#Mare Nectaris

[without-ado]

Mare Nectaris of the Moon l Roger Hyman

[quiltofstars]

Mare Nectaris ("Sea of Nectar") on the Moon // Loxley

Read below the cut for some info about some of the craters in this image!

Mare Nectaris is a lunar sea, or maria, one of the darker on the near side of the Moon. It is about 210 miles across and filled with dried lava.

Above it is Sinus Asperitatis, Latin for "Bay of Roughness". This "bay" joins Mare Nectaris to Mare Tranquillitatis.

Three craters line Mare Nectaris to the west.

Theophilus crater is named after Theophilus I of Alexandria (bef. 384 - 412), the 23rd Pope of Alexandria. He wrote a Paschal table that tracks the Moon's phases to aid in determining the date of Easter.

Cyrillus crater is named after Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376 - 444), the 24th Pope of Alexandria. He also constructed a Paschal table to calculate the date of Easter.

Catharina crater is named for Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 287 - c. 305), a martyr and early adopter of Christianity in the Roman empire. However, there is little evidence to support her existence as a historical figure.

A few craters lie to the south of Mare Nectaris:

Beaumont crater is named for the French geologist Léonce Élie de Beaumont (1798-1874) who proposed a theory for the origin of mountain ranges. He proposed that all mountains parallel to each other were formed at the same time.

Fracastorius crater is named for the Italian scholar Girolamo Fracastoro (c. 1476 - 1553). He was an early adopter of the idea of "atoms" and was one of the first to study epidemiology. He worked extensively on the origins of rabies and syphilis.

Rosse crater is named after the English astronomer William Parson, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800-1867). He built one of the world's largest telescopes, the "Leviathan of Parsonstown", a 72-inch telescope. Through it, he observed nebulae and galaxies, such as the Crab Nebula and Whirlpool Galaxy.

Finally, two craters lie to the northeast of Mare Nectaris:

Isidorus crater is named after Isidore of Seville (c. 560 - 636), the archbishop of Seville. He was a prominent figure in early Spanish Christianity, and wrote down his Etymologiae, an encyclopedia of knowledge at the time.

Capella crater is named for Martianus Capella (bef. 410 - 420), a Latin scholar who wrote De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii "On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury". In the eighth book of the series, he describes a modified geocentric model of the solar system, where all planets orbit the Earth, except for Mercury and Venus which orbit the Sun.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Japan launched its lunar exploration spacecraft on Thursday aboard a homegrown H-IIA rocket, hoping to become the world's fifth country to land on the moon early next year.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the rocket took off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as planned and successfully released the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM).

Unfavourable weather led to three postponements in a week last month.

Dubbed the "moon sniper," Japan aims to land SLIM within 100 metres of its target site on the lunar surface.

The $100-million mission is expected to start the landing by February after a long, fuel-efficient approach trajectory.

"The big objective of SLIM is to prove the high-accuracy landing ... to achieve 'landing where we want' on the lunar surface, rather than 'landing where we can'," JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa told a news conference.

The launch comes two weeks after India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon with its Chandrayaan-3 mission to the unexplored lunar south pole.

Around the same time, Russia's Luna-25 lander crashed while approaching the moon.

Two earlier lunar landing attempts by Japan failed in the last year.

JAXA lost contact with the OMOTENASHI lander and scrubbed an attempted landing in November.

The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, made by Japanese startup ispace (9348.T), crashed in April as it attempted to descend to the lunar surface.

SLIM is set to touch down on the near side of the moon close to Mare Nectaris, a lunar sea that, viewed from Earth, appears as a dark spot.

Its primary goal is to test advanced optical and image processing technology.

After landing, the craft aims to analyse the composition of olivine rocks near the sites in search of clues about the origin of the moon. No lunar rover is loaded on SLIM.

Thursday's H-IIA rocket also carried the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a joint project of JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.

The satellite aims to observe plasma winds flowing through the universe that scientists see as key to helping understand the evolution of stars and galaxies.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) manufactured the rocket and operated the launch, which marked the 47th H-IIA rocket Japan has launched since 2001, bringing the vehicle's success rate close to 98%.

