First iPhones in Space Launching on Last Shuttle Mission, Space.com (10 June 2011)
Two iPhone 4 smartphones loaded with an app to help astronauts perform experiments in space will launch aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis on July 8. They will be the first iPhones to fly in space, officials say.
Mark's Comments: All I can say is, finally! Sure, Androids and iPhones have gone up in rockets and balloon, but that's low altitude. We finally get to see some decent technology floating around the space station, not the boring looking IBM ThinkPads. Yes, I'm definitely a apple-fan.
Now what they really need of course is the iPad. Every decent sci-fi movie since Star Trek has had crew members walking around the spaceship or space station with an iPad-like device.
But they'll be doing real experiments with the iPhones. A number of applications have been built to test gyroscopes, use the camera for navigation, etc. So it's not all fun. Although you do have to wonder if along with the 'official apps' they also have a copy of Angry Birds installed on there, or the Space Shuttle Landing simulator ... although that obviously has limited value now. I wonder if they do get to play games in their down-time? I bet the number of tweets would go up substantially. Maybe some planking in space photos?
According to the article, the iPhones will be returning to earth on a Soyuz later in the year. But you seriously have to wonder whether the astronauts will want to keep them.
I wonder if there is potential to have the iPhones become more of a standard experiment platform? You can imagine for life-science data collection it would be great, especially if you pair it with sensors along the Nike Sport Kit. Perhaps students could design apps that have literally a few days of experimental use.
This stunning image was acquired by NASA's Aqua satellite, capturing New Zealand in spectacular colour, surrounded by clouds.
Turbid Waters Surround New Zealand, NASA Earth Observatory (2011-05-28)
Runoff from heavy rains, combined with wave action along the coast, increased the turbidity of New Zealand’s waters when this image was acquired on April 29, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this view of sediment flowing in the Pacific Ocean.
Download full-size image (20MB).
Here's an article about a project a few friends of mine are involved with over in Australia. Because, everyone needs broadband...
Antarctica to get satellite broadband, ABC Science (2011-05-12)
The project aims to serve the growing output of research communities working in the Australian Antarctic Territories, says Antarctic Broadband project manager Michael Brett.
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Current communications in the Antarctic are patchy and insufficient for the needs of the research community, says Brett.
Check out the project website: www.antarcticbroadband.com.
This is an old article I recently found, but I thought i'd share the image, which I think is kinda pretty:
Kiwi found in outer space NZ Herald, 2009-09-28
An astrophotographer has discovered a Kiwi in outer space from New Zealand's internationally renowned Mt John Observatory.
It may be 26,000 light years away, but a high powered astro-photograph has picked up the distinct image of New Zealand's national icon in the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.
...
Update - 11 June 2011: I received an email from a colleague that informed me that Fraser Gunn was not the first to discover this image, but rather that the first person to name the kiwi was Ian Cooper around the year 2000.
Carter Observatory in Wellington commissioned John Drummond to produce a photograph for one of their exhibits. It was also featured in 'Milky Way Kiwi' magazine, published on 25 September 2009.
I was lured in by a "must see keynote" headline on a blog I followed, and ultimately ended up watching and thoroughly enjoying this fantastic keynote, presented by Jeff Greason at the ISDC 2011 Conference just recently:
Mark's comments:
I have to say, that while he is clearly pushing off-world colonisation, I really enjoyed his analysis of NASA's current strategy and his recommendations.
I personally feel that it is flawed to have any one nation pursue a colonisation strategy, and that somehow we need to change the conversation so that it becomes a 'planetary goal'. Having that built into each space-faring nation's strategic goals would make sense, and it would be far more viable, productive, and cost-effective than any one country trying to go it alone, for glory or national supremacy. It is very unlikely that a trade-route to an off-world destination will be cost-effective for a single country (although some asteroids do hold the potential to change this), but providing a "backup for humanity" in a second habitat does make sense.
