Domain: nasatech.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to nasatech.com.
Comments · 37
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The space shuttle IS connected to the InternetsCisco Systems' IP SoftPhone has been flown on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
- The first 90,000 miles are toll-free, Cisco Systems company profile (detailed), 8 September 2002.
- The first 90,000 miles are toll-free, Cisco Systems Newsroom news story (brief), as seen on Newsroom, 21 February 2001.
Articles discussing this include:
- Now that's a long distance call!, Humans in Space, NASA, 3 June 2003.
- Johnson Space Center, NASA Spinoff magazine, 2001.http://www.techbriefs.com/spinoff/spinoff200
1 /johnson.html --> - This isn't Houston, Lafe Low, CIO Magazine, 1 October 2001.
- Voice over IP takes a giant step forward, Jon William Toigo, Washington Technology vol. 16 no. 1, 2 April 2001.
- Astronauts call home via shuttle VoIP link, William Jackson, Government Computing News, vol. 20 no. 5, 5 March 2001.
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Re:Good ol' hubble
Spinning liquids to form mirrors works on Earth because Earth's gravity acts perpendicular to the plane of spin. We would need some way of replicating those two forces in space. All the methods I know about would cost more than simply launching a solid mirror.
A method of putting cheap mirrors into space that I proposed to my physics mentor a few decades ago is to use inflatable mirrors. He brushed off the idea at the time. Now, though, NASA has research on the general concept:
NASA Tech: Parabolic Membrane-Thickness Variation for Inflatable Mirror
A Google search for inflatable mirrors turns up many more results. -
NASA software
Your tax dollars paid for it. Download it here.
http://www.nasatech.com/software/
There's some seriously interesting software in there. -
More technical informationThese NASA Tech Briefs offers more information:
The tool (see Figure 1) includes an aluminum housing, within which are mounted four laser diodes that operate at a wavelength of 670 nm. The laser diodes are spaced 1 in. (2.54 cm) apart along a baseline. The laser diodes are mounted with setscrews, which are used to adjust their beams to make them all parallel to each other and perpendicular to the baseline. During the adjustment process, the effect of the adjustments is observed by measuring the positions of the laser-beam spots on a target 80 ft (Å24 m) away. Once the adjustments have been completed, the laser beams define three 1-in. (2.54-cm) intervals and the location of each beam is defined to within 1/16 in. (Å1.6 mm) at any target distance out to about 80 ft (Å24 m).
See the briefs themselves: Optoelectronic Tool Adds Scale Marks to Photographic Images and Software For Use With Optoelectronic Measuring Tool.
A "Technical Support Package" (PDF) is available as well. -
More technical informationThese NASA Tech Briefs offers more information:
The tool (see Figure 1) includes an aluminum housing, within which are mounted four laser diodes that operate at a wavelength of 670 nm. The laser diodes are spaced 1 in. (2.54 cm) apart along a baseline. The laser diodes are mounted with setscrews, which are used to adjust their beams to make them all parallel to each other and perpendicular to the baseline. During the adjustment process, the effect of the adjustments is observed by measuring the positions of the laser-beam spots on a target 80 ft (Å24 m) away. Once the adjustments have been completed, the laser beams define three 1-in. (2.54-cm) intervals and the location of each beam is defined to within 1/16 in. (Å1.6 mm) at any target distance out to about 80 ft (Å24 m).
See the briefs themselves: Optoelectronic Tool Adds Scale Marks to Photographic Images and Software For Use With Optoelectronic Measuring Tool.
A "Technical Support Package" (PDF) is available as well. -
More technical informationThese NASA Tech Briefs offers more information:
The tool (see Figure 1) includes an aluminum housing, within which are mounted four laser diodes that operate at a wavelength of 670 nm. The laser diodes are spaced 1 in. (2.54 cm) apart along a baseline. The laser diodes are mounted with setscrews, which are used to adjust their beams to make them all parallel to each other and perpendicular to the baseline. During the adjustment process, the effect of the adjustments is observed by measuring the positions of the laser-beam spots on a target 80 ft (Å24 m) away. Once the adjustments have been completed, the laser beams define three 1-in. (2.54-cm) intervals and the location of each beam is defined to within 1/16 in. (Å1.6 mm) at any target distance out to about 80 ft (Å24 m).
