You Might Be An Engineer If You Know How Long A Zeptosecond Is. (It's a Trillionth Of A Billionth Of

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

10 Tools for the Armchair Astronaut, or  How to Explore the Solar System from Home

At this very moment, spacecraft are surveying the solar system, from Mars, to Saturn, to Pluto and beyond. Now you can ride along to see the latest discoveries from deep space. For this week’s edition of 10 Things, we’ve assembled a toolkit of 10 essential resources for the desktop astronaut.  

1. It’s Like Facebook, but for Planets

Or is it more of a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Solar System? Whatever one calls it, our planets page offers quick rundowns, as well as in-depth guides, for all the major bodies in the solar system. Explore from the sun all the way to the Oort Cloud.

+ Peruse the planets + See how objects in the solar system stack up against each other

2. Keep Your Eyes on This One

If you still haven’t tried Eyes on the Solar System, you’re missing out. This free, downloadable simulation app lets you tour the planets and track the past, current and future positions of spacecraft–all in 3D. Eyes on the Solar System uses real NASA data to help you take a virtual flight across both space and time.

+ Prepare for departure

3. Dateline: Deep Space

With so much exploration underway, discoveries and new insights into the solar system come at a pace that borders on bewildering. NASA is rewriting the textbooks, literally, on a regular basis. Relax, though: there are several easy ways to stay up to date with what’s happening in space.

+ See the latest headlines + Stay connected on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram + Find more top NASA social media accounts

4. Space? There’s an App for That

NASA offers phone and tablet apps for star gazing, pictures, news, 3D tours, satellite tracking, live NASA TV and many other kinds of info.

+ Start downloading + See other cool apps

5. A (Very) Long Distance Call

We’re in constant communication with spacecraft all over the solar system. The Deep Space Network is a global network of giant antenna dishes that makes it possible. With this online app, you can learn how it works – and even see which spacecraft are phoning home right now.

+ Deep Space Network (DSN) Now

6. Collect ‘Em All

Spacecraft 3D is an augmented reality (AR) application that lets you learn about and interact with a variety of spacecraft that are used to explore our solar system, study Earth and observe the universe. Print out the AR target and your camera will do the rest, making the spacecraft appear in 3D right in front of you. Learn more about these robotic explorers as they pop up on your desk, in your hand, or on your dog’s head.

+ Download Spacecraft 3D + See more cool 3-D resources from NASA

7. Ever Wanted to Drive a Mars Rover?

This site will give you a 3D look at the Mars Curiosity rover, along with some of the terrain it has explored. It will even let you take the controls.

+ Experience Curiosity

8. More E-Ticket Attractions

But wait, there’s more. NASA offers a variety of other fascinating (and free) online experiences, all based on actual data from real missions. Here are a few to explore:

+ Mars Trek + Vesta Trek + Moon Trek

9. The Universe Is Our Classroom

Studying the solar system makes for a compelling route into learning and teaching science, engineering and math. We have some great places to start.

+ Find resources for teachers + Build your own solar system with your classroom

10. Bring It on Home

After you’ve toured the far reaches of the solar system, you can always come home again. When you have spent time studying the harsh conditions on our neighboring planets, the charms of a unique paradise come into sharp focus, the place we call Earth.

+ Watch a real-time video feed from Earth orbit + See a daily global view of our planet from a million miles away + Hold the earth in your hands with the Earth Now mobile app

Discover more lists of 10 things to know about our solar system HERE.

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How platinum powers the world

Platinum bars. Image: Sprott Money@Flickr 

Platinum is one of the most valuable metals in the world. Precious and pretty, it’s probably best known for jewelry – and that is almost certainly its oldest use. But its value has become far greater than its decorative ability; today, platinum powers the world. From agriculture to the oil markets, energy to healthcare, we use platinum far more than we realise.

