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Message: 1 Astronauts Ready for Final Spacewalk The crew of space shuttle Endeavour was awakened by the song “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” performed by Steve Tyrell and played especially for Commander Mark Polansky. Message: 2 Final Spacewalk Begins at 7:33 a.m. EDT Spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn began the fifth and final STS-127 spacewalk at 7:33 a.m. EDT. Message: 3 Final Spacewalk Begins at 7:33 a.m. EDT STS-127’s fifth and final planned spacewalk began almost an hour early when Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy switched their spacesuits to battery power at 7:33 a.m. EDT. The space walk is expected to last 6.5 hours. Message: 4 Final Spacewalk Proceeding Ahead of Schedule Both Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy completed their first tasks ahead of schedule and are moving to the Japanese Exposed Facility to install two video cameras. The cameras, one in the front and one in the rear, will provide views to help with rendezvous and berthing of Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), an unmanned cargo craft scheduled to make its first deliveries to the space station in September. Message: 5 Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility
This image shows the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility as it looks from inside Kibo. The Japanese Experiment Module, or JEM, called Kibo --... Message: 6 Get Ahead Tasks for Spacewalkers Two hours, 45 minutes into the spacewalk, Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy completed installing two video cameras on the Japanese Exposed Facility that will provide views to help with rendezvous and berthing of Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) later this year. Based on the amount of time needed to clean up after the spacewalk, Mission Control decided to defer the deployment of a Payload Attachment System on the Starboard 3 truss. Instead, the spacewalkers will undertake a few “get ahead tasks.” Message: 7 STS-127 Crew Completes Fifth and Final Spacewalk Spacewalkers Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy completed a four hour, 54 minute spacewalk at 12:27 p.m. EDT. Message: 8 Mission Status Briefing Rescheduled Today’s Mission Status Briefing has been moved to 3 p.m. EDT. It will air on NASA TV and on the web, http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. The participants are STS-127 Lead International Space Station Flight Director Holly Ridings and STS-127 Lead Spacewalk Officer Kieth Johnson. |
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
nasa update 27.7.09
Saturday, July 25, 2009
MEMRISTOR INVENTED "FINALLY"- THE NEW ANALOG REVOLUTION
MEMRISTOR
DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION
A memristor /ˈmemrɪstər/ ("memory resistor") is any of various kinds of passive two-terminal circuit elements that maintain a functional relationship between the time integrals of current and voltage. This function, called memristance, is similar to variable resistance. Specifically engineered memristors provide controllable resistance, but such devices are not commercially available. Other devices like batteries and varistors have memristance, but it does not normally dominate their behavior. The definition of the memristor is based solely on fundamental circuit variables, similarly to the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. Unlike those three elements, which are allowed in linear time-invariant or LTI system theory, memristors are nonlinear and may be described by any of a variety of time-varying functions of net charge. There is no such thing as a generic memristor. Instead, each device implements a particular function, wherein either the integral of voltage determines the integral of current, or vice versa. A linear time-invariant memristor is simply a conventional resistor.
Memristor theory was formulated and named by Leon Chua in a 1971 paper. Chua extrapolated the conceptual symmetry between the resistor, inductor, and capacitor, and inferred that the memristor is a similarly fundamental device. Other scientists had already used fixed nonlinear flux-charge relationships, but Chua's theory introduces generality.
On April 30, 2008 a team at HP Labs announced the development of a switching memristor. Based on a thin film of titanium dioxide, it has a regime of operation with an approximately linear charge-resistance relationship. These devices are being developed for application in nanoelectronic memories, computer logic, and neuromorphic computer architectures.DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION
TODAYS NASA UPDATE JULY 26
Message: 1
From: NASA News Services
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:02:00 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Battery Work During Fourth Spacewalk
Battery Work During Fourth Spacewalk
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:37:40 -0500
The joint crew of Endeavour and the station was awakened at 5:03 a.m. EDT by Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” played for lead spacewalker Dave Wolf.
Spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will head outside at 9:58 a.m. to swap out all four of the remaining P6 truss batteries, a task that is expected to take about seven and a half hours. Two of the six original P6 batteries were changed out during the mission’s third spacewalk on Wednesday, but work was stopped when carbon dioxide levels in Cassidy’s suit began to rise, unexpectedly.
Message: 2
From: NASA News Services
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:03:46 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Giants Among Us
Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:00:00 -0500
Apollo 11 astronauts, from left, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stand in recognition of astronaut John Glenn during the U.S House of...
