Europe Proposes Cheap Quantum Optics Link to the Space Station

The ability to send entangled photons to the ISS would be a stepping stone to a global quantum internet and could test the link between quantum mechanics and relativity

One of the great mysteries of modern physics is the link between quantum mechanics and general relativity or gravity. But quantum phenomena generally occur on the very smallest scales while gravity generally crops on the largest scales. Never the twain shall meet.

At least, not without some clever thinking. One idea is to entangle a pair of photons, hang on to one and send the other across a distance so vast that gravity is significant, in other words, far enough for the gravitational curvature of space to come into play.

The issue in question is whether the entanglement--a purely quantum phenomenon--'feels' this curvature in the same way as purely classical things, like humans.

Therequired distance isn't that far--a few hundred kilometres should do the trick.

But there's a problem. The furthest scientists have sent entangled photons is just 144kilometres.and because of atmospheric losses and the curvature of the Earth's surface, the only way to go further is to fire photons straight upwards, into space.

Today,Thomas Scheidl at theAustrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and a couple of pals suggests a simple and relatively cheap way of doing these kinds of experiments for the first time using the International Space Station (ISS), which orbits at an altitude of about 400 kilometres.

Their plan is to create entangled photons on the ground and beam them up to the ISS. That gets around one important problem with this kind of work, which is that much of the hardware needed for creating entangled photons--the lasers, nonlinear materials etc--are not yet qualified for use in space and getting such a qualification is an expensive business.

So leaving all this stuff on the ground is a sensible idea. All you need in space is a sensor capable of detecting photons and their polarisation. In other words, a camera.

See the original post:

Europe Proposes Cheap Quantum Optics Link to the Space Station

Russia: Cable cut not affecting space station

MOSCOW (AP) A communications cable serving the Russian space agencys mission control was cut by construction workers but the accident has not affected the International Space Station or civilian satellites, the U.S. and Russian space agencies said Wednesday.

Russian news agencies cited unnamed sources as saying the cut meant controllers could not send commands to satellites or the Russian segments of the orbiting space lab. But Alexei Kuznetsov, a spokesman for the Roscosmos space agency, said communications were continuing by other means, which he did not specify.

Josh Byerly, a spokesman for the U.S. space agency NASA, said the Russian space program had another ground communications site in operation and was communicating with the space station via Johnson Space Center in Houston without problems.

A Soyuz space capsule is to ferry three astronauts from the station back to Earth on Monday. Kuznetsov said the accident did not affect that plan.

Read the original here:

Russia: Cable cut not affecting space station

Russia restores space contact after rupture

Contact restored ... the International Space Station. Photo: NASA

Russia has restored its communications with the International Space Station (ISS) and satellites after repairing a cable in Moscow that had been damaged during road works.

"The line of communication has been restored. The system of command is working normally," the spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos Alexei Kuznetsov told state media.

Officials had said the road works on the Shchyolkovsky Highway outside Moscow close to a Roscosmos communications station had ruptured a key cable, forcing Russia to lose contact with most of its satellites and a segment of the ISS.

While Roscomos and NASA insisted that the problem had no impact on the space station, the mishap was a major embarrassment for Russia which has in recent months battled a series of failures in its space programme.

Advertisement

Kuznetsov said that the three outgoing astronauts on the ISS Russia's Yury Malenchenko, Sunita Williams of the US and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan will be able to return to Earth on schedule on November 19.

They will leave behind on board the crew of Russia's Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin and Kevin Ford of the United States, who will be joined by a new crew on December 19.

Roscosmos sought to play down the loss of communication, a scenario for which the agency's head of human space flight Sergei Krikalyev said the crew was properly prepared.

"The crew trains for this and it's a normal routine to work without communication," he was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

See more here:

Russia restores space contact after rupture

Russia restores contact with International Space Station after cable rupture

Officials had said the road works on the Shchyolkovsky Highway outside Moscow close to a Roscosmos communications station had ruptured a key cable, forcing Russia to lose contact with most of its satellites and a segment of the ISS.

While Roscosmos and NASA insisted that the problem had no impact on the space station, the mishap was a major embarrassment for Russia which has in recent months battled a series of failures in its space programme.

Kuznetsov said that the three outgoing astronauts on the ISS Russia's Yury Malenchenko, Sunita Williams of the US and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan will be able to return to Earth on schedule on November 19.

Roscosmos sought to play down the loss of communication, a scenario for which the agency's head of human space flight Sergei Krikalyev said the crew was properly prepared.

"The crew trains for this and it's a normal routine to work without communication," he was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Kuznetsov said that the cable rupture had had no effect on Russia's management of the ISS and satellites.

NASA said that the communications cut was not a unique occurrence and noted that Russia had the ability to communicate with its segment of the ISS through its US partners.

