Cav's Place

Ten years and nearly nine months since launch, four years and nearly a month and a half since orbital insertion, the highly successful MESSENGER mission has come to an end, the spacecraft impacting the surface of Mercury at 3.91 km/s. At that point of the orbit, the spacecraft was on the far side of Mercury, as viewed from Earth, but the lack of a response when one should once again be possible otherwise is confirmation enough, and there were obviously other ways to determine what was happening more accurately as well. Still, what we have at the moment are estimates of the time and place made a day before impact, with the listed time of impact being 7:26:02 PM UTC, and apparently its final image. Although the Deep Space Network seemed to show that communication was briefly reestablished later, it was likely a glitch, as confirmation of the loss of contact was posted shortly afterwards.

This short post is merely meant to mark the moment, including even less than the one I wrote after orbital insertion, which at least offered a timeline of the mission’s major milestones up to that point. But making such a list now would be difficult, unfair and, well, simply wrong, since MESSENGER was a mission I obviously appreciated and had some interest in and talked about from time to time, but not one I followed even like I do Kepler, Dawn or New Horizons, which is still less than I should. Besides, considering the wealth of information available, some of which I’ll probably also go through over the coming days, what difference would a few mentions on an obscure blog make?

Still, I can’t end this without saying thank you to all those who imagined, planned, designed, built, tested and operated the mission and spacecraft, and obviously also to all those who analyzed and worked with the information received from it. And, since at such times it’s difficult not to personify, thank you MESSENGER as well, for everything.
Using such an insane trajectory to successfully enter orbit around such a small planet that’s so close to the Sun and then using every possible method, trick, subsystem and substance available to get over four years out of a mission initially planned to last for one, possibly two, under such harsh conditions and without benefiting from any past experience, seeing as it’s the first time we had a spacecraft orbiting Mercury, is a tremendous achievement in itself. And that’s before considering all the information received, the questions answered and the new ones asked, paving the way for future missions… If any others will come in the foreseeable future, considering the bleak picture the reduced public and governmental interest and funding paint of the future of space exploration.

Picked up the new computer today, so now I’m waiting for Rufus to check and set up bootable USB drives for HDD and RAM tests without installing Windows, which I don’t plan to do today. Then I assume those tests will take a very long time, so I’ll just switch the monitor and keyboard to it to start one, leave it running, switch back to the old computer and do something else, and repeat for each. Or I could just leave the keyboard on it and mess around here with just the mouse if possible, which I guess it should be after writing this.
Actually, after having a quick look inside, since I ordered the parts from a single shop and told them to put it together as well, I already switched the monitor to it once and tried to enter BIOS just to have a first look, only to be told to connect a boot device and reboot, the fact that I kept pressing Del not doing anything. So then I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del and heard the old computer do something, at which point I finally realized I hadn’t switched the keyboard as well, so I turned it off and switched the monitor back to this one to get the preparations started.

The configuration is as follows:
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer (Intel B85 chipset, Realtek ALC1150 audio chipset, Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2200 LAN chipset and a number of enhancements)
CPU: Intel Pentium G3440 (3.3 GHz dual-core, 3 Mb level 3 cache, Intel HD Graphics)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 4 Gb (2×2 Gb, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 9-9-9-24 latency)
PSU: Seasonic G Series 360 (360W, 80 Plus Gold)
Case: Cougar Volant White (includes 1 120 mm fan, has slots for 8 120 mm fans or 6 120 mm fans and 1 140 mm fan)
Also ordered and included was another 500 Gb Western Digital Black HDD, so identical to what I’m currently using as backup HDD, but after I’ll check it this will go on dad’s computer already, and I’ll move my existing HDDs, so that other Black and the 250 Gb VelociRaptor, which is the main one, to this new one.

Unfortunately, they said they couldn’t get another OEM copy of 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, and the main reason why I ordered everything from a single shop and asked them to put it together as well was to be able to legally purchase that, to give dad my retail Ultimate for the time being while I’ll use the Home Premium myself, and then next year, when I hope I’ll be able to get a much better computer and pass the one purchased now on to him, we’ll switch back. But that wasn’t an option, so I’m sticking to the Ultimate and he stays with XP, and will have nothing legal next year.
They also couldn’t get me the Cougar Solution White, which had been my first pick for the case, even though both it and a copy of that edition of Windows were listed as available not long ago, albeit very briefly in case of the Windows. So I have to make do with a case with a definitely unpleasant amount of black on the front and an useless external HDD dock which will just gather dust, but it was the only available one that wasn’t completely or almost completely black or otherwise dark and had the frontal USB ports actually in front and not on top.

