The Latest Photo from Hubble's Successor on Thanksgiving Day...

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Hats Off to NASA’s Webb: Sombrero Galaxy Dazzles in New Image (News Release - November 25)

In a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a galaxy named for its resemblance to a broad-brimmed Mexican hat appears more like an archery target.

In Webb’s mid-infrared view of the Sombrero galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104), the signature, glowing core seen in visible-light images does not shine, and instead a smooth inner disk is revealed. The sharp resolution of Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) also brings into focus details of the galaxy’s outer ring, providing insights into how the dust, an essential building block for astronomical objects in the Universe, is distributed. The galaxy’s outer ring, which appeared smooth like a blanket in imaging from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, shows intricate clumps in the infrared for the first time.

Researchers say the clumpy nature of the dust, where MIRI detects carbon-containing molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can indicate the presence of young star-forming regions. However, unlike some galaxies studied with Webb, including Messier 82, where 10 times as many stars are born than the Milky Way galaxy, the Sombrero galaxy is not a particular hotbed for star formation. The rings of the Sombrero galaxy produce less than one solar mass of stars per year, in comparison to the Milky Way’s roughly two solar masses a year.

Even the supermassive black hole, also known as an active galactic nucleus, at the center of the Sombrero galaxy is rather docile, even at a hefty 9-billion-solar masses. It’s classified as a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus, slowly snacking on infalling material from the galaxy, while sending off a bright, relatively small, jet.

Also within the Sombrero galaxy dwell some 2,000 globular clusters, collections of hundreds of thousands of old stars held together by gravity. This type of system serves as a pseudo laboratory for astronomers to study stars — thousands of stars within one system with the same age, but varying masses and other properties is an intriguing opportunity for comparison studies.

In the MIRI image, galaxies of varying shapes and colors litter the background of space. The different colors of these background galaxies can tell astronomers about their properties, including how far away they are.

The Sombrero galaxy is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

A Bright Future Ahead

Stunning images like this, and an array of discoveries in the study of exoplanets, galaxies through time, star formation and our own Solar System, are still just the beginning. Recently, scientists from all over the world applied for observation time with Webb during its fourth year of science operations, which begins in July 2025.

General Observer time with Webb is more competitive than ever. A record-breaking 2,377 proposals were submitted by the October 15, 2024, deadline, requesting about 78,000 hours of observation time. This is an oversubscription rate, the ratio defining the observation hours requested versus the actual time available in one year of Webb’s operations, of around 9 to 1.

The proposals cover a wide array of science topics, with distant galaxies being among the most requested observation time, followed by exoplanet atmospheres, stars and stellar populations, then exoplanet systems.

The Space Telescope Science Institute manages the proposal and program selection process for NASA. The submissions will now be evaluated by a Telescope Allocation Committee, a group of hundreds of members of the worldwide astronomical community, on a dual-anonymous basis, with selections announced in March 2025.

While time on Webb is limited, data from all of Webb’s programs is publicly archived, immediately after it’s taken, or after a time of exclusive access, in the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) so that it can be used by anyone in the world.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Hats off to you, @NASAWebb! 🎩

Now, both Hubble and Webb have observed M104 – nicknamed the Sombrero Galaxy.

Webb's new mid-infrared view shows the smooth inner disk of the galaxy, and highlights how the clumpy gas in the outer ring is distributed: https://t.co/T9hWEVPokn pic.twitter.com/GOTmpfAzfi

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) November 25, 2024

SpaceX Will Launch America's Next Saturn-bound Robotic Explorer in July 2028...

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve Gribben

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Dragonfly Mission (News Release - November 25)

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Dragonfly mission, a rotorcraft lander mission under NASA’s New Frontiers Program, designed to explore Saturn’s moon Titan. The mission will sample materials and determine surface composition in different geologic settings, advancing our search for the building blocks of life.

