All posts by Drummer

Kurzgesagt Explains the Fermi Paradox: Where are all the aliens?

All Posts, Astronomy, Computer Technology, Engineering, Global Climate, Physics, Power Generating Technology - Nuclear, , ,

Peter Lobner, updated 17 November 2022

Kurzgesagt (German for “in a nutshell“) is a Munich-based design studio with a distinctive perspective on design and animation in the fields of education, science and commerce.  For background information on Kurzgesagt, visit their website here: https://kurzgesagt.org/agency/

You’ll find their YouTube channel with a library of briefings at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q

From here you can navigate to many intriguing and entertaining animated briefings.  Four Kurzgesagt briefings address the following questions regarding extraterrestrial life:

“The universe is unbelievably big – trillions of stars and even more planets. Soo… there just has to be life out there, right? But where is it? Why don’t we see any aliens? Where are they? And more importantly, what does this tell us about our own fate in this gigantic and scary universe?”

I hope you’ll enjoy these Kurzgesagt briefings:

The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All The Aliens? Part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhhvQGsMEc

The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All The Aliens? Part 2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fQkVqno-uI

The Great Filter:  Why Alien Life Would be our Doom:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjtOGPJ0URM

What Do Alien Civilizations Look Like? The Kardashev Scale:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhFK5_Nx9xY

Aliens under the Ice – Life on Rogue Planets:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7CkdB5z9PY

For more information

San Diego Bioprinter and Cosmetics Firm Team Up to Manufacture Human Skin

All Posts, Engineering, Medical, , , , ,

Peter Lobner

The 20 March 2015 Pete’s Lynx post, “Scalability of 3-D printing (additive manufacturing)”, addressed the use of 3-D printing to manufacture skin for treating burn victims, either by separately manufacturing skin for use in conventional grafts, or by directly printing new skin onto the burn wounds.

A new application for the use of manufactured human skin in cosmetics testing is being explored by San Diego bioprinting firm Organovo Holdings, Inc. and French cosmetics firm L’Oreal. This is the first potential application of this technology in the beauty industry, and it appears to offer an effective means to test new cosmetics and conduct other advanced research while complying with the 2013 European Union ban on animal testing.

The Organovo website is:

http://www.organovo.com

You can read the press release on the partnership between L’Oreal USA and Organovo to develop 3-D bioprinted skin tissue at the following link:

http://ir.organovo.com/news/press-releases/press-releases-details/2015/LOreal-USA-Announces-Research-Partnership-with-Organovo-to-Develop-3-D-Bioprinted-Skin-Tissue/default.aspx?_ga=1.173869475.1464967055.1432334566

The press release states that:

“…the collaboration will leverage Organovo’s proprietary NovoGen Bioprinting Platform and L’Oreal’s expertise in skin engineering to develop 3-D printed skin tissue for product evaluation and other areas of advanced research…… Organovo’s 3D bioprinting enables the reproducible, automated creation of living human tissues that mimic the form and function of native tissues in the body.”

Those of you who watch the BBC TV series Dr. Who may already see another application of this blend of bioprinting + cosmetics technology as a means for maintaining Lady Cassandra, who, after 708 plastic surgeries, has been reduced to a translucent piece of skin stretched across a frame.

Lady_Cassandra Source: Wikipedia

Reflections on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident

All Posts, Power Generating Technology - Nuclear, , ,

Peter Lobner

This new book presents a comprehensive summary of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident from a variety of viewpoints, including technological, organizational, societal, and ethical.

Springer - Fukushima Reflections - cover  Source: Springer

This book is published by Springer Science + Business Media, and you can download a pdf copy this book for free at the following link:

http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-12090-4

Another recently updated source of information on the Fukushima nuclear accident is the World Nuclear Association’s on-line report at the following link:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-accident/

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) Turns 40

All Posts, Computer Technology, Movie-making & Animation, , , ,

Peter Lobner

When 20th Century Fox approved the production of George Lucas’ first Star Wars movie, the studio had no special effects department and much of the technology eventually used in creating that movie did not exist. George Lucas founded ILM in the summer of 1975 to address this matter, and since then, ILM has been at the forefront of developing, innovating, and applying a broad range of new technologies that have been instrumental in the production of 317 movies and have fundamentally changed the course of the movie-making business.

ILM_logo  Source:  en.wikipedia.org

You’ll find lots of interesting information at the ILM website:

http://www.ilm.com

You can read an excellent oral history, “The Untold Story of ILM, a Titan That Forever Changed Film,” by Alex French and Howie Kahn at the following link:

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/inside-ilm/?utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

French and Kahn conclude:

 “What defines ILM, however, isn’t a signature look, feel, or tone—those change project by project. Rather, it’s the indefatigable spirit of innovation that each of the 43 subjects interviewed for this oral history mentioned time and again. It is the Force that sustains the place.”

