Category Archives: Mars Colony

This week, GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen recommends an exhibit that supported artists through the pandemic, a look at two New England artist colonies and a comedy that takes on race in Boston.

Eben Haines, born and raised in Boston, made a splash over the last year, winning the prestigious ICA Foster Prize in recognition of his Shelter In Place gallery. The tiny space allowed artists to make miniature versions of work to share with audiences during the pandemic. As Bowen explained, the gallery, made of found materials, is a commentary on how artists are losing work space due to the lack of affordable housing and studio space in the city.

Im trying to show these illusions that we already believe in the way housing is supposed to work, Haines told Bowen. But then you can see as it breaks down the way that this furniture kind of gets sucked into the walls and things like that, and its trying to break up this common idea.

Courtesy of Cape Ann Museum

Around the rustic harbors of Rockport and Gloucester in Cape Ann and, 100 miles up the Maine coast, on Monhegan Island, communities of artists gathered to exchange ideas. Together, they formed a picture of stony isolation in the wake of the Civil War, Bowen says. The Cape Ann Museum exhibit looks at 20th-century artists who made their way back and forth between the two communities.

Cape Ann Museum Director Oliver Barker says the locations inspired artists in a period when artists were searching for their own unique American voice. And I think its perhaps why they were drawn to these two rugged landscapes to try and encapsulate that that new sense of American identity.

Nile Scott Studios

Aziza Barnes comedy is a really riotous, raucous show, about three Black women in a personal crisis of some kind a cancer scare, a cheating boyfriend and grief from losing a parent. To put it behind them, they come together for a night out on the town. But as the night unfolds, they are faced with the realities of being Black women in Boston, experiencing microaggressions, violence and not being seen. Bowen praised the incredible, visceral themes that play out during the journey, that is filled with raw emotions.

Have you visited Cape Ann or Monhegan Island? Tell Jared about it on Facebook or Twitter!

Link:

Arts This Week: ICA exhibit spotlights how a lack of affordable studio space in Boston hurts artists - wgbh.org

Legendary Comics will unveil Lost in Space: The Ultimate Collection on December 14.

Revealed yesterday, the collection will include six previously released stories based on the Netflix adaptation plus two new ones: When Worlds Collide Part One and Part Two. Both new stories were written by Richard Dinnick. Steve Stanley handles the artwork for Part One while El Garing did the art for Part Two.

When Worlds Collide Part One and Part Two synopsis

In When Worlds Collide Part One, written by Richard Dinnick with art by Steve Stanley, the Robot works to save the Robinsons from a reptilian creature that invades the camp as the family attempts to build a light tower to contact their colony ship, the Resolute.

In When Worlds Collide Part Two, written by Richard Dinnick with art by El Garing, the classic crew of the 1960s television series meet their modern counterparts in a story that celebrates all eras of Lost in Space. This new story features the crew of the Jupiter 2 from Earth in 1997, led by Professor John Robinson, as they encounter their counterparts from another reality who are also lost in space, having been cut off from the Resolute. Just as the two families and two Doctor Smiths are getting acquainted, they encounter a new danger.

Legendary Comics senior vice president Robert Napton said this about the collection:

We are thrilled to do something in this volume that can only be done in comics, bring both casts of the Lost in Space television shows together for the first time in a new story that celebrates both eras of the series. Fans have been able to follow the Robinsons on even more adventures through the comics, and we cant wait to share these new stories and possibly even introduce a new generation of readers to the original crew of the Jupiter 2.

Maxwell Jenkins, who portrays Will Robinson in the Netflix television series, also said:

I love the Legendary Comics versions of Lost in Space. The artwork and the stories are incredible. Im so excited that comic fans (myself included) will have an opportunity to dive deeper into Lost in Space and the adventures of Will, Robot and the Robinson family. Its particularly fun to be able to see the original Robinson family paired with our Robinsons in When Worlds Collide Part 2, giving fans of both series the chance to get lost in these exciting stories.

Pre-orders for the collection can be made on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, and ComicShopLocator.com.

The third (and final) season of Netflixs Lost In Space arrives on December 1.

Excerpt from:

Legendary Comics' Lost in Space: The Ultimate Collection arriving in December - MP3s and NPCs

Yesterday, CNN published a video of a test in New York City of Teslas so-called Full Self-Driving Beta Level 2 driver-assist software, and it didnt go all that great. The tester was purple-sweater-enthusiast and ex-Jalop Mike Ballaban, who did admit to being a little skittish about using the semi-automated driving system in the car. The Tesla enthusiast blog Teslarati wrote about the test, and laid the blame for the systems less-than-stellar performance clearly at the feet of who they call an inexperienced operator. This take is, to be charitable, absolutely ridiculous.

Just so were all on the same page, heres the CNN video:

Ballabans drive was happily free of any wrecks, the direct result of Ballaban taking control away from FSB Beta when he saw it was making poor decisions. Which is precisely what the role of the person in the drivers seat should be when dealing with any Level 2 semi-automated system: be alert and ready to take control.

