The payload deployment test shown above moves the FalconSAT-7 mission forward, which is scheduled for 2015. Why is this “cubesat” important? It uses diffraction instead of refraction or reflection and it is becoming a real alternate to a large space-based observatory in studying the Sun’s chromosphere — especially in the H-alpha wavelengths.
A photon sieve is a novel optical element consisting of a flat opaque sheet with millions of tiny holes. Light passing through these holes is focused in a similar manner to a lens or a mirror. Photon sieves have several key advantages over those more conventional optics:
Focusing can be achieved from a flat, thin sheet that can be unfurled from a very compact, lightweight package
Surface quality tolerances are orders of magnitude more relaxed
The fabrication costs are much lower
The trade-offs include:
Lower efficiency / loss of light
Narrow bandwidth giving what are essentially grayscale images
The photon sieve will have the following design parameters:
2.5 billion holes ranging in size from 2-277 microns
50% fill factor, 30% focusing efficiency
The telescope has a relatively simple design due to space constraints and has:
4 µrad resolution which equates to 600 km at Sun surface
~0.1 degree field of view (about a 1/5th of the Sun’s disk)
Clockwise from top left: A 4-inch photon sieve lit by laser light. The focal spot produced. A magnified image of the central 25mm. An image of a resolution chart produced by the sieve. An interferogram of the wavefront that indicates perfect focusing capability.
Twin U.S. satellites rocket into orbit to explore radiation belts and protect planet from solar outbursts. {R&D Magazine – 08/30/2012]
Defense Weather Systems Directorate celebrates 50 years of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). [SatNews – 08/30/2012]
Russia’s NPO Molnya Space Design Bureau developing hypersonic unmanned rocket vehicle capable of orbiting satellites. [Satelllite Today – 08/30/2012]
Vizada is awarded five-year IDIQ contract with funding ceiling of $2.8 billion to provide land, sea, and air SATCOM services to all federal agencies. [U.S. Politics Today – 08/30/2012]
Thaicom plans for interim satellite to be placed at its 50.5 degree East orbital slot to maintain the location rights. [Satellite Today – 08/30/2012]
Dish Network urges FCC not to shift its spectrum holdings in the 2GHz band, and to approve rules for using satellite spectrum in terrestrial settings. [TeleGeography – 08/30/2012]
Globecomm will introduce new business unit, Globecomm Europe, at IBC. [SatNews – 08/30/2012]
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft to leave giant asteroid Vesta and travel three billion miles in 2 1/2 yeas to dwarf planet Ceres. [SatNews – 08/30/2012]
Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG), Global VSAT Forum (GVF), and Newtec announce number of meetings and initiatives relating to satellite interference at IBC. [SatNews – 08/29/2012]
Largest public media enterprise in the U.S., Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), installs large set of Newtec M6100 modulators for content distribution as part of upgrade to DVB-S2 and H264, as well as Carrier ID for interference migigation. [SatNews – 08/29/2012]
SES signs capacity agreement with Romantis, who will use NSS-12 Ku-band capacity to support growing connectivity needs across Russia and Central Asia. [SatNews – 08/29/2012]
KVH introduces new onboard terminal for its mini-VSAT Broadband service including its breakthrough IP-enabled antenna control unit, CommBox ACU, with IP network and Wi-Fi features. [SatNews – 08/29/2012]
United Arab Emirates is elected as member of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization Advisory Committee. [Khaleej Times – 08/28/2012]
MTN Satellite Communications launches MTN Worldwide TV for maritime customers. [SatNews – 08/28/2012]
Dish Networks broadens international Internet-based television service to be viewable on PCs and Mac computers. [Home Media Magazine – 08/28/2012]
C-COM Satellite Systems receives type approval from ViaSat for its iNetVu Ka-75V antenna system, for operation on ViaSat’s Exede professional Ka-band high-capacity satellite service. [SatNews – 08/28/2012]
iDirect Government Technologies to provide satellite router board modems to L-3 GCS for Hawkeye III 2.0M VSAT terminals. [U.S. Politics Today – 08/26/2012]
Eight satellite providers win Custom Satellite Communications Solutions contract awarded by the General Services Administration and the Defense Information Systems Agency for commercial satellite services. [Space News – 08/24/2012]
That’s not a very compelling title for a fascinating post. Unless your one of the many astronomers who worked on this new discovery by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory…
Astronomers have found an extraordinary galaxy cluster, one of the largest objects in the universe, that is breaking several important cosmic records. Observations of the Phoenix cluster with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the National Science Foundation’s South Pole Telescope, and eight other world-class observatories may force astronomers to rethink how these colossal structures and the galaxies that inhabit them evolve.
Stars are forming in the Phoenix cluster at the highest rate ever observed for the middle of a galaxy cluster. The object also is the most powerful producer of X-rays of any known cluster and among the most massive. The data also suggest the rate of hot gas cooling in the central regions of the cluster is the largest ever observed.
The Phoenix cluster is located about 5.7 billion light years from Earth. It is named not only for the constellation in which it is located, but also for its remarkable properties.
“While galaxies at the center of most clusters may have been dormant for billions of years, the central galaxy in this cluster seems to have come back to life with a new burst of star formation,” said Michael McDonald, a Hubble Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the lead author of a paper appearing in the Aug. 16 issue of the journal Nature. “The mythology of the Phoenix, a bird rising from the dead, is a great way to describe this revived object.”
Like other galaxy clusters, Phoenix contains a vast reservoir of hot gas, which itself holds more normal matter — not dark matter — than all of the galaxies in the cluster combined. This reservoir can be detected only with X-ray telescopes such as Chandra. The prevailing wisdom once had been that this hot gas should cool over time and sink to the galaxy at the center of the cluster, forming huge numbers of stars. However, most galaxy clusters have formed very few stars during the last few billion years. Astronomers think the supermassive black hole in the central galaxy of a cluster pumps energy into the system, preventing cooling of gas from causing a burst of star formation.
Sorry, Euro-hipster communists: the moon landings weren’t faked by the U.S. government. The folks behind the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) recently released images showing the Apollo landings’ flags were still standing, except for Apollo 11. Buzz Aldrin said they knocked it down as they left the Moon’s surface.
From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct! The most convincing way to see that the flags are still there, is to view a time series of LROC images taken at different times of day, and watch the shadow circle the flag (see movie below; the flag is just above the LM descent stage).
Some of the images from the Apollo landings are stunning — and for real!
So the next big thing in amplifiers probably won’t find their way into the trunk of your tuned Plymouth, but they may be able to help scientists — serious scientists — develop new quantum computers.
Byeong Ho Eom, Peter K. Day, Henry G. LeDuc & Jonas Zmuidzinas at CalTech have developed a parametric amplifier that will allow measurements heretofore unattainable. That awesome.
An ideal amplifier has very low noise, operates over a broad frequency range, and has large dynamic range. Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain all of these characteristics simultaneously. For example, modern transistor amplifiers offer multi-octave bandwidths and excellent dynamic range, but their noise remains far above the limit set by the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. Parametric amplifiers can reach the quantum-mechanical limit, but generally are narrow band and have very limited dynamic range. Here we describe a parametric amplifier that overcomes these limitations through the use of a travelling-wave geometry and the nonlinear kinetic inductance of a superconducting transmission line. We measure gain extending over 2 GHz on either side of an 11.56 GHz pump tone and place an upper limit on the added noise of 3.4 photons at 9.4 GHz. The dynamic range is very large, and the concept can be applied from gigahertz frequencies to ~ 1 THz.
Some they can now use this instrument to find signals between the radio and infrared spectra, and then there’s so much more. I especially like this part of the press release:
Because the instrument is so sensitive and introduces minimal noise, it can also be used to explore the quantum world. For example, Keith Schwab, a professor of applied physics at Caltech, is planning to use the amplifier to measure the behavior of tiny mechanical devices that operate at the boundary between classical physics and the strange world of quantum mechanics. The amplifier could also be used in the development quantum computers—which are still beyond our technological reach but should be able to solve some of science’s hardest problems much more quickly than any regular computer.
In advanced science, there’s always something to look forward to!
The Arthur C. Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes “an individual, a group or an entity that exemplifies the values and accomplishments of Sir Arthur’s life. The award honors substantial and enduring contributions that relate the sciences and arts in meeting the challenges of contemporary life and the needs of tomorrow.”
The 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Vinton G. Cerf, widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet.” Cerf is the co-inventor of the architecture and the basic protocols of the Internet.
This year’s Innovator Award honoree is Pradman Kaul, President of Hughes Network Systems, LLC. Kaul is being recognized for his sustained leadership in advancing satellite communications.
Since heading up the engineering team in a Maryland garage start-up that invented satellite networking using VSATs (very small aperture terminals) in the mid-1980s, and then growing it as chief executive of Hughes Network Systems into a billion dollar company, Pradman Kaul has been a leading force in the worldwide satellite industry. He has spearheaded the development of satellite networks for commercial applications globally, and is widely recognized for contributions in both business and technology spheres
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, was selected by the Foundation as its first-ever Imagination honoree. An internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation, Sir Ken works with governments in Europe, Asia, and the United States, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations.
In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government. All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999. He was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise and culture. The resulting blueprint for change, Unlocking Creativity, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, education and cultural leaders across the Province.
The images captured by the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona may not seem like much to us common folk, but to serious astronomers this is hot stuff. And with language such as “previously impossible discoveries” used in their press release, this is no casual piece of news.
And this is the best ever taken of four young stars in the Orion Trapezium cluster?
A view of four young stars in the Orion Trapezium cluster 1,350 light-years away, as seen through the LBT’s Adaptive Optics (AO). This is the best image ever taken of these stars, which are all tightly located within 1 arcsecond of each other. By comparing this 2.16 micron infrared image to past images of this group over the last 15 years, astronomers can now see the motion of each star with respect to the others. The movements show that the mini-cluster of young stars were born together, but will likely fall apart as the stars age and interact with each other.
These may not be the kind of gorgeous images (suitable for framing) we’re usually getting excited about. For the astronomers associated with this observatory — and all those who’ll benefit from this technology in the future — these images are amazing and show break-through scientific advances at their best.
No relation to the Canadian rock band BTO (Bachman Turner Overdrive), although their music could make the LBTO videos more exciting to watch.
