Decatur twins win award from governor

Spend a couple of minutes with paternal twins Tyler and Trevor Parrish and you forget both are in wheelchairs.

Tyler and Trevor Parrish are the 2013 Students of the Year as named by the Alabama Governors Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities. They earned the honor through their work with NASA in the HUNCH program. This is the triple axis motion sensor the brothers created.





Tyler Parrish, right, and twin brother Trevor Parrish are the 2013 Students of the Year as named by the Alabama Governors Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities. They earned the honor through their work with NASA in the HUNCH program. Tyler and Trevor show the device they created, a motion sensor that detects movement along three axis. The brothers were photographed in their home in Decatur, Ala., Dec. 16, 2013.


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They don't refer to their muscular dystrophy as a disability, and the wheelchairs that have become their legs are just "the hand we have been dealt," Trevor said.

Pointing to his brain, Tyler said: "Nothing is wrong with this."

The 2013 graduates of Austin High School created a mock-up for the space station and earned the pair the state's Disability Students of the Year award. Gov. Robert Bentley honored the brothers, 19, during a ceremony in Montgomery last week.

The Alabama Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities has recognized students with disabilities since 1947. The committee is a branch of the Department of Rehabilitation Services, and its primary goals are to educate the public about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities and to promote independence for people with disabilities.

"It came as a surprise and I'm so proud of them," the twins' mother, Rhonda Parrish, said of the award.

The part the twins designed and milled at Austin High is a sensor they said can track movement on the space station. It took Tyler and Trevor three months to conceive and complete the project while they were students in the engineering program.

Family friend and engineer Robert Leke nominated the part for a regional award, which it won. The family thought that was the last recognition it would earn until the governor's office called.

"I was excited," Rhonda Parrish said. "It's just an honor to be recognized by the governor's office."

The road from St. Louis, Mo., where the twins were born, to Montgomery, where they received the award from Bentley, hasn't always been a smooth ride.

They moved to Decatur 15 years ago when their father, Mark, was transferred by Boeing.

Rhonda said the twins showed no sign of muscular dystrophy when they enrolled in the school system. Tyler, the oldest by a minute, was in third grade when he began using a wheelchair regularly. Two years later, MD stripped Trevor of his ability to walk.

They didn't complain then, and they still do not today.

"This does not bother me because I have found my purpose," Tyler said. "I'm here to be an encouragement to others. God has assured me, and I see this as a blessing."

Trevor shared his sentiment.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that weakens the muscles that help the body move, according to the Mayo Clinic. Sufferers have incorrect or missing information in their genes, preventing them from making proteins needed for healthy muscles.

Despite the disease, Tyler and Trevor are not letting go of their dream of following in their father's footsteps.

Mark Parrish works at AAR SUMMA Technology in Huntsville as a computer numerical control programmer. He writes programs that mill parts for aircraft, they said.

The twins said they are looking for a company that might let them work from home or under the guidance of another programmer, preferably their father.

"We want to contribute and not have society think we are a burden," Tyler said.

Source : Beaumont Enterprise,19th December 2013

IIT-Kharagpur on Nasa radar

Expertise in radar technology and its successful association with the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) over the years may soon make the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, eligible for a partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) for a collaborative research. The presence of two scientists from the premier space research agency in Kharagpur on Monday fanned speculations that IIT-Kharagpur has evolved as the front-runner for the coveted tie-up.

After the success of Chandrayaan, Mangalayaan and the four-year partnership for an oceanic wind measuring radar - Scatterometer - the next most talked about futuristic collaborative project would be the NI-SAR, or the Nasa-Isro radar mission. The radar, which is yet to receive final clearance from the respective governments, is one of the most discussed scientific projects in the country at present, specially because of the precision with which it promises to pre-empt natural calamities.

IIT Kharagpur's aerospace engineering department, through its high-profile Kalpana Chawla Space Research Centre, is already spearheading crucial radar-related research along with Isro. "Such radar technology inputs can be utilized successfully for NI-SAR related research as well," said Alok Chatterjee, a Nasa scientist who is also a 1973 batch alumnus of the institute. He was accompanied by Paul Rosen, his colleague at Nasa.

The duo on Monday discussed with PP Chakraborty, the director of the institute, the possibilities of the institute starting a NI-SAR oriented collaboration with Isro soon. "This will automatically link up the institute with Nasa. In the NI-SAR research, there will be a radar that will collect data through two bands - the 'L' band that will be managed by Isro and the 'S' band to be handled by Nasa. The data will then be shared for final computations to determine tectonic movements of the earth that lead to earthquakes, tidal wave surge, melting of glaciers and rise in sea level," Rosen explained. "Such research will help in managing disaster to a large extent," he added.

"Since Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan is an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, it will give added impetus to the collaboration," Chakraborty said.

NI-SAR is a multi-million dollar project that will be partially funded by Nasa and Isro. "If $73 and $83 million were spent on the Chandrayaan and the Mangalayaan projects, respectively, NI-SAR should cost around $100 million," Chatterjee explained.

 

 

 

Source : TOI , 26th Nov 2013 

NASA Delivers Precipitation Satellite to Japan for 2014 Launch : Washington

An international satellite that will set a new standard for global precipitation measurements from space has completed a 7,300-mile journey from the United States to Japan, where it now will undergo launch preparations.

 

A U.S. Air Force C-5 transport aircraft carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory landed at Kitakyushu Airport, about 600 miles southwest of Tokyo, at approximately 10:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 23.

The spacecraft, the size of a small private jet, is the largest satellite ever built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. It left Goddard inside a large shipping container Nov. 19 and began its journey across the Pacific Ocean Nov. 21 from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, with a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. 

From Kitakyushu Airport, the spacecraft was loaded onto a barge heading to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in southern Japan, where it will be prepared for launch in early 2014 on an H-IIA rocket.

"We have been building GPM hardware at Goddard for over four years," said Art Azarbarzin, GPM project manager, who traveled with the spacecraft on its flight to Japan. "We are excited now to get the spacecraft to Tanegashima and looking forward to the launch."

The satellite is designed to pool together precipitation measurements taken by a constellation of orbiting U.S. and international partner satellites, resulting in a single and comprehensive dataset of global precipitation every three hours.

The satellite will measure rain and snow using two science instruments: the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and theDual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The GMI captures precipitation intensities and horizontal patterns, while the DPR provides insights into the three-dimensional structure of rain, snow and other precipitation particles. Together, these two instruments provide a database of measurements against which other partner satellites' microwave observations can be meaningfully compared and combined to make a global precipitation dataset.

