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Webster company’s air lock passes training exercise at Johnson Space Center – Chron.com

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

An air lock designed by Webster-based NanoRacks for the International Space Station passed an astronaut training exercise at Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

Continue for a look inside the NanoRacks office.

Continue for a look inside the

Mechanical engineer Cody Burgey inspects a deep-freeze contraption at NanoRacks in Webster.

Operations engineer Jerry Mathew interprets data at NanoRacks in Webster.

November 11 2016: Mariel Rico, operations engineer, describes how cubes holding student experiments collect data at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Kyle Warner, operations engineer demonstrates the location and placement of a payload system at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Keith Tran, Manager of Flight Operations demonstrates the mechanics of a mockup at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Cubes such as the plexiglass version pictured here contain student-generated experiments at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Jerry Mathew, operations engineer describes the function of a section of payload equipment at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Doug Wilson, operations manager holds up a mockup part at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: The robotic arm is one of many design projects underway at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Keith Tran, Manager of Flight Operations and Jerry Mathew, operations manager discuss one of the ongoing projects at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Marcia Blount, Director of Houston Operations handles a plexiglass cube used by students to conduct experiments at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Marcia Blount, Director of Houston Operations handles an integral part of a design at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Keith Tran, Manager of Flight Operations demonstrates the mechanics of a mockup at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Daniel Acevedo, engineering technician works on a 3-D printer at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Keith Tran, Manager of Flight Operations and Doug Wilson, operations engineer describe the function of a mockup section at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Cody Burgey, mechanical engineer and Keith Tran, Manager of Flight Operations assemble a mockup at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Jerry Mathew, operations engineer simulates the grasping capabilities of the robotic arm at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Keith Tran, Manager of Flight Operations explains one of the many ongoing projects at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

November 11 2016: Cody Burgey, mechanical engineer, assembles a mockup at NanoRacks in Webster, Texas. (Leslie Plaza Johnson/Freelance)

Webster company's air lock passes training exercise at Johnson Space Center - Chron.com

Farewell LISA Space Observatory Pathfinder put to sleep – NASASpaceflight.com

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

July 18, 2017 by Chris Bergin and William Graham

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) pathfinder mission has come to an end via the final commanding of the spacecraft. The 16 month mission, has provided the tools for a future mission that may take place probably not until the 2030s having successfully demonstrated the technology required to operate a space observatory tasked with studying gravitational waves. LISA Mission:

Conceived as a precursor mission to primary Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) which was to be a joint mission between ESA and NASA, LISA Pathfinder was designed to prove a concept which scientists believed would allow gravitational waves a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einsteins theory of General Relativity but which had previously not been proven to be observed by studying differences between perturbations in the orbit of a constellation of satellites.

NASA pulled out of the LISA mission due to funding challenges, placing the future mission in doubt. However, just last month, the primary mission received its clearance goal for the 2030s, and was approved as one of the main research missions of ESA. NASA continues to show some interest in being a minor partner.

LISA Pathfinders main experiment, the LISA Technology Package (LTP), contained two test masses, 4.6 centimeters (1.8 inch) cubes of a gold-platinum alloy, which were allowed to float freely in an environment with minimal gravitational interference.

As the masses moved within the spacecraft, LTP used a laser interferometer to identify changes of position on the order of picometers.

Early in 2016, a brief test of drag-free conditions was achieved, applying no electrostatic potential along the cubes sensitive axes to control their position. The spacecraft was maneuvered around the cubes, keeping it centered around one.

NASAs Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), a system of miniature thrusters generating an impulse on the order of micronewtons were used by the spacecraft to maintain its position relative to the free-floating masses.

These thrusters controlled the spacecrafts position to the degree of nanometers.

DRS was originally developed by NASA as part of the New Millennium program, under the designation Space Technology 7 (ST-7).

LISA Pathfinders experiment was designed to validate the spacecraft could accurately measure the movements of these test masses and maneuver accordingly. It was a scaled-down form of the experiment that would have been flown by LISA, using two masses within the same spacecraft instead of three masses in separate spacecraft orbiting at great distances.

LISA Pathfinder was originally to have been part of the Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology (SMART) program, designated SMART-2. It would have been the second such mission, after the SMART-1 mission which orbited the Moon between 2004 and 2006.

The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft is a 1,906-kilogram (4,202 lb) vehicle consisting of separable propulsion and experiment modules. It was launched on Arianespaces Vega rocket in December, 2015.

Upon the spacecraft reaching its operational halo orbit around the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrangian point, the propulsion module separated and maneuvered away from the experiment module.

In a 500,000 by 800,000 kilometer (300,000 by 500,000 mile) orbit around the Lagrangian Point, the spacecraft was set to operate for around half a year spending three months testing the LISA Technology Package, two months testing the Disturbance Reduction System and then finally a month operating the two systems together.

However, with the mission proceeding without issue and exceeding expectations a further extension to the mission timeline was granted.

The final experiment pushed the precision limits of the test mass grabbing and releasing mechanisms. Then, after a series of final operational tests, the last commands were sent to shut down the spacecraft.

While official operations ended on June 30, the spacecraft team uploaded commands to disable A Computer on Monday, with the final command to completely end the mission occurring on Tuesday.

On 18 July, the LPF mission will conclude with the final commands sent to switch off the on-board transmitter. Since April, the mission operations team in Darmstadt have been working to ensure a safe and smooth end-of-life for this fantastic technology demonstration spacecraft, noted ESA.

The final command was sent just prior to 6pm UTC.

For disposal, the spacecraft has already performed a de-orbit maneuver to leave its Lagrangian orbit and start to drift ahead of the Earth in a heliocentric orbit around the Sun.

