Daily Archives: October 30, 2019

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Moonrise at sunrise seen from the International Space Station ImaGeo - Discover Magazine

Pretty soon Lamborghinis won't just look like they came from space, they'll have had parts that were developed there.

Lamborghini is going to space, y'all, and not in an "I'm Elon Musk, and I'm going to send my car into orbit" kind of way.

Automobili Lamborghini is instead working with a hospital called the Houston Methodist Research Institute to examine the effects that the extreme environment of space has on composite materials. Cool, right?

The plan is for Lamborghini to send up several samples of different composite materials to the International Space Station via an unmanned rocket. Once there, the samples will be studied, and it's hoped that the results will inform the design of future supercars and medical equipment like artificial limbs.

"We are very proud," said Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali, in a statement. "Lamborghini is breaking ground as the first automaker in the world to conduct carbon fiber materials science research on the ISS. In addition to representing an important example of corporate social responsibility, this mission is also fully in line with our philosophy and values. Lamborghini is a brand that has always been committed to going beyond limits in every area of its activity and to being a pioneer in the realm of technology."

The carbon fiber samples will spend half a year on the ISS. During that time, they'll be exposed to all kinds of crazy cosmic radiation (I hope Lamborghini is prepared for its samples to come back with powers like The Fantastic Four) as well as massive variations in temperature.

Now playing: Watch this: 2019 Lamborghini Urus: An everyday super SUV

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Lamborghini is sending carbon fiber to the International Space Station - CNET

Ronan Glon/Digital Trends

Lamborghini wont equal Elon Musks feat of sending a car into space, but it will send pieces of one. Next month, the Italian automaker will send five samples of carbon fiber to the International Space Station (ISS) for testing. Lamborghini claims to be the first automaker to conduct materials science research on the ISS.

The goal of the project is to see how the five samples react to the stresses of space, Lamborghini said. Researchers will be analyzing the results with an eye toward using the materials not only in future cars, but also in medical devices. In 2017 Lamborghini signed an agreement with the Houston Methodist Research Institute to jointly research the biocompatibility of composite materials. The low weight, radio transparency, and radio compatibility of these materials could make them useful in prosthetics and subcutaneous devices, according to Lamborghini.

The samples were developed at Lamborghinis own materials lab, located at the companys Italian headquarters. One sample is 3D printed, while another uses the discontinuous fiber structure first seen on the limited-edition Lamborghini Sesto Elemento in 2010, and currently used on other Lambo production cars. Other samples were made using pre-impregnated expose resin (also known as pre-preg) and autoclaved polymer fabric, the more common methods of carbon fiber construction used in race cars and most other current applications.

The carbon fiber samples will be on the ISS for six months. They will be subjected to temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees to 200 degrees centigrade (minus 40 degrees to 392 degrees Fahrenheit), as well as ultraviolet radiation and gamma rays, according to Lamborghini. The samples will then be brought back to Earth for analysis by Lamborghini and the Houston Methodist Research Institute. Researchers will be looking for any degradation from exposure to the harsh space environment. Lamborghini claims this will help it develop materials for future cars. The automaker has come up with some interesting ideas recently, such as using the skin of a car to store electricity, but promising lab results dont automatically equal commercial feasibility.

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying Lamborghinis samples is scheduled to launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on November 2. Back on Earth, Lambo is prepping its latest supercar, and recent reports indicate it may launch a four-door electric car as well.

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Lamborghini will send an experiment to the International Space Station - Digital Trends

Monday morning the International Space Station will flyover our area! With peak elevation only 23 above the horizon, this will be pretty low in the sky. You will need to get away from tall trees and tall buildings for the best chance to see it.

The other issue will be clouds and fog. The clouds will be just west of our communities, but if you live west of I-65 they may get in your way of seeing the ISS. We are also expecting dense fog to set up through the morning which would obstruct your view. Not everyone will see fog set in Monday morning, so some of you should still be able to see the space station.

