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Friday, September 28, 2012

Stations in Space

Space Stations

Skylab Mission Patch
Space Stations appear everything from science-fiction dreams of extra-planetary life in space to research in low earth orbit.  For many in the public, their first experience with any sort of space station began with the iconic pinwheel style station used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Gracefully floating through space while spinning it was majestic and in 1968 when the film was released, we may have been heading toward a future with space way-station and we may be on our way there again with a new proposal by NASA to put a station on the far side of the moon at Lagrange point 2. In this post I want to talk mostly about early space station history and interesting facts pertaining to space station history.

SpaceLab and MOL

Skylab in orbit
Skylab in orbit 

The first US space station was Skylab.  Launched in 1973, Skylab orbited from 1973 till 1979 when, entering the atmosphere Skylab burned up and parts of the station were spread South-East of Perth, Australia.  Interestingly Skylab almost did not come into fruition.  The Air force was working on a Manned orbiting Laboratory(MOL) that would have been used for a variety of different experiments but mainly for reconnaissance utilizing large optical cameras as well as side scanning radar.  Eventually the Air Force decided that unmanned spy satellites were more cost effective for spying and MOL was scrapped.  Skylab orbited for 2,249 days but was only occupied for 171 during 3 manned space flights to the station.  During manned occupation of Skylab astronauts were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the Sun and collect data on the effects of microgravity on humans.
Proposed MOL Space Station

In 1974 NASA had planned to mothball Skylab but performed 2 studies detailing the reuse-ability of the station.  An early shuttle mission would have boosted Skylab to a higher orbit extending its life by another 5 years and subsequent shuttle flights would upgrade and retrofit Skylab for a variety of experiments.  In 1979 greater than expected solar activity heated the outer layers of the  Earth's atmosphere increasing drag on the orbiting station and in turn brought about its demise faster than initially expected.


Almaz

Because of the perceived threat to the Soviet Union that the MOL presented the Soviet Space program responded by developing and launching three space stations.  The Almaz program that launched the three stations designated them as civilian Salyut Space Stations  as a cover for their real military purpose.

Salyut 2


Salyut 2, the first to be launched, failed 13 days into its mission.  Three days after launch the third stage of the delivery vehicle exploded causing debris to collide and sever a fuel line.  Salyut 2 entered the atmosphere on May 28, 1973.

Salyut 3


line drawing of salyut station
Salyut Station Depiction
Second of the three Soviet spy stations to launch was also the first (from my research) to test a firearm in space.  Little is known about this mission but reports of test firing a "Self Defense" gun at 500 and 3000 meters occurred.  On January 24, 1975 the station was deorbited over the Pacific Ocean.

Salyut 5


The final of the three Salyut stations was launched on June 22, 1977 and used actively for reconnaissance but also several experiments were carried out.  Crystals were grown in space and an aquarium where fish were studied in a microgravity environment were also on board.  Additionally cosmonauts had a televised conference with school students while in space.  On the first mission the cosmonauts left earlier than planned because the air became contaminated causing physical and psychological problems for the crew.  Salyut 5 was deorbited on August 8, 1977.


I wrote this article because it interested me, and I were interested you may also be interested.  I didn't know that there was a manned space reconnaissance program until I began reading about Skylab's history, and had never really considered it.  With spy satellites I had assumed there had been no manned reconnaissance initiative but I see the logic behind the programs and the reason for their ultimate demise.

There is certainly more space station talk to be had and I plan to cover the proposed new station to be positioned Lagrange 2 and the ISS but that is for a future article.  Please feel free to comment any facts or information you  may have regarding space stations below.

Have a great weekend!

~Yati



Links to additional Resources:






Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Curiosity is a Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land


Phobos Crescent as seen by Curiosity
Phobos Crescent - JPL 
Curiosity left Earth's atmosphere on November 26th, 2011 traveling toward her new home, Mars.  Much like Valentine Michael Smith she has become a stranger in a strange land.  With the foreign landscape before Curiosity, approximately one third of Earth's gravity, and an extremely thin atmosphere, I expect the sight of a thin crescent in the sky would be a faint reminder of home.

