#viper mission

[africa-space-com]

The search for lunar ice: implications for future missions

Humanity has always gazed at the moon with wonder. Our fascination isn't just with its beauty but also with its potential to help us explore deeper into space. One key element in this quest is the search for lunar ice. Finding ice on the moon can change the future of space exploration in remarkable ways.

Why lunar ice matters

Water is essential for life, but it's also crucial for space missions. Water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, the main components of rocket fuel. This means lunar ice could provide not just drinking water for astronauts but also fuel for spacecraft, making moon missions cheaper and more efficient. Instead of carrying heavy water supplies from Earth, future missions could "live off the land," using resources found on the moon itself.

Where to find lunar ice

Lunar ice is most likely to be found in permanently shadowed regions at the moon's poles. These areas are incredibly cold, with temperatures dropping to around -250 degrees Fahrenheit (-157 degrees Celsius). The cold traps water in the form of ice. Recent missions, like NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and India's Chandrayaan-2, have provided strong evidence of ice in these dark craters.

The challenges ahead

Finding lunar ice is one thing; extracting and using it is another. The extreme cold in the shadowed regions poses a significant challenge. Any equipment used to harvest the ice must withstand these harsh conditions. Additionally, the moon's surface is covered in a fine, powdery dust called regolith, which can interfere with machinery.

Future missions and technologies

NASA's Artemis program aims to land the next astronauts on the moon by 2024. One of its goals is to locate and utilize lunar resources, including ice. Robots and rovers will likely be the first to explore these icy regions, gathering data and testing extraction methods. This robotic groundwork will pave the way for human explorers.

New technologies are being developed to tackle these challenges. For example, scientists are working on special drills that can operate in extreme cold and devices that can extract water from regolith. These innovations are crucial for making lunar ice a reliable resource.

Broader implications

The implications of finding and using lunar ice extend beyond the moon. If we can successfully harness lunar ice, it sets a precedent for using resources on other celestial bodies, like Mars. This capability is essential for long-term human presence in space. It could lead to the establishment of lunar bases and even fuel depots that support missions to Mars and beyond.

The search for lunar ice is more than a scientific quest; it’s a pivotal step in humanity’s journey into the cosmos. By finding and using lunar ice, we can make space exploration more sustainable and open up new possibilities for future missions. The moon, once just a distant beacon in our night sky, may soon become a vital resource hub for our ventures into the final frontier.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

probably shouldn’t be laughing about this, but…

eubzlabakVia HAhfHahahHahhHayAH

THE JP SERVERS ARE OVERLOADED AGAIN 😭 First it was Jamil, now Ace…

I-Is this just going to become the new norm for every Relaxing in Room birthday… OTL

[wisted-twonderland]

seven minutes in hell

[sky-scribbles]

They have Ashur.

Tarquin runs, lungs burning, breath lurching, his robes soaked through with rain and Venatori blood. His shield-arm screams with pain from a firebolt he didn’t entirely dodge. He ignores it all, hurtling through streets and over rooftops, heedless of the fact that he’s wearing his Shadow Dragon getup in stark daylight; that a bloodied man with a sword charging through Dock Town is drawing stares and probably more fucking Venatori. Tarquin cannot give two shits right now about who sees him, or who follows him, because they have Ashur.

They’ll unmask him, in front of the whole city, the whole Imperium. They’ll kill him slow. They’ll hang his body on the walls, like the Magisters of old used to do to traitors and cowards. Because Ashur decided to slip away and try to bring down a pack of blood mages alone, even though he’s eaten up with Blight. Because he didn’t tell Tarquin.

Didn’t say shit. Slipped away from their safehouse while Tarquin was out getting food. Didn’t even give Tarquin a chance to stop him, or to come along.

They have Ashur.

(Keep reading on AO3)

[wardensantoineandevka]

poking around the wiki, turns out it IS stated directly that the Viper is the Imperial Divine, in a note during The Tempered Soul, Everlasting. Well, it says rumored but y'know.

