Oh, Wait: She Doesn’t
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Archive of entries posted on 22nd June 2021
Pre-Midnight Special Reminder
National Ammunition Shortage Continues; Police Departments Ask Chicago M.E. for Whatever They’ve Got Lying Around
Lincoln Committed Suicide
Words of Wisdom Interlude
Biden Calls a Hard Lid on Trying To Pronounce “China’s Uighur Muslims”
UC Berkeley Presses Biden Administration for 100% Forgiveness of Student Loons
Great Explorations, Part 2: Badgers In Spa-a-a-a-ace!
MWorld’s First Wooden Satellite Aims To Prove Plywood Can Survive Space
Microsoft News | 6/14/21 | Amanda KooserToothpicks. Tables. Crates. Spoons.
Satellites?
An ambitious project will send a tiny wooden satellite into orbit later this year to see if it can stand up to the brutal conditions of space.
The WISA Woodsat is a 4-inch (10-centimeter) square satellite that’s scheduled for a fall launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket in New Zealand. Getting to orbit is only part of the adventure. Once there, the team will monitor the little cube to see how its plywood build stands up to cold, heat, radiation and the vacuum of space.
Woodsat is the brainchild of Jari Makinen, co-founder of CubeSat replica kit company Arctic Astronautics. The European Space Agency, or ESA, is providing a suite of sensors to track the satellite’s performance and will also help with pre-flight testing.
“The base material for plywood is birch, and we’re using basically just the same as you’d find in a hardware store or to make furniture,” said Woodsat chief engineer and Arctic Astronatics co-founder Samuli Nyman in an ESA statement last week.
The plywood used in the satellite has been dried out and treated to give it a better chance of standing up to space conditions. Woodsat’s team expects the exterior to darken, but will also be looking to see if any cracks develop while it’s in orbit.
Great Explorations, Part 1: Not-Quite-As Brave New World
Robotic Ship Sets Off To Retrace the Mayflower’s Journey
AP | June 15, 2021 | Urooba JamalFour centuries and one year after the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, on a historic sea journey to America, another trailblazing vessel with the same name has set off to retrace the voyage.
This Mayflower, though, is a sleek, modern robotic ship that is carrying no human crew or passengers. It’s being piloted by sophisticated artificial intelligence technology for a trans-Atlantic crossing that could take up to three weeks, in a project aimed at revolutionizing marine research.
IBM, which built the ship with nonprofit marine research organization ProMare, confirmed the Mayflower Autonomous Ship began its trip early Tuesday.
. . . Even though some of the GPS coordinates may have degraded since the original Pilgrims’ voyage . . .
But are the modern remote-control devices carrying slave drivers? That’s everyone’s vital concern. Except for those who focus on whether this was a Trans Atlantic crossing.
By the way, did Biden list this among the 16 things that Putin was not allowed to hack?
Straight Line of the Day (Dating Game Edition): Your Lover Might Say That a New Slang Term For ‘Making Whoopee’ Is…
Welcome to IMAO! The Search for Waldo Has Officially Gone from “Rescue” to “Recovery”
This was not inspired by DamnCat’s comment yesterday. I just moved it up in the schedule because it resonated!
