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https://www.geek.com/news/exomars-rover-launch-delayed-until-2022-for-more-testing-1820219/?source
Europe and Russia’s second ExoMars mission to study the Red Planet has been delayed until 2022.
A joint project team concluded that additional testing is needed to ensure the spacecraft is fit for its Mars adventure.
“We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch,” Roscosmos Space Corporation Director General Dmitry Rogozin said in a statement.
“It is driven primarily by the need to maximize the robustness of all ExoMars systems,” he said. “As well as force majeure circumstances related to exacerbation of the epidemiological situation in Europe which have left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries.”
In other words, COVID-19 has scuppered their plans.
Still, much progress has been made, including hardware integration, instrument testing, and system qualification.
“I am confident that the steps that we and our European colleagues are taking to ensure mission success will be justified and will unquestionably bring solely positive results for the mission implementation,” Rogozin said.
The ExoMars rover, named after female DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin, was scheduled to launch this July. A new timeline places its send off between August and October 2020.
There are only two relatively short windows (10 days each) every two years during which Mars can be reached from Earth.
“We want to make ourselves 100 percent sure of a successful mission,” according to European Space Agency Director General Jan Wörner.
“We are very much satisfied [with] the work that has gone into making a unique project a reality,” he continued, “and we have a solid body of knowledge to complete the remaining work as quickly as possible.”
The project’s primary goal is to search for signs of past life on Mars and better understand the history of water on the planet.
ExoMars will be the first mission to search for signs of life at depths up to 6.5 feet below the Martian surface—where biological signatures may be well preserved.
More on Geek.com:
Europe and Russia’s second ExoMars mission to study the Red Planet has been delayed until 2022.
A joint project team concluded that additional testing is needed to ensure the spacecraft is fit for its Mars adventure.
“We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch,” Roscosmos Space Corporation Director General Dmitry Rogozin said in a statement.
“It is driven primarily by the need to maximize the robustness of all ExoMars systems,” he said. “As well as force majeure circumstances related to exacerbation of the epidemiological situation in Europe which have left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries.”
In other words, COVID-19 has scuppered their plans.
Still, much progress has been made, including hardware integration, instrument testing, and system qualification.
“I am confident that the steps that we and our European colleagues are taking to ensure mission success will be justified and will unquestionably bring solely positive results for the mission implementation,” Rogozin said.
The ExoMars rover, named after female DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin, was scheduled to launch this July. A new timeline places its send off between August and October 2020.
There are only two relatively short windows (10 days each) every two years during which Mars can be reached from Earth.
“We want to make ourselves 100 percent sure of a successful mission,” according to European Space Agency Director General Jan Wörner.
“We are very much satisfied [with] the work that has gone into making a unique project a reality,” he continued, “and we have a solid body of knowledge to complete the remaining work as quickly as possible.”
The project’s primary goal is to search for signs of past life on Mars and better understand the history of water on the planet.
ExoMars will be the first mission to search for signs of life at depths up to 6.5 feet below the Martian surface—where biological signatures may be well preserved.
More on Geek.com:
- ExoMars 2020 Mission Suffers Second Parachute Test Failure
- ExoMars 2020 Rover Operations Control Center Opens in Italy
- NASA’s InSight Lander Detects Hundreds of ‘Marsquakes’
We’ve heard the jokes about parents being tired of their kids during COVID-19. But what about their poor children? Stuck in quarantine with the same unshaven, sweatpants-wearing grownups who are either always on Zoom or complaining about how they have to be on Zoom? Kids need a break from all this, too. Fortunately, many celebrities have been there to help, volunteering their time doing virtual readings for children.
Frozen star Josh Gad has been holding his own popular digital book club, and Tom Hardy is returning for another round of bedtime stories for the BBC. Now, another big name is joining in to help both overwhelmed children and parents alike. Michelle Obama and PBS will host a free online series where she’ll read popular kid’s books.
