Category Archives: Moon Colonization

Second new moon in a calendar month

The term black moon is not a term used in astronomy and there is no single accepted definition of it.[1] Among the meanings ascribed to it are these: a second new moon that appears in the same month; the third new moon in an astronomical season with four new moons; the absence of a new moon in February; or the absence of a full moon in February.[1]

One use of the term is for the occurrence of a second new moon in a calendar month. This is analogous to the by-month definition of a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. February is too short for a second new moon to occur. This event occurs about every 29 months.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

The assignment of a calendar date to a new moon, and in which month a second new moon occurs, depends on the time zone. For example, the new moon of 2016-10-01T00:11UTC occurs on 1 October for Europe, Asia and Oceania, making it the first of two new moons in October. However, for the Americas the date is still 30 September, making this the second new moon of September.[1][6]

Calculated in UTC, instances of a second new moon in a calendar month between 2010 and 2020 are:[9][10]

Another use of the term is for the third new moon in a season that has four new moons. This is analogous to the Farmers' Almanac definition of a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons. A season lasts about three months and usually has three new moons. This event occurs about every 33 months.[1][3]

There is no dependency on time zones in this definition as the seasons are tied to the winter solstice. Instances of four new moons in a season are:[3][9][10]

Another use of the term is for the absence of the full moon from a calendar month. This can occur only in February; it happens about every 19 years. When February is without full moon, then the preceding January or December and the following March or April have two full moons.[1][2][8]

As with the case of two new moons in a month, whether a black moon by this definition occurs depends on the time zone. Calculated in UTC, instances of a month without full moon between 1990 and 2040 are:[9][10]

Another use of the term is for the absence of the new moon in a calendar month. This can occur only in February; it happens about every 19 years. When February is without new moon, then the preceding January or December and the following March or April have two new moons.[1][2]

As with the case of two new moons in a month, whether a black moon by this definition occurs depends on the time zone. Calculated in UTC, instances of a month without new moon between 1990 and 2040 are:[9][10]

In some aspects of paganism, particularly amongst Wiccans, the black moon is considered to be a special time when any rituals, spells, or other workings are considered to be more powerful and effective. Others believe rituals or workings should not be conducted at these times.[1][3][8][11]

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Black moon - Wikipedia

Many in the defense world were uncertain about the establishment of the final frontiers military branch, and the Netflix show by the same moniker faced similar skepticism after its first season.

After a shaky start, however, Space Force season two has seemingly won over the hearts and minds of viewers.

The story picks up three months from where it left off, with Space Force commander Gen. Mark Naird (Steve Carell) testifying at the Pentagon after saving the lives of both U.S. and Chinese space crews from starting World War III on the moon.

As Naird testifies in a meandering monologue that only Carell can do, his nemesis, Gen. Kick Grabaston (Noah Emmerich), berates, attacks, and outright lies about the events that forced the Space Force crew into the bowels of the Pentagon to share what happened at the end of the first season.

Having seen both, but not wanting to spoil anything further, the second season does deviates from the first, taking cues from The Office.

Carell, who produced both shows with creator Greg Daniels, brings a little bit of that Michael Scott charm to Naird, endearing audiences to him in a way that clamoring Office fans wanted but simply couldnt justify during the first season.

The result is pure magic that translates to the entire cast, with heavy hitters like John Malkovich as Dr. Adrian Mallory and Ben Schwartz as F. Tony picking up the comedic mantle in new and exciting ways.

Luckily, the alterations didnt impact the way the show earnestly lambasts the Defense Department and its absurdities. Two particularly hot topics tackled in the season: Space Forces budget and international relations.

In the second episode, Nairds attempt at ameliorating foreign relations between the U.S. and China as it relates to space colonization features an exchange between the general and his counterpart that rival what happens when you bring a significant other from a completely different walk of life home to meet your parents for the first time at Thanksgiving, and they try way too hard to assimilate.

The result is equally disastrous, which makes for excellent viewing. Who cant relate to attempting unsuccessfully to use chopsticks and dropping tofu in their water glass?

Though Space Forces future was shaky at the end of the first season, the second, having achieved an 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes thus far, looks like it may have secured a follow-up to infinity and beyond, or at least until Netflix decides its no longer a moneymaker.

As Naird says after narrowly escaping a prison sentence at the end of the first episode, Space Force isnt going anywhere.

Observation Post is the Military Times one-stop shop for all things off-duty. Stories may reflect author observations.

Sarah Sicard is a Senior Editor with Military Times. She previously served as the Digital Editor of Military Times and the Army Times Editor. Other work can be found at National Defense Magazine, Task & Purpose, and Defense News.

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'Space Force' season two is absolute perfection - Military Times

As a Jamaican graduate study pursuing a degree in international affairs, I struggle to find common ground with my fellow students. We spend a lot of time discussing different approaches to tackling climate change, and one of the hardest things Ive had to explain to my classmates is the fundamental difference in how Black, Brown, and Indigenous people see the environment versus White westerners, andwhy that viewpoint matters. It doesnt help that none of them speak my native Jamaican patois, which is the only language I can use to verbally explain something so intangible yet fundamental to my existence as a Caribbean person.

This discrepancy in how people of different backgrounds view the worlds problems was especially conspicuous last year, when the never-ending shit show that was (and is) the COVID-19 pandemicincreasing global temperatures,rising wealth inequality,the breakdown of democratic norms,andescalating waves of ecological collapsecalled into serious consideration whether our currentWestern model of capitalism is sustainable.

These times have tested all of us, except maybe the worlds elite, who are havinga whale of a time. In such times, some among us call for deliverance, for the emergence of a savior with a proper mix of resources and expertise to guide humanity out of its collective undoing. While Im pretty sure no one person can save humanity from its failings, I am absolutely sure the worlds billionaires wont lend a hand to dig us out of this pit. Rather than placing our faith in a pipe dream, I argue that only through partnering with theglobal poor, theIndigenous,and othermarginalized groupscan we avoid climate catastrophe.

Billionaires arent the paragons of productivity theyre made out to be.

The wishful thinking that makes us cast our hopes on the ultrarich stinks of thecult of the founder, the misguided assumption that those with the good fortune of wealth and privilegesuch as the billionaires of the worldare the most qualified to diagnose and treat societys ills.

