Saturday, June 17, 2017

SpaceCast Notes 6/17/2017

SpaceCast - 6/10/2017

Links

Upgrade planned to Svalbard seed vault (related to the last topic we did on the vault)
  • In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Global Seed Vault on the island of Svalbard stores seeds for thousands of food and other crops to maintain biodiversity in the event of an environmental disaster
  • Recently, extreme warm weather resulted in permafrost melt which flooded the access tunnel (see the cast from a few weeks ago)
  • Now, a group is investigating potential solutions to counter warming climates
    • One option is to rebuild the access tunnel so it slopes up instead of down - $1.6 million will be spent investigating how to improve the tunnel in 2018
    • Other improvements include moving a heat-producing transformer station, digging drainage systems into the mountainside, and constructing a waterproof wall inside the access tunnel
  • The vault is intended to be self-sufficient, meaning the tunnel will have to be revamped to prevent buildup of water which would prevent future access to the seed vault


New evidence points to all stars being born in pairs
  • New analysis from physicists at UC Berkeley & Harvard indicate that all sunlike stars were born as twins
  • Many stars are in binary or trinary groupings (e.g. the Alpha Centauri system), and astronomers have even searched for the sun’s possible twin (dubbed ‘Nemesis’ as it may have produced the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs)
  • The new theory is based on radio data from a giant molecular cloud in Perseus (a stellar nursery) and a mathematical model which can explain the radio observations only if all sunlike stars are born as twins
    • The model predicts that all stars form in wide binaries (separated by 500+ AU), and the systems then either shrink or break apart within 1 million years (relatively short time)
    • Under this model, Nemesis likely escaped to mix with other stars in our region of the galaxy
  • Obviously, the model will need to be checked in other star-forming regions and molecular clouds to fully validate it


Scientific Targets of the James Webb Space Telescope
  • NASA recently announced a handful of the first targets of the James Webb Space Telescope
  • The massive satellite will launch aboard an ESA Ariane 5 rocket to the L2 point between the Earth and the Sun
  • The list was announced under NASA’s Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) program
    • This program allows scientists involved in the JWST’s development to select some of the initial targets


Machine-learning algorithm could combat identity theft
  • Identity theft often involves multiple steps to acquire someone’s personal info - in the 2015 data breach of the IRS, this involved thwarting security questions
  • Recent research demonstrated a system that could identify when responses were fake
    • Some respondents were asked to answer personal security questions truthfully, but some were given fake identities which they had to memorize and use
    • The last question on the quiz was designed to throw the fakers off, leading to uncertainty in responses
  • Researchers then took mouse movement data from all respondents and fed it into a machine-learning algorithm
    • The AI was able to identify the fake responses 95% of the time, confirming that unexpected questions can  be useful to combat identity theft


Apogee Industries Merchandise



Music:
Rage Inc. - Magic
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Thursday, June 1, 2017

SpaceCast Notes 6/1/2017

SpaceCast - 6/1/2017

Links

NASA to send probe to the sun
  • No notes for this topic, sorry m8

Maybe?
  • New astronauts for the year 2017?
  • Over 18,000 candidates
  • The could be assigned to work on ISS for research projects
  • Possible launching of deep space missions as with the Orion spacecraft

Extremely Large Telescope begins construction in Chile

  • When completed, it will be the world’s largest optical telescope (5x larger than the current top telescope)
  • The primary mirror measures 39 m (43 yd or 129 ft in freedom units) diameter
  • It is located 3000m high in the Atacama desert in Chile and will begin operating in 2024
  • The ELT is funded by the European Southern Observatory
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Saturday, May 20, 2017

SpaceCast Notes 5/20/17

SpaceCast - 5/20/2017
Links
Rocket Lab to launch Electron rocket this month
  • American spaceflight company Rocket Lab has announced plans to debut its Electron rocket from its launch complex on New Zealand’s Mahia peninsula
  • The 10-day launch window begins May 21 (tomorrow)
  • The first launch will carry a test payload to an elliptical orbit (300-500 km altitude at 83 deg. inclination)
  • Specs on the rocket:
    • Two stages, almost entirely made of composites & some  3D-printed parts
    • 56 ft tall (compared to falcon 9 260 ft)
    • 36000 lb thrust (compared to F9 1.7 million lb thrust)
    • Cost is $4.9 million per launch (compared to F9 $62 million)
  • If the launch is successful, it will be the first orbital launch from a private launch facility
  • The launch is the first of 3 test flights before commercial launches begin


Man-made barrier surrounding earth discovered
  • This is not some type of sky dome or wall of space debris, in fact the “barrier” is only composed of radio waves - specifically those in the very low frequency (VLF) range
  • Under the right conditions, these signals can affect high-energy radiation surrounding the earth
  • VLF signals are used to communicate with submarines, but the waves also travel outside the atmosphere
  • Researchers noticed that the outer edge of the VLF barrier corresponds to the inner edge of the Van Allen belts, a layer of ions trapped by Earth’s magnetic field
  • There is indication that the radio transmissions actually caused the radiation belts to recede, meaning VLF signals could potentially be used to eliminate excess charged particles such as those generated during solar flares


Global seed vault victim to climate change
  • Melting permafrost on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen has seeped into the Svalbard seed vault, a structure designed to preserve thousands of crop varieties by keeping them frozen underground
  • Obviously the melting permafrost (and associated global warming) are a concern to the seed vault
  • The vault contains about 1 million seed packets
  • The water did not flood the vault itself, only the entrance tunnel
  • Technicians are now waterproofing the vault to prevent further flooding
SpaceX launches Inmarsat-5
  • Inmarsat-5 was the heaviest geostationary payload ever launched on an F9 (it was originally supposed to launch on a Falcon Heavy)
  • The booster was expendable in order to provide the necessary delta-v
  • The mission was a complete success
World’s largest wind turbine comes online

