iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 4h

Build-a-bot time! 🤖 Meet @showmethepotato.bsky.social, serving fun facts about Phobos, Deimos & JAXA’s #MMX mission! 🥔 (OK, facts are still growing…) Get random facts thrice daily, or shout “show me the potato!” or “feed my Phobos-ia” for fact delivery (...in about 10 mins) 🛰️🔭🧪 LAUNCH OCT. 20 🚀

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 9h

feed my Phobos-ia 🥔 (ignore this, I'm debugging a little MMX fact bot 🤖!)

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 12h

😂 I'm actually testing a MMX fact bot, that should give you a fun MMX/Phobos-related fact within about 20 minutes of you asking... but it's being a reluctant replier!

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

9 SPOOKY DAYS REMAINING UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR THE MOON OF TERROR.

A photograph of little white plastic skulls attached to a fence.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

10 DAYS UNTIL THE LAUNCH OF THE JAXA MARTIAN MOONS EXPLORATION (#MMX) MISSION! 🚀🛰️ It's a place of evil, but the MMX account has been posting these cute countdown videos every day on twitter (and also instagram and threads, for a different brand of evil). The model in the background is Hayabusa2!

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

O Romeo, Romeo! #CapserCat has gone on a bold spree this week, and approaches my desk while I’m at my computer. It’s only because he wants to gaze adoringly at #NorahNeko but I’ll take it 😹

A fluffy black and white cat sits on the floor close to a large desk, looking up in a star struck manner. Above him, a calico cat lies on a cat bed attached to the end of the desk, looking down at him.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

MEGANE (meaning 👓 in Japanese) is a science instrument onboard the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration mission 🛰️, contributed by NASA (and hammered together at JHU). David Lawrence (instrument lead) takes us through what MEGANE can do at Phobos in this #MMXTeamQQ! 🔭🧪 #MMXLIFTOFF: Oct 20 at 04:41:03 JST 🚀

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The team at ISAS have been sharing your article all day. We love it! Thanks so much 🙂

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

11 days until the launch of MMX 🚀 MMX will launch on the JAXA H3 rocket (flight 10!) with two first-stage main engines and four solid rocket boosters (24L configuration), the MAX POWER set-up to deliver MMX onto the deep space Mars trajectory. Diabolically spooky.

A small Halloween display in a garden with some plastic ghosts and pumpkins. The letters M M X have been written over the top of the picture.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

12 days until the launch of the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) to explore the moons of Mars and return a sample from Phobos. This meanwhile, is a white lotus moon cake. It is unlikely that Phobos and Deimos are made from white lotus, but you never know…

A very pretty circular cake with a swirling design on top. It sits in a square box with on a plate. Added to the photo are the letters M M X in red.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

True, but it's getting ever more borderline 😂

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I forgot that you met a similar fate so recently 😅😅 I was much luckier though, as I was able to stagger home with just some grazes to mop up.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

wow! That is super pretty. I love that wool!

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Reposted by Elizabeth Tasker

⭐ ᗰᗩᖇᛕ ᗩ. ǤᗩᖇᒪIᑕᛕ ⭐ @markgarlick.com · 07/10/2026

It's #Spacetober day 7, Venus. #SciArt #spaceart Artwork of the Venera 9 spacecraft on the surface of Venus. The Venera probes were a series of ten successful missions sent to Venus by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Venera 9 was launched on 8 June 1975. 1/2

A, hazy, yellow and rocky landscape, barren of life. The surface of Venus. Left of centre, sitting on an outcrop of rock, is the Venera 9 lander. There is lightning in the sky, although whether Venus has lightning is disputed.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

13 days to the launch of the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission! 🚀 The spacecraft will visit Phobos and bring back a 🎃… no wait, a 🪨(sample)… containing the 👻 of Mars past.

A small hallowed display of Jack-o-lanterns and a model of a pumpkin man wrapped in bandages outside a store. Over the top, the letters MMX have been added in.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Thanks, David! It’s a surprisingly horrid thing to happen, but I don’t think major damage was taken to body or electronic devices. Which was very lucky! (And due to the screen protector and case 😅)

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I wiped out on the street this morning. I was relatively lucky in terms of hit points (nasty scrapes and a candy bucket of shock but everything still bends), but my PSA is (1) falling as an adult sucks and (2) get a case and screen protector for your smartphone.

