A large number of particles are confirmed to be in “sample chamber A” inside the collected capsule (~11:10 JST on 12/15). This is thought to be the sample from the first touchdown on Ryugu. The photo looks brown, but our team says “black”! The sample return is a great success! pic.twitter.com/34vIx17zOX
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) December 15, 2020
I love this profile!
Confirmation of the asteroid Ryugu sample collection
by the asteroid explorer, Hayabusa2The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is pleased to confirm that samples from asteroid Ryugu have been collected within the sample container inside the re-entry capsule of the asteroid explorer, Hayabusa2.
The Hayabusa2 re-entry capsule was recovered in Woomera, Australia on December 6, 2020 and delivered to the JAXA Sagamihara Campus on December 8. Work then began to open the sample container inside the re-entry capsule. On December 14, a sample of grains of black sand thought to be derived from asteroid Ryugu was confirmed to be inside the sample container. These are believed to be particles attached to the entrance of the sample catcher (the container in which the samples have been stored).
Work will continue with opening the sample catcher that sits in the sample container. The curation and initial analysis team will remove the samples and proceed with the analysis.
Geminid Meteor at Eleven Mile Reservoir (Colorado)
I watched the Geminid Meteor Shower at Eleven Mile State Park last night. Clouds moved through frequently but I was able to see hundreds of meteors. One was so bright, it lit up the whole ground for a second. Of course it was out of the camera frame. This meteor here was the coolest one I captured. I really like the green glow. Was it worth spending a few hours in up to -11 degrees? I think so.
Similarly, the planet duo will be located in a position that will make it seem as if the two have actually merged. “With bare eyes, it will be nearly impossible to tell if there is one planet or there are two giants next to each other. With binoculars or telescopes, you can see them clearly,” said Dr Abhay Deshpande, a Senior Scientist working for the Government of India and the Honorary Secretary of an amateur astronomy group named Khagol Mandal.
During the conjunction, Saturn and Jupiter will appear just 0.1 degrees apart to an observer on Earth. In fact, they will be so close that both can be easily adjusted in the same telescopic field of view.
The last time the two planets were so close is said to be in 1623—just after famous Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei started observing the sky using a telescope. Such a close approach of Jupiter and Saturn happened earlier in 1623 and 1683, and will happen again in the years 2020, 2080, 2417 and 2477—essentially three pairs of years when the angular separation or distance is nearly 0.1 degree or so.
Major Major Major Major
Go Japan! And what a meteor picture!
TaMara (HFG)
I have no idea why the formatting is so funky this morning. But y’all should be able to figure it all out with some squinting and head tilting.
PAM Dirac
The Hayabusa team was aiming to get ~100mg of material and it looks like they got more than that. I really look forward to the analyses. I suspect there will be some very interesting organics found. In a little less than 3 years we should get even more material as the Osiris-Rex asteroid mission is scheduled to get their sample container back to earth. They were aiming for ~75 grams and they think they have over a kilogram! Some really wonderful missions. I need to keep up my health for the coolest one: Dragonfly is an octocopter that will fly around Titan about 2034.
Hungry Joe
Vaccines are here, and more are coming. So … what do y’all think will be the anti-vaxxer response, and the upshot? I can see a number of possibilities, and combinations thereof. 1) “Yeah, that’s all very interesting, but I’m getting MY shots.” 2) “We didn’t say ALL vaccines are dangerous. And, hey — no cutting in line!” 3) “Don’t get the vaccine! Every dose contains a micro-Gates!” 4) ???
This could really set them back. So something positive might come out of all … this.
Major Major Major Major
@Hungry Joe: The anti-vaxers will not get the vaccine and continue relying on herd immunity like they always have. With no federal enforcement of vaccines and states wary to impose anything themselves, they’ll get away with it. I don’t see this changing very many minds.
