Marshall Eubanks
@marshall-eubanks.bsky.social
A physicist with a lead role in creating two Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) systems, for JPL & the USNO. Now Chief Scientist at Space Initiatives Inc, developing picospacecraft for use in deep space. Asteroid (6696) Eubanks is named in his honor.
C'est merveilleux.
November 22, 2025 at 2:14 PM
C'est merveilleux.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Good one! But would Zond have succeeded?
November 21, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Good one! But would Zond have succeeded?
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
I think that's true. What if USSR had decided it presented an opportunity? IIRC, there were some interesting Soviet advanced lunar mission proposals at that time. I don't think any of them got anywhere.
November 22, 2025 at 12:34 AM
I think that's true. What if USSR had decided it presented an opportunity? IIRC, there were some interesting Soviet advanced lunar mission proposals at that time. I don't think any of them got anywhere.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Mamdani getting Trump to back down & even *compliment* him costs Mamdani absolutely nothing (& indeed actually shows his skills) & probably also saves a lot of vulnerable ppl in this city a trememndous amount of pain if it means Trump is less inclined to act shitty towards us bc of this meeting
November 21, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Mamdani getting Trump to back down & even *compliment* him costs Mamdani absolutely nothing (& indeed actually shows his skills) & probably also saves a lot of vulnerable ppl in this city a trememndous amount of pain if it means Trump is less inclined to act shitty towards us bc of this meeting
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Theia and Earth were neighbors, new research suggests phys.org/news/2025-11...
Theia and Earth were neighbors, new research suggests
About 4.5 billion years ago, the most momentous event in the history of Earth occurred: a huge celestial body called Theia collided with the young Earth. How the collision unfolded and what exactly ha...
phys.org
November 21, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Theia and Earth were neighbors, new research suggests phys.org/news/2025-11...
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
#Astronomy community, this month's issue of the NRAO Newsletter is now available! Read here: https://science.nrao.edu/enews/18.11/
Learn more about upcoming events, special call for GBT filler time proposals, Spectrum Management bi-annual report, NRAO Doctoral Dissertation Award, and more.
Learn more about upcoming events, special call for GBT filler time proposals, Spectrum Management bi-annual report, NRAO Doctoral Dissertation Award, and more.
NRAO eNews: November 2025
Read the latest news & announcements about NRAO science, science operations, and project status.
science.nrao.edu
November 21, 2025 at 2:36 PM
#Astronomy community, this month's issue of the NRAO Newsletter is now available! Read here: https://science.nrao.edu/enews/18.11/
Learn more about upcoming events, special call for GBT filler time proposals, Spectrum Management bi-annual report, NRAO Doctoral Dissertation Award, and more.
Learn more about upcoming events, special call for GBT filler time proposals, Spectrum Management bi-annual report, NRAO Doctoral Dissertation Award, and more.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Bad news for the new version of Starship.
@SpaceX posted images of Booster 18, the first Version 3 (V3) Super Heavy first stage, ystrdy as it was about to begin prelaunch testing. The test early this morning “seems to have just exploded” per
@LabPadre (see video: x.com/LabPadre/sta...)
.
@SpaceX posted images of Booster 18, the first Version 3 (V3) Super Heavy first stage, ystrdy as it was about to begin prelaunch testing. The test early this morning “seems to have just exploded” per
@LabPadre (see video: x.com/LabPadre/sta...)
.
November 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Bad news for the new version of Starship.
@SpaceX posted images of Booster 18, the first Version 3 (V3) Super Heavy first stage, ystrdy as it was about to begin prelaunch testing. The test early this morning “seems to have just exploded” per
@LabPadre (see video: x.com/LabPadre/sta...)
.
@SpaceX posted images of Booster 18, the first Version 3 (V3) Super Heavy first stage, ystrdy as it was about to begin prelaunch testing. The test early this morning “seems to have just exploded” per
@LabPadre (see video: x.com/LabPadre/sta...)