JAXA had suspended the launch of H-IIA carrying SLIM for several months while it investigated the failure of its new medium-lift H3 rocket during its debut in March.

Japan's space missions have faced other recent setbacks, with the launch failure of the Epsilon small rocket in October 2022, followed by an engine explosion during a test in July.

The country aims to send an astronaut to the moon's surface in the latter half of the 2020s as part of NASA's Artemis programme.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/japan-launches-rocket-carrying-moon-lander-slim-after-three-delays-2023-09-06/

Japan launches 'Moon Sniper' mission | AFP

7 September 2023

Japan's "Moon Sniper" mission blasted off Thursday as the country's space programme looks to bounce back from a string of recent mishaps, weeks after India's historic lunar triumph.

[chicxsims]

𝓝𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓲 𝓓𝓲 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓮

50x50 Built @ Thebe Estate in Tartosa

Nettari Di Mare is a beautiful nectary located in Tartosa. Here, sims can create their own nectar and enjoy a high-quality meal right after, or come in to taste the nectar owned by the restaurant. Nettari Di Mare is revered by locals and celebrities for its fine, aged nectar and is definitely something to add to your sim’s itinerary when visiting Tartosa.

I saw this build by @bojanastarcevic a few months ago and I wanted a restaurant that was similar in style on the exterior. I challenged myself to create it from scratch and fully furnish it in it’s entirety using pins from my Pinterest as inspo. I hadn't planned on uploading, but I've received so much support over on twitter that I decided to upload for those who were interested in it. I’ve also taken inspiration from my mutuals’, @shaymoo22 & @comfys, classy and warm moods. Please go check out their builds if you haven’t seen them, they’re both so incredibly talented!

Credits:

@pinkbox-anye @awingedllama @felixandresims @harrie-cc @kardofe @kerriganhouse @lumenniveus @littledica @my-cup-of-cc @peacemaker-ic @pierisim @sims4nicolesstuff @syboubou @taurusdesign @thejim07 @thetowniearchitect @tudtuds max20

I cannot give enough thanks to the amazing CC creators. This personal project truly would not have been possible without you all. Thank you.

[Download Link & Info Here]

𝑻𝒊𝒌𝒕𝒐𝒌 | 𝑻𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 | 𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕

𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑰𝑫: 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒚𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒔

[yama-bato]

MARE NECTARIS

[officialromaniantranslatiuni]

nectarie de la clasa 0 de langa: DOAMNA DE ENGLEZA! A INTREBAT MAMA DE CE NOI NU MAI FACEM SI ALTCEVA IN AFARA DE ANIMALE ANUL ASTA!

profa de engleza: 😒😒😒😒 am facut animalele de companie, de ferma si salbatice ca asa figureaza in planificarea anuala si mama lui m-a innebunit cu mesaje ca de ce nu fac cu ei propozitii

eu, fosta invatatoare a surorii mai mari: ma-sa e nebuna

fosta invatatoare a fratelui mai mare: tot neamul e nebun

cealalta profa de engleza: pe mine m-a reclamat tocmai fiindca i-am dat surorii sa scrie "my name is..." in clasa 1

directoarea: cred ca ma reclama familia aia si cand respir... de aia a si plecat vechiul director

directoare adjuncta: fac atatea plangeri la inspectorat incat nu mai le raspunde nimeni si au incercat sa ajunga la minister

[whirligig-girl]

moon drawing from an unfinished piece. The shadows and the albedo features don't quite match; note how Altai Scarp and the three craters in Mare Nectaris aren't quite centered on Mare Nectaris as they should be.

[oldpueblocyclist]

50% tonight. Waxing Gibbous. Mares Serenitatis, Tranquillitatis, Crisium, Fecunditatis, Nectaris nicely illuminated. 🌓

[concoursmuseumtoulouse]

CONCOURS LITTERAIRE “Être(s) immortel(s)” : annonce des résultats !

Félicitations à tous les participants !

