Astronomy and Space

Advances in the investigation of the physical universe we live in.
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monster_gardener
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Moving dangerous space rocks

Post by monster_gardener »

Antipatros wrote:Gregory L. Matloff, Deflecting Asteroids

A solar sail could use light to nudge an earthbound rock into an orbit we could live with

http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/spac ... steroids/0
Sixty-five million years ago, a Manhattan-size meteorite traveling through space at about 11 kilometers per second punched through the sky before hitting the ground near what is now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. The energy released by the impact poured into the atmosphere, heating Earth’s surface. Then the dust lofted by this impact blocked out the sun, bringing years of wintry conditions everywhere, wiping out many terrestrial species, including the nonfeathered dinosaurs. Birds and mammals thus owe their ascendancy to the intersection of two orbits: that of Earth and that of a devastating visitor from deep space.

We humans need not wait, like dinosaurs, for the next big rock to drop. We have an advanced understanding of the heavens and a spacefaring technology that could soon enable us to alter the orbits of any celestial object on a collision path with us. That capability just might come in handy.

We got a taste of the challenge in December 2004, when scientists at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, Calif., estimated there was a nearly 3 percent chance that a 30-billion-kilogram rock called 99942 Apophis would slam into Earth in 2029, releasing the energy equivalent of 500 million tons of TNT. That’s enough to level small countries or raise tsunamis [PDF] that could wash away coastal cities on several continents. More recent calculations have lowered the odds of a 2029 impact to about 1 in 250 000. This time around, Apophis will probably miss us—but only by 30 000 km, less than one-tenth of the distance to the moon.

But let’s not rejoice too quickly. We know next to nothing about that asteroid’s porosity, composition, and tensile strength. It’s possible that tidal stresses during its 2029 approach could cause it to break apart, adding to the odds of an Earth impact during another rendezvous further down the line.

There is some disagreement about the best course of action. In the United States, experts tend to want to experiment with various deflection techniques by first sending robots or even astronauts to asteroids that do not threaten Earth. But in Russia, many asteroid watchers believe the risk of a collision between Apophis and Earth has been underestimated. These analysts contend that we should therefore concentrate our experiments on this particular asteroid.

To be sure of diverting any interplanetary intruder, we would need several strings to our bow. A method that could swiftly deflect a hunk of iron might blow an icy rock into several parts, each of which could then become a danger. And the gentler method now being discussed—to vaporize part of the surface of the asteroid, creating an outpouring of gas that would generate a propulsive force—would do no more than warm a meteorite made of iron. So we’ll doubtless need to devise several strategies for dealing with threatening asteroids.

So I have proposed a new tool, one that would use the pressure of light to nudge threatening objects into safe trajectories. That I’ve been asked to explain it at all in a magazine article shows that there’s indeed one thing we can rejoice in: the enhanced awareness of the problem. The mention of killer asteroids no longer raises jeering comparisons to the cries of Chicken Little, now that we know celestial impacts are far more common than once thought....
Thank you VERY MUCH for posting this article, Antipatros.

This is a topic of great concern to me.

IMVHO need to be working on this faster....

FWIW, I remember reading about another technique: painting a dangerous asteroid to alter solar energy absorption and alter the orbit.

But we need a good way to get off this rock ;) to the other rocks......... my favorite is the Orion rocket which uses mini-nukes as propulsion.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Or ... pulsion%29

Since we've got nukes, we might as well do something useful with them......
For the love of G_d, consider you & I may be mistaken.
Orion Must Rise: Killer Space Rocks Coming Our way
The Best Laid Plans of Men, Monkeys & Pigs Oft Go Awry
Woe to those who long for the Day of the Lord, for It is Darkness, Not Light
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Antipatros
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Antipatros »

Isobel Black Gill, Six Months in Ascension (1878)

An unscientific account of a scientific expedition

http://archive.org/details/sixmonthsinascen00gillrich
Introduction

A scientific expedition may be said to have two histories. The one treats of the special object of the expedition, the other of the personal adventures of those concerned in it. It is only the former which finds permanent record in the Transactions of scientific societies: the other too often remains unwritten.

For many reasons I think this is a matter of regret. Mere details of observations are never looked at, except by a very limited number of specialists; to the general public such details are meaningless as well as inaccessible; whilst the ordinary student usually accepts the result merely as he finds it quoted in some standard work or text-book.