The firm-fixed-price contract has a value of approximately $256.6 million, which includes launch services and other mission-related costs. The Dragonfly mission currently has a targeted launch period from July 5, 2028, to July 25, 2028, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Dragonfly centers on a novel approach to planetary exploration, employing a rotorcraft-lander to travel between and sample diverse sites on Saturn’s largest moon. With contributions from partners around the globe, Dragonfly’s scientific payload will characterize the habitability of Titan’s environment, investigate the progression of prebiotic chemistry on Titan, where carbon-rich material and liquid water may have mixed for an extended period, and search for chemical indications of whether water-based or hydrocarbon-based life once existed on Saturn’s moon.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center is responsible for managing the launch service. Managed for NASA at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, the Dragonfly team comprises of scientists, engineers, technologists, managers and more who have deep experience on missions that have explored the Solar System from the Sun to Pluto and beyond, as well as experts in rotorcraft, autonomous flight and space systems from around the globe. Dragonfly is the fourth mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Dragonfly will be the first nuclear-powered @NASA mission to not be launched by @ulalaunch. The SRB anomaly on #Cert2 didn't help Vulcan's case in being selected.

Interesting to see how the MMRTG will be installed on Dragonfly at LC-39A right before launch.#DragonflyMission pic.twitter.com/qFFT0BeoYH

— Rich Par (@AstroPnoy) November 25, 2024

NASA will certify SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch nuclear materials into space.https://t.co/pPsqZOfusp

— Stephen Clark (@StephenClark1) November 27, 2024

A Lunar Lander Will Soon Be Shipped to Florida for its January Liftoff from Cape Canaveral...

Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 1 to the Moon Readies for Launch (Press Release - November 25)

Cedar Park, Texas – Firefly Aerospace, the leader in end-to-end responsive space services, today announced that it successfully completed environmental testing on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander ahead of its first mission to the Moon supporting NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Firefly is now preparing to ship the lander to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in mid-December for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a six-day window that opens no earlier than mid-January 2025.

“Blue Ghost aced environmental testing and proved the lander is performing 100% as expected, which is a testament to the incredible Firefly team,” said Jason Kim, CEO at Firefly Aerospace. “This team has gone above and beyond with innovative testing approaches to ensure Blue Ghost is flight-ready. While we know there will be more challenges ahead, I’m confident this team has what it takes to softly touch down on the lunar surface and nail this mission.”

Blue Ghost environmental testing was recently completed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in mid-October. During testing, the most extreme temperatures that the lander will see during transit and on the Moon’s surface were replicated in a thermal vacuum chamber. Equipped with a solar simulator, JPL’s chamber enabled comprehensive functional and behavioral testing in a flight-like environment.

The testing also included vibration, acoustic, electromagnetic interference and compatibility tests to further verify that the integrated lander can withstand each flight environment during launch, transit and landing on the Moon.

“With additional time in our schedule, we shipped Blue Ghost back to Firefly’s spacecraft facility in north Austin, Texas, where it has remained until we received the 'go' to ship to the Cape,” said Jana Spruce, Vice President of Spacecraft at Firefly Aerospace. “In the meantime, the Firefly team has utilized this extra time to further conduct mission simulations and prep the team as we get ready to begin our first of many road trips to the Moon.”

Following launch and vehicle separation, Blue Ghost will begin its approximately 45-day transit to the Moon, allowing ample time to conduct robust health checks and begin payload operations on orbit. Blue Ghost will then land in Mare Crisium and operate payloads for a full lunar day (14 Earth days). As part of NASA’s CLPS initiative, the 10 payloads will perform numerous science and technology demonstrations, including lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection and dust mitigation to advance research for future human missions on the Moon.

Additional demonstrations, including X-ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field, will also benefit humans on Earth, providing insights into how space weather impacts the planet.

Once payload operations are complete, Blue Ghost will capture the lunar sunset and provide critical data on how lunar regolith reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk conditions. Blue Ghost will then operate for several hours into the lunar night.

Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, is the first of three Firefly task orders supporting the NASA CLPS initiative as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign that serves to unlock the commercial lunar economy and enable a lasting lunar presence. The approximately 60-day mission will be operated from Firefly’s Mission Operations Center in Cedar Park, Texas. For more details on Ghost Riders in the Sky, visit https://fireflyspace.com/missions/blue-ghost-mission-1/.

Source: Firefly Aerospace

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The Latest Update on America's Newest Jupiter-bound Orbiter...

NASA

NASA’s Europa Clipper: Millions of Miles Down, Instruments Deploying (News Release)

Headed to Jupiter’s moon Europa, the spacecraft is operating without a hitch and will reach Mars in just three months for a gravity assist.

