Category Archives: Education

Night sky highlights for September 2020

** What’s Up: September 2020 – Skywatching Tips from NASA JPL

What are some skywatching highlights in September 2020? Spot the Moon together with Mars and Venus, along with the flickering star Fomalhaut, which had itself a planet…until it didn’t! Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/whats-up… .

** Tonight’s Sky: SeptemberSpace Telescope Science Institute – YouTube

In September, Pegasus becomes increasingly prominent in the southeastern sky, allowing stargazers to locate globular star clusters and a nearby double star, Alpha Capricorni. Keep watching for space-based views of densely packed, spherical collections of ancient stars in visible and X-ray light.

** What’s in the Night Sky September 2020 Aurora Borealis | Harvest Moon – Alyn Wallace – YouTube

** What to see in the night sky, September 2020BBC Sky at Night Magazine – YouTube

What can you see in the night sky? Astronomers Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel reveal their stargazing tips for September 2020. In 2020 we’re celebrating 15 years of our Virtual Planetarium: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/sp…

** Skywatch: What’s happening in the heavens in September – The Washington Post

For September’s night sky, scan the southern heavens to see bright Jupiter and a dim Saturn. You can’t miss these large planets near the constellation Sagittarius.

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Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Aug.25.2020

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** University of Cádiz (UCA) student team developing the UCAnFly cubesat to test space-based gravitational wave detection technologies.

UCAnFly is an educational nanosatellite to test emerging technologies for space-based gravitational wave detectors, such as LISA. The main motivation is to complement academic education at the University of Cádiz (UCA) and transfer knowledge to students in the field of advanced instrumentation and data analysis for Space Sciences. 

The emerging line of research that the UCAnFly project has recently started to conduct at UCA requires engaging and training young researchers with the purpose of creating a group specialized in high precision measurement systems for space missions. This project will open a unique opportunity of novel and valuable experience for the students involved.

UCAnFly is led by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Cádiz, with the support of the Education Office of the European Space Agency, under the educational Fly Your Satellite! programme.

Rendering of the design of the UCAnFly cubesat. Credits: UCA

A video overview:

…The UCAnFly project involves the introduction of a new line of research at the University of Cádiz, which requires engaging and training young researchers with the aim of creating a group specialized in high precision measurement systems for space missions. For this reason, in addition to the mission objectives, one of the main motivations of the project is to complement academic education and transfer knowledge in the field of advanced instrumentation and data analysis for space applications to undergraduate and doctoral students…

** Virginia high school team building TJ REVERB cubesat to compare smallsat radio communications systems. The project won a ride to space via NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.

The TJ REVERB project is creating a best practice document for building a Nanosatellite while building a 2U CubeSat that compares multiple radio systems in Lower Earth Orbit. Additionally, TJ REVERB serves as an educational vehicle for teaching students the principles of systems engineering. Beyond the rich learning experience designing and constructing a satellite provides the students at Thomas Jefferson HSST, the team is committed to a robust local, national, and international outreach program.

There is a GoFundMe to raise funds to expand the smallsat program and their outreach activities to other high schools: Fundraiser for US STEM FOUNDATION by TJ REVERB : TJREVERB Cubesat for TJHSST

Latest updates at Cool Cube (@CoolCube10) / Twitter. Find videos posted by the students at Cool Cube – YouTube, e.g.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-236 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Ballot Return Date is September 15
  • Two-Minute Engineering Video Update Available
  • New Distance Records
  • ORI’s Digital Microwave Broadband Communication System Determined to be Free of ITAR
  • SmallSat 2020 Virtual Conference Proceedings Available Online
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • ARISS News
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

** Students Use Ham Radio to Call an Astronaut in Space – NASA Johnson

On May 15, 2020, Canadian students used ham radio to talk with NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, currently aboard the International Space Station. Thanks to ham radio operators and the International Space Station program, the students were able to participate from their homes. Learn more about ham radio aboard the space station: https://go.nasa.gov/2DRPAeK Learn more about the research being conducted on station: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

** What is a CubeSat?Cool Cube

CubeSats are driving space exploration! In this video, by students for students, we go over what they are and some major components that are typically on board! Please stick along for the rest of this series, where we’ll go over the ins and outs of satellite development!

