DARPA Program Aims to Improve Cockpit Automation

In the latest step in a decades-long process through which automation has taken on increasing responsibilities in the cockpit —allowing pilots to focus on flight tasks demanding their unique capabilities— DARPA has awarded three contracts for its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program.

ALIAS envisions a tailorable, drop‐in, removable kit that would enable high levels of automation in existing aircraft and facilitate reduced need for onboard crew.

DARPA has awarded prime contracts for Phase 1 of ALIAS to the following companies: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (top), Lockheed Martin Corporation (middle) and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (bottom). The photos show the aircraft that each performer plans to use to test its respective technologies in Phase 1. (Photos: DARPA/Released)

The program intends to leverage the considerable advances that have been made in aircraft automation systems over the past 50 years, as well as the advances that have been made in remotely piloted aircraft technologies, to help shift and refocus pilot workloads, augment mission performance and improve aircraft safety.

DARPA has awarded prime contracts for ALIAS to the following companies:

• Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation


• Lockheed Martin Corporation


• Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

These performers are working with DARPA’s technical team, which includes experts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.

In Phase 1 of ALIAS, DARPA intends to focus on three critical technology areas:

1. Development of minimally invasive interfaces between new automation systems and existing aircraft


2. Knowledge acquisition on aircraft operations, to support rapid adaptation of the ALIAS toolkit across different aircraft


3. Human-machine interfaces that would enable high-level human supervision instead of requiring pilots’ constant vigilance over lower-level flight maintenance tasks

“Because we want to develop a drop-in system for existing aircraft, we chose performers who could conduct actual ground and flight demonstrations at the start of the program instead of at the end,” said Dan Patt, DARPA program manager. “We’re excited to have a lot of Phase 1 hardware ready to test, which we hope will steepen our learning curve and mature the capability faster. We will also be working closely with members of the crew-operations community, and will be integrating their feedback to help ensure that the move towards greater automation takes best advantage of machine and human skill sets.”

Story and information provided by DARPA

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In the latest step in a decades-long process through which automation has taken on increasing responsibilities in the cockpit —allowing pilots to focus on flight tasks demanding their unique capabilities— DARPA has awarded three contracts for its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program.

ALIAS envisions a tailorable, drop‐in, removable kit that would enable high levels of automation in existing aircraft and facilitate reduced need for onboard crew.

DARPA has awarded prime contracts for Phase 1 of ALIAS to the following companies: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (top), Lockheed Martin Corporation (middle) and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (bottom). The photos show the aircraft that each performer plans to use to test its respective technologies in Phase 1. (Photos: DARPA/Released)

The program intends to leverage the considerable advances that have been made in aircraft automation systems over the past 50 years, as well as the advances that have been made in remotely piloted aircraft technologies, to help shift and refocus pilot workloads, augment mission performance and improve aircraft safety.

DARPA has awarded prime contracts for ALIAS to the following companies:

• Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation


• Lockheed Martin Corporation


• Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

These performers are working with DARPA’s technical team, which includes experts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.

In Phase 1 of ALIAS, DARPA intends to focus on three critical technology areas:

1. Development of minimally invasive interfaces between new automation systems and existing aircraft


2. Knowledge acquisition on aircraft operations, to support rapid adaptation of the ALIAS toolkit across different aircraft


3. Human-machine interfaces that would enable high-level human supervision instead of requiring pilots’ constant vigilance over lower-level flight maintenance tasks

“Because we want to develop a drop-in system for existing aircraft, we chose performers who could conduct actual ground and flight demonstrations at the start of the program instead of at the end,” said Dan Patt, DARPA program manager. “We’re excited to have a lot of Phase 1 hardware ready to test, which we hope will steepen our learning curve and mature the capability faster. We will also be working closely with members of the crew-operations community, and will be integrating their feedback to help ensure that the move towards greater automation takes best advantage of machine and human skill sets.”

Story and information provided by DARPA

Follow Armed with Science on Facebook and Twitter!