The GPM mission is a partnership led by NASA and JAXA. Goddard built and assembled the satellite. JAXA provided the DPR instrument and launch services. The Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., built the GMI under contract to Goddard.

The GPM constellation is a network of satellites from multiple U.S. and international space agencies, including NASA, JAXA, the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Japan; the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales in France; the Indian Space Research Organisation; and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

For more information about the GPM mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/gpm

Source : EIN Newsdesk , 25th Nov 2013

ISRO to launch French, German satellites : Chennai

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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that got global recognition for its successful launch of a mission to Mars, will now launch German, French, British and Canadaian satellites, a top official said.

"We will be launching EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Programme) satellite belonging to Germany. The satellite will weigh around 800 kg," ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan told IANS in an interview.

The EnMAP is a hyperspectral satellite that would provide images of the Earth at regular intervals. This apart, ISRO will be launching French satellite SPOT-7 during the first quarter of 2014, Radhakrishnan said.

"There will be four more small foreign satellites that would go along with SPOT-7," he added.

ISRO had launched the SPOT-6 satellite in 2012.

Radhakrishnan said discussions were held with British agencies for launching three satellites each weighing around 300 kg and also to launch a set of Canadian satellites. The idea is to have at least one commercial launch every year using the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the ISRO chairman said.

According to him, the PSLV rocket's reliability has been underlined once again with the launch of Mars Orbiter in a precise manner despite the challenges.

Queried about the status of Mars Orbiter, he said: "The Orbiter has been raised to around 193,000 km apogee (farthest point from Earth). We are all gearing up for the dawn of Dec 1 when the Orbiter will be injected in trans-Martian orbit."

ISRO has been switching on the various systems and payloads of the Orbiter to check their functionalities and health.

"All the instruments are working normal. The satellite's health is good," Radhakrishnan said.

India launched Nov 5 its first inter-planetary mission to Mars with a two-fold objective - technological and scientific. The project outlay was around Rs.450 crore.

The technological objectives include design and realisation of Mars orbiter with a capability to survive and perform Earth-bound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion/capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars.

It will also enable deep space communication, navigation, mission planning and management and incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations.

The scientific mission will be to explore the Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments.

Radhakrishnan said the Orbiter will be using around 365 kg on board fuel in the orbit raising activities out of around 850 kg fuel on board.

Comparing the latest Mars mission MAVEN of the US, Radhakrishnan said the American Atlas V rocket has a payload capacity of 13 tonnes to GTO (geo-transfer orbit) while the PSLV-XL capacity is only around 1,300 kg.

"The American satellite, weighing around 2,500 kg, carries payload weighing around 65 kg and around 1,600 kg fuel. Our Orbiter weighing 1,350 kg carries a payload of just 15 kg and fuel of around 850 kg," he added.

What he did not compare is the cost incurred in the both the missions. While India will be spending around $72 million the US mission is budgeted at $671 million.

Radhakrishnan reiterated that the Mars mission proves India's capability to undertake such complex tasks.

Source : IANS , 25th Nov 2013 

Giant solar hope for Ladakh

The Union ministry of new and renewable energy plans a 5,000MW solar power plant in Ladakh which, if approved, could become the world’s largest solar project.

The project, planned in the Changthang area of Leh near the China border, will have a capacity more than three times the country’s installed solar capacity, a ministry official said.

Leh district commissioner Simrandeep Singh said the ministry had approached the administration to identify land for the project.

“It is only a proposal so far. We have been asked to work out the pre-requisites… to identify 20,000 acres of land and work out the technical feasibility and the means of transmitting power from the region,” he said.

Singh said the project required enormous tracts of land. “Changthang is the probable area because it is the only place in Leh where land is available while other areas are occupied.”

If the project comes up, it would be another feather in Changthang’s cap. The Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics is building the world’s largest solar telescope — the National Large Solar Telescope — in the area. The Rs 150-crore project will be commissioned in 2016.

The ministry of new and renewable energy has also approached officials in Kargil district to ascertain the availability of land for another 2,000MW solar project.

Farooq Abdullah, who heads the ministry, has taken the matter up with his son and chief minister Omar Abdullah, an official said.

Ashwini Kumar, director of the Solar Energy Corporation of India, said that if the Changthang project became reality, it would be the world’s biggest solar energy project.

“There is a plan (to build the project in Leh). We had a meeting recently in which the chief executive councillor in Leh also participated. They have said that land is available,” Kumar said.

If the project gets the Centre’s nod, the ministry will have to construct a power transmission line as well.

The Centre recently initiated the process of building a 4,000MW solar power project in Rajasthan on around 10,000 acres.

Source : The Telegraph , 22nd Nov 2013 

A Disaster Resilient Planet ? Living With Disability and Disasters

We live in a precarious world. Disasters caused by floods, cyclones and earthquakes have become an increasingly common occurrence. Being involved in a disaster is terrifying. Think about how much more terrifying it can be if you have a disability. If you can't see your way out because you are unable to see. If you don't hear the warnings because you are unable to hear. If you have a physical disability that hinders your escape.

On 13 October the world comes together to mark the International Day for Disaster Relief. The theme this year is 'living with disability and disasters'. According to the World Health Organisation, over 1 billion people worldwide have a disability - approximately 15% of the world's population. Huge disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake; the 2011 drought in East Africa; the 2012 Pakistan floods; and Hurricane Sandy this year, to name just a few, all put people with disabilities in positions of heightened vulnerability. Without a shadow of a doubt I believe that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by disasters.

Despite this, people with disabilities are frequently overlooked in the disaster management cycle. There are so many things that need to be considered. Information about preparing for disasters needs to be available in accessible formats. Disability data should to be available for the relevant officials to make sure that rescue workers can anticipate any additional assistance they might need to provide. Humanitarian workers need to have a good understanding of disability issues and an awareness of the support people with disabilities may need. People with disabilities should be oriented within their new environment to ensure that they can gain independence as quickly as possible.

I am Leonard Cheshire Disability's Young Voices campaigner, a global network of young people with disabilities speaking out on disability issues. We believe that people with disabilities need to be part of the solution. Our voices must be listened to if we want to achieve a disaster resilient planet. This means including people with disabilities in every aspect of development, including disaster risk reduction. As Paul Mugambi, possibly the first visually impaired humanitarian worker on the African continent, says: "Disaster reduction for the strong by the strong can never be disaster reduction for the people by the people".