Ken
@Hungry Joe: I once read an analysis of anti-vax sentiments, that attributed it to the incredible success of vaccines. It has now been two generations (in the US) since anyone’s seen an epidemic of measles, polio, etc. So today’s parents have no experience with just how bad it can be.
In contrast, back in the 50s and 60s, parents were demanding vaccines because they, and their parents, had first-hand knowledge. Maybe COVID will provide something similar. I tend to doubt it, since (as is often noted) you can’t reason someone out of a viewpoint that they didn’t reason themselves into.
Cermet
@Hungry Joe: I certainly will get the vaccine as soon as allowed; ironicly, my Medical provider suspects I am currently suffering from Guillian-Barre Syndrome from a vaccination I got about ten months ago. Of course, won’t know till a specialist gives their say. Hopefully, if it is, the treatment works.
Can’t wait to see the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction.
p.a.
Looks like “signs of signs of signs of life on Venus” has been knocked down a bit. Sad… it would have been a nice landing spot for the “Joe’s not President” tRumpists; already a CO2 hellhole they could run their smokers around in with impunity.
sstarr
This is the kind of astronomy news that’s hard to listen to when you live in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, theoretically it will be great to see if it weren’t for all the darned clouds in the way!
The Moar You Know
@Hungry Joe: Gonna be interesting. If you want to travel internationally, you’re going to need proof of vaccination. If you want to even get on an airplane, some airlines are going to require it. Every cruise ship line will require it; their insurers will require that. A LOT of insurers will require proof for a lot of activities. Gambling establishments come to mind.
My workplace will absolutely require it as a condition of continued employment – we’ve already consulted with the labor law people and we are on 100% solid ground there. I suspect a lot of employers will.
As soon as the pediatric version is approved, it’ll be required to go to school, at least in my state.
Can you avoid vaccination and have a life? Yeah. It won’t be much of a life.
Hungry Joe
@Major Major Major Major: Do you think that the herd effect might fall short of kicking in because so many people will refuse to get vaccinated? If the vaccines are 95 percent effective, that’s still a 1-in-20 chance of contracting it if the bugs are circulating out there. That chance falls to near zero with herd effect.
The Moar You Know
As to the article: JAXA is a major-league space program that, at least in the US, has completely slid under the radar. They deserve recognition.
TaMara (HFG)
More here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-mission-provides-infrared-tour-of-jupiter-s-north-pole
scav
If state (or other) boards of tourism start promoting local vaccination rates as a reason to visit, that might alter certain dynamics. If nothing else, we could at least self-sort into different destinations: Vaccication and Freedoom Farms.
Delk
Make it a game show. Give the contestants tranq guns filled with the vaccine and see who can get the most anti-vaxers.
trollhattan
@Hungry Joe:
I suspect there will be wells of COVID for years due to those who refuse the vaccine and those living where they won’t have access until two, three, four years out.
Victims in these scenarios are that 5% for whom Pfizer et al are ineffective, because they will unknowingly be exposed going forward. (How could you know you’re part of that group?) All I can recommend is stay clear of megachurches, trump rallies and vegan conventions, no matter what.
Major Major Major Major
@Hungry Joe:
The herd immunity threshold is a function of the rate of spread and the amount of social mobility in the populace. Vague recollection of a back of the envelope calculation from Trevor Bedford: NYC was close to this this summer, with ~25% immunity and -50% social mobility.
But what about if we want normal social mobility? The formula is: R = (1-P)*R0, where R is the effective reproductive rate, R0 is the baseline reproductive rate, and P is the percent of the population that’s immune. We want R to be lower than 1. R0, let’s call it 2.5. So, solve for P:
R = (1-P)*R0
R/R0 = 1-P
1-(R/R0) = P
So, 1-(1/2.5) = P
P = 0.6
So, if 60% of the population is immune, each infected person will infect on average less than one person, and the disease will go away, even without any distancing or masking measures. I think that’s achievable.
