Category Archives: Space Exploration

Image: British High Commission Ottawa

Edinburgh/Dubai, 1 November 2021. The UK Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on joint activities and information sharing on space, the British High Commission Ottawa reported. The MoU was signed in Dubai at the annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2021).

The UK and Canada have a history of collaborating on scientific research from Covid-19 to genomics, and AI to Quantum technologies. The new agreement calls for collaborative activities and the exchange of information, technology and personnel between the nations.

The UK Government recently launched the National Space Strategy outlining plans to make Britain a leader in science and technology. The Canadian Space Agency leads Canadas activities in space, including space exploration, utilisation and technology development, as well as scientific research.

The MoU builds on cooperation in the space science, technology, applications, law, regulation, space policy and human capital development areas.

Both, the UK and Canada are part and partners of the European Space Agency (ESA).

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UK and Canada to share space activities and data - SpaceWatch.Global

SCHENECTADY - Students from the Gloversville High-Altitude Achievement Club visited Innovative Test Solutions on Kings Road in Schenectady last week to observe testing on an educational satellite being launched into orbit as part of the Teachers in Space Program.

Teachers in Space is a national nonprofit that uses space exploration experiences to get students interested in science and math. Its name was inspired by NASAs Teacher in Space program that picked New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe to become the first school teacher to go into space. McAuliffe died along with the rest of her crew when the Challenger Space Shuttle broke up during launch in 1986.

Liz Kennick, president of Teachers in Space, said the Serenity 3u CubeSat satellite the students were able to test is being launched in either January or February.

The Gloversville students watched as the Serenitywas put through shock and vibration testing to ensure it can withstand "real-life" situations and atmospheres.

The Serenity satellite will perform tests in space designed by the Gloversville students.

Employees at Innovative Test Solutions, a mechanical engineering and testing laboratory, also hosted a half-day educational program for the Gloversville students, allowing them to watch materials tests.

There is nothing more exciting for our staff than to see the minds of future innovators open and expand through real world exposure to science and technology," said Lou Fiorini, director of operations of ITS. "When Teachers in Space approached us to assist with this program, we jumped at the opportunity to bring our expertise in durability and integrity testing to the project."

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High altitudes? These local students are in the know - Times Union

Space spin-offs and technology developed for outer orbit can play a greater role in health care on Earth and help avoid future pandemics, a UAE scientist says.

The technology is already aiding several aspects of public health by monitoring the environment and climate change, and in disaster relief missions.

Canadian scientists, astronauts and Nasa space experts explored how space could help during the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically by tracking infections and remote health care.

The findings, led by UAE-born scientist Dr Farhan Asrar, have been published in science journal Nature Medicine.

Everyone thinks of space travel, but there is so much more technology developed in that journey, such as camera phones, GPS or weather reports that can predict climate change on Earth

Dr Farhan Asrar, University of Toronto

Space as a whole plays a significant role on a public health level, said Dr Asrar, assistant professor at the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine.

The roles we see space playing, from tele-epidemiology and remote satellite technology, look at outbreaks of disease so we can investigate them further.

During a pandemic, satellites can be used to monitor movement of certain vectors, like birds, insects or animals that may transmit zoonotic disease."

Dr Asrar explained the information can look for patterns of virus or disease that may spread in certain temperatures.

Satellites can track these vectors to benefit us as a global population, he said.

Dr Farhan Asrar has written a scientific paper on how space technology can help tackle Covid-19 and future pandemics. A Biometric vest designed for astronauts can help monitor patients with Covid-19 remotely. Photo: Dr Farhan M. Asrar

During the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak in western Africa, space technology was used in two areas of risk mapping to track dense populations and monitor cases, as well as the flow of infections or temperatures that encouraged disease.

Dr Asrar led a team of more than a 100 professionals and experts from more than 30 countries to explore space exploration's role during the Covid-19 pandemic in conjunction with the International Space University in France.

Major contributors to the research included astronauts Dr David Saint-Jacques and Dr Dave Williams and Dr Helena Chapman of Nasas Earth Science Division.

The team presented their findings at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna, Austria.

In June 2020, Nasa, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency joined forces to develop the Covid-19 Earth Observation Dashboard.

The online portal uses satellite imagery and data to document planet-wide changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as traffic flow, economic activity, air quality and movement of people.

Other physical products developed for space include temporary field laboratories that can withstand incredibly harsh climates and wearable vests to monitor vital signs.

The Biomonitor looks like a normal gym shirt but gives round-the-clock information on biological parameters.

It can be used in monitoring hospitalised patients with Covid-19 to reduce physical interaction and the risk of infections, or to check on patients suffering from long Covid.

A lot of costs went into development and research, but it is the same with cell phones, said Dr Asrar.

They were very expensive and exclusive at the start but are now affordable and mainstream.

It is much the same with space technology.

Several research centres have been established in the UAE to support and develop space sciences.

A Dh100 million space research centre operated by the UAE Space Agency, UAE University and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority will act as an incubator for space research and innovation to further progress the industry.

Everyone thinks of space travel, but there is so much more technology developed in that journey, such as camera phones, GPS or weather reports that can predict climate change on Earth, said Dr Asrar.

The strides that the UAE has taken in its space programme and by developing its satellites has captured the interest in this area of healthcare and engineering.

It has great potential.

Updated: October 30th 2021, 6:07 AM

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Astronaut 'space vest' could soon be used to monitor pandemic patients - The National

(Illustration by Adrian Mann/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

A slew of activities amongst Chinas private and state-owned aerospace companies this year are a testament to Chinas growing ambitions for economic and military domination of space. On October 19, the Academy of Aerospace Solid Propulsion Technology (AASPT) which belongs to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) test fired the most powerful solid rocket motor with the largest thrust in the world so far. The 500 tons of thrust is designed to propel the next iteration of Chinas heavy-lift rockets, which would meet various demands for space missions like crewed Moon landings, deep space exploration, and off-world resource extraction.

