NASA to advise area businesses

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Published: Saturday, 5/24/2014 - Updated: 7 hours ago

BY JON CHAVEZ BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

Sixteen Ohio and Michigan companies have been chosen to receive help from scientists and engineers from NASA in connection with an upcoming roadshow that the federal space agency will hold on June 12 at the University of Toledo.

The list includes an auto parts supplier, agri-businesses, a biotech firm, and a solar industry firm. But also chosen was a firm that makes hip clothing for young adults, a firm that makes food-cooking equipment, and a 4-year-old Toledo firm that makes packaging for relief supplies earmarked to be dropped over disaster zones.

I looked at each one of these proposals and sometimes Im scratching my head. But [NASA] engineers looked at them and decided theres something they can do to help each of them with their processes, said Keith Burwell, president of the Toledo Community Foundation, one of nine agencies and organizations staging the NASA Roadshow.

That was our biggest message to [applicants]: Dont limit yourself. If, for example, you just make rocket fuel, you should still apply because their technology can cover a vast array of industries, Mr. Burwell said.

They could see all the uses for Velcro and Super Glue. Youd never guess that NASA could use that, but they did.

NASA scientists, specifically engineers and technical specialists from the agencys Glenn Research Center in Cleveland will provide up to eight hours of free R&D consultation and, in some cases, will share declassified technologies at the June 12 event.

The roadshow, NASAs second such event in Ohio, is part of a federally funded, three-year experimental program to comply with a White House directive that NASA and other federal agencies accelerate their technology-transfer activities and make available to all the benefits of federally funded research and development investments.

Applicants submitted proposals in April listing issues that they thought NASA could help solve, and a committee and NASA officials looked over the applications and chose the ones most likely to be aided by NASA.

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NASA to advise area businesses

NASA places radar in NC to study rain in Smokies

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By JEAN GORDON, The Daily Courier of Forest City

RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. NASA has placed two radars on land in Rutherford County for a science field campaign to study rainfall in the Smoky Mountains.

The campaign that began on May 1 will continue until June 15.

"We have set up rain gauges and radars across the area to learn more about how weather and rain systems behave in the mountains," said David Wolff, research scientist field support office with NASA located in Wallops Island, Va.

"The specific reason we are in North Carolina is to provide support for validation of the first, post-launch GPM ground-validation field campaign referred to as the Integrated Precipitation & Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) which is being sponsored by NASA, Duke University (Dr. Ana Barros), and NOAA," Wolff said.

The field office, located off Lambs Grill Road is collecting data in conjunction with a satellite launched in February by NASA and the Japanese Exploration Agency. At that time Japan launched a $1.2 billion satellite mission to measure global rain and snowfall in an effort to help to supply scientists and forecaster data that can help predict the range of weather disasters across the county.

Several pieces of equipment, including two NASA satellite radars are set up in the field. The most visible from far distances is the 60-ton NASA radar.

Wolff talked about the decision to locate the field campaign in Rutherford County.

"We spent about two weeks traveling the area southwest of the Pigeon River basin and south of the Catawba River basin, where NASA, NOAA and Duke University have already placed a large array of ground-based precipitation measuring instruments," Wolff said. "We needed to find a site that was at a high enough elevation to see above the intervening foothills and did not have too many trees close to the site so that we could get an unobstructed view. I believe we found 13 possible sites, and the one we chose, after talking with the landowner, Charles Hanna, III satisfied our requirements and also had sufficient commercial power."

Visitors to a recent open house had an opportunity to catch a glimpse of NASA's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft that carries three radars and a radiometer to measure rainfall from 65,000 feet.

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NASA places radar in NC to study rain in Smokies

NASA Discovers New And Unusual Impact Crater On Mars [VIDEO]

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A NASA satellite orbiting Mars recently discovered a fresh crater on the surface of the Red Planet, and scientists were able to pinpoint the exact day the impact occurred.

The crater is located near the planets equator and measures roughly 49 meters, or 160 feet, across, about half the size of a football field.

Before and after shots of the impact site, taken in March 2012 withthe Mars Color Imager, or MARCI, show that the crater was not there on March 27, but it appeared the following day. The anomaly wasnt spotted until a few months ago when a NASA scientist who charts weather patterns on Mars noticed a dark spot on the planet's surface that had not been observed previously.

Mars is constantly bombarded with objects from space, but this is the first time scientists have pinpointed the exact day a meteorite struck the Red Planet. Scientists say its an important step in understanding the Martian surface.

"Studies of fresh impact craters on Mars yield valuable information about impact rates and about subsurface material exposed by the excavations," Leslie Tamppari, deputy project scientist for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

Because of Mars thin atmosphere, large chunks of rock frequently survive until until impact. Scientists have witnessed no less than 20 new large craters on the surface of Mars over a seven-year period. On Earth, meteors seldom make it to the ground as they explode in the upper atmosphere, where most if not all of the solid material is vaporized.

"If you were to live on Mars for about 20 years, you would live close enough to one of these events to hear it," Michael Malin, chief scientist at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego,said in 2006abouta study he led that looked at new Mars impact craters over a five-month period. "So there'd be a big boom, and you'd know there was an impact crater."

In February, NASA released images of an impact crater on Mars that were captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO. The images show an impact crater that's roughly 30 meters, or 100 feet, in diameter with dark bands of material radiating outward from the crater.

