Technology

Rainbow Ghost Planes

Rainbow Ghost Planes After the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, the human viewpoint of Earth radically shifted. No longer were we mere stargazers, now we could watch what happened at home from a lofty viewpoint. Since the first satellite hit space, we have enhanced our abilities to gaze downward to astonishing levels. Governments and militaries

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Fighter Planes Shooting Themselves Down

Fighter Planes Shooting Themselves Down Son, I’m sorry, they got us.  — Henry Jones, Sr. If Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade can serve as a real-world guide, the perils of a dogfighter circa World War II stretched beyond incoming fire from the enemy. Gunners had to make sure they didn’t imperil their own craft, too. More modern (and

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Odysseus

Odysseus Few literary characters rise to a level of timelessness in which their stories survive millennia. Still, fewer characters see their names become eponyms folded into multiple languages. One such gargantuan of the page is Homer’s Odysseus. If you’re into the Romans or the Irish, you might know him better as Ulysses. Though the champion

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Snowshoes

Snowshoes Central Ohio, where I grew up, traditionally received a good amount of snow each year. The area did not garner as much as zones on the Great Lakes or farther north, but it snowed much more than locations just a few hours south. In Cincinnati, an inch of snow might shut down the city

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Ginny

Ginny On 30 July 2020, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle lifted off from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral. Aboard this rocket was a payload with a special destination: Mars. After more than 29 weeks in space, on 18 February 2021, the rover named Perseverance touched down in a crater on the red planet.  Nicknamed Percy,

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Landing a 787 on Antarctic Ice

Landing a 787 on Antarctic Ice The inhospitality of Antarctica requires little setup. It’s the coldest place on the planet. It’s so remote that, sometimes, when one develops appendicitis one must perform surgery on one’s self. Approximately 70 scientific stations dot the icy continent, staffed by around 1,200 brave souls during the winter. During the summer,

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