Message: 3
From: NASA News Services
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:01:03 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Fourth Spacewalk Begins at 9:54 a.m. EDT
Fourth Spacewalk Begins at 9:54 a.m. EDT
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:59:05 -0500
Spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn began the STS-127 mission’s fourth spacewalk at 9:54 a.m. EDT when they switched their spacesuits to battery power.
They will replace four of the remaining Port 6 truss batteries in a planned seven and a half hour spacewalk. Two of the six original P6 batteries were changed out during the mission’s third spacewalk on Wednesday before work was cut short because of anomalous carbon dioxide levels in Cassidy’s suit. The lithium hydroxide canister that scrubs CO2 from the suit was replaced for today’s spacewalk.
The new batteries are stored on the Integrated Cargo Carrier – Vertical Light Deployable, or ICC-VLD positioned near the Port 6 truss. Cassidy and Marshburn will work together to remove insulation from the old Port 6 batteries, install scoops to gently remove them, pass the batteries back and forth to a stowage location on the ICC-VLD, and repeat the process to replace them with the new batteries.
Each new battery assembly consists of 38 lightweight Nickel Hydrogen cells and associated electrical and mechanical equipment. Two battery assemblies connected in series are capable of storing a total of 8 kW of electrical power. This power is fed to the space station via the Battery Charge/Discharge Unit and Direct Current Switching Unit respectively. The batteries have a design life of 6.5 years and can exceed 38,000 charge/discharge cycles at 35% depth of discharge. Each battery measures 40” by 36” by 18” and weighs 375 pounds.
Message: 4
From: NASA News Services
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:00:45 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: First Battery Replaced
First Battery Replaced
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:32:56 -0500
At 11:17 a.m. EDT, STS-127 Mission Specialists Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replaced the first of four batteries they plan to exchange during today’s spacewalk. They just completed releasing the fourth old battery from its location on the space station’s Port 6 truss.
An hour and 35 minutes into the spacewalk, they are on the planned timeline and their spacesuit consumable levels are normal.
Friday, July 24, 2009
NEW JUPITER COLLISION DEDUCTED
Hubble Space Telescope Captures Rare Jupiter Collision
07.24.09
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.), and the Jupiter Impact Team
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest visible-light picture yet of atmospheric debris from an object that collided with Jupiter on July 19. NASA scientists decided to interrupt the recently refurbished observatory's checkout and calibration to take the image of a new, expanding spot on the giant planet on July 23.
Discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley, the spot was created when a small comet or asteroid plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere and disintegrated. The only other time such a feature has been seen on Jupiter was 15 years ago after the collision of fragments from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
"Because we believe this magnitude of impact is rare, we are very fortunate to see it with Hubble," said Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Details seen in the Hubble view shows a lumpiness to the debris plume caused by turbulence in Jupiter's atmosphere."
The new Hubble images also confirm that a May servicing visit by space shuttle astronauts was a big success.
"This image of the impact on Jupiter is fantastic," said U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee. "It tells us that our astronauts and the ground crew at the Goddard Space Flight Center successfully repaired the Hubble telescope. I'm so proud of them and I can't wait to see what's next from Hubble."
For the past several days, Earth-based telescopes have been trained on Jupiter. To capture the unfolding drama 360 million miles away, Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, gave observation time to a team of astronomers led by Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
"Hubble's truly exquisite imaging capability has revealed an astonishing wealth of detail in the impact site," Hammel said. "By combining these images with our ground-based data at other wavelengths, our Hubble data will allow a comprehensive understanding of exactly what is happening to the impact debris."
Simon-Miller estimated the diameter of the impacting object was the size of several football fields. The force of the explosion on Jupiter was thousands of times more powerful than the suspected comet or asteroid that exploded over the Siberian Tunguska River Valley in June 1908.
The image was taken with the Wide Field Camera 3. The new camera, installed by the astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis in May, is not yet fully calibrated. While it is possible to obtain celestial images, the camera's full power has yet to be seen.
"This is just one example of what Hubble's new, state-of-the-art camera can do, thanks to the STS-125 astronauts and the entire Hubble team," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "However, the best is yet to come."
TODAYS NASA UPDATE
Message: 1
From: NASA News Services
Subject: Kibo Robotics Work Planned Today
Kibo Robotics Work Planned Today
The combined STS-127 and Expedition 20 crew was awakened at 5:33 a.m. EDT with the song “Tiny Dancer,” performed by Elton John. The song was selected for Endeavour Commander Mark Polansky.