China test fired the most powerful solid rocket motor with the largest thrust in the world on ... [+] October, 19.

Exploration of space-based natural resources are on the Chinese policy makers mind. The question is, what Joe Biden thinks?

In April of this year, Chinas Shenzen Origin Space Technology Co. Ltd. launched the NEO-1, the first commercial spacecraft dedicated to the mining of space resources from asteroids to the lunar surface.

Falling costs of space launches and spacecraft technology alongside existing infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to explore extraterrestrial resource extraction. Current technologies are equipped to analyze and categorize asteroids within our solar system with a limited degree of certainty. One of the accompanying payloads to the NEO-1 was the Yuanwang-1, or little hubble satellite, which searches the stars for possible asteroid mining targets.

The NEO-1 launch marks another milestone in private satellite development, adding a new player to space based companies which include Japans Astroscale. Private asteroid identification via the Sentinel Space Telescope was supported by NASA until 2015. As private investment in space grows, the end goal is to be capable of harvesting resources to bring to Earth.

According to Shenzen Origin Space Technology company website:

Through the development and launch of the spacecraft, Origin Space is able to carry out low-Earth orbit space junk cleanup and prototype technology verification for space resource acquisition, and at the same time demonstrate future asteroid defense related technologies. In the end, it will come down to progressively lowering the cost of launched unit of weight and booster rocket reliability before fundamentally new engines may drive the launch costs even further down.

The April launch demonstrates that China is already succeeding while the West is spinning its wheels. The much touted Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries (DSI) DSI were supposed to be the vanguard of extra-terrestrial resource acquisition with major backers including Googles GOOG Larry Page. But both have since been acquired, the former by block chain company ConsenSys and the latter by Bradford Space, neither of which are prioritizing asteroid mining.

This is too bad, given that that supply chain crunches here on Earth coupled with the global green energy transition are spiking demand for strategic minerals that are increasingly hard to come by on our environmentally stressed planet. And here China currently holds a monopoly on rare earth element (REE) extraction and processing to the tune of 90%. REEs 17 minerals essential for modern computing and manufacturing technologies for everything from solar panels to semi-conductors.

Resource-hungry China also has major involvement in global critical mineral supply chains, which include cobalt, tungsten, and lithium. As Ive written before, the Chinese hold of upstream and downstream markets is staggering. Possessing 30% of the global mined ore, 80% of the global processing facilities, and an ever increasing list of high dollar investments around the world, China boasts over $36 billion invested in mining projects in Africa alone.

Beijings space program clearly indicates that the Chinese would also like to tighten their grip on space-based resources as well. According to research, it is estimated that a small asteroid roughly 200 meters in length that is rich in platinum could be worth up to $300 million. Merrill Lynch predicts the space industry including extraterrestrial mining industry to value $2.7 trillion in the next three decades.REEs are fairly common in the solar system, but to what degree remains unknown. The most sought after are M-type asteroids which are mostly metal and hundreds of cubic meters. While these are not the most common, the 27,115 Near Earth asteroids are bound to contain a few. This and military applications are no doubt a driving factor of Chinas ever increasing space ambitions.

A new goldrush in space based resource extraction has sparked a new age of miners looking to find their fortunes. In reality, the industry cannot get off the ground without further innovation in deep space observation, on-board power, extraction processes, and logistical support in low earth and high earth orbit.

As Uberization of space looms closer, the prices of space launches are falling rapidly. Privately funded satellites like the NEO-1 or Sentinel are the first of many novel economic ventures deploying technologies essential to the viability of solar system mining projects. Private launches by SpaceX and Blue Origin will provide low cost satellite deployment for further testing craft and classification telescopes.

Why SpaceX Is A Game Changer For NASA

Right now, the cost to capture and process asteroids is far greater than traditional mining techniques. This is changing, but like in traditional mining and rare earths refining, China is far ahead of the U.S. in terms of industrial policy and new investments. China is cognizant of the riches in space, while the U.S. fails to support both their public and private space missions. The United States cannot afford to cede this industry like it has so many others to its peer competitors. If we do, the joke is on U.S., and it will not be funny.

With Assistance from James Grant and Sean Moroney

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Chinas Space Mining Industry Is Prepping For Launch But What About The US? - Forbes

Amazon Web Services is looking at space opportunities in asteroid mining, tourism, manufacturing and digital services over the next five to 10 years.

This comes as an increasingly lucrative and competitive market unfolds beyond the 100-kilometre high Karman line a definition of the boundary between the Earths atmosphere and outer space.

With new sectors emerging in the space industry, the worlds biggest cloud services provider is seeking to reduce the cost of capturing, analytics, storing and sharing valuable space data in a fraction of the time for clients from major governments to smaller start-ups, The National reported.

We want to democratise space data. We want to provide space data to more people in more places around the world, so that innovative people can come up with all sorts of new ways to support climate, or economic development or smart cities or environmental monitoring, Clint Crosier, director of the Aerospace and Satellite Solutions unit at AWS, told The National on the sidelines of the International Astronautical Congress in Dubai.

We need to make the data available in places its not available today and thats one of our real goals. At AWS, one of our mantras is making the world a better place from space.

The global space industry could generate revenue of more than $1 trillion in 2040, up from $350 billion currently, amid high levels of private funding, advances in technology and growing public sector interest in renewing the call to space exploration, according to a report by Morgan Stanley.

