Spaceships

        Plan to Turn Asteroids into Spaceships Could Spur Off-Earth Mining 

     A few decades from now, asteroids may be flying themselves to mining outposts in space, nobly sacrificing their abundant resources to help open the final frontier to humanity.

That's the vision of California-based company Made In Space, which was recently awarded NASA funding to investigate how to turn asteroids into giant, autonomous spacecraft.

The project, known as RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), is part of Made In Space's long-term plan to enable space colonization by helping make off-Earth manufacturing efficient and economically viable. [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Info graphic)

  Today, we have the ability to bring resources from Earth," Made In Space co-founder and chief technology officer Jason Dunn told Space.com. "But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location that we need?' This is a way to do it.

The plan

   Made in Space's idea involves sending an advanced, robotic "Seed Craft" out to rendezvous with a succession of near-Earth asteroids in space.

The Seed Craft would harvest material from the space rocks, then use this feedstockto construct propulsion, navigation, energy-storage and other key systems onsite with the aid of 3D printing and other technologies. (Made In Space has considerable 3D-printing expertise; the company built the two 3D printers that were installed aboard the International Space Station in the past year and a half.) 

    Thus transformed into autonomous spacecraft, the asteroids could be programmed to fly to a mining station in Earth-moon space, or anywhere else they were needed. This approach would be much more efficient than launching a new capture probe (or probes) to every single space rock targeted for resource exploitation, Made In Space representatives said.  

The converted asteroids wouldn't resemble the traditional idea of spacecraft, with rocket engines and complex electronic circuitry. Rather, everything would be mechanical and relatively primitive.

  For example, the computer would be analog, akin, perhaps, to the Antikythera mechanism invented by the ancient Greeks to chart the motion of heavenly bodies, Dunn said. And the propulsion system might be some sort of catapult that launches boulders or other material off the asteroid in a controlled way, thereby pushing the space rock in the opposite direction (as described by Newton's Third Law of Motion), he added.

At the end of the day, the thing that we want the asteroid to be is technology that has existed for a long time. The question is, 'Can we convert an asteroid into that technology at some point in the future?'" Dunn said. "We think the answer is yes.

   Project is not starting from scratch. Autonomous 3D printers that use mechanically driven systems already exist, Dunn noted, as do mechanical computers made of 3D-printed parts.

Still, making it happen will require significant advances in a number of areas, including in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)  the art of living off the land. Made In Space is counting on NASA to push ISRU technology forward, Dunn said. (Advanced ISRU tech will be vital for supporting astronauts on Mars and other off-Earth outposts, NASA officials have said

Early days yet

  Made In Space's larger vision won't be realized for a while, because RAMA is still in the very early stages.

  In April, the project received a Phase 1 grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which aims to encourage the development of potentially revolutionary space-exploration technologies.

Phase 1 NIAC awardees get $100,000 for nine months' worth of initial feasibility studies. (Recipients can then apply for a Phase 2 NIAC award, which is worth about $500,000 and funds two years of further concept development.)

  Any discussion of Project RAMA timelines is therefore incredibly speculative, Dunn stressed. Still, he estimated that the effort might require 20 years or so of technology development and other work. If that's the case, the first Seed Craft may get off the ground in the late 2030s  perhaps just as asteroid-mining and off-Earth manufacturing are coming into their own.

   "The anticipation is that the RAMA architecture is a long time line, and when it becomes capable is about the same time that people really need the resources," Dunn said. 

Project RAMA could also have applications here on Earth, he added, saying that machines similar to Seed Craft could do a variety of jobs around the planet.

    You could build infrastructure in remote locations somewhat autonomously, and convert resources into useful devices and mechanical machines," Dunn said. "This actually could solve some pretty big problems on Earth, from housing to construction of things that make people's lives better.

Web Hosting

Web Hosting 

Microsoft and Facebook plan to lay internet cable under the sea

Microsoft and Facebook plan to lay internet cable under the sea

                  Microsoft and Facebook announced plans to lay a fibre-optic cable 6600 kilometers long under the Atlantic Ocean.

