Say Goodbye to the Queen of the Skies

Boeing is ending production of the original Jumbo Jet, Boeing 747, per a Bloomberg article. This plane has helped shape the world economy to what it is today. It is more than that, this is personal. The Boeing 747 has been a part of my life story from early on.

Boeing 747 by EC Holm

It had started its journey in 1970.  I first flew on one on a transatlantic flight from New York to Madrid only four years after its debut. The captain came over and handed me a pair of wings. Those were my first. I was seven years old at the time. Yes, the airline was TWA.

The plane made intercontinental flights economical and thus opened up economies. Business people used them a lot. They were also used to ship products. In later years, shipping companies like FedEx and UPS made use of them. Heck, I got FedExed in one while I was in the Air Force to Okinawa. It was a joke because FedEx was the contractor to carry troops to Kadena AB from the States, but it was a passenger plane, no boxes.

The 747 has seen all kinds of variations to her both military and civilian. Some notable variations of the plane have been a firefighter (Supertanker), telescope (SOFIA), rocket launcher (Virgin Orbit), large cargo carrier (Dreamlifter), a laser testbed (YAL-1 ), an engine testbed (article), and 2 of them reconfigured into the largest plane in the world (Stratolaunch). I loved these things. I thought it was amazing how such a large plane could be a tool to do such amazing work. Of course, there have been many production variants of the plane to suit many needs. I remember reading in 1988 about a 747 SP making a world record for flying around the world in record time. The article said that the plane made use of the jet stream. I had realized from talking to Air Force pilots that you can go Mach 1 ground speed in an airliner if you take advantage of a favorable jet stream. Not that you are actually breaking the sound barrier with the air around you because the air is moving with you.

I do not know what Boeing is doing by discontinuing the 747, queen of the skies. Personally, I think it is a mistake on their part like many mistakes they have been making of late. Sure, they blame it on the market and fuel economy, but customers are still wanting the old girl.

I find it nostalgic and frankly sad to say goodbye to such a beauty. Yet the end it is still not (if I dare conjure up my inner Yoda). Many 747’s are flying and will fly the blue yonder for many years to come.

Planetary Life

There are 36 planets with civilizations on them in the whole galaxy according to a new study (article). That's a very low number for the number of stars we have, and every star we looked at so far had planets orbiting it. The galaxy is 105,700 light-years in diameter or 8.77 billion squared light-years in area not accounting for the thickness of the galactic disk. That is 243.7 million squared light-years per civilization. WTF? No wonder we never see each other. We would have to be able to search that much of deep space. We cannot even send a probe to the next star, Alpha Centauri (4.5 light-years away).

Blue Marble by EC Holm

We are the biggest and baddest life we know. Earth has the only life we know about so far. We haven't found life anywhere else, but we are still holding out hope for Mars.

Earth is full of microbes down to the core. These are mostly the cause of methane from the ground. Mars has been found to have methane (article). There is a chance it has microbes hiding in its rocky depths. What if most planets have microbes that do the same? That would mean that life is abundant in the galaxy. In the 1990s, NASA JPL found microbial fossils in a meteorite that came from Mars (article). Though this is not conclusive evidence that Mars has microbes, it is strong evidence.

The Earth is full of microbes throughout its crust (article). This means something extraordinary. We never understood this before. It should have made more of a splash than it did. If the crust is full of life. When did life start? I suggest it didn't start on the surface in a pool of water. I suggest it started as the planet was forming, as the rocks, dust, water, and minerals were coming together in the Sun’s accretion disc that formed the Earth. Static electricity and other forces would no doubt be present at the time. Lightning at this time could spark the formation of amino acids which are essential for life. Here is an article supporting this idea. It is pure speculation how you get from amino acids to full-blown microbes of both bacterial and archaeal, but life does it. This scenario would result in widespread microbes on the crust both on the surface and below the new planet.

As a result of microbes exist throughout the crust of the planet, and methane emerges from the depths. Sure you may say what about abiotic methane. Well, most of Earth's methane is biotic, produced from organic material, and/or with the aid of microbes (article). Abiotic methane on Earth is rare. Methane outgassing has been observed on other planets in the solar system and assumed to be abiotic. What if it is biotic like on Earth? That could mean microbial life would be abundant in the universe. What a statement that would be. 

If microbial life is abundant in the universe, then that gives a better chance for the other 35 civilizations to exist. Now wouldn't that be something? We are all formed out of the ground because the ground is alive. You can think about that the next time you are digging in your garden.

Much of this is based on assumptions, speculations, and a few facts. It is fun to think about the possibilities. It is also fun to watch science evolve like the new NASA rover to Mars, Perseverance. It is due to launch soon. Check out its mission page and follow along (mission page). 

The Solar Sailer That Did

Lightsail 2 by EC Holm

When Lightsail 2 launched a year ago and first set sail, it was evident that the team had on their hands that an orbit that was less than ideal. Their perigee was low. With a craft that had rocket propulsion, this would have been no problem at all. Lightsail 2 has kryptonite that rockets do not, the source of propulsion is coming from one direction. The craft can only get a push from the Sun on one side of the planet, so it cannot circularize its orbit without the help of additional thrusters. The craft was only able to increase the eccentricity of its orbit, increase the apogee while the perigee decreases. Lightsail 2 was expected to deorbit after a few months, but it didn’t. Its mission control team pulled a rabbit out of a hat and minimized the altitude reduction as the craft made passed through its perigee thus extending its mission life. It has now been over a year. That's amazing. Congratulations to the Planetary Society and to the Lightsail 2 team.

Check out their mission control website: https://www.planetary.org/blogs/lightsail-2-extended-mission.html

Check out the one year in space celebration video by the Lightsail 2 team: https://youtu.be/Y4k1p0-59WE