At 9 a.m. EDT NASA Television will air a news conference introducing the crew of Expedition 21, astronaut Jeff Williams, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and spaceflight participant Guy Lalibert� of Canada.
The Kibo robotic arm will be used for the first time operationally to move space station hardware. Koichi Wakata and Tim Kopra will transfer two experiments and a communication system from the Japanese Exposed Section to the Japanese Exposed Facility. The Inter-orbit Communication System (ICS) is the Kibo-specific communications system for uplinking and downlinking data, images and voice between Kibo and the Mission Control Center at Tsukuba Space Center by way of Japan’s own relay satellite, the Data Relay Test Satellite, or DRTS. The two experiments are Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) and Space Environment Data Acquisition equipment – Attached Payload (SEDA-AP).
Kibo Japanese Experiment Module
Experiments in Kibo focus on space medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production, biotechnology and communications research. Kibo experiments and systems are operated from the Mission Control Room at the Space Station Operations Facility, or SSOF, at Tsukuba Space Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, just north of Tokyo.Image to right: Kibo's Pressurized Module, shown here at its manufacturing facility in Nagoya, Japan, is 11.2 meters (36.7 feet) long. Photo courtesy of JAXA.
Kibo consists of six components: two research facilities -- the Pressurized Module and Exposed Facility; a Logistics Module attached to each of them; a Remote Manipulator System; and an Inter-Orbit Communication System unit. Kibo also has a scientific airlock through which experiments are transferred and exposed to the external environment of space. The various components of JEM will be assembled in space over the course of three Space Shuttle missions. The missions are designated assembly flights 1J, 1J/A and 2J/A.
Pressurized Module
The Pressurized Module, or PM, provides a shirt-sleeve environment in which astronauts conduct microgravity experiments. There are a total of 23 racks, including 10 experiment racks, inside the PM providing a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control and experiment support functions.Image to left: Kibo's Pressurized Module. Photo courtesy of JAXA.
The PM is 11.2 meters (36.7 feet) long and 4.4 meters (14.4 feet) in diameter, about the size of a large tour bus.
Exposed Facility
The Exposed Facility, or EF, is a unique platform on the ISS that is located outside of the Pressurized Module and is continuously exposed to the space environment. Astronauts exchange experiment payloads or hardware from the Pressurized Module through the scientific airlock using the Kibo Remote Manipulator System. Items positioned on the exterior platform focus on Earth observation as well as communication, scientific, engineering and materials science experiments.
The EF is a platform that can hold up to 10 experiment payloads at a time and measures 5.6 meters (18.4 feet) wide, 5 meters (16.4 feet) high and 4 meters (13.1 feet) long.
Experiment Logistics Modules (Pressurized and Exposed Sections)
The Experiment Logistics Modules, or ELMs, serve as on-orbit storage areas that house materials for experiments, maintenance tools and supplies. The Pressurized Module and the Exposed Facility each have an ELM.
Pressurized Section:The Experiment Logistics Module - Pressurized Section, or ELM-PS, is a short cylinder attached to the top of the Pressurized Module that can hold eight experiment racks. It measures 4.4 meters (14.4 feet) in diameter and 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) long.
Exposed Section: The Experiment Logistics Module - Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, is a pallet that can hold three experiment payloads. It measures 4.9 meters (16.1 feet) wide, 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) high and 4.2 meters (13.8 feet) long.
Remote Manipulator System
The Remote Manipulator System, or RMS, consists of two robotic arms that support operations on the outside of Kibo. The Main Arm can handle up to 6.4 metric tons (14,000 pounds) of hardware and the Small Fine Arm, when attached to the Main Arm, handles more delicate operations. Each arm has six joints that mimic the movements of a human arm.Image to right: A prototype for the Small Fine Arm was tested during a Space Shuttle mission in 1997.
Astronauts operate the robot arms from a remote computer console inside the Pressurized Module and watch external images from a camera attached to the Main Arm on a television monitor at the RMS console. The arms are specifically used to exchange experiment payloads or hardware located on the Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module - Exposed Section and from inside the Pressurized Module through a scientific airlock, support maintenance tasks of Kibo and handle orbital replacement units.