La 11e édition du concours de nouvelles du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Toulouse a suscité un véritable engouement ! Un plébiscite qui a dépassé les prévisions les plus optimistes que ce soit dans la catégorie des adultes avec 244 nouvelles ou celle des moins de 18 ans avec 82 nouvelles au compteur. Le Muséum a, en effet, enregistré à la clôture des participations, le mardi 3 janvier, plus de 326 contributions en provenance de la France métropolitaine, mais pas seulement. Une sélection de belle facture qui, de la Guyane à la Réunion, en passant par le Congo, Singapour, l'Allemagne, l’Italie, la Belgique ou encore la Suisse, continue de s’ouvrir à l’international !

Un grand bravo aux lauréats !

Le jury s’est réuni le jeudi 27 avril 2023 afin de tenir sa délibération désignant les 6 lauréats. La sélection a été rude et les débats très animés ! Mais c’est sans compter sur le professionnalisme de ce jury aux multiples sensibilités qui est heureux d’annoncer les résultats suivants, dans les 2 catégories adulte et jeunesse :

1. Palmarès dans la catégorie auteurs adultes.

1er prix : « Mare nectaris » de Julien PHILIPPE (21120) 2e prix : « Glaz et le dictionnaire des homards » de Colin MAILLARD (75006) 3e prix : « Ad vitam aeternam (pour la vie éternelle) » de Jessica ARDUIN (31300)

Les 17 autres nouvelles pré-sélectionnées dans la catégorie adultes étaient : « Un homme ordinaire » de Danielle ALLOZA (81000), « Le rond des marronniers » de Stéphanie AUBERT (49230), « Le patriarche éternel » de Daniel BAS (69430), « Une épreuve d’amour » de Bruno BAUDART (34140), « L’Oiseau d’Héliopolis » d’Anthony BOULANGER (28260), « Éternels complices » d’Emmanuel BROC (32600), « Assoiffée » de Sylvaine COLLART (31100), « Les ragots de la méduse » de Laura CORREDOR (33600), « Lettre de revendication » de Laurent FORTIER (14123), « Roches éternelles » de Margaux GRELLETY (78018), « Mémorial » de Marie-Claire HAGUET (09120), « La tombe de Gengis Khan » d’Olivier LALYR (42000), « Rhum arrangé » de Marie MAILLOT (94300), « Le passage » de Gérard MEGRET (45110), « La colère de la terre » de Noémie OBERDISSE (13790), « Amour benthique » d’Anna Valérie REICH (31520), « Le prix de l’immortalité » de Catherine TAREL-BERLEMONT (59890)

2. Palmarès dans la catégorie auteurs de moins de 18 ans.

1er prix : « All The Madmen » de Louise CONFAIS (31560) 2e prix : « La Chute » de Daphné LAMANDÉ-MORANT  (53200) 3e prix : « Un voyage éternel » de Timothy LOMBARD-KIRCH (25000)

Les 8 autres nouvelles pré-sélectionnées dans la catégorie auteurs de moins de 18 ans étaient : « La Bonne action » de Camille BUXTORFF-MULLER (12000), « Immortalité... Quelle horreur, quelle beauté » d'Esther FARES (31520), « Vie tranquille d'un immortel » de Tymothé FOISSAC-FERRÉ (31410), « Feu » de Lola GINESTE (31410), « Dark Moon » de Juliette GORIAUD (31460), « Vampire Slayer Academy » de Madenn GOURIO-DUBREUIL (81800), « Celle qui vécut » de Luna PASTOR (81710), « Silence » de Chloé RAFFANEL (12510)

Le Muséum va e-publier les nouvelles lauréates.

Les deux premiers prix des 2 catégories seront lus à voix haute le samedi 10 juin 2023, dans l’auditorium du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Toulouse, lors de la rencontre littéraire et de la remise des prix aux différents lauréats.

Un immense merci aux membres du jury !