Curiosity cannot suffer any of the organic issues we as humans may, when we visit our planet's smaller, red sister.  Curiosity won't get homesick, or miss relatives.  She won't yearn for the fall sun setting over a valley painted red and yellow by autumn.  Curiosity will not miss the fish swimming in streams or the cool mountain air.  And although I have anthropomorphised Curiosity by referring to it as "her", I have done this consciously as sailors would refer to their ships.  Sailors would speak kindly and gently to their ships and they hoped that their vessel would return the favor.

We are all sailors riding through the fabric of time and space.  On this ship you choose the level of your participation.  You can choose to ignore the greatness of what we have accomplished and will continue to accomplish.  You can choose to complain about the expenses involved in space exploration and travel, remaining ignorant you use technology directly derived from the space program on a daily basis. Or, and this is a big or, you may be one of the few who have the opportunity to enter space, you may be even one of the very, very, few who will set foot upon another extra terrestrial body within the next decade.  Or like myself you may only visit these places through your internet connection and your mind, and maybe a telescope, but this is a journey we can all take together.

~Yati

Monday, September 24, 2012

App Review: Podax

Podax Podcast Android Applicaton

Podax by axleby (free)

Google Play - Apple App Store unavailable


Google recently announced that they would be discontinuing their Android podcast application Google Listen.  I know that there were a lot of people who didn't like the interface and preferred a paid application and I can understand their position.  It wasn't a very pretty interface and adding new podcasts was often difficult and you had to find the correct RSS feed and hope that it would pick them up properly.
Podax Subscription Screen
Podax - Subscription
Refresh Page
 
However managing Google listen with Google reader simplified things and because both were so closely integrated it made subscribing much easier from the reader web interface than it ever was from the application.  However once you had gotten your podcast subscriptions sorted out, it was very basic, it would update the podcasts subscriptions and you would listen to them.  If you want to delete a podcast, you delete it.  Very simple and very easy to use.

But, because listen was yanked from the play store I decided to find replacement app that was free.  Normally I have been able to find free apps for nearly anything I might want to do.  I may have to put up with ads, or a banner, or some sort of pop-ups but free none the less.  Now that is not to say that I am against paid apps.  I have purchased a few dozen apps over the years but I generally always look for a free app before I go down the purchase rout.  

And now we get to Podax...which was not my first choice in fact it wasn't my 8th choice, I believe that this was my ninth choice (ok so we don't yet get to podax). I looked at Beyond pod ($6.99 Paid) which had good reviews and looked like it was a pretty solid app but then i found out that I would need to refresh each of my feeds individually, pro does this for you, and not wanting to refresh the 35 or so podcast I subscribe to, I moved on. Next up  My Pod ($3.86 paid) which looked good but then I found out it would only sync 10 feeds in the free version which would not work at all for me.  I also tried Double Twist which looked really cool and as a media file player it seemed to work quite well.  I even installed the desktop program and was able to manage music on my phone but if I wanted to do this wirelessly I would need to pay for that option (winamp does this for free) I could subscribe to podcasts but could not import my Google Reader subscriptions, not to say that it can't be done(there are instructions on their site that did not help me at all), however I suspect this is a paid feature and if it isn't it is not very intuitive.
Show Queue
Show Queue

Finally I happened upon  Podax.  It did import my Google Reader subscriptions immediately but then things slowed down.  When refreshing podcasts the app grinds to an apparent slow halt...however it is working in the background,really it is...wait for it...I assure you, it might be working.  It may look like it has locked up your phone, it may actually have locked the phone, but it is probably working in the background. Once all of my podcasts had been refreshed Podax then proceeded to download the fresh episodes from my discription.  Once the initial refresh was completed the download went fine and using the app was not enjoyable, but also, not a bad experience either.  I did try refreshing the podcasts again and noticed the same performance issues.  The best way to work this is to allow the app to run the podcast update and let it go.  Once it is done the interface is still a bit clunky but it is functional and I nearly always go for form over function.
Podax Subscription Screen
Podcast Sub Screen

I rated the app three out of five stars because although it works, it doesn't work well and is glitchy.  However once you get past the glitches and are able to use the app, it does work and it works fairly well.


To sum up...

The app is functional, it works, it is not pretty.  It does have glitches but it is free and ad free.  I give it a reserved recommendation as the app is maintained and hopefully gets better.  So far it is the best free podcast app i've come across however I would be happy to try any other apps you may suggest, please suggest below in the comments.


