Cet été, j'ai eu la chance de visiter le JPL, ce centre de la NASA où sont conçues, assemblées et testées la plupart des sondes et rovers américains qui explorent le Système solaire. Un récit de ma visite pour vous emmener dans cet endroit mythique. 1/37 @nasajpl@NASA#NASA#JPL
On continue la visite avec le fameux Mars Yard, où sont menés les tests de mobilité des rovers martiens. Il y a plusieurs types de pentes avec des surfaces différentes. On ne se rend pas vraiment compte sur les photos mais c'est vraiment pentu ! 6/37 #NASA#JPL#Curiosity#Perseverance@nasa_perseverance
Sur la pente rocheuse, on distingue même les traces laissées par les roues métalliques des rovers lorsqu'ils ont patiné. On parle bien entendu ici des modèles d'ingénierie de #Curiosity et #Perseverance, appelés respectivement Maggie et OPTIMISM. 7/37 #NASA#JPL#Mars
New research suggests the same conditions that created the cracks could have been favorable to the emergence of microscopic life. Scientists aren’t entirely sure how life began on Earth, but one prevailing theory posits that persistent cycles of wet and dry conditions on land helped assemble the
#Curiosity is currently 50 meters from the top of the elusive Gediz Vallis ridge, and right in front of an array of ridge rocks, ready to “snack” on for a few sols.
Some of these rocks got named after famous places on Earth, e.g. Επίδαυρος (the ancient theater), Μύτικας (the summit of Mt. Olympus), Χελμός (where the springs of Styx), and Πάτμος (where the Book of Revelation was written).
From Σκιάθος and Σκόπελος and the Greek Σποράδες to the Bermuda Triangle, #Curiosity appears to have flashbacks of summer vacations on Earth 😀 . A 360° panorama is currently being captured, and it should be spectacular!
#Curiosity continues onward to Gediz Vallis Ridge, and there will be no shortage of fantastic targets to study along the way, in spite of them having names that are all Greek to it: Καμενιάνοι, Αίγινα, Ελευθερούπολη, Άνω Ποταμιά, Καλάβρυτα 😀
"We are so close, we can almost taste it. In fact, one of our geologists decided they could almost smell the ridge from today’s workspace – it smells like geological “bliss” in case you are wondering!"
Still driving in territory with features bearing Greek names, like Μέτσοβο, Σπήλαιο Ψυχρού, Σύρος, Φοίνικας, the rover is heading toward the Gediz Vallis ridge.
"#Curiosity is behaving much as you would as you climb a mountain. You pause occasionally to look around at what lies beneath your boots - the reward for your hard work up to that point. You also take time to enjoy the view and turn your gaze uphill to the path ahead - the unknown enticing you forward."
The rover continues its adventure in this patch of Gale Crater with Greek names like Ντουρντουβάνα, Αγρίδι, etc, toward Kukenan butte.
#Curiosity continues its steady winter drive through the Καλάβρυτα quadrangle, with its wheels leaving Morse code patterns on the sand. No, no, the Morse code doesn't say SOS, it says JPL 😜
Having examined the intriguing Σκεπαστό and the nearby Ανάσταση, it's now approaching its next target, the much larger Gediz Vallis system.
“This is the first tangible evidence we’ve seen that the ancient climate of Mars had such regular, Earth-like wet-dry cycles,” Rapin said. “But even more important is that wet-dry cycles are helpful – maybe even required – for the molecular evolution that could lead to life.”
William Rapin of France’s Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie.
"I certainly do not remember a birthday cake with eleven candles in front of me. I'm sure it existed, and there's probably even a (physical) photo of it somewhere at my childhood home, but there have been many laps around the sun since then to erode my memories from that time (and, naturally, a significant change in hair albedo if I am completely honest)"
Curiosity1: goal-directed information seeking — e.g., following a string of citations to find the source of a particular claim.
Curiosity2: exploratory information seeking — e.g., watching whatever explainer video is recommended next, even if it’s about a different question or topic.
Heftiger Sonnenausbruch erstmals parallel auf Erde, Mond und Mars beobachtet
Im Oktober 2021 sorgte eine heftige Sonneneruption für Polarlichter. Erstmals wurde solch ein Ausbruch damals parallel auf drei Himmelskörpern beobachtet.
Congrats to Curiosity and her entire team who are celebrating the 11th ladiversary today! 🥳
I used the occasion to reprocess the first of many amazing rover selfies which was taken on Sol 84.
Curiosity rover staat voor zijn zwaarste klim tot nu toe op Mars
Op 5 augustus zal de Curiosity zijn 11de jaar op Mars noteren door te doen waar de rover het beste in is: het oppervlak van de Rode Planeet bestuderen. De onverschrokken robot onderzocht onlangs een locatie met de bijnaam “Jau” die pokdalig is met tientallen ins
While still waiting for news re: #Ingenuity, here is how team #Curiosity does it:
"Earth planning date:
Monday, Jul 31, 2023
It's currently wintertime at Gale Crater and temperatures are cold this time of the year. Power is therefore more limited for Curiosity, so science activities and drives are more constrained as we head into planning this week. The ChemCam frost experiment from the previous plan did not execute as hoped due to an issue [...]" https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/9451/sol-3905-roving-in-a-winter-wonderland/
There are many large and #serious#problems in the world. Many people are victimized by the #system in a thousand different ways. This is not their story; it is not about their problems, but this should not be seen as minimizing them.
I'd like to talk about something a little closer to home: #employee#abuse in the #tech field. I've been in this field for <mumble> years and worked for tiny companies, medium consulting companies, large orgs, and as a one-man independent contractor.
Some places have sessions organized by employees organically. Management doesn't really care about these ones. They're about things that aren't directly useful in the job; one's a #language#enthusiast and wants to talk about #Elixir, which the company doesn't (yet) use internally, and others are interested in it for their own #curiosity.
NASA Surprised by Cracks in Ancient Martian Mud Discovered by Mars Curiosity Rover (scitechdaily.com)
New research suggests the same conditions that created the cracks could have been favorable to the emergence of microscopic life. Scientists aren’t entirely sure how life began on Earth, but one prevailing theory posits that persistent cycles of wet and dry conditions on land helped assemble the
Ancient mud cracks on Mars suggest Red Planet may have been more habitable than thought (www.space.com)
'We now have for the first time vestiges of times that could have been conducive to the origin of life.'