"The Space Force, Separate but Equal".

 

"When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space...We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal." 

 - POTUS Donald J. Trump

And now, a breaking news story:  as of today, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States and defender of American dominance everywhere, has formally directed the Department of Defense to establish another branch of the armed forces dedicated to combat in space:  the Space Force.

First, this is the most 1950s pulp magazine announcement that I've ever heard in my life, and it breaks my heart a little that Robert A. Heinlein, author of Starship Troopers, was not alive to hear it.  Second, when you look past the Planet Stories feel of the whole thing, it's actually kind of intriguing.  Realistically, a demand for a near-Earth military presence would lead to all kinds of research and development for which there previously just hasn't been funding.  For example, to date there's been no real reason for the development of vehicles with complex vacuum manoeuvring capabilities, but a Space Force would certainly need the equivalent of fighters, bombers, helicopters, troop carriers and so on, which could easily be adapted for civilian needs.  And, I'm sorry to admit this, but given that my other hobby is military history, I'd be interested to see how the United States military would adapt to the challenges of zero-gee vacuum combat.

However, I do see one problem.  President Trump has also announced his plans to privatize the ISS by 2025 - where will the Space Force and its, ah, forces be based?  Maybe the Space Force could construct its own orbital facility, perhaps a large globular battle station of some sort.  My co-worker David agrees completely with this, and suggests that it could be called something really cool like "the Death Star".  My personal vote is for Starkiller Base, but I think that either one would be suitable to be the new home of the Space Force.

- Sid

Playing this week: Doctor Who

"I hope that you enjoy the following presentation, and if you don't, I shall be terribly disappointed."

-Tom Baker, introduction to Genesis of the Daleks

It's Doctor Who movie night:  I change into my TARDIS t-shirt and leave work to head out to the Park Theatre on Cambie Street.

I get some popcorn and a drink, then head into the theatre to evaluate options for seating.  I settle on the sixth row, which turns out to be just about perfect for me:  I feel pleasantly close to the action without having to tilt my head back too far.

The seats begin to fill up until the theatre is about a quarter full.  I'm surprised by the age range in the audience, which ranges from old school fans like myself (and some a little older) down to eight or nine year olds.  There are solo acts like myself scattered around the room, but more commonly people seem to have come in groups.

Behind me, a group of six discusses the merits of the various doctors, and the potential of the new one.  They all regret the premature departure of Christopher Eccleston, and are sufficiently savvy to know the behind-the-scenes reasons.  One of them has a staunch dislike of Colin Baker, who played the sixth Doctor, and he's a bit worried that Jodie Whittaker's costume as seen in promo material harkens a bit too much back to his look.  They briefly discuss Ms. Whittaker's potential, but everyone agrees that it's too early to make any decisions based on the single word of dialogue that she spoke at the end of last year's Christmas episode - wait and see is the consensus.

The lights dim, and the show begins with an introduction by Tom Baker, followed by the edited movie version of Genesis of the Daleks.  I had thought that the composite cut was specially created for the promotional showings, but apparently it was originally shown in December of 1975.  I'm used to seeing the classic Doctor Who episodes in slightly blurry DVD transfers, but the quality of the restored version is excellent and bodes well for the Blu-ray collection.

Genesis of the Daleks clearly falls squarely into the cardboard and bubble wrap era of Doctor Who special effects, but the Daleks themselves stand the test of time surprisingly well.  Originally designed in 1963 by BBC designer Raymond Cusick for the second Doctor Who serial in the series, they're a unique looking take on the idea of warrior cyborgs.

 

As the title suggests, the story deals with the origins of the Daleks, the Doctor's most persistent adversaries.  The Doctor is dispatched by his fellow Time Lords to Skaro, the Dalek's original home planet, at the time of their creation.  He is charged with either reducing their aggression or discovering some flaw that can be exploited in future battles.  More disturbingly, there is also the option of eliminating the Daleks entirely by intervening at their creation so that they will never exist.