The Teslarati article notes this lack of wrecks, too, but comes to a very different conclusion:

Fortunately, the CNN respondent did not encounter any accidents during his FSD Beta drive. Things could easily go south, after all, when a driver who is a little skittish uses a system that he is completely unfamiliar with, and one that requires operators to keep their composure and control at all times.

Lets be very clear here about whats being described here: when the Teslarati writer talks about things could easily go south, hes referring to things going south because of poor driving decisions made by the FSD Beta software. The need for a driver to keep their composure and control at all times is because, as Tesla themselves have clearly stated, the system may do the wrong thing, at the worst time.

The article effectively states the same thing, saying:

This is because, in the hands of an operator that is unfamiliar with Teslas driver-assist techologies [sic], FSD Beta could be a lot to handle.

Why could it be a lot to handle? Because it doesnt always work so well.

So my question here is, how is the way the system performed here somehow Ballabans fault? His admitted skittishness didnt prevent him from taking control in the situations where FSD Beta wanted to, say, run into a UPS truck, as seen in the video. His skittishness wasnt a reaction to anything about that car other than FSD Beta and how it drove.

He could have driven that Model 3 around the city just fine without any skittishness at all well, no more than the baseline amount of lovable skittishness that Mike Ballaban lives with on a daily basis.

The Teslarati article has a lot of issues with the tone of the video, more than anything else:

This is because, in the hands of an operator that is unfamiliar with Teslas driver-assist techologies, FSD Beta could be a lot to handle. Unfortunately, this became extremely evident in a recent video from CNN, which featured one of the news agencys respondents using FSD Beta in inner-city streets. The footage, which has been shared on social media, is quite painful if not a bit frightening to watch.

With these factors in mind, the CNN driver did not disappoint on the skittish part, as he seemingly panicked at several points during his drive...It gets chaotic and dramatic, and completely opposite of what FSD Beta videos are like from actual experienced Tesla owners.

I think here we have the crux of what the Teslarati writer is displeased with: the driver of a car that was making poor driving decisions on its own expressed discomfort and displeasure that the car was attempting to do stupid things.

The writer also states that what we saw in this CNN video was completely opposite of what FSD Beta videos are like from actual experienced Tesla owners, and hes correct because Ballaban didnt have any perverse need to try and make it seem like a car attempting to steer you into oncoming traffic was fine. Just fine!

Again, lets be absolutely clear here: Ballaban did exactly what an L2 driver is supposed to do: take over when they feel the car is not making optimal decisions. The only thing Ballaban did wrong, at least according to Teslarati, is not pretend like he was somehow cool with what FSD Beta was doing. He complained.

Complaining is something Mike is very good at, and if the goal of the video was to show what a normal, non-Telsa-owning person might think of FSD Beta (there are a good number of such people on Earth, numbering in the billions), then I think he did a very effective job.

Whats incredible about this article is that its taking a non-ideal example of an FSD Beta drive and putting the blame for the poor way FSD Beta came out looking not on the software itself, but on the human in the seat who did not make the poor driving decisions shown.

This would be like if I loaned my Yugo out to someone, knowing full well that the car is full of flaws, quirks, and some downright questionable issues and then got mad at them if the brakes failed, and they slammed into something.

I knew the brakes were kinda shitty when I loaned them the car, and I would have told them that. If they were skittish while driving because the brakes sucked, thats not their fault its the fault of my shitty Yugos brakes.

Its the same thing with FSD Beta: if the system is making driving decisions that make a driver skittish, then its the fault of the software, not the driver.

Now, even though FSD Beta is being deployed onto public roads, surrounded by pedestrians and cyclists and other motorists and squirrels that have not agreed to participate in a test of semi-self-driving software on a 4,000-pound car, Tesla is more careful about who they allow inside the car thats being beta tested.

For this, they have concocted a Safety Score system, which effectively gamifies smooth, if not necessarily always the safest, driving to decide who can have access to FSD Beta. The Teslarati article notes this:

There is a reason why Tesla is incredibly serious about the strict safety measures it is imposing on the FSD Beta program. Drivers who have access to the FSD Beta software, at least for now, are only those that have garnered the highest Safety Scores, at least outside the initial batch of testers that used the advanced driver-assist system in its first year.

The problem is that the Safety Score isnt really a training program to make people qualified to monitor an unfinished, car-controlling AI. Getting a 100 on your safety score just means you were able to meet the very specific criteria mandated by the Safety Score algorithm, even if that meant doing a lot of extra driving in unnatural ways to get there. Its got nothing to do with the very specific task of monitoring an AI driver.

Other companies testing automated driving systems take their human safety driver qualifications very differently. Cruise, for example, has a month-long training program for their safety drivers.Argo AIs Test Specialists go through multi-week training courses as well, only certifying less than four percent of applicants. And, significantly, nearly all other companies developing automated vehicles pay their safety drivers.

