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. 

*******************************************************************

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) 

Russian meteor shower

A meteor streaks through the sky over Chelyabinsk. With a blinding flash and a booming shock wave, the meteor blazed across the western Siberian sky Friday and exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs, injuring more than 1,000 people as it blasted out windows and spread panic in a city of 1 million.

                                           
             


                            
                                          


                                 

                                         
                                           

Source : ZEE News ( 16th February 2013)
                                                                                                          

! Asteroid 2012 DA14 by Virtual Telescope !

Last night, asteroid 2012 DA14 did its exceptional close passage, reaching on 15 Feb. at 19:25 UT a minimum distance of about 27500 km from the surface of our planet.

The Virtual Telescope planned a very special event since last summer and finally the day arrived. More than 150.000 viewers from 166 Countries jumped into our live page to spy this tiny rock. Unfortunately, the clouds came, too, but at least we had some clear skies soon after the minimum distance was touched. The image above is an exceptional document, showing 2012 DA14 while it was at about 36500 km from us. An exposure time of 3 seconds was used for each frame going to make this averaged image.

For the occasion, the PlaneWave 17" robotic unit was used, trusting its exceptional Paramount ME robotic mount. The mount was controlled by TheSkyX Pro suite and the software was perfectly tuned to track this VERY DIFFICULT target. The results shown here speak by themselves: the asteroid was perfectly tracked, despite it was moving at 0.65 degrees per minute! All this after the scope was just slewed, without any manual adjustment! Amazing.


   

Source : Virtual Telescope.Eu

Uganda Ready to Get Its Space Program Off the Ground

The African Space Research Program, based in Uganda, has announced that it is ready to launch its first probe into space.

The small probe, or "observer", was developed by Chris Nsamba and a team of student volunteers working in Nsamba’s back yard. His organization, the African Space Research Program, is funded entirely by private donations.   

Space probe planned to orbit earth by African Space Research Program (ASRP photo)
Yet Nsamba says that despite the lack of government support, the observer is fully tested and ready to go.

"It’s done. We have already controlled it via GPS (global positioning system). We have already tested it, and it’s working fine. We are just waiting on the Ugandan president to give us clearance to have it launched into space," Nsamba said.

Nsamba and his team demonstrated their creation for the Ugandan vice president this week, and they are hoping the necessary clearance and funding will follow soon.

The device would be launched using a helium-filled weather balloon, which would float it up to 3.6 kilometers before thrusters kick in. The observer, which took about a year to develop, is equipped with a camera and video camera. Nsamba says it should be able to send live data back to Earth.

But the observer will be doing more than mere observation. On its maiden voyage, he adds, it will also be carrying a live rat.

"The reason it has a rat [is] because we are going to check out our competence of keeping something alive in space. We have oxygen on board which the rat can use.

This oxygen can last that rat around 17 hours," Nsamba said.

Now, says Nsamba, the only thing missing before the observer can be launched is the approval of the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni. That, and more helium for the balloon. 


Source : VOA NEWS , 15th Feb 2013 

NTU teams up with Israeli university in satellite and space research

NTU and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have teamed up to collaborate in satellite and space research. The cooperation would allow NTU to expand its satellite research programme with one of the world's top science and technology research universities that is often dubbed "Israel's MIT". A faculty and student exchange programme is also being planned. NTU is the only university here with an undergraduate satellite programme.

 

Source : Nanyang Technological University 

Release of Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2013, Omnibus Solicitation NNH13ZDA001N

NASA's Science Mission Directorate announces the release of its annual omnibus solicitation, Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) for 2013 on February 14, 2013 at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2013

Notices of Intent to propose and Step-1 proposal due dates start on 03/01/2013 and go through 01/24/2014.

Full (and Step-2) proposal due dates start on 05/01/2013 and go through 03/31/2014 (for Full proposals) or 06/02/2014 (for Step-2 proposals).

 



This ROSES NRA (NNH13ZDA001N) covers all aspects of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences, including, but not limited to: theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data; aircraft, stratospheric balloon, suborbital rocket, and commercial reusable rocket investigations; development of experiment techniques suitable for future SMD space missions; development of concepts for future SMD space missions; development of advanced technologies relevant to SMD missions; development of techniques for and the laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft, as well as terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help verify observations from SMD Earth system science missions; determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space data, as well as returned samples from the Earth or space; Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support SMD science missions; development of integrated Earth system models; development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal needs; and development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and data.

