Josh Hopkins
@spacejosh.bsky.social
Designer of spacecraft and writer/editor in the space industry. History buff, rocket geek, orbits nerd, asteroid enthusiast, airship and aviation fan. Allergy warning: posts may contain puns.
Pinned
Josh Hopkins
@spacejosh.bsky.social
· Jan 18
Did someone mention Blue Sky?
New Glenn showing off its plumage on its first flight.
New Glenn showing off its plumage on its first flight.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Remembering Arthur C. Clarke on the anniversary of his birthday: 16 December 1917. The father of the communications satellite and author of books such as “The Fountains of Paradise,” “Imperial Earth” and “Rendezvous with Rama,” and of course “2001: A Space Odyssey” co-written with Stanley Kubrick.
December 16, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Remembering Arthur C. Clarke on the anniversary of his birthday: 16 December 1917. The father of the communications satellite and author of books such as “The Fountains of Paradise,” “Imperial Earth” and “Rendezvous with Rama,” and of course “2001: A Space Odyssey” co-written with Stanley Kubrick.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
A person born in China at the end of WWII saw China's power rise as its working age population tripled in their lifetime.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
September 25, 2025 at 4:01 AM
A person born in China at the end of WWII saw China's power rise as its working age population tripled in their lifetime.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Good news. We have a dry dock to repair the submarine.
Bad news. It's in Crimea and contains the other submarine Ukraine destroyed.
Bad news. It's in Crimea and contains the other submarine Ukraine destroyed.
December 16, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Good news. We have a dry dock to repair the submarine.
Bad news. It's in Crimea and contains the other submarine Ukraine destroyed.
Bad news. It's in Crimea and contains the other submarine Ukraine destroyed.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
I’d like to share this wonderful Yuletide site from 2003 with my Bluesky correspondents. A music critic reviews 50 Xmas songs in "Tris McCall's Christmas Abstract."
It's thought-provoking, it's funny, and I re-read it every year. Merry Christmas! web.archive.org/web/20080308...
It's thought-provoking, it's funny, and I re-read it every year. Merry Christmas! web.archive.org/web/20080308...
December 24, 2023 at 11:31 PM
I’d like to share this wonderful Yuletide site from 2003 with my Bluesky correspondents. A music critic reviews 50 Xmas songs in "Tris McCall's Christmas Abstract."
It's thought-provoking, it's funny, and I re-read it every year. Merry Christmas! web.archive.org/web/20080308...
It's thought-provoking, it's funny, and I re-read it every year. Merry Christmas! web.archive.org/web/20080308...
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Hubble reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on November 30. At the time, the comet was about 178 million miles (286 million kilometers) from Earth.
Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪
Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪
December 4, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Hubble reobserved interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on November 30. At the time, the comet was about 178 million miles (286 million kilometers) from Earth.
Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪
Hubble tracked the comet as it moved across the sky. As a result, background stars appear as streaks of light: https://go.nasa.gov/4iCU2lH 🔭 🧪
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
All chess is 4D chess that's why they have that time clock thingy.
November 28, 2025 at 6:56 PM
All chess is 4D chess that's why they have that time clock thingy.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Betty Boop
St. Thomas, ND
St. Thomas, ND
December 3, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Betty Boop
St. Thomas, ND
St. Thomas, ND
For the first time, all of the docking ports on the International Space Station are full.
Which means this old Sid Harris cartoon that's been stuck in my head for decades finally makes sense.
www.nasa.gov/blogs/spaces...
Which means this old Sid Harris cartoon that's been stuck in my head for decades finally makes sense.
www.nasa.gov/blogs/spaces...
December 3, 2025 at 8:36 AM
For the first time, all of the docking ports on the International Space Station are full.
Which means this old Sid Harris cartoon that's been stuck in my head for decades finally makes sense.
www.nasa.gov/blogs/spaces...
Which means this old Sid Harris cartoon that's been stuck in my head for decades finally makes sense.
www.nasa.gov/blogs/spaces...