 Pixar started in 1979 as an ILM internal project and it evolved into the premier computer animation studio, bringing us feature-length animated movies, including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars, A Bug’s Life and many more. More than being well-animated, the Pixar movies have excelled in telling meaningful stories through characters that have become part of our modern culture. You may recognize the Pixar logo shown below, with the little lamp, Luxo, Jr.:

Luxo-Logo  Source: Pixar

Disney purchased Pixar in 2006, forming Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar also is responsible for RenderMan software products that are widely used to manage texture, color, lighting and more in computer animation processes. Find out more at the Pixar website:

http://www.pixar.com

You can scroll through the Pixar timeline from 1979 to the present at the following link:

http://www.pixar.com/about/Our-Story

Movie special effects have come a very long way since Flash Gordon’s spaceship circled a landing site on visible wires, belching rocket exhaust that strangely resembled 4th of July sparklers.

LightSail to Demonstrate the Feasibility of Solar Sail Technology for Future Spacecraft Propulsion

All Posts, Engineering, Physics, Spacecraft and Missions, , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

Light exerts a measurable pressure on solid objects. This was demonstrated in 1899 in an experiment conducted by Russian scientist Pyotr Nikolayevich Lebedev. This experiment also demonstrated that the pressure of light is twice as great on a reflective surface than on an absorbent surface. This is the basis for the solar sail concept for spacecraft propulsion.

Solar sailing  Source:  Planetary Society

The Japanese IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) spacecraft launched on 20 May 2010 is the world’s first spacecraft to use solar sailing as its main propulsion. The square solar sail measured 14.14 meters (46.4 feet) along its edge, with a total area of 200 square meters (2,153 square feet). Thin-film solar cells in the sail provide electric power for spacecraft systems. IKAROS was launched as a secondary payload in conjunction with the Japanese Venus Climate Orbiter. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) claims that acceleration and attitude control of IKAROS were demonstrated during the spacecraft’s flight toward Venus. The total velocity effect over the six-month flight to Venus was reported to be 100 m/s. IKAROS continued into solar orbit while its companion spacecraft entered orbit around Venus.

The Planetary Society conceived and is executing a crowd-funded project called LightSail to continue demonstrating the feasibility of solar sail technology. You can read more at their website:

http://sail.planetary.org

Packaged into a compact 3-unit “CubeSat” (about the size of a loaf of bread) for launch, the Planetary Society’s first LightSail spacecraft, LightSail A, hitched a ride into orbit on an Air Force Atlas V booster on 20 May 2015. The primary purpose of this first mission is to demonstrate that LightSail can deploy its 32 square meter (344 square foot) reflective Mylar solar sail properly in low Earth orbit.  Following launch and orbital checkout, the sail is expected to be deployed 28 days after launch. Thereafter, atmospheric drag will cause the orbit to decay.

LightSail A spacecraft Source: Planetary Society

You can read more about the first mission at the following link:

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/blasting-off-today-satellite-sails-sunbeams/?mbid=social_twitter&utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

In a second mission planned for 2016, LightSail B will be deployed into a higher orbit with the primary purpose of demonstrating propulsion and maneuverability. LightSail B will be similar to LightSail A, with the addition of a reaction wheel that will be used to control the orientation of the spacecraft relative to the Sun. This feature should allow the spacecraft to tack obliquely relative to the photon stream from the Sun, enabling orbital altitude and/or inclination to be changed.

You can find more information on solar sail physics and use of this technology at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail

 29 May 2015, Update 1:

After launch, the LightSail A spacecraft’s computer was disabled by a software problem and the spacecraft lost communications with Earth.  Reset commands have failed to reboot the computer.  The computer and communications problems occurred before the solar sail was scheduled to be deployed.

31 May 2015, Update 2:

The LightSail A computer successfully rebooted and communications between the spacecraft and the ground station have been restored.  The plan is for ground controllers to install a software fix, and then continue the mission.

9 June 2015, Update 3:

The Planetary Society announced that the LightSail A spacecraft successfully completed its primary objective of deploying a solar sail in low-Earth orbit.

