As If This Month Isn't Going Badly Already...

So last week, I went to my local mall (Puente Hills Mall, of course) when I accidentally dropped my new Google Pixel 4a phone on the hot asphalt in the parking lot. Despite having a screen protector that I bought online a few days before that, the screen still suffered considerable damage from impact (but the display is still functional, fortunately). And a Google research revealed that I would have to dish out between $200 to $300 to repair it...when I bought this phone for $385. That's just great.

What's ironic is that the Google Pixel was delivered to my house on June 1st—a day before 2021 started to go down the gutter for me when NASA rejected the Trident flyby to Neptune's moon Triton, which I was absolutely excited about since before the pandemic started last year, as one of its next Discovery-class missions. And two days before the Lakers were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs. 2001... 2011... 2021... The start of each decade in this century seems to suck really bad for me. Won't elaborate on what happened in those two previous years mentioned, but they just do. And no, the screen isn't repaired yet.

On This Day in 1981: The Nighthawk Flies for the First Time...

USAF

Just thought I'd point out that today marks 40 years since the first unit of the F-117A Nighthawk took flight for the first time in the skies above the Nevada desert. But it wouldn't be about a decade later, in April of 1990, that the Nighthawk's existence was declassified by the Pentagon after the 'Black Jet' secretly took part in the 1989 Panama invasion (codenamed Operation Just Cause) by the United States. And of course, Operations Desert Storm and Allied Force would make the Nighthawk both famous and infamous (due to one being shot down in Yugoslavia during an Allied Force airstrike in 1999) that ensuing decade.

I'm reminiscing about the F-117A because it was my favorite military aircraft when I was a kid—before the F-22 Raptor came along (as the YF-22 prototype in the early '90s) soon thereafter. Stealth fighters are just so awesome...even though the Nighthawk is technically a bomber. Happy Juneteenth Eve!

Two Photons Might Head to the Red Planet Three Years from Now...

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab Awarded Subcontract to Design Twin Spacecraft for Mars (Press Release - June 15)

The two Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft for the ESCAPADE mission to Mars are part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program

Long Beach, California. Rocket Lab, a global leader in dedicated launch and space systems, has been awarded a subcontract by the University of California Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (UCBSSL) to design two Photon spacecraft for a scientific mission to Mars.

The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, led by Rob Lillis at UCBSSL, is a twin-spacecraft science mission that will orbit two spacecraft around Mars to understand the structure, composition, variability, and dynamics of Mars' unique hybrid magnetosphere. The mission will leverage its unique dual viewpoint on the Mars environment to explore how the solar wind strips atmosphere away from Mars to better understand how its climate has changed over time.

ESCAPADE is being developed under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in the Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The mission is led by UCBSSL with spacecraft design provided by Rocket Lab. The two spacecraft are planned for launch in 2024 to Mars ridesharing aboard a NASA-provided commercial launch vehicle.

Following an 11-month interplanetary cruise, the two Photons (named Blue and Gold) will insert themselves into elliptical orbits around Mars and conduct a 1-year primary science mission. ESCAPADE’s Photons will use the flight-proven Curie propulsion system to perform Mars orbit insertion and will be equipped with other subsystems that enable planetary science, including star trackers and reaction wheels for precision pointing from Rocket Lab’s Sinclair Interplanetary team, as well as ranging transceivers for deep space navigation.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck says: “This is a hugely promising mission that will deliver big science in a small package. Planetary science missions have traditionally costed hundreds of millions of dollars and taken up to a decade to come to fruition. Our Photon spacecraft for ESCAPADE will demonstrate a more cost-effective approach to planetary exploration that will increase the science community’s access to our solar system for the better.”

ESCAPADE is one of three missions selected in 2019 by NASA’s SIMPLEx program to conduct compelling planetary science and provide more opportunities for flight experience to the science community. ESCAPADE will undergo a NASA preliminary design review in June and a confirmation review in July determining whether the mission proceeds to implementation and flight.

Source: Rocket Lab

It's Been 14 Days Since We Lost Triton to Venus...

