Space Sunday: Message in A bottle – Send Your Name to Europa

Posted on by Inara Pey
An artist’s impression of NASA’s Europa Clipper passing over Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA has a tradition of inviting people to have their names added to various robot missions – I’ve mentioned some in this column, and have had both my birth name and my avatar name included on various missions, including both the 2012 Mars Science Laboratory mission and Mars 2020, so they are currently trundling around Mars on the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, for example.

Europa Clipper mission patch

In just under a year from this article’s publication, NASA is set to launch Europa Clipper, a mission to Jupiter with a focus on studying the icy, potentially watery world of Europa, the second innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons.

On entering Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030, the mission will use multiple fly-bys of Europa to study its ice crust and probe the mysteries of what lies beneath it so we might better understand what kind of ocean might exist under its protective shell. In addition, the mission will look for places where a future lander mission might safely touch-down for in situ studies of Europa.

As a part of the Europa Clipper mission, and through until the end of 2023, the public have once again been invited to have their names engraved on a microchip and flown to the Jovian system.

This project, which has been appropriately called (given the mission’s links to water) Message in a Bottle, also sees NASA link up with the current US Poet Laureate Ada Limón. Limón has penned a poem highlighting the watery link between Earth and Europa, together with humanity’s insatiable quest for knowledge. Entitled In Praise of Mystery: a Poem for Europa, it is also being flown on the mission.

Water connects Earth and Europa, the two ocean worlds NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft travels between on its journey. The existence of a vast ocean on a moon of Jupiter – which the Europa Clipper mission is equipped to decisively confirm and characterize – is what makes Europa such a promising place to better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond Earth.

– NASA Message in a Bottle

To participate in the project and have your name flown out into the depths of our solar system as a part of the Europa Clipper mission, visit the NASA website Message in a Bottle, and enter your name and requested details. Whilst there, you can also learn more about the mission and also take an interactive tour of Europa Clipper itself, discovering its instruments and their purpose along the way.

If you’d like to know just how names get to be flown on these missions, then the video below should reveal all:

US and European Launch Systems Update

2024 is looking to be a busy year as new US and European launch systems are set to finally (and in some cases, finally finally) debut operationally. Here’s a quick summary of some of the key craft.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, this is the craft intended to join with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in delivering personnel to the International Space Station (ISS) and returning them to US soil, and which had originally been set to start crewed flights to the ISS in 2018. However, the programme has been beset by numerous (and at times embarrassing for Boeing) issues, coupled with COVID-2 related shutdowns, which have repeatedly pushed the flight back.

Currently, the first crewed launch – which is still technically a test flight – is scheduled for April / May 2024, and the latest report issued by NASA and Boeing indicate that the vehicle performing that mission and carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS for around an 8-day stay, is now 98% certified as being able to perform the mission.

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew capsule being prepared for the Crew Flight Test mission. Credit: Boeing/John Grant

When the flight does take place – the exact date will be confirmed in the new year – it will chalk up one or perhaps two historical milestones. It will certainly be first crewed U.S. capsule to make a land-based soft landing, rather than splashing down in the ocean. In addition, it might be the first launch of a US crewed space vehicle from Cape Canaveral rather than the Kennedy Space Centre, since Apollo 7 in 1968.

However, the second of these two honours might yet go to SpaceX and Axiom Space. The former is currently converting their Falcon 9 launch facilities at Canaveral’s SLC-40 pad to support crewed launches. If it certified for such use before April 2024, it will likely be used to launch Axiom Space’s third private mission to the ISS, Ax-3, allowing SpaceX to use the fast-fuelling facilities at Kennedy Space Centre’s Pad 39A for the launch of a robotic mission to the Moon.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy lift launch vehicle remains on target for a maiden flight in November 2024, which will see it not only lift-off for the first time, but then head to Mars carrying NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamic Explorers (ESCAPADES) mission, a pair of smallsats that will study the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetosphere of Mars.

A semi-reusable vehicle capable of hauling up to 45 tonnes to low Earth orbit (LEO) or up to 13.6 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), New Glenn’s first stage is designed to be flown up to 25 times, and the system has a planned cadence of 8 launches per year once operations commence – and Blue Origin have an initial batch of contracts to meet this target.

An artist’s impression of a New Glenn rocket on the pad. Credit: Blue Origin

Unlike SpaceX, which has (despite claims to the contrary) relied exclusively on a mix of private investment rounds and both NASA and US DoD contracts for the majority of its development funding, New Glenn has – barring a US $500 million US DoD contract that enables it to met the requirements for flying classified payloads – been funded entirely out of company founder Jeff Bezo’s own pocket (to the tune of US $2.5 billion by the end of 2017 alone).

