Fed2 Star - June 17, 2018 - page 1 (of 2)
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Fiona Craig
Jun 17, 2018, 5:39:16 AM6/17/18
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Fed2 Star
Earthdate June 17, 2018
[This is a subscription mailing list. Details about how to stop
receiving it are at the foot of the email.]
For a fancy formatted version go the Fed2 Star website:
http://www.ibgames.net/fednews/current/index.html
In this week’s Fed2 Star: one of the newsdroids is malfunctioning, we
need your cash, Martian dust storm hits Opportunity, Curiosity finds
signs of old organic material on Mars, New Horizons finds methane dunes
on Pluto, Dawn is preparing to dive closer to Ceres, receding moon makes
Earth days grow longer, exercise makes you ill, a robot fish and a
picture of the sun during an eclipse.
Official News part one
WAS THING2 THE GUILTY NEWSDROID?
by Hazed
Regular readers will know that I have three newsdroids (Thing1, Thing2
and Thing3) which are custom-built with the new morphing softskin
casing. This experimental feature was provided to me for free so it can
be tested in a real news-gathering environment. The droids are also
running a beta version of their operating system (now up to droid 11.7).
This means sometimes they can be a little erratic while the bugs are
worked out of their systems, but they mostly do a good job.
But not always. A few weeks ago one of them messed up the emails for the
Star and sent them out with the wrong date and incorrect subject line.
For the past two weeks I have been trying to identify which one of the
newsdroids was guilty of this cock-up, but it hasn’t been easy. None of
them would admit to being at fault, but neither would they finger one of
their colleagues.
But I have noticed that Thing2 has been behaving more erratically than
usual. It hasn’t been producing as much work as the other two
newsdroids, and what it has handed in has needed a lot more editing. It
has also been spending time staring into space with a melancholy look on
its face. It has set its morphing function to shades of grey (I didn’t
count how many) – very different from its usual choice of bright colours
with psychedelic patterns.
Could this uncharacteristically mournful behaviour be an indication of
Thing2’s guilt over the recent errors?
This model of droid has enhanced emotive software installed, and I had
been informed by the manufacturers that this means they had
pseudo-emotions which I should take into account when dealing with them.
In other words, I have to be careful not to hurt their feelings. But as
far as I am aware I haven’t been mistreating the newsdroids (no more
than usual, anyway) so I see no reason for Thing2 to be so sad – unless
it is guilt at its mistakes.
But I can’t level accusations without proof, so I will have to
investigate further.
MONEY CAN’T BUY YOU LOVE, BUT IT CAN BUY FED’S CONTINUED EXISTANCE
by Hazed
In order to keep the planets that inhabit Fed DataSpace spinning – not
to mention the moons, asteroids and artificial satellites – we need cash
to pay the bills. There’s the hosting bills, so that the code has
somewhere to live – it may be in the cloud, but it still uses real,
physical computers hosted in Manchester in the north of England. Then
there’s the network charge, without which the game wouldn’t be connected
to the internet and you wouldn’t be able to log on and play.
We let you play Fed2 for free, from your start as a Groundhog until you
reach the ultimate pinnacle of the ranks, Plutocrat, but we have to find
the money to pay those bills somewhere. Since there is no magic money
tree, we get that cash by asking you for donations.
In return, we give you slithy toves, which are tokens you can exchange
in the game for goods or services.
You can make one-off purchases of slithies at $5 each, or you can take
out a subscription to buy some each month at a big discount. Get your
slithies here: http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/extras/index.html.
But why should you bother?
Well, leaving aside the fact that if nobody buys slithies and we don’t
get any money in, the game won’t be able to run any more, and eschewing
thoughts of altruistic motives on your part, you should buy slithies
because of all the useful and entertaining things you can spend them on,
such as:
• Price checking – there’s a variety of souped up remote price
checkers available that will aid anybody trading goods on the exchanges
• Navcomp – if you’re running cargo in the Solar system, a navcomp
upgrade can make it easy to find your way from planet to planet
• Teleporter – for true luxury travel you can teleport from place to
place with ease
• Boost your planet cash – exchange a slithy tove for funds in your
treasury, to help you do those infrastructure builds quicker
• Planet design – if you’re feeling creative but the limit on
locations on your planet is cramping your style, buy some extra locations
• Extra planets – you can have more than five planets in your system
if you pay for them with slithies
There’s a full list of all the exciting things you can do with slithies
here: http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/extras/gifts.html. So go on. Give the
gift of some dollars to Fed, and keep the game running.
REAL LIFE NEWS: OPPORTUNITY ROVER THREATENED BY MASSIVE MARS DUST STORM
by Hazed
Opportunity has been trundling across the surface of Mars for 15 years,
which is pretty incredible because its original mission was only slated
to last 90 days. But now its survival is in doubt because of a massive
dust storm.