The pass begins at 6:59 AM and lasts four minutes, so go outside several minutes before then to give your eyes time to adjust. The space station will appear 20 above northwest and disappear only 10 above north-northeast.

Read the rest here:
Low Space Station Flyover Monday Morning | Weather Blog - WDRB

The three questions people most want to ask Terry Virts: Whats it like to float in space? Did you see any aliens? How did you go to the bathroom?

Virts, a retired U.S. Air Force test and fighter pilot who spent two weeks aboard the space shuttle Endeavor and 200 days aboard the International Space Station and who broke the world record this summer for an aircraft flying over the north and south poles, is happy to humor us earthly mortals.

Hell appear Friday at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as part of a National Geographic Live tour, presented by the Touhill and the St. Louis Science Center. Virts, a Baltimore native, will tell stories and show some of the 300,000 photographs he shot more than any other astronaut during his time on the International Space Station. Some of the photos are included in his book, View From Above, and the Imax film A Beautiful World.

But first, those questions.

Floating, as youd expect, is amazing, he says. Its impossible to describe, other than it feels like youre falling. Theres a learning curve; it takes a few weeks to get really good at it.

As for aliens? He didnt see anything, but other planets were too far away for him to know for sure. Life is just so complicated. I look at it from a scientific point of view. I dont think life would happen spontaneously. I think somebody has to create it, he says.

And the bathroom? Airflow, he says. Theres no gravity, so you need to have airflow. You can use your imagination.

Virts, 51, was just a toddler when Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon in 1969, but he grew up playing with toy rockets and had space shuttle posters on his wall.

He was a freshman at the Air Force Academy when the Challenger shuttle broke apart in 1986. In 2003, when Columbia disintegrated, he escorted crew members families who had gathered to watch the landing.

It took some joy out of it because it was so painful, he says. We knew a bad thing could possibly happen. There are some things that are just accidents. But with the Challenger or Columbia, we knew what was happening, and we intentionally ignored it, and thats what was disheartening to me.

His photos from the space station highlight realities of life on Earth. Pollution in Thailand and smog in India are visible, as are scars of deforestation in Brazil and Madagascar. But he also saw unmistakable beauty: the brilliant greens and turquoises of the Bahamas, the extreme greens of New Zealand that make it look like Middle-earth, the glacial lakes tucked between the folds of the Patagonia.

Virts time on the space station gave him an idea for another potential project: a television show in which he would visit all the places he saw from space.

My bucket list is just too big, he says. Ive seen so much, and I want to go see it all from the ground and meet the people who live there.

Hes using his time in space to bring some understanding to people on Earth. Hes writing a book of short essays, which he hopes will be an accessible beach read, about how to prepare for a trip to space: how to train, how to maneuver when youre floating, what to do with your crewmates body if he or she dies.

Hes also editing a movie he directed about One More Orbit, the record-breaking flight over the summer honoring the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Virts worked with a team of international aviators to circumnavigate the worlds poles in 46 hours, 39 minutes and 38 seconds in a jet.

The feat was a testament to what humans can accomplish when they work together despite coming from different countries. On the International Space Station, Virts worked and lived alongside Russian cosmonauts during times of tense political relations on Earth.

Virts acknowledges thats a lofty perspective when relations on the ground can seem so tense.

Thats kind of my mission in life, actually, he says. In some ways, it feels like its 1928, and I want to prevent 1940 from happening. Im going to do what I can, just by showing people working together. Hopefully, we can change things.

What Terry Virts: A View From Above When 7:30 p.m. Friday Where Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Boulevard How much $32-$59 More info touhill.org

Original post:
Astronaut will visit St. Louis to talk space, aliens and his latest record-breaking flight - STLtoday.com

Structures like the International Space Station are too big and heavy to be built on Earth and then launched into Earth as one piece. Instead, the ISS was assembled in space like a giant Lego set, using large modules that were delivered via multiple rocket launches over a 12-year period. Thats tough enough when youre dealing with a structure designed to float in Earth orbit. But how about when space exploration takes the next step and humanity wants to build complex constructions further afield, such as on Mars?