The spacecraft now has an orbital period a few days shorter than that of the Earth, keeping the spacecraft safely out of the way and drifting serenely around the Sun, ESA added.

Airbus Defence and Space constructed LISA Pathfinder, using a custom bus for the mission. The propulsion module was loosely derived from the Eurostar 2000 bus used for geostationary communications satellites, utilizing liquid propellant.

The experiment module accounted for about 480 kilograms (1,058 lb) of the spacecrafts mass with the propulsion module accounting for the rest. Power was provided by a panel of solar cells mounted atop the experiment module.

The follow on LISA mission will consist of three spacecraft in a triangular formation, each 2.5 million kilometers from the other two in an orbit around the sun trailing the Earth. The spacecraft would shine lasers at each other, with interferometers on each spacecraft detecting minute distance changes caused by passing gravitational waves.

The three spacecraft, with a combined mass of about 6,000 kilograms, including payload adapter, would launch on an Ariane 6 and drift to their planned orbit over the course of a year and a half.

LISA is to have a planned mission lifetime of four years, but with sufficient propellant on each spacecraft to operate for up to a decade.

(Images via ESA).

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Farewell LISA Space Observatory Pathfinder put to sleep - NASASpaceflight.com

Norway Launches Microsatellites built by Toronto’s Space Flight Laboratory – Space Daily

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

The Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has announced the successful launch of two Norwegian microsatellites developed and built by SFL for the Norwegian Space Centre with support from the Norwegian Coastal Authority, Space Norway, and the European Space Agency. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the satellites into orbit launched from Baikonur at 06:36:49 UTC Friday 14 July 2017.

Shortly after launch both satellites were contacted from ground stations in Svalbard and Vardo, Norway. Both satellites are healthy based on initial telemetry, and commissioning is underway.

The first satellite, dubbed NORsat-1 carries a state-of-the-art Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver to acquire messages from maritime vessels, a set of Langmuir probes to study space plasma characteristics, and a Compact Lightweight Absolute Radiometer (CLARA) to measure total solar irradiation and variations over time.

The payloads were provided by Kongsberg Seatex, the University of Oslo and the Physikalisch-Meterologisches Observatorium Davos World Radiation Center.

The satellite is approximately 15 kilograms with main body dimensions of 20x30x40cm. NORsat-1 utilizes SFL's Next-generation Earth Monitoring and Observation (NEMO) platform, and will serve the Norwegian Coastal Authority in monitoring maritime traffic while also performing ground breaking science.

The second satellite, NORsat-2 also carries an AIS receiver, but in addition has a VHF Data Exchange (VDE) payload that will enable higher bandwidth two-way communication with ships.

Both payloads were provided by Kongsberg Seatex. NORsat-2 will be the first satellite to provide VDE services to Norway. Adding VDE enables increased messaging capacity, better reliability of message delivery, and increased range of ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communication beyond direct line of sight.

SFL's NEMO platform was used for NORsat-2, and the satellite was integrated in Toronto along with NORsat-1. The relatively large deployable Yagi antenna for the VDE payload was developed by SFL in collaboration with the University of Toronto's Electromagnetics Group.

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Norway Launches Microsatellites built by Toronto's Space Flight Laboratory - Space Daily

Auditor-General won’t investigate Thiel citizenship – Otago Daily Times

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

The Auditor-General will not be conducting an inquiry into the decision to grant citizenship to San Francisco-based billionaire investor Peter Thiel, said deputy controller and Auditor-General Greg Schollum in response to a request from Green Party MP Denise Roche.

Ms Roche called on the Auditor-General to look into the decision after it came to light that in June 2011 then Minister of Internal Affairs Nathan Guy, approved Mr Thiel's application for citizenship under the "exceptional circumstances" provisions of the Citizenship Act.

According to Mr Schollum, the provisions allow the minister to grant citizenship to someone who may not satisfy the normal criteria for citizenship, but where granting citizenship "would be in the public interest because of exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian or other nature relating to the applicant".

He noted act gives the minister "broad discretion" and the section does not specify what these terms mean or how the minister's discretion should be exercised. "This means the legislation allows for considerable flexibility on a case-by-case basis," he said.

He said the issues largely come down to policy questions - for example, whether the legislation strikes the right balance for citizen decisions - or legal questions such as whether the provisions were applied correctly. "These are not questions that the Auditor-General generally has authority to answer," Mr Schollum said.

Mr Thiel is a member of US President Donald Trump's transition team, having donated to his campaign, and is a long-time libertarian who has in the past invested in the exploration of seasteading, the development of a floating city in international waters which could serve as a politically autonomous settlement.

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Auditor-General won't investigate Thiel citizenship - Otago Daily Times

Why are there still no redhead emojis? Because they take longer to make than you might think – ABC Online

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Updated July 18, 2017 13:43:11

Apple has marked World Emoji Day by dropping the list of new characters it will include in its iOS 11 update later this year.

But a certain 2 per cent of the population aren't celebrating.

Why? Because while we'll get zombies, dinosaurs, people doing yoga, a woman wearing a headscarf, a man with a beard, a breastfeeding mother and a "mind blown" expression (and much more) on our phones this spring, there are still no official plans for red-haired emojis.

Redheads have been calling for their own characters since 2015, when Apple expanded its keyboard to include a larger variety of races and genders.

So why is it taking so long? It's just a matter of giving some emojis a makeover right?

Well, no. It turns out the process is much more complex than you might think.

Let's take a look:

There is no one organisation responsible for "making" emojis.