Billionaires arent the paragons of productivity theyre made out to be, and they certainly arent fit to run society.

Setting aside for a moment the fact thatwealth begets wealth or thatseveral of your favorite billionaires were born rich, there are many real-world examples of the failures of trying to run society like a for-profit firm. The United States health care system alone isreplete with cautionary talesagainst profiting off an essential service. Even in a pandemic, the worlds richest country hasfailed to galvanize its resourcesin a meaningful way to stop the spread of disease, focusing more ongetting people back to work, which in turn is generating greater wealth for the rich.

The proposed solutions that Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos are offeringsuch as theMetaverse,Martian settlements,andspace colonizationignorethe problems facing the world today and instead divert public consciousness toward making these billionaires even more money as the world burns around us.

Aside frombeingimpractical pipe dreams, these ideas are nothing but efforts to double down on our dystopic capitalist system, designed to divert attention from the system problems that the ultra-wealthycontinue to exacerbate, made more palatable with buzzwords and dished out to us by million-dollar PR campaigns.

The real-life day-to-day carbon footprint of the ultrarich isdisproportionately highand directly fuels climate change, and these billionaires proposals are fully intended to distract us fromany real effortto disincentivize carbon emissions. Their visions for the future areidealistic,neocolonial,dystopicflights of fancy, and they often center theinsufficient abilitiesofthe free marketto respondto climate change, which runs therisk of recreating the same cycles of inequality and abuse perpetuated by our current system.

Its high time that we draw from themassive wealth of knowledgepossessed by Indigenous peoples.

Billionaire philanthropy exists toreform worsening public opinion of the ber-rich and to provide tax havens. Sinceso much power to affect changewithin philanthropic spacesrests in the hands of individual donors, bullheaded initiativeslikeBill Gates ideato focus all agriculture on synthetic fertilizersare prioritized more than they deserve. The reality is that you cannot fix systemic issues by throwingmoney at the problem. When one man holds the purse strings, the entire mission of relief agencies can bereroutedas theBill & Melinda Gates Foundationhas demonstrated with its high-profile vaccination efforts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Its high time that we draw from themassive wealth of knowledgepossessed by Indigenous peoples and learn how to work with the natural world and not against it. Throwing the power of global institutions behind front-line problem solversbe they Native American tribes reviving traditional practices torestore their environmentorIndigenous peoples solidifying land tenure rightsin the Amazoncan result in observable improvements in environmental well-being.

Rather thanhumiliating ourselves onlinebegging for crumbs, there is a massiveneed to overhaul the global tax systemso the ultra-wealthy are forced to pay into government revenues without having a say in how to spend them. Those revenues then need to be poured into thesmall-scale farmers,women,andpeasant groupsalready working on saving the world.

For example, instead of placing roadblocks in front of Indigenous access to the lands they once held, the best-case scenario for harnessing the power of unused land to combat climate change is simplyto give it backto the people we stole it from. This is a much cheaper and more viable alternative to thegeoengineeringpipe dreams floating around some circles. Returning land is already happening withthe #LandBack movementacross the U.S. and world. Its high time we realize the massive potential of harnessingIndigenous expertiseand federal wherewithal to sustainably manage the land.Such a radical yet necessary solution is unlikely to be proposed by the likes of Gates,Americas largest private farmland owner.

Billionaires are hoardingseveral trillion dollarsin ill-gotten gains that thegovernment needs to track downfrom offshore tax havens and put to good use. But if or when the hidden money is acquired, it should go to the people on the front lines already engaged in fighting for our future.Its time to rework our global food systemto feed the worlds poorest. Its time to elevateIndigenous-led biodiversityefforts andheirloom farmingto the mainstream. Its high time for us to prioritize those who operate with a sense of the shared fate of humanity at their core, not a profit margin.

Its not that the ultrarich wont intervene from time to time, its that theywont put in the effortto rework a system that suits them. Kowtowing to the whims of a few willresult in money being poured into impractical, wasteful efforts. Instead, societies and governments ought to put considerable effort into working with those directly involved in fighting climate change.

The fundamental truth is that we are part of the environment. The fact that we are inseparable from the Earth is the modus operandi of oppressed peoples. This is obvious to me, but perhaps not to my peers in graduate school.The core of my argument is perhaps best expressed by James Baldwin, who wrote inNo Name in the Street: There is a reason, after all, that some people wish to colonize the moon, and others dance before it as an ancient friend.

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Opinion | Billionaires Will Not Save Us. Here's What Will - YES! Magazine

Good news/bad news time. The good news: With Season 4 ofThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselabout to premiere, Amazon has announced that Season 5 is in the works. The bad news: That will be the final season of the series.

A critical hit since its inception in 2017, and already a 19-time Emmy Winner in categories ranging from Outstanding Writingto Outstanding Comedy Series, the show stars Rachel Brosnahan (herself a Emmy winner for the show) as Midge Maisel, an unhappy housewife in 1950s New York who decides to become a standup comic.

Here was the head of Amazon Studios on the news (viaTHR)

[MaiselcreatorAmy [Sherman-Palladino], Dan [Palladino], andThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselhave blazed an unparalleled path, elevating the stories we tell about women, challenging the norms in our industry, and forever altering the entertainment landscape with their one-of-a-kind storytelling. The dozens of awards cementMaisels legacy in many ways, but whats even more enduring and poignant are the characters Amy created and the joyous, brilliant, singular world she and Dan brought to life. This series has meant so much to Prime Video and the effects of its success will be felt long after its final season. I cant wait for fans and our worldwide Prime Video audience to savor each moment as we embark on the culmination of this groundbreaking and unforgettable series.

Many ofMarvelous Mrs. Maisels contemporaries from its early days on Prime Video have already ended their runs, includingBosch,Sneaky Pete,The Man in the High Castle,Transparent, andMozart in the Jungle.Season 4 ofThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselpremieres tomorrow on Prime Video. Two episodes will premiere each week for the next month. Heres the trailer for the new season:

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'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Will Return For a Fifth and Final Season - ScreenCrush

Your civilization will evolve throughout the ages, with or without your guidance. You are taking control of a living simulation, not the same static world you are accustomed to. The AI will make many of its own decisions, and the world will change dynamically, throwing various challenges at your civilization at random times. You can attempt to influence your civilizations decisions, or simply watch as their decisions begin to bear fruit or lead them into ruin.