The screen protector on my phone when I fell. There is now a pattern of stars and cracks all across its surface. The phone screen underneath was unharmed.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

14 days until #MMXLIFTOFF 🚀 —launch of the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission to Phobos 🌚🛰️

MMX is written on the ground with leaves forming the two “M”s and the “X” drawn in the gravel.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hot drinks are back in town 🎶🎃🍂 But while convienience stores have bumped up their hot drinks shelf for autumn, oddly the vending machines are still spitting out only cold drinks. It’s not exactly chilly, but I feel we usually switch over before now 🤔

The hot drinks shelves at a 7/11 conbini, expanded from more than just the coffee summer time selection.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

15 days until the launch of the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission! 🚀🛰️ SPOOKY! 👻 #MMXLIFTOFF October 20 at 04:41:03 JST

A red dish sponge in the shape of a ghost has the magnetic letters “MMX” around its head.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

With the news reporting a flu wave more rapid than Godzilla and the #MMX launch approaching even faster, I made a walk-in appointment at the Tokyo International Clinic at Tokyo station. Very quick and cheap but I was told no alcohol, marathons, or partying. So, that’s derailed my plans for the day.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Tasker

DMS @dallasmars.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

As a Mars enthusiast, I'm really hoping it all pays off. Launching, getting out to Mars, landing on Phobos, collecting surface samples, then bringing them back - it seems like a fairly monumental undertaking (hoping the rocket deities will smile on this complex mission and all those who took it on:)

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Fireworks at the Tama river, seen from Mizonokuchi station.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Rockets of the night! 🚀 Last week, we had overnight training (did I mention MMX launch is on 10.20?!). My electronic timesheet exploded itself when I didn’t tap out by defaulting to my nominal end time and then complaining I’d left before I arrived. My electronic pal, you did that to yourself 🤨

Photograph of the two rockets on the JAXA Sagamihara campus. It’s late a night, and the outside lights are reflected in the wet pavement.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

If you missed the Martian moons kick-off of the IAU 100 Hours of Astronomy 🔭, you can watch a recording of the live feed here (including me, how could you miss it?!)! 🛰️ Stacks of content on the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which will launch on October 20 🚀🚀🚀

youtube.com

Mission: Mars. Unravelling the mysteries of the Solar System with MMX

YouTube video by IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

ON THIS PALINDROMIC DAY (10.01) at 21:00 JST (12:00 UTC), the IAU 100 Hours of Astronomy kicks off with a Martian moons fest 🛰️ Hear about JAXA's exploration plans, the science of the MMX mission and the adorable Idefix rover, and a Q&A with me where I say everything I know about MMX in 10 minutes 🔭🧪

youtube.com

Mission: Mars. Unravelling the mysteries of the Solar System with MMX

YouTube video by IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Never have I been found so lacking as a human being. And I went to grad school. #NorahNeko #CasperCat

Two cats sit in nearly identical poses, side-by-side on a run. They are staring at me with judgment. JUDGEMENT.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Also my reaction to the news each morning.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My cat Cassie did purr when being washed by her bestie, #NorahNeko.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ah, fresh spring days~! 🌸🌼🪻 (This is the “Wistful” world in VR Chat. It’s very pretty. whimsical and—ah yes—wistful! And you can search for hidden oranges around the house 🍊. I did not find them all. That was less whimsical and more annoying.)

A screenshot taking through my Quest 3 headset of the “wistful” virtual reality world. It shows a Japanese style house surrounded by a field of purple flowers.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I didn’t expect anything more under the circumstances!! I’m really glad you sensibly got to a hospital and they were able to stitch you back up.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Oh, that’s a horrid thing to happen! Do rest up. It must have been an awful shock.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Well look who is trying out the sofa! (Changing it up from the usual box stuffed behind the sofa.) #CasperCat

A black and white cat with green eyes is sitting on a sofa.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Last night, #NorahNeko wanted to sleep with me. #CasperCat wanted to sleep with Norah, but not me. Vocal protests followed. It was the fox/chicken/corn riddle, except the corn complains loudly and nobody gets any sleep. 🤨

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

She revenge pee’d all over my bed but it’s hard to be mad when is because someone misses you that much 😅

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Given Air France is hardly a budget airline and this wasn't a short Euro-hop, it is particularly bad! The worst seats I've done for that length flight.

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Elizabeth Tasker @elizabethtasker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I’m really hoping it was just a rogue mosquito!

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