Monthly Archives: May 2023

view from Mars Getty Images / Nzoka John

Is it time for humans to inhabit space? SpaceX and NASA certainly think so. Elon Musk's space company had its first rocket test flight and Musk has been vocal about his goal to reach Mars. NASA has also made strides towards space habitation byannouncing the crew manning the next mission to the moon and unveiling 3D-printed habitats for four people to live like they would on Mars.

The moon is also viewed as the next colonizable territory for the world, which has launched the U.S. into a fierce space race with China. NASA's Artemis mission aims to get people to the moon once again and use that knowledge to "take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars." While the effort has set into high gear, there are plenty of critics of space colonization.

Some argue that there are far too many hurdles to jump before we can actually inhabit space, while others see it as the way of the future.

So far, much of our exploration of space has been through robots and technology, however, humans "canmovefasterthanrobotsandmakequickerdecisions," NASA chief scientist James Green told Upfront. This could allow for Mars and the moon to be studied and analyzed far faster and more efficiently. Sending humans to Mars could be a huge step in discovering whether it once contained life.

NASA revealed a potential habitat for four astronauts to live in Mars-like conditions in preparation for a Mars expedition in the future. "What can take a rover days and weeks to analyze, a person can study in just hours," Green added. NASA also emphasized the goal of its Artemis mission to the moon is to "allow our robots and astronauts to explore more and conduct more science than ever before."

While some view extraplanetary habitation as a way for the human race to survive, others see space travel and colonization as merely a distraction from addressing the problems on Earth. "We should deal with our own environmental issues here first," wroteBruce Dorminey inForbes."Then worry about terraforming Mars." The lessons learned "from cleaning up our own planet and preserving its flora and fauna will only help us when terraforming the world next door."

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Climate change is currently one of the largest problems human civilization is facing. It is threatening our resources and livelihood. Advancing technology like carbon capture methods and geoengineeringas well as switching to renewable energy can help combat climate change but require more investment to come to fruition. "The billions if not trillions of dollars needed to colonize Mars could, for example, be better spent investing in renewable forms of energy to address climate change," argued Zahaan Bharmal of TheGuardian. "There is no guarantee that the same fate would not befall Mars colonists."

Humans are meant to explore and space is simply the next treasure trove of discovery. "The greatest accomplishments come from taking risks, exploring the unknown, and reaching for the stars," remarked Lauren Brace forThe Central Trend. "For a planet that is constantly evolving, it seems only fitting that we expand our horizons to another destination out of this world."

Exploration and discovery are tenets of the human experience and "we pick up the mantle of ourexplorer ancestors, and we explore again," Jack Brady opined inTheMichigan Daily. Having an otherworldly goal gives society a goal to work toward and "expanding, outwardly-focused civilizations are farless likely to turn onthemselves," per Fred Kennedy inForbes. Brady adds that space exploration "gives us an opportunity to dream again to change our course as a species forever."

While the idea of being a species of more than one planet is exciting, the "idea of living on another world where we can't be outside just doesn't sound that appealing," according to Bill Nye. In reality, neither the moon nor Mars has an atmosphere or environment that humans can freely live on as they do on Earth. Mars in particular would require terraforming or "transforming Mars into a more Earth-like habitat," according to USA Today.

"Everything on Earth, from its atmosphere to its climate to its gravity, is a factor that we have evolved around," and in turn, humans have the "extreme disability to survive anywhere other than Earth,"Skyler Verrone wrote in an opinion forThe Triangle. Essentially, "it'sanenormouschallengetogethumanssafelytothesedestinations," senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute AmandaHendrix told Upfront.

With threats like climate change and nuclear war, moving to the moon or Mars might just be our only hope. Elon Musk has long supported this idea, saying that becoming interplanetary will "safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to happen." Perhaps a "Planet B" is not a terrible idea.

Life on Earth is fragile as it is and any number of world-ending events could occur. "In the last 500 million years of the Earth's history there have been five mass extinctions of species," NASA's director of planetary scienceJim Greene, told NBC News."If we're going to live as a species, we're going to have to 'back up' in other places ... and that place is Mars."

Even if we do decide to move to the moon or Mars, the cost is a substantial barrier. Humans "require a vast support infrastructure to provide things like water, food, and breathable air," Bharmal continued. All of these require significant technological advancement in addition to the cost of actually moving people on Earth to the moon or Mars.