Instead, members of the public pitch ideas for new characters to the Unicode Consortium (UC), a panel made up mostly of representatives from some of the world's biggest tech companies, including: Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Google, Huawei, and Netflix.

If approved, tech companies are then responsible for designing their own characters.

If you had a good idea for a emoji, first you would have to write a proposal.

The UC provides a step-by-step guide for how to do that, but it's basically a letter in which you have to include:

Once that's done, you would then need to submit it to the UC, where it is referred to the Emoji Subcommittee.

The subcommittee is co-chaired by Mark Davis from Google and Peter Edberg from Apple.

If your pitch ticks all the boxes, it's then referred back to the UC and put to a vote.

Once approved, it then needs to be developed by each tech company.

Ever wondered why Apple emojis look different to Google emojis?

Because during development, each company is able to get creative and design their own unique version of the character.

And then it's up to each company when they want to roll them out.

According to Unicode, it takes about a year from start to finish, and that's why redhead emojis are yet to grace our screens.

Despite over two years of calls for the characters, they were only officially pitched to Unicode in April.

That means sorry friends, you'll be waiting until at least early 2018.

Topics: human-interest, arts-and-entertainment, popular-culture

First posted July 18, 2017 13:26:55

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Why are there still no redhead emojis? Because they take longer to make than you might think - ABC Online

What if women ran the world? – TVO

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

In this edited excerpt from her new book, Attack of the 50 Ft.Women: How Gender Equality Can Save the World!, Womens Equality Party co-founder Catherine Mayer explains why parties of the left are so poor at promoting women.

Image courtesy of HarperCollins Ltd.

When Theresa May came to power, the American publication Money got a little overexcited. "Even with all the uncertainty around the U.K.s post-Brexit future, one thing is clear: Britain will soon be led by a woman, its first female prime minister since Margaret Thatcher left office in 1990,"it declared. "Female heads of state have become common everywhere, it seems, but in the United States."

In reality, May added to a total of female world leaders that for all their stature could still fit into a minibus. Excluding hereditary heads of state, there are female leaders in just 15 out of the worlds 144 full or partial democracies, or 16 if we include Nicola Sturgeon who heads Scotlands devolved government.

Female leaders are less common globally than natural redheads are in Sturgeons own country; and redheads in Scotland, contrary to popular imagination, are not common at all, a flame-haired cohort amounting to around 13 per cent of the total population. Redheads and female leaders stand out, so we imagine their numbers to be much higher. Fifty-three democracies elect a president and a prime minister, and in all but nine of these nations, both roles are held by men. That means female leaders still comprise just 7.61 per cent of all world leaders, 8.12 per cent with Sturgeon.

Heres another eye-catching feature of world politics: many female leaders and all current female leaders in Europe come from the right. Even though female voters are more likely than men to vote for left-of-centre parties, left-of-centre parties are strangely bad at promoting women. Labour has never elected a female leader. Sweden with its recently much lauded feminist government has never elected a female leader.

One paradoxical explanation for this phenomenon is that parties of the left have historically championed gender equality. This means they are often too convinced of their own virtue to recognize their failings. Those failings loosely group into two categories. The first is one of precedence. In their desire to solve all structural inequalities, these parties too-often assign the lowest priority to gender inequality even though most other forms of disadvantage intersect with being female. Far-left activists go further, resisting the idea of fixing parts of the system in favour of changing the whole system, stranding women in an endless waiting game. They also mistake optics for action. Bolivias socialist government set up a Gender Office and Unit for Depatriarchalisation and created a Deputy Minister for Equal Opportunities within the Ministry of Justice and Fundamental Rights, responsible for the advancement of women. However, none of these new institutions was allocated the resources necessary to be effective. As the White Queen tells Alice, "The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday but never jam today."

The second category is a failing more overt in parties of the right: hostility towards women. The left likes to imagine that it is exempt from such wrongheadedness. In reality, misogyny flourishes like knotweed, undermining foundations of parity and respect and periodically breaking into the open, rampant and destructive. The online abuse directed against any female MPs who questioned Jeremy Corbyns leadership of the U.K.was different in degree and content to anything experienced by male dissidents and could have less easily survived in a culture that made continued and concerted efforts to stamp out such abuse.

Last July, 44 female Labour MPs wrote to Corbyn concerned about the worrying trend of escalating hostility including rape threats, death threats, smashed cars and bricks through windows."

The authors made clear that they were not blaming factions within Labour for all of this but they also pointed to instances where Corbyns backers had staged rallies against them and claimed that bullying at party meetings had been actively encouraged or quietly condoned.

Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination unleashed toxic attacks on Hillary Clinton, not by Sanders but a rump of his followers, so-called Bernie Bros. Two British hard-left parties, the Workers Revolutionary Party and the Socialist Workers Party, both failed to curb sexual violence in their own ranks. The WRP disbanded after revelations that its leader Gerry Healy had sexually abused female members. The SWP responded to a rape allegation against a senior figure in the organization by holding a kangaroo court that interrogated the complainant. Had she been drunk? Had she definitely said no?

George Galloway, a former MP who set up the Respect Party after his expulsion from Labour, dismissed rape charges brought in Sweden against Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder was guilty, said Galloway, of "personal sexual behaviour [that] is sordid, disgusting, and I condemn it."This was, however, merely "bad sexual etiquette.""Not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion,"Galloway added. In 2016, he campaigned to be Mayor of London. The Womens Equality Party fielded a mayoral candidate at the same elections, party leader Sophie Walker, together with a London-wide slate of candidates. Galloway started with an advantage as a public figure, a political veteran and one-time star of reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother; he had also presented shows for Iran-backed Press TV and the Russian-funded RT network. Sophie had come to politics as WEs first leader just ten months before election day. She outpolled him by almost 100,000 votes.

