Infernal Io

Over the last few days, rather than updating my blog or getting around to reading those two atmospheric model papers, I have spent my free time playing either Bioshock 2 or Dante's Inferno on the Xbox 360.  Now of the two, Dante's Inferno would seem to have the most connection to Io.  Bioshock 2 is set in a dystopian underwater city in the late 1960s would probably have more connection to Europa.  EA's Dante's Inferno is a very, very, very, very, very, VERY loose adaptation of the first third of the Italian epic poem, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, written between 1308 and 1321.  The game isn't for everyone, like anyone younger than 40, with all the dead, blade-wielding, unbaptized babies and dead prostitutes with projectile anatomies you have to fight.

The original poem by Dante has been used as the source for names for several features on Io.  The names of people and places from Inferno can be used for mountains, bright regions, layered plains, and shield volcanoes.  This change came about in 2000 as a result of the previous source of names for these features - people and places from the Greek myth of Io - had become exhausted.  With the abundant number of shades (souls condemned to limbo or hell proper) and places referenced in Dante's original story, it should take quite a while before this source is exhausted.  Dante's Inferno was chosen as a source for names for Io was Io's extreme volcanic activity that in many ways share similarities with Dante's description of hell, with fire (in the form of lava) and brimstone (another word for sulfur).


To date, three feature on Io have been named after people or places mentioned in Inferno: Capaneus Mensa, Bulicame Regio, and Mongibello Mons.  Capaneus Mensa is large, mitten-shaped domical plateau in southern Bosphorus Regio in an area with a high density of mountains, such as Seth Mons to its northwest.  Capaneus Mensa is at least 5.2 kilometers tall based on shadow measurements of its eastern margin, however, stereo data from Galileo suggest a height of around 9.2 kilometers, making it one of the taller mountains on Io.  Bulicame Regio is the northern extension of Colchis Regio, a bright, equatorial region on Io's anti-Jupiter hemisphere.  Bulicame, which lies to the Isum Patera volcanic region, has a higher albedo than the rest of Colchis Regio and its morphology suggests that it might be a bright lava flow, possibly composed of sulfur dioxide.  High-resolution images taken during I27 revealed dramatic, fine-scale albedo variations across parts of Bulicame, with some evidence for layering.  Mongibello Mons is a 7-kilometer tall double ridge on Io's leading hemisphere.  A medium-resolution frame was acquired over portions of Mongibello during Galileo's I27 encounter in February 2000.  The split morphology of Mongibello is suggestive of tectonic deformation of the feature after formation, resulting in one of half of the mountain breaking off from the other half.

The original The Divine Comedy chronicles the story of Dante, a poet from Florence who has become afraid that he has lost the path to salvation as a result of his own imperfections, largely a result of the author's own sense of loss after being exiled from Florence due to political infighting among the city's ruling Guelph party.  The spirit of a dead childhood friend, Beatrice, enlists the help of the Roman poet Virgil to guide Dante through the afterlife, Inferno (hell), Purgatorio (purgatory), and Paradiso (heaven) to help get Dante on the right path (diritta via).  In Inferno, Dante and Virgil visit each of the nine circles (plus Limbo) of hell, wherein each a different sin is punished in a sort of poetic justice, e.g. fortunetellers can only see the path behind them and murderers stand within a boiling river of blood at a depth corresponding to the extent of their sins.

