15 ton supercomputer provides access to water, energy and the internet – Phys.Org

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February 27, 2017 Credit: Shutterstock

A new machine called the Watly offers solutions to three of society's most important challenges ensuring access to clean water, sustainable energy generation and reaping the benefits of the evolving digital revolution. Supported by funds from the Horizon 2020 project, the innovative SME behind the project is now nearly ready to unveil its first full-scale Watly machine.

1.1 billion people worldwide still do not have access to a safe source of drinking water, causing more than 4 200 deaths from water-related diseases every day. 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity (more than a fifth of world's population) and 5 billion worldwide still have no access to the internet. Water and energy are highly interdependent and crucial to human well-being and sustainable socio-economic development. Watly, a trailblazing SME based in Spain and Italy, has devised a truly revolutionary way to tackle all three of these challenges with one machine.

The Watly machine comprises a central array of solar panels connected to four wing units, each of which houses a bank of vapour compression distillation tubes that can boil unsafe water from sources such as rivers and produce safe, clean water fit for human consumption.

But a crucial factor is that the energy used to drive that water purification process is not the electricity generated by the panels. Instead, the process is driven by waste heat harvested from the panels by an air circulation system an ingenious technique that founder and CEO of Watly, Marco Attisani describes as effectively self-powering. 'It does not use any energy,' he confirmed.

In turn, this generates a number of associated benefits. These include optimisation of the solar panels which are kept at their most effective operating temperature of 25C irrespective of ambient conditions and the delivery of all the generated electric power to support other more appropriate applications. These can vary from mobile phone recharging through 'cloud' connection to the internet to conventional electricity supply via an internal inverter that carries out DC-AC conversion.

Since March 2013 Attisani and his team have been devoted to the project and they have since developed two prototypes, one which was tested in Ghana with the support of a mixture of private funding, a crowdsourcing initiative and nearly EUR 1.5 million of funding from Horizon 2020.

The amount of power that a machine could generate rests on several important factors, though Attisani believes that 150kWhr per day could be achievable. The output of purified water from a fully functional machine operating at peak efficiency would potentially be around 5 000 litres per day. Finally, the machine's IT capabilities promise to go beyond simply supporting personal communications, such as email the company reckons that each machine could have a wireless connectivity zone with a radius of up to 1 kilometre.

Because of the purification process being one of distillation, the machine can also eradicate any type of contamination from the input water, bacterial, chemical and physical. In fact, Attisani claims that results from the purification process is so pure that the output water's mineral content is effectively zero, something that Watly has addressed by providing the space for rocks to be packed into the machine so that water can be 'remineralised'.

However, don't expect to be able to able to install a 3.0 Watly machine anytime soon into your own home. Currently, given the volumes that Attisani is talking about, from end-to-end the machine is currently 40 metres in length and could cost up to around EUR 600 000 to 1 million, depending on the technologies built into it. Moving forward, Attisani recently announced that the company is currently working with the European Space Agency to create an application that would allow the machine to guide in a drone aircraft to deliver urgent supplies in crisis zones.

The full 3.0 Watly machine is due to be unveiled in May 2017 (also the official end of the self-named Horizon 2020 WATLY project) and the company currently has the capacity to manufacture 50 machines per year, with the first five units going to customers by the end of 2017.

Explore further: Solar cells help purify water in remote areas

More information: Project page: cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/198937_en.html

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Maybe they described it badly, but it sounds like an overly complicated and expensive piece of equipment that would need a lot of servicing that no one could afford.

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15 ton supercomputer provides access to water, energy and the internet - Phys.Org

Chinese Supercomputer Tianhe-3 Set to Shatter World Speed … – 24/7 Wall St.

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China is looking to break through in 2017 by harnessing high-performance processors and other key technologies to build the worlds first prototype exascale supercomputer, the Tianhe-3. Ultimately this next-generation computer is expected to be 10 times faster than the current world champion. The prototype is expected to be completed in early 2018.

Exascale refers to a computers capability of making a quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros) calculations per second. For a reference point, this is at least 10 times faster than the current world champion, the Sunway TaihuLight.

The current world champion is Chinas first supercomputer that uses domestically designed processors and has a peak speed of 125 quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeros) calculations per second.

Meng Ziangfei, director of application at the National Super Computer Tianjin Center, commented:

Its computing power is on the next level, cementing China as the world leader in supercomputer hardware. [It would be available for public use and] help us tackle some of the worlds toughest scientific challenges with greater speed, precision and scope.

The Tianhe-3 will be entirely produced in China, from its processors to the operating system. The plan is for it to be stationed in Tianjin and fully operational by 2020, potentially earlier than the U.S. plan for its exascale supercomputer.

Its not out of the question that while this production is happening, another exascale computer is in the works. These projects generally take a few years to make and then are retired in about six to eight years.

The Tianhe-1, Chinas first quadrillion-level supercomputer developed in 2009, is currently operating at full capacity and taking on more than 1,400 assignments each day.

Overall the team working with the Tianhe-3 supercomputer expects that it will generate over 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion) in economic benefits per year.

Ziangfei, finished by saying:

The exascale supercomputer will be able to analyze smog distribution on a national level, while current models can only handle a district. Tianhe-3 also could simulate earthquakes and epidemic outbreaks in more detail, allowing swifter and more effective government responses.

The new machine also will be able to analyze gene sequence and protein structures in unprecedented scale and speed. That may lead to new discoveries and more potent medicine.

By Chris Lange

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Chinese Supercomputer Tianhe-3 Set to Shatter World Speed ... - 24/7 Wall St.

Stem cell therapy may be effective for multiple sclerosis – The … – Clinical Advisor

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All eyes on Garrett Richards, in hopes stem cells stave off Tommy John surgery – USA TODAY

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With MLB spring training underway, there's plenty to talk about. USA TODAY Sports

Garrett Richards is aiming to pitch through a ligament tear via stem cell therapy and other recovery methods.(Photo: Rick Scuteri, USA TODAY Sports)

TEMPE, Ariz. Garrett Richards first thought when he found out about his torn elbow ligament last May was to schedule Tommy John surgery as soon as possible.

It made sense, considering the ligament-replacement procedure has become the standard fix for such injuries. Plus, the Los Angeles Angels ace was familiar with the operating room, having undergone surgery for a ruptured patellar tendon he sustained on Aug. 20, 2014, toward the end of a breakout season.