NASA’s Europa Clipper, which launched October 14 on a journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa, is already 13 million miles (20 million kilometers) from Earth. Two science instruments have deployed hardware that will remain at attention, extending out from the spacecraft, for the next decade — through the cruise to Jupiter and the entire prime mission.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched it away from Earth’s gravity, and now the spacecraft is zooming along at 22 miles per second (35 kilometers per second) relative to the Sun.

Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft that NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. It will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) to arrive at Jupiter in 2030; and in 2031 will begin a series of 49 flybys, using a suite of instruments to gather data that will tell scientists if the icy moon and its internal ocean have the conditions needed to harbor life.

For now, the information that mission teams are receiving from the spacecraft is strictly engineering data (the science will come later), telling them how the hardware is operating. Things are looking good.

The team has a checklist of actions that the spacecraft needs to take as it travels deeper into space. Here’s a peek:

Boom Times

Shortly after launch, the spacecraft deployed its massive solar arrays, which extend the length of a basketball court. Next on the list was the magnetometer’s boom, which uncoiled from a canister mounted on the spacecraft body, extending a full 28 feet (8.5 meters).

To confirm that all went well with the boom deployment, the team relied on data from the magnetometer’s three sensors. Once the spacecraft is at Jupiter, these sensors will measure the magnetic field around Europa, both confirming the presence of the ocean thought to be under the moon’s icy crust and telling scientists about its depth and salinity.

On the Radar

After the magnetometer, the spacecraft deployed several antennas for the radar instrument. Now extending crosswise from the solar arrays, the four high-frequency antennas form what look like two long poles, each measuring 57.7 feet (17.6 meters) long. Eight rectangular very-high-frequency antennas, each 9 feet (2.76 meters) long, were also deployed — two on the two solar arrays.

“It’s an exciting time on the spacecraft, getting these key deployments done,” said Europa Clipper project manager Jordan Evans of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Most of what the team is focusing on now is understanding the small, interesting things in the data that help them understand the behavior of the spacecraft on a deeper level. That’s really good to see.”

Instrument Checkout

The remaining seven instruments will be powered on and off through December and January so that engineers can check their health. Several instruments, including the visible imager and the gas and dust mass spectrometers, will keep their protective covers closed for the next three or so years to guard against potential damage from the Sun during Europa Clipper’s time in the inner Solar System.

Mars-Bound

Once all the instruments and engineering subsystems have been checked out, mission teams will shift their focus to Mars. On March 1, 2025, Europa Clipper will reach Mars’ orbit and begin to loop around the Red Planet, using the planet’s gravity to gain speed. (This effect is similar to how a ball thrown at a moving train will bounce off the train in another direction at a higher speed.) Mission navigators have already completed one trajectory correction maneuver, as planned, to get the spacecraft on the precise course.

At Mars, scientists plan to turn on the spacecraft’s thermal imager to capture multicolored images of Mars as a test operation. They also plan to collect data with the radar instrument so that engineers can be sure it’s operating as expected.

The spacecraft will perform another gravity assist in December 2026, swooping by Earth before making the remainder of the long journey to the Jupiter system. At that time, the magnetometer will measure Earth’s magnetic field, calibrating the instrument.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Our mission will get even closer - with closest-approach altitudes as low as 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the surface! https://t.co/W1qt9CeEbF https://t.co/LDUk8bjqEY

— NASA Europa Clipper (@EuropaClipper) November 25, 2024

The Latest Update on the 'Bulls-Eye Planet'...

NASA / JPL

Mining Old Data From NASA’s Voyager 2 Solves Several Uranus Mysteries (News Release)

NASA’s Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus decades ago shaped scientists’ understanding of the planet but also introduced unexplained oddities. A recent data dive has offered answers.

When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it provided scientists’ first — and, so far, only — close glimpse of this strange, sideways-rotating outer planet. Alongside the discovery of new moons and rings, baffling new mysteries confronted scientists. The energized particles around the planet defied their understanding of how magnetic fields work to trap particle radiation, and Uranus earned a reputation as an outlier in our Solar System.

Now, new research analyzing the data collected during that flyby 38 years ago has found that the source of that particular mystery is a cosmic coincidence: It turns out that in the days just before Voyager 2’s flyby, the planet had been affected by an unusual kind of space weather that squashed the planet’s magnetic field, dramatically compressing Uranus’ magnetosphere.