Dream Chaser Cargo, the lifting body space plane designed by Sierra Space to carry up to 5.5 tonnes of payload and supplies to the ISS has passed its latest milestone towards meeting a first planned launch in April 2024. The first operational vehicle – named Tenacity – has been completed, and construction is underway with the second “100 series” craft, built to the same specification as Tenacity. The Tenacity, meanwhile, is now to be transferred to NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio for environmental tests, after which it will likely be transferred to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station where it will be readied for its demonstration flight to the ISS.

DC-101 Tenacity, the first orbit-capable Dream Chaser vehicle approaching completion, with its wings folded up to fit within a booster payload fairing. Credit: Sierra Space

Sierra Space has itself been in the news this week after laying-off 165 personnel from the project. However, many of the reports failed to mention that the company had “surge hired” contractors over an 8-month period specifically to see Tenacity completed in order to transition company focus to the second vehicle and a “200 series” version of the craft the company indicated in January 2023 it would be developing – although to date, no further information on this vehicle has been supplied.

Some reports on the layoffs also failed to note that the company was also absorbing 150 personnel from parent company Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), as projects requiring staff with requisite security clearances transferred from SNC to Sierra Space.

Continue reading “Space Sunday: Message in A bottle – Send Your Name to Europa” →

We Orange the World 2023 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
We Orange The World, November 2023

Opening on Saturday, November 25th at Artsville is We Orange The World, a 16-day arts event intended to coincide with the The United Nations Women’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, and which runs from November 25th, 2023 through to December 10th inclusive.

The physical world campaign started in 1991 at the inauguration of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute, which continues to coordinate each year’s campaign. It is used as a nexus strategy by individuals and organisations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. Initially a civil society initiative, the campaign has – since 2008 – been supported by the UNiTE campaign,  which runs parallel events with the aim of ending violence against women by 2030.

We Orange The World, November 2023

Within We Orange the World, now in its third year, artists have been invited to submit 2D and / or 3D art to be displayed within the exhibition, related to the general theme of the beauty and empowerment of women around the world. Entrants were asked to keep pieces positive, uplifting and empowering rather than negative in nature, otherwise subject matter and presentation were left up to the artists.

Participating artists for 2023 include: Raven Arcana, Ceakay Ballyhoo, Bamboo Barnes, Bijoux, Abi Brewer, Carelyna, Mirabelle Biedermann, Melissandre Blade, Ilyra Chardi, Xia Chieng, Mareea Farrasco,  Dido Haas, Margo Hollak, Jeanie, Jessamine2108, Lizzy, Diney Mccallen, Maghda, Marvayu, Selen Minotaur, Raisa Reimse, Rhiana Rhiano, Sina, Souza, AmandaT Tamatzui, and Dakota Wind, with Artemis Greece providing 3D sculptures.

The event includes entertainment throughout the 16 days, with the schedule at the time of writing as follows (all times SLT):

Saturday, November 25

  • 12:00 Noon: DJ Pru
  • 13:00: Susie Star Twilighton
  • 14:00: Tay Tayana
 Monday, December 4

  • 14:00: Maximillion Kleene
  • 15:00: Amberle Janniah
Monday, November 27

  • 13:00: Wytchwhisper Sadofsky
  • 14:00: Katia Portugal
 Tuesday, December 5

  • 13:00: Open microphone poetry with Sabre and Jolie Carter
Tuesday, November 28

  • 13:00: Open microphone poetry with Sabre and Jolie Carter
 Thursday, December 7

  • WOW event at the Spartan Empire (no time given)
Thursday, November 30

  • 11:30: DJ Lizzy and Tom
  • 13:00: DJ Noir Tater
 Friday, December 8

  • 14:00: DJ Velvet (Women in SL)
Sunday, December 3

  • 12:00: WOW event at Arbors
 Sunday, December 10

  • 11:00: Tillen Avers
  • 12:00 noon: Bsukmet
  • 13:00: DJ Carelyna
  • 14:00: DJ Streuner
  • 15:00: A-R-R-A
We Orange The World, November 2023

SLurl Details

Borkum’s Winter in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Borkum, November 2023 – click any image for full size

It was back to Yoyo Collas’ Homestead region of Borkum for me recently, on the grounds that I dropped in early on in 2023, so hopping over once more as the year draws to a close has something of a nice balance to it. Plus, I’d been informed that the region had received a winter make-over.

