#rover investigates

[research-rushhour]

[You can hear quiet giggles and clinks coming from the vents. Somethings watching you.]

@twilightzoneptero-r

"Oh! Now that's odd. It's definitely coming from those metal vents. Rust's inherited stretchiness isn't enough for me to reach that high though..."

[mindblowingscience]

NASA has cancelled its VIPER moon rover program due to rising costs.  VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was a robotic mission intended to land near the moon's south pole and spend 100 days scouting for lunar ice deposits. The rover was slated to launch in 2025 to the moon aboard an Astrobotic Griffin lander as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative (CLPS). Now, it appears VIPER will be scrapped for parts or potentially sold to industry.  The decision to axe the VIPER mission was announced today (July 17) in a teleconference; cancelling the program is expected to save the agency an additional $84 million in development costs. NASA has spent about $450 million on the program so far, not including launch costs.

Continue Reading.

[deep-space-netwerk]

So Venus is my favorite planet in the solar system - everything about it is just so weird.

It has this extraordinarily dense atmosphere that by all accounts shouldn't exist - Venus is close enough to the sun (and therefore hot enough) that the atmosphere should have literally evaporated away, just like Mercury's. We think Earth manages to keep its atmosphere by virtue of our magnetic field, but Venus doesn't even have that going for it. While Venus is probably volcanically active, it definitely doesn't have an internal magnetic dynamo, so whatever form of volcanism it has going on is very different from ours. And, it spins backwards! For some reason!!

But, for as many mysteries as Venus has, the United States really hasn't spent much time investigating it. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, sent no less than 16 probes to Venus between 1961 and 1984 as part of the Venera program - most of them looked like this!

The Soviet Union had a very different approach to space than the United States. NASA missions are typically extremely risk averse, and the spacecraft we launch are generally very expensive one-offs that have only one chance to succeed or fail.

It's lead to some really amazing science, but to put it into perspective, the Mars Opportunity rover only had to survive on Mars for 90 days for the mission to be declared a complete success. That thing lasted 15 years. I love the Opportunity rover as much as any self-respecting NASA engineer, but how much extra time and money did we spend that we didn't technically "need" to for it to last 60x longer than required?

Anyway, all to say, the Soviet Union took a more incremental approach, where failures were far less devastating. The Venera 9 through 14 probes were designed to land on the surface of Venus, and survive long enough to take a picture with two cameras - not an easy task, but a fairly straightforward goal compared to NASA standards. They had…mixed results.

Venera 9 managed to take a picture with one camera, but the other one's lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 10 also managed to take a picture with one camera, but again the other lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 11 took no pictures - neither lens cap deployed this time.

Venera 12 also took no pictures - because again, neither lens cap deployed.

Lotta problems with lens caps.

For Venera 13 and 14, in addition to the cameras they sent a device to sample the Venusian "soil". Upon landing, the arm was supposed to swing down and analyze the surface it touched - it was a simple mechanism that couldn't be re-deployed or adjusted after the first go.

This time, both lens caps FINALLY ejected perfectly, and we were treated to these marvelous, eerie pictures of the Venus landscape:

However, when the Venera 14 soil sampler arm deployed, instead of sampling the Venus surface, it managed to swing down and land perfectly on….an ejected lens cap.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

CNN — Japan’s “Moon Sniper” robotic explorer landed on the lunar surface, but the mission may end prematurely since the spacecraft’s solar cell is not generating electricity, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

The agency said it is currently receiving a signal from the lander, which is communicating as expected.

The uncrewed Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, mission landed just after 10:20 a.m. ET Friday (12:20 a.m. Saturday Japan Standard Time), according to telemetry data shared on JAXA’s live broadcast.

Currently, the lander is operating on limited battery power, only expected to last several hours.

The JAXA team is analyzing the data to determine the cause of the solar cell issue and the next steps for the lander.

It’s possible that the solar cell issue is due to the fact that the spacecraft is not pointing in the intended direction, JAXA officials said.

There is hope that as the solar angle changes on the moon, the solar cell may be able to charge again, but that may take some time and will depend on whether SLIM can survive the frigid lunar night, the team shared during a news conference.

The agency believes the mission has met the criteria to declare it a “minimum success,” because the spacecraft achieved a precise and soft lunar landing using optical navigation.

The touchdown makes Japan the third country this century — and the fifth ever — to land on the moon.

When asked to score the landing operation for SLIM, JAXA director general Dr. Hitoshi Kuninaka gave it a “60 out of 100,” while also mentioning that he is known for making “harsh comments.”

The team is also working to gather all of the scientific data obtained by the lander.

The lander was able to release its two lunar rovers, LEV-1 and LEV-2.

The LEV-1 rover moves using a hopping mechanism and is equipped with wide-angle visible light cameras, scientific equipment, and antennas that allow it to communicate with Earth.

And LEV-2, also outfitted with cameras, can change shape to move across the lunar surface.

