2 edition of Reflections on satellites for earth resource surveys found in the catalog.
Reflections on satellites for earth resource surveys
Amrom H. Katz
|Statement||Amrom H. Katz.|
|Series||Paper / Rand -- P-3753, P (Rand Corporation) -- P-3753.|
|LC Classifications||AS36.R28 P3753|
|The Physical Object|
|Pagination||x, 28 p. :|
|Number of Pages||28|
The Role of Small Satelites in NASA and NOAA Earth Observation Porgrams confronts these diverse requirements and assesses how they might be met by small satellites. In the past, the preferred architecture for most NASA and NOAA missions was a single large spacecraft platform containing a sophisticated suite of instruments. Read full: Natural Satellite - A satellite is any object which orbits or travels round and round the planet. It has own certain velocity. It gets energy from star (sun). There are two type of satellite. They are Natural satellite.
Starting with IRS-1A in , ISRO has launched many operational remote sensing satellites. Today, India has one of the largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in operation. Currently, *thirteen* operational satellites are in Sun-synchronous orbit – RESOURCESAT-1, 2, 2A CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and . Landsat satellites, data, and images and the role of space-based observations of Earth in our rapidly changing, challenging world for career awareness. Landsat is a national treasure. The federal government has funded a series of Landsat satellites to observe the Earth’s continental lands since in a manner consistentFile Size: 5MB.
List of Earth Observation Satellites. Launch Date Launch Mass Launch Vehicle Orbit Type Application Remarks ; RISAT-2BR1: Kg: PSLV-C48/RISAT-2BR1: LEO: Disaster Management System, Earth Observation: Cartosat PSLV-C47 / Cartosat-3 Mission: SSPO: Earth Observation. for earth satellites (nasa-tm-x) gps early-orbeit n subsystem for earth satellites (nasa) 65 p bc $ vq15 cscl 22a unclas g3/30 v. t. laczo j. l. maury, december t92 goddard space flight center greenbelt, maryland reproduced by national technical information service us department of commerce springfield, va.
The Pickwick Papers, Part 2
Youth task group report.
Anselm Kiefer/Paul Celan
Rebecca West: artist and thinker.
Ceremonies of holy church
The adventures of Rama
life of St. Katharine of Alexandria
Predicting water quality by relating secchi-disk transparency and chlorophyll a measurements to satellite imagery for Michigan inland lakes, August 2002
Stability response of stone- and dolos-armored, rubble-mound breakwater trunks subjected to spectral waves
As the rain falls
Personal social services statistics
Basic piano for the college student
Fortune is a woman
Between States and Markets
Documents of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of Ireland.
Get this from a library. Reflections on satellites for earth resource surveys: personal contributions to a summer study. [Amrom H Katz; Rand Corporation.]. A discussion and preliminary cost analysis showing that an aircraft reconnaissance system is highly preferable to proposed satellite systems for surveying earth resources.
The cost per square mile covered would be one-eighteenth that of the most nearly comparable (but markedly inferior) coverage possible with satellites. "Reflections From Earth Orbit" by Winston E. Scott is a well written true story about Scott's Experiences as a NASA space shuttle astronaut and US Navy test pilot, with reflections back on his child hood and High School years.
At one moment the reader feels like he is floating next to Scott in the total weightlessness of space and the next he /5(12). A Series of Earth Resource Satellites and its Potentialities Rajat Kumar, Ancy.S. UG Student, Sathyabama University, Chennai, India, : [email protected], 2.
Earth observation satellites which are used for pho-tographing the earth to observe the earthquake, Weather satellites File Size: 1MB. An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation from orbit, similar to spy satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc.
The first occurrence of satellite remote sensing can be dated to the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, by the Soviet Union.
Earth Survey Satellites and Cooperative Programmes pest and disease detection, mapping of forest fires, range surveys, hydrology and water resources development and geological applications were discussed in detail [4, 5, 6, 7].Author: P.D.
Bhavsar. SURVEYS OF THE EARTH'S RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT BY SATELLITES Dr. William Nordberg ABSTRACT Two of NASA's recent satellites have made very significant con-tributions to the systematic surveying of processes and phenom-ena occurring on the surface of the earth.
ERTS-1, which hasFile Size: 1MB. The Terra, Aqua, and EO-1 satellites are managed by NASA. Landsat satellites are managed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The iPad version of "Earth as Art" allows users to zoom into the book's 75 satellite images and access additional information on selected features and the satellites used.
The app can be downloaded by visiting. 42 Earth Resource Satellites satellite swath to cover a new area with each pass (Figure 3). The satellite’s orbit and the rotation of the Earth work together to allow complete coverage of the Earth’s surface, after it has completed one complete cycle of orbits (Figure 4).
Through these satellites the entire globe is covered on regular basis andFile Size: KB. Scientific research from NASA/ESA/JAXA. The invention of climate research through the use of satellite remote telemetry began in the s through development of space probes to study other planets.
During the U.S. economic decline inwith much of NASA's money going toward the Shuttle program, the Reagan Administration proposed to reduce spending on planetary. EARTH RESOURCES SATELLITES Earth resource satellites have the mission to monitor Earth's oceans, ice caps, and coastal regions etc.
They provide systematic, repetitive global measurements of wind speed and direction, wave height, surface temperature, surface altitude, cloud cover, and atmospheric water vapor level etc.
artificial satellite, object constructed by humans and placed in orbit around the earth or other celestial body (see also space probe).The satellite is lifted from the earth's surface by a rocket and, once placed in orbit, maintains its motion without further rocket propulsion.
The first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, was launched on Oct. 4,by the USSR; a test payload of a radio. Geodesy is the science of measuring and monitoring the size and shape of the Earth and the location of points on its surface. For nearly years, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has been in the business of developing and maintaining a national geodetic data system used for navigation, charting, and mapping.
the earth. Geostationary orbits: satellites, at very high altitudes (36, km), revolve at speeds which match the rotation of the earth -> they seem stationary relative to the earth.
Weather and communication satellites have these types of orbits. Near-polar orbits: have an inclination almost parallel to a line running between the North. Observation satellites could certainly contribute to, if not, in fact, provide, an inspection system.
An observation satellite could be used to detect and locate missile firings, for example, serving either to monitor agreements regarding missile launchings or to assist in reducing the measure of surprise from an attack.
The Social and Economic Impact of Earth Observing Satellites chapter 13 The Social and Economic Impact of Earth Observing Satellites henry r.
hertzfeld and ray mson. esearch, development, and operational investments of the U.S. government and. naSa for earth observations have had a large impact on the economy of the.
About small satellites have been launched sofar, but only a small percentage of these for earth observation. Nevertheless sensing with 8 m ground pixels has been : Gottfried Konecny. Create, upload and share your own space, solar system, planet and universe themed infographics on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.
We provide the data, graphics, images and research to get you started. Water resource monitoring with satellite data has included hydrologic mapping, soil moisture studies, and snow surveys.
Marine resources have been studied, with applications in the fishing industry and in ocean transportation. Agricultural applications, benefiting from the repetitive coverage possible with satellites, have been especially Cited by: 5.
Where the River Flows: Scientific Reflections on Earth's Waterways - Ebook written by Sean W. Fleming. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Where the River Flows: Scientific Reflections on Earth's Waterways.4/5(1). Landsat—Earth Observation Satellites SinceLandsat satellites have continuously acquired space-based images of the Earth’s land surface, providing data that.
serve as valuable resources for land use/land change research. The data are useful to a number of applications including.Welcome to Satellites on Earth.
Coming soon with our new travel experiences! Search. Archives. November ; Satellites on Earth. [email protected] Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén.Earth Resources Observation Satellite (EROS) is a series of Israeli commercial Earth observation satellites, designed and manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), with optical payload supplied by satellites are owned and operated by ImageSat International (ISI), another Israeli company, with some 35 full-time employees (of IntelSat's total of 50).Country of origin: Israel.


Our neighbor Venus is the brightest natural object in the night sky. Astronomers once speculated that the world hidden beneath its dense layer of clouds was a lush paradise. We now know that its surface is the hottest of any planet in our solar system, and its atmosphere is almost 100 times denser than our own. Probes sent to Venus are almost immediately destroyed.
I inked and painted this whole drawing and totally forgot about it!! Unbelievable.
I need to collect all my Laras on this blog.
Welcome to my sketchbook blog!! I have 3 books to go through so lets get started. This is the cover of one I started last summer when I was working at scenic Moran State Park (you can tell by the sticker, right). Most of the early pages are things I doodled during slow hours.
Hey guys! I’m uploading the best stuff from my sketchbooks, but I didn’t want to clutter this blog too much so I made a separate one. If you’re interested check it out!
Found this going through an old sketchbook. I like it.
Gonna crosspost these from my school blog cause I like em. My digital midterm was ‘do whatever you want’ so I doodled some ugly faces. Thinking about making stickers of these.
thefoodyouate asked: HEY is it okay if I use your cactus girl drawing for my blog? (its really cute and I would say its from you uvu)
Yes, absolutely! Thank you for asking.


