Over 12 days in October and November, Parker Solar Probe completed its first solar encounter phase, speeding through the Sun’s outer atmosphere at a mere 16.9 million miles from the surface of the sun, and collected an amazing amount of data with the four suites of cutting-edge instruments it had onboard. This data started downlinking back to NASA as of Dec. 7 2018 and it included an image from it’s onboard probe — WISPR.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which was launched aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Aug. 12, 2018, and is on a mission to answer some questions solar researchers have of our Sun. On Dec. 12, 2018, at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., several researchers met to share what they hope to learn from Parker Solar Probe. During a press conference held at the event, they released an information brief of what they had received from the probe so far.

Over 12 days in October and November, Parker Solar Probe completed its first solar encounter phase, speeding through the Sun’s outer atmosphere at a mere 16.9 million miles from the surface of the sun, and collected an amazing amount of data with the four suites of cutting-edge instruments it had onboard. This data started downlinking back to NASA as of Dec. 7 2018 and it included an image from it’s onboard probe — WISPR.

WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe) took an amazing image inside of the corna on Nov. 8, 2018, at 1:12 a.m. EST. The image shows two distinct jets of solar material, known as coronal streamers, emanating from the left of the image. That bright spot in the distance is gas giant Jupiter, while the black spots are artifacts of background correction.

Because of the relative positions of Parker Solar Probe, the Sun and Earth and their effects on radio transmission, some of the science data from this encounter will not downlink until after the mission’s second solar encounter in April 2019. All indications report that good scientific data was collected so we might be seeing some more phenomenal images taken by WISPR.

NASA’s recent report about the Parker Solar Probe — https://goo.gl/xSpnLz

Mission overview of the Parker Solar Probe — https://goo.gl/vkgv8L

Syndicated to — Asgardia Space News

As all citizens of Asgardia know, we are constantly working to improve our society and build our nation into something that will continue long after we are gone. To do this, we need to ask many hard questions and confront problems that stand in the way of us creating the society of a brighter tomorrow.

A key tenet of Asgardia is that there is no prejudice against any gender, race, sexual orientation, or religion. While reaching gender equality should be a goal of every nation on Earth, the women of Asgardia are in a place of true equality, leaving the past behind where it should be, as we move towards the future. That being said, one of the issues confronting Asgardia is the ratio of male to female citizens. NB: In this article we include everyone who identifies as female.

At this moment, approximately 80% of the population of Asgardia is male, while only around 20% is female. Exploring the reasons for this and what we can do to improve the representation of women in our population is a question that must be asked of everyone in Asgardia.

The whole basic premise of Asgardia is that it is a profoundly new construct. Asgardia is a place for life for all, where we all begin as equals without the burden of Earth’s history to separate us. It’s a nation where everyone will find their place in line with their motivations and personal goals. You do not need to be a “wonder woman” to be a valuable member of Asgardia any more than you have to be a “super man”. In Asgardia, every person has a place and an opportunity to excel and uncover their own personal path.

The Women of Asgardia

Here on Earth, women were locked out of positions of power for centuries. Thankfully, the tide has started to turn, but there is still a great deal of work to be done. In Asgardia, we take a stand to leave Earthly conflicts behind, which is why gender equality is such an important part of our society.

Although the ratio of citizens is currently weighted towards men, that is not the case in terms of our leadership and organizational structure. There are many women who are in positions of power and authority in Asgardia. Our current CEO and First Vice-President of NGO Asgardia is Lena De Winne. We also have many women working behind the scenes on her team to help shape Asgardia’s future.

Alongside this, Asgardia recently held its first parliamentary elections, with the voting having closed on March 9th, 2018 (March 12th, 0002). Many women candidates ran, with a great deal of support across the board. Although results won’t be announced for a few more weeks, we feel that Asgardia can only benefit from greater female political representation.

STEM Programs

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields around the world are currently dominated by men, but over the last 30 years, there has been a major push to enroll more young women in STEM programs. In some parts of the world, these efforts have begun to show fruit as more and more women are entering into and drastically changing the makeup of these fields of study.

That said, women still face incredible career obstacles in STEM fields, ranging from sexist behaviour in the workplace to simple misogyny benefiting the career advancement of men over women. They’re generally paid far less than men, regardless of their education and skills, and are more likely to leave the profession as a result.

In truth, the ratio of men to women in STEM fields is actually quite similar to the ratio of men to women in Asgardia. By working to increase the representation of women in STEM professions, we may also begin to see more women joining Asgardia as citizens, simply because more women in STEM may be more likely to hear about our nation. However, with all of our participation, we can get the word out to more people, including women, from all professions, industries, and ways of life.