PAM Dirac
@TaMara (HFG): I think the Juno mission has some of the most jaw dropping images ever. Reality regularly outpaces human imagination.
CaseyL
@PAM Dirac:
The first part of that sentence got me very excited; then I kind of wilted at the last two words. Odds of me still being around in 2034 aren’t awful, but aren’t surezies either. Titan’s been one of my fave “maybe-has-life” spots since probes found atmosphere and possible-probable water oceans under the icy crust.
But! Asteroid samples and more Jovian images make me happy.
Punchy
OT: Just read that NM GOP just sued the state over election results. Had to check dateline to make sure this was legit. What in everloving fuck are they suing NOW for? IANAL, but that ship sailed yesterday, right?
lowtechcyclist
Given that I’d be in my 120s if I were still alive for their 2080 conjunction, I guess I’d better catch the show this time if I’m gonna.
Kent
When vaccines are finally universally available I expect proof of vaccination will be required for to work at or attend all preK-12 schools, all colleges and universities, most institutional factory jobs from meat packing and food processing to auto assembly, all health care related jobs, all prison and nursing home jobs, all service jobs with customer contact from airlines and cruise ships to chain restaurants, etc. etc.
Anti-vaxers can throw their temper tantrums but if they want to work or send their kids back to school they’ll likely have to get a shot.
After this pandemic, I don’t see very many state legislatures and health departments being all that sympathetic to the anti-vax nonsense.
Kent
Yes, that ship has sailed. Stop paying attention.
lowtechcyclist
@Major Major Major Major: That assumes that that if you’re immune via vaccine, you also can’t be a carrier. We don’t know this yet.
Kent
Of course there will be continued sporadic outbreaks. Just like there are sporadic measles outbreaks from time to time. But we don’t shut down whole cities and states as a result. And the rest of us can protect ourselves from those idiots.
The measles or MMR vaccine is 93% effective after 1 dose and 97% effective after 2 doses so same general ballpark as the Covid-19 vaccines.
lowtechcyclist
Other than to point and laugh.
PAM Dirac
@CaseyL: Yes, no sure thing for me either, but as a chemist it’s hard to think of a more interesting place to put a mass spec. The mass spec on Cassini was designed thinking the only thing they would see was simple gases so the m/e limit was around 100 I think. There’s good evidence for all kinds of weird stuff at Titan with MW > 1000, so getting something there that can sort some of these things out is going to be wild.
cope
I took 10-12 time lapse shots Sunday night trying to get some meteors but it was before midnight and too early. I figured I would be getting up around 3 or 4 with the new puppy but of course this was the first night she slept all night.
I’ve been taking test shots in preparation for the conjunction. I just hope the clouds cooperate.
Frankensteinbeck
@Hungry Joe:
As a thread on vaccines a few days ago pointed out, vaccine + masking might get the R0 below 1 vastly before either would alone. At that point, the disease starts to die out of the population, and things start to snowball in the good direction.
Yutsano
@Kent: @lowtechcyclist: Tbh I’m tired of even giving them that oxygen. Just…move on. We accepted Dolt45 winning in 2016, even with all the fishiness. The fact that they refuse the same courtesy is honestly unsurprising. But that doesn’t mean it deserves my attention.
CaseyL
@PAM Dirac: Especially if they find an orbiting wheel-shaped habitat hiding out there :)
(Sorry, I should explain: SciFi writer John Varley wrote a trilogy back in the 1970s-80s about a NASA mission that goes to explore the moon Titan and finds just such a habitat instead. Populated by centaurs, angels, and a self-styled God named Gaia.)
S. Cerevisiae
I am very interested to see the composition of the asteroid samples, and the Juno photos are better art than the best Fillmore posters from the sixties. I IRC they weren’t going to even put a regular camera on Juno, just scientific instruments but they were talked into adding a color camera.
jayjaybear
@CaseyL: Don’t forget blimps!