1. Keep the car running

Platinum is needed to make fuel for transport. Image: Pixabay

Platinum catalysts are crucial in the process that converts naphtha into petrol, diesel, and jet-engine fuel, which are all vital to the global economy. The emissions from those petroleum fuels, however, can be toxic, and platinum is also crucial in the worldwide push to reduce them through automotive catalytic converters. In fact, 2% of global platinum use in 2016 was in converting petroleum and 41% went into reducing emissions – a circle of platinum use that’s more impressive than a ring.

2. Feed the world

Nitric acid is a by-product of platinum which is used in fertilisers. Image: Pixabay

Another vital global sector that makes use of platinum catalysts is agriculture. Without synthetic fertilisers, we would not be able to produce nearly as much food as we need. Nitric acid is essential for producing those fertilisers and platinum is essential for producing nitric acid. Since 90% of the gauzes required for nitric acid are platinum, we may need to use more of it as we try to meet the global food challenge.

3. Good for your health

A pacemaker. Image: Steven Fruitsmaak@Wikimedia Commons 

Platinum is extremely hard wearing, non-corrosive, and highly biocompatible, making it an excellent material to protect medical implants from acid corrosion in the human body. It is commonly used in pacemakers and stents. It is also used in chemotherapy, where platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents are used to treat up to 50% of cancer patients.

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Fibonacci trefoil

© Rafael Araujo

We started looking at fluctuating loads last time - that is, loads that feature some combination of non-zero mean and alternating stresses - and how to account for them using a Goodman diagram. Let’s re-examine the bracket design problem we did earlier. This time, instead of a fully-reversed load, we’ll assume a fluctuating load with a mean force of 200 lbs, a minimum force of 50 lbs, and a maximum force of 350 lbs. We’ll say the dimensions of the bracket are those we calculated earlier that could handle the fully reversed load. (Problem adapted from Machine Design: An Integrated Approach, 4th Ed., by Robert L. Norton.)

Most of the calculations we did earlier will still hold. We won’t need to recalculate the endurance limit or stress concentration factors. The only new things we need to do are calculate the mean and alternating stresses and the new safety factors.

First step is to calculate the mean and alternating force.

From here, we get the mean and alternating moment.

We’re dealing with a situation of simple bending, so we can calculate mean and alternating stress using the basic bending stress equation.

The geometry of the part hasn’t changed, so we’ll apply the same stress concentration factors that we used before.

Great. We’ve got our new stresses. Now we need to figure out safety factors. As we mentioned earlier, this is now a slightly more complicated proposition. Which safety factor is appropriate will depend on how the alternating and mean stress behave in relation to each other. The possible failure states are shown as points A, B, C, and D on the Goodman diagram for this situation.

We’ll step through all the possible situations one by one using the new stresses we calculated and the endurance limit we got earlier.

Case 1: Constant alternating stress, variable mean stress.

Case 2: Variable alternating stress, constant mean stress.

Case 3: Alternating and mean stress are proportional to each other.

Case 4: Alternating and mean stress vary independently.

We take the worse case, with the failure state F being as close as possible to the current stress situation.

Our design will survive all four cases. Note that Case 4 is always the most conservative case - if you don’t know what your stresses are going to do, this is the one to go with.

In mathematics there is a concept known as ‘Conformal Mapping’ which allows you convert a given shape to a completely different one by making a transformation.

In the joukowski transform you take all the points on a circle and apply the following transform:

And the resulting transformed points resemble an aerofoil shape. Pretty cool huh ?

** Conformal mappings are a really cool topic in complex analysis but also equally extensive. If you want to know more about them click here

Physical Science...In Space!

Each month, we highlight a different research topic on the International Space Station. In May, our focus is physical science.

The space station is a laboratory unlike any on Earth; on-board, we can control gravity as a variable and even remove it entirely from the equation. Removing gravity reveals fundamental aspects of physics hidden by force-dependent phenomena such as buoyancy-driven convection and sedimentation.

Gravity often masks or distorts subtle forces such as surface tension and diffusion; on space station, these forces have been harnessed for a wide variety of physical science applications (combustion, fluids, colloids, surface wetting, boiling, convection, materials processing, etc).