~Yati


Podax Player Screen
Podax Player Screen
  

Friday, September 21, 2012

To OV-105 Endeavour: Farewell Old Friend.

Farewell Old Friend,


For an old friend, she was the youngest in the fleet. Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Columbia, Enterprise and, of course, Endeavour, they were their own type of beautiful.  Originally the shuttle program was a glorified space trucking system.  Taking supplies and experiments to and from the International Space Station.  After the first few initial space flights, everything began to seem ordinary.  The shuttle would travel to space, perform it's mission and then glide back through the atmosphere.  Catch a ride back to the Kennedy Space Center and repeat.

But Then




I remember watching President Reagan giving the speech honoring our brave Astronauts who, as he put it
"Slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god."
I remember my elementary school teacher telling our class that she has applied for NASA's teacher in space program, the one which Christa McAuliffe got into, and died riding Challenger.  I remember that day in 1986,  we watched the Challenger launch in class because it carried, a teacher. I had watched many shuttle launches with my father, I knew something was wrong, 72 seconds after lift off when she began to break up it wasn't the boosters separating it was something else.  I remember in my class our teacher didn't know what to say to twenty 3rd graders who just watched 7 astronauts die.  I didn't think this goodbye would be that difficult to write but it was very sad, and still brings a tear to my eye.

Endeavour got her Name


Endeavour
prior to mission STS-127, May 31, 2009
I participated when NASA later sponsored a naming campaign for the next shuttle that was just called "the orbiter" by the news outlets.  We were instructed to find and research an old sailing vessel that contributed in some way to exploration.  Always having loved pirates, especially Black Beard, I wrote an essay asking NASA to name the new orbiter the Queen Anne's Revenge, I still think that would have been really cool.

Endeavour, named after the HMS Endeavour gained a fitting name.  the HMS Endeavour rounded cape horn and explored Australia.  She was commanded by Lieutenant James Cook (later Captain Cook) and she observed the 1769 transit of Venus.  But I still like the Queen Anne's Revenge.

The unfortunate result of the closing of the shuttle program is that NASA now does not have a manned space transport.  And what is truly sad about this, is due to  massive budget cuts for the past 31 years NASA's manned flight program consisted only of low earth orbit flights.  

We Can't Stop Here


Not to take any glory from a  program that has yielded so many achievements.  Achievements which have allowed us to learn so much.  And still with continuing budget cuts and the federal government's inability to act in the interest of our future, we still have not put a man on Mars, and we have not returned to the Moon.

 Quoting Robert Zubrin
"It shouldn't be humans to Mars in 50 years. It should be humans to Mars in 10"
And then after that, lets land on Titan or an asteroid.  Lets discover if there is life under the icy surface of Europa.

My great hope is that with the last flight of Endeavour, and so many people watching the skies, so many tweets and so many instagram photos.  So many facebook posts and so many news reporters covering the shuttle's last chapter.  My hope is that we do not lose the excitement we felt watching OV-105 taking her final flight.

We must go on we must enter deep space and we must succeed.

~Yati

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Virgin Mars?

Virgin Mars



Sir Richard Branson recently announced that he is "determined" to establish a human population on Mars.  Branson is well known for his virgin brand record stores, phone service, Virgin airways and of course Virgin Galactic an upcoming space tourism venture.

Mars as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope
Branson is also  known for his relaxed yet driven style, and although I would prefer to see NASA or the ESA (but really NASA) establish the first Mars settlement, if we can see an increase in our technological knowledge or capabilities due to Branson's Mars endeavors it would be better than no advancement at all. 

At a point in history where NASA's budget is shrinking steadily, an investment by the private sector is better than no investment.  However what private sector companies develop, they own.  They do not have to share their technology, and they can charge whatever price they wish.  When the public sector (NASA, ESA, National Science Foundation, etc) develop a technology it is available freely to the public to be built upon.  New companies and in some cases whole new industries are created. 
Richard Branson
Photo by David Shankbone


Science and scientists who traditionally had worked in the public sphere were able to share and build on ideas working cooperatively and arriving at solutions faster than they would be able to alone.  Private entities wish to keep information secret, or wish to patent it to protect their investment.  This in and of itself is not evil or wrong, obviously who wouldn't want to protect their investment, but generally this can slow down formation of new theories and technologies.