So, Teslarati, dont give me this unqualified driver bullshit. The only thing the Safety Score really does is weed out those people not sufficiently thrilled to be an unpaid beta tester for a for-profit company.

Remember, no wrecks happened in that CNN video. The outcome was the same as so many other full-Tesla-owner-shot FSD Beta videos, in that the car drove around on its own a bit, it had some moments that required disengagement, maybe some surrounding drivers got confused or pissed a bit and everyone got home fine.

The only real difference is the CNN video featured a driver who was visibly nervous and displeased with some of the cars choices.

This video wasnt a hit job. It was a real, honest portrayal of the current state of FSD Beta. And, if were talking about drama here, then we really cant leave out this part of the Teslarati article:

There are already a lot of entities waiting for FSD Beta to fail. Tesla critics and skeptics, several of whom are financially incentivized to bring the company down, are practically salivating at the thought of FSD Beta being banned by regulators over potential accidents.

Jeezis, come on. Tesla owners who are beta testing FSD Beta arent victims of anything. No one is out to get you. Hell, I know for a fact that Mike Ballaban has, at worst, mixed feelings about Tesla, because he said so, right here:

...its okay to have mixed feelings about Teslato fall somewhere between actively rooting for its ugly demise and pledging your spare organs to God Emperor Elon so he can live forever on the Mars Colony. Because both are silly.

...

It is possible for all of these things to be true, simultaneously. Its possible that we see all of these things, together, and yet we dont want Tesla to die. Were huge fans of consumer choice, innovation and the inevitable electric future of cars, and for there to be more of those things, Tesla needs to succeed. Cars, and the car industry, are all simply more interesting because Elon Musk and Tesla are here. We even want Tesla to succeed because at the end of the day, saving the planet through fewer emissions is not only a good thing, its a matter of life and death itself.

Hes not hoping for Tesla to fail. Im not hoping for Tesla to fail. I dont have any financial stake in it either wayhell, my investment portfolio consists of two 20-pound bags of ice I bought last weekend and the vague hope that my kidneys will retain their value.

For the sake of car culture in general, the absurd victim mentality of Tesla supporters really needs to cool down. I mean, look at some of these comments on the Teslarati story:

Okay, here, a few things: this has nothing to do with EVs, its about partial automation, and the driver didnt mess up repeatedly the software did. The driver took over every time.

Then we get to the more exciting conspiracy takes:

So...why would CNN want to let China take over the EV auto industry? I dont see the angle there.

Now, some commenters were a bit more open in their assessment:

That seems reasonable! Now, heres the responses this comment gathered:

Okay, great. Thanks for that. And:

You get the idea.

Really, this reaction to the CNN video is highly revealing, even fascinating, because I cant recall such a united front in automotive culture quite like what we see in Tesla fandom.

We have a review of a feature of a car, and a response to that review that essentially focuses on how the reviewer was made uncomfortable by the cars feature instead of focusing on the performance of that feature itself.

This is a strange and unhealthy trend, and its showing no signs of dissipating any time soon.

Oh boy.

UPDATES: Right as this was published, we noticed Elon Musk himself was responding to the CNN video, via Twitter:

Here, based on the selected emojis, the concept that Ballaban was acting has brought his yellow, angled head to tears via laughter, and hes displaying an upraised thumb in a gesture of approval.

Elon also decided to just do some wild-ass speculation:

I mean, since the CNN story was largely a video, Im not exactly sure how the story would have been written before the drive took place? Or does he mean that Teslarati story? Its confusing.

If this gets any more stupid, well update.

Read more:

Elon Musk And His Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over CNN's Autopilot Criticism - Jalopnik

After humans are sent to live on Mars, what if they stop communication with us on Earth?

Earlier this month, six people began their tenure in an immersive experiment that's either your greatest dream or your worst nightmare: They're living in a simulated extraterrestrial colony while being monitored by its builders. It's part of Project Sirius, an eight-monthoff-world settlement test taking place in Moscow.

Given the rampant interest in colonizing other planets -- especially from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk -- scientists behind these experiments are learning what physical and psychological consequences could be in store for future Martian or lunar settlers. And even though 2021's Sirius simulation just started on Nov. 4, there's already a good chunk of data to work with from tests in 2017 and 2019.

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Among those analyzing the specifics, one research team has noted two striking outcomes: Members of the "off-Earth society" grew increasingly autonomous, and they progressively communicated their feelings less often with mission control. The researcherspublished their findings Nov. 9 in the journal Frontiers in Physiology.

At face value, strong independence seems promising in a potential Martian society. If settlers perceive full control of their mission, they'd function confidently on their own and work collaboratively, drawing on their comfort with one another. That could benefit later interplanetary endeavors by easing individual anxiety and enhancing group cohesion for carrying out protocols.