.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
I see this as one of multiple small points of divergence which might, together, have preserved Apollo/promoted Station/avoided Shuttle. Of course TV on 12 would not have been enough by itself.
November 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I see this as one of multiple small points of divergence which might, together, have preserved Apollo/promoted Station/avoided Shuttle. Of course TV on 12 would not have been enough by itself.
Keeping track of our interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS. Right now it is headed North and out of the solar system.
Amateur astronomers should take a look as it gets closer to Earth. Its closest approach to Earth will be on December 19 at a distance of 1.796 AU (269 million km, 168 million miles).
Amateur astronomers should take a look as it gets closer to Earth. Its closest approach to Earth will be on December 19 at a distance of 1.796 AU (269 million km, 168 million miles).
November 21, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Keeping track of our interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS. Right now it is headed North and out of the solar system.
Amateur astronomers should take a look as it gets closer to Earth. Its closest approach to Earth will be on December 19 at a distance of 1.796 AU (269 million km, 168 million miles).
Amateur astronomers should take a look as it gets closer to Earth. Its closest approach to Earth will be on December 19 at a distance of 1.796 AU (269 million km, 168 million miles).
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
I remember how the Apollo 15 video excited people and led to newspaper editiorials about how great Apollo was. Of course, Apollo 15's success also led some in the Nixon WH to call for declaring victory and quitting Apollo flights right then.
November 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I remember how the Apollo 15 video excited people and led to newspaper editiorials about how great Apollo was. Of course, Apollo 15's success also led some in the Nixon WH to call for declaring victory and quitting Apollo flights right then.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
I don't know if it factored into budget decisions but it definitely was a mortal blow to Public engagement with the Lunar surface missions. We will never know how the camera would have performed. Apollo 14's color TV had a horrible 'blooming' that spoiled any video not showing only the dark ground.
November 21, 2025 at 3:29 AM
I don't know if it factored into budget decisions but it definitely was a mortal blow to Public engagement with the Lunar surface missions. We will never know how the camera would have performed. Apollo 14's color TV had a horrible 'blooming' that spoiled any video not showing only the dark ground.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
The view from from the windows of the Apollo 12 Lunar Module just after landing 56 years ago. Apollo 12 was a great mission although the loss of the color TV camera at the beginning of the first EVA was a blow to live network coverage. In due time we saw the color and B&W photos the crew returned.
November 20, 2025 at 10:39 AM
The view from from the windows of the Apollo 12 Lunar Module just after landing 56 years ago. Apollo 12 was a great mission although the loss of the color TV camera at the beginning of the first EVA was a blow to live network coverage. In due time we saw the color and B&W photos the crew returned.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
I have a theory that the loss of color TV during Apollo 12 helped to kill Apollo. We wouldn't see new TV of astronauts on the Moon until Apollo 14 (31 January-9 February 1971), by which time crucial decisions about NASA's future had been taken.
The view from from the windows of the Apollo 12 Lunar Module just after landing 56 years ago. Apollo 12 was a great mission although the loss of the color TV camera at the beginning of the first EVA was a blow to live network coverage. In due time we saw the color and B&W photos the crew returned.
November 21, 2025 at 12:11 AM
I have a theory that the loss of color TV during Apollo 12 helped to kill Apollo. We wouldn't see new TV of astronauts on the Moon until Apollo 14 (31 January-9 February 1971), by which time crucial decisions about NASA's future had been taken.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
ESA unveils Thales Alenia Space-led consortium for its Argonaut lunar lander
MILAN — The European Space Agency has tapped a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space Italy to develop its Argonaut lunar lander and has outlined a division of labor for the program across several European firms.
MILAN — The European Space Agency has tapped a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space Italy to develop its Argonaut lunar lander and has outlined a division of labor for the program across several European firms.