"The question isn't whether or not we're technologically capable of doing it, because we are. The question is whether or not we have the political will to do it,"NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. Governments have long expressed interest in putting man back on the moon and traveling to Mars but fell short when it came to budget. However now, there are private investors like Elon Musk as well as better technology. "The question is: Will we receive the budgetto do it right now?"

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The pros and cons of space colonization - Yahoo News

The actor Ed Harris plays NASA flight director Gene Kranz in the 1995 film Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard.Credit: Landmark Media/Alamy

Failure is not an option, NASAs legendary flight-operations director Gene Kranz is said to have remarked, as seen in the 1995 film Apollo 13. Actor Ed Harris portrayed Kranz as he guided his team to save a spacecraft that had run into trouble on the way to the Moon. In the movie, as in real life, the three astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission pulled off a spectacular fix and returned safely to Earth.

Not all space ventures have such a tidy ending. A 2019 attempt by Israeli company SpaceIL to land on the Moon crashed. On 20 April this year, a spectacular intentional detonation ended the first major test flight of Starship, the worlds largest rocket, which SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, is building to carry humans back to the Moon and to Mars. The craft had spun out of control four minutes after lifting off its launch pad in Texas. Five days later, a robotic mission from the Japanese company ispace, based in Tokyo, tried and failed to land safely on the Moon.

Moon mission failure: why is it so hard to pull off a lunar landing?

Its crash-landing was devastating not only for the small team of engineers that had built and flown the spacecraft, but also for others whose hopes were riding along with it. When the lander crashed, it pulverized two rovers designed to travel around and explore the Moons surface one built by the space agency of the United Arab Emirates and the other by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. A camera system built by Canadensys Aerospace of Toronto, Canada, which was designed to photograph the rovers deploying, also went up in smoke.

The scientists and engineers involved should not be discouraged by these failures. Space is hard. This is a truism trotted out every time theres an attempt to launch from this planet or land on another. But it is accurate. Those who wish to explore the cosmos should expect to fail perhaps many times before they can succeed.

Engineering requires iteration, time and again: first to design machines that might work and then to test them against as many possible scenarios in which things could, and of course do, go wrong.

As with all failures, the Starship explosion will teach scientists and engineers valuable lessons before the craft attempts to fly again. Along with studying why the rockets 33 engines did not all ignite and burn as they were supposed to, SpaceX also needs to reckon with the extensive environmental damage caused when Starships launch pelted nearby communities with more sand and debris than expected. NASA is watching this process closely, because it is depending on Starship for its plans to send humans back to the Moon in the coming years.

Private ispace Moon landing fails: researchers are investigating

Ispace, too, will study and learn from its missions problems, ahead of a planned second launch next year. It looks as if the spacecraft ran out of propellant just before reaching the surface, causing it to crash-land.

Humans live in a culture in which it seems as if everything must go right the first time we try it, but that is not how successful products are developed, nor how science unfolds especially in space. Back in the 1960s, both the US space programme and the Soviet Unions equivalent went through a process of trial and error, as they tried time after time to land the first Moon missions, and failed repeatedly. Both learnt from each attempt and incorporated those lessons the next time around.

Kranz did not actually say Failure is not an option although that didnt stop him using the phrase as the title of his 2000 autobiography. In research and development, failure is indeed an option. In fact, it can be a necessary learning objective on the path to success.

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In space, failure is an option often the only one - Nature.com

Virgin Galactic announces return to space, crew

Las Cruces native and New Mexico State University graduate Jamila Gilbert is one of four Virgin Galactic employees who will serve as a mission specialists to evaluate the astronaut experience when the company returns to space later this month. The aerospace and space travel company Virgin Galactic yesterday announced the crew and its plans to return to space after close to two years in order to conduct the final assessment of the spaceflight system and astronaut experience before commercial service begins in late June. Returning to space is what we have all worked towards, President of Spaceline Missions and Safety Mike Moses said in a statement. Our mission specialists were selected for their diverse expertise, and they couldnt be better suited to validate the astronaut training program and overall experience. After this flight we will begin flying our customers to space. Gilbert, according to a news release, is a non-engineer who has been with the company since 2019 where she has been an integral part of our team, leading internal communicationsas a Latina woman of Purpechan-Mexican roots, a visual artist and a communications professional who speaks four languages, Jamila will bring a different perspective from the pilots and engineers who have flown before her. Last month, Virgin Galactic completed its glide flight from Spaceport America, another key step, the company said, before starting commercial flights.