The storm was spotted on 1 June by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
(MRO). It now covers over 18 million square kilometres, and it’s reached
Opportunity’s location in the Perseverance Valley.
The storm is a problem because the rover is solar powered. If it doesn’t
get enough sunlight, it won’t be able to keep its batteries charged, and
that means it can’t run its heaters. If its temperature drops below
minus 40 degrees C, it’s electronics will stop working and it’ll be
curtains for the plucky little rover.
Earlier in the week, Opportunity reported that the temperature is down
to around minus 29 C. But the good news is that the fact it is still
communicating with Earth means it’s not running out of power yet.
Ironically, the storm may also offer some protection from the cold
because it will absorb heat.
The Opportunity mission team have asked NASA’s Deep Space Network for
extra coverage so they have more chance to keep in touch with the rover.
Meanwhile all they can do is wait for the storm to subside, and hope the
rover survives.
Meanwhile, the Curiosity rover is over 2,000km away from Opportunity but
still experience this massive storm. But it is powered by a radioisotope
thermoelectric generator so isn’t at the same risk as Opportunity. It
has snapped a picture of the dust storm which you can see at the second
link.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/11/opportunity_mars_dust_storm/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180616.html
REAL LIFE NEWS: ANCIENT ORGANIC MATERIAL ON MARS COULD POINT TO PAST LIFE
by Hazed
Speaking of Mars rovers, the Curiosity rover has found evidence in
Martian rocks and in the planet’s atmosphere that suggest it would have
been possible for the planet to support life in the past.
No, they haven’t actually found life, or any signs of life from the
past, but the findings show life on Mars was possible once.
The new findings are “tough” organic molecules in three-billion-year-old
sedimentary rocks near the surface, and seasonal variations in the
levels of methane in the atmosphere.
The organic molecules hold chemical clues to the conditions and
processes on the planet. Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center said, “The Martian surface is exposed to radiation from space.
Both radiation and harsh chemicals break down organic matter. Finding
ancient organic molecules in the top five centimetres of rock that was
deposited when Mars may have been habitable, bodes well for us to learn
the story of organic molecules on Mars with future missions that will
drill deeper.”
Meanwhile the discovery of seasonal variations in methane in the Martian
atmosphere over three Mars years (almost six Earth years) was made by
Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments. It is possible
that the methane was generated by the chemical interaction of water with
rocks, but there is also a possibility of biological origins.
Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, at
NASA Headquarters said, “Are there signs of life on Mars? We don’t know,
but these results tell us we are on the right track.”
Source:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-finds-ancient-organic-material-mysterious-methane-on-mars
REAL LIFE NEWS: PLUTO HAS ICE DUNES MADE OF METHANE
by Hazed
Speaking of methane, scientists say that Pluto has dunes of frozen
methane, meaning that the distant world is more dynamic than had been
thought.
The dwarf planet’s atmosphere had been considered too thin to create
dunes, but analysis of images sent back to Earth by the New Horizons
mission shows a plain called the Sputnik Planitia, covered with what
appear to be fields of dunes. You can see the images at the source link
below.
In a paper published last week, the scientists say that the dunes are
about half to one kilometre apart, and are made of particles of methane
ice which are roughly the size of grains of sand.
Dr Matt Telfer, a physical geographer at the University of Plymouth, is
the lead author of the paper. He says this analysis provides a new
insight into Pluto. “It’s really exciting just to be able to look at
this world and recognise that it’s not just a frozen icy blob in the
outer reaches of the Solar System but really we’re seeing a dynamic
world still changing, still forming today,” he said.
New Horizons flew close to Pluto in July 2015, after a journey that took
10 years. It’s now on its way to the outer reaches of the solar system
to fly past a Kuiper Belt object in January 2019.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44317367
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/270981-new-horizons-probe-is-awake-and-ready-to-explore-the-kuiper-belt
REAL LIFE NEWS: DAWN GETS READY FOR ITS CERES CLOSE-UP
by Hazed
Speaking of flying past dwarf planets, the Dawn spacecraft is preparing
to make its final flyby of Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt.
Dawn has been flying around Ceres since 2015, and after making several
close approaches, it’s now orbiting 270 miles above the surface. NASA
will soon drop it down to just 30 miles which will allow the probe to
send back high-res images as well as to collect data on gamma ray and
neutron spectra.
Dawn’s Principal Investigator Carol Raymond of NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, California, said, “These new high-resolution data
allow us to test theories formulated from the previous data sets and
discover new features of this fascinating dwarf planet.”
Dawn has already discovered plenty of fascinating things about Ceres,
including a 13,000 foot high ice volcano and a seasonable water cycle.