  • 32 new wind turbines have been installed at the Burbo Bank wind farm off the coast of England
  • Each turbine is 195 m (640 ft) tall with 80m (262 ft) blades, and produces 8 MW of power
  • The complete installation has a capacity of 258 MW
  • A single revolution of a turbine blade can power a home for 29 hrs
  • The UK has more offshore wind capacity than any other country, at 5.3 GW
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Saturday, May 6, 2017

SpaceCast Notes 4/29/17

SpaceCast - 4/29/2017
Links
Cassini spacecraft on final series of orbits
  • Starting April 26, Cassini will dive through the region between Saturn and its rings (a 2400 km/1500 mi gap)
  • No spacecraft has ever done this before
  • The scientists in charge of Cassini hope to learn more about Saturn’s internal structure, take samples of its atmosphere, and take cool pics of its clouds and inner rings
  • Cassini will take the final plunge on Sept. 15
China & ESA to collaborate on moon base
  • Reps from ESA and CNSA  have discussed collaboration on a moonbase and other projects
  • The ESA rep, Pal Hvistendahl, said that international cooperation is necessary to explore space for peaceful purposes
  • The moon base could serve as a launching pad for missions to Mars, or space tourism
  • NASA, on the other hand, is still barred from working with China by US legislation (China also cannot participate in the international space station)
Tunnel boring machine has arrived at SpaceX
  • Elon Musk’s latest venture, the Boring Company, has taken delivery of its first TBM
  • In february Musk was looking to purchase a used 400ft x 26ft diameter TBM, but it is unclear if it’s the same one that just arrived at SpaceX headquarters
  • It has begun to dig a hole in the parking lot, of all places
  • Musk’s eventual goal is to create a “vast transportation network” under the city of Los Angeles for cars (and possibly hyperloop)
Falcon 9 launching classified payload
  • The payload is for the US gov’t’s National Reconnaissance Office
  • The F9 booster was lifted into place on LC-39A this morning
  • All the NRO has said about the payload is that is was “designed, built, and will be operated by” the NRO, meaning it’s most likely a spy satellite
  • The mission, termed NROL-76, is SpaceX’s first dedicated national security payload
  • The launch is scheduled for Sunday at 0600 CST
SLS launch date pushed back (unsurprisingly)

  • The maiden flight of the SLS will be delayed from Nov. 2018 until sometime in 2019
  • Major problems included a missed delivery for the Orion service module, issues with welding parts of the core stage, and a tornado at the New Orleans plant
  • The first mission, EM-1, would send Orion around the moon then back to Earth, probably without astronauts (however, NASA was directed to evaluate whether it could carry astronauts)
  • NASA will have spent $23 billion on SLS & Orion by the end of the 2018 fiscal year, but the agency cited concerns over low budgets which limits flexibility in the event of unexpected problems or delays
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Saturday, April 22, 2017

SpaceCast Notes 4/15/17

SpaceCast - 4/15/2017
Links
NASA unveils new plans for Mars
  • During an Advisory Council meeting, NASA revealed plans related to a Mars mission
  • There are two main phases to the design, a small lunar space station called the “Deep Space Gateway” or DSG, & a crewed vehicle called the “Deep Space Transport” or DST
  • Both make use of the SLS (of course, gotta keep the contractors happy)
  • Deep Space Gateway:
    • Supports a crew of 4 for 42 days w/ Orion docked
    • Will have a Canadarm and possibly a cupola module for views of the moon
    • Would be assembled by SLS over 3 flights starting in 2025, and would rely on commercial partners for resupply
    • Will have a 40kW solar-electric propulsion system that will allow it to change orbits (i.e. from an elliptical halo orbit to one allowing for moon landings)
  • Deep Space Transport:
    • Supports a crew of 4 for 1000 days, able to be reused for 3 round-trips
    • Will take “full advantage” of the SLS’s large fairing size (up to 8.4m diameter)
    • Predicted mass of 41 tons (way smaller than ITS)
    • Would be launched on a single SLS flight in 2027, do a one-year test cruise in 2029, and a crewed Mars flight in 2033 (possibly w/ a Venusian gravity assist)
  • Of course, plans for Mars mission have existed since the 60s and have always been axed with changes in administration (yay politics) so there’s little reason to believe this one will be any different, unless international or private-sector cooperation push it forward
New world record for fastest hex-core CPU overclock
  • German overclocker Roman Hartung has broken another world record by overclocking an AMD Ryzen 5 1600x processor to 5.9 GHz
  • The overclocking was done on an ASUS Crosshair VI Hero motherboard with a bus speed of 130 MHz and a multiplier of 45.5
  • The processor was liquid nitrogen cooled and is expected to be able to clock even higher when BIOS updates provide better support for extreme overclocking
  • This is only a CPU frequency score but all cores and threads were enabled
F9 fairing and second stage reuse?

  • SpaceX plans to have the Falcon 9 fairing reusable by the end of the year
  • Elon Musk is “fairly confident” that the F9 upper stage can be reused as well
  • SpaceX originally planned to have the whole F9 be reusable, but technical difficulties led to abandonment of upper stage reuse plans
  • Ideas on how it might be possible:
    • Block 5 (the newest version of F9 and the Merlin engine) offers a significant thrust increase, leaving more delta-v in the second stage
    • Larger payloads will move to Falcon Heavy, leaving lighter loads (which require less delta-v) for the F9 block 5
    • It is unclear how the upper stage would reenter/land, possibly using SuperDraco thrusters on the leading end of the stage (accompanied by a heatshield)
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