There is a desperate need for research into how humanitarian crises affect people with disabilities. The research needs to take into account that people with disabilities can possess multiple identities: some are women, some are children, some are indigenous and so on. A crisis can affect them in different ways. To start addressing this, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and partners have launched the first-ever survey of people living with disabilities on their managing capacity in the face of a disaster event.

You can take part in the survey here: http://www.unisdr.org/2013/iddr/#survey.

The results from this survey will feed into the development of a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, coordinated by the UNISDR. I am hopeful that disability will be a priority in the new framework. But we cannot wait until 2015 while yet another disabled girl is being abused in a refugee camp or a woman with a disability is missing relief food because it is a "scramble for the fittest". We need to start acting now.



Source : The Huffington Post , 10th October 2013

Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for Oct 28 mission : Bangalore

India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft was shipped out of the city today for the October 28 launch from the Sriharikota spaceport, setting the stage for final preparations for the odyssey to the red planet.



"It was put in a special container where we have the monitoring of the environment inside", an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI here.




Accompanied by a convoy, the truck-trailer carrying the container is currently on its way by road Sriharikota, where it's slated to reach tomorrow afternoon. Gandhi Jayanti day was chosen for the journey as traffic would be less.



A national committee of experts and pre-shipment review panel had earlier given their go-ahead for the Rs 450 crore ambitious venture.



Primary objectives of the mission are to demonstrate India’s technological capability to send a satellite to orbit around Mars and conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of life, take pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment.



Bangalore-based ISRO said the Rs 150-crore spacecraft would be launched on October 28 at 16 hours, 14 minutes and 45 seconds (4.15 pm), weather permitting.



Launch campaign has already commenced at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 90 km from Chennai, from where the 1,350-kg MOM spacecraft is slated to be launched by the Rs 110 crore Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25).



The first stage of the PSLV-C25 with strap-ons has already been assembled, with the rocket ready for satellite integration by October 10.



The satellite will carry compact science experiment instruments, totalling a mass of 15 kg. There will be five instruments to study Martian surface, atmosphere and mineralogy.



After leaving the earth’s orbit, the spacecraft will cruise in deep space for about ten months using its own propulsion system and will reach Martian transfer trajectory in September 2014. The spacecraft subsequently is planned to enter into a 372 km by 80,000 km elliptical orbit around Mars.



The main theme of MOM appears to be to seek to reveal whether there is methane, considered a precursor chemical for life, on the red planet. Methane sensor, one of the five payloads (scientific instruments) on board the spacecraft, would look to detect the presence of Methane.






Source : Zee News , 2nd October 2013

Disability history month: John Goodricke the deaf astronomer

John Goodricke was a brilliant astronomer from the era of the amateur scientist. Deaf from early childhood, he was already being recognised for his work before his life was cut short, writes Linda French.

                                                    John Goodricke




The name of John Goodricke is recognised today only by astronomers. Few details of his life and work are widely known beyond the facts that he was profoundly deaf and that he died at the age of 21.

Together with his mentor Edward Pigott, Goodricke discovered and measured the variation of light from stars that would, in the 20th Century, enable astronomers to determine distances to distant galaxies.

They also measured the changing light of stars such as Algol, and speculated that the regular dimming of Algol's light might have been caused by eclipses due to a "dark body," perhaps even a planet.

For his part in this work, the Royal Society of London awarded Goodricke the Copley Medal, its highest honour, at the age of 19. He remains the youngest recipient of the award.

Goodricke was born in Groningen in the Netherlands on 17 September 1764. His father was a diplomat. His grandfather, the baronet Sir John Goodricke, was Envoy Extraordinary to Sweden, an MP and a member of the King's privy council.

As the eldest surviving male of his generation, the young astronomer would have been the heir to the baronetcy had he lived a full lifespan. 

Goodricke became deaf in early childhood due to a severe illness thought to be scarlet fever. At the age of seven he went to study at Thomas Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb in Edinburgh, the first school for deaf children in the British Isles.

Braidwood's success attracted pupils from as far as the Americas, and parents paid substantial tuition for his services. Samuel Johnson, visiting Braidwood's academy during Goodricke's time there, found the accomplishments of the pupils impressive.

"It was pleasing to see one of the most desperate of human calamities capable of so much help," he wrote.

Goodricke went on to study at the Warrington Academy, one of the academies run by religious dissenters, for three years after leaving Braidwood's. The school was well known for its emphasis upon mathematics and natural philosophy (science).

A school report describes Goodricke as "a very tolerable classic and an excellent mathematician". Goodricke's notebooks from Warrington show that he was already observing the sky at the age of 15.

In 1781 Goodricke completed the three-year course of study at Warrington and returned to York. He began a journal recording his observations of the sky as well as his conversations with his neighbour Edward Pigott. Pigott had learned to use astronomical observations for determining latitude and longitude from his father Nathaniel, also an astronomer.

Goodricke and Pigott observed every clear night. Most of Goodricke's observations were made from the family's lodgings at Treasurer's House (today managed by the National Trust). In the autumn of 1782 they decided to study stars whose light appeared to vary with time.

On 12 November, Goodricke noted: "This night I looked at Beta Persei [Algol], and was much amazed to find its brightness altered... I observed it diligently for about an hour - I hardly believed that it changed its brightness because I never heard of any star varying so quickly in its brightness."

The two determined that the dimming of Algol's light occurred exactly every 2.767 days and speculated that an unseen planet was eclipsing the star. Goodricke's report was read to the Royal Society in early 1783, and in August he was awarded the Copley Medal.

In the brief time remaining to him, Goodricke determined the time of variation of two more important stars. Soon after his election to the Royal Society in 1786, Goodricke was dead. It has been suggested that exposure to the night air hastened his demise, but no medical records have been found.

Pigott wrote: "This worthy young man exists no more; he is not only regretted by many friends, but will prove a loss to astronomy, as the discoveries he so rapidly made sufficiently evince: also his quickness in the study of mathematics was well known to several persons eminent in that line."

The biographer Richard Holmes cautions about the shroud of myths that often envelops scientists of great accomplishment. The primary myth is that of the lone, heroic figure, struggling against misconceptions perpetrated by lesser minds, against his (or her) own family, and perhaps even against society itself.