Awards range from under $100K per year for focused, limited efforts (e.g., data analysis) to more than $1M per year for extensive activities (e.g., development of science experiment hardware). The funds available for awards in each program element offered in this ROSES NRA range from less than one to several million dollars, which allow selection from a few to as many as several dozen proposals depending on the program objectives and the submission of proposals of merit. Awards will be made as grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and inter- or intra-agency transfers depending on the nature of the proposing organization and/or program requirements. The typical period of performance for an award is four years, although a few programs may specify shorter or longer (maximum of five years) periods. Organizations of every type, domestic and foreign, Government and private, for profit and not-for-profit, may submit proposals without restriction on the number or teaming arrangements. Note that it is NASA policy that all investigations involving non-U.S. organizations will be conducted on the basis of no exchange of funds.

Electronic submission of proposals is required by the respective due dates for each program element and must be submitted by an authorized official of the proposing organization. Electronic proposals may be submitted via the NASA proposal data system NSPIRES or via Grants.gov. Every organization that intends to submit a proposal in response to this ROSES NRA must be registered with NSPIRES; organizations that intend to submit proposals via Grants.gov must be registered with Grants.gov, in addition to being registered with NSPIRES. Such registration must identify the authorized organizational representative(s) who will submit the electronic proposal. All principal investigators and other participants (e.g., co-investigators) must be registered in NSPIRES regardless of submission system. Potential proposers and proposing organizations are urged to access the system(s) well in advance of the proposal due date(s) of interest to familiarize themselves with its structure and enter the requested information.

Details of the solicited programs are given in the Appendices of this ROSES NRA. Names, due dates, and links for the individual calls are given in Tables 2 and 3 of this ROSES NRA. Table 2, organized by due date, can be found at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2013table2 and Table 3, organized by subject area can be found at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2013table3. Interested proposers should monitor http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ or subscribe to the electronic notification system there for additional new programs or amendments to this ROSES NRA through February 2014, at which time release of a subsequent ROSES NRA is planned. A web archive (and RSS feed) for amendments, clarifications, and corrections to this ROSES NRA will be available at: http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2013/

Further information about specific program elements may be obtained from the individual Program Officers listed in the Summary of Key Information for each program element in the Appendices of this ROSES NRA, while questions concerning general ROSES NRA policies and procedures may be directed to Max Bernstein, Lead for Research, Science Mission Directorate, at sara@nasa.gov.



Source : Space Ref , 14th feb 2013

Meteor and asteroid events give new focus for our vital Sentinel telescope

A meteor strike in Russia and an asteroid near-miss graphically reveal the risks facing planet Earth. But we're not powerless.


Spaceship Earth just took two celestial shots across its bow as, first, a meteor struck Russia, showering the Chelyabinsk region with fragments and reportedly injuring several hundred people, and second, as Asteroid 2012 DA14 whizzed past on 15 February. Traditionally, a torpedo across the bow is fired as a warning to change one's behavior – and this coincidence of events should be a warning to humanity that meteors are not always as benign as "shooting stars" and that the next asteroid might not miss! Will we, the crew of SS Earth heed this warning?


 On 15 February 2013 a meteor exploded over Siberia and an asteroid is expected to pass 17,100 miles above the earth. Photograph: Getty Images.


We can look at asteroid 2012 DA14 (or DA14 for short), which will have missed the Earth by a mere 17,000 miles, in two ways. DA14 can be seen as one of about 10,000 near-Earth asteroids that have been discovered in the past 15 years that pass close to our planet, threatening an impact. However, since we have seen these asteroids and are currently tracking them, we can predict any upcoming impacts. Happily, none of those we've found to date pose any substantial threat of impact.

Nevertheless, the Earth is hit by one of these relatively small DA14-sized asteroids about once every 300 years, on average. And "small" is far, far from insignificant. The DA14-like asteroid that hit Earth in 1908 did so in a remote region of Siberia, where the explosion (the equivalent of about 250 Hiroshima nuclear bombs going off at one time) destroyed over 800 square miles of the countryside. This disaster zone, superimposed on any city in the world, would have wiped it and all its residents from the face of the Earth. I refer you, as a graphic reminder of the power of such explosions, to the post-facto Hiroshima bomb pictures readily found online.

