Going to Mars (maybe)

 

In case you're interested, with a hopefully successful Artemis II launch and mission slated to happen today, here's the National Academies of Sciences report on how to explore Mars, if humans actually get there.

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars

I'd sure like to see Olympus Mons up close.  Instead, we have to rely on great satellite views like this:

This is just terrible

 

Just read about the idiotic Trump administration's plans to move the U.S. Forest Service to Utah, and while doing that, to close down thirty-one research sites. 

The utter disdain of this administration for the value of science is appalling -- but we've known that for years. Yet to see it demonstrated again and again and again causes constant angst and pain for the loss of what sometimes has been long-standing research, and well, forests don't grow overnight. 

Trump plans to move Forest Service headquarters to Utah and shutter research sites

"The Wilderness Society also pointed to Trump’s prior attempt with the BLM, saying that resulted in many staffers leaving who had valuable years of management experience. The group said this could end up hollowing out the Forest Service.

Many regional offices will close in the reorganization, and their services will shift to hubs in New Mexico, Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Montana and California. Instead of maintaining multiple dispersed research stations with their own leadership, the agency will anchor its research at a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado."

For example, here's a description of their Experimental Forests and Ranges. 

"This research network provides an incredible wealth of records and knowledge of ecological change in natural and managed forest and grassland ecosystems across the United States. Hosted on a combination of public and private lands, the network provides a home for long-term science and management studies in most major vegetation types of the United States. Individual sites range in size from 47 to 22,500 ha."

If you want to see where they are in the Rocky Mountains (and nearby):   Experimental Forest and Range Locations

Yes, the IDIOTS are going to shut that down.