Richards knew how to handle the seemingly interminable months of rehab, and he wanted to get the clock started on his return.

But a conversation with Angels head physical therapist Bernard Li convinced Richards to consider other alternatives, and in mid-May he tried a relatively novel treatment in which stem cells taken from bone marrow in his pelvis were injected into the damaged area.

Richards did not pitch again the rest of the year except for a stint in the instructional league, but he has been back on the mound throwing bullpen sessions since the first day of the Angels camp and reported no problems.

This weekend, Richards anticipates pitching in a game for the first time since May 1, when his aching elbow forced him from a start after just four innings.

Its nice to know Ill be able to start the season this year and kind of pick up where I left off, Richards said.

A couple of lockers away, fellow starter Andrew Heaney had a different tale to tell.

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The promising left-hander also went down with a torn ulnar collateral ligament early in the season, after making only one start. Their ailments were the two biggest blows to an Angels rotation that was decimated by injuries, dooming the club to a 74-88 record and a fourth-place finish in the AL West.

Heaney also tried stem cell therapy, two weeks before Richards, both under the supervision of team doctor Steve Yoon. Heaneys ligament didnt heal, though, and after experiencing discomfort throwing following his rehab, he had Tommy John surgery July 1. He has been ruled out for the 2017 season.

They tell you its 50-50. It either works or it doesnt, Heaney said of the stem cell procedure. Obviously, me and Garrett are pretty much the proof of that rule.

Even with less-favorable odds than reconstructive surgery, which has an 80% success rate for returning to action and 67% for pitching 10 games or more, stem cell therapy is gaining acceptance as an option for pitchers with partial UCL tears. The recovery time is shorter 3-5 months instead of 12-18 and the treatment less invasive.

There are limitations. Biological approaches based on stem cells or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) wont repair a complete tear of the ligament. The location of the injury and its extent factor into the chances of success. And players whose ligament doesnt recover, then have to undergo surgery, extend their window of time for returning to action.

Even then, the idea of healing without going under the knife is becoming increasingly appealing. New York Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka treated the small tear in his elbow ligament with PRP and rehabilitation in 2014, sitting out 10 weeks but coming back to pitch in late September.

Hes 26-11 with a 3.26 ERA over the last two seasons, raising the profile of PRP a procedure in which the players own blood is used to promote healing of the injury as a non-surgical alternative.

Now Richards looms as the test case for stem cell treatment to fix partial UCL tears, which make up about 60-70% of these injuries. If the hard-throwing right-hander can return to his old form he was a Cy Young Award candidate before his knee injury in August 2014 other pitchers in his situation are bound to at least consider the route he took.

I hope this opens another path for guys, Richards said. Obviously, if you can prevent being cut on and having surgery, thats the No. 1 priority. I hope guys dont just jump right into Tommy John, that they at least explore this option.

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Ageless veteran Bartolo Colon was the first pitcher widely known to have undergone stem cell therapy as he sought to recover from elbow and shoulder ailments in 2010. At the time, the ethics of the procedure were questioned, especially because the doctor who performed it, South Florida-based Joseph Purita, acknowledged using human growth hormone in previous treatments, though not in Colons.

Since then, the use of stem cells has become more mainstream. They are the focus of Yoons practice.

As more and more people start to use it, youre getting a better sense for what it can and cant do, Yoon said. Baseball definitely has opened up to it quite a bit, and as we see some of the successes like with Garrett, were getting a better understanding that theres a lot of potential here with these types of treatment.

Yoon calls stem cell therapy a super PRP because it combines the curative properties of that treatment with more healing agents, and said it can be used on tendon tears, muscle tears and strains and even to address degenerative joint disease.

However, much remains unknown about the benefits of stem cells. Lyle Cain, an orthopedist who has performed both Tommy John surgeries and stem cell treatments at the Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Ala., said most of the research has been anecdotal, not scientific.

We still dont have a good understanding even four or five years into it exactly what the stem cells do, what their method is, Cain said. The theory is theres probably a chemical reaction where it releases chemicals in the cell that help the healing process. The stem cells arent necessarily put in there with the thought theyre going to become ligament, but theres probably a cellular chemical mechanism that helps the healing response.

And as Heaney discovered, theyre not always effective. His tear was located farther down the arm, which reduced his chances of success with stem cell therapy. Richards was a better candidate because his injury, though deemed high grade, was located within the ligament, like a slit on a rubber band.

But because Heaney was looking at likely missing most or all of 2017 even if he had surgery right away, he decided to try stem cells. The timing of the injury plays a major role in whether pitchers contemplate alternatives to surgery, with the more conservative approach often recommended if it happens early in the season.

Heaney said he doesnt regret taking that route, and would have been upset if he had undergone the ligament-replacement operation right away, only to find out he could have returned to action quicker through another means.

Im glad it worked for him, he said of Richards. It would have been really awful if it hadnt worked for either of us. Then wed both look like idiots.

Their peers are paying attention. In a major league pitching community where about a quarter of its members have undergone Tommy John surgery, interest in the effectiveness of alternative cures is high.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Brandon McCarthy was not a candidate because his ligament tore clear off the bone, but said he had heard positive reports about stem cell treatment, not so much about PRP.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Daniel Hudson, a veteran of two Tommy Johns, is encouraged as well.

Its supposed to help repair the tissue. Before, ligaments just wont repair themselves, Hudson said. It might keep a lot of guys from going under the knife.

Thats Cains hope. He regularly treats UCL tears on high school, college and minor-league players with stem cells or PRP, but realizes theres heightened pressure on major leaguers to return to the field.

If more of them can do it without visiting an operating room, it would represent a major advancement for both the players and the industry.

I think overall the biologic treatment of these injuries will certainly progress and it will be somewhat the wave of the future, Cain said. There will be certain ligaments that are damaged enough that we dont have an answer; they have to reconstruct. But I think overall, if you look 15 years down the road, I suspect well be doing a lot more non-surgical treatment than surgical treatment.

Contributing: Gabe Lacques in Bradenton, Fla.

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Deans: Include Nurses in ACA Talks; Nurses as Hospital’s Chief Spirituality Officers – Hospitals & Health Networks

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Pear Tree Point School to hold talk on science and spirituality – Darien Times

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Pear Tree Point School invites parents and community members to attend a special talk given by psychologist and author, Dr. Lisa Miller, on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Louise Parker Berry Community Room on the first floor at The Darien Library.

Dr. Miller presents the next big idea in psychology: the science and power of spirituality. She defines spirituality as being an innate nature to seek and perceive transcendence, a connection to a larger universe. These abilities and drives can work together to develop a two-way relationship with a high power God, the creator, the universe, or nature for example.

With the understanding that our community represents a range of beliefs and religions, her focus is on cultivating our childrens natural spirituality. She also shows that a person can be spiritual without being highly religious.

Dr. Miller explains the link between spirituality and health by demonstrating that children who have a positive, active relationship to spirituality are:

40% less likely to use and abuse substances

60% less likely to be depressed as teenagers

80% less likely to have dangerous or unprotected sex

more likely to thrive and achieve high levels of academic success

Space is limited and spots will be booked on a first come, first served basis. Guests are asked to RSVP at: [emailprotected].

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Pear Tree Point School to hold talk on science and spirituality - Darien Times

A concoction of art, yoga and spirituality – Times of India

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It's that time of the year when celebrities make a beeline to Coimbatore, to attend the Mahashivarathri celebrations held at a spiritual center in the outskirts of the city. This year too, the revelry reached a feverish peak on Friday as hordes of devotees from across the world thronged the foothills of Vellingiri hills to bask in the spiritual fervour. The icing on the cake was the arrival of the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi himself, who unveiled the 112 ft bust of the first yoga guru, Adiyogi consecrated by the center's founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

Terming yoga a potent peace instrument, the Indian PM, said, "Yoga is not only a physical activity; but, can play a crucial role in bringing peace to the world. Today, the world is longing for peace; and it's not only from wars and conflicts, but they want peace of mind as well. Yoga has the potential to combat stress and lifestyle-related ailments. Yoga is ancient and modern at the same time. It's time to create a new 'yuga' of togetherness and harmony, through the ancient form." Sadhguru seconded his thoughts and added that by the next Mahashivarathri, the center would create more than one million yoga veeras and waxed eloquent about Adi Yogi. "Adiyogi represents the 112 ways, in which one could attain bliss through the science called yoga. He taught us to look inside ourselves. He is beyond all religion." The center added that the progenitor of the idea (Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev) to build a statue on the yogi, took 2.5 years to design the mammoth statue. "But the work on the same was completed in just 8 months," Sadhguru added.

Despite a sea of people thronging the venue to witness the potpourri of art, music and dance; a spiritual mood prevailed throughout the night. The chants exalting Lord Shiva grew louder as the night wore on. This was peppered with some soul-stirring music by singer Kailash Kher, who dedicated a special song as homage to the first yogi - Adiyogi. The performance by Rajasthani musician Kutle Khan, the center's home grown group of musicians and dance troupe Nritarutya had the audience enthralled. The midnight meditation and discourse by Sadhguru had the audience in rapt attention.

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Modern Medieval: Materiality and Spirituality in German Expressionist Prints opens at the Museum – Bowdoin News

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Installation view of the exhibition Modern Medieval at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Modern Medieval: Materiality and Spirituality in German Expressionist Prints opened to the public on February 16 and will be on view through June 4, 2017. Highlighting the BCMAs diverse permanent collection, the exhibition juxtaposes early twentieth-century German prints with late-medieval objects, presenting a unique perspective on western medieval cultures influence on German Expressionism. German Expressionism diverged from the academic tradition of naturalism in its belief that art should express emotional responses to the world, while capturing ones inner spirits. Avant-garde artists found inspiration in artwork that was not constrained by or esteemed in the academic tradition, particularly woodcuts created in the late-medieval and early-Renaissance period. Including works by Ernst Barlach, Albrecht Drer, Lyonel Feininger, Erich Heckel, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Kthe Kollwitz, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, among others, Modern Medieval examines the important intersection between medieval and modern material production, analyzing materiality and multi-sensory engagement that evoked the spiritual in both the Middle Ages and early twentieth-century Germany. The exhibition also offers insight into the significance of medieval culture on the development of abstraction in the twentieth century.

Please join us for the exciting upcoming programs held in conjunction with this exhibition:

April 13, 2017 | 4:30 p.m. | Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

The Presence of Spirituality in German Avant-Garde Artistic Responses to World War One

Robin Reisenfeld, curator, works on paper, Toledo Museum of Art will discuss the increase in production of spiritual and religious imagery in German avant-garde responses to World War I.

April 25, 2017 | 7:00 p.m. | Smith Auditorium, Sills Hall

Film screening and discussion: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Tricia Welsch, professor of cinema studies, and Honor Wilkinson, curatorial assistant, will discuss the aesthetic and thematic relationship between early twentieth-century German cinema and visual art following the screening of the renowned 1920s German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Listen to assistant curator Honor Wilkinson on WBOR 91.1 talking with College writer Tom Porter about the Modern Medieval exhibition (audio may take a few moments to load)

Honor Wilkinson

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Lent Is Not About What You Give Up – Patheos (blog)

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The Great Fast, Lent, is a time of spiritual reflection. The forty days not only reflect Jesuss journey into the desert, upon which he fasted for forty days and faced severe temptations before the start of his public ministry, but also the years which Moses and the children of Israel were said to wander between Egypt and the Promised Land. It is a time of struggle, a time of purification, and hopefully a time of spiritual enlightenment.

By how it is typically presented, when people contemplate Lent, they first think about fasting, about fasting regulations or what one has to give up, and in the process, they think Lent is about what one gives up for a limited time, without truly understanding the purpose of their actions.

Holy Week Procession in Granada by By Chopanito (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Great Fast, Lent, therefore is a time in which we are to learn self-control. This is not to say we have not learned it before, but, year after year, it is likely that there is more for us to learn, more depth within for us to explore, more examination to see where our weaknesses lie, and so more awareness of what we can do in order to improve our spiritual condition.

The point then is that we are to gain self-awareness. We must come to know ourselves. The Fast is not about what we give up, but what we gain: self-knowledge. Once we have come to know ourselves, we can come to know God, for in knowing ourselves, we will come to know our true relationship with God. The process certainly includes emptying ourselves of all distractions, all entanglements which would lead us astray. Fasting is a way to do this, but it is not the only way, and indeed, though the period is known as the Great Fast, fasting is only a means, and not the primary one, by which we empty ourselves from all that is false and come to know who and what we are once all the illusion we have held to is shed from us.

