Book cover, featuring a low-angle self-portrait of the rover on Mars.
I wrote THE book about The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Performs Its Job. And because space robot design is conservative, it’s a pretty good resource for both the Perseverance rover and the Dragonfly Titan quadcopter. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
We can all use a little joy right now.
I was never cool enough to be on a first-name basis with Ani, but listening to "You Had Time," I feel like had this been my intro to her, I would have been. She has my vote now.
Alright, folks. November Rain needs some help in the March Sadness tournament. Only 40 minutes to play!
And while you’re add it, Ani DiFranco over Ben Folds.
marchxness.com
Context matters. We’ve been experiencing a record shattering heat wave for March of 100F+ over the last week in Tucson. So you can bet there was no implication that “warmer is better.” On the contrary, summer is going to suck, but despite that looming threat, can’t wait until the semester ends.
Wow, that was a close one.
Seems relevant: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NQL...
Are you suggesting we should open up an investigation into the Sadness final scores?
It's an "Ink by Hudson" store, all of which appear to have circular bookshelves in the center of the store
Also this bookstore in the Tucson airport now has several signed copies of When The Moon Hits Your Eye. Signed by me, to be clear.
Excited to help see this project through!
1/5! Considering the 10x oversubscription and that I've seen more than one first quintile rejections, I am satisfied.
So, what will we be doing? We are going to bring JWST/NIRCam coronagraphy into the optical! We tested a flight spare mask and surprise surprise ... it is transparent.
Brutal.
There are so many people here trying to help you understand that the payoff is actually _worse_ than nothing, because you're very likely getting incomplete or just incorrect information when resorting to genAI, especially on anything with a narrow subject matter.
i love this little website
youraislopbores.me
Elon Musk has already started plans to launch a million satellites.
Yes. A MILLION.
This is a colossally bad idea, and it's not too late to make your voice heard. I explain everything:
www.scientificamerican.com/article/ramp...
🔭 🧪
The American Astronomical Society has a page with more info and how you can submit comments to the FCC to stop this travesty. Hurry though; submissions end today.
aas.org/action-alert...
They're literally doing the meme!
www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLo...
We're hiring a Research Engineer at the U. Arizona's Imaging Technology Lab (ITL; itl.arizona.edu). If you have hands-on lab experience and are interested in working on cutting-edge tech development for astronomy / scientific sensors, I encourage you to apply!
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
There's of course a much broader moral arc here. And the use of the mass surveillance apparatus and AI slop machines for indiscriminate violence tells us exactly where these people fall on that spectrum.
Very true. The only thing we can say confidently is that this was a result of recklessness.
Related concern: we know that Israel has been using AI to select Gaza targets for years (www.npr.org/2023/12/14/1...). Seems plausible that the US military will do the same if they aren't already.
The number of sole-source justifications I’ve had to fill out in the past year… 😩
Follow-up comment on how bad it is on the ground at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 🔭
Screenshot of zoom chat. "Person 1: Its hard to convey the depth of the destruction of GSFC and the lack of planning - this has not been well covered by the press or communicated to the community; Person 2: I strongly agree ^^; Person 3: Agreed. It is a shame that the best source of what is going on at GSFC is the Greenbelt News Review, so a weekly volunteer newspaper that typcially mainly reports on church meetings, Roosevelt high school, and the Greenbelt city council (but their articles on GSFC ARE very good)."
Anonymized chat from a telecon right now on the scale of destruction at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and how the best news source about it is the volunteer Greenbelt News Review (www.greenbeltnewsreview.com). ☹️ 🔭
Eagerly awaiting the continuation of this story.
Oh no…
There is no easy or quick fix in dismantling those structures and the forces at play. It’s going to take long term commitment from the community, those in leadership positions, and our collective organizations to reshape this framework. Let’s take that seriously.
It’s critical that we interrogate the power structures at play here. With the federal funding landscape in question, fundamental scientific inquiries are becoming more dependent on foundation support. And it’s important to ensure whims of individuals do not compromise our values.