Copenhagen Suborbitals successfully launched their rocket HEAT-1X on Friday 3 June at 4:32pm (CEST, 2:32am NZST). The rocket reached an altitude of approximately 2.5km, lower than hoped, but proved the amateur rocket builders are on the right track.
The rocket is designed to carry a single person into space and back, giving them a great view of the trip from a dome on the rocket's nose. This first test launch carried a 50%-weight dummy, and had hoped to reach 10 miles high. According to early reports, the motor was shut off by remote control as the rocket began to veer off course. The rocket was recovered, but suffered minor damage due to the main parachute not fully opening.
The vehicle was launched from a floating platform, which was towed by the group's private submarine, to a location off the Baltic island of Bornholm.
Despite not achieving all the goals, this launch is a triumph for the amateur group, which cost around $70,000, been funded by sponsorship and donations.
News coverage:
- Danish Amateurs Launch Homemade Rocket, Aim for Future Spaceflight, Space.com
- Bornholm rocket flies high, Copenhagen Post
Video of the launch (5min)
Extended Video of the launch (11min)
(Limited English voiceovers).
Jetpack creator's new high, NZ Herald (29 May 2011)
... the flight near Ashburton was piloted by remote control, with a crash-test dummy in the pilot's position. The machine flew to 5000 feet, then down to about 2000 feet before firing a rocket-propelled parachute. From there it sailed safely to the ground without damage.
Martin Jetpack 5000ft flight - highlights, NZ Herald (29 May 2011)
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Mark's note: This is a fine example of NZ ingenuity in the aerospace sector. And it runs on ordinary gas! I so want one of these once they come on the market...
Govt puts $9.3m into fresh water research, NZ Herald (1 June 2011)
The money is going into two research projects.
One will pioneer techniques for understanding groundwater, such as satellite remote sensing and the use of seismic signals from earthquakes.
Govt backs fresh water research projects, National Party Website (1 June 2011)
Smart aquifer characterisation: Subject to satisfactory science peer review, the Crown research institute GNS Science has been awarded $1.2 million a year for six years to develop a suite of innovative methods for characterising and mapping New Zealand’s groundwater systems.
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The research team will apply new methods to overcome the current problems of data acquisition that are time- and resource-consuming, and develop specialised skills in hydrogeology, geology, satellite remote sensing, geophysics, seismology, mathematics and spatial information technology.
Free-floating plants may be more common than stars, NASA (18 May 2011)
The discovery is based on a joint Japan-New Zealand survey that scanned the center of the Milky Way galaxy during 2006 and 2007, revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of Jupiter.
MOA, Microlensing Observation in Astrophysics – Canterbury University project page
I had the extreme fortune to view the last liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour from the Press site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was an amazing experience to watch and feel the launch. The space shuttle is a spacecraft that has always fascinated me since it first was conceived, but I had never seen a launch in person. I attended as media, but for those keen, NASA is giving 150 people a chance to get this same prime viewing spot, and much more:
Some of my pictures taken at KSC for the Endeavour/STS-134 launch a few weeks ago. Seth Green (centre photo) was one of the attendees at the Tweetup.
NASA is hosting a two-day Tweetup for 150 of its Twitter followers on 7-8 July, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to make its final flight at 11:40am on July 8 – the very last space shuttle launch, ever.
What's a Tweetup?
It's basically a gathering of people who use the social networking site, Twitter. But for lucky folk who attend NASA's Tweetup, it's an opportunity to meet and mingle with Astronauts, NASA personnel and experience one of the greatest spectacles from the closest viewing spot to the launch pad.
NASA held a Tweetup for the STS-134 launch, and while I didn't get to check it out first-hand, I managed to talk to a few of the Tweeps attending, and they had an absolute blast. They had a pre-planned schedule of talks from NASA employees and astronauts, were given tours of the various facilities, etc. And of course the got to tweet their experiences for the rest of the world to share.
Registration for the NASA Tweetup – June 2nd
See the following page NASA to Host Tweetup at Final Space Shuttle Launch in Florida for full details, but there is only a 24-hour window to register, from Noon on June 1 to noon June 2 (I am presuming EDT).