NASA / JPL - Caltech

So today marks two weeks since NASA rejected the Trident flyby to Neptune's moon Triton as its next Discovery-class mission, and I'm still fuming. What makes me even more angry—and perplexed—is the fact that one aerospace contractor, Aerojet Rocketdyne, received a contract four months ago to build flight hardware that was no doubt intended for Trident. Aeroject was to have assembled two Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (MMRTGs, which are used by the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, as well as Dragonfly during its upcoming investigation of Saturn's moon Titan) for a future mission...which, as indicated in the schematics posted at the end of this Blog entry, were very likely meant for Trident.

The schematics below show that Trident was to have been powered by two MMRTGs—the exact number of Plutonium 238-fueled generators that Aerojet was hired to construct. The Io Volcanic Observer, the other Discovery-class finalist that came up short two weeks ago, would've used large solar array wings to generate electricity...just like Juno and the Europa Clipper orbiters. VERITAS and DAVINCI+ (this will be one of those rare instances where I begrudgingly mention the names of those two dreaded Venus-bound missions here) will not need to rely on nuclear power since they're heading to a hellish world (that has no real future for crewed space exploration) located only 67 million miles from the Sun.

So what gives? Methinks that NASA initially chose Trident, but then changed its mind in the four months leading up to the disappointing June 2 announcement. Why, you ask? We'll never find out. But I'll never let this go until NASA gives us another exciting journey to the outer Solar System and beyond. And by beyond I obviously mean another flyby mission... Eris, Sedna, Makemake and the rest of those unexplored dwarf planets beyond Pluto beckon! Carry on.

On This Day in 2001: The Lakers Win a Baq-2-Baq NBA Championship...

20 years ago today, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant won their second straight championship after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-96, in Game 5 of the 2001 NBA Finals. Shaq earned his second consecutive trophy as the Finals' Most Valuable Player, while the Lakers made history by completing the NBA postseason with a best-ever 15-1 record (that one loss being to the Sixers in Game 1 of the Finals)...which remains unbeaten today.

We'll see what the Lakers do during their off-season to regain championship form before the 2021-'22 NBA season starts this October. LeBron James changing his jersey number back to '6' (which is the number he wore during the Olympics and when he played for the Miami Heat) is a good start... Maybe. Happy Tuesday!

On This Day in 1996: Cool Things Happened in High School...

Just thought I'd point out that today marks 25 years since I had my final exam that concluded 10th grade at my alma mater, Bishop Amat Memorial High School! The test that I took on June 13, 1996 was for my English II class...which I had for 7th period. So why was this date memorable, you ask? Because of a girl I had a crush on, of course! I won't divulge her (full) name here, but she was the prettiest Filipina in my class—and probably in all of Amat, truthfully—and I was fortunate enough to have managed to be on speaking terms with her for much of sophomore year. We hugged after the English II exam ended (she was also in my homeroom and 3rd period World History class, respectively), and that was the last time I saw her for almost the next two years. (She ended up transferring to another high school for 11th and 12th grade, but showed up at a birthday party of one Amat classmate in February of '98, and the graduation party of another classmate four months later.) This hug was so big that my brother's friends (they all graduated from Amat two weeks before) found out about it afterwards...and expressed awe at my lucky moment. That's how significant it was that I was on good terms with Des during the 1995-'96 school year! ***



On another topic, here are photos that I recently took of the new Performing Arts Center (PAC) that's currently under construction at Amat! I'm both excited and sad about this... The PAC replaces the Faculty House (which had the publication office where I served on the school's Yearbook staff in 11th and 12th grade) that was demolished a few years before. Oh well. It's always after we graduate that our alma mater builds something cool on campus! I hope all of you are having a nice weekend.





***-Though I found out through Facebook last week that Des isn't into Star Wars (which doesn't really come as a surprise). My Star Wars obsession was huge in sophomore year—and it was me writing Star Wars fan fics during the weekend (and ahem, during some of my classes) that allowed me to not dwell on thoughts of Des and cause me to say or do anything lame or crappy around her throughout 10th grade! It's okay... This can't be a deal-breaker when she's now married with three children.