What Can You Do?

The best thing that you can do to is get the word out about Asgardia to more people! As a citizen, you can invite others to join Asgardia, especially the women in your life — your sister, mother, professor, colleague, friend, partner. You can reach out to the women you know and tell them all about Asgardia. This is an opportunity to ask them what is particularly attractive to them about Asgardia and what can be done to make it more inviting. Let us know any new ideas that you learn about through these enquiries.

Don’t forget to tell the people you speak with that becoming an Asgardian is simple; all they have to do is visit our website to sign the constitution apply and register. After accepting our Constitution, they will become full citizens of Asgardia with all of the rights and privileges that citizenship guarantees.

Another thing that we all can do is point to and celebrate the achievements of pioneering women in STEM fields, especially in the realms of space exploration. Mainstream and popular culture are finally starting to highlight the incredible contributions that women have made to space travel. A small example of this is this Lego set that was released in 2017 featuring the Women of NASA (including Sally Ride) which sold out the day it was released!

How to Join the Asgardian Conversation

As Asgardia continues to grow, we believe that the ratio of men to women will start to become more balanced as word of our nation spreads. If you’d like to share your thoughts about citizen gender balance of Asgardia, leave a comment here and you can also post your ideas on the official Asgardia forums. We also invite you to get involved with Asgardia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+.

One of Asgardia’s most important national holidays is being celebrated today: Asgardia’s National Unity Day!

This annual holiday takes place every 1 Asgard/18 June and is a chance to celebrate Asgardia’s Declaration of Unity.

DECLARATION OF UNITY OF ASGARDIA

We, the free people of the first in the history of humanity space nation ASGARDIA, based on the birthright of Humanity in the universe, adopt this DECLARATION

1. Asgardia is a free and unified space nation.
2. The objectives of Asgardia are: To ensure peace in space; To ensure the protection of planet Earth and the entire humankind (from outer space threats); To ensure equal opportunities in space for all Asgardians residing on Earth, regardless of geographic, financial, technological and other specificities of the countries of their Earthly citizenship.
3. Any resident of Earth can become a citizen of Asgardia, as long as he assents in the Declaration, and abides by the Constitution and the legislation of Asgardia.
4. All citizens of Asgardia are equal, irrespective of their Earthly country of origin, residence, citizenship, race, nationality, gender, religion, language, financial standing, or any other attribute.
5. Asgardia respects the laws of Earth’s nation states and the international treaties on Earth, and wishes to be recognised as an equal country among the nations on Earth.
6. Asgardia does not interfere in the affairs of Earth’s nations on the principle of reciprocity.
7. Asgardia participates in the international-level events on Earth, like any other country, based on its membership in the respective international organizations.
8. Asgardia respects and complies with the rights of citizens of Earth nations, and protects the rights of its citizens in the exclusivity of their space nation citizenship.
9. Asgardia does not engage in politics, and has no place for political parties. But every Asgardian can freely participate in political life on Earth.
10. Asgardia mirrors the Earth, but does not reflect Earthly borders. At the same time, in the framework of Earthly law, every Asgardian can freely live within the borders of any Earthly country.
11. Asgardia is a country of free spirit, science and internationalism. But every Asgardian can freely practice any religion on Earth.
12. There is no place for the history of Earthly conflicts in Asgardia. Asgardia creates a new peaceful history of the future of the humankind in space.

We, the people of Asgardia, will do everything for the prosperity of our new space nation created by us; for the protection of our motherland — planet Earth; and the development of the entire humankind in space.

One humanity — one unity.

This Declaration is a primary document for the creation of ASGARDIA — the Space Nation

This is a day for Asgardians to feel proud of and it’s a great opportunity to connect with the greater Asgardia community. One of the ways that Asgardians can get involved is by participating in the Asgardia Photo Party! Sharing their world by taking photographs and uploading them with the hashtag #AsgardiaUnityDay0002. They can Tweet, Instagram, Facebook, or post their photos on the Asgardia forums to share a picture of their home, a local landmark, their neighbourhood, or a picture of themselves with other Asgardians.

This is a wonderful time to get to know each other. It’s Asgardia’s chance to celebrate what they stand for: peace, equal opportunity, respect, and so much more.

If you’re a member of Asgardia and want to participate in this years Photo Party, don’t forget to include #AsgardiaUnityDay0002 on your photographs so that everyone can find your content! All of Asgardia look forward to seeing your photos and celebrating with you.

Happy Unity Day!

#AsgardiaUnityDay0002
#OneHumanityOneUnity