It is not because popular accounts of such expeditions do not interest a sufficient circle of readers that they have not been more frequently written, but rather, I think, because the faculties of original research and popular exposition are seldom united in the same individual. Besides this, I have found in my own experience, that on such expeditions there is so much actual work to be done, and the hours are so completely filled with it, that there is neither time nor inclination to write a diary. Thus, before the story can be committed to writing, it has lost its crispness — the interest has faded, and, from treacherous memory, incident is wanting to complete the narrative. On my expedition to Ascension last year, however, I had the good fortune to be accompanied by my wife, who found much pleasure and interest in making a daily record of our life and work there. This little book, compiled from her journal, she now lays before the public with much diffidence. It is an honest endeavour to tell a true story, and add somewhat to a neglected class of literature; as such, she hopes that the faults incidental to a first work will meet with lenient judgment.

The story can boast of no stirring interest, no thrilling adventures by land or sea. It must derive its interest chiefly from its truthfulness as a record of an attempt to solve a great problem, viz., the distance of the Earth from the Sun....

DAVID GILL
London, November, 1878
If nothing else, the history of attempts to solve that "great problem," as detailed in the introduction, is well worth reading.
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.

--T.S. Eliot
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Typhoon
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

ESO | Serious Blow to Dark Matter Theories?
The most accurate study so far of the motions of stars in the Milky Way has found no evidence for dark matter in a large volume around the Sun. According to widely accepted theories, the solar neighbourhood was expected to be filled with dark matter, a mysterious invisible substance that can only be detected indirectly by the gravitational force it exerts. But a new study by a team of astronomers in Chile has found that these theories just do not fit the observational facts. This may mean that attempts to directly detect dark matter particles on Earth are unlikely to be successful.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Azrael »

Typhoon wrote:ESO | Serious Blow to Dark Matter Theories?
The most accurate study so far of the motions of stars in the Milky Way has found no evidence for dark matter in a large volume around the Sun. According to widely accepted theories, the solar neighbourhood was expected to be filled with dark matter, a mysterious invisible substance that can only be detected indirectly by the gravitational force it exerts. But a new study by a team of astronomers in Chile has found that these theories just do not fit the observational facts. This may mean that attempts to directly detect dark matter particles on Earth are unlikely to be successful.
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
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Simple Minded

Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Simple Minded »

Azrael wrote:]
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
Please.... Please.....Allow me the honor of being the first to introduce the term RACIST!!!!! to this thread... ;)

Lord knows they're evrywere.. ;)

Can't be tooooo careful........ long as you're not profilacting...

Gotta keep the racists from gettin their noses under the tent..... :?
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Azrael
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Azrael »

Simple Minded wrote:
Azrael wrote:]
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
Please.... Please.....Allow me the honor of being the first to introduce the term RACIST!!!!! to this thread... ;)
Well, they couldn't use the terms "minority matter" and "minority energy", because "dark matter" and "dark energy" are supposedly a majority of matter and energy respectively, so I suppose it was something of a catch 22.
Lord knows they're evrywere.. ;)

Can't be tooooo careful........ long as you're not profilacting...

Gotta keep the racists from gettin their noses under the tent..... :?
Who knew astrophysics was merely an attempt by the man to keep a brutha down.

I suppose the term "black hole" was used to brainwash people in to thinking that African Americans suck.

It reminds me of a quote from a Woody Allen movie:

Woody, to a black prostitute: Do you know what a black hole is?

Black prostitute: Yeah. That's how I make my living.
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

Azrael wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:
Azrael wrote:]
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
Please.... Please.....Allow me the honor of being the first to introduce the term RACIST!!!!! to this thread... ;)
Well, they couldn't use the terms "minority matter" and "minority energy", because "dark matter" and "dark energy" are supposedly a majority of matter and energy respectively, so I suppose it was something of a catch 22.
Lord knows they're evrywere.. ;)

Can't be tooooo careful........ long as you're not profilacting...

Gotta keep the racists from gettin their noses under the tent..... :?
Who knew astrophysics was merely an attempt by the man to keep a brutha down.

I suppose the term "black hole" was used to brainwash people in to thinking that African Americans suck.

It reminds me of a quote from a Woody Allen movie:

Woody, to a black prostitute: Do you know what a black hole is?

Black prostitute: Yeah. That's how I make my living.
Matter of colour?

Energy of colour?
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Azrael
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Azrael »

Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:
Azrael wrote:]
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
Please.... Please.....Allow me the honor of being the first to introduce the term RACIST!!!!! to this thread... ;)
Well, they couldn't use the terms "minority matter" and "minority energy", because "dark matter" and "dark energy" are supposedly a majority of matter and energy respectively, so I suppose it was something of a catch 22.
Lord knows they're evrywere.. ;)

Can't be tooooo careful........ long as you're not profilacting...