In New Zealand timezone, this would be: Thursday 2 June, 4am .... Friday 3 June, 4am.
You need to fly there, etc - but this opportunity should not be missed!
All New Zealander Tweeps should apply!
Given my own experiences, I cannot impress enough that any New Zealand user of twitter, with even an passing interest in space should apply. You need to pay for flights and accommodation, but this is the last ever shuttle launch, and so you don't want to miss out. And you get so much more than just a launch - backstage viewing of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, etc.
I've just spent 3.5 weeks at KSC for STS-134, and am seriously considering going back to see the final launch!
KiwiSpace Executive Director, Mark Mackay, is in Florida covering the launch of STS-134 from the NASA Press site.
Everything is looking good for Monday's launch (Florida-time). The Mission Management Team today gave unanimous approval for the launch to proceed. Weather forecasts remain the same, with a 30% chance that crosswinds at the landing facility and lightning remain the main concern.
Endeavour sits on the pad, still covered by the Rotating Service Structure, which is expected to be rolled back on Sunday at noon, weather permitting. This angle from further north-east, shows the external tank and solid rocket boosters.
The External Tank (ET) and solid rocket boosters. Apparently the tank foam gets a 'tan' while sitting out in the sun, darkening slightly like sunburn each day.
The countdown clock sits at T-19 hours and holding. Check out Countdown 101.
KiwiSpace Executive Director, Mark Mackay, is in Florida covering the launch of STS-134 from the NASA Press site.
The countdown clock has started for Endeavour's final voyage into space. Weather and checkout permitting, the STS-134 mission will launch on Monday 16 May, 8:56am (Tues 17 May, 12:56pm, New Zealand Time).
The shuttle has been delayed by a fault found during the final 4 hours of countdown 2 weeks ago, causing heater units on fuel lines for the Auxiliary Power Units to fail. While the root cause has not been conclusively identified, technicians at Kennedy Space Center have replaced component suspected of causing the issue, performed extensive testing, and are confident for the launch on Monday.
CREW ARRIVAL
Media greeted the crew as they arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility early this morning.
Pictured below (left to right) are: Commander Mark Kelly; mission specialists Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Fuestel; Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, mission specialist Michael Fincke; and pilot Greg Johnson.
SECOND REVEAL
Endeavour is waiting on the pad, shrouded in the Rotating Service Structure - used by technicians to access orbiter systems during the repairs in the past weeks. The RSS is set to be rolled back on Sunday around noon, just before the final preps and fuelling of the large external tank.
KiwiSpace Executive Director, Mark Mackay, is in Florida covering the launch of STS-134 from the NASA Press site.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is now gearing up for its second launch attempt on Monday 16 May (EDT) following replacement of components which caused the scrub approximately a week and a half ago.
The STS-134 countdown was aborted a few hours before launch, due to a failure with an Auxiliary Power Unit heater. Subsequent investigation revealed that the issue was caused by a common power supply module, where effectively a fuse had blown due to high current.
At the time of this afternoon's press conference the root-cause was still not known, but NASA has replaced components, including thermostats and wiring in the affected systems. The heaters themselves were not replaced, but the whole system has been extensively tested to ensure they are performing normally. These tests have been more stringent than the pre-launch checklist, but have not tested the behaviour of a fully-fueled vehicle. The cryogenic fuel lowers the temperature in the compartment.
Go for launch
All is looking positive for a launch next Monday at 8:56am (EDT), with the mission being formally extended to 16 days. This should allow the crew to perform 'get-ahead' tasks to free up time for the final STS-135 mission. A night landing is currently planned for June 1st around 2:30am (EDT).
The crew are currently in quarantine, and expected to fly back to the Cape on Thursday at around 11am.
Satellites have a birds-eye view of our planet, providing invaluable information and imagery. We've recently profiled some of the satellite images of the Christchurch earthquake, and even without detailed processing, you can see areas of liquefaction, road and building damage, etc. These provide insights on a regional view, quicker than aircraft can. In the next few blog posts, I discuss some aspects of how we get and use this satellite information and ways this could be improved.
