Aurorae on Jupiter

Originally shared by Anand Sankar

Aurorae on Jupiter
 
Jupiter has aurorae. Like Earth, the magnetic field of the gas giant funnels charged particles released from the Sun onto the poles. As these particles strike the atmosphere, electrons are temporarily knocked away from existing gas molecules. Electric force attracts these electrons back. As the electrons recombine to remake neutral molecules, auroral light is emitted. In the featured recently released composite image by the Hubble Space Telescope taken in ultraviolet light, the aurorae appear as annular sheets around the pole. Unlike Earth's aurorae, Jupiter's aurorae include several bright streaks and dots. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is visible on the lower right. Recent aurorae on Jupiter have been particularly strong -- a fortunate coincidence with the arrival of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter last week. Juno was able to monitor the Solar Wind as it approached Jupiter, enabling a better understanding of aurorae in general, including on Earth.
 
 
*Image Credit: *NASA, ESA, Hubble
 
#spaceexploration #nasa #esa

#3dprinting #nasa #space #mars

Originally shared by J. Steven York

#3dprinting #nasa #space #mars
http://3dprint.com/89508/nasa-3d-print-curiosity-rover/

Pluto mountain range close-up image colorized and slightly sharpened

Originally shared by Pierre Markuse

Pluto mountain range close-up image colorized and slightly sharpened

I took the recently published close-up of a mountain range on Pluto and colorized it using the color scheme from previous color images. Image is slightly zoomed in and sharpened.

Original image and information can be found here:
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-icy-mountains-of-pluto

More on the New Horizons space probe and its mission:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons

Image credit: Close-up image of a region near Pluto’s equator NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI / Colorized and edited by Pierre Markuse 

#science  #newhorizons  #pluto  #nasa  #space  #spaceexploration   #solarsystem  #plutoflyby

#robotics

#robotics  

Originally shared by Friends of NASA

DARPA's ATLAS Humanoid Robots!
NASA is exploring peaceful civilian space applications for ATLAS-related technologies. Atlas is a new humanoid robot 6 foot, 2 inches tall weighing 330 pounds. Atlas is initially being designed to provide humanitarian assistance in disaster response/crisis situations.

NASA's Johnson Space Center (Valkyrie) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (RoboSimian) teams are participating in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) focused on developing innovative software to control the robot's functions. Last month, DARPA awarded funds and an Atlas robot to 7 teams who competed in a software challenge leading up to the first leg of the Robotics Challenge, which kicks off in December 2013.

According to the project website, the goal of the DARPA Robotics Challenge is to create robotic systems that can work "in tandem with their human counterparts, in order to reduce casualties, avoid further destruction, and save lives."

Atlas can travel through rough terrain outdoors and climb using its hands and feet. The robot features two fully working hands with four fingers, including opposable thumbs, 28 hydraulically actuated joints, a "head" with LIDAR and stereo sensors, automatic crash protection, and an on-board, real-time control computer. In a demonstration video, Atlas easily avoided obstacles, maintaining a steady gait despite unexpected changes to the terrain, and even maintained its balance when struck by a large object.

"Articulated, sensate hands will enable Atlas to use tools designed for human use," Boston Dynamics says. "Atlas includes 28 hydraulically actuated degrees of freedom, two hands, arms, legs, feet, and a torso."
Its head includes stereo cameras and a laser range finder. It's currently tethered to an off-board, electric power supply which limits its range for the moment.

Specifications:
- Six feet, two inches tall (1.88m)
- 330 pounds (150kg)
- On-board real-time control computer
- On-board hydraulic pump and thermal management
- Tethered for networking & 480-V three-phase power at 15 kW
- Two arms, two legs, a torso and a head
- 28 hydraulically actuated joints
- Carnegie Robotics sensor head with LIDAR and stereo sensors
- Two sets of hands, one provided by iRobot and one by Sandia National Labs

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military.

Boston Dynamics is an engineering and robotics design company best known for the development of the humanoid robot ATLAS and BigDog, a quadruped robot, both designed for the U.S. military with funding from DARPA. The company was spunoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The DRC groups are not starting from scratch: thanks to the physical modeling of the DRC Simulator, the software algorithms successfully employed by teams in the previously held Virtual Robotics Competition (VRC) should transfer relatively easily to the ATLAS hardware, according to DARPA officials. The teams will be presented with tasks for ATLAS, such as driving a utility vehicle, walking over uneven terrain, clearing debris, breaking through a wall, closing a valve, and connecting a fire hose.

Ultimately, despite its advanced nature, ATLAS is essentially a physical shell awaiting its software brains that, along with the actions of a human operator, will guide the suite of sensors, actuators, joints and limbs through a series of tasks.

In order to accomplish this, the winning teams will receive funding from DARPA and ongoing technical support from Boston Dynamics, the developer of ATLAS.

Dr. GIll Pratt, Program Manager for the challenge, said DARPA is investing in an open-source simulation package to advance the state of the art in robotic simulation. "In particular, we want to have these tools outlast the program and be the foundation for catalyzing the field of robotics, particularly helping to make the design of robots move from an art to a science,"  he said. DARPA is also funding the Open Source Robotics Foundation to further develop a preexisting simulator that will use cloud computing for quick and easy scalability.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Johnson Space Center 

Credit: DARPA/Boston Dynamics, CNET, IEEE Spectrum

#Robotics #DARPA #ATLAS #NASA #Humanoid #AI #Artifical #Intelligence #Software #Engineering  
 

#space #astronomy

#space   #astronomy  

Originally shared by Camilla Corona

Yesterday's X1.4 class solar flare and the associated Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). These coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are balloon-shaped bursts of solar wind rising above the solar corona, expanding as they climb. 

Solar plasma is heated to tens of millions of degrees, and electrons, protons, and heavy nuclei are accelerated to near the speed of light. The super-heated electrons from CMEs move along the magnetic field lines faster than the solar wind can flow. Rearrangement of the magnetic field, and solar flares may result in the formation of a shock that accelerates particles ahead of the CME loop.

Each CME releases up to 100 billion kg (220 billion lb) of this material, and the speed of the ejection can reach 1400 km/second like in yesterday's flare. Solar flares and CMEs are currently the biggest "explosions" in our solar system, roughly approaching the power in ONE BILLION hydrogen bombs!

With the arrival of this CME on Saturday July 14, 2012 at 10:20 UT (plus/minus 7 hours), we will most likely experience geomagnetic activities. The estimated Kp is between 6 and 8, which translates into moderate to severe geomagnetic storms. 

One very positive about this event is that aurorae could be visible between the yellow and the red line. Of course the weather has to cooperate and light pollution of a city can wash out the aurorae. This time around the Moon is not playing a big role. 

Perhaps you can't see the aurorae with your eyes, but your camera on long-exposure might. Give it a try and let us know! 

Credit: NOAA / NASA

#SpaceWeather   #NASA   #NOAA   #Aurora