Santa Fe District 1 Councilor Renee Villarreal announced yesterday she wont run for re-election come Nov. 7. When I first started on this path as an elected official, I indicated that I would commit to two terms (eight years), and then step down to create space for the next leader as part of my values of building community leadership and ensuring diverse voices have access to positions of power, Villarreal says in a statement. Villarreal also praised Alma Castro, a local organizer and owner of Caf Castro, who announced her intentions to run for the seat last week. I am thrilled to see another woman of color run for public office and am proud of Alma Castro for stepping up! Villarreal says. I have known Alma through the decades and have appreciated her leadership as a community organizer and small business owner. As a local Santafesina, she is running for the right reasons. Several other candidates also reportedly indicated their interest in the District 1 seat yesterdaythe start of the public financing campaign period. Villarreals announcement leaves two vacant seats in the upcoming municipal election; District 3 Councilor Chris Rivera also announced last week he wont seek re-election, whereas Districts 2 and 4 Councilors Michael Garcia and Jamie Cassutt will each seek another term.

I am not in LA, so I cannot walk a picket line as I did in 1988, but I want to go on the record with my full and complete and unequivocal support of my Guild. So writes Santa Fe-based Game of Thrones author/creator George RR Martin in a recent blog post supporting Writers Guild of America union members, who went on strike May 2. Martin notes that he has experienced several such strikes since he began writing for television and film in 1986. The 1988 strike, the first I was a part of, lasted 22 weeks, the longest in Hollywood history. The 2007-2008 strike, the most recent, went for 100 days. This one may go longer. The issues are more important, imnsho, and I have never seen the Guild so united as it is now. In a subsequent post yesterday, Martin expounds upon what he considers the most important issue at stake in the strike: the so-called mini rooms that the Guild is hoping to abolish, and the terrible impact they are having on writers at the start of their careers. Martin learned how to write for TV, he says, in the writers room on the set of The Twilight Zone; I was the most junior of junior writers, maybe a hot(ish) young writer in the world of SF, but in TV I was so green that I would have been invisible against a green screen, Martin writes. And that, in my opinion, is the most important of the things that the Guild is fighting for. The right to have that kind of career path. To enable new writers, young writers, and yes, prose writers, to climb the same ladder. The way shows work now, he says, the showrunner assembles a mini-room, made up of a couple of senior writers and a couple newcomers and the chance to learn on set has been lost. Variety magazine reported yesterday several major studies are suspending first-look and other deals amid the ongoing strike.

State Public Education Secretary Arsenio Romero yesterday announced five new members of his leadership team, who will oversee areas ranging from policy to curriculum to equity. These education leaders embody our vision to boost student outcomes across the board, Romero said in a statement. Thought, care and intention were put into the selection process to produce a varied team of individuals poised to affect change. This is my personal dream team. Seana Flanagan, who has been in the position of managing director in an interim capacity, has been named to that position; she has been with PED since 2014, and previously served as division director of education quality. Gregory Frostad, former interim Policy and Legislative Affairs director and Safe and Healthy Schools director is now assistant secretary of Policy and Research. Amanda DeBell, who is currently Albuquerque Public Schools Zone 3 schools associate superintendent will be the departments deputy secretary of Teaching, Learning and Innovation. KatieAnn Juanico, who formerly worked for San Felipe Pueblo as its education director, is now assistant secretary of Indian Education for the state. The only out-of-state hire, Candice Castillo, is currently executive officer of Student Support Services at Houston Independent School District and will be coming to New Mexico to serve as deputy secretary of Identity, Equity and Transformation. According to a news release, Castillo will oversee such things as federal programs, safe and healthy schools, language and culture, and the Black and Hispanic education acts, as well as student, school and family support.

Reported May 8: New cases: 293 (includes the weekend); 681,034 total cases. Deaths: 0 Statewide fatalities: 9,236; Santa Fe County has had 410 total deaths; Statewide hospitalizations: 57; patients on ventilators: four. The state health department will stop reporting daily COVID-19 cases on May 11.

The Centers for Disease and Prevention most recent May 4 community levels map shows two New Mexico counties have turned yellow, depicting medium levels: Colfax and McKinley. The rest of the counties remain green, aka have low levels.