“If Voyager 2 had arrived just a few days earlier, it would have observed a completely different magnetosphere at Uranus,” said Jamie Jasinski of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and lead author of the new work published in Nature Astronomy. “The spacecraft saw Uranus in conditions that only occur about 4% of the time.”

Magnetospheres serve as protective bubbles around planets (including Earth) with magnetic cores and magnetic fields, shielding them from jets of ionized gas — or plasma — that stream out from the Sun in the solar wind. Learning more about how magnetospheres work is important for understanding our own planet, as well as those in seldom-visited corners of our Solar System and beyond.

That’s why scientists were eager to study Uranus’ magnetosphere, and what they saw in the Voyager 2 data in 1986 flummoxed them. Inside the planet’s magnetosphere were electron radiation belts with an intensity second only to Jupiter’s notoriously brutal radiation belts. But there was apparently no source of energized particles to feed those active belts; in fact, the rest of Uranus’ magnetosphere was almost devoid of plasma.

The missing plasma also puzzled scientists because they knew that the five major Uranian moons in the magnetic bubble should have produced water ions, as icy moons around other outer planets do. They concluded that the moons must be inert with no ongoing activity.

Solving the Mystery

So why was no plasma observed, and what was happening to beef up the radiation belts? The new data analysis points to the solar wind. When plasma from the Sun pounded and compressed the magnetosphere, it likely drove plasma out of the system.

The solar wind event would have also briefly intensified the dynamics of the magnetosphere, which would have fed the belts by injecting electrons into them.

The findings could be good news for those five major moons of Uranus: Some of them might be geologically active after all. With an explanation for the temporarily missing plasma, researchers say it’s plausible that the moons may have actually been spewing ions into the surrounding bubble all along.

Planetary scientists are focusing on bolstering their knowledge about the mysterious Uranus system, which the National Academies’ 2023 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey prioritized as a target for a future NASA mission.

JPL’s Linda Spilker was among the Voyager 2 mission scientists glued to the images and other data that flowed in during the Uranus flyby in 1986. She remembers the anticipation and excitement of the event, which changed how scientists thought about the Uranian system.

“The flyby was packed with surprises, and we were searching for an explanation of its unusual behavior. The magnetosphere Voyager 2 measured was only a snapshot in time,” said Spilker, who has returned to the iconic mission to lead its science team as project scientist. “This new work explains some of the apparent contradictions, and it will change our view of Uranus once again.”

Voyager 2, now in interstellar space, is almost 13 billion miles (21 billion kilometers) from Earth.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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NASA / JPL - Caltech

The Latest Update on SOLAR PROBE PLUS...

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve Gribben

NASA’s Sun-Bound Parker Solar Probe Swings Through Final Venus Flyby (News Release)

Gravity-Assist Maneuver Sets Up Record Close Approach to Our Star

On November 6, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its seventh and final Venus gravity-assist maneuver, passing within 240 miles (about 387 kilometers) of Venus’ surface. The flyby adjusted Parker’s trajectory into the final orbital configuration of its primary mission, bringing the spacecraft to within an unprecedented 3.8 million miles of the solar surface on December 24, 2024.

Monitoring the maneuver through NASA’s Deep Space Network, the mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland — where Parker Solar Probe was designed and built — confirmed that Parker was operating normally as it reached closest approach to Venus at 1:43 p.m. EST, flew precisely through its planned “aim point” and then began its swing in toward the Sun.

“We’re reaching the crescendo of Parker’s incredible voyage through the inner Solar System,” said Yanping Guo, Parker Solar Probe mission design and navigation manager in APL’s Space Exploration Sector. “More than six years after launch, this incredible spacecraft continues to exceed all expectations, and we can’t wait to see what Parker uncovers on its closest approaches to the Sun.”

Parker is now on course to reach the final objective of a historic mission conceived over 65 years ago: flying within 3.8 million miles (around 6.1 million kilometers) of the surface of the Sun. No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will be returning data from uncharted territory. As Parker passes through the Sun’s atmosphere, it will cut through plumes of plasma still connected to the Sun.

It will be close enough to pass inside a solar eruption, like a surfer diving under a crashing ocean wave.

“This is the vision generations of scientists have dreamed of realizing since 1958,” said Nour Rawafi, the Parker Solar Probe project scientist at APL.