20150609_ls-a-sails-out_f840  Source: Planetary Society

Read their detailed announcement at the following link:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2015/20150609-lightsail-test-mission-success.html

Graphene Applications and Development Status

All Posts, Engineering, Materials, Nanotechnology, , , , ,

Peter Lobner

Graphene is a 2-dimensional (one atom thick) structure of graphite, composed of carbon atoms tightly bonded together in a hexagonal lattice. These physical properties give graphene an extraordinary combination of high strength, low weight, high thermal and electrical conductivity.

image   Source: Gizmag.com

The firm Graphena is a commercial graphene supplier. Their website is a good source of information regarding graphene technology. Basic graphene properties are explained at the following link:

http://www.graphenea.com/pages/graphene-properties#.VVHntHDXeK0

A description of expected graphene applications is at the following link:

http://www.graphenea.com/pages/graphene-uses-applications#.VVHcNHDXeK0

These potential applications include:

  • Biological engineering: bioelectric sensory devices, antibiotic / anti-cancer treatment, tissue regeneration
  • Optical electronics: rollable e-paper, flexible electronic components and displays
  • Ultrafiltration: water purification, desalination, biofuel manufacturing
  • Composite materials: higher-strength, lower-weight replacement for current carbon fiber composites in aircraft and other vehicle structures, body armor
  • Photovoltaic cells: cost-effective, high-efficiency replacement for silicon solar cells in current applications, and new applications for flexible PV cells such as window screens and installations on curved surfaces.
  • Energy storage: higher-capacity supercapacitors and batteries

A key limitation to developing graphene applications has been the relatively high cost of manufacturing graphene. Presently, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the process commonly used to manufacture high-quality graphene on a large scale. A breakthrough in lower-cost CVD manufacturing technology recently was announced by the firm Carbon Sciences, Inc. and the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). You can read more about this announcement at the following link:

http://www.globalenergyworld.com/mobile/news/16193/Carbon_Sciences_Announces_Successful_Production_of_High_Quality_Graphene.htm?

The era of industrial application of graphene appears to be a step closer to realization.

17 January 2019 Update:

At the 125thmeeting of the Lyncean Group of San Diego on 9 January 2019, Caltech professor Nai-Chang Yea provided an in-depth review of graphene technology in her presentation, “The Rise of Graphene: From Laboratory Curiosity to a Wonder Material for Science and Technology.”  You’ll find details of her presentation on the Lynceans Past Meetings webpage or at the following direct link:

https://lynceans.org/talk-125-1-9-19/

Graphene technology is advancing rapidly.  You’ll find additional information in the following recent articles:

  • Gibney, “Superconductivity with a twist,” Nature, Volume 565, 3 January 2019

https://www.nature.com/magazine-assets/d41586-018-07848-2/d41586-018-07848-2.pdf

  • Nicol, “What is Graphene? – Stronger than steel, thinner than paper, grapheme could be the future of tech,” Digital Trends, 15 November 2018

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/what-is-graphene/

If you’re interested in even more news on graphene, check out the Graphine-info website here:

https://www.graphene-info.com/news

If you wish, you can sign up on this website for a free graphene newsletter.

What Satellite Data Tell Us About the Earthquake in Nepal

All Posts, Geology, Remote Sensing, Spacecraft and Missions, , , , ,

Peter Lobner

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Gorkha region of Nepal on 29 April 2015. A ground displacement map based on data gathered from the Sentinel-1A satellite is shown below. In this image, yellow areas represent uplift and the blue areas represent subsidence.

image Source: ESA

Surface ruptures are places in the ground where the quake has cracked the rock all the way up to the surface. Preliminary satellite data indicate that the Nepal earthquake did not cause any new surface ruptures.

Interferometric analysis of before and after satellite data can be used to measure more subtle changes in the vertical height of the ground along the fault line. Preliminary results from an interferometric analysis by the European Space Agency (ESA), generated from satellite scans of Nepal from April 17 and 29, 2015, is shown in the following image.

image  Source: ESA

Each fringe of color represents 2.8 cm of ground deformation. Areas immediately south of the fault line, like Kathmandu, sank more than a meter into the ground as a result of the quake. Directly north of the fault slip, further into the Himalayas, the ground was lifted up by about a half meter, indicated by the yellow in the first image, above.

Imagine the difficulty of gathering such data from direct physical examination of the affected area.

Read the full article on the Nepal earthquake preliminary satellite data analysis at the following link:

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/satellite-data-tells-us-nepals-brutal-quake/

Read a general article on the use of satellite data to map earthquakes at the following link:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/turns-satellites-work-great-mapping-earthquakes/

Hubble Space Telescope 25th Anniversary Didn’t Come Easily

All Posts, Astronomy, Spacecraft and Missions, , ,

Peter Lobner

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990 by the space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-31, and was deployed into orbit on 25 April. You can find details on the design of Hubble at the following link:

http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/

During system checkout, it was determined that a design error had been made and Hubble’s primary optics suffered from spherical aberration. This optical problem was corrected in 1993 on Servicing Mission 1 (SM1), which also resolved several other issues. Over Hubble’s 25 year operating life, five servicing missions were conducted by space shuttle astronauts.