So, Sir Richard Branson, Good luck!  I hope you are able to open a luxury resort on Mars, I just hope Penny4NASA and citizen support for our public space program allows NASA to beat you there.

~Yati



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Curiosity Day 43

This is how Curiosity Rolls!


Curiosity's Progression by Sol
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

The above map shows the progress Curiosity has made from sol 0, (August 6, 2012) through today Sol 43 (September 19th, 2012).

Depicted above is the trek Curiosity has made after setting down at Bradbury Landing.  The trek follows an eastward path toward the Glenelg area.

Glenelg, Mars (or Glenelg Intrigue) is located near Gale Crater and is a natural meeting point for three types of terrain which Curiosity will examine, one of which is layered bedrock which will feel the bite of Curiosities drill.

The name Glenelg came from a geological point of interest near Yellowknife, Canada.  Other named geological features in the area derive their names from the Yellowknife area.  The name is also a palindrome which is dovetails nicely with  Curiosity's intended path which is programmed to pass Glenelg twice. 

Currently Curiosity has 290 Meters on it's odometer, and hopefully many more klicks to go!


~Yati

I previously covered Curiosity's first jaunt here








Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Thorium Nuclear Power NOW!

The Case for Thorium



Japan's Nuclear Problem


Recently, news reports have indicated that Japan will be discontinuing their Nuclear power programs, this is not only startling but disheartening.  As more and more coal burning plants are constructed CO2 gas emissions continue to rise and continue to increase the temperature of our global climate.

I know many will cite the fact that fissile waste material is dangerous and expensive to store and arguably worse pollutant than CO2, and that is a fair assessment, this is where Thorium comes in.

Before I make my case for Thorium I want to go over the some of the history of nuclear power and some of the reasons why it was relatively unsafe and why Thorium is safe and necessary if our species is to last on this planet with real quality of life in the future.

Part of the reason so many nuclear reactors were built in the 60s and 70s was to gain plutonium which in turn was used in nuclear weapons in the escalating arms race against the USSR.

Hundreds of water cooled fission reactors were built all over the world.  Water cooled reactors were much more popular and can easily been observed with the large cooling towers and large containment structures around the reactor itself.  In order to efficiently turn the turbines water is super-heated under pressure, if pressure were to be lost the liquid would flash into steam, a volume differential of over 1500 to 1.  If the containment structure is too small, or if there is a leak, then water bearing radioactive material would enter the atmosphere.

Now not all is doom and gloom, even with our current nuclear technology, watt for watt nuclear power is the safest energy source currently in use claiming fewer lives per watt than any other power source.

Enter Thorium

Thorium has actually been used as a fuel for many years and there were several reactors built in the United States that operated without a significant accident.  There are several reactors currently using Thorium as a fuel supply, for example the Indian 3-Stage Program. Thorium is the 39th most common element in the earth's crust making it readily available the however for Thorium to become fissile it must first be transmuted to Uranium 233.  With current fission reactors this is possible and as with India's 3 stage process the first two stages are utilized to create the thorium fuel used in the final stage.

The Thorium molten salt reactor design was championed by Dr. Alvin Weinberg of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Originally designed for use in long range aircraft and known as the "chemist's reactor" Oak Ridge studied and experimented with the Molten Salt Thorium Reactor for many years until 1973 when Dr. Weinberg was fired by the Nixon administration. Dr. Weinberg was fired because he wished to continue pursue Thorium and Molten Salt research but the administration wished to research the riskier Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors.  After Dr. Wineberg's departure from Oak Ridge Thorium research in the US waned.

Resurgance


Interest in Molten Salt Reactors powered by Thorium fuel has recently increased due in large part to the efforts of Kirk Sorensen who came upon the idea while attempting to design a power source for the Moon.  He found that there is a great amount of Thorium on the Moon and although there is no atmosphere allowing solar energy to work well there is a two week night while the Moon orbits the Earth making solar energy much less effective due to current battery storage technology.  While researching methods of nuclear power generation he found a book dealing with Thorium reactors from the early days of Nuclear Power.

