On Tuesday, November 1st, 2022, Linden Lab announced that Homestead regions are now available to Premium Plus members directly from Linden Lab and without the need to hold a Full region.
The offering was first indicated as a “coming” Premium Plus benefit during the Lab Gab session with Grumpity and Patch Linden held on October 21st – see here for a summary of that event – and the November 1st announcement builds on this.
In short the details are:
Premium Plus members are now able to hold one private Homestead region from Linden Lab against their account:
Those intending to avail themselves of the option should also review the Private Regions knowledge base article.
Regions can be requested using a Support Ticket via support.secondlife.com. Tickets should:
Place an order via Land & Region → Order Private Region.
Provide a unique name for the region (in accordance with the region naming rguidelines) and a preferred location on the grid for placement.
The region can be held only as long as the member maintains their Premium Plus account. Should they downgrade to Premium (or any forthcoming Premium subscription level that does not include the Homestead “benefit”) or to Basic will lose the region.
There are no other changes to Homestead ownership, including the fact that anyone is able to own Homestead regions as long as there is at least one Full private region owned on that account as well, and pay the required fees.
Does This Make Premium Plus More Attractive?
Whether the ability to hold a Homestead region when taken on its own will make Premium Plus a worthwhile upgrade is questionable.
If you are not already a Premium or Premium Plus member, then looking at Premium Plus purely in terms of a means to obtain a Homestead region probably isn’t a worthwhile proposition.
When you add the minimum monthly fee for Premium Plus (US $20.75) to the Homestead region tier of US $109, it likely comes out to more than the monthly cost of renting a Homestead region from an established private rental estate.
Both renting privately and holding a Homestead via Premium Plus have the same core risk: paying the monthly tier.
If you are currently a Premium Member, then looking at Premium Plus purely as a means to obtain a Homestead region is a little less clear-cut.
On the one hand, upgrading to Premium Plus from Premium costs at least an extra US $12.5 a month.
On the other, this fee, plus the month Homestead tier will still be a competitive outlay when compared to renting a homestead through a private estate.
If you are a Basic or Premium member who already sees value in other Premium Plus benefits (such as the reduced fee for Name Changes, the other reduced fees, etc.), and are attracted to the idea of holding your own region, then upgrading to Premium Plus is liable to be worthwhile and cost-effective.
This last point is really the key to this offer: obtaining a Homestead is not the sole benefit available to those upgrading to Premium Plus, so it needs to be considered as a part of the overall package of benefits, and any decision made on upgrading should be made on that basis. For example, the option of holding a Homestead region is of little interest to me – but the forthcoming Premium Plus Linden Homes do. I’m therefore waiting to see what happens on that front before I make any decision on a potential move from Premium to Premium Plus.
On Tuesday, October 25th, Linden Lab announced changes to the Second Life Terms and Conditions, which will formally come into effect from November 1st, when users will have to accept them in order to access Second Life.
These updates appear to be in the light of the changes to Tilia LCC’s status following Linden Lab’s partnering with JP Morgan Payments (see the official Tillia notice on this here, and my own blog post here).
As noted within the official SL blog post on the update, the changes are specifically related to:
A clarification of certain functions associated with the LindeX as well as the terms applicable to orders placed on the LindeX.
These changes can be found in section 3.2 Second Life may offer a Linden Dollar exchange (the “LindeX exchange” or “LindeX”)
The addition of a new section to the Terms and Conditions, describing the terms applicable to your use of Stored Value Accounts, including your relationship with Tilia LLC.
These changes can be found in section 4. Stored Value Account, comprising four sub-sections:
Section 4.1 – outlining the general relationship between Second Life and Tillia LLC, and the definition of a “Stored Value Account”.
Section 4.2 – covering the specific relationship between Tilia LLC and your ability to purchase and hold Linden Dollars on account, as noted in section 3 of the Terms and Conditions.
Section 4.3 – which will be of particular note to those who (regularly or otherwise) process credit out of Second Life (aka “cashing out”) Linden Dollar values to fiat money values.
Section 4.4 – the overall status of funds held within a Stored Value Account and their relationship with Tilia LLC.
These changes do not appear to make significant changes to how people use Second Life or obtain Linden Dollars. They do, however, better outline the process credit operation, including general time frames involved, although reference should also obviously be made to any documentation offered in respected of the actual process credit operation and within the Tilia Terms of Service relating to same.
Questions on the changes should be addressed to SL Billing Support directly; I cannot respond to questions through these pages, and is unlikely that specific questions posted in the comments below will be seen by members of the SL billing team.