That was one of the surprising findings of the study. "The communication characteristics of crew members with different personalities, genders and cultures became more similar during the mission," said co-author Dmitry Shved of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Aviation Institute.

But on a deeper level, letting go of mission control's hand invites some challenges.

"The negative side is that the mission control loses the possibility to understand the needs and problems of the crew, which consequently hinders mission control's ability to provide support," Shved said.

Taking it a step (or five) further, if the crew achieves a super high level of autonomy and cohesion, according to Shved, there's another potential concern -- they might seek complete detachment from external governing structures. Basically, Martian-humans could revolt from Earthlings.

But not to worry, at least not too much. "During the period when the Mars colonies will still be dependent on resupplies and people coming from Earth," he said, "the probability of severance of diplomatic relations seems rather low."

Project Sirius is all-encompassing. Each simulation gave participants the whole nine yards of space "colonization" to unlock precise details of off-world group dynamics.

First, subjects underwent a realistic takeoff and landing -- rockiness and all. Then they were immediately isolated in chambers from the outside world. The brave souls also weren't given an abundance of supplies, were told to utilize onboard greenhouses and even experienced signal lags while talking to mission control.

After the respective 17-day and 120-day periods of 2017's and 2019's experiments, Shved's team began observing how communication between the experimental crews and mission control evolved over time.

"The crews in simulated missions tended to reduce their communication with the mission control during the isolation," Shved said, "sharing their needs and problems less and less -- with rare exceptions such as important mission events, like landing simulation."

On the other hand, over the course of the mission there was a convergence of communication styles among Project Sirius crew members and an increase in crew cohesion, even though the crew composition was diverse by gender and cultural background, with pronounced individual differences, according to Shved.

Regarding gender, the team's study indicated that those who identified as women reacted differently to stress than those who identified as men based on speech acoustic indicators, facial expressions and content analysis of their messages. Unlike men, women manifested both joy and sadness facially, and showcased stress less audibly in speech, Shved said.

That data coincides with stress management gender differences for space colonization in data obtained by Sheryl Bishop of California's Space Surgery Institute, according to Shved. Her work was derived from results of a study that involved a four-month Martian space simulation known as FMARS, situated deep in the Canadian Arctic.

"However," he said, "it should be noted that all female subjects in Sirius experiments were Russian, while males were Russian, German and American -- so the cultural background could influence the observed differences."

The researchers intend to continue studying communication behavior in crew members of the Sirius-21 experiment. And for both private and public agencies looking to begin extraterrestrial colonization, Shved urges that the main points revealed by his team's analysis should ideally be discussed prior to the mission, and he stressed the importance of a good chat with "home."

"Considering the technical means of communication, video messaging from the crew, colonists and back seems to be preferable," he said, "as it provides better emotional connection, even under the signal lag and delay effect."

Read this article:

Mars colony simulations: Crew may revolt without strong interplanetary communication - CNET

ELON Musk's plan to move mankind to Mars could end up with "Martian" children suffering an array of mutations such as "green" skin, brittle bones and poor eyesight.

The SpaceX mogul insists he will move to Mars and believes humans need to colonise our neighbouring planet to become a "multi-planet species".

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However, experts warn that it's not just the perilous 140 million mile journey which would be dangerous - humans on Mars would endure the most brutal living conditions imaginable.

But it's the children of Martian settlers who would undergo the most drastic of changes.

It comes as SpaceX successfully launched four astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Crew-3 mission.

According to Rice University biologist Scott Solomon, these evolutionary changes would happen much quicker than they would on Earth because of the vast changes in lifestyle, gravity and radiation.

Firstly, Mars is smaller than Earth and it has 38 per cent less gravity.

It also lacks a global magnetic field, a thick atmosphere and a protective ozone layer.

Breaking

This means Mars gets battered by space radiation, UV light, charged particles from the sun and cosmic rays.

And this would cause higher mutation rates in the DNA of humans living there, the scientist says in his book Future Humans.

He says that the skin tone of settlers would likely change to help them cope with the radiation.

This would mean darker skin and possibly in a tone we have never seen before.

Solomon says: Perhaps in the face of this high radiation, we might evolve some new type of skin pigment to help us deal with that radiation.

Maybe we get our own green men

Maybe we get our own green men.

Solomon believes humans on Mars would be more near-sighted as they would only live in their small communities and would no longer need to see far.

He cites cavefish living in deep trenches that have gone blind because they no longer need vision.

Studies have also shown that children who spend more time indoors become more near-sighted.

But that's not all. Humans would also develop brittle bones and weaker muslces, the expert says.

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He writes: "Science fiction has often portrayed Martians or aliens coming from Mars as being tall and lanky and thin."

Weaker bones due to the lack of gravity could also cause a woman pelvis to break during childbirth.

Another study by scientists Eneko Axpe and Eric Appel claims that half of astronauts travelling to Mars would develop Osteoporosis - a health condition which makes bones weaker and easier to fracture.