Laëtitia Bartholome (Service Expositions, Muséum), Lydie Bottier (Pôle jeunesse, Médiathèque José Cabanis), Laetitia Bouchama (Directrice de la médiathèque Mémo, Montauban), Audrey Bonniot (Service Bibliothèque & Documentation, Muséum), Caroline Chevalier-Galant (Service Bibliothèque & Documentation, Muséum), Évelyne Cocault (Comédienne de Théâtre amateur), Astrid Conan (Relation Visiteurs-Billetterie support qualité, Muséum), Christel Dubois (Professeure d'anglais), Lucie Ferlet (Pôle jeunesse, Médiathèque José Cabanis), Fanny Fourrier (Pôle Intermezzo, Médiathèque José Cabanis), Caroline Goursat (Étudiante, libraire), Florence Lamotte (Directrice commerciale chez Piktos), Sylvie Marquez (Association Toulouse Polars du Sud), Bernard Meyer (Docteur en Philosophie, enseignant, comédien), Serge Nicolo (Écrivain, Régisseur des Collections, Musée Paul Dupuy), Cristina Noacco (Auteure, maître de conférence en littérature médiévale) et Cédric Pignat (Écrivain, enseignant, lecteur).

Au plaisir de vous retrouver et d’échanger avec vous, samedi 10 juin, au Muséum de Toulouse !

Crédit : Laurent Koëss - Muséum de Toulouse

[dianapopescu]

9 noiembrie: Sfântul Ierarh Nectarie de la Eghina

Comemorat pe 9 octombrie, Sfântul Nectarie, cel mai mare lucrător de minuni din timpurile moderne, s-a născut cu numele de Anastasius Kephalas la Selebria, Tracia, pe 1 octombrie 1846. https://www.diane.ro/2024/11/9-noiembrie-sfant-ierarh-nectarie-eghina.html

[simkermellebel]

Lockwood Legacy: Year 3

(part 1)

The Lockwoods started off the year well with the birthday of Jensen. He grew up into a beautiful toddler, looking almost like the spitting image of his father.

Flynn went on another date with Justin Kayes. He asked Justin to go steady, and Justin accepted! Flynn then offered to give Justin a very romantic massage.

Red taught Jensen how to talk and celebrated by having a little chat with him as she held him in her arms.

Feeling itchy to continue her adventures, Red travelled to Champes Les Sims to check out more tombs. On one of her adventures, she was electrocuted. This wasn't the first time, but it scared her away from adventuring more now that she had a son back home she wished to see grow up.

Red went exploring around Champes Les Sims on her own and discovered the nectary. She found she really enjoyed making (and drinking) nectar and bought all the equipment she needed to set up her own nectar making station at home. With that, she bought a vacation home to one day take her family to and show them the beauty of Champes Les Sims.

The first thing Red did after cutting her vacation short and arriving home was hug Jensen.

Being done with adventuring for the foreseeable future, Red decided to undo her braids and put on one of the few dresses she owned. She didn't need her adventuring appearance anymore.

Even after finishing her cooking skill, Mare still cooked up a bunch of dishes for the family in the grand kitchen she now had available.

Red spent a day teaching Jensen how to walk. When he finally took his first steps while learning, she threw him up in the air in celebration.

It had been a while since Connor got out of the house, so Mare decided to take him on a date to the diner she works at. She took him into the kitchen, made him his favorite dish and the two watched the stars outside afterwards.

While Flynn watched Jensen, Ho Sung took Red out on a date as well and proposed to her. Red accepted the proposal, and announced that she was pregnant with their second child.

The next day, they held their wedding at the Holy Matrimony Resort, with all their new friends in attendance. Even Jensen was having a great time.

That night, Flynn felt inspired and took Justin out for another swimming date. He proposed, and Justin jumped in excitement before accepting the proposal.

While having breakfast, I suddenly noticed that Ho Sung was eating waffles with chopsticks. A fun little detail for Asian sims! But it seems impractical for waffles.

The next Lockwood baby was born; another baby boy, by the name of Skyler. As Red and Ho Sung were exhausted after the birth, Connor sat with baby Skyler in the rocking chair.

Jensen's birthday came soon after, and he grew up into a gorgeous child, now looking even more like his father. His third trait is friendly.

From now on, Ho Sung had to make reports about the people of Twinbrook. He started off by visiting his neighbor and digging through his trash. After being caught, he apologized and talked to the man of the Prudence household, questioning him later.

Ho Sung called his son over to the neighbor's and he became friends with Pansy Prudence.

To get ahead of the handiness skill, Jensen spent a lot of time playing with blocks.