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Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Aug.19.2020

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** US Dept. of Education opens CubeSat mission competition for high school students: U.S. Department of Education Launches Space Mission Challenge for High School Students: CTE Mission: CubeSat Challenge seeks to inspire, prepare students for a future in aerospace | U.S. Department of Education

Building on the Administration-wide commitment to expand student interest in the booming science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, the U.S. Department of Education today launched CTE Mission: CubeSat, a national challenge to inspire students to build technical skills for careers in space and beyond. High school students from across the country are invited to design and build CubeSat (cube satellite) prototypes, or satellites that aid in space research, bringing space missions out of the clouds and into the classroom.

“This is such an exciting way to rethink education and get students engaged in hands-on learning in the growing aerospace and technology fields,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. “I look forward to seeing the innovative prototypes students develop and hope this challenge inspires our next generation of American space explorers.”

Investors predict that space will be the next trillion-dollar industry, and as missions in space continue to expand, so do the career opportunities. This multi-phase challenge offers high school students across the United States the chance to build CubeSat prototypes while learning creative, collaborative, and technical skills for 21st century careers.

Schools interested in entering CTE Mission: CubeSat should form a team and submit a mission proposal by 5:59 p.m. ET, on Oct. 16, 2020 — no in-person collaboration or prior experience with CubeSats is required. The online submission form asks for school information, a team profile, a project proposal, and anticipated learning outcomes. Curated educational resources are available to students and teachers online in the CTE Mission: CubeSat resource hub. To learn more, schools can join a virtual information session on Sept. 1.

Up to five finalists will be selected to receive prizes and participate in Phase 2, which runs from January to May 2021. Finalists will have access to expert mentorship and additional virtual resources as they build CubeSat prototypes and plan flight events to launch their prototypes. The Department understands that due to current conditions, schools will need flexibility to safely collaborate when designing and building prototypes during the challenge. The Department looks forward to the creative solutions in the mission proposals it receives as challenge entries.

Each finalist will receive an equal share of the $25,000 cash prize pool, as well as satellite development, hardware, and software kits. Challenge sponsors include Arduino, Blue Origin, Chevron, EnduroSat, LEGO Education, Magnitude.io, MIT Media Lab, and XinaBox.

Find more about the competition at the CTE Mission: CubeSat blog. See, for example, Small yet mighty: CubeSats are transforming the future of space discovery — and education – CTE Mission: CubeSat

Diagram of the primary components of a CubeSat.

** Norwegian university team building HYPSO-1 CubeSat to study ocean algae blooms.The NTNU SmallSat Lab at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology is developing a miniature hyper-spectral camera system for the mission. The 6U CubeSat is to be launched later this year.

The HYPer-Spectral smallsat for Ocean observation (HYPSO) will observe oceanographic phenomena via a small satellite with a hyperspectral camera, intelligent on-board processing and robots

Why?

The Ocean is of great interest to understand the effects of climate change and human impact on the world.

Traditional EO satellites are very expensive and take several years to develop and launch.

Dedicated SmallSats can be used to provide images of small areas of interest with short revisit times.

The information can be downloaded, and communicated to unmanned vehicles which can investigate the areas of interest further.

The Norwegian company KSAT ( Kongsberg  Satellite Services ) will provide ground support for the mission: KSAT will support Norway’s first hyperspectral Smallsat mission – KSAT

At NTNU Small Satellite Lab, a multi-disciplinary team of master students, PhD-students and professors are currently working on a small satellite with a miniaturized hyperspectral camera for detection of toxic algae blooms along the Norwegian coast. KSAT will as part of this contract, provide commercial ground station services from the Svalbard Ground Station for this mission, called HYPSO-1. KSAT is well known for providing fast and reliable space to ground services. By using the unique ground station at Svalbard, KSAT ensures fast access to the time-critical data.

