Saients - How Cool Is That?

Victoria LaBarre was climbing out of a canyon and into a bright, vast, seemingly lifeless landscape when she started to experience an astronaut’s nightmare.

“Suddenly,” she said, “I couldn’t breathe.”

The symptoms were real — maybe from claustrophobia, or from exertion at high altitude. But LaBarre didn’t unlatch her helmet to get a breath of fresh air because, in this simulated Mars exercise in the Utah desert, she was supposed to be an astronaut. The canyon was standing in for Candor Chasma, a 5-mile-deep gash in the Red Planet’s surface. On Mars, there’s no oxygen in the air — you do not take off your helmet.

So, instead, LaBarre radioed for help from fellow members of Crew 177. The team of students and teachers from a Texas community college had applied together to live and work for a week this spring in a two-story metal cylinder at the privately run Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah.

Elijah Espinoza, a freshman assigned to be a crew engineer and geologist for the week, heard LaBarre’s call and walked her through some breathing exercises.

“I think that’s really one of the best things about Mars — the teamwork,” said LaBarre.“I don’t think you could live without it.”

To Prepare For Mars Settlement, Simulated Missions Explore Utah’s Desert

Photos: Rae Ellen Bichell/NPR

DIY organization Autonomous Space Agency Network just sent a Trump protest 90,000 feet in the air. And it didn’t even cost that much to do it.

hey guys!! it has been a while :’))

however, i have finished my first semester of chemistry (pre-ib) and i felt as if that i did pretty well in this subject even though i had minimal background knowledge on it. i initially struggled with the concepts we did, but after studying hard and trying my best i have gotten used to it and have been improving so here are my tips and tricks for chemistry!

please understand that i have not been through all the topics in chemistry, i have only learnt about atomic structure, periodicity and bonding so my links and tips may only help you for those topics but they should help with the other topics also. (this is most likely a general chemistry masterpost btw)

important study tips:

ask questions in class!!!!!! this is incredibly important, as also for every subject but if you don’t understand the concept you will struggle like how i did in the beginning :( if you are too shy to ask your question in front of the class, go up to the teacher when you have some time or even email them. even just ask your friends or classmates who may have a better understanding of the concept, it definitely helps having different explanations on the same topic, having different perspectives and all

find good resources, go through past tests, past exams and worksheets so that you can have good practice of what may come in your tests and exams. my teacher was very organised and had plenty of resources for me to use to revise and learn in my spare time out of class. it also gave me the experience of the ib tests and exams so i knew what was to come

as said in my maths masterpost, try teaching others when they need help (if you understand the topic and they don’t) because this really seems to help me when studying for tests, i helped my friend with her questions about atomic structure and found myself learning and revising at the same time because of this

repetition!!! you may not get it right the first time, or even the second, but after lots of tries and times you will get there!! trust me :’))

if you don’t have resources, go search for some. there are plenty of studyblrs who do chem as a subject and im sure they are more than happy to help you (me too but i haven’t through many of the topics lol) once you have been through all the past papers you own, go google for some, especially ib kids, theres some out there for you!

have a periodic table with you at all times when studying chem! its a bit obvious but you would most likely need it

apps + websites: 

periodic table apps (there is loads on the app stores but here are some i found)

periodic table [ android | ios ] very indepth and informative (glad i just found this one, im downloading it rn)

periodic table (this one is different) [ android | ios ]

there is plenty, so find the app which suits you and your learning needs

molview (this website allows you to draw molecules!!)

ibchem.com for my fellow ib chem students, this website has notes and other resources to help you with your studies

2016 ib data booklet (there is probably going to be a 2017 one soon but anyways this will be useful

khan academy chemistry (honestly this website is a blessing to all students, so helpful !!!!)

sparknotes chem

other chemistry masterposts:

chemistry by @areistotle​ 

ap chemistry by @etudiance​

chemistry resource masterpost originally by @physicnerd

general chemistry masterpost by @ellielearnsthings​

my other masterposts:

chinese masterpost

app masterpost

bullet journaling

maths masterpost

advice for new studyblrs

physics masterpost

i hope that these resources and tips will help you in your chemistry studies c:

studygram: acadehmic

Vera Rubin, the woman who discovered the first evidence of dark matter, has died at 88

Vera Rubin, the astrophysicist responsible for confirming the first existence of dark matter, died on Sunday night at the age of 88.

Carnegie Institution president Matthew Scott called Rubin “a national treasure as an accomplished astronomer and a wonderful role model for young scientist.”

Rubin and her colleagues observed galaxies in the 1970s, they learned the motion of stars is a result of a “material that does not emit light and extends beyond the optical galaxy” — also known as dark matter.

Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky proposed the idea of dark matter in 1933, but Rubin’s groundbreaking work subsequently led to the confirmation of the material.

This finding is what led to the discovery that 90% of the universe is made up of dark matter, a finding some colleagues felt was overlooked and deserving of a Nobel Prize. Read more

follow @the-future-now​

Cristobalite, Hematite

SiO2, Fe2O3

Locality:

Caspar quarry, Bellerberg volcano, Ettringen, Mayen, Eifel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

An interesting homoepitactic intergrowth from brown and black hematite  

Photo: Michael Förch

Cristobalite is a silica polymorph that is thermodynamically stable only at temperatures above 1470°C, up to the melting point at 1705°C, at atmospheric pressures. It commonly metastably persists or even forms at much lower temperatures in silica-rich volcanic and sedimentary environments. It can form crystals in cavities, probably vapour-deposited, or spherulites in obsidian or other silicic volcanics.