This new low, low orbit should yield even more amazing discoveries.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/01/dawn_ceres_close_up/
Earthdate June 17, 2018
[This is a subscription mailing list. Details about how to stop
receiving it are at the foot of the email.]
For a fancy formatted version go the Fed2 Star website:
http://www.ibgames.net/fednews/current/index.html
In this week’s Fed2 Star: one of the newsdroids is malfunctioning, we
need your cash, Martian dust storm hits Opportunity, Curiosity finds
signs of old organic material on Mars, New Horizons finds methane dunes
on Pluto, Dawn is preparing to dive closer to Ceres, receding moon makes
Earth days grow longer, exercise makes you ill, a robot fish and a
picture of the sun during an eclipse.
Official News part one
WAS THING2 THE GUILTY NEWSDROID?
by Hazed
Regular readers will know that I have three newsdroids (Thing1, Thing2
and Thing3) which are custom-built with the new morphing softskin
casing. This experimental feature was provided to me for free so it can
be tested in a real news-gathering environment. The droids are also
running a beta version of their operating system (now up to droid 11.7).
This means sometimes they can be a little erratic while the bugs are
worked out of their systems, but they mostly do a good job.
But not always. A few weeks ago one of them messed up the emails for the
Star and sent them out with the wrong date and incorrect subject line.
For the past two weeks I have been trying to identify which one of the
newsdroids was guilty of this cock-up, but it hasn’t been easy. None of
them would admit to being at fault, but neither would they finger one of
their colleagues.
But I have noticed that Thing2 has been behaving more erratically than
usual. It hasn’t been producing as much work as the other two
newsdroids, and what it has handed in has needed a lot more editing. It
has also been spending time staring into space with a melancholy look on
its face. It has set its morphing function to shades of grey (I didn’t
count how many) – very different from its usual choice of bright colours
with psychedelic patterns.
Could this uncharacteristically mournful behaviour be an indication of
Thing2’s guilt over the recent errors?
This model of droid has enhanced emotive software installed, and I had
been informed by the manufacturers that this means they had
pseudo-emotions which I should take into account when dealing with them.
In other words, I have to be careful not to hurt their feelings. But as
far as I am aware I haven’t been mistreating the newsdroids (no more
than usual, anyway) so I see no reason for Thing2 to be so sad – unless
it is guilt at its mistakes.
But I can’t level accusations without proof, so I will have to
investigate further.
MONEY CAN’T BUY YOU LOVE, BUT IT CAN BUY FED’S CONTINUED EXISTANCE
by Hazed
In order to keep the planets that inhabit Fed DataSpace spinning – not
to mention the moons, asteroids and artificial satellites – we need cash
to pay the bills. There’s the hosting bills, so that the code has
somewhere to live – it may be in the cloud, but it still uses real,
physical computers hosted in Manchester in the north of England. Then
there’s the network charge, without which the game wouldn’t be connected
to the internet and you wouldn’t be able to log on and play.
We let you play Fed2 for free, from your start as a Groundhog until you
reach the ultimate pinnacle of the ranks, Plutocrat, but we have to find
the money to pay those bills somewhere. Since there is no magic money
tree, we get that cash by asking you for donations.
In return, we give you slithy toves, which are tokens you can exchange
in the game for goods or services.
You can make one-off purchases of slithies at $5 each, or you can take
out a subscription to buy some each month at a big discount. Get your
slithies here: http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/extras/index.html.
But why should you bother?
Well, leaving aside the fact that if nobody buys slithies and we don’t
get any money in, the game won’t be able to run any more, and eschewing
thoughts of altruistic motives on your part, you should buy slithies
because of all the useful and entertaining things you can spend them on,
such as:
• Price checking – there’s a variety of souped up remote price
checkers available that will aid anybody trading goods on the exchanges
• Navcomp – if you’re running cargo in the Solar system, a navcomp
upgrade can make it easy to find your way from planet to planet
• Teleporter – for true luxury travel you can teleport from place to
place with ease
• Boost your planet cash – exchange a slithy tove for funds in your
treasury, to help you do those infrastructure builds quicker
• Planet design – if you’re feeling creative but the limit on
locations on your planet is cramping your style, buy some extra locations
• Extra planets – you can have more than five planets in your system
if you pay for them with slithies
There’s a full list of all the exciting things you can do with slithies
here: http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/extras/gifts.html. So go on. Give the
gift of some dollars to Fed, and keep the game running.
REAL LIFE NEWS: OPPORTUNITY ROVER THREATENED BY MASSIVE MARS DUST STORM
by Hazed
Opportunity has been trundling across the surface of Mars for 15 years,
which is pretty incredible because its original mission was only slated
to last 90 days. But now its survival is in doubt because of a massive
dust storm.