ESA unveils Thales Alenia Space-led consortium for its Argonaut lunar lander
MILAN — The European Space Agency has tapped a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space Italy to develop its Argonaut lunar lander and has outlined a division of labor for the program across several European firms.
spacenews.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:46 PM
ESA unveils Thales Alenia Space-led consortium for its Argonaut lunar lander
MILAN — The European Space Agency has tapped a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space Italy to develop its Argonaut lunar lander and has outlined a division of labor for the program across several European firms.
MILAN — The European Space Agency has tapped a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space Italy to develop its Argonaut lunar lander and has outlined a division of labor for the program across several European firms.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
this is, btw, a great and easy-to-grasp example of how masses of fpv drones do not *replace* artillery, they are a field-expedient solution when you don't have enough artillery
specifically, if I see one more article that doesn’t seem to grasp that Ukrainian FPV drone pilots are almost always on the frontline, in *extreme* danger, and are very regularly killed because their controller signals are easily detectable via electronic warfare methods
begging defense analysts to stop writing stuff that assumes that operating a MQ-9 Reaper and operating a $400 FPV drone is pretty much the same thing and works about the same way
November 21, 2025 at 10:13 AM
this is, btw, a great and easy-to-grasp example of how masses of fpv drones do not *replace* artillery, they are a field-expedient solution when you don't have enough artillery
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
For ppl who r not able to pick up quite on this...GOP is basically testing how far they can push before they get a pushback. This is all testing grounds for them and it better prepares them later on. If it sounds insidious, it is..
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as “potentially divisive” under guidelines set for release next month.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:14 PM
For ppl who r not able to pick up quite on this...GOP is basically testing how far they can push before they get a pushback. This is all testing grounds for them and it better prepares them later on. If it sounds insidious, it is..
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
I still don't understand "rapid iterative development" of space vehicles. This kind of failure should never happen in 2025. I cannot think of any way in which it wouldn't have been both possible and better to discover and prevent this problem before it exploded on the test stand.
lol this image from last night shows SpaceX is popping open LOX tanks during routine pressure testing. The Starship program was being hyped as closing in on rapid commercial launch cadence 2-3 years ago
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
I still don't understand "rapid iterative development" of space vehicles. This kind of failure should never happen in 2025. I cannot think of any way in which it wouldn't have been both possible and better to discover and prevent this problem before it exploded on the test stand.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
November 20, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Redwire won a DARPA award to complete a satellite with an air-breathing propulsion system.
The $44 million contract announced Wednesday expands a 2024 agreement in which DARPA tapped Redwire for its Otter Very Low Earth Orbit mission.
spacenews.bluelena.io/lt.php?x=4lZ...
The $44 million contract announced Wednesday expands a 2024 agreement in which DARPA tapped Redwire for its Otter Very Low Earth Orbit mission.
spacenews.bluelena.io/lt.php?x=4lZ...
Redwire lands $44 million DARPA award to build air-breathing satellite
Redwire lands $44 million DARPA award to build air-breathing satellite Redwire lands $44 million DARPA award to build air-breathing satellite
spacenews.bluelena.io
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Redwire won a DARPA award to complete a satellite with an air-breathing propulsion system.
The $44 million contract announced Wednesday expands a 2024 agreement in which DARPA tapped Redwire for its Otter Very Low Earth Orbit mission.
spacenews.bluelena.io/lt.php?x=4lZ...
The $44 million contract announced Wednesday expands a 2024 agreement in which DARPA tapped Redwire for its Otter Very Low Earth Orbit mission.
spacenews.bluelena.io/lt.php?x=4lZ...
A view of the solar system when Lucy observed 3I/ATLAS (and just after Psyche observed). These data will really help
- 3I orbit determination &
- determining the phase function (& thus the size) of the dust in the 3I coma.
(All pointed out here arxiv.org/abs/2508.15768 )
- 3I orbit determination &
- determining the phase function (& thus the size) of the dust in the 3I coma.