Network calculations for r-process nucleosynthesis
We study the effects of the outer boundary conditions in neutrino-driven winds on the r-process nucleosynthesis we perform numerical simulations of hydrodynamics of. Nucleosynthesis of “light” r-elements in enrichment of heavy r-process nuclei • abundance network calculations are sensitive to (a,n. R-process nucleosynthesis calculations with complete nuclear physics r-process nucleosynthesis i of ﬁssion cyc les for each r-process calculation. Citeseerx - document details (isaac councill, lee giles, pradeep teregowda): we present the results of fully dynamical r-process network calculations for the ejecta. We perform numerical simulations of hydrodynamics of neutrino-driven winds and nuclear reaction network calculations of the r-process r-process nucleosynthesis.
Nucleosynthesis of the heavy elements the di erence between the s-process and r-process nucleosynthesis is curves show theoretical calculations for a single. R-process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers with the new nuclear reaction network skynet. Astrochemistry, astrobiology & cosmology center section 3 r-process etc for chemical evolution of galaxies with detailed nucleosynthesis calculator input.
Here we present r-process nucleosynthesis calculations based upon a model for a trajectories was solved in a large nuclear reaction network as temperatures fall. We use network calculations of r-process nucleosynthesis to pin down the origin of the peak in the solar r-process abundance distribution near nuclear mass number a.
The primary r-process has isotope abundances are typically calculated from the transition rates between isotopes in a network often these calculations can. What is r-java we present r-java 20, an r-process nucleosynthesis code equipped with a simple-to-use graphical user interface (gui. Nucleosynthesis in neutron-rich ejecta from favorable conditions for the r-process we perform network calculations that are r-process nucleosynthesis 1.
- We present the results of fully dynamical r-process network calculations for the ejecta of neutron star mergers (nsms) the late stages of the inspiral and the final.
- 1904 1912 collected essay essay virginia virginia woolf woolf so, fine, they were into each other network calculations for r-process nucleosynthesis.
This movie shows an r-process nucleosynthesis calculation with skynet, ye (electron fraction) = 001, s (entropy) = 10 kb / baryon, tau (exponential density decay time scale) = 71 ms download movie: ye_001_s_10_tau_71, ye_013_s_10_tau_71, ye_025_s_10_tau_71 this movie shows the r-process in a neutron star-black hole. Implications of grb 130603b and its macronova for r-process nucleosynthesis tsvi piran 1 rst network calculations based hydrodynamics simula. R-process in a new supernova k otsuki for nucleosynthesis calculations we use fully dynamical network code with more than 6000 nuclei and 10000 reactions.


The only supermoon of the year could be seen in the sky Sunday night in some parts of the world, while other areas were too overcast to catch a glimpse of the beautiful sight.
The term “supermoon” has only been used for about 40 years, and according to Space.com:
A supermoon needs two key ingredients to occur. The moon needs to be at its closest approach, or perigee, to the Earth in its 27-day orbit. The moon also needs to be at the full phase, which happens every 29.5 days when the sun fully illuminates the moon. Supermoons only happen a few times a year (at most) because the moon’s orbit changes orientation while the Earth orbits the sun — that’s why you don’t see a supermoon every month.
NASA states on their website that “The name ‘supermoon’ was coined by an astrologer in 1979 and is often used by the media today to describe what astronomers would call a perigean (pear-ih-jee-un) full moon: a full moon occurring near or at the time when the Moon is at its closest point in its orbit around Earth. The term gives preference to the geometric alignment of Sun-Earth-Moon and allows the occurrence of perigee into a wider time period than the actual instant of perigee (up to about two weeks, which is almost half of the Moon’s orbit).”
Many took to social media to rave about the beautiful glowing moon. Dennis Wyrick posted the following photo to Instagram showing the view from Tampa Bay, Florida:


Kerry Cassidy interviews international bank consultant and whistle-blower, talking about the global economic system and how it affects all the other layers of the entire system.
Chief scientist at Gunang Padang Danny Hilman talks about the state of affairs and new discoveries at the oldest known pyramid so fay.
Graham Hancock gives his perspective on psychedelics like DMT, ayahuasca, san pedro and marijuana and how they have been used since ancient times to connect with the divine/spirit. He also talks about ancient sites and civilizations, the paradoxes they bring to the forefront. There is an interesting question and answer session towards the end.
VLT reveals alignments between supermassive black hole axes and large-scale structure
New observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have revealed alignments over the largest structures ever discovered in the Universe. A European research team has found that the rotation axes of the central supermassive black holes in a sample of quasars are parallel to each other over distances of billions of light-years. The team has also found that the rotation axes of these quasars tend to be aligned with the vast structures in the cosmic web in which they reside.
This series by John West is a little old, but raises a lot of questions on human history, the pyramids, their construction, who built them and their purpose. It actually raises more questions, rather than giving answers. His work is influenced by R.A. Scwaller de Lubicz, who was one of the first to recognize sacred geometry in the construction of the pyramids.
Heikki Savolained, sound engineer, presents information on his research at the Bosnian Pyramids. By taking measurements with electromagnetic sensors he presents his findings. This electromagnetic phenomena is related to meditation.


7/20/2019 at 2:00 PM
Join us for a celebration of the Moon Landing: We will share memories of the famous first footsteps on the moon, and enjoy space-themed snacks. There will also be various posters, books, and informational literature.
Free and open to the public.
Spout Springs Branch Library
||6488 Spout Springs Rd., Flowery Branch, GA 30542
||770-532-3311 ext. 192
This event is limited to the Adult Summer Challenge (ages 18 and up) program.


Place on a table with coloured large marbles that represent the planets and all things space. Let the child reinvent the scene.
Get a child to hold a card behind their back, all other children can guess what planet it is by asking questions and the child up the front has to answer.
Have the children ask questions about each planet and see if they can find objects in nature to represent each planet ie, colour, texture etc.
A great visual tool, promote vocabulary skills, offers fun and interesting facts about space. Teaches basic concepts like day night, the moon, the sun, and the planets.
11 piece – approx. 10 x 14cm
Made using 3 mm plywood, this is an all Australian Made And Owned product.
Every piece of wood used is slightly different in colour, texture and grain. The naturally occurring imperfections seen in the timber (e.g knots, colour changes, etc) cannot be removed. These pieces of timber are cut on an engraver and will have slight burnt marks on the edges on some sides.
Outer Space Cards:
- 11 piece – approx. 10 x 14cm
- Ignite your child’s curiosity about all things astronomy with our collection of Outer Space cards. Each card features stunning coloured images of the Sun, our Moon, and all the planets in our solar system, including Pluto, which was recently downgraded from a planet to a planetoid or dwarf planet!
- The cards also include simple yet interesting facts to spark discussion about our universe and the cosmic objects we can see in our skies.


At the time of this posting there will be a partial solar eclipse visible in Europe, at least in theory. As of right now, there is simply too much mist to see anything, so I won’t bother going outside to watch unless things change dramatically. Seeing as I also missed the Transit of Venus in 2012 for pretty much the same reason, this is a bit of a bummer, but that’s what you get for being born in the Netherlands and not moving to a place that has less rain/clouds/mist.
Anyway, since I’m well aware that you shouldn’t look at a solar eclipse without specialized gear, I bought myself a pair of eclipse glasses in 2012 for the Transit of Venus. Seeing as they haven’t been used yet (outside of that one time I tested them without there being an actual eclipse), I figured this would be an excellent opportunity.
In other words. I had absolutely no idea where the glasses might be, and I spent an hour searching for them. I asked my girlfriend if she knew where they might be hidden, and while she did suggest half a dozen places where they might be (that I never would have figured out by myself), I didn’t find them.
I still have no idea where they are. But that’s not the most important thing about this whole situation. While I was searching I ran into a number of things I didn’t expect to find:
Shortly after I found my yearbook, I found what I can best describe as the jackpot. Not my eclipse glasses, but something way more valuable: memories.
Sometimes you don’t find what you’re looking for. Sometimes you find something much, much better.


|Link to The Independent|
"Einstein's theory of relativity states that time and space are not as constant as everyday life would suggest. He suggested that the only true constant, the speed of light, meant that time can run faster or slower depending on how high you are, and how fast you are travelling.
"Now scientists have demonstrated the true nature of Einstein's theory for the first time with an incredibly accurate atomic clock that is able to keep time to within one second in about 3.7 billion years – roughly the same length of time that life has existed on Earth.
"... What's really remarkable is that these studies show these incredibly small effects of relativity over such short distances. They have demonstrated graphically that, although we think of relativity as an esoteric theory of no relevance to everyday life, we can in fact show that it is really true that you will grow old marginally faster, if you stand just one step higher on a staircase."