As far as what I posted in the earlier open thread, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They currently have him in ICU, intubated, sedated and PIC-lined. They’re instituting an OR-level clean room protocol to reduce the risk of an infection in that PIC line. I haven’t been over yet.
I’m not completely freaked out yet, but it’s only been about 7 hours since the ambulance took him and I’ve had things to do to distract me. Keep him in your thoughts, please.
Uncle Cosmo
Whoever wrote that has a twisted sense of time. According to Wikipedia, GG first turned his homemade ‘scope to the heavens on 30 Nov 1609. How do you get “just after” from “fourteen years later”??
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Right. I heard a recent interview with Dr. Fauci (Can I call him a doctor? Did he deliver any babies?) and was glad to hear that question come up.
The answer as I recall was that vaccinated people can still be carrying virus in their pharynx, but probably it would be less than in an unvaccinated person. But it’s untested.
So I expect we’ll see a lot of people screaming at counter personnel about their freedoms. Where will airlines enforce it? Can they link issuing a boarding pass online with some sort of proof of vaccination? Lots of logistics to think through here.
Spanky
@cope:
Keep taking shots each evening that you can. You never know what the weather will be like, and the night-by-night progression is in itself fun to watch.
The one problem with this conjunction for us North American residents is that the planets are damn near the horizon by the time they appear in the dusk. Much better seen from the southern hemisphere, unfortunately.
Which reminds me that the total solar eclipse this past weekend in Chile went almost wholly uncovered by the media. Whatever could be sucking all the media cycles?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Ken:
Then why did parents back in the 50s and 60s demand vaccines? They had first-hand knowledge. What makes people back then so different? Greater trust in government?
Benw
Cool, asteroid rocks rock!
Leto
Avalune and I have been out each night trying to see anything, but like TaMara’s Colorado, the eastern part of PA is nothing but cloud cover. To top things off, starting tomorrow night we’re expected to have a major storm pass through the region with the potential to dump more than 2 feet of snow in less than 12 hours. We’re expected to get more accumulation in that time than the previous two years snowfall combined. So… fun!
With a name like Hayabusa, that probe should’ve been there and back within a week! (Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycles are the preferred dragster motorcycles because of their amazing engines. They’re almost capable of 200mph stock, which is a stunning engineering feat. It also makes them a perfect douche ride for many an asshole.
Edit: I overlooked this but there’s an Air Force installation at Woomera, Australia. It previously served as a communications relay for all the Gemini/Apollo missions, later Shuttle missions, and is one of those remote spots that a lot of us tried really hard to get to because it was one of those dream remote/tucked away bases.
Major Major Major Major
@lowtechcyclist: True.
bluefoot
This is super cool – material from SPAAAACE. The analysis should be interesting. Though this is 2020, so perhaps this i the beginning of a science fiction horror movie type event where some microbe has bee, brought back that leads to the zombie apocalypse being unleashed. (I shouldn’t joke, actually, 2020 has been FAR worse than my imaginings.)
Tangentially, it’s appropriate the UK is crashing out of the EU on the last day of 2020. Talk about going out with a bang…
Dan B
@Ken: There was a report on Huffpost or The Guardian that the vast majority of people suddenly want the vaccine. I suspect that part of the reason is
1. It’s very hard to get: the “exclusive / lucky” effect.
2. People are tired of living in fear and are willing to drop their bluster.
I’m much more concerned about the skepticism of black and brown people. Dr. Fauci put Dr. Kizzy Corbett, a black woman researcher who was key to developing the vaccine, front and center. She stated that only 14% of black people trust the vaccine but are almost 3 times as likely as whites to die. She’s willing to be in the spotlight as a black woman to change the impression.
Last night a fire truck with half a dozen Firefighters swarmed over our next door neighbor’s house. The Fire Department here deals with more medical emergencies than fires – probably 10 to 1. They went to the floor where the black couple with an 18 month old lives. The toddler couldn’t be more cute and his big, very dark, super gregarious, dad radiates love for his son. We’re concerned because he said he’s not afraid of the virus.