Hematite is rather variable in its appearance - it can be in reddish brown, ocherous masses, dark silvery-grey scaled masses, silvery-grey to black crystals, and dark-grey masses, to name a few. What they all have in common is a rust-red streak.

Flame color guide of various materials combustion  

Spectacular collision of stars will create new star in night sky in 2022

1800 years ago two stars were coming together in a huge cataclysmic explosion. The light from that collision will finally arrive on Earth creating a new star in the night sky - dubbed the ‘Boom Star’ - in an incredibly rare event which is usually only spotted through telescopes. Before their meeting the two stars were too dim to be seen by the naked eye, but in 2022, the newly formed Red Nova will burn so brightly in the constellation Cygnus that everyone will be able to to see it. For around six months the Boom Star will be one of the brightest in the sky before gradually dimming, returning to its normal brightness after around two to three years.  Read more

Andromeda Galaxy from Earth:

Today is a remarkably profound day in American history, and an even more profound day for humankind.

After years of delays for perfection, SpaceX has successfully launched its FALCON HEAVY rocket, defying the force of gravity, and make its way onto an elliptical heliocentric orbit near Mars. The payload - Elon Musk’s personal midnight cherry red Tesla Roaster, with a dummy named Starman wearing a SpaceX space suit in the driver seat, playing David Bowie’s Space Oddity on repeat, with “Don’t Panic” (Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy reference) on the screen. This car is set to orbit for the next billion years, or upon destruction. This car has potential to outlive the Earth.

Now, this launch is utterly profound for too many reasons to list (although I’ll try). First and foremost, this finally begin the tangible reality of the ultimate goal of SpaceX - to make humans an interplanetary species. This rocket has the capability to take humans, to and from Mars. And although this will not be the rocket that does it, it has shown it is possible. Today marked the first move for humans going to Mars from a paper idea, to a pragmatic reality.

Furthermore, SpaceX, as a private company has entirely reconfigured space travel by its stupid-simple innovations. To simply, basically, space travel is expensive. Really expensive. Part of this reason was because the first stage and second stage (the most expensive parts of the rocket) would crash down into the ocean after use, rendering it useless. Essentially, this is like getting a new McLaren F1, to drive from NY to Boston, just to throw it away once finished. Obviously, this is extremely economicaly inefficient. However, no agency has actively sought to fix this problem because it was viewed as incorrectable, and because space travel has been dominanted by government agencies.. and as we know, government agencies spend frivolously and often don’t care about price.

What SpaceX has done to correct this giant problem was devise away to have the first stage booster descend back to Earth, and slowly and surely drop on a pad either on land or on a tracked floating device in the ocean (to understand how preposterous this is, try to imagine a 25 story building, falling from space, landing on a autonomous pad in the ocean that’s the size of a football field). This was LONG declared as impossible by numerous scientists and physicists, but despite the odds, a private company has not only managed to do this, but do successfully over 15 straight times. This was viewed IMPOSSIBLE in early 2016. Today, we viewed two boosters simultaneously land with the Falcon Heavy launch - AND these two boosters that were used today were previously recovered ones from past Falcon 9 missions. For record of how much cheaper this has made space travel:

Nasa Space Shuttle Launch - cost around 500 million

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch - cost around 50 million

The other reason why SpaceX has managed to make space travel 450 MILLION dollars cheaper is because of how it make its products. EVERYTHING IN SPACEX (and Tesla, btw) IS MADE IN HOUSE. Everything. Everything made on American soil, by American workers, IN FUCKING HOUSE. It is of course immensely difficult to build a fucking rocket from scratch, but SpaceX has perfected it. Instead of buying a computer from this company (who has to mark up to get a profit) who gets their mother board from this company (who has to mark up to get a profit) who gets their chips from this company (who has to mark up to get a profit) - everything is made IN house. As a quick example on how expensive mark up prices become after running through a few companies - A mass amount RADIOS for Tesla through a company would normally cost around 100,000 dollars, but when Musk’s team learned how to perfect it for cheaper, they brought thay price way down to 5, 000 dollars. This in house economic principle has made space travel FAR more plausible for the public then we ever could have imagined. And as SpaceX gets better, prices will continue to plummet.

After many stagnant years, there has been little to any innovation in the improvment of space travel. Since 1969 and the Apollo mission to the moon, there has been little for the public to cheer on, with regards to NASA and American space travel. However, SpaceX has given our generation a voice. It has given our generation a profound meaning. Many of us will witness the day when humans set foot on Mars, and many will witness the moment when humans first begin to colonize the red planet. Our generation has something unbelievable to stand behind - not only as a very proud nation, but as a world united. Curiosity and knowledge connects people all over the world, and traveling the cosmos and becoming an interplanetary species will have a uniting effect far greater than any of us can imagine. We are living in a very special time. Days like today will always be remember in American history, demonstrating the amazing capability of determined humans, when curiosity strikes. Lastly, it is also a reminder that many creations today were once rendered as impossible - having a Tesla flying throughout the solar system launched by the most powerful rocket currently in the world is a giant middle finger for all the thousands who have sworn that both Tesla and SpaceX would never ever be able to make it. Both began as startups with a small team of determined workers, both became near bankrupt in 2009, and today, we witness a cherry red Tesla heading into space playing David Bowie to visit the red planet. If that’s not motivating, I don’t know what is.