#Mars history

[deep-space-netwerk]

So Venus is my favorite planet in the solar system - everything about it is just so weird.

It has this extraordinarily dense atmosphere that by all accounts shouldn't exist - Venus is close enough to the sun (and therefore hot enough) that the atmosphere should have literally evaporated away, just like Mercury's. We think Earth manages to keep its atmosphere by virtue of our magnetic field, but Venus doesn't even have that going for it. While Venus is probably volcanically active, it definitely doesn't have an internal magnetic dynamo, so whatever form of volcanism it has going on is very different from ours. And, it spins backwards! For some reason!!

But, for as many mysteries as Venus has, the United States really hasn't spent much time investigating it. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, sent no less than 16 probes to Venus between 1961 and 1984 as part of the Venera program - most of them looked like this!

The Soviet Union had a very different approach to space than the United States. NASA missions are typically extremely risk averse, and the spacecraft we launch are generally very expensive one-offs that have only one chance to succeed or fail.

It's lead to some really amazing science, but to put it into perspective, the Mars Opportunity rover only had to survive on Mars for 90 days for the mission to be declared a complete success. That thing lasted 15 years. I love the Opportunity rover as much as any self-respecting NASA engineer, but how much extra time and money did we spend that we didn't technically "need" to for it to last 60x longer than required?

Anyway, all to say, the Soviet Union took a more incremental approach, where failures were far less devastating. The Venera 9 through 14 probes were designed to land on the surface of Venus, and survive long enough to take a picture with two cameras - not an easy task, but a fairly straightforward goal compared to NASA standards. They had…mixed results.

Venera 9 managed to take a picture with one camera, but the other one's lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 10 also managed to take a picture with one camera, but again the other lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 11 took no pictures - neither lens cap deployed this time.

Venera 12 also took no pictures - because again, neither lens cap deployed.

Lotta problems with lens caps.

For Venera 13 and 14, in addition to the cameras they sent a device to sample the Venusian "soil". Upon landing, the arm was supposed to swing down and analyze the surface it touched - it was a simple mechanism that couldn't be re-deployed or adjusted after the first go.

This time, both lens caps FINALLY ejected perfectly, and we were treated to these marvelous, eerie pictures of the Venus landscape:

However, when the Venera 14 soil sampler arm deployed, instead of sampling the Venus surface, it managed to swing down and land perfectly on….an ejected lens cap.

#space #space history #venus #NASA #Venera #spost #I will talk all day about venus #ask me about venus floating sky cities #unpopular opinion venus > mars #this is probably my favorite space history story #the surface of venus is made of lens caps #don't try to tell me the universe doesn't have a sense of humor #well #I guess its more that people have a sense of humor and we happen to live in the universe

[allpleasuer]

About Mars

About Mars: A Comprehensive Guide ALL PLEASUER Welcome to our in-depth exploration of Mars, the fourth planet in our solar system. This blog post will delve into various aspects of Mars, providing a wealth of information for both novice space enthusiasts and seasoned astronomers. We will cover a range of topics, including: Basic facts about Mars The type of planet Mars is Historical information…

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#Life on Mars #Mars #Mars and Earth #Mars and Mercury #Mars atmosphere #Mars canyons #Mars climate #Mars colonization #Mars exploration #Mars facts #Mars future exploration #Mars geology #Mars history #Mars human settlement #Mars in culture #Mars in Hindi culture #Mars in science fiction #Mars in solar system #Mars in Telugu culture #Mars methane mystery #Mars missions #Mars moons #Mars NASA missions #Mars polar ice caps #Mars rovers #Mars SpaceX missions #Mars surface features #Mars terrestrial planet #Mars volcanoes #Red Planet

[hopeymchope]

No hardcore fandom has ever died so quickly and so completely as Veronica Mars. This is the story of its murder.

They should study Veronica Mars in Hollywood. I'm serious. It's an incredible story of how to go from "loud, passionate fanbase with its own fandom name that campaigns and advocates constantly for it" to "absolutely zero fucking interest" damn near OVERNIGHT with just ONE epically terri-bad decision.

