NASA

A Perfect STORRM

07.29.10

It was a perfect STORRM. On Tuesday, July 20, NASA and its industry partners Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., successfully demonstrated a new sensor technology that will make it easier and safer for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock to the International Space Station.

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STS-134 crew members get a briefing on the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation Development Test Objective by the lead project engineers at the Ball Aerospace Facility in Boulder, Colorado. Credit: Ball Aerospace

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STORRM retro-reflector installed during space shuttle mission STS-131 in May 2010. Credit: NASA/JSC

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STORRM docking target. Credit: NASA/JSC

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STS-134 mission specialist Andrew Feustel (seated) studies information about the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation Development Test Objective that will be demonstrated on his space shuttle flight to the International Space Station. Credit: Ball Aerospace

This new docking navigation system prototype consists of an eye-safe lidar Vision Navigation Sensor, or VNS, a high-definition docking camera, as well as the avionics and flight software. Both sensors will provide real-time three-dimensional images to the crew with a resolution 16 times higher than the current space shuttle sensors. This next generation system also provides data from as far away as three miles – three times the range of the current shuttle navigation sensor.

"You are looking at the future of rendezvous and docking right here," said David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace, as he welcomed dozens of NASA and industry engineers to the demonstration.

The hardware will be tested by astronauts aboard STS-134, the last planned shuttle mission, currently scheduled for February 2011, as part of the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM) Development Test Objective (DTO). On Flight Day 11 of the mission, the shuttle crew will conduct an unprecedented on-orbit maneuver; they will undock from the space station and then re-rendezvous with the station on an Orion-like approach.

Five retro-reflectors, which will serve as targets for the VNS, were installed on the station's visual docking target during the STS-131 shuttle mission in May.

The demonstration, held at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo. offered the STORRM team the chance to operate the flight hardware for personnel who will be supporting STORRM during the mission -- the astronaut crew, flight director, and mission operations personnel.

Mark Kirasich, deputy Orion Manager from the Orion Project Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston recognized the STORRM team for its perseverance and dedication to develop the DTO flight hardware on an aggressive and success-oriented schedule.

The intense project required NASA engineers and contractors to work holidays, evenings and weekends in order to successfully deliver the DTO flight hardware per the shuttle schedule. Normally, it takes more than two years to develop flight hardware, but the STORRM team was able to deliver the DTO sensor hardware in half that time. Despite the aggressive schedule, the team finished on time.

"It's been challenging -- but we were successful," said Frank Novak, STORRM project manager from NASA's Langley Research Center. "We were successful despite many challenges; my hat's off to the team."

"We have met every milestone along the way, and I could not be more proud of this team," echoed Howard Hu, manager of Orion Vehicle Performance and Analysis, responsible for STORRM from NASA Johnson.

Following the demonstration, the STS-134 crew was briefed on the STORRM hardware and mission objectives. After the hardware demonstration, the STORRM avionics lead Tom Johnson from NASA Langley and the Deputy Principal Investigator Sean Maguire from NASA Johnson, led the crew training activities, which gave crewmember Andrew Feustel and Commander Mark Kelly "hands on" time to gain experience running the software application and the STORRM flight hardware.

"I've been to the space station three times, and this is the first time that I'll be doing something like this," said Kelly, who will serve as commander on STS-134.

On Aug. 3, the STORRM hardware will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center where it will be integrated into the shuttle.

"This is a huge step forward for us," said Kirasich. "You saw Pad Abort-1. This is the next big thing."

STORRM was developed by the Orion Project Office at NASA Johnson, which is responsible for program management, technology evaluation, flight test objectives, operational concepts, contract management and data post-processing. Engineers at NASA Langley were responsible for engineering management, design and build of the avionics, STORRM software application and reflective elements. They are also responsible for the integration, testing and certification of these components. Industry partners Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp. were responsible for the design, build and testing of the VNS and docking camera.

NASA

A Perfect STORRM

07.29.10

It was a perfect STORRM. On Tuesday, July 20, NASA and its industry partners Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., successfully demonstrated a new sensor technology that will make it easier and safer for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock to the International Space Station.

