How about we start talking about the more interesting things in this article. Last month Nasa and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) landed the heaviest, but most intelligent and technologically developed payload, ever to touch the Martian surface. I am of course referring to the 2020 Perseverance rover. It carries seven primary payload instruments, 19 cameras, and two microphones. The rover is also carrying the mini-helicopter Ingenuity, an experimental aircraft that will attempt the first ever powered flight on another planet.
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SpaceX did it again: SpaceX's latest Starship prototype went out in a blaze of glory.
The Starship SN10 spacecraft touched down successfully after a high-altitude test flight in March 3, a major milestone for the company and its crewed Mars ambitions. But the vehicle didn't manage to hold itself together, exploding about eight minutes after landing.
The big stainless-steel SN10 launched from SpaceX's South Texas site, rose 10 kilometers into the sky and came back safely to Earth for a smooth touchdown after 6 minutes and 20 seconds from liftoff.
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Space (What is space according to many scientific sources: Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction.) facts that probably you didn’t know:
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Space is completely silent (due to the vacuum-no air).
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99% of our solar system's mass is the sun.
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More energy from the sun hits Earth every hour than the planet uses in a year.
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One day on Venus is longer than one year on Earth and 10 days longer than 1 year on Venus.
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The universe is constantly expanding.
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A competed NASA space suit costs $12,000,000.
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There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on earth.
THE END!!!
Thank you for reading this article. It means a lot for us. Comment down below your thoughts and ideas and tell me your favorite STEM activities that we can discuss in later articles.
Geitonas student newsletter
Stormlight Archive-Review
So today im going to talk about another fantasy series that has been compared to “Lord of the Rings”, called “Stormlight Archive”. Now im only going to cover the first book in this review, because firstly, as a hole they are way too long and I've not got enough time to read 10 books for the sake of a review, and secondly, I've heard that after the first one there is a decline in quality, so the sequels have been recommended much less than the first book from my understanding. But lets dive in.
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So the setting is an interesting one, a world that for the most part is very inhospitable, with very frequent storms that ravage the land, so much so that the ground is mostly stone, as dirt would just be taken and fly off during the storms. Plants grow in a way that they can recoil, to get out of the way of animals or storms as protection and houses, villages and towns are only built in places where the storms cannot damage them, such as beside mountains. It primarily focuses on the world of Roshar, a group of ten kingdoms formed into one in the last few decades prior. And although that is where the story primarily takes place here there are also hints of other places. We see there are also village communities in other parts of the world, as well as odd people people such as the Thaylen, a race that is mostly human except for their very long eyebrows and white beards. There are also creatures such as axehounds, or chulls, large crustaceans that similar to some crabs and the plants of the world, are fully capable of hiding in their shells to survive through storms. There are also spirit-like creatures called spren, most commonly drawn by emotions. There is also magic, which is invaluable to the armies of the world, as sorcerers, called casters, were able to turn matter such as wood into food or stone, the latter being very useful in the creation of bases that can withstand the storms. There is also so much more, such as the magic Shardplate, magic armor, and Shardblade, magic swords linked to their owners, or the abilities of an assassin known as Szeth, or the Aimian race, who had blue nails, the ability to alter themselves and disable their senses, and also had shadows pointing the wrong way. Needless to say that there is an extensive amount of worlbuilding and lore in the first book alone.
That is a “summary” of the plot, which is quite a feat, considering the size of this book, considering it is about 1200 pages long. But, if you wanted the SparkNotes version, you’d go to, well, SparkNotes. Time to review!
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In conclusion, the first book alone is very, very good, and for any fan of the fantasy franchise will thoroughly enjoy it. However, for anyone interested in reading all 10 or so books of the Stormlight Archives, I cannot offer an opinion of my own for them as a hole, but the people I know that have read them have told me that reading the rest is not worth the effort as the quality drops dramatically.
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The main plot is also very interesting, and mostly follows 3 narrative threads. The first is of a gifted spearman, named Kaladin, and follows him as a slave, fighting for an army in a land called the Shattered Plains, named after the countless canyons and chasms that split the land in plateaus. The second relates to a young artist named Shallan, who is trying to help her family recover from a financial crisis and the death of her father, in morally dubious ways. Lastly, we follow Dalinar, a lord who tries to advice his King and protect him from other threats, teach his two sons, all while experiencing bizarre hallucinations and visions during the frequent storms. These three plots explore different aspects of life in the kingdoms, Kaladin giving us insight in the village life in this world, the war that is taking place against the Parshendi and the lifes of a soldier, Shallan gives us insight on sorcery, religion and the scholars of the world, while Dalinar helps us understand the political intrigue of the royal families, but also the long-forgotten history of the world.