The team is receiving a signal from LEV-1 and will see whether its cameras were able to capture any images.

JAXA officials said they will not definitively confirm the status of LEV-2 until more data is received.

The small-scale SLIM robotic explorer, which launched in September, goes by the nickname “Moon Sniper” because it carried new precision technology to demonstrate a “pinpoint” landing.

Previous lunar missions have been able to target and reach specific zones that spanned many kilometers, but the SLIM lander targeted a landing site that stretches just 100 meters (328 feet) across.

The lander’s “smart eyes” — an image-matching-based navigation technology — rapidly photographed the sloped lunar surface on approach and autonomously made adjustments as the spacecraft descended toward touchdown.

The JAXA team is still working to determine the accuracy of SLIM’s landing, which could take up to a month.

Moon Sniper’s journey

The Moon Sniper targeted a landing site near the small Shioli crater within a lunar plain called the Sea of Nectar that was created by ancient volcanic activity and lies just south of the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed in 1969.

The lander is designed to briefly study rocks at the site that could reveal insights into the moon’s origin.

When meteorites and other objects strike the moon, they create craters as well as rocky debris that litters the surface.

These rocks intrigue scientists because studying them is effectively like peering inside the moon itself.

Minerals and other aspects of the rocks’ composition can potentially shed more light on how the moon formed.

Landing near the sloped, rock-strewn areas around craters is a hazardous process that most missions usually avoid, but JAXA believes its lander has the technology to touch down safely on rocky terrain.

New space race

Multiple space agencies and countries have attempted moon landing missions over the past year, leading to a historic first as well as failures.

India became the fourth country — after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China — to execute a controlled landing on the moon when its Chandrayaan-3 mission arrived near the lunar south pole in August.

Meanwhile, Japanese company Ispace’s Hakuto-R lunar lander fell 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) before crashing into the moon during a landing attempt in April.

Russia’s Luna-25 also crash-landed in August during the country’s first attempt to return to the moon since the Soviet Union’s fall.

Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine spacecraft — the first US lunar lander to launch in five decades — met a fiery end Thursday after a critical fuel leak made safely landing on the moon out of the question.

Part of the motivation behind the new lunar space race is a desire to access water trapped as ice in permanently shadowed regions at the lunar south pole.

It could be used for drinking water or fuel as humanity pushes the bounds of space exploration in the future.

This region is riddled with craters and strewn with rocks, leading to narrow landing sites.

The lightweight SLIM lander might be an effective design that could not only land in small areas of interest on the moon but also on planets such as Mars, according to JAXA.

[gkonboard]

In this video, we bring you exciting news from ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)! Discover the latest groundbreaking mission on the moon with the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) on the Chandrayaan 3 Lander. Learn about how ILSA, utilizing cutting-edge Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, is recording vibrations caused by the Rover and other lunar payloads.

ILSA's primary mission is to detect and measure ground vibrations, including those caused by natural moonquakes, impacts, and human-made events. We'll share fascinating insights into the vibrations recorded during the Rover's navigation on August 25, 2023, as well as an intriguing event that appears natural, documented on August 26, 2023 – an event still under investigation by ISRO.

[lexirosewrites]

Ok hear me out the grammys r today & I am a swiftie

(PSA not Nancy Wheeler friendly & Billy Hargrove pops in like a jump scare but he's somehow better than Nancy??)

O!Steve loves his career, he gets to make music with his favorite producer & best friend ever B!Robin Buckley, he gets to tour his music around the world, his fans made it possible for him to pivot his career, & now he is free from the overbearing thumb of his previous record label. He's on top of the world, prepping to embark on his most ambitious & physically demanding tour of his career with a partner working on her own growing career in journalism

Then, Jonathan Byers messages him. He's a beta who works w A!Nancy Wheeler at her news network job where she's rising in the ranks as an investigative reporter. He confesses to Steve with evidence tht Nancy has been cheating on Steve w Jonathan for going on 3 months. Jonathan is ending things w Nancy & he felt Steve should know what Nancy has done & Jonathan emphasizes he feels terrible. Steve doesn't blame Jonathan necessarily, Steve is more upset w Nancy. So Steve breaks things off, gets professional movers to take all of her things out of his various apartments & homes & mail them all to her New York address all at once, gets her to give back every key she has, and Nancy doesn't even have the decency to pretend at remorse for how she's shattered him, just sneers & makes a remark abt him writing a song abt her as if the 5 years they were together meant nothing

Steve rebounds HARD

His begins his tour & decides to indulge in a relationship w blue eyed bad boy British actor Billy Hargrove, he's crass & abrasive & it ends like a car crash behind the closed doors of Steve's beloved Nashville apartment, but at least Billy parts w a statement tht shows the asshole is even more understanding than Nancy abt how Steve will write a song or 2 abt this

The show must go on & it does. It's during a break btwn cities tht his little step-brother Dustin sends him the link to a clip of a podcast