Drawing its name from the Lower Saxony island which forms the largest and westernmost of the East Frisian Islands as it sits alongside the border with the Netherlands, and caught between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea, Yoyo’s Borkum has always been a place that is both photogenic and a reminder of how good it is to spend time away from the bustle of life and simply be. This remains true with this winter 2023 iteration, which incorporates a couple of little  reminders from past builds to help generate a feeling of continuity through the changing seasons, whilst at the same time it presents an entirely new location to explore.

Borkum, November 2023

The first of these little reminders is the Apple Fall Old Manufactory. Still overlooking the beaches – if from a different location compared to my visit in March, it retains its feel as a place of work now converted into a place to life, with an inviting , warm interior, together with some furnishings on the deck which also serve as reminders of past builds. Behind it sits the familiar barn, this time occupied by the animals and fowl who might find the wintry weather and colder winds (the clothing pegged out on the line strung between house and barn give ample evidence that the wind is blustering its way over the landscape).

Down below the house, the broad beach is covered in snow – as is the rest of the landscape – and so hardly a place for soaking up the Sun or splashing out into the waters lapping the shore; well not if you are sane, at least. However, this hasn’t stopped the local beach chairs resolutely turning their backs on the wind and offering places for visitors to sit, the braziers burning brightly alongside each one perhaps adding their warmth to the invitation to sit for a while.

Borkum, November 2023

Inland, across a dip in the land from the converted warehouse sits another cabin, this one offering a view over the south-eastern side portion of the region, as it sits on a rocky bluff. Like the cabin to the north, it has a welcoming and cosy interior and a deck with further seating outside for those who enjoy the brisk air. However, someone has clearly gone to a lot of trouble to get it to its hilltop post, this particular cabin having once been an iron-hulled houseboat!

Off to the north-east lies another reminder of past builds, this one taking the form of a lighthouse standing on a blunt headland – although if memory serves, this one is of a different design to the one gracing the island back in March 2023. It shares the same coastal upland as the converted factory and its barn, a rocky line separating the north and east sides of the island from the beaches below as it crooks a finger southward from the lighthouse to end as a blank-face promontory overlooking a frozen inlet which is now being used for ice-skating, and where the locals have set-up little kiosks and trailers from which warming refreshments might be had.

Borkum, November 2023

Where much of the island’s interior was open was given over to rippling seas of lavender and other plants at my last visit, now they have become suitably wooded, frost-bearded firs covering the gently hills, paths and trails cutting through them as they are watched over by a tall wind turbine, its blades tuning in the wind to provide the power for the cabins and skate-side hostelries. Deer roam these woods as might the odd sledding enthusiast or two (look for the sign board!) – although some might find the presence of a trio of dire wolves among the trees a little worrying! Also foraging through the trees and the grass poking up through the snow slopes around them are white horses, their colouring a perfect camouflage in the circumstances.

Throughout all of this are boardwalks, paths and trails to roam, places to sit awaiting discovery (some with a lean towards the holiday period in their style) and a rich mixture of animals (some obviously mentioned above) and birds throughout, all of which add life and depth to the setting as well as upping the ante for photographers.

Borkum, November 2023

Finished with an ideal environment setting and subtle soundscape, winter’s Borkum in Second Life retains its status as a relaxing and photogenic location in which to spend time.

SLurl Details

  • Borkum (Golden Place, rated Moderate)

2023 SL SUG meetings week #47 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Spark Project: Olympus, September 2023 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, November 21st Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the meeting is embedded at the end of this summary, my thanks as always to Pantera for recording the meeting and providing it.

Apologies for the lateness of this summary, RL is not playing nice at the moment.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • They are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • No scheduled deployments for the week, due to this being Thanksgiving week in the US, and so a No Change window is in force. Simhosts are being restarted, however.

Upcoming Simulator Deployments

  • The simulator support for glTF PBR Materials is expected to be deployed to the SLS Main channel on Tuesday, November 28th, making it grid-wide. Promotion of the glTF viewer is liable to occur in that week as well.
  • The “Fall Colours” maintenance update will likely go to RC on Wednesday, December 6th, so it can be grid-wide by Christmas. This update will not include Leviathan Linden’s work on game controller support.
  • The game controller work will now likely be included in the simulator update to follow “Fall Colours”, and which has been code-named “Gingerbread”. This will most likely be deployed in the first working week of January 2024, and will likely included the recent Feature Request to increase the available sensor counts (see: BUG-234648).