Click to enlarge

STS-134 crew members get a briefing on the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation Development Test Objective by the lead project engineers at the Ball Aerospace Facility in Boulder, Colorado. Credit: Ball Aerospace

Click to enlarge

STORRM retro-reflector installed during space shuttle mission STS-131 in May 2010. Credit: NASA/JSC

Click to enlarge

STORRM docking target. Credit: NASA/JSC

Click to enlarge

STS-134 mission specialist Andrew Feustel (seated) studies information about the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation Development Test Objective that will be demonstrated on his space shuttle flight to the International Space Station. Credit: Ball Aerospace

This new docking navigation system prototype consists of an eye-safe lidar Vision Navigation Sensor, or VNS, a high-definition docking camera, as well as the avionics and flight software. Both sensors will provide real-time three-dimensional images to the crew with a resolution 16 times higher than the current space shuttle sensors. This next generation system also provides data from as far away as three miles – three times the range of the current shuttle navigation sensor.

"You are looking at the future of rendezvous and docking right here," said David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace, as he welcomed dozens of NASA and industry engineers to the demonstration.

The hardware will be tested by astronauts aboard STS-134, the last planned shuttle mission, currently scheduled for February 2011, as part of the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM) Development Test Objective (DTO). On Flight Day 11 of the mission, the shuttle crew will conduct an unprecedented on-orbit maneuver; they will undock from the space station and then re-rendezvous with the station on an Orion-like approach.

Five retro-reflectors, which will serve as targets for the VNS, were installed on the station's visual docking target during the STS-131 shuttle mission in May.

The demonstration, held at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo. offered the STORRM team the chance to operate the flight hardware for personnel who will be supporting STORRM during the mission -- the astronaut crew, flight director, and mission operations personnel.

Mark Kirasich, deputy Orion Manager from the Orion Project Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston recognized the STORRM team for its perseverance and dedication to develop the DTO flight hardware on an aggressive and success-oriented schedule.

The intense project required NASA engineers and contractors to work holidays, evenings and weekends in order to successfully deliver the DTO flight hardware per the shuttle schedule. Normally, it takes more than two years to develop flight hardware, but the STORRM team was able to deliver the DTO sensor hardware in half that time. Despite the aggressive schedule, the team finished on time.

"It's been challenging -- but we were successful," said Frank Novak, STORRM project manager from NASA's Langley Research Center. "We were successful despite many challenges; my hat's off to the team."

"We have met every milestone along the way, and I could not be more proud of this team," echoed Howard Hu, manager of Orion Vehicle Performance and Analysis, responsible for STORRM from NASA Johnson.

Following the demonstration, the STS-134 crew was briefed on the STORRM hardware and mission objectives. After the hardware demonstration, the STORRM avionics lead Tom Johnson from NASA Langley and the Deputy Principal Investigator Sean Maguire from NASA Johnson, led the crew training activities, which gave crewmember Andrew Feustel and Commander Mark Kelly "hands on" time to gain experience running the software application and the STORRM flight hardware.

"I've been to the space station three times, and this is the first time that I'll be doing something like this," said Kelly, who will serve as commander on STS-134.

On Aug. 3, the STORRM hardware will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center where it will be integrated into the shuttle.

"This is a huge step forward for us," said Kirasich. "You saw Pad Abort-1. This is the next big thing."

STORRM was developed by the Orion Project Office at NASA Johnson, which is responsible for program management, technology evaluation, flight test objectives, operational concepts, contract management and data post-processing. Engineers at NASA Langley were responsible for engineering management, design and build of the avionics, STORRM software application and reflective elements. They are also responsible for the integration, testing and certification of these components. Industry partners Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp. were responsible for the design, build and testing of the VNS and docking camera.

Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe. The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and after that moment.

According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago. What is a "singularity" and where does it come from? Well, to be honest, we don't know for sure. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are thought to exist at the core of "black holes." Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are called "singularities." Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know.

After its initial appearance, it apparently inflated (the "Big Bang"), expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe. It continues to expand and cool to this day and we are inside of it: incredible creatures living on a unique planet, circling a beautiful star clustered together with several hundred billion other stars in a galaxy soaring through the cosmos, all of which is inside of an expanding universe that began as an infinitesimal singularity which appeared out of nowhere for reasons unknown. This is the Big Bang theory.

Big Bang Theory - Common Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions surrounding the Big Bang theory. For example, we tend to imagine a giant explosion. Experts however say that there was no explosion; there was (and continues to be) an expansion. Rather than imagining a balloon popping and releasing its contents, imagine a balloon expanding: an infinitesimally small balloon expanding to the size of our current universe.

