Alejandro Soto
@soto.space
Planetary scientist and aerospace engineer. He/him. https://www.alejandrosoto.net My writing represents me alone and not my employer nor anyone else.
"Summer was the sweet season celebrated in poetry and song, often pictured as a gentle goddess; now it is too often a threat and a misery." @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social captures what has been churning in my head for some time now: this loss of a summer life. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit
Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys
theguardian.com
Perhaps, for reasons, you would like to make text you write more expensive for any LLM to ingest. May I introduce adversarial tokenmaxxing: alex-parker.github.io/tokenmaxxer/ Increase the tokens needed to represent any text by 3-6 times. It seems that l33t may have been ahead of its time.
Terrible! We need to electrify our societies as fast as possible.
Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 5d agoBordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.
@dereklowe.bsky.social calls out something I have come to believe in the last few months: "The emphasis is on dismantling the large scientific funding agencies and shifting grants away from academia entirely and more to industry and entrepreneurs." www.science.org/content/blog...
The Assault On Science Funding Continues
science.org
"Unknown unknowns". Ugh! This article calls it a "Rumsfield matrix". No! Don't do that! This terminology existed in the military and aerospace field long before Rumsfield said it. It's not his idea. Don't name it after him. He doesn't deserve the honor. aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/...
Examining the ‘unknown knowns’
aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org
Well, the patent race has clearly started for space-based data centers. This article is pay-walled, so I can't see the details. 1/2 spacenews.com/sophia-space...
Sophia Space and Caltech claim patent for space data centers
Sophia Space and Caltech claim patent for space data centers
spacenews.com
Just a reminder to those who need it: space missions are hard to do right. I hope they find a solution and are still able to save Swift. arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...
Reaction wheel failures leave Swift rescue mission spinning in orbit
Preliminary investigation shows that two of Link's three reaction wheels currently are not operable."
arstechnica.com
This is a really cool image! Natural and artificial interacting in a tremendous display. www.space.com/space-explor...
Lightning strike on Chinese rocket captured in epic launch photo
Despite the strike, the rocket delivered its satellite payload to its intended orbit as planned.
space.com
Government funded, scientific progress is amazing and can stretch over lifetimes. So amazing to see.
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory@vrubinobs.bsky.social · 2w agoTalk about a cosmic glow-up✨📸 This progression of images of galaxy group RSCG 55 shows the evolution of ground-based sky surveys spanning more than three decades🤯, ending with NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view. 🔭🧪
This is horrible. Evacuations in Spain. Fires in France. I am not even mentioned North America. Horrible. www.bbc.com/news/live/c5...
Evacuations near Madrid as wildfires advance with thousands already fleeing French tourist spot
The government in Spain has declared a national emergency as wildfires burn out of control in several areas close to the capital.
bbc.com
Andy Scollick@andyscollick.bsky.social · 2w agoThe Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex at Robledo de Chavela municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain on fire. Burgohondo wildfire. 📷 via Infues Avila
Today I discovered that LPI has a number of interesting looking books that are digitized and available for free: www.lpi.usra.edu/publications... Topics include geology, exploration, and history. Many of the books are old, so some of the science has moved on, but they are still worth reading.
Digitized Books
The books in this list were either published by the LPI, or they are out-of-print books that are still considered to be valuable resources to the planetary science community and therefore have been di...
lpi.usra.edu
Alejandro Soto@soto.space · 2w agoI am shocked and happy to find that TO A ROCKY MOON is available for free, provide by the LPI, no less. www.lpi.usra.edu/publications... It's on my to read list now. Thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks to both Colorado and Federal EV credits and incentives, I leased my current 2025 Leaf for $26 per month. Trump ruined that for any future EV I might buy. Right now Nissan is offering me $459 per month. No way. Either I buy my current car 😀 or give up on having an electric vehicle ☹️.
With the anniversary of the Viking 1 Lander's arrival at Mars' surface, @caseydreier.bsky.social put together a cost comparison between the Viking program and later Mars missions. Totally worth the money, I say. #planetaryscience www.planetary.org/space-policy...
The Cost of NASA's Viking missions
The Viking missions to Mars cost nearly $1.06 billion and resulted in NASA's first successful landings on another planet.
planetary.org
This is ridiculous. Are they just afraid of the dark? Still fear the monster under the bed? Their use cases don't justify the consequences: harming people, wildlife, and plant-life by messing with sunlight and the diurnal cycle. This is such a waste. aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/reflect-orbi...
Reflect Orbital readies for first on-orbit demo of shining sunlight at night
aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org
Wow. I don't know how anyone can look at images like this and not start stressing about the changing climate conditions everywhere.
Simon Lee@simonleewx.com · 3w ago“England’s green and pleasant land” becoming “England’s brown and scorched land” — effects of a long-lived heatwave and little rainfall on vegetation in England evident in these images from NOAA-20 today (left) and 18 July 2024 (right) during closer to average conditions.
No more Astrobotics. Just Voyager Technologies. spacenews.com/voyager-comp... I wonder what drove Astrobotics to this deal.