It's a group of 4 friends, two of them alphas, 1 a beta & 1 an omega man. 2 of them are involved in professional hockey. The podcast involves them playing d&d but they also chat for abt an hour at the start of every episode. The alpha Eddie Munson plays as star goalie of The Detroit Red Wings (a team his grandpa Otis cheers for) & the beta Felix calls plays from the box. While A!Jeff & O!Gareth both have lucrative careers in computer science & robotics. Gareth works w NASA & the Mars Rovers, no wonder Dustin likes the podcast his twerp of a brother is coworkers w Gareth

This particular clip is from the first hour of a recent episode & is abt how Eddie has been a not at all secret fan of Steve since his debut & how he got to see the tour when it stopped in Detroit & how it was the best show Eddie's ever seen. Eddie confesses he was a little sad to learn Steve isn't meeting anyone backstage during this tour as he puts himself on vocal rest as often as possible to maintain the ability to sing for 3 hours straight, because Eddie had a friendship bracelet he made with his number on it & he happily implies it was his phone number & the alpha graciously responds to the teasing abt having a long time celebrity crush on Steve

Steve is charmed

He only needs to send 2 messages to Dustin before he's sending a text to Eddie's personal number. They hit it off, they're both goofy in the same ways, Eddie is theatrical in a different but complimentary way, soon they're meeting up privately btwn stops on his tour & Eddie's prep for hockey season & then Steve is very publicly at a Red Wings game & soon after Eddie is in the very visible VIP tent at the New York show trading his own handmade bracelets w fans

& Steve ends the night w a lyric change he only told Robin about bc she's 50% of his impulse control just like he's 50% of her impulse control & they secretly recorded a remix of the encore song because they liked it so much. The lyric tht used to reference Nancy with "karma is the girl on the screen" is changed to "karma is the guy on the wings" which makes the crowd explode with noise

When the show is done Steve knows fans r waiting to see him exit the stadium waving one last goodbye for the night & he knows they see Eddie clearly waiting for Steve & tht they're all recording so he does something he's never done for a beau: he runs ahead of his security right into Eddie's arms & is swept into a kiss tht makes him feel like they're the only ppl in the world

The multiple videos from multiple angles go viral within minutes of posting & the internet descends into madness when the remix is dropped w the lyric change just 3 hours later, but Steve & Eddie r too busy cuddling in Steves nest in his NYC penthouse the both of them laughing at the ketchup blood in a bad slasher movie to care abt tht

biting both of them from happiness🥰

[starryficsfinishwen]

spring thief — xiangli yao x f!rover

(listen to this song while you're reading)

Peach blossoms usually sprout small buds.

A tiny, fragile thing. In spring when the tree blooms, its petals are perched on its branches, enclosed like hands in prayer. Sometimes they stay there, sometimes they fall onto the ground. When they do, awaiting hands always catch them, careful not to break them open.

While others believe its fragility is its downfall, only a few know of its true essence; waiting for the season when its pretty petals would open, the sweet smell dancing in the air. Xiangli Yao is no stranger to such occurrences, being a genius not only in the automotive field, but also in the nature of things. Watching a particular thing, glancing at sleepy eyes under the shade.

Like the peach blossom buds, somehow, you were there, too—waiting.

In the afternoon haze, a golden hour shade over the Academy, Xiangli Yao notices your sleeping figure.

Buried in the heaps of scrolls and papers, your head rested on your arms as you tried to nap. Albeit your workspace is plastered by the window overlooking the ocean, the blooming peach blossom as your source of shade—a good place for productivity, you claimed, being in touch with nature and your workplace—a few rays of sunshine still caresses your cheeks.

In hindsight, you looked like you were working hard with your head down. But between the Principal Investigator and you, the esteemed Rover of Jinzhou, you both knew it was far from that—a lazy weekday afternoon away from the pressure.

“I don't think you're faring any better,” Xiangli Yao chuckles at your nth attempt to block out the sun with the heaps of paperwork, “Shouldn't you move to another place, maybe, away from this?”

Fluttering your eyes open slowly, you pouted as you watch him lean to your predicament. “No...I don't want Baizhi to examine me again.”

“So you resorted to doing my paperwork.”

“Mhm...”

“...to which you tried to sleep on it.”

“Sorry!” You scrambled to sit up, tired eyes fighting to close again, “I promise I didn't drool over them.”

But Xiangli Yao gently places his hand over your head, lightly lowering it down back to the desk. “Honestly I don't mind, even if you drooled over them. Go back and take a nap.”

Helplessly, you followed his instruction, allowing yourself to relax in his hold. By the time your head had completely nestled back in your arms, you watched Xiangli Yao mimic your actions in the opposite direction. Resting his head on his robotic one, he tilts his head to meet your eyes.

“...Huh?”

Purple eyes glint in amusement. “I figured I'd share Mortefi's rage with you.”

You burst into fits of giggles. “Really? I thought you hated being scolded by Mortefi.”