                Undersea cables crisscross the ocean floor, as a key part of the internet’s infrastructure, enabling transcontinental exchange of digital information.

                Microsoft and Facebook say their new cable – named Marea, which means “tide” in Spanish  will be the Atlantic’s highest-capacity one yet, moving data at 160 terabits per second. Slated to be completed by October 2017, it will stretch from the US state of Virginia to Bilbao in Spain.

        Infrastructure like this will “enable customers to more quickly and reliably store, manage, transmit and access their data in the Microsoft Cloud”, said the companies in a release.

        Microsoft and Facebook aren’t the only tech giants plotting their own private cables. In 2014, Google struck deals to build two, intended to link the US with Japan and Brazil.

Laptop Buying Guide

 

Laptop Buying Guide

      

   Compact enough to carry with you, yet versatile enough to run demanding applications, a laptop is the best tool for doing serious work or play at home and on the road. While standalone tablets and smartphones are always popular, most people realize that everything from typing a research paper to crunching video to gaming works better on a laptop. So what type of laptop should you get?

  There's a wide variety of sizes, features and prices, which makes choosing the right laptop a challenge. That's why you need to figure out what your needs are. To make the right call, just follow these steps

Pick a Platform: Mac, Windows or Chrome OS?

   This is not an easy question to answer, especially if you're not familiar with both Macs and PCs. But this quick overview of each platform’s strengths and weaknesses should help.

Most laptops come with one of three operating systems: Windows, Chrome OS or Mac OS X (for MacBooks only). Choosing the right one is a personal preference, but here's a quick summary of what each offers.

 

Windows 10

    The most flexible operating system, Windows appears on many more makes and models than Chrome OS or Mac OS X. Windows notebooks range in price from under $200 to several thousand dollars and offer a wide array of features from touch screens to fingerprint readers to dual graphics chips. Windows 10, the latest version of Microsoft's flagship operating system, provides a number of improvements over Windows 7 and 8, including the ability to switch between tablet and desktop modes, a revamped Start menu with live tiles and the Cortana voice assistant. While it still needs more touch-friendly apps for tablet users, Windows has millions of desktop programs available, including the full versions of the major productivity, graphics, video and development software.

Apple OS X El Capitan

   All Mac Books come with Apple's own operating system, Mac OS X El Capitan. Overall, the operating system offers similar functionality to Windows 10, but with a different take on the interface that substitutes an apps dock at the bottom of the screen for Microsoft's Start menu and task bar. iPhone or iPad users will appreciate iOS-like features such as Launch Pad for your apps, superior multi touch gestures, and the ability to take calls and text from your iPhone. However, OS X isn't made for touch, because no MacBook comes with a touch screen.

    Found on inexpensive "Chromebooks" such as the Lenovo 100S Chromebook, Google's OS is simple and secure, but limited. The user interface looks a lot like Windows with an application menu, a desktop and the ability to drag windows around, but the main app you use is the Chrome browser. The downside is that there are few offline apps and those that exist don't always work well. However, if you need a device to surf the Web and check email, navigate social networks and chat online, Chromebooks are inexpensive and highly portable, and they offer good battery life.

3 Tier Architecture

What is 3 Tier Architecture in ASP.NET C#

  3 Tier Architecture is very well development in every aspects of Software development and Application Development. Mainly it have 3 layers.

• Presentation Layer.
• Business Logic Layer(BLL)/Business Access layer (BAL).
• Data Access Layer (DAL).

  

  Three Layer Architecture

Presentation Layer/ Application layer-- > Presentation Layer is used for designing your application. It contain you .aspx page where you embed your design code. It having you all interfaces related to the application that you are building - (Window, Web, Mobile). It usually only communicates with Business Layer.

Business Logic Layer/Business Access Layer - -> Business layer contains all your business login where we can insert, delete, retrieve and validate the data. It usually act as an interface between our Presentation Layer and Data Access layer.

Data Access Layer - -> Data Access Layer having the methods that connect with our SQL Server [Database] and to perform various operation of SQL like -- > insert, update, get, delete data from Database.

