Jack White’s imprint, Third Man Records, has released a cryptic teaser that shows a gold record spinning in space and promises that the label will make vinyl history later this month.
The video, which appears on the label’s Facebook page, has many fans racking their brains as to what the outspoken rock and roll star and his business could be up to. “July 30th, Third Man Records is going to make vinyl history again,” reads the Star Wars-esqe font in the video.
The best theory appears to be based on a plan that was outlined by White himself in 2012. Four years ago, in an interview with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, White shared plans for a “secret project” aimed at getting one of his label’s songs to be the first vinyl record played in outer space.
At the time, White said the plan involved launching a high-altitude balloon with a record player attached, and figuring “out a way to drop the needle with all that turbulence up there and ensure that it will play.”
Whether or not playing a record in the stratosphere is the plan remains to be seen. White has been tight-lipped about the project since that interview, so the supposedly history-making vinyl project could have changed significantly since then.
Other theories about the nature of the mysterious video include the possibility that Third Man could be reprinting the legendary gold-plated copper records that were made for the Voyager missions. Songs and recordings of humanity were chosen by Carl Sagan for the project, then launched into space on the iconic exploration missions. Reproducing those iconic discs is certainly more doable than playing one in outer space, but it may not be as exciting.
Regardless of what Third Man are up to, it will probably be cool, given the sheer rock awesomeness consistently exhibited by the man at the top.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.