Safety


We worry about nuclear meltdowns, or environmental issues causing problems with nuclear plants (fukushima in japan for example) or spent fuel disposal issues.  Although the odds of another Chernobyl or 3-mile island occurring are very small there is a possibility with ageing infrastructure and cost cutting.  If a water cooled nuclear reactor loses the ability to circulate it's coolant it can melt down or breach, if a Thorium powered Molten Salt Reactor loses the ability to circulate the Molten Salt coolant a salt plug at the bottom of the reactor will melt and the liquid will drop into a small containment system below the reactor.  Because Molten Salt will not boil and does not require expansion if there is a loss of pressure.  Japan has publicly stated that they are going to be steering away from nuclear power but are considering Thorium as an answer.

More Power To you!

~Yati


Below I have provided several links to additional information as well as Kirk Sorensen's Ted Talk about Thorium Reactors

Smart Planet Article on Thorium
Japanese Consider Thorium
Kirk Sorensen's Site http://energyfromthorium.com/




Sunday, September 16, 2012

Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Death

Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Death


In 1998 The Lancet published a paper penned by Andrew Wakefield linking autism with the MMR(Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine.  Media coverage was wide spread including impassioned interviews of parents of autistic children who believed that they had caused their children's autism by inoculating them with the MMR vaccine.  This caused confidence in the vaccine to falter world-wide resulting in fewer children receiving the vaccination and greater instances of outbreaks of Measles, Mumps and Rubella.

This new religion of those who follow the anti-vaccine mantra will not be swayed.  Even after several papers have been published refuting the results of Wakefield's paper, vaccine administration rates have remained lower and incidence of measles have increased dramatically.  

We all care and worry about our kids.  We worry about the food they eat, the education they receive, and what may be in store for them in the future.  It is hard for us to be impartial and look at things based on data and science when our children's health is in the balance especially, when sensational claims by experts, friends, and media outlets seed doubt in our minds.  The reaction of most parents it to avoid any perceived risks for their children and this is natural, it is gut instinct, a feeling. But feelings and gut instincts are not truth. No matter how much we would like them to be they are not, and because of this we should educate ourselves and wrap ourselves in the warm blanket of reason and data.

Wakefield & Bad Science = Rise of the Virus

Measles Infection
I twas found in his paper, Wakefield was found to have had several undisclosed financial conflicts of interest with MMR studies.  He was given the opportunity to replicate his experiments or retract his paper and he declined to do either.  10 of his coauthors retracted the paper's interpretation in 2004 yet he remained steadfast in his support of his position.

The results are that we now face a world where uncommon diseases will be come common again. Mumps and Measles are on the rise.  In the England and Wales during the first 6 months of 2012 twice as many cases of measles have been reported as had been reported in the same time period for 2011.  These diseases have been taken for granted for decades because vaccines have protected us and our children.

Heard Immunity

Those who do not immunize their children are putting all of us at risk.  They can, not only contract and spread diseases causing billions in public funds but due to the larger un-vaccinated population, those who are unable to receive vaccination because of medical issues are no longer protected by heard immunity.  Heard immunity occurs where a large percentage of a population is vaccinated against a disease. Those who have not been administered vaccination are relatively safe because of the large number of vaccinated people that surround them.  This reduces the probability that they will encounter an infected person and, if infected the are much less likely to infect others.

Those who choose  not to inoculate their children are not only making the decision to leave their children unprotected from potentially deadly diseases like the measles, but they are also choosing to put children who are unable to be vaccinated at risk as well.

Please, read everything about the MMR Vaccine and understand the entire picture before making a decision, and I encourage you to get your children vaccinated!


~Yati

Here are several links that discuss the flawed study as well as other general vaccination information:


MMR Vaccination Rates (Europe 2011)



Friday, September 14, 2012

Tech Video:Import Excel Data into a SQL 2012 Table

 Import Excel Data into a SQL 2012 Table


This is a brief posting with my first YouTube video, as promised I detailed the process in a video that I had first mentioned in the original screen shot article I created a few days ago. I will also be creating a short video that goes over the reverse process, bringing data from a SQL Table into an Excel Spreadsheet similar to this article I had posted.


Have a good one!

~Yati

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

App Review: Battery


Battery HD by samllite.ch (free)

Google Play - Apple App Store unavailable


The Battery HD application by smalllite.ch is a great battery app for your android device.

