Don’t fuck with moon dust. No seriously, do not fuck with moon dust.
Absent any moisture or atmosphere, millennia of asteroid impacts have turned lunar regolith (soil) into a fine powder of razor sharp, glass-like particles. What’s more, the solar wind imparts an electric charge on the dust, causing it to cling to any and every surface it touches through static electricity. On earth, sand tends to get smoother over time as wind and water tumble the grains about, eroding their sharpness. Not so on the moon – lunar dust is sharp and deadly. This is Not A Good Time if you’re an explorer looking to visit our celestial neighbor.
During Apollo, the astronauts faced a plethora of unexpected issues caused by dust. It clung to spacesuits and darkened them enough that exposure to sunlight overheated the life support systems. Dust got in suit joints and on suit visors, damaging them. It ate away layers of boot lining. It covered cameras. Upon returning to the cabin, astronauts attempting to brush it off damaged their suit fabric and sent the dust airborne, where it remained suspended in the air due to low gravity.
Inhaling moon dust causes mucus membranes to swell; every Apollo astronaut who stepped foot on the moon reported symptoms of “Lunar Hay Fever.” Sneezing, congestion, and a “smell of burnt gunpowder” took days to subside. Later Apollo missions even sent a special dust brush with the team to help clean each other and equipment. We don’t know exactly how dangerous the stuff is, but lunar regolith simulants suggest it might destroy lung and brain cells with long-term exposure. 1
In fact the dust is so nasty that it destroyed the vacuum seals of sample return containers. We no longer have any accurate samples of lunar dust, “Every sample brought back from the moon has been contaminated by Earth’s air and humidity […] The chemical and electrostatic properties of the soil no longer match what future astronauts will encounter on the moon.” 2
Whats worse, the solar-charged dust gets thrown up off the moon’s surface via electrostatic forces. The moon doesn’t technically have an atmosphere, but it does have a thin cloud of sharp dust itching to cling to anything it can find.
And it probably isn’t just the moon. “A 2005 NASA study listed 20 risks that required further study before humans should commit to a human Mars expedition, and ranked "dust" as the number one challenge.” 3
The coolest solution I’ve heard about in next-gen spacesuit design is a mesh of woven wires layered into the suit. When activated, the wire mesh would form an anti-static electric field that repels dust. Quite literally a force field. 4 #astronomy#apollo#moon#lunardust
🚀 First dibs for Mastodon peeps: I’m selling an unassembled Open DSKY (Apollo guidance computer user interface) kit which includes all electronics (including Arduino nano) and 3D printed parts and laser cut components to build an Open DSKY.
There are at least five apps that I know of currently in development for iOS. Unfortunately neither Memmy nor Mlem able to connect to kbin at the moment, something to do with the kbin-specific API from what @ernest, @BrooklynMan, and @gkd have said. Kmoon is specifically being developed for kbin and is multi-platform for iOS and...
If you’re new here, perhaps from the Reddit exodus, welcome!
Things are a little different here, so follow people and hashtags you find interesting. There’s no ‘algorithm’ so the more people you follow that you find interesting… the more interesting things and people you’ll find!
Check out the awesome https://fedi.tips/ by the wonderful @feditips before you get stuck in to get the most out of the platform and stay safe.
🎄🛰️🌑 Aujourd'hui c’est le 55e anniversaire de l'une des photographies spatiales les plus célèbres : le “Lever de Terre” photographié la veille de Noël 1968 par Bill Anders de la mission #Apollo 8
Y’all bring so much to the table in the apps that you make. The apps even turn out better than the apps the companies put out and it really shows, being a whole community behind it.
Having companies squeeze developers into situations such as #Apollo’s truly suck and we all have to stand up.
That is why I am leaving #Reddit asap just as I did Twitter.
I began using #Reddit 11 years ago and have been a frequent user ever since. I even moderated a sub at one point. It makes me genuinely sad to see what the CEO #spez has done to destroy the site and communities but I’m also really proud of all those who are taking a stand and walking away (temporarily or permanently). What #SteveHuffman did to @christianselig in particular was absolutely heinous. Glad to see the revolt. #rexxit#ApolloApp#Apollo
It seems to me that Reddit is trying to heavily pivot to being an advertising platform, like Facebook and Google. It sort of makes sense, even though it seems to be the worst time for such a move (GDPR cookie law, Apple and Google and their "privacy labels", etc)
If this is the reason why they are killing off third party apps (now that they've stopped pretending they are), then it makes sense. They want to kill off third party apps to get people using their app so they can harvest data from them and then advertise heavily.