———-

Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DOD website.

from Armed with Science http://ift.tt/1CCqxaV

See it! This weekend’s moon and Jupiter

Colin Chatfield in Saskatoon, SK, Canada caught the moon and Jupiter on the morning of March 29 (above truck, on left). On the right is a greenish glow … an aurora!

Linda Carlson in Oviedo, Florida caught the bright twosome Sunday night, March 29.

Moon and Jupiter as seen on March 29 by our friend Matthew Chin in Hong Kong.

Moon and Jupiter Sunday night, March 29, from Randy Baranczyk in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Suzanne Murphy caught the moon and Jupiter Sunday night from southern Wisconsin.

Another lucky shot of the March 29 moon and Jupiter inside a lunar halo, from Amy Van Aartsdalen.

Moon and Jupiter inside a lunar halo – Sunday night, March 29 – from Marshall Lipp in Mandan, North Dakota. What causes a lunar halo.

Moon and Jupiter, and surrounding stars, from our friend Tom Wildoner in Weatherly, Pennsylvania.

Bottom line: March 29 2015 moon and planet Jupiter. They were the brightest things in the evening sky, after Venus set. Watch for them on Monday night, March 30, too, when the moon will be between Jupiter and the star Regulus.

Only two weeks left in our annual fund-raising campaign! Have you donated yet? Help EarthSky keep going.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1aajBav

Colin Chatfield in Saskatoon, SK, Canada caught the moon and Jupiter on the morning of March 29 (above truck, on left). On the right is a greenish glow … an aurora!

Linda Carlson in Oviedo, Florida caught the bright twosome Sunday night, March 29.

Moon and Jupiter as seen on March 29 by our friend Matthew Chin in Hong Kong.

Moon and Jupiter Sunday night, March 29, from Randy Baranczyk in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Suzanne Murphy caught the moon and Jupiter Sunday night from southern Wisconsin.

Another lucky shot of the March 29 moon and Jupiter inside a lunar halo, from Amy Van Aartsdalen.

Moon and Jupiter inside a lunar halo – Sunday night, March 29 – from Marshall Lipp in Mandan, North Dakota. What causes a lunar halo.

Moon and Jupiter, and surrounding stars, from our friend Tom Wildoner in Weatherly, Pennsylvania.

Bottom line: March 29 2015 moon and planet Jupiter. They were the brightest things in the evening sky, after Venus set. Watch for them on Monday night, March 30, too, when the moon will be between Jupiter and the star Regulus.

Only two weeks left in our annual fund-raising campaign! Have you donated yet? Help EarthSky keep going.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1aajBav

When a parent won’t abide by the understanding behind a non-medical exemption [Respectful Insolence]

As I write this, I’m kind of beat.

The reason for this is simple. Traveling sucks the energy out of me, and I just got back from almost four days in Houston for the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) meeting. Yes, I was a mere dozen (at most) miles from that Heart of Darkness known as the Burzynski Clinic for a few days, and I didn’t even succumb to the temptation to catch a cab out there and take a selfie with the Burzynski Clinic in the background. Part of the reason was that it would just be more expense than it’s worth. The other part of the reason is that it would be a bit hard to explain to a cabbie why I wanted to do that. Either way, I didn’t see it as being the least bit practical to rent a car when I didn’t even know the city and was planning on attending most of the conference anyway.

Be that as it may, when I’m this beat I don’t feel like taking on anything too hard today. Yeah, I’m slumming. Such is life sometimes. This will also be shorter than the usual Orac post. (That’s probably a good thing.) I’ll try to do something more sophisticated tomorrow. Fortunately for me (maybe), I’m still a little annoyed at a story that appeared in the local media here the other day, while I was still in Houston. Basically, it’s the story of a mother in one of the wealthier suburbs of the Detroit area who, well, take a guess from the title of the story: Chickenpox: Mom furious after school sends son home:

A Birmingham mother is furious after her sixth-grade son was sent home from class today because he’s not fully vaccinated against chickenpox.

