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I'm a novelist and have an interest in space science and physics. I've been a programmer for more than 40 years and I like reviewing new and up-and-coming authors.
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Hogfather Update 2
The Website will be down for a short period Sun, Aug 2nd 2020 while the site is upgraded
I shall be taking the site down for a while on Sun, Aug 2nd 2020, while i perform the upgrade. Although I have a local copy of the website, I also do a bit of experimentation on it, so the two are not perfectly synchronised, so I'll have to make a backup of the site and download it first. It'll actually take longer to do that than perform the update. It should all be over in less than twenty minutes, then it's back to business as usual. Thank you for your patience.
The website has now been updated to “Hogfather”
Mars Mission Locator
The location of all the missions that have gone to Mars can be confusing when you don't know where they went. Many missions never made it to the surface successfully, or had a malfunction that prevented them from working properly. Some of the landers introduced themselves to the surface with a little too much vigour. Others sailed on past Mars never to be seen again.
The map below details the NASA and ESA missions, including the intended landing sites of the upcoming NASA Mars2020 Perseverance Rover (and the Ingenuity helicopter), and the ESA ExoMars Rover (now slated for launch in 2022). I'll update the map at a later date with something a little less static, and include the USSR/RosCosmos missions, CNSA missions, and any others (such as ISRO, CSA and UAE) that might launch in the future.
Mars July 2020
It's mid-July now, and temperatures at the InSight lander's location on Mars (south-west corner of Elysium in the northern hemisphere) are teetering on the edge and about to fall. At the end of the month - July 30th - NASA's Perseverance rover (formerly known as the Mars 2020 rover) gets its first launch opportunity. It had previously been scheduled to launch two weeks earlier but, you know, things happened.
On the 3rd August, Mars reaches Perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun. It's probably roasting down in the southern hemisphere which is currently experiencing Summer, but for InSight it's the last dregs of Autumn.
Autumn ends on 1st September, and as you might expect, it's into Winter. Martian months vary in length up to 67 sols, but the two months each side of Perihelion are the shortest at just 46 sols each.
Check the Mars Weather page and scroll down to the temperature-over-time graph to see how this uncertain time settles down into something a lot more freezer-like. At the bottom of the page you can see the current position of the planets.
Pi Zero Plan
I've been wondering what to do with my Raspberry Pi Zero, and didn't think I'd come up with an idea for a few months. Like most things, it's not necessarily a good idea to go looking for a use for it: wait until a use suggests itself.
Anyway, I'd seen a project where someone had turned a Zero into a mobile phone. I kid you not. It didn't have a touch screen, but it was great for receiving calls and SMS text messages, and the fact that it looked like it was home-made has that nerdy appeal. I decided that maybe, one day I'll do that, but not this year.