Perseverance II: Explorers

NASA's press release for the Perseverance launch mentioned something that I’d forgotten about completely - this was the mission that would take my name to Mars, etched by electron beam onto three silicon chips along with the names of 10.9 million people.  It's both surprising and gratifying that so many people would have discovered an obscure link to an odd opportunity, and then decided that they wanted to be involved in a trip to Mars - fellow explorers, I greet you.

Just out of curiousity*, I clicked on the link from my previous posting to see if the sign-up site was still live (and to see if there were any other opportunities to add to my travel reward points).

I was pleased to see that, in an admirable demonstration of attention to detail, NASA had updated my boarding pass to say NOW BOARDING:

The joke is that. what with the current situation, this is as close as I'm going to get to travelling abroad for quite a while.  The good news is that it certainly looks like we** have seats with a view for when we make our landing.

- Sid

* No Martian rover pun intended.

** Yes, we - because Karli is coming too!

Perseverance I: Liftoff.

At the start of 2021, the robotic population of Mars will increase by one.* The Perseverance rover launched early this morning from Cape Canaveral, and is scheduled to land at Jezero Crater next year on February 18th. 

However, this mission is a little different than its predecessors.  In addition to the same kind of physical exploration performed by other rovers, the newest citizen of the Red Planet is acting as a scout for future manned missions to Mars:  testing technologies for extracting oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere, identifying crucial resources such as subterranean water, trialing new landing procedures, and analyzing environmental conditions to allow future explorers to better predict dangerous weather.

Perseverance has also been tasked with searching for microbial life forms, in hopes of answering the ongoing question as to whether or not there is any sort of life on the surface of Mars, and whether or not there may have been life in the past.

Perseverance will be the first rover equipped to store drilled core samples for eventual collection.  It's an important development - in spite of all the robotic exploration and experimentation which has taken place on the surface of Mars, no samples have been returned to Earth for further study and research, and this change in sampling strategy is part of the planning for astronauts to visit Mars.

To be completely accurate, I should have started by saying that the populations of Mars will increase by two.  Perseverance isn't alone on its mission - it has a companion called Ingenuity,  a lightweight autonomous*** solar-powered helicopter drone which will hopefully perform the first powered flight on Mars, thereby opening a completely new door for rapidly exploring the planet's surface.

The atmosphere of Mars is about 1% the density of Earth's, which makes powered flight a definite challenge, but on the plus side, the gravity is only 1/3 that of Earth.  I'm confident that the science behind Ingenuity is sound, which means we're going to see some spectacular drone shots of Mars.

Building on the unexpected longevity of previous rovers like Curiousity and Opportunity, the mission duration for Ingenuity and Perseverance is a Martian year, or sol, which is about 687 Earth days.  We wish you both a good trip and a safe landing - and hey, be careful up there, it's dangerous.

- Sid

* Unfortunately, we don’t have enough AI in place yet** on Mars for the kind of Darwinian self-replicating robotic evolution that pops up now and then in science fiction. Recommended reading would be Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan, A Circus of Hells, by Poul Anderson, and innumerable short stories. (To a lesser extent, Gregory Benford’s Galactic Center series fall under this category as well.)

** Yet.

*** Autonomous is the key word here.  The worst-case 40 minute round-trip lag in transmission time  to Mars makes direct control impractical. Imagine trying to drive to work if you could only hit the brakes 20 minutes after you saw the light go red - with another 20 minute delay before your car stopped.  The good news is that there isn't anything else flying around for Ingenuity to hit - other than dust.

It IS the final frontier, after all.

Our thanks to Karli's sister Stefanie for a very on brand card for our move!  (Well, on brand for me, at least ... on brand for Karli is more likely to involve furry woodland creatures.) 

- Sid

Shelfish.

And, finally, Moving Day to our new apartment - a qualified disaster if I've ever experienced one.  

The moving company double-booked for our morning time slot, and decided to go with the people they'd booked after us instead - apparently first come is not first served. We spent the morning sitting impatiently in the middle of our packed possessions, receiving revised ETA after revised ETA, until a truck finally pulled up in our alley a full five and a half hours after the original arrival time that Ty, the owner, had promised us, and the moving process began to lurch painfully and slowly forward. 

We had one experienced mover, and two new hires - one who had been brought into the company a couple of months back, and one who had three whole days of experience.  Astonishingly, the other two found it necessary to repeatedly explain the most fundamental aspect of moving to this 17-year old neophyte: CARRY THINGS TO THE TRUCK - which you would think that almost anyone in the North American continent would already know.  

They ignored our request to have our furniture disassembled, but were kind enough to give me the tools to do their job for them, and decided that they didn't need to use the mattress bag that we'd also requested, cheerfully informing me that they wouldn't charge for it if they didn't use it (after dragging our mattress across the dirty floor of the truck).

