Mark Wieczorek
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mrak.solarsystem.social
Mark Wieczorek
@mrak.solarsystem.social
150 followers 2 following 110 posts
Planetary geophysicist at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP). https://mrak.solarsystem.social

[bridged from https://solarsystem.social/@mrak on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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mrak.solarsystem.social
#lpi and #usra are happy to announce that they will be continuing their successful censorship campaign for a second year in a row! #lpsc2026
Abstract submission criteria for the #LPSC2026 conference: All submitted abstracts must comply with Administration Executive Orders. Any non-compliant abstracts will be removed from consideration for the conference program.
November 17, 2025 at 10:52 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
✅ still good.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
Cover art for "Lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2000). Check out in the inside cover art here: https://www.filmsfatale.com/blog/godspeed-you-black-emperor-and-cinema
September 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
AI prompt: "How long will it take to read Neal Stephenson's Termination shock?"

Response: "The time it takes to read the book will depend on the reader's speed and engagement with the content, but given its length and complexity, it is likely to take […]

[Original post on solarsystem.social]
Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock (hard cover) is 5 cm thick. How long will it take to read?
July 26, 2025 at 10:53 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
After giving up on trying to use linux on old intel mac pros, they are now my go-to doorstop.
My new doorstop: An old intel macPro.
June 26, 2025 at 11:46 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Should #lpi and #usra restore all censored abstracts? Should they commit to preserving scientific freedom of speech at #lpsc? And should they commit to not censoring #lpsc2026 submissions?

If the answer is yes, then sign this petition!

https://forms.gle/G1yAxZqmDujbVDHR7
PETITION: CONDITIONS FOR ATTENDING LPSC 2026 Concerned members of the community have penned and signed an open letter to USRA/LPI and USRA outlining steps that we feel must be taken before we will consider attending LPSC 2026. These steps include restoring all purged abstracts (except those where NASA has specifically directed or first authors have requested removal), and committing to preserving academic freedom of speech at the conference. You can find out more here, and add your name (anonymously if you wish) at this link: https://forms.gle/G1yAxZqmDujbVDHR7 This petition will be open until the end of July. [Source: PEN newsletter]
June 24, 2025 at 6:45 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
I love AI "answers" to my questions:
AI generated answer: Therefore, based on the available information, there is no evidence to suggest that Slack will enshittify more.
June 16, 2025 at 6:24 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
I can never tell if an AI generated search result is correct or not.
AI response to the question "Does powershell suck?" So no, PowerShell doesn't suck—it's just different, and whether it's right for you depends on your needs and environment.
June 16, 2025 at 12:14 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
I just got this spam from #agu/#Wiley. They are proud to say that JGR-Planets costs authors only 4070 USD for open access, and they claim that this is "lower than our competitors".

I never thought of JGR-Planets as having "competitors". As a society led […]

[Original post on solarsystem.social]
Dear Author, Thank you for publishing in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. With your help, we have delivered essential research to further advance planetary science. Let’s continue to make an impact together Prepare to make an impact by publishing open access in a growing journal. Our fees are $4,070 so you can enjoy the benefits of open access for less*. We’re going places and would love your next work to be part of our journey. Publish with us again An AGU journal publishing original research articles spanning planetary geology, geophysics, geochemistry, atmospheres, and exoplanets. Publishing in a high-standard journal may come at a cost, but did you know your fees may be covered? You can find out if your article publication charges (APCs) are funded here. What are you waiting for? Prepare to submit *Our APCs are, on average, lower than our competitors.
June 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Why I will be boycotting meetings sponsored by the Lunar and Planetary Institute.

An open letter to the LPI executive board

#lpi #usra #lpsc #boycottlpsc #boycottlpi #planetaryscience
An open letter to the Lunar and Planetary Institute executive office, I am writing to ask that LPI provide a public statement concerning their ongoing attempt to both censor and rewrite history by removing previously published community meeting abstracts from their archives. LPI is a trusted organization that plays an integral role in the planetary science community. They organize not only the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, but also a multitude of smaller community meetings and workshops. It thus came as quite a shock to learn that LPI has decided to remove any trace of abstracts that contain certain non-offensive keywords or that are on topics that could be related to the federal executive order attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Considering the 2025 LPSC alone, almost 100 abstracts have been removed from the program, being replaced with the text "item removed". Entire sessions have been deleted from the program, and the PDFs for the removed items are no longer accessible. In total, over 1000 LPI hosted abstracts are no longer accessible from the NASA ADS archive.
May 5, 2025 at 9:19 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
These abstracts are all indexed by NASA ADS (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/), but unfortunately, if you click on the link to the publisher's full text, the requested URL on the LPI website doesn't exist.
Example of a 2023 abstract indexed by NASA ADS. An example of what happens when you click on the NASA ADS links for the full text.
April 28, 2025 at 7:22 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
And here is an example of an entire session that was removed:
Example of an entire session that was removed from the previously held 2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
April 28, 2025 at 7:20 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
In response to the Trump executive orders, the Lunar and Planetary Institute (#lpi) is removing abstracts from previously held meetings that used to be archived on their website.

Here is an example of one that was removed from the 2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (#lpsc).
Example of an abstract that was removed from the 2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
April 28, 2025 at 7:19 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Would you like to work with the #bepicolombo mission that is about to arrive at #mercury?

#esa has just put out an announcement for interdisciplinary scientists. The letter of intent deadline to apply is May 20!