The names for all three of the Ionian features described above come from Inferno XIV, the 14th "chapter" or canto of the Inferno part of The Divine Comedy. In this chapter, Dante is traversing the seventh circle of hell where those who committed grave acts of violence: against people and property (in that boiling river of blood); against self, be it through suicide or wanton waste of material possessions (where the suicides are punished by becoming heavily overgrown trees); and against God, nature, or established order.  It is this last section of the seventh circle, a burning desert where those who committed violence against God (blasphemy), violence against nature (homosexuality), and violence against order (usurpers) are punished, that Dante visits in Inferno XIV.  Dante had just come out of the overgrown forest of the suicides, and he and Virgil follow along the margin between the forest and the burning desert to keep Dante from burning himself.  While following this path, he comes across Capaneus, the soul of a mythological Greek warrior who participated in the "Seven Against Thebes" siege, lying on the burning sand (oh did I mention that fiery embers are falling from the sky too...).  Capaneus, his arrogance and pride being so great, proclaimed at the gates of Thebes that not even Zeus could stop him from taking the city.  For such blasphemy, Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt created within Hephaestus' (or Vulcan to the Romans) forge in the crater of Mount Edna in Sicily.   In Dante's conversations with Capaneus, the volcano Mount Etna is referred to as Mongibello, meaning the "beautiful mountain" in Italian.  After passing the clearly unrepentant Capaneus, Dante and Virgil reach a stream of blood connecting the Phlegethon to the frozen Cocytus in the ninth circle deep below.  The two poets later travel along the dikes that keep the blood in its channel in order to traverse across the otherwise harsh, burning desert.  Dante compares this stream to the Bulicame, a hot sulfurous spring near Viterbo from which prostitutes in the town drew their water for their own homes since they were likely prohibited from using the public baths.

With plenty of names from Dante's Inferno available for use on Io's many mountains, we should see more names and places from the poem to be added to Io's infernal surface features.  I always thought the names of the Malebranche from the eighth circle would make a good fit for Io's mountains.  Come on, don't tell me you don't want to see a Barbariccia Mensa.

Link: The World of Dante [www.worldofdante.org]
Link: Princeton Dante Project [etcweb.princeton.edu]

Outland Friday!

On Friday, I had some friends over at Дома Джейсон to play some video games and watch movies. We ended up watching Outland, a sci-fi film directed by Peter Hyams from 1981.  The film is about a federal marshal, played by Sean Connery who is assigned to provide law and order to a titanium mining facility on Io.  During his first few days there, he uncovers a series of mysterious deaths at the site that turns out to be connected to a meth smuggling ring.  The drugs are used to keep the workers productivity high, but have the side-affect of causing psychosis after 10-11 months of use.  What follows is a High Noon-esque set piece as the mine's administrator, played by Peter Boyle, uses hired goons to take out the marshal.

Now I have a confession to make.  I am not the biggest fan of sci-fi films.  I'm not.  I still haven't seen Avatar, and I likely never will (though actually that's because I don't like James Cameron, so bad example).  The main reason is that technical or scientific goofs pop out at me clear as day.  For example, in the latest Star Trek movie, when the Enterprise is rising out of Titan hazes to reveal Saturn in the background, I didn't think, "Wow, Titan is highlighted in a movie!  That's awesome!"  No, I thought about the fact you could clear see the rings of Saturn when they should be barely visible from Titan.  I normally don't like Star Trek.  Don't even get me started about movies like Armageddon (It's the size of Texas, seriously, what comet would be coming at us the size of Texas, and how did they keep such a thing a national secret for so long...) or The Core (the less thought about that stupid piece of non-sense, the better).  I prefer procedural shows like Law and Order and NCIS, espionage and counter-terrorism shows and movies like 24 and The Bourne Identity, or shows about mysterious islands...  In other words, topics I am a little more ignorant of where my brain won't start objecting to the content (though I also like historical epics, so go figure)

So on Friday night, I couldn't help myself, as we watched Outland, from pointing out many of the factual and scientific errors the movie made.  Now some of these are wrong because of knowledge we have gained in the 29 years since the movie premiered.  For example, the principal ore for the mine is titanium, which if you remember from my composition of Io post from a couple weeks ago, is only a minor constituent of Io's crust (or is modeled as one).  However, I will give them credit for not immediately going for the obvious sulfur, at the time considered the primary lava composition. 