One of Michael Donovan’s classmates is among three students in Birmingham Public Schools who is infected.

“I wasn’t vaccinated, and I don’t think it’s fair that I can’t go to school,” Michael, 11, said after his mother, Sarah, was called to the school to pick him up.

Leaving the school, she said she was “beyond not happy,” referring to a district spokeswoman’s comment earlier this week that some parents were not happy with the decision to exclude unvaccinated children from schools with confirmed chickenpox cases. Neither school officials nor health officials would say whether those students had been vaccinated, citing privacy concerns.

As the story notes, chickenpox is caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV). It’s also highly contagious, spread through the air or touching objects objects with the virus on it. Chickenpox is usually not deadly, but it can cause serious complications. Generally, it forms a blister-like rash, itching, fever, and fatigue. As the CDC notes, before the vaccine, around four million people a year got chickenpox, with 10,600 a year hospitalized and 100 to 150 people dying as a result of the disease. Complications include dehydration, pneumonia, encephalitis, bacterial infections of the skin and soft tissues (particularly group A streptococcus), sepsis, and even toxic shock syndrome. Then there’s the issue of shingles, where the virus persists in the nerve roots, to reemerge in adulthood, usually in middle or old age, to cause a painful syndrome involving blistering and open sores along the major nerve involved.

Fortunately, the vaccine is 98% effective if two doses are given. If the child has only had one dose, it’s more like more like 85% effective.

In any case, Sarah Donovan made the decision not to vaccinate her child, and now she doesn’t want to accept the consequences. Part of the deal if you don’t vaccinate is that your child can be kept out of school if cases of the disease show up in school. It’s to protect your child from your own irresponsible decision by keeping him away from a potential source of infection. She should have expected this. It’s not as though the State of Michigan makes a secret of it. Indeed, its “Dear Parent/Guardian” letter to parents seeking a non-medical waiver for the school vaccine requirement states quite plainly:

Based on the public health code, a child without either an up-to-date immunization record, a certified nonmedical waiver form or a physician signed medical waiver form can be excluded from school/childcare.

The nonmedical vaccine waiver form, which Ms. Donovan must have signed, states explicitly:

A child who has been exempted from a vaccination is considered susceptible to the disease or diseases for which the vaccination offers protection. The child may be subject to exclusion from the school or program, if the local and/or state public health authority advises exclusion as a disease control measure.

Which is exactly what happened:

On Wednesday, Oakland County health officials and Birmingham Public Schools alerted parents about three confirmed cases of chickenpox in three schools in the district.

That day, they recommended parents of unvaccinated children keep those children at home until they were sure they had not been infected.

On Thursday, health officials grew more concerned after realizing that some unvaccinated students had “significant” contact with some of the infected students.

The school then told parents that unvaccinated children were not to return to school until April 14 — just after spring break and long enough that any new cases would have been detected.

It turns out that Donovan partially vaccinated her two older children, but apparently became antivaccine when Michael’s older sister started exhibiting signs of autism. Yes, sadly, Donovan is another example of how the myth that vaccines cause autism has turned a parent antivaccine. Sure, Donovan also uses the “health freedom” argument and complains that people will know that she didn’t vaccinate her son against chickenpox because he is being excluded from school, but that’s the risk you take when you don’t vaccinate.

Overall, what I detect in Donovan is an overwhelming sense of entitlement. She doesn’t want to vaccinate her children and signs a form that says she understands that the school can keep them home if local health officials deem it advisable to exclude unvaccinated children to protect them and for infection control. Then, when there are actually cases of a vaccine-preventable disease at the school that her son attends, and suddenly she’s outraged that the health authorities have the temerity to send her son home. As one commenter noted:

The mom was happy with her choice until it had consequences. I also find it comical that she’s complaining about the school violating her son’s privacy, yet she had no problem having his name, school, and vaccination status in the newspaper.