NASA estimates that the meteor that created the 49-meter-wide crater on Mars in 2012 was 3 to 5 meters long, less than a third the estimated length of the asteroid that exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February 2013.

Researchers say the crater is unlike any theyve seen before.

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NASA Discovers New And Unusual Impact Crater On Mars [VIDEO]

Shape-changing wings inspire more efficient aircraft designs

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We tend to think of aeronautical engineering as having left the birds standing still sometime around the First World War, but since jet fighters cant perch and quadcopters cant snag salmon out of a stream, we still have a few things to learn. Taking a couple of pages from the avian playbook, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (ENAS) and its partners are developing wing flaps for airplanes that change shape like a birds wing for greater efficiency.

Billions of people take to the air every year with even greater numbers projected for the foreseeable future. Not only is this part of one of the greatest on-going transportation revolutions in human history, but also poses grave problems in terms of energy and pollution. One major goal of modern aeronautical engineering is to find ways to make jet aircraft more efficient in terms of the amount burned because, on a global scale, even the smallest reduction can have very large economic and environmental benefits.

The Fraunhofer consortiums project is part of Europes Smart Intelligent Aircraft Structures (SARISTU) program, which aims at a reduction of jet fuel by six percent. In this case, the strategy is to redesign the jet aircrafts wing so its more like that of a bird. That doesn't mean well be seeing 747s with feathers, but rather with wing sections that can alter their shape and so the flow of air over them, much in the same way as birds can spread or twist their feathers to give them the most lift in a desired situation.

In particular, the consortium is looking at a morphing flap. Modern wings have a very limited ability to change their shape, usually restricted to extending large, rigid landing flaps. Landing flaps should one day be able to adjust to the air flow and so enhance the aerodynamics of the aircraft, says Martin Schller, researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for ENAS.

Essentially, what the Fraunhofer engineers (and others working on shape-shifting wing systems like Flexsys) are doing is going back to Day One of the age of flight. When the Wright brothers took off from Kitty Hawk in 1903, their flyer didn't have flaps and ailerons, Instead, they used what was called wing warping, where lines and pulleys twisted the wing, so the air flowed in the desired manner. The morphing flap takes a high-tech approach to this.

It works by means of a mechanism that alters the shape of the flap under the control of a computer algorithm. The skin of which is made up of alternating hard a soft areas consists of a silicon skin with the flexible parts made of a elastomeric foam that stays pliable even down to minus 80 C (minus 112 F). Since this is still very much in the experimental stage, Fraunhofer isnt keen to divulge too many technical details

Fraunhofer and its partners have built four prototypes that are 90 cm (35.4 in) long. Two of these are covered in skin. These will be used for engineering and wind tunnel testing, and will be on display at the ILA Berlin Air Show until May 25.

Source: Fraunhofer

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Shape-changing wings inspire more efficient aircraft designs

How to unplug while on vacation? Andrew Douglas shares some tips

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Neighborhood on edge after witnesses say a man tried to abduct child Neighborhood on edge after witnesses say a man tried to abduct child

Updated: Saturday, May 24 2014 10:44 PM EDT2014-05-25 02:44:00 GMT

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Updated: Saturday, May 24 2014 6:41 PM EDT2014-05-24 22:41:11 GMT

Updated: Saturday, May 24 2014 6:34 PM EDT2014-05-24 22:34:00 GMT

(WMC) - A lot of us will take advantage of Memorial Day weekend to take a nice long break from the office, but it can be hard for some of us to really cut the cord and distance ourselves from work.

According to the career website, Glassdoor, 61 percent of employees admit to working while on vacation. But vacations aren't supposed to be all work and no play, so here are some tips to help you feel less tempted to check in with the office when you're on vacation.

First,develop a realistic plan and decide your limits. Will you check in once during your entire vacation? Or once a day? Discuss your plan ahead of time with your co-workers, so everyone knows how plugged in you will be and what your boundaries are.

Only check in during off hours. Experts advise that if you don't want to get coaxed into lengthy email exchanges with co-workers, to only email during after-work hours and then let them know when you will check in again. This will help you to avoid feeling guilty about not checking for responses every few minutes.

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How to unplug while on vacation? Andrew Douglas shares some tips

5 Can't-Miss Apps: Next Music Discovery and More

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Image: Mashable composite. Mashable; Next

By Karissa Bell2014-05-24 16:30:10 -0500

Between Microsoft unveiling its new Surface Pro 3 and the latest eBay hack, you may have overlooked some of this week's best new apps.

Luckily, Mashable creates a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps, so you won't miss out.

This week's list includes a social music-discovery app, an Instagram viewer for iPad and an app that puts iOS notifications on your Mac's desktop.

Check out the gallery, above, to see all the apps that made our list of top picks. And if you're looking for more, check out last week's edition of can't-miss apps.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Mashable composite. Mashable; Next

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5 Can't-Miss Apps: Next Music Discovery and More

Angel Chat #53 – Naturopathic Medicine VS Western Allopathic Medicine – Video

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Angel Chat #53 - Naturopathic Medicine VS Western Allopathic Medicine
In this video I present Spirit #39;s take on naturopathic medicine and natural treatments as appose to western allopathic medicine. I will also provide some helpful tips and important information...

By: MediumMiki

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Angel Chat #53 - Naturopathic Medicine VS Western Allopathic Medicine - Video