We really hope Dr. Kizzy’s message gets through. We don’t want little Cain Paul to grow up without his wonderful dad.
Punchy
@Kent: “Stop paying attention”? It’s a 5 car pile-up; I’m not out seeking these stories, but they’re happening. Thought someone might know the legal strategy here….perhaps just trying to push voter restrictions for the next election?
trollhattan
@Punchy:
NM, peyote, GOP, need we say more?
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: Somebody’s never taken peyote.
kindness
Are you sure that is a Geminid meteor pic there? Looks to me more like Trump’s hopes of a new presidential term crashing and burning.
trollhattan
@Dan B:
It can’t be lost on all the brain-numbed Konservatives that the WH is shoving into the front of the vaccine line. Fake virus kabuki or just maybe there’s something going on?
Also, greedy people will show up for anything in short supply. It’s how they roll.
Ken
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think some anti-vaccine people will change their minds because of COVID. But there’s a large number of them that think vaccines cause autism, or have tracking chips, or are made from minced up dead babies – all false, BTW – and they aren’t going to change their minds. In the 50s and 60s there wasn’t that kind of organized lunacy around vaccines.
Ken
@Punchy: Do the judges have the option of assessing court costs, or requiring the plaintiffs to pay any defense costs? That might put a damper on this performance art.
Barbara
@Kent: Well, I pay attention for professional reasons, but I can’t for the life of me figure what anyone could hope to achieve in NM. In Wisconsin, one might hope to achieve certain clarity in election rules going forward. In Georgia, very obviously, they hope to impose measures to suppress voting. In earlier cases, they were hoping to kick the selection of electors to the legislature. As a strategy it had an object, however farfetched. In New Mexico, the legislature would never appoint a slate of electors that favored Trump and it’s not going to engage in voter suppression tactics aimed at minority communities. So, it’s, umm, yeah, kind of inscrutable. Someone trying to make a name for themselves in Republican politics?
M31
@CaseyL:
HA! I just re-read that Varley trilogy (“Titan” is the first one) a few weeks ago. There’s some 70’s nonsense (let’s get reallllly specific about alien sex, lol) but it holds up pretty damn well, and there’s nothing like a book that is seriously weird but also internally consistent
Punchy
@The Moar You Know:As soon as the pediatric version is approved, it’ll be required to go to school, at least in my state.
This sounds very reasonable, so it wont happen. Lately the level of vitriol, screaming, and “freedomz!” the anti-vax and anti-curious can spew at school boards is stunning. I’d hope the teachers unions would step in and say No Vax, No Vocab and twist school boards that way. But I fear the very loud minority will go full Cleek’s and decide the vaccine is only 0.764 steps below the Holocaust in terms of horrific public actions….it will be an absolute shitshow at the local level, I sense, and really pit parent against parent that will fuck with neighborhood comity
ETA: I really hope I’m wrong.
Dan B
@trollhattan: It didn’t miss my notice that the White House shoved their way to the front of the line. Lincoln Project could do an ad of cabinet creeps who haven’t gotten sick knocking nurses and grannies to the floor to get to the “vaccine for the hoax / just a bad cold”. I could see it starting at a press conference where they say it’s just like the flu. They exit stage right door and run out to the helicopter gunboats and head to Walter Reed.
I’d also love to have Onan and Fox and Newsmax newsrooms emptying.
The same hypocrisy been noted about how quiet the anti-vaccers have become.
gene108
@trollhattan:
We do not know how long the antibodies from the Pfizer vaccine will last.
5% of people may not develop antibodies immediately, but there will be a larger percentage who will lose the anti-viral antibodies within a year. The latter happens with other vaccinations, like Hepatitis B.
And we still don’t know, if we will need to get annual doses like we do with the flu vaccine.