Untitled
Main Screen
One of the firs things I began noticing when I first began using my android phone was that the battery indicator seemed to go from full, to half, and then to empty, and it was difficult to know how much time I might actually be able to use my phone. 

 I had tried several battery apps over time, as I am sure many of you, dear readers, have as well.  What I noticed most about this application is that i am still using it on my phone approximately 6 months after first installing it.  That is in and of itself a good reason to endorse the application, however there are several very interesting features this app offers.
Untitled
One of the info Screens

The first Feature i would like to mention is the information screen.  pull down the status bar and click on the running application you are presented with a visual depiction of your battery, and this is very similar to most of the other apps available out on the app store.  The difference I noticed here (and there may be other apps out there that do this i've jsut settled on this one) is that you are able to glean a great amount of information from the various screens.

If you swipe to right to left you can see how long it would take to charge your battery both on AC and via USB.  you can see how long you would be able to use a flashlight app, how long you might be able to talk, how long you will be able to use WIFI, and so on.

Untitled
Discharge Graph
There is a discharge graph that you can also display that will show the speed at which your battery discharges over time.

There are several options that can be configured and although I had installed the free version it appears as if all of the options that are most useful are available and configurable.  In fact the only thing that reveals that this is a free vs paid app is the advertisements that appear. 

The ads are neither intrusive nor annoying and other than wanting to give some money to the developer, (which isn't a bad idea) it isn't necessary to purchase the full app.

One of the more useful features of the app is a numerical battery percentage that is shown at the upper-left hand side of the status bar (86 in the instance of my phone at the time I took the screen shot).


Untitled
Available Options
Overall this is a great application and has many useful features and options.  It certainly fulfilled my needs in a battery application for my android phone.  I recommend this application.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars because although it is a great app there are a lot of other battery apps available that are similar and it isn't a "game changer" sort of app.  But again it is excellent at what it does.  


~Yati



Untitled
Charging Screen







Monday, September 10, 2012

We Must Ride the Lightning


Lightning_by_Stock_by_KaiWe Must Ride the Lightning and Ride it well…

A quote from Robert Heinlein, he was referring to technology and warfare in the atomic age but I am going to discuss lightning.   Lightning is pretty common, we’ve all observed it, and some of us have even had the opportunity misfortune of being its conductor.  Odds that a person in the United States will “ride the lightning” once in their lifetime (naturally, not as ordered by the state) is approximately 1 in 3,000.  Lightning here within our terrestrial amphitheater, with all of its truly awe inspiring power and might still seems fairly mundane because it is a fairly common occurrence.  In this article we are going to discuss extraterrestrial lightning.  But first, what is lightning?

What is lightning?
Many of you may know what lightning is, but it bears repeating for those who may not.  Lightning is a large electrostatic discharge caused by a differential in electrical charge within the atmosphere.  Simply put, ground discharge lightning occurs when the ground and atmosphere have a difference in charge that is so great that difference discharges in the form of a large spark. Lightning is similar to when a person shuffles their feet along the ground and gets a shock when touching a door knob.  That is all fine and good, but other planets have lightning?
071128155513-large
Artist's Depiction of a Venusian Storm

Venus

Earth is not the only planet that has an atmospheres so it stands to reason that other planets may have atmospheric conditions leading to lightning strikes.  The first recorded lightning strike was recorded by the Russian Venera 12 space probe, these results were later called into question in 1999 when the Cassini space orbiter flew by and detected no signs of lightning.  However in 2005 the ESA launched the Venus Express orbiter which was able to confirm that lightning does occur in the Venusian atmosphere.  One fact that makes Venus’ lightning unique and interesting when compared with other planets, is that the Venusian clouds are comprised of sulfuric acid rather than water. This means the mechanics of rain drops falling and rubbing amongst each other causing the charges to build also occurs with other chemicals.  This could mean that on Titan with its methane seas, and methane rain most likely also experiences lightning.  If this is the case we may be able to peek into an environment somewhat similar to Earth’s own primordial state currently taking place on the surface of Titan.