Potential opportunities are in areas such as satellite broadband, high-speed product delivery and human space travel, it said. AWSs aerospace unit is considering applications for its cloud computing services in the next decade and beyond in emerging sectors.

There is a broader group of missions that are emerging in space that we are not doing today that we will, and I would put space tourism in that category, but on-orbit manufacturing is one of the things that are really the most interesting, said Mr Crosier, a former US Air Force major general who most recently directed the establishment of the US Space Force.

Building and assembling satellites on the ground before launching them into space is very expensive, leading companies to explore platforms similar to the International Space Station that can be used for additive manufacturing and building parts in space, he said. This cuts costs and opens possibilities such as the ability to create purer fibre optics in a zero-gravity environment.

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Amazon eyes asteroid mining, space tourism, other opportunities - Daily Times

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has appointed Global Guardian as its chosen International Medical Evacuation Services provider for Johnson Space Center (JSC)the center of human space explorationeffective October 1, 2021 until September 30, 2023. Global Guardian, a veteran-owned, global security and duty of care provider, signed a contract worth $470,000 to provide NASA employees with medical support and evacuation services anywhere in the world.

The global leader in space exploration, NASA has a diverse workforce of just under 18,000 civil servants and a responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of their employees, many of whom are employed at JSC. Home to the nations astronaut corps and International Space Station mission operations, JSC plays a pivotal role in enhancing technological and scientific knowledge to benefit all of humankind. As NASAs chosen medical evacuation partner for the International Space Station Program at JSC, Global Guardian is responsible for supporting space exploration initiatives by providing assistance to NASAs esteemed astronauts, launch teams, and employee base, throughout the duration of their travel. NASA employees have around-the-clock access to Global Guardians suite of medical services, including aeromedical transportation, assistance obtaining medications, vaccines, blood transfers, and medical devices, medical translation and interpretation services, accessible via a smartphone app or by calling Global Guardians 24/7 Operations Center.

Although synonymous with space travel, most NASA employees stay on earth and travel the globe on behalf of the administration. When medical attention is needed, a reliable service that can get them the best care possible is paramount, says Dale Buckner, CEO, Global Guardian. We have a global footprint and are vastly experienced in providing emergency medical evacuation services to people that need it the most. NASA is a bastion of American innovation and ingenuity, and we are honored to be its trusted partner.

Global Guardian has made a concerted effort to grow its public sector business, as demonstrated by the announcement earlier this year of several new hires with vast public sector experience. Angie Grandizio and Mike Coleman have deep relationships with the U.S. Army, Department of State, Federal Reserve and Department of Homeland Security, and are charged with spearheading Global Guardians efforts to expand its service offering to government agencies.

With an on-the-ground presence in 98% of the world and some of the top security personnel in the industry, Global Guardian is a leader in comprehensive duty of care services, covering security as well as medical services. Global Guardians in-country response teams are local, well-connected, speak English as well as the local languages, and can be deployed immediately, providing a faster and better emergency response for NASA and the rest of its client base.

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Global Guardian Named NASA's Medical Evacuation Partner for Johnson Space Center - The Ritz Herald

No, says Sophie Harker with a faint laugh. Space seemed cool, but all you really get taught about in school is the planets, which isnt really the bit about space that excites me. And my family doesnt have a background in engineering or sciences, so it didnt click that space was something I could actually be involved in.

But a trip to Disney World Florida changed everything. Naturally.

We were on a family holiday and I got to go to the Kennedy Space Centre, explains Sophie. There I got to see the engineering, the rockets, the equipment - everything that goes into space travel - and it was that engineering challenge that really got me into the subject of space.

One exhibition had this film about the future of space exploration and astronauts, she adds. At the end of the clip, there was a woman in a spacesuit on Mars and a message saying this could be you. I was just like yeah, that could be me - thats exactly what I want to do. Thats how I decided at 16 that I wanted to be an astronaut.

Sophie was born in Hillingdon in London and, until that fateful trip to Florida, had grown up unsure as to what to do with her life. At that time, I was good at maths and that was what I assumed I would work with for the rest of my life, she says. The only careers advice I got was to go into teaching or finance and, beyond that, one other careers advisor told me I should be a costume designer.

I also vividly remember doing the online test to find my ideal job with a friend who wanted to be a lawyer, adds Sophie, 29. She got solicitor and I got fishermans wife. Not even a fisherman myself - a fishermans wife! I was like, right, okay...

At that age, there was nothing I didnt like: I wanted to do something in maths and science but I also loved art and dancing and languages, Sophie continues. I wanted to be a vet, a teacher, a scientist... but that video at the Kennedy Space Centre brought all the pieces which had been floating around my head together to create the picture of an astronaut.

Returning to the UK, Sophie immediately enlisted at Space School UK but, still relatively unsure as to how to pursue her lofty goals of becoming an astronaut, decided to follow her passion for numbers and undertake a degree in mathematics at the University of Nottingham. It proved to be an auspicious decision indeed.

At university, Sophie met Helen Sharman, the first British person to ever go into space, who suggested engineering as a pathway to achieve her cosmic ambitions. Meeting Helen was enlightening, says Sophie. As cheesy and dramatic as it sounds, she genuinely changed my life because that one conversation gave me inspiration just when I needed it.

I wouldnt be an engineer without her, adds Sophie, who took Helens advice on board and subsequently geared her university studies towards applied mathematics. And I got to tell her that about six years after we first met, by which time I was working on spaceplanes. I got to say Im doing this because of you, which was amazing.

In 2013 between her third and fourth years at university, Sophie headed south to undertake an internship with BAE Systems doing software engineering in Christchurch in Dorset. Her first real taste of engineering in action, she relished the responsibility the role offered her and, after returning to Nottingham to complete a Masters, she landed a place on BAE Systems graduate scheme.