We are selfish. We are self-seeking. We are ignorant. We are easily led astray by our own inordinate desires. We seek after our own immediate good over the long term good, let alone the common good. The Great Fast reminds us that this way of life, this way of thinking, leads us away from the happiness which we desire. We might gain a little pleasure, but the long term effects is detrimental to ourselves and those who we love (let alone those we are called to love but do not). To know ourselves is to know our weaknesses, to know what we have made of ourselves. It is to see through all the pretense and illusion of the self we have created for ourselves to hide who we are from ourselves and for all who come to meet us. Then we can look at ourselves, our true selves, knowing who we are in God, unobscured by the defilement of sin, unattached to the illusion, undetermined by our ego. We will then see and who we are, made in the image and likeness of the God who is love. To know ourselves is to know love, to be self-giving, every rejecting all attachment to ourselves through self-denial, but not in a nihilistic self-denial which seek the destruction of what is good within us, but the self-denial which cuts through all the spiritual delusion and waste from sin and sets us free to live and breathe in the spirit of love.

It is not easy to truly be open and empty of all that defiles us so that we can come to know ourselves. Indeed, it is extremely difficult. Most of us, myself included, are sinners who have so many bad habits that control us, that we find ourselves wandering around like the children of Israel, going around in circles but never entering the Promised Land. The Great Fast rightfully reminds us of the children of Israel, and puts us in solidarity with them, as we realize that what is said of them is actually a reflection of us as we live our day to day lives. We keep grumbling as God guides us out of the land of Egypt (that is, out of sin) and to the Promised Land, even though he gives us bountiful gifts (such as the sacraments). We fail to appreciate what God is doing for us because we want to dictate to God how he should serve us instead of listening to him and let him direct us to our perfection. We, too, try to make rocks produce water, as we stumble through the spiritual land, parched because of our sin. And so we only receive a small portion of the living water which Christ has in store for us in the Promised Land.

During the Great Fast, let us not think about what we are giving up. Let us think about what we are willing to receive. Let us think of the graces which are being offered to us, and accept them for what they are, tokens of Gods guiding love. Let us grow in faith, hope and love as we empty ourselves from those attachments which seek to stifle our faith, undermine our hope, and cast aside our love. For our faith, let us look to some spiritual resource and pick it up, and gain from the wisdom within (this year, I am re-reading Augustines City of God for this purpose). Let us, moreover, overturn the despair which is in our lives, all those weeds seeking to undermine our hope by following the path of mercy which sees the goodness in all so that there is hope for all. Finally, let that goodness then draw us in so we can grow to love all things as we follow after the example Christ our Lord and Savior.

The Great Fast is not about fasting, though fasting is certainly a tool used in it for our own good. The Great Fast is about spiritual reawakening. Let us hope this year God truly moves us with the fire of love, so that in the end, it is will not be about what we have given up, but what we have gained.

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Star Made Witch: Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson – Patheos (blog)

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The cover of Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson published by Llewellyn Worldwide in 2016.

Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson is a very unusual book. Its book in two parts: part one is a journal following the author through her journey of relative spiritual ignorance to increased alchemical enlightenment, and part two covers practical application of what she learned after a few years of practice. Further, it is a communication of some rather advanced magical and alchemical material by a beginner medium.

In part one, the reader tags along as Tyson discovers her way through communicating with spirits, ancestors, and deities. At times I was as frustrated with her slow progress as she was! One has to trust that she will get back on the path to discovery beyond her setbacks. It gets exciting when the spirits instruct Jenny to quit taking the decongestants and prescription painkillers she was on cold turkey for her initiation. As you can imagine, the withdrawal symptoms she experienced were quite traumatic!

Unfortunately, throughout the text Tyson, does not make it clear that those feverish deliriums and pain are known withdrawal symptoms for this kind of medication. Her Kundalini healing progressed as she was bedridden and riding out hallucinations, terrible pain, and illness. I also experienced my first spirit initiations when I was suffering a serious illness, and I could partially relate to her spiritual experiences. It was clear in the telling that Tyson had responded to shadow advice from her own unconscious and not to wisdom from the spirits when she took the dangerous approach of home rehab. Tyson risked her life, and we would be wise to be more careful and learn from her mistakes. The choice to stop any medicationsmust be made with your medical professional and done according to a safe schedule.

Thankfully, on the other end of it, Tyson discovered her body no longer needed the painkillers and decongestants she had been reliant on, and she became healthier. The messages Tyson received and her experiences introduced her to new spiritual heights and gave her spiritual abilities she had not had before.

Part two, Practical Applications, is my favorite part of the book. Tyson covers auditory scrying in great detail. I have been very curious about auditory scrying because it is something I figured out on my own, and I hadnt seen much material about spirit listening. She used a lot of different technologies like radio scanners and random sound generators to train her ability. Through the machines, Tyson was able to communicate with John Dee, William Kelley, the Archangel Gabriel, and others. My preference is to listen for spirit voices speaking directly in my environment, and she covered that kind of scrying too.

I found Tysons advice on ritual preparations like diet considerations and environment very wise. Certain foods cause distracting digest effects like gas or fatigue. Heavy foods, sugars, and beans are best avoided prior to meditation. I was also impressed with her methods for making seal and sigil parchments and plates. Her section on mirror scrying was excellent. Tysons approach is similar in some ways to how I mirror scry, but she had a number of techniques new to me that I look forward to trying. I really did appreciate her narrative information about homunculi and I wish there had been more information on them.

I recommend Spirit Alchemy as a testimony of an initiatory experience. Following Tyson through her struggles to learn mediumship skills, heal her heart center and meet the gods was fascinating. I was very interested in Tysons techniques of using radio scanners and mirror scrying. Tyson really did end up better off for her trials and efforts and I look forward to what she writes next.

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‘Stellaris’ Utopia Expansion Gets Dated – Trailer – WorthPlaying.com

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For millennia our race has developed, explored and battled for control of a planet. Now we turn our eyes beyond our own solar system, to other stars in our galaxy. New planets, new discoveries, maybe even new civilizations await us. And Paradox Development Studio, the masters of grand strategy, will be your guides on this new voyage.