However, when it comes to research choices, exploration, and colonization of alien planets, you have complete control. You can select their research path, and develop whatever technologies you deem important for the near future. Be warned, though. Research decisions play a crucial role in how your civilization progresses from era to era. Failure to do adequate research into the appropriate field for the time period will cause your civilization to suffer, or even perish entirely.

Developer and publisher Crytivo is pleased to announce the beginning of the Space Age for The Universim, starting with the colonization of the Moon.

The time has come for the Nuggets to move further into space. The first step is to set your Nuggets foot on the moon!

This v0.1.54 patch will finally bring plenty of new and exciting features to the game - but this is only the first step on your Nuggets path. In the future, you will have the opportunity to colonize and explore many other planets, each having its own negative and positive aspects. For now, let's concentrate on the things we can find in this patch.

First of All, MOON!

As mentioned before, the Moon is just the first planet that your Nuggets will be able to colonize. It is relatively safe and has a low difficulty curve in its colonization. This type of planet, as you all might have guessed, is considered to be a Barren Planet. The planet does have plenty of rocks and some underground resources, but it lacks oxygen. This celestial body also lacks water as well as any life on the planet; these issues are something that you will have to tackle in order to fully colonize the planet. Think carefully about what you want to bring to the Moon in terms of resources and what buildings you would like to construct there first. The first step is crucial to the survival of your civilization. If your first colonization wont be successful, you will have to utilize your interplanetary transportation system in order to deliver goods to the planet.

Cosmodrome

This is one of the first buildings that will set you on the path to colonization. The building was completely reworked from the ground up. You will be able to use the cosmodrome to build your colonization rockets. Only one rocket can be built per planet. Consider this rocket to be your epicenter; where your civilization will start anew on a planet. In this building, you can load your rocket with Nuggets and Robox (later on with drones) and resources. Loading the resources is done in two different ways: you can either load any amount of resources or you can select a tab that will display all kinds of buildings. From this tab, instead of calculating how many resources you need, you can simply select any buildings that you would like to be built on your newly colonized planet and Nuggets will deliver resources needed for those buildings.

Rockets have a limited amount of space on them. In the future, you will need to think carefully about what you would like to take with you on a planet based on the learned information about the planet and its condition.

Spaceport

This is the center of your transportation of goods. Each spaceport that is built provides you with 4 trading cargo ships on which you will be able to load different resources and help your Nuggets stay sustained. This building will allow you to set up any trading routes you would like to implement. Select both the resources you wish to deliver and the number of times you would like those resources to be delivered. You can select 1-10 or infinity. Later on, you will be allowed to constantly stream the specified amount of resources on the recipient planet.

Terraformer

This is one of the main buildings that will allow you to start terraforming the planet. The building constantly consumes resources and, in exchange, will restore flora within the radius this building can operate. Slowly and by utilizing resources, this building will be able to make any planet green as life is established.

Oxygen Generator

Since there is no oxygen on the Moon, this is one of the buildings that you will certainly need. Similar to the terraformer, this building will consume resources in order to provide oxygen to the planet, but there is one major thing to note about this building: if electricity is lost, then the generator will drop your oxygen to the previous level (the oxygen level present before the building was constructed). In other words, this building provides the planet with oxygen, as long as you have it working. In order to truly restore the oxygen on a planet, you will need to implement forests and lakes upon the planet. But, as a short term solution, oxygen generators will surely provide enough O2 for your Nuggets to prevent suffocationunless you forget to pay your electricity bill.

Hydro Collider

From the name of the building, you could probably guess the purpose of this structure. This building will create water on your planet. Place it similar to water pumps on a shoreline and let it run. Shortly thereafter, you will notice how the level of water increases, but be careful not to overwork it! The Hydro Collider does consume resources in order to craft water for your planet.

Cloud Generator

This is another solution to the water problem on a planet. Cloud generators will allow you to restore water on the planet by creating clouds! This building will produce clouds in exchange for resources, but the amount of resources is significantly less than the resources needed for the Hydro Collider. Even though this solution can be ideal for certain planets, there is one thing to note: cloud generators take time to create water. If you need to restore something quickly, consider using the Hydro Collider, otherwise a Cloud Generator will do a great job!

Robox

In unlocking space travel, your Nuggets also took some time to think about the best way to move their constructions to other planets or even across the same planet. This is how Robox was born! This little box with legs consists of highly transformable material and can inherit the functionality and shape of any building - but it does come with costs. In order to create a Robox, you can either order it for your colonization rocket or you can convert one of your buildings into this creation. Pressing the convert button on a building panel will pack the building into this little weird metallic creature that can be loaded onto the rocket and sent to another planet. You obviously can also use it to move your buildings around

Oxygen & Space Suits

Your Nuggets cant survive without oxygen. Upon landing, your Nuggets will have to constantly return to your colonization ship in order to restore the oxygen in their space suits. Once the oxygen on the planet is restored or you have enough to the point where your Nuggets wont need their suits anymore, they will perform faster and better. At the end of the day, they dont need to constantly replenish their oxygen from the rocket.

A low amount of oxygen on the planet also has a negative effect on the planet's condition and disasters. Without the oxygen restored, you wont have an atmosphere that can protect your planet from meteor strikes, therefore, frequent meteor showers are expected on a planet without oxygen. You will also be missing clouds that do provide essential water to the planet (your cloud generators do not care about oxygen due to chemicals being used to create those clouds).

Roads

The Space Age also will introduce a new type of road your Nuggets will utilize. Upon the initial landing on the Moon, your Nuggets will utilize rope roads. They will be moving along the ropes, holding it with their little hands in order to stay on track. Later on, as your civilization progresses forward, rope roads will be changed to advanced Space Age roads. Even though, at this point, roads wont be utilized as much due to flying cars, it still will provide a necessary movement boost to your Nuggets.

Flying Cars

Nuggets advanced quite far during this time. Since they learned how to fly, they also learned how to utilize all of their received knowledge in order to create flying cars! Those cars are highly effective and do not create any traffic, but they do come with upkeep costs.

