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A very interesting mission. If they know what caused the problem, update the design and launch another one with a total cost of less than 1/2 that of a "faster, better, cheaper" NASA Express project, so NASA could pay for it and barely notice.

Fobos-Grunt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos-Grunt
Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (Russian: Фобос-Грунт, literally "Phobos-Ground") was an attempted Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Fobos-Grunt also carried the Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 and the tiny Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment funded by the Planetary Society.

It was launched on 9 November 2011 at 02:16 local time (8 November 2011, 20:16 UTC) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but subsequent rocket burns intended to set the craft on a course for Mars failed, leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit. Efforts to reactivate the craft were unsuccessful, and it fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry on 15 January 2012, over the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. The return vehicle was to have returned to Earth in August 2014, carrying up to 200 g of soil from Phobos.

Funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency and developed by Lavochkin and the Russian Space Research Institute, Fobos-Grunt was the first Russian-led interplanetary mission since the failed Mars 96. The last successful interplanetary missions were the Soviet Vega 2 in 1985–1986, and the partially successful Fobos 2 in 1988–1989. Fobos-Grunt was designed to become the first spacecraft to return a macroscopic sample from an extraterrestrial body since Luna 24 in 1976.

The cost of the project was 1.5 billion rubles (US$64.4 million). Launch vehicle: Zenit-2M (US$61.1 million) payload to LEO 26,520 lb. Used Falcon 9 in expendable mode ($?? million) payload to LEO 22,800.

Model_of_Phobos-Grunt_spacecraft_without_labels.jpg
 
A fantastic system which I'm damned glad we're adopting.

Since they weren't getting anywhere with smaller attacks, they were obviously trying to overwhelm the system with mass launches:

Largest Rocket Barrage From Gaza Ever Hits Central Israel Amid Fears Of An Imminent War
Palestinian militant rocket attacks and Israeli retaliatory strikes have already created a worrying cycle of escalation in recent days.
MAY 11, 2021

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-central-israel-amid-fears-of-an-imminent-war
Videos showing massive barrage of (130) rockets from Gaza towards Tel Aviv earlier this evening (11 May 2021). Best ones I've found, the first one a tweet showing both the launches and distant interceptions.





Upgraded Israeli Iron Dome Defense System Swats Down 100 Percent Of Targets In Tests
Iron Dome is getting more updates after nearly a decade in service as the threat of improving rockets, missiles, small drones, and more grows.
JANUARY 13, 2020

US Version of Iron Dome Air Defense System Nears Realization Following Raytheon, Rafael Deal
AUGUST 4, 2020

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/08/...s-realization-following-raytheon-rafael-deal/
Iron Dome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Dome
Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 70 kilometres (43 mi) away and whose trajectory would take them to an Israeli populated area. Israel hopes to increase the range of Iron Dome's interceptions, from the current maximum of 70 kilometres (43 mi) [! -W] to 250 kilometres (160 mi) [!!! - W] and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.

ILA_Berlin_2012_PD_036.JPG


Iron_Dome_Battery_Deployed_Near_Ashkelon.jpg
 
COVID-19 and the Brain
What is brain fog, and how can people get help for it?
May 6, 2021

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-my-brain-works/202105/covid-19-and-the-brain
There is a consensus in the medical field that COVID-19 invades and infects brains. According to the University of Washington study published in JAMA in February 2021, about one-third of COVID-19 patients experience symptoms of brain fog, fatigue, exhaustion, shortness of breath, muscle pain and weakness, headaches, insomnia, etc., weeks and months after the disease. The symptoms just do not seem to go away. These patients are called “long haulers.”

What is interesting and also puzzling is that there is no pattern to these “long haulers.” Some were very sick, hospitalized, and on ventilators, and some just had mild symptoms, mostly loss of smell and taste for a while and tiredness. However, most of these patients seem to be in theirs 40s. So far, medical scientists and practitioners do not have a definite answer as to how this virus is causing long-lasting problems. Unfortunately, there is also no consensus upon treatment for “long haulers.”

More like brain damage:

MAY 11, 2021
COVID-19 alters gray matter volume in the brain, new study shows
by Georgia Institute of Technology

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-covid-gray-volume-brain.html
COVID-19 patients who receive oxygen therapy or experience fever show reduced gray matter volume in the frontal-temporal network of the brain, according to a new study led by researchers at Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The study found lower gray matter volume in this brain region was associated with a higher level of disability among COVID-19 patients, even six months after hospital discharge.
 
