Everything You Need To Know About Space If You Plan To Join Space Force Or Live On Mars One Day
If there was one good thing the Communists did for us, it was that they forced us to explore space. It's been 70 years since we launched the very first satellite into orbit, and space has been making a comeback. From Elon Musk sending a rocket car into orbit to President Trump creating a military branch called the Space Force, we just can't get our minds off space.
You Can Become Rich On The Diamond Planet
Eventually, we're going to get to a point with planet earth where all our natural resources are used up, and Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates own all the world's wealth. When this day inevitably comes, we will be forced to explore the solar system looking for new forms of wealth.
Thankfully, scientists discovered 55 Cancri E, which is a planet that is primarily carbon in the form of diamonds. Yes, it's a world of just diamonds.
Stop And Smell The Raspberries
For all my Sagittarians out there, use your love of travel and adventure and take a trip out to the Sagittarius B2 gas cloud. Scientists have shown that the gas cloud is primarily made up of ethyl formate, which smells like raspberries and tastes like rum.
The giant gas cloud is only about 390 light years away from the center of the Milky Way, but it's well worth the trip.
Then Go On To Smell The Dead Bodies
Sagittarius B2 might smell like everything that's good in the world, but the rest of the universe does not. The general smell of outer space is believed to be similar to a decomposing body.
Most of the gasses in the solar system smell like sulfur, gunpowder, cooked meat, burning metal, and "a distinct odor of ozone." One scientist who has been working to recreate the smell on Earth described it as "sweaty feet and stale body odor." Yum.
Call Up Agent Mulder And Investigate Two Lights On A Distant Planet
It may not be definitive proof of aliens, but The Dawn spacecraft photographed two bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres is located in between Mars and Jupiter, so it's not too far of a journey for Space Force.
Scientists have proposed theories that the two bright spots are ice volcanoes or salt patches, but the jury is still out. Luckily, The Dawn will be passing Ceres again soon to take more detailed photos.
Watch Out, Disney Has Already Established A Trademark On Mercury
This crater formation that looks eerily like Mickey Mouse was seen carved into the side of Mercury. Impact and high heats form much of the planet's landscape.
We don't know what parent company Disney had to buy to get their logo on the side of Mercury, but it probably wasn't cheap. Mercury is closest to the sun, so Disney is probably preparing to build a theme park with temperatures comparable to summer in California.
Enjoy The Silence... Or Not
A longstanding belief about space is that you can't hear any sounds. On Earth, a sound is made by vibrating air molecules, so it would make sense with no atmosphere in space, there are no sounds.
But there are sounds you can hear that include everything from the crust shifting on planets to noise that exploding stars give off. Scientists have even theorized that during major events like the Big Bang, you could hear the universe expanding.
Don't Expect To Do Any Online Shopping
If we're going to have a Space Force, then it only makes sense that Amazon will be right behind them with Prime delivery. But there's no use doing any online shopping in space if you get close to a magnetar star.
These stars spin at speeds so out of control that they create a magnetic field millions of miles wide. If you got too close with a credit card in your pocket, it would be toast.
Don't Watch 'The Fox And The Hound' In Space
We're not saying anything bad about the beloved Disney movie. It's a legendary film. We're saying that you shouldn't watch it because it's a guaranteed tear-jerker, and you're not allowed to cry in space. You can try, but the universe has made it so that you physically can't cry normal tears.
Up in space, if you start to cry your tears will glob up in your eyes in a salty, liquid ball and sting you. Then they float away, and you lose the dramatics of tears running down your cheeks.
Be Prepared To Lose Chunks Of Your Feet
We're not trying to scare you, but if you jet off to space to see Jupiter in person, you might end up losing pieces of your feet. After only a month in orbit in space, thick pieces of skin will fall off of you're feet.
It's usually the dead skin and calluses that go first. Feet are the primary target for this because they are the least used body part in space since you're floating, not walking.
Visiting Earth 2 Is Not As Inviting As It Sounds
One of science's primary goals has been to discover planets similar to earth in atmosphere and temperature that humans could one day inhabit. Right now, the best candidate for Earth 2 is Gliese 581g.
The name isn't as catchy, and in all honesty, the planet is not that enticing. One half of the planet is frozen over, and the other half in a flaming firestorm. There's only a tiny strip of the planet that we could live on.
