iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

You have a say in how we color @suncetcubesat.bsky.social extreme UV images! Our bandpass is a new one that encompasses 2 of the traditional ones. Should we just pick one of the traditional colormaps? Should we be inspired by sunsets? Vote for as many as you like at suncet.github.io/suncet_instrum…

suncet.github.io

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

@suncetcubesat.bsky.social spacecraft integration has begun! We had it all plugged together in a flatsat configuration to do a bunch of testing before it gets much harder to fix things post-integrate. So this video shows us tearing that down and starting prep to put everything inside the structure

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

LASP @laspatcu.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Happy National Postdoc Appreciation Week! 🧑‍🎓 🔭 🥳 LASP loves our postdocs! At our lab, they do everything from designing small satellites to building space instruments and analyzing data from other planets. #nationalpostdocappreciationweek

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

@snowbikemike.bsky.social get well soon!!! So ready to see you the battlefield next couple weekends

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

@snowbikemike.bsky.social @kindafunnyvids.bsky.social interested in your thoughts on Delta Force after the KFGD today as a fellow Battlefield fan. I haven’t given Delta Force a shot but it looks like it might tick a lot of the same boxes.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Oh and for those interested, here's the graphic without all the PBR impacts. It's a nice complement to the Decadal (imho) and something I plan to maintain as a living document going forward.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

It is really depressing that all of the excitement from the forward-looking Decadal -- a Congressionally-mandated major planning report we expend tremendous community effort preparing once per decade -- has been usurped by the decimation the administration is proposing.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

The Heliophysics System Laboratory is a term that was coined less than a year ago with the release of our Heliophysics Decadal Survey, referring to the full complement of all of these observatories regardless of funding agency; it also includes major modeling efforts not depicted

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

There are similar graphics out already that focus on NASA, so I wanted to make a graphic that also includes the impacts at NOAA and NSF as well (the NSF observatories that appear safe in this graphic are actually just ones that don't have detail in the PBR so who knows...)

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

It will take us decades to build back to where we are right now. In the meantime, other countries (China in particular) are building their own space weather capabilities and at least in China's case, are unlikely to share information with us.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

The first of these dedicated to solar observation launched in 1994. The most recent in March this year. They are all still running. If we just turn them off, we can't just turn them back on later if the political landscape changes.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Here's what the President's Budget Request does to the fleet of observations that has _literally taken us decades to build_ that monitors the explosive Sun and how solar storms impact Earth and other planetary bodies.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

I kept waiting for it to turn to funny 1 star reviews, similar to the series of posters for national parks highlighting 1 star reviews like this one

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

This time around, we made little Teflon molds for our Arathane+cabosil (fancy curing space rubber basically) that make sure the solar panels can handle the chatter of a rocket launch and the day-to-day of being in the lab while we go through integration and testing for @suncetcubesat.bsky.social

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

Bunch of nerds (I mean students at CU Boulder) learning from the master how to build the solar panels that will fly on @suncetcubesat.bsky.social and other upcoming #cubesats. With each iteration of solar panels we've flown over the past decade, we've made little improvements. ☀️🧪🔭🛰️🚀

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

In the scientist category, Ryan French for the corpus of work throughout the year on TikTok, YouTube, and other social media; as well as an article on @spacedotcom.bsky.social @ryanjfrench.bsky.social www.tiktok.com/@ryanjfrench www.youtube.com/@Sun.Scientist www.space.com/return-auror...

tiktok.com

Dr. Ryan French ☀️ Sun Science's Creator Profile

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

This year's American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division Popular Media Awards have been selected! @aas.org. These awards go each year to a journalist, a scientist, and a student for articles or other media focused on the sun or its effects on Earth. ☀️🧪🔭🛰️🚀

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Me trying multiple browsers, multiple devices to login to Marriott wifi. "Why the hell isn't this working?!" 🤦‍♂️

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 09/04/2025

The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 11/04/2025

The cuts "would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory seen as on par with [Hubble & JWST] that is already fully assembled and on budget for a launch in two years." Would also apparently close NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Huge, HUGE loss for science.

