are you working on now? Might it be another book?

Yeah, a book about an adventurous team of scientists who have been doing pioneering work in Antarctica studying rapid sea-level rise. Ive already been on one expedition down there with them. Its not a sequel, of course, but there is a lovely connection to The Mission because some of the worlds foremost experts on Earths cryosphere are also interested in Europa. Some people study Antarctica so they can understand Europa. Its certainly easier to get to, anyway!

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Meet the Unsung Heroes behind Humanity's Improbable Journey to an Alien Ocean - Scientific American

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Enzychem Lifesciences (KOSDAQ: 183490), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines to improve the lives of patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced that an Enzychem Lifesciences representative will be participating as a panelist at the 15th New York Health Forum, which will beheld virtually on Tuesday, March 16.

The New York Health Forum brings together industry experts from the life sciences, research, investment community, healthcare policy, and other providers, to advance the development of healthcare innovation.

This 15th forum is designed to hear insights from leaders who lead the way to accelerate progress against space radiation and other space related health threats, the area which are important but not frequently discussed in the arena of space exploration.

Dr. Ji Sun Park, a Senior Scientist at Enzychem Lifesciences will participate in a panel discussing the risks associated with deep space missions and efforts to mitigate and protect astronaut's health.

On the panel, Dr. Park will give an overview of Enzychem's proprietary asset, EC-18, and how it acts as an immunomodulator to potentially restore immune homeostasis and minimize inflammatory immune responses for astronauts during deep space missions. As an oral formulation, it would be optimal for field use and as the risks associated with space exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

"I am excited and honored to participate in the virtual New York Health Forum to discuss the urgent unmet need to develop risk mitigation interventions for space exploration and travel," said Dr. Ji Sun Park, Project Manager and Senior Scientist at Enzychem Lifesciences.

Details of the virtual panel are below:

Title: Investing in Space Next Frontier of Healthcare

Date/Time: March 16, 2021, 12PM - 1PM EST

Panelists:

About Enzychem Lifesciences

Enzychem Lifesciences Corp. is a global pharmaceutical company focused on developing oral small molecule therapies for patients with unmet medical needs in oncology, metabolic diseases, and inflammatory diseases. Founded in 1999, the company's proprietary compound, EC-18 is the subject of two Phase 2 clinical trials for chemoradiation-induced oral mucositis and COVID-19. EC-18 acts as an immunomodulator, facilitating the resolution of inflammation and earlyreturn to homeostasis. For more information, please visit http://www.enzychem.com.

Contact

Investors / Business Development

Ted KimManager of Business Development[emailprotected]

Media

Kimberly HaKKH Advisors[emailprotected]917-291-5744

SOURCE Enzychem Lifesciences

http://www.enzychem.com

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Enzychem Lifesciences Selected to Participate at the 15th New York Health Forum: Investing in Space - Next Frontier of Healthcare - PRNewswire

DENVER, March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Multiverse Media andSpace Channel will host an online global premiere of the documentary film "The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O'Neill'' on April 17, 2021, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on spacechannel.com. Alsoavailable onPLEX, RADtv, and the TCL Channels App. The film will be released on VOD April 18, 2021.

View the Event &RSVP:https://spacechannel.com/highfrontier/

"The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O'Neill" tells the untold story of Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill who wrote the 1977 book"The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space," which sparked a grassroots movement to build Earth-like habitats in space in order to solve Earth's greatest crises. The film is told through "Gerry's Kids'' as they affectionately call themselves; his peers, family, and the younger generation who followed that movement and are now leading the modern-day space industry.

Top-Billed Cast: Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill, Tasha O'Neill, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Isaac Asimov, Freeman Dyson, Arthur C. Clarke, Johnny Carson, Dan Rather, Frank White, Rick Tumlinson, Peter Diamandis

View the TrailerHERE

"The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O'Neill" is a Multiverse Media production made in association with Subtractive Inc.The film is executive produced by Dylan Taylor(CEO at Multiverse Media & Voyager Space Holdings,) produced and written by Will Henry (Creative Director at Multiverse Media,) directed by Ryan Stuit(Creative Director at Subtractive Inc,) and produced by Kyle Schember(co-founder and CEO at Subtractive Inc.).

Who was Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill? O'Neill was an American physicist and space activist best known for his 1977 book"The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space." The book details how humans could build rotating space habitats in low Earth orbit using a design he called the "O'Neill Cylinder." The habitat could recreate Earth's gravity and would house millions of people, eventually solving major concerns facing Earth such as hunger, overpopulation, resources, and war. Dr. O'Neill passed in 1992 from leukemia, but forever inspireda generation of space leaders and visionaries known as"Gerry's Kids" who keep his vision alive today.

For more information about the film and event,contact[emailprotected].

The High FrontierOfficial Merchandise: highfrontiermerch.com

Multiverse Media Group LLC is a media company focusing on space exploration, science and technology.

Space Channel is the premier global news and entertainment media platform dedicated to space. From advances in space technology and exploration to commerce, policy and community issues in low Earth orbit, we provide a front-row seat to the latest happenings in the final frontier via news, live coverage, movies and exclusive events.

High Frontier Movie, LLC 2021

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Multiverse Media & Space Channel to Host Online Premiere of the Documentary Film 'The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O'Neill' -...