Getting on the BAE graduate scheme was really exciting because it made me realise that there was so much more to aerospace than Id initially thought, says Sophie. It was about overcoming challenges - you dont just build and aircraft and hand it over to the pilot, you have to anticipate and solve problems down to the tiniest detail such as what happens when you move a cockpit switch an inch to the left - can the pilot still us it when they need to?

Getting a taste of working on that kind of problem-solving gave me a buzz, she adds, a passion emerging in her voice. Wed be working on seemingly-impossible tasks which we ended up achieving, which felt incredible.

A full-time role with BAE at the companys Warton base followed for Sophie, who has gone on to work on a number of projects in aerodynamics and performance engineering, specialising in exploring the future of aviation, spaceplanes, and hypersonic aircraft which travel faster than five times the speed of sound. Sophie was in her element.

BAE Systems Technical Graduate of the Year in 2016, she became one of the youngest engineers to achieve Chartered Engineer-status at the age of just 25 and was named Graduate of the Year 2017 by the Science, Engineering, and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance whilst also featuring in The Daily Telegraphs Top 50 Women in Engineering.

The following year, Sophie was also named IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2018, won the Bee Beamont award in recognition of her outstanding contributions as a newly-qualified engineer, and was awarded the Sir Henry Royce Medal for her research in developing future technologies for the aviation industry.

So much for a career as a fishermans wife.

Working for BAE has been fantastic, says Sophie, who currently lives in Blackpool. The work environment is great and one of the best things about working for such a big company is that you get to do a lot of different things, which is so exciting. Its meant that Ive been able to follow what interests me.

Sophie was the first BAE Systems graduate employee to get a placement secondment with tech SME Reaction Engines, a small company in which BAE Systems have invested. It was there that Sophie was able to apply her skills to space.

Working on things like the Skylon Space Plane [a fully-reusable single stage-to-orbit spaceplane] and SABRE [a new aerospace engine class combining both jet and rocket tech] was a dream come true in terms of contributing to the space industry. Finding out I was able to work on those kinds of projects was emotional - 16-year-old me wouldve been massively excited.

I cant really put it into words.

Now a Senior Engineer of Flight Systems with BAE, Sophie currently works as part of Team Tempest, a technology initiative launched by the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office to keep the UK at the forefront of global combat air technology development, but is on the verge of starting a new role in a sector for which she has always had a deep and profound passion: green tech.

Team Tempest was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but Im moving into my new role with BAE off the back of wanting to do more to drive sustainable technologies like electric vehicles, says Sophie, who returned to the University of Nottingham in 2019 to deliver the Women in Aerodynamics lecture. I want to give back to the world and its been something which has been on my mind from a young age.

To be able to feel that Ive made a difference to a critical problem not just for my generation but for generations to come makes the new role hugely exciting and potentially fulfilling, she adds. One of the things I love about engineering as a whole is that you get to leave a legacy and this is a legacy that I think Ill be particularly proud to leave.

Speaking of legacy, matters dont get much more legacy-defining than becoming an astronaut and, having previously been almost shy about her ambitions in the field, Sophie is now owning her determination to become the eighth British person to go to space. During the European Space Agencys (ESA) latest recruitment drive in July, she took the plunge and applied.

But, naturally, she faces some stiff competition - ESA received more than 22,500 applications, including almost 2,000 from Britain alone.

Becoming an astronaut as a European is a lot rarer than if you were, say, an American, explains Sophie. NASA tends to put out a recruitment call every two years whereas its been 13 years since ESAs last one in 2008 when they recruited Tim Peake, so theres a lot of competition, but well see.

All you can do is make yourself appealing beyond having their minimum requirements, which is a Masters in STEM or by becoming a test pilot as well as having at least three years experience in a relevant field, she adds. Ive ticked both those off, so Ive also learned German and am learning how to fly a plane, which will help.

But I also enjoy stuff like that, otherwise I wouldnt do it, Sophie continues. Its fun and helps with my work, too - for example, when I started to learn how to fly, even though I work on flight control systems, I didnt really understand what the feedback the pilot gets feels like. Now I do, which has made me a better engineer.

And learning to fly was freeing. Im a figure skater in my spare time and, when the rinks empty and you can go as fast as you can, its one of the freest feelings in the world. Thats the only thing I can equate to flying. I know that becoming an astronaut is a remote possibility, so Ive got to make sure I enjoy what I do every day. And I do.

The enjoyment Sophie gets from her work has taken a young girl who never even dreamed of a career in engineering to the potential cusp of history. And thats why, as a champion of This is Engineering, an initiative created by the Royal Academy of Engineering, Sophie wants to show other young aspiring engineers just how far a career in the industry can take them.

Showing kids the real-world applications of engineering is unbelievably important because it can change the direction of their lives, she says. Space was my way into engineering, but there are so many different routes, so its about allowing young people to follow a passion because engineering can literally lead them to the moon.

Its also critical that we get more girls and women into engineering, not only because its the right thing to do for gender equality, but because its important to have a diversity of perspectives, Sophie adds. Take a really famous example: seatbelt design used to be based off tests on male crash-test dummies, which meant that women were more likely to die in a collision.

You can guarantee that, had there been a woman in that room, she wouldve said hold on, why are we only testing for men? Sophie continues. Its about being inclusive, which is both critical to business and just the right thing to do.

And with Sophie as a role model, its safe to say a fair few budding engineers will be inspired and then some.