Jupiter

jupiter
Jupiter Storm
In 2007 the New Horizons mission, a very exciting mission in its own right, used Jupiter for a gravity assist on its way to Pluto (still a planet at the time and still a planet in our hearts) was able to record lightning strikes near the Jupiter’s North and South poles.  Some of the bolts were up to 10 times as powerful as any lightning strikes recorded on earth.  During both the Galileo mission in the 90s and voyager probe in 1979 lightning was recorded nearer the equator.  Similar to storms that occur on Earth water vapor rises and ice particles form, then fall colliding on their way down towards the surface, building electrical charge which then discharges as lightning.  Jovian storms not only have extremely energetic lightning, but due to the incredible gravity rain falls faster causing the charges to build quickly.  Jupiter’s storms are often larger than the entire Earth, and along with gravity, and an extremely dry atmosphere, an atmosphere made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, the rain can fall very fast.  All of these things culminate into the…perfect…storm.

Saturn

PIA14921_690x460
Saturn Lightning
Daytime lightning had not been observed until March 6, 2011.  The Cassini spacecraft was able to visually observe a lightning strike in a very large storm.  Scientists have calculated that the bolt Cassini saw was about 3 billion watts and lasted for one second.  The flash was approximately 100 miles in diameter and exited the top of the cloud surface. 

The very fact that other planets exhibit and experience atmospheric conditions similar to those found on Earth helps shape our perception of the planets around us.  They are different from ours and we may not be able to live on them, for now, but they are more similar than one would first suppose.  Of course we would not have been able to learn about these weather patterns if NASA, the ESA and the Russian Space programs had not sent space vehicles to explore them.  The insight we gain by observing weather on other planets may help us to understand the weather here on the planet we call home.

~Yati

The following quite is taken from a memo that Robert Heinlein wrote to for the Naval Air Material Command in 1945 it is a bit of a pessimistic viewpoint for humanity, but this was not an uncommon view held by many scientists at the time.   None the less it is where I derived the title of this posting and they are still the words of Heinlein.

This question needs to be approached with humility and with real desire to serve rather than simply with the idea of preserving a particular bureaucratic institution as a going concern. It may be conclusively assumed that, while war may possibly be successfully outlawed through the use or the threat of the use of the atomic bomb, the atomic bomb itself may no more be outlawed than sex or the silent stars. It’s here, we’ve got it. It is a fait accompli. We must at all times be ready and willing to use it. If our culture is to survive we must contain that power with sober judgment and humanity. It is a simple fact that (1) we can not afford a war ever again, (2) the atomic bomb cannot be abolished, nor can it be indefinitely kept from other peoples. We must ride the lightning and ride it well. I conceive the atomic bomb as being the force behind the police power for a planetary peace. Perhaps the custodian will be called the “Armed Forces of the U.S.” or perhaps the “Peace Forces of 

 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Tech: SQL String Concatenation

sql_server

Tech: SQL String Concatenation

This will be a very short basic article dealing with very basic string concatenation.

In this instance I was asked to combine a first name and last name in a table.  First names and last names are separate columns in the SQL database I happened to be working with.  For full MSDN reference you can go to this link.

First

Here is a simple SQL statement, I am retrieving the top 10 first and last names 

select top 10 first_name, last_name
from ccontacts
This script will return the first 10 first and last names from the table named ccontacts.

resluts_no_concat

You can see that the results contain a first name and last name.  Now I need the first name and last name returned in one column separated by a space, similar to the way you would see them in regular print.

To return results like this we need to use a simple concatenation statement within the select statement.

In order to return the first name and last name together as a full name field as you can see below, adding the first name, a blank space ' ', and the last name will return both first and last name as a full name field.  I used the 'as' modifier to allow the column name to be fullname.
select top 10 first_name, last_name, ( first_name  + ' ' +  last_name ) as fullname from ccontacts
Here you can see the results with firstname_name, last_name, and fullname.

slq_concat_fname_lname

Now lets say that we want the first name and last name but we want the format to be last name then a comma, space, and finally first name.


select top 10 first_name, last_name, ( last_name  + ', ' +  first_name ) as fullname from ccontacts

As you can see below we are still returning the first name, last name, but now the fullname column is last name, comma, space, first name.


slq_concat_lname_comma_fname

As I mentioned at the onset of this article, it would be very simple, dealing with simple string concatenation.  While working my "day job" as I run into small tech issues I will continue to create articles such as these to outline tech issues in general.

have a great day!