SPACE MINING THE NEXT FRONTIER
By Jeff Plate
SPACE MINING MAYBE THE NEXT UNICORN FARM FOR THE GLOBAL INVESTMENT COMMUNITY.
In its groundbreaking “Conceptual Economic Study for Lunar Water Mining (2019)” (available at www.wgm.ca), Watts, Griffis & McOuat Ltd. (“WGM”), a globally well respected geological consultancy, has forecast a $206B USD market for water in space over the next 30 years. WGM’s production model proposes that water can be commercially produced at a cost of $0.5m USD per tonne and sold for a value of $10m USD per tonne, noting that a commercial market exists today.
FROM SCIENCE FICTION TO REALITY
For decades there has been talk of colonizing space with little to show for it as there was no overreaching commercial reason to do so. In the last few years, this paradigm has changed due to three major factors. First, the development of commercial launch capabilities at the fraction of the cost of government agencies. Second, development of reusable spacecraft and standardization of equipment improving reliability and reducing costs. Finally, the renewed engagement of the United States Government in pace and the desire to have a permanent presence on the Moon and Mars, driven by a renewed space race with China.
WHERE ARE THE MARKETS?
With renewed bi-partisan support and funding, NASA has been directed to land people on the Moon in 2024 and on Mars by 2030 via both the Artemis and Moon to Mars programs. Part of the mandate of NASA is a requirement to resupply via lunar resources; this is known as in-situ resource utilization (“ISRU”) or space mining. The first target is known water resources on the lunar poles for use as propellant, life support and coolant. NASA itself is expected to be an initial client; however, to support its mission the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) program has signed contracts with nine commercial companies to deliver cargo to the lunar surface. They are all looking for resupply on the Moon as well. Finally, there are a large number of commercial and military satellites in low Earth orbit whose operators have a keen commercial and military interest in orbital thruster propellant refueling which could be supplied from lunar derived sources rather than terrestrial ones. For more information on orbital refueling look at OrbitFab (www.orbitfab.space) the leading company looking to put a gas station in orbit.
WHY WATER AND NOT METALS
WGM and NASA has concluded that water will be the first exploitable resource in space because it is the easiest to access, has the most potential applications and is the first commodity in which commercial contracts to acquire are available. Further, other volatiles such as methane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide will also be exploitable as feedstock for 3D printer manufacturing, construction materials and inputs for other processes such as space agriculture. Metals will eventually be exploited for local use; however, they will not be cost competitive in terrestrial markets and development of lunar infrastructure will be required before substantive metal mining will occur.
MINING IN SPACE IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM EARTH
All mining in space will be conducted robotically via autonomous or semi-autonomous robots with oversight and control from Earth based operators as it is too difficult, costly and dangerous to use humans. Low gravity, lack of atmosphere, high thermal flux, dust and solar radiation require specialized equipment and operations. Also, due to the Outer Space Treaty (1967), no country can claim sovereignty or jurisdiction in space. This means no taxation, permitting, environmental study or community engagement required to mine; just show up and dig. On the flip side, there are limited to no property rights, no policing or enforcement of contract or property rights in space, only enforcement of contracts in Earth based jurisdictions where they are made.
UNICORNS IN SPACE
As with any new market, the first movers gain a tremendous commercial advantage over later arriving rivals. WGM compares space mining to the early days of the internet when no one knew what it was or how big it would become. If humanity continues to expand and permanently colonizes space,
it will need resources, not just water, for everything. It makes no economic sense to bring it all from Earth. There is a narrow window
of opportunity for enterprising companies to supply this market, while making extraordinary profits while operating in a tax and regulation free environment.
The future is now for space mining!


Leadership skills and exploration with STEM are our focus this year as we meet new Beacons!
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Today we traveled and explored the vast reaches of the universe- from the Milky Way to the Great Wall of China to the Great Barrier Reef and the Northern Lights. Wow! What a trip it was and we never left the comfort of the Bookman Science Lab. Sharon Lone from SC Military Kids once again brought us an exciting science and technology activity. Here we are enjoying the "virtual" sites!


David Malin (b. 1941) is the world’s pre-eminent astronomical photographer. After graduating from technical college in Bury, Lancashire, Malin began his career as an assistant in a pesticide laboratory. Within a decade he was head of the electron microscopy laboratory of the research department of Ciba-Geigy. He moved to Australia in 1975 and joined the Anglo-Australian Observatory in NSW; he was to retire from the AAO as a principal research scientist in 2001. Malin won his first astronomical awards in 1985, when he took out the Henri Chretien Award of the American Astronomical Society and the Jackson-Gwilt Medal and Prize of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has since received many photographic awards including the Rodman Medal of the Royal Photographic Society and the Progress Medal of the Photographic Society of America. The Malin Award is the premier Australian astrophotography competition. Author of over 250 scientific papers and essays and recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Sydney and RMIT University, he has two patents to his name. He has held many solo photographic exhibitions internationally, and a documentary about Malin’s work, The Man Who Colours Stars, was released in 1997. Since 1996 Malin has been Adjunct Professor of Scientific Photography at RMIT University.
In this self-portrait, Malin is in the prime focus cage of the Anglo-Australian Observatory telescope. There, he has spent many hours taking astronomical photographs, some of which require exposure times of 60 to 90 minutes to reveal the faintest objects in the sky.
Gift of the artist 2005
Accession number: 2005.118
More about the artist and subject
Permanent collection catalogue
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.


Seth Lloyd, a quantum-mechanical engineer at MIT, estimated the number of “computer operations” our universe has performed since the Big Bang — basically, every event that has ever happened. To repeat them, and generate a perfect facsimile of reality down to the last atom, would take more energy than the universe has.
“The computer would have to be bigger than the universe, and time would tick more slowly in the program than in reality,” says Lloyd. “So why even bother building it?”
But others soon realized that making an imperfect copy of the universe that’s just good enough to fool its inhabitants would take far less computational power. In such a makeshift cosmos, the fine details of the microscopic world and the farthest stars might only be filled in by the programmers on the rare occasions that people study them with scientific equipment. As soon as no one was looking, they’d simply vanish.
In theory, we’d never detect these disappearing features, however, because each time the simulators noticed we were observing them again, they’d sketch them back in.
That realization makes creating virtual universes eerily possible, even for us. Today’s supercomputers already crudely model the early universe, simulating how infant galaxies grew and changed. Given the rapid technological advances we’ve witnessed over past decades — your cell phone has more processing power than NASA’s computers had during the moon landings — it’s not a huge leap to imagine that such simulations will eventually encompass intelligent life.
Alea iacta est.
Approaching death Shisui students asked him to write a death poem. Shisui “grasped his brush, painted a circle, cast the brush aside and died”. (Hoffmann, 295)
This symbol is known as the enso which is prominent in Zen Buddhism and indicates the emptiness of all things. (text: japanesereligion.blogspot - image: maitrisheart.blogspot)
Artemis: Enso symbolizes enlightenment, the universe and the void.
Tom and I are pretty pumped to announce our new Kickstarter project today for the Neat Ice Kit. What is the Neat Ice Kit, you ask? Well, it’s a set of tools for creating beautifully clear ice for a variety of cocktails, right at home. The included tools allow you to create three distinct…
There’s a limit, however, to heat’s ability to boost our mood: when temperatures reach the kind of summer highs that mark heat waves all over the world, the effect rapidly deteriorates. In a 2013 study of perceived well-being, the economist Marie Connolly found that on days when the temperature rose above ninety degrees, the negative impact on happiness levels was greater than the consequences of being widowed or divorced.
We hate being really cold. But we really hate being really hot.


At 00:57 GMT space shuttle Endeavour launched successful. The space shuttles payload contains special equipment and modules to upgrade the ISS for a bigger crew. The shuttle has been launch right on schedule with only several small errors, like a door inside the shuttle which wasn't secured for 100%.
This mission will change the ISS for more than a small bit. A bigger crew means the ISS is getting more important. It also means that there will be made more flights to change the crew and bring new food. This will result in spacecrafts which will be cheaper and better to use. The upcoming rocket to blow the space shuttle aside will be the Ares rocket.
No other blog is better to read than the Nasa STS-126 blog itself:


I would argue it's a very, very good bet that we (intelligent man) would not be here now if one totally random event in the history of earth had not occurred. I refer to being hit by that dinosaur killing, mammal preserving, (little) 6 mile wide meteorite 65 million years ago that created the Cretaceous and-Tertiary boundary!Is the development of intelligent life an incredible, extremely low probability, accident?
"The question of questions for mankind, the problem which underlies all others, and is more deeply interesting than any other, is the ascertainment of the place man occupies in nature, and of his relation to the universe of things. Whence our race has come.No evidence of life in space
Thomas Huxley, 1863
In popular astronomy writing and TV of the 60's and 70's the most commonly heard viewpoint on extraterrestrial life was that it considered to be very likely. One famous astronomer of earlier years who often talked about the high likelihood of life in the universe was Carl Sagan. Early in his career he coauthored a book titled: Intelligent Life in the Universe", and has been quoted as saying, "I personally have been captured by the notion of extraterrestrial life, and especially extraterrestrial intelligence from childhood".
The 'life is everywhere' view was based on two simple assumptions: high likelihood of huge number of habitable planets x high likelihood of life just starting up (given enough time). (But I never really bought it.). In the 21st century the scientist belief/hope that 'life is everywhere' seems to have faded badly. The first quote that we may be all alone that I've seen is below.
Richard Dawkins, famous evolutionary biologist, in his new book expresses a view much like my own:
"Most scientists hunch is that there are independently evolved life forms dotted around planetary islands throughout the universe -- though sadly too thinly scattered to encounter one another. ... But is it also possible that we really are alone in the universe, in which case Earth, with its greatest show on earth (meaning life, and not coincidentally the title of Dawkins new book!), is the most remarkable planet in the universe." (WSJ 9/09)Stars
Old, early generation, dim stars, like those in globular clusters, are likely to have been formed from clouds that were poor in 'metals. In astronomy metallicity of an object is the proportion of its matter that is not hydrogen or helium. In this sense earth and life are mostly made of 'metals'. Metallicity of stars goes up when stars are formed later in the life of the universe and in regions of high star concentration. The metallicity of the Sun, formed in the last 1/3 of the life of the universe, is approximately 1.6 per cent by mass.
The black hole cores of young galaxies tend to emit huge amounts of radiation (we see them as quasars). Planets in young galaxies or anywhere near the center of any galaxy when its large black hole is 'feeding' are likely to be bathed in nasty, high intensity, life killing radiation.
Most stars are in binary (or triplet) systems, and any planets they have are very unlikely to have stable, constant temperature orbits.
Large stars run hot and burn out in much less than the 4 billion years it takes, or seems to take, intelligent life to develop. This argument, of course, may be parochial because we have only one data point, the time required for intelligent life to appear on earth.
Small, dim stars, while much longer lived, have only narrow, relatively circular, orbital regions where solar flux stays in an earth like range. This argument is somewhat weakened by the fact that earth seems to have accommodated a 30% change in solar flux by (apparently) varying the concentration of the greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere (Gaia hypothesis?).
A planet in a highly elliptical orbit around a dim start would tend to have wicked temperature variations on land (if there is any). But such a planet might be able to harbor life its oceans because the ocean temperature, due to its large thermal inertia, would be controlled by the average temperature of the planet over its whole orbit. Large temperature swings on land would seems to be a negative for the development of intelligent life.
A lot of stars are tightly packed in the center of galaxies or in globular clusters. When stars are close, near collisions are common which would disrupt planetary orbits. Also when stars are close a nearby supernova can easily sterilize the surface.
The fact that the solar system contains a very large mass planet (Jupiter) has protected earth from (too many) catastrophic impacts in last few billion years. Jupiter with 318 times the mass of earth (about 0.1% the mass of the sun) with help from Saturn (30% the mass of Jupiter) has over time cleaned out the inner solar system of most of the chaotic or widely circulating smaller bodies. If they come near Jupiter, they either get sucked in or accelerated hugely and thrown out of the (inner) solar system.
This cleaning out of potential comets and meteorites has (over time) hugely reduced the number and size large bodies hitting the earth. Computer simulation shows that with Jupiter and Saturn reduced to the size of Uranus and Neptune (about 15 times the mass of earth) the earth is hit with a mass extinction size comet or meteroid 1,000 times more often, roughly every 100,00 years instead of every 100 million years. This would greatly increase the chances that earth (or the earth's surface) would be sterilized, or pushed back to the single cell evolution stage, by a large impact.
Astronomical history of earth
Earth has a single, large moon, which based on evidence from moon rocks is thought to have formed from the debris of a huge collision earth had with a Mars sized object In other words the creation of our large moon, which is huge relative to the size of the planet, looks to be pretty unlikely. It is thought that without our moon the earth's axis tilt would be unstable and chaotic. How significant this is would probably depend on the time scale, which I have never seen anything on. The effect of a tilt change to life (I would think) would be somewhat on the order of continents moving around, which happens on a time scale of a 10-100 million years.
Earth's orbit around the sun, though technically an elipse, is nearly circular. Hence orbit induced variations in solar radiation on earth are small. But even the earth's very small solar radiation variation due to its orbit is thought to be a (fundamental) driving forces behind cyclical ice ages in the last few million years.
Earth needed enough mass (and radioactive elements) to keep its core molten for four+ billion years. The molten core provides a magnetic field that protects the atmosphere from erosion by the solar wind. Current thinking is that Mars, which has only about 1/9th the mass of the earth, lost most of its atmosphere because it lost its magnetic field a few billion years ago it cooled enough so that its iron core 'froze out'.
The hot interior of the earth is also necessary for plate tectonics. Many people think that plate tectonics, which results in (so called) drift of continents and volcanos is a fundamental driving force for evolution and also strongly affects the make up of the atmosphere and temperature of the earth. Venus, with nearly the same mass as earth but no plate tectonics, has a blazing hot surface and is held up as an example of how important plate tectonics is for life.
Snowball earth --- a recent theory is that glaciers covered all land on earth (down to the tropics) several times between 580 and 750 million years ago. Though controversial, this theory has gained a lot of support. In a 1999 paper titled, The Snowball Earth, by Hoffman and Schrag of Harvard, the authors write
"A series of global "freeze-fry" events would cause population "bottlenecks and flushes", observed to accelerate evolutionary rates in some species. The crash in population size accompanying a global glaciation would be followed by millions of years of comparative genetic isolation in high-stress environments. This is a favorable scenario for genomic reorganization and the evolution of new body plans. Finally, repopulations following each glaciation would occur in transient selective environments quite different from those preceding the glaciation, favoring the emergence of new life forms."In other words the authors of the snowball earth theory are arguing that the freezing out of the earth was a huge 'kick in the pants' to evolution. And since it occurred around 600 million years ago just at, the time of the Cambrian explosion, it was very likely (the authors argue) to have been the driving force for the blossoming of multi-cellular life and the development of all known body plans.
Gaia history of earth
How come the earth's temp has remained so stable and in the right zone for life as the sun has warmed 30% (predicted by solar models) in last few billion years? Is this another stroke of dumb luck, or is this a (Gaia like) negative feedback effect with life changing the CO2 in the atmosphere and/or the albedo of the earth to hold the temp in the right zone for life?
For about the first third of the earth's history there was little to no oxygen in the earth's atmosphere. Only when photosynthesizing cyanobacteria, which put out oxygen as a waste product, evolved 3 million years ago did the atmosphere begin to develop the high oxygen levels that nearly all land and marine animals need to live. --- This is a standard argument, but it bothers me. I would think the oxygen build-up in the atmosphere would cause high oxygen levels in the ocean too and kill off the anaerobic cyanobacteria making the oxygen. So why didn't the oxygen content of the atmosphere level off at much lower levels?
Newer findings indicates that the Earth's oceans were largely anoxic and highly sulfidic up until about 600 million years ago, which is the time of the Cambrian explosion.
Mass extinctions on earth
The classic mass extinction is the last major extinction that occurred 65 million years ago (Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction) that killed off the dinosaurs, clearing the way for mammals. The leading theory (Alvarez hypothesis), which is pretty well confirmed at this point, is that this extinction was caused by a 6 mile dia (really pretty small!) meteorite hitting the Yucatan peninsular in Mexico (Chicxulub Crater). A study reported in the Geological Society of America Bulletin in 2006 says new samples provide compelling evidence that one and only one (meteorite) impact caused the KT mass extinction Overview article here:
250 million years ago the biggest mass extinction occurred with 95% of marine species killed and 70% of land species. This is the Permo-Triassic extinction. This extinction cleared the way for eventual dominance by dinosaurs. It's unclear what the cause of this extinction was. It could have been an asteroid, but more likely was a long series of enormous volcanic eruptions (resulting in flood basalts) in Siberia..
Implications of mass extinctions on earth
The earth seems to have had about the 'right number' (a slippery term if ever there was one) of catastrophic mass extinctions (about 5 big ones). Not too many and not too big, and not too few and not too small. Mass extinctions by killing off competition opens up resources, thus jumps starts evolution.
Clearly there was risk that an extinction causing meteorite hitting the earth might have been just a little 'too big'. A meteorite with x10 dia likely has x1,000 times the mass and (potentiall) x1,000 times the energy. 'Too big' could kill off not 95%, but 100% of life, sterilizing the earth, or at least the surface. Or maybe just killing all 'higher' (multi-cellular) life, setting back the evolutionary clock by a couple of billion years to the single cell stage.
There is also the risk that earth would have had too few (or too small) mass extinctions. If the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction had not happened, would mammals have been able to out compete dinosaurs? Who knows? But more than a hundred million years (a long, long time) of dinosaur dominance argues that mammals would never have become dominant. It's a very good bet that mammal evolution would have been radically different if mammals had had to compete with dinosaurs (for a long time).
Think about the implications of this one truly random eventWhat does the god squad have to say about this? If I know them, damn little.
A metorite, just big enough to kill all the dinosaurs without sterilzing the earth, hits earth when mammals (with their superior temperature regulation and internal fetus development) already exist, and some mammals survive the extinction. To me this speaks volumes about the incredible dumb luck that we are here.
Time scale of single cell germs, animals and plants
For about 80% of the history of the earth life has existed on earth at the maximum complexity level was one cell. This is a long, long time, several billion years. It is apparently (but not surprisingly) a huge (and highly unlikely?) evolutionary jump to increase complexity level to more than one cell.
For about the first 50% of earth's history the complexity level of the cell was at the level of bacteria and archaea., which are 'simpler' cells with no nucleus. Archaea are a group of early microorganisms, which today thrive primarily in extremely harsh environments, are a separate life form from bacteria and cells with nucleus (eukaryotes).
About 1.5 to 2 billion years ago, the last 44% (2 bil/4.5 bil = .44) of earth's history, the complexity level of single cells increased with the development of eukaryote cells. It was a big evolutionary step to go from bacteria and archaea, with simple internal cell structures, to the much more complex eukaryote cells of animals, plants, fungi and certain unicellular organisms, whose cells have a visible nucleus.
Not only do eukaryote cells they have their DNA separated into the nucleus but they are sort of a hybrid cell with enclosed, specialized regions like chloroplasts (in photosynthetic eukaryotes like green algae) and mitochondria (in aerobic eukaryotes chemical energy is trapped in the microchondria). The prevailing theory is that these specialized regions were originally independent bacteria/archea cells that have become incorporated into eukaryote cells in sort of a symbiotic relationship. Microchondria and chloroplasts even have their own separate DNA!
Only about 600 million years ago, the last 13% ( 0.6 bil /4.5 bil = 0.12) of earth's history do the first multicellular simple animals (worms, etc) begin to develop.This is the so-called Cambrian Explosion. These little, soft body, animals were rarely preserved. Most of what we know abou them comes from a bed of fine grain oil shale in Canada about 520 million years old, known as the Burgess shale.
Ttimeline of life's evolution is here (Wikipedia)
Time scale of human evolution
It's took 4-6 million years for a series of more and more 'man-like' hominids to develop with the latest (homo sapiens) appearing 100k years ago. Note, since the earth is (about) 4.5 billion years old , 4.5 million years is only 0.1% the age of the earth. From another point of view nothing even reembling man (in any way) walked on earth for 99.9% of earth's history. 4-6 million years for human evolution means quasi-men were around for maybe 400 to 600 times the 10k years there has been civilization (Holocene era). That's a long, long time for men to be around and no civilization.
Even the last humanoid variation, homo sapiens (otherwise known as us), apparently 'goofed around' for 90k years (during an ice age) before starting to develop civilization. This is 3,600 generations and no civilization. How come? No one really knows, but based on cultural artifacts, like cave paintings and carved figurine, that first appear about 40,000 years ago, the guessing is that language developed about this time. In other words it took homo sapiens about 60,000 years to learn to speak, and even after he learned to speak he apparently 'goofed around' for another 30,000 years (1,200 generations) before starting to develop civilization. Hey, what gives guys?
All this long, tortuous 'human' history does not give me a 'warm and fuzzy' that intelligent life (in the sense of civilization) was likely to arise, even with all these men and quasi-men running around on this planet.
Here is a link with a summary of the 14 quasi-men preceding our species (homo sapiens) over the last 6 million years.
Civilization --- fraction of the age of the universe
All civilization, including development of farming and domestication of animals, has occurred in the last 10 thousand years, fitting nicely into the last 10k interglacial period of 100k ice age cycles. This is 10^4/13.7 x 10^9 =7.3 x 10^-7 or 7.3 x 10^-5 % or 0.00007% the age of the universe. Boy, god sure took his time developing civilization.
A huge number of apes went extinct in the Miocene (5 to 24 million years ago). This was probably because continental changes and developing grasslands caused tropical forests, where apes lived, to dramatically shrink. It's a good thing a few apes linages survived to produce hominids.
Bootleneck in human evolution shown by genes
"There are many reasons to believe that there may have been a number of severe population size bottlenecks on the lineage leading to living humans." This paper estimates the most recent bottleneck at 1.5 million years ago "at the beginning of our lineage, the end of the Pliocene some 2 million years ago." with a (worldwide) human population of 10k to 100k (Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:2-22 (2000) paper)
Extraterrestrial Life and our World View at the Turn of the Millennium Lecture by Steven J. Dick
Dibner Library Lecture, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, May 2, 2000. (not very interesting)
" Many evolutionary biologists, such as George Gaylord Simpson and Ernst Mayr, seeing the great complexity of life and its evolution on the way to human intelligence, are very skeptical about the existence of intelligence in the universe."