Reflecting your joy, his smile makes his eyes close. “There are far more important things other than this paperwork.”

Using his free hand, he boops your nose. “Your sleep, for example.”

A comforting conversation between good friends. That was what you were to each other; despite the science of the unknown being in the way, Xiangli Yao guides you through it all, while you were there to be his muse in finding answers.

“I can't recall my sleep being as important as your paperwork.”

“Didn't you say Doctor Baizhi is preparing to examine you again?”

“I do, but I really just want a small break for now,” a small whine escapes your lips, “It hasn't been a week since the Moon-chasing festival.”

“True,” He hums, “Oh, it wasn't enough for you?”

Shifting your position so your chin is rested on your propped arm, you shake your head. “Of course not. I had so much fun...”

Your mind fondly remembers the event—bright lights, the moon, loud laughter, and the warmth of a familiar hand. Trailing to meet the same purple eyes in your memory, ones that looked at you, mirroring you.

At some point, before you could even say anything else, there was an irregular knock behind you. Looking back, you watched the peach blossoms sway with the wind as they fall to the ground, the flurry of flowers turns into a storm. Bracing yourself from the impact, you quickly try to shield the both of you, but a warm hand stops you.

“Oh, it must be time.” Xiangli Yao speaks as if this occurrence was something natural.

Looking back at him, you said, “Are you sure this isn't a storm?”

“It's pretty normal, to me at least.” He shrugs, “If you think about it, was there anything normal in Solaris-3 at this point?”

He makes sense. Relaxing in his hold, you mutter, “But still, it's so new to me.”

“I've always seen it happen whenever it's almost summer.” Xiangli Yao stands up and approaches the window. The flurry of flowers is still there. “It means that it's coming.”

Opening the window, the fresh scent of the tree almost drowns you. A few small petals and buds enter through the opening, landing on your lap and hands. Watching the man in front of you catch a few flowers in his robotic hand, a fond look in his gaze.

“Have you ever heard of the story of how trees, even as old as this one, can still bloom despite the years?”

Gently taking the buds in your hand, you glanced at the man, “No, what was it about?”

“Jinzhou may be young, but the trees have long been around even before its birth. And they only knew of our ancestors' love, a love that resonated so long, that it echoes even until now.”

Some buds and petals litter your hand. There was a tiny one, resting not too far from your pinky finger, so you pick it up. “And...?”

“My mother tells me that the reason why the peach trees here still continue to bloom,” He sighs, before a smile graces his lips, “It's because of love.”

The buds in your lap, as if listening to Xiangli Yao's words, slowly bloom in your touch. In awe, you continue to touch the blossoming buds, the tacet mark in your hand slightly glowing, “My mother believes that the resonator who can make the flowers bloom is a 'spring thief'.”

All of the buds in your lap have fully bloomed. Yet, the tiniest one in your hand hasn't. You triy to touch it, in every angle, but still, it hasn't. You look up to see Xiangli Yao's tacet mark in his robotic arm glow. The words are clear to you.

“The harbinger of summer. But they should also be driven with the same motivation for it to happen.”

Purple eyes find yours when he turns on his back. Walking toward you, Xiangli Yao kneels in front of you, reaching out for the one in your hand.

“The 'Spring Thief' has to be in love, too.”

With your combined touch, the tiniest bud blooms, with the sweetest smell and being the prettiest among them all. And Xiangli Yao, like that night, looks at you—fondly, softly, and only you.

Have you ever looked at Xiangli Yao this way? Have you ever noticed how pretty he was, drenched in the golden hour glow, the flurry of blossoms dancing outside? The sun's rays mimic a tacet cord, haloing over his head, capturing his face like an angel. Perhaps he is an angel, having spent his mortal days walking on Earth. And his words, honey and true, have long been clear to you.

“I-” The words choke you, but still you can't look away.

“I'm not asking for your immediate answer, [Y/N].” He brightly muses, “In any case, I'm sure that summer is coming.”

Taking your hand in his, bringing it to his sweet lips, he whispers, “The 'Spring Thief' has come to bring summer once more.”

Peach Blossoms have the sweetest bloom this season.

I'm down bad for this man, I love him

COME HOME OKAY??? I LOVE YOU XIANGLI YAO

p.s. I had a dream of my potential crush so this scenery was the inspo

— starry

[justanotherfluffreader]

what happens at the sleepover, may not stay at the sleepover

-- in which you let your new friends in on a secret... and xiangli yao hears something he wasn't meant to --

characters -> xiangli yao x gn!reader (ft. chixia, yangyang, baizhi) <-

content -> fluff, lowkey pining <-

warnings -> may be ooc (i only read main questline + moonchasing festival), minor spoilers for moonchasing festival quests, cursing (1 time) <-

wc -> 0.9k <-

a/n -> a random writing i wanted to do to celebrate the moonchasing festival + release of my favorite robot guy :) | reader is a rover insert <-

4:13 AM / Baizhi's apartment / Jinzhou, Huanglong

"Soooooo..." your red-haired friend started, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. You, Yangyang, Chixia, and Baizhi were sprawled out on the floor of Baizhi's bedroom. After hours of laughing, chatting, and typical sleepover activities, the four of you were almost ready to sleep. The sun was going to be up in just over an hour, but a certain Patroller was still full of energy. "Any of you.. ya'know, interested in anyone lately?"