Yes, there’s no video card listed, and that’s not only because I didn’t order a new one but also because I only intend to play old games over the next year and don’t mean to put in my existing EVGA GeForce GTS 250 1 Gb, which I can’t link to directly because it doesn’t seem to be available on the EVGA site anymore, but which has a graphics clock running at 756 Mhz. Of course, if it somehow won’t handle things otherwise, it’s there, but it shouldn’t be needed, and then dad quite clearly won’t be using a dedicated video card, so it should also act as a test.

Happy to say that the series does seem to be picking back up towards its conclusion, Tongues of Serpents left behind as its forgettable low point. Plenty of important events and action, characters going a long way, both literally and figuratively, many of the annoying elements having to do with most humans and a few of the dragons largely or even completely eliminated and the stage certainly appearing set for quite a grand finale.
The book‘s back cover is somewhat misleading however, leading to quite a surprise at one point, which is a trick I’m not sure how to see, but at least the story doesn’t dwell on its awkward parts, in fact navigating past them quite skillfully. The amnesia remains, from my point of view, an unnecessary and cliché complication, but it may be that the author needed it in order to sort of reset the story and get herself back into it after a poorer period. In which case, considering the end result, I’ll say it was worth it.

Rating: 4/5

Quite a number of things happened this week and the two events I’m considering attending tomorrow, or in fact today as it’s after midnight now when I’m posting this, may add to what I’d have to say, but those same events mean I’d only be able to post on Sunday if I won’t do so now and I still want to avoid Sunday updates. So I’ll try to cover everything in a relatively quick post, meaning I’ll rather rush from one topic to the other and skip details.

It actually started very early on Monday, somewhere roughly around 2 AM, when I was eating and noticed a brief power fluctuation and then, when I got back to my computer, saw I had no Internet access. Since it didn’t fix itself by the time I went to bed, I left dad a note to check after he wakes up as well and call the people from the network I’m in if it still doesn’t work, the note he left in turn saying he did call, at 9 AM, and they said it doesn’t work for anyone, not just for us, and they’re working on it. They obviously hadn’t fixed it by then, however, and by 3 PM I was getting quite concerned and worked up the courage to call myself and, though at first they didn’t answer, was told, when they called back, that they just managed to restore service to three buildings and, while they have no clear estimate, it should be fixed soon enough, and definitely by the end of the day.
Well, it still wasn’t working at 6 PM and I already had a call which I gathered had to do with the tentative order I had placed Saturday evening and the questions I had sent earlier, which meant that, even if I’d have been inclined to answer, it’d have been rather weird without checking my e-mail first. So I called again and the person who answered said he didn’t know what to tell me, because that power fluctuation damaged their server quite severely in spite of the fact that they do have an UPS and, after struggling for several hours to get it to work again for those three buildings, they can’t seem to get anywhere with the rest, so an hour later I gave in and checked my messages using dad’s mobile connection… Only to notice that the problem was finally fixed around 7:30 PM.

Speaking of dad and Monday, when he walked in that evening he gave me an envelope marked as having to do with legal matters, which obviously meant I finally got the papers announcing me of the Gendarmerie’s appeal, which had been filed and I had known about since August. Somewhat fortunately, it seems I have 25 days to respond to it, not only ten, so I can simply put it away for now and get back to it after the other matters will be sorted out. Still, though I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when I read what they supposedly base their claim on, I’m sure I’ll be far less amused when I’ll actually need to write and submit that response, and even less so if I’ll need to think about a witness once again and, obviously, when I’ll actually need to go to Court.

Tuesday can be said to have been dedicated to sorting some things out regarding the new computer I’m finally about to get, as that’s what the order and questions mentioned above were about. Though I had checked the box, stated the request not to be called in the comments and then said yet again, in my reply to the e-mail received in response to my questions from someone from another department, that I can’t usually be found if called, I was not only called yet again but also told by e-mail to really try to pick up. So between an awkward call that was confusing for both me and the person who called, as I was just trying to get it over with as soon as possible without doing too much damage, and a few e-mails, exchanged with both the shop and with ASRock, I began putting things together, though matters were only settled Thursday.
Unfortunately, they weren’t settled the way I wanted them, as neither the case I had initially picked nor any OEM copy of 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium could be brought, being told they had checked with all their suppliers and they have no information about any more coming in the near future either, though they were both in stock only a week or two ago. So, when it came to the case I had to very grudgingly, due to the amount of black on the front and the useless external HDD slot that will just be a dust reservoir, make do with another, which actually was the only one available that wasn’t black or otherwise very dark and had the front USB ports actually in front and not on top, where I won’t be able to reach them, with the computer being inside the desk. On the other hand, I had to simply remove the Windows from the order, which doesn’t affect me but means dad will stay on XP for now and next year, if I actually will get a better computer then and give him the one purchased now, he’ll have to either switch to Windows 10 or make do with a “pirated” copy of 7.
Since this was supposed to be a relatively quick post and it rather got away from me already, I won’t go into detail regarding the components or the reasons why I picked them, but I’ll be doing that after I’ll get it… Which will be soon enough, because the plan that said between May 4 and 7 went down the drain when, Thursday afternoon, I was told I’ll be able to pick it up Friday after 4 PM. I had told them I wanted it later, which was also one reason why I was trying to delay decisions and pressing them for estimated delivery dates for what wasn’t available, but it didn’t seem to matter, so while I obviously didn’t go yet, I will be going next week, on the first day when dad will be able to come with me early enough. May well be Monday.