I was actually surprised at the tenor of the comments. Usually, articles like that are flooded with flying monkeys dropping antivaccine poo on the comment thread. In this case, there were quite a few people with pro-science viewpoints taking Mrs. Donovan to task for her sense of entitlement and her unfortunate decision not to vaccinate her children.

Examples:

• “How ‘beyond not happy’ would little Mikey feel if he contracted chickenpox from a classmate? Give me a break lady.”


• “No, the mom is being ridiculous. She is mad at the school system for keeping her child healthy. The school system takes no position on her vaccine beliefs. But at the same time the school refuses to actively and needlessly expose at-risk children to a serious illness.”


• “…we also know a lot more about disease and process then when “mom and dad were growing up”. Autism, allergies and cancer existed then too. Now we know more about it so it is diagnosed far more. Except back then little Sally or Joey wasn’t called Austistic they were labelled as special or different.”


• “Vaccinations have a pretty long, positive history of improving the health of the nation and the world. ‘Blind Faith’ in the medical community has nothing to do with it. Self centered publicity hound parents with an over-estimation of their importance and intelligence seem to be more at play here.”

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe there is some hope after all.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1OPpWHX

As I write this, I’m kind of beat.

The reason for this is simple. Traveling sucks the energy out of me, and I just got back from almost four days in Houston for the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) meeting. Yes, I was a mere dozen (at most) miles from that Heart of Darkness known as the Burzynski Clinic for a few days, and I didn’t even succumb to the temptation to catch a cab out there and take a selfie with the Burzynski Clinic in the background. Part of the reason was that it would just be more expense than it’s worth. The other part of the reason is that it would be a bit hard to explain to a cabbie why I wanted to do that. Either way, I didn’t see it as being the least bit practical to rent a car when I didn’t even know the city and was planning on attending most of the conference anyway.

Be that as it may, when I’m this beat I don’t feel like taking on anything too hard today. Yeah, I’m slumming. Such is life sometimes. This will also be shorter than the usual Orac post. (That’s probably a good thing.) I’ll try to do something more sophisticated tomorrow. Fortunately for me (maybe), I’m still a little annoyed at a story that appeared in the local media here the other day, while I was still in Houston. Basically, it’s the story of a mother in one of the wealthier suburbs of the Detroit area who, well, take a guess from the title of the story: Chickenpox: Mom furious after school sends son home:

A Birmingham mother is furious after her sixth-grade son was sent home from class today because he’s not fully vaccinated against chickenpox.

One of Michael Donovan’s classmates is among three students in Birmingham Public Schools who is infected.

“I wasn’t vaccinated, and I don’t think it’s fair that I can’t go to school,” Michael, 11, said after his mother, Sarah, was called to the school to pick him up.

Leaving the school, she said she was “beyond not happy,” referring to a district spokeswoman’s comment earlier this week that some parents were not happy with the decision to exclude unvaccinated children from schools with confirmed chickenpox cases. Neither school officials nor health officials would say whether those students had been vaccinated, citing privacy concerns.

As the story notes, chickenpox is caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV). It’s also highly contagious, spread through the air or touching objects objects with the virus on it. Chickenpox is usually not deadly, but it can cause serious complications. Generally, it forms a blister-like rash, itching, fever, and fatigue. As the CDC notes, before the vaccine, around four million people a year got chickenpox, with 10,600 a year hospitalized and 100 to 150 people dying as a result of the disease. Complications include dehydration, pneumonia, encephalitis, bacterial infections of the skin and soft tissues (particularly group A streptococcus), sepsis, and even toxic shock syndrome. Then there’s the issue of shingles, where the virus persists in the nerve roots, to reemerge in adulthood, usually in middle or old age, to cause a painful syndrome involving blistering and open sores along the major nerve involved.

Fortunately, the vaccine is 98% effective if two doses are given. If the child has only had one dose, it’s more like more like 85% effective.

