Light Start – Mars landing today, crewed Dragon, falling Bitcoin, and The Lion King
Brett Venter
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Catch the live-stream of the latest Mars lander landing (we hope) tonight at 21:00
The latest Mars landing is going to be taking place tonight, and then starting a new series of experiments shortly after — assuming all goes well. NASA’s InSight lander is going to be touching down (hopefully in one piece) this evening, with the process starting at 14:00 Eastern Time (which is about 21:00 here in South Africa). If you’re a space junkie, or just curious about what a very expensive crater might look like (if things don’t go according to plan), then you can check out the live-streamed landing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs YouTube page (if you just want the video) or on Twitch, if you feel like a little commentary to go with it.
Source: via Engadget[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A date has been set for SpaceX’s crewed Dragon to take to the skies
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has more than a few handy features for keeping astronauts safe in the event of a calamity but, as with all new tech, it’s taking a while to get going. They need to be sure that everything is working just fine. And now there are dates for the final round of testing, culminated in the first crewed launch of the Dragon capsule in 2019. The SpaceX Demo-1 launch is taking place in January next year — that’s an uncrewed launch. Then there’s an abort test before a crewed launch in June 2019. Boeing is also going to be testing Boeing Orbital next year (uncrewed in March, crewed in August) — should be an exciting time for space fans.
Source: NASA[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Bitcoin’s value has dropped 40% over the past few weeks
So you were late to the Bitcoin party. Hopefully you haven’t recently sunk a bunch of money into the most recognisable cryptocurrency — it’s currently going through a bit of a slump. At one point the virtual currency was sitting at nearly $20,000 per coin but has been falling steadily since its admittedly mighty high. Right now it’s sitting at just about $4,000, representing a fall of around 40% from its value just two weeks ago. The drop has been ascribed to the launch of a couple of Bitcoin forks, including the one that split Bitcoin Cash earlier this month. Where the crypto goes from here is something that’ll bear watching. Hopefully we’ll see it climbing up to its previous highs — we’re probably not the only folks hoping for that.
Source: The Verge[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On the off chance you didn’t see the trailer for The Lion King remake…
The original Lion King film — the animated one — was notable for a few things but its ability to make parents cry in movie theatres is not to be underestimated. The so-called live-action remake of the film from Disney has has its first trailer released and if you remember much about 1994, it’s going to seem awfully familiar. It’s almost a shot-for-shot recreation of the hand-drawn trailer that has been burned into our childhood minds. Are we going to go see this? Yeah, of course. Will there be parents crying in the dark again? Yeah, probably. It’s the circle of life, after all. Watch the official trailer at the link below. You owe it to yourself — now, as well as the younger version of you.
