Well done, Dr. Curry! Her work is the centerpiece of the video below, and she is the PI (principal investigator) on this NASA mission. Very rarified air, indeed. Do read on:
. . .Scientists have known for a long time, through an abundance of evidence, that water was present on Mars’ surface billions of years ago, but are still asking the crucial question, “Where did the water go and why?”
Early on in Mars’ history, the atmosphere of the Red Planet lost its magnetic field, and its atmosphere became directly exposed to the solar wind and solar storms. As the atmosphere began to erode, liquid water was no longer stable on the surface, so much of it escaped to space. But how did this once thick atmosphere get stripped away? Sputtering could explain it.
Sputtering is an atmospheric escape process in which atoms are knocked out of the atmosphere by energetic charge particles.
“It’s like doing a cannonball in a pool,” said Shannon Curry, principal investigator of MAVEN at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and lead author of the study. “The cannonball, in this case, is the heavy ions crashing into the atmosphere really fast and splashing neutral atoms and molecules out. . . .”
As previously printed, here is a haiku from a few years past -- one that traveled on board Maven to Mars, from one student's submission -- one of thousands -- one that now seems rather prophetic:unknown for humanity
we want to know you..."
Now you know. We do. . . want to know you. Again.
And so, do go watch this fine video explainer above (featuring Dr. Curry's narration) -- and root for my Buffs, this coming fall -- under Coach Prime -- again! Heh -- but know that UCLA is an away game this year; the best home game (viewable from Dr. Curry's office window -- looking down into Folsom Field) will probably be Arizona, or ASU (in mid November). Onward, grinning. . . .
नमस्ते
5 comments:
And now the NYT is reporting that Tangerine has threatened to cut Musk's SpaceX federal government contracts, and more of his EV tax subsidies -- and his AI/compute contracts... if he doesn't clam up about this disgusting pork-barrel crap moving from the House to the Senate!
And... I love it!
We will mostly leave this sort of "Lord of the Flies" childish BS in comments, and not sully the main front page with these narcissists' respective flatulence.
Heh.
Generally in government contracts the government can cancel a contract unilaterally but then has to pay the full value. Only under ‘cause on performance’ can the government avoid paying. I wonder if it applies to Musk’s contracts? Inquiring minds want to know
Indeed.
You are aware though, right — that Trump is cancelling USAID contracts WITHOUT paying(?).
And lawsuits are flying — but for now, the money is gone.
That’s what he’s threatening as to SpaceX.
So it will be entertaining!
Cheers!
I know. But Contract law is going to win on that. This was drilled into me by the lawyers who teach contract law and the FAR wording. Businesses won’t want to see him win on those. Will upset all government contracts
Gotcha.
And here late on Thursday afternoon, eastern time, Elon just said that Trump is “in the Epstein files“ which is why they have not yet been made public.
That is libel per se — if it’s untrue.
And Elon knows that. So were I a betting man, I would bet that Elon can prove what he just said. I’m not sure many of the MAGA people who voted for him would care, but that would be a NEW felony if it was with an underage girl.
That would lead to a state level (because the feds will be afraid to charge the dotard) prosecution that could put him away for life.
And I am here for all of it!
Keep it up you narcissistic little boys!
Out.
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