In any case, Sarah Donovan made the decision not to vaccinate her child, and now she doesn’t want to accept the consequences. Part of the deal if you don’t vaccinate is that your child can be kept out of school if cases of the disease show up in school. It’s to protect your child from your own irresponsible decision by keeping him away from a potential source of infection. She should have expected this. It’s not as though the State of Michigan makes a secret of it. Indeed, its “Dear Parent/Guardian” letter to parents seeking a non-medical waiver for the school vaccine requirement states quite plainly:

Based on the public health code, a child without either an up-to-date immunization record, a certified nonmedical waiver form or a physician signed medical waiver form can be excluded from school/childcare.

The nonmedical vaccine waiver form, which Ms. Donovan must have signed, states explicitly:

A child who has been exempted from a vaccination is considered susceptible to the disease or diseases for which the vaccination offers protection. The child may be subject to exclusion from the school or program, if the local and/or state public health authority advises exclusion as a disease control measure.

Which is exactly what happened:

On Wednesday, Oakland County health officials and Birmingham Public Schools alerted parents about three confirmed cases of chickenpox in three schools in the district.

That day, they recommended parents of unvaccinated children keep those children at home until they were sure they had not been infected.

On Thursday, health officials grew more concerned after realizing that some unvaccinated students had “significant” contact with some of the infected students.

The school then told parents that unvaccinated children were not to return to school until April 14 — just after spring break and long enough that any new cases would have been detected.

It turns out that Donovan partially vaccinated her two older children, but apparently became antivaccine when Michael’s older sister started exhibiting signs of autism. Yes, sadly, Donovan is another example of how the myth that vaccines cause autism has turned a parent antivaccine. Sure, Donovan also uses the “health freedom” argument and complains that people will know that she didn’t vaccinate her son against chickenpox because he is being excluded from school, but that’s the risk you take when you don’t vaccinate.

Overall, what I detect in Donovan is an overwhelming sense of entitlement. She doesn’t want to vaccinate her children and signs a form that says she understands that the school can keep them home if local health officials deem it advisable to exclude unvaccinated children to protect them and for infection control. Then, when there are actually cases of a vaccine-preventable disease at the school that her son attends, and suddenly she’s outraged that the health authorities have the temerity to send her son home. As one commenter noted:

The mom was happy with her choice until it had consequences. I also find it comical that she’s complaining about the school violating her son’s privacy, yet she had no problem having his name, school, and vaccination status in the newspaper.

I was actually surprised at the tenor of the comments. Usually, articles like that are flooded with flying monkeys dropping antivaccine poo on the comment thread. In this case, there were quite a few people with pro-science viewpoints taking Mrs. Donovan to task for her sense of entitlement and her unfortunate decision not to vaccinate her children.

Examples:

• “How ‘beyond not happy’ would little Mikey feel if he contracted chickenpox from a classmate? Give me a break lady.”


• “No, the mom is being ridiculous. She is mad at the school system for keeping her child healthy. The school system takes no position on her vaccine beliefs. But at the same time the school refuses to actively and needlessly expose at-risk children to a serious illness.”


• “…we also know a lot more about disease and process then when “mom and dad were growing up”. Autism, allergies and cancer existed then too. Now we know more about it so it is diagnosed far more. Except back then little Sally or Joey wasn’t called Austistic they were labelled as special or different.”


• “Vaccinations have a pretty long, positive history of improving the health of the nation and the world. ‘Blind Faith’ in the medical community has nothing to do with it. Self centered publicity hound parents with an over-estimation of their importance and intelligence seem to be more at play here.”

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe there is some hope after all.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1OPpWHX

Moon between Jupiter and Regulus on March 30

Tonight – March 30, 2015 – the waxing gibbous moon and planet Jupiter pop out first thing at nightfall, as they have these past several nights. But tonight’s moon – always moving eastward in front of the constellations of the Zodiac – is not as close to Jupiter on the sky’s dome tonight as on March 29t. And by tomorrow night – March 31 – a fuller waxing gibbous moon will be even farther east of Jupiter, and closer to the star Regulus.

