Asgardia’s weekly review: Week 07.10–14.10
On the 12th of October 2018 Asgardia turned two! Thousands of Asgardians congratulated each other on the First Space Nation’s birthday.
On the same day Head of Nation Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli confirmed the results of the first phase of the mayoral elections via Decree №26. 44 cities around the world elected their Asgardian community leaders. The Head of Nation announced that Asgardia’s mayoral elections will continue on the 12th of October 2018 (5 October 0002). This announcement comes via Decree №26, “On preliminary results of Asgardia’s mayoral elections.”
Asgardia’s Parliament has concluded the final session of a three day (10th — 12th of October) Parliamentary sitting. This is the second Parliamentary session, the first took place in person in Vienna on the 24th of June 2018 (07 Asgard, 002). Head of Nation Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli thanked Asgardian Members of Parliament for their work
On the 12th of October 2018 Asgardia turned two!
Meanwhile, an increase in cosmic rays originating outside our solar system was detected by NASA’s Voyager 2 probe, which is on a journey toward interstellar space. Voyager 2 was deployed in 1977 and is currently just under 11 billion miles (about 17.7 billion kilometres) from Earth or more than 118 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
Meanwhile, the Hubble Space Telescope is out of a commission due to a pointing system failure, according to an announcement by NASA on the 8th of October. NASA informed one of Hubble’s gyroscopes shut down.
In further space news, Virgin Galactic will take its first trip into space in the coming weeks, says chief and founder, Richard Branson. During an interview with CNBC, Branson shared that his company is tantalizingly close to their first landmark flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere, saying they should be in space within weeks, not months.
Space travel occasionally comes with mishaps and on the 11th of October a U.S.-Russian crew aboard the Soyuz spacecraft launching to the International Space Station was forced to make a drastic emergency landing in Kazakhstan when their rocket failed mid-flight. According to NASA and Roscosmos, both U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin landed safely with no injuries and rescue crews were able to locate them on the Kazakh steppe quickly.
On the 11th of October a U.S.-Russian crew aboard the Soyuz spacecraft launching to the International Space Station was forced to make a drastic emergency landing in Kazakhstan when their rocket failed mid-flight.
In 2016, researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre invented a thruster system that generates drive without the requirement for a propellant. This technology is a step above space flight applications needing propulsion and the new discovery could decrease the costs of space exploration, enabling the sector to expand exponentially.Then we can explore more discoveries such as this: Many astronomers believe that Jupiter’s moon Europa, with its subsurface ocean, could host alien life. Research suggests landing a spacecraft there poses difficulties. Europa’s surface appears cluttered with icy spikes, the tallest measuring five stories high. In 2012, NASA awarded a contract for Boeing to construct the biggest rocket ever made, with the goal of taking astronauts deeper into space than we’ve ever been. Dubbed the Space Launch System (SLS), this spacecraft will eventually offer the means for carrying human beings to Mars.
In more theoretical space news, the first evidence of an exomoon — meaning, a moon orbiting a planet in another star system — was found, but what if we discovered a planet with a moon that had a moon of its own? This entirely speculative situation has attracted the interest of many astronomers who took it upon themselves to come up with their own terminology to describe these not yet discovered objects. The best (or worst?) name candidate so far is so funny that it’s already taken the internet by storm:Moon-moons. The discussion concerning moons existing around other moons has been the inspiration for a pair of papers presently awaiting publication. The first one up is the work of astrophysicist Duncan Forgan, who took the time to calculate whether or not the recently-researched exomoon candidate around the exoplanet Kepler-1625b could possibly host life.
Water has reminded in the top-five risk/ raconteur.net
As for advancements here on Earth, UN released a report stating new technologies, like artificial intelligence and gene editing, are incredibly promising in terms of improving people’s lives. The 2018 World Economic and Social Survey considered how cutting-edge technologies can be used to meet UN goals for 2030. Amongst the goals are ending extreme poverty, conserving the environment, and driving further economic growth. However, according to the UN, the same scientific progress can create greater inequality and social dislocation.
Dubai is working on a state-developed blockchain-based digital currency which will soon enable inhabitants of the city-state to make payments for school fees, bills, and various retail purchases with the new emCash.
Lastly, Mastercard’s proposed patent for a system that would enable the launch of different kinds of blockchains, including those that support multiple currencies, has been granted. This solution could prove useful to Asgardia in the future as they unroll their own cryptocurrency SOLAR.
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