Sol and Achenar Confirmed as Thargoid Primary Targets

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agle Eye intelligence (brokered by ‘Lab 69‘ within Canonn Research has, as of this week, affirmed earlier predictions that both Sol and Achenar are the intended primary targets of recent encroachments by the hostile species into the core systems.  Both Earth and Mars in the Sol system and Conversion and Capitol in the Achenar system are next expected to receive protection from capital ships equipped with the still experimental AX-class weaponry researched by Aegis Corp. through its own research projects in the Pleiades Sectors of the Milky Way galaxy.  Aegis megaships will also likely serve as support bases into both systems when an attack looks imminent.

The full text of Eagle Eye intelligence output follows:

==+ NoSecrets v2.1.3 Log. License expires 17th Feb 3305. THANKS FOR 
UPGRADING +==
==+ [1041745480075058158] > Packet snoop established. P2P GUDP Packet 
identified. +==
==+ [1041745480075058175] > qTLS Tap OK, Auth: Mutual. Eve (v1.2.7701) is 
in the house +==
From: [Captain Rebuy (Canonn)|Canonn Institute|Col 285 Sector IX-T d3-43]
To: [Overseer Gluttony Fang (AXI)|Arc's Faith|HR 1183]
Subject: Eagle Eye Report Week 11 - 17/05/3304

Eagle Eye Report and Summary of the previous week:

For a second time both target systems were successfully defended with
LTT 8517 and Dalfur systems both having the Thargoid threat repelled. 
Well done all who took to their ships in support. Neither system are 
showing non-human signal sources at present.

Intelligence obtained from Eagle Eye this week shows the targets are 
Lalande 4141 and Lwalama, and NHSS have been detected.

Aegis Megaships were dispatched to Coquim and LHS 1453 (neither of 
which were Eagle Eye targets) and wrecked megaships were found in 
several systems nearby.

The other targets given to us by EE were decoded and have indicated a 
barnacle forest location, wrecked megaships, and an INRA base (Almeida 
in Conn).

All indications so far are that both Achenar and Sol are intended 
destinations.

--Captain Rebuy--

Report Ends…..

==+ [1041745480075058259] > qTLS Tap Dropped. Eve (v1.2.7701) has left
the building +==
==+ [1041745480075058259] > End of P2P GUDP Packet +==

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A quick review of recent achievements by CMDR Trium within the last 10 days.  Visit the VFL archive to review helmet-cam footage.

It should be noted here — despite recent comments made by figures in both the Federation and Imperial navies — no Federation or Imperial NPC navy vessels have prevailed in a Thargoid-to-capital-ship engagement.  (This includes task forces employing both the Federation’s Farragut-class carriers nor the Imperial Majestic-class battleships.)

Humanity may find itself ‘on the ropes’ if victories aren’t seen soon.  To say nothing of what might happen to our species in the event speculation about the Thargoid base structures actually turning out to be late-assembly baseships launching off of nearby planets.

One rather large outstanding question remains here: is Frontier timing the release of planet atmospheric operations to coincide with an even bigger Thargoid threat?  What about the possibility of Thargoid attacks on planet bases or (in atmospheric gameplay) population centres like cities on planets like Earth and Mars?

Further reports to follow as developments warrant.

Sol 752a Published to MSLoGE

Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) within Gale Crater, Mars. Image taken: September 17, 2014 (Sol 752)

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ols 751 through 753 this week promise some exciting new imagery from Curiosity.  Already published to the Google Earth archive is the latest telemetry from Sol 752 (taken yesterday) which will be used to create a further upload (I’m separating the presentations into two files for this event; one called 752a, the other, 752b).  These will illustrate further a detailed look at the geography of the region now being called simply ‘the Amargosa Valley’.

According to Curiosity Rover scientist Lauren Edgar:

“A short ~30 m drive on Sol 753 should put Curiosity in a good position at the Pahrump Hills. Sol 754 will consist of 2 hours of untargeted remote sensing, including ChemCam calibration activities to prepare for the Pahrump investigation, and a Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere.”

Edgar promises further science mission plans for the Pahrump Hills region and beyond will be known very soon.

Curiosity Team Grilled on NASA’s Mars Vision

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esterday, we again saw numerous spending questions about the value behind #Curiosity and other endeavours by #NASA concerning space exploration.  These were prevalent amongst the media’s questions during a Curiosity Update event sponsored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (#JPL).

Dr. Robert Zubrin speaking at NASA in 2008.