Gotta keep the racists from gettin their noses under the tent..... :?
Who knew astrophysics was merely an attempt by the man to keep a brutha down.

I suppose the term "black hole" was used to brainwash people in to thinking that African Americans suck.

It reminds me of a quote from a Woody Allen movie:

Woody, to a black prostitute: Do you know what a black hole is?

Black prostitute: Yeah. That's how I make my living.
Matter of colour?
People might confuse this with quarks.
Energy of colour?
People would confuse this with color force, and the potential energy from it, color energy.

Catch 22.
cultivate a white rose
Simple Minded

Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Simple Minded »

Azrael wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:
Azrael wrote:]
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
Please.... Please.....Allow me the honor of being the first to introduce the term RACIST!!!!! to this thread... ;)
Well, they couldn't use the terms "minority matter" and "minority energy", because "dark matter" and "dark energy" are supposedly a majority of matter and energy respectively, so I suppose it was something of a catch 22.
Lord knows they're evrywere.. ;)

Can't be tooooo careful........ long as you're not profilacting...

Gotta keep the racists from gettin their noses under the tent..... :?
Who knew astrophysics was merely an attempt by the man to keep a brutha down.

I suppose the term "black hole" was used to brainwash people in to thinking that African Americans suck.

It reminds me of a quote from a Woody Allen movie:

Woody, to a black prostitute: Do you know what a black hole is?

Black prostitute: Yeah. That's how I make my living.
Matter of colour?
People might confuse this with quarks.
Energy of colour?
People would confuse this with color force, and the potential energy from it, color energy.

Catch 22.
:lol: :lol:
Bravo Gentlemen!!!

Just goes to prove my assertion that in today's zeitgeist, "Racist" is not a derogatory term, it is a conversation catalyst and cognitive stimulator. ;)

Long live group identity and herd mentality..... Think of the loss of economic activity if we ever get past those silly self-constructs.....

She mighta misunderstood Woody and thought he said "Black Ho.."
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Azrael
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Azrael »

Simple Minded wrote:
Azrael wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:
Azrael wrote:]
To me, this sounds like good news. I always saw "dark matter" and "dark energy" as a kludge.

Hopefully something more elegant will come along that will fit better with observation.
Please.... Please.....Allow me the honor of being the first to introduce the term RACIST!!!!! to this thread... ;)
Well, they couldn't use the terms "minority matter" and "minority energy", because "dark matter" and "dark energy" are supposedly a majority of matter and energy respectively, so I suppose it was something of a catch 22.
Lord knows they're evrywere.. ;)

Can't be tooooo careful........ long as you're not profilacting...

Gotta keep the racists from gettin their noses under the tent..... :?
Who knew astrophysics was merely an attempt by the man to keep a brutha down.

I suppose the term "black hole" was used to brainwash people in to thinking that African Americans suck.

It reminds me of a quote from a Woody Allen movie:

Woody, to a black prostitute: Do you know what a black hole is?

Black prostitute: Yeah. That's how I make my living.
Matter of colour?
People might confuse this with quarks.
Energy of colour?
People would confuse this with color force, and the potential energy from it, color energy.

Catch 22.
:lol: :lol:
Bravo Gentlemen!!!

Just goes to prove my assertion that in today's zeitgeist, "Racist" is not a derogatory term, it is a conversation catalyst and cognitive stimulator. ;)
:lol: You may have a point there.
Long live group identity and herd mentality..... Think of the loss of economic activity if we ever get past those silly self-constructs.....
Indeed. Think of the harm to the handgun industry.
She mighta misunderstood Woody and thought he said "Black Ho.."
I'm pretty sure she understood that he said "hole" rather than "ho"; but misunderstood what it meant, or was making a joke: she makes her living as a "hole" for her client's penis. You gotta love Woody's sense of humor . . . and his neuroses. It really isn't one of his best movies. The "black hole" joke may have been the highlight.

Here's the clip:

tGqrL8hVzXI

A bit more with the prostitute (Harry out-of-focus):

jrVVmALJNMk

Oh lavender . . . this is funny . . . Woody at his favorite nightclub, meeting the inventor of aluminum siding:

F6-CPtm2w-c
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Antipatros
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Antipatros »

Solar system model
(Virtual orrery)

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2jRGYC/dd ... _multiline
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.