Thats where a new MIT project comes into play. Epitomizing the mantra teamwork makes the dream work, it showcases a system of tiny collaborative robots nicknamed relative robots which could one day work together to build high-performance structures, ranging from airplanes to houses to space settlements.

The V-shaped robots, called Bipedal Isotropic Lattice Locomoting Explorers (or BILL-E), resemble miniature arms. Moving like inchworms, they can piece together small three-dimensional modular pieces, called voxels, into larger structures. In the same way that an image of any complexity can be reproduced on-screen using simple square pixels, the idea of BILL-Es creators is that the robots could achieve the same in the three-dimensional world. Each voxel can be picked up and placed in position by the robots, then connected using a special latching system that is part of each building unit.

Our robots can build structures bigger and more precise than themselves, Benjamin Jenett, one of the main researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. There is no ramp up in cost for infrastructure beyond making the individual voxel components and simple robots. In this sense, geometric complexity comes at little to no cost. Relative robotic assembly uses a simple, repeatable procedure to produce high-performance structures on-demand, where single assembly is final assembly.

Theres no doubt that MITs voxel-building BILL-E robots are exciting. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of them is what they suggest about the next frontier for robots. For more than half a century, at least since SRI International researchers build the first general-purpose mobile robot, engineers have been rightfully excited about the possibility of using robots.

Today, robots are being used in a breadth of applications. The people who build them promise that they will be able to carry out the dull, dirty, dangerous, and high-dollar jobs that humans are less suited for. But while one robot may be useful, its increasingly teams of robots that offer a glimpse at where they may be at their most valuable. Evidence of where teams of machines can triumph is evident at all different scales. There are small robots like the relative robots developed by MIT. However, those same principles of collaboration apply to larger robots, too.

Last year, Boston Dynamics released a short video in which two of SpotMini robots worked together to achieve a common goal: opening an office door. That is a constrained, simplified illustration of collaboration, but it nonetheless showcases how multiple machines can work together to carry out tasks that would have been far more difficult, or even impossible, on their own.

There are a wide variety of problems that such collaborative robots promise to solve. In some cases, its avoiding or removing obstacles, such as in the case of the door-opening SpotMinis. In others, it might be exploring large areas using multiple robots each tracking their own individual paths, but coordinated so as to cover a wide area without stepping on each others toes. This can be useful for things like mapping. It can also allow robots to improve their abilities, by learning through trial and error and then conveying this information to the others in the party; allowing all involved to grow smarter at a faster rate.

Examples of team-based collaborative robots are everywhere. At Columbia University in New York, Professor Hod Lipson and his team have developed a swarm of disc-shaped robots that can connect together to form a variety of different form factors. For instance, if it needs to move through a gap, the robots can rearrange themselves into a shape that lets them travel through it, before reassembling as a wider structure on the other side.

Meanwhile, as part of NASAs Innovative Advanced Concepts program, the renowned space agency is working on a project revolving around a group of robots called cobots. These cobots can work as a team to explore areas such as caves but also work together to make possible new types of locomotion. One day, NASA hopes they could be used to explore other planets.

These approaches are incredibly exciting. However, in both examples, the robots being employed are identical to one another. That does not have to be the case. In fact, in many scenarios, it might be more helpful if teams of robots were made up of robots with broadly different skills. You know, like efficient teams of humans.

Consider, for instance, cooperative robot teams working together in a search and rescue mission following a natural disaster. This is something that is already being actively explored due to the danger inherent in sending in human rescuers. But while having multiple units of the same robot could undoubtedly be useful in certain rescue environments, being able to bring together robots with different skill sets could prove even more valuable.

