Turds in Spaaaaaaace
Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe sent home this picture of a near-earth asteroid. They weren’t expecting to get images anything like this good. Lead scientist Yuya Mimasu said he was “absolutely over the moon” – which I think is a hilarious way for an astrophysicist to put it.
He thinks it looks like a snowman. I’d say two Ferror Rochet chocolates stuck together. Or, you know, a turd.
Joking aside, this stuff blows me away. Like all the amazing footage of the surface of Mars. Like, holy shit – that’s Mars!
Somebody pointed out the Mars is a planet in our solar system populated entirely by robots.
Posted: July 8th, 2026 under personal.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Uncle AL
Time: July 8, 2026, 7:30 pm
A turd?! Wow, SOMEBODY’s on a seriously high-fiber diet!
Reminds of when I was a youngster and Mom would tell me to eat my roughage.
Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: July 9, 2026, 1:48 am
RE: the population of Mars. I don’t know why no one thought of this before; but the Mars probes are immensely sophisticated and capable explorers. Far better than the lunar probes we have sent out till now. Just a couple of weeks ago I saw the first mention of sending new Mars Rovers to the Moon and let them find and analyze what they can, and take what would be wonderful pictures. It strikes me as a desirable thing to do.
Subotai Bahadur
Comment from Uncle AL
Time: July 9, 2026, 12:15 pm
@Subotai Bahadur — That’s an excellent and intriguing idea. If those rovers perform well in both of those very hostile environments, they might even survive Portland or Marseilles.
Comment from RFH
Time: July 11, 2026, 5:21 pm
Thanks for posting that. I knew Hayabusa2 had been given an extended mission but hadn’t thought about it since the sample carrier returned. It had previously rendezvoused with another asteroid, jumped up and down on it like a pogo stick, gathered some dirt, and sent it back to Earth. Good to know it’s still doing science.
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