--T.S. Eliot
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Antipatros
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Antipatros »

ASTR 160: Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics

From Spring 2007, with Prof. Charles Bailyn

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD1515420F4E601A4

Course materials: http://oyc.yale.edu/astronomy/astr-160
This course focuses on three particularly interesting areas of astronomy that are advancing very rapidly: Extra-Solar Planets, Black Holes, and Dark Energy. Particular attention is paid to current projects that promise to improve our understanding significantly over the next few years. The course explores not just what is known, but what is currently not known, and how astronomers are going about trying to find out.
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.

--T.S. Eliot
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Endovelico
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Endovelico »

Key tests for Skylon spaceplane project

UK engineers have begun critical tests on a new engine technology designed to lift a spaceplane into orbit.

The proposed Skylon vehicle would operate like an airliner, taking off and landing at a conventional runway.

Its major innovation is the Sabre engine, which can breathe air like a jet at lower speeds but switch to a rocket mode in the high atmosphere.

Reaction Engines Limited (REL) believes the test campaign will prove the readiness of Sabre's key elements.

This being so, the firm would then approach investors to raise the £250m needed to take the project into the final design phase.

"We intend to go to the Farnborough International Air Show in July with a clear message," explained REL managing director Alan Bond.

"The message is that Britain has the next step beyond the jet engine; that we can reduce the world to four hours - the maximum time it would take to go anywhere. And that it also gives us aircraft that can go into space, replacing all the expendable rockets we use today."

To have a chance of delivering this message, REL's engineers will need a flawless performance in the experiments now being run on a rig at their headquarters in Culham, Oxfordshire.

The test stand will not validate the full Sabre propulsion system, but simply its enabling technology - a special type of pre-cooler heat exchanger.

Sabre is part jet engine, part rocket engine. It burns hydrogen and oxygen to provide thrust - but in the lower atmosphere this oxygen is taken from the atmosphere.

The approach should save weight and allow Skylon to go straight to orbit without the need for the multiple propellant stages seen in today's throw-away rockets.

But it is a challenging prospect. At high speeds, the Sabre engines must cope with 1,000-degree gases entering their intakes. These need to be cooled prior to being compressed and burnt with the hydrogen.

Reaction Engines' breakthrough is a module containing arrays of extremely fine piping that can extract the heat and plunge the intake gases to minus 140C in just 1/100th of a second.

Ordinarily, the moisture in the air would be expected to freeze out rapidly, covering the pre-cooler's pipes in a blanket of frost and compromising their operation.

But the REL team has also devised a means to stop this happening, permitting Sabre to run in jet mode for as long as is needed before making the transition to a booster rocket.

Sabre engine: How the test will work

Image

Groundbreaking pre-cooler
1. Pre-cooler
During flight air enters the pre-cooler. In 1/100th of a second a network of fine piping inside the pre-cooler drops the air's temperature by well over 100C. Very cold helium in the piping makes this possible.
2. Jet engine
Oxygen chilled in the pre-cooler by the helium is compressed and used to fuel the aircraft. In the test run, a jet engine is used to draw air into the pre-cooler, so the technology can be demonstrated.
3. The silencer
The helium must be kept chilled. So, it is pumped through a nitrogen boiler. For the test, water is used to dampen the noise from the exhaust gases. Clouds of steam are produced as the water is vapourised.



On the test rig, a pre-cooler module of the size that would eventually go into a Sabre has been placed in front of a Viper jet engine.

The purpose of the 1960s-vintage power unit is simply to suck air through the module and demonstrate the function of the heat exchanger and its anti-frost mechanism.

Helium is pumped at high pressure through the module's nickel-alloy piping.

The helium enters the system at about minus 170C. The ambient air drawn over the pipes by the action of the jet should as a consequence dip rapidly to around minus 140C.

Sensors will determine that this is indeed the case.

The helium, which by then will have risen to about minus 15C, is pushed through a liquid nitrogen "boiler" to bring it back down to its run temperature, before looping back into the pre-cooler.

"It is important to state that the geometry of the pre-cooler is not a model. That is a piece of real Sabre engine," said Mr Bond.

"We don't have to go away and develop the real thing when we've done these tests; this is the real article."

The manufacturing process for the pre-cooler technology is already proven, but investors will be looking to see that the module has a stable operation and can meet the promised performance.

The BBC was given exclusive access to film the rig in action.

Because REL is working on a busy science park, it has to meet certain environmental standards.