As if to put icing on the cake, one of the movers - the 17-year old - quit his job between our old place and the new apartment, leading me to pitch in for the final stages of the move.  (What is the point of hiring movers if you have to carry boxes yourself?)

Since Karli had gone back to the old place to reassure a frightened Jaq the Cat, who had spent the first half of the move apprehensively locked in the bathroom, there was no one to direct the movers as to appropriate destinations for a lot of the items, leading to an incoherent mess of boxes and furniture.

The circus and its clown act finally left town, cash in hand, leaving me to assemble the bed so that we would at least have a place to sleep that night.  (The good news was that, since I'd taken the bed apart myself,  at least I knew where all the hardware was and how to put it back together.)

We spent the next few days feverishly emptying boxes, assembling furniture, and otherwise trying to get things sorted out before we had to go back to work.  Because we've both been working from home during the pandemic, it was more important than usual to get desks assembled and computers connected, which meant organizing the study sooner rather than later.

The good news is that, generally, shelving books is a quick unpacking activity, although I was operating under a bit of a handicap based on the complete chaos of the moving process.  I'm a methodical person, and I'd labelled the boxes alphabetically in order to make the process as seamless as possible.  In that scenario, I'd start with A for Abercrombie  and work my way through to Zelazny (or perhaps Zetlow, but you get the idea.)

In the real world, I had no idea when the A box was, and as such was forced to start with whatever letter of the alphabet came first to hand, which turned out to be H. We'd changed the configuration of the study from the old apartment, so I took my best guess, hoped for the best, and started dumping books onto shelves.

That being said, it was actually not too bad.  I did end up having to move a lot of books from shelf to shelf, but years of handing books has given me the ability to pick up an 18 or 24 inch spread of books and slide them onto a shelf, rather like someone playing an accordion made out of science fiction paperbacks.  It's fast and effective, but I have to say, don't try this at home unless you have a reasonable amount of forearm strength, it makes a bit of a mess if you can't maintain your grip.

Sad to say, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time that I would move some of these books.  I can see retirement somewhere in the next decade, and unless circumstances change before then, we could easily stay in our new location that long.  But, when the time comes, we'll be downsizing to accommodate a reduced income, and a room full of books just won't be practical any more.

Although, I'm sure I'll keep a few, right?

Just a few...you know, the good ones, the ones I like.

- Sid

* The Infinite Revolution does NOT recommend Home Run Moving.  NOT.  NOT NOT NOT.  Zero stars.  No thumbs up.  0/10, would not use again.  And Ty?  You should be ashamed of yourself for how you handled things.

"I find myself alone on a strange world..."

There probably isn't a worse time to buy an complex open-world computer game set in near-infinite space than the middle of moving to a new apartment.  Nonetheless, Steam had one on sale, an ex-coworker had raved about the game in question, and after all, it's not like it was going to disappear if I didn't play it right away.

All that taken into account, I decided to go ahead, and invested $33.24 CAD in No Man's Sky, a combination survival simulation/space exploration game first released by indie developer Hello Games in 2016.

No Man's Sky relies upon an elaborate procedural generation algorithm that has the capability to create over 28 quintillion unique planets, each with its own unique ecosystem and environment.  (Presumably the algorithm also has the capacity to name them all.)  Apparently players operate in a shared universe, although with that many planets available, it's difficult to imagine that you would ever stumble across another explorer. Through the course of the game, players survive, explore, trade, and, when necessary, fight for their lives.

In some ways, the initial portion of the game is reminiscent of The Long Dark in that your character, the Traveller, is introduced into a hostile environment where they must locate the resources necessary to stay alive as their oxygen supply creeps downward and their exosuit's armour and shielding degrades under the assault of corrosive gases, radiation, storms, and predatory wildlife.  Robotic Sentinels, large or small, may also assault the Traveller in order to protect the planet's resources from their depredations.

However, the initial survival-oriented gameplay is just a gateway into a larger experience.  Once the Traveller has located and repaired their damaged starship using local resources and salvaged technology, they can leave the planet and begin to explore the universe.

Each solar system has a space station, where the Traveller can upgrade their equipment by trading for additional technology and blueprints, and interact with the three main alien races that share the universe:  the Vy'Keen, the Gex, and the Korvax.  Unfortunately, the Traveller must first learn to communicate with the aliens in order to avoid misunderstandings and possible attacks in transit by aliens fleets. 

In addition to trade, credits can be earned by exploring planets and uploading the results to the Atlas, an enigmatic cosmic entity with interfaces scattered through the universe.

Alien bases, either occupied or abandoned, may also be discovered on planetary surfaces, and players can build their own base, giving them a secure location from which to operate.

After downloading the game, I took a break from packing boxes in order to quickly try it out, and quite liked the look and feel of the game, although it took me some time and experimentation to determine how to make use of the interface.  I also realized immediately that the complexity of the game would require more of an investment of time than a quick visit - there are a lot of options and capabilities available to the player. 