Interfax said on Wednesday that several vehicles from the Akado company that operates the communications cable had located the site of the tear about six hours after the incident on Wednesday.

Source: AFP

See the original post:

Russia restores contact with International Space Station after cable rupture

Gadgets in Space : What It Takes to Get an iPad Into Orbit

The shuttle program may have ended in July, but NASA still maintains a crew of astronauts aboard the International Space Station, where they work on cutting-edge technologies like humanoid robots and how spacecrafts can perform autonomous refueling.

But they also spend a lot of time on decidedly consumer-edge tech.For crew staying on the ISS for six months at a time, gadgets like tablets and smartphones can make this remote outpost feel more homey and comfortable. Everyone wants the next newest camera to be brought up, self-funded space tourist Richard Garriott told Wired. He said the everyone on the ISS wanted to play with the Nikon D3X he took there in October of 2008.

Back in June, NASA sent a pair of iPhone 4s up into orbit on the shuttles last trip to the ISS to conduct experiments with some purpose-built apps. Notebook computers and even iPods have made the leap into orbit. And tablets should also be heading up in the near future. This is all about a lot more than simply playing Angry Birds Space in space.

Were attempting to show how a commercial product that millions of people use can function as spaceflight hardware, Brian Rishikof, CEO of Odyssey Space Research, said in June 2011. His company designed a piece of iPhone software called SpaceLab that was used on the iPhones sent up into orbit on the space shuttles final mission last summer. The goal was to see if these $500 devices could replace machines that cost 10 or 100 times as much.

When we approached NASA with the idea, it was novel. They werent sure, Rishikof told Wired. Eventually we got them to cooperate very well, but it took awhile to convince people that these devices had capabilities worth considering.One of the important metrics of flying in space is the mass, and these things are so light and so powerful. Computationally, its probably one of the best performance-based computers out there.

Because of the low mass, if iPhones and iPads were substituted for larger, NASA-designed computer systems, NASA could save on development time and money (rocket fuel aint cheap, you know). Astronauts also get the benefits of an intuitive, well-designed user interface and more modern technology, versus the computers the astronauts now use, which are generally five to 10 years behind the latest consumer tech.

For a computer designed specifically for use on board the space station, odds are very good its not going to be as robust, user friendly, powerful, or convenient as an off-the-shelf piece of technology, Garriott said.

But before they can be approved for space travel,gadgets have to go through a rigorous, generally two-year-long certification process to make sure theyre appropriate for use on board the ISS.When Garriott was preparing for his trip, he wanted to bring his iPod aboard. In order to get it approved, he would have had remove the internal battery, leave it on earth, wire the device to an external battery pack, and wire that back into the iPod to power it. He left the iPod at home.

The biggest thing [with getting consumer tech certified for flight] is safety issues, said Bruce Yost,NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program manager.For instance the batteries have to be of a certain type so they dont explode or leak. Another issue is determining if a product emits any noxious gases. In the home or office, a plastic product treated with a solvent may give off some fumes that get diluted in the air to safe levels. The reason why there is a sign-off process is that once youre in orbit, youre in an extremely closed ecosystem, Garriott said. The livable area of the space station is about the size of a five-bedroom house, and air gets recycled. The space stations systems may not be able to successfully cleanse certain chemicals out of the air supply.

Pages: 1 2 View All

See more here:

Gadgets in Space : What It Takes to Get an iPad Into Orbit

Cut cable in Russia won’t affect space station , country says

A communications cable serving the Russian space agency's mission control was cut by construction workers but the accident has not affected the International Space Station or civilian satellites, the U.S. and Russian space agencies said Wednesday.

Russian news agencies cited unnamed sources as saying the cut meant controllers could not send commands to satellites or the Russian segments of the orbiting space lab. But Alexei Kuznetsov, a spokesman for the Roscosmos space agency, said communications were continuing by other means, which he did not specify.

Josh Byerly, a spokesman for the U.S. space agency NASA, said the Russian space program had another ground communications site in operation and was communicating with the space station via Johnson Space Center in Houston without problems.

A Soyuz space capsule is to ferry three astronauts from the station back to Earth on Monday. Kuznetsov said the accident did not affect that plan.

The Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed Defense Ministry official as saying military satellites were under control.