This means the Viper's exhaust goes into a silencer where the noise is damped by means of water spray.

The exhaust gases are at several hundred degrees, and so the water is instantly vaporised, producing huge clouds of steam.

Anyone standing outside during a run gets very wet because the vapour rains straight back down to the ground.

Future direction

The REL project has generated a lot of excitement. One reason for that is the independent technical audit completed last year.

The UK Space Agency engaged propulsion experts at the European Space Agency (Esa) to run the rule over the company's engine design.

Esa's team, which spent several months at Culham, found no obvious showstoppers.

"Engineering is never simple. There are always things in the future that need to be resolved - problems crop up and you have to solve them," said Dr Mark Ford, Esa's head of propulsion engineering.

"The issue is, 'do we see anything fundamental from stopping this engine from being developed?', and the answer is 'no' at this stage.

"The main recommendation we made is that we would like next to see a sub-scale engine - so, a smaller version than the final engine - being tested.

"So far we've looked at critical component technologies. The next step is to put those technologies together, build an engine and see it working.

"We want a demonstration of the thermodynamic cycle. We'd also like to see the engine operating in air-breathing and rocket mode, and the transition between the two."

Image

This sub-scale engine is one of the activities proposed for the next phase of the project.

Also included is a series of flight test vehicles that would demonstrate the configuration of the engine nacelles - the air intakes.

Additionally, updated design drawings would be produced for the Sabre engine and the Skylon vehicle.

So far, 85% of the funding for Reaction Engines' endeavours has come from private investors, but the company may need some specific government support if it is to raise all of the £250m needed to initiate every next-phase activity.

"What we have learned is that a little bit of government money goes a long way," said Mr Bond.

"It gives people confidence that what we're doing is meaningful and real - that it's not science fiction. So, government money is a very powerful tool to lever private investment."

This public seed fund approach to space has certainly found favour recently within government.

Ministers put more than £40m into developing the communications payload for the first satellite operated by the Avanti broadband company, and they are giving more than £20m to SSTL to make a prototype radar satellite.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17864782
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by noddy »

https://news.slac.stanford.edu/features ... cal-review
A 3.2 billion-pixel digital camera designed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is now one step closer to reality. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope camera, which will capture the widest, fastest and deepest view of the night sky ever observed, has received “Critical Decision 1” approval by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to move into the next stage of the project.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will survey the entire visible sky every week, creating an unprecedented public archive of data – about 6 million gigabytes per year, the equivalent of shooting roughly 800,000 images with a regular eight-megapixel digital camera every night, but of much higher quality and scientific value. Its deep and frequent cosmic vistas will help answer critical questions about the nature of dark energy and dark matter and aid studies of near-Earth asteroids, Kuiper belt objects, the structure of our galaxy and many other areas of astronomy and fundamental physics.
Image

what an awesome camera.
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Endovelico
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Endovelico »

Mustafa's Space Drive: An Egyptian Student's Quantum Physics Invention
BY Kit Eaton

Remember the name, because you might see it again: Aisha Mustafa, a 19-year-old Egyptian physics student, patented a new type of propulsion system for spacecraft that uses cutting edge quantum physics instead of thrusters.

Image

First, a little background: One of the strange quantum facts at work in Mustafa's engine idea is that there's no such thing as a vacuum, devoid of particles, waves, and energy. Instead the universe's supposedly empty spaces are filled with a roiling sea of particles and anti-particles that pop into existence, then annihilate each other in such a short space of time that you can't readily detect them.

Mustafa invented a way of tapping this quantum effect via what's known as the dynamic Casimir effect. This uses a "moving mirror" cavity, where two very reflective very flat plates are held close together, and then moved slightly to interact with the quantum particle sea. It's horribly technical, but the end result is that Mustafa's use of shaped silicon plates similar to those used in solar power cells results in a net force being delivered. A force, of course, means a push or a pull and in space this equates to a drive or engine.

In terms of space propulsion, this is amazing. Most forms of spacecraft rely on the rocket principle to work: Some fuel is made energetic and then thrust out of an engine, pushing the rocket forward. It's tricky stuff to get right, particularly on Earth, which is why we shouldn't be surprised SpaceX's recent launch stopped at the critical moment due to a problem with one of its chemical rocket engines. For in-space maneuvering, many different types of rocket are used, but even exotic ones like ion drives (shown in a NASA image above) need fuel. The only space drive that doesn't involve hauling fuel and complex systems into orbit is a solar sail. And Mustafa's invention can, rudimentarily, be compared to a solar sail...because it doesn't need "fuel" as such, and exerts just the tiniest push compared to the thundery flames of SpaceX's rockets. It's potential is enormous--because of its mechanical simplicity and reliability it could make satellite propulsion lighter, cheaper, and thus indirectly lower the cost of space missions of all sorts.