Recent news from the spacecraft photobombing my profile pic.
The work by Brian Sutter to find a trajectory to Apophis and the thermal engineers at Lockheed Martin to make a close perihelion possible and a host of mission operators to enable this is very cool and I look forward to pics in 2029.
The work by Brian Sutter to find a trajectory to Apophis and the thermal engineers at Lockheed Martin to make a close perihelion possible and a host of mission operators to enable this is very cool and I look forward to pics in 2029.
NASA's OSIRIS-APEX just flew past Earth, making a course adjustment to asteroid Apophis in 2029. Apophis will come very close to us that year & could hit in the future.
OSIRIS-APEX will tell us a lot about Apophis...assuming the mission survives budget cuts. 🔭🧪
news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-...
OSIRIS-APEX will tell us a lot about Apophis...assuming the mission survives budget cuts. 🔭🧪
news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-...
November 29, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Recent news from the spacecraft photobombing my profile pic.
The work by Brian Sutter to find a trajectory to Apophis and the thermal engineers at Lockheed Martin to make a close perihelion possible and a host of mission operators to enable this is very cool and I look forward to pics in 2029.
The work by Brian Sutter to find a trajectory to Apophis and the thermal engineers at Lockheed Martin to make a close perihelion possible and a host of mission operators to enable this is very cool and I look forward to pics in 2029.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
NASA's OSIRIS-APEX just flew past Earth, making a course adjustment to asteroid Apophis in 2029. Apophis will come very close to us that year & could hit in the future.
OSIRIS-APEX will tell us a lot about Apophis...assuming the mission survives budget cuts. 🔭🧪
news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-...
OSIRIS-APEX will tell us a lot about Apophis...assuming the mission survives budget cuts. 🔭🧪
news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-...
November 29, 2025 at 1:01 PM
NASA's OSIRIS-APEX just flew past Earth, making a course adjustment to asteroid Apophis in 2029. Apophis will come very close to us that year & could hit in the future.
OSIRIS-APEX will tell us a lot about Apophis...assuming the mission survives budget cuts. 🔭🧪
news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-...
OSIRIS-APEX will tell us a lot about Apophis...assuming the mission survives budget cuts. 🔭🧪
news.arizona.edu/news/osiris-...
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Two significant takeaways from this:
- done in broad daylight
- done out of range and relative safety of Russian Navy & air power
To compensate Russia would need to devote security teams to every tanker – which even then is no magic cure – at a time when they have manpower issues.
Smart tactics.
- done in broad daylight
- done out of range and relative safety of Russian Navy & air power
To compensate Russia would need to devote security teams to every tanker – which even then is no magic cure – at a time when they have manpower issues.
Smart tactics.
💥🚢 Sea Baby naval drones strike two sanctioned Russian “shadow fleet” tankers in the Black Sea.
Sea Baby naval drones operated by Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) have struck two sanctioned tankers of Russia’s shadow fleet — KAIRO and VIRAT — in the Black Sea.
Sea Baby naval drones operated by Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) have struck two sanctioned tankers of Russia’s shadow fleet — KAIRO and VIRAT — in the Black Sea.
November 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Two significant takeaways from this:
- done in broad daylight
- done out of range and relative safety of Russian Navy & air power
To compensate Russia would need to devote security teams to every tanker – which even then is no magic cure – at a time when they have manpower issues.
Smart tactics.
- done in broad daylight
- done out of range and relative safety of Russian Navy & air power
To compensate Russia would need to devote security teams to every tanker – which even then is no magic cure – at a time when they have manpower issues.
Smart tactics.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS!
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
November 19, 2025 at 9:01 PM
HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS!
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
There's nowhere quite like Stromness in Orkney. It stretches for over a mile along the shore of Hamnavoe, an inlet of Scapa Flow. The core of the town is a main street that twists and turns between the shoreline and the hillside behind. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot...