Imagine using a scout-type robot with advanced optics capabilities in combination with a heavier robot thats there to move rubble out of the way or bringing food and water to victims. This ability to use multiple types of robots together is something currently being explored in DARPAs Subterranean Grand Challenge. Entrants in the contest must develop autonomous robots to explore underground environments. Rather than being limited to one type of robot, though, they can build tag teams comprising multiple types of machines, ranging from four-legged canine-inspired bots to flying drones.

As anyone who has ever worked in a team will know, of course, leadership is a big question when it comes to dictating goals. When it comes to robots, this is no less a concern and there are multiple possible answers.

We employ a centralized, as opposed to distributed, control architecture, Benjamin Jenett, a researcher on the BILL-E project, said. This means that a single entity, in this case a laptop, computes [the entire] build sequence and robot path-planning, and sends commands wirelessly to the mobile robots. Robots then execute this path which consists of a small set of prescribed motions step, turn, pick up, place with a finite amount of sensing for feedback.

Getting multiple robots to talk to one another is a massively complex problem, requiring plenty of advance planning.

Jenett notes that this kind of centralized control architecture can achieve optimal results more easily since everything is programmed ahead of time. In this case, the single entity he refers to is like the project manager on a building site: planning everything in advance and making sure that every member of the team knows what they are supposed to be doing. However, its not a perfect solution as it makes it vulnerable to a single point of failure. As a result, Jenett said that the team is looking into distributed control systems for the future.

This requires more autonomy from the robots, [meaning] sensing and decision making, he said. But we feel that our hardware can easily be modified to incorporate these changes in the coming phases of this work.

This challenge will continue in the years to come. Getting multiple robots to talk to one another is a massively complex problem, requiring plenty of advance planning. However, advances in swarm intelligence will also allow robots to function together in certain applications with distributed forms of intelligence. Like a flock of birds, where each bird is responding to its nearest neighbors but no bird is leading the flock, this has enormous potential. Especially when it comes to improvising strategies.

Right now, were still at the start of this particular journey. Like collaborations between humans and robots in the workplace, collaborative teams of robots remain largely the province of research labs. But it wont stay that way.

As demonstrated by everything from Starship Technologies delivery robots to ANYbotics ANYmal oil rig-inspecting robots, robots are becoming a part of everyday life. And where, right now, companies are employing one or two robots to carry out tasks, that number is bound to grow.

So theyd better start getting along for all our sakes.

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Team machines: Why the next revolution in robotics is collaboration - Digital Trends

Astronauts on the International Space Station will soon test an Israeli antiradiation vest.

A prototype of the AstroRad vest by Tel Aviv-based StemRad is part of 4,600 pounds of science experiments to be delivered to the station in early November aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft.

Aeronautics and space engineering student Dana Vaisler modeling the AstroVest. Photo by Ran Yehezkel courtesy of StemRad

Designed to protect bone marrow and sensitive organs against deep space radiation, the thermoplastic vest is made of high-density polyethylene.

Women in the International Space Station will try out a prototype of the vest tailored for protecting breasts and ovaries in addition to bone marrow, lungs, stomach and colon. They will report back on its fit, form and function.

Next year, a mannequin will wear the AstroRad vest aboard an unmanned test of the Orion space command module intended later to carry four astronauts to the moons orbit. Scientists want to determine how well it can shield human organs compared to a test dummy without the vest.

This evaluation together with radiation protection data obtained from the AstroRad experiment on Orion Exploration Mission-1 will provide NASA with all the necessary information for assessing the AstroRad as essential personal protective equipment for future manned deep space missions such as Orion EM-2 and any future missions to Mars, said Israels Science and Technology Ministry.

Last July, NASA invited StemRad to demonstrate the AstroRad vest at a Washington event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.

Over the past 19 years, more than 2,900 investigations have been conducted aboard the International Space Station by nearly 4,000 investigators representing 108 countries.