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

Scott Sutherland @scotttwnsciwriter.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

NASA is something every American can be and should be proud of. And for every dollar spent on it, it returns more on that investment to the economy. Example: Their 2023 budget was $25B, and they added over $75B to the economy that year. This is a horrible decision.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

How many spam texts/calls are our phones actually blocking? I feel like I get a ton of them but am I seeing 1% slip through or am I getting basically everything attempted? I always click the "junk" button but is that being aggregated to benefit everybody?

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

☀️ #PI_Daily incredible week for @suncetcubesat.bsky.social got our custom battery pack fit checked, telescope camera code tests started, x-band radio testing processed, solar panel Kapton tape laser cutting dialed in and started onboarding a couple of new PhD students.

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

☀️ #PI_Daily (from yesterday) talking to one engineer about radio stuff, two more pull me over to work on camera stuff, a PhD student working on battery beside us, and while standing in the lab talking with them all, get a call from NASA about budget transfer stuff. Exciting and scattered times!

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Likewise! By this time next year we should have a good number of those overlays

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

#PI_Daily it's one of those (fun!) weeks that are all over the map. So far today: preparing to play with space cameras, cut kapton tape with lasers, build solar panels, make X-band RF measurements, FCC licensing, and filling out documents for launch. @suncetcubesat.bsky.social ☀️ is on track!

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

When I saw MMS in the GSFC clean rooms, they showed me that each of the 4 had a unique color for all documentation as well as unofficial names: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Did you all do anything similar for disambiguation?

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

SunCET CubeSat☀️ @suncetcubesat.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

If you're a big fan, you can buy SunCET merch from our LandsEnd store. In fact, several other missions and #heliophysics ☀️ related efforts also have storefronts and they're being collected here (including SunCET): business.landsend.com/store/heliop...

business.landsend.com

Homepage

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Made a new SunCET logo reveal animation. First time ever doing it from scratch. Apple Motion is really intuitive! ☀️ @suncetcubesat.bsky.social

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

The @suncetcubesat.bsky.social telescope is signed, sealed, and delivered (all literally)! 🧪🔭⚛️☀️ youtu.be/wjbzWYDI1fE

youtu.be

SunCET Telescope Delivered

YouTube video by James Mason

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

WebsEdge Science @websedgescience.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Discover how SunCET is revolutionizing solar observation by capturing unprecedented images of coronal mass ejections. Led by LASP at @colorado.edu & @jhuapl.bsky.social, this breakthrough helps predict space weather, safeguarding satellites & power grids. @agu.org #AGU24 youtu.be/6uV5dkf4rJg

youtu.be

The Never-Before-Seen Sun – Sun Coronal Ejection Tracker (SunCET)

YouTube video by WebsEdge Science

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 10/12/2024

Congratulations to my colleagues James Mason, Dan Seaton, Cristina Kay, Amal Chandran, and Aaron Magner on a phenomenal video on the phenomenal #CubeSat mission #SunCET! Very nice bit of science outreach at #AGU2024! ☀️🧪🛰️🔭🎢

youtube.com

The Never-Before-Seen Sun – Sun Coronal Ejection Tracker (SunCET)

YouTube video by WebsEdge Science

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

@SunCETcubesat is all about understanding how the most energetic explosions in the solar ☀️ system get accelerated. The joint @JHUAPL @LASPatCU project is beautifully depicted here, including footage of the telescope/spacecraft coming together in our labs youtu.be/6uV5dkf4rJg?...

youtu.be

The Never-Before-Seen Sun – Sun Coronal Ejection Tracker (SunCET)

YouTube video by WebsEdge Science

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

#HelioDecadal ☀️ is here! I've run it through my word cloud generator (I'd also run the white papers through a couple years ago). Some funny stop words I had to add "rights reserved" and "editorial correction" @nationalacademies.org #Heliophysics

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Reposted by James Paul Mason

Dr Theodosios Chatzistergos @damagedonegr.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I've put together a starter pack of accounts related to solar physics, space weather, and space climate.🔭🧪 If you know anyone else who should be included, please let me know, and I'll add them. go.bsky.app/KKV5kUu

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James Paul Mason @starfleetjames.bsky.social · 20/12/2023

Made this poster for the SunCET NASA mission

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