The former First Lady is teaming with PBS KIDS and Penguin Random House on their new “Read Together, Be Together” literacy initiative. “Mondays with Michelle Obama” begins on Monday, April 20 at 12 p.m. ET and will air at the same time for four straight weeks. The digital series will livestream on PBS Kids’ Facebook and YouTube channels, and on Penguin Random House’s Facebook page. The videos will then remain online, so don’t worry if you can’t tune in on time.
The four books she will read include:
—April 20, 12 p.m. ET: The Gruffalo (Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler)
—April 27, 12 p.m. ET: There’s a Dragon in Your Book (Written by Tom Fletcher and illustrated by Greg Abbott)
—May 4, 12 p.m. ET: Miss Maple’s Seeds (Story and pictures by Eliza Wheeler)
—May 11, 12 p.m. ET: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (By Eric Carle)
Parents can find “activities, tips, and resources for each of the books” at www.readtogetherbetogether.com. Additional companion literacy resources are available on pbskidsforparents.org.
PBS
In a statement the former FLOTUS said, “As a little kid, I loved to read aloud. And when I became a parent, I found such joy in sharing the magic of storytelling with my own children—and then later, as First Lady, with kids everywhere. At this time when so many families are under so much stress, I’m excited to give kids a chance to practice their reading and hear some wonderful stories (and to give parents and caretakers a much-needed break).”
And she’ll be giving a break to those kids too. You can only hear the same desperately-in-need-of-a-haircut adult read the same story so many times.
Featured Image: PBS Kids
The post Michelle Obama Will Read Kid’s Book on PBS Webseries appeared first on Nerdist.
There’s good news! After #AuntieTwitter and #BlackTwitter were upset that the Instagram Live battle between Babyface and Teddy Riley was postponed—this time due to technical difficulties—it’s now been rescheduled.
The battle will now happen on Monday at 8 p.m. ET, according to Riley’s Instagram account.
Despite both iconic producers being ready to rip their hits on Saturday night, and with more than 400,000 watching along, an echo that ruined the entire experience just.wouldn’t.stop.
Many fans blamed Riley’s connection since he was using a mic. And after 30 minutes of Riley’s team trying to troubleshoot, Babyface decided to call the whole thing off in a video shared to Instagram.
“I think that it’s only right that we postpone this thing until another time when there aren’t any technical difficulties, and everybody can hear the music the way it needs to be heard,” he said in the camera, visibly disappointed.
View this post on InstagramThank you everyone for being there for us
A post shared by Kenny Edmonds (@babyface) on Apr 18, 2020 at 7:28pm PDT
Riley would later go on to echo his sentiments, apologizing for the sound issues.
“It’s just like a boxing match [when] something goes wrong, we have to do it again,” he said to the camera in his own video on Instagram. “Please forgive us. We will be back.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Teddy Riley (@teddyriley1) on Apr 18, 2020 at 9:00pm PDT
This is the second time the battle, which was announced on Babyface’s birthday, was pushed back. Riley announced two weeks ago that they had to push back their battle, organized by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, because Face was sick. The producer would later confirm that he along with his family had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
And while the botched competition didn’t give us the tunes we were craving, it did give us some laughs. The memes inspired from the battle go unmatched. Leave it to Black Twitter to make lemonade out of lemons.
Here are the best tweets from the internet streets to hold us over until the two announce a new date.
Teddy’s hypeman dancing like what we all thought 2020 would be like 
Teddy vs Babyface pic.twitter.com/jfbauDjPjc
#TeddyRileyVsBabyface 500k people: We can’t hear you, Teddy!Teddy Riley: pic.twitter.com/PJriaaS75Q
— Kevin Powell (@theKPexperience) April 19, 2020Teddy Riley camp troubleshooting pic.twitter.com/RfOqdkpi36
—
SC/IG: Hail_Zel (@Hail_Zel) April 19, 2020 Babyface when Teddy Riley calls to set a new date be like: pic.twitter.com/BlEgfa9CQ0
— Alejandro Guerra (@Cinephile420) April 19, 2020Teddy Riley’s social media manager. pic.twitter.com/E0Md5lMe1K
— TyreeBP (@TyreeBP) April 19, 2020Babyface as soon as he got off the live: pic.twitter.com/yTVFjyprEF
— Jeremy Moon
(@jeffuhz) April 19, 2020 Also kids we all know the digital era rules and these jokes shall fly but please don’t let over production and audio issues make you think Teddy Riley is a joke. One of the greatest architects of music to ever touch this planet……now back to the memes……
— Charlamagne Tha God (@cthagod) April 19, 2020The post Babyface Versus Teddy Riley Instagram Live Battle Rescheduled For Monday After Technical Difficulties appeared first on Essence.