[funeralprocessor]

I feel like the existence of the skirmishers (and everything from Chimera Squad) make XCOM come across as massive pricks wrt the aliens. Like the game goes out of its way to dehumanize the aliens (exclusively referring to them as it, saying their all brainwashed and mind controlled, etc) but then turn around and have ex-Advent be people who were at least aware during their time as drones, vipers and sectoids and mutons being obviously sentient and having their own culture, hell, the Ethereals are clearly people too. And then Chimera Squad shows us a future where they're actually treated as such and nobody makes as big a deal about it as I think they should.

[thismission]

[sleepyorchidmonster]

So, a thing that has always bugged me ever since I learned about TWST is its connection to Kingdom Hearts.

It was literally released MONTHS after Re:Mind, with a plot of a character crossing worlds, ink monsters similar to Heartless, and a Mickey in the mirror that makes everyone think of his KH version.

I just find it funny. Maybe they're waiting for TWST to end so it can show up in KH4?

Maybe we'll see NRC and its world fall into darkness in the end, only to meet a few familiar faces later on...

My main idea is Sora meeting at least the dorm leaders + Jamil and Ortho in Quadratum. They are all friends, but no one remembers NRC. Then, as part of the tutorial, Sora has to "regain his connection to the Disney Worlds" by befriending the teenagers based on their villains, be it by playing games with Idia or studying with Riddle. The final boss would be Grim, then, with an actual fight. Or we just buy tuna cans.

However, Sora accidentally gains a bunch of older siblings that come along when he leaves Quadratum (Sora is roughly the same age as the first years, so of course the dormheads would look out for him).

The gang then stays at Traverse Town, though they sometimes help out and even try becoming keyblade wielders.

Let's hope they don't meet the Great Seven, though.

[radioactivepeasant]

Free Day Friday: Viper continuation

Picking up from Here

Thrax scarcely recognized the city anymore. In the five years since his banishment for questioning the research into dark eco, he'd sort of assumed nothing would change, not really. But the Haven he crept through now was barely half of what he'd left behind. The slums were gone, replaced by gleaming modern architecture and locked behind force fields. He'd thought it was to keep the displaced rabble out until he saw the first metalhead lounging on a filthy street corner. Until he saw the crushed remains of the Stadium, the Grand Hotel, the museum-! The Palace District of Main Town was destroyed.

How far Praxis must have fallen before the end! Thrax found himself, to his surprise, hoping the old fool had met a hideous death at the hands of Damas’s pet demon. The count was right, he was an abomination, but that was more Praxis's fault than the monster's, to his mind. Praxis made it out of some kid who didn't get a say in the matter. In his own way, Thrax felt sorry for Jak. But sympathy for demons didn't get you far in life.

Bitterly cursing the cold, Thrax pulled his scarf higher and found himself turning down an alley in search of things to burn. He should have been home by now. Well, not home, his old penthouse from his days in the Guard had a support beam impaling the top three floors now. Somewhere better, perhaps, in New Haven. He'd even have accepted military barracks if it came with the proper pay and respect! That had been the promise, that was to be his reward: all that Praxis had stripped from him restored. And all he'd had to do was kill that weakling Damas.

Only, Damas wasn't a weakling anymore. He was as harshly pragmatic as Praxis had ever been. Ruler of a land of barbarians! It was madness! Honestly, Thrax would have been relieved to have Haven destabilize and assume control of the city. But now...now, he doubted Haven had anything close to the manpower that would require. No wonder assassination had been suggested instead!

And he'd failed, pure and simple.

Thrax was no fool, he knew his glorious homecoming was contingent on him holding up his end of the bargain. Still, he couldn't help a sullen thought that he might have succeeded if Veger hadn't sent the monster straight to Damas’s doorstep like a housewarming present.

There were two other people huddled around a barrel at the end of the alley, burning garbage for warmth. They didn't acknowledge him at first, until the light flickered off his tattoos. One of them swore and kicked at him.

"Get out of here!" The kick unbalanced him and his friend caught his elbow. "KG scum! Metal-lover! Go back to hell!"

Something grated high above their heads. The sound of a boot on a slate shingle. Even with the heat of the fire in his face, Thrax suddenly felt cold. What forgotten instinct warned him not to look up? That he had no time to look?