Domes

Due to limited oxygen on the planets, your Nuggets will initially build houses with domes that will be a safe space for them to get oxygen. Slowly but surely, your Nuggets will build larger domes that contain more families inside of them, but this is not the best and long-term sustainable living your Nuggets will want. Once the oxygen is restored, your Nuggets will move towards rebuilding their houses and constructing new, highly advanced homes.

Space Age Houses

Space Age houses will take the place of domes and be built instead of the domes once the oxygen levels are restored. They can contain many families inside them at night thoughthis is something spectacular. We are really proud of our Nuggets and how advanced they have become 🙂

Background Planet Simulation System

A highly advanced simulation system was built for the Space Age. Since many planets will eventually be introduced, we wanted to allow players to explore those planets without worrying too much about other planets, as well as allowing interplanetary trading. The system that we built will do its best to simulate the current state of your planet based on how much time has passed. In order words, it will use all the reproduction rates that your planet has and create new Nuggets, age existing Nuggets, calculate produced resources, consumed resources by your civilization, etc. Creating a self-sustainable planet and leaving that planet will allow our simulation system to keep up with everything and continue simulating life on that planet. Who knows what you will find once you come back

Unfortunately, if you left your planet in distress, our simulation system will continue to simulate what would happen to it based on the time passed.

Bloom Effect

One of the exciting improvements weve made was changing our visuals, especially during night time. At night, youll see something called the bloom effect. This effect will make your city play with colorful colors during night time when all the lights are on, creating a magnificent effect across your planet.

Space Age and Modern Music

It is time to introduce some new tracks to the game! We worked with our composers in order to produce 10 new awesome tracks for this era, keeping you pumped and excited to play the game in the Modern Age and Space Era.

Space Age Construction Sites

Through the ages, Nuggets have advanced their technology and techniques. Thousands of construction sites were created and used to build gorgeous constructs, and the Space Age is no exception. We worked on new visual effects for the construction sites for the Space Age buildings.

Modern Age and Space Era Building Upgrades

Besides introducing tons of new content, we did not forget about the building upgrades to make your cities in space look stunning. As usual, each building upgrade will provide certain benefits, so make sure to build them all!

Space Age Cemetery

Welp, it's time to send your Nuggets to space. Literally. Instead of burning your Nuggets, Space Age cemetery workers will put your Nuggets in capsules and send them deeper into space.

Space Age Expedition Camp

Space Age Garage

Upgrade your garage to receive flying cars! Create your own futuristic cities and resolve all the issues of traffic. Your Nuggets will convert to flying cars in order to reach their destinations. The roads beneath them will still produce a boost to their movement speed, but make sure to have enough fuel for your cars to remain up in the air.

Space Age Bridge

Modern bridges got their upgrade to Space Age bridges. Even though the functionality of the bridges did not change, they definitely received an awesome new look!

Space Age Water Pump

Issue with the water? Dont worry, the Space Age water pumps will pump the water in no time. The increased amount of water that is being pumped will definitely resolve problems when expanding your city.

Space Age Reservoir

Increase the drinkable water generation speed and capacity by upgrading your reservoirs to the Space Age!

Modern Age Battery

Batteries didnt progress too much throughout this time, but they did indeed see an upgrade. Upgrade your medieval batteries into new and shiny modern batteries and increase their capacity along with it.

Space Age Eatery

Advanced technology allowed us to place plenty of machinery in the kitchen, which in return yielded faster cooking speeds.

Modern Age Warehouse

Wooden shacks were no longer suitable for Nuggets and their needs. Due to an increased output in resources, a bigger storage space was needed. Modern Age warehouses surely can help with the double output and provide enough storage space for any resources.

Space Age Farm

Farming is easy now! Experience completely automated factories with maximum production by upgrading your farms. This will drastically increase the output of food for your civilization.

Space Age Hospital

Even though the amount of beds did not increase, the efficiency with which Nuggets learned how to manipulate robotic arms allowed Nuggets to increase the speed of treating their patients.

Improvements and Balance Changes

Bug Fixes

This is so far one of our biggest patches that we released and it is our first step towards full space expansion! There are still more things coming in the future and we cant wait to present them to you. We hope you will enjoy this patch and we would love to hear your thoughts and feedback, since this will help us to shape the game further.

The Universim is currently available through Steam Early Access for $29.99.

With the use of an ambitious in-game engine called Prometheus, which is currently in development, we aim to simulate planets accurately by implementing important natural processes and events. Prometheus will simulate the various environmental biomes on the planet, and the changing of seasons within these regions. Winter will be the most challenging of seasons, as it hinders development and progress. It will also place strain upon your civilization if they failed to prepare adequately for the winter beforehand. Storing food and developing ways to keep warm are excellent examples of effective preparation. It will also be responsible for the generation of unique new planets for you to explore.

For example, a planet could be generated with very little oxygen. The colonization team would then need to be equipped with atmosphere generators to ensure a habitable environment. However, these generators cost resources to develop and run. The same effect can be achieved with a more cost-effective method. Planting trees! But alas, they will do so far more slowly. It all comes down to what kind of strategy the player wishes to employ.

There is an element of natural progression and evolution in the game. Beginning in the Stone Age, and advancing all the way to the era of intergalactic exploration is something players can look forward to. The ability to colonize planets and explore the vast expanse of the universe is then unlocked. This is when players can begin forging their galactic empires in the stars. Every planet will have unique and interesting characteristics that will challenge the player to properly evaluate the dangers and rewards before initiating the colonization process. As with everything, preparation and strategy is crucial!

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'The Universim' Early Access Update Lets You Colonize The Moon - Trailer - WorthPlaying.com

The features of the man, his hair, color and dentifrice, his subhuman characteristics so widely pleaded, were only the later rationalizations to justify a simple economic fact that the colonies needed labor and resorted to Negro labor because it was cheapest and best, Williams writes. The planter, he continues, would have gone to the moon, if necessary, for labor. Africa was nearer than the moon, nearer too than the more populous countries of India and China. But their turn was to come.