See the briefs themselves: Optoelectronic Tool Adds Scale Marks to Photographic Images and Software For Use With Optoelectronic Measuring Tool.
A "Technical Support Package" (PDF) is available as well. -
Re:Easy Solution.while braking the car, you can slow it down by converting the forward motion of the car into electricity that can be redirected to the batteries. This is known as regenerative braking. From my perspective, the added weight and complexity of the regenerative braking system, plus the low absorption efficiency rate of conventional batteries, ultimately provides for little if any gain in range for the vehicle.
Battery absorption rate... maybe, that is why from what I understand everyone is moving to putting large capacitors in for this function. http://www.nasatech.com/Briefs/Apr00/LEW16876.htm
l . On the other hand i'm not sure what he is talking about when it comes to added weight, since the regenerative braking systems don't really add anything when it comes to a direct drive hybrid, you have an electric motor that acts as a generator for braking and is used for driving when in battery mode. Compared to a pure electric vehicle there is weight gain, but that is not what we have here. -
Re:ION Power!
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Re:Thank You . . .
While I get a kick out of most of these missions, I'm *really* waiting for the next Titan mission. I want to see a nuclear powered helicopter or cryogenic-temperature blimp (two proposals thusfar) patrolling around Titan; it'd be able to visit pretty much the entire moon. Huygens definitely was a "pose 5 new questions for every one it answered" mission. And if anything, Titan now looks even more like Primordial-Earth-In-Deep-Freeze than ever before.
::digs up one of his old posts to sci.space.tech::
There were some concept studies done of an "Aerover" blimp for Titan exploration a few years back. I suspect we'll soon seen those ideas thrown around again.
Post-Cassini Exploration of Titan: Science Rationale and Mission Concepts (compares helicopters, blimps, etc.)
Titan orbiter Aerover mission
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature= 499
http://www.nasatech.com/Briefs/Mar03/NPO20609.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ titan_blimp_020212.html -
Re:Cool
Funny that HP would be flaunting this. I read about Quantum based, nano gates in Nasa Tech Briefs nearly two years ago. Can't submit such things to here from there, as they don't keep their articles on-line.
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Re:160 Seconds?
Specific impulse has always been a bit fuzzy to me too, and I do have some physics background. But I always think of VASIMR whenever someone mentions specific impulse. That's gotta be just about the coolest engine ever.
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Re:As long as the keyboard?
You could get around that by using subvocal microphones.
It'd be odd to see everyone sit around silently moving their lips, though... -
Plasma technology is the space enabler
Although it's called an "ion engine", it's really just the first step in the progression of plasma propulsion. Next up we have the VASIMR which they've been talking about testing on the space station. It can produce slow thrust like an ion engine, or it can produce hard thrust like a chemical rocket. You can power it with solar panels, or you can power it with a nuclear reactor. Eventually, almost the exact same design will be used in fusion rockets, and possibly even antimatter rockets. Then we're in Startrek country with plasma power distribution and ships which you can actually live and work on.
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Re: Well....From the TFA-Wrong.
This NASA project was the direct result of that occurance.
Mr. Jogensen was my boss, I can tell you that the Israeli pilot did in fact fly with his wing missing. It is quite possible to do so, although very difficult.
Part of the flight simulator for this flight control system was to "blow" the wing off the F-15 Active to demonstrate how poorly it flies without it.
More information on About.com, but here's the relevent section:
Accordingly, the F-15 was designed with broad-chord wings supplemented with additional lift from the upper surface of the wide fuselage. This feature showed its value several years later in the Middle East, when an Israeli F-15 lost its right wing in combat and was still able to return to its base for a normal landing.
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Re:Don't tell me...
10 years eh? I'm ready!
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What about commericalization already done?For 28 years, Nasa has published the magazine, Nasa Tech Briefs, dedicated to the commercialization of technologies originally paid for or comissioned by Nasa, and that makes NASA big money, while offsetting our tax costs for space exploration.
For those whom feel that everything Nasa does is automatically non-copyright, the problem is that very few things that NASA has ever done are NASA exclusive. Almost all research is done by a University under a technology sharing arrangement. The copyright is held by the University in these cases.