~Yati   


Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe


The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Space Food


Another of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Douglas Adams .  I have borrowed his title to write about food in space.  A little bit of history and a little bit of future.  

Firsts

Yuriy Alekseyevich Gagarin was the first human to pull back our planet's drapes and leave the atmosphere for outer space.  He consumed 3 containers of food, they were shaped similar to toothpaste tubes.  Each weighing 160g.  Two were pureed meat and one was a chocolate sauce.  Similarly John Glen squeezed apple sauce from a tube as part of an experiment, Initially US scientists were concerned that swallowing would be difficult in low gravity but John Glen reported no issues when he consumed applesauce.

As space technology improved so did the food that was available to astronauts.  The food slowly evolved from tubes of various pureed items or gelatin coated dry snack foods to freeze dried foods reconstituted by water.

apollo-peas-orange-drink-cocoaBy the time Neil Armstrong was getting ready for the Apollo mission that would make him a household name, food for space use had come a long way.  But there were many concerns that needed to be addressed that were not necessary for the first human forays into space.  First Apollo 11 would be an 8 day mission, therefore the food would not just be there for Astronauts to satisfy a short term craving, the food was necessary.   It needed to be calorie and nutrient packed and it needed to survive launch and spaceflight and be somewhat palatable.

By early space food standards the Apollo Astronauts ate like kings.  Hot dogs and thermo-stabilized cheddar cheese were a couple of things on the menu along with bacon cubes.   Beverages included coffee and an orange-grapefruit drink.  Tang which is often associated with space was not provisioned on Apollo 11.

Space Shuttle Food 

When regular space flight by the Space Shuttle Missons began the array and variety of foods had increased dramatically.  The latest nutrition technology was used to design meals that would fit each individual astronaut based on their height and weight. A standard menu was base around a standard shuttle mission of 7 days and each Astronaut could choose to substitute foods from the standard menu for other selections they prefer.
Food preparation was performed  in a galley, mid deck, that contained a water dispenser and oven for warming foods and re-hydrating meals.

Astronauts used a food tray that could hold food containers for their meal.  They used conventional knives, forks and spoons with the addition of scissors to open Mylar bags.  

Future

File:Mars atmosphere.jpgCurrently NASA is working out menu items and methods for a manned mission to mars in the 2030's,  this food will be different.  First the mission length will be much greater than any other manned mission to date.  Current reported mission timeline is 6 months to the red planet.  18 months on the surface of Mars and 6 months back home.  Food will need to last a really long time and still be edible.  

Thanks to previous space food technologies there is quite a variety, which is very important for such a long mission.  During space flight due to lack of gravity the sense of taste and smell is diminished causing foods to taste bland.  Of course you don't want someone opening up a bottle of ghost pepper sauce to spice things up at micro gravity, or everyone will have a bad day.  

mars food
These are the same dishes
Which would you eat?
But with the gravity provided by Mars meals should be able to be a bit more flavorful and easier to prepare. This is a game-changer in food preparation planning for NASA.  Gravity is less than that which is on earth and atmospheric pressures are different causing the boiling point  of water to be different.  It may be possible to efficiently boil water in a pressure cooker and fresh vegetables could be cooked easily this way.  I mentioned in a previous article about space farming, a very possible solution to getting fresh food in space is the though the use of high tech agriculture while in space.  A small green house could help provide some oxygen as well as fresh produce and unless the astronauts are up for a raw, diet boiling and cooking would become important.

Currently Maya Cooper, a senior researcher at Lockheed Martin is working with a team to develop the menu and methods for keeping astronauts fed on the mars mission.  Her team has already come up with about 100 recipies.  All of these recipes are vegetarian due to the distinct lack of cows and chickens on Mars.    To keep the menu fresh and to keep the other astronauts performing research it is possible that one astronaut will be chosen to be Mar's own Gordon Ramsay, allowing them to study the sustainability of food outside Earth's atmosphere, and possibly off-world farming.  This sort of research is an important precursor to sustained living outside our planet's environment.


I personally like ramen noodles and would be happy to eat them during long duration spaceflight.  They are light, long lasting, and they have all the necessary nutrients...right?  Ok probably not but them I am not going to mars.

Have a great day, and eat a great meal!

~Yati