One thing Id like you to consider, and this is something I will return to in the future, is the extent to which racial distinctions and racial divisions are rooted in relationships of class, labor and property, even when they take on a life and logic of their own. And if thats true, I would like you to think about what that means for unraveling those divisions and distinctions, and consigning the ideology of race to the ash heap of history.

My Tuesday column was on a supposedly pro-worker proposal from Senator Marco Rubio that does little more than give employers another avenue for union busting.

If an employee involvement organization cannot bargain and cannot negotiate and can be dissolved at any point by the employer, then what purpose does it serve other than to subvert union organizers and channel worker unrest into a front organization for management? The same goes for the nonvoting board representative. Without power to act, what does it matter that someone is permitted to watch and listen?

My Friday column was, yet again, on how the Supreme Court cannot be trusted to defend the civil and voting rights of all Americans.

It is Congress, and not the Supreme Court, that has, over time, done more to defend the civil and voting rights of all Americans. To do the same, the court has had to reverse its own work. As Nikolas Bowie, an assistant professor of law at Harvard, has written, As a matter of historical practice, the Court has wielded an antidemocratic influence on American law, one that has undermined federal attempts to eliminate hierarchies of race, wealth, and status.

Brian Highsmith and Kathleen Thelen on the role of the courts in American political economy for the Law and Political Economy Project.

Michael Hobbes on cancel culture in a video essay for YouTube.

Musab Younis on whiteness for The London Review of Books.

Teresa M. Bejan on equality and egalitarianism for the Boston Review.

Natasha Lennard on liberal immigration policies in BookForum.

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Opinion | The Slave Trade Didn't Come Out of Nowhere - The New York Times

SpaceX will hit a big milestone this year on its road to Mars, if all goes according to plan.

The company is developing a giant rocket known as Starship to help make Mars colonization and a variety of other ambitious exploration feats possible. Starship prototypes have taken just a handful of low-altitude hops off Earth's surface to date, but the vehicle is on target to earn its orbital wings in the relatively near future, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said.

"I feel, at this point, highly confident that we'll get to orbit this year," Musk said Thursday night (Feb. 10) during a livestreamed Starship update from Starbase, SpaceX's facility in South Texas, near the Gulf Coast hamlet of Boca Chica Village.

Photos: SpaceX lifts huge Super Heavy rocket onto launch stand

SpaceX is developing Starship to take people and cargo to the moon, Mars and other deep-space destinations. The system consists of two elements: a huge first-stage booster known as Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship.

When fully stacked, a Starship vehicle towers about 390 feet (119 meters) above the ground. That's taller than any other rocket ever built; the previous record holder, NASA's Saturn V moon rocket, stood 363 feet (111 m) tall. And Starship's thrust will be more than twice that of the iconic Saturn V, Musk said.

Both Super Heavy and Starship are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, a cost-saving breakthrough that Musk and SpaceX believe will revolutionize spaceflight and exploration. If everything goes well, for example, each Starship vehicle will be capable of launching from Earth's surface every six to eight hours, and every Super Heavy will be able to do so roughly every hour, on missions that deliver up to 150 tons of payload to orbit, Musk said.

Such incredibly high flight rates would bring per-mission costs down dramatically.

"It may be as little as a few million dollars per flight maybe even as low as a million dollars per flight," Musk said. "These are crazy low numbers by space standards."

If Starship even gets close to those cost and cadence numbers, Mars colonization a long-held goal of both Musk and SpaceX becomes a real possibility. The billionaire entrepreneur estimated that humanity will need to transport about 1 million tons of material to the Red Planet to establish a self-sustaining city there.

"Starship is capable of doing that," Musk said. "And I think we should try to do that as soon as we can. The window of opportunity may be open for a long time and I hope it is but it may also be open for a short time."

Super Heavy and Starship are powered by SpaceX's new Raptor engine. SpaceX designed Raptor with Mars in mind; the engine burns liquid oxygen and liquid methane, propellants that can be sourced on the Red Planet, Musk has said.

But Starship will go to the moon before it reaches Mars, if all goes according to plan. In 2018, SpaceX announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had booked a round-the-moon flight on Starship, a mission that could launch as early as next year. (It won't be Maezawa's first spaceflight; he lived on the International Space Station for nearly 12 days in December 2021.)

And in April 2021, NASA selected Starship as the first crewed lander for its Artemis moon-exploration program. The SpaceX vehicle will put NASA astronauts down on the moon on the Artemis 3 mission, which is targeted to lift off in 2025 or thereabouts.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN20 test-fire 6 Raptor engines

Thursday's presentation was Musk's first in-depth Starship update in more than two years; he last gave such a talk in September 2019. So he had some new details to share.

For example, Musk said that Super Heavy will sport 33 Raptors going forward an increase over the previous number, which was 29. The final Starship vehicle will likely get a power boost as well, from its current six Raptors to nine, Musk added.

He spoke in front of the fully stacked Starship that will perform the program's first orbital test flight, a duo known as Booster 4 and Ship 20. SpaceX aims to have the vehicle ready to fly around the time that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wraps up its environmental assessment of Starbase, a milestone that's expected by the end of the month.

Musk expressed optimism that the review will end up going SpaceX's way that the FAA won't recommend drafting a lengthy and time-consuming environmental impact statement (EIS).

But if the agency does decide an EIS is necessary, SpaceX has some flight options. The company already has the necessary approvals to launch Starship from its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, Musk said, though it still needs to build a launch-and-catch tower for the vehicle there. (SpaceX aims to boost Starship flight rates by bringing recently launched Super Heavy boosters down directly on the launch mount.)

"So I guess our worst-case scenario is that we would, I don't know, be delayed for six to eight months to build up the Cape launch tower and launch from there," he said, referring to Florida's Cape Canaveral.

And Starbase and KSC won't be the only Starship launch sites. SpaceX is turning two former deepwater oil rigs into offshore launch platforms known as Phobos and Deimos, named after the two moons of Mars. The company aims to have a full launch capability on one of the platforms, as well as at Starbase and KSC, by the end of the year, Musk said.

Starship's first few orbital flights may not go entirely according to plan; a crash here and there in the program's early test campaign are to be expected, Musk said.

"We'll probably lose a few vehicles along the way. With Falcon 9, I think it took us 14 or 15 attempts to successfully land the first booster," he said, referring to SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which has aced nearly 100 booster landings to date.