SPOILER ALERT: This review discusses plot points of Code 8, but not the ending.
When it comes to superhero stories, there is little new territory to explore. As the genre has become one of the most profitable in Hollywood history, every major studio is competing to franchise whatever intellectual property they can get their hands on. But while the studio system churns out endless franchises, there is originality to be found in independent film.
Indie superhero films like Fast Color, Chronicle, and Defendor expand on the themes we’re familiar with, adding style and substance to the genre with varying degrees of success. The latest entry is Code 8, a grounded sci-fi crime thriller starring Stephen Amell and Robbie Amell.
The Amell cousins are well versed in superheroics. Stephen has spent the last 8 years headlining the CW’s Arrow as Oliver Queen, while Robbie has portrayed Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm on companion series The Flash. But the Amells are a long way from their CW soapy polish in Code 8.
Code 8 opens with a dizzying amount of exposition: 4% of the population are People With Powers (PWPs) and have been in America for decades, helping to win World War II and working to construct Lincoln City, the “City of Tomorrow”. But soon automation takes over their jobs, and people start blaming PWPs for taking their jobs and claiming that they are a danger to society. With a ban on powers in effect, many PWPS have turned to selling their spinal fluid, which is sold as an opioid-like drug called Psyke. In present day, PWPs are impoverished second-class citizens and heavily policed by drones, which carry robo-cops known as Guardians.
It’s a blunt metaphor for the immigrant struggle, but it’s effective nonetheless. The film centers on Connor Reed (Robbie Amell)a class 5 Electric (meaning he can control electricity), who struggles to find construction work. His mother, who has freezing powers, is suffering from a brain tumor that makes her lose control of her powers. Connor is desperate for money to help his mother, so he allows himself to be recruited by a criminal gang of PWPs, lead by the charismatic Garrett (Stephen Amell) who is telekinetic.
Together, the gang works under crime lord Marcus Sutcliffe, a telepath, whose girlfriend Nia (Kyla Kane) is a Psyke-addicted PWP with healing powers. From there, the film turns to your standard crime thriller. Garrett takes Connor under his wing and trains him to hone his powers. Garrett also believes that PWPs shouldn’t be beholden to oppressive laws, and that they should take what they want. As the crew escalates from robbery to a multi-million dollar heist, the film hits all the familiar beats of a heist movie.
Code 8 began as a short film, which functioned as a teaser to crowdfund a feature length version. The team raised $3.4 million via an Indiegogo campaign, and was able to make the film, which has seen massive success on Netflix. However, while the film is entertaining, it struggles with massive plot holes that were perhaps not readily apparent in the short.
If Garrett is a telekinetic, then why does he need Connor to fry an electric fence? Can’t he just destroy it himself? And why is everyone using guns and dodging bullets when Garrett can simply float the guns away using his powers? The rules of the PWPs are muddled and unclear, leading to several logic gaps that aren’t addressed in a satisfying way.
Then there’s the ranking of PWPs into classes, which isn’t fully explored. How many different powers are there? Can you hide powers without being noticed by the government? And while the Amells acquit themselves well, the supporting characters are thinly drawn and not well acted.
There is a rich world to explore here, and it seems that the Amells will get the opportunity to delve further into the tales of Lincoln City. The Amells and director Jeff Chan have sold a spin-off series to Quibi.
Code 8 is streaming now on Netflix.
Have you watched Code 8? What did you think?
(image: Vertical Entertainment)
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