Other examples of observations in space include boiling in which bubbles do not rise, colloidal systems containing crystalline structures unlike any seen on Earth and spherical flames burning around fuel droplets. Also observed was a uniform dispersion of tin particles in a liquid melt, instead of rising to the top as would happen in Earth’s gravity. 

So what? By understanding the fundamentals of combustion and surface tension, we may make more efficient combustion engines; better portable medical diagnostics; stronger, lighter alloys; medicines with longer shelf-life, and buildings that are more resistant to earthquakes.

Findings from physical science research on station may improve the understanding of material properties. This information could potentially revolutionize development of new and improved products for use in everything from automobiles to airplanes to spacecraft.

For more information on space station research, follow @ISS_Research on Twitter!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Dissecting Iron Man Suit - An Engineering Analysis

Structural, energy, and thermal analysis of Iron Man Suits specifically Mark I to Mark XLVI which have the following capabilities in common: external armor, supersonic flight, hovering, weaponry, and decoy flares.

1. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 

Wear Resistant and Shock Absorbent Exoskeleton  The physical protective value of exoskeleton is its ability to resist any penetrative loads as well as any shock loads. However, the whole thickness of exoskeleton panels should not be too hard because it will pass on the external impact load into the suit’s internal hardware, or even the human body inside it. All of this can be achieved by combining more than one materials; a hard material on the outside and the soft material on the inside

Hard Outer Layer for Penetrative Loads The materials needed for the exoskeleton’s outer layer should be hard and tactile. Titanium Alloy would be an ideal choice. Fiber glass has good tensile strength but not good shear strength, while titanium has both .Titanium Alloy is not only much stronger, but is also lighter than steel, which will provide more fluidity of movement compared to any heavy material counterparts.

Ductile Inner Layer for Shock Loads There should be a soft inner linings behind titanium panels to serve as shock absorbent. Sorbothane is a material that is extremely soft and has the ability to convert shock loads into heat transfer at a molecular level. It is a proprietary, visco-elastic polymer. Visco-elastic means that a material exhibits properties of both liquids (viscous solutions) and solids (elastic materials).

Sorbothane is a thermoset, polyether-based, polyurethane material. Sorbothane combines shock absorption, good memory, vibration isolation and vibration damping characteristics. In addition, Sorbothane is a very effective acoustic damper and absorber. Even if one drops an egg from the top of a building into a bed of sorbothane, this remarkable material is soft enough to cushion the impact and would not allow the egg to break.

This technique of having a hard material on the outside and the soft material on the inside is not new. It has been used for centuries in Japan for making samurai swords. The hardness of its outer layer give the swords its cutting edge and penetrative power, and its ductility allows it to absorb shock loads when it strikes or struck. 

2. ENERGY ANALYSIS : Hovering Capability

Hovering using thrusters (aka repulsors) requires tremendous amount of energy, particularly when the suit is used for a long duration. Energy usage for hovering is dependent upon the hovering methods

Magnetic Levitation requires no energy at all, but is limited to the presence of magnetic field.

Ducted and Open Propellers (helicopter blades). Several human powered helicopters have been made overtime that have achieved flight. It has been experimentally recorded that a 78 kg person in a 58 kg copter requires only 1.1 kW to climb using helicopter blades, and only 60 Watts to maintain altitude.

Jet Thrust is the least energy-efficient method. Because thrust-to-weight ratio needs to be greater than 1 to achieve lift-off, a Jet-pack requires over 1KN of thrust force, depending on the weight of the jet and the person. If wings are attached to the jet-pack, horizontal flight can be achieved with thrust to weight ratio lower than 1, thus improving the duration of the flight and its range.There have been jet-packs made in the past, most iconic display of it was in 1994 Olympics opening ceremony. The fuel used in the jet-pack was mostly hydrogen peroxide. It provides thrust at low temperature compared to other fuels. However, it has low energy density of 810 Wh/kg, giving the jet-packs up to only 30 seconds of flight-time. Jet’s flight time is limited even by using energy-rich fossil fuel. Yves Rossy (aka Jet Man) has successfully used kerosene oil in his flight, but the thruster jets have to be pushed away from the body for safety. His suit allows only several minutes of flight. In addition, if a heavier suit (greater than 25 kg) is used, hydraulics are needed, which would require additional energy and slow down mobility. The Iron Monger suit was an example of hydraulic-driven mobility suit.