Part 1: Satellite data from where?
New Zealand doesn't own any satellites in orbit, and so we get satellite data by purchasing it from overseas operators and agencies. However in the case of disasters (natural or man-made), relevant satellite imagery and data products are made available by agencies and operators through international charters and arrangements so that countries can respond and mitigate the impact of disasters. Such arrangements include:
To my knowledge however, New Zealand is not an official member of these charters. I understand that with the September 2010 earthquake, the NZ Geospatial Intelligence Organisation obtained an image that was captured just after the event through personal contacts and the generosity of GeoEye. Favourable timing and good relationships removed the immediate need for the charters in this case. I believe follow-up imagery was obtained through Digital Globe, the main contractor for the KiwImage project, possibly for free.
In contrast, the disaster charters were activated for the February 22 earthquake. The reference links can be found below:
- UN Disaster Charter - Activation #357
The requesting agency I recall was initially listed as CNES (The French space agency). Only only space agencies can be members, so under the charter non-member countries have to request activation via an authorised user. I made an enquiry, and the web page was subsequently updated to indicate that MCDEM New Zealand (Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management) was the New Zealand requestor.
- APRSAF's Asia Sentinel Observation ERADRC000006
I am yet to find out which New Zealand organisation made this request.
- NASA also captured images using their Terra satellite at the request of Japan. I presume this came out of the Asia Sentinel activation.
An obvious question from me at this point, is this:
- Why aren't we a member of APRSAF's Asia Sentinel and any other space disaster response programmes?
KiwiSpace attended the APRSAF-17 conference in November last year, and were the only New Zealand organisation there: NZ's last representation was 1997.
According to the rules, we can't become a member of the UN charter - at least without forming a space agency (which I don't think is appropriate right now, but will likely discuss in a future blog post).
"Those eligible to become members of the Charter include space agencies and national or international space system operators."
But we can certainly become savvier to the processes of these organisations. Satellites take time to task ('point in the right direction') and time is precious when responding to disasters. You are also dependent on the orbit of satellites, and it may be several days before the appropriate satellite is over the right location again (with the Sept 2010 earthquake, we were fortunate that the satellite passed overhead just after the earthquake, not before).
Asia Sentinel differs to the UN charter, in that a focus is beyond just the satellite image capture, and also focuses on the downlink, processing and distribution of data, and capacity building within regions. To me, this seems like an ideal way for New Zealand to get access to an established disaster monitoring infrastructure, and support for improving our own domestic capability – with minimal cost, and without needing our own satellite.
As another note, I also believe that the disaster monitoring programmes allow observations in advance of issues - where they are being used to predict or reduce the impact of disasters. e.g. analysis of terrain and urbanisation to predict flood risk and flows.
Next steps for NZ?
I'm not an expert, but the Asia Sentinel programme sounds like an excellent starting point: capacity building and access to data we can use to help save lives and reduce disaster impact. We've used their services already for this earthquake, but can improve the timeliness of information delivery if we become better 'customers' of the system.
Future steps will require greater investment - our own processing capabilities, downlink options, maybe our own satellites, etc. I will explore these in future blog posts.
Please note that I'm writing this as a personal blog post, exploring a few questions and ideas on how New Zealand uses space data for emergency mitigation and response. I consider myself a 'passionate space advocate' and in conjunction to helping establish the KiwiSpace Foundation, have been doing all I can in the past year to increase my knowledge of Space, including recently attending the International Space University's Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Programme.
I welcome any and all feedback, especially answers to or further information on any of my questions, or corrections to any assumptions I have made.
Once the urgent response phase of the latest Christchurch earthquake has passed, I hope to talk to the various government agencies, get further information and explore things in more detail.
In an unfortunate turn of events related to our Cassini Scientist for a Day competition, a technical glitch has meant that the spacecraft went into 'safe mode' just ahead of the planned Titan flyby. Engineers expect to have Cassini back to normal duties by November 24th.