Original post:

Cut cable in Russia won't affect space station , country says

DeepStorm OutTack book signing by George S Boughton – Video


DeepStorm OutTack book signing by George S Boughton
George S Boughton signed copies of his DeepStorm OutTack action-adventure novel - at Bookstore.co.uk (Weybridge Surrey) on 7 July 2012 In his talk, he described how totally different the lives of our grandchildren #39;s children will be - from what we enjoy today. Overcrowding will lead to population caps, with the introduction of birth licensing. Most of our not so distant offspring will have just one child, and will live in spaces much smaller than we would aspire to today. The reason: As the UN succeeds in the democratisation of peoples, as we all wish it to, by the 2060s the world population will jump from 1 to 9 or even 10 billion "highly developed" peoples. That 9 or 10 fold increase, of peoples with aspirations as big as ours, is considerably more than the planet can accommodate. The answer, long overdue at the time of DeepStorm OutTack, is to move out to space and build the Near Earth Territories. In the event, it is not found to be as inordinately expensive as was imagined and the space rush begins. However, the characters in the book - biologist Dr Mei Sai Ling, Greenpeace oil exploration activist Dr Steven Nord, paraplegic Sashia Dubchek and others - all of whom are happily living on Earth at the outset, are shocked to discover how they #39;d been genetically engineered for that historical move. The signs are already before us for the move to space, such as with the Chinese military #39;s successful docking to a space station, just this month (July 2012), and NASA #39;s long ...From:DeepStormNovelsViews:0 0ratingsTime:08:07More inScience Technology

Continued here:

DeepStorm OutTack book signing by George S Boughton - Video

Compact Urbanism: Evaluating urbanism through a lense of transportation – Video


Compact Urbanism: Evaluating urbanism through a lense of transportation
I am most passionate about collaborative buildings - connected high-rises #39; of homes, creating truly intricate complex organisms as cities. It is futile to think of buildings as self serving isolated entities. Buildings must become collaborative in the same way that information technology is. It is one of the defining characteristics of our era -- collaboration. It would be dishonest if our built environment did not reflect this defining identifiers of our epoch. Exploration of outer-space has brought many innovations. Out of necessity the international space station has used a common birthing mechanism to connect the infrastructure from divergent nations. If a common connection between divergent building methods from different nations can be accommodated in space, it is certainly feasible to have different corporate and private partners use a common connection for dynamic buildings in our urban spaces. Buildings especially residential, can and should be dynamic in their growth and collaborative in program; it is possible to manufacture individual units that expressly fit needs. With digital rapid building techniques such as Contour Crafting spaces can be fabricated on demand, on location with only an interior build-out necessary. Potentially units could be swapped out or relocated as a prefabricated kit of parts. This allows for the more common person to be able to afford specifically tailored design and gives a sense of unique ownership and specificity for their needs in ...From:Ralph Spencer SteenblikViews:1 0ratingsTime:19:02More inEducation

Go here to read the rest:

Compact Urbanism: Evaluating urbanism through a lense of transportation - Video

Weird Night Sky Light – Video


Weird Night Sky Light
My wife had just washed our drapes and since they were not completely dry she didn #39;t put them up yet. Our bedroom is a second floor bedroom so didn #39;t really matter as far as our privacy goes. So when we went to bed that night with no drapes on the window we were able to look out the window with no obstruction of view. It was a clear night that evening and it was around 11:00pm. As I we lay in bed I looked out the window towards the south east sky and saw this weird flickering color changing lighted orb. It was not a star, planet, satellite or the Space Station according to my phone app that allows you to detect these things. I found this object very interesting so I hopped out of bed and fire up my video camera. And this is the 3 minute video I shot of the weird lighted object in the sky. This thing morphed into weird shapes and disappeared and reappeared and went on for a couple hours it always stayed in the same general area but it did jump around making it tricky to video tape. I wish I would have used a tripod instead of free handing it. Please observe the complete video and let me know if anyone has ever seen anything like this. At times it reminds me of those electrified glass globs at radio shack that when you touch them a electrical splash of lighting hits the glass where you fingers our touching. Thanks, Peace out Rick!From:rickyrockster1Views:1 0ratingsTime:03:25More inEntertainment

See original here:

Weird Night Sky Light - Video

We’re Not Allowed On The Moon! NASA Scraps Plans For Outpost On Moon – Video


We #39;re Not Allowed On The Moon! NASA Scraps Plans For Outpost On Moon
Why did NASA scrap their decision to have a base on the moon? Answer...We #39;re not allowed on the moon! There are "live" alien bases there... http://www.youtube.com Alien Presence and Activity on the Moon! Jan 8, 2012 http://www.youtube.com UFOs Taking Off From The Moon! http://www.youtube.com SOURCE...CNN NASA plans to build a space station 277000 miles from Earth, placing it well behind the orbit of the moon. The new space station will be called the "Gateway Spacecraft" and will act as an outpost for a small astronaut crew, serving as a staging area for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and possibly beyond. NASA is planning to construct the spacecraft using leftover parts from the International Space Station, as well as hardware provided by Russia and Italy. NASA will be using the under development Orion-SLS rocket to get to their destination, with the rocket #39;s launch taking place in 2017, and construction on the Gateway starting in 2019. Apparently the concept of the new spacecraft has been under study for months, and that just recently NASA chief Charlie Bolden visited the White House to make his pitch for the project. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is a big fan of the project saying, "Those are steppingstones in confidence and training for interplanetary spacecraft. The eventual goal would be to have a human-tended station on the Martian moon Phobos, directing robots to build facilities for permanent residents on the Red Planet. Then, we make a commitment to permanence. It #39;s like the ...From:jcatteraViews:799 29ratingsTime:03:19More inScience Technology