The storm was spotted on 1 June by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
(MRO). It now covers over 18 million square kilometres, and it’s reached
Opportunity’s location in the Perseverance Valley.
The storm is a problem because the rover is solar powered. If it doesn’t
get enough sunlight, it won’t be able to keep its batteries charged, and
that means it can’t run its heaters. If its temperature drops below
minus 40 degrees C, it’s electronics will stop working and it’ll be
curtains for the plucky little rover.
Earlier in the week, Opportunity reported that the temperature is down
to around minus 29 C. But the good news is that the fact it is still
communicating with Earth means it’s not running out of power yet.
Ironically, the storm may also offer some protection from the cold
because it will absorb heat.
The Opportunity mission team have asked NASA’s Deep Space Network for
extra coverage so they have more chance to keep in touch with the rover.
Meanwhile all they can do is wait for the storm to subside, and hope the
rover survives.
Meanwhile, the Curiosity rover is over 2,000km away from Opportunity but
still experience this massive storm. But it is powered by a radioisotope
thermoelectric generator so isn’t at the same risk as Opportunity. It
has snapped a picture of the dust storm which you can see at the second
link.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/11/opportunity_mars_dust_storm/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180616.html
REAL LIFE NEWS: ANCIENT ORGANIC MATERIAL ON MARS COULD POINT TO PAST LIFE
by Hazed
Speaking of Mars rovers, the Curiosity rover has found evidence in
Martian rocks and in the planet’s atmosphere that suggest it would have
been possible for the planet to support life in the past.
No, they haven’t actually found life, or any signs of life from the
past, but the findings show life on Mars was possible once.
The new findings are “tough” organic molecules in three-billion-year-old
sedimentary rocks near the surface, and seasonal variations in the
levels of methane in the atmosphere.
The organic molecules hold chemical clues to the conditions and
processes on the planet. Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center said, “The Martian surface is exposed to radiation from space.
Both radiation and harsh chemicals break down organic matter. Finding
ancient organic molecules in the top five centimetres of rock that was
deposited when Mars may have been habitable, bodes well for us to learn
the story of organic molecules on Mars with future missions that will
drill deeper.”
Meanwhile the discovery of seasonal variations in methane in the Martian
atmosphere over three Mars years (almost six Earth years) was made by
Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments. It is possible
that the methane was generated by the chemical interaction of water with
rocks, but there is also a possibility of biological origins.
Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, at
NASA Headquarters said, “Are there signs of life on Mars? We don’t know,
but these results tell us we are on the right track.”
Source:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-finds-ancient-organic-material-mysterious-methane-on-mars
REAL LIFE NEWS: PLUTO HAS ICE DUNES MADE OF METHANE
by Hazed
Speaking of methane, scientists say that Pluto has dunes of frozen
methane, meaning that the distant world is more dynamic than had been
thought.
The dwarf planet’s atmosphere had been considered too thin to create
dunes, but analysis of images sent back to Earth by the New Horizons
mission shows a plain called the Sputnik Planitia, covered with what
appear to be fields of dunes. You can see the images at the source link
below.
In a paper published last week, the scientists say that the dunes are
about half to one kilometre apart, and are made of particles of methane
ice which are roughly the size of grains of sand.
Dr Matt Telfer, a physical geographer at the University of Plymouth, is
the lead author of the paper. He says this analysis provides a new
insight into Pluto. “It’s really exciting just to be able to look at
this world and recognise that it’s not just a frozen icy blob in the
outer reaches of the Solar System but really we’re seeing a dynamic
world still changing, still forming today,” he said.
New Horizons flew close to Pluto in July 2015, after a journey that took
10 years. It’s now on its way to the outer reaches of the solar system
to fly past a Kuiper Belt object in January 2019.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44317367
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/270981-new-horizons-probe-is-awake-and-ready-to-explore-the-kuiper-belt
REAL LIFE NEWS: DAWN GETS READY FOR ITS CERES CLOSE-UP
by Hazed
Speaking of flying past dwarf planets, the Dawn spacecraft is preparing
to make its final flyby of Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt.
Dawn has been flying around Ceres since 2015, and after making several
close approaches, it’s now orbiting 270 miles above the surface. NASA
will soon drop it down to just 30 miles which will allow the probe to
send back high-res images as well as to collect data on gamma ray and
neutron spectra.
Dawn’s Principal Investigator Carol Raymond of NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, California, said, “These new high-resolution data
allow us to test theories formulated from the previous data sets and
discover new features of this fascinating dwarf planet.”
Dawn has already discovered plenty of fascinating things about Ceres,
including a 13,000 foot high ice volcano and a seasonable water cycle.
This new low, low orbit should yield even more amazing discoveries.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/01/dawn_ceres_close_up/
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