New radio map of Jupiter

New radio map of Jupiter reveals what's beneath colorful clouds

Jupiter

    The University of California, Berkeley researchers measured radio emissions from Jupiter's atmosphere in wavelength bands where clouds are transparent. The observers were able to see as deep as 100 kilometers (60 miles) below the cloud tops, a largely unexplored region where clouds form.

    The planet's thermal radio emissions are partially absorbed by ammonia gas. Based on the amount of absorption, the researchers could determine how much ammonia is present and at what depth.

      By studying these regions of the planet's atmosphere, astronomers hope to learn how global circulation and cloud formation are driven by Jupiter's powerful internal heat source. These studies also will shed light on similar processes occurring on other giant planets in our solar system and on newly discovered giant exoplanets around distant stars.

         "We in essence created a three-dimensional picture of ammonia gas in Jupiter's atmosphere, which reveals upward and downward motions within the turbulent atmosphere," said principal author  de Pater, a UC Berkeley professor of astronomy.

         The map bears a striking resemblance to visible-light images taken by amateur astronomers and the Hubble Space Telescope, she said.

            The radio map shows ammonia-rich gases rising into and forming the upper cloud layers: an ammonium hydrosulfide cloud at a temperature near 200 Kelvin (minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and an ammonia-ice cloud in the approximately 160 Kelvin cold air (minus 170 degrees Fahrenheit). These clouds are easily seen from Earth by optical telescopes.

           Conversely, the radio maps show ammonia-poor air sinking into the planet, similar to how dry air descends from above the cloud layers on Earth.

              The map also shows that hotspots -- so-called because they appear bright in radio and thermal infrared images -- are ammonia-poor regions that encircle the planet like a belt just north of the equator. Between these hotspots are ammonia-rich upwelling’s that bring ammonia from deeper in the planet.

             "With radio, we can peer through the clouds and see that those hotspots are interleaved with plumes of ammonia rising from deep in the planet, tracing the vertical undulations of an equatorial wave system," said UC Berkeley research astronomer Michael Wong.

           The final maps have the best spatial resolution ever achieved in a radio map: 1,300 kilometers.

          "We now see high ammonia levels like those detected by Galileo from over 100 kilometers deep, where the pressure is about eight times Earth's atmospheric pressure, all the way up to the cloud condensation levels," de Pater said.

De Pater, Wong and their colleagues will report their findings and highly detailed maps in the June 3, 2016 issue of the journal Science.

Prelude to Juno's arrival

       The observations are being reported just one month before the July 4, 2016 arrival at Jupiter of NASA's Juno spacecraft, which plans, in part, to measure the amount of water in the deep atmosphere where the Very Large Array looked for ammonia.

       "Maps like ours can help put their data into the bigger picture of what's happening in Jupiter's atmosphere," de Pater said, noting that her team will observe Jupiter with the VLA at the same time as Juno's microwave instruments are probing for water.

       Key to the new observations was an upgrade to the VLA that improved sensitivity by a factor of 10, said Bryan Butler, a co-author and staff astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, which operates the VLA. "These Jupiter maps really show the power of the upgrades to the VLA."

       The team observed over the entire frequency range between 4 and 18 gigahertz (1.7 -- 7 centimeter wavelength), which enabled them to carefully model the atmosphere, said David DeBoer, a research astronomer with UC Berkeley's Radio Astronomy Laboratory.

      "We now see fine structure in the 12 to 18 gigahertz band, much like we see in the visible, especially near the Great Red Spot, where we see a lot of little curly features," Wong said. "Those trace really complex upwelling and downwelling motions there."

         The observations also resolve a puzzling discrepancy between the ammonia concentration detected by the Galileo probe when it plunged through the atmosphere in 1995 -- 4.5 times the abundance observed in the sun -- and VLA measurements from before 2004, which showed much less ammonia gas than measured by the probe.

    "Jupiter's rotation once every 10 hours usually blurs radio maps, because these maps take many hours to observe," said co-author Robert Sault, of the University of Melbourne in Australia. "But we have developed a technique to prevent this and so avoid confusing together the upwelling and downwelling ammonia flows, which had led to the earlier underestimate."

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