In fact, NASA scientists are trying to figure out how to deal with space weightlessness and its impact on the density of bones and muscles.

Modern astronauts have to exercise for around two hours per day in space t prevent this from happening.

Appel said: "A lot of people focus on the technological challenges of getting to Mars, or the psychological challenges of being in a spacecraft for 1,000 days, but not necessarily the fact that your bones decay.

"Can people even make it, or will they be jello by the time they get there?"

Meanwhile, Solomons also believes humans on the Red Planet would lose their immune system fairly quickly because they would be living in a sterile environment.

This is because the settlers would have no need for a body capable of fighting off germs.

These changes could mean that humans are forced to splinter from their Martian cousins as physical contact such as sexual intercourse could be lethal for the "little green men."

The biologist also reckons Martian kids living in Musk's colony would see evolutionary changes in maybe one generation or two.

He said: "Evolution is faster or slower depending on how much of an advantage there is to having a certain mutation.

"If a mutation pops up for people living on Mars, and it gives them a 50-per cent survival advantage, thats a huge advantage, right?

"And that means that those individuals are going to be passing those genes on at a much higher rate than they otherwise would have.

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In a message to Musk and other billionaires keen on making the move to Mars, the Amazon founder and the world's second richest man Jeff Bezos issued a stark warning.

The Amazon founder said: "My friends who want to move to Mars? I say do me a favour:

"Go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first and see if you like it, because it's a garden paradise compared to Mars."

Musk has long spoken about his dream of colonising Mars - with his vision of mankind's first city on the Red Planet by around 2050.

SpaceX's current goal is to send the first uncrewed version of his massive Starship vessel to 2024.

And the billionaire remains confident that the first humans will land on Mars by 2026.

He hopes that within his lifetime he will be able to transport around one million people to live on Mars.

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Kids born on Mars after Elon Musks SpaceX missions would have brittle bones, weak eyesight and green ski... - The Sun

Hot on the heels of the first mindblowing trailer we saw just one month ago, come a second equally-as-amazing trailer for the third and final season of "Lost in Space."

If you haven't watched Netflix's "Lost in Space," already then go and do so immediately. Tell your barista that half-soy, non-fat double-blended pumpkin spice latte is To Go, scurry home and switch on Netflix. You'll thank us later.

The show is a reimagining of the pioneering sci-fi series of the same name that aired on black-and-white TV screens across America in 1965. That show came from the imagination of Irwin Allen and showrunner Zack Estrin has reworked this in the same manner Ron D. Moore did to Glen A. Larson's 1978 "Battlestar Galactica." It's been updated, reimagined, regendered, tweaked and fine-tuned and the end result has been one of the finest sci-fi shows on TV in recent years.

At the end of the second season, which aired 2019, we saw an entire ship of robots attack and board the Resolute mother ship, with more incoming to retrieve the alien engine. Maureen (Molly Parker) and Don (Ignacio Serricchio) manage to trap them, while Judy (Taylor Russell) leads a mission to send the Resolute's 97 children to the Alpha Centauri colony in a Jupiter landing ship using the alien engine, piloted by the Robot.

The Jupiter carrying the children escapes through a rift in space, but the human-made radar signature that the Robot followed has led the ship to an unknown star system. There they find the Fortuna, a ship that had vanished nearly 20 years earlier and was commanded by Grant Kelly, Judy's biological father.

Related: The best sci-fi movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix in November

Unlike the first trailer, this time we get to see much more of the Robinson family and the dilemmas they face. We also see the binary star system close to where the Resolute is located, with one star colored blue and the other fiery red almost opposite in nature all of which connects underlying themes throughout the show: the robot's two expressions, fire and water, love and hate, right and wrong and so on. While the second season wasn't quite as good as the first, we still expect great things from this suburb sci-fi.

According to the official synopsis from Netflix, "In the third and final season of Lost in Space, the stakes are higher than ever and the Robinson familys survival instincts will be put to the ultimate test. After a year of being trapped on a mysterious planet, Judy, Penny, Will and the Robot must lead the 97 young Colonists in a harrowing evacuation but not before secrets are unearthed that will change their lives forever. Meanwhile John and Maureen with Don at their side must battle overwhelming odds as they try to reunite with their kids. The Robinsons will have to grapple with the emotional challenge of not just being lost but being separated from the ones they love as they face the greatest alien threat yet."

The cast also includes Toby Stephens (John Robinson), Mina Sundwall (Penny Robinson) and Parker Posey as Dr. Smith.

Seasons 1 and 2 of "Lost in Space" are currently available on Netflix and Season 3 will be available in its entirety on Wednesday, Dec 1. "Lost in Space" is only available on the subscription service Netflix. Subscriptions start at $8.99 a month.