Women from across the political spectrum, including members of other parties, congratulated us on the result. Not all of them warm to the Womens Equality Party or understand that we aim not to weaken their parties but to improve them, by pushing those parties to take gender equality and the women in their ranks seriously. But every woman in politics knows that a system that sidelines women, and tolerates their abuse, can never serve the population as it should.

Watch Nam Kiwanuka'sinterview with Catherine Mayeron The Agenda in the Summer tonight at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., or streaming on Twitter @TheAgenda.

What if women ran the world? - TVO

Redheads, a NSW town called Orange wants you | Collie Mail – Collie Mail

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

11 Jul 2017, 6:30 p.m.

Ginger pride to rule as redheads rally for record.

GINGER CHEER: Orange will be seeking to achieve all the fun of this Ginger Pride event in Melbourne when it hosts a Guinness World Record Attempt for the most redheads.

Hundreds of redheads might have gathered at ginger pride rallies and record attempts in other cities but where else is more appropriate thanOrange?

Rachael Brookingis planning to start big with a Guinness World Records attempt on getting the most redheads in one place.

Thered-letter day is September 30 when a four-hour festival of all things red will be celebrated at Wade Park culminating in the attempt to better the current record which stands at1672.

FOR MUM: Record attempt and fund raising organiser Rachael Brooking with a photo of her mum and fellow redhead, Frances Kelly.

Mrs Brooking said it would raise money for research into Huntingtons disease which claimed her mother Frances Kelly, also a redhead.

She said she had just launched the festival and was still working on getting famous redheads and sponsors to attend.

Ive had a really good response so far, she said.

GINGER MEGGS: There will be plenty of character on Orange's red-letter day.

Central Western Daily

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Redheads, a NSW town called Orange wants you | Collie Mail - Collie Mail

UH Scientists Use Satellites to Predict End of Volcanic Eruptions – Big Island Now

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Erupting Piton de la Fournaise volcano. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey.

University of Hawaii at Mnoa (UHM) researchers have discovered a new method for predicting when lava flow-forming volcanoes will stop erupting using infrared satellite data.

UHM graduate student Estelle Bonny and her mentor, researcher Robert Wright of the Hawaii Institute for Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), tested a hypothesis first published in 1981 using data gathered for nearly two decades by NASA satellites. The hypothesis predicts that once a lava flow-forming eruption starts, its rate of dispersion quickly peaks and then declines over a longer period of time until reaching zero.

HIGP faculty developed the methodology which detects and measures heat emissions from erupting volcanoes using satellite-based sensors. Through the data gathered in space, researchers are able determine lava flow rates and subsequently predict when volcano eruption rates will reach zeroessentially becoming extinct.

The system has been monitoring every square kilometer of Earths surface up to four times per day, every day, since 2000, said Bonny. During that time, we have detected eruptions at more than 100 different volcanoes around the globe. The database for this project contains 104 lava flow-forming eruptions from 34 volcanoes with which we could test this hypothesis.

Though the hypothesis has existed for decades, this is the first time satellite data has been used to find and measure lava flow rates. The results of the research will benefit people living near active volcanoes.

Being able to predict the end of a lava flow-forming eruption is really important, because it will greatly reduce the disturbance caused to those affected by the eruption, for example, those who live close to the volcano and have been evacuated, said Bonny.

This study is potentially relevant for the Hawaii island and its active volcanoes, said Wright. A future eruption of Mauna Loa may be expected to display the kind of pattern of lava discharge rate that would allow us to use this method to try to predict the end of eruption from space.

Researchers plan to use the new approach during future eruptions as a predictive tool that can measure ongoing flows in near-real time.

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UH Scientists Use Satellites to Predict End of Volcanic Eruptions - Big Island Now

NASA Said No to My Astronaut Dream, So I Found Another Way – NBCNews.com

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Jul.18.2017 / 10:50 AM ET

Everyone thinks about becoming an astronaut when theyre young. Along with firefighter and dinosaur hunter, astronaut seems to be on every childs list of dream jobs. But when youre like me and your father is an astronaut, that childhood fantasy tends to linger.

I grew up in Houston, just blocks from NASAs front gate. And my father, Owen Garriott, wasnt the only astronaut on the block. Shuttle astronaut Joe Engle lived to our right, and Hoot Gibson, another astronaut who flew on the Shuttle, lived to our left. And there were other astronauts in the neighborhood, along with engineers who worked to fly the astronauts into space. With all the spacemen around me, it seemed no one had to decide to go to space it seemed everyone was going.

I assumed I would too.

But in 1974, when I was 13, a NASA doctor told me that he hated to be the one to break it to me, but since I would now need glasses, I was no longer eligible to be a NASA astronaut. I was crushed. I had just been kicked out of the club that I felt everyone else was a member of. After passing through the seven stages of grief, I made a plan. If I couldnt go by NASAs rules, I would build my own space agency! Of course, at the age of 13, there wasnt much I could do to make that happen. But my family and friends knew that going into space remained a key goal in my life.

A few years later, I was fortunate to discover what has become my passion and my career: video games. In high school, I wrote 28 different games and then began publishing a series of popular games that are still played to this day. With the money I made on the games, I invested in and co-founded a series of companies, often involving people who had left NASA. My goal with all of these ventures was to help make space accessible to civilians or, more specifically, for myself.

