Space and flight

End of the Cassini mission

2017-09-15

in Bombs and rockets, Photography, Science, Space and flight

After a 20-year mission, and to avoid any risk of contaminating Saturnian moons with microorganisms from Earth, the Cassini space probe was deliberately crashed into Saturn’s atmosphere today. The science it has returned has been stimulating and the imagery spectacular. The watery moon Enceladus now joins Europa among the solar system’s most intriguing life-compatible bodies.

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Mitchell on “Carbon Democracy”

2017-07-05

in Bombs and rockets, Books and literature, Economics, History, Politics, Space and flight, The environment, Travel

A surprising oversight in Timothy Mitchell’s generally-insightful Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil is how he gives relatively little consideration to static versus mobile forms of fossil fuel consumption. He strongly emphasizes the production and transportation logistics of coal versus oil, but gives little consideration to special needs for fuels with high […]

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Efforts at alien communication

2017-05-19

in Art, Bombs and rockets, Geek stuff, History, Language, Science, Space and flight

An interesting genre! And you can own a gorgeous-looking replica for $100.

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Juno’s orbital insertion

2016-07-04

in Bombs and rockets, Geek stuff, Science, Space and flight

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft, designed to study Jupiter’s magnetic field to help us better understand the planet and solar system, will be burning its main engine to circularize its orbit around the gas giant later today: At about 12:15 pm PDT today (3:15 p.m. EDT), mission controllers will transmit command product “ji4040” into deep space, to […]

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GONAVY: The Language of Trident launches on television

2016-06-10

in Bombs and rockets, Geek stuff, Politics, Security, Space and flight

From a number of perspectives, I find YouTube videos which include demonstrations of Trident D5 missile launches from American Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines highly interesting: I find the first of the three clips (USS Nebraska) especially intriguing because of the highly stylized, almost theatrical language of the exchange between the bridge officers authenticating the emergency […]

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Dancing with the sky

2016-06-06

in Geek stuff, Photo essays, Space and flight, The outdoors, Toronto

I find that my Prism Quantum two-line kite is too frustrating to fly in winds of less than 16 knots (kn). The ideal range is 16-25 kn, with the wind consistent in power and coming from a consistent direction. That’s a rare situation indeed in Toronto, where winds are almost never so strong and tend […]

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Digital academic conferences to reduce carbon pollution

2016-05-09

in Space and flight, The environment, Travel

Since January 2010 I have avoided flying because of the excessive amount of carbon pollution it creates. This has meant avoiding conferences located beyond plausible Greyhound bus range. It’s heartening to see that some conference organizers are taking into account the climate impact of conferences based on in-person attendance and deploying alternatives: This is an […]

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Climate change and flying

2016-05-08

in Politics, Psychology, Space and flight, The environment, Travel

The question of climate change and flying has arisen for me again, based on some questions asked by other people. While it has been extensively discussed on this site, the relevant posts are scattered and not easy for someone new to find. To remedy that – and to create a central thread for any future […]

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Project Apollo Archive

2015-10-03

in Art, Bombs and rockets, Photography, Science, Space and flight

Every photo taken by the Apollo astronauts is now online. Mother Jones has picked out some favourites.

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Little-known feature of the GPS constellation

2015-09-29

in Bombs and rockets, Geek stuff, Security, Space and flight

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of twenty-one primary satellites, and three spares, in near-circular orbits 11,000 miles above the earth at an inclination of 55 degrees to its equator. While the satellites are best known for their role in allowing the precise location of individuals and objects, by 1995 they had been […]

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