And if you want proof that the tiniest of pushes can propel a spacecraft, check this out: Two Pioneer space probes, launched in the 1970s, are the farthest manmade objects from Earth...but they're not as far away as they should be. Over the course of a year they deviate by hundreds of kilometers from where all our science says they must be in orbit, and it's been found that it's down to the tiniest of pushes coming from radiators on-board that radiate heat waves out slghtly more in one direction than another.

Aisha's invention is so promising that her university's staff aided with a patent application. She intends to study the design further in the hope of testing it out for real in space, but as the OnIslam.net site points out she notes that there's no funding for a department of space science and this prevents important research being carried out in strife-ridden Egypt.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1837966/must ... -invention
Good heavens!!! What would Pastaneta say about this!?... A Muslim girl inventing something like this? But don't we know that Muslims are incapable of doing science? That their religious mental make-up is in the opposite of science? Has she maybe a Jewish forefather? Has she stolen her idea from some discreet Jewish scientist who may have been ensnared in some sexual trap?...
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Enki »

Russia will build permanent Moon base.
We knew Russia had ambitious plans for interplanetary exploration, and on Tuesday, an announcement from the head of the country's space agency really drove that point home. Russia wants to go to the Moon; and they want to stay there.
"We're not talking about repeating what mankind achieved 40 years ago," said Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, at Tuesday's Global Space Exploration Conference in Washington, D.C. "We're talking about establishing permanent bases."

This isn't the first time we've heard Russia talk ambitious plans for the Moon; back in March, leaked documents outlined a number of the country's deep space mission objectives (including sending probes to Jupiter and Venus, and conducting "a demonstrative manned circumlunar test flight, with the subsequent landing of cosmonauts on [the Moon's] surface"); but it's the context of Tuesday's announcement that makes it especially noteworthy.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
-Alexander Hamilton
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Typhoon
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
AzariLoveIran

Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by AzariLoveIran »

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Imam Khomeini Space Center


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Vahidi, in comments carried by the official IRNA news agency, said the first satellite to be launched from the new center will be the Tolo. It will be carried into orbit by the Iranian-made Simorgh light booster rocket, he said.

Iran already has a major satellite launch complex near Semnan, 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tehran, and another space center - a satellite monitoring facility - outside Mahdasht, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) west of the Iranian capital.

"Some 80 percent of the actual construction of the new space center has been completed," Vahidi said, adding that the new facility will send "satellites from Iran, the regional countries and the world of Islam into orbit in the near future."

Iran's decades-old space program is a key aspect of its efforts to achieve technological prowess similar to that of world powers. In Feb. 2010, Iran announced it had successfully launched a menagerie of animals - including a mouse, two turtles and worms - into space on a research rocket.
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Typhoon
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

h9DDnRRgtQ4
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Antipatros
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Antipatros »

Outstanding. I wish them complete success.
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.

--T.S. Eliot
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Antipatros
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Antipatros »

Image

There is still much work to be done in keeping the sky in the Cypress Hills Dark Sky Preserve truly dark, but already the results are dazzling. It was a pleasure to have such a good look at the stars.
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.

--T.S. Eliot
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Typhoon
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Typhoon »

44801709
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Sparky
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Re: Astronomy and Space

Post by Sparky »

Congratulations, NASA for sending a great big genuflecting remote control car to Mars. With lasers. How they managed to pull off this Heath Robinson* scheme is quite incredible:
After the parachute has significantly slowed the vehicle and the heatshield (that has protected the rover during entry) separates, the descent stage will separate from the backshell. Using four steerable engines, the descent stage will slow the nested rover down even further to eliminate the effects of any horizontal winds. When the vehicle has been slowed to nearly zero velocity, the rover will be released from the descent stage. A bridle and "umbilical cord" will lower the rover to the ground. During the lowering, the rover's front mobility system will be deployed so that it is essentially ready to rove upon landing. When the on-board computer senses that touchdown is successful, it will cut the bridle. The descent stage then pitches away from the rover and powers away at full throttle to a crash-landing far from Mars Science Laboratory.
*Rube Goldberg to our Yanqui cousins
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