If you weren't there, you don't understand: From 2007 to 2014, the fandom — the "Marshmallows," as they called themselves — were everywhere in the Internet's geek spaces, my friends. They routinely beat the drum about the series' three seasons and its excellence, lamented its cancellation, pushed others to give the show a try, and always - ALWAYS - proudly and loudly called for the series to be revived.

FULL DISCLOSURE/CONFESSION: I've not even watched that much Veronica Mars, frankly... ? Yeah, I'm sorry! it does seem pretty good from like the four-or-five hours I've experienced firsthand. I just never took the time to sit down with it. Regardless, I find fandoms and their dynamics — both how they operate internally and how they display to others externally — deeply fascinating. And I honestly find them easier to study from the outside than the inside. Like, if I'm IN a fandom, I'm more likely to stay in my corner and ignore places that seem negative. But being on the outside lets me just... absorb what's out there, looking into every forum without judgment. It's like studying pop-culture sociology or something? And it helps that I'm very close to some serious(-ly burnt) Marshmallows. It makes it so much easier to find and absorb the gamut of the fandom.

Besides: There is NO fandom story I've ever seen that's anything like what happened to Veronica Mars and the Marshmallows.

(Time to insert a brief explainer for the uninitiated: Veronica Mars was a TV series that aired from 2004-2007 on the now-deceased UPN network wherein Kristen Bell played the titular character, a high school girl whose single dad was a private detective in the fictional community of Neptune, California. She grew up working "unofficially" as his assistant, which meant that she herself was effectively a teenage private detective.

The three core elements of the series were: 1) Veronica investigating each week's big mystery with plenty of quips and snark, 2) Watching Veronica's various relationships develop and shift, with most of the focus given to a) her relationship to her father and b) Her romantic pursuits (which began as the Veronica/Duncan/Logan triangle before eventually becoming focused on the slow-burn, off-on Veronica/Logan love story), and 3) The gradual development of that season's "mytharc" — the overarching BIG MYSTERY that doesn't get resolved or wrapped until the season finale. So it went over the course of two seasons that took place in high school and the third, shorter season that was at the start of Veronica's collegiate career.)

Just how big and how passionate were the Marshmallows? WELL! When series creator Rob Thomas (not the Matchbox 20 guy) and star Kristen Bell announced the Kickstarter campaign for the Veronica Mars movie in March 2013, it achieved its heretofore-unprecedented goal of TWO MILLION GODDAMN DOLLARS within less than 12 hours. At that time, it was the biggest Kickstarter goal to ever succeed — and certainly the fastest to reach that kind of height. Fans fell OVER themselves to pay out for it. Hell, my own significant other was DEEP in the tank for VM at the time and invested enough to get multiple t-shirts as backer rewards as well as a disk copy of the movie when it eventually came home.

And AFTER the movie hit in 2014? It was thankfully beloved and embraced! The once-teenage characters were adults who were actually out living on their own and working for a living, but the fandom had grown up with them, so it wasn't like they were begging for them to stay young students. They embraced Adult Veronica and her new adventure. The fandom rejoiced loudly and continued to be all over the geek side of the Internet... where they, of course, still wanted more. Sure, there were new novels in the aftermath (which were written by the creator of the series), but most of the Marshmallows were calling for more movies or a streaming revival.

And then, at long last... season four was actually announced. And there was much (premature) rejoicing yet again.

Yes, Veronica Mars returned for a fourth season on Hulu in 2019. It was just eight episodes, and it was heavily centered on one season-long mystery instead of sprinkling that amongst a bunch of smaller ones, but it would still feature the same ol' Veronica. They promised a new, more "adult" mystery/investigation plus a strong focus on Veronica and Logan's love story.

New Hulu purchased the rights to the first three seasons and hyped up its presence on the platform while marketing the return for the new run. The marketing team played up the most popular quips from the show's history plus put out TONS of stuff centered on the Logan/Veronica ship to pump up the fans.

The season was dropped all at once using the classic Netflix "binge" model in July 2019. And then... afterwards?