Sophie Harker is part of This is Engineering Day on 3 November, celebrating engineers and engineering. Created by the Royal Academy of Engineering, This is Engineering Day 2021 looks to highlight the critical role engineers have to play in the UK achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. For more info, visit http://www.thisisengineering.org.uk

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'I decided I wanted to be an astronaut on a family holiday to Disney World': Lancashire's Sophie Harker talks BAE Systems, engineering, and space -...

Mega Drive owners didn't often glance enviously at their Super Nintendo friends. After all, we had amazing platform games. We had fantastic shoot 'em ups. We had great arcade conversions. But there was one thing we didn't have: the sprawling RPGs of the Nintendo console, such as The Secret Of Mana, Final Fantasy and The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past. True, there were Mega Drive RPGs, but none with quite the epic feel and expanse of their Nintendo peers. Then, for a brief period in the early 90s, it didn't matter. Because we had Buck Rogers: Countdown To Doomsday, a sci-fi RPG the likes of which never again appeared on the Sega console.

Countdown To Doomsday began life in 1990 as a PC, Commodore 64 and Amiga game. Released as part of its Gold Box series by Strategic Simulations Inc. (better known as SSI), the game was based on TSR's Buck Rogers XXVC table-top role-playing game, itself a blending together of the famous sci-fi character with the Dungeons & Dragons second edition ruleset. As was common at the time, Countdown presents a first-person exploration view combined with an isometric display for combat. Yet while the original has its fans, it's the Mega Drive conversion, released a year later, that is the most loved.

"I can still remember when I first laid my eyes on it," remembered my fellow Eurogamer contributor Jennifer Allen in her loving tribute to Countdown back in 2018. "On a shelf full of the usual mid-1990s suspects... Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday stood out. A distinctive red box with some garish and heroic art, it couldn't help but stand out."

That box encased the famous Electronic Arts adapted Mega Drive cartridge after the company secured a contract to publish Countdown on the Sega console. Back in 1988, EA had signed a deal with SSI, making the developer an affiliate label and the publisher taking charge of distributing SSI's games while acquiring a 20% share of the company. SSI president at the time, Joel Billings, takes up the story. "Since we didn't have the money to get into console games, it was natural for us to license titles like our D&D games and Tony La Russa Baseball, and EA was a natural licensee due to their ownership in SSI."

Countdown To Doomsday's story runs back to the end of the 20th Century as nuclear war devastates the human race. Sent into space to destroy a new deadly missile system, pilot Buck Rogers succeeds in his mission but not before becoming frozen in space as war rages on Earth. Eventually, power shifts to the planet's corporations and by the time Rogers is discovered - 500 years later - it is dominated by the Russo-American Mercantile, aka RAM. Recently defrosted, the hero of yesteryear is now the hero of the future, joining up with the New Earth Organisation (NEO) to free the Earth and its colonies from the malevolent rule of RAM. Six bright and hopeful recruits are now thrust into the war, ready to take the fight to the colonies on Mars, Venus and beyond.

In charge of art on Countdown was SSI veteran Tom Wahl. Having joined the company in 1987, Wahl had already worked on several of its famed projects. "It was a magical time working with the SSI Special Projects Group," he says. "From watching the industry growing up around us, to being on the forefront of some lasting memories in game development."

Working with the Gold Box engine, Wahl's claim to fame was tweaking it to 3x3 tile shapes instead of the standard 2x2 square-pack shapes that had been used previously. "That single decision allowed us to make more customisable AD&D characters in your battle party. By using 3x3 shapes, the characters could now be assigned different tiles for each part of the body, with a different primary colour allocated to each. So personalising the design of your party was always fun."

After his first full role with the AD&D Forgotten Realms game Pool Of Radiance, Wahl had become a key member of the SSI development team by the time Gold Box RPG number five came around. And as ever for an artist, colour was a vital part of his process. "By then, we were primarily starting with PC VGA 8-bit 256 colour graphics and bringing them over to the unique 16 colour Commodore 64 palette. Although the Sega Genesis technically had a larger colour palette, it also had that unique limitation of no more than 61 colours on screen at one time."

Having overseen development of the original versions, SSI's Bret Berry was promoted to manager during production of the Mega Drive game. In his place, the developer hired ex-Activision producer Tony Van. "They had a firm ship date and needed me to ensure the game completed on time," says Van. "It helped that I was a tabletop and computer RPG fan, and a fan of SSI as a company." SSI, keen to branch into console gaming - especially given that platforms such as the Commodore 64 were nearing the end of their commercial life - completed the deal with Electronic Arts to bring its latest game, sci-fi extravaganza Buck Rogers, to the Sega console.

Yet while Countdown could be construed as a 'mere' port, there was still a lot of work to do, as Van explains. "While a lot of art existed and was touched up, new art was required such as console specific icons replacing text navigation. Laura Bowen created the new icons, Maurine Starkey provided some new images and Cyrus Lim created the new space battle UI." In addition, the story and design team, Rhonda Gilbert and Dave Shelley, had to ensure the scripts ported correctly, updating them to brand new Mega Drive-specific missions. Also new was a baroque soundtrack from Jon Medek and, of course, the streamlining of the game's viewpoint.

The concept of Countdown's continual isometric view was the brainchild of the game's lead programmer, Michael McNally. "I added an isometric view - it surprised the product manager and was a total shock when I showed it to the unsuspecting team," he explains. "I said, 'Look guys, we can reuse the combat view for navigation...'. But they liked it, although it forced the artists to add a few more tile types for the wall joins."