With a dynamic decision system and a heavy emphasis on exploration and science teams, Stellaris gives you much more to research than bigger lasers or stronger hulls though youll need those too. Space is very big, and your first step will be getting a grasp of just what is around you and how it can be best used for the benefit of your civilization.

We reach for the stars for many reasons. They challenge us to explore. They dare us to explain. They prod us to expand. But, most of all, the universe offers every space-faring race a new start. This is the chance to perfect the species and to reach new heights of self-awareness, technological prowess or spiritual enlightenment. You can only get to Utopia by moving faster than light.

Stellaris: Utopia is the first major gameplay expansion to Stellaris, Paradoxs strategy game about building an empire in new galaxies. Utopia introduces new options for developing your empire, with new types of space stations and constructions that open alternate avenues for making your species the dominant power in the galaxy.

One of the core improvements in Utopia is the introduction of Ascension Perks. As your species advances and gains new traditions, it can choose how it wants to evolve as it is further enlightened. You can choose between a biological path, a psionic path or a synthetic path, with various options within these broad categories. Body, Mind or Machine - how will your species challenge the future?

Stellaris: Utopiawill be shaping galactic civilizations as ofApril 6, 2017and will be found at Steam and the Paradox Store for $19.99/19.99.

Utopia also includes:

Stellaris: Utopia brings even greater depth and variety to a game already celebrated for its story-telling power and near endless possibilities. Are you ready for perfection?

Thousands of planets populate procedurally generated star systems giving you the largest possible theatre for performing the emergent stories that Paradox has become famous for. Customize your ships, encounter unique randomly generated races, and participate in advanced diplomacy that would make Picard look like an amateur.

And all in a beautiful and evocative star map unmatched by anything weve made before.

Are you prepared for the glorious future Paradox will be showing you?

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Spring Symbolizes Renewal Of Life In Nature And It’s The Most Magical Time Of The Year – South Asian Link

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By Dr. Jagessar Das

Springtime is quickly approaching in the northern hemisphere. What a magical time it is when life that lay dormant through the winter, is renewing itself to manifest in its varied beautiful form for the summer. Springtime symbolizes the renewal of life in nature. It lifts the spirit of people and they feel happier and more cheerful. In winter many people suffer the winter blues. Some research has shown that this is due to the decreased amount of sunlight that people have in winter. Many animals hibernate in the winter and become active again in spring. Trees that had lost all their leaves in the fall are now sprouting new shoots. The flowering bulbs such as crocus, tulips and daffodils are springing up to display their beautiful magic everywhere. The birds that had migrated to warmer climates are returning to their summer homes in the north. It is really a wonderful time when we can all anticipate the coming of summer and the great outdoors.

All of nature works in cycles. The seasons are cyclical. There is spring, summer, autumn and winter. Annual plants germinate, grow, and flower and then die. They germinate again from the seeds of last summer. Perennial plants enter a stage of dormancy in the winter, and spring to life in spring, and produce their flowers and fruits in the summer, and then decline in the fall, only to be renewed the next spring. These annual cyclical and seasonal changes are caused by the tilting of the earth on its axis, and as the earth goes around the sun once each year, the four seasons manifest themselves in the northern and southern hemispheres.

There are also cycles caused by the rotation of the earth every twenty-four hours. Thus we have darkness followed by sunrise, sun light, sunset then darkness again. Just so, there is darkness, moonrise, moonlight, moonset and then darkness. Just so, we have star-rise and star-set due to the rotation of the earth.

These cyclical changes have certain effects on humans. In the winter most people spend a great deal of time indoors. The summer tan of the skin fades into a winter pallor, only to be renewed next summer. People replace their summer games with winter games. People cannot grow fresh crops during the winter, so they eat foods grown in hothouses, imported, stored from the summer, either in bulk, or frozen, or preserved in other ways. Psychologically, people feel happy in the summer and gloomy in the winter. However, this psychological change that afflicts some people is partly caused by their own outlook or understanding of the cycles of nature. They need to develop equanimity of the mind, so that they do not have the various mood swings according to the changing seasons. Nature does its work in a harmonious way. We need to understand that, and not be affected in any negative way.

Humans also go through cyclical changes. More properly, I should say that the soul takes part in cycles manifesting as the human body. After life, there is death, and then there is life again, as the soul proceeds into another body. This is due to the Law of Karma that none of us can escape. A person starts life in infancy from innocence, and then grows into knowledge by awakening of the intellect, and then deteriorates, both physically and mentally, and enters a second childhood followed by death. This is followed in the next life as another cycle. It is important for us to understand that the Inner Sunlight that brightens our life in the summer, is entirely in our own hands. We must not allow the darkness of ignorance to overshadow the Sunlight that manifests from within us. That Sunlight is the Light of the Soul that is Divine in its attributes. This Sunlight can be realized by awakening from spiritual ignorance to spiritual enlightenment. How much of this we can accomplish depends upon our own dedication and application in purifying ourselves in thought, word, and deed, in living righteously, and in awakening into spiritual enlightenment. So, as the spring is soon to start outwardly in the Northern hemisphere, let it be symbolic of the spring that shines new light into our spiritual life!

Dr. Jagessar Das is a Surrey-based writer and spiritualist with the Kabir Association of Canada. For more info visit http://www.kabir.ca

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Spring Symbolizes Renewal Of Life In Nature And It's The Most Magical Time Of The Year - South Asian Link

ARISS to Swap Out Handheld VHF Transceivers on Space Station – ARRL

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02/28/2017

The 10th SpaceX International Space Station cargo resupply mission delivered investigations to study human health, Earth science, and weather patterns last Thursday. It also carried a new Ericsson 2-meter handheld radio to replace one that failed a few months ago, disrupting the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. The VHF radio in the Columbus module was used for school group contacts and for Amateur Radio packet, temporarily relocated to UHF after the VHF radio failure. ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said the just-arrived Ericsson radio will, at some point, be installed in Columbus, replacing the Ericsson UHF radio now supporting APRS packet and some school contacts. Bauer made it clear that the new Ericsson transceiver is an interim measure for ARISS.

