This story was originally published by ProPublica. Elon Musks Boring Company spent years pitching cities on a novel solution to traffic, an underground transportation system to whisk passengers through tunnels in electric vehicles. Proposals in Illinois and California fizzled after officials and the public began scrutinizing details of the plans and seeking environmental reviews. But in Las Vegas, the tunneling company is building Musks vision beneath the citys urban core thanks to an unlikely partner: the tourism marketing organization best known for selling the image that What Happens Here, Stays Here. The powerful Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority greenlit the idea and funded an 0.8-mile route at its convention center. As that small people mover opened in 2021, the authority was already urging the county and city to approve plans for 104 stations across 68 miles of tunnels.The project is also realizing Musks notion of how government officials should deal with entrepreneurs: avoid lengthy reviews before building and instead impose fines later if anything goes awry. Musks views on regulatory power have taken on new significance in light of his close ties to President-elect Donald Trump and his role in a new effort to slash rules in the name of improving efficiency. The Las Vegas project, now well under way, is a case study of the regulatory climate Musk favors.Because the project, now known as the Vegas Loop, is privately operated and receives no federal funding, it is exempt from the kinds of exhaustive governmental vetting and environmental analyses demanded by the other cities that Boring pitched. Such reviews assess whether a proposal is the best option and inform the public of potential impacts to traffic and the environment. The head of the convention authority has called the project the only viable way to ease traffic on the Las Vegas Strip and in the surrounding area a claim that was never publicly debated as the Clark County Commission and Las Vegas City Council granted Boring permission to build and operate the system beneath city streets. The approvals allow the company to build and operate close to homes and businesses without the checks and balances that typically apply to major public transit projects.Meanwhile, Boring has skirted building, environmental and labor regulations, according to records obtained by ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas under public records laws.It twice installed tunnels without permits to work on county property. State and local environmental regulators documented it dumping untreated water into storm drains and the sewer system. And, as local politicians were approving an extension of the system, Boring workers were filing complaints with the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration about ankle-deep water in the tunnels, muck spills and severe chemical burns. After an investigation, Nevada OSHA in 2023 fined the company more than $112,000. Boring disputed the regulators allegations and contested the violations. The complaints have continued.The Boring company is at it again, an employee of the Clark County Water Reclamation District wrote to the agencys general manager and legal counsel in June, after video showed water spilling from a company-owned property into the street near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Tyler Fairbanks, a Boring Company manager, emailed the county official, saying we take this very seriously and we are working to correct what is going on. In August, a Las Vegas Valley Water District staffer documented a similar issue. On both occasions, the county issued cease-and-desist letters but did not fine Boring. Financial penalties wouldnt put a dent in the companys bottom line, John Solvie, a Clark County water quality compliance manager, told county Public Works Director Denis Cederburg in an email. Still, the concerns were significant enough that Solvie asked if the department would consider revoking permits (essentially shutting down their operations until they resolve these issues).A county spokesperson declined to answer how the incidents were resolved, or whether the Public Works Department had ever revoked any of Borings permits. Solvie and Cederburg declined to comment. Boring did not respond to repeated requests to comment for this story. As Boring begins hauling passengers beyond the convention center in the first-ever test of an underground road network using driver-operated Teslas, it has successfully removed yet another layer of county oversight. Last year, Boring requested that the county no longer require it to hold a special permit that, among other things, mandates operators of private amusement and transportation systems to report serious injuries and fatalities, and grants the county additional authority to inspect and regulate their operations to protect public safety.The result is that key questions about the operation and maintenance of an unproven transportation system are unanswered. The county declined to respond to detailed questions about its oversight role since the special permit ended. It provided a statement saying that Boring is responsible for the safe operation of its system and retaining a third-party Nevada registered design professional to conduct annual audits of their operations. The county can review those audits and inspect the system as deemed appropriate. Ben Leffel, an assistant professor of public policy at UNLV, said in an interview with ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas that the private projects ability to expand without the same scrutiny required of public projects is a major gap in oversight. Vegas Loop customers will expect Boring to follow the same standards as a public transit system, Leffel said, and it should receive the same amount of oversight and maintenance, more so because of the companys construction and labor citations. Former Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who completed her third and final term in December, said she too is concerned about safety, as well as accessibility for riders with disabilities. She had questioned whether the tunnel project was the best transportation option for the city. I have been totally opposed to it from the beginning and still remain so, she said. Other elected and appointed officials have offered nearly unanimous support.Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump, is now leading the president-elects Department of Government Efficiency taskforce, recommending cuts to the federal bureaucracy and its ability to regulate. And Boring Company CEO Steve Davis is helping recruit staff for the initiative. Given Musks role advising Trump on ways to slash regulations and government oversight, Boring and the Vegas Loop might be a harbinger for the country.A Real Get-It-Done State In 2014, Musk stood on the steps of the Nevada Capitol with a man named Steve Hill, who was heading the Governors Office of Economic Development. They were celebrating a deal to build a Tesla Gigafactory outside Reno. Hill, as the states negotiator, had worked feverishly on the agreement, which provided $1.25 billion in tax incentives to Tesla. Musk would later praise Nevada as a real get-it-done state.Soon after the battery factory opened in 2016, Musks Boring Company was looking for a place to build a project testing its solution to urban congestion, an idea that sprang from Musks frustration with LA traffic. Leaders at the city of Los Angeles were interested. A regional transportation authority, Metro, has a say on public transit in the city, and California law requires an environmental review. But Boring and the city tried to sidestep the state law, claiming an exemption for building in urban areas. Residents, however, werent as eager to turn Boring loose. When neighborhood groups in West LA sued the city over the lack of environmental review, Boring settled with them and looked to build elsewhere. Musk has frequently railed against government scrutiny of his other companies, Tesla and SpaceX, and claims excessive government oversight has made it nearly impossible to build big projects in parts of the country. Environmental regulations are, in my view, largely terrible, he said at an event with the libertarian Cato Institute in June. You have to get permission in advance, as opposed to paying a penalty if you do something wrong, which I think would be much more effective. To say, Look were going to do this project; if something goes wrong well be forced to pay a penalty. But we do not need to go through a three- or four-year environmental approval process.Everywhere Boring tried, it struggled to start digging. In Chicago, where then-Mayor Rahm Emmanuel was a supporter, local leaders expressed skepticism about whether Boring could build an airport loop without public funding. In Maryland, where Boring and federal officials completed a draft environmental review in 2019 for a high-speed link between Baltimore and Washington, the company never started tunneling. That was, until it got to Las Vegas. In 2018, an executive whod met Hill during the Tesla Gigafactory negotiations called him to discuss potentially bringing Boring to Las Vegas, Hill said. (Hill said Musk himself had previously pitched Hill on a Boring Company project in Northern Nevada.) Hill, now a leader at the convention authority in Las Vegas, was in a position to help. Funded by about $460 million in annual revenue from hotel room taxes and conventions, the authority is a force in local politics, channeling the influence of the gaming and tourism industry. The authority happened to be looking to build a people-mover to link exhibit halls at the 4.6 million-square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center. Hill said he already had a sense that the Boring Companys concept would work pretty well here. Nine companies submitted bids, and two were finalists. Borings bid was about a third of the cost of the other credible proposals, Hill said. A week before the board was to select the winner, Hill called a news conference and announced the Boring partnership. He pointed to a map of a tunnel system extending far beyond the convention center to the airport and toward Los Angeles.The authority boasted that news coverage of its Boring partnership was picked up by 1,200 outlets, providing $1.3 million in free publicity for Las Vegas. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is the planning agency for the Las Vegas metropolitan area, overseen by local elected officials. But because Borings project started so small and didnt use federal funding, the commission wouldnt have a say. The convention authoritys governing board, which focuses more on supporting tourism than transportation for local residents, took the lead. Nearly half of the authoritys 14-member board represents private interests, primarily the gaming industry. Goodman and two others voted against the partnership. To fund the convention center loop, the authority committed $52.5 million in bonds that will be paid back by the agency. Since it opened in April 2021, Hill said the authority has paid Boring about $4.5 million a year to operate the convention center loop, which provides free rides to conventioneers. The authority also spent $24.5 million to purchase the Las Vegas Monorail out of bankruptcy, giving Boring the right to tunnel in the monorails noncompete territory. Hill has repeatedly claimed, to elected officials, to local environmentalists and in an interview with ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas, that the loop is the only viable way for Las Vegas to address its traffic congestion. Its not really a debate. Theres no reason to explore the other options, he told members of the Sierra Club during a meeting to discuss public transit, according to Vinny Spotleson, volunteer chair of the environmental groups regional chapter.Hill acknowledged to ProPublica and City Cast, however, thats a prediction. Thats not a mandate. I dont have the standing to make that decision. I think people listen to what I have to say periodically. The Clark County Commission which governs the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding areas was listening when, just a few months after the convention center loop opened, Hill told them that Boring had already proven how great a system this is, that it can be done, and I think provided confidence for this community to move forward. At the urging of Hill, casino executives and labor union leaders, the County Commission approved a 50-year agreement giving Boring the right to operate a monorail above and below ground on county property. The 2021 vote was unanimous. In Las Vegas, Boring had achieved what it could not in Maryland, Chicago or LA.All of their company, it seemed like, was dependent on Vegas working out, said Spotleson, who first met company representatives around 2019 when he was district director for U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas. That we were the test case that they wanted to take to the Chicagos and Bostons and other cities of the world and say, Look at what we did in Vegas. We can do that here. An Expanding System The Boring Company has completed more than 5 miles of the 68-mile system. Despite the proposals massive scale, it has been approved with little public input. When the County Commission considered the expansion plans, they were listed on agendas under the obscure names of limited-liability companies, making it difficult for anyone but the company and its supporters to track. For example, the county approved a roughly 25-mile expansion and 18 new stations at a 2023 zoning meeting through a notice that gave no indication it was related to the Vegas Loop: UC-23-0126-HCI-CERBERUS 160 EAST FLAMINGO HOTEL OWNER L P, ET AL. In 2021, the commission approved an extension for Caesars Entertainment hotels under the name UC-20-0547-CLAUDINE PROPCO, LLC, ET AL, and about 29 miles of tunnel under UC-20-0547-CIRCUS CIRCUS LV, LLC, ET AL. Boring uses a machine known as Prufrock to excavate its 12-foot-in-diameter tunnels, applying chemical accelerants during the construction process. For each foot the company bores, it removes about 6 cubic yards of soil and any groundwater it encounters, according to a company document prepared for state environmental officials. It is required to obtain permits to ensure the waste does not contaminate the environment or local water sources.Public records including emails, notices, photos and videos, and other documentation obtained from Clark County, the Clark County Water Reclamation District and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection through public records requests show the company has been less than meticulous in handling the waste. In June, an employee with the county road division tailed a Boring Company truck that spilled mud onto city streets, according to the records. The trucks have no marking and no license plates, wrote Dean Mosher, assistant manager for the roads division. A truck route that the company had reported to the county must have been totally false, Mosher concluded. A few months later, a truck hauling waste from the project spilled gravel, rock and sand onto Interstate 15, slowing traffic for more than four hours during rush hour. The driver was fined $75 for an unsafe or unsecured load, according to court records. Last year, without the countys knowledge, a Boring contractor relied on a permit held by a county contractor to store muck near apartment buildings and the Commercial Center shopping plaza, along one of the busiest thoroughfares in central Las Vegas, a county spokesperson said. The county fined the contractor $1,549. A county spokesperson would not disclose other locations where the company stores waste and directed operational questions to the company. Boring must also remove groundwater as it digs including near an area where the aquifer is polluted with a dry cleaning chemical known as tetrachlorethylene, or PCE, which can be toxic in large amounts. Boring is required to filter the water before discharging it into storm drains, which flow to Lake Mead. But regulators documented cases where Boring had started work without permits or bypassed their water treatment system, government records show. In 2019, the company discharged groundwater into storm drains without a permit, resulting in a state settlement and a $90,000 fine. In 2021, state officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to prevent Boring from taking actions that could cause