nudge

Yes, the concept is definitely cool and silent flight with no gas emissions would be a huge benefit, but ionocraft has many limitations as it takes a loooooot of energy to ionize gas and then the thrust to weight ratio and power efficiency is very low... You're right in that it's just an early prototype and a demonstration of a concept though; who knows what future brings. Maybe they'll use it in biological warfare for silently delivering bubonic plague to enemy areas

Looks like a neat concept, little efficiency or power though. Well at least at the moment; if they can improve and develop it further, this could work well for drones in the future.

For what exactly? Commercial Space Stations are being developed and financed by private companies and corporations, potentially in cooperation with various governmental agencies. Deep Space Gateway is being developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group which consists of numerous governmental and intergovernmental space agencies (led by NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, CSA, JAXA) in cooperation with some commercial partners. Various missions to Moon and Mars are being planned by numerous countries, state-owned enterprises and private companies alike. Asteroid mining is currently at a very early staged and is mostly being tested (as a concept) by private startups. So basically space exploration is a joint (inter)governmental and commercial venture, financed both by taxpayers of the countries involved and investments of various private entities.

Just read something pretty interesting. Apparently, Lexus shot an ad using a script written by AI which learned from 15 years' worth of TV ads that won Cannes Lions International awards for creativity and was fed with emotional response information to car ads from a MindX experiment. The script it came up with is surprisingly coherent and a bit eerie.

Welcome back! Not sure he'l have much fun with Williams though, haha.

The more private companies cooperate with governmental agencies to contribute to space exploration, the better. SpaceX have a crazy idea with a crazy schedule for its realisation, not sure it will work without accidents but I sure appreciate the effort and any attempt to promote spaceflight. But damn I can't stand Musk... Also BIG FUCKING ROCKET (BFR) was a way better name; there was no need to change it to the generic "Starship"...

Found a nice infographic on the Orion spacecraft which might be used for a manned Mars mission in the future (click on the image to enlarge to full size!):

Well there is only one (called MV Mataliki and run by the government), apparently Runs from Apia every two weeks, the trip takes about 24-36 hours each way and the tourists are only taken if there's enough space as priority is given to locals. Apparently one needs a travel permit too!

Thanks to the meds I posted you surely!

Very simple dish that I like a lot - heat up some oil, stir fry garlic, add thinly cut beef slices (for example ribeye) and stir fry it, add ginger, then finally add some fish sauce (makes a big difference!) and a little sugar to balance the taste, and let it cook until tender. Easy, affordable, very tasty.

Nice, should help with your (man)flu too Have you used fresh ginger for cooking? I like it a lot, especially with fish or beef stir fry.

Surely with lemon and honey too?

Nothing much really I've heard the name, but other than that, it's just another Polynesian island group to me...

I tried but I just can't get into Star Trek... The original series and The New Generation at least, as I've never even watched the others. I appreciate the idea behind it, but its realisation just doesn't work with me. I hear that first two seasons of TNG are bad and then the show actually becomes good from season three onward, but I seriously can't get through the first two anyway

Mick teams up with Seb for the Race of Champions!

Probably the most complex structure ever built by humans which is slowly approaching its retirement... I wonder if we'll replace it with another constantly manned outpost in space. Bigelow Commercial Space Station seems to be the closest replacement for ISS; after all they have been testing an experimental module for over two years now and it's expected to stay attached to ISS for two more years at least. Axiom Space are also working on a similar autonomous space station. Once viable and affordable launch vehicles are readily available (SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing reusable rocket ships), there will be a big breakthrough especially when it comes to commercial space flight and commercial space stations. However, there are by far more interesting concepts and ideas being developed as the potential "next step". There are plans for a Deep Space Gateway, a lunar orbit space station which is intended to be used a jumping point to the exploration of the solar system. Going to the Moon itself is another big one, with various governments and private agencies and corporations planning to do that in the near future, and it's possible that we'll have a permanent Moon base relatively soon. Asteroid mining. Manned missions to Mars. I think we're entering the new golden age of Space Exploration at last; along with the usual suspects (i.e. USA, Europe, Russia), other countries have high ambitions and plans in development too, especially China and India. So exciting.

Ticktum is a twat; that doesn't need further proof. I didn't know that it essentially ruined Collard's F1 career before it had a chance to properly start though... I've seen the name occasionally in GT and touring car racing; but never connected it with that complete mad move by Ticktum.

Glück im Unglück...

What a weird shape that thing has! It's like the spaceship from Arthur Clarke's Rendezvouz with Rama

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, let me know what you think! Also, not sure if you started the game already, but if not, you might want to set the difficulty a bit higher... I selected the easiest option as I thought I'd be too overwhelmed, but I find myself well ahead of the AI players.

Well apparently the interest in Colombia Hills lies particularly in the hot spring deposits there, but I'm surprised by its inclusion simply because other areas have been evaluated by the scientists themselves as having more potential. That said, it's not surprising considering how conservative and risk-averse NASA are (the area is already surveyed by Spirit; one of the previous rover on Mars) and they probably believe it would be useful to make a follow up on Spirit's collected data there previously and examine the site more thoroughly. Definitely makes sense from a geologist's point of view. Scientists might be extremely capable in their area of expertise, but they are also human... And sadly, politics play a big role in science; particularly in academia and research institutes; the bigger the institution, the more political it gets... At any rate, this is going to be exciting!

Definitely very lucky to still be alive, but it truly is a credit to the engineers of the car as well. She went airborne under speed of almost 280 km/h, backwards, after already being involved in another crash, went through the catch fence and barriers, hit the photographers' bunker HEAD ON and then landed on the ground again. That somebody would somehow survive it seems unbelievable. A lot of luck and great engineering.

Jezero and NE Syrtis are two primary targets at any rate; they ranked 1st and 2nd in the landing sites assessment workshop when those potential options (and six others) were evaluated. It's a tough choice for sure, as Jezero crater being a former river delta is assumed to have better chance of preserved traces of ancient life, while NE Syrtis has better accessibility. I'm not sure why they put Columbia Hills on the final list instead of Eberswalde crater and Mawrth Wallis though, considering that the latter two got much better evaluation in all criteria.

There are actually four options to choose from; not three as the article claims... They are missing Midway, the last candidate to be added to the list of potential landing sites and it's situated roughly between Jezero crater and NE Syrtis, making it a very interesting choice as it would allow to explore two landing sites instead of one. It's not an easy travel from one to the other though, so I think NASA will choose Jezero crater instead. Live press conference is scheduled for 17:00 GMT tomorrow when the official announcement will be made.