Knowing that deaf people suffered prejudice and inhumane treatment in Goodricke's time, some have assumed that he worked alone. Goodricke's education and his collaboration with Pigott are overlooked, as are his communications with William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus, and Nevil Maskelyne, then Astronomer Royal.

He is often described as "deaf and dumb," or a "deaf-mute". Stories in his journals about conversations with tradesmen, however, indicate that he read lips and almost certainly spoke.

 

 

                        The plaque at York Treasurer's House

The 20th Century astronomer Zdenek Kopal furthered the myth of the isolated genius when describing a visit to the churchyard of St John the Baptist at Hunsingore, the burial place of the Goodricke family.

Kopal was dismayed not to find a burial stone with John Goodricke's name on it. He wrote: "Why does he rest there forgotten by all his clan; why was he not buried with them in their family vault?"

He went on to speculate that Goodricke's family found his deafness to be "a blot on the family escutcheon". But Kopal did not investigate the history of the present church. It was constructed in 1868, decades after the Goodricke family estate at Ribston had passed into other hands.

The Goodricke family vault still exists, as do the burial records. They show that Goodricke was indeed buried alongside his parents and grandparents in the vault.

Goodricke had the advantage of a caring family who could provide the education he needed. His seminal work in stellar astronomy proves that special education for those with disabilities can bring benefits to all.

 

The Royal Society

• Possibly world's oldest scientific society, it was given royal charter by Charles II in 1660
  
• Founding fathers included Robert Boyle and Christopher Wren. Other early members included Sir Isaac Newton (whose notebook is pictured above)
  
  

About the author

Prof Linda French is chair of the physics department at Illinois Wesleyan University





Source : BBC News , 18th December 2012

BEING wheelchair-bound is no barrier to sailing the seas.

TJ, left, and Sam are proving that disability is no obstacle to fun, thanks to the Sailors With disABILITIES yacht. 




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Hundreds of disabled Queensland children are feeling the breeze at their backs and the salt air in their nostrils thanks to Sailors with disABILITIES (SWB).
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The Sydney-based not-for-profit organisation, which started taking disabled crews in the Sydney to Hobart race almost 20 years ago, is on its annual voyage to the Sunshine State.

Almost 900 disabled children and carers are setting sail on SWB's 16m ocean racer, Kayle, in the month-long "Northern Campaign", which takes in the Gold Coast, Bundaberg, Gladstone and Mackay.

Kayle, built by SWB founder David Pescud, has sailed in every Sydney to Hobart since 2001 and is modified to accommodate up to five sailors in wheelchairs.

The crew are experienced, able-bodied yachtsmen including veteran Sydney to Hobart skippers.

Mr Pescud, a keen yachtie who became a successful businessman despite being unable to read or write due to dyslexia, said his aim in setting up SWB in 1994 was to show the disabled "how good their life can be".

"Ocean racing can be a bit threatening and if you can do that, you can do anything,'' he said.

"I wanted to show what disabled people, especially kids, can achieve and teach them to dream.

"We had a 12-year-old disabled kid take part in the (storm-ravaged) 1998 Sydney to Hobart and he now runs his own business.''

Mr Pescud said SWB, which takes about 2500 disabled children and adults sailing each year, had struggled to fund this year's Northern Campaign and was keen to find a Queensland-based sponsor.

"It costs about $35,000 and it's almost getting to the point where we have to make a choice between doing the Sydney to Hobart or the Northern Campaign,'' he said.

"We'd love it if (billionaire miner) Clive Palmer or someone like that would come on board as a backer.''


Source : Herald Sun , 12th July 2013

Sino-India S&T cooperation set for August launch : National Large Solar Telescope

India is all set to launch science and technology cooperation with China in August with thrust on areas like astronomy, management of natural disasters and technology research on climate change.

A key element of the cooperation could be the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST), the world's largest such facility that India plans to set up in collaboration with Germany in Ladakh.

During the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang here last month, India and China had identified mitigation and management of earthquake and natural disasters, astronomy and astrophysics, technology research on climate change, traditional knowledge and medicine as areas of cooperation.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics have zeroed in on a site at Merak near the Pangong Tso lake, through which passes the Line of Actual Control between India and China.

Chinese authorities are learnt to have some reservations on the site of the two-meter telescope planned to study the process of creation and decay of sunspots, apart from furthering cutting edge research on fundamental processes taking place on Sun.

Officials said that a possible collaboration with Chinese scientists could also be explored during a visit of a team of scientists from the Department of Science and Technology to Beijing expected to take
place in August.

The other site identified for the Rs 300-crore project Hanle which already is home to the world's second highest optical-infrared and gamma ray telescope.

However, astronomers are keen to build the NLST at the Pangong Tso site at Merak as it was very promising and offered longer sunshine hours.

Currently, the world's largest solar telescope is the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope with an aperture size of 1.6 metres in Kitt Peak National Observatory at Arizona in the US.

The telescope, with an aperture size of two meters, is planned to be completed by 2017 and will be the largest such facility in the world at least till 2020 when US is expected to commission its four-meter telescope at Hawaii.

The first efforts for S&T cooperation with China were made in 2006 during the visit of the then Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal to Beijing.

Source : Business Standard Via PTI , 9th June 2013 

Autistic Teen Working on Astrophysics Ph.D. : United States

 

Jacob Barnett, who has an I.Q. higher than Einstein, speaks at TEDxTeen, with a presentation called, "Forget What You Know", posted April 9, 2012 

An Indiana mother said that her determination to find a niche for her autistic son, who doctors had little hope for, led him to flourish into a budding astrophysicist with an off-the-charts IQ, and he is now pursuing a PhD. in physics.

Kristine Barnett's son, Jacob, 15, was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism when he was 2. Because he had lost language, he was on the more severe end of the spectrum. Psychologists and teachers believed that the young boy may not ever speak again. As Barnett put it, they thought that he was lost.

"He was very precise," she told ABCNews.com. "He wasn't barreling through the world like other little boys. He lined cars up precisely. His mannerisms were precise.

"He seemed to like schedule and routine, even from infancy," she said.

After his diagnosis, Jacob was visited frequently by a number of psychologists under an Indiana program called First Steps, which included a developmental therapist, an occupational therapist, and a speech therapist, among others.

But early signs in Jacob's childhood hinted at an inner world that was harboring massive intelligence. At a very young age, he would carry a set of beloved alphabet cards with him wherever he'd go. 