Source : guardian , UK ( 15th feb 2013) 

Telescopes Could Detect ET Life Signs Within 25 Years

A team of Dutch astronomers has shown that with a new type of telescope it may be possible to detect signs of extraterrestrial life on planets orbiting other stars than the Sun. Although even the most nearby stars are at enormous distances, biological activity can reveal itself through gases released in the planet atmospheres, which would otherwise not be present - so called biomarker gases.

This idea, which has been around since the 1960s, has now been coupled to a new observing strategy, which uses relatively low-cost ground-based flux collector telescopes for high-precision measurements of oxygen in exoplanet atmospheres. The study was published in the February 20th issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

                 As has been argued now for several decades, observations of planets orbiting distant stars, so called exoplanets, may one day reveal signs of extraterrestrial life. About one-fifth of the Earth atmosphere consists of molecular oxygen, which is only present because it is generated by biological activity - e.g., photosynthesis in plants, and would otherwise be absent because it is so easily spent by oxidation through a range of chemical processes. Finding oxygen in the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet orbiting a distant star could therefore point to extraterrestrial life.
Until now it was thought that such observations, which are extremely challenging, would need to be performed using a telescope in space. The oxygen (or ozone) in our own atmosphere would simply hamper such measurements too much. However, plans from both U.S. and European scientists to build dedicated space missions, such as the Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin, have been canceled, making it unlikely that such a space-mission would be launched within the next 25 years.
A group of scientists from Leiden University and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research have now shown that one need not to go to space to measure biomarker gases. This can be done from the ground using a technique that has recently given very promising results.
"The way to separate out possible molecular oxygen from a distant exoplanet from the oxygen in our own atmosphere is to measure very precisely the wavelengths of its absorption lines", explains Ignas Snellen, lead author of the study.
"Due to the relative velocity of the exoplanet with respect to the Earth, the lines in the exoplanet spectrum will be slightly Doppler shifted, which can be measured when precise enough instruments are used.
In this way, the telescope does not have to be in space, saving at least an order of magnitude in costs." Recently, this method has been applied very successfully to Jupiter-size exoplanets that orbit their star very closely, revealing carbon monoxide in their atmospheres using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
The team shows that the oxygen signal from a hypothetical Earth-twin planet seen against the light of a red dwarf, a star significantly cooler and five times smaller than our Sun, is only three times weaker than the carbon monoxide signal recently detected in the hot Jupiter Tau Bootis. Such red dwarf stars will be hundreds of times fainter than Tau Bootis, therefore requiring telescopes significantly larger than currently available.

"The next generation European Extremely Large Telescope, or E-ELT, will be 25 times more powerful than the VLT for this type of measurement", says Remco de Kok, member of the team. "If Earth-like planets are very common and can be found relatively nearby, it may be possible to detect molecular oxygen with the E-ELT - but we would need to be very lucky. Even the E-ELT may not be powerful enough."

What the team therefore suggests is to invest in the development of flux collector telescopes.
"For spectroscopy of bright stars and their planets it is not necessary to build a telescope that produces the very sharp images foreseen for the E-ELT. What is important is to collect as much light as possible, which can be done with a telescope mirror which is less accurately formed - and therefore can be constructed for only a small fraction of the cost", says Snellen.

"With an array of such flux collectors covering a few football fields one could perform a statistical study of extraterrestrial life in the solar neighborhood. Although there is still a long way to go, this should be possible within the next 25 years."


