Carnival of "Space Geeks" #56

I've mentioned the Lifeboat Foundation in several past blog posts. I think it's great that some people are thinking and writing about the various existential risks that are facing our civilization, and raising money to try to do something about these risks. This week's Carnival of Space is being hosted by the Lifeboat Foundation's blog. As you might expect, Phoenix is the main event this week, but there are other topics too. Check it out.

My picture is one more Orbiter shot of Phoenix on Mars - I know there are plenty of real images from Phoenix I could use, but those are everywhere. I still like the do-it-yourself approach of playing with a simulated Phoenix on a simulated Mars in Orbiter. Note that the terrain in Orbiter is just about as flat as the real Phoenix landing spot. Brian's add-on even allows you to operate the robot arm which is just now being deployed on Mars. In this shot, I have positioned the arm to take a big bite of the Mars regolith. The digging part is not simulated in Orbiter - Orbiter is pretty realistic for space flight but not so hot on geology.