3. POWER SOURCE

Tony Stark manages the suit’s energy requirements, including thermal management and artificial intelligence system, through the fictional arc reactor. The reactor is able to provides almost limitless clean energy despite being a very small device. In real life, the only thing that has an energy density comparable to the arc reactor, and would meet all the energy requirements of the suit would be nuclear power. Uranium (fission) energy density is 80.620.000 MJ/kg. However, nuclear power is not suitable to be harnessed in a manned suit, since it generates a tremendous amount of heat.

A more practical solution would be a battery energy-storage. If lithium batteries are used on propeller blades, minutes-long flight time can be achieved. Furthermore, these batteries can readily power suit’s electrical devices / electronics requirements. Lithium ion battery has energy density of 150 Wh/kg (0.5 MJ/kg). Fossil fuel, on the other hand, have a much higher energy density than batteries, but would require a clunky generator to power the suit’s electrical requirements.

Lithium sulfur batteries have 5 times more energy density compared to lithium ion batteries. Lithium sulfur packs had already powered the longest unmanned flight for more than 30 hours. Unless we discover something like an arc-reactor, lithium sulfur batteries could be just the thing to power up the suit. The downside is, it requires hours of charging for just minutes of usage.

There is an alternative option, though not a ‘reactor’ proper. A compact and high-output generator (standard car alternators crank out 50-70 amps at 12 volts for years, and some can go as high as 150 amps) could be spun by a small and strong output electric motor (all alternators have to do is spin). That motor can be powered by a high density battery like used for electric bikes in the 1500w to 2500w range at 20 something volts. This would power a strong and small motor at 3500 to 4000 rpm for hours. That’s more than enough to create power for a number of systems, if they’re built to take advantage of the amperage. And with new constructions of carbon arrays coming out every day, one or more of those could bring a meaningful electric output increase in an otherwise standard generator, even above what we have in cars now.

4. THERMAL MANAGEMENT 

The suit cannot be hermetically sealed. Human body heat evaporates water from the skin. Therefore, air ventilation is a must to remove them. It is also needed to maintain a good supply of oxygen. So, there must be a structure inside the exoskeleton that allows air flow. This would prevent any internal condensation to settle and will also remove buildup of body heat. The layer of sorbothene would act both as a thermal and an electrical insulator. This means that extreme external temperature would not be transferred to the inner layer. The suit would not get too hot or too cold from the outer environment. There should be small fans to draw and pull air from the ambient in controlled amount, and should be able to exchange hot air. With the technology available today, the thermal management of the suit is easily manageable. There are also solid state devices such as thermal pads and thermoelectric generators. Thermoelectric generators can surfaces hot or cold depending on the polarity of the electric current and thus can be an integral component of the suit for controlling the internal temperature.

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Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Reaching out into space yields benefits on Earth. Many of these have practical applications — but there’s something more than that. Call it inspiration, perhaps, what photographer Ansel Adams referred to as nature’s “endless prospect of magic and wonder.“ 

Our ongoing exploration of the solar system has yielded more than a few magical images. Why not keep some of them close by to inspire your own explorations? This week, we offer 10 planetary photos suitable for wallpapers on your desktop or phone. Find many more in our galleries. These images were the result of audacious expeditions into deep space; as author Edward Abbey said, "May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.”

1. Martian Selfie

This self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the robotic geologist in the “Murray Buttes” area on lower Mount Sharp. Key features on the skyline of this panorama are the dark mesa called “M12” to the left of the rover’s mast and pale, upper Mount Sharp to the right of the mast. The top of M12 stands about 23 feet (7 meters) above the base of the sloping piles of rocks just behind Curiosity. The scene combines approximately 60 images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, camera at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. Most of the component images were taken on September 17, 2016.