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New 'Lost in Space' Season 3 trailer shows the entire Space Family Robinson in danger - Space.com

At 9:49 a.m. Central Time, on Wednesday, October 13th, the New Shepherd rocket from the commercial space company Blue Origin lifted off from the West Texas desert. In this latest chapter of the new space tourism saga, the rocket took four passengers to the edge of space, some 65.8 miles above Earths surface, for a trip that lasted approximately ten minutes in total. Among these passengers were Blue Origin employee Audrey Powers, and two paying passengers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries. Perhaps the most significant on board was William Shatner, best known for his acting role as Captain Kirk on the TV show Star Trek. The man behind the legendary character widely associated with heroic adventures and space travel receiving the opportunity to breach the barrier between Earth and Outer Space is undoubtedly an exciting and momentous occasion. However, the context in which this event took place is rife with issues, many of which I am about to unpack.

Lets start with the background of what has been dubbed the billionaire space race. Between the years 2000 and 2004, the commercial side of the space industry kicked off, with Jeff Bezos founding Blue Origin in 2000, Elon Musk creating SpaceX in 2002, and Richard Branson establishing Virgin Galactic in 2004. In the almost twenty years since, SpaceX surged ahead, coming to fame with its advancements in developing new technology. At first, the company just shuttled supplies, but as of May 2020, they now bring astronauts to the International Space Station using reusable rockets. But although they have not been in the spotlight as much, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have also been working on their own projects regarding space flight. In the past few years, this has ignited a fraught competition between them that, with the three space barons combined net worth of $400 billion, is most definitely the billionaire space race.

In a recent development highlighting the newer rivalry between Bezos and Branson, both billionaires traveled to the edge of space using their companys technology within nine days of each other this past summer. On July 11th, 2021, Richard Branson, two pilots, and three other passengers flew on SpaceShipTwo to a height of 53.5 miles (86 km) above Earths surface. On July 20tha launch date that was established long before Bransons was announcedJeff Bezos flew 65 miles (105 km) into space with three other passengers. Among them was Wally Funk, an eighty-two -year-old former member of the Mercury 13, a group of women who trained to become astronauts but never got the opportunity after being passed over for men. While Bezos traveled aboard New Sheppard, a familiar-looking rocketship and capsule duo, Branson and Virgin Galactic opted for different technology: a winged, rocket-powered space plane called SpaceShipTwo. But no matter their means of getting there, the billionaires nearly consecutive journeys into space have marked the beginning of something big, for better or for worse.

This something big is the space tourism business, which will be worth, according to space.com, about three billion by 2030, and will offer the opportunity for civilians to breach the edge of space, experience weightlessness, and one day maybe even take a vacation in a suborbital hotel. After returning to Earth, Richard Branson said everyone should have the opportunity to go to space and see Earth from above, yet all but a select few actually will. According to the New York Times, more than 600 people have already bought tickets for Virgin Galactic flights, the prices of which initially went for between $200,000 and $250,000, though they were later raised to $450,000 in August. In July, Bezos said that Blue Origin was almost at $100 million in ticket sales for their flights, though they neglected to say how many passengers that included. So, as the BBC put it, these flights are essentially joy-rides for the super-wealthy and will not be accessible to the ordinary citizen in the foreseeable future.

Thats not to say jaunts into space should be easily accessible to anyone, for that matter. The billionaires ventures with space tourism have drawn criticism for numerous reasons, and there are many issues with it. For one, launching into space, let alone staying in space like the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, is not a walk in a park. There are many dangers and countless things that can go wrong, especially for untrained civilian astronauts. To make matters worse, there is also little oversight nor regulations for commercial space companies as of right now. According to space.com, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires commercial space companies to prove that their operations do not endanger people on the ground. However, they have no oversight or guidelines as to the safety of those participating while actually in space flight. During a test flight in 2014 for SpaceShipTwo, an accident led to the spacecraft ripping apart, leaving the co-pilot dead and the pilot injured. During Bransons launch back in July, the space plane carrying SpaceShipTwo deviated from its approved course, which could have put the passengers aboard SpaceShipTwo at risk, causing the FAA to ground Virgin Galactic until an investigation is completed. While nothing happened this time, with more space tourist launches potentially happening in the future, whos to say nothing will?

Furthermore, while the space barons are pouring money into their out-of-this-world joyrides, there are massive crises back here on Earththe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, to name just twothat are negatively impacting the entire planet. If any of these billionaires gave just a tiny percentage of their money, it would go a significantly long way toward resolving these problems, but none of them have really done much of anything.

