#char: heather douglas

[dailygotg]

She soon abandoned Titan to seek vengeance on the being that murdered her parents, Thanos.

[lgbtincomics]

LGBTQ Marvel heroes in “Assemble!” by Luciano Vecchio, from Marvel’s Voices #1

[animatedpics]

(via TumbleOn)

doctor strange #10

[sciencespies]

These are the riskiest moments to look out for in SpaceX's historic reentry to Earth

https://sciencespies.com/space/these-are-the-riskiest-moments-to-look-out-for-in-spacexs-historic-reentry-to-earth/

These are the riskiest moments to look out for in SpaceX's historic reentry to Earth

The Crew Dragon spacecraft, produced by private company SpaceX, is scheduled to return from the International Space Station (ISS) and splash down in the Atlantic ocean on August 2.

Contingent on a favourable weather forecast and a successful final week at the ISS, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will begin the undocking procedure on August 1, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere the next day – a total of 64 days since lift off.

The historic launch took place on May 30 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the first time a commercial space company has carried humans into orbit around Earth.

But while the launch was a nail-biting experience to watch, reentry will be even more risky – presenting a tense moment for mission control. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that the reentry is indeed his “biggest concern”.

The joint SpaceX and NASA mission was successful in docking with the ISS, so that astronauts could complete scientific and maintenance work, including four spacewalks.

Importantly, the mission’s primary purpose is to test and demonstrate the vehicle’s capability to safely carry crew to and from Earth orbit, as the first step in the plan of commencing regular ISS missions and commercial space flights.

Reentry danger points

The extreme velocities and temperatures the vehicle must endure present a major challenge to engineers and makes reentry the most perilous part of a mission.

The danger starts with finding the right angle of the trajectory as the spacecraft enters the upper atmosphere. If it is too steep, the astronauts will experience potentially fatal g-forces, and the friction of the air drag could cause the spacecraft to explode. If it is too shallow, the capsule will instead catastrophically skip off the atmosphere and back into Earth orbit.

The spacecraft will enter the upper atmosphere at 27,000 km/hour. That is 7.5 km/second, or more than 20 times the speed of sound. In whichever units you prefer – this is fast.

At these velocities, a very strong shock wave forms around the front of the vehicle, compressing and superheating the air. Managing the immense thermal load is a huge reentry engineering challenge.

At the most extreme stage, the temperature of the air in the shock layer exceeds 7,000°C. By comparison, the temperature at the surface of the Sun is around 5,500°C.

This makes the vehicle’s heat shield so hot that it starts to glow — a process called incandescence. SpaceX’s new and advanced PICA-X material heat shield has managed to protect the capsule in test flights, later being recovered in a very charred state.

The air molecules around the vehicle also break down into positively charged atoms and free electrons – a so-called plasma. When some of the molecules recombine, excess energy is released as photons (light particles) – giving the air around the vehicle an amber glow.

This plasma layer may be beautiful, but it can cause radio blackouts. When an electron travels along a conductive wire, we have electricity.

Similarly, when free electrons move through the plasma around the vehicle, we have an electric field. If the electric field becomes too strong, it can reflect and attenuate the radiowaves trying to reach the spacecraft.

Blackout not only leads to a loss of connection to on-board crew and flight data, it can also make remote control and guidance impossible. The Apollo missions, the Mars Pathfinder and the recent, failed 2018 Soyuz rocket launch all incurred communications blackout on the order of minutes.

NASA mission control are anticipating a nervous six minutes of blackout during the peak heating phase of Crew Dragon’s return – if anything goes wrong during this time, it’s in the hands of the astronauts.

Another risky stage is the parachute-assisted landing. The Crew Dragon will deploy four parachutes upon the final stage of reentry, as the vehicle descends toward a gentle splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.

This manoeuvre has been tested by SpaceX 27 times prior to next week’s crewed landing, so it should work.

Future goals

A successful landing will have huge implications – lowering the cost of space exploration through the use of reusable rockets and enabling private space exploration.

While SpaceX engineered the Crew Dragon vehicle under contract to NASA, the company is free to use the spacecraft for commercial flights without NASA involvement after operational certification.

SpaceX has a partnership with commercial aerospace company Axiom Space, which has the ultimate goal of building the world’s first commercial space station.

The proposed commercial activities for the station are broad: from in-space research and manufacturing to space exploration support.

Then there is space tourism. Private citizens are already queuing for their ticket to space, and with a successful Crew Dragon splashdown, they won’t be waiting long.

American space tourism company, Space Adventures (partnered with SpaceX), are planning to offer zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital flights with a spacewalk option and laps of the Moon by late 2021.

Whether the costs, environmental impact and dangers of spaceflight is justified for space tourism is debatable. As this articles shows, the required safety briefing for Space Adventure ticket holders will be much more comprehensive than your regular “please take a moment to read the safety card in the seat pocket in front of you”.

Heather Muir, PhD in Computational Physics, University of Cambridge.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Space

[prairiescotch]

Hey! My wife is still the greatest ever! She got me the 4th Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar for a Christmas/Valentine’s Day/Father’s Day present (they’re pretty pricey). 

This year’s version is super-exciting. The portfolio of independent bottlers that are contributing to this year’s version has grown to 10, including some high-profile distributors (like that which will be featured today!). It also comes with another new style of glass -- the Spey Whisky Glass, similar to a Glencairn but a little less dramatic, with a rounded bottom instead of the plinth-base. I’m excited to try it out.