Mare reached the top of the culinary career and became a Five-Star Chef. Feeling accomplished, she decided to spend the rest of her life with her husband and family and retired.

Baby Skyler grew up into a toddler, and we discovered he had the iconic red Lockwood locks!

Connor ate some vegetarian chili, and it was hot!!!!!!

The family went out to the Fall Festival on a Tuesday afternoon. Skyler wasn't all too happy about this, as he despises the outdoors. Red and Connor participated in the apple bobbing contest, and Connor won!

Flynn had gotten a promotion to Elementary School Teacher and arrived shortly after work to celebrate with his family. His father instead passed away of old age and he held his sister as they mourned his death.

Jensen made some friends in school and decided to have a sleepover with Guy and Philip. For some reason, the boys decided to sleep outside in 3 degrees celcius weather. The party ended up being a huge success, and Jensen would forever be known (in elementary school) as the best party host ever.

And with that, we have once again reached our photo limit to this post. So, I'll see you in part two.

Go here for the next part in the series!

[quiltofstars]

Mare Nectaris (”The Sea of Nectar”), and three craters, from top to bottom, Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina // jp-brahic

Theophilus crater is named after Saint Theophilus I of Alexandria (bef. 384 to 412), the 23rd Pope of Alexandria who wrote a book about the lunar cycle.

Cyrillus crater is named after Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444), the 24th Pope of Alexandria who also wrote a book about the lunar cycle!

Catharina crater is named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 287-305) an early Christian martyr.

[spacenutspod]

Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander appears to have achieved a soft touchdown on the Moon’s surface but is currently unable to generate electricity from onboard solar cells. With the spacecraft running only on internal battery power, controllers are working to balance the recording and downloading of data, utilizing the remaining battery life to maximum effect. The reason for the lack of electrical generation is not currently known, but officials report that the solar cells do not appear to be damaged and that all other systems are working as designed. There is some optimism that sunlight may reach the solar cells and recharge the batteries, but this is by no means guaranteed. The mission has been officially marked as reaching its minimum success levels at this time, subject to further data analysis. Four months after launching from Tanegashima Space Center, SLIM, led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), made a landing near Shioli, an impact crater within the larger Mare Nectaris (“Sea of Nectar”) at 11:20 PM JST on Jan. 19, 2024 (15:20 UTC). SLIM has been on a unique voyage involving two close approaches to the Moon and orbits, which took it out into deep space, traveling for 110 days before making a lunar insertion burn on Christmas Day into a Lunar Orbit of 15 x 600 kilometers. Further burns have slowly lowered and circularised the orbit. The long looping trajectory was designed to save vital fuel and mass for the landing phase, giving the spacecraft the best possible chance for a soft landing. JAXA Update on SLIM: Lander did land, they have comms, but the solar cell is not generating electricity. On battery power. Trying to maximize science. LEV separated as planned but JAXA needs more time to gather data. https://t.co/4Wct726bum — Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) January 19, 2024 Japan was hoping to join the small group of countries that have soft-landed on the Moon, along with Russia, the United States, China, and, more recently, India. Japan has had two previous attempts at landing on the Moon — Omotenashi and Hakuto-R — both of which failed. There have also been several other notable failed attempts at a Lunar landing in recent years: Omotenashi was a small 6u cubesat launched from Artemis 1, which had issues with solar cell orientation and was lost. Hakuto-R was a commercial lander designed by the Japanese company iSpace. This lander crashed into the Moon on April 25, 2023, following confusion between the various navigation systems leading to fuel exhaustion. Previously, in 2019, Israel’s Beresheet lander was another failure, crashing onto the Moon’s surface after a gyroscope failed, resulting in loss of control of the craft. More recently, the Astrobotic Peregrine One lunar lander was unable to attempt a Moon landing following an anomaly in the propulsion system, which, in turn, caused problems keeping the spacecraft in a Sun-facing orientation. Propellant leaking from the system added to the issues, ruling out any landing attempt. The leak slowed down as the days passed, which allowed controllers to concentrate on allowing Peregrine to complete as much science as possible. Astrobotic was able to maintain transparent and informative communication with the public throughout the mission. Controllers steered the lander carefully and responsibly to avoid creating any space debris, bringing it onto a course to intercept Earth’s atmosphere, where it burned up safely over the Pacific on Jan.18, 2024. SLIM’s primary mission was to demonstrate that advanced navigation and radar systems can provide a pinpoint landing within 100 meters of any given target. To achieve this vastly improved accuracy, the spacecraft carried several advanced instruments, including a laser range finder and a landing radar. During its descent to the lunar surface, the lander was able to compare the terrain below to high-resolution imagery gathered from Japan’s previous lunar orbiter, Kaguya, and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, to make autonomous real-time decisions about its speed and course using image processing algorithms developed by JAXA. Accurately targeted landings are seen as vital for ensuring optimum results from future landers, but the final position of this landing may not be known for some weeks, according to JAXA officials. The target for landing, the Shioli crater, is an impact crater about 300 meters wide and has important scientific potential, not least for the suspected presence of the mineral olivine, which is conjectured to comprise part of the Moon’s mantle. The near-infrared Multi-Band Camera aboard SLIM will determine the composition of olivine by analyzing the spectra of sunlight reflected off the lunar surface. The data will further inform scientists about the early formation of the Moon. See AlsoSLIM Mission UpdatesMore Japanese Missions CoverageNSF StoreClick here to Join L2 The second major objective for this mission is the “realization of a lightweight lunar and planetary probe system to allow more frequent lunar and planetary exploration missions.” To this end, SLIM has been through thoughtful weight reduction, using modern construction techniques, and a powerful chemical-based thruster system. The structural core of the spacecraft is the integrated fuel tank, a cylinder that holds both fuel and oxidizer using a common dome to save mass. The oxidizer portion has a specially developed form of Polytetrafluoroethylene lining to prevent reaction. There are two main engines, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. KYOCERA Corporation. These feature ceramic combustion chambers, a very wide thrust range, and can fire using advanced pulsing techniques to aid precision positioning. The engines each provide around 500 newtons of thrust and are used for the main insertion burns during transit to the Moon and the descent/landing burn. Thrusters used to provide attitude control were built by IHI AEROSPACE Co. Ltd. There are 12 of these thrusters, each with a thrust rating of around 20 newtons. They use the same fuel/oxidizer as the main engines to aid in the lightweight design by avoiding the need for additional fuel tanks. Graphic showing SLIM’s landing procedure. (Credit: JAXA) The solar panel arrays for SLIM are built by the SHARP Corporation and are made of thin, light, and flexible film. These are designed to bend around some of the curved surfaces of the craft and are attached simply with velcro in some places. SLIM was designed to land on a slope of approximately 15 degrees from the horizontal. As the spacecraft approached its landing with the main engines pointing downward to reduce the rate of descent, the thrusters were expected to tip the craft over to about 45 degrees, so that the main landing legs touch down first and then the craft completes the rotation into horizontal mode with the auxiliary legs touching down last. The legs all have a crush pad of 3D-printed aluminum alloy to absorb any impact stresses during touchdown. Just before landing, SLIM ejected two small automata Lunar Excursion Vehicles (LEV), LEV-1 and LEV-2. These will explore and photograph the surrounding environment and the lander, each utilizing novel experimental propulsion techniques. LEV-1 is designed to hop frog-like around the Lunar surface, not only taking photos but also measuring slope, elevation, temperature, and radiation of the local lunar environment. This rover is also capable of direct communication back to Earth. LEV-2 has been developed by JAXA in collaboration with Tomy, Sony, and Doshisha University, Japan. Weighing a mere 250 grams and only eight centimeters in diameter, this baseball-shaped vehicle has been inspired by co-developer Tomy’s Transformers toys. The initial design concept had to be reduced in size and weight to meet the limitations imposed by the mission’s lightweight ideals. On landing, the ball split apart to form two wheels and reveal pop-out cameras and a stabilizer. The method of forward movement, a waggling motion was inspired by that of the sea turtle. This collaboration with Tomy is intended to inspire children to dream big, and indeed a toy version of SORA-Q as LEV-2 is also known, is being sold in Japan. SLIM ejects two LEV’s onto the Moon. (Credit: JAXA) LEV-1 will beam data from both LEVs back to the Deep Space Network stations on Earth. Before the landing, the information available suggested that SLIM is a limited lifetime proof of concept lander, and was expected to function only until the Sun sets on the landing site after a maximum of 14 Earth days. At this point, the spacecraft would lose all power, and the electronics would likely be damaged by the extreme cold of the lunar night. However, since the issue with the electrical supply became known, the JAXA officials are suggesting that the lander could be put into sleep mode until the Sun lights the cells again. There has been an upturn in interest in landing on the Moon, and there are several more landing attempts due in the near future. NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is providing incentives for commercial partners to demonstrate reliable cargo delivery capabilities to support the Artemis mission. CLPS has already produced the Peregrine One mission, which has provided data, and experience and generated public interest despite its failure to land. Intuitive Machines is hoping to succeed with its first Moon landing attempt when its Nova-C lander launches as early as February 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Nova-C is described as being the size of a telephone box and carries 130 kilograms of payload, mostly instrumentation for NASA, but also a cubesat and a deployable camera called EagleCAM. Intuitive Machines has three missions for Nova-C under the CLPS contract. Japan has a second Hakuto-R mission planned for NET Q4 2024. This mission, named Resilience, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and will feature a micro-rover. (Lead image: Render of the SLIM Lander on the Moon. Credit: JAXA) The post Japan’s SLIM lands on the Moon, power issues cast doubt on lander’s survival appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