"I don't think it'll take us that many with Starship, because we have that experience," he said. "But it's certainly not a sure thing that it'll work the first time."

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook.

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SpaceX's Starship will reach orbit this year on road to Mars, Elon Musk says - Space.com

by Kok Bayraq

According to arecent report, Chamath Palihapitiyas misleading statements on an investment was one of the causes for his Clover Health Investments stock going from the moon to rock-bottom in the last six months. He tried to hide the fact that the U.S. Justice Department has been investigating the company on at least 12 issues. According to the report, Chamath Palihapitiya misled investors on critical issues, and he has become notorious on Wall Street. Elsewhere, he is known as a minority shareholder of the Golden State Warriors, San Franciscos NBA basketball team.

The damage Chamath did to investors with his dubious initiatives is being evaluated. But what would be the damage from his irresponsiblestatementthat Nobody cares about Uyghurs, and his attempt to hide Chinas genocide against Uyghurs bysayinghe is not even sure that China is a dictatorship?

Many people were angered by the inhumanity of the statements, the way it ignored American values, and they were also concerned about its impact on the Uyghur people, who are suffering from genocide.

Because more than 3 million Uyghurs are detained in the so-called transformation through education camps and the entire region has become an open prison at the moment, they may not have an opportunity to enjoy Chamaths outspokenness and sincerity to express the ugly truth. Only Uyghurs in exile, including activists, may be affected by the statement in some way.

Given Chamaths family and financial background and some traditional economic philosophy of Uyghur people, it seems Uyghurs are in a position to overcome such negative statements.This point can also unravel the mystery of how failures and disasters can actually strengthen oppressed people. Lets look at the matter according to the way the Uyghur people think.

TheUyghurs have a proverb: Let the rich mans son speak, even though he is a dumb. It is generally argued that in matters of (social) justice, a reliable speaker should be selected from those who are not deceived by money and are not afraid of threats. Put simply, the children of wealthypeople tend to bestable, flexible, able to make independent decisions, and lessself-centered than others.

There is something unique in this proverb: it refers to the rich mansson, not the rich man himself. Thephilosophybehind this is that wealth, no matter how great, cannot satiate the first generation of the family to whom it belongs; only the second or third generation can be satiated. This is reminiscent of Victor Hugos statement about the bourgeoisie: Yesterday it was appetite, today it is plenitude, and tomorrow it will be satiety.

Chamath is the son of an immigrant, not a rich mans son, who escaped from poverty and human rights violations. The Uyghur people do not expect justice and fairness from the Chamaths of this world and are not surprised by the irresponsible statements they made.

Another proverb points to the same idea: When evaluating a rich man, dont ask how much money he has; just ask when he got it. Uyghurs believe that if a rich man has risen out of extreme poverty, satiety may not occur until the third or fourth generation. The first generations are not able to act like rich people even though they try to do so.

The idea was accurate: inhis next comment, Chamath even tried to correct his wrong statements, saying, In re-listening to this weeks podcast, I recognize that I come across as lacking empathy. I acknowledge that entirely. But it was still not good enough. He added, To be clear, my belief is that human rights matter, whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere. Full stop.

Even many Chinese would admit that, the official propaganda notwithstanding, their country cannot be compared with the United States in terms of human rights. China raises the issue of human rights in the United States only when clashing with the U.S. in the diplomatic field.

Some have claimed that Chamath wasat least being honest about the reality, and the effect in the end was the same as that of people who say the genocide is terrible but do nothing. There is a big difference betweenthe two.Those who say theUyghur genocideis terrible, even if only by word of mouth, havea basic human quality: a sense of shame! A sense of shame prevents people from siding with the oppressor against the oppressed, at least in some cases. Uyghurs believe that stating the hard and ugly truth that no one cares about Uyghurs is not sincerity; its absolute shamelessness! And it supports the killer by giving encouragement!

Of course, people who worship money have been unwelcome in every culture and at all times in humanhistory. So the Uyghur people may hate Chamathand be disgusted that he flattered China to keep his interest in Chinas big market, but many would not be offended.

How can oppressed people be so realistic about the friends and enemies around them?

The trait might have stemmed from the glorious past of the Uyghurs, who lived thousands of years independently outside the Great Wall of China, and it might have originated from the tragic colonization of the past seventy yearsunder the communist Chinese state. It might also be learned from the tragedies they experienced as victims of international relations. The political past and reality have taught Uyghurs to be realistic in international relations, and not to place too much hope and expectation in billionaires, celebrities, and even scholars.

That is why the Uyghur people have not lost their hope to humanity when Thailand sent 100 Uyghur refugees back to China in 2015. Uyghurs did not question their religious beliefs when 5,000 Uyghur students were evicted from Islamic al-Azhar University in 2016, including some of them handed over to Chinese police in Egypt, and the Islamic scholars in the university said nothing about this tragedy so that they wouldnt lose the investment China had made in the university.

Also, Uyghurs have not wavered in their faith, even though Islamic Cooperationissued a statement supporting Chinas Uyghur policy in 2018, and all Muslim states except Turkey and Albania sided with China against the Western countries who criticized Chinas human rights violations in 2019.

What might have caused thespiritual strengthening of the Uyghurs, which was among the causes that led the CCP to take urgent actiongenocideagainst them? Uyghurs believe that to be Uyghur is not a choice; it is a fate designated by God, so the genocide is a form of war not against the Uyghurs only but also against the will of God.

Uyghurs believe that God will win, China will fail at this war. The end of the genocide is a matter of time. If the rich mans sonsthe Western countriesdo not betray the Uyghurs, the genocide will not last long.

So the Uyghur people, at least the Uyghur activists abroad voicing for their people, would not really care about Chamath.

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Uyghurs and Billionaires: Chamath Palihapitiya's Problems with the Truth - Bitter Winter

Earth's natural satellite as depicted in science fiction works

The Moon has appeared in fiction as a setting since at least classical antiquity. Throughout most of literary history, a significant portion of works depicting lunar voyages has been satirical in nature. From the late 1800s onwards, science fiction has successively focused largely on the themes of life on the Moon, first Moon landings, and lunar colonization.