At one point, he took a bundle of crayons and arranged them across the living room floor in the color spectrum, which he had distinguished from light coming through the living room window and hitting glasses perched on a table. 

As Barnett would run a daycare out of her home, she would play with other people's kids outside while Jacob was slumped over the table inside, where he would work with therapists. He was spending hours trying to put a ball in a cup. 

One spring day, as the kids ran through a sprinkler, she decided to make a change. 

"We were forgetting his childhood. His spirit was being crushed by the opinion that everything was wrong," she said. "I resolved to give it back to him." 

That night, Barnett took Jacob out after dark, turned on fog lights of her car, put on some Louis Armstrong, laid on hood of the car with him and looked at the stars. 

"Little did I know it would be those stars that would bring him back into our world," she said. "They were what we had. It was what we had to hold onto. It was the beginning with a relationship with my child." 

In an attempt to connect with her son and nurture the spark of interest he showed when they would go look at the stars, she decided to take him to a planetarium. 

"I didn't get it. They seemed like far-away dots to me," she said. "He then showed me a nebula on the computer, and it gave me a peek into his mind -- into the way he sees the world."

Barnett decided to stop having Jacob meet with therapists. She said that she was advised by everyone she knew, including her friends and her husband, not to remove Jacob from the system.

By the age of 3, Jacob began to talk again, and everyone was asking Barnett for the secret to the sudden recovery. Typically, it takes years for an autistic child to recover speech.

By the age of 3-and-a-half, Jacob had taught himself to read. This is what he'd been doing while taking books off to the corner, Barnett said she realized.

She decided then to take a second trip to a planetarium. When they arrived, a college-level lecture was taking place. Hesitant, she took her boy in. Jacob immediately began reading the slides, and when the professor asked a question about the density of Mars' moons, Jacob answered the question -- correctly.

"At that point, my view changed, and I realized that his mind is remarkable," Barnett said. "He understood complex concepts. My outlook for his future was completely changed."

Today, Jacob is now working towards a PhD. at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Several IQ tests have been administered on him, and Barnett said that it's been concluded that he can't be measured, so he is always given the top number.

Speaking with ABCNews.com, he said that when he entered grade school, he was already hoping to be beginning algebra. 

"In kindergarten, I knew that it was for kids to play and develop social skills," he said. "By first grade, I thought we'd do some mathematics -- algebra. Then, in second grade, still no algebra. They told me not until high school. So, I guess this came out of my desire to learn more mathematics."

Jacob, at one point, came home from school and sat inside a square bookcase. His mother, fearing that he was beginning to regress, called a psychologist.

"She said he's deeply bored. She said if you don't find what you did, you're going to lose him," Barnett said.

She started taking Jacob to more planetarium visits. At a point, after attending lectures, he was told he could join classes. One was on Saturn. Another was on electromagnetism. Jacob aced them all, and began moving towards his advanced degree at an accelerated pace.

Barnett credits his success to putting her son in as many rich situations as she could find. 

"If you find the passion in a child and tap into it, that will become what their drive," she said. "And if somebody had drive, they can accomplish anything." 

Barnett's memoir, "The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius," was released in April.

Source : abc news , 30th May 2013 

NASA creates ‘Ironman’ like exoskeleton, could help disabled walk

 

 NASA's X1 was designed to help astronauts live in space, but could also be used to help disabled people walk. 

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NASA is credited with the invention of everything from the ear thermometer to water filters. Its latest invention, an exoskeleton - the same concept found in the Ironman comics - promises to augment astronaut’s bodies on deep space missions and even could help some disabled people regain the ability to walk.

The agency announced its X1 robotic exoskeleton this week, a 51-pound robotic device that humans wear over their bodies to supply resistance against leg movement. NASA believes that X1 would be beneficial to astronauts who spend long periods of time in zero gravity and face the possibility of acute muscle atrophy.

X1 can also be reversed to assist movement in leg joints, and it is designed to offer a broad range of motion to allow for natural movements. NASA is keen on its benefits - both in space and on terra firma.

“Robotics is playing a key role aboard the International Space Station and will continue to be critical as we move toward human exploration of deep space,” said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA’s Space Technology Program. “What’s extraordinary about space technology and our work with projects like Robonaut are the unexpected possibilities space tech spinoffs may have right here on Earth.

“It’s exciting to see a NASA-developed technology that might one day help people with serious ambulatory needs begin to walk again, or even walk for the first time. That’s the sort of return on investment NASA is proud to give back to America and the world,” Gazarik added.

This project is a spin off of NASA’s “Robonaut 2,” a robotic astronaut that went online at the International Space Station in February. It is being qualified for unmanned space travel scenarios, and plugs into the station’s (solar) power system. It will eventually need a lithium battery pack after NASA equips it with its own legs.

Other attempts at creating exoskeletons have been made in Europe.The French General Directorate for Armament has designed an exoskeleton called “Hercules” that will aid humans with heavy workloads; it can handle up to 220 pounds for up to a distance of 12 miles. Another project is underway at a California based start-up called Ekso Bionics. Its objective is assistive robots that help the disabled to walk, the Verge reports.

Autonomous robots for assistive care - the next frontier

Assistive care robots is another potentially big market. Tandy Trower, one of the original Microsoft employees, who was product manager when Windows first shipped, recently left the company to found a robotics start-up called Hoaloha Robotics after Microsoft passed up on the opportunity. Trower is presently researching how to get beyond some technology challenges, as it is still early stage. 

“I’m indeed continuing to work on my objective of developing a commercially viable, autonomous, socially interactive robot companion to support the increasing number of seniors who face, not only the challenges of aging, but a shrinking supply of human resources. Add to that the growth will come from the independently thinking and tech savvy baby boomers and it results in a significant opportunity and more importantly, social need for what I am doing,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Trower noted that most current technologies (Vgo, Double Robotics, Suitable Technologies, Anybots, etc.) are remote telepresence robots, which means that human-operators are required at the other end to control the robot, he explained.

“In contrast, I am designing a robot that operates autonomously and conversationally with the user. The closest analogy is Apple’s Siri, but even Siri is a limited model in that Siri only interacts when the user wants to ask it a question. If you have an upcoming event (or in my audience medication), even Siri doesn’t pop-up and remind you. Further Siri only provides a voice interface to a limited set of functions on the iPhone,” he continued.