SM-1 – launched 2 Dec 1993, shuttle Endeavour
SM-2 – launched 11 Feb 1997, shuttle Discovery
SM-3A – launched 19 Dec 1999, shuttle Discovery
SM-3B – launched 1 Mar 2002, shuttle Columbia
SM-4 – launched 11 May 2009, shuttle Atlantis

The Hubble today is quite a different machine than the one launched in 1990. You can see details of each servicing mission at the following NASA website:

http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/hubble/overview/timeline.html

NASA’s Hubble mission website is at the following link:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

Here you have access to details about Hubble’s 25-year mission, including an extensive photo gallery. NASA’s official photo to commemorate the 25th anniversary is the following photo of the Westerlund 2 star cluster taken by Hubble’s near-infrared Wide-Field Camera 3, which was installed during SM-4.

image Source:  NASA

World Federation of Great Towers

All Posts, Architecture, Engineering, , , , , , , , , , ,

Peter Lobner

The tower is one of mankind’s oldest architectural accomplishments. The World Federation of Great Towers is an international association with 48 members in over 20 countries that exists to showcase the world’s great modern towers and celebrate the feats of architecture and engineering that led to their creation. You can examine many of the tallest buildings in the world at the following link:

http://www.great-towers.com/towers/

The following members of the World Federation of Great Towers were completed in the last decade include:

  • Oct 2005 – Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth, NH, 170 m (558 ft) tall
  • Apr 2006 – Goryokaku Tower, Hokkaido, Japan, 107 m (351 ft) tall
  • Oct 2006 – Eureka Skydeck 88, Melbourne, Australia, 300 m (984 ft) tall (see photo below)
  • Oct 2007 – The Hague Tower, The Hague, Netherlands, 132 m (433 ft) tall
  • Jan 2010 – Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE, 828 m (2,716.5 ft) tall
  • Sep 2010 – Canton Tower, Guangzhou, China, 600 m (1,968 ft) tall
  • April 2011 – Henan Tower (Tower of Fortune), Zhengzhou, China, 388 m (1,273 ft) tall
  • May 2012 – The Shard, London, UK, 310 m (1,016 ft) tall

image Eureka Skydeck 88   Source: Melbourne Library

The World Federation of Great Towers membership does not include all of the very tall buildings in the world, such as the new One World Trade Center in New York City. You can find a listing of all of the world’s buildings that have a height exceeding 300 meters (984 feet) at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_the_world

Sorting this list by date highlights the great number (72) of very tall buildings that have been completed in the past decade:

  • 2005:  2
  • 2006:  0
  • 2007:  5
  • 2008:  2
  • 2009:  5
  • 2010: 13
  • 2011: 8
  • 2012: 14
  • 2013:  7
  • 2014:  9
  • 2015:  7

There definitely is a building boom for giant skyscrapers.

22 May 2016 Update: Global Tall Building Database

Another source of information on skyscrapers is the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). Their home page is at the following link:

http://www.ctbuh.org

From here, you can navigate to their Tall Buildings Information & Resources, including The Skyscraper Center, which contains the Global Tall Building Database. The direct link to the Skyscraper Center is:

http://skyscrapercenter.com

5 January 2019 Update:  Top 30 tallest buildings dynamic info-graphic

Ian Fisher (WawamuStats) created the following dynamic Info-graphic that compares the world’s top 30 tallest buildings ever built. Most of these buildings are located in China, UAE, or the United States.  The oldest of these buildings was completed in 1974 and the newest in 2018.  The Empire State Building is not among the top 30. Here’s the link to the dynamic Info-graphic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCoEGFaDvjQ

The Past Half Century of Engineering – and a Look Forward

All Posts, Engineering,

Peter Lobner

At its annual meeting on September 28-29, 2014, the National Academy of Engineering celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding. A highlight of the meeting was a forum of distinguished speakers who discussed engineering achievements of the last 50 years and looked to potential engineering achievements in the next 50 years. The new National Academies Press publication, “The Past Half Century of Engineering – and a Look Forward,” summarizes their presentations.

image  Source: National Academies Press

If you have set up a MyNAP account as described in my 14 March 2015 post, you can download a pdf copy of this document for free from NAP at the following link:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/21702/the-past-half-century-of-engineering—and-a-look-forward