Most of these attempts to change NASA rules from the outside were failures. One near-miss was Spacehab, a company founded with the idea of creating a large pressurized habitat that would be transported into space in the Shuttles payload bay. We envisioned something the size of a double-decker bus that could take up to 40 private citizens at a time into space. The module flew. But sadly, NASA quickly nixed my plan, noting it had no intention of ever taking civilians into space.

My goal with all of these ventures was to help make space accessible to civilians or, more specifically, for myself.

Years later, I partnered with the people who ultimately broke open commercial spaceflight, including Peter Diamandis, best known for the X Prize; Eric Anderson, president of Space Adventures; and Mike McDowell, an exploration travel entrepreneur. We created a series of space companies and initiatives whose goal was to get civilians into space (or near-space, as was the case with Zero Gravity, a company that flies paying passengers, and, now, NASA payloads) on weightlessness-inducing parabolic flights aboard a specially modified Boeing 727.

One day, Eric Anderson and I were sipping red wine on my back deck in Austin, Texas, lamenting the fact that we did not yet have a vehicle that could get us into space. Suddenly, we had an idea. Why wait for someone to create this suborbital vehicle? Maybe the Russians would sell us seats on their Soyuz spacecraft, which could put us into orbit?

When we reached out with our request to Russias space agency, Roskosmos, they told us no, because it would cost a lot of money to determine if and how they could do that.

We took that as a qualified yes.

I paid the $300,000 they said they needed to determine if and how they could do it, and I fully expected to buy the first seat. This was in 2000, a year in which Internet stocks crashed. Roskosmos ultimately agreed to our plan, but since all my wealth was in Internet gaming, I could no longer afford to go. Sadly (for me), the first seat was sold to Dennis Tito, who had been pursuing his own spaceflight dream.

By 2007, I had built and sold another company, so I had enough money to book my own trip to space aboard Soyuz. I was scheduled to go up in 2008, but as you may remember, that was another year of economic tumult. So as I was preparing for my flight, my ability to pay for it was once again vanishing. To make matters worse, the Roskosmos medical team called to say that they had discovered an anatomical defect in my liver that rendered me ineligible for spaceflight. You cannot imagine the sadness I felt to be kicked off a flight that I had pursued for 30 years, especially since I wouldnt be getting a refund on the millions of dollars I had spent for the chance to go into space.

A few hours later, I got another call from Roskosmos. If I would agree to have surgery to correct my livers defective lobe, I might be cleared for flight.

The next Monday, I went under the knife for some serious surgery. The recovery took months, but it worked. I flew to Russia and began my training.

On October 12, 2008, I was launched into space aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA 13 alongside NASA astronaut Mike Fincke and cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. We spent 12 days in space, primarily aboard the International Space Station. While on the station, I completed a heavy load of medical and commercial experiments on visual acuity, bone loss, immune suppression, and protein crystal growth along with work for Seiko and DHL. The protein crystal growth experiments continue to this day, and I believe they hold significant economic and medical value. I remain a key participant in the growth of commercial space activities.

Oh, and remember my eyesight? As it turned out, I was the first person ever to fly in space after undergoing vision-correcting surgery. Not surprisingly, NASA was very interested in studying how my eyes would react in microgravity. So I became NASAs guinea pig. I went through extensive testing before, during, and after my time in space. I had no problems with my eyes and now NASA accepts people who have had this surgery as astronauts. The thing that had prevented me becoming an astronaut in the first place had become a major contribution our knowledge about the health effects of weightlessness.

Please do not call me a space tourist. I was not a tourist.

Please don't call me a space tourist. I was not a tourist. I got the same training NASA (and Russian) astronauts get. In orbit, I worked hard to complete those experiments both to offset the high cost of my flight and, more important, to build the businesses that will take me (and you) back to space and ultimately help humanity escape the cradle of our existence.

Seeing Earth from space was a life-changing event for me. Looking back at our planet, I realized what a precious, finite, and fragile home we have a feeling some call the overview effect. The challenges and opportunities around the world are innumerable and go from the scale of an individual life to the health of the whole planet. There is much here to explore and take joy in doing. But as soon as my friend Elon builds us a rocket that will reach Mars, Im packing up the family and heading to a new world!

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NASA study confirms drone buzzes are more annoying than cars – The Verge

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

A preliminary study from NASA has confirmed what weve all suspected: that buzzing noise from drones is more annoying to humans than noises from cars and trucks, even when the noises are at the same volume.

The study found that listening to drone noises was as if a car were suddenly twice as close as it had been before, according to New Scientist.

Researchers played recordings from commercially available drones flying at various speeds and altitudes, and recordings of cars, utility vans, and box trucks. Then, 38 participants in the study were asked to rate each recording on a scale from not at all annoying to extremely annoying. NASA noted that very few subjects were able to identify drone sounds and did not know they were listening to drones. Subjects were told the sounds were related to the future of transportation. Researchers also noted that car noises were most likely considered less annoying because were used to them. Levels of annoyance were affected by factors including how long the noises went on.

We didnt go into this test thinking there would be this significant difference.

We didnt go into this test thinking there would be this significant difference, study co-author Andrew Christian of NASAs Langley Research Center in Virginia said. The purpose of the research was actually just to prove that Langleys acoustics research facilities could contribute to NASAs study on drones.

This result casts doubt on the idea that [drone] operators can expect their operations to be greeted with minimal noise-based opposition as long as the sounds are no louder than conventional package delivery solutions, the study concludes.

That may spell bad news for companies experimenting with drone delivery like Amazon and Dominos Pizza. They might just have to think of another way to make the flying robots less disturbing until drones become more commonplace.