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Re:You're ignoring the benefits.
NASA's budget last year was $20 billion or so, or about $70 per living American per year. Not a lot, really, but did we all get something beneficial out of it? $70 in a year could have bought me something I wanted or my family needed.
Hell, I got 70 bucks worth of entertainment checking out the website looking at mars pictures, just last night.
You are possibly (probably, based on your comments) unaware of the specific benefits that Nasa's research provides to you and your family, in what has become everyday objects as a direct result of the research they do. You can read the abstracts of these articles (and perhaps access the articles themselves; I didn't spend the time looking because you probably won't bother to go there at all) at this URL.
There are places where the government wastes your and my money, but research done in these government programs is not one of those places; the benefits are real, freely provided, and improve your quality of life every day, regardless of if you're aware of or appreciate it. -
Re:The real question is ...
This was true originally but in the past 3-5 years the dual-channel GPS feeds were combined into one accurate feed. Now your handheld GPS uses the same signal as the guys hunting Osama.
Not True. I quote:
A method of processing signals in a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver has been invented to enable the receiver to recover some of the information that is otherwise lost when GPS signals are encrypted at the transmitters. The need for this method arises because, at the option of the military, precision GPS code (P-code) is sometimes encrypted by a secret binary code, denoted the A code. Authorized users can recover the full signal with knowledge of the A-code. However, even in the absence of knowledge of the A-code, one can track the encrypted signal by use of an estimate of the A-code.
If you said that the signal had the same accuracy, you'd be right. It's not the same signal, and the clear C/A signal can be turned off, leaving only the encrypted signal for "Authorized" users. -
Re:Uh, Michael...IANALAWPTBO. I just thought I'd note that there are indeed sites that have "nasa" included in their URL identifier (NASA Watch and NASA Tech Briefs for example) which aren't a part of NASA. I was also able to find several websites that include the name "walmart" as another high-profile example (such as Wal-Mart Watch).
Now, I suppose that some of these sites are either flying under the corporate radar or are operating under some sort of trademark/copyright exception but I really don't know.
In this particular case, I have to question UC's wisdom in going after this site. I don't see any indication in the "nastygram" (classy nomenclature) that there was offensive material of some sort and I don't expect the students running the site were making a ton of cash on it. It seems like much ado about nothing...unless UC thinks that any student using those initials dilutes their "brand." Does that mean, too, that if University of Chicago puts a U in front of the C on their football team's helmets, they're going to get sued?
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engineering + marketing = bullshit claims
I've done a little research into solar energy production and know a bit about physics, also. Here are some of my thoughts.
What mechanism actually prevents solar cells from reaching 100% efficiency? I mean, is it a natural physical limit, or is it merely that they haven't been engineered sufficiently to take advantage of all of the light that falls on them? I'd guess that it has something to do with making cells dense enough to capture *every* photon that lands on them.
If that's the case, then there are two ways to increase efficiency, based upon how it is defined:
In normal scientific terms, efficiency would be defined by the amount of energy that is converted compared with the amount of energy that is incident. That's science.
In economic terms, though, efficiency has a completely other meaning. A cell's efficiency is determined by the (manufacturing/maintenance) cost versus the energy converted.
In pseudo-marketing hogwash, the two definitions could be combined. The 'efficiency' of a cell (just the small, *expensive* part that does the conversion) could be defined as the relationship of the size of the cell (and thus the majority of the cost) versus the amount of energy that it converts, regardless of the amount of energy that is incident on the entire system or it's size.
In hogwash terms, a *concentrating* cell arrangement such as this could have 4x the efficiency of a 'normal' solar cell merely by increasing the incident light that falls on the actual collector, the small cell in the middle.
This means that it is actually more *economically* efficient because the most expensive part, the silicon collector, has been substituted with a large area of fresnel lens. It also means that it is, in actuality, no more *scientifically* efficient than other silicon photovoltaics because the *total* incident light on the system is larger.
Here's a good link to a functionally similar inflatable frensel lens design that NASA is using on satellites. -
Re:The Orlando Sentinel is a Florida paper?that 60% of Floridians polled think the space program is cool seeing as most of NASA is based there!
I know, you're being sarcastic. NASA funds a lot more than just space.
that digital camera you use? It was developed with NASA's assitance.