On Friday, October 21st, there will be a livestream edition of Lab Gab, featuring Linden Lab’s Vice President of Product, Grumpity Linden and VP of Product Operations, Patch Linden.
Both will be discussing Second Life development thus far, and will be announcing some upcoming features that will soon be appearing on the platform. In addition, they’ll also be answering question from residents.
If you have a question you’d like to to to Grumpity or Patch (or both!) to answer, the Lab is currently accepting submissions via the the Lab Gab Google Form, so be sure to make sure you send your while the form is available! Note that not all questions submitted may be asked during the session.
I hope to have a summary of the session available some time after it has streamed; in the meantime, the salient details are summarised below.
Viewing Details
Time and Date: 10:00 SLT on Friday, October 21st, 2022.
On Tuesday, October 4th, Linden Lab announced that Premium Plus members can now leverage the Speedlight client as a part of their Plus benefits.
For those un familiar with Speedlight, it is a client specifically designed for use within browsers and on suitable Android and iOS devices, one I have covered in these pages – although admittedly, not the more recent updates.
Since its inception, SpeedLight has steadily increased the capabilities it offers such that it now includes (but is not limited to) chat, IM, Group chat, inventory management, friends list functions, search options, the ability to switch between devices (on SpeedLight) without having to re-log – and basic 3D world view rendering with avatar movement capabilities. A full list of available features and capabilities is available here.
The core product is offered free-of-charge, albeit it with some limitations (log-in time is limited & requires re-logging every 6 hours). However, there is also a dedicated subscription option called Gold (and quite distinct from the Lab’s Premium Plus), which in turn can be tiered through associated Patreon options to offer additional benefits,
The benefits offered to Premium Plus subscribers have been placed between the existing Free and Gold options offered directly by the SpeedLight team, and are summarised within the Lab’s announcement as:
Unlimited online time at SpeedLight.
Access to Speedlight’s Advanced 3D World view [the cutting-edge element of Speedlight’s 3D rendering capabilities, offering options and abilities first, some of which may (or may not) eventually filter down to Free accounts].
Prioritised support (tickets and live chat).
SpeedLight is now available to Second Life Premium Plus subscribers with special options. Image via Speedlight
Given the frequent calls for the Lab to supply a mobile option for accessing Second Life – particularly since the stagnation of Android-based Lumiya -, and with its multi-platform reach, list of capabilities and a basic world rendering capability, Speedlight does have a lot to offer.
However, I would be remiss if I did not mention the graphics used in the Lab’s announcement. Placing a full-feature in-world image of Second Life on both a laptop and mobile device screen might lead to misguided expectations among some (e.g. users relatively new to SL) that SpeedLight offers the same graphics fidelity as an actual viewer; something the SpeedLight team would be the first to acknowledge is not the case. So perhaps a footnote stating the images are not from SpeedLight might be in order to avoid this and accusations of misrepresentation?
That aside, this is an interesting turn in Premium Plus subscription benefits. Not so much the SpeedLight offer itself, but rather if the move might signal a start of other “partnership benefits” for Plus subscribers – such as with creators / businesses from within SL own ecosystem, or with some of the Lab’s content partners. If this is the case, it’ll be interesting as to what might come next.
A high resolution image of Dimorphos made by stacking the last images received from DART. Credit: Eydeet on Imgur.
On Monday, September 26th 2022, NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft, massing 570 kg slammed into the 160-m diameter, roughly 5 million tonne asteroid Dimorphos as the latter orbited its parent asteroid, Didymos.
As I outlined in my previous Space Sunday update, the aim of the mission was to test the ability of a vehicle launched from Earth to alter the orbit of a near-Earth object (NEO) purely through the transfer of kinetic energy, in order to prevent a collision between planet and NEO.
Didymos / Dimorphos are NEOs. They orbit the Sun every 2.11 years, hopping across the orbit of Earth in the process and swinging out as far as the orbit of Mars before heading back towards the Sun, Didymos and Dimorphos are ideal subjects for such tests because the former’s orbit around the Sun can be accurately tracked, as can the latter’s near-circular 11.9 hour equatorial orbit around Didymos.
Images of Dimorphos captured simultaneously by the Hubble (l) and James Webb (r) Space Telescopes several hours after DART struck the asteroid. These images mark the first time the two observatories have taken simultaneous images of the same target. and show the spread of material ejected materials Credit NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
At the time of impact, DART was travelling at around 22,530 kmh, and its impact with the asteroid was described as the equivalent of “a golf cart ramming into the Great Pyramid of Giza”.