I’m also excited to take a run at the first bottling, which is offered up by The Old Malt Cask. This label is run by Hunter Laing & Co. If either of those names sounds vaguely familiar, it’s either because you’ve enjoyed them in the past or you’ve come across their family, namely Douglas Laing & Co. and their labels (Rare Old Malts being one, which provided me the opportunity to taste an exceptional 29 year-old St. Magdalene a few years ago). That company dissolved in 2013 when the Laing brothers decided to break up the band and go their own ways. 

This bottle in particular is an 18 year-old Tamdhu, which was originally distilled in 1996 and loaded into a refill Sherry hogshead (cask number HL11956). As is the case with The Old Malt Cask offerings, it is 50% ABV, and suffers no colouring or chill filtration. 

Tamdhu is a distillery that isn’t quite common, but isn’t quite rare, in my experience. It opened in 1897, the most modern major distillery at the time evidently. Gaelic for “little dark hill,” Tamdhu proved to be popular for a long time, maintaining fairly consistent ownership until it shut down for 20 years, starting in 1927. Its production tripled in the 1970s, churning out boatloads of malt used almost entirely for blends like The Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark, and J&Bs. It closed again in 2010, opening in 2013 under new ownership. 

This past summer I enjoyed for the first time a standard bottling of Tamdhu. There aren’t many of them, and if you find a bottle of anything but the standard 10 year-old expression you’ll have one up on me. I tasted it at the peerless Irish Heather whisky bar in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood. It wasn’t the ideal scenario; due to a miscommunication my friends and I showed up 15 minutes before closing. The staff was lovely enough to let us order two to four drinks each so we could soak up as much of the experience as possible. 

I’m afraid to say the standard Tamdhu failed to impress. After 10 years in sherry casks the nose was pleasant enough, offering sherry spices, oak, vanilla, and a surprising hint of raspberry The taste was aggressive in in the wrong way, throwing an awful lot of tannic, acerbic oak char and strong vegetal peat. Some sweet and spice attempted to off-set the harshness, with some chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and pepper trying their best to make things interesting. It was an okay combination, but the aggressiveness makes it hard to recommend. 

I wouldn’t call this one nearly as aggressive, despite the higher ABV. The aggression comes mostly from the scent, which is — incredibly — largely diluted white wine vinegar. There is some honey and vanilla sweetness, some melon, and fairly strong floral undertones. On the tongue it is fairly aggressive, largely bitter lemon pith and ginger heat. The finish is all heat and bitter dandelion, like spring mix.

It’s surprising, I would’ve expected something this old to have more complexity, but it really is just hot and bitter and odd. It’s definitely different, and while it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever had I don’t know that I’d go around recommending it.

Incidentally, the record in the foreground is The Gaslight Anthem’s Senor and the Queen, a double 7″. It was the record where they really started to find what their sound would become! My 4 year old put it on the shabby suitcase-style turntable you see in the background before I opened my advent. She didn’t seem that into it for some reason!

[dailygotg]

MOONDRAGON IN WARLOCK & THE INFINITY WATCH #8

[dailygotg]

And now Moondragon, the protector of the Mind Infinity Gem. Truly the oddest role I’ve ever played, with an even stranger ensemble cast.

[dailygotg]

I’m here to make you stronger.

[dailygotg]

GAMORA & MOONDRAGON IN WARLOCK & THE INFINITY WATCH #2

[dailygotg]

Maybe my best bet is getting lost out among the stars. Distance.

[dailygotg]

HEATHER DOUGLAS & PHYLA VELL IN GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2020) #1

[dailygotg]

You don’t remember much from the past, do you?

[dailygotg]

I should have known this was a trap!

[dailygotg]

Phyla . . . no. What are you saying?

[dailygotg]

✰ This guide is in chronological order, from her first appearance to her most recent & will be updated as soon as she has another major appearance. Cameos & the like have not been included in this guide

✰ All must read issues are in italics

✰ All must read titles are in bold

✰ All of these issues go by their digital numbering

✰ If you have any questions, the inbox is open

ORIGINS & EARLY DAYS

Iron Man (1968)  #54

Daredevil (1964) #105-107

Captain Marvel (1968) #31-34

JOINING THE AVENGERS & DEFENDERS

Avengers (1963) #125, 141-143. 147-149, 174-177, 219-220

Marvel Team-Up #44

Marvel Two-in-One #62

The Defenders (1972) #123-124, 139, 141, 143-145, 152

Solo Avengers #16, 18, 20

Quasar #11-29

INFINITY WATCH & ONWARDS

Warlock & the Infinity Watch

Infinity War

Captain Marvel (1999)

Captain Marvel (2002)

GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY

Annihilation

Annihilation - Conquest: Prologue

Annihilation - Conquest: Quasar

Guardians of the Galaxy (2008) #9-13, 19-24

MODERN ERA

Infinity Wars

Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) #1-6

Guardians of the Galaxy (2020)

Iron Man (2020) #8

Captain Marvel (2019) #36

Marvel Pride (2022)

IN OTHER MEDIA (TV)

X-Men: The Animated Series S4E14, S4E15

[dailygotg]

I mean Death has lost.