This week, off world: The closest ever photos of the Sun, US and China wargame in space - and loads more...

Decades of conflict have devastated the Central African Republic, with especially harsh effects on children. To help alleviate the suffering if this mostly forgotten conflict, you can donate here...

...here is (one) place you can donate to help children in Afghanistan, caught under the Taliban...

Thank you!

 Pick o' the podcasts

From the video store

Space Force: Inside the US base tracking global missile launches - BBC News

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Snaps Closest-Ever Images to Sun - NASA Science

Wildfires, Lightning, and Earth from Space in 4K | 15-minutes with music

Reading material:

 

The soil on the Moon could support life, scientists say

Could asteroid mining actually work? Maybe if we start with impact sites on the moon

Photographer Captures Impressively Clear Photo of the ISS Whizzing By | PetaPixel

Nightmare For NASA? Russian “Matryoshka” Satellites Lurk In The Orbit; Is U.S. Space Dominance Under Threat?

Space Force Unit that Tracked Iranian Missiles Earns New Honor 

China is practicing orbital warfare to win in space - SpaceNews

Experimental Chinese satellite turns up in unexpected orbit - SpaceNews

Evidence Of Electrified Dust Devils On Mars May Have Been Recorded By NASA's Perseverance Rover | IFLScience

China eyes the moon, Mars and space dominance - SpaceNews

The Universe ( or at least bits of it ) in 101 words...

In which I try to describe some particularly impressive or counterintuitive natural wonder or phenomena in 101 words or less...

Above: A very visible volcano on Earth. We're lucky our volcanoes aren't nearly as sneaky as the Martian ones....

Invisible volcanoes, like flying sharks, sound like a bad idea to me. But nature doesn't care what I think... 

Olympus Mons, the biggest volcano in the solar system, stands 22 km high - but if you stood on its slopes you'd need special equipment to know it was there. 

Why? 

Because it's over 500 kilometres across - bigger than Italy. That makes its slopes so shallow that, locally, they would be lost amongst the terrain. And almost all of it stretches beyond the horizon wherever you might stand on it. 

It’s literally so big you couldn't tell it was there....

Above: The pancake-like Olympus Mons.