The Moon has been a setting in fiction since at least the works of the ancient Greek writers Antonius Diogenes and Lucian of Samosata; the former's Of the Wonderful Things Beyond Thule has been lost and the latter's True History from the second century CE is a satire of fanciful travellers' tales.[1][2] It was not until Johannes Kepler's novel Somnium was posthumously released in 1634 that the subject of travelling to the Moon was given a serious treatment in fiction.[1][2][3] Building on Kepler's thoughts, and similar speculations by Francis Bacon on flying to the Moon in his 1627 work Sylva sylvarum, Francis Godwin expanded on the idea in the 1638 novel The Man in the Moone.[4] Across the centuries that followed, numerous authors penned serious or satirical works depicting voyages to the Moon, including Cyrano de Bergerac's novel Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon which was posthumously released in 1657, Daniel Defoe's 1705 novel The Consolidator, Edgar Allan Poe's 1835 short story "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall", the 1835 newspaper series called the "Great Moon Hoax" by Richard Adams Locke, Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, and H. G. Wells' 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon.[1][5][6] George Griffith's 1901 novel A Honeymoon in Space takes place on the Moon and is perhaps the first depiction of a space suit in fiction.[7] The first science fiction film, Georges Mlis' Le voyage dans la lune from 1902, depicts a lunar voyage.[2][5]

By the latter part of the 1800s, it was clear that the Moon was devoid of life, making depictions of lunar lifeforms and societies lack credibility. A number of authors circumvent this by placing lunar life underneath the Moon's surface, including Wells in the aforementioned The First Men in the Moon and Edgar Rice Burroughs in the 1926 novel The Moon Maid. Others confine lunar life to the past, either depicting the remnants of a lunar civilization that has since gone extinct as in W. S. Lach-Szyrma's 18871893 series "Letters from the Planets", Edgar Fawcett's 1895 novel The Ghost of Guy Thyrle, and the aforementioned A Honeymoon in Space, or by time travelling to the past to encounter lunar life as in the 1932 short story "The Moon Era" by Jack Williamson. Some works also place lunar life solely on the far side of the Moon.[1][3][5] In the 1977 novel Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan, an ancient human skeleton in a spacesuit is found on the Moon, leading to the discovery that humanity did not originate on Earth.[1][2][5]

The life that has been depicted on the Moon varies in size from the intelligent mollusks of Raymond Z. Gallun's 1931 short story "The Lunar Chrysalis" to the giants of Godwins' aforementioned The Man in the Moone.[2][3] The "Great Moon Hoax" features bat-like humanoids, which according to its author Richard Adams Locke was meant to satirize the then-popular belief that the Moon was home to advanced civilizations.[8] The earliest depiction of life on the Moon in Lucian's True History included three-headed horse-vultures and vegetable birds.[9][10] The near side of the Moon in Kepler's Somnium is inhabited by the earliest human-like lunar life in fiction, whereas the far side is inhabited by serpentine creatures. Based on exobiological considerations, Kepler provided both with adaptations to the month-long cycle of day and night on the Moon.[11][12][13] The 1938 short story "Magician of Dream Valley" by Raymond Z. Gallun portrays energy-based life on the Moon, as does the 1960 short story "The Trouble with Tycho" by Clifford D. Simak.[14] The titular mission of the 2011 film Apollo 18 is a secret project to investigate alien life in the form of lunar rocks.[15][16]

Following the end of World War II, several literary works appeared depicting science fiction authors' visions of the first Moon landing. Among these were Robert A. Heinlein's 1950 short story "The Man Who Sold the Moon" about an entrepreneur seeking to finance the endeavor, Lester del Rey's 1956 novel Mission to the Moon, and Pierre Boulle's 1964 novel Garden on the Moon where the first Moon landing is by Japan and intentionally a one-way trip such that no method of returning astronauts to Earth needs to be devised. One of the last such stories was William F. Temple's 1966 novel Shoot at the Moon; following the actual first Moon landing by Apollo 11 in 1969, stories of fictional first Moon landings fell out of favour to be replaced by stories of lunar colonization.[1][3][5]

Fictional first Moon landings also appeared in film in this era. Examples include the 1950 film Destination Moon which envisions the first Moon landing as a private sector venture[5][17][18] and the 1968 film Countdown which reuses the idea of getting to the Moon more quickly by not waiting until a return trip is feasible from Garden on the Moon.[3][17][19]

Colonization of the Moon is depicted in Murray Leinster's 1950s Joe Kenmore series starting with the novel Space Platform, Larry Niven's 1980 novel The Patchwork Girl, and Roger MacBride Allen's 1988 novel Farside Cannon, among others.[1][2] Lunar colonies are sometimes humanity's last refuge when the Earth is no longer habitable, as in Arthur C. Clarke's 1951 short story "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" where the Earth has succumbed to nuclear holocaust and Stephen Baxter's 1998 novel Moonseed where the Earth is destroyed by an alien nanotechnology from the Moon itself.[2][3][20] The Moon is terraformed in a handful of works including the 1991 novel Reunion by John Gribbin and Marcus Chown.[1][3]

The residents of lunar colonies often seek independence from Earth. The 1931 novel The Birth of a New Republic by Jack Williamson and Miles J. Breuer adapts the story of the American Revolutionary War to the lunar surface. In Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, the prisoners of a penal colony on the Moon revolt. In the 1997 novel Moonwar by Ben Bova, the proposition is rejected by Earth on the grounds that the Moon is not self-sufficient but relies on resources imported from Earth.[3][21] Lunar colonies are also used as military bases in several works. Heinlein's 1947 novel Rocket Ship Galileoupon which the aforementioned Destination Moon was loosely baseddepicts the discovery of a secret Nazi German colony on the Moon upon the arrival of what was thitherto thought to be the first crewed lunar landing. Leinster's 1957 novel City on the Moon portrays a US nuclear missile base on the Moon which functions as a deterrent, as does Allen Steele's 1996 alternate history novel The Tranquility Alternative.[21][22][23]

The social structure and governance of fictional lunar colonies varies. Heinlein's aforementioned The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls portray lunar societies based on libertarian ideals such as laissez-faire capitalism,[21][24] while the 1992 novel Steel Beach by John Varley depicts a post-scarcity society where the central authority guarantees both jobs for all who wish to work and access to necessities such as air, food, and heating.[21] In Nancy Holder's 19982000 novel trilogy starting with The Six Families, organized crime families vie for control.[2] The Moon is a tourist destination in Clarke's 1961 novel A Fall of Moondust.[21] The first permanent lunar colony contends with social ills such as drug addiction in the 1973 short story "Luna 1" by Ernest H. Taves,[14] and the 1957 short story "The Lineman" by Walter M. Miller Jr. provides a rare example of considering the possible effects of the Moon's lower gravity on human reproduction and child development.[25] The lunar colony in the 1991 novel Lunar Descent by Allen Steele is inhabited by manual labourers engaged in space mining to extract resources from the lunar surface.[21]

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Moon in science fiction - Wikipedia

Introduction

The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years.