“Intuitive Automation’s Autom (weight loss coach) is another distant comparison. But while Autom embodies similar principles in terms of interaction with what we are building, Autom is stationary (sits on a desktop or counter), offers only touch interaction, and is limited to one application. So my endeavor takes quite a bit more than anything presently on the market, and yet will be targeted to cost less than most of the telepresence robots out there (I am targeting a price point between $5000-$10,000).”

Source : Smart Planet 

Investing in Technology to Enable the Future: NASA Creates Space Technology Mission Directorate

As part of the Obama Administration's recognition of the critical role that space technology and innovation will play in enabling both future space missions and bettering life here on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has announced the creation of the Space Technology Mission Directorate. The directorate will be a catalyst for the creation of technologies and innovation needed to maintain NASA leadership in space while also benefiting America's economy.

The Space Technology Mission Directorate will develop the cross-cutting, advanced and pioneering new technologies needed for NASA's current and future missions, many of which also benefit America's aerospace industries, other government agencies, and address national needs. NASA will focus leadership responsibility for the existing Space Technology Program in the mission directorate, improving communication, management and accountability of critical technology investment activities across the agency.

"A robust technology development program is vital to reaching new heights in space -- and sending American astronauts to new destinations like an asteroid and Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "A top priority of NASA is to invest in cross-cutting, transformational technologies. We focus on collaboration with industry and academia that advances our nation's space exploration and science goals while maintaining America's competitive edge in the new innovation economy."

Associate Administrator Michael Gazarik will head the organization. He previously served as the director of the Space Technology Program within the Office of the Chief Technologist. Serving as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs, James Reuther brings years of expertise in technology development, research and project management to oversee the nine programs within the mission directorate. Reuther previously served as deputy director of the Space Technology Program within the Office of the Chief Technologist. Dorothy Rasco, formerly the business manager of the Space Shuttle Program and the manager of the Space Shuttle Program Transition and Retirement, will join the directorate as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Management, assisting with the organizations strategic planning and management.

The Space Technology Mission Directorate will employ a portfolio approach, spanning a range of discipline areas and technology readiness levels. Research and technology development will take place within NASA centers, in academia, and industry, and leverage collaboration with other government and international partners.

NASA's Chief Technologist Mason Peck serves as the NASA administrator's principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning agencywide technology policy and programs. Peck's office will lead NASA's technology transfer and commercialization efforts, integrating, tracking, and coordinating all of NASA's technology investments across the agency. The Office of the Chief Technologist also will continue to develop strategic innovative partnerships, manage agency-level competitions and prize activities, as well as document and communicate the societal impacts of the agency's technology efforts.




Source : NASA Press Release ( 21st Feb 2013 )

Qatar to set up Space Research Centre

 


Qatar is to establish an astronomy and space centre soon to provide local enthusiasts a platform to explore the celestial bodies, a senior Qatar Foundation official said yesterday.Dr Khalid al-Subai, the director of Research Co-ordination and Compliance in the Research and Development Division of Qatar Foundation , said the centre would initiate various academic and research activities in astronomy in the country.

“We have already initiated the proposal for setting up an astronomy and space centre and the details will be announced later,” said al-Subai, who is also the co-chair of the conference.

“When the centre is established, other facilities such as a planetarium and observatory facilities will be made available along with it.”

He saw Katara “as one of the preferred locations for such facilities”.

Al-Subai said that Qatar would announce the discovery of two new planets by the end of this year. Qatar-led astronomers, he said, had been tracking the planets’ movements.

“We have already announced the discovery of two planets, naming them Qatar 1 and Qatar 2. We are hopeful that by the end of this year, we will be able to announce the discovery of two more planets,” he said.

“We have collaborated with international institutions like the University of St Andrews and Harvard University, which has helped us making steady progress in this regard.”

He also said that collaboration with these renowned organisations would make Qatar further progress in space and astronomy research.

Al-Subai stated that he was hopeful of a grant from Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) for further study in astronomy locally. “There is a great interest in the study of astronomy in the country and many youngsters want to pursue it. Once the new centre is realised, there will be many academic courses and research activities.”

He said there were only three professional astronomers in the country at present.

Regarding the Doha International Astronomy Conference, al-Subai said that there were plans to make it an annual event and add more features to it in future. As for the present conference, he stated: “It was arranged at a short notice and the timing is not right as many of the schools were on vacation. These things will be sorted out in the future conferences. Still there is a great participation in the conference and many students from various schools are taking part.”

He also said the conference would serve as a platform to reach out to students and create interest among them in astronomy. “The conference will be an occasion for scientists from different parts of the world to share their knowledge in astronomy and the local participants will be highly benefited out of it.”

Source :  Qatar Chronicle ( 12th Feb 2013 )

Southwest Research Institute designs instrument for Jupiter space mission

An instrument for observing ultraviolet emissions designed by Southwest Research Institute will be on board the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft when it launches in 2022.
The JUICE mission is being developed to give scientists and researchers close-up views of three of Jupiter’s largest moons, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The ultraviolet spectrograph designed by SwRI will provide detailed data about the composition of the surfaces and the atmospheres of the moons, which are believed to have bodies of liquid water beneath their icy surfaces.
The JUICE spacecraft is planned for launch in 2022 and will begin its three-year science mission shortly after the spacecraft’s arrival at Jupiter in 2030.

San Antonio-based SwRI is an independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organization.


Source : BizJournals ( 22nd Feb 2013 ) 

NASA : Interferometers Sharpen Measurements for Better Telescopes

Abstract :  Over the last decade, there have been a number of innovations that have made possible the largest and most powerful telescope of its time: the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Scheduled to launch in 2018, JWST will provide insight into what the oldest, most distant galaxies look like. When engineers build a first-of-its-kind instrument like the JWST, they often must make new tools to construct the new technology. Throughout the decades of planning, development, and construction of the JWST, NASA has worked with numerous partners to spur innovations that have enabled the telescope s creation. Though the JWST s launch date is still several years away, a number of these innovations are spinning off to provide benefits here on Earth. One of these spinoffs has emerged from the extensive testing the JWST must undergo to ensure it will function in the extreme environment of space. In order to test the JWST instruments in conditions that closely resemble those in space, NASA uses a cryogenic vacuum chamber. By dropping the temperatures down to -400 F and employing powerful pumps to remove air from the chamber, engineers can test whether the JWST instruments will function once the spacecraft leaves Earth. Traditionally, a phase-shifting interferometer is used to measure optics like the JWST s mirrors to verify their precise shape, down to tens of nanometers, during manufacturing. However, the large size of the mirrors, coupled with vibration induced by the cryo-pumps, prohibits the use of traditional phase-shifting interferometers to measure the mirrors within the chamber environment. Because the JWST will be located in deep space, far from any possible manned service mission, it was essential to find a robust solution to guarantee the performance of the mirrors. 