#Scotland #Orkney
#Scotland #Orkney
November 20, 2025 at 7:01 AM
There's nowhere quite like Stromness in Orkney. It stretches for over a mile along the shore of Hamnavoe, an inlet of Scapa Flow. The core of the town is a main street that twists and turns between the shoreline and the hillside behind. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot...
#Scotland #Orkney
#Scotland #Orkney
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Ukrainian F-16 chasing an Russian Kh-Type cruise missile.
It paraphrases once more why it was a good move to deliver the F-16.
It paraphrases once more why it was a good move to deliver the F-16.
November 20, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Ukrainian F-16 chasing an Russian Kh-Type cruise missile.
It paraphrases once more why it was a good move to deliver the F-16.
It paraphrases once more why it was a good move to deliver the F-16.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
For the astronomers: I found an accretion disk diagram cheese. A quesar.
November 20, 2025 at 12:47 PM
For the astronomers: I found an accretion disk diagram cheese. A quesar.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
I am on my way home to Toronto and the aurorae are absolutely phenomenal.
If you are anywhere in the northern half of the continent, get outside and look up! Or better still, put your camera on a 10 second exposure and point it up.
If you are anywhere in the northern half of the continent, get outside and look up! Or better still, put your camera on a 10 second exposure and point it up.
November 12, 2025 at 2:44 AM
I am on my way home to Toronto and the aurorae are absolutely phenomenal.
If you are anywhere in the northern half of the continent, get outside and look up! Or better still, put your camera on a 10 second exposure and point it up.
If you are anywhere in the northern half of the continent, get outside and look up! Or better still, put your camera on a 10 second exposure and point it up.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
Pretty good aurora visible from our back porch in Chicago!
November 12, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Pretty good aurora visible from our back porch in Chicago!
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
It might not look like much, but that white blob in the middle of this image is comet 3I/ATLAS—the third known interstellar visitor ever—photographed from the orbit of Mars.
November 6, 2025 at 1:28 AM
It might not look like much, but that white blob in the middle of this image is comet 3I/ATLAS—the third known interstellar visitor ever—photographed from the orbit of Mars.
Reposted by Josh Hopkins
"Everything not a sheep is dangerous" works pretty well for Australia too, tbf
In Icelandic we have 'Ókind' for monster. But the translation is un-sheep. So everything not a sheep is dangerous.
November 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
"Everything not a sheep is dangerous" works pretty well for Australia too, tbf
Not now, monkey’s!
October 29, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Not now, monkey’s!
I have occasionally imagined an alternate history in which geologists were just a few decades slower to notice tectonic plates, and they get discovered by angry cartographers and astronomers detecting their real-time motion instead.
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conti...
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conti...
October 29, 2025 at 1:51 AM
I have occasionally imagined an alternate history in which geologists were just a few decades slower to notice tectonic plates, and they get discovered by angry cartographers and astronomers detecting their real-time motion instead.
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conti...
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/conti...
See, this is the problem with California's lax approach to crime. If you don't jail otters the first time you catch them stealing surf boards, they'll just do it again.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/s...
An unknown sea otter was spotted stealing surfboards at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz this week. Is 841 back to her old ways or have other otters learned to hang 10? Check out my latest for @nytimes.com
An unknown sea otter was spotted stealing surfboards at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz this week. Is 841 back to her old ways or have other otters learned to hang 10? Check out my latest for @nytimes.com
Sea Otters Are Stealing Surfboards in California. Again.
www.nytimes.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:45 PM
See, this is the problem with California's lax approach to crime. If you don't jail otters the first time you catch them stealing surf boards, they'll just do it again.
A person born in China at the end of WWII saw China's power rise as its working age population tripled in their lifetime.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
September 25, 2025 at 4:01 AM
A person born in China at the end of WWII saw China's power rise as its working age population tripled in their lifetime.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.
But now it has plateaued.
A person born today will see that growth reversed. China's working age population will drop by 1 million people per month for decades.