unpermitted discharge of groundwater, prompting Davis, Borings CEO, to complain to the head of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection that the state was being fairly aggressive and that this was starting to hurt the company, according to an email the head of the agency sent to several staffers. The following year, local officials cited Boring for illegally connecting to a sewer without approval, records show. In 2023, state environmental regulators found the company was dumping untreated groundwater into the sewer, with one official writing that Boring staff were unsure of how long they have been bypassing the treatment system. Local officials said they investigated but did not find evidence to take further action. That year, Boring tunneled without permits required to work in public rights of way, prompting the Public Works director, Cederburg, to note, They are in violation of the franchise agreement, records show. A Boring official responded that once the county notified the company of the issue, it had immediately filed the two permits. The county approved them retroactively, tacking on a $900 fee for each permit. Untested, Unstudied, Private On a recent Friday at a Vegas Loop station at the Resorts World hotel, an attendant directed riders to Teslas parked in a waiting area. An all-day pass to ride between the Las Vegas Strip hotel and a MagicCon event at the convention center cost $5. (Trips within the convention center are free.) Inside the narrow tunnels, which glow green, magenta and orange, the driver navigated shoulderless roadways at 35 mph, which felt fast. At the first convention center stop, the driver halted, and three additional riders squeezed into the five-passenger sedan before the trip continued. Boring says its system will be able to move 90,000 passengers an hour, more than a typical days subway ridership in 2023 at New York Citys third-busiest station, 34th Street-Herald Square Station (72,890). Its also significantly more than Las Vegas monorail (3,400 per hour) and its regional bus system (7,500 per hour), according to Hill. About a dozen Sierra Club members toured the Vegas Loop in June and were impressed, Spotleson said: no carbon emissions; neon everywhere; Its very Vegas. Yet while it might be faster than walking, he said, it just isnt the actual mass transit solution the city needs for its busiest places, like the airport. The lack of alternatives has made Boring an easy sell to politicians, Spotleson said. They understand that we need transit solutions. Theyre being presented with a free option that is also carbon free. That is as simple as it gets. Hill acknowledged skepticism of the companys claim that the Loop will transport up to 90,000 people an hour. People poke at this all the time, he said, adding that he thinks the company will be proven right. I am completely willing to take that bet. Lets just wait and see. M.J. Maynard, who leads the Regional Transportation Commission, said that because the Vegas Loop is private, her agency did not have information to evaluate Borings ridership claims. As a public agency, we have to be very transparent and accountable with the [ridership] numbers that we publish, she said. I cant speak to the numbers that Steve Hill or his team have posted or talked about. Marilyn Kirkpatrick, the only county commissioner to vote against Borings 2023 expansion, said she opposed giving the company permission to build beneath miles of public roads when it had completed only a small portion of the system. Why would we give something away if we didnt know it was going to work? she asked. The public might know even less about whether its working, thanks to removal in May of the amusement and transportation system permit, a designation also used for enclosed systems like the airport tram and the Strips High Roller Ferris wheel. Over the past three years, county inspections of Borings operations under the permit identified numerous issues, including speeding drivers and an unauthorized SUV entering one of the above-ground stations. Since 2022, there have been at least 67 incidents in which the tunnel system was breached, including by outside vehicles, a skateboarder and a curious pedestrian, Fortune reported in October. But the company convinced Clark County to remove that layer of oversight by arguing the system did not fit squarely into the requirements of the regulation, which greatly complicated matters for Boring and the county. The company outlined an alternative oversight plan in a letter obtained by ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas. The company will continue to submit structural, civil, fire, electrical and plumbing studies, as well as emergency plans and other planning documents, according to the letter. But Borings letter did not address what would replace ordinances that required multiple layers of inspection and the immediate notification of injuries and fatalities. A Clark County spokesperson did not answer questions about potential gaps in accountability created by removal of the permit. In a statement, the county said safety is the top priority for all county departments and agencies as they review projects. Kirkpatrick said she worked to include additional fire-safety and security measures in a 2021 franchise agreement, which she supported. Still, she remains concerned about Borings operations, including the potential for price-gouging if it becomes the only game in town. In an interview with ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas, a