In combination with drones and autonomous vehicles both on surface and subsea, the goal is to be able to detect and alert the fish-farms about toxic algae blooms in the area. In 2019 a sudden upwelling of toxic algae killed close to 8 million salmon in Norwegian fish farms, wiping out more than half of the annual sales growth in just over a week. The hope is that with the contribution of this mission, one can avoid this in the future.

As a significant provider of maritime monitoring services KSAT had an active role during the algae bloom last year and together with partners in Tromsø they are currently exploring how to discriminate between different types of algae by combining different sensors and applying advanced algorithms.

** The Orbit student smallsat group at NTNU is developing SelfieSat as their first mission.

The SelfieSat, our first project, started out as a simple satellite project; we wanted to make an operational satellite that is able to communicate while it is orbiting earth. However, we wanted to make things a bit more interesting. While SelfieSat is in orbit it will be able to display a selfie of any person on earth, which will be uploaded from our ground station at NTNU. A robotic arm with a camera attached will photograph the screen with the earth in its background. Finally this picture will be sent back to the selfie-taking individual!

A rendering of the SelfieSat CubeSat in development by the Orbit student group at NTNU.

Launch is targeted for the 2020/2021 time frame.

** Univ. of Georgia‘s Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL) building 2 CubeSats for ocean studies: Smallsat Lab @ University of Georgia Building Two For Orbit – SatNews

The primary scientific goals of these cubesat missions are to develop and operate the first moderate resolution coastal ecosystem and ocean color CubeSats in Georgia.

The AFRL mission, the Mapping and Ocean Color Imager (MOCI) will use an onboard RGB camera to take images from multiple perspectives to create a 3D point cloud of land features.

The NASA mission, the SPectral and Ocean Color Satellite (SPOC Sat), will generate hyperspectral moderate resolution imaging products to monitor coastal wetlands status, estuarine water quality, and near-coastal ocean productivity in compliance with some of the NASA’s strategic objectives. The designing and building of the hyperspectral imager for SPOC is being done in house and will have 60 bands to acquire image data between 400 and 850 nm. In addition, the SPOC mission has been chosen as a candidate of NASA’s eight CubeSat Launch Initiative, meaning that SPOC will be launched to the International Space Station for deployment between 2018 and 2020.

Undergraduate students are deeply involved in the two projects:

The two missions and the establishment of the lab have the primary goals of teaching and developing students for STEM careers by training undergraduates in a broad range of fields through hands-on, experiential learning and creating a pipeline for high school students to attend UGA through the Physics and Astronomy Department. While the majority of members in the lab are undergraduates, there are graduate students that serve as mentors. The team currently consists of 45 students from around campus.

Checkout the SSRL poster (pdf) created for the recent Smallsat 2020 conference.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-229 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Two-Minute Engineering Video Update Available [See the video below]
  • CubeSat.org Announced CubeSat Design Specification Rev.14
  • US Department of Defense to Share 3450 – 3550 MHz with 5G Commercial Operations
  • QSO Today Virtual Expo Satellite Presentations Still Available
  • Chinese Mars probe Tianwen-1 successfully received by AMSAT-DL
  • SmallSat 2020 Virtual Conference Proceedings Available Online
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • ARISS News
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

** AMSAT Engineering Two Minute Update

A light-hearted presentation of the latest status update from AMSAT Engineering.

** Bhutan-1 CubeSat. Bhutan’s first satellite

** SmallSat 2020- Achieving compact and effective thermal solutions for small satellitesAdvanced Cooling Technologies Inc. – YouTube

ACT’s Bryan Muzyka hosts a side meeting for Small Satellite 2020 in a virtual platform. He walks through some of options available for small satellite thermal control. Q&A finishes up the presentation with questions related to CTE mismatch, custom tubing for 3U cards, electric propulsion systems and if heat pipes are suitable for RF environments.