It also makes sense why their mobile website, despite visually being far better optimised for mobile viewing (unlike old.reddit.com), is so artificially broken and constantly asking users to download their app (if I had to guess, the app is easier to collect data as the native app has more "signals" than the browser version).
It also explains why they are implementing this change so quickly and not allowing third party apps to catch up (Reddit has their own app, they know the rules when it comes to IAP, and they know how difficult they are making these changes to third party app developers).
The big question is why all the drama??
Why not just shut off APIs for third party apps, full stop?? Why constantly make it about the Apollo app when it affects all* third party apps like Reddit is Fun, Sync for Reddit, narwhal for iOS etc??
Steve Huffman said before that these apps were using significant API resources and they were "inefficient" (implying lots of users use the app). Now he says that 95% of users use the Reddit app. Which is it????
Steve Huffman promised better moderation tools in his AMA. Why not deliver the tools now??
Why hasn't the official Reddit app improved its accessibility if Reddit wanted to capture a large audience in the first place (for ads and such - Facebook and Google hammer accessibility down devs skulls)??
Why all the lies?? Why change the story all the time???
This whole thing has been a comical shitstorm and could've been avoided had Steve Huffman been honest about the whole situation.
Writing about moon missions today reminded me that NASA has footage of Apollo 17 astronauts singing as they walk on the moon, and it's pretty much the best thing ever.
TODAY (10/31) for Halloween 🎃 a new online talk series run by the London Science Museum & #JAXA Space Education kicks off at 12:30 UTC (9:30pm JST) and it's ALL ABOUT SPOOKY SAMPLE RETURN MISSIONS FROM BEYOND THE VOID!
OK, I completely fabricated the spooky part. But it'll be really cool.
The first talk is on the #Apollo Moon samples with people from #NASA Johnson, the Science Museum and #Smithsonian.
The man who, in all likelihood, saved the lives of the three Apollo 13 astonauts - and probably the remaining Apollo missions.
Hell, possibly even NASA itself. Losing 3 astronauts to die in space, with its attendant publicity, could well have destroyed the agency.
"Mattingly, who knew the spacecraft intimately, worked with engineers and others as they analysed the situation and scrambled to find solutions and pass on instructions to the crew."
He later orbited the moon, but in 1970 he was bumped from the Apollo flight after being exposed to measles. Then, from mission control, he helped it avert disaster.
A few days’ progress on the Saturn V launch piece, finishing the tower and the rocket, the exhaust using Ferris Wheel Press PLAITED GOLD TRESS, and foreground pad structure in ATLAS IRON ORE.
Apollo app creator, u/iamthatis redditor, fellow apple fan boy Christian Selig has released text of all communication he has had with Steve, insert[everything is fine.gif], Huffman CEO and f-u/spez of Reddit. (christianselig.com)
See title and link. Also, Reddit post with more details....
Apollo’s Christian Selig explains his fight with Reddit — and why users revolted (www.theverge.com)
Apollo has become the center of a platform-wide fight between Reddit and its users.
Christian Selig (@christianselig@mastodon.social): Apollo udpated icon akin to how Tweetbot did.... (indieweb.social)
Attached: 1 image Updated Apollo to give it that Tweetbot treatment 🤝
Popular Reddit App Apollo Would Need to Pay $20 Million Per Year Under New API Pricing (forums.macrumors.com)
Are Lemmy and Kbin ready?...
Several iOS apps for kbin / lemmy are now in development!
There are at least five apps that I know of currently in development for iOS. Unfortunately neither Memmy nor Mlem able to connect to kbin at the moment, something to do with the kbin-specific API from what @ernest, @BrooklynMan, and @gkd have said. Kmoon is specifically being developed for kbin and is multi-platform for iOS and...
Ken Mattingly, Astronaut Scrubbed From Apollo 13, Is Dead at 87 (www.nytimes.com)
He later orbited the moon, but in 1970 he was bumped from the Apollo flight after being exposed to measles. Then, from mission control, he helped it avert disaster.