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https://www.essence.com/articles/octavia-e-butler-mars-landing-perseverance-nasa/
Octavia Butler | Photo credit: Malcolm Ali / WireImage By Kevin L. Clark ·March 6, 2021March 6, 2021
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been traversing Mars for the past few weeks with major astro-nerds raving about the trek. Upon touchdown on the Red Planet, a milestone was made—during Women’s History Month of all times—where the landing site has been renamed after Octavia E. Butler, the iconic science fiction author.
NASA announced they would informally redesignate the spot inside the Jezero Crater on Friday (March 5), during the same press conference where the agency revealed Perseverance made its first drive on Mars. “Butler’s pioneering work explores themes of race, gender equality in humanity, centering on the experience of Black women at a time when such voices were largely absent from science fiction,” Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said during the Friday press conference, which is available on YouTube.
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view during its first test drive on Mars, on March 4, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The landing location is marked (above) with a star in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration, which has emboldened the likes of Elon Musk and Yusaku Maezawa to make commercial space flight a thing sooner rather than later.
The first mission is to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
“Naming Perseverance’s landing site in honor of Octavia E. Butler honors notable science fiction writers, a theme also used by the Mars Science Laboratory team,” Stack Morgan added during the press conference. “We chose on this mission to continue this theme in appreciation of the role that science fiction writers have played in inspiring so many of us to become the engineers, scientists and explorers who turn science fiction into reality for the next generation.”
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. In 2004, the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity had their landing site locations dubbed the “Columbia Memorial Station” and “Challenger Memorial Station,” respectively, after the two fallen space shuttle crews of 2003 and 1986. Previously, the Mars Pathfinder lander was renamed the “Carl Sagan Memorial Station” after touchdown with the Sojourner rover in 1997
Butler, 58, was the first Black American woman to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards that honor great science fiction, and the first science fiction writer overall who received a MacArthur Fellowship. Her notable works such as Parable of the Talents, Dawn, and Wild Seed are currently in development with names like Viola Davis, Ava DuVernay, and Damian Duffy adapting them for television and film. “Butler inspired and influenced the planetary science community and many beyond—including those typically underrepresented in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math fields,” Stack Morgan said.
The fact that her works are still as motivating and as important today—if not more so than when they were originally written—is a testament to the endearing legacy of one of our greatest literary minds.
Watch the descent and landing of Perseverance to Mars below:
TOPICS: black in space Black Women In STEM Elon Musk Octavia Butler science women’s history women’s history month
The post Mars’ Perserverance Rover Landing Site Named After Octavia E. Butler appeared first on Essence.
Octavia Butler | Photo credit: Malcolm Ali / WireImage By Kevin L. Clark ·March 6, 2021March 6, 2021
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been traversing Mars for the past few weeks with major astro-nerds raving about the trek. Upon touchdown on the Red Planet, a milestone was made—during Women’s History Month of all times—where the landing site has been renamed after Octavia E. Butler, the iconic science fiction author.
NASA announced they would informally redesignate the spot inside the Jezero Crater on Friday (March 5), during the same press conference where the agency revealed Perseverance made its first drive on Mars. “Butler’s pioneering work explores themes of race, gender equality in humanity, centering on the experience of Black women at a time when such voices were largely absent from science fiction,” Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said during the Friday press conference, which is available on YouTube.
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view during its first test drive on Mars, on March 4, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)The landing location is marked (above) with a star in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration, which has emboldened the likes of Elon Musk and Yusaku Maezawa to make commercial space flight a thing sooner rather than later.
The first mission is to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
“Naming Perseverance’s landing site in honor of Octavia E. Butler honors notable science fiction writers, a theme also used by the Mars Science Laboratory team,” Stack Morgan added during the press conference. “We chose on this mission to continue this theme in appreciation of the role that science fiction writers have played in inspiring so many of us to become the engineers, scientists and explorers who turn science fiction into reality for the next generation.”