The art team now had to work on making the two modes - exploration and combat - visually distinct. Logos, pipes, computers and more pepper the main game while combat mode dispenses with all of these embellishments in order to focus on the battle. "This was a huge change," remembers Van. "We had lots of bugs to fix at the very end! But I think that work was definitely worth it as the isometric view is more immersive." However, not everyone agreed at the time. "I was not convinced it would work in the changing of player movement from first-person to third-person," says Wahl. "But I think now that it works. Sometimes, you want to look at what's on the left side of the hidden wall, but in the end you quickly learn to rely on what the text description informs you."

Despite the amendments, squeezing Countdown into the Mega Drive cart was tough, especially when the game's large maps (Venus and Mars), space combat display and five evocative cut scenes were incorporated. It's the latter beautiful images that many Countdown players recall most fondly. Created by artist Mike Provenza (who remains an admired painter today), images such as the ghostly figure the team encounters on its first mission serve brilliantly an atmosphere that's intensified by Medek's rich and brooding music. "I think his work is a nice touch and it changes throughout the game, wonderfully setting the mood," notes Wahl. "I would say Medek's work was truly awesome, maybe even ground-breaking."

McNally, working on what would become his sole console videogame, was left to his own devices to make Mega Drive Buck work. "I took a lot of personal licence in developing the port, doing stuff on my own initiative without asking permission of the product management or other staff," he recalls. "In particular, I enlarged the combat map, added an isomorphic view to the dungeon navigation and had fun animating explosions with the mass effect weapons, something the Genesis sprite system made easier to do than on the desktop machines of the day." The result is a sleeker, less-claustrophobic battle simulation where players can tactically position their team while juggling the most effective weapons and combat techniques. Along with the space exploration and combat fields, it turned out to be an efficient reimagining of the Gold Box classic. Says Van, "The team worked really hard to make the complex UI accessible on the Genesis - yet it's still a very tactical and story-driven adventure."

Sadly, despite solid sales and a decent reception, no further SSI games appeared on the Sega console, not even Countdown's own sequel, Matrix Cubed, which remained PC only. Having begun work on Cubed, Tony Van left for Lucasfilm Games. "I guess for some reason EA didn't want a Genesis sequel," he muses. "And SSI didn't want to invest heavily to enter the console market at the time." The extra expense of cartridge production is also cited by Joel Billings, although it wasn't the final time that SSI attempted it. "Console games were very expensive to distribute due to the cost of making cartridges. But, in 1992 we did have a Nintendo version of Dark Sun in development along with the PC version. Unfortunately it took two years to develop and early in 1993 we had to cancel the Nintendo project and focus on the PC version."It didn't turn out to be the worst decision by SSI: Nintendo Dark Sun programmer Paul Murray was subsequently assigned to a World War II hex-based wargame. 18 months later, the developer would have its biggest hit with tank simulation Panzer General.

But I digress. Countdown To Doomsday, an inimitable mixture of slower-paced sci-fi adventuring, space battles and open-world RPG exploration remains today an underrated gem for the Sega Mega Drive. "It was my dream to work on an RPG, and I got that experience with a world-class RPG dev team," says Van. "This prepared me for my work later on Shadowrun at Sega Of America." Yet more importantly for Countdown's producer, was the love that blossomed thanks to Buck. "A year after the game shipped, Rhonda Gilbert and I got married!" he grins. "So Buck holds a special place in both our hearts, and I will always be grateful that it brought us together."

My thanks to Tony Van, Michael McNally, Joel Billings and Tom Wahl for their time.

Read more:

30 years on, the story behind one of the Mega Drive's best RPGs - Eurogamer.net

One way to minimize such delays is by cutting a path through the Internet, one that takes into account the traffic conditions up ahead. My company, Subspace, has built such a network using custom hardware and a proprietary fiber-optic backbone. And we've shown it doesn't have to be complicatedusers don't have to do anything more complicated than logging onto a Web portal. Put together, Subspace has created a "weather map" for the Internet that can spot choppy or stormy parts of the network and work around them for better, faster real-time data movement.

The online transformation occasioned by the current pandemic can be seen in a single statistic. In December 2019 the videoconferencing company Zoom had 10 million daily participants, and by April of the following year it had 300 million. Most of those new recruits to the real-time Internet were taken by surprise by problems that have been plaguing online gamers for decades.

Subspace was founded in early 2018. When we started, we anticipated that Internet performance for real-time applications wasn't optimal, but it turned out to be far worse than we had imagined. More than 20 percent of Internet-connected devices experienced performance issues at any given time, and 80 percent had major disruptions several times a day.

We initially focused on multiplayer games, where a player's experience depends on real-time network performance and every millisecond counts. In the second half of 2019, we deployed our network and technology for one of the largest game developers in the world, resulting in an order-of-magnitude increase in engagement and doubling the number of players with a competitive connection.

Internet performance directly affects online gaming in two ways: First you must download the game, a one-time request for a large amount of datasomething that today's Internet supports well. Playing the game requires small transfers of data to synchronize a player's actions with the larger state of the gamesomething the Internet does not support nearly as well.

Gamers' problems have to do with latency, variations in latency called jitter, and disruptions in receiving data called packet loss. For instance, high-latency connections limit the speed of "matchmaking," or the process of connecting players to one another, by restricting the pool of players who can join quickly. Slower matchmaking in turn can cause frustrated players to quit before a game starts, leaving a still smaller matchmaking pool, which further limits options for the remaining players and creates a vicious cycle.

In 2020, when COVID-19 pushed the world to videoconferencing and distance learning, these performance issues suddenly began to affect many more people. For example, people who worked on IT help desks began working remotely, and managers had to scramble to find ways for those workers to answer calls in a clear and reliable way. That's far harder to do from a person's home than from a central office that's on a robust fiber-optic cable line. On top of that, call volume at contact centers is also at an all-time high. Zendesk, a customer-service software provider, found that support tickets increased by 30 percent during the period of February 2020 to February 2021, compared with the previous year. The company also estimates that call volume will stabilize at about 20 percent higher than the prepandemic average.