During its Christmas Eve closest approach, or perihelion, mission control will be out of contact with the spacecraft, although Parker will transmit beacon tones on December 21 and December 27 to confirm its health. The spacecraft will remain in this orbit for the remainder of its primary mission, completing two more perihelia at about the same distance and speed — a record 430,000 miles (692,018 kilometers) per hour — in March and June 2025. After that, the team will decide whether to keep the spacecraft in that orbit or reposition it.

New Science

Early mission plans didn’t include any planetary science at Venus. But that changed shortly after launch in 2018, and Parker’s better-than-expected performance allowed the team to adjust its observational programs.

One reason why Parker’s Venus flybys have become boons for new science is a chance discovery from the spacecraft’s Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, called WISPR. The instrument peers out from Parker and away from the Sun to see fine details in the solar wind. But on July 11, 2020, during Parker’s third Venus flyby, scientists turned WISPR toward Venus in hopes of tracking changes in the planet’s thick cloud cover. The images revealed a surprise: WISPR, which captures visible and near infrared light, seemed to see the Venusian surface.

“The WISPR cameras can see through the clouds to the surface of Venus, which glows in the near-infrared because it’s so hot,” said APL planetary scientist Noam Izenberg.

Venus, sizzling at approximately 869° Fahrenheit (about 465° Celsius), was radiating through the clouds.

The WISPR images from the 2020 flyby, as well as the next flyby in 2021, revealed Venus’ surface in a new light. But they also raised puzzling questions, and scientists devised the final flyby to help answer them.

The Venus images correlate well with data from the Magellan spacecraft, showing dark and light patterns that line up with surface regions that Magellan captured when it mapped Venus’ surface using radar from 1990 to 1994. Yet some parts of the WISPR images appear brighter than expected, hinting at extra information captured by WISPR.

Is WISPR picking up on chemical differences on the surface, where the ground is made of different material? Perhaps it’s seeing variations in age, where more recent lava flows added a fresh coat to the Venusian surface.

“Because it flies over a number of similar and different landforms compared to the previous Venus flybys, the November 6 flyby will give us more context to evaluate whether WISPR can help us distinguish physical or even chemical properties of Venus’ surface,” Izenberg said.

Rawafi said that imaging was just part of the flyby’s science agenda. Shaped under Rawafi’s direction for more than a year, the comprehensive plan also included a look at the different components of Venus’ exosphere and their interactions with the Sun. The Parker team expects to begin receiving the first bits of that data later this month, he added, with plans to present some of its findings at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting the week of December 9 to 13.

“The science data we’ve gathered over these seven Venus flybys is a real tribute to Parker’s versatility, and have enabled new avenues for research on Venus,” Rawafi said. “The seventh Venus flyby, however, was especially unique, in that spacecraft flew through the planet’s nightside and plunged deep into its atmosphere. We’re anticipating some exciting surprises when the data comes down.”

Source: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

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NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher

America's Newest X-Plane Moves a Step Closer to Becoming Airborne Early Next Year...

NASA / Carla Thomas

X-59 Fires Up its Engine for First Time on its Way to Takeoff (News Release - November 6)

NASA’s QueSST mission marked a major milestone with the start of tests on the engine that will power the quiet supersonic X-59 experimental aircraft.

These engine-run tests, which began on October 30, allow the X-59 team to verify that the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. In previous tests, the X-59 used external sources for power. The engine-run tests set the stage for the next phase of the experimental aircraft’s progress towards flight.

The X-59 team is conducting the engine-run tests in phases. In this first phase, the engine rotated at a relatively low speed without ignition to check for leaks and ensure all systems are communicating properly. The team then fueled the aircraft and began testing the engine at low power, with the goal of verifying that it and other aircraft systems operate without anomalies or leaks while on engine power.

“The first phase of the engine tests was really a warmup to make sure that everything looked good prior to running the engine,” said Jay Brandon, NASA’s X-59 chief engineer. “Then we moved to the actual first engine start. That took the engine out of the preservation mode that it had been in since installation on the aircraft. It was the first check to see that it was operating properly and that all the systems it impacted – hydraulics, electrical system, environmental control systems, etc. – seemed to be working.”