Some of the movie's elements come across as a bit camp in the modern era - for example, the TOTAL DESTRUCT button that will eliminate the Dalek production facilities gets a chuckle from the audience, and the fight scenes are not even slightly convincing.   But the performances are good, and the Doctor's moral struggle with the destruction of any species, no matter how evil, is gripping.

The movie is followed by an interview with Tom Baker, who at 84 years of age has managed to retain the rich tones in his voice that made him such a distinctive performer.  He reiterates the well-known anecdote about being taken straight from working on a road maintenance crew into the role of the Doctor.  He also speaks a bit wistfully about the passing of time and the awareness of the end being near for him.

The interview ends, the lights come up, and we file out of the cinema.

Overall, I enjoyed the evening - it was a fun way to revisit a classic episode, and I'd be happy to attend another cinema showing if the opportunity allowed.  And, really, if they release ALL the original episodes on Blu-ray season by season, that would be 26 movie presentations - how cool would that be?

I'm in - BBC, let's do this.

- Sid

"I'm afraid."

HAL: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it... I'm a...fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.

Dave Bowman: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.

HAL: It's called "Daisy."

HAL: Daisy...Daisy....give me your answer ... do. I'm ... half crazy all for the love of you... It won't be a stylish marriage... I can't ... afford ... a carriage. But you'll ... look sweet ... upon the ... seat ... of ... a ... bicycle ... built ... for ... two...

- 2001:  A Space Odyssey

Opportunity, NASA's long running Martian rover, is in deadly peril. A gigantic Martian dust storm*, spanning a quarter of the planet, has enveloped the solar-powered explorer and forced it into low-power mode, which shuts down all of its systems except for a mission clock that will periodically check on power levels to see if they're sufficient to resume operations.

 

Should the current situation last too long, Opportunity could cease to function permanently due to damage caused by lack of power to the heaters that keep its circuitry functioning in the frigid Martian environment, or simply by no longer having enough battery power to restart.

But, it's not over 'til it's over, and Opportunity has been beating the odds for almost fifteen years now. After its landing on Mars on January 25th in 2004, it was only intended to remain active for 90 Martian days, a timeline which it has exceeded by over 14 years, carefully traversing 28 miles of the Martian surface and sending back almost 225,000 photos. And this isn't the first time that Opportunity has been in trouble and survived. It was stuck in a sand dune in April of 2005 but was eventually able to escape, and in 2007, a similar dust storm drove the rover into low-power hibernation for several weeks, but it finally returned to operation.

Things are a bit different this time. The current storm is the size of North America, and it's twice as opaque as the 2007 storm. As far as Opportunity is concerned, an unending night has fallen, and all NASA can do now is wait and see.

This is probably one of the best reasons I've seen to date for not using artificial intelligence in space exploration. The news coverage for Opportunity's current situation uses all kinds of emotionally loaded terminology like "battling", "fighting for its life", "heroically", and so on. Sorry, no, let's be frank for a moment: Opportunity is just a collection of hardware and software that neither knows nor cares that this storm could be its swan song. The situation reached a certain point, and its programming shut it down, just like powering off your desktop computer, that's all.

But now imagine if Opportunity actually was self-aware. How could it not be heartbreaking to listen to an AI-enabled rover bravely reporting on its worsening situation, fully aware that it was completely lost to any kind of help, then finally sending a last message before falling tragically silent as lack of power forced it into sleep, a sleep from which it might never awaken?

So perhaps it's just as well that Opportunity is just a piece of technology. Regardless, good luck, Opportunity - it may be silly to think of you as alive, but you've been trundling along for quite a while on our behalf, and it seems wrong not to feel some sense of responsibility for you. Who knows, it may be comforting to future robotic explorers to  know that we worried about you, even if you couldn't appreciate it.

- Sid

* Coincidentally, the same thing happens to Mark Watney in the book version of The Martian.