NASA funds research in all areas, It's just the most PR potent ones are at Cape Canaveral, FL, US.
You can subscribe to NASA Tech Briefs here.
It really surprises me how many Doctors, Engineers, Biologists, etc. don't know about this. -
How does it stop leaks ?
I've read both articles, and understand the basic of the switch (which is very much like a plasma window, only works a lot faster).
But I'm having a hard time understanding how this valve would stop a leak. Since that seems to be the primary function of such a valve.
Is it supposed to be placed "on top" of an existing mechanical valve, so that if that valve leaks the plasma one will jump in close it off ?
Murphy(c) -
More info on their research on carbon tubes..
Google points to here
Also the interview mentions the fact that in October 2002, it was still in basic research form and could take as much as a couple of years to production and maybe a bit more for commercial purposes.
But that still bodes well for us since Silicon will tide us through another 10 good years.
Wish I werent 30 right now. The average lifespan looking like 70 (hopefully!) I just have 40 more years left....oopss.. Panic Attack! -
Re:Its easy to find uses for high accuracy.
While the subset of people that need high accuracy maybe small, that doesn't mean they're not economically significant
Certainly I would agree with what you say. I am fairly familliar with paying surveying bills, so lessening them would be a help. However surveyors will not be using handheld Garmins to do their work anytime soon. (Indeed, I do not believe that GPS data is valid for a legal survey)
I suppose that the intent of my original post was twofold.One, to ask the honest question of why would Joe/Jane Average need 5cm accuracy from a GPS device. I must confess ignorance on this. (Although I am learning, I have been refered to geochaching twice now.) While Selective Availability might be problematic for that, it is certainly not the end of the world.
And two, to state that people that require accuracy will not be affected by the reinstatement of Selective Availablity. WAAS, the Coast Gaurd, and others provide differential signals to get GPS recievers into the sub-meter accuracy range, and since these systems were created under SA in the first place, they should be unaffected. Indeed, as I saw on this link (I think) that was posted with the comments on the original story, there are methods of using the military's own encrypted differential signals to increase accuracy, and I doubt the military is going to fool with their differential signals anytime soon. I suppose I should turn off the blockquote now...
As an aside, while I never surveyed for a profession, I did learn (kinda) how to do it back in college. I always thought it would be rather fun to go find the "iron pin located 2 chains NW of a big oak tree" that was driven there 150 years ago or so....I am sure that if I did that for a living, I would find that quite dull.
In summary, I fear that I did not express myself properly in my original post. It is not the first time, I fear. (as hard as that is to believe!) -
Re:Using the P codeThere is a nice description of using the P code in the March 2003 NASA Tech Briefs. There is a link to the article on this page and this direct link. Free registration required.
The method described does some signal conversion to extract useful information from the P code even when the A code (encryption) is not known. It uses an approximation of the A code and summing over time to extract useful information.
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Re:Using the P codeThere is a nice description of using the P code in the March 2003 NASA Tech Briefs. There is a link to the article on this page and this direct link. Free registration required.
The method described does some signal conversion to extract useful information from the P code even when the A code (encryption) is not known. It uses an approximation of the A code and summing over time to extract useful information.
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vortex rocket engineA company called Orbital Technologies Corporation has developed a vortex rocket engine. The propellant is injected around the outer edge of the combustion chamber. As I understand, they don't know exactly how it works.
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Not new for NASANASA has had an active role in technology utilization and commercialization for the private sector for a long long time. This kind of thing is not new except for the shiny new center in Pasadena. The NASA Spinoff Magazine describes the process and successfully transferred technologies.
Additionally, the NASA Tech Briefs are published monthly for the purpose of announcing new technology developed by NASA or its contractors that is available for commercialization.
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Not new for NASANASA has had an active role in technology utilization and commercialization for the private sector for a long long time. This kind of thing is not new except for the shiny new center in Pasadena. The NASA Spinoff Magazine describes the process and successfully transferred technologies.
Additionally, the NASA Tech Briefs are published monthly for the purpose of announcing new technology developed by NASA or its contractors that is available for commercialization.
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Prior Art
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Invisibility..