If you watch in the course of a single night, you’ll see the moon, Jupiter and stars all drift westward throughout the night. The east-to-west motion of the sun, moon, planets and stars across the sky is referred to as diurnal motion. It’s caused by the Earth rotating on its axis once every day. In other words, it’s really Earth spinning – not the moon, stars or Jupiter moving – that causes the east-to-west drift of the moon, stars and planets.

While this nightly motion is going on, the moon is also moving in another way, due to its orbital motion around Earth. The moon’s orbital motion causes it to go eastward relative to backdrop stars and the planet Jupiter. This west-to-east motion of the moon is not so noticeable in the course of one night. But you can notice it, if you note the moon’s location near bright stars or planets like Jupiter, over several nights.

Only two weeks left in our annual fund-raising campaign! Have you donated yet? Help EarthSky keep going.

View Larger. Photo of Jupiter’s moons by Carl Galloway. Thank you Carl! The four major moons of Jupiter – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – are easily seen through a low-powered telescope. Click here for a chart of Jupiter’s moons

The dark portion of the waxing moon always points eastward, or in the direction of the moon’s orbital motion. Relative to the backdrop stars, the moon travels its own diameter eastward in an hour, or about 13^o eastward in 24 hours.

Note where the moon is relative to Jupiter and the brighter stars tonight, and then check again tomorrow night. You’ll be witnessing the moon’s motion in orbit around Earth.

The moon and Jupiter serve as great references for watching all these motions, because they’re the brightest and third-brightest celestial objects in the March 2015 evening sky. The planet Venus ranks as the second-brightest heavenly body, after the moon, but this dazzling body is found in a different part of the sky – in the west at nightfall

Bottom line: The moon has swept past the planet Jupiter over the past several nights. It’s the motion of the moon in orbit around Earth that causes it to move relative to Jupiter in this way. On the night of March 30, 2015, the moon is still near Jupiter, but it’s leaving it behind on the sky’s dome.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky Planisphere today.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1OOXfer

Tonight – March 30, 2015 – the waxing gibbous moon and planet Jupiter pop out first thing at nightfall, as they have these past several nights. But tonight’s moon – always moving eastward in front of the constellations of the Zodiac – is not as close to Jupiter on the sky’s dome tonight as on March 29t. And by tomorrow night – March 31 – a fuller waxing gibbous moon will be even farther east of Jupiter, and closer to the star Regulus.

If you watch in the course of a single night, you’ll see the moon, Jupiter and stars all drift westward throughout the night. The east-to-west motion of the sun, moon, planets and stars across the sky is referred to as diurnal motion. It’s caused by the Earth rotating on its axis once every day. In other words, it’s really Earth spinning – not the moon, stars or Jupiter moving – that causes the east-to-west drift of the moon, stars and planets.

While this nightly motion is going on, the moon is also moving in another way, due to its orbital motion around Earth. The moon’s orbital motion causes it to go eastward relative to backdrop stars and the planet Jupiter. This west-to-east motion of the moon is not so noticeable in the course of one night. But you can notice it, if you note the moon’s location near bright stars or planets like Jupiter, over several nights.

Only two weeks left in our annual fund-raising campaign! Have you donated yet? Help EarthSky keep going.

View Larger. Photo of Jupiter’s moons by Carl Galloway. Thank you Carl! The four major moons of Jupiter – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – are easily seen through a low-powered telescope. Click here for a chart of Jupiter’s moons

The dark portion of the waxing moon always points eastward, or in the direction of the moon’s orbital motion. Relative to the backdrop stars, the moon travels its own diameter eastward in an hour, or about 13^o eastward in 24 hours.

Note where the moon is relative to Jupiter and the brighter stars tonight, and then check again tomorrow night. You’ll be witnessing the moon’s motion in orbit around Earth.

