Fall tasks: (1) inflate tires; (2) flu shot, and; (3) COVID

It's a tie to high tech technology. The Prius and a 3.2 billion pixel camera. I do note in the 1st pick they are using zip ties on what looks like chargers. Not on the telescope but on what looks like calibration, inspection, or monitoring equipment?

 

LOL. The telescope tracking mechanism uses regenerative braking!!!

"The entire telescope can be slewed to the next target in five seconds thanks to linear motors boosted by energy from capacitors, which recapture the energy to stop the telescope."

Vera C. Rubin Observatory images the stars with the world's largest 3,200-megapixel camera - NotebookCheck.net News

 

I wonder if we could create a discussion on cutting-edge technologies. Few* oppose super duper astronomy, but more may question very rapid development of mRNA vaccines. For reasons it is 'on them' to extol, and perhaps not best with large AI/whatever images.

Benefits/risks feature large in biomedical lit. That lit is not easily translated to general readers. I claim neither special skills nor time available for this task. Unless a White Knight arrives, yer on your own.

==
Few* oppose super duper astronomy
It cannot go unsaid that Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, now being built in Goddard Space Flight Center, might die from current Federal budget reductions,

 

I think the most important mission of this telescope is locating and mapping all asteroids and near earth asteroids. Do we need another scope like this in the Northern hemisphere? We are overdue for another large civilization ending bolide strike. Elon Musk needs to forget about the dead planet Mars for now and focus on an asteroid destroyer system. I know NASA is doing things but Space-X is better and more efficient. And what if we could capture an asteroid and safely bring it to earth? Or at least harvest it's elements, like gold or diamonds?

Current rocket propulsion is barely adequate to even get to Mars. And to the nearest possibly habitable planet magnitudes from possible. Do you need an existing stargate, a black hole? Besides locating one, how do you get to it? And what if your destination is light years from the gate you jump to? I think you need a ship that breaks the speed of light by magnitudes right from the start, then you wouldn't need the uncertainty / danger of a gate. Mars is a minuscule step in these directions.

The Vera Rubin 8.4 meter dia main mirror was made in Arizona from a single disc of glass weighing 55,000 pounds. With what looks like a ceramic foam mold? Melted into form in a giant circular furnace / crucible?? It took 6 years to polish. It was transported to Chili in a 30 ft diameter shipping container weighing a total of 110,000 pounds by giant flat bed semi and by ship. It was grabbed and lifted into place using a crane with a rig of multiple giant suction cups

 

The dark Universe with the Vera Rubin Observatory – BBC Sky at Night

 

Unlike fixed background objects, at some time or another, all asteroids will pass through both hemispheres. Visibilities may may match, but Rubin's location at 30°S won't be much of a handicap in finding nearly all of them.

That would be worth more than a Nobel Prize. And lead to several more.

Roger Angel's Mirror Lab at the University of Arizona has done wonderful work with lots of the world's largest telescope mirrors for several decades.

J. Roger P. Angel | Steward Observatory
Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab | Research and Partnerships

https://www.npr.org/2012/08/23/159554100/telescope-innovator-shines-his-genius-on-new-fields

 

Pearls before swine as the saying goes....if you catch my drift.