JWST Update #19: Transformational Astronomy
No doubt about it. LATE UPDATE: ESO-415-19
JWST Update #18
One of our newest space-faring robots has been delivering beyond anyone’s expectations.
“About 13 billion years ago, the stars in the Universe’s earliest galaxies sent photons out into space. Some of those photons ended their epic journey on the James Webb Space Telescope’s gold-plated, beryllium mirrors in the last few months.”
Aridification in Progress
Gotta love all the slow-burning emergencies we’re being subjected to these days. I guess people just aren’t motivated to do anything until they are directly, personally confronted with an imminently dangerous reality.
Artemis-1 Highlights
The new space program is exciting and spectacular on many levels. Astronauts, rockets and space travel are just oh so fascinating. But like it takes 4-5 support personnel to field every infantryman in the Army, it takes thousands of support personnel for every astronaut on the mission.
B-21
No new bomber gets rolled out without a mention on this page. Can’t wait to meet this lovely lady up close.
Air Force Reveals New B-21 Bomber.
“The ceremony was attended by families of some of the Doolittle Raiders and a crowd of Northrop Grumman employees. Their mood was celebratory, as employees occasionally broke into chants of “USA! USA!” and cheered.”
Cannabis Research
Federal prohibition was the long pole in the economic tent shielding the pharmas, alcohol, tobacco and paper/textile companies from Cannabis’ potentially huge contribution to human well-being and corresponding cut of their markets. Those potential contributions are now slated to happen on not just the health and socio-economic fronts, but also informing the environmental debacle we now find ourselves in. It’s a good crop.
Cannabis prohibition pretty much constitutes Federally-sponsored book-banning. There was little hope for anything coming out of the Mississippi ditch weed scientists were forced work with. That paper stock requirement Hearst had for his newspapers at the turn of the last century will be on the down-slope going forward, regardless.
JWST Update #17: How It Works
The title of the Scientific American article is “Are JWST images real?” Probably a fair question, coming from garden variety curiosity seekers. It’s a question leading to basic JWST infra-red tautology.
“Although the full-color images are captivating, many of the exciting discoveries show up one wavelength at a time.”
LATE UPDATE: OK Webb, JWST, whatever.
Artemis-1 is UP
The only thing shortsighted people see on this program is the cost.
“Still, regardless of any mixed feelings surrounding this rocket, successfully launching it may offer a sign that NASA is making progress towards once again having the moon as a real destination for humanity.”
Orion in space. NASA Highlights.
Drugs
Big election news in the NORML pages this morning. It’s no news to me. We went through a shrooms period during my early 20s while trying to attend college in Pennsylvania before joining the Air Force. I naturally gravitated to the weed in recent years with arthritis and bad joints. Spinal injuries only sealed that deal.
The pharma industry’s death grip on healthcare portends no easy path to progress. Looking back at the time in between my hip replacements, I now shudder to think about the toxic cocktail of different substances the VA had me on. Things will improve on the healthcare pharma front after money stops vying for supremacy with science.
JWST Update #16: Manufacturing Tolerances
Looks like JWST might be suffering Ikonitis. It’s the satellite sickness that develops after a less-than-perfect moving part starts degrading in orbital activities. Let’s hope the workaround is viable and the mechanics trivial.
It’s been a couple months since the MIRI anomaly was announced back in September. Hope there’s no Chinese parts in that thing.
Jim McDivitt, 1929-2022
“In 1962, McDivitt was selected by NASA to become an astronaut. He was chosen to pilot Gemini 4 — becoming the first-ever NASA rookie to command a mission.”
I can’t say much about Jim McDivitt, because I just don’t recall ever hearing or reading that much about him. Now I know why. He was one of those diligent masterminds working tirelessly in the background gluing it all together. They say the best-run crews are the ones that never miss a beat, even when the boss is not around.
NASA
Big Weed Money
“In the two states with the most mature adult-use cannabis markets – Colorado and Washington – cannabis excise tax revenues outpaced those collected on the sale of alcohol and tobacco.”
Pros and Cons of Cannabis Taxation.
JWST Update #15
Cosmic science and art intersect on JWST.
“There are many different potential combinations of wavelengths and filters, all of which result in different ways of displaying the data — as well as different aesthetic experiences.”
Carbon Capture
I read a story in Wired last year about how they developed this technology in Iceland. It implied serious scalability doubts, but apparently the Stuff is ready for prime time. It’s obviously long past time to start cleaning the atmosphere on this wretched planet. All is not yet lost, but try telling that to the people in Ft. Myers.
Fusion (not music)
Being a lowly DoD contractor, I never got close to the Skunkworks and some of the other incredibly high-tech stuff going on in the company. I had my hands full with piddly little satellite and security Stuff. Our formidable scientific and technology capabilities are second to none.