Resources: Receive four free at-home COVID-19 tests per household via COVIDTests.gov; Check availability for additional free COVID-19 tests through Project ACT; CDC interactive booster eligibility tool; NM DOH vaccine & booster registration; CDC isolation and exposure interactive tool; COVID-19 treatment info; NMDOH immunocompromised tool kit. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOHs COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.

You can read all of SFRs COVID-19 coverage here.

On the most recent episode of KSFRs CinemaScope podcast, host Nazneen Akhtar Rahim talks with stand-up comedian Mona Shaikh, the first Pakistani female comedian to be selected for the Laughs Factory Funniest Person in the World Competition. Host of her own show Minority Reportz, Shaikh talks about how she broke into the industry. Stand-up comedy is a hard life, Shaikh says. So, if you grew up in a normal stable loving home, theres no need to do stand-up. Being born and partially raised in Pakistan, she never planned to enter the industry, she says, noting: I truly believe that you dont choose comedy; comedy chooses you.

As part of its Culture Shifters series, Huffington Post spotlights 23-year-old filmmaker Kymon Greyhorse (Navajo and Tongan), whose short film I Am Home was chosen for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival just six months after Greyhorsewho grew up in both New Mexico and Utahgraduated from the University of New Mexico. I Am Home, the story notes, began as a poem Greyhorse wrote during the pandemic while isolating in Albuquerque. All of that built-up loneliness and feeling lost and confused of what the future looked like for meit was like I was almost desperate for anything that would ground me while I was slowly drifting off, Greyhorse tells Huffington Post. I wanted to feel family. I wanted my anxiety to fade away and for someone to tell me that Im good and that this feeling isnt forever. So I took all of those emotions and put it to words. Last year, Greyhorse released his first narrative short film Can I Love You? inspired by his mother and the addiction and violence she encountered growing up on the Navajo reservation. About the film, Greyhorse says in his directors statement: My mom was the backbone of the family, the responsible one that grew up too fast. She tried her best to hide and protect my aunt and uncles from the ugliness but would soon watch them indulge in the same poisons of substance abuse, domestic violence, and neglect. She had dreams she thought mightve been too big. Ones that seemed too good to be true. Ultimately, he says, the film is a love letter to my mom.

While we normally eschew spreading conspiracy theories, were making an exception for one that involves our favorite topic: chile peppers. In this case: jalapeos. Dallas-based D Magazine dining critic Brian Reinhart began his investigation into the de-spicification of jalapeos in his own kitchen, writing: Its not just you: jalapeo peppers are less spicy and less predictable than ever before. As heat-seekers chase ever-fiercer varieties of pepperCarolina reapers, scorpions, ghoststhe classic jalapeo is going in the opposite direction by design. He then speaks with Dallas-area chefs, many of whom agree jalapeos have lost their fieriness. But you cant just yak with Texans if you want to investigate chile peppers; you have to consult the expertsin this case: Stephanie Walker, extension vegetable specialist at New Mexico State University, advisory board member of that universitys Chile Pepper Institute, and chair of the 2023 New Mexico Chile Conference. Walker says shes heard the complaints about jalapeos diminishing kick and, it turns out, she has a theory, which Reinhart characterizes as the vast jalapeo conspiracy. We wont completely spoil the story of how jalapeos lost their punch (its a good read) but suffice it to say: big processing, cross-breeding and Texas shoulder some of the blame.

The National Weather Service forecasts another relatively calm day for Santa Fe, with sunny skies, a high temperature near 72 degrees and north wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. However, elevated fire conditions are in effect throughout much of the state and, yesterday, interagency fire officials reported the Las Cocas fire, burning just south of Guadalupita in Mora County. As of last night, the fire was at estimated at 75 to 100 acres and 10% containment, with volunteer firefighters digging hand lines; and Santa Fe hot shots en route. The cause of the fire is under investigation. In the wake of last years devastating Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon wildfire, caused by prescribed burns, fire officials this week say they postponed a scheduled prescribed burn scheduled to have begun Sunday in the Carson National Forest in response to this weeks dangerous fire weather.

Thanks for reading! The Word almost wishes she was in New Jersey so she could visit the Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory exhibition at Princeton University Library, about which Jasmine Liu writes compellingly in the LA Times Review of Books.

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Virgin Galactic Announces Return to Space, Crew | - Santa Fe Reporter