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/bepicolombo-ids-gi-2025
Some of the images acquired of Mercury by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft during its fourth Mercury flyby on 4 September 2024. Many geological features are visible, including the peak ring basins Vivaldi and newly named Stoddart. The images were captured by the onboard monitoring cameras, which provide black-and-white 1024x1024 pixel snapshots. See the article for annotations and more detailed captions for each individual image. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/BepiColombo_s_best_images_yet_highlight_fourth_Mercury_flyby
April 22, 2025 at 10:36 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
After all these years, The Onion is still funny.
April 10, 2025 at 6:53 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Done!
April 7, 2025 at 12:43 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Planetary Research: Open call for editors

Planetary Research is a community-led #diamondoa journal for #planetaryscience that will launch in January 2026. We are looking for an editor-in-chief, 5 editors and 10 associate editors. The deadline to apply is […]

[Original post on solarsystem.social]
Planetary Research A diamond open access journal for planetary science Open call for an editor-in-chief, editors, associate editors Planetary Research is a community-led journal that is being developed by the international planetary science community. The journal will use the diamond open-access publishing model, which means that there will be no article processing fees for authors and no subscription fees for readers. The journal, run as part of a non-profit organization, will operate with a transparent governance and will promote the work it publishes to the scientific community and the general public alike. Manuscript submissions are expected to open in January 2026. We seek candidates for the journal's editorial board, including the editor-in-chief, editors, and associate editors. We are also seeking candidates for the journal's media and technical teams. Interested candidates should provide a CV, a publication list, and a short letter motivating their interest in the position to the chair of the search committee (mark.wieczorek@cnrs.fr) before July 1, 2025. No prior experience is required. Additional information about the journal can be found on our website https://planetary-research-journal.online.
March 3, 2025 at 10:14 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
The new diamond open access journal Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry is now open for submissions!

#planetaryscience #agc #diamondoa
February 12, 2025 at 8:04 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
#planetaryscience is not being spared by the #trumpculturewars.

#keeptheplanetsgreatagain
“As NASA continues to review and ensure compliance with presidential actions, we are requesting that you please pause all meetings and activities of Planetary Science Analysis/Assessment Groups. This includes ExMAG, LEAG, MAPSIT, MEPAG, MExAG, OPAG, OWWG, SBAG, VEXAG, the cross-AG EDIA Working Group, and any other groups or activities that have been developed by the AGs. Please make your communities aware of this request.” These presidential actions may include, but are not limited to, the following Executive Orders and Presidential memoranda: * Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing * Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders * Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions * Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government * Initial Guidance Regarding President Trump’s Executive Order * Defending Women * Unleashing American Energy Thank you and we will reach out regarding next steps.
February 1, 2025 at 11:35 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
The new journal Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry is now open for submissions!

#agc is diamond open access journal, which means that there are no article processing fees for authors, and no subscription fees for readers.

https://journals.uu.se/AGC

#diamondoa #planetaryscience
Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry is a community-led diamond open access journal that aims to publish innovative and globally relevant articles in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry. Regional studies put in the context of a wider research question will also be considered. Articles published in Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry are both free to read and free to publish. Authors retain all copyrights of the published material under CC BY 4.0 licence. We welcome all contributions that use geochemical data and models to study chemical, physical and biological processes on Earth and other planetary bodies.
January 21, 2025 at 9:51 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
And here's another poster for #lpsc2025, this one for Mattermost.
Sick of the slack free plan? Migrate to Mattermost. We will create teams for all early career groups and community run projects. Other international projects will be evaluated on a case by base basis. mattermost.solarsystem.social Mattermost for planetary science
January 16, 2025 at 1:42 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Making some posters for the upcoming #lpsc2025 conference.
Sick of X, and other corporate social media platforms? Migrate to Mastodon solarsystem.social - Mastoton for planetary science
January 16, 2025 at 12:51 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
The planetary science community is creating a diamond open access journal that will be free to access without a subscription and that won’t charge authors article processing fees. Following a community vote, we now have a name!

Planetary Research

#diamondoa #planetaryscience
This is a picture of a diamond. From wikipedia: The term "diamond open access" was coined in 2012 by Marie Farge ... The reference to "diamond" was a hyperbolic pun on the "gold" metaphor that aims to suggest that non-commercial/free model were ultimately the best: "I have proposed to call this third way 'Diamond OA' by outbidding the 'Gold OA' terminology chosen by the publishers."
January 6, 2025 at 8:04 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Now with bluetooth?
"Bits and Bytes" salty potato chips
December 31, 2024 at 12:35 PM
mrak.solarsystem.social
The crust-mantle interface was detected on the #moon using seismic data from the Apollo surface experiments package in the early 1970s. Later in 2021, the #insight mission detected the crust-mantle interface on #mars.
The Apollo 16 seismometer on the surface of the Moon, along with the central station and radioactive power source that relayed the data back to Earth. The InSight seismometer on the surface of Mars. The seismometer is covered by a a white domical wind and thermal shield that helps to reduce ambient seismic noise.
December 17, 2024 at 8:05 AM
mrak.solarsystem.social
Mural of the Croatian scientist Andrija Mohorovičić in the city of #osijek where he once taught. He is best known for his discovery of the crust-mantle interface using seismic data from a 1909 earthquake. This interface is now known as the Moho, as no one can pronounce or properly spell his name.
A mural of the Croatian scientist Andrija Mohorovičić next to the central market in the city of Osijek, along with a depiction of the layering within the Earth.
December 17, 2024 at 8:03 AM