Michael Leigh started looking through telescopes as an 8 year old and his interest in astronomy stayed with him in the form of a lifelong hobby. After losing his job as vice president in a manufacturing plant, Leigh took temporary employment with a telescope manufacturer, while making plans to run a bed-and-breakfast with his wife. The Observer’s Inn, located in Julian, California is designed for star gazing, with a private observatory that Leigh built by hand with a friend. In reading Leigh’s story, we’re struck by how one’s interests and passions, when nourished over the years, can germinate and come forth in unexpected ways. Kudos to Leigh for creating a new career he loves and for sharing his sense of wonder with others.


For more than a decade Ben Bova has been creating novels about the human race's expansion
through the solar system. From the Moon to Mars, Venus, Jupiter and the Asteroid
Belt, his novels show the adventure and excitement of our advance across the space
frontier. He is author of 130 futuristic novels and nonfiction books.
ALSO: • Involved
in science and high technology since the 1950’s • President Emeritus of the National
Space Society • Past president of Science Fiction Writers of America • Recipient,
Lifetime Achievement Award, Arthur C. Clarke Foundation • Frequent radio and television
commentator, widely-popular lecturer • Award-winning editor and executive in the aerospace
industry. • Winner of the John W. Campbell Award for TITAN in 2006.


This NASA chart showing the tactics, timing and trajectory of Apollo 11 is simply extraordinary.
It makes the moon landing all the more impossible, therefore, amazing.
And it’s all based on two things: having a tightly defined mission, and using a blend of creativity (what if) and facts (physics) to create the approach to achieve that mission.
Those two critical elements were the guideposts for all the ideas, investments, tactics, tests and decisions to come.
And, funny, but if you’re a marketing guy like me and you squint hard enough, this graph sorta resembles a strategic marketing plan, doesn’t it?
Clarify the mission
It certainly seemed clear enough: Land a man on the moon.
But if they hadn’t properly clarified and clearly articulated the mission more, it would have meant big trouble.
Because the mission wasn’t to land a man on the moon. It was to safely return him to earth after having landed on the moon.
Interesting, too, that if you squint at this, it kinda resembles a mission statement like one you might have for your business.
Then, squint even harder, and you might even extrapolate the beginnings of a brand position: ‘We allow you to explore the cosmos safely”
Create the approach
Once NASA had its purpose and mission tightly nailed down, Von Braun and his crew of 1000+ scientists and engineers started working on how best to accomplish their mission
That meant acknowledging a lot of hard truths (aka: challenges), the biggie being escaping the gravitational pull of earth (and later, the moon).
Three theories were proposed:
Direct Ascent — requiring a rocket to launch a vehicle that could reach the moon, land and then return directly to Earth without multiple stages.
Earth Orbit Rendezvous—requiring a number of rockets to lift segments of a moon vehicle into orbit around the Earth, where it would be constructed and then sent on its way.
Lunar Orbit Rendezvous—recognized that every part of the rocket (except the capsule) would be discarded during the mission, so why not have the lander be disposable as well? Which allowed for a smaller, less weightier rocket to get the capsule and lunar lander into space.
Made sense. Their (clarified) purpose wasn’t safely returning a machine to earth, but a man.
So off they went, developing the LOR rocket and anticipating/solving the other challenges it would have on the way there and back.
Do that squinting trick one more time, and it’s much like building a multi-faceted marketing program with a clarified reason and approach acting as guidepost when encountering and solving challenges down the road.
And, just like NASA, using a blend of creativity (emotional elements) and facts (features and benefits) to develop meaningful messages (and adapting them to the best delivery methods) that will safely find their way to landing on the customers’ mind, where the brand flag will be planted.
Or turning obstacles into opportunities (NASA used the earth’s gravitational pull as an accelerant to slingshot Apollo 11 towards the moon … Avis used the fact they were behind Hertz as a meaningful differentiator, as proof they have to “try harder” to please you.)
Shoot for the moon.
When you clarify and clearly articulate what your brand position and purpose is, every member of your organization will know what they need to solve and why they are solving it.
When you dream up and developed a strategic approach to bring your brand promise to the market, your potential customers will understand where you fit in their lives and why.
You’ll have something very powerful that can shake the earth and rattle your teeth.
Something that can take your company as high as it wants to go.
And it will be glorious.