Source : NASA

Document Url : http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20130009019_2013008668.pdf

Red Planet Blues: India To Launch Mars Space Mission In October, But Some Question Priorities

India will launch its first space mission to Mars in October 2013, according to President Pranab Mukherjee, as the South Asian giant joins rivals U.S., Russia, Japan and China in the race to the red planet.

At a cost of some 4.5-billion rupees ($83-million), India will send an unmanned space vehicle to orbit Mars, Reuters reported. The craft, which will be manufactured completely in India, will take nine months to reach the planet and then enter into an orbit about 310 miles from the surface in order to collect data on its climate and geology.
An Indian space official told Indian media that  methane sensors will be used to predict the possibility of life on the planet.
"The mission is ready to roll," Deviprasad Karnik, a scientist from the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told Reuters from Bangalore.

President Mukherjee told parliament in New Delhi that several space missions are planned for 2013, including the “launch of our first navigational satellite."
“The space program epitomizes India’s scientific achievements and benefits the country in a number of areas,” Mukherjee said.
India’s space program is over 50 years old – five years ago, the Chandrayaan satellite found evidence of water on the moon (where India seeks to land a wheeled rover by 2014).
Karnik told the Wall Street Journal: "There is no provision in the current [Indian] Mars program for a vessel to land on the planet.”
The Indian space agency will conduct a total of ten space missions by November 2013, at a cost of about $1.3-billion.
However, some critics charge that the Indian government should spend its money to fight malnutrition, tackle widespread poverty, provide safe and clean drinking water and fix infrastructure on terra firma rather than take trips to other planets.
The blackout, which turned out the lights for some 600-million people last year and represented the biggest power outage in human history, symbolized the country’s crumbling energy infrastructure and desperate need for upgrades.
Jean Drèze, a development economist at the Delhi School of Economics, complained to the Financial Times: "I don't understand the importance of India sending a space mission to Mars when half of its children are undernourished and half of all Indian families have no access to sanitation.”
He suggested that the space mission is "part of the Indian elite's delusional quest for superpower status."
Last August, an editorial in Times of India, cautioned that India’s space ambitions should have pragmatic and realistic objectives, rather than reflect a “false sense of national pride.”
"More attention needs to be paid to the poor on issues such as health, drinking water and literacy," Bindeshwar Pathak, a prominent welfare activist, told Agence France Presse. "Going to space might have some scientific benefits but it alone will not help the condition of India's poor."
According to the World Bank, one-third of Indians live below the poverty line, while the UN said that one-third of the world’s malnourished children live in India.
Krishan Lal, President of the Indian National Science Academy, commented on the relative strangeness of India seeking to explore Mars.
“India is a country which works on different levels.  On the one hand, we have a space mission, on the other hand a large number of bullock carts,” he said.
“You can’t, say, remove all the bullock carts, then move into space. You have to move forward in all directions.”


Source : IBTIMES ( 22nd Feb 2013 ) 

World's Smallest Space Telescopes Launching Monday

Two tiny satellites billed as the world's smallest space telescopes will launch into orbit Monday (Feb. 25) on a mission to study the brightest stars in the night sky. The Bright Target Explorer (BRITE) nanosatellites look like little cubes and will blast off atop an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT) on Monday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.


 

Cordell Grant putting the finishing touches to the first BRITE satellite at UTIAS-SFL. The tiny nanosatellite, designed to study the brightest stars in the night sky, is one of seven spacecraft launching on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C20 mission on Feb. 25, 2013. CREDIT: University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies View full size image

While tiny nanosatellites have launched into space before, they have been mainly used to study Earth or test new spaceflight technologies, but the BRITE satellites will be the first to peer into the cosmos, their builders say. The diminutive spacecraft are less than 8 inches (20 centimeters) wide and weigh less than 15.5 pounds (7 kilograms). Once in orbit, they are expeted to observe the brightest stars (from Earth's perspective), including those that make up well-known constellations like Orion, the Hunter. 



Source : Space.Com ( 23rd Feb 2013 )

These Tiny Telescopes Could Save the Earth from a Deep Impact !

 

A 50-foot wide, 10,000-ton meteor that packs triple the force of the nuke dropped on Hiroshima is nothing to scoff at. But in the grand scheme of things, the meteor that hit Chelyabinsk, Russia, last week is a cosmological runt. Space rocks as much as 100 feet across are estimated to strike every hundred years or so and those like the 160-foot diameter Tunguska meteor of 1908 hit maybe once a century.

Though rare, these "killer asteroids" can wipe out a city the size of Moscow and kill upwards of 30,000 in an instant. But when the University of Hawaii's new meteor tracking systems come online, we'll be able to forecast meteor strikes as accurately as we do blizzards.

It's known as the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) and consists of a pair of observatories located about 60 miles apart, each equipped with four, 10-inch telescopes outfitted with 100 MP cameras. Together, these observatories would scan the visible sky twice a night. If an object moves in relation to its previously recorded spot on any given (or subsequent) night, that object is flagged for further investigation. The telescopes, though relatively small, will be sensitive enough to spot and estimate an incoming threat's exact impact location and time, to the second. According to University of Hawaii astronomer John Tonry, these telescopes are so detailed, they could spot a match flare in NYC from the Golden Gate Bridge.

   

The project has been kicked around since at least 2010 but it appears that the recent flyby of 2012 DA14 has provided sufficient imperative to jump start the plan's funding with a $5 million five-year grant by NASA's Near Earth Observation Program. That's enough to build both observatories, develop the necessary software, and staff the program for 48 months.

ATLAS will complement the Institute for Astronomy's Pan-STARRS project, a system that searches for large "killer asteroids" years, decades, and even centuries before impact with Earth. Whereas Pan-STARRS takes a month to complete one sweep of the sky in a deep but narrow survey, ATLAS will search the sky in a closer and wider path to help identify the smaller asteroids that hit Earth much more frequently. The project will take a closer and wider pass at the cosmos than the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS telescope array, which takes a month to complete one sweep of the sky in a deep, but narrow, survey. 