However, I will not forgive what I see at right, which is just full of fail (I even paused the movie while we were watching it right here).  This screenshot taken from the movie of an establishing shot, shows the mining facility with Jupiter in the background.  First, why is Jupiter always shown so reddish?  Second, what is that on the right side of the image?  Yes, that!  That round moon between Jupiter and Io!  What moon is that?  Europa?  No, Europa's orbit is outside that of Io's.  Amalthea?  No, Amalthea is a bit smaller than that in Io's sky, and it certainly isn't round. Third, why can we see Jupiter's rings open?  See my complaint above about the Saturn scene in last summer's Star Trek.  Finally, why do the volcanoes in the distance erupt from distinct vents, strato-volcano shaped peaks?  Alright that last one I'll chalk up to knowledge gained since 1981, but still, the other non-sense was just aggravating.  And yes, that green-lit building on the right side of the facility is the mine's green house...how's you guess...

Out of the movies other errors (like how people are affected by exposure to a vacuum environment, seriously, people don't pop like balloons...), the other one that most bothered me was its depiction of Io's reduced gravitational field compared to Earth.  The facility itself had some sort of artificial gravity mechanism that allowed people to walk around and work under normal terrestrial gravity conditions.  It never explains how, but I am fine with that.  I don't need a sci-fi film to explain to me all the technology used in their vision of the future because the explanation will probably be goofed anyway.  In a couple of scenes, when O'Neil (the Marshal) is interrogating of drug smuggler in a jail cell and when he is walking around outside the station in order to get the drop on two of the hitman the administrator hires to kill the marshal.  In both cases, the lunar-like gravity of Io is depicted as being more akin to the "weightless" low gravity environments experienced by astronauts in low-Earth orbit.  For example, see the image at left.  The jail cells apparently did not have the artificial gravity the rest of the enjoys (as noted by the "No Artificial Gravity" signs), but the prisoner is floating there, in a space suit.  When the guy is later killed, his blood floats up, rather than down to ground.  So definitely in this case, the film makers equate no artificial gravity, back to the normal 1/6th G of the rest of Io, with no gravity at all...

I've always enjoyed Outland as a film as its plot does rely on science fiction tropes to drive the story, but still much of the science all wrong.  It does get a few things right about Io, like layered outcrops of old, stacked lava from inflated, compound flows.  However, the inaccuracies have been enough that here I am, actually posting a scientific criticism of a film online...  I'm feeling more and more like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory everyday...

Impact mini-series on ABC: Oh the stupidity

My brain hurts now after this IQ damaging video. I mean, every scene, every scene in this trailer is just wrong, wrong in every way. Piece of brown dwarf?!? Hyper-mass?!? This is the kind of sci-fi I would expect if we were living in the world of the movie "Idiocracy". Though it may be worth watching this mini-series, premiering on ABC next Sunday, just for the camp value.

Sorry, I just had to share this video. I am not responsible for any damaged keyboards or monitors from your spit takes.

Tip of the hat to Phil Plait.

Short Story - Invincible

I have been slowly working these last few weeks on this quick little Science Fiction short story that takes place on Io and Europa, titled "Invincible." I have posted the first draft online and I want to let you all take a look at it. I should point out that it does have some strong language, so if you don't think you would be comfortable with that, well, I thought I would give you heads up.

As to what to expect, I was going for a kinda "Munich" in space. Okay, maybe that's a bit over-simplistic, and it certainly doesn't cover all the kinds of issues that Munich did, but that's the best I can come up with at 2am in the morning.

Link: Invincible by Jason Perry [www.savefile.com]

New Season of Battlestar Galactica

Just got done watching the first episode of the new season of Battlestar Galactica. Not bad, though I get the feeling I've seen this episode before, though I prefer Katie Sarkoff to Jodie Foster. Though I wouldn't describe the Moon as "yellow". Otherwise not a bad episode, a lot better than that New Caprica nonsense that started off Season 3.

Bush to Announce Plans for Manned Mission to Io

First off, I just want to say that it does pay to have friends in high places. In my case, it is Jessica Cairns, an assistant for the State Department White House liaison.

Anyways, she gave me the heads up and permission to post here that Bush plans to announce a shift in the destination of the goal of the VSE from Mars to Io! The announcement is expected to come during a speech at NASA Headquarters next week after Bush returns from the NATO summit in Romania and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the speech, Bush will outline plans for a series of unmanned probes to be launched toward Io over the next decade. The lunar missions will be refocused as test missions for the Io missions to come later. Particularly, rad-hard technologies and work in 1/6 gravity will be the focus.

