Athanasios (Thanos) Klidaras

@alexwickham qsszt,

NEW: Bloomberg Saturday read — Keir Starmer’s days aren’t filled with meetings about leadership challenges or budget controversies. It is Ukraine dominating his agenda. — Europe now faces its most difficult moment as Trump’s new peace push sees Russia’s war enter a decisive phase. For Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, it is their sternest test in preventing a Western capitulation and a fracture with the US. There isn’t really a plan B. — Only a few weeks ago Kyiv’s allies had hoped they were in a better place as Trump appeared to pivot against Russia. If Ukraine could be backed through the winter, Russia’s economic struggles would intensify next year, losing Putin leverage. — But they’ve long seen Trump’s lurches as like riding a rollercoaster and were always clear-eyed he could move in the opposite direction again. — That’s what happened with the emergence of the 28-point plan and the revelation of the Witkoff call. The timing of Trump’s move was telling. Macron fears the US betraying Ukraine. Merz warns American negotiators are playing games with Europe. — For the UK the challenge is acute: Starmer has positioned Britain as both Ukraine’s leading ally and the European nation closest to Trump. The unique nature of the intertwined military and intelligence partnership means that for London a rupture in the ‘special relationship’ is unthinkable. — That’s partly why the UK has tried to take a calmer approach to managing Trump’s lurches than some Europeans. The British strategy has always been to welcome Trump’s efforts, knowing Putin is unwilling to compromise, relying on him to derail them. — Officials note that claims of an imminent deal were unfounded and Putin rejected one again this week. They say the 28-point plan has been altered to at least partly reflect the Ukrainian position. That may still be too much of a compromise for the Kremlin. — But Europeans also see potentially different dynamics this time round. Zelensky faces huge pressure from the US. A domestic corruption scandal has brought changes to his top team that some fear could weaken Kyiv’s ability to resist a bad deal. Diplomats say communication with both the US and Ukraine has not been easy of late. There is still no positive outcome on Russian assets. — Europe’s primary objective is to avoid a situation where Zelensky feels he has no choice but to withdraw troops from the Donbas and agree to a deal without any serious US security guarantees. The UK in particular still holds out hope Trump will lurch back and pressure Russia instead if Putin rejects the next American ‘framework’. — But European leaders are also increasingly wary Trump could walk away if he doesn’t get a deal this time. One Western European official says there are different versions of what that could look like. A worst-case scenario is he lifts pressure on Russia, blocks US weapons from being used by Ukraine and stops intel sharing with Kyiv. A less-bad outcome would be he says it’s now Europe’s war to fight but keeps on selling weapons and sharing intel. — Starmer, Macron and Merz see their defining mission as preventing a cleavage with the US, something that would realise a key Russian strategic objective. But that’s also revealing of Europe’s continued reliance on America. “Europe has become accustomed to the US security blanket, under-invested for years, ignored the warning signs of disengagement, nor prepared adequately,” says @John_ForemanCBE. “The consequences of this strategic misjudgment are now clear.” Story with @AlbertoNardelli @DarynaKrasno @EllenAMilligan bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

☄️ #3I/ATLAS comet update! On 3 October, our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) turned its eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed close to Mars. Together with Mars Express, ExoMars TGO had the closest view of the comet of all of our spacecraft. It looked towards the interstellar interloper from just 30 million km away during its closest approach to the Red Planet. Read more: esa.int/Science_Explor…

After a year of scientific scrutiny, a rock sample collected by the Perseverance rover has been confirmed to contain a potential biosignature. The sample is the best candidate so far to provide evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars. go.nasa.gov/4n35lVM

Remember the “leopard spots” rock Perseverance sampled last year? After a year of scientific scrutiny, the rock remains the mission's best candidate for containing signs of ancient microbial life processes. More on this peer-reviewed finding: go.nasa.gov/4nmZuKm

I went there. Because at this point, it's difficult to come to any other conclusion. arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/…

New Horizons is so far away that the nearest stars have shifted markedly from where we see them on Earth. With NH-based positions for two stars alone we can figure out where the spacecraft is. This technique would be used on interstellar voyages. arxiv.org/abs/2506.21666

Wishing upon a... moon? That bright "star" is actually Mars' moon Deimos. In the hours before dawn, I snapped this long-exposure image with my left Navcam and caught Deimos as well as two stars from the constellation Leo in the sky. It's definitely a mood, as they say.

Happy to announce a new paper (the last chapter of my thesis)! We infer a 100-200 C temperature anomaly in the Moon's nearside mantle. This anomaly suggests that geologic activity which formed the mare 3-4 billion years ago is still active today. nature.com/articles/s4158…

Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this 😱 This CCTV footage captures the powerful M7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar in March. You can clearly see the dramatic shift in the ground. Absolutely surreal.

NASA’s #DragonflyMission, which will send a rotorcraft to explore Saturn's moon Titan, has passed its Critical Design Review, meaning its mission plans have been approved and the team can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself go.nasa.gov/3S6HXIS

Hello from the rim of Jezero Crater 👋 I’ve hit my fastest science-collection tempo yet, sampling three rocks since January and analyzing dozens more. One might even be 3.9 billion years old! So, what’s next? More exploration at Witch Hazel Hill. go.nasa.gov/3FYmcbp

First views of Earth's polar regions from Dragon

#PPOD: Shocking Spherules This image from @NASAPersevere, a fusion-processed SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) mosaic, shows part of the “St. Pauls Bay” target acquired from the lower Witch Hazel Hill area of the Jezero crater rim. The image reveals hundreds of strange, spherical-shaped objects comprising the rock. Perseverance acquired this image on March 11, 2025. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP #planetaryscience

BREAKING 🚨: NASA's Perseverance rover has found a bizarre rock with hundreds of little dark gray spheres Scientists are still investigating but believe it could've been formed by groundwater or volcanic activity

NASA's Perseverance rover has encountered another rock on Mars that has left scientists puzzled. space.com/space-explorat…

Mesmerised by these photos. Often we remark on how lucky we are to experience total solar eclipses on Earth. But now we see that the Moon's counterpart is just as spectacular and strange.

Blue Ghost turns red! Our lander downlinked more imagery from the Moon captured around 2:30 am CDT during the totality of the solar eclipse last night. These images - rapidly captured by our top deck camera with different exposure settings - were stitched together in a quick clip. The red hue is the result of sunlight refracting through the Earth's atmosphere as the sun is blocked by our planet, casting a shadow on the lunar surface. The glowing ring of the eclipse is again seen on Blue Ghost’s solar panel. #BGM1

#BlueGhost got her first diamond ring! Captured at our landing site in the Moon’s Mare Crisium around 3:30 am CDT, the photo shows the sun about to emerge from totality behind Earth. Hope to have more shots to share soon! #BGM1

The Enigma of Zebra Rock: update from #LPSC2025 hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2… (by @PCharon2000 and co-authors) 📷 mastcamz.asu.edu/galleries/dani… #Mars

This footage is absolutely breathtaking