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world’s most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME is committed to transparency and makes this information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions on allocating resources to improve population health.

COVID-19 has caused 6.9 million deaths globally, more than double what official reports show
6 May 2021

http://www.healthdata.org/news-rele...obally-more-double-what-official-reports-show
Report: Estimation of total mortality due to COVID-19
Publication date: May 6, 2021

http://www.healthdata.org/special-a...covid-19-and-scalars-reported-covid-19-deaths
 
Some technical errors, but still very interesting.

America's First Nuclear Meltdown

 
So, what was Estes' "secret"? E12 related? Could we know by now?

Rocketry Manufacturer's Forum From NARCON 2020

 
Dang! I hope it's... Well, never mind, it'll be what it'll be.

"I'll let you all in on a secret. Turn the recorders off."

"OK, recorders off? Good. There is no secret. I just did that to tease the people watching the video. No one say anything. Turn them back on now."
 
Even at 6.9 million, the global per capita death rate at 6.9/7,700 (0.09%) is still much less than it is in the U.S. at 0.575/331 (0.17%). Part of that may be that the U.S. is an older and less healthy population, so more vulnerable.
 
Defense tech, but maybe some of the concepts would be useful for civilian production?

 
What blew my mind is that with the exception of a VERY few items shown, I've already purchased these exact items, many of them in duplicate.

3D Printing Deals at Harbor Freight

 
Space Cameras: A Sharper Image



Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - Eyes on the Moon



Astronaut's View
Exploration telepresence
By Tom Jones | Oct 2017
Astronauts in Mars orbit could orchestrate complex exploration of the surface

https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/exploration-telepresence/
Robotic telepresence could be the best way for humans to explore Mars, scientists say
June 22, 2017

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/telepresence-mars-orbit/
Exploring the solar system through low-latency telepresence
March 18, 2021

https://www.aerotechnews.com/blog/2...olar-system-through-low-latency-telepresence/
Remote telepresence
A new tool for space exploration?
Feb 2013

https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/748828main_aerospace-america-2013-02.pdf
 
Jun 2, 2021
NASA Selects 2 Missions to Study ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-2-missions-to-study-lost-habitable-world-of-venus
I only find this one of the two to be interesting because of the atmospheric probe involved:

DAVINCI+

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2020/eposter/2599.pdf
THE MISSION INCLUDES a spacecraft that carries a meter-diameter “chemistry/imaging probe” which will transit the entire atmosphere from top to bottom in about an hour, producing a first-ever dataset of chemistry measurements of a quality previously not possible in planetary sciences together with over one hundred descent images of the highlands of Venus some of which will be at scales as small as basketballs.

 
High-Temperature Technologies for Venus [electronics talk starts at 18:40]



Glenn Extreme Environments Rig (GEER)

https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/space/geer/


Long-Lived In-Situ Solar System Explorer (LLISSE)

https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/LLISSE_FactSheet_11_07_17-TK-inputs.pdf
Because of the atmospheric density a variable volume metal bellows can be used at low altitudes as a variable altitude carrier of significant payloads while withstanding the extreme heat.

Venus Aerial Platforms

 
Jun 22, 2021
Operations Underway to Restore Payload Computer on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddar...load-computer-on-nasas-hubble-space-telescope
Hubble Trouble: NASA Can't Figure Out What's Causing Computer Issues On The Telescope
June 23, 2021

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009...-whats-causing-computer-issues-on-the-telesco
Hertz said the current assumption, though unverified, was that the technical issue was a "random parts failure" somewhere on the computer system, which was built in the 1980s and launched into space in 1990.

"They're very primitive computers compared to what's in your cell phone," he said, "but the problem is we can't touch it or see it."

Most of Hubble's components have redundant back-ups, so once scientists figure out the specific component that's causing the computer problem, they can remotely switch over to its back-up part.

"The rule of thumb is when something is working you don't change it," Hertz said. "We'd like to change as few things as possible when we bring Hubble back into service."

The telescope can still operate without the computer

The instruments that the payload computer operates — such as the Advanced Camera for Surveys that captures images of space and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph which measures distant sources of ultraviolet light — are currently in "safe mode" and not operating.

The telescope itself, which runs on a different system, has continued to operate by pointing at different parts of the sky on a set schedule. "The reason we do that is so that the telescope keeps changing its orientation relative to the sun in the way that we had planned, and that maintains the thermal stability of the telescope, keeps it at the right temperature," Hertz said.
 

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