ATLAS is expected to spot half of the 160-foot asteroids in the solar system and two-thirds of the 460-foot planet killers that are thought to be floating around us. This would give people in the impact zone anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to evacuate, depending on the size of the rock. And though the system's detection rate will likely never top 75 percent, it will coordinate with other space-based comet catchers like the NEO and Pan-STARRS telescopes, which peer further but over a smaller swath of sky, to maximize their coverage. "We want to put ourselves in the way of discovering the unexpected," Tonry said. As such, the ATLAS should also be able to track more benign astronomical events like supernovas, variable stars, gravity waves, and asteroid impacts out in the Kuiper belt. 

Source : Gizmodo ( 21st Feb 2013 )

 

NASA Designs New Space Telescope Optics

Although hundreds of planets orbiting other stars have been discovered in the past 15 years, we cannot yet answer the age-old question of whether any of these planets are capable of sustaining life. However, new NASA technology may change that, by giving us our first look at distant planets that not only are the right size and traveling in the temperate habitable zone of their host star, but also show signs of potential life, such as atmospheric oxygen and liquid water.

Research scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., are developing new space telescope optics that won't just detect planets similar to Earth, but actually take photos of them. To take photos, called "direct imaging," a new technology will be used called phase-induced amplitude apodization (PIAA). In development since 2003, it is a proof-of-concept and technology tested prototype that is a strong candidate for NASA's upcoming direct imaging exoplanet missions expected to launch in the 2020 decade and beyond.

"By blocking the glare and diffraction from the star, we can start seeing planets that would otherwise be obscured. With this technology, direct imaging confirmation of a habitable zone exoplanet would happen for the first time," said Ruslan Belikov, a NASA astrophycist and technical lead of the coronagraph technical experiment at Ames.

Today, scientists use primarily indirect methods, such as the "transit method," to detect extra-solar planets. This method measures the dimming of a star as the planet passes between it and the telescope's line of sight. By observing the changes in starlight, scientists can determine a planet's size, its distance from the host star, and the orbital period. This method is currently used by NASA's Kepler mission, which was launched in 2009 to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone.

In the future, however, a different approach in design and concept may be used to detect common biomarkers of life, such as oxygen and liquid water, on planets similar to Earth orbiting sun-like stars. PIAA is a "direct imaging" technique, which means it takes actual photos of exoplanets. The difficulty in taking such photographs is that the star's brilliance causes diffraction and glare to overwhelm dim planets in orbit around it. To solve this problem, a telescope needs to suppress the diffraction of the starlight.

The PIAA system uses two specially designed non-spherical mirrors to reshape the light in the pupil of the telescope into a new "high-contrast" pupil pattern. This new high-contrast pupil has the special property of confining all diffraction and glare from the star into a small spot, which virtually blocks all the starlight without appreciably affecting the light from the planet.

Instruments that block starlight are typically called "coronagraphs" (originally invented to block our sun's brilliance, so we can see its outer gaseous envelope or corona). PIAA is a particularly powerful type of a coronagraph, approaching fundamental physics limits.

Telescopic optics have tiny imperfections, called aberrations, that cause unclear images of the star. Optics completely free of aberrations presently cannot be made, but can be corrected by separate mirrors that can actively change shape. "These mirrors are called deformable mirrors. They counteract the existing distortions of the telescope optics," explained Belikov.

PIAA, or coronagraphs in general, block the brilliance of starlight, but only can work sufficiently to reveal Earth-size planets if telescope optics are perfect, which they never are. The deformable mirrors correct these imperfections with their wavefront control system. This system "fixes" the imperfect telescope optics to enable the coronagraph to work properly.

At the Ames coronagraph experiment facility, the deformable mirror, built by Boston Micromachines Corp., Mass., is a one-by-one centimeter square that employs a grid of 32-by-32, or 1024 actuators, which can generate any shape desired on the mirror. By controlling the shape of the surface of the error-compensating deformable mirror, the aberrations in the telescope can be reduced sufficiently to allow Earth-size planets to be directly imaged.

"The surface of these deformable mirrors can be set to such high precision that we are incapable of measuring it," said Belikov.

Although PIAA is approved for further development, it still is awaiting a mission. It is designed for two classes of missions: one for small telescopes, the other for very large telescopes. A small telescope proposal, called Exoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer (EXCEDE), was selected for technology development for a potential future science mission in September 2011 by NASA's Explorer program.
Led by the University of Arizona, Tucson and in partnership with Ames and Lockheed Martin Space Science Company, Palo Alto, Calif., EXCEDE will directly image circumstellar dust and debris, and large planets in habitable zones, but not planets similar to Earth. "EXCEDE will do amazing science and may be a precursor to a larger mission, but won't quite capture exoEarths," said Belikov."

To see Earth-like planets, a much larger telescope is needed. While the current focus of the Ames Coronagraph Experiment (ACE) team is on the EXCEDE mission, they also are collaborating with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., to develop coronagraph technology for larger telescopes, capable of observing exo-Earths. Currently, there are two vacuum testbeds at JPL developing different kinds of coronagraph technologies.

Coronagraph technologies are initially developed in ambient conditions, rather than vacuum conditions. An ambient, stable, air-controlled, environment is a cheaper and faster development path than operating in a vacuum. Testing in vacuum conditions, however, is desirable because they are similar to conditions in space. Once these coronagraph technologies are tested in ambient conditions, they then are ready to be tested on vacuum testbeds.

"The ACE testbed is in air, not in a vacuum. Our team has advanced the technology for the EXCEDE mission to the point where it is ready for vacuum testing," said Belikov.

So what are its prospects?

Recently, the National Academy of Sciences produced a 2010 decadal survey that endorsed the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission as its large mission in the 2020 decade. NASA accepted this recommendation.

"Presently, it does not include a coronagraph to do direct imaging of exoplanets. But things can change," predicted Belikov.

It also seems promising that two 2.4 meter Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (AFTA) telescopes were given to NASA last year by another federal agency. If one of these telescopes becomes the WFIRST mission, its telescope size will be larger than originally planned. If this happens, and the mission has a powerful enough coronagraph, it may be able to survey the nearest stars for habitable exoEarths, according to Belikov.

"With sustained funding, NASA will be capable of launching a telescope large enough to find and characterize basically all the habitable planets around our galactic neighborhood, say the nearest hundreds of stars, within the 2030 decade," concluded Belikov.


Source : Electroic ( 15th feb 2013)