I think the vaccine will help break transmission chains, but given the reckless behavior of so much of this country regarding the vaccine and how out of control the spread is we will likely see spots flare up for some time.
Major Major Major Major
@gene108: My understanding is that, so far, the virus is mostly behaving like you’d expect from first principles. From what I’ve read, people are assuming 1-2 years immunity from vaccination. Which is fine!
Ken
We could make a list of movies with that premise. The Andromeda Strain, of course; and (at the other end of the scientific accuracy spectrum) The Green Slime.
Dan B
@gene108: I suspect that there are a significant percentage of people who equate vaccine arrival with Covid cured and pandemic over. The media, all flavors, is piss poor at communicating that it’s not over until everyone gets the vaccine. And they assume that most people understand percentages. Send Kimmel’s Man in the Street team out to check on ‘advanced math’ like fractions and percentages. If you say everybody must get the vaccine these folks will likely assume it means a lot of people. KISS please!
trollhattan
@Major Major Major Major:
Needs moar “sunny boy.” OTOH it’s always a good day to compare puking stories.
Major Major Major Major
@Ken: Chuck Wendig’s book WANDERERS is a good election-year pandemic read, if anybody’s looking for an apocalyptic pandemic road story.
@trollhattan: it swirled around and turned into butterflies which flew away, during what I call “two times too much day”. I then went to a basketball game with the marching band, which was fun because I could see sound.
CaseyL
@M31: The Gaia trilogy was and is one of my faves. Decent worldbuilding, excellent plotting, and characters that stayed with you. And moments that stick: sunrise and sunset as “fading memories” in a world where there is neither, not even a simulated pretense of one,
Dan B
@Ken: I annoy my Mike guy when I holler at the TV machine when they get basic science wrong on sci-fi shows. My cry is, “No wonder people don’t understand science! This (insert incorrect / impossible physics here) is so wroooong!)
There’s such amazing stuff in basic scientific discovery. Sigh.
gene108
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Greater trust in government is definitely something that has badly eroded over the last 50 years.
Watergate, Vietnam disinformation, etc. started it rolling. The harassment of President Clinton over Whitewater, which morphed into his affair with Monica set trust in government back further. Then Bush & Co.’s lies to get us into war in Iraq, and the Great Recession hurt. The racist freak out over President Obama shattered a lot racist folks faith in government. Trump hasn’t helped matters, to put it mildly.
It’d many, many years of both parties acting in good faith to restore that trust. I don’t see it happening
gene108
@Dan B:
The media themselves do not understand percentages. They went into that field, because they thought there’d be no math.
They are very, very bad at reporting on anything involving math like science, and economics.
Jay
@jayjaybear:
I missed your post in the earlier thread. I hope things go well for all of you,
Keep us updated and if you get worried, keep in mind that they really are, the best, of the best, of the best.
?❤️❤️❤️❤️?
sab
@Dan B: Vaccine: Two shots, 3 to 4 weeks apart. Then 2 weeks for the vaccine to work. So we are talking 6 weeks before even the most frontline of frontline workers have any immunity.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Clearer memory of serious illness. I had measles in 1956. I was a toddler and don’t remember. My older sister does remember fever, splitting headaches and the blinds drawn because light hurt the eyes.
My husband and sister ( same age) have friends who had polio.
Two generations of Americans, because of vaccines, simply cannot understand the concept of life threatening infectious disease. Until now.
We had three possible pandemics stopped by government action just in this century: SARS 1, H1N1 flu, MERS. Comtact trace and isolate. And our current vaccines were only possible because of work from SARS 1 and MERS ( both corona viruses.)
Another Scott
Yay collecting carbonaceous material from outside the planet!!
In other news, …
Indeed, Transportation is probably a much better fit. Like it or not, being an ambassador to an important country (or the UN) is a big deal and Mayor Pete (with all of his talents) hasn’t shown that kind of gravitas yet.