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NASA study confirms drone buzzes are more annoying than cars - The Verge

Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it needs to solve these problems – MarketWatch

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it needs to solve these problems Posted July 18, 2017 What marriage-phobic millennials mean for the wedding-ring industry Posted July 13, 2017 How the rise of drones is posing a major security nightmare Posted July 11, 2017 The new frontier for vision companies: Colorblindness Posted July 7, 2017 How you teach a computer to drive like a human Posted July 5, 2017 The next frontier in entertainment: Drone sports Posted June 29, 2017 Here's what a salad looks like on Mars Posted June 27, 2017 Silicon Valley's corporate-campus building boom is a cautionary tale Posted June 22, 2017 Why 56 million Americans have no bank account: Not what you think Posted June 20, 2017 Alan Alda: Why you should trust science even if you're a skeptic Posted June 15, 2017 How 3D full-body scans will change everything from fitness to fashion Posted June 13, 2017 JetBlue chairman: Why loyalty programs have made airlines 'lazy' Posted June 8, 2017 How charities need to change to end poverty Posted June 7, 2017 Here's who will pay to fix America's crumbling infrastructure Posted June 2, 2017 When it comes to retirement, 60s are the new 50s Posted May 30, 2017 What to do in your 50s to build wealth for your retirement Posted May 25, 2017 What to do in your 40s to retire a millionaire Posted May 23, 2017 Here's all you need to do in your 30s for a great financial future Posted May 18, 2017 Everything you need to do in your 20s for a great financial future Posted May 16, 2017 This is the new American dream Posted May 11, 2017

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Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it needs to solve these problems - MarketWatch

Watch: A new NASA documentary narrated by William Shatner – Boing Boing

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia turns 100 this year. In celebration, the space agency produced this short documentary and enlisted Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, to narrate. Here are just a few highlights from NASA Langley's incredible history:

In times of peace and war, NASA Langley helped to create a better airplane, including unique wing shapes, sturdier structures, the first engine cowlings, and drag cleanup that enabled the Allies to win World War II.

Langley broke new ground in aeronautical research with a suite of first-of-their-kind wind tunnels that led to numerous advances in commercial, military and vertical flight, such as helicopters and other rotorcraft.

Langley researchers laid the foundation for the U.S. manned space program, played a critical role in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and developed the lunar-orbit rendezvous concept that made the Moon landing possible.

Development by Langley of a variety of satellite-borne instrumentation has enabled real-time monitoring of planet-wide atmospheric chemistry, air quality, upper-atmosphere ozone concentrations, the effects of clouds and air-suspended particles on climate, and other conditions affecting Earths biosphere.

Protecting astronauts from harm is the aim of Langleys work on the Orion Launch Abort System, while its work on materials and structures for lightweight and affordable space transportation and habitation will keep future space travelers safe.

Helping to create environmentally benign aeronautical technologies has been a focus of Langley research, including concepts to reduce drag, weight, fuel consumption, emissions, and lessen noise.

NASA Langley: Innovation at 100

Rio Celeste is a gorgeous Costa Rican river with a length thats famous for its unusual turquoise waters. After decades of guessing, scientists finally determined the cause was aluminosilicate:

AntsCanada (previously) has an overpopulation problem in his yellow crazy ant colony, so he added two kinds of carnivorous pitcher plants. The resulting relationship between ant versus plant turned out to be quite fascinating.

NASAs Juno probe just completed the closest ever flyby of Jupiters Giant Red Spot. The above is a processed version of an image created by Gerald Eichstdt from the Juno imaging data. Juno was passing about 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) above the Red Spot. See many more images here. From NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory: The []

The PiCar-V learning kit comes with everything you need to build a Python-powered robot, and its currently being offered in the Boing Boing Store.

New business ideas are a dime a dozen; everyone and their cousin has a concept for a new app or service that may or may not revolutionize a small slice of the world. Whether its novel ways of ordering food, or time savers that only apathetic wealthy people would pay for, coming up with your []

The Metasploit framework is an open source tool that lets you simulate real attacks against your system. You can get introduced to this essential cyber security software with this Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking course, available now in the Boing Boing Store.Throughout these 23 lessons, youll exploit vulnerabilities, evade antivirus software, and gain unauthorized access []

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Watch: A new NASA documentary narrated by William Shatner - Boing Boing

Congressman asks NASA about ancient civilizations on Mars – CNET

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Congress got a little distracted by Martians today, seriously.

A typical US congressional hearing took place Tuesday in Washington, involving the House of Representative's Subcommittee on Space and scientists from NASA discussing the subject of "Planetary Flagship Missions: Mars Rover 2020 and Europa Clipper." It was all pretty routine until Rep.Dana Rohrabacher asked about the presence of ancient civilizations on Mars.

Mashable brought our attention to the interesting exchange, which starts with Rohrabacher saying scientists have indicated Mars was "totally different thousands of years ago." He then asks, "Was it possible there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?"

NASA Mars 2020 rover project scientist Kenneth Farley fields the question by first noting Mars was very different billions of years ago, not thousands. He then adds, "There is no evidence that I'm aware of..." Rohrabacher then breaks in to ask if he would rule out the possibility. Farley responds, "I would say that is extremely unlikely."

Mars has always excited imaginations with pop-culture depictions of Martians and flights of fancy every time a NASA rover spots an unusual-looking rock, but one thing we haven't seen is the slightest sign of an alien civilization on the Red Planet. It may seem a little goofy, but ultimately there was no harm in Rohrabacher asking his question.