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2. The Colors of Pluto

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution, enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). Pluto’s surface sports a remarkable range of subtle colors, enhanced in this view to a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges, and deep reds. Many landforms have their own distinct colors, telling a complex geological and climatological story that scientists have only just begun to decode.

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3. The Day the Earth Smiled

On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, our Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn’s shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings — and, in the background, our home planet, Earth. This mosaic is special as it marks the third time our home planet was imaged from the outer solar system; the second time it was imaged by Cassini from Saturn’s orbit, the first time ever that inhabitants of Earth were made aware in advance that their photo would be taken from such a great distance.

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4. Looking Back

Before leaving the Pluto system forever, New Horizons turned back to see Pluto backlit by the sun. The small world’s haze layer shows its blue color in this picture. The high-altitude haze is thought to be similar in nature to that seen at Saturn’s moon Titan. The source of both hazes likely involves sunlight-initiated chemical reactions of nitrogen and methane, leading to relatively small, soot-like particles called tholins. This image was generated by combining information from blue, red and near-infrared images to closely replicate the color a human eye would perceive.

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5. Catching Its Own Tail

A huge storm churning through the atmosphere in Saturn’s northern hemisphere overtakes itself as it encircles the planet in this true-color view from Cassini. This picture, captured on February 25, 2011, was taken about 12 weeks after the storm began, and the clouds by this time had formed a tail that wrapped around the planet. The storm is a prodigious source of radio noise, which comes from lightning deep within the planet’s atmosphere.

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6. The Great Red Spot

Another massive storm, this time on Jupiter, as seen in this dramatic close-up by Voyager 1 in 1979. The Great Red Spot is much larger than the entire Earth.

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7. More Stormy Weather

Jupiter is still just as stormy today, as seen in this recent view from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, when it soared directly over Jupiter’s south pole on February 2, 2017, from an altitude of about 62,800 miles (101,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. From this unique vantage point we see the terminator (where day meets night) cutting across the Jovian south polar region’s restless, marbled atmosphere with the south pole itself approximately in the center of that border. This image was processed by citizen scientist John Landino. This enhanced color version highlights the bright high clouds and numerous meandering oval storms.

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8. X-Ray Vision

X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by our Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The NuSTAR data, seen in green and blue, reveal solar high-energy emission. The high-energy X-rays come from gas heated to above 3 million degrees. The red channel represents ultraviolet light captured by SDO, and shows the presence of lower-temperature material in the solar atmosphere at 1 million degrees.

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9. One Space Robot Photographs Another

This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Victoria crater, near the equator of Mars. The crater is approximately half a mile (800 meters) in diameter. It has a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. Since January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been operating in the region where Victoria crater is found. Five days before this image was taken in October 2006, Opportunity arrived at the rim of the crater after a drive of more than over 5 miles (9 kilometers). The rover can be seen in this image, as a dot at roughly the “ten o'clock” position along the rim of the crater. (You can zoom in on the full-resolution version here.)

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10. Night Lights

Last, but far from least, is this remarkable new view of our home planet. Last week, we released new global maps of Earth at night, providing the clearest yet composite view of the patterns of human settlement across our planet. This composite image, one of three new full-hemisphere views, provides a view of the Americas at night from the NASA-NOAA Suomi-NPP satellite. The clouds and sun glint — added here for aesthetic effect — are derived from MODIS instrument land surface and cloud cover products.

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Americas at night

Discover more lists of 10 things to know about our solar system HERE.

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Fibonacci sequence in the hiding…

This room starts charging your phone as soon as you walk in. Inspired by Tesla’s vision of global wireless power, scientists at Disney Research company explored how wireless charging works in large spaces. The copper pole at the room’s center sends currents through the walls and floor that charge phones and laptops without harming humans. Source Source 2

Devices can be charged regardless of their orientation in the room thanks to a new receiver design

The setup outside the room

The setup inside the room