Unmanned aircrafts now to scientific use

BBC news on 1/24/2008

Unmanned aircraft are to help scientists with research flights that are too dangerous or difficult for human pilots.

Robot planes have long been used by the military, but they are now being adapted for scientific use.

NOAA researchers (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) say it could revolutionise the way the Earth's systems are monitored. The agency has announced a $3m (£1.5m) investment into the technology.

"A big chunk of the atmosphere remains relatively unobserved. I think unmanned aircraft are a key to that solution and they will become ubiquitous in the coming decade," said Marty Ralph, a research meteorologist at Noaa's Earth System Research Laboratory, Colorado.

Co-worker Sandy MacDonald added: "They are great for the missions we call dirty, dull and dangerous."

The $3m will be invested into projects to use unmanned aircraft for three main purposes: to predict a hurricane's intensity, track how fast Arctic summer ice will melt and whether Pacific storms will flood the west coast of America.

Pilotless hurricane hunters

In November 2007 Noaa flew the first unmanned plane, called an Aerosonde, into hurricane force winds.

Pilotless hurricane hunters are able to sample continuously

Scientists were able to monitor hurricane Noel using an "integrated observing concept" by combining data taken from manned aircraft, the Aerosondes and satellites.

Said Mr Ralph: "By getting these two looks at the same time and then the satellite looking from the top - we can really understand how the hurricane is getting its energy and maintaining it better."

Another advantage of the unmanned aircraft is continuous sampling, opposed to the snapshot values received from manned "hurricane hunters" which drop down tube-like, data-gathering devices to measure moisture, temperature and wind speed.

Mr Ralph explains: "What you can do with the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is fly down in a continuous mode and keep sampling - essentially follow the storm so we can actually track changes. It is a very unique capability. We are getting the types of measurements we should not otherwise be able to get."

Spectrum of aircraft

TEST PROJECTS August-October Hurricanes: small unmanned aircraft will fly into the eye of Atlantic and Caribbean hurricanes at low altitudes too risky for crewed aircraft. Late 2008 Arctic climate change: large unmanned aircraft will observe sea ice conditions and track the locations of seal populations as the climate warms. Spring 2009 Storms: low and high altitude unmanned vehicles will fly over the Pacific to study atmospheric rivers. Future missions to monitor fisheries, track Greenland glaciers, preserve natural resources and examine murky plumes of volcanic emissions.

The scientists will investigate various unmanned aircraft models for the different mission needs.

The UAS used in hurricane Noel is know as a low altitude long endurance (LALE) plane. It is able to fly for a day, at 70 knots (129km/h) with a payload of a few pounds.

Mr MacDonald said: "Unmanned aircraft can go in so low that they get salt water on the wings."

On the other extreme is Global Hawk, which is a joint venture with Nasa. Global Hawk can fly up to 30 hours, approaches 300 knots (556km/h), and its creators claims it can cover half the planet in one mission while carrying a payload of 2000 pounds (907kg).

Mr Ralph added: "You can imagine the spectrum of different platforms in between those."

Apple MacBook - World's Thinnest Laptop

APPLE MacBook Air

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds an envelope containing the new MacBook Air during his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco.
The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the
moment it's opened. MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its
thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches (1.93cm) is less
than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the new MacBook Air during his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco.
The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the
moment it's opened. MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its
thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches (1.93cm) is less
than the thinnest point on competing notebooks

Apple
CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs holds the new MacBook Air laptop computer
as he delivers the keynote speech to kick off the 2008 Macworld fair in
San Francisco. Jobs introduced the wireless Time Capsule backup
appliance, iTV 2 and the new ultra thin laptop MacBook Air.

Apple
CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs holds up the new Mac Book Air after he
delivered the keynote speech to kick off the 2008 Macworld Conference
and Expo in San Francisco. Jobs introduced the wireless Time Capsule
backup appliance, iTV 2 and the new ultra thin laptop MacBook Air.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the MacBook Air after his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it's opened.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new MacBook Air after giving the keynote address at the Apple MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it's opened.

A
MacWorld attendee stands next to a giant poster of the new MacBook Air
ultra thin laptop at the MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.
MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its thinnest point while
its maximum height of 0.76 inches (1.93cm) is less than the thinnest
point on competing notebooks.

A new MacBook Air ultra thin laptop sits on display at the MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.
MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its thinnest point while
its maximum height of 0.76 (1.93cm) inches is less than the thinnest
point on competing notebooks.

Apple MacBook Air is shown at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco.

Attendees look at the new MacBook Air at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it's opened.

Nasa is planning to introduce a MMO GAME!

BBC says,

The game could inspire the next generation of Nasa employees

The US space agency is exploring the possibility of developing a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.

The virtual world would be aimed at students and would "simulate real Nasa engineering and science missions".

The agency has published a "request for information" (RFI) from organisations interested in developing the platform.

Nasa believe the game would help find the next
generation of scientists and engineers needed to fulfil its "vision for
space exploration".

"A high quality synthetic gaming environment is a vital element of Nasa's educational cyberstructure," the RFI reads.

"The MMO will foster career exploration opportunities in
a much deeper way than reading alone would permit and at a fraction of
the time and cost of an internship program."

Space mission

Nasa already has a presence in the 3D virtual universe.

The agency owns an island in Second Life where
individuals and groups with an interest in the space programme can
meet, share ideas and conduct experiments.