Nevada transportation industry expert who has closely observed the systems development said its concerning that Borings plans, including basic transportation safety protocols, havent been vetted like a public project. Whats the traffic control system going to be like down in those tunnels? How are they going to make sure that none of those cars crash into each other when theyre going at 35 mph from one tunnel into an intersection with another tunnel? said the expert, who requested anonymity because of concerns about professional repercussions. All their answers are completely evasive. So there are significant operational concerns. Going to the Airport Soon after the Boring Company arrived in Las Vegas, Hill approached airport leadership about connecting the Vegas Loop to the airport. The reasons are obvious. More than 50 million people landed at Harry Reid International Airport in 2023. On busy weekends, congestion at the airport can trap casino customers for almost an hour as they wait for rides. But tunneling there requires compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations and federal environmental reviews. For now, Boring plans to end its tunnels near the airport and use surface streets to carry passengers the last mile to the terminals, said Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark Countys director of aviation. An airport spokesperson later clarified that no plans have been confirmed. Using surface streets for its airport connection at least initially wont alleviate gridlock like mass transit could. Vassiliadis acknowledged it wont give us any [traffic] relief. Its just supplanting how people are getting here by car, but said she supports efforts to build a more direct tunnel line to the airport. With casino and tourism industry support and their help paying for the project politicians, including its most vocal critics, like Goodman, have found little reason to challenge Borings plans. For some, the airport factored into the decision. When a large expansion into the city of Las Vegas came before the City Council in 2023, Goodman criticized the project as unsafe, inaccessible and inefficient, but said she would still vote in favor of it because of the plea of the hotels and the private sector to move more and more people easily around our Southern Nevada community. She said she had asked the casinos and hotels if they wanted to connect to the Vegas Loop. Every one of them said, Were scared not to, because if it succeeds and if it gets to the airport, we want to connect, Goodman told ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas. With Goodmans vote, the council approved the extension unanimously. Michael Squires and Anjeanette Damon contributed reporting.

By Passant Rabie Published January 11, 2025 | Comments (0) | Mercury's North Pole as seen by BepiColombo's M-CAM 1. Credit: ESA Europe and Japans BepiColombo beamed back close-up images of the solar systems innermost planet, flying through Mercurys shadow to peer directly onto craters that are permanently hidden in the shadows. BepiColombo, consisting of two conjoined spacecraft, flew past Mercury for the sixth and final time on Wednesday, using the planets gravitational pull to adjust its trajectory for an eventual orbital insertion in 2026. The mission launched in October 2018 as a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), each providing an orbiter to explore Mercury. During its latest flyby, the twin spacecraft flew above the surface of Mercury at a distance of around 180 miles (295 kilometers), according to ESA. From this close distance, BepiColombo captured images of Mercurys cratered surface, starting with the planets cold, permanently dark night side near the north pole before moving toward its sunlit northern regions.BepiColombo captured this image of Mercurys north pole. Credit: ESA Using its monitoring cameras (M-CAM 1), BepiColombo got its first close-up view of the boundary that separates the day and night side of Mercury. In the image above, the rims of Prokofiev, Kandinsky, Tolkien, and Gordimer craters can be seen littered across the surface of Mercury, casting permanent shadows that may contain pockets of frozen water.Indeed, a key goal of the mission is to investigate whether Mercury holds water in its shadows, despite its close proximity to the Sun. Mercurys sunlit north as seen by BepiColombo. Credit: ESA The massive Caloris Basin, Mercurys largest impact crater, stretches more than 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) across and is visible at the bottom left of the image. Although Mercury is a largely dark planet, its younger features (or more recent scarring) appear brighter on the surface. Scientists arent quite sure what Mercury is made of, but material that had been dug up from beneath the surface of the planet gradually grows darker with time.Lava and debris brighten up Mercurys surface in this image by BepiColombo. Credit: ESA In this third image, volcanic activity and large impacts are highlighted as key factors behind Mercurys brighter regions. The bright patch near the planets upper edge in this image is the Nathair Facula, the aftermath of the largest volcanic explosion on Mercury. At its centre is a volcanic vent of around 40 km [25 miles] across that has been the site of at least three major eruptions, ESA wrote.BepiColombo is only the third spacecraft to visit Mercury; the elusive planet is hard to reach due to the Suns powerful gravitational pull. The two BepiColombo