The moon and Jupiter serve as great references for watching all these motions, because they’re the brightest and third-brightest celestial objects in the March 2015 evening sky. The planet Venus ranks as the second-brightest heavenly body, after the moon, but this dazzling body is found in a different part of the sky – in the west at nightfall

Bottom line: The moon has swept past the planet Jupiter over the past several nights. It’s the motion of the moon in orbit around Earth that causes it to move relative to Jupiter in this way. On the night of March 30, 2015, the moon is still near Jupiter, but it’s leaving it behind on the sky’s dome.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky Planisphere today.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1OOXfer

One-year crew lift-off success

Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft launch on March 27, 2015

Media photograph the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft as it launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 43 NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) onboard.

Liftoff was at 3:42 p.m. EDT Friday, March 27, 2015 (March 28 Kazakh time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

The goal of the mission is to help scientists better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space.

Read more about the year in space for one American and one Russian

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1EmCRhx

Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft launch on March 27, 2015

Media photograph the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft as it launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 43 NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) onboard.

Liftoff was at 3:42 p.m. EDT Friday, March 27, 2015 (March 28 Kazakh time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

The goal of the mission is to help scientists better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space.

Read more about the year in space for one American and one Russian

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1EmCRhx

Public invited to NASA flying saucer broadcast

Artist’s concept of test vehicle for NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), designed to test landing technologies for future Mars missions. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.

In June 2015, NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project will fly its rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The public is invited to tune in to an hour-long live, interactive video broadcast from the gallery above a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where this near-space experimental test vehicle is being prepared for shipment to Hawaii. The event will be streamed live on http://ift.tt/NhFTVi on March 31, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. PDT (1600 to 1700 UTC; translate to your time zone here).

During the broadcast, the 15-foot-wide, 7,000-pound vehicle is expected to be undergoing a spin-table test.

JPL’s Gay Hill will host the program while LDSD team members will answer questions submitted to the Ustream chat box or via Twitter using the #AskNASA hashtag.

NASA said in a release:

The LDSD crosscutting demonstration mission will test breakthrough technologies that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of Mars, or other planetary bodies with atmospheres, including Earth. The technologies will not only enable landing of larger payloads on Mars, but also allow access to much more of the planet’s surface by enabling landings at higher-altitude sites.

More information about the LDSD space technology demonstration mission is online at: /mission_pages/tdm/ldsd

The LDSD mission is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in future missions. NASA’s technology investments provide cutting-edge solutions for our nation’s future. For more information about the directorate, visit: /spacetech

Read more about the LDSD project here.

Only two weeks left in our annual fund-raising campaign! Have you donated yet? Help EarthSky keep going.

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator in the Missile Assembly Building at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kaua‘i, Hawaii. Read more about this image.

Bottom line: NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator is a saucer-shaped vehicle designed to hold equipment for landing large payloads on Mars.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/19xfnIQ

Artist’s concept of test vehicle for NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), designed to test landing technologies for future Mars missions. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.

In June 2015, NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project will fly its rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The public is invited to tune in to an hour-long live, interactive video broadcast from the gallery above a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where this near-space experimental test vehicle is being prepared for shipment to Hawaii. The event will be streamed live on http://ift.tt/NhFTVi on March 31, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. PDT (1600 to 1700 UTC; translate to your time zone here).

During the broadcast, the 15-foot-wide, 7,000-pound vehicle is expected to be undergoing a spin-table test.

JPL’s Gay Hill will host the program while LDSD team members will answer questions submitted to the Ustream chat box or via Twitter using the #AskNASA hashtag.

NASA said in a release:

The LDSD crosscutting demonstration mission will test breakthrough technologies that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of Mars, or other planetary bodies with atmospheres, including Earth. The technologies will not only enable landing of larger payloads on Mars, but also allow access to much more of the planet’s surface by enabling landings at higher-altitude sites.