Photo of the Day: Rehearsing VIPER's Departure from the Griffin Lander Onto the Lunar Surface...

NASA / Johnson Space Center / James Blair

Off-Ramps to the Moon (News Release - June 9)

When NASA’s water-hunting robot – the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER – arrives on the lunar surface, it will use two folding ramps to drive off the lander in style and begin exploring the Moon. To make sure its big moment goes off without a hitch, the VIPER team recently tested those ramps at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Using a full-scale model of the Griffin lander that will deliver VIPER to the Moon, the team evaluated how well a rover test unit was able to move on the ramps. The results showed ways NASA’s partner, Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, can modify the ramp designs. This will ensure the rover can maneuver on them – keeping its wheels within the guardrails, for example – and make a flawless exit onto the Moon.

Different materials were also tested on the surface of the ramps. These tests will help inform the designers about what qualities help the rover’s wheels move smoothly and securely. VIPER successfully descended the ramps on a textured aluminum surface, high-friction sandpaper, and a high-friction elastomer – a polymer with elastic properties.

Launching in 2023, VIPER will explore the Moon’s South Pole and map its surface for water and other resources. Astrobotic will provide the Griffin lander and VIPER’s delivery to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.

Source: NASA.Gov

Juno Update: Check Out the First New Close-up Photos of Our Solar System's Largest Moon in 21 Years...

NASA / JPL - Caltech / SwRI / MSSS

See the First Images NASA’s Juno Took As It Sailed by Ganymede (News Release - June 8)

The spacecraft flew closer to Jupiter’s largest moon than any other in more than two decades, offering dramatic glimpses of the icy orb.

The first two images from NASA Juno’s June 7, 2021, flyby of Jupiter’s giant moon Ganymede have been received on Earth. The photos – one from the Jupiter orbiter’s JunoCam imager and the other from its Stellar Reference Unit star camera – show the surface in remarkable detail, including craters, clearly distinct dark and bright terrain, and long structural features possibly linked to tectonic faults.

“This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation,” said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder.”

Using its green filter, the spacecraft’s JunoCam visible-light imager captured almost an entire side of the water-ice-encrusted moon. Later, when versions of the same image come down incorporating the camera’s red and blue filters, imaging experts will be able to provide a color portrait of Ganymede. Image resolution is about 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) per pixel.

In addition, Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit, a navigation camera that keeps the spacecraft on course, provided a black-and-white picture of Ganymede’s dark side (the side opposite the Sun) bathed in dim light scattered off Jupiter. Image resolution is between 0.37 to 0.56 miles (600 to 900 meters) per pixel.

“The conditions in which we collected the dark side image of Ganymede were ideal for a low-light camera like our Stellar Reference Unit,” said Heidi Becker, Juno’s radiation monitoring lead at JPL. “So this is a different part of the surface than seen by JunoCam in direct sunlight. It will be fun to see what the two teams can piece together.”

The spacecraft will send more images from its Ganymede flyby in the coming days, with JunoCam’s raw images being made available here.

The solar-powered spacecraft’s encounter with the Jovian moon is expected to yield insights into its composition, ionosphere, magnetosphere, and ice shell while also providing measurements of the radiation environment that will benefit future missions to the Jovian system.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

****


NASA / JPL - Caltech / SwRI


NASA / JPL

On This Day in 2001: Game 2 of the NBA Finals Gets a Very Memorable Highlight...

NBA Entertainment

20 years ago today, the Los Angeles Lakers emerged victorious against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of the 2001 NBA Finals, 98-89, and tied the series at 1-1. One highlight from that night's contest, which turned the momentum in the Lakers' favor after their surprising Game 1 loss against Philly two days before, was the authoritative dunk that Derek Fisher made against the Sixers' Allen Iverson. Fisher rarely dunked in NBA games during his 18-year career...and the fact that he did so against a future Hall of Famer showed that he was totally serious about conveying a message that this championship was for the Lakers to take. After being injured for much of the 2000-'01 regular season, Fisher became the team's X-factor upon returning to the court in the few weeks leading up to the NBA playoffs. And this dunk was his way of letting Lakers fans know that a back-to-back title was within the City of Angels' reach.