The shifts in online usage created by the pandemic are also strengthening the case to further democratize the Internetthe idea that there must be a universal, consistent standard of use to everyone, regardless of who or where they are. This is not an unqualified good, because email has very different requirements from those of an online game or a videoconference.

In the 1990s, Internet access was expanded from the world of the military and certain educational organizations to a truly universal system. Then, content delivery networks (CDNs) like Akamai and Cloudflare democratized data caching by putting commonly requested data, such as images and videos, into data centers and servers closer to the "last mile" to the ultimate users. Finally, Amazon, Microsoft, and others built cloud-computing data centers that put artificial intelligence, video editing, and other computationally intensive projects closer to last-mile users.

Connections between nodes are designed around delivering as much data as possible, rather than delivering data consistently or with minimal delay.

But there's still one final stage of democratization that hasn't happenedthe democratization of the paths through which data is routed. The Internet connects hundreds of millions of nodes, but the actual performance of the paths connecting these nodes varies wildly, even in major cities. Connections between nodes are designed around delivering as much data as possible, rather than delivering data consistently or with minimal delay.

To use the analogy of a highway: Imagine you're in the middle of a road trip from Los Angeles to Chicago, and a prolonged blizzard is raging in the Rocky Mountains. While driving through Denver would typically be the most direct (and quickest) route, the blizzard will slow you down at best, or at worst result in an accident. Instead, it might make more sense to detour through Dallas. In doing so, you would be responding to the actual current conditions of the route, rather than relying on what their capabilities should be.

Democratized network elements wouldn't necessarily choose the best route based on the lowest cost or highest capacity. Instead, as Google Maps, Waze, and other navigation and route-planning apps do for drivers, a fully democratized Internet would route data along the pathway with the best performance and stability. In other words, the route with the most throughput or the least number of hops would not be automatically prioritized.

The traditional emphasis on pushing more data through the network ignores all the things that cause latencyissues like instability, geographic distance, or circuitous paths. This is why you can have a Wi-Fi connection of 100 megabits per second and still have a choppy Zoom call. When that happens, the network elements connecting you to the others in your call aren't delivering a consistent performance.

Internet routing often takes circuitous pathsfollowing national borders, mountain ranges, and morejust as driving cross-country often requires several highways. Even worse, ISP and carrier networks don't know what exists beyond themselves, and as they pass packets to one another, they often backtrack. The last mile in particularakin to pulling off the interstate and onto local roadsis thorny, as traffic changes hands between carriers based on cost, politics, and ownership. It's this indirect routing, networks' lack of awareness of the entire Internet, and last-mile inconsistency that make delivering data with minimal delay extremely difficult.

A better solution is to reroute data to the path with the best performance at the moment. This may sound simple enough in theory, but it can be complicated to implement for a few reasons.

For one, the emergence of Netflix and other video-streaming platforms over the past 20 years has tended to impede real-time applications. Because such platforms prioritize putting often-requested data closer to network edges, these networks have become less conducive to latency-sensitive video calls and online games. At the same time, while ISPs have advertisedand providedfaster upload and download speeds over time, established network infrastructures have only become more entrenched. It's a perfect case of the adage "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

A more significant problem is that ISPs and CDNs have no practical control over data after it's been routed through their networks. Just because you pay a particular ISP for service doesn't mean that every request you make stays confined to the parts of the network they control. In fact, more often than not, requests don't.

One operator might route data along an optimal path in its own network, and transfer the data to another operator's network, with no idea that the second operator's network is currently clogged. What operators need is an eye in the sky to coordinate around potential and emerging delays that they themselves might not be aware of. That's one aspect of what Subspace does.

In essence, Subspace has created its own real-time mapping of Internet traffic and conditions, similar to the way Waze maps traffic on roads and highways. And like Waze, which uses the information it gathers to reroute people based on the current traffic conditions, Subspace can do the same with Internet traffic, seeing beyond any one portion controlled by a particular operator.

Subspace uses custom global routers and routing systems, as well as dedicated fiber mesh networks, to provide alternative pathways for routes that, for one reason or another, tend to suffer from latency more than most. This hardware has been installed inside more than 100 data-center facilities worldwide. An IT administrator can easily arrange to route outgoing traffic through the Subspace network and thus get that traffic to its destination sooner than the traditional public domain name system (DNS) could manage.

In essence, Subspace has created its own real-time mapping of Internet traffic and conditions, similar to the way Waze maps traffic on roads and highways.

Subspace uses custom software to direct the traffic around any roadblocks that may lie between it and its target destination. In real time, the software takes network measurements of latency (in milliseconds), jitter (in latency variation), and packet loss (in the number of successfully delivered data packets within a time interval) on all possible paths. Whenever there is an unusual or unexpected latency spikewhat we like to call "Internet weather"the software automatically reroutes traffic across the entire network as needed.

Enterprises have tried to avoid bad Internet weather by building private networks using technologies such as SD-WAN (software-defined wide area networking) and MPLS (multiprotocol label switching). However, these methods work only when an entire workforce is reporting to a handful of centralized offices. If large numbers of employees are working from home, each home has to be treated as a branch office, making the logistics too complex and costly.

Besides random bad weather, there are some traffic problems on the public Internet that arise as side effects of certain security measures. Take the act of vandalism known as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, in which malicious actors flood servers with packets in order to overload the systems. It's a common scourge of multiplayer games. To thwart such attacks, the industry standard "DDoS scrubbing" technique attempts to separate malicious traffic from "safe" traffic. However, getting traffic to a scrubbing center often means routing it through hairpin twists and turns, detours that can add upwards of 100 milliseconds in latency.