There was a brief explosion of LOUD RAGE from the Marshmallows at what series creator Rob Thomas had to done to burn and spite the fandom and ruin his own goodwill.

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4: See, at the end of the movie, Veronica and Logan finally entered into a long-term relationship. In season four, they've been dating for years, and Logan proposes marriage. But of course there has to be drama/obstacles: In this case, Veronica isn't sure she's ready to marry... or capable of being in a marriage. Ah, but of course she eventually realizes how much Logan means to her. The two are married, and, in the season finale... Logan is killed by a car bomb in the penultimate scene. The final scene is a flashfoward to a year later, where Veronica leaves Neptune alone.

For most fandoms, that'd be a memorable point of pain. A big ol' speed bump that ultimately throws some people off the bus, leaving only the die-hards. But the fact that fans had been invested in this relationship for literally 15 years and that Hulu (and creator Rob Thomas) had heavily marketed the new season as being a big romantic event for the ship... it was too much. Unlike the aftermath of the Star Wars sequels, there was no lingering group of die-hard fans who were open to whatever was next — at least no significant one. I did some Googling and could only find TWO people who still wanted another season.

Funnily enough? Critics LOVED this. Hell, Vanity Fair infamously penned an editorial about how Veronica Mars had "finally grown up" with this finale. I suppose all the other murders and deaths and drug overdoses and r*pe weren't "mature" enough before now for... some... reason. (The same editorial also featured the author openly hating on Veronica ever being in a relationship because it causes "arrested development" and declaring that the movie -- which was acclaimed by both critics AND fans alike, I remind you -- was a lame dud. So. The writer must be a reeeaaaal fun person.)

But a series doesn't live based on critical acclaim, as it turns out. The fandom was murdered overnight. "Marshmallows" stopped appearing in geek spaces online entirely. No one expressed interest in seeing the next season or the next movie. The constant flow of fan AMVs on YouTube and fanfics on AO3 dried up to nothing or damn nearly so.

Since 2019 ? Nothing. Chirping crickets. An intensely dedicated fandom of 12 years was just... vaporized.

I've never seen anything like it before OR since.

That's why it's so fucking fascinating.

So what went wrong?

Creator Rob Thomas was adamant about two things: ONE, the series was intended to be a noir show, which meant there couldn't be any happiness for its protagonist. And TWO, the death of Logan was necessary to evolve and grow the series.

Thomas thought that having Veronica in a relationship would be holding her back, and that a marriage would absolutely kill the series and leave her stagnant. It never even occurred to him that marriage isn't the end of a character's life and growth. It never occurred to him that plenty of drama can be had AFTER someone is married, or that development/growth could be that the characters mature enough to be capable of maintaining a committed relationship. Thomas' view of his own universe was so myopic that he couldn't conceive of any possible way that Veronica could still be a private detective involved in life-threatening investigations AND be married at the same time. Futhermore, he felt that fans just wanted Veronica to become a pregnant housewife, which is about as far from what Marshmallows were after as you can get without straight-up killing Veronica and/or Logan. He managed to do the only thing wronger than what he wrongly thought was their insistence.

On top of the above, Rob Thomas only viewed "noir" as a vehicle for total fatalism... despite the fact that many of the most famous noir stories are cynical and full of moral ambiguity, but they still feature a positive outcome. The Big Sleep still has the protagonist get the girl. The Set-Up arguably ends with the happiest possible ending in spite of the beating the hero receives.

Perhaps most importantly? Despite Thomas own insistence that Veronica Mars was always "noir," the majority of both TV critics and fans did not think that designation ever truly applied. I suspect that's the reason why Thomas decided to go as dark and fatalistic as possible: He wanted to be noir, and he was being told that he wasn't. So he went so far into noir that he killed his own most popular property.

He was adamant that it was the only way for the series to grow. But as it turns out, it was instead the only way for the series to permanently end. Without that season four finale, a passionate group of fans would still be begging for more. With it? It's over. Nobody fucking cares now.

That's kind of amazing.