Why the shift from Mars? After decades of unmanned Mars exploration, little evidence for life there has been found. The administration felt that if we had to send people to someplace lifeless, we might as well send people somewhere where "stuff blows up."

Already I see on the CNN website that the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates are attacking the plan. Barack Obama says that the country can ill afford to send manned missions to someplace where Illinois businessman Tony Rezko can't develop real estate. He also wanted to make it clear that he was the first to come out against this plan. Hillary Clinton related a story of her trip to Io in 1997, with her daughter Chelsea, rapper Vanilla Ice, and Bozo the Clown, where she nearly died of radiation sickness.

Anyways, details are pretty hard to come by at this point since the official announcement won't come until next week but I will certainly try to find out as much as I can and get back to you all.

Arthur C. Clarke Dead at Age 90

The Associated Press is reporting that Arthur C. Clarke, author of such Sci-fi classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama, died today at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the age of 90.

While in recent years he has been more known for his imaginative interpretations of Mars polar imagery, his vision of the future laid out in the 2001 series has certainly influenced my opinion on the possibilities of mankind and what we can do if we put our minds to it. More than anyone else, the ideas he presented provided an optimistic view of the future, unlike the dystopian visions presented in so many modern sci-fi films. Unlike Star Trek, though, his stories were consistent not only with harshness of space, but that even in the future, man's foibles won't magically disappear (or be covered up by technology). Yet, these failings need not lead us into some kind of apocalyptic scenario.

For a good representation of Io in fiction, check out Clarke's early 80s novel, "2010". The first novel in the series actually took place in the Saturn system and the other two novels, "2061" and "3001", took place after his detonation of Jupiter.

Link: Author Arthur C. Clarke dies [www.cnn.com]

Here Be Dragons...

Stuart Atkinson sent along a poem he wrote following the New Horizons encounter with Io last year. It is a great poem and he has allowed me to post it here. Stuart has a blog of his own called The 'Verse where he posted numerous poems he's written related to various space events that have occurred over the last year, such as the MESSENGER encounter of Mercury or the dust storm that affected the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity last summer, and is a site definitely worth checking out.

HERE BE DRAGONS...

Through your telescopes I am merely a star, a spark of light that slides and glides ‘round proud Jupiter; one night here, the next night there, sometimes with company, often alone on Jove’s left or right. One of four fluttering fireflies flitting silently through the blush of the Red Spot’s glow. But dare to approach me, to brave Jupiter’s cell-scything rays and you’ll crave the safety of Earth once more, for I am a world where chemistry screams at the sky and tears at your eyes, with claws of colour so sharp and so raw you’ll turn your face away and seek the comfort of Callisto’s cratered smile. For where my colder, older brother and sister moons glow shivering shades of blue and grey, my tortured face is painted hues of fiery red; instead of frigid plains of painfully pastel tones, my bones lie under seeping fields of sores and blistering boils. A pox-infected moon am I, a leprous satellite that brings my smooth-skinned family shame.

Yet, if they knew my secret, the mysteries I keep hidden from their disapproving view, they would feel envy, for the tangerine- and clementine-hued splashes on my face are not mere volcanoes, as your Earthly scientists believe, but are great blooms and plumes of fyre, breathed out by beasts which bathe beneath my Jupiter-racked crust. Maui, Marduk, Loki – dragons all, and with Volund and Pele prowl and crawl thru my sulphurous churning seas; wings outstretched, tails sweeping to and fro below my scabby-encrusted skin, swimming, spinning, gorging on my bitter bile before breaking through to spew their flaming breath out into space in great gushes of furious light. What a sight! And what luck you had, sending one of your nuts and bolts butterflies gliding past me just as mighty Tvashtar roared, vomiting his dragonfyre towards the stars, howling with Masubi and Prometheus in a choir of dragons singing to the Great One’s swirling storms; what fortune to soar through this cloud of worlds on your way to the Belt, and Beyond…

© Stuart Atkinson 2007