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The demise of Vine is drawing closer. I couldn’t stand the thought of all those cat videos out there being lost to the abyss, so I gathered a few (i.e. nearly 50) of my favourites.

I hope you enjoy this compilation of cats and kittens being funny, silly, or just plain adorable.

Ion Propulsion…What Is It?

Ion thrusters are being designed for a wide variety of missions – from keeping communications satellites in the proper position to propelling spacecraft throughout our solar system. But, what exactly is ion propulsion and how does an ion thruster work? Great question! Let’s take a look:

Regular rocket engines: You take a gas and you heat it up, or put it under pressure, and you push it out of the rocket nozzle, and the action of the gas going out of the nozzle causes a reaction that pushes the spacecraft in the other direction.

Ion engines: Instead of heating the gas up or putting it under pressure, we give the gas xenon a little electric charge, then they’re called ions, and we use a big voltage to accelerate the xenon ions through this metal grid and we shoot them out of the engine at up to 90,000 miles per hour.

Something interesting about ion engines is that it pushes on the spacecraft as hard as a single piece of paper pushes on your hand while holding it. In the zero gravity, frictionless, environment of space, gradually the effect of this thrust builds up. Our Dawn spacecraft uses ion engines, and is the first spacecraft to orbit two objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

To give you a better idea, at full throttle, it would take our Dawn spacecraft four days to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour. That may sounds VERY slow, but instead of thrusting for four days, if we thrust for a week or a year as Dawn already has for almost five years, you can build up fantastically high velocity.

Why use ion engines? This type of propulsion give us the maneuverability to go into orbit and after we’ve been there for awhile, we can leave orbit and go on to another destination and do the same thing.

As the commercial applications for electric propulsion grow because of its ability to extend the operational life of satellites and to reduce launch and operation costs, we are involved in work on two different ion thrusters of the future: the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) and the Annular Engine. These new engines will help reduce mission cost and trip time, while also traveling at higher power levels.

Learn more about ion propulsion HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Absolutely beautiful ❤❤

“It’s alright, I did it guys!”

Omg ahhaha @ethereal-vixen much better way of explaining why the dragons guard the princess x3

The real story of dragons guarding princesses by Portsherry

Transgender pastor Rev. S. David Wynn has a message for anti-trans activists: Stop using God as an excuse to hate. 

All My Friends Are Gay (Original)

All my friends are gay and depressed,

I wonder why that is

Every gay person in the south is depressed, I guess

It’s no wonder why that is

during a day we claim our name for ourselves,

And shake the blame and shame of so many years

Of hate and pain, only to find that it feels the same

In the heart of the south, word remains unchanged

The good lord proclaimed who is gay shall be hanged

and a storm of stones rains on the pride parade,

back when gay men were found beaten in the streets

and the cops didn’t blink, it was all kept discreet

until they marched and they screamed

demanding to be made equal,

I’m grateful every day for those many brave people

Who faced certain death to fight such great evil

The evil that lives on, in the sunniest of places

Saudi Arabia to Texas, still filled with so much hatred

I choose to speak here so that the blood is not wasted

From Jesus to Stonewall, our history’s been tainted

A stain that translates to today’s kids,

It breaks my heart to see these gay kids being chastened

Messages from the media, a portrayal that disgraces them

Messages from the church, awaiting unending damnation

I have to ask the people, what do you thing we’re doing?

Despite all this “progression,” we still fight to be seen as human

     aDz94RF�9��[

Ahhggg nooo pls horrible feelings go away.. I really don't need to be feeling dysphoric and shitty.. please... not today I need to get things done..

5 minutes of racist, homophobic, transphobic anti-feminist Ann Coulter getting dragged on Comedy Central’s Roast of Rob Lowe

Not complicated to me ❤ *hugs*