Earlier this month, similar frustration could be heard reverberating from the Mars Society’s Dr. Robert Zubrin, who (ensconced atop his pulpit at NASA’s Ames Research Centre) aggressively critiqued the high-profile US department for vacillating on its exploration objectives throughout the solar system.  Zubrin and others see an inefficient, navel-gazing, visionless bureaucracy requiring a refocusing of goals and research to end years of wasted money and energy spent on justifying bad programs.  Instead, what seems to be happening is the very same political institutions responsible for funding US space exploration are simply cutting an inefficient image-conscious government department without addressing the real problem behind invested dollars being well-spent.

In the meantime, corporate America (and commercial interests elsewhere) have begun to step into the sacred ground once reserved for NASA.  Cancellation of the Constellation project happened in tandem with the government refocusing its spending on backing commercial exploration, no doubt because of NASA’s inability to get the job done soon enough to put America first in a second emerging space race.  But NASA still has missions all over the solar system to manage and maintain — and its not clear where the money will come from if the larger issues affecting it aren’t addressed.

In the end, maybe a few heads have to roll.  And there will be consequences; but the only alternative is continuing to stand idly by and watch an organization that once led humanity to the surface of the moon fade from relevance entirely.

NASA/JPL’s Mars Curiosity Rover Data: Delivered to Mobile Phones

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ecently, I announced the release of a personal project on my blog – the delivery of ongoing Curiosity Rover data to Windows desktops using Google Earth (in Mars data mode, sometimes referred to as ‘Google Mars’).  Now, it’s possible to deliver this same information to the Apple iPhone and Android smart phone audiences using the Google Earth app for those platoforms.  Insturctions on how to setup the Google Earth app to do that, step-by-step follow below:

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How to view Curiosity Rover (MSL) Mars geodata using the Google Earth app on a SmartPhone:

Google Mars Showing Curiosity Rover data from Sol 735

1. Load the Google Earth app
2. Select menu icon, top right-hand corner of Google Earth UI
3. Select ‘Settings’ from pop-up
4. Scroll down & select ‘Databases’ from Settings menu
5. Databases menu appears, with “Default” radio button selected.  Select menu icon, top-right-hand corner of UI.
6. Select ‘Add’ from pop-up
7. Enter Database URL dialogue box appears.  Enter http://khmdb.google.com/?db=mars into the dialogue’s textbox and click ‘OK’.
8. The database address now appears beneath “Default” in the databases menu with its radio button selected (make sure).
9. Click the ‘back/return’ button from the phone’s UI (at the bottom, in the Android version).
10. Google Mars should now be visible.
11. Return to the smartphone’s browser & visit the Curiosity Rover data page: http://ross613.apprefactory.ca/mars-curiosity-rover-msl-in-google-earth/.
12. Click the entry for the current Sol & select the Google Earth app if/when prompted to select a smart phone app to load the data with.

The Google Earth app should automatically centre Google Mars on the location of the latest data summary.

Step-by-step video: here.

Google Earth Serves as News Platform for the NASA/JPL Curiosity Rover

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SL, or (simply) the “Curiosity Rover” is being watched differently today than yesterday thanks to a new tool: Google Earth.  The premiere GIS technology offering from Google is now helping NASA’s JPL answer questions about what the latest rover on the red planet is up to by displaying information about the path the rover has taken, its projected path, where it has stopped, when, for how long and it has been up to while otherwise seemingly halted.  Thus the tool is serving not only as a tracking tool, but a news platform about curiosity.

There needs to be (for now) user-led updates to a file hosted on “The Ross Report”; the personal blog of The AppRefactory Inc. President, but there’s always room for improvement.

To find out more, visit the dedicated blog page for the project here and keep checking back for updates, every Martian Sol!

New Space Race: Pros & Cons

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have to disagree with myself it looks like. (Maybe that doesn’t happen often enough!) But only recently has the “big picture” being pursued by the Obama administration started to become evident. And, I hate to admit it; it might not have gone so well if details of what must surely have been a deliberate strategy been announced at the beginning: let the private sector pave the way to space exploration.

The Ross Report

• ABC News: Space Race Rekindled? Russia Shoots for Moon & Mars
• CBC News: Spurned by NASA, Russia Plans Own Moon Base

What this "spurning" by NASA entailed, we’ll probably never know.  But it’s not hard to speculate that NASA might find another space race with its old cold-war adversary useful.  What’s not useful is the inevitable adversarial attitude that occurs politically being exacerbated by a new space race.  So – is a space race good or bad?

Overall, I think we should probably be spending appreciably on extraterrestrial research because, overall, there appears to be plenty of evidence that the technological advances which result invariably imrpove the condition of humanity, and our understanding of the universe.  Too often, politicians come along and dogged by those who think the world’s problems will be solved organically by kind-hearted human beings spending on feeding the poor and healing the world’s sick with the…

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