The shingles cracked.

Thrax ran.

For once, he was grateful for the grueling, brutal training Damas forced candidates to endure before he allowed them to enter the desert alone. A Havenite -- gods, when had he stopped thinking of himself as a Havenite? -- would never have been able to clear the fallen masonry, or the burnt-out husks of hellcats that littered the streets. A mantis-head took a swipe at him from the shadows of a fallen archway, and Thrax lost his footing as he dodged.

He landed hard, skidding down a short drop that had once been part of the road. In the two seconds required to pick himself up, Thrax saw what his instincts had been warning him about.

The monster. The child-soldier. Jak.

He leapt from the awning of what used to be a racing memorabilia shop, landing with a predatory grace that momentarily froze Thrax. His creepy talking Teacup Mine-rat hunched on his shoulder -- everyone said there was no such thing as Mine-rats having a teacup breed, but they were the only animal he'd ever seen with those proportions and that nauseating shade of orange -- watching him with those beady little eyes. In an almost careless move, the rat pointed out the mantis-head that had knocked Thrax down. The monster shot it in the head after only glancing in its direction.

The spell was broken. Thrax ran down the cracked and sunken crater that the road had become, desperately scanning the horizon for a place to hide. He was too far from New Haven -- not that the elite would have any compunction to help him when he'd failed his mission -- and he could see metalheads and those Krimzon robots blocking many of the avenues he could have used for escape. Stopping to shoot them would give the monster time to catch up.

Thrax knew what the abomination was capable of. He'd seen what happened to his co-conspirator. Dropped like a stone as they tried to flee, obsidian claws buried in the base of their skull while watched by the pitiless eyes of whatever evil spirit the boy had become. Would those same claws paralyze him, too? Drag him back to the desert to die or worse? Or would death be swift?

No, no he couldn't think like that. He had to escape. He had to hope for a way to kill the thing. Thrax charged into another alley, hoping against hope that a door would be open or unlocked. If he could get inside, his chances of survival would dramatically increase.

The Precursors, however, did not favor him that day.

The alley ended at a wall of twisted rebar and half melted plastics, fused together with foul acids secreted by the metalheads. A panicked whine escaped Thrax's throat as he whirled, already knowing what would be behind him.

But there was nothing.

That did not calm his nerves. Where was the creature? Thrax's eyes rolled back and forth, scanning every shadow. His breath came in shallow pants as he backed up, fumbling for his morph gun.

Then came the sound of boots on shingles again.

He had forgotten to look up.

Jak dropped silently, driving his knee into the fugitive's back. Thrax fell with a cry, gun clattering from his hand and onto the ruined cobblestones. He was under no obligation to bring Thrax back alive -- they'd gotten most of the information they needed out of the monk, Nadab. Damas had given him explicit permission to kill the would-be assassin if the situation warranted it. But at the same time, Jak had a suspicion. He was catching on to a greater trend of treachery within Haven, and he had a feeling Thrax knew who was behind it. All he needed was confirmation.

"Do your worst, abomination," Thrax gasped, clawing for any shred of courage he had left. "I do not fear death."

"Captain."

Thrax faltered. "What?"

Jak flipped him over so that their eyes met. His eyes were cold, and in the darkness, Thrax wondered in a daze how they could look so much like Damas’s.

"It's Captain Abomination. If you're going to insult me, do it properly."

The rat snickered and nudged his head encouragingly.

"Now you have a very small window of opportunity here," Jak growled. "You tell me who put Nadab in contact with you, and you get a chance to give up your beacon with a shred of honor intact. If you have a shred of honor left."

"This is a limited time offer," Daxter warned.

Trembling, Thrax repeated, "I do not fear death!"

Jak smiled, but there was no humor in it.

"Yes you do."

He was right.

[bearsinpotatosacks]

It's interesting how my interpretation of Star Trek has changed since I got into Top Gun and ER. Because, in AOS, it's hilarious how Jim is a captain at 26 when the daggers are in their thirties and are still all lieutenants (yes I know starfleet isn't a one to one parallel but it's navy inspired and a pseudomilitary organisation but mixed with nasa).