More information about the LDSD space technology demonstration mission is online at: /mission_pages/tdm/ldsd

The LDSD mission is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in future missions. NASA’s technology investments provide cutting-edge solutions for our nation’s future. For more information about the directorate, visit: /spacetech

Read more about the LDSD project here.

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NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator in the Missile Assembly Building at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kaua‘i, Hawaii. Read more about this image.

Bottom line: NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator is a saucer-shaped vehicle designed to hold equipment for landing large payloads on Mars.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/19xfnIQ

The man ain’t got no culture [Stoat]

To the British Museum, via the Vets Head, of which more anon.

Pen on oil, various hands, circa 2014. Or, if you prefer a more stringent test of your cultural levels, try to identify the provenance of this:

The main theme for today’s visit was Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art which was interesting, and confirms for me that the older I get and the more I know about other, particularly antient, cultures, the more I realise how little I understand what they can possibly have been thinking. Eventually, when I’m really old, I’ll realise I’ve never understood anyone else at all.

For <reasons> we ended up walking through more of London that usual, which lead me to realise how weird London is, too.

Here’s St Pauls, from Waterloo bridge; and while the overall scene is pleasing in the fitful sunlight, some of the modern buildings are astonishingly stupid. Its like tasteless aliens have dropped giant blocks of Lego on the unsuspecting city. Their architects should be hung from the overhanging sides. Speaking of which, there’s a lovely relief in the BM with giant Assyrian archers, a badly drawn siege engine, appalling perspective on a ladder, and some impaled captives. And, according to the caption, juggling with cut-off heads; but I couldn’t see that.

Lastly, I quite wanted to write about Removing Diurnal Cycle Contamination in Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Temperatures: Understanding Tropical Tropospheric Trend Discrepancies by Stephen Po-Chedley, Tyler J. Thorsen, and Qiang Fu; but I don’t have the paper (h/t Ned; yes I know about SS but I want to read the paper). Anyone?

And, errm, lastly again, a snippet from Wolf Hall:

I tell you, Cromwell, you’ve got face, coming here.

My Lord, you sent for me.

Did I? Norfolk looks alarmed. It’s come to that?

Refs

* A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)

* Patrick Moore Gets Called Out, Storms Out of Interview

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1G0eDKt

To the British Museum, via the Vets Head, of which more anon.

Pen on oil, various hands, circa 2014. Or, if you prefer a more stringent test of your cultural levels, try to identify the provenance of this:

The main theme for today’s visit was Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art which was interesting, and confirms for me that the older I get and the more I know about other, particularly antient, cultures, the more I realise how little I understand what they can possibly have been thinking. Eventually, when I’m really old, I’ll realise I’ve never understood anyone else at all.

For <reasons> we ended up walking through more of London that usual, which lead me to realise how weird London is, too.

Here’s St Pauls, from Waterloo bridge; and while the overall scene is pleasing in the fitful sunlight, some of the modern buildings are astonishingly stupid. Its like tasteless aliens have dropped giant blocks of Lego on the unsuspecting city. Their architects should be hung from the overhanging sides. Speaking of which, there’s a lovely relief in the BM with giant Assyrian archers, a badly drawn siege engine, appalling perspective on a ladder, and some impaled captives. And, according to the caption, juggling with cut-off heads; but I couldn’t see that.

Lastly, I quite wanted to write about Removing Diurnal Cycle Contamination in Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Temperatures: Understanding Tropical Tropospheric Trend Discrepancies by Stephen Po-Chedley, Tyler J. Thorsen, and Qiang Fu; but I don’t have the paper (h/t Ned; yes I know about SS but I want to read the paper). Anyone?

And, errm, lastly again, a snippet from Wolf Hall:

I tell you, Cromwell, you’ve got face, coming here.

My Lord, you sent for me.

Did I? Norfolk looks alarmed. It’s come to that?

Refs

* A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)

* Patrick Moore Gets Called Out, Storms Out of Interview

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1G0eDKt