In between all of that, Wednesday I went to pick up Blood of Tyrants and, as expected, got quite lost on the way. Won’t describe exactly how here, but I made a map for anyone interested, showing how I went the wrong way after exiting the metro station and then, though I realized it after a while, decided not to turn around, instead going around in order to get back to the street I should have reached. Not that doing so sorted out my confusion, as you can see I couldn’t quite figure out which turns to take, thinking I had missed streets before actually reaching them, and then even going the long way around after actually reaching the shop, as the only sign was a tiny sticker next to the gate and I missed it at first. Eventually got in after turning back before a large dog lying in the middle of the road, trying the gate only to find it locked and finding that sticker on a buzzer after looking harder.
After that, I attended an embarrassingly tiny Earth Day event which was only announced by a few activists the evening before. When I got there, at 5:10 PM, so ten minutes after it was supposed to start, I only found four people talking, and in the end perhaps ten or so attended, and even that only briefly. So pretty much the only thing that happened was that one person displayed some signs and I added mine among them for a while as the rest tended to chat away and I actually pulled out the book and started reading. When I left, around 6:10 PM, I think only three were left and the other person was gathering his signs as well, but at least a handful of people, apparently including a reporter, had stopped by then to ask what was going on.

And this didn’t only fail to be the relatively quick post I initially intended, with each issue being tackled in one paragraph, but ended up something I couldn’t even finish by 1 AM, when I went to eat. Still, not much left, so I’ll now continue by mentioning that Thursday I also went for another run on the track and actually managed to beat last week’s time of 24:05 for the ten laps. Didn’t think I’ll do that for a long time, since I assumed it’ll get warmer and I didn’t intend to push as hard as I did then towards the end, with that final lap in only 2:05, but the weather was quite cool again and I didn’t try to pace myself so much, so the total time was now 23:20. In addition, I once again managed 2:05 in the last lap, and 2:10 in the one before it, without feeling that I was pushing quite that hard, so I have a little more time in me even now, if I’d care to try harder. Don’t exactly mean to, however, though I am firmly considering changing the typical target time, as in what I’ll aim for even when it’ll be hotter, from 30 minutes to 25.

Through it all, and in fact starting last week, I have slept very poorly and, especially considering the need to talk on the phone and also the e-mails exchanged, was, and still am, quite a mess. Even more so than usual, I mean, and what’s set to happen over the coming days and weeks makes it obvious that the situation won’t improve even if the sleep problem would somehow be solved. And it doesn’t seem to be, since it seems to become next to impossible to find the kitchen empty during the day, so if I happen to wake up to go to the bathroom when nobody seems to be around I also go and grab something to eat, and then I can’t get back to sleep. And naps in the evening seem to work less and less as well, as noise from either my parents or the cats keeps waking me up, especially since my senses tend to become particularly alert when I’m exhausted, which makes it rather notable to even get as much as six hours of sleep per day, split in two or three parts.

Today marks 25 years since the Hubble Space Telescope, arguably our best eye in the sky, was launched. Whether it’ll still be operational for its 30th anniversary is unknown at the moment, especially since it can’t be serviced anymore after the United States gave up on the space shuttles without having any sort of replacement ready, but let us hope it’ll at least last until its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, will become operational, though it’d of course be even better if they could work together, at least for a while.
The Hubble’s long years of service started particularly poorly, with years of delays, costs that exceeded the initial estimates several times over and a flawed mirror that initially made it next to useless, but thanks to the fact that it was built to be serviced, the flaw could finally be fixed a few years later and the Hubble could truly make history, as it continues to do even now. Which, I guess, proves that, at least sometimes, what starts poorly doesn’t necessarily have to end even worse. More importantly, however, it proves that things need to be built to last, which sadly very few are anymore, and also, if at all possible, to be repaired, which the major space telescopes currently planned to be launched in the foreseeable future unfortunately won’t be.
But that’s another issue. At the moment, I’m only writing this brief post to honor the Hubble and the people who imagined, designed, built, maintained and made proper use of it over all these years. It and they have not only found answers to important questions both old and new and, as it’s usually the case, replaced some of them with even more interesting and intriguing ones, but also inspired people and popularized space exploration and sciences, reminding people of the wonders of our universe and, perhaps, to some extent, of our place in it. Which, at a time when we as a species are too busy stumbling and looking at our feet to even lift our eyes to the sky anymore, is at least as important.