To be honest, I actually feel more than a little overwhelmed by the possibilities presented by No Man's Sky. Faced with infinity, where do you begin?

- Sid

Legendary Face Mask - ADDED TO INVENTORY.

As it turned out, following my previous posting I broke under the pressure and placed an online order for the Storm Crow Legendary Face Mask.  I also decided to buy a Storm Crow Alliance t-shirt - for a long time, they weren't available online, but when I saw that they were now in stock on their site, I jumped at the chance to add one to my wardrobe.

I received my shipment today, and I have mixed reviews for the mask.  On the plus side, I like the adjustable earpieces - on the minus side, it's not a perfect fit for my face (Not to mention that nagging typo, which I hope they fix in future print runs.) However, I may try it out with a clip connecting the two earpieces rather than looping them over my ears, they're quite long and that may work out more efficiently.

The t-shirt is excellent quality and and a perfect fit, I'm pleased that I decided to get one when I had the chance. (I'd also like to think that hopefully I'll be wearing that t-shirt long after the mask has become an odd collectable rather than a daily necessity.)

Regarding packaging for the t-shirt, full points to the Storm Crow for their strong awareness of what it's like right now to receive a delivery.

- Sid

Joy.

DOCTOR: Thank you. Thank you so much. 

(He kisses Missy gently.) 

DOCTOR: I really didn't know. I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you!

Death in Heaven, Doctor Who

Having finally found a new place to live, Karli and I are faced with the consequences:  boxing up all of our earthly possessions and either moving them ourselves or leaving them for the movers.

Packing is always an opportunity to purge, and if something has languished untouched and unneeded in storage for over a decade, the decision to sell it, donate it to a good cause, or trash it is an easy one to make.

However, some of those decisions are more of a challenge than others.  As per Marie Kondo, sometimes the question is whether or not the object sparks joy - or, more accurately, whether it still does so.

I haven't been consciously conducting this kind of analysis, but there have been things that I looked at and wondered if I only kept them out of habit, rather than any actual continued interest.  For example, I have a shoebox full of postcards from all over the world - my mother's relatives in England would send her postcards, and when they found out that the 8-year-old me kept them, they began sending them to me directly. 

Over the years, I've continued to collect post cards, asking people I knew socially or professionally to send me one when they travelled, and faithfully adding the ones I received to my little collection.  When I got to that point in the packing process, I took a long, long look at that shoebox. 

In the short term, I found a place for it, but it was a near thing.  Not all my possessions were so lucky - it was a little surprising, not to mention liberating, to see how many things failed the test.

The good news? My books spark joy.

It's more of a relief than you would think. As the 12th Doctor so aptly puts it, you lose sight sometimes. It's easy to take things for granted, but as I've started to pack up my little library of science fiction and fantasy, book after book has made me stop and smile appreciatively.

In many ways, my humble collection of dog-eared newsprint and worn 4-colour covers is my life.

It has been my inspiration, my teacher, my doorway into a more enlightened point of view, and, more times than I care to think, it's been my final refuge from the challenges and disappointments of the real world.

In fact, when I think about it, joy hardly seems to be a strong enough word.

- Sid

Legendary Face Mask.

Courtesy of the only place in Vancouver that's worried about your hit points:

I won't lie, I'm a bit tempted.  Hopefully they fixed the typo in the last line for the production version...

- Sid

P.S.  In case this speaks to your inner adventurer as well, the masks are available at:

https://shop.stormcrow.com/products/storm-crow-legendary-face-mask

“Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver.”

For the next five weeks, Vancouver-based game developers Hinterland have introduced a special event for The Long Dark, their quietly apocalyptic winter survival game.  The harsh Winter's Embrace option lowers the already fatally cold outdoor temperatures in the game by an average of 10 degrees Celsius, reduces the indoor temperatures by the same amount, and makes the game's deadly blizzards longer and more frequent.  Players who manage to survive for 25 days will unlock a special achievement badge to acknowledge the extent of their frost-bitten survival skills.

However, it's not all bad news.  Since Canada Day takes place during the event, Hinterland has added a special Canadian twist to things with the addition of two new food items:  Maple Syrup and Ketchup Potato Chips.*  Players are challenged to consume 25 bottles of syrup and 25 bags of chips to receive another achievement badge.

As a final salute to Canada, the game now has a Heritage filter which gives the game a kind of 70s National Film Board feel, if you can imagine such a thing.**   I haven't tried that out yet, but so far I've survived for ten days and eight hours, found and eaten five bags of chips, and drank six bottles of maple syrup.  The tricky part is that I've pretty much cleaned out the local supply, and now I need to make the challenging trip to a new map, rather than hunker down and ride out the storms.  Wish me luck...

Happy Canada Day, everyone!   Be kind, be calm and be safe.

- Sid

* The apocalyptic nature of the game precludes poutine, unfortunately.

** There's also a Noir filter which makes the game monochromatic, but there's nothing particularly Canadian about it.