ARISS is making great progress on the development of the new interoperable radio system that we hope to use to replace our aging radio infrastructure in the Columbus module and the Service module, he said. The hard and expensive part of this effort is just beginning, with testing and human [spaceflight] certification on the horizon. ARISS was able to shift school contacts from NA1SS to the Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver in the Russian Service Module. Cosmonauts use that radio to carry out their ARISS school contacts from RS0ISS.

Bauer thanked all of ARISSs partners, which include ARRL and AMSAT, as well as individuals and entities that have donated to the program. In December, ARISS announced a notable contribution from the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) to help support development and certification of new ISS radio hardware.

The Ericsson MP-A VHF handheld that ISS crew members had used to speak via Amateur Radio with students and educational groups around the world for more than 16 years began displaying an error message last fall, rendering it unusable. ARISS has said ARISSs new JVC Kenwood TM-D710GA-based radio system, once on station and installed, will improve communication capability for students scheduled to participate in educational contacts and related activities. The new system also will allow greater interoperability between the Columbus module and the Russian Service Module.

In 2015, ARISS kicked off its first fundraising program, after having relied on support from NASA, ARRL, AMSAT, and individual donors and volunteers to cover the costs of day-to-day operations and spaceflight equipment certification. NASA budget cutbacks made it less certain that ARISS would be able to cover its operational expenses going forward. ARISS leadership initiated the fundraising effort with the goal of securing greater financial stability. TheARISS website has more information on how to support the program. Thanks to AMSAT News Service, ARISS

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UT, high school students get chance to chat with International Space Station – WVLT

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and three Knoxville area high schools earned the opportunity Wednesday to chat with an astronaut at the International Space Station.

The results of the live discussion will be presented at a public event at 5 p.m. Thursday in Dabney-Buehler Hall, Room 300, 1406 Circle Drive, on UT's Knoxville campus. UT Space Institute Director Mark Whorton and Barbara Lewis, NASA Mission Control leader at Johnson Space Center, will present research and answer questions during this time.

Students were chosen to participate in the discussion by submitting entries into NASA's "Amateur Radio on the International Space Station" contest, which highlighted some of the space-related innovations happening at UT. Students were chosen from the Tickle College of Engineering, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Geography.

NASA chose UT as its winner, which will give the UT Amateur Radio Club time for a personal chat with space station Mission Commander Shane Kimbrough.

"We were obviously thrilled to find out that we had been selected," said Grayson Hawkins, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering who will serve as chairperson for the event. "At the same time, we wanted it to be an educational opportunity as much as something that was just a neat event."

Club members reached out to fellow UT students, as well as students from South Doyle High School, Hardin Valley Academy and L&N Stem Academy in Knoxville. Students from these schools were urged to submit potential questions for the astronauts.

"This is a great opportunity for us, not just for current students at UT, but also for the high school students involved," said Matthew Mench, head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at UT.

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UT, high school students get chance to chat with International Space Station - WVLT

SpaceX to send two private citizens around the moon and back – Spaceflight Now

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Updated at 6:15 p.m. EST (2315 GMT) with details.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk announced Monday plans to send two paying private individuals on a week-long flight around the moon and back to Earth by the end of next year.

Musk said the would-be space tourists approached SpaceX to fly on a mission beyond the moon, launching aboard the companys Falcon Heavy rocket from pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida and returning to Earth approximately a week later.

Theyre very serious about it, Musk said, declining to identify the passengers in a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon. He later added the clients include nobody from Hollywood, but would not provide details on their backgrounds.

The two-person crew will be trained for emergencies, but the Dragon spaceship carrying them will fly on autopilot, loop around the far side of the moon on a free-return trajectory, then speed back to Earth. Musk said SpaceX aims to launch the circumlunar flight in the fourth quarter of 2018.

This would do a long leap around the moon, Musk said. Were working out the exact parameters, but this would be approximately a week-long mission, and it would skim the surface of the moon, go quite a bit farther out into deep space, and then loop back to Earth. Im guessing probably distance-wise, maybe 300,000 or 400,000 miles.

He acknowledged the trip will be risky.

I think they are entering into this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here, Musk said of the passengers. Theyre certainly not naive. Well do everything we can to minimize that risk, but its not zero.

He declined to say how much the space tourists will pay, but SpaceX said it has already received a significant deposit for the moon mission.

They do know each other, Musk said of the prospective space tourists. I dont want to comment too much on their background, but they certainly will have extensive training before going on the mission, and I also cant say the exact amount (they will pay).

The tourists will ride inside SpaceXs Dragon 2 capsule, or Crew Dragon, in development under a $2.6 billion contract with NASA to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The spaceship is scheduled to launch on its first uncrewed test flight to the station in November, followed around six months later with a demonstration mission to the outpost with two NASA astronauts on-board.

SpaceX and NASA plan at least one Crew Dragon flight to the station per year once the spacecraft proves itself on the test flights, rotating in and out four-person crews on six-month expeditions.

NASA contracted with SpaceX and Boeing to develop, test and fly commercially-operated spaceships to transport crews to the station, replacing services currently provided by Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Russia charged the U.S. government $81 million per seat in the latest crew transportation deal. Boeing and SpaceX have not disclosed their prices for an astronaut ticket to the space station, but NASA says the average cost between the two providers runs about $58 million per person for a round-trip flight.

Musk said the price SpaceXs moon mission fliers will pay is confidential, but it would be comparable to a little more than what the cost of a crewed mission to the space station would be.

Space Adventures, a Virginia-based firm, is the only company to date to arrange for paying tourists to fly into space, brokering eight flights by seven clients to the International Space Station in the 2000s. Other companies, like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, offer suborbital trips for paying tourists and researchers, but they have not commenced commercial service.

In 2011, Space Adventures announced a venture in partnership with Russia to send two tourists on a trip around the moon for $150 million per person inside a modified Soyuz capsule, but the mission never materialized.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft is a major upgrade from the cargo-carrying version of Dragon currently flying resupply missions to the space station.

It is already being designed to deep space journeys, Musk said, with an ablative carbon heat shield capable of withstanding re-entry speeds from the moon, which are much faster than descent velocities from low Earth orbit missions.

The robust design of the Crew Dragon supports SpaceXs long-term objective of Mars missions, with an eye toward setting up a permanent base there and making humanity a multi-planet species.

But the Dragon capsule will need new systems for the trip to the moon and back its first time to fly higher than low Earth orbit such as deep space communications equipment.