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@sab: Precisely! I go by Frank Luntz (evil, and expert / highly accomplished pollster / communicator). His motto is: ” Repeat, repeat, repeat. By the time your are sick of your message is when it has reached the first of your target audience.
Most people do not understand how vaccines work. They probably view them like penicillin or aspirin – takes a few minutes or an hour to work. If not for doctors’ face to face instructions they’d take the entire bottle of penicillin because they imagine you have to get all of it in you.
Another job for Kimmel’s Man in the Street team. I sometimes think it’s greatest benefit is to show “intelligent” people that many people have different priorities and different intelligence. Sigh.
Dan B
The cool meteor picture is by Lars Leber. My cousin Jeanne from Colorado regularly posts his photos of Colorado scenery on Facebook. They’re stunning.
Marshall Eubanks
This will connect all this together (in a way)
From
@NASAWB57Pilot
Here are the collectors mounted on the underside of the WB-57 wing that will open at 55,000 feet to collect cosmic dust from comet 3200 Phaethon. Follow our flight today, call sign #NASA927, using your favorite flight tracking application! #GeminidMeteorShower #Geminids
And why are they doing this?
3200 Phaethon causes #GeminidMeteorShower. By flying with our collectors during the peak of the #Geminids we hope to collect cosmic dust from the comet. We have collected “background” cosmic dust in the past, but this is the first ever targeted collection of a comet!
YY_Sima Qian
China National Space Agency’s Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission is due to land in the next couple of days. It will bring ~ 2 kg of lunar rock and soil from the far side of the Moon, in a relatively young area (presumed from impact crater counting).
The mission followed an Apollo-esque profile, with an orbiter, a lander and an ascend vehicle. The lander/ascend vehicle landed on the Moon and collected the samples. The ascend vehicle brought the samples and transferred to the orbiter, then separated. The orbiter returns to the Earth, and detached a return vehicle to bring the samples back to the surface. All of this is likely practice for an eventual manned mission to the Moon. The mission has already successfully completed the first ever automated docking and transfer outside of Earth orbit. The Apollo dockings were manual, and the Soviet Luna missions were direct ascent from the Moon to the Earth (which is why they returned very little material).
Uncle Cosmo
And IMO it’s quite likely not to be true.
NB This squares with what I learned in the course of working on chem-bio defense in the 90s. The human respiratory tract is really well defended against intrusion; the main black art of biowarfare is releasing an airborne agent in a fairly narrow size range to reach the lungs; droplets like those COVID-19 rides are highly unlikely to make the cut & would most be intercepted in the throat (where digestive enzymes would probably massacre them) or the nose, where they would land in the nasal cavity.
NB This sort of process might explain (to some extent) the existence of asymptomatic spreading. And since vaccines work by activating the immune system, it suggests that vaccination may not prove effective in halting asymptomatic spread.
I’m thinking a nasal spray with a compound that kills the virus would be the method of choice. Swabbing with such a compound might work to an extent. Heck, as much as we poked fun (justifiably) at Twitler’s idea of shoving a light bulb into people, a small LED-tipped probe that emits light that breaks up the virus but doesn’t harm nasal membranes could be useful. (Dentists use UV point sources to cure tooth fillings; like that but smaller & on flexible leads perhaps?)
I read a report that a group at Cardiff University tested a 0.07% solution of cetylpyridinium chloride against COVID-19 in vitro & found that it kills the virus. This stuff is safe enough to be used in mouth rinses and at least one nasal spray (Taffix, made in Israel, available in UK but not US). OK, there’s probably a ways to go before we start prescribing nasal sprays for asymptomatic spreaders…but shouldn’t we at least be testing candidate compounds? Sign up swab-positives for a study, give them a spray (placebo or with compound) to use for x days, test them again? Naah, can’t do that – instead let’s just have a scientist shit all over the Cardiff U findings.
Bah.