Voyager completes acquisition of Astrobotic
Voyager Technologies has completed its acquisition of lunar infrastructure company Astrobotic weeks after it won two NASA lunar lander missions.
spacenews.com
I finally submitted my comments on the OMB proposed rule changes. I took so long because I was over thinking it. You don't need to address everything. Just state your position (hopefully opposition) and your reason. Here's some advice and help. fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/163...
Stand up for Science
Stand up for Science
fight2win.standupforscience.net
I am embarrassed that I didn't already know this was happening. It's an embarrassment for our nation that Puerto Rico, part of the USA and filled with American citizens, is suffering like this. We should be airlifting in support and repairing the problems. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘As if a hurricane had passed’: Puerto Ricans at breaking point after weeks without water
Shortages triggered by pipeline rupture drive up costs and deepen frustrations, as pressure grows on water utility
theguardian.com
Something for us to fight in Colorado. Oil and natural gas are the past. Electrification is the future. Colorado needs to focus on the future. This proposed amendment is so infuriating, but I will have to wait until later to pick it apart. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Colorado will decide whether a "right to natural gas" is added to state constitution
The amendment would restrict building codes that promote electrification.
arstechnica.com
Monday is the deadline for public comment! The Heritage Foundation has been mobilizing its members to leave comments in favor of the rule change, so every unique comment matters (don’t use a form letter or copy/paste—similar comments are batched and treated as one).
Bethany Brookshire@beebrookshire.bsky.social · 4w agoThere's an OMB rule change that would require political oversight of scientific grants, and could pull any that don't "reflect presidential priorities" Another country has tried this before! It was the USSR and it was called Lysenkoism. By @thsaey.bsky.social www.sciencenews.org/article/omb-...
For folks asking why bother commenting because the OMB won't care: comments help build cases for the courts by explicitly laying out harms. That's why it's really important to have your comments be as specific as possible. Also, contact your senators and reps! They actually do care about this.
Jacquelyn Gill@jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 4w agoMonday is the deadline for public comment! The Heritage Foundation has been mobilizing its members to leave comments in favor of the rule change, so every unique comment matters (don’t use a form letter or copy/paste—similar comments are batched and treated as one).
I am drafting my comments this weekend. Unique comments are better than form letters. 🧪
Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 4w agoComments due by Monday on the attempt to politicize science/aka kill American research as we know it. Do it at the link (counter the ton of Heritage-foudnatoin-prompted comments): www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...
Comments due by Monday on the attempt to politicize science/aka kill American research as we know it. Do it at the link (counter the ton of Heritage-foudnatoin-prompted comments): www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...
Between this and the national guard in Memphis it’s kind of disturbing me (yes I know I’m a member of the media) the degree to which these killings aren’t really breaking thru rn
Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 4w ago"Uncertainties about concentrations and fluxes of marine plastics are compounded by the lack of reliable and mutually comparable data collected using different methods. Filling these gaps is thus a pressing environmental concern..." 🧪 eos.org/features/mea...
Measuring Microplastics in Every Ocean Layer - Eos
Small bits of plastic don’t just float at the sea surface—they span the entire water column. Scientists need consistent methods to track these particles and to better understand the hazards they pose.
eos.org
"Microplastics (MPs), particles smaller than 5 millimeters, are now widespread in the ocean and make up much of the growing volume of plastic pollution arriving from land and air. These materials can pose health risks for marine life and for humans..." 🧪 eos.org/science-upda...
Tracking Microplastics Above and Below the Waves - Eos
Measuring plastic particles carried on Cozumel’s sea breezes and ocean currents reveals how simple physics shapes the particles’ pathways and the impacts they may have on coastal regions.
eos.org
"...Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, contributed $6.25bn..." From Forbes, Dell is worth $228.65 billion, so the donation is 2.7% of his net worth. If you made or saved $150,000, that's the equivalent of $4,106. Not nothing, but not a burden for a billionaire. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump rings New York Stock Exchange bell to mark first trading day for ‘Trump accounts’
US president rings bell from White House and showcases initiative that gives children a $1,000 investment account
theguardian.com
"A couple of these trips, in the summers of 1965 and 1966, took astronauts to Alaska’s remote Katmai National Park for simulations of field geology in Moon-like environments." science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-...
Playing the Moon Game - NASA Science
Apollo astronauts previewed their roles as lunar field geologists in Alaska’s Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
science.nasa.gov
A classic past time of scientists: naming schemes!! #planetaryscience
Luke Dones@lukemeister.bsky.social · last mo.Wake up babe, new exoplanet classification system just dropped
OUR BIG TAKEAWAYS: - The Dems pressed Vought on the proposed OMB Rule - DeLauro critized the admin for trying to make federal grants pass a political loyalty test. Vought denied this characterization, but refused to commit that OMB would respect Congress's constitutional power of the purse. 🧵:
Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net · last mo.🚨OMB Director Russell Vought is about to testify before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Financial Services & General Government! 🚨 We'll be live skeeting the hearing - follow along below!! 🧵: