France Proceeding with Next Generation Communications despite budget cuts

French officials continue to debate whether to outsource the nation’s next-generation Syracuse military telecommunications system (above, Syracuse 3A satellite) to the private sector, as has been done in Britain and, to a lesser extent, in Italy and Germany; or to proceed with a conventional procurement. 

Credit: Thales Alenia artist's concept

The French Defense Ministry on Oct. 1 said its planned electronic-intelligence satellite and next-generation military telecommunications satellite systems have survived a rough arbitrage of France’s budget and would be under contract in 2015.

The budget package outlined Oct. 1 does not specify cost amounts. It further suggests that the Defense Ministry may have recourse to a sale-and-leaseback formula to generate near-term cash that will help meet the requirements of its priority programs.

Dossier Information

French officials continue to debate whether to outsource the nation’s next-generation Thales Syracuse military telecommunications system to the private sector, as has been done in Britain and, to a lesser extent, in Italy and Germany; or to proceed with a conventional procurement.

France has also been talking with Italian and British military planners about combining at least part of their future military satellite communications needs, perhaps with a jointly owned satellite that would act as a backup for these nations’ primary satellite telecommunications assets.

Meanwhile, France’s Ceres electronic-intelligence satellite system, planned as three spacecraft flying in formation in low Earth orbit, has been a French priority for several years but has struggled for traction in a harsh budget environment.

Here is a translated extract from the French Finance Bill 2014 "The program CERES 20 is to have an operational capacity to listen, that could allow the interception and location of electromagnetic emissions from space (detection and radar transmitters or telecommunications location). This need was formalized through the launch of the preparation stage of the operation CERES, June 27, 2007. The system cost is estimated at around 460 million euros."

"The financial effort applied to the French Ministry of Defence at work 2011-2013 triennial budget planning has resulted in a shift of the CERES program. Planning now assumes an operational implementation in 2020."

Adding to the problem has been France’s inability to interest other European nations in joining Ceres.

"In autumn 2007, the EMA and the DGA jointly proposed to the countries cooperating MUSIS, as well as Sweden and Switzerland to join the operation CERES. Only Greece and Sweden have responded positively to the preparatory work and contributed financially. At the end of the work, in May 2011, Sweden announced it would terminate its participation for budgetary reasons."

Airbus Defence and Space (EADS) and Thales Alenia Space, Europe’s two biggest satellite manufacturers, which both have a large presence in France, are already under contract for initial Ceres studies.

Both have also expressed interest in managing the future military telecommunications satellite program with France as the anchor customer.

NRAO Very Long Baseline Array takes radio image of Voyager 1

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF

The image above is a radio image of Voyager 1.

It was taken from NRAO's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), which is a collection of 10 radio telescopes scattered from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands.

It captures the faint radio signal of the distant probe. That pale blue dot is the most distant object made by humans.

The radio strength of Voyager 1 is about 23 watts. That signal is directed toward Earth, but Voyager is about 15 billion kilometers from Earth, so by the time the probe's signal reaches us its power is less than an attowatt, or a billionth of a billionth of a watt.

That faint signal is the only information we have from a probe that left our planet 36 years ago.

Of course it isn't enough to simply detect the signal from Voyager 1, we must receive the signal the way you might receive a radio signal, or a mobile phone call.

That requires even greater sensitivity, which is why it requires large radio telescopes to communicate with Voyager.

We have to be able to hear Voyager's faint messages, and we have to send radio responses that are powerful enough and focused enough for Voyager to receive.

Voyager 1 has, arguably, entered interstellar space, but has only begun its journey to the edge of our solar system.

It will eventually leave our Sun's grasp, since it has enough speed to escape the Sun's gravity, but it will become silent long before then.

In another 5 – 10 years it won't have enough power to operate its instruments.

That's part of what makes this current milestone so significant. Voyager 1 has not only reached interstellar space, but it has communicated the fact to us and we have gained knowledge and insight from it.

That pale blue dot, a radio blip in a radio dark sky, is a part of us.

It is an 800 kg, car sized, nuclear-powered computer that we launched into space to explore the solar system.

Our curiosity and quest for knowledge drove us to create it, and our developing intelligence allowed us to build it.

After a 36 year journey towards the harshness of interstellar space, it continues to communicate with its creators.

Looking out from one pale blue dot towards another one.

(Taken from an article by Brian Koberlein)

Russian Foton-M satellite Bio-Satellite Communications restored

The satellite with geckos, fruit flies, silkworm eggs, mushrooms and seeds of higher plants was launched on July 19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 

Experiments on board Russia's Foton-M bio satellite will continue despite the spacecraft's failure to reach the designated orbit, the head of the spacecraft's manufacturer TsSKB-Progress said Monday.

"We are not going to start the spacecraft's thruster, and will work in the low-earth orbit."

"This won't affect the experiments, we are successfully carrying out 18 out of 24 scheduled [experiments]," TsSKB-Progress Director General Alexander Kirilin said.

Communication with the Foton-M satellite was lost on July 19 and restored on July 26. Since Saturday, scientists have been receiving stable telemetric data from the spacecraft.

A source in Roscosmos, Russia's Federal Space Agency, told RIA Novosti a total of 17 communications sessions have been conducted since July 28. The spacecraft operation is under the control of the Mission Control Center.

The agency earlier specified that the design and onboard control systems of the Foton-M enable self-sufficient operation.

The satellite with geckos, fruit flies, silkworm eggs, mushrooms and seeds of higher plants was launched on July 19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The biological mission of the Foton-M satellite includes eight experiments. The experiments involving five geckos are to monitor their reproductive activity in space.

The mission is to study the effect of weightlessness on plants and insects, and to conduct experiments on the growth of semiconductor crystals.

NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Mars Data Relay Satellites

One possible area for improvement is laser or optical communications. NASA successfully demonstrated laser communications technology in October 2013 with its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission.

LADEE made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over 239,000 miles from the moon to Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits-per-second (Mbps).

NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to investigate the possibility of using commercial Mars-orbiting satellites to provide telecommunications capabilities for future robotic missions to the Red Planet.

"We are looking to broaden participation in the exploration of Mars to include new models for government and commercial partnerships," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

"Depending on the outcome, the new model could be a vital component in future science missions and the path for humans to Mars."

The RFI details possible new business models that would involve NASA contracting to purchase services from a commercial service provider, which would own and operate one or more communication relay orbiters.

The solicitation is open to all types of organizations including U.S. industry, universities, nonprofits, NASA centers, and federally funded research and development centers, in addition to U.S. government and international organizations.

NASA is interested in exploring alternative models to sustain and evolve its Mars' communications relay infrastructure to avoid a communications gap in the 2020s.

The RFI encourages innovative ideas for cost-effective approaches that provide relay services for existing landers, as well as significantly improving communications performance.

Lisa May

Mars landers and rovers currently transmit their science data and other information to Earth either by a direct communication link or via orbiting satellites acting as relay stations.

The direct link is severely limited because of mass, volume, and power limits on the rovers.

To address these limits, NASA's Mars Exploration Program currently uses relay radios on its Mars science orbiters.

The spacecraft carry high-gain antennas and higher power transmitters that provide very high-rate, energy-efficient links between orbiters and surface missions as the obiters pass overhead.

Mars Reconnassaince Orbiter (MRO)

MARS Relay Strategy
"The current Mars relay strategy has been extremely successful in providing the science and engineering data returned from the Martian surface over the past decade," said Lisa May, lead program executive for NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

Because NASA has launched science orbiters to Mars on a steady cadence, the current strategy has been cost effective.

MAVEN

However, NASA has no scheduled Mars science orbiters after MAVEN arrives on the Red Planet in the fall.

This creates the need to identify cost-effective options to ensure continuity of reliable, high-performance telecommunications relay services for the future.

"Looking ahead, we need to seriously explore the possibility of the commercialization of Mars communications services," said May.

"This will offer advantages to NASA, while also providing appropriate return-on-investment to the service provider."

Droplets: Mobile Swarm computers project turns to crowdfunding - video

University of Colorado, Boulder researchers seek to build a swarm of Droplet robots and have turned to crowdfunding.

They have been working on a robotic platform to study swarming behavior; their goals are to test swarming algorithms on a large scale, bring Droplets into college classrooms, use Droplets to teach K-12 science, and provide Droplets for artistic use.

John Klingner, PhD candidate, computer science, said "We are ready to scale up" and they would now like to buy parts and pay for 1,000 robots to be assembled.

Droplets are an experimental research and educational platform, for large-scale swarming research, using an MIT License


A Droplet is a small mobile robot. The platform features include moving and communicating omni-directionally.

The platform has three components, the hardware, the embedded software and the software simulation environment.

The required infrastructure includes a powered floor. The hardware component includes the actual robot and the test bed/floor that experiments are run on.



The robots are Ping-Pong ball sized devices. They have RGB color and IR sensing, actuation using vibration motors and communication, using analog/digital IR sensors.

Nikolaus Correll, assistant professor, computer science, said that after working on this robotic platform they have now reached a stage where they want to mass-produce them.

The team has used a promotional video to highlight the potential educational value of their Droplets platform.

Klingner spoke about bringing the technology to a wider arena of students.

He talked about their hopes in giving small groups of students, say, 30 robots, with which they could test out some simple swarm algorithms individually and then, at the end of the course, bring all 300 or so robots together for a more complex task.

Correll said the Droplets would be valuable for use in high schools as well: "We are also looking to collaborate with local high schools in the area and use the swarm" to teach them not only about swarms but maybe also about organic chemistry, math, geometry and the immune system.


His interest in the Droplets project reflects his deeper interest in what such scientific exploration can reveal.

"The entire world is actually a swarm so everything you see is just a swarm of atoms working together and at some point those atoms make a cell and at some point those cells make molecules; they make brains; they make livers; and hearts."

At the end of the day, he said, "all of these things are swarms." As such, Correll said he was "very curious to understand what the principles and mechanisms are that drive these things."

Taking these robots and programming them, he added, might increase an understanding of how to recreate such phenomena.

In addition to educational value, Klingner noted that one of the things they were thinking about is mapping an oil spill.

Anshul Kanakia, PhD candidate, computer science, noted a scenario where one is out in the ocean, not knowing where the spill begins, and wanting a good real-time map of the spill.

Each individual robot could make a guess, all go up and surround it and "talk" to each other.

NASA Deep Impact: Team attempts to restore communications

Artist's concept of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Ground controllers have been unable to communicate with NASA's long-lived Deep Impact spacecraft. Last communication with the spacecraft was on Aug. 8, 2013.

Deep Impact mission controllers will continue to uplink commands in an attempt to reestablish communications with the spacecraft.

Mission controllers postulate that there was an anomaly generated by the spacecraft's software which left the vehicle's computers in a condition where they are continuously rebooting themselves.

If this is the case, the computers would not continue to command the vehicle's thrusters to fire and hold attitude.

Lack of attitude hold makes attempts to reestablish communications more difficult because the orientation of the spacecraft's antennas is unknown.

It also brings into question the vehicle's electrical power status, as the spacecraft derives its power from a solar array that is fixed, with its cells pointing in one direction.

Deep Impact is history's most traveled deep-space comet hunter. It successfully completed its original mission and a subsequent extended mission.

NASA CINDI Mission: Monitoring the Ionosphere

When high frequency radio waves, such as those used for the Global Positioning System (GPS), travel through a disturbed layer of Earth’s electrically charged atmosphere, the ionosphere, they can be disrupted. 

Credit: U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

On April 16, 2008, a suite of NASA instruments was launched into space to study a unique region of Earth’s upper atmosphere: the electrically charged region called the ionosphere.

The instruments, known collectively as CINDI (Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation), fly aboard an Air Force Research Laboratory satellite called C/NOFS (Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System) to study this region that hovers some 60 to 400 miles above Earth.

The ionosphere is crucial for modern communications. Low-frequency radio waves bounce off it to travel from one part of Earth to another.

Various satellites, including the global positioning system (GPS), send high-frequency radio waves through the ionosphere down to receivers on Earth. In this region the right conditions exist to allow incoming energy from the sun to knock electrons off the atoms.

So the area seethes with charged particles moving under forces of both conventional winds and of electric fields that drive the particles perpendicular to the magnetic field lines surrounding Earth.

The ionosphere changes constantly: between night and day, with the seasons, between the equator and the poles, and with every incoming burst of radiation from the sun.

These simulations of the nighttime, low latitude ionosphere – representing altitudes of about 120 to 750 miles above Earth -- show how "chimneys" of lower density form at the base of the ionosphere and then rise up, creating branches at ever smaller scales. 

These perturbations can disturb radio waves moving through the region. 

Each colour shows a different density of material. 

The colour green corresponds to low-density regions. 

Red represents the densest region of the ionosphere, over 100 times more dense. 

Credit: John Retterer

Small changes in the ionosphere, at night, for example, can simply garble the radio waves – a phenomenon known as scintillation. But at worst, an event such as a giant solar flare can black out radio transmissions completely.

Rob Pfaff

“All the space assets we have come to rely on, in one way or another propagate radio waves through this region of Earth’s atmosphere so we need to understand it better,” says Rob Pfaff, project scientist for CINDI at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

“Our goals with CINDI are to determine why the region becomes irregular, and, ultimately, to be able to forecast when and where it will be irregular.”

Studying the ionosphere is like trying to understand a very complicated lava lamp, in which blobs of different materials move up and down in response to changes in temperature.

In the case of the ionosphere, scientists want to understand the kinds of heat and energy affecting particle movement and how these motions interact and rely on each other.

Every piece of data, such as where certain particles appear and what causes areas of lower and higher density, represents a significant advance toward predicting change in the region.

Over the last five years, CINDI has gleaned information about the distribution in height of different kinds of particles, about how winds sweep through the atmosphere in response to events on the sun, and what causes density changes in both the charged and neutral particles in the ionosphere.

One of the early observations by CINDI was of the top of the ionosphere layer, which is dominated by hydrogen ions near dawn.

The middle layer of the area is dominated by oxygen ions. In 2008, CINDI found that the transition region, where there is an equal number of both particles, was located about 370 miles up, much closer to Earth than expected.

Since CINDI launched at a time of low solar activity -- a period of the sun’s approximate 11-year cycle known as solar minimum – the mission has had the chance to observe how the ionosphere changes as the sun’s activity ramps up to solar maximum, currently expected in late 2013.

Over five years of watching, this oxygen/hydrogen transition region has now moved up in space to over 430 miles in altitude, providing an indicator of how Earth’s atmosphere swells and expands in response to increased energy coming in from the sun.

ESA Meteron: Using space internet to control ISS robots

As part of the Meteron project – Multi-purpose End-To-End Robotic Operations Network – astronauts will control the Mocup test robot from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.

Mocup is an acronym of Meteron Operations and Communications Prototype.

Credits: ESA

ESA and NASA have tested a communications protocol that will allow astronauts to control robots from space stations orbiting planets or asteroids.

The test marks the way for a trial-run with an astronaut on the International Space Station next week.

Last week a Space Station user centre at the University of Boulder, USA sent a command to a NASA laptop on the International Space Station to start a script that controlled the Mocup robot at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany. 

The robot was commanded to move forward and take pictures, which it performed as planned.

Mocup is one of the robots in ESA’s Meteron – Multi-purpose End-To-End Robotic Operations Network – initiative for future missions to the Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies.

Space exploration will most likely involve sending robotic explorers to test the waters on uncharted planets before sending humans to land.
 
In the case of distant planets, these robots could be controlled by astronauts in spacecraft orbiting the planet.

“In these tests we are pretending that Earth is the Moon or Mars,” says Kim Nergaard, Meteron Ground Segment and Operations Manager. (@Kimsy)

ISS Loses Communication with Houston Mission Control

On Sunday, July 1, the International Space Station temporarily lost command and voice link with Houston, the primary ISS mission control center.

The issue was resolved within a few hours during which time Houston was unable to communicate with ISS.

The problem occurred when the Flight Control Room in Houston suffered a primary and backup failure of its Front-End Processor.

It is hypothesized that the failure was related to Sunday’s leap second and the programming updates pertaining thereto.

Following the contingency protocol, Mission Control personnel moved to the Training or “Red” Flight Control Room for the duration of the failure after immediate troubleshooting efforts proved unsuccessful. They were able to return early Monday.

Although the three crewmembers aboard the station were in a scheduled sleep cycle, Commander Padalka did attempt to call Houston during the issue.

When unable to get through, he followed procedure and called Moscow Mission Control. Had he been unable to reach Moscow, the next contigency called for a switch to the ISS IP phone, orchestrated via netmeeting between Houston and NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba.

The IP phone is commonly used on the station for more private family communications.

Due to the issue, an altitude adjustment was delayed by three orbits. The adjustment was planned in advance, taking the station back to its nominal orbit after the Soyuz TMA-03M undocking and the delay had no negative impact.

The communications system is one station component that is scheduled for an update in the near future, although the planned increase in bandwidth likely would have no effect on Sunday’s issue.

The ISS crew is currently awaiting the other half of its complement. The remainder of Expedition 32 – JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide, NASA’s Sunita Williams, and Roscosmos’ Yuri Malenchenko – are currently in Baikonur preparing for a July 14 launch.

NASA ISS Update - March 19, 2012 - YouTube

SETI Live: Online Project Lets ‘Citizen Scientists’ Help Search for Aliens

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, has launched a new website, which invites anyone to log on and help analyze signals from space that could provide evidence of intelligent alien life in the universe.

SETI Live provides data gathered by the Institute's Allen Telescope Array, which scans sections of space for radio frequency signals.



Web users can log on to the site and help analyze the data, sifting through signals for evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization.

"There are parts of the spectrum where our sophisticated signal processing system is overwhelmed because there are so many signals," said astronomer Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research, in an interview. "I'm hoping to put together this army of citizen scientists to help figure out which signals to follow up on."

Essentially, human eyes are needed to pick up on subtle patterns that might be overlooked by SETI computer algorithms.

"The people that will do the best at this are going to be people whose pattern skills are such that they can ignore the bright pattern that's so easy to detect and look to see that there's something else there, something fainter, and see if they can in fact discover this needle that's buried under the hay," Jill Tarter stated.

SETI Live came out of the TED Prize program, which awards $100,000 every year to an "exceptional individual" with "One Wish to Change the World."

Jill Tarter won the prize in 2009, revealing her wish to "to empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company." Her wish developed into SETI Live.

SETI Institute scientists have been searching for signs of intelligent alien life since the 1960s, but have yet to find anything. With the discovery of 700 extra-solar planets, the search for extraterrestrial life has become much more targeted in these regions of space.

Cell Phone Jammers: A Convenience or a crime?

A cell phone jammer is a small device that looks like a walkie-talkie. It is used to prevent cell phones from receiving signals from base stations.

Cell phone jammers block cell phone operations by sending radio waves along the same frequencies that cellular phones use. The radio waves cause interference between the cell phone and its ability to communicate with cell phone towers.

Cell phone jammers come in a variety of sizes, can affect large or small radiuses, and can target a variety of cell phone bands (frequencies used to communicate with towers).

Jammers either disrupt phone-to-tower frequencies or tower-to-phone frequencies. The latter is typically more effective.

Cell phone jammers are illegal according to FCC regulations. The reason is because cell phone jammers could prohibit emergency vehicles from communicating with each other.

It can also disrupt police communication and jammers may prohibit someone from reaching emergency services if they're used incorrectly.

Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for ideas

In this visualisation, we see the tipping point where minority opinion (shown in red) quickly becomes majority opinion. Over time, the minority opinion grows.

Once the minority opinion reached 10 percent of the population, the network quickly changes as the minority opinion takes over the original majority opinion (shown in green).

Credit: SCNARC/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Woodpecker Fills Antenna With Acorns [VIDEO]

Stuck Solar Array Threatens Telesats South America Push

The Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 telecommunications satellite launched May 21 has failed to deploy one of its two solar arrays, a defect that, if permanent, will curtail owner Telesat Canada’s growth plans in South America, Telesat and satellite builder Space Systems/Loral announced May 25.

The satellite’s south array has fully deployed and is providing power, but the north array has not. Ottawa-based Telesat said that if the situation is not corrected, Telstar 14R will be able to provide “at a minimum” the same level of service of the satellite it is replacing, the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sol spacecraft launched in 2004.

Telesat has been counting on Telstar 14R to do much more than replace its predecessor at 63 degrees west. Arriving on station at a time of substantial unmet demand for satellite bandwidth in Latin America, particularly Brazil, the satellite was seen as a source of growth for Telesat. The company is weighing several options for selling its equity, either through an outright purchase by private-equity investors, or through an initial public offering of stock.

In a May 5 conference call with investors, Telesat Chief Executive Daniel S. Goldberg said Telstar 14 is just about filled given the strong demand in Latin America, and that Telstar 14R’s arrival would enable Telesat to pick up new business.

Telstar 14R has the equivalent of 58 Ku-band transponders, compared to 41 on Telstar 14.

The satellite, a Loral 1300 model, weighed about 5,000 kilograms at launch and was expected to operate for at least 15 years in orbit. It was launched aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a launch that ILS and Telesat said went smoothly.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Space Systems/Loral said in a May 25 statement that it is “analyzing data from the satellite to determine what steps can be taken to maximize the satellite’s lifespan and capability.”

Stratospheric UAV Payloads Provide New Ways to Chase Terrorism

This illustration shows the Persistent UAVs networking, and collaborating with a satellite while providing video surveillance services.

The classic special operations success in hunting and killing Osama bin Laden was certainly supported by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). That was undoubtedly a difficult operation given the limited endurance by conventional UAVs compared to the months of observation necessary. It's quite likely that ground-based surveillance capabilities were both more relevant and far riskier to American intelligence operatives in Pakistan.

In the near future, payloads flying on Stratospheric UAVs will be far more relevant to such operations than will today's Conventional UAVs, even with similar payload capabilities.

This is one of the conclusions of a new "Stratospheric UAV Payloads - Markets and Technologies Forecast 2012-2021", available on ASDReports.com.

The new report examines, analyses and predicts the evolution of technologies, markets and outlays for the payloads that will serve aboard extremely enduring or persistent UAVs flying above the Jet Stream. While flying in the atmosphere, they will behave much like stationary satellites.

Today, persistence means maintaining a Predator orbit by replacing the on-station aircraft once or twice a day. That's a huge effort requiring at least three functioning aircraft and all their support.

They also risk giving away the operator's intent, a strong motivation to risk people hiding nearby rather than flying unmanned aircraft constantly. Conventional UAVs are hard to detect when flying very high, but certainly not impossible. Their presence over weeks to months will certainly be noticed.

Field of Regard or camera coverage area is another problem. Flying 20 - 30,000' above the ground, a camera can only be used over a relatively small footprint. Double that altitude and the footprint increases by a factor of four. In the illustration, you can see Persistent UAVs networking, and collaborating with a satellite while providing video surveillance services.

So, the next hunt for an elusive, very high value targets may benefit from Stratospheric UAV Payloads flying on the new Stratospheric UAVs being prototyped now. Those payloads will revolutionise the hunt by flying at twice Conventional UAV altitudes to see areas at least four times as large, all while being much harder to detect and remaining on-station for months or longer.

TED Talks For Space Junkies

One need not hold an advanced degree in astrophysics to enjoy and appreciate the Universe's infinite beauty and often bizarre mysteries. All it takes is a healthy curiosity and a splash of imagination while gazing towards the heavens.

While the staggering majority of people in today's age will likely never explore anything past the planet's boundaries, they can tune in to expert presentations and browse literally thousands of free deep space telescope images. Unsurprisingly, the TED Talks series often hosts lectures challenging viewers to consider the Universe and what humanity is doing to make better sense of it.

Carter Emmart demos a 3D atlas of the universe: Over a decade's worth of painstaking work by artists, scientists and programmers went into organizing the hauntingly gorgeous Digital Universe. Fans of astronomy and space travel will certainly enjoy Carter Emmart's brief walk-through of the wondrous program brings the furthest stretches of the entire universe to glorious, 3D light.

Users are even able to track the trajectories of various missions as well! Back here on Earth, Digital Universe brings together educational institutions from around the world, including Cambodia and Ghana, in the interest of promoting broader scientific (and aesthetic!) understanding.

Peter Diamandis on Stephen Hawking in zero g: Space junkies longing to someday experience the thrill of a no gravity environment should switch on Peter Diamandis' short talk and live vicariously through both him and Stephen Hawking.

The X-Prize founder absolutely adores space travel and innovation, and he wielded his resources to make one of the world's foremost astrophysicists achieve his dream. Dr. Hawking, unsurprisingly, harbors a desire to explore outer space, but a jaunt to the atmosphere's zero g levels definitely sufficed. The entire process took six months, and the distinguished participants were joined by the 20 donors who raised $150,000 for various children's hospitals.

Tom Shannon's anti-gravity sculpture: When art and science converge, some of the most intriguing works emerge. Tom Shannon's TED talk may stay grounded, but his concepts stem directly from decidedly astronomical phenomena. Using metals and magnets, the artist constructs breathtaking sculptures inspired by planets and stars, many of which using to-scale proportions and distances between actual celestial bodies.

The magnets allow Shannon to produce surreal, anti-gravity scenes, one of which he demonstrates and discusses in detail. Beyond that, however, he also presents videos showcasing other relevant pieces of interest to art and space aficionados alike.

Andrea Ghez: The hunt for a supermassive black hole: More than just inspiration for a thoroughly awesome Muse song's title, supermassive black holes pique the curiosity of both space professionals and hobbyists.

Andrea Ghez explains the complex physics involved in the establishment of these bizarre entities, positing that one may exist in every (or almost every) galaxy - which, in turn, heavily influences their gravity.

