Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, July 29, 2019

"Your identity is with that whole thing"

President Eisenhower signed the act that created NASA on this date in 1958.

I've almost discharged, for now, my compulsive anniversary-incited obsession with NASA. Finished a second book entitled Rocket Men, this one by Craig Nelson. The other one, actually published most recently, is by Robert Kurson. Both are very good, nicely complementing Michael Collins' Carrying the Fire[Reading lists are good... Bibliotherapy]

Nelson: Such dazzling achievements, whose dynamism is a key force in American identity, are today more often than not undervalued, taken for granted, or just ignored by civilians...

"You identify with Houston, and Phoenix and New Orleans. And the next thing is you're identifying with North Africa. When you go around in an hour and a half you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing." Rusty Schweikart

Image result for earth from space

But wait, there's more...

NASA’s TESS Satellite Spots ‘Missing Link’ Exoplanets

Halfway through its first tour of the local universe, the spacecraft has found a “Super Earth” and two “sub-Neptunes.”NASA’s new planet-hunting spacecraft, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is now halfway through its first tour of the nearby universe. It has been looking for worlds that might be fit for you, me or some other form of life, and as usual, nature has been generous in its rewards.

Since its launch in April 2018, TESS has already discovered 21 new planets and 850 more potential worlds that have yet to be confirmed, all residing within a few dozen light years of the sun and our own solar system, according to George Ricker, an M.I.T. researcher who heads the TESS project. So far, he said, TESS “has far exceeded our most optimistic hopes.” (continues)

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