Continue reading here:
Israeli antiradiation vest to be tested in outer space - ISRAEL21c

WednesdayOct30,2019at2:01AM

GOSHEN NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, will headline this years Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast on Nov. 13 at Anthonys Pier 9 in New Windsor.

Williams was selected for the NASA Astronaut Class of 1996. In addition to his space flights, he has performed various technical duties in both the space shuttle and International Space Station Programs. In July 2002, Williams commanded a nine-day coral reef expedition operating from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Aquarius undersea habitat off the coast of Florida.

Williams has also served on the space station backup flight crews for Expeditions 12, 19, 20, as well as the backup for astronaut Scott Kellys one-year flight spanning Expeditions 43 through 46. Williams has logged more than 534 days in space, including nearly 32 hours in five spacewalks, and a total of more than 3,100 hours in more than 50 different aircraft. During his six months aboard the International Space Station in 2006, Williams orbited the earth more than 2,800 times and took more photographs of earth than any astronaut in history. He has had two books published with his work.

The event is wholly underwritten by sponsors and is not a fundraiser. Sponsors of the event will receive five (5) seats at the breakfast for a tax-deductible donation of $300. The Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast committee will use the remaining seats at the table to invite elected and appointed Orange County municipal officials, community and business leaders, and the public. All sponsors will be publicized at the door and at the tables.

If you would like to sponsor this event, send an e-mail requesting a registration form to prayerbreakfastoc@gmail.com or call 393-4805. Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast is a 501(c)(3).

This event is being held at no cost to county taxpayers.

Read more:
Astronaut will be featured speaker at County Prayer Breakfast - Times Herald-Record

NEW YORK CITY SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell outlined plans for its two development programs at a recent investor conference, giving her forecast for when the company will fly people on its next-generation rocket and begin offering internet from its satellite network.

The company has raised more than $1.3 billion this year to build both Starship, the massive rocket it wants to use to fly people to the moon and Mars, and Starlink, a network of as many as 30,000 satellites to provide high speed internet. SpaceX is building multiple Starship rockets at once, as founder Elon Musk has the company on an ambitious timeline to begin launching Starship regularly and prove that it can be reused easily, like an aircraft.

Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), left, speaks as NASA astronaut Bob Behnken looks on during the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) astronaut visit at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018.

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shotwell, speaking at Baron Fund's annual investment conference at the Metropolitan Opera House on Friday, gave an update on SpaceX's goals for Starship.

"We want Starship in orbit next year; we want to land it on the moon before 2022 with cargo and with people shortly thereafter," Shotwell said.

However, much like Musk in his presentation last month, Shotwell hedged her estimate, saying that "every time I make a prediction about schedule I turn myself into a liar." Most of SpaceX is focused on the company's Crew Dragon capsule, which is undergoing a final series of tests before it flies two NASA astronauts.

"It's a critical program for us, as it's our first step to flying astronauts," Shotwell said.

Shotwell said SpaceX wants to fly Crew Dragon frequently so the company can learn as much as it can about flying people safely. While SpaceX has dozens of successful rocket launches under its belt, it has yet to fly astronauts. The first Crew Dragon flights will go to the International Space Station much like the uncrewed test mission SpaceX performed with the capsule in March and will be an important step toward its grander ambitions.

"Then we'll put people on Starship and send them to farther places," Shotwell said.

An animation of SpaceX's rocket Starship launching through the Earth's atmosphere.

SpaceX

Once complete, Starship will be an immense rocket as SpaceX designed the rocket to carry as many as 100 people. But, more importantly, the company is applying the lessons its learned landing rockets to make Starship fully reusable, Shotwell explained.

"If you're going to take people to other planets, you can't wait for a new aerospace industry to develop on the planet before you can figure out how to land a rocket. You have to figure out how to land, refuel, and come back," Shotwell said.