As she said this, you felt a suspiciously sharp gaze coming from across the room. You picked your head up from your pillow, just in time to see Baizhi's eyes shift to stare at the ceiling.

"Hey, what was that about?" you asked, half-joking, but half-serious. "Have something you want to share with the group?"

She shivered. "Please, don't ever say that again. You sounded just like my old professor at the Academy just now."

The four of you laughed, but there was just one thought going through your mind. "Does she know...?"

"Oh, come on! I'm sure at least one of you has your eye on somebody... Yangyang?"

"Um... nobody in particular." Despite having "nobody in mind", her face flushed and a light pink began to appear on her cheeks. Nevertheless, Yangyang had always been somewhat secretive when it came to romance, so you decided to just let her be.

"Baizhi? C'mon, we all saw that look you gave Y/N."

Her long, black hair seemed to ripple as she fervently shook her head. "Don't tell me you're serious. I spend most of my time at the Academy, and falling for a co-worker is just asking for trouble. Besides, there aren't any good options there anyways."

You could feel your eye twitch slightly at her last words. "No good options? Are you sure?"

"Seems like our dear Y/N begs to differ. Go on, surely there must be someone you've got your eye on?" Chixia egged you on.

You sighed. "Fine... if you insist. Have you met Xiangli Yao?"

"WHAT???" the others looked at you in shock, almost screaming.

You looked absolutely mortified. "Keep it down! You're going to wake people up!"

"...He's good, right?"

"You mean the Principal Investigator? How do you know him?" Yangyang wondered aloud.

"Ohh, I get it. Wasn't he that guy you kept talking to at the festival?" Chixia reasoned.

"Yeah... we did meet at the festival. We've been talking for the past few days, and he's been so sweet and caring. He's gentle, and smart, and his voice is so soothing, not to mention his looks..."

You went on and on, and the other three exchanged a knowing glance.

"Oh Y/N... you're so in love with him."

Realizing how much you had been talking, you could feel heat rushing to your cheeks.

"Fuck." You put your head in your hands. "I really do love him."

4:25 AM / Xiangli Yao's apartment / Jinzhou, Huanglong

Finally, it was time for Xiangli Yao to go to sleep. Working on a new research paper, he had been working almost entirely through the night, and by the time he realized the time it was too late to take more than a long nap.

He yawned, shuffling over to the other side of his bedroom to turn off the lights. Sliding into bed, he closed his eyes and prepared to rest. All of a sudden, he heard a shriek from the room below him.

"WHAT???"

...Hm. One of those voices sounded familiar, and that was when it hit him. The room above him belonged to Baizhi, a fellow researcher at the Academy. More importantly to him, though, was that she was one of your close friends since your arrival in Jinzhou. Worried, he sat up, debating whether or not to go check up on her.

"These walls are definitely thin... likely not a sign of danger, Jinzhou is rather safe, perhaps just shock? But at what?"

He would have just gone right back to sleep, had he not heard your voice.

"Keep it down! You're going to wake people up!"

Oh, your voice. He loved the way you spoke, from sweet, rich tone of your voice to the way you pronounced every syllable. Even then, your panicked voice sounded the way honey tastes.

He was intrigued. As much as he scolded himself for being too nosy, he desperately wanted-- no, needed-- to know what sounded like a secret of yours.

Gently pressing his ear to the floor, he tried to listen for a hint as to what you were discussing in the room below.

"...the Principal Investigator?"

That was the moment he realized that you were talking about him. The researcher pushed his head closer into the floor. He reasoned that if you were talking about him, secretly, then perhaps...

Perhaps he really would have a chance.

All throughout the Moon-chasing Festival, you had been by his side, helping him uncover the meaning of people's wishes, including his own. Maybe it was the time you had spent together, or the fact that you now knew so much about him and his life, but he couldn't help but be attracted to you.

He listened closely, pink spreading across his face and heart racing as he heard you ramble about everything about him. By the end of it, Xiangli Yao was lying on the floor with a huge grin on his face.

"Oh, Y/N... if only you knew. I'm in love with you, too."

Part 2? lmk

as always thanks for reading <3

[blanceyblance]

A study on Lance's underrated role on the team. Pt 4

Pidge

It is a common interpretation to see Pidge and Lance's relationship as very sibling like, and I can see why.

Since the very first episode we see Lance being very perceptive of her.

It is funny how bossy Lance is in the simulator, but he does care about his team following safety measures.