View original post here:

We're Not Allowed On The Moon! NASA Scraps Plans For Outpost On Moon - Video

Halo 4 Walkthrough Ch.8-2 Gameplay – Midnight – Walkthrough HD – Video


Halo 4 Walkthrough Ch.8-2 Gameplay - Midnight - Walkthrough HD
Making it through a Space Rift and onto a different part of space, A UNSC space station is viewed into the distance... why did the didact bring us here? A secret worth keeping upon the ship? Finally the game you all (most of you) have been waiting for, Halo 4! If most of you held back the urge to pirate this game then i envy you guys. We finally get to see what the hell was going on during the 4 years master chief has been in cryo sleep. Due to a disturbing wake up call we realize that not only the covenant broke the truce, but a new evil is among us...and i have to say this really may be the new nemesis to the chief. Not only that but Cortana is bugging out on us as well! I #39;m not sure how we are gonna even try to fix everything, but stayed tuned and we #39;l go through the entire campaign to see the real truth and perhaps..and final conclusion? You can view the entire Playthrough / Walkthrough of Halo 4 here! http://www.youtube.com For any updates check out my twitter: twitter.com Or my facebook: http://www.facebook.com Halo 4 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries for the Xbox 360 console. It is the first installment in a new trilogy of Halo series games, named the "Reclaimer Trilogy".The game was released worldwide on November 6, 2012, with the exception of Japan where the game will be released on November 8, 2012. The game begins 4 years after the ending of Halo 3, and marks the return of the Master Chief as the main protagonist, and the AI CortanaFrom:MrGrimmmzViews:1 2ratingsTime:10:08More inGaming

Visit link:

Halo 4 Walkthrough Ch.8-2 Gameplay - Midnight - Walkthrough HD - Video

Sonic Adventure 2 – Part 8 – Video


Sonic Adventure 2 - Part 8
We are seriously nearing the end of the hero story. Knuckles is in space and "don #39;t let it hit ya move" "don #39;t let it get ya groove". Still remember that. We also have an erotic moment involving two different species of animals. After that Eggman is being a douche and Sonic comes to the rescue in a gravity disorienting space station! Director #39;s channel - http://www.youtube.comFrom:LegendaryGamersHDViews:290 2ratingsTime:25:12More inGaming

See the original post here:

Sonic Adventure 2 - Part 8 - Video

ISS Progress 49 Russian Cargo Craft Launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan – Video


ISS Progress 49 Russian Cargo Craft Launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
Russian Cargo Craft Launches -- The ISS Progress 49 cargo vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:41 am EDT Wednesday, heading for a docking to International Space Station at 9:33 am NASA Video. HD.From:okrajoeViews:0 0ratingsTime:02:41More inScience Technology

See more here:

ISS Progress 49 Russian Cargo Craft Launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan - Video

Rising carbon dioxide levels Global warming felt by space junk, satellites around the world – Video


Rising carbon dioxide levels Global warming felt by space junk, satellites around the world
Rising carbon dioxide levels at the edge of space are apparently reducing the pull that Earth #39;s atmosphere has on satellites and space junk, researchers say. The findings suggest that manmade increases in carbon dioxide might be having effects on the Earth that are larger than expected, scientists added. In the layers of atmosphere closest to Earth, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, trapping heat from the sun. Rising levels of carbon dioxide due to human activity are leading to global warming of Earth #39;s surface. However, in the highest reaches of the atmosphere, carbon dioxide can actually have a cooling effect. The main effects of carbon dioxide up there come from its collisions with oxygen atoms. These impacts excite carbon dioxide molecules, making them radiate heat. The density of carbon dioxide is too thin above altitudes of about 30 miles (50 kilometers) for the molecules to recapture this heat, which means it mostly escapes to space, chilling the outermost atmosphere. [ Earth #39;s Atmosphere from Top to Bottom (Infographic) ] Cooling the upper atmosphere causes it to contract, exerting less drag on satellites. Atmospheric drag can have catastrophic effects on items in space mdash; for instance, greater-than-expected solar activity heated the outer atmosphere, increasing drag on Skylab, the first US space station, causing it to crash back to EarthFrom:Johnny DViews:0 0ratingsTime:00:31More inNews Politics

Read the rest here:

Rising carbon dioxide levels Global warming felt by space junk, satellites around the world - Video