The fact that Fisher's return to Los Angeles several years later (after playing for other teams like the Utah Jazz) lead to him winning two more NBA championships—this time with Pau Gasol as his and Kobe's teammate—solidifies Fish's standing as one of the most endearing players the Lakers franchise has ever known.

#OTD in 2001, Derek Fisher posterized Allen Iverson in Game 2 of the NBA Finals...#Lakers #BackInTheDay pic.twitter.com/j8ZGNp2dfS

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) June 8, 2021

Photo of the Day: Visiting the Curiosity Mars Rover at NASA JPL 10 Years Ago...

It was on this day in 2011 that I attended a social media event (called the JPL Tweetup) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California...during which I got to see the Curiosity Mars rover undergo final testing inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility (SAF). By the end of that June, the 6-wheeled, nuclear-powered robot was transported to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to be prepared for launch—which took place aboard an Atlas V rocket from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 26, 2011. This was such a cool moment, and I was glad that I was also able to see Curiosity's successor, Perseverance, built inside the SAF several years later.

For more images that I took at the JPL Tweetup, click here.

First TRIDENT and Now This... The Losses Just Keep Mountin' Up for 2021!

So a day after NASA rejected the exciting Trident flyby mission to Neptune's moon Triton for two spacecraft that will explore Venus—a planet that has no future in human space exploration (Venus floating colonies? Oh please... This ain't Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back)—the Los Angeles Lakers got eliminated by the Phoenix Suns (113-100) in Game 6 of their first-round series at STAPLES Center tonight. Unlike in 2020, when the Lakers won their 17th NBA championship, the L.A. Dodgers earned a World Series title for the first time since 1988, and Joe Biden ousted the Orange Treasonous Buffoon in last November's presidential election, the losses just keep pilin' up for this year...

Personally-speaking, 2021 is a complete and utter failure. That is all.


L.M. Prockter et al. LPI / JPL / SwRI

First NEW HORIZONS and Now This... Flyby Missions Through the Outer Solar System (and Beyond) Continue to Elude Me...

Click on this Blog entry from September 2005 to know what I'm talking about in regards to New Horizons. With the Venus community finally placated by two new Discovery-class missions (Discovery 15 and 16... I refuse to type their names here) that were selected by NASA earlier today, what are the chances the Ice Giant community will be thrown a bone with New Frontiers 5 as well as the Discovery 17 and 18 competitions later this decade?

Later this decade. As opposed to today...when Trident could've officially began its march to a launch that would've taken place as early as October of 2025. But no— The spacecraft shown below will most likely never become a reality. And with that, I say that the astronomers who announced the phosphine discovery about Venus last year can now go royally SCREW THEMSELVES. I waited 15+ years for this opportunity, and these bastards took it from me.

I Got A New Phone! But I'm STILL Pissed At Crypto.com For Making Me Buy It When I Didn't Need To...

A few hours ago, the delivery person from Best Buy showed up at my house to drop off the new smartphone that I ordered online yesterday. I now have a Google Pixel 4a...which allows me to once again access the Crypto.com app and see what's the current status of my 40 million Shiba Inu coins (they're still worth less than $400). I paid $385 for the Pixel 4a, while my Crypto.com balance was around $325 when I lost access to it last week. Thanks for making me spend an extra $60 when I didn't need to, Crypto.

At least I can connect the Pixel 4a via Bluetooth to my Honda Civic now! The connection between my old phone (an LGE K20 V) and my car stopped working around three years ago for some odd reason. Probably because that particular Android is a piece of crap. It had issues ever since I bought it in August of 2018...but I'm still annoyed at Crypto.com for making me replace it at the time that I did. Happy 1st Day of June!