26 weird objects seen on Mars, explained (pictures)

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Congressman asks NASA about ancient civilizations on Mars - CNET

NASA considers delay of next-gen satellite launch after ‘incident’ – Orlando Sentinel

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

NASA and Boeing officials are looking into whether an incident that damaged an antenna on a next-generation satellite planned to launch Aug. 3 will change the missions timeline.

The episode occurred Friday and was announced on the agencys website Saturday.

The Tracking Data Relay Satellite, known as TDRS-M, was scheduled to head into space on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Space Coast.

The accident happened during final spacecraft closeout activities, according to the release.

United Launch Alliance and NASA officials did not immediately return emails requesting comment.

A 40-minute window for the launch of the TDRS-M satellite aboard ULAs Atlas V rocket is set to open at 9:02 a.m. Aug. 3. Officials arent saying whether the incident will delay that launch.

The mission team is developing a plan to assess flight acceptance and the schedule forward, the statement read.

Here is the full statement NASA released Saturday:

NASA and Boeing are reviewing an incident that occurred during final spacecraft closeout activities on the Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-M) mission at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, on July 14, involving the Omni S-band antenna. The mission team is developing a plan to assess flight acceptance and the schedule forward. These additional activities are under evaluation for a planned TDRS-M launch Aug. 3, 2017, on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Got a news tip? msantana@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5256; Twitter, @marcosantana

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NASA considers delay of next-gen satellite launch after 'incident' - Orlando Sentinel

A New Nanotechnology Catalyst, a New Era for Puralytics – PR Web (press release)

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

We are thrilled to see the performance of the new catalyst. Even on a cloudy day here in Oregon, we can see enhanced and quicker performance. Upgrading the catalyst has already and will continue to have a significant effect on product development

Hillsboro, Oregon (PRWEB) July 18, 2017

A novel period starts for Puralytics, a water purification company with headquarters in Oregon. Puralytics products use a nanotechnology catalyst-coated mesh as the key component to purify water through photocatalytic processes. The catalyst is activated by sunlight or by LEDS to remove a broad range of contaminants.

Several years of research and development by Puralytics engineers and scientists have delivered a new, proprietary material. This new nanotechnology material has been engineered and manufactured in-house and lowers catalyst costs by 60% or more while increasing performance by 50% or more in most applications. It is also more durable and easy to adapt to different systems and product applications for use in product and system development.

Presently, Puralytics has two primary lines of products: the SolarBag and the Shield. Both products utilize this material as the key element to purify water. The SolarBag, a portable water purifier activated by sunlight, has been used by outdoor enthusiasts, nonprofit organizations, mission teams and emergency response teams. The second line of products, a purification unit activated by LEDs and capable of treating thousands of liters per day, has been deployed internationally for disaster response and at remote community locations for drinking water purification in South America, North America and the Middle East.

This new nanotechnology material will enable Puralytics to work with key development partners to launch new product formats and applications and enter new markets. Not only the tremendous cost reduction and the performance improvements but also the durability of the material is a huge advantage in product development. This significant development allows us the ability to access a much wider and deeper market in water treatment applications, said Rick Lockett, Puralytics CEO.

Puralytics is developing a series of products for release later this year: solar-activated bladder purification units, a new version of the SolarBag, the High Flow Shield and Nano Shield for modular system applications; and projects to integrate this new catalyst into its partners products, systems and sales channels.

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About Puralytics Our world has a finite supply of water that is increasingly contaminated, water demands that are constantly increasing, and a growing public awareness of the health and manufacturing risks associated with poor water quality. Puralytics, a water purification equipment company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, has developed a patented photochemical water purification process that uses light energy to activate an advanced nanotechnology photocatalyst.

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A New Nanotechnology Catalyst, a New Era for Puralytics - PR Web (press release)

Almirall looks to nanotechnology to improve dermatology products – The Pharma Letter (registration)

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Spain's leading drugmaker Almirall has launched a new research project, dubbed Nano4Derm, to investigate

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Almirall looks to nanotechnology to improve dermatology products - The Pharma Letter (registration)

6th Round of applications for the NanomedTAB is open – Cordis News

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

The Nanomedicine Translation Advisory Board (nanomedTAB) offers since 2015 a free-of-charge mentoring program to assess, advise and accelerate promising nanomedicine projects to the market, based on a team of top skills industry experts with diverse and complementary experience. The objective? Help all projects and teams to get to clinical and commercial application faster and more reliably.

The deadline for applications is 18 September 2017.

- 71 teams have already applied; - from 16 countries in EU and beyond; - more than 50% have been selected and are now benefiting from coaching over time.

Selected projects will be invited to attend the next TAB-In Sessions, a series of face to face meetings with experts to be held on October 19th, 2017 in Malaga (Spain), in the framework of the 12th ETP Nanomedicine Annual Event.

Applications should be submitted through the following link: http://www.nanomedtab.eu/?apply. Further information about the nanomedTAB and its experts can be found at http://www.nanomedtab.eu.

6th Round of applications for the NanomedTAB is open - Cordis News

University of Missouri research institute closes amid cuts – Lexington Herald Leader

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

University of Missouri research institute closes amid cuts
Lexington Herald Leader
University spokesman Christian Basi tells the Columbia Missourian (http://bit.ly/2vxVf4L ) that the decision to close the International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine will affect 17 full-time and part-time employees through layoffs and ...

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University of Missouri research institute closes amid cuts - Lexington Herald Leader

Engineers Created A Glove That Can Translate Sign Language – GineersNow (press release) (registration) (blog)

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

University of California San Diego Engineers developed a smart glove that is capable of wirelessly translating the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet into text, and controls a virtual hand that mimics sign language gestures. They call it The Language of Glove. With less than $100, the engineers were able to develop the device using inexpensive stretchable and printable electronics that are commercially available and easy to assemble as well.