After they crash the simulator and Iverson badmouths the Kerberos Mission crew, Lance prevents Pidge from going off and getting in more trouble.

And this ends with him in the end of Iverson's irritation, reminding him he is in this class because the best pilot left. This visibly affects him but later we see he doesn't harbor any ill feelings against his team.

He plans on taking Pidge with them for a fun night in town, and he is being a rebellious teen here but also keeps mentioning how important it is for the trio to bond as a team.

Later in the roof, is his observation about Pidge's strong reactions to any mention of Kerberos and his insistance that they need to bond as a team that convince Pidge to tell then about what she was investigating.

And it may seem that Lance is using the "team bonding" as a excuse to just hang out but it is something he mentions constantly and Pidge has noticed it. We see in a flashback of Pidge's first meeting with them that Lance was eager to welcome them into the team and get to know their new member.

And even if Pidge blew them off quite rudely, Lance still tried to include them.

In the comics, Pidge mentions "team work" and "team awareness" as some of Lance's strenghts. So Lance being heavily team oriented has not gone unnoticed by her.

Back in the topic of perception, the rooftop was not the only moment we had of Lance being observant of Pidge's behaviour.

In the Game Show, Lance had trouble recalling Rolo's name, but had the detail that Pidge liked Beezer very present.

And it's Lance's awareness of Pidge's behaviour and her absence around Rover that made him realise that robot was an impostor.

Speaking of "The Fall of the Castle of Lions", is in that episode where Pidge reveals she is thinking of leaving Voltron, and while she is the one with a made up mind Hunk also expresses his desire to leave and being unsure of being in the team. Allura herself says "This team is falling apart." It takes Lance getting hurt for the team to spring to action and that helps both of the members being hesitant in staying reach an understanding of the importance of being a Paladin. Pidge in particular since she realises she has not being present for her team that much (Lance and Hunk) but she is willing to help them now.

Even by accident, Lance helps the team stay together.

This episode also has the moment where a hurt and weak Lance shots Sendak to get him to drop Pidge. Later it's implied that Lance doesn't remember this moment, so he was barely conscious.

Again, a barely conscious and weak Lance decided to use his remaining strenghts to help his friend in peril.

This is not the only moment we see Lance being protective of Pidge, in later seasons, where the team gets captured by Zethrid and Ezor. To get them to talk, Zethrid assumes the paladins have a soft spot for "the small one".

She is right, but the first (and only one) to react in that moment is Lance.

We also see this protectiveness in more subtle ways, in the episodes where they are talking about the possibility of getting Sam Holt back.

At first he looks on board with giving Lotor because of his personal grievances with him, but then understands how serious Pidge is about this and even looks a worried at her outburst.

And then, when Zarkon double crosses them and doesn't give Sam back, Lance is the first to react and tells the team to go down and help.

Lance just really dislikes seeing his friends in any kind of distress.

And I know I said Keith and Allura's parts were going to be the longest but turns out that the 10 pic limit is still my enemy and there is still some things I want to talk about related to Lance and Pidge interactions.

[Masterpost] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7]

[notashadowbutawave]

ITV's Vera is really an ideal female fantasy:

she inherited a cottage by the sea on an island which is only reachable at low tide

she gardens and has whisky

she's probably smashing Malcolm, the forensic investigator (I'll die on this hill) but she has no man or kids in the house

very good at her job

Land Rover

comfortable dresses and practical boots

bucket hats

gets to call people "pet" and "love"

bacon sandwiches

did I mention she lives on an island

anyway i want to be her

[mysticstronomy]

DID MARS EVER CONTAIN WATER??

Blog#428

Saturday, August 17th, 2024.

Welcome back,

While the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn contain water, Mars remains dry. Despite dozens of space missions, the Red Planet has yet to provide convincing proof that it conceals significant water reserves beneath its surface.

Yet Earth's little cousin hasn't always been so secretive. Various studies have shown that a little over 4 billion years ago, it experienced a "watery" era when lakes, rivers and perhaps even oceans could maintain themselves on its soil. Branching valleys and ancient terrains rich in hydrated clays are evidence of this blissful period of abundance.

Subsequently, the loss of part of the Martian atmosphere led to a reduction in the greenhouse effect followed by a gradual disappearance of water. The question is how long this process lasted and under what conditions. This is what the American Space Agency's (NASA) Curiosity and Perseverance spacecraft have been trying to establish since their arrival in 2012 and 2021 in the Gale and Jezero craters.

"Lakes occupied these depressions 3.5 or 3.6 billion years ago," explained Nicolas Mangold, a director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in Nantes.

By studying the sedimentary and clay deposits left by the former and exploring the ancient river delta that fed the latter, the aim is to determine whether the climate at the time was wet and cold, or dry and hot. The Perseverance rover is also collecting samples, to be brought back to Earth as part of the MSR mission [Mars Sample Return, NASA-European Space Agency (ESA)]. They should provide precise information."

