New David Scholes Stories Coming Soon from Farther Stars Than These

Hey, if you are as much of a David Scholes as I am then you will get a kick out of Dave's list of new stories.  Each shows the date they will be showing up on Farther Stars Than These. 

“Urban Pacifiers” on Farther Stars Than These – 3 November

“Other Side” on Farther Stars Than These – 24 November

“Dumbed Down World” on Farther Stars Than These – 15 December

Beam Me Up Episode 474 now onlone

Episode 474 came together this week without much of a problem.

I start with a cut to give me a few moments to get organized.  Next I travel over to the Beam Me Up blog wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com.

First on the agenda is the loss of the ESA's Schiaparelli lander.   Next SyFy has picked up Van Helsing with an order for 13 new episodes. 

Hubble continues to do phenomenal science.   SyFy has pushed back Star Trek Discovery.

Rosetta considered successful.  

Musk still thinks Mars colonization viable. 

Osirus Rex mission still go. 

Dave Scholes The Real Dream World is our story of the afternoon. 

Podcast 474 HERE

Enjoy

Schiaparelli's Crash Site Seen By NASA MRO Probe

Schiaparelli, was due to touch down on Mars Wednesday morning (Oct. 19).   However the lander stopped communicating with ESA mission control about 1 minute before its planned touchdown.

The lander's crash site was photographed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and seemed to confirm what ExoMars team members had suspected — that Schiaparelli died a violent death.

It would appear that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 1.2 to 2.5 miles. This then would indicate that the lander impacted at a considerable speed, somewhere in excess of 186 mph.

It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full.  those tanks were still full because Schiaparelli's data indicate that the lander didn't fire its descent-slowing thrusters nearly as long as it was supposed to, ESA officials said.

For more information please click  HERE 

http://www.space.com/34472-exomars-mars-lander-crash-site-photos.html

Schiaparelli's Crash Site Seen By NASA MRO Probe

Schiaparelli, was due to touch down on Mars Wednesday morning (Oct. 19).   However the lander stopped communicating with ESA mission control about 1 minute before its planned touchdown.

The lander's crash site was photographed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and seemed to confirm what ExoMars team members had suspected — that Schiaparelli died a violent death.

It would appear that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 1.2 to 2.5 miles. This then would indicate that the lander impacted at a considerable speed, somewhere in excess of 186 mph.

It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full.  those tanks were still full because Schiaparelli's data indicate that the lander didn't fire its descent-slowing thrusters nearly as long as it was supposed to, ESA officials said.

For more information please click  HERE 

http://www.space.com/34472-exomars-mars-lander-crash-site-photos.html

ESA's Schiaparelli Lost

After traveling almost 700 million miles, plus being only one minute from gaining the

surface, ESA's Martian lander Schiaparelli signal was lost.

The Schiaparelli lander showed the first signs of abnormalities soon   after it released its parachute 1km from the surface and the signal went dead soon afterwards, ESA scientists said on Thursday, leaving them unsure of where the probe is and whether it crash-landed.

For more information you can click HERE

Syfy renews Van Helsing

Syfy has renewed it’s post-apocalyptic vampire survival drama, series Van Helsing.

SyFy has oked a 13 episode second season, set to begin production next January.

The plot of Van Helsing focuses on Vanessa Van Helsing, a descendant of vampire slayer
Abraham Van Helsing, who awakens from a coma several years later in a now post-
apocalyptic devastated world, where the vampires have control of most of the world. She
awakens among a group of humans holed up in a building trying to survive, where she
discovers her blood has the ability to turn the vampires human again, which makes her a
target for the vampire Ancients.

Van Helsing views Fridays at 10pm

For more information and links, click HERE

Hubble Discovers Red Giant Ejecting Mars Sized Gas Blobs

Hubble Space Telescope has detected superhot blobs of gas, each twice as massive as the planet Mars, being ejected NEAR a dying star called V Hydrae, a red giant. The plasma balls are moving fast enough to travel the distance from Earth to the moon in thirty minutes. Astronomers estimate that this has continued once every 8.5 years for at least the past 400 years.

These fireballs are puzzling to astronomers, because the ejected material could not have been shot out by the host star, called V Hydrae. 

From the article:

The current best explanation suggests the plasma balls were launched by an unseen companion star. According to this theory, the companion would have to be in an elliptical orbit that carries it close to the red giant's puffed-up atmosphere every 8.5 years. As the companion enters the bloated star's outer atmosphere, it gobbles up material. This material then settles into a disk around the companion, and serves as the launching pad for blobs of plasma, which travel at roughly a half-million miles per hour.

for complete article press HERE

Moon has the Largest Crater in Solar System

The far side of the moon may be the solid remains of a collision with a smaller companion moon, according to a study by planetary scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The striking differences between the near and far sides of the moon have been a longstanding puzzle. The near side is relatively low and flat, while the topography of the far side is high and mountainous, with a much thicker crust.

The biggest hole in the solar system -- the South Pole-Aitken basin,   is the largest known impact crater in the solar system, nearly 2,500 kilometers wide and 13 kilometers deep.

For more press HERE

Schiaparelli lander animation

The ExoMars 2016 mission, a colaboration between the ESA and Russian Roscosmos space agency, will enter Martian orbit on October 19 2016. The previously released Schiaparelli lander will begin its descent to the Martian surface. 

ExoMars comprises the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing demonstrator.

TGO will make a detailed inventory of Mars’ atmospheric gases, with particular interest in rare gases like methane, which may indicate that there once was or is now implies that there is an active, and or current source. TGO aims to measure methane’s geographical and seasonal dependence and help to determine whether it stems from a geological or biological source.

TGO will start its science mission at the end of 2017, following a year of complex aerobraking manoeuvres to circularise its orbit. It will also act as a relay for ESA’s ExoMars 2020 rover.

Schiaparelli will separate from TGO on 16 October, entering the atmosphere for a six-minute descent to a region in Meridiani Planum, on 19 October.

Star Trek Discovery Update

CBS issued press release:Star Trek Discovery launch has been pushed 

back.  DISCOVERY will now launch in May 2017.

To get more information please press HERE

Rosetta Mission a Success

Rosetta's last image

On Friday October 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft's historic mission concluded with Rosetta descending to the surface of Comet 67P.

Rosetta was commanded to make a final series of unique images  of its final resting place.

After Rosetta took the final images, the spacecraft mission was described a success.