Source: Trendhunterstatic

The team is also working on developing the glove to be used in different applications, like for virtual and augmented reality for telesurgery and technical training. Gesture recognition is just one demonstration of this gloves capabilities, Timothy OConnor, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at UC San Diego said. Our ultimate goal is to make this a smart glove that in the future will allow people to use their hands in virtual reality, which is much more intuitive than using a joystick and other existing controllers. This could be better for games and entertainment, but more importantly for virtual training procedures in medicine, for example, where it would be advantageous to actually simulate the use of ones hands.

Construction and How it works

The team made use of a leather athletic glove and attached nine stretchable sensors to the back jointstwo on each finger, and one on the thumb. The sensors are composed of thin strips of silicon-based polymer coated with conductive carbon paint. The sensors are then secured onto the glove using copper tape. Then, stainless steel thread connects the sensors to a low-power, custom-made circuit board that is attached to the back of the wrist.

Source: YouTube, JacobsSchoolNews

When the glove is stretched or bent, the sensors will detect the motion and change its electrical resistance. By doing so, it allows them to code the movements into different letters of the ASL alphabet based on the positions of all nine sensors attached to the glove. For example, a straight relaxed knuckle is read as 0, and a bent knuckle is encoded as 1. The code for the letter a is 011111111, with the thumb straight and all the other fingers are curled. Whereas, The code for the letter b is 100000000, with the thumb curled and all the other fingers are straight.

Source: YouTube

The low-power printed circuit board on the glove is responsible for converting the nine-digit key into a letter and then transmits the signals via Bluetooth to a smartphone or computer. The glove is capable of translating all 26 letters of the ASL Language alphabet into text. The researchers also used the glove to control a virtual hand to sign letters in the ASL alphabet.

Currently, the team is developing the next version of this glove to add the sense of touch. Their goal is to make a glove that can control a virtual or robotic hand and then send tactile sensations back to the users hand.

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UC San Diego-Jacobs School of Engineering

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Engineers Created A Glove That Can Translate Sign Language - GineersNow (press release) (registration) (blog)

Low-cost smart glove translates American Sign Language alphabet … – University of California

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Danzig

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a smart glove that wirelessly translates the American Sign Language alphabet into text and controls a virtual hand to mimic sign language gestures. The device, which engineers call The Language of Glove, was built for less than $100 using stretchable and printable electronics that are inexpensive, commercially available and easy to assemble. The work was published on July 12 in the journalPLOS ONE.

In addition to decoding American Sign Language gestures, researchers are developing the glove to be used in a variety of other applications ranging from virtual and augmented reality to telesurgery, technical training and defense.

Gesture recognition is just one demonstration of this gloves capabilities, said Timothy OConnor, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at UC San Diego and the first author of the study. Our ultimate goal is to make this a smart glove that in the future will allow people to use their hands in virtual reality, which is much more intuitive than using a joystick and other existing controllers. This could be better for games and entertainment, but more importantly for virtual training procedures in medicine, for example, where it would be advantageous to actually simulate the use of ones hands.

The glove is unique in that it has sensors made from stretchable materials, is inexpensive and simple to manufacture. Weve innovated a low-cost and straightforward design for smart wearable devices using off-the-shelf components. Our work could enable other researchers to develop similar technologies without requiring costly materials or complex fabrication methods, said Darren Lipomi, a nanoengineering professor who is a member of the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego and the studys senior author.

The team built the device using a leather athletic glove and adhered nine stretchable sensors to the back at the knuckles two on each finger and one on the thumb. The sensors are made of thin strips of a silicon-based polymer coated with a conductive carbon paint. The sensors are secured onto the glove with copper tape. Stainless steel thread connects each of the sensors to a low power, custom-made printed circuit board thats attached to the back of the wrist.

The sensors change their electrical resistance when stretched or bent. This allows them to code for different letters of the American Sign Language alphabet based on the positions of all nine knuckles. A straight or relaxed knuckle is encoded as 0 and a bent knuckle is encoded as 1. When signing a particular letter, the glove creates a nine-digit binary key that translates into that letter. For example, the code for the letter A (thumb straight, all other fingers curled) is 011111111, while the code for B (thumb bent, all other fingers straight) is 100000000. Engineers equipped the glove with an accelerometer and pressure sensor to distinguish between letters like I and J, whose gestures are different but generate the same nine-digit code.

The low power printed circuit board on the glove converts the nine-digit key into a letter and then transmits the signals via Bluetooth to a smartphone or computer screen. The glove can wirelessly translate all 26 letters of the American Sign Language alphabet into text. Researchers also used the glove to control a virtual hand to sign letters in the American Sign Language alphabet.

Moving forward, the team is developing the next version of this glove one thats endowed with the sense of touch. The goal is to make a glove that could control either a virtual or robotic hand and then send tactile sensations back to the users hand, Lipomi said. This work is a step toward that direction.

Paper title: The Language of Glove: Wireless gesture decoder with low-power and stretchable hybrid electronics by Timothy F. OConnor, Mathew Fach, Rachel Miller, Samuel E. Root, Patrick P. Mercier and Darren J. Lipomi, all at UC San Diego.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Directors New Innovator Award (1DP2EB022358-01). An earlier prototype of the device was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program (grant no. FA9550-13-1-0156). Additional support was provided by the Center for Wearable Sensors at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and member companies Qualcomm, Sabic, Cubic, Dexcom, Honda, Samsung and Sony.

Low-cost smart glove translates American Sign Language alphabet ... - University of California

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