This would be communication at several hundred thousand kilometers (more than 250,000 miles), as opposed to around 400 kilometers (250 miles at the space stations orbit), Musk said. Its mostly with respect to the communications system, but Dragon is designed to be hardy with regard to space radiation and have triple-redundant systems. We feel that the modifications necessary will be quite limited.

The Dragon spacecrafts lunar flight will come after it completes test flights to the space station, Musk said.

The orbital test flights will wring out many of the Crew Dragons life support, navigation and computer systems, and Musk said NASA will certify the capsule as human-rated once those demo missions are successfully completed.

But the space station crews will blast off on SpaceXs Falcon 9 booster, not the Falcon Heavy, which is required for the round-trip voyage around the moon. The Falcon Heavy is expected to launch for the first time some time this summer, Musk said, several years later than originally envisioned.

Dragon 2 is going through NASA human-rating, (and it) will fly with NASA astronauts to the space station before it flies this mission, Musk said. The same is true of the Falcon 9 vehicle. The difference is that were adding two additional Falcon 9 first stages as strap-on boosters to increase the performance of Falcon 9, which is what were calling Falcon Heavy.

The Falcon Heavy will lift off on the power of 27 Merlin engines, three times the number that power the Falcon 9s core stage.

All the pieces of that system will be human-rated by NASA, Musk added. One could say that theres some incremental complexity with the integration of those systems.

SpaceX will seek a license from the Federal Aviation Administration for the purely commercial tourist trip around the moon, Musk said.

We should have quite a bit of Falcon Heavy flight history (by the time the lunar mission flies), and, of course, a tremendous amount of heritage coming from Falcon 9 going into Falcon Heavy, Musk said. Dragon 2 has been designed to very high standards, so its capable of taking a re-entry from lunar entry velocity, with significant margin, so were confident that this will be a good vehicle to fly on.

SpaceX said NASA is a key enabler for the commercial circumlunar mission, which would be the first flight by humans to the moons distance since the Apollo 17 lunar landing in December 1972, and perhaps the most distant space expedition in history.

NASA said in a statement it commends its industry partners for reaching higher.

We will work closely with SpaceX to ensure it safely meets the contractual obligations to return the launch of astronauts to U.S. soil and continue to successfully deliver supplies to the International Space Station, the agency said.For more than a decade, NASA has invested in private industry to develop capabilities for the American people and seed commercial innovation to advance humanitys future in space.

While NASA has tapped Boeing and SpaceX to pick up launch and landing services for space station crews, the space agency is working on government-owned vehicles to send astronauts to deep space.

The Space Launch System super-booster and Orion capsule are scheduled to take off on their first combined test flight to lunar orbit late next year, without astronauts. NASA targets launch of a crewed mission conducting a similar lunar flyby to the maneuver planned by SpaceX some time between 2021 and 2023.

SLS/Orion missions to the region around the moon, called cislunar space, will validate new propulsion thrusters, power systems, robotics and other technologies required for eventual human journeys to Mars.

The Government Accountability Office reported last year thatthe first SLS flight in 2018, the first two Orion flights on SLS, and the associated ground systems will cost almost $23 billion. In a separate report last year, NASAs inspector general said the Orion program will have received $17 billion from its start in 2006 through the first crewed mission in the early 2020s.

But NASA may be about to shake up its human spaceflight program.

The agency is conducting a feasibility and risk analysis, under orders from the Trump administration, to determine the technical hurdles and costs of putting two astronauts on the first SLS/Orion launch, named Exploration Mission-1.

If NASA decides to switch to a piloted mission, EM-1 will likely be delayed to allow engineers to finish development of key life support systems that were not originally intended to fly on the uncrewed test flight. If approved, the EM-1 crew would fly around the moon and back, following roughly the same trajectory targeted by SpaceXs privately-funded mission.

Musk did not say whether he hopes to fly to the moon before NASA, but he said the space agency will have priority if it wants to take part in the circumlunar flight.

This will be a private mission with two paying customers, (but) NASA always has first priority, Musk said. If NASA decides to have the first mission of this nature to be a NASA mission, then of course NASA would take priority.

Were generally encouraging of anything that advances the cause of space exploration, Musk said. I think an SLS/Orion mission would be exciting as well. I dont know what theyre timetable is, and Im not sure if we will be before or after, but I dont think thats really the important thing. What matters is the advancement of space exploration and exceeding the high-water mark that was set in 1969 with the Apollo program, and just having a really exciting future in space that inspires the world.

Thats what we care about, and we think that there should more companies and organizations doing this than SpaceX. The more the better.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Modeling The Universe And The Polar Lights From Aristotle To Iowa – Forbes

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Modeling The Universe And The Polar Lights From Aristotle To Iowa
Forbes
A century after Birkeland's original Terrella model and four decades after Van Allen's discovery of radiation belts, a group of CNRS researchers led by Dr. Jean Lilensten at the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics in Grenoble (IPAG) began to ...

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New NASA Probe May Solve Three Big Mysteries About the Sun – NBCNews.com

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Humans have sent spacecraft to the moon, the red planet Mars and even distant interstellar space, but could we send a spaceship to the scorching sun?

The answer is yes, and it's happening soon.

In 2018, NASA plans to launch the Solar Probe Plus mission to the sun. Earth is about 93 million miles (149 million kilometers) from the sun, and Solar Probe Plus is slated to get within 4 million miles (6 million km) of the blazing star.

RELATED: What Will Happen to Earth When the Sun Dies?

"This is going to be our first mission to fly to the sun," said Eric Christian, a NASA research scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We can't get to the very surface of the sun," but the mission will get close enough to answer three important questions, he said.

First, the mission will hopefully reveal why the surface of the sun, called the photosphere, is not as hot as the sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The surface of the sun is only about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius). But the atmosphere above it is a sizzling 3.5 million F (2 million C), according to NASA.

"You'd think the farther away you get from a heat source, you'd get colder," Christian told Live Science. "Why the atmosphere is hotter than the surface is a big puzzle."

Second, scientists want to know how solar wind gets its speed. "The sun blows a stream of charged particles in all directions at a million miles an hour," he said. "But we don't understand how that gets accelerated."