The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth several billion years ago.

Earth's Moon is the only place beyond Earth where humans have set foot, so far.

Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.

In Latin, the Moon is called Luna, which is the main adjective for all things Moon-related: lunar.

With a radius of about 1,080 miles (1,740 kilometers), the Moon is less than a third of the width of Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, the Moon would be about as big as a coffee bean.

The Moon is an average of 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away. That means 30 Earth-sized planets could fit in between Earth and the Moon.

The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth, getting about an inch farther away each year.

The Moon is rotating at the same rate that it revolves around Earth (called synchronous rotation), so the same hemisphere faces Earth all the time. Some people call the far side the hemisphere we never see from Earth the "dark side" but that's misleading. As the Moon orbits Earth, different parts are in sunlight or darkness at different times. The changing illumination is why, from our perspective, the Moon goes through phases. During a "full Moon," the hemisphere of the Moon we can see from Earth is fully illuminated by the Sun. And a "new Moon" occurs when the far side of the Moon has full sunlight, and the side facing us is having its night.

The Moon makes a complete orbit around Earth in 27 Earth days and rotates or spins at that same rate, or in that same amount of time. Because Earth is moving as well rotating on its axis as it orbits the Sun from our perspective, the Moon appears to orbit us every 29 days.

Earth's Moon has a core, mantle, and crust.

The Moons core is proportionally smaller than other terrestrial bodies' cores. The solid, iron-rich inner core is 149 miles (240 kilometers) in radius. It is surrounded by a liquid iron shell 56 miles (90 kilometers) thick. A partially molten layer with a thickness of 93 miles (150 kilometers) surrounds the iron core.

The mantle extends from the top of the partially molten layer to the bottom of the Moon's crust. It is most likely made of minerals like olivine and pyroxene, which are made up of magnesium, iron, silicon, and oxygen atoms.

The crust has a thickness of about 43 miles (70 kilometers) on the Moons near-side hemisphere and 93 miles (150 kilometers) on the far-side. It is made of oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium, and aluminum, with small amounts of titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium, and hydrogen.

Long ago the Moon had active volcanoes, but today they are all dormant and have not erupted for millions of years.

The leading theory of the Moon's origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The resulting debris from both Earth and the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite 239,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) away. The newly formed Moon was in a molten state, but within about 100 million years, most of the global "magma ocean" had crystallized, with less-dense rocks floating upward and eventually forming the lunar crust.

With too sparse an atmosphere to impede impacts, a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets strikes the surface of the Moon, leaving numerous craters behind. Tycho Crater is more than 52 miles (85 kilometers) wide.

Over billions of years, these impacts have ground up the surface of the Moon into fragments ranging from huge boulders to powder. Nearly the entire Moon is covered by a rubble pile of charcoal-gray, powdery dust and rocky debris called the lunar regolith. Beneath is a region of fractured bedrock referred to as the megaregolith.

The light areas of the Moon are known as the highlands. The dark features, called maria (Latin for seas), are impact basins that were filled with lava between 4.2 and 1.2 billion years ago. These light and dark areas represent rocks of different composition and ages, which provide evidence for how the early crust may have crystallized from a lunar magma ocean. The craters themselves, which have been preserved for billions of years, provide an impact history for the Moon and other bodies in the inner solar system.

If you looked in the right places on the Moon, you would find pieces of equipment, American flags, and even a camera left behind by astronauts. While you were there, you'd notice that the gravity on the surface of the Moon is one-sixth of Earth's, which is why in footage of moonwalks, astronauts appear to almost bounce across the surface.

The temperature on the Moon reaches about 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius) when in full Sun, but in darkness, the temperatures plummet to about -280 degrees Fahrenheit (-173 degrees Celsius).

During the initial exploration of the Moon, and the analysis of all the returned samples from the Apollo and the Luna missions, we thought that the surface of the Moon was dry.

The first definitive discovery of water was made in 2008 by the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1, which detected hydroxyl molecules spread across the lunar surface and concentrated at the poles. Missions such as Lunar Prospector, LCROSS, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, have not only shown that the surface of the Moon has global hydration, but there are actually high concentrations of ice water in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles.

Scientists also found the lunar surface releases its water when the Moon is bombarded by micrometeoroids. The surface is protected by a layer, a few centimeters of dry soil that can only be breached by large micrometeoroids. When micrometeoroids impact the surface of the Moon, most of the material in the crater is vaporized. The shock wave carries enough energy to release the water thats coating the grains of the soil. Most of that water is released into space.

In October 2020, NASAs Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places. SOFIA detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moons southern hemisphere.

The Moon has a very thin and weak atmosphere, called an exosphere. It does not provide any protection from the Sun's radiation or impacts from meteoroids.

The early Moon may have developed an internal dynamo, the mechanism for generating global magnetic fields for terrestrial planets, but today, the Moon has a very weak magnetic field. The magnetic field here on Earth is many thousands of times stronger than the Moon's magnetic field.

The Moon has no rings.

Earth's Moon has no moons of its own.

The many missions that have explored the Moon have found no evidence to suggest it has its own living things. However, the Moon could be the site of future colonization by humans. The discovery that the Moon harbors water ice, and that the highest concentrations occur within darkened craters at the poles, makes the Moon a little more hospitable for future human colonists.

Read more here:
In Depth | Earth's Moon NASA Solar System Exploration