The operations of a prototype Small Fine Arm were evaluated as part of the Manipulator Flight Demonstration experiment conducted during the STS-85 Space Shuttle mission in 1997.
The Main Arm measures 9.9 meters (32.5 feet) long, and the Small Fine Arm measures 1.9 meters (6.2 feet).
Inter-Orbit Communication System
The Inter-Orbit Communication System, or ICS, allows the operators in the Mission Control Room at the SSOF at Tsukuba Space Center to send commands to Kibo and receive system, payload and video data from Kibo for scientific payload operations. The Mission Control Room uses the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, or TDRSS, to communicate with the ICS. An external ICS unit handles communications with TDRSS, while an internal ICS unit located in the Pressurized Module handles data exchange throughout the Kibo facilities.
Mission Control Room
The Mission Control Room, or MCR, is the hub of round-the-clock, real-time operations of Kibo. Ongoing control of Kibo systems such as the electric power distribution system and the thermal control system, monitoring the condition of Japanese experiment equipment, sending control commands, and real-time operations planning is conducted here. A flight director oversees all operations in the MCR.
Experiment status and measurement data are distributed to users from the MCR. Researchers and those in charge of experiment operations are located in a User Operations Area at the SSOF, where they monitor, control and analyze experiment data, as well as support and carry out on-orbit experiments from the ground
NASA STUDENTS PROGRAM
NASA Student Airborne Research Program Takes Flight
NASA's Student Airborne Research program runs from July 6 to Aug. 14 in California. The program began with lectures from university faculty members, research institutions and NASA scientists at the University of California, Irvine. One of the speakers is Sherwood Rowland of the University of California, Irvine, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry, who is a long-time user of NASA's DC-8 airborne capabilities for his research on atmospheric chemistry.
Using the DC-8 flying laboratory based at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., the students will get a rare behind-the-scenes look at instrument integration, flight planning and payload testing that is the basis of every successful Earth Science airborne campaign carried out by NASA. These airborne research campaigns play a pivotal role in the calibration and validation of NASA's space-borne Earth observations, remote sensing measurements and the high-resolution imagery for Earth system science.
Divided into the investigative groups of atmospheric science, algal blooms and crop classification, students will have the opportunity to fly aboard one of two six-hour DC-8 flights departing from NASA's Palmdale facility. The aircraft will travel north over the San Joaquin Valley for an air-quality investigation, over the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to observe vegetation, and south over Monterey Bay to research algae blooms.
The student program is one of NASA's tools for training future scientists for Earth Science missions that can assist with studies and the development and testing of new instruments and future satellite mission concepts. The program's goal is to stimulate interest in NASA's Earth Science research and aid in recruitment of the next generation of engineers and scientists. Through this and the agency's other college and university programs, NASA is developing critical skills and capabilities needed for the agency's engineering, scientific and technical missions.
The Student Airborne Research Program is managed through the National Suborbital Education and Research Center at the University of North Dakota, with funding and support from NASA's Airborne Science Program. The center was established through a cooperative agreement between the University of North Dakota and NASA.
For additional information about NASA's DC-8, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/aircraft/DC-8/index.html
For more information about NASA's Education programs, visit:
For additional information about the National Suborbital Education and Research Center at the University of North Dakota, visit:
Thursday, July 23, 2009
LONGEST SOLAR ECLIPSE OF THIS CENTURY
A Total Solar Eclipse will be visible in India on July 22, 2009 from early morning 05:28 hrs to 07:40 hrs (Indian Standard Time). The total solar eclipse will last nearly four minutes — from 6.26 am to 6.30 am — in India and the sun will not be visible at all. In India, Total Lunar Eclipse will be visible in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Varanasi, West Bengal and Northeastern States. According to NASA, the solar eclipse on July 22, 2009 is a ‘Total Solar Eclipse’ and the Moon's umbral shadow on Sun begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and ends in the Pacific Ocean.
It is the longest total solar eclipse in the 21st century and will not surpass in duration until next 123 years.
The total solar eclipse in India will be visible in regions around Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Surat (Gujarat), Darjeeling (West Bengal), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and Patna (Bihar).
Majority of the regions in India will not have a view of the Total solar eclipse. As per NASA data, it will be a partial eclipse in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.
The path of the Surya Grahan Through India (Image from NASA)
* The dark blue double line with circles indicates the path of Total Solar Eclipse which includes central India, Bhutan and parts of China.
Update: You can see Solar Eclipse July 2009 Videos here.