People have known about solar wind for years, as early observers noticed that the tails of comets always pointed away from the sun, even if the comet was traveling in another direction. This suggested that something that is, solar wind was coming off the sun faster than the comet was moving, Christian said.

Third, the mission may ascertain why the sun occasionally emits high-energy particles called solar energetic particles that are a danger to unprotected astronauts and spacecraft.

Researchers have tried to figure out these mysteries from Earth, but "the trouble is we're 93 million miles away," Christian said. "[The distance makes] things get smeared out in a way that makes it hard to tell what's happening at the sun."

Flying to within 4 million miles of the sun isn't without its challenges. The main challenge, unsurprisingly, is the heat. To deal with the extreme temperatures, NASA scientists have designed a 4.5-inch-thick (11.4 centimeters) carbon-composite shield, which is designed to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft of 2,500 F (1,370 C), according to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a NASA collaborator working on the Solar Probe Plus.

In addition, the probe will have special heat tubes called thermal radiators that will radiate heat that permeates the heat shield to open space, "so it doesn't go to the instruments, which are sensitive to heat," Christian said.

If these protections work as expected, the instruments in the probe will stay at room temperature, Christian said.

RELATED: Is There Gravity in Space?

The Solar Probe Plus will also be protected from radiation, which can damage the probe's electrical circuits, especially its memory, he said.

The spacecraft will be unmanned, but if given enough time and money, NASA scientists could probably develop a spacecraft that could safely carry an astronaut to within 4 million miles of the sun, Christian said. However, the cost of a human life is great, he said, a risk that unmanned missions don't carry.

If all goes as planned, the Solar Probe Plus will be the closest that a man-made object has ever made it to the sun. Until now, the closest spacecraft were Helios 1 (launched December 1974), which flew within 29 million miles (47 million km) of the sun, and Helios 2 (launched April 1976), which flew 1.8 million miles (3 million km) closer to the sun than Helios 1.

More recently, Messenger (launched August 2004) explored Mercury, which is about 36 million miles (58 million km) from the sun.

Original article on Live Science.

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SpaceX – blogs.nasa.gov

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Major experiments that will look into a range of scientific disciplines from human health to atmospheric conditions on Earth are on their way to the International Space Station following liftoff at 9:39 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. About 5,500 pounds of research equipment, cargo and supplies are packed into the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that is now in Earth orbit and headed to the station on the CRS-10 mission.

SpaceXs Dragon cargo craft launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the first commercial launch from Kennedys historic pad.

Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency and Shane Kimbrough of NASA will use the space stations robotic arm to capture Dragon when it arrives at the station. Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will begin at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 on NASA TV and the agencys website, with installation coverage set to begin at 8:30 a.m.

Research materials flying inside the Dragons pressurized area include a crystal growth experiment that will crystallize a monoclonal antibody that is undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of immunological diseases. Growing the crystal in space will allow it develop more than it could on Earth where gravity causes crystals to collapse on themselves. Preserving these antibodies in crystals allows researchers a glimpse into how the biological molecules are arranged, which can provide new information about how they work in the body. So far, Earth-grown crystalline suspensions of monoclonal antibodies have proven to be too low-quality to fully model.

Better defining how some bacteria become drug-resistant is the focus of another experiment that aims to develop medicines that counter the resistance. Stem cells like those used to treat strokes and other occurrences also will be studied using experiment supplies brought up on this flight.

The equipment aboard the Dragon includes a major instrument that will survey Earths upper atmosphere in a continuation of one of NASAs longest-running Earth-observing programs. Called SAGE III for Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment, the instrument examines the levels of ozone, aerosols, nitrogen dioxide and water vapor in the stratosphere and troposphere high above Earth. It is the latest version of an experiment that began in 1979 and has created a multi-decade record of measurements. The 2,200-pound instrument will be connected to the outside of the station to make daily observations for several years.

The mission is the companys tenth cargo flight to the station under NASAs Commercial Resupply Services contract.Dragons cargowill support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations during the stations Expeditions 50 and 51.

Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station in late March, returning nearly 5,000 pounds of science, hardware and crew supplies.

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NASA, SpaceX and Federal Aviation Administration officials will conduct a news conference at 11:30 a.m. EST marking todays successful launch of the SpaceX CRS-10 mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft and its 5,500 pounds of equipment are safely in orbit in pursuit of the station. You can watch the news conference on NASA TVor in the live stream below. News conference participants are:

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The Dragon spacecraft completed deployment of its two solar arrays and is flying free in its preliminary orbit to catch up with the International Space Station. The first stage returned to land safely as well and crews at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are safing the stage. NASAs Mission Control in Houston and SpaceX mission controllers are overseeing the performance of the uncrewed spacecraft as it heads to the station to deliver some 5,500 pounds of materials including experiments.

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The Dragons twin solar arrays are deployed. It will take about two minutes to complete the process. The arrays will generate power for the spacecraft during its flight to the space station.

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Spacecraft Sep: Dragon has deployed and is now on its own to pursue the International Space Station to deliver experiments and equipment.

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The second stage engine has shutdown as planned.

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The first stage returned to its landing site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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The second stage continues to burn as planned to lift the Dragon into orbit.

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The Dragons fairing has jettisoned as planned.

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The second stage of the Falcon 9 is now thrusting after the first stage separated. All systems good.

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Jupiter looks like an abstract painting in NASA Juno image – CNET

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Jupiter shows off its swirls.

NASA's Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter in the middle of 2016 after launching back in 2011. It's still in the middle of its mission to collect data on Jupiter and its moons. Lucky for us, some of that data comes back in the form of stunning images of the fascinating planet. One of the latest is a look at Jupiter's swirling, stormy atmosphere.

The close-up image looks like an abstract watercolor painting, but it actually highlights the planet's ammonia-and-water clouds. NASA describes what we're seeing as "streams of clouds spin off a rotating oval-shaped cloud system in the Jovian southern hemisphere."

Juno snapped the picture on February 2 and NASA highlighted it on Friday after amateur astronomer Roman Tkachenko cropped the image and adjusted the color. NASA makes the raw images from Juno's camera available to the public so people like Tkachenko can work with them.

We also caught up with Tkachenko's work in 2015 when he created a fly-over video of Pluto's moon Charon using processed images from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.

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These 10 space images look unbelievable, but are actually real (pictures)

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Jupiter looks like an abstract painting in NASA Juno image - CNET