Finally, there are also concerns about the environmental dangers of unrestricted numbers of commercial launches. According to the BBCs Science Focus Magazine, the carbon dioxide emissions for four tourists on a space flight are about 100 times more than the emissions per passenger on a long airplane flightthe emissions for which are already an extreme environmental concern. Although the impact will depend on the types of fuels used for the rockets, if the cheap new hybrid fuel that Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo uses becomes popular, the effects on our climate will be detrimental. However, with the numbers of possible space flights in years to come no matter what fuel the rockets employ there will still be a significant environmental impact. As if thats not concern enough, the exhaust from rockets also contains chemicals like nitrogen oxides that can (and do) deplete Earths ozone layer. These environmental concerns might not seem like a big deal right now as only a handful of commercial launches have happened so far. But, there are currently no global regulations for the environmental impacts of rocket launches. If no new regulations are enacted in the immediate future, the effects from the space tourism industry will be disastrous for our planet.

There will almost certainly be many negative impacts, but some have pointed out that there is the potential for some positive effects. For example, drawing a comparison to the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the mid twentieth century, new jobs will be created, and new technology developed as a result of the billionaire space race. Also, the billionaires visions for their companies, like Musks goal to establish a colony on Mars and Bezoss idea to create space colonies in orbit around Earth, could help drive humanitys expansion beyond Earth and exploration of outer space. But, anything remotely like colonies on Mars is still nothing but an idea and will not benefit the average person for a long time. The advantages that the billionaire space race could potentially offer pales compared to its negative impacts like its contribution to the global-scale issue of climate change. However exciting it may be, the billionaire space race does not bode well. But how it will turn out in the end, only time will tell.

The rest is here:

Soaring, Crashing, and Burning: Why The Billionaire Space Race Is A Horrible Idea - The Scarlet

The 3D printed model of New Prague adds on to a series of international research projects known as the Global Moon Village concept. The imaginary colony features residential modules containing laboratories, greenhouses, landing ramps and a solar farm, all of which are the results of conceptual research into how a future space colony may operate.

Next to it stands LUNIAQ a lunar rover for four astronauts that was inspired by the designs of koda cars, but its technology is based on real NASA space vehicle concepts.

Both the vehicle and village can be found in the Virtuplex hall in Prague and were designed by Czech architect Tom Rousek, who has been focusing on designing structures for use in space for several years now. Visitors to the hall can also put on VR goggles and get a feel for what it is like to walk on the moon.

Czech Space Week|Photo: Michaela hov, TK

The exhibit is part of a much wider Czech Space Week programme that has been running since Monday. In it, the public has the opportunity to learn more about the universe and the latest developments in space related research through presentations held by leading experts in the field. The event is set to close next Saturday with a special Space Film Concert, performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Aside from educational events, this years Czech Space Week also drew some of the heavyweights of the European space programme. Among them was the Head of the Innovation and Ventures Office of the European Space Agency Frank Salzgeber.

Speaking about the work of the agencys Business Incubation Centre in Prague, which is helping aspiring Czech startups hoping to break into the space business, Mr Salzgeber mentioned InsightART, a company which uses cosmic detector technology as an art verification tool.

It might not bring 5,000 jobs, but I think it is something where you will lead the world in a certain area and people will look to the city of Prague for that.

Czech Space Week also saw networking among scientists. A special conference looking into how the EUs Copernicus environmental monitoring system could be used to help fulfil the unions Green Deal commitments was held at Charles University.

Czech Space Week is organised by CzechInvest and the Ministry of Transport in cooperation with several organisations, including the European Space Education Resource Office and the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Read the rest here:

Prague moon colony and koda lunar rover on show at Czech Space Week - Radio Prague

By Heather Leah, WRAL multiplatform producer

Chapel Hill, N.C. A 500-year-old stone linked to North Carolina's Lost Colony at Roanoke could be hidden in the walls of a century-old amphitheater in the Triangle.

Nestled in the woods, just around the corner from the historic Gimghoul Castle, the Forest Theatre in Chapel Hill looks like something out of a fairytale.

The stone walls and tall towers can just barely be seen peeking through the autumn trees making it appear almost like a castle itself and while generations of UNC students have enjoyed the historic space, many people visiting Chapel Hill have driven right past it without even noticing.

Like many theaters, this relic is full of legends some more true than others. One legend dates one "secret" stone in the theater's wall back to the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and possibly to Sir Walter Raleigh himself.

While hundreds, or even thousands, of students and families have spent countless hours enjoying shows in the open-air theater, it's still considered something of a secret. According to The Daily Tar Heel, "the stone amphitheater has existed for nearly a century, and many students arent even aware of it."

Before the two-story stone towers and cobbled walls were constructed, there was a time when the "Forest Theatre" truly was in a forest. According to a description written in 1953 by Betty Johnson in the N&O, the site was at the "bottom of a wooded bowl" and "rather swampy." But enthusiastic drama students built a wooden stage over marshy ground, with a little stream and the surrounding trees creating a natural backdrop for the play's set.

The audience sat on blankets and towels on the surrounding hillside to eagerly watch the first show, which was put on in 1916 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

It wasn't until 1919 that a permanent theater structure was placed on the land.

