Rafael Mentges

I love ESA and I love the Hera mission but this is kind of funny.

Honey, I won't make it for dinner at 19h, I will be three hours late.

Two hours later: good news, will be home already at 21:55h, five minutes earlier than originally planned.

Hera’s first year in space

Happy launch anniversary to ESA's Hera mission! 🎂🥳

One year ago ESA's first planetary defence mission was stranded on Earth, its launcher grounded, as a hurricane closed in on its launch site. What a difference a year makes! www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day

"There are currently one to two Starlink satellites falling back to Earth every day ... Soon, McDowell told us, there will be up to 5 satellite reentries per day." 😳

🛰 Un à deux Starlink rentrent dans l'atmosphère chaque jour 😮 Il y a 5 ans, on était plutôt à un satellite par semaine ! Et on connaît encore très mal l'impact sur l'atmosphère de ces rentrées, mais les premières études sont pas jolies... Il est urgent de réguler 📢

Rheinmetall rival slams ‘direct award’ to German arms group Electro Optic Systems says Berlin’s lack of open tender bypasses better and cheaper options

Rheinmetall rival slams ‘direct award’ to German arms group on.ft.com/48SQd91

" #OpenAI ’s latest valuation gives it a market value roughly equivalent to Exxon Mobil, which reported annual revenue of almost $350 bn last year and profit of more than $30 bn. The AI company, meanwhile, is expecting $13 bn of revenue this year and a net loss in the billions of dollars"

💯
Too many arguments assume only one or zero is possible. Pisses me off!

YouTube video by WION French President Macron Speaks at German Unity Day Ceremony | WION LIVE

President Macron:
“We were very naive to leave our public space to social media networks controlled by US or Chinese companies that don’t share our interests and not interested in survival of our democracies.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggN...

Well gang, it's happened: OpenAI has built a platform filled exclusively with fake, AI content.

I've been playing with it for a few days, and I think it's safe to say we're basically kissing reality goodbye.

Here's the story: www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

And some thoughts 🧵

“A big driver here is re-shoring: governments and industry want greater control and resilience in their supply chains, which is pushing more production capacity back onshore."

Overall, a boring piece but this probably worth mentioning.

MAGA wants to cancel the Super Bowl because Bad Bunny is performing.

Conservative cancel culture is the worst and it always has been.
Nothing but projection coming from MAGA.

The Effect of Air Purifiers in Schools The Effect of Air Purifiers in Schools

Randomisierte Studie mobile Luftfilter Schule

1) Reduktion krankheitsbedingter Abwesenheit 12,5%
2) Kosten 11€/d
3) cost benefit 1:9

Nicht inkludiert sind die zusätzlich in Skandinavien nachgewiesenen Reduktionen der elterlichen Fehltage um 30%

Und nu
@PrienKarin @ninawarken?

Meanwhile, this week with Sora 2 AI video generation has taken another step towards anyone being able to stitch together broadly convincing videos of politicians making any announcements... even if this is an innocent example of JFK proclaiming an EV mandate for 1967.

Just tell them it was just a scheme to get China to spend ridiculous amounts on moon landing capabilities 🙈😉

Cracker Barrel American Eagle War on Christmas: the right needs us to loathe them because that's central to their identity and operations, and if we don't they'll just fabricate it. Not news, but here's a new case of that:

Nailed it

Pour l'année scolaire 2024-2025, plus de 6800 livres ont été retirés (temporairement ou définitivement) des bibliothèques scolaires américaines.

80 % de ces interdictions ont lieu dans trois États : la Floride, le Texas et le Tennessee.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies The newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most importan...

Nationalize SpaceX

... just to practice their faith in peace.

I can only imagine what it does to your mind—growing up with the constant fear of being attacked as part of everyday life. That this is still a reality in the heart of Europe, in Germany of all places, is something we should never accept. Yet, we do.

When I was a child on my way to school, I would pass by a synagogue every morning. It seemed perfectly normal to me that police officers were always standing guard outside. Only much later did I understand what that presence really meant: for decades, Jews had been forced to rely on protection ...

Number of military satellites launched

Source: ESPI, www.espi.or.at/briefs/simul...

Of course, if you are in the car while it is happening, it probably won't be your lucky day.

YouTube video by Scott Manley Mystery Fire In The Sky - Space Debris Or Meteorite?

via @scottmanley.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5bY...

Today, I learned that if a meteorite hits your used car, it might be your lucky day.

"In 1992, a 12.37 kg meteorite hit Michelle Knapp's newly-purchased $300 1980 Chevrolet in Peekskill, New York. She sold the car to a meteorite collector for $25,000."
www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPor...

Earth Observation Data and Services Market - Novaspace - Market Intelligence Hub Earth Observation Data and Services Market provides a global assessment of the EO satellite-based commercial demand for imagery and value-added services.

North America remains the largest EO market, generating 44% of global revenues in 2023, followed by Europe at 22%..

ow.ly/6tRE50W1q5g
#EarthObservation #EO #Novaspace

💯🙈

Millenium Falcon with a SpaceX logo? 🤔

The next Project Kuiper launch, KF-03, is officially scheduled for NET October 9th at 01:56 UTC! This is the final out of 3 planned launches on Falcon 9. It was originally scheduled for yesterday, but has been delayed due to hurricane Imelda delaying preceding launches.

Boost to jobs and military capability with new defence equipment system New £320 million contract for a platform to revolutionise how the Armed Forces manage and maintain defence equipment to help the military make better decisions faster will create 100 new highly-skille...

The government are investing £320 million in a new platform to revolutionise how the Armed Forces manage and maintain defence equipment.

It will help the military make better decisions faster and will create 100 new highly-skilled UK jobs.

A contract has been given to IBM UK.

1/2

Trump’s Speech to Generals Was Incitement to Violence Against Americans Military leaders’ quiet professionalism offers hope amid a maelstrom.

A must read. @kschake.bsky.social is no alarmist and looks at questions analytically, and this is her take of Trump’s speech to the generals and admirals.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/01/t...