Basically attach a flexible display panel with a small camera to the front and back of a vehicle, and then output the rear camera to the front display, and so on for whatever sides you want to camouflage.
Perhaps with flexible display one could minimize ones targetable area.
More here -
Pictures.....
Sorta old news, but here is a page with pics and such for BioMorphic MicroFlyers for Mars exploration.
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NASA plans to fly a glider to 100,000ft (30,000m)
Somewhat related to the problem of flying in the thin Martian atmosphere: NASA plans to fly a glider to 30,000m [nasatech.com].
For those of you that are interested in gliding/soaring, they are using a modified (obviously...) DG-500, and the attempt will be made in New Zeeland. The pilot is a testpilot named Einar Enevoldson from the home of the real stuff, Edwards Air Force Base. One of those lucky souls that have flown a rocket aircraft... -
Heat pipes != water and other basicsFirst of all the radiator in you car and the type of heat pipes used in this CPU cooler are similar in principle but radically different in construction and efficiency. The radiator in your car is an open system relying on water+antifreeze. The heat pipe used in many industrial applications (including laptop cooling, my Dell CPx has one that I can see through a grill) is a SEALED pipe with a wick and liquid (usually alchohol) inside. The liquid vaporizes at the operating temperature at any place where there is heating going on and condenses where there is cooling going on. The cool thing about heat pipes is that the heat transfer happens REALLY REALLY fast. For home computing applications (<1 meter) it should be instantaneous. This allows you to move the heat away from where it can do damage to any place you want (within the limits of cost and space of course.). This is also why thin laptops don't fry their CPU's instantly: using heat pipes they can spread the heat sink around and away from the CPU.
Check out a NASA tech brief, Thermacore a company that makes them and MIC another company that makes them for more information.
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NASA Tech BriefsHave you considered picking up a copy of NASA Tech Briefs and look through their ads? Every time I pick one up, there are ads for sensors, many of which are remote transmitting, USB connecting, fibre connection, self contained for dumping the data at a later time, and many other ingenious ways.
In fact, there is a package called LabView which is extensible and many data collectors provide modules to LabView with their sensors. LabView is predominantly a Windows product, but don't let some folk's bias get in the way of work. [Note: I'm not a Windows fan, but will use it when required or if it's the right tool for the job, which it is for things like data collection.]
I cannot attest to cost, but merely to the fact that advertising in TechBriefs has even stuck with someone who has no interest in scientific data collection, like myself. Cheers. ----- Want intelligence? Go to Stratfor.com. If it's in the news, it's too late.
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Its being done. Re:wireless tech is pretty coolTesla himself thought of this one. However, he achieved fairly poor efficiencies. The modern version of the idea is the "Rectenna". Which is basically an array of antennas connected by diodes. You can get a large DC voltage at the edges of the array. For example check
http://www.nasatech.com/Briefs/ Aug 00/NPO20641.html
Were they are talking about 50Vdc from a simple patch array. I've also heard the Koreans are pretty interested in this stuff. At a conference I was at recently they talked about a 100kW system that they'd had a demonstrator of!!!!
A good reference is
W. C. Brown The history of power transmission by radiowaves, IEEE Trans MTT, Vol MTT-32, No 9, Sept 1984
Cheers
D.
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Re:Mars exploration... why?Easy question to answer: It keeps me employed.
I resent the fact that "[American] tax dollars are going into people's pockets for doing
nothing more than blasting rockets off the surface of the earth so that we can take nice pictures."
Many overworked folks provide the scientists with the means to learn and explore. All of us use this knowledge to improve life on Earth.
As an example specifically for Mars, scientists began theorizing a "green house effect" on a planet when confronted with the question of where all the water disappeared to. Exploring only Earth to understand Earth is like researching a your cubicle or dorm room, assuming the rest of world is the same. That is a small and narrow view if you ask me.
As someone mentioned, NASA's budget is very small, less than 1% of the Federal budget. If anyone else thinks spending a few billion dollars on research is a waste of money, look at Holleywood. There is more money spent there for simply being entertained and making few folks rich. You can't do anything else with that.
With science, everyone shares. Some resources to look at:
I realize that when you are not involved with research directly, it is hard to connect the research with your own life. But believe me, it is very challenging (and rewarding) to help scientists improve everyone's lives.
~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"