UNC's drama professor Frederick Koch and botany professor William Coker, joined forces to create the first vision of the Forest Theater. Their mark on the community's history is still seen today with the Forest Theatre taking on Koch's namesake and the Coker Arboretum, just a stone's throw away from the theater, honoring Coker at the North Carolina Botanical Garden.

Koch taught at UNC for over two decades, using the theater space for the student troupe, the Carolina Playmakers.

Decades of history are hidden in the Forest Theatre's stone walls. The stones themselves were quarried from the ground in the nearby community. Some legends and historians say the stones actually come from the original "hill" from which Chapel Hill takes its name.

Many of the impressive stone walls seen today were built during the 1940s, when additions and improvements were constructed with $20,000 worth of WPA funds in 1940 and more additions in 1948.

While most of the stonework is from native stones, there is one "secret" stone that could date back to North Carolina's first colony our Lost Colony at Roanoke.

According to a website and book created by UNC Archivist Nicholas Graham and Cecelia D. Moore, former university historian at UNC, "During that work, designers added a stone brought from Roanoke Island that is believed to be a ballast stone from the ships that carried Sir Walter Raleigh's first colonists in the 1500s."

The designs were created by Albert Q. Bell, who also designed the Waterside Theater on Roanoke Island, where popular "The Lost Colony" production is performed. It seems possible, given Bell's connection to Roanoke Island, the story about the stone's origins could have some merit.

The stone can be found at the top of the seating area, overlooking the entire theater. Clearly different from all the native Chapel Hill stones, it's round and smooth instead of flush to the wall, and it's cream-colored instead of gray. It certainly matches the appearance of other ballast stones used in that time period.

Ballast stones have been found along the North Carolina coastline, remnants removed from colonial ships as they made port. Sir Walter Raleigh funded several trips to colonies in North Carolina in the1580s, meaning it is possible at least one of those ships left ballast stones behind.

However, some historians argue that, while the coastline waters are full of ballast stones dumped by ships from the colonial time period, it's unlikely the Roanoke ships would have dropped any ballast stones. It's possible, then, that Bell did indeed put a ballast stone in the Forest Theatre, but that it was only rumored to have been from Roanoke. It could have simply been a historic ballast stone still hundreds of years old and very historic, but not necessarily connected to the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

"Near the entrance to Shallowbag Bay on Roanoke Island there is a spot called Ballast Point, so named for the mass of discarded ballast stones," writes Brandon Fullam in his book A Lost Colony Hoax. "Since the 18th century, local lore has alleged that these ballast stones were from Raleigh's first two expeditions to Roanoke."

Fullan argues that the ships that left England bound for Roanoke were already loaded with heavy equipment for the colony and likely would not have needed many, if any, ballast stones.

It seems true that Bell brought a ballast stone from Roanoke to install in the Forest Theatre but is it possible he, himself, was a believer in a myth that dates back to the 1700s? If so, the myth is roughly 300 years old, while the stone is around 500 years old. Arguably, the myth is as historic as the stone itself and still part of the Lost Colony history and folklore that pervades North Carolina's roots and culture.

Regardless, the Forest Theatre has mysteries hidden in its walls that date back to the 1500s. Like any good theater, it will likely hold those mysteries for decades to come and collect a few more along the way.

Chapel Hill has several mysterious and beautiful stone places hidden along the roads less traveled.

North Carolina has its very own version of Stonehenge a mystic spiral of stone pillars known locally as Hartleyhenge.

Just around the corner from the Forest Theater is Gimghoul Castle. Around the same age as the theater, the castle was built in the 1920s, and it has even more mysteries and legends than the theater.

More here:

Forest Theatre: Century-old amphitheater has hidden connection to Lost Colony - WRAL.com

Iman shared in a new interview that she will never remarry following the death of her husband David Bowie.

Speaking toPeople,the iconic supermodel recalled her daughter asking her if shed ever remarry saying, I said No, I will not. I still feel married. Someone a few years ago referred to David as my late husband and I said No, hes not my late husband. Hes my husband.'

She added, I definitely feel his presence, especially when I look out over the glorious sunsets at our home because David loves sunsets. So in that way he is ever present. Through my memory, my love livesThere are days that are harder than others but the memories are not all sad of why the person isnt here. The memories are now of great it was. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I had 26 years. So I have that to sustain me.

Iman has developed her first fragrance brand called Love Memoir that will be available exclusively through HSN that is a tribute to her loving relationship with Bowie.

Peoplenoted of Love Memoir, The idea came to her while living at their country house nestled in the mountains in upstate New YorkThere, in lockdown, she found a quiet solace amidst his favorite paintings, his ever-present books, and the fiery sunsets they both loved. She also found the inspiration for the fragrance which weaves together woodsy vetiver (Tom Fords Grey Vetiver was Bowies favorite) and bergamot from Tuscany, where they had married.

Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock news blogger who's well versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice.

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Iman Says She'll Never Remarry Following David Bowie's Death - wmmr.com