probes, consisting of ESAs Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) and JAXAs Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter (MMO), launched together on a single spacecraft, and each will enter its respective orbit around Mercury in late 2026. The mission carried out its first flyby of the planet in October 2021 and has been returning gorgeous close-up images of the solar systems smallest planet, as well as valuable data about the mysterious planet. BepiColombos main mission phase may only start two years from now, but all six of its flybys of Mercury have given us invaluable new information about the little-explored planet. In the next few weeks, the BepiColombo team will work hard to unravel as many of Mercurys mysteries with the data from this flyby as we can, Geraint Jones, BepiColombos project scientist at ESA, said in a statement.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Passant Rabie Published December 25, 2024 By Isaac Schultz Published December 9, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published December 4, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published December 2, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published November 9, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published October 31, 2024

New Random Shading operator. This removes the random shading features in some operators making it to a separate and single operator instead, allowing for further simplification of the ui.Shops:blendermarket.com/creators/blenderguppygumroad.com/blenderguppyPatreon:patreon.com/blenderguppy#shorts #b3d #blender3d #3d #3dmodeling #blendermarket #conceptartist #3dmodel #blenderaddon #3dmodel

L: The Shuttle Enterprise with 'Star Trek' cast. From L-R: Dr. James D. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (the indefatigable Mr. Spock), Gene Rodenberry (The Great Bird of the Galaxy), and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov). R: The Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise inside of Marshall Space Flight Center's Dynamic Test Stand for Mated Vertical Ground Vibration tests (MVGVT).Images: NASA ShareThese are the voyages of the space shuttle Enterprise, boldly renamed by former President Gerald Ford after a massive letter-writing campaign from Star Trek fans.In 1974, construction of the worlds first space shuttle, known then as Orbital Vehicle-101 (OV-101), began at Rockwell Corporations plant in Downey, California. (The city, located in Los Angeles County, is known to fast food enthusiasts as the home to the oldest operating McDonalds and the birthplace of Taco Bell.) With the debut of the spacecraft set for 1976, it was rechristened the Constitution in honor of the U.S. bicentennial.But, as Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, joked at a ceremony for the shuttle decades later, Star Trek fans can be very persuasive.Richard Nixons Prime Directive: Dont Blow the BudgetIn 1972, the Apollo program was coming to an end. If John F. Kennedy inspired the nation with his call to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, Richard Nixons rhetoric was less soaring.The space shuttle will give us routine access to space by sharply reducing costs in dollars and preparation time, he said, as reported at the time by Popular Science. In the wake of the moon landings, NASA Administrator Thomas Paine had grand visions for Americas space program. He proposed sending men to Mars in nuclear-powered spacecraft, building space stations and bases along the way, according to the The Space Shuttle DecisionAlas, interplanetary travel was not in the stars. When Robert Mayo, Nixons budget director, cut $1 billion from NASAs budget, Paine focused on a less ambitious part of his proposal: a reusable shuttle. Even that project was nearly axed by Congress for budgetary reasons, Heppenheimer wrote. Once NASA found supporters in the Department of Defense, however, the space shuttle program was on solid ground. The first shuttle, the Enterprise, would only be used for testing. It was the second, the Columbia, that had the honor of being the first space shuttle to launch into orbit. It blasted off on April 12, 1981, exactly two decades after Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.The Enterprise never traveled among the stars. But it paved the way for future space shuttles, which would spend 30 years ferrying astronauts and supplies into space, deploying satellites, and eventually making the International Space Station a reality.The Orbiter 101 Enterprise soars above the NASA 747 carrier aircraft during the second Free Flight during the Shuttle Approach and Landing (ALT) tests. Free Flight 2 took place on September 13, 1977, at Dryden Flight Research Center (now the Armstrong Flight Research Center) in California. Image: NASA 1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All rights reservedStar Trek Lives Long and ProspersNixon announced the space shuttle program in 1972, the same year that the first Star Trek convention was held in New York City. Four years earlier, the show survived a brush with death after fan letters convinced NBC executives to renew the show for a third season. But in 1969, the same year that Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the show was canceled. Its 79 episodes, however, would live on in syndication. When President Gerald Ford took responsibility for the space shuttle program after Nixon left office, he discovered how passionate Star Trek fans could be.In a now declassified