Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.
Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen individuals often living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories with sizeable nest that consist of millions of individuals or into the hundreds of millions in super colonies. Typical colonies consist of various castes of sterile, wingless females, most of which are workers (ergates), as well as soldiers (dinergates) and other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens" (gynes). The colonies are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.
Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.
Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rites. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents. Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) of South America, are regarded as invasive species in other parts of the world, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.
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Non-native ants are breaking down biogeographic boundaries and homogenizing community assemblages
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How 16th Century Trade Made Fire Ants an Early Global Invader
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When this post is 30 minutes old, the livestream for the uncrewed undocking of the figurative dumpster fire known as Boeing's Starliner will start. Actual undocking is scheduled for 6:04PM ET, about 20 minutes after the livestream starts. I'm not going to be able to relax until that piece of junk is safely away from the ISS and on a new orbit that won't intersect with the station.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
how did it go?
The nail-biter moments are safely done at least. The vehicle's left the ISS without incident and is on course for re-entry just before midnight Eastern time. I was worried sick that the new guidance software would do something to damage the ISS itself.
The real stress test from Boeing's perspective will be the burn with the main engines at about 11:17PM ET. Those 12 engines are called "OMACS", for orbital maneuvering and control system. There's a 7-minute burn with those main engines to fine-tune the re-entry trajectory for its landing at White Sands. The problem with the thruster groups ("doghouses") that started this entire debacle was that it appears (though this is not yet publicly confirmed) that the maneuvering thrusters ("RCS", reaction control system) that were aft-facing were overheating and shutting down due to their close proximity to the OMACS engines. One of them permanently failed. Even when not firing, those OMACS engines still build up heat. Those RCS thrusters have to work properly to angle the spacecraft properly while the OMACS are firing.
If RCS thrusters fail, as they failed on the approach to the ISS, then Starliner could come in too shallow or too steep if the guidance system can't compensate with other thrusters.
The former would have meant an atmosphere "skip". Don't believe any idiots who talk about skipping off the atmosphere and forever away from Earth, that's just plain not going to happen, and if you see it in a news article it means the reporter didn't do their homework. On each orbit the capsule would definitely lose speed to the very thin atmosphere at ISS altitude, and eventually come back down. (The ISS itself has to do occasional thruster firings and make use of "Night Glider" mode just to stay in orbit!) But it could mean that it stays up beyond the remaining life support capabilities of the vehicle. And even if the life support holds out, it could mean a landing in some extremely dangerous territory. The ISS and any vehicles visiting it orbit at 51.6° inclination. That means anywhere on Earth between roughly 52°N and 52°S latitude is a potential landing destination for an out-of-control Starliner capsule. Lots of conflict zones. Lots of places where the terrain itself is dangerous. And more than that, even more open water, a lot of it at extremely low temperatures.
And of course too steep means too high a speed, and incineration.
Those are the two scenarios that NASA officials were worried about. In orbit, there's plenty of time to take things very slowly and stay at a safe distance from the ISS while problems are worked on, as happened on this and the previous Starliners' approaches to the ISS. There isn't that kind of time to fix major thruster issues on a re-entry trajectory.
Honestly, now that human lives are no longer at stake and the trashfire is safely away, I'm hoping for an extremely public, extremely obvious failure. Boeing needs to be punished, they need to be humiliated, they need to be pilloried as "the company that tried to kill astronauts" in all the media, everywhere. They've been sucking NASA's coffers dry for half a century with the support of the US senate. I want to see all the old-space cost-plus-contract defence industry ghouls with senators on speeddial to be tossed out, in favour of new-space fixed-price-contract companies who have to actually make things on time and on budget and compete on those factors rather than on who they can bribe in the US political system.
Correction, the previous is my second-best hope. My first hope is for world socialist revolution and for all companies to be out of spaceflight forever, with NASA's equivalent in the new communist utopia to be free to pursue grand projects in the interest of advancing science. But as a consolation prize in this capitalist hellscape, I can at least hope for competent work. Shithead-ownership-issue aside, SpaceX's real workers have made some highly innovative and reliable hardware.
Sorry, I needed to vent a bit! I truly despise how NASA's been hamstrung by senators' power games and bribery interests. I think that being (if I can say so without sounding like a pompous ass) far more familiar with the history of spaceflight than the average person has made me want to info-dump when I hear a fellow leftist talk about how the "commercialization of space" is a tragedy. It's always has been commercial, it's always been a tragedy. At least now with fixed-price contracts and new contractors NASA may finally be free to get value for their money. What most people here (including me!) feel about Elon Musk is exactly the same as I feel about a monster named Senator Richard Shelby.