** Hypergiant Galactic Systems SEOPs: Affordable Access to Low Earth OrbitGalactic – Hypergiant

With the advent of mobile phones and mass-produced miniaturized electrical components, satellite construction has become much more affordable. Hypergiant Galactic Systems SEOPs has built a foundation to provide access to space utilizing the International Space Station infrastructure with two launch systems servicing the CubeSat and MicroSat markets. The organization has also built several launch vehicle agnostic products such as dispensers and separation systems with five successful missions.

** The Space Show – Fri. Aug.14.2020Charles Miller discussed “his new company, Lynk Global, connecting mobile phones to [small] satellites for global coverage. We discussed other topics as well, including some of the commercial space history made by our guest.”

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“Dark Was the Night” – New book about Blind Willie Johnson and his music on Voyager I

An announcement from Gary Golio:

Black Blues Legend Blind WiIlie Johnson Blasts into Outer Space
in New Picture Book about His Soul-Stirring Song

 Ask Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Lucinda Williams and Jack White to name the slide-guitar player they most admire, and they’ll all say Blind Willie Johnson. What those musicians may not know is that one of his songs found its way to the depths of outer space. In Dark Was the Night – Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars, NY Times-bestselling author Gary Golio and Caldecott Honoree E. B. Lewis weave a magical tale of how the healing power of music can turn darkness into light.

Born in 1897, young Willie shone as he sang and played a cigar box guitar made by his father. But his bright childhood fell dark when he lost both his mother and his sight. Fortunately, his love of music led him back into the light. He began singing in churches and later brought his unique blend of gospel-blues to street corners all over Texas. Willie’s powerful voice, joined to the wail of his slide guitar, moved even more people when he cut some records and his songs were played on the radio. Yet by the time he died, he and his music were largely forgotten.

Then, in 1977, Willie’s haunting song, “Dark Was the Night“, was launched into space on the Voyager I space probe’s famous Golden Record. There, along with the many sounds and sights of planet Earth, is the soul-stirring song of a blind man, telling us not to be afraid of the dark, and reminding us that we are never really alone.

“An ode to a too-little-discussed musician and an excellent introduction to his amazing musical talent.”
Kirkus, *starred review*

“An inspiring story of one man’s commitment to lifting up himself and those around him with his music.
An American treasure who shouldn’t go unsung.”
Booklist

“Lewis’s expressive watercolors depict the subject’s humble country beginnings as well as the joy that he felt when he sang and played”
“A beautiful, timely tribute to a little-known musician and space venture.”
School Library Journal, *starred review*

Gary Golio is the author of the NY Times bestseller JIMI: Sounds Like a Rainbow – A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, winner of a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award; Bird & Diz and Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song, both ALA Notables; and other books about legendary artists. A writer and musician, Golio has been featured on NPR’s “Weekend Edition”, CBS-TV’s “Sunday Morning News,” and on radio stations nationwide. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, children’s book author Susanna Reich.

E.B. Lewis is a fine artist and the acclaimed illustrator of over 70 books, among them Coming On Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson (Caldecott Honor Award), Talkin’ About Bessie by Nikki Grimes (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award), and The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass (Orbis Pictus Award). He is also the recipient of the NY Times Best Illustrated Book Award, Kirkus’ Best Illustrated Book Award, and four additional Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards. Lewis teaches at the University of Arts in Philadelphia, and lives in Folsom, New Jersey.

Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars[Amazon commission link]
Written by Gary Golio
Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Published by Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books
August 2020 • Ages 5-8 • 32 pages • $17.99 hardcover/$10.99 Ebook • ISBN: 978-1524738884

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Here is a short video about Johnson and his music on the Voyager spacecraft: Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground, and brilliant is that song drifting through space | Aeon Videos

Johnson’s recording of Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground:

Here is a nicely played cover of Dark was the Night (hat tip Behind the Black):

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Dark Was the Night:
Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars

ESO: Very early galaxy looks surprisingly like our Milky Way

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO):

ALMA sees most distant Milky Way look-alike

Astronomers using ALMA, in which the ESO is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy, SPT0418-47, is gravitationally lensed by a nearby galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light. The research team reconstructed the distant galaxy’s true shape, shown here, and the motion of its gas from the ALMA data using a new computer modelling technique.