Curiosity Touches Down on Mars and the Landing is Perfect
It was a tense weekend for the aerospace program as the science exploration rover, Curiosity, approached the thin atmosphere of Mars. The Red Planet often seems to be jinxed. Historically, there have been more failures than success stories in attempting to land capsules on Mars, with 24 failed attempts and 15 successful ones, but the space agency was optimistic. Out of eight attempted American landings, only two had failed.
On the fourth of August, the robotic rover reached its destination, piercing through an icy sky, and beginning its harrowing descent. The moment of truth had arrived, and all eyes remained on the control panels as they waited for the verdict. They did not have to wait long. Amid cheers and cries, it was announced that Curiosity had touched down and the landing had been a success.
Curiosity began its 352 million mile journey in November, traveling at 13,000 miles per hour before piercing the atmosphere of Mars. Its mission is to examine the terrain in search of evidence that the planet had once supported life. For two years, the rover will be busy exploring the Gale Crater, analyzing samples of soil, rocks and the atmosphere for clues as to the planet’s capacity for supporting the microbial building blocks for life in the past or in the present.
Curiosity’s performance has been exemplary. Both the time of arrival and location for touch down in the giant crater with a three-mile high mountain were precise. As soon as it landed, it began transmitting back to earth photographs showing its wheels resting comfortably on the planet’s surface.
Weighing in at over a ton, the robotic vehicle was not able to land in the traditional method used by previous rovers, with air bags to ease its descent. Its fall was cushioned by a super-sonic parachute, as well as rockets to slow its entrance into Mars gravity, and a set of tethers to help it land in its last few feet. The innovative landing gear had never been tried before, making the touch down with Mars, Curiosity’s first field trip.
It will be several weeks before the rover can actually begin work. Mission control must first go over Curiosity’s highly sophisticated mechanical and electronic equipment to ensure there was no damage during its long flight and descent. The ten foot long vehicle, also known as the Mars science laboratory, could almost be called a living thing. Curiosity has a brain, a body, an arm, wheels for legs, an ability to “see” for communications, a battery for a life support system and ears for listening. It is the most advanced robotic rover yet built by the aeronautics program, and the largest vehicle to land on Mars.
It was a moment of victory for NASA, which recently faced severe budget cuts for its shuttle program with the International Space Station. For the past year, astronauts have had to depend on Russian transportation to arrive at and leave the space station.
President Obama declared Curiosity’s triumph “was an unprecedented feat in technology, that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future.” For the men and women who worked at Cape Canaveral, it was proof that America still has something it can be proud of , and that much can be accomplished through will and determination.


I am a theoretical cosmologist. My areas of research are: the nature of dark matter, neutrinos and other light relics, and the physics of the early universe. I use observables such as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the large-scale structure of the universe, 21-cm radiation, and strong gravitational lensing to shed light on these questions.
I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Harvard University.
You can find my research highlights here.
For more information about my research, please look at the Harvard Physics faculty website.
I am the Harvard Representative at our newly NSF-funded Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI)’s Board. This is a joint effort together with colleagues at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, and Northeastern. Our goal is to solve problems in fundamental physics and astrophysics using AI, while at the same time improving the AI foundations.
Prior to beginning a faculty position at Harvard in the fall of 2015, I was a NASA Hubble Fellow (awarded by NASA) and an ITC Fellow in the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard. Previously, I was a postdoctoral member of the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. In July 2011, I received my Ph.D. at the Department of Physics of the University of Chicago, where I won the “Sydney Bloomenthal Fellowship” for “outstanding performance in research”. I did my undergraduate at the University of Buenos Aires School of Science, where I received my Diploma in Physics (M.S. equivalent). I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I have been awarded the DOE Early Career award (August, 2019). I have been awarded a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship for 2018-2019 and a Shutzer Professorship at the Radcliffe Institute for the period 2015-2019. I have been named the “2018 Scientist of the year” by the Harvard Foundation for “Salient Contributions to Physics, Cosmology and STEM Education”. In 2012, I have been given the “Martin and Beate Block Award”, awarded to the best young physicist by the Aspen Center for Physics.
I was the Co-Leader of the Inflation analysis group in the next generation CMB-S4 experiment. Prior to this, I was the Leader of the Dark Matter analysis group.
I am a full member of the Vera Rubin Observatory’s LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC).
I have given more than 100 invited talks at conferences and workshops around the world.
I am supported by the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), a Star Family award for Promising Scientific Research, three Dean’s Competitive Fund awards for Promising Scholarship, and a Radcliffe Fellowship.
Postdoc opportunities: If you are interested in joining my research group, please send me an email to: email@example.com. Postdoc candidates should send a research statement, three letters of recommendation and a CV. Harvard University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative action Employer, and applications from women and underrepresented minorities are strongly encouraged.
Last update on May, 2022


Satellites are no simple invention. They have been a breakthrough technology in discovering much about our planet, the other planets in our solar system, and the rest of our vast universe. However, many people are clueless about the components of satellites since they can be a little complicated. After all, a satellite bus is a complex system that houses equipment for monitoring, capturing, and withstanding complex journeys.
Satellites and Their Components
A satellite is any object that constantly orbits the planet. Different planets have their own natural ones, just like our Earth has the Moon as its natural satellite. However, in this case, we refer to the man-made spacecraft that orbit the planet and collect necessary data. Such a “device” consists of the satellite bus and the payload. What are these components? And how does the satellite bus work, or what are the functions of the payload? Let us answer these questions.
Payload is essentially what makes up a satellite and refers to its instruments needed for a specific space mission. For instance, the Earth Observation satellite has a camera as its payload, which captures pictures of the planet as needed. Similarly, remote sensing systems have radar or some other sensing equipment as their payload.
No matter how necessary a payload is, the essential component of any satellite is its bus. It makes up the structural base of the spacecraft, and it holds the payload along with all the scientific instruments necessary for a space mission.
Much like how a simple city bus transports passengers, a satellite bus transports the payload. The payload can differ depending on the mission. However, the structure of a bus remains the same for almost all devices. Let us dig deeper into satellite bus details.
A satellite bus comprises several subsystems, and all these subsystems have their own functions and purposes. For instance, a typical bus is made up of structure blocks, electrical power, thermal control, tracking and commanding, attitude control, and telemetry.
The electrical power subsystem offers power for the technology, whereas the thermal subsystem maintains the temperatures of the different components inside it. Similarly, the attitude control subsystem of a satellite panel determines its precise position, along with the direction in which it must observe.
However, one of the most critical subsystems for any satellite bus is the structure panel or the structure subsystem.
Functions of the Structure Panel of a Satellite Bus
So, what is the structure of a satellite bus, or what are its functions? The structure subsystem supplies the mechanical structure required to endure launch vehicle forces, orbital movements, and loads given by landing into the Earth’s atmosphere or another celestial body.
The structural subsystem comprises the satellite’s basic structure and holds all of its hardware, such as the payload equipment. The structure, which can take numerous forms depending on the mission objectives, must be built to reduce bulk while still surviving the tremendous stresses placed on it during launching and the brief journey to space.
The structural subsystem’s tasks include enclosing, protecting, and supporting other satellite subsystems and providing a mechanical link with the launch system. These tasks are critical during spacecraft construction, handling, and transit from the production site to the launch site. Mating, along with attachment sites, for subsystem parts like batteries, electronics modules, propellant tanks, and so on are provided by structural members.
The structure should also withstand the strains and pressures encountered during analytical procedures, launch, perigee, apogee firings, boom, solar array, and antenna deployment. Vibrations and noises can be powerful when the satellite is subjected to high gravitational forces during the launch. Acoustic noise is at its peak during the initial phases of the launching. The noise is carried by the air from the rocket motors via the housing and inside the spacecraft.
As the engines drive the satellites to the high speeds necessary for entry into orbit, steady loads are transferred through the structure. The rocket engines transmit a broad array of vibrations through the spaceship supports. The separation ring and other pyrotechnic devices provide potent shocks to the structure.
The loads on the satellite are substantially decreased inside the zero-gravity atmosphere once it has reached its final orbit location, but the requirements for alignment are more stringent. The developer must meet all needs while minimizing structural bulk and expense while keeping the likelihood of failure near zero.
The satellite will be exposed to brutal circumstances during its lifespan. Mechanical strains, vibrations, heat shocks, radiation, and a chemical and particle environment. The materials selected for the structural subsystem meet the yield standards, strength, toughness and hardness, specific stiffness, ductility, creep resistance, thermal expansion, and melting point.
Importance of the Structure Subsystem
As seen, the structure subsystem has vital importance regarding a satellite bus. It considers aspects of any space mission and forms the rudimentary basis for any bus. It communicates with launch vehicles and satisfies the parameters of those launch vehicles.
Moreover, the launch vehicle is subjected to significant degrees of acceleration and tremors — conveyed to the payload on the satellite. Launch loads include vibration, static, and acoustic loads, all of which impose rigorous restrictions on the spacecraft’s construction.
The structural subsystem ensures that the satellite can withstand all these loads during the launch and that all its parts are stable and operational after the launch. Hence, it can be concluded that the structural subsystem is the elementary part of satellite bus systems that looks over the workings of the other subsystems.
The design of satellites is becoming more complex with the growing demands of space technology. Regardless, the structural panel of a satellite bus offers several roles and looks over the components to ensure it reaches the launch site safely.