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. In 2004, the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity had their landing site locations dubbed the “Columbia Memorial Station” and “Challenger Memorial Station,” respectively, after the two fallen space shuttle crews of 2003 and 1986. Previously, the Mars Pathfinder lander was renamed the “Carl Sagan Memorial Station” after touchdown with the Sojourner rover in 1997
Butler, 58, was the first Black American woman to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards that honor great science fiction, and the first science fiction writer overall who received a MacArthur Fellowship. Her notable works such as Parable of the Talents, Dawn, and Wild Seed are currently in development with names like Viola Davis, Ava DuVernay, and Damian Duffy adapting them for television and film. “Butler inspired and influenced the planetary science community and many beyond—including those typically underrepresented in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math fields,” Stack Morgan said.
The fact that her works are still as motivating and as important today—if not more so than when they were originally written—is a testament to the endearing legacy of one of our greatest literary minds.
Watch the descent and landing of Perseverance to Mars below:
TOPICS: black in space Black Women In STEM Elon Musk Octavia Butler science women’s history women’s history monthThe post Mars’ Perserverance Rover Landing Site Named After Octavia E. Butler appeared first on Essence.
By D'Shonda Brown ·March 5, 2021March 5, 2021
The relationship between racial profiling and the Black community, though unfortunate, as always existed and can happen to almost anyone. From singer Leona Lewis’ account with a racist shop owner to mogul Oprah Winfrey being denied of an opportunity to buy a high-end bag at the Swiss store, unfortunately Black women are no exception to the discrimination placed onto us.
Tonight, Amanda Gorman—who made history as the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history – took to her social media accounts to detail her wretched racial profiling incident. While walking home, a security guard “tailed” the 22-year-old Harvard graduate because she looked “suspicious.” In her official Tweet, she continued to describe the situation:
“I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Amanda Gorman (@amandascgorman)
When reposting on Instagram a screenshot of her Tweet, she used the characters in her caption to take back what it means to be a threat as a Black woman in America. “In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance,” her caption read powerfully. “Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be.”
Emmy-winning entertainment host and personality Shaun Robinson commented by describing the situation as “horrid” and “awful.” “We need to protect our Black girls. The bias towards them manifests itself in situations like this everyday.” Stylist and creative director Jason Bolden asked, “Will it ever change?,” regarding the everyday experience of “just being Black” to which Gorman responded, “Everyday just being that Black iconic threat.”
TOPICS: Amanda Gorman racial profilingThe post Poet Amanda Gorman Was Racially Profiled And ‘Tailed’ During Her Walk Home appeared first on Essence.
Welcome to another fact-finding, fiery installment of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review airing this Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern on the BTalk100 platform. Join your favored AFROnerdist hosts as they use their pocket Hubble Space Telescope to analyze the following topical phenomena: the hardest working comic book creator/editor (DC Comics, Valiant, Milestone Media) and friend of our "steam engine," Joseph Illidge stops by to shed some light on two exciting projects bearing his handiwork-The Access Guide to the Black Comic Book Community and an upcoming Prince tribute comic, MPLS Sound; The gentleman of many hats-Civil Rights legend, business executive, attorney and DC power broker, Vernon Jordan passes at 85; 6 books will no longer be published from the extensive Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog due to racist imagery and to keep in line with today's sensibilities; our thoughts about a recent Harper's Bazaar sponsored tete a tete between the esteemed CA Congresswoman, Maxine Waters and "WAP" rap performer, Megan Jovon Ruth Pete aka Megan Thee Stallion:
popular actor, Winston Duke (Black Panther, US) is poised to portray iconic Black nationalist and Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey in an Amazon project entitled Marked Man; Dburt will probably ask "The Uncanny" Daryll B (a continuation of Sunday's Grindhouse discussion) his opinion of the recent (Black) Superman reboot with JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates; is the Hogwarts Legacy VG channeling Cyberpunk 2077 with gender customization features.....I guess the Mr. Potato Head redux is involved as well and lastly (we think).....Ray Fisher continues his attack on DC Films and Geoff Johns is in his crosshairs this time regarding racial insensitivity concerns.
One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF
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