Space Force

Speaking of space, Space Force talked about their logo and lots of folks thought it looked like they ripped off the Star Trek imagery.

Today we are proud to showcase the Space Force logo to the world. Over the next few hours, we will share the history and legacy of our new logo. pic.twitter.com/tKe8QCWEiG

— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) July 22, 2020

But...

For those excitedly tweeting that Trump stole the Star Trek logo!!!!, the patch on the left was the existing Air Force Command logo.

The same one I wore as a Lieutenant in 2005. pic.twitter.com/mYb60YioBP

— John Noonan (@noonanjo) January 24, 2020

(I know this old news, but I'm just catching up.) 

Space

The last couple of weeks have been "Space" themed. We've watched The Martian, Apollo 13, and Armageddon. (Amazing how many flights require a space craft to do a slingshot maneuver.)

Also, we watch the International Space Station go overhead one night. It was amazing how bright it is. We streamed the Dragon departure from the ISS yesterday and hope to catch splashdown today.

And there was this:

🚀 We have LIFTOFF to Mars! The @ulalaunch Atlas V takes flight with our @NASAPersevere rover. The #CountdownToMars continues as Perseverance begins her 7-month journey to the Red Planet! pic.twitter.com/3RTL1CR4WS

— NASA (@NASA) July 30, 2020

International Space Station

We watched the ISS go overhead last night. I was surprised by how bright it was.

You can track it here and find times when you might be able to see it.

And, of course, they have a radio on the space station:

"The crew can operate the 2-meter packet radio in unattended mode, and hams can make contacts with the ISS station when the crew members are working. Hams can also communicate with each other using the ISS packet (computer) radio mode, or receive slow scan television mode images. It all depends on what equipment is in service in space. 

A typical ground station for contacting the ISS station includes a 2-meter FM transceiver and 25-100 watts of output power. A circularly polarized crossed-Yagi antenna capable of being pointed in both azimuth (North-South-East-West) and elevation (degrees above the horizon) is desirable. But successful contacts have even been made with vertical and ground plane antennas."

The Cube

Build the cube https://t.co/Kip1lYUQOL

— Sam (@samgraver) September 3, 2019

EME

The speed of light between Earth and Moon in real time! (Credit: James O'Donoghue - NASA) pic.twitter.com/llTBY97k7p

— Universal-Sci (@universal_sci) May 7, 2019

Saturn V Lamp

This Saturn V lamp is amazing. 

Via @ItsRobbAllen

Hero Forge

Pretty cool... Hero Forge - Custom Miniatures.

They will send you the 3D printer file, or 3D print your design for you, or even create a bronze or steel miniature.

I designed this one with just a few clicks.

The Right Stuff

I recently finished Scott Kelly's Endurance. He credits Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff as being his inspiration for becoming an astronaut. I've seem the movie, but not read the book - so it's on my liast. You can get the Kindle version of The Right Stuff for $5 today.

Falcon Heavy

I came across a good video of the Falcon Heavy launch (via Ace of Spades), so I'm posting it so I can find it again easily. (As a reminder, some number of my posts are created b/c I have CRS (Can't Remember Stuff) Syndrome.

The engineers are just showing off around the 30 min mark when the two boosters land.

Satellites

I learned about SatNOGS via the HamRadio 360 Hamvention Day 1 Review. SatNOGS is:

"a global management interface to facilitate multiple ground station operations remotely. An observer is able to take advantage of the full network of SatNOGS ground stations around the world. It's part of the SatNOGS project."

And speaking of satellites, this is a cool visualization of stuff in space (via @InfoSec208).

UTK, NASA, and Ham Radio

Funny how themes sometimes appear on my radar...

"NASA chose UT as its winner, which will give the UT Amateur Radio Club time for a one-on-one chat with space station Mission Commander Shane Kimbrough."

Hams in Space

(You have to read the title of this post like the intro of this video.)

True, they spent the big bucks and are sending a TYT MD-380.

New transceivers headed to the ISS. No truth to the rumor that NASA is going to cut costs and use Baofeng radios https://t.co/SEBTAUSgTK

— BobW (@K0NR) February 28, 2017

The Martian: Movie

So they are making The Martian into a movie.

The Martian

All my "for fun" reading has been set in space recently... I finished The Martian by Andy Weir not too long ago.

Apparently some people need to read the book to understand how difficult it would be to live on Mars.

More Space News

First, there is this:

400 days until 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' hits cinemas near you! #EpisodeVII #Stayontarget pic.twitter.com/8kSRsHuWsM
— Star Wars VII (2015) (@StarWars_VII) November 13, 2014

And also pictures from the probe that landed (bounced) on the comet.

Space News

First, all your base is belong to us:



Via Dustbury

Second, Europe borrows the plot from a movie I love to hate and lands a probe on a comet.

Lastly, Google buys an old NASA space hanger. These seems like a necessary step in the plan for Skynet.

Warp Drive Spaceship

Nasa's warp drive spaceship.

More pictures here.

Via my nephew

Mars

Mars... not MARS...

We can't get people to Mars yet, but if we do, hams are already wondering what propagation would be like and one speculates about how things might work.

To Infinity and Beyond!

The latest space suit from NASA. It should look familiar to Toy Story fans.

Via The Blaze

Mysterious Ring in China

China is building a mysterious ring in Fushun. I know what it is.