[universalcovers]

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries successfully launched its H-IIA rocket carrying the national space agency's moon lander on Thursday, after unfavorable weather led to three postponements in a week last month.

Japan aims to become the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface with the launch of a low-cost "moon sniper" that will test precision landing technology designed to further Tokyo’s space goals. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) craft — dubbed "moon sniper" by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) — is set to touch down on the near side of the moon close to Mare Nectaris, a lunar basin that is one of the visible dark spots on the moon. The launch comes weeks after India became the first country to land on the moon's south pole, sparking an outpouring of national pride and highlighting a new space race that features the private sector.

Source: Global News/YouTube

[jmonterol]

MARE NECTARIS Y ALREDEDORES.

Mare Nectaris es un mar ubicado en la parte suroccidental de nuestro satélite, de más de 300 km de diámetro. Es notoriamente llano y la lava alcanza un espesor de 1000 m. Ocupa el punto central de una enorme cuenca de impacto de 860 km de diámetro que se formó hace casi 4000 millones de años. En su interior destaca el pequeño cráter Rosse, de alto albedo, con 12 km de diámetro y 2,4 km de profundidad.

A su alrededor destacan numerosos accidentes dignos de verse detenidamente con el telescopio. Sobresalen en su cara oeste el trío de cráteres Theophylus, Cyrillus y Catherina, de norte a sur.

Pero sobre todo nos fijamos a la izquierda de la imagen en Rupes Altai, una escarpadura de 480 km de longitud que llega a alcanzar en algunos puntos los 3000 m de altura. Rupes Altai constituye los restos de la pared primigenia de la cuenca de impacto.

Maksutov Cassegrain 127. Cámara CCDQHY 5II M.

Procesado con EZPlanetary y Registax 6.

[blindtaleteller]

I always thought it was interesting that, aside from his daggers as the obvious manifestation of this skill: and the Tesseract being tucked away in a similar way: they really didn’t express this ability much otherwise in the films. Which,might have been on purpose for storytelling reasons (then again Ragnarok’s ‘retcons’ also ‘changed’ a lot of things;) but still makes me go ‘hmmm..’ as  to just how far this goes and the ideas of how it works.

I mean, it’s unlikely that he’s just carrying this shit around with him; but it has to go somewhere, to be summoned from it, yeah?

So where does this stuff go, and what else does he have there?

As the ‘most powerful sorcerer in Asgard’ it would make sense if, if it wasn’t a pocket dimension: it might at least be someplace very well hidden and protected.

This is part of where the idea of the Mare initially comes from; for me. A personal, ‘secret’ space and protected place to vault things of import like the Casket, the Tesseract, and other things he just wouldn’t want anyone else to see, touch, or know about until he summoned or put them to use..