Join Facebook to connect with Star Deep and others you may know.The stable wormhole discovered by the Deep Space Nine crew is known to the Bajoran people as the Celestial Temple of their Prophets.
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The Star Wars Deep Dive: Anakin and Luke Skywalker's TwinIt was originally published in Star Wars Gamer 4 in 2001 and was made available on Hyperspace on May 26, 2006.
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The duology Avatar was the official start of the series, marked by the first appearance of the modified Star Trek: Deep Space Nine title.Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has been published in novel form by Pocket Books since 1993 in the USA, the UK, and the Republic of Ireland under license from Paramount Pictures.Sisko takes command of a new ship named in honor of the Defiant, while Kira, Garak and Damar barely survive a Dominion ambush on Cardassia Prime.A new starship just joined the Starfleet armada thanks to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Eight.Their July 30, 2009 import from Fmc Technologies,ag Puerto Rico in Neth Antilles was 227KG of Box Of Chains (cargo Originally Loaded At Houston.The worthy successor to The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, truly fleshed out the Klingons, exploring their ideologies, politics, and culture in greater detail.Deep Space 9 (abbreviated to DS9) is a Federation space station located in the Bajor Sector.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine first aired in January, 1993 well over a year after the death of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.Though Deep Space Nine was the fourth Star Trek series to hit the airwaves, it number one in the hearts of many Trekkies.Star Trek, as a whole, is known for its progressive views and deft handling of social issues that plague the society of the 21st century rather than their own.Sisko, as discoverer of the wormhole and its inhabitants, is therefore the Emissary of Bajoran prophesy.
From their classic 1972 album Machine Head. -- Ian Gillan - Lead vocals Ritchie Blackmore - Lead guitar Roger Glover - Bass guitar Ian Paice - Drums Jon Lord.By virtue of being sited at the mouth of the Bajoran wormhole, DS9 has become one of the most strategically important space stations in the Alpha Quadrant as well as being a hub for diplomacy and commerce.
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This one takes place on a 24th-century space station that serves as a frontier town on the edge of a wormhole that.
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He played Jaglom Shrek in the two-part episode Birthright, and Prime Minister Nayrokin The Hunted.The Klingon Empire remained a fairly one-note adversary until the later films, especially Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
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Among other projects I support this year, post-retirement is
Why? Because with all the emphasis upon SARS-CoV-2, biopharmaceuticals, and mitigating climate disruption, which are all important, observational astronomy doesn’t get enough love. And this is an astronomy which isn’t using ordinary modalities to find and study systems far away.
On August 12, 2010, the first discovery by Einstein@Home of a previously undetected radio pulsar J2007+2722, found in data from the Arecibo Observatory, was published in Science. The project had discovered 55 radio pulsars as of September 2020.
See more about the project’s work with LIGO data.
As of September 2020, Einstein@Home has discovered 25 previously unknown gamma-ray sources in data from the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The Einstein@Home search makes use of novel and more efficient data-analysis methods and discovered pulsars missed in other analyses of the same data.
Planning to do more on astrostatistics in the future, by the way.
This is enabled by the most excellent BOINC Project.


Malhar Kendurkar is like many students at CNC. He studies physics and mathematics part time while working as a cook at Nancy O’s. In his spare time, he enjoys strumming his guitar, taking photos and backcountry hiking with friends.
He also happens to work with an international team of astronomers who use telescopes from around the world to discover supernovas and optical counterparts of gravitational waves.
“Prince George has the sixth largest telescope is Canada,” he said. “We actually discovered three novas in the Andromeda Galaxy using the telescope at the Prince George Observatory.”
In 2013, Malhar was studying comets and asteroids in his home country of India. As he spent more time observing the night sky, his research shifted to studying time domain astronomy. That, according to Malhar, is the study of transients, such as supernovas, that flicker in the sky for only a couple weeks or months.
“Studying supernovas can tell us a lot about our universe and how it formed,” he said. “You actually see some chemicals and elements in supernovas on our Earth as well. Some supernovas have predicted that the universe is expanding.”
Hearing about the quality of the physics and mathematics departments at CNC, Malhar moved to Prince George in 2016. He enjoyed the smaller class sizes and the ability to complete his Associates of Science on a part-time basis so he could work and continue his research.
“I didn’t want to go straight into a university because you’d have hundreds of students in one class,” Malhar said. “The instructors are really good at CNC and always take the time to clarify concepts when we need extra help.”
He still remembers the first time he stepped into the Prince George Observatory on Feb. 21, 2016, at an open house event hosted by the Prince George Astronomical Society. He loved that it was a volunteer observatory that could be used by its members. Malhar joined the society right away and currently serves as president.
"We have wonderful instruments at the observatory,” he said. “Members can actually use the telescope to do science or even take some pictures of the night sky."
In August 2018, Malhar founded a research group called the Global Supernova Search Team that is composed of four astronomers from Canada, USA, France and India. Using seven telescopes from around the world, the team has managed to discover 40 supernovas throughout the past year.
The Global Supernova Search Team is also applying for research grants in an effort to setup six robotic telescopes in B.C. that search for faint astronomical transients in the Northern Hemisphere.
“Those telescopes would be the first in Canada dedicated to searching for supernovas,” he said.
Update (November 2020): The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the work his team was conducting in 2020 as observatories in some countries closed for a few months due to lockdown efforts. Throughout the pandemic, however, Malhar did not stop searching. In fact, he found 87 new supernovae making him the youngest person in Canada to discover that many in less than a year.
“COVID has made this a strange year for everyone,” he said. “But my goal is to discover at least 100 supernovae before the end of 2020.”
Malhar completes his Associate of Science at CNC in 2020. Following that, he plans to transfer to UBC, TRU or UVIC to complete a Bachelors of Observational Astrophysics and Integrated Masters.
Though he would love to work at UVIC or even be involved in a historic project such as the Thirty Metre Telescope, Malhar has not ruled out a return to northern B.C.
"Prince George is beautiful,” he said. “I love Prince George. The main reason why I’m still here is because of Prince George."


All I knew of this movie was that it had something to do with black holes, took place in outer space, and was horror. It sounded to me like the makings of a good movie, considering the kinds of mystery you can explore through the universe’s most mysterious object.
An event horizon, for those who were never astronomy geeks like me (I wanted to be an astronaut when I was eight), is the radius around a black hole at which nothing can escape. It is the point of no return. Once you reach the event horizon, you’re going into that black hole, and nothing’s going to stop you.
The concept of the movie lived up to my expectations: a ghost space ship is trapped on Jupiter’s atmosphere, the crew mysteriously missing after it traveled through a portal via a manmade black hole. Awesome idea? I’d say yes. Then they discover that the portal went beyond the edges of their universe, taking them outside of normal space-time into a place of pure chaos: Hell. And when the ship came back from Hell, it brought some of it back with it. Super awesome idea? Hell yes.
This provides us with lots of possibilities for creepiness, and we get some nice moments of gore (i.e. people ripping out their own eyeballs). The ship is also a spectacle in itself: it is gigantic and was designed to look eerie and futuristic. Unfortunately, that’s about where the awesome ends and the clusterfuck begins.
What disappointed me most about this movie was that the concept is so cool and had so much potential to be great… but the execution failed. The crew are haunted by their pasts, which the ghost ship brings to life, but the audience is left a bit puzzled about some of these unexplained back stories. Character motivations are one-dimensional, and they are given some terribly cheesy lines of dialogue. The plot itself is unravels in a strangely haphazard fashion, without enough build-up or exploration of all the frightening possibilities of the ship that went to Hell and back.
[SPOILER] One bright spot is he villain, played by Sam Neill. Once the ship’s evil has fully possessed him, he becomes a demonic force with a scratched-up, eyeless face to match, and he succeeds at being genuinely creepy. I would have enjoyed seeing more of his descent into madness. [END SPOILER]
Perhaps my qualms with the movie are exacerbated by my disappointment that it failed to live up to the concept. I admit, the higher you set the bar, the farther you have to fall. Despite some of the great visuals and the glimmers of good sci-fi horror, Event Horizon ended up being sort of a fun, cheesy, sometimes-scary mess that had me laughing on occasion.
All in all, this was a fun movie, and I don’t regret watching it one bit. If succeeded in entertaining me, even if it didn’t succeed at becoming a truly excellent piece of sci-fi horror cinema.
Story concept: 10 out of 10 space ghosts
Execution of plot: 6 out of 10 space ghosts
Script: 5 out of 10 space ghosts
Acting: 6 out of 10 space ghosts
Cinematography and visuals: 8 out of 10 space ghosts
Music and atmospheric sound effects: 5 out of 10 space ghosts
Scare factor: 6.5 out of 10 space ghosts
Overall: 6.5 out of 10 space ghosts
Do you disagree with my final verdict? You can view it and share your own opinion in the comments below. Watch Event Horizon now!


Superman’s origin never made any sense, seriously. If his dad could build a rocket ship, why didn’t he build one big enough to save the whole family? Was he the only person smart enough to build a rocket ship, no one else on the planet thought to try and escape the planet’s destruction? Plus baby’s can hardly go an hour without needing to be burped, have their diapers changed, or be fed, so how did the baby survive all that time in space alone? Did he make the entire flight during a single nap time? Plus the odds of the baby randomly landing on an inhabitable planet have got to be nearly zero. Anyway, this all popped into my head one afternoon so I wrote this story.
On art note, I love how one of the planet’s land masses in the first panel looks like a strip of bacon.