Don't Settle Down Near The Olympus Mons
The largest known volcano in our solar system is on our closest planet. The Olympus Mons on Mars is 16 miles high and 374 miles wide. For context, this volcano is about three times taller than Mount Everest, and roughly the size of Arizona.
If you do decide to join Space Force and colonize Mars, try to settle as far away as possible from the volcano. Listen to the people of Pompeii, and never assume the volcano is dormant.
Go Find Out If There Really Is A Face On Mars
It was a long time ago, but back in 1976, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters took images of the Cydonia region of Mars. The photos appeared to show a human face on the surface of Mars. Obviously, everyone's first thought was aliens.
Scientists have spent years trying to disprove the alien theory by taking higher resolution photos to prove that the face was just a result of craters and shadows. Soon, we will be able to travel there and find out for ourselves.
Don't Get Sucked In By The Dark Flow
NASA usually doesn't announce a discovery without having a theory or two on why it exists, but the concept of Dark Flow has completely baffled them. Apparently, there is a strange, unknown force in space that is beyond the known universe. It is larger than anything we've ever discovered, and is more powerful than anything imaginable.
The Dark Flow is so strong that it's actually pulling the galaxy away from us. This is the stuff nightmares are made of.
Channel Your Inner Luke Skywalker In The Castor System
No, we're not saying start training to become a Jedi and overthrow the Space Force. We're talking more about Luke's time on Tatooine when there were two suns. In the Castor Solar System, there isn't one sun, but six different sun-like stars.
That means you could wake up to six different sunrises every morning. The only downside is that with five extra suns, it's about 52 times brighter and hotter than Earth.
We Can Now Grow Food In Space
In August 2015, astronauts ate the food that they grew in space for the first time. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station used a machine called The Veggie System designed by ORBITEC.
The machine uses fancy light manipulation and the international space station's air system to grow everything from mushrooms to lettuce. It sounds like people on the ISS saw that Matt Damon grew potatoes in The Martian and realized they needed to catch up.
Get Justice For Pluto
People were pretty outraged when scientists decided to take away Pluto's status as a planet. They said it wasn't large enough, and changed it's classification to a "dwarf planet."
People had to start accepting it after we discovered another planted nearby to Pluto. Eris was revealed in 2005 as another dwarf planet, even though it's 27% bigger than Pluto. Sorry Pluto, if we found a planet larger than you, it looks like you'll never be back in our orbit.
A Burning Ice Planet Is As Scary As It Sounds
Burning ice sounds like a theoretical oxymoron, but in space, it's a very real possibility. Not too far away from Earth 2 is Gliese 436 B. Scientists have no better way to describe the planet than a "burning ice cube."
The planet is covered entirely with water, but its 822 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, the water should evaporate, but the planet's gravity is so strong that it pulls all the water to the center which keeps the molecules packed dense like ice.
Thirsty? Visit The Largest Water Reservoir
Earth's largest freshwater reservoir is the polar ice caps, and they hold about two percent of our water. The universe's largest water reservoir holds 140 trillion times more water than Earth's oceans.
This sounds like the perfect resource when humans use up all the water on Earth, but sadly, the reservoir isn't on a planet. It's just a bunch of floating water molecules hanging out in space surrounding a giant black hole.
Forget About A Nuclear Bomb, Be Afraid Of Venus' Sky
Nuclear warfare is nothing in comparison to the frequent explosions that happen on Venus thanks to their dense air. The atmosphere on the gas planet is about 100 times denser than on Earth. The air is so thick that if you were on Venus, it would feel like you're moving through an ocean, not air.
Combine the dense air with temperatures as high as 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and you've got a planet so volatile that every once in a while the enter sky explodes.
Everyone Knows About Jupiter's Storm, But What About Neptune's?
We all know that the giant red blob on the side of Jupiter is a storm that has been raging for more than 400 years, but there's a similar storm happening on Neptune that scientists care about way more. We spotted the massive hurricane on Neptune in 1989, and it's still going on today.
The storm has baffled scientists because storms shouldn't be capable of forming on Neptune. The planet is too far away from the sun for weather activity to form. Yet, a hurricane the size of Earth has been spinning for almost 30 years.