She uses findings from the Keck Observatory to support her claims and looks towards the Milky Way's structure for answers. As of 2009, Ghez's work revolves around finding the Schwartzchild radius of supermassive black holes in order to determine how they work and subsequently impact the heavenly bodies around them.

Steve Jurvetson on model rocketry: The vast majority of people will never have a chance to explore outer space or launch their own missions, but model rocketry stands as a nice, comparatively cheap replacement. Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson loves this hobby, and uses his TED platform to proselytize about its myriad joys.

While amateurs may not ever send any of their kits or original creations into orbit, many of the physics principles driving NASA shuttles also factor into backyard launches. It may not be the exact same, but model rocketry still provides a degree of vicarious enjoyment. Considering the video only lasts 3 minutes and 19 seconds, it provides space junkies with a quick way to learn on the go.

Steve Truglia: A leap from the edge of space: As a stunt man, Steve Truglia gleefully tests the boundaries of both technology and the human body without losing sight of safety and spectacle. With over 13 years of experience to his name, this brave individual now hopes to design one of the most ambitious stunts ever performed.

High jumps are a staple of his career, but this one will take him to the very boundaries of Earth's atmosphere - where outer space technically begins. Funding, as one can imagine, has proved something of an issue, but Truglia remains optimistic about the venture.

Project Space Jump requires vigorous training and cooperation from various academic and scientific organizations, and the ambitious stunt man has even made several trial runs in wind tunnels to prepare.

Mae Jemison on teaching arts and sciences together: Mae Jemison is a true Renaissance woman. Not only was she the first African-American woman to visit space, but she's also an accomplished dancer, educator and consummate art connoisseur and collector.

This illuminating, essential lecture pulls from Jemison's extensive experience to make a case for teaching the sciences and arts together.

Rather than entirely separate entities - only one of which ever receives any funding or attention - she believes that schools should put forth more effort to point out their intersections. In fact, the arts played a major role in her practice of science!

She posits creativity as one of the core components of technological innovation. Without it, humanity will no longer be able to progress past a certain point.

David Hoffman shares his Sputnik mania: Sputnik Mania, a documentary by filmmaker David Hoffman, chronicles the social, economic and political fervor swarming about the landmark Russian satellite. In this brief presentation - only 3 minutes and 47 seconds - he shares some favorite clips and discoveries from his research and subsequent film.

The 1957 launch of Sputnik 1 inspired both the Soviets and Americans to heavily fund science and math education programs. And, of course, it sparked the Arms Race. From a broader perspective, Hoffman sees it as a commentary on the role mass media plays in forming ideas and cultures. For good and for ill.

George Smoot on the design of the universe: This Serious Play/TED lecture cobbles together some of the most glorious images ever captured of deep space. Though not comprehensive, it provides viewers with an incredible glimpse into how everything in the universe fits together.

George Smoot delves into nature's bizarre and beautiful patterns, and the various ways in which it subverts itself. Using simulations and photos, he points out some of the most distant, mysterious pockets of the universe and questions what sort of celestial bodies lurk within them.

Carolyn Porco flies us to Saturn: Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco shines some light on Saturn's incredible system, whose rings and moons captivate the attentions (and affections) of astronomical types. As part of the Cassini mission, she learned plenty of amazing facts about one of Earth's most colorful neighbors. Out of its 47 (if not more) moons, two in particular stoke Porco's fascination, Titan and Enceladus.

The former, Saturn's largest satellite, boasts a truly bizarre atmosphere rife with obscenely freezing temperatures, rain and "haze particles," which result in a sludgy substance on the moon itself. Enceladus sports a number of massive fractures due to its rampant geologic activity, and poles much hotter than the rest of the sphere.

The cracks startled scientists when they began launching ice plumes hundreds of miles upwards! Porco thinks a large body of water may be responsible, and if it proves true, then the moon may prove viable for human settlement someday.

ESA Data Relay Satellite System gets funding approval

After more than two years of negotiations, European Space Agency (ESA) governments have secured the full funding package to build a data-relay satellite system whose initial customer will be the European Commission’s Earth observation program, ESA’s director of telecommunications said Jan. 28.

In an interview, Magali Vaissiere said the agency’s Industrial Policy Committee, which clears funds for release, has approved 280 million euros ($380 million) for the European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS) system.

EDRS will include two laser-optical terminals, one installed as a hosted payload aboard a still-unselected commercial telecommunications satellite to be launched in 2013 or 2014, and one aboard a dedicated data-relay satellite to be ready for launch in 2014 or 2015.