memo, Fords advisors asked the president for approval to change the name of the Constitution to the Enterprise. NASA has received hundreds of thousands of letters from the space-oriented Star Trek group asking that the name Enterprise be given to the craft, wrote William Gorog, noting that use of the name would provide a substantial human interest appeal to the rollout ceremonies scheduled for this month in California.The memo from Fords advisors offered differing opinions on the name change. Credit: US Department of StateJim Cannon, another presidential advisor and later Fords biographer, loved the idea. It would be personally gratifying to several million followers of the television show Star Trek, one of the most dedicated constituencies in the country, he wrote.Not everyone was on board. Advisor Bob Hartmann noted that Enterprise was an especially hallowed Naval name and he thought the Navy should keep it. Another advisor, Jack Marsh, said he approved of the name itself but didnt appreciate it being chosen because of a T.V. fad.Ford chose to embrace Star Trek fandom. When the Enterprise rolled out of its hangar in 1976, an Air Force band played the Star Trek theme. Nimoy was there, along with several of his castmates, including Nichelle Nichols and George Takei. The ship would take its maiden voyage in Earths atmosphere in 1977, two years before the franchise was revived on the big screen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Today, fans can visit the real-life Enterprise on the deck of the USS Intrepid, part of the Intrepid Museum in New York City and a testament to the power of Trekkies in America.The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise flies free after being released from NASAs 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) over Rogers Dry Lakebed during the second of five free flights carried out at the Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, as part of the Shuttle programs Approach and Landing Tests (ALT). A tail cone over the main engine area of Enterprise smoothed out turbulent air flow during flight. Image: NASA NASA/ Dryden Flight Research Center

Stack CommerceShareWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ChatGPT is impressive now, but the newest version will make it look like childs play. Rumored to come in early 2025, its expected to jump from 75 billion GPUs to a mild-blowing 10 trillion. Basically, it could be capable of 133 times more than it already is, but only if you know how to use ChatGPT.If AI has ever felt intimidating, confusing, or hard to wrap your head around, now is the time to get comfortableits only getting bigger and bigger. We have a deal on online ChatGPT courses thatll only cost you $29.99 (reg. $790).Learning AI is now practically a mustAre you one of those people who were hoping AI would just *disappear*? Things arent looking too good for youit seems like its here to stay. But, if you embrace it, youll see that AI can help you save time, effort, and even frustration.For only $29.99, you receive 12 training courses with over 25 hours of material on ChatGPT and other amazing AI tools. Theyll show you exactly how to Have conversations with AI chatbotsMaximize the quality of their outputsTailor AI to your needs, whether its creative, personal, or businessTurn data into visuals with little effortPicture this: Youre at work, and your boss just dumped a huge, last-minute project on you. Try recurring ChatGPT to speed things along.You could ask ChatGPT to translate legal jargon into language anyone can understand, summarize a 25-page PDF into an engaging article, write your meeting minutes, and so much more.Learn ChatGPT with these $29.99 courses (reg. $790) and hit the ground running when ChatGPT-5 drops later this year.StackSocial prices subject to change.ChatGPT & Automation E-Degree $29.99See Deal

Turkey vultures feed on dead carcasses, helping to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

wanted to make the background (or the things that dont move) more painterly like, yet I feel like I could exaggerate it even more. Any critique is welcome!!:) submitted by /u/Head_Age1576 [link] [comments]

In the wake of Starfield, The Outer Worlds 2 has to deliver when it comes to exploration. Naturally, one would expect this to be a notable focus of games that revolve around space travel. Considering how Starfield and The Outer Worlds both gave players plenty of opportunities to do so, the industry seems to realize that. The Outer Worlds 2 could take the opportunity presented to it and outdo its predecessors in that regard, taking its version of space exploration to new heights. Doing so could set the bar for future sci-fi games to aim for.

Citizen Sleeper 2's January 31 release is right around the corner, ending a years-long wait for the follow-up to the acclaimed tabletop-inspired RPG. Among many qualities, Citizen Sleeper resonated with indie game lovers thanks to its use of dice as a far more involved resource than most games. Its unique mechanics posed a fresh challenge for RPG fans, demanding strategic thinking and risk management. It also earned praise for its world and writing, which creator Gareth Damian Marten revealed to Game Rant was inspired by cyberpunk genre pioneers like William Gibson.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is Steam Deck-verified, publisher 2K has announced. The next installment in the long-running series is hence poised to bolster the selection of 4X strategy games optimized to run on the Steam Deck.