Subspace instead protects against DDoS attacks by acting as a traffic filter itself, without changing the path that packets take or in any way adding latency. In the last two years, we estimate that Subspace has already prevented hundreds of DDoS attacks on multiplayer games.

The tricks that helped the Internet grow in its early decades are no longer delivering the expected bang for their buck, as people now demand more from networks than just bandwidth. Just pushing large volumes of data through the network can no longer sustain innovation.

The Internet instead needs stable, direct, speed-of-light communication, delivered by a dedicated network. Until now, we've been limited to working with large companies to address the particular network needs they might have. However, we've recently made our network available to any application developer in an effort to give any Internet application more network performance.

With this new, improved Internet, people won't suffer through choppy Zoom calls. Surgeons performing telemedicine won't be cut off in mid-suture. And the physical, augmented, virtual-realities-merging metaverse will at last become possible.

This article appears in the November 2021 print issue as "The Internet's Coming Sunny Days."

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What Computing Tech Will Drive Future Space Exploration? - IEEE Spectrum

After more than two decades in orbit, NASA is preparing to retire the International Space Station. The habitable satellite only has permission to operate until 2024, and while its likely that the space stations funding could be extended until 2028, NASA plans to decommission the ISS and find a replacement by the end of the decade. Cue Jeff Bezos.

The billionaires spaceflight company, Blue Origin, has released its proposal for a new, commercial space station called Orbital Reef. With the help of several other companies, including Sierra Space and Boeing, Blue Origin plans to build a satellite thats slightly smaller than the ISS and houses up to 10 people. The design includes desk space, computers, laboratories, a garden, and 3D printers. The goal, the company says, is to bring the mixed use business park concept into orbit and lease out office space to interested parties, including government agencies, researchers, tourism companies, and even movie production crews.

Get the best of Recode's essential reporting on tech and business news.

Blue Origins plan is predicated on the idea that the end is coming for the ISS, which NASA is still figuring out how exactly to remove from orbit. While space stations have been helpful for space exploration, Blue Origin senior vice president Brent Sherwood argued in a recent op-ed that private companies now have the capabilities to take over much of the burgeoning economy in low-Earth orbit, or LEO. Blue Origin is even building a space tug, a transport vehicle that moves cargo between different orbits, that could reportedly be used to salvage parts from the ISS and incorporate them into Orbital Reefs systems.

NASA doesnt mind the corporate takeover of low-Earth orbit. The agencys first space station, SkyLab, was only in orbit for a few months before NASA let the vehicle descend and decompose into the atmosphere. The space agency has been weighing defunding the ISS, which is full of aging hardware, for several years, and has already set aside up to $400 million to fund new, privately built and operated space stations through its Commercial LEO Destinations program. Eventually, NASA hopes that it can send its astronauts to these stations instead of paying to maintain the ISS. Overall, the plan could save the government more than $1 billion every year.

This is technology that is over 20 years old at this point. When you expose that infrastructure to radiation, solar weather... things are going to break down, Wendy Whitman Cobb, a professor at the US Air Forces School of Air and Space Studies, told Recode. Having these commercial space stations will be a way of America keeping their foot in low-Earth orbit while focusing more of their resources on moon and Mars exploration.

In the meantime, NASA is currently focusing on the Artemis program, an ambitious plan to establish a long-term human presence on the moon. The agency intends to send people to the moon for the first time in decades as soon as 2024, and hopes the project will eventually serve as a stepping stone to future exploration of Mars. Private companies, including Blue Origin, have desperately fought for a role in this prestigious mission, and especially a lucrative contract to develop pivotal moon landing technology. SpaceX won that contract earlier this year, prompting Bezoss company to sue NASA and lobby the Senate to reverse the decision. Those efforts have yet to bear fruit, so Bezos now seems to be turning his attention back to the low-Earth orbit economy, where there are more customers and less competition from Elon Musk.

But theres reason to believe that the Orbital Reef project may not succeed in the near future or at all. Blue Origin still hasnt launched humans into orbit, a feat SpaceX achieved last month during the Inspiration4 mission. Blue Origin also lists its New Glenn reusable launch system and Boeings Starliner crew vehicle as pivotal parts of the Orbital Reef plan, but both vehicles have yet to conduct a problem-free space flight.

Blue Origin isnt the only company vying to replace the ISS. About 12 other firms have already sent space station proposals to NASAs Commercial LEO Destinations program. Just last week, a space company called Nanoracks announced that it was also developing a space station, in partnership with its majority owner Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin. At the same time, NASA has already agreed to pay the space company Axiom Space $140 million to help build at least one module, or detachable space station component, that will be conjoined to the ISS. That module will eventually be spun out and attached to several other modules to form a separate, fully functional space station when the ISS winds down operations. That approach is supposed to make it easier to transfer the hardware thats currently aboard the ISS onto a new vehicle.

In a statement, a NASA spokesperson described the current moment as a renaissance for human spaceflight. They added, As more people fly to space and do more things during their spaceflights, it attracts even more people to do more activities in low-Earth orbit and reflects the growing market we envisioned when we began NASAs Commercial Crew Program 10 years ago.

For NASA, its also critical that at least one of these companies succeeds, and the agency told Recode it could fund up to four of the proposals. After all, time is running out on the ISS, where malfunctions and outdated technology and equipment are common. Without private companies stepping in to build an alternative, the US government risks a future where it has a human presence on the moon and Earth, and nowhere in the middle.

This story first published in the Recode newsletter. Sign up here so you dont miss the next one!

See more here:

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin Orbital Reef space station could replace the ISS - Vox.com