Source : Space Daily ( 15th Feb 2013 ) 

Complete listing of all new features in all editions of Zemax 13

General Features:	IE	EE	SE
A new capability, LightningTrace™, has been added. This patent-pending technology is capable of modeling illumination systems hundreds of times faster than conventional ray-tracing methods
Non-Sequential ray-tracing is generally 20-30% faster than previous systems. The biggest performance gains are found with more complex systems.
Optimization:	IE	EE	SE
Sequential MF 'favorite operands' option allows user-defined favorite operands to be added at the top of a sequential merit function
NSC Merit Function Tool builds merit functions for most common requirements automatically
NSC Bitmap Merit Function allows a bitmap file to be used as an optimization target
NSC Auto Roadway Merit Function builds a merit function to optimize roadway lamps to pass the CIE 140-2000 specifications
NSRW & NSTW operands added to support the Roadway Merit Function tool
NSLT LightningTrace operand allows LightningTrace results to be used in optimization
XENC & XENF support max distance argument
NSDD & NSDE calculate relative flux (normalized to peak) on each pixel
NSDE computes Color Rendering Index (CRI) & Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) on Detector Color objects
NSTR threads faster on multi-core machines
IMAE supports wave argument
Surfaces and Objects:	IE	EE	SE
Grid GRIN sequential surface allows 3D refractive index data to be read from an ASCII text file
All PartLink™, AssemblyLink™, Imported, STL and Zemax Part Designer objects are now grouped under the 'CAD Part' or 'CAD Assembly' naming convention
Creo® Parametric® (formerly Pro/E) parts can be used with Zemax
Creo Parametric Assemblies can be used with Zemax
Optical properties assigned by Zemax to SolidWorks® and Autodesk® Inventor® Parts & Assemblies can be saved back to the original CAD file using Edit…Save CAD Assembly/Part on the Non-Sequential Component Editor Toolbar
CAD Part: Autodesk Inventor now supports multi-configuration files
Jones matrix supported in SE
A new 'data' surface has been added. This is a dummy surface that provides up to 240 extra data values to a subsequently defined user-defined surface (UDS). The data surface must be placed immediately before the UDS and up to 20 such surfaces defined sequentially may be used by a single UDS. The purpose of this surface is to allow a large set of user-definable values to be parametrically controlled and optimized, such as grids of data points. A new FIXED_DATA4 UDS DLL structure has also been added to support this capability.
Analyses:	IE	EE	SE
RSMx Viewer supports false color plots to make low-intensity regions easier to see.
Detector color measures spectral power distribution
Source spectrum plot displays CRI of rays on detector
RSM Ray generator supports enhanced settings to provide more detailed control of the rays generated
ZRD spectral power distribution plots as bar chart
Ray database indicates whether ray underwent waveshift
Polar plot scatter viewer added to show 2D scatter functions
An astigmatic Gaussian POP beam definition has been added
Physical Optics now supports sampling up to 16384 in the 64-bit version of Zemax
A Zernike vs. field analysis plot allows a specified range of Zernike coefficients to be plotted as a function of field.
Tools:	IE	EE	SE
The Field Dialog can now compute the required number of field points using the equal-areas rule
Thermal analysis is now supported for Q-type aspheres
The Merit Function Editor now supports the ability to insert .MF files anywhere in the merit function
ZPL and Extensions:	IE	EE	SE
ZPL POP keyword supports user-definable CFG file
ZPL SOLVEBEFORESTOP keyword enables ZPL solves to be placed prior to the stop surface.
ZPL SURP & SETNSCPROPERTY keywords support built-in BSDF scatter function
ZPL NSLT keyword and DDE dataitem NSCLightningTrace added to provide automatic control of the nnew LightningTrace™ feature
MODIFYSETTINGS control have been added for:
Surface sag: sampling and surface settings
Image simulation: apply fixed apertures, use RI, and flip image settings
Detector viewer: output image file setting
Huygens MTF: all settings
Huygens MTF vs. Field: all settings
Huygens through focus MTF: all settings
FFT through focus MTF: all settings
Universal plot 1D: all settings
Universal plot 2D: all settings
Zemax Part Designer:	IE	EE	SE
Parameterize and constrain sketches supported
New sketch arc tool
Explicit definition of points and curves
Overlay bitmap in sketch mode
Additional input validation
Math functions: SINE, COSI, TANG, ASIN, ACOS, ATAN, SQRT
Bugs Fixed:
GENC could report incorrect results on surfaces with steep angles of incidence
Extremely high-angle rays could find the wrong intercept point on Even-aspheric surfaces
The “Use Relative Illumination” switch in Image Simulation remained active in afocal mode even though RI cannot be computed for an afocal system
For coherent systems, phase reversal was not accounted for in the ZRD when using Pixel .Interpolation.        Source : ZEMAX