Prior to the impact, NASA indicated they expected the head-on collision between spacecraft and asteroid should slow the latter’s orbital velocity around Didymos by around 1% – or 10 minutes. This might not sound a lot, but it should result is a clearly observable change in Dimorphos’ orbit.
The impact was observed from a number of vantage points – including aboard DART itself, thanks to DRACO, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation, which recorded the spacecraft’s approach all the way up to impact (and loss of signal), a host of ground-based telescopes and both the Hubble and James Web space telescopes. In addition, a fly-by cubesat called Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) built by the Italian Space Agency and released by DART roughly two weeks prior to the impact, should be returning post-impact images of Dimorphos in the next few days.
An animation of images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope following the DART impact with Dimorphos, showing the spread of ejecta following the strike. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
While scientists know a reasonably amount of the orbits of Dimorphos and Didymos, there is far more that is not known about either – such as their overall composition. As such, what would happen as a result of the impact was also unknown – and as seen from the likes of Hubble and James Webb and telescopes on Earth, the impact appeared much brighter than had been expected.
In particular, Hubble and JWST were both able to monitor and image the ejecta generated by the impact. Being able to do this is an added science goal for the mission, as analysis of the streaks of ejecta captured in both visible and infra-red wavelengths will help determine the asteroid’s likely composition and structure.
However, it is still going to be a while for the overall results of impact to be fully calculated, although initial estimates of the change in Dimorphos’ orbit might be known within a week or two following the collision.
China’s International Aspirations
China is looking to build partnerships for its upcoming missions to the moon and deep ventures into the solar system, while omitting mention of (current?) main partner Russia.
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris on September 21st, 2022, Wang Qiong of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre under the China National Space Administration (CNSA) stated that China was open to proposals for science payloads aboard its Chang’e-7 lunar south pole orbiter / lander mission, and the Chang’e-8 in-situ resource utilization test mission, as well as already having the participation of Sweden, Pakistan, the UAE (in the form of a small rover) and the European Space Agency (ESA) for the 2024’s Chang’e-6 mission.
In addition, China is working on a number of deep space missions for which international co-operation is welcomed in the form of:
Tianwen-2 (2025), a near-Earth asteroid sampling mission which will also visit a main belt comet.
Tianwen-3, a Mars sample return mission.
Tianwen-4 (2029) a mission to Jupiter (with a fly-by Uranus).
Finally, China is looking for further partners in the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) programme to establish a permanent robotic and later human-occupied moon base in the 2030s.
However, the presentation avoided mention of China’s current partner in ILRS: Russia. Per an agreement signed in June 2021, China and Russia are nominally equal partners in the project, and up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ILRS was referred to as a joint China-Russia programme (Russia was not represented at the IAC due to their on-going aggression in Ukraine).
It’s not clear if the conspicuous absence of Russia from China’s presentations signifies sensitivity to the situation in Ukraine and Russia’s isolation, or a change in Chinese thinking towards their engagement with Russia – although there is speculation the latter is the case.
Be it in space or elsewhere, China has a very realistic view of Russia and partnering with Moscow has never been Beijing’s most preferred outcome, for the two countries are not natural partners. This uneasiness is well reflected in their joint ILRS, which still remains little more than a coordination mechanism rather than a bold undertaking sharing a common goal. In moving forward, however, Beijing now seems to be increasingly confronted with a difficult dilemma: turn the relationship into a real partnership or drop it altogether.
– Marco Aliberti, European Space Policy Institute (ESPI)
Thus, given Russia’s current standing in the world, a partnership with Moscow could limit China’s ability to attract new, potentially more auspicious, international partner.
In Brief
Artemis 1
It now appears that the first launch of NASA’s new Space launch System rocket in the Artemis 1mission is unlikely to occur prior to November 2022 – although speculatively, the mid-to-end of October launch window remains possible.
Thanks to the arrival of hurricane Ian, NASA was forced to roll the massive rocket and its launch platform back the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Centre overnight on Monday, 26th, / Tuesday, 27th September 2022 in what was (literally, given roll-back commenced at 23:00 local time on the 26th) a 11th hour decision.
As a result of the roll-back, NASA has opted to replace the batteries on the vehicle’s flight termination system (FTS) – the package which destructs the rocket should it veer off-course during its ascent through the atmosphere.
A dramatic shot of Artemis 1 arriving at the Vehicle Assembly Building shortly after 7:00am local time in Florida on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022, even as the weather front of Hurricane Ian moves in. Credit: Greg Scott
This is a non-trivial task, and given the technicalities involved, NASA managers have indicated getting the work completed and returning the rocket to the pad before the end of October could be difficult. Should the launch slip into November, opportunities for that month exist from November 12th through 27th.