For the moment, things are hazy. If water has flowed on Mars, where has it gone? Was it sucked up into space with the Martian atmosphere or did some of it remain on site, buried underground? Many teams around the world are working to find answers by searching for clues to its presence other than those offered by polar ice caps and glaciers.

As water cannot remain in a liquid state for long on the surface of Mars, these investigations often consist of spotting recent traces of its passage using instruments placed in orbit. This opens the way to all kinds of controversy about how to interpret observations of this world, whose morphology is radically different from that of Earth. "Some of these controversies, such as those concerning gullies – ravines 1 or 2 kilometers long, discovered by the hundreds along certain landforms in the early 2000s – have finally been settled," said Susan Conway, a CNRS researcher at the Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in Nantes.

Her team recently demonstrated in the journal Nature Communications that seasonal deposits of dry ice explain the phenomenon, and not water flows.

Other clues continue to fuel debate and even controversy among scientists. The nature of "equatorial dark flows," the background noise of radar signals suggesting the existence of an underground sea beneath the North Cap, the presence of possible channels in the ejecta of impact craters and the hypothetical formation of "rides" in areas of glacial retreat. If water exists on Mars, it is well camouflaged.

Why not deep underground, frozen in the cryosphere? Or preserved in liquid form in aquifers, or inside the thin film of perchlorate brine that supposedly exists at the base of the permafrost that covers Mars at high latitudes? The Marsis and Sharad radars of the Mars Express (ESA) and MRO (NASA) probes have pinpointed promising regions. And when NASA's Phoenix lander dug a few centimeters into the frozen ground just after it arrived in 2008, it immediately uncovered blocks of water ice – a further reason for hypothesis and speculation.

Originally published on https://www.lemonde.fr

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, August 21st, 2024)

"DID LIFE EXIST ON VENUS??"

[socialjusticeinamerica]

“Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the ranking member on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio Thursday night demanding answers and documents relating to the State Department's possible purchase of $400 million worth of armored Tesla Cybertrucks from the company run by Elon Musk.”

🖕🖕🖕

The assholes who are against electric vehicles suddenly want to equip the federal government with them. All from Elon Muskrats shitty Tesla company of course.

Americans think anything with a big price tag must be batter and also equates high prices with prestige. Tesla’s cars have a fraction of of the performance capabilities and longevity of any other electric car (or hybrid) sold in the USA. But Tesla markets them as luxury cars so every pretentious asshole wants them.

For the record Audi, BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz, Mini, and Porsche all sell luxury electric cars in the US and they last longer and outperform Tesla. For ordinary people Toyota’s electric and hybrids are much safer and longer lasting and parts/sevice is readily available in all areas of the country. Nissan and Volkswagen are also known for quality electric and hybrids that are quite popular and there’s many other companies selling reliable non-exploding models in the US. There’s no reason to support Felonious Musk and this deal is clearly a conflict of interest that is overtly corrupt.

Trump/Musk/DOGE aren’t ending government corruption, they’re replacing it with their own personal corruption.

[lexosaurus]

[16:14] WATNEY: A teenage ghost appeared in the Hab. [16:25] JPL: Inside the Hab? How did that happen? Mark, these are extremely dangerous creatures. They are classified as semi-sentient and they are extremely territorial. DO NOT ENGAGE. [16:36] WATNEY: He opened a portal directly in the middle of the Hab, bypassing all shields. He said his name is Phantom. He seems friendly. [16:47] JPL: Standby while we contact the ecto-specialists. [17:12] JPL: The Ghost Investigation Ward has been contacted. They said that Phantom is a rogue level 7 ectoentity who has taken over the city of Amity Park, Illinois. Very aggressive, and extremely manipulative. DO NOT ENGAGE. Repeat. DO NOT ENGAGE.   [17:23] WATNEY: No, we're buddies now. [17:34] JPL: Mark, this is Venkat Kapoor. DO NOT engage with the ectoentity further. It is advised that you exit the Hab and go to Rover 2 while we devise a plan of action to remove Phantom from the Hab. [17:45] WATNEY: No need.  [17:56] JPL: That is an order. [18:07] WATNEY: Should have thought about that before you left me on Mars. [18:07] WATNEY: He said he came here to rescue me but messed up and now he's stuck on Mars too. [18:08] WATNEY: He also wanted me to tell you to tell the GIW to go f*** themselves. He said, “Especially Operatives O and K. They can go f*** themselves twice.” 

(My favorite excerpt from my Danny Phantom x The Martian fic The Phantom Martian on ao3!)

[mstormcloud]

More fankids!! Both because they are genuinely fun to make and give lore to but also because I made Mirai and then wanted to make sure she had friends!

Aster is designed by my friend Duetland!! (The last art is by them!!) They aren’t on tumblr but you can find him on Instagram @duetland :)

Lore for each of them under the cut! (LONG POST WARNING!!!!)