Nasa would like to build a realistic training environment

CoLab, as it is called, is the brainchild of scientists at the Nasa Ames Research Center in San Francisco.

The agency hopes that the environment could one day be used to allow the public to take part in virtual missions.

"We at Nasa are working hard to create opportunities for
what I might call participatory exploration," the director of the
project, Simon Worden, has said.

"We are looking at how this island can be a portal for
all to fly along on space missions," he told delegates at the National
Space Society's (NSS) conference last year.

"When the next people step onto the surface of the Moon in a little over a decade, your avatar could be with them," he said.

The latest proposal was published by Nasa's Learning
Technologies Project Office which supports and develops education
projects to promote science and technology.

Job seeker

The document says that games are becoming increasingly
important in education and could be useful for teaching a range of
skills.

"Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations
could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living
cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and
experience microgravity," it says.

The document calls for a game engine that includes
"powerful physics capabilities" that can "support accurate in-game
experimentation and research".

"A Nasa-based MMO could provide opportunities for
students to investigate science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics career paths while participating in engaging game-play."

Other organisations such as the US armed forces already use online gaming as a recruitment tool.

America's Army for example introduces players to the
"seven Army Core Values" and now claims to be one of "the most popular
computer games in the world".

Nasa has asked for interested organisations to respond to the request by the 15 February.

Mercury's unseen side is revealed

See the original news at BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Mercury's unseen side is revealed

Mercury's unseen side is revealed
This image was taken 80 minutes after closest approach Images of Mercury The first pictures taken by the Messenger probe as it passed Mercury on Monday have started to arrive at Earth. They include images that show parts of the surface missed by the Mariner 10 spacecraft when it flew by the planet in the 1970s. Like the previously mapped portions of Mercury, the new sections appear heavily cratered. Messenger needs to perform another two fly-bys and a number of engine firings to get itself into orbit in 2011. Monday's manoeuvre took the probe to within just 200km (125 miles) of the planet at closest approach. Messenger was programmed to collect more than 1,300 images and make other observations during the encounter. The data began transmission to Earth on Tuesday. Enlarge Image This image was taken just 21 minutes after closest approach. Messenger's Narrow Angle Camera spies a variety of surface features, including craters as small as about 300m across. Nasa says such detailed close-ups will be used by planetary geologists to study the processes that have shaped Mercury's surface over the past four billion years. The picture shows part of a giant impact crater to the bottom-right. Enlarge Image This Narrow Angle Camera image was obtained about 37 minutes after closest approach to the planet. It shows a previously unseen crater with distinctive bright rays of ejected material extending radially outward from the crater's centre. Resolution in the picture is about 360m per pixel, and the width of the image is about 370km. Monday's flyby has produced a sequence of pictures that will allow scientists to build a high-resolution mosaic of the northeast quarter of the region not seen by Mariner 10.

 

BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple announces ultra-thin laptop

Apple announces ultra-thin laptop
The laptop weighs 1.3 kilograms and costs £1,200 Laptop on view Apple boss Steve Jobs has unveiled the world's thinnest laptop, called the MacBook Air. The computer, which is 0.76 inches (1.93cm) at its thickest point, was unveiled at an event in San Francisco. The Apple head also launched online film rentals for iTunes users in the US from almost every major film studio, including Disney and Fox. "We're dying to get this international as well," said Mr Jobs, saying it would roll-out worldwide later in the year. Of the laptop, Mr Jobs said: "It's an amazing feat of engineering." It does not have a CD or DVD drive in order to save space. "It was built to be a wireless machine," he added. The laptop will compete with a range of portable devices, from companies such as Sony, Dell and Asus, which are already building so-called sub-notebooks, designed to be lighter and more mobile. The machine goes on sale in two weeks and costs from $1,799 in the US (£1,199 in the UK) and comes with either an 80 Gigabyte hard disc drive as standard or 64 Gigabyte solid state drive for an added $999. FROM THE DOT.LIFE BLOG This is important because it opens a new front in Apple's battle to be as big in digital video as it is in music. Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology correspondent Read Rory's thoughts in full Apple worked with chip maker Intel to produce a smaller version of its Core2Duo processor for the laptop. Movie rentals from the key Hollywood movie studios will be available in the US immediately. Until now customers have had to buy movies outright but now they rent them for up to 30 days, or for 24 hours once viewing has started. Movie lovers will be able to download films to their computers, and transfer them to the latest iPods and iPhone, in standard and high-definition, for between $3 and $5. The company also announced it was revamping the Apple TV device so that it can now download content independently of a computer and display it on a widescreen TV. Mr Jobs admitted that Apple's first attempt to put online video in the living room had failed. "[Apple TV] was designed to be an accessory for iTunes and your computer. "It is not what people wanted. What people really wanted was movies, movies, movies." He added: "We weren't delivering that. We're back: With Apple TV Take Two." He announced the firm had sold 125 million TV shows and seven million movies via iTunes. "It's more than everyone else put together, but it didn't meet our expectations," said Mr Jobs. "I think we've got it right this time." Mr Jobs also announced a wireless back-up system called Time Capsule, offering a combined wi-fi router and hard drive. New software for the iPhone was unveiled, including an update to Maps, which can plot the phone owner's spot on a map without using GPS. Apple announced it had sold four million iPhones in the first 200 days on sale, putting it on target to sell 10 million by the end of 2008.

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