Crew 5
Hurricane Ian has also impacted the NASA / SpaceX Crew 5 ferry mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The 4-person crew – comprising NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada together with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina – had been scheduled for October 3rd, but has been pushed back to October 5th as a result of the storm.
The Crew 5 Dragon vehicle and its Falcon 9 booster being prepared at the SpaceX facilities, Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Centre. Credit: SpaceX
This is something of a historic mission – Mann will be the first woman to reach space, and Kikina will be the first cosmonaut to fly to the orbiting lab with SpaceX.
Hubble: NASA and SpaceX Consider Dragon Servicing Mission
NASA and SpaceX are carrying out a study to see if it would be possible to use the latter’s Dragon vehicle to reach the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and boost its orbit – and, if Crew Dragon is used, deliver a crew to HST to carry out basic, but essential servicing.
From its launch in 1990 through until 2011, HST had to be routinely visited by the space shuttle to allow astronauts carry out essential servicing and the replacement of aging parts, as well as use the shuttle’s reaction control system to periodically raise Hubble’s orbit around the Earth.
NASA and SpaceX are studying the feasibility of using the latter’s Dragon vehicle to boost the Hubble Space Telescope’s orbital altitude, and possibly deliver a crew to Hubble to carry out servicing operations. Credit: NASA
However, in 2011, the shuttle was retired, leaving NASA without a vehicle capable of servicing the observatory, was has lowered its orbit by some 60km compared to when it was launched as a result of atmospheric drag. Unless countered, this drag will continue until HST will tumble uncontrolled into the denser atmosphere and break-up in the mid-2030s. To avoid this, NASA is planning a controlled de-orbit mission to HST using an automated vehicle in 2029/30, ensuring it burns-up safely and any surviving debris falls into the Pacific Ocean. By contrast, should a servicing / orbital boost be possible with Dragon, then Hubble’s operational life could be extended by up to 20 years.
Even so, such a mission by Dragon – crewed or otherwise – will not be easy; as noted, HST is specifically designed to be services by the space shuttle, and while a capture mechanism was installed during the very last shuttle servicing mission to Hubble, it is intended to be used as a part of the de-orbit mission mentioned above. But should the study show a Dragon-based boost / service mission is feasible, it could come at little to no cost to NASA.
This is because billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has already financed and commanded the Inspiration4 mission and who is financing a series of further crew flights on Crew Dragon under the Polaris project, has indicated he believes a mission to Hubble would be a worth goal for Polaris – and he is actively involved in the study.
On Wednesday, September 14th, 2022, Linden Lab announced it has acquired CasperTech, the multi-product and service company founded by Casper Warden.
Established around 13 years ago, CasperTech is perhaps most famous for its business support services such as CasperLet (for rentals) and – most particularly – CasperVend, a comprehensive, easy to use networked vending and sales management system for Second Life, together with a number of products from rezzing systems through to security orbs. The company even made a foray into providing an on-line market presence as an alternative to The SL Marketplace, in for the form of PrimBay – a service I looked at back in 2013, and which had been designed for merchant operating in SL and other virtual worlds.
Over the years, CasperVend in particular has proven a reliable service to merchants across Second Life, providing a comprehensive range of in-world point-of-sale and produce redelivery solutions, backed by a tools and capabilities that have made the system indispensable to SL content creators and merchants in the sale of their goods. It is this service which likely featured largest in the Lab’s decision to acquire CasperTech.
Commenting on the acquisition in the official announcement, Patch Linden stated:
This acquisition will ensure that all of the existing CasperTech services in Second Life will continue to operate without interruption into the foreseeable future, but it also opens up brand new opportunities to vastly improve the experience for our users as our next step in the CasperTech and Second Life journey.
You can expect to see the same great services that you know and love continue on, with all of the same functionality you enjoy today, but with closer integration into the Second Life ecosystem – and as such, an even more reliable and convenient experience.
We wouldn’t have gone forward with this move if we weren’t absolutely confident that it will be a positive change for all Residents and CasperTech customers.
Understandably, the Lab acquiring a business such as CasperVend is liable to raise concerns among those using the service. To this end, the Lab have opened a forum thread where questions and / or concerns can be raised, and replies provided directly by the Lab – if you do have questions, either as a user of CasperVend or other CapserTech services and products, please ask your questions there; there is no guarantee questions asked in the comments following this article may not be answered.
In addition, and broadcast shortly after the announcement, a pre-recorded Lab Gab session was streamed featuring both Patch Linden and Casper Warden, and it is embedded below.
On Wednesday, September 14th, 2022, Linden Lab announced it has 
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