Gold and Aster:

Shadow and Sonics kids. They’re twins (with Aster being older). Both were babysat by Tails a lot and ended up picking up a lot of stuff from him as well as their parents. Gold became more responsible and significantly more polite (far more than either of his parents lmao) meanwhile Aster became interested in robotics. Specifically those related to space like rockets or planet rovers.

When the two were born there was immediate concern about their power imbalance. Aster was born with no powers at all, meanwhile Gold’s chaos energy was so high Shadow feared he would burn himself up unless something was done. Due to them being twins, it essentially ended up where instead of two moderately powerful hedgehogs - Gold got enough power for two while Aster has none. This leads Aster to resent Gold, less because she actually wants superpowers but more because Sonic and Shadow are always fussing over Gold (to make sure his powers aren’t harming him) and she feels like her parents don’t care for her. Causing her to push them out even more. She listens to Shadow more than Sonic, but they don’t end up talking through all this properly until Espio gets involved since unlike Sonic and Shadow who had powers all their lives - Espio had to teach himself his abilities and is able to empathize with Aster more.

3. Rhine

Rouge and Knuckles’ child. I’ve thought about her way less WHOOPS but!! Despite not being an echidna he looks up to his father a lot and promises to be the best guardian of the master emerald he can possibly be. Has a habit of just picking up shiny things like a magpie and will turn them into jewelry. Is blunt and gullible like her father but likes thinking things through before she moves. Uses the shovel claws more as weapons than actual shovels - he’s a bit of a neat freak.

Mirai and Gummy:

Mirais story is on my previous post! Not much has been added since then other than that I’ve decided she’s a bit of a troublemaker and very energetic, sarcastic, silly and kinda stupid. As for Gummy he’s about 7 years younger than Mirai, and I haven’t quite figured out what he’d be interested in yet haha

Eli and Anchor:

These two are half siblings! Eli’s parents are Amy and Metal. While investigating the ruins of a disaster, Amy and Metal find a child who who had been incredibly injured. They happen to be closer to Eggmans new hideout (where he has retired and is just kinda pouting by himself forever) than anywhere else - the two break in and force Eggman to help them save the child. Since the current Metal is Amy’s size, there were several smaller models for when he was “younger” - Eggman uses one of these scrapped smaller Metals to give the child cybernetic parts and saves their life. Amy and Metal then take the child back to their house and raise it as their own, with Eggman forcing them to bring Eli over frequently so he can see his grandchild.

Anchor is the child of Blaze and Amy! I’m just letting Amy be poly I think she has a lot of love in her heart and now she has two wifes. Anchor lives the Sol kingdom, and takes after her aunt Marine quite a bit with her love for adventure and especially sailing! When she was young, much like Blaze, she was brought before the Sol emeralds and blessed with a power. I feel like she’d be able to control / harness winds rather than fire though - to help with her sailing.

If you read all of this - thanks!! You didn’t have to but it was very nice of you!

[ghostatrandom]

Dont ask me what the hell am I doing drawing my rewrite of fnafhs in this cursed year of 2024 just accept that I'm paying reparations to my inner child and that's it

Basically I changed a lot of the setup of the original series, now being based around the mid 80's era, with the group being into the paranormal and investigating haunted places around town, all of them labeling themselfs as "seekers of the occult"

Annabeth Chester (Chica) is the rumor seeker, being the main face of the club and getting all the info about the places they visit

Bonifacio Scolaidhe (Bonnie) is the knowledge seeker, he is the one that knows all about different kinds of spirits and the paranormal

Aiden Rover (Foxy) is not a seeker, he doesn’t really care about this stuff but he cares about Chica so he is the cameraman

Frederick Fitzgerald (Freddy) is the spirit seeker, having a connection to beings from the spiritual plane (and later getting Fred trapped inside his body)

They weren't allowed to make a paranormal club, so they decided to make a fake music club and just pretend to be practicing music just to keep doing their investigations.

If you wanna learn more about it you can send an ask so I can draw and ramble more about it please god I so wanna talk about it-

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Wednesday

SpaceTime 20250402 Series 28 Episode 40

Largest organic molecules found on Mars

Scientists analyzing pulverized rock using NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover have discovered the largest organic compounds ever seen on Red Planet -- and could be the remnants of fatty acids.

Parker Solar Probe survives its close encounter with the Sun

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has just survived another close encounter with the Sun swooping to within 6.1 million kilometres of the solar surface.

Earliest days of Earth’s formation may have been very different from what we thought

Scientists have found that planet Earth’s lower mantle may have been formed under very different dynamics than what had originally been hypothesised, with evidence of low pressure rather than high pressure crystallisation.

The Science Report

Study warns that the amount of dissolved oxygen in the world's lakes has declined profoundly since 2003.

The golden key to being healthy in old age.

Scientists have developed a way of purifying urban wastewater

Alex on Tech: something better than lithium-ion batteries

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. That compares to the ABC’s overall radio listenership of just 5.6 per cent. The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.