NASA announced last month that it was planning to send its first woman to the moon. This would also be the first manned trip to the moon in five decades.
Since then Trump has announced that he will increase the funding of NASA by $1.6. billion. He also announced that NASA should plan on landing people on the moon by 2024, which would be his last year in office if he gets re-elected.
“The U.S has always led the way in space exploration,” said physics teacher Mrs. Majka, “so we should be in charge.”
“Due to the lack of space exploration by NASA in recent years, it is inspiring for me, to see them push to do new things” said freshman Ryan Daugherty.
NASA is hoping that their new exploration efforts will inspire new scientists and new research along with inspiring kids and adults of all ages.
Government funded NASA is not alone in the race to the stars.Two private companies, Blue Origin and SpaceX, are also developing technology to land on the moon. Blue Origin’s founder, Jeff Bezos, plans to leave earth forever. Their mission statement reads, “We’re building a road to space so our children can build the future.” Despite these ambitions, Blue Origin has yet to launch anything into orbit. SpaceX, on the other hand, has launched over 60 rockets into orbit, most of which carrying Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system. As the owner of SpaceX, Elon Musk has brought the company up to where it is today. SpaceX is planning to launch people into orbit in the coming months. Both private companies are reinventing space exploration by creating reusable rockets. SpaceX in particular has been using the same rockets for its launches over the past months. So, although NASA has far more consistent funding than Blue Origin and SpaceX and has a good reputation in the space exploration business, these two other companies are looking for their chance to show America and the world what they can do in space exploration.
This means that in the long run the earth will probably see another human step on the moon and maybe even mars. The world might even be able to see a future off the earth and find alternative sustainable life options upon a growing population.


On a clear night in New York City, you can’t actually see the stars. You know they’re there but how often do you feel moved to look up into the sky to see them? All of the lights from street lamps, lights, tall buildings, not to mention clouds, if it’s a cloudy day, drown out the magic that occurs in a clear night sky when there are no other lights to compete with.
I spent the last couple of nights with my husband at a rented cabin in the heart of Woodstock. On Tuesday night we hiked the Eastern trail of the Comeau property and afterward bought tickets to a film at the local theater. When we got back to the cabin it was late and pitch black except for the lights on in the cabin, which was basically in the woods. When I stepped out of the car and looked up into the sky I was just stunned. First of all the trees at this place were just so tall, they were like towering giants shooting straight up into the sky. They framed clusters of sparkling stars and swayed in the breeze with an ominous presence that made me feel tiny in the most comforting way. Nothing else mattered to me in that moment but seeing those stars. They were so still and yet filled with so much life despite being reflections of light emitted from explosions that occurred many years ago. I don’t really understand it.
There the night sky is above us all the time, every single night and yet we never see it like this. We turn on the television, our phones our laptops and spend so much time with our heads down in the light of our devices. If I could have access to a view of the stars like this one, I would be looking up every night the sky was clear. I would never miss it. It would become one of my favorite new series, one filled with mystery, beauty, romance, excitement and wonder with no repeat performances.


Acton began gluing matchsticks together in January 2019 for his 50th anniversary tribute to the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing. The ¼-scale model of the lunar lander Eagle took 263,000 matchsticks and 15 gallons of wood glue. Acton completed the 1/17-scale model of the Saturn V rocket in April 2020. The Saturn V model stretches over 20 feet long with 241,000 matchsticks and 13 gallons of wood glue.
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A question without an answer, How did the moon get there? Bill Oreilly addresses the question of how the moon got into space while reading some of his daily mail.
Possibly the coolest moon gadget I have come across lately. Google earth offers a “moon tour” using what seems to be the same technology and/or services they use to bring you google earth. This moon tour allows you to view the surface of the moon. While viewing the moon you can view different flags or … Continue reading
The moon phases are as follows: First quarter Waxing crescent New moon Waning Crescent Third Quarter Waning Gibbous Full Moon Waxing Gibbous (Then back to First Quarter) You can find many moon phases and moon calculators on the internet!
The moon has four phases: The new moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter. The quarter describes the stage of where the moon is in relation to it’s cycle. The first quarter of the moon phase would put the moon 1/4th of the way through it’s cycle. The moon’s cycle goes from: new moon … Continue reading
Since the United States first landed on the moon some people have doubted that the landing actually happened; in fact, there is a conspiracy theory that thinks otherwise of the mission. Some people believe that in 1969 NASA, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong were not actually on the moon but in a Hollywood studio. Although … Continue reading
The moon: Did you know that from earth we always only see one side of the moon. The other side of the moon, nicknamed “the dark side” always faces away from the earth and has never been seen from this point of view.
Moon Signs, there are ways to figure out what your moon sign is, here is a list of some sites so you can do it. The sun sign is another astrology sign that a lot of people like to get too. Your moon sign is similar to getting your horoscope, they are signs of astrology, … Continue reading
Have you ever wanted to stand on the moon? Have you ever wanted to take a trip to the moon? Have you always wanted your favorite memory to be on the moon? Have you always wanted you greatest adventure to be on the moon? Can you make it to the moon? Will you ever have … Continue reading


Aug. 21, 2012:
Dr. Reto Ruedy Earns Exceptional Public Service Medal
Congratulations to our own Dr. Reto Ruedy, TRINNOVIM Program Manager at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, for winning the prestigious NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal.
Feb. 20, 2012:
NASA Awards Major Contract to TRINNOVIM
TRINNOVIM has just been awarded a very prestigious contract for specialized scientific support services to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), N.Y. The period of performance, including the optional periods, is from April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2017.
This contract will provide scientific programming and analysis in support of specific GISS research programs and performing computer facility operations, systems programming, technical library operations and overall logistical support for the GISS research facility.
GISS is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Maryland and a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute, located at Columbia University in New York City, N.Y. NASA GSFC in Greenbelt, Maryland is the lead center for GISS. Its primary mission is research that emphasizes a broad study of global change, an interdisciplinary research initiative addressing natural and man-made changes in our environment which occur on various time scales from decades to millennia and which affect the habitability of our planet.


Where Are We ?
You need a Powerpoint Viewer to view the following. If your browser has a Powerpoint plug-in then the notes can be launched by clicking and opening the file. You can save the files to disk and read them later in the Powerpoint Viewer. Note the copyright notice on these notes prohibits copying.
Len Bruton's Course Powerpoint Notes and Web Links:
Our Place in Space and Time - disabled
Matter and Energy - disabled
Planet Earth - disabled
Atmosphere, Continents and Oceans - disabled
After completing Part One, you should have a fundamental understanding of the important scientific concepts and principles that explain where we are in our Universe and the material nature of the external world.


By: Chris O'Shea
Everyone always wants to be optimistic. Most people, when asked about life advice, will say things like shoot for the stars! They'll say to see the glass as half full. They say to always look on the brights side of life. They tell you that anything is possible, if you just put your mind to it. Well, to quote the great Chuck Klosterman, "Everybody is wrong about everything, just about all the time." You see, things sometimes don't happen because of a tiny item called "reality." Optimists don't like dealing with reality. Neither, it seems, do the people behind "Mars One," a Dutch group that just announced plans to form a human settlement on the moon by 2023.
According to its website, and below video, Mars One will start with just four guys. "The first crew of four astronauts emigrate to their new planet from Earth, a journey that takes seven months," reads a statement on the site. "A new team will join the settlement every two years. By 2033 there will be over twenty people living, working and flourishing on Mars, their new home." It sounds a bit far fetched, right? Well, no! The group behind Mars One has been planning this since... Last year!
"The Mars One team has worked on this plan since early 2011," reads a post on the site's FAQ page. "That first year saw us research the feasibility of the idea extensively and exhaustively, scrutinizing every detail with countless specialists and expert organizations... We have met with several established, international aerospace companies who can design and deliver the essential hardware components for the Mars mission. These have written letters of interest that support our plan."
Oh! Well, that solves everything. Some mystery companies have pledged their non-existent funds to the mission. Solid work. But by who? The main minds behind Mars One are Bas Lansdorp, a Netherlands based researcher with a Masters in Science from Delft University of Technology and Gerard 't Hooft, a Pulitzer-prize winning physicist. Lansdorp told The Digital Journal that everyone — everyone! – is excited about the idea. "Our plan to go to Mars has evolved quite a bit since we started," he explained to the DJ. "Right now, just about everyone we speak to is amazed by how realistic we have kept it. The next step is introducing the project to the world and securing sponsors and investors."
Great, but what about the dangers of landing on a planet and settling there? There have been documented high levels of radiation on Mars, but Mars One isn't worried! They're going to bury everyone in sand! As a post on its FAQ page explains, "On Mars, the amount [of radiation] is slightly increased than on Earth, but by submerging the Living Unit in a few feet of sand we reduce it significantly."
It all sounds great. Good luck on Mars, team Mars One. We'll stay here and watch you go. We're sure it'll all work out perfectly. Yeah, that's us trying to be overly optimistic. See how stupid it sounds?
[Pic via ScreenGrab]