SpaceX has successfully recovered 44 boosters from its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. But while the booster recoveries have been a step forward in rocketry, it only represents the bottom portion of the rocket. SpaceX wants to recover both Starship, which will be the upper part of the rocket, and its Super Heavy booster.

"So we're not going to waste anything ... all we'll spend money on is fuel," Shotwell said.

But Starship will feature in the company's plans in more ways than just exploration. Shotwell revealed that SpaceX plans to use the new rocket to deploy its Starlink network even more quickly than it is already.

SpaceX launched the first 60 Starlink satellites in May, packing them into the top of a Falcon 9 rocket. And, just before the launch, Musk told reporters that SpaceX has "sufficient capital" to get its Starlink satellite network "to an operational level."

"In the next few weeks we're going to launch another 60 and then get to a cadence of launching 60 every other week to fill out the constellation," Shotwell said.

"We need 360 to 400 to have a constant connectivity where the satellites can end up through the ground talking to each other. Once we get to 1,200 satellites, we will have coverage of the whole globe," Shotwell added.

SpaceX deploys its 60 Starlink satellites simultaenously.

SpaceX | GIF by @thesheetztweetz

Once SpaceX is flying Starship regularly, she said the rocket will be able to launch nearly seven times as many Starlink satellites at once.

"Starship can take 400 satellites at a time," Shotwell said.

SpaceX and its investors see Starlink as the key to funding Musk's vision of colonizing Mars. Shotwell said the company's board of directors in 2012 realized the profit margins from the commercial satellites it was launching for customers were "much higher" than SpaceX's launch business. Musk estimates Starlink could generate more than $30 billion per year at least 10 times what SpaceX could bring in at best from its launch business.

Shotwell also noted that completing the Starlink network will cost less than some estimates. Morgan Stanley last week said it would cost about $60 billion for SpaceX to launch 30,000 Starlink satellites, an estimate Shotwell dismissed.

"They were way off," Shotwell said.

Unlike traditional satellites, Starlinks will have limited lifespans of about five years, Shotwell explained. SpaceX will "refresh the technology" of the Starlink network by rapidly replacing the satellites, which are designed to intentionally burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

"The satellites will be limited in their life because the longer you want the satellites to live on orbit the more money you put have to put into it," Shotwell said. "We will be continually launching these satellites to refresh the technology, to address any issues with the satellites, to put up ones that are working better in its place."

Read more:
SpaceX wants to land Starship on the moon within three years, president says, with people soon after - CNBC

The UAE's first astronaut gives a behind-the-scenes look at the international outpost

Hazza Al Mansouri's mission to International Space Station last month marked a lot of firsts for the UAE and for the space sector as a whole.

The former military pilot became the first Emirati in space, the first to hold a dinner featuring traditional local food and the first to give a tour of the ISS in Arabic.

The ISS is made up of many modules, some are research laboratories, others are cargo storage or living spaces. Different modules are run by different space agencies, such as the Japanese Experiment Module - known as Kibo - which was developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) as a science module.

Maj Al Mansouri's tour began in the astronauts' living quarters, where any spare time is spent and astronauts can get ready for the day ahead.

The Emirati then showed off one of the laboratories where most of the scientific experiments are carried out and demonstrated how astronauts maintain their physical fitness while onboard the ISS.

Next, he showed the Airlock, the area from where astronauts perform space walks and where astronauts carry out maintenance work for the station.

He then went to Nod 3, a training room where astronauts apply pressure to their bodies to stop their muscles from atrophying, the storage room, and demonstrated how astronauts sleep in the microgravity environment.

He gave a tour of the kitchen, where astronauts prepare and eat their food, and the main commander control unit, where astronauts control the station and any incoming cargo.

Maj Al Mansouri spent eight days on the ISS, where he carried out experiments and held several live Q&A sessions with students. He returned to Earth on October 3.

Updated: October 24, 2019 03:20 PM

Link:
Space tour: Hazza Al Mansouri's video shows life on board the International Space Station - The National