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant and therefore very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy is so far away its light has taken more than 12 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 1.4 billion years old. It is also surprisingly unchaotic, contradicting theories that all galaxies in the early Universe were turbulent and unstable. This unexpected discovery challenges our understanding of how galaxies form, giving new insights into the past of our Universe.

“This result represents a breakthrough in the field of galaxy formation, showing that the structures that we observe in nearby spiral galaxies and in our Milky Way were already in place 12 billion years ago,”

says Francesca Rizzo, PhD student from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany, who led the research published today in Nature. While the galaxy the astronomers studied, called SPT0418-47, doesn’t appear to have spiral arms, it has at least two features typical of our Milky Way: a rotating disc and a bulge, the large group of stars packed tightly around the galactic centre.

This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike.

“The big surprise was to find that this galaxy is actually quite similar to nearby galaxies, contrary to all expectations from the models and previous, less detailed, observations,”

says co-author Filippo Fraternali, from the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In the early Universe, young galaxies were still in the process of forming, so researchers expected them to be chaotic and lacking the distinct structures typical of more mature galaxies like the Milky Way.

Studying distant galaxies like SPT0418-47 is fundamental to our understanding of how galaxies formed and evolved. This galaxy is so far away we see it when the Universe was just 10% of its current age because its light took 12 billion years to reach Earth. By studying it, we are going back to a time when these baby galaxies were just beginning to develop.

Because these galaxies are so far away, detailed observations with even the most powerful telescopes are almost impossible as the galaxies appear small and faint. The team overcame this obstacle by using a nearby galaxy as a powerful magnifying glass — an effect known as gravitational lensing — allowing ALMA to see into the distant past in unprecedented detail. In this effect, the gravitational pull from the nearby galaxy distorts and bends the light from the distant galaxy, causing it to appear misshapen and magnified.

The gravitationally lensed, distant galaxy appears as a near-perfect ring of light around the nearby galaxy, thanks to their almost exact alignment. The research team reconstructed the distant galaxy’s true shape and the motion of its gas from the ALMA data using a new computer modelling technique. “When I first saw the reconstructed image of SPT0418-47 I could not believe it: a treasure chest was opening,” says Rizzo.

“What we found was quite puzzling; despite forming stars at a high rate, and therefore being the site of highly energetic processes, SPT0418-47 is the most well-ordered galaxy disc ever observed in the early Universe,”

stated co-author Simona Vegetti, also from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

“This result is quite unexpected and has important implications for how we think galaxies evolve.”

The astronomers note, however, that even though SPT0418-47 has a disc and other features similar to those of spiral galaxies we see today, they expect it to evolve into a galaxy very different from the Milky Way, and join the class of elliptical galaxies, another type of galaxies that, alongside the spirals, inhabit the Universe today.

Astronomers using ALMA, in which the ESO is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy, SPT0418-47, is gravitationally lensed by a nearby galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light.

This unexpected discovery suggests the early Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a well-ordered galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang. This ALMA finding follows the earlier discovery announced in May of a massive rotating disc seen at a similar distance. SPT0418-47 is seen in finer detail, thanks to the lensing effect, and has a bulge in addition to a disc, making it even more similar to our present-day Milky Way than the one studied previously.

Astronomers using ALMA, in which the ESO is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy, SPT0418-47, is gravitationally lensed by a nearby galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light (left). The research team reconstructed the distant galaxy’s true shape and the motion of its gas (right) from the ALMA data using a new computer modelling technique. The observations indicate that SPT0418-47 is a disc galaxy with a central bulge and the material in it rotates around the centre. Gas moving away from us is shown in red, while gas moving in the direction of the observer is shown in blue.

Future studies, including with ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, will seek to uncover how typical these ‘baby’ disc galaxies really are and whether they are commonly less chaotic than predicted, opening up new avenues for astronomers to discover how galaxies evolved.

Links

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