#veronica mars #rob thomas #fandom #dead fandom #marshmallows #burnt marshmallows #fandom histories #the death of veronica mars #the day veronica mars died #gifs #television gifs #tv gifs #veronica mars gifs #vmars

[illustratus]

Head of Ares

#ares #mars #art #sculpture #marble #ancient greek #ancient greece #europe #european #history #gods #deity #ancient rome #roman #deities #god of war #borghese #saint petersburg #st petersburg #hermitage museum #state hermitage museum #russia #olympians #greek #greece #ancient #clasical #antiquity

[empirearchives]

“What Napoleon criticised in the statue could perhaps be summed up in one thing: his uneasiness at the sight of his own nudity. And it was precisely his nudity that was felt to be problematic, even shocking. But how did Canova come to have the odd idea of representing Napoleon as a nude divinity?”

— Valérie Huet, Napoleon I: A New Augustus?

The nude statue of Napoleon in question:

#napoleon as mars the peacemaker #napoleon #napoleonic era #canova #antonio canova #napoleon bonaparte #first french empire #19th century #french empire #marble statue #sculpture #statue #statues #neoclassical #neoclassical art #neoclassicism #history #art #french history #Valérie Huet #Napoleon I: A New Augustus? #1800s #Roman presences : receptions of Rome in European culture 1789-1945 #Huet #Rome

[itscolossal]

A Scientific Paint-By-Number Pastel Drawing Was Our First Closeup Image of Mars

#NASA #astronomy #Mars #planets #photography #science #history

[daxnorman]

#mars #daxnorman #art #statue #classical #artists on tumblr #dax norman #rome #art history #sticker #transparent #classic

[acrosscenturiesandgenerations]

▪︎ Venus and Mars.

Date: ca. 1790

Medium: Brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper.

#18th century #art #history #18th century art #decorative arts #history of art #venus and mars #venus #mars #ca. 1790

[green-g3ck0]

guys i miss kings court

rens episode with cleo really drilled it in

#mars is an artist! #also added mayor scar cuz those two have history #hermitcraft #rendog #gtwscar #bdouble0100 #cubfan135 #zombiecleo #rendog fanart #gtwscar fanart #bdoubleo100 fanart #cubfan135 fanart #zombiecleo fanart #mayor scar

[isalabells]

I don't care what people think of me. I know what I did in the past, and why I did it. And I know why I'm doing this now. That's all that matters.

#For All Mankind #forallmankindedit #for all mankind spoilers #flashing cw #Margo Madison #my heart is so SO heavy #the woman who was there for Apollo 11. who made Apollo-Soyuz happen. the one who got them to Mars. who ensured the Mars programme will #continue. scratched off. deemed a (double) traitor. all of her glory erased from history books. #'there is always a cost' and she always ALWAYS paid the price herself. #her job. her science. her rep. her life. her small shot at happiness. #Margo really said 'People are not a thing that you can sacrifice. The lesson is #that anyone who looks on the world as if it was a game of chess deserves to lose' and then sacrificed herself huh

[canisalbus]

While the trick-or-treating comic was very cute, I cannot imagine Vasco not being a little treat kinda guy

Are you telling me he doesn't randomly buy himself candy just for the dopamine and the child-like joy? That he doesn't indulge on halloween spirit and buy spooky candy just for him and Machete?? (who barely eats it but halloween spirit comes first, practically second)

.

#I actually thought about that for quite a while before choosing to go with a simple and neutral soda can #because yes I do think Vasco is a little treat kinda guy #but the treats he goes for probably aren't straight up candy #he's into hot chocolate and sweet coffee drinks #ice cream (particularly odd and seasonal flavors) #pastries and desserts probably #I can see him being a nutella enjoyer #and if he buys actual sweets I think he'd go for chocolate bars #(not like mars bars but thin flat sheets of chocolate that you break into smaller pieces) #(do those have a specific name in english or are they both just chocolate bars?) #none of the above are very easy to share unexpectedly with unfamiliar children #like I said in majority of Europe halloween isn't widely/officially celebrated and trick-or-treating isn't customary #families with young children teens and young adults might do halloween activities on smaller scale #but a childless couple in their thirties (and living in an apartment) is unlikely to have halloween candy in reserve methinks #Machete doesn't eat that many sugary things regularly #if Vasco is having something he probably goes along with it #but his health anxiety kind of affects what foods he deems acceptable and which ones should be avoided #which is ironic because modern Machete has a history of stress smoking #as a habit that's quite a bit worse for you than having an occasional ice cream sundae #I think he managed to quit when their relationship turned serious #answered #anonymous #modern au

[deep-space-netwerk]

Ask and you shall receive.