Vaissiere said Germany, which has led the program since it was first proposed in November 2008, retains a 50 percent share of EDRS. Last-minute support from the Netherlands and Norway helped push EDRS over the financial hurdle that had prevented its go-ahead in the past two years.

Vaissiere said Astrium Services, which won the competition to operate the EDRS service as a profit-making business, is expected to invest about 100 million euros to round out the capital expenditure needed to build and launch the two payloads.

In return, Astrium Services will contract with the European Commission to provide EDRS service to relay data from the Sentinel series of Earth observation satellites being built as part of Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, or GMES, program.

The European Commission will be Astrium Services’ anchor tenant, but the company will be free to seek other customers as well. Vaissiere said “several million euros” in additional funds are expected to be found by hosting one or more payloads aboard the dedicated EDRS satellite, to be built by OHB Technology of Bremen, Germany.

It remains unclear when the European Commission, which has had trouble financing its existing GMES commitments, will be able to contract with Astrium Services. Vaissiere said that while the contract to build EDRS will be signed by March, the services contract is likely to take months longer to prepare given the budget cycle of the European Commission.

Scottish Engineers prove space communications theory

When American space pioneer, Dr Robert L Forward, proposed in 1984 a way of greatly improving satellite telecommunications using a new family of orbits, some claimed it was impossible.

But now engineers at the University of Strathclyde's Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory have proved that Forward was right.

The late Dr Forward - a renowned physicist who worked in the United States and from his second home in Scotland - believed it was possible to use 'displaced orbits' to deploy more satellites to the north or south of the Earth's equator, helping to meet the growing demand for communications.

He proposed that the orbit of a geostationary satellite could be pushed above - or below - the usual geostationary ring around the Earth, which follows the line of the equator, by using a large solar sail propelled by the pressure of sunlight. However, critics later claimed that such 'displaced orbits' were impossible due to the unusual dynamics of the problem.

Now graduate student Shahid Baig and Professor Colin McInnes, Director of the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, have shown that Forward was in fact correct, in a new paper published in the Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics.

Professor McInnes said:"Satellites generally follow Keplerian Orbits, named after Johannes Kepler - the scientist who helped us understand orbital motion 400 years ago. Once it's launched, an unpowered satellite will 'glide' along a natural Keplerian orbit.

"However, we have devised families of closed, non-Keplerian orbits, which do not obey the usual laws of orbital motion. Families of these orbits circle the Earth every 24 hours, but are displaced north or south of the Earth's equator. The pressure from sunlight reflecting off a solar sail can push the satellite above or below geostationary orbit, while also displacing the centre of the orbit behind the Earth slightly, away from the Sun."

Although the displacement distance above or below the equator is small - of the order of 10 to 50 km - work on hybrid solar sails, which use both light pressure and thrust from a conventional electric propulsion system, is underway and aims to improve the displacement distance.

Professor McInnes added: "Other work is investigating 'polar stationary orbits', termed 'pole-sitters' by Forward, which use continuous low thrust to allow a spacecraft to remain on the Earth's polar axis, high above the Arctic or Antarctic. These orbits could be used to provide new vantage points to view the Earth's polar regions for climate monitoring."

Using bowling balls as tracker Balls - CERN Bulletin

The bowling balls - CERN Bulletin

This will be of interest to youngsters as a history lesson and it will be the recollection of a distant memory for us old grey hairs. It's a great example as to how some of the technology developed, back in the 60's, in the days when a mouse was simply a) an irritating rodent that ate your lunch, b) something for biologists and chemists to experiment on, or c) a boon companion for lonely geeks who spent too many long winter nights in the science lab.

40 years ago, the web, Wikipedia and Google did not exist. Communications were minimal and this meant that the sharing of information was very slow, unreliable and based on published papers. It was much more difficult to know what everyone was working on and whether other people in other parts of the world, or even in the same laboratory, were facing the same problems or developing the same tools or solutions as you.

At that time, Bent Stumpe was an electronics engineer, newly recruited to work on developments for the SPS Central Control room. One of the things his supervisor asked him to build as soon as possible was a device to control a pointer on a screen, also called a tracker ball.

The heart of the device was the 'ball' that the user would move his hand over, while the cursor followed the corresponding movements on the screen. “We needed very round, well balanced and smoothly moving balls and after much thought and discussion, we thought that bowling balls best met these requirements”, recollects Bent Stumpe.

Read the full article by following the link here