The X-59 will generate a quieter thump rather than a loud boom while flying faster than the speed of sound. The aircraft is the centerpiece of NASA’s QueSST mission, which will gather data on how people perceive these thumps, providing regulators with information that could help lift current bans on commercial supersonic flight over land.

The engine, a modified F414-GE-100, packs 22,000 pounds of thrust, which will enable the X-59 to achieve the desired cruising speed of Mach 1.4 (925 miles per hour) at an altitude of approximately 55,000 feet. It sits in a nontraditional spot – atop the aircraft — to aid in making the X-59 quieter.

Engine runs are part of a series of integrated ground tests needed to ensure safe flight and successful achievement of mission goals. Because of the challenges involved with reaching this critical phase of testing, the X-59’s first flight is now expected in early 2025. The team will continue progressing through critical ground tests and address any technical issues discovered with this one-of-a-kind, experimental aircraft.

The X-59 team will have a more specific first flight date as these tests are successfully completed.

The testing is taking place at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. During later phases, the team will test the aircraft at high power with rapid throttle changes, followed by simulating the conditions of an actual flight.

“The success of these runs will be the start of the culmination of the last eight years of my career,” said Paul Dees, NASA’s deputy propulsion lead for the X-59. “This isn’t the end of the excitement but a small steppingstone to the beginning. It’s like the first note of a symphony, where years of teamwork behind the scenes are now being put to the test to prove our efforts have been effective, and the notes will continue to play a harmonious song to flight.”

After the engine runs, the X-59 team will move to aluminum bird testing, where data will be fed to the aircraft under both normal and failure conditions. The team will then proceed with a series of taxi tests, where the aircraft will be put in motion on the ground. These tests will be followed by final preparations for first flight.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Carla Thomas

ELECTION 2024: A Major Setback for the American Experiment...

So about three hours ago, Vice President Kamala Harris gave her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, D.C.—after losing to Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election yesterday. As of right now, the electoral count stands at 295-226 (see below), in favor of the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist. 270 points were needed to clinch the victory.

So where do we go from here? Who is to blame for this stunning defeat?

- President Joe Biden for bombing his CNN debate with Trump last June?
- Biden for refusing to end his re-election bid before this year's primaries...in which case Harris or any other Democratic candidate would've had more time presenting their case for running as president to the American people?
- Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for urging Biden to drop out of the race following the June debate?

Or...

- The majority of Americans who voted against their own interests because they couldn't accept having a woman, a non-white woman at that, in the Oval Office?

Lots of soul-searching to do for the Democrats in regards to yesterday's heartbreaking loss. But there will be even more soul-searching to do, by the American public itself, after Trump is inaugurated next January.

Assuming that the fear over PROJECT 2025 is justified (most signs indicate that it is), all of the voters who think they won today will eventually realize that they didn't. It's a matter of when.

My SoCal Sports Wall of Fame, Updated!

Even though the Los Angeles Times was one day late in publishing coverage for Game 5 of the World Series in its newspaper, that didn't stop me from adhering to a tradition started in mid-2000 (when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant won their first NBA title with the Lakers) and displaying today's Dodgers-celebrating printed edition on my wall at home!

Yesterday, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to buy the L.A. Times paper...with all but one store that I drove to (a donut shop in West Covina, versus 7-Elevens for the other visits I made around the cities of Diamond Bar and Pomona here in Los Angeles County) running out of Thursday's edition. To make things hilarious for those jerks who apparently bought multiple copies of the paper so that there wouldn't be any left for other customers to purchase yesterday, the L.A. Times had Game 5 coverage only on its website. Everyone had to wait till this morning to buy the commemorative paper celebrating Los Angeles' second Major League Baseball championship in five years.

I woke up at 5 AM today to ensure that would be a lot more papers left at that donut shop before I made my purchase. There were six in stock, and I bought two. (There were two papers remaining on the shelf yesterday.)

So while the Dodgers' 2024 championship coverage now graces my bedroom wall instead of the 2020 title, one wonders when I'll replace the newspapers celebrating the Lakers' 2020 NBA Finals victory and the Rams' 2022 Super Bowl win at home. The way that the Lakers and Rams are currently playing (the Lakers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers—who are currently undefeated—two days ago, while the Rams are 3-4 in the NFC West right now), probably not anytime soon!

Go Dodger Blue.