Another misconception is that we tend to image the singularity as a little fireball appearing somewhere in space. According to the many experts however, space didn't exist prior to the Big Bang. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, when men first walked upon the moon, "three British astrophysicists, Steven Hawking, George Ellis, and Roger Penrose turned their attention to the Theory of Relativity and its implications regarding our notions of time. In 1968 and 1970, they published papers in which they extended Einstein's Theory of General Relativity to include measurements of time and space.^{1, 2} According to their calculations, time and space had a finite beginning that corresponded to the origin of matter and energy."³ The singularity didn't appear in space; rather, space began inside of the singularity. Prior to the singularity, nothing existed, not space, time, matter, or energy - nothing. So where and in what did the singularity appear if not in space? We don't know. We don't know where it came from, why it's here, or even where it is. All we really know is that we are inside of it and at one time it didn't exist and neither did we.

Big Bang Theory - Evidence for the Theory
What are the major evidences which support the Big Bang theory?

• First of all, we are reasonably certain that the universe had a beginning.
• Second, galaxies appear to be moving away from us at speeds proportional to their distance. This is called "Hubble's Law," named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) who discovered this phenomenon in 1929. This observation supports the expansion of the universe and suggests that the universe was once compacted.
• Third, if the universe was initially very, very hot as the Big Bang suggests, we should be able to find some remnant of this heat. In 1965, Radioastronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin (-454.765 degree Fahrenheit, -270.425 degree Celsius) Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) which pervades the observable universe. This is thought to be the remnant which scientists were looking for. Penzias and Wilson shared in the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery.
• Finally, the abundance of the "light elements" Hydrogen and Helium found in the observable universe are thought to support the Big Bang model of origins.

Big Bang Theory - The Only Plausible Theory?
Is the standard Big Bang theory the only model consistent with these evidences? No, it's just the most popular one. Internationally renown Astrophysicist George F. R. Ellis explains: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observations….For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical universe with Earth at its center, and you cannot disprove it based on observations….You can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. What I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide that."⁴

In 2003, Physicist Robert Gentry proposed an attractive alternative to the standard theory, an alternative which also accounts for the evidences listed above.⁵ Dr. Gentry claims that the standard Big Bang model is founded upon a faulty paradigm (the Friedmann-lemaitre expanding-spacetime paradigm) which he claims is inconsistent with the empirical data. He chooses instead to base his model on Einstein's static-spacetime paradigm which he claims is the "genuine cosmic Rosetta." Gentry has published several papers outlining what he considers to be serious flaws in the standard Big Bang model.⁶ Other high-profile dissenters include Nobel laureate Dr. Hannes Alfvén, Professor Geoffrey Burbidge, Dr. Halton Arp, and the renowned British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, who is accredited with first coining the term "the Big Bang" during a BBC radio broadcast in 1950.

Big Bang Theory - What About God?
Any discussion of the Big Bang theory would be incomplete without asking the question, what about God? This is because cosmogony (the study of the origin of the universe) is an area where science and theology meet. Creation was a supernatural event. That is, it took place outside of the natural realm. This fact begs the question: is there anything else which exists outside of the natural realm? Specifically, is there a master Architect out there? We know that this universe had a beginning. Was God the "First Cause"? We won't attempt to answer that question in this short article. We just ask the question

CARS

We are all familiar with gasoline-powered cars, and most

people have heard about or seen electric cars.

A hybrid car is a combination of the two. A hybrid vehicle contains parts of both gasoline and electric vehicles in an attempt to get the best of both worlds.

The best way to understand the advantages of a hybrid vehicle is to think about a car traveling down a highway at the posted speed on level ground. In this case, the engine is doing three things:

1. It is overcoming rolling resistance in the drive train.
2. It is overcoming air resistance.
3. It is powering accessories like the alternator, the power steering pump and the air conditioner.

The engine might need to produce no more than 10 or 20 horsepower (HP) to carry this load. The reason why cars have 100- or 200-horsepower engines to is handle acceleration from a standing stop, as well as for passing and hill climbing. We only use the maximum HP rating for 1% of our driving time. The rest of the time, we are carrying around the weight and the friction of the much larger engine, which wastes a lot of energy.

In a traditional hybrid vehicle, you have a complete electric car. It includes an electric motor to provide all of the power to the wheels, as well as batteries to supply the motor with electricity. Then you have a completely separate gasoline engine powering a generator. The engine is very small -- perhaps 10 to 20 horsepower -- and it is designed to run at just one speed for maximum efficiency. The purpose of this small, efficient engine is to provide enough power for the car at its cruising speed. During times of acceleration, the batteries provide the extra power necessary. When the car is decelerating or standing still, the batteries recharge. This sort of hybrid car is essentially an electric car with a built-in recharger for longer range. The advantage is that the small, efficient gasoline engine gets great mileage.