So do y'all know about Curiosity's wheels? They have these cool hole patterns!

The holes are ostensibly for tracking wheel slippage. The pattern is stamped in the Martian sand, and by taking a picture of the tracks and measuring the distance between the repeating hole marks, you can tell how much the wheels are slipping.

But the pattern isn't arbitrary! Curiosity (along with many many other NASA missions) was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory - or "JPL". While JPL is entirely federally funded and almost exclusively works on NASA missions, it's technically operated by Caltech, not NASA. When JPL was assembling Curiosity, they added some "JPL" decals to it along with the cool "Curiosity" label on the arm.

Well, NASA HQ found out and got mad. "You can't put those JPL stickers all over our rover!" they said, and made JPL scrape them all off.

JPL reluctantly complied, but definitely got the last laugh. No decals allowed? Well fine - the holes in Curiosity's wheels say "JPL" in Morse code. So every few feet, the name of the real creator of the rover is stamped into the surface of Mars!

#space #nasa #mars #curiosity #rover #space history #spost #plasmagiiica

[thesirenisles]

The origin of all Astrology.

Goes back to the Dendera Tablet of Ancient Kush-Kemet, presently known as Egypt in the heart of North Africa.

A key to all Astronomy & the calendar itself. Eternally grateful for the knowledge! 🫶🏾

All of the planets can be linked to what they call “Neter”… what we presently know today as Gods and Goddesses. They were transcribed into Greco-Roman religion, but the myths are true to the original.

#astroHistory

#astrology observations #astro #ancient history #astronomy #astrological houses #african history #africa #kemet #kemetic #ancient egypt #kush kemet #sekhmet #isis goddess #thoth #osiris #heru #horus #anubis #black history #african queen #astrology #pluto #mars #neptune #jupiter #aphrodite #venus #divine feminine #black girl aesthetic #greek mythology

[illustratus]

Head of Ares

#ares #mars #art #scultpure #sculptures #roman #marble #europe #european #history #ancient greek #borghese #ancient greece #gods #god of war #religion #mythology #religious #ancient rome #roman empire #mythological #religious art

[useless-catalanfacts]

The Tossa Pilgrim has been walking this path every year since the 15th century.

According to the tradition, around the year 1400 the plague was devastating the town of Tossa de Mar (in Comarques Gironines, Catalonia). The inhabitants asked Saint Sebastian for help and promised that, if he saved them, they would walk every year to the nearest chapel dedicated to him.

Soon, the plague ended. Since then, every year on January 20th (Saint Sebastian's Day), the people of Tossa have sent a man in representation of the town to walk the 40 kilometres to the nearest chapel dedicated to Saint Sebastian, which is in the town of Santa Coloma de Farners. This man is called the Father Pilgrim (pare pelegrí in Catalan), and still continues nowadays. He walks there accompanied by everyone who wants to join, arrives in the chapel after the sun has set, and gives away shells (pilgrimage symbol) to the people of Santa Coloma who gather to welcome him. The next day, he walks back. When he reaches Tossa again, inhabitants join him carrying candles, and many religious people follow him barefoot for a personal promise.

Video by fototecapatrimonial on Instagram. Photos from Visit Tossa and Turisme Santa Coloma de Farners.

#tradicions #tossa de mar #santa coloma de farners #catalunya #pare pelegrí #pelegrí de tossa #history #pilgrim #pilgrimage #cultures #religions #culture #travel #europe #ethnography #traditions #folk catholicism #catholic #christian #christianity

[cappadocius]

Same as it ever was.

#current events #history repeating #jon osterman #mars #russia