(All pointed out here arxiv.org/abs/2508.15768 )
November 20, 2025 at 11:56 AM
A view of the solar system when Lucy observed 3I/ATLAS (and just after Psyche observed). These data will really help
- 3I orbit determination &
- determining the phase function (& thus the size) of the dust in the 3I coma.
(All pointed out here arxiv.org/abs/2508.15768 )
- 3I orbit determination &
- determining the phase function (& thus the size) of the dust in the 3I coma.
(All pointed out here arxiv.org/abs/2508.15768 )
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Yeeeow!
Auroras are nice if you happen to be seeing the dazzling colours from Earth (or from the space station in orbit)
Not so nice, if you're a spacecraft that gets showered with cosmic rays and your instruments go blind (temporarily)
What a surge!
Auroras are nice if you happen to be seeing the dazzling colours from Earth (or from the space station in orbit)
Not so nice, if you're a spacecraft that gets showered with cosmic rays and your instruments go blind (temporarily)
What a surge!
Remember that lovely aurora last week?
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
November 20, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Yeeeow!
Auroras are nice if you happen to be seeing the dazzling colours from Earth (or from the space station in orbit)
Not so nice, if you're a spacecraft that gets showered with cosmic rays and your instruments go blind (temporarily)
What a surge!
Auroras are nice if you happen to be seeing the dazzling colours from Earth (or from the space station in orbit)
Not so nice, if you're a spacecraft that gets showered with cosmic rays and your instruments go blind (temporarily)
What a surge!
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Famous art from The Hudson’s Bay Company collection up for auction – CTVNews
https://www.cp24.com/photos/2025/10/23/famous-art-from-the-hudsons-bay-company-collection-up-for-auction/
https://www.cp24.com/photos/2025/10/23/famous-art-from-the-hudsons-bay-company-collection-up-for-auction/
Famous art from The Hudson’s Bay Company collection up for auction
Twenty-seven paintings that will be sold by Heffel Fine Art Auction House include a painting of Morocco made by former British prime minister Winston Churchill, and several pieces from Toronto co-founder William von Moll Berczy.
www.cp24.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Famous art from The Hudson’s Bay Company collection up for auction – CTVNews
https://www.cp24.com/photos/2025/10/23/famous-art-from-the-hudsons-bay-company-collection-up-for-auction/
https://www.cp24.com/photos/2025/10/23/famous-art-from-the-hudsons-bay-company-collection-up-for-auction/
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
🚨BREAKING: Federal prosecutors admitted Wednesday that the grand jury handling the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey never reviewed or voted on the final indictment used to charge him — a virtually unprecedented revelation that could topple the entire case.
In Stunning Admission, DOJ Says Grand Jury Never Saw Indictment Against Comey
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:23 PM
🚨BREAKING: Federal prosecutors admitted Wednesday that the grand jury handling the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey never reviewed or voted on the final indictment used to charge him — a virtually unprecedented revelation that could topple the entire case.
Reposted by Marshall Eubanks
Galileo to take its first flight on Ariane 6 on 17 December at 05:01 GMT/06:01 CET (02:01 local time at Europe's Spaceport)
🚀
Two ec.europa.eu Galileo satellites will join the constellation providing the world’s most precise satellite navigation system.
🛰️🛰️
www.esa.int/Applications...
🚀
Two ec.europa.eu Galileo satellites will join the constellation providing the world’s most precise satellite navigation system.
🛰️🛰️
www.esa.int/Applications...
November 20, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Galileo to take its first flight on Ariane 6 on 17 December at 05:01 GMT/06:01 CET (02:01 local time at Europe's Spaceport)
🚀
Two ec.europa.eu Galileo satellites will join the constellation providing the world’s most precise satellite navigation system.
🛰️🛰️
www.esa.int/Applications...
🚀
Two ec.europa.eu Galileo satellites will join the constellation providing the world’s most precise satellite navigation system.
🛰️🛰️
www.esa.int/Applications...