Viewer Updates

Four viewer updates at the start of the week:

  • Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), updated to version 6855926535, November 21.
  • Maintenance Y RC (My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from Landmark history), updated to version 6.6.17.6935642049, November 21.
  • Maintenance-W RC viewer, version 6.6.17.6935636398, November 21.
  • Maintenance V(ersatility) RC viewer, updated to version 6.6.17.6898288582, November 20.

Other viewers in the pipe remain as:

  • Release viewer: Github Actions (GHA) RC viewer, version 6.6.16.6566955269, issued October 20 (with major CEF update and number version numbering) and promoted on October 25.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:

Game Controllers

  • Note the changes to code deployment changes outlined above. The work was pulled from “Fall Colours” to allow for further internal review of the code by the Lab.
  • Because of the need for further review, the code is not currently available on Aditi (the Beta grid). It is hoped the code will be re-deployed to some regions on Aditi in the week after US Thanksgiving.
  • It was noted by Signal Linden that it would be nice to have an official project viewer available when the code starts being deployed to the Main grid.

In Brief

  • Region Crossings:
    • Monty Linden is continuing to work on the updates for physical and TP region crossings, but was not available to respond to questions at this meeting.
    • However, it was suggested that, subject to his input, the update to the simulator code handling income teleports / regions crossings to a region might form a part of the “Gingerbread” simulator update.
  • A discussion on support for expanding regex support with Linkset Data keys to support case insensitive searches (see : BUG-233678) and for case insensitive regex support in general. This is being actively pondered upon within the Lab.
  • A further discussion on sensors and their potential uses, which also touched on the need for an “official” Area Search capability.
  • Please refer to the video for these, and other sundry mentions / discussions.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2023 SL viewer release summaries week #46

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, November 19th, 2023

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Release viewer version 6.6.16.6566955269, formerly the Github Actions (GHA) RC viewer, version , issued October 20, promoted October 25 – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • glTF / PBR Materials viewer, version 7.0.1.6894459864, November 17.
    • Maintenance X RC, version 6855926535, issued November 14 – usability improvements.
    • Maintenance Y, version 6.6.17.6855930358, issued November 14 – My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer updated to version 1.30.2.35 (Stable) and version 1.31.0.15 (Experimental) on November 11 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Lalie’s Carousels in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kondor Art Garden, November 2023: Lalie Sorbet – Carousels

Currently mid-way through its November / December 2023 run at the Kondor Art Garden, a part of the Kondor Art Centre operated and curated by Hermes Kondor, is Carousels, a collection of animated art pieces by photographer-artist Lalie Sorbet.

The exhibition comprises some 20 animated mobiles, each one richly organic in form, and all of them floating serenely along the gravel paths circling the gardens. Each piece is formed from two elements, each bearing an image which has been set to rotate gently, one element moving clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.

Some have their parts rotating more-or-less at the same speed, others have their parts rotating at different speeds to one another; thus the sense of life and vitality is deftly imbued. But no liner notes from the artist are provided, so how we might interpret them is a matter between the eyes and the imagination of the beholder. Might they be exotic plants caught on a cushion of air? Otherworldly life-forms drifting through the gardens on an examination of their own? Objects from the sea-s depths brought forth upon the land? Something else? That is entirely for you to decide as you visit.

Kondor Art Garden, November 2023: Lalie Sorbet – Carousels

What is evident within all of the pieces is the manner in which each of them appears both tactile and delicate. On the one hand, they seem to dare us to reach out and feel the touch of what might be a veined leaf or a ripple of hair-like fibres or a gossamer-thin sphere of silk as it slides across finger tips. On the other, there is a countering sense as to what just the lightest of caresses might do to these exquisite forms of light and colour were we to try and touch them; would they respond open and positively responsive to our fingertips, or might they recoil, contract and deny us further revelations as to their form and nature?

I also found myself wondering as to their creation; were they the result of a digital freestyle approach by the artist, or might they be a continuation of her explorations in using AI software to create their component forms prior to being brought together by eye and script to gain life? This is perhaps not important in the overall scheme of things – Carousel stands “as is” as an engaging and visual collection of pieces – but having recently witnessed Lalie’s work with AI tools (see: Art, AI and Totems in Second Life), I cannot help but wonder if if Carousels is a further aspect of her use of AI as a means to extend her natural artistry.

Kondor Art Garden, November 2023: Lalie Sorbet – Carousels

Vital, rich in colour, subtle in form  – and perhaps carrying a hint of the hypnotic through the motion mere still images cannot convey – Carousels is a relaxing and engaging exhibition of animated art, with pieces available for purchase by those who would like to have a piece at home – floating in the garden, perhaps, as a peregrine visitor to their own garden.

SLurl Details