And ER has helped my knowledge of medicine, at least how it's shown in the media. Bones and Mark Greene are like for like. They're both doctors who work long hours, their wives are lawyers, they have a daughter they end up having a complicated relationship with and their wife cheats on them.

While Top Gun helped my knowledge of how starfleet would work, ranks, missions, as well as a star trek au of course, ER helped me with my idea of what sickbay is like, and the technology available. Also why does TOS sickbay have 4 beds for a 400 person crew?

My version of Bones is more mellowed out too, whereas before I made him chronically overworked. He now just has 'tired but good at his job' energy

[moonstonecanyon]

(02/12/2024).

Oh my god I finally finished a ref for Jagged after 2000 years of struggling please be proud of me sobs

[best-titan-7274]

Of all the bossfights of titanfall 2, which one is ur fav

Asks that made me google the boss fights in TF2 😂

Ash was my favourite but that's half because I loved that entire factory section of the game. I had a great time with all the bosses except for Viper, he always kicks my ass like four times before I blow that fucker out of the sky. Vengeance!

[poisonarrow98]

since the istanbul mission i can't stop thinking about sova having lingering effects from fade’s nightmare ;w;

ofc this isn't smth he shares w/anyone. knowing him he would do everything he can to bury it under his warm demeanor bc he doesn't want it to affect his work—he will give a false pretense that everything is fine when it's not.

but viper notices smth isn’t right after they turn in for the night . . .

(angst soviper hc - tw nightmare)

it starts w/sova muttering in his sleep.

next to him, viper lays completely still as she listens to her partner talk incoherently in his native tongue. she couldn't remember smth like this happening before; she didn't even know he had nightmares this bad.

(how long has this been going on? why hasn't he said anything to her about it?)

turning to her side she watches his face contort in pain and his body breaking out into a cold sweat.

suddenly his breathing changes—it grows faster, louder, shallower, almost terrified.

she tries shaking his arm. 

she tries calling his name over and over.

but nothing brings him back from the nightmare.

(she can’t imagine what he's seeing in his mind that has him so scared. the agonizing cry falling from his lips breaks her, never feeling so hopeless in this situation.)

with no other option left, viper presses herself against his trembling form. she whispers against his neck and brushes away the strands of hair from his sweaty face, repeating the motion over and over until he finally calms.

‘sabine . . .’ sova exhales into her skin.

she's never felt so relieved to hear the sound of her name than in this moment.

'i'm here', she whispers back. his head rests on her shoulder, arms clinging tighter around her frame as she continues comforting him. 'i'm not going anywhere.’

for the rest of the night the two lay in bed together exchanging tender touches and soothing words until they slowly fall back asleep wrapped in the safety of their embrace ~

[toxichem]

✧･ﾟ ——— ❛ @knifvd . ❪ plots please ! ❫ plots please + [ sage ] !

1. — one of these days i ' m going to add you on disco and SCREAM about how the angst you hint at every time to respond to an ask / write a starter for me has grabbed me by the throat and won ' t let go but for now : gimme a mission or something where it really comes out to play , they get trapped and have to survive each other and kingdom / omega valorant while waiting for rescue , or the mission goes off the rails , or even some undercover shit and just —

2. — something pre - val , exploring them before whatever it was that twisted viper and burnt sage out ever happened . something sweet and light , but bittersweet because we know where it ends . i'm talking cute little coffee / park dates ( romantic or not i'm game for either ) , christmas / new years gifts that they adore when they get them and never throw away after the incident , so on and so on .

3. — college au where they ' re feuding professors . idk this one just seems like it would be fun and could be more lighthearted / less angsty than normal verse stuff . a palette cleanser .

[n7viper]

so I tried to make mae in me1 and then things got a little out of control and I went to see what her me3 face would look like. and then I thought about lia and her save and I booted her save and remembered why I quit. and the reason is because I'm so stupid crazy about tarquin victus that it hurts

[maeamian]

They killed VIPER :(