Category Archives: Science and Technology

Science and Technology, SETI, Space Science

Video: Prospects for life in Titan’s hydrocarbon seas

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Here’s a SETI Institute seminar given by Prof. Jason Barnes of the Univ. of Idaho who talks about the possibility of life on the Saturn moon Titan: It’s Life Jim, but Not as We Know It: The Prospects of Life in Titan’s Seas – SETI Institute –

Here is the caption:

It’s Life Jim, but Not as We Know It: The Prospects of Life in Titan’s Seas

The prerequisites for life are thought to be: (1) a liquid solvent; (2) chemical building blocks; and (3) an energy source. Life like we have on the Earth uses water for its solvent and organic molecules for its building blocks. Hence searches for Earth-like life can focus on habitable zones around stars where liquid water can be stable on planetary surfaces.

But is water the only solvent in which life can exist? Though more exotic solvents (like ammonia, liquid nitrogen, or supercritical carbon dioxide) may exist in extrasolar systems, the only surface liquids outside of Earth that we know about today occur on Saturn’s smoggy moon Titan.

Dr Barnes will describe these seas, their chemistry, and hydrology, with an eye toward whether they could serve as possible abodes for life. Recent Cassini discoveries show evaporitic bathtub rings and ‘salt’ flats around seas, which indicate that at least some materials do dissolve in the lakes. He will also discuss new Cassini RADAR evidence for compositional variations between the seas, and VIMS observations that may show the first sea-surface waves ever seen outside of Earth.

Science and Technology, SETI, SpaceCasts

Video: Extending SETI into the near-infrared wavelengths

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been dominated by searches in radio wavelengths. Eventually SETI has been supplemented with Optical SETI, i.e. searches for signals in optical wavelengths. In the SETI Institute seminar video below, Shelley Wright of the University of Toronto reports on new technologies that are allowing the expansion of SETI into the near-infrared spectrum. Extending the search for ETI communication to near-infrared wavelengths – SETI Institute –

From the caption:

We are poised to take advantage of a remarkable confluence of technological advances and scientific opportunity. For the first time, very fast, wide bandwidth, high-gain, low noise near-infrared avalanche photo diode (APDs) detectors are available and reasonably priced.

Dr. Wright and her team are designing and constructing a new SETI instrument to search for direct evidence of interstellar communications via pulsed laser signals at near-infrared (900 – 1700 nm) wavelengths. The new instrument design builds upon our past optical SETI work, and is the first step toward a new, more versatile, and more sophisticated generation of very fast optical and near-infrared pulse search devices.

Dr. Wright will discuss the advantages of SETI searches at near-infared wavelengths. Dr. Wright will also present the instrument layout, including an overview of the opto-mechanical design, detector selection and characterization, signal processing, and integration procedure.

Finally, she will describe our initial observational setup and search strategies for SETI targets and other astronomical studies.

Science and Technology

Sci-Tech: Martin Jetpack has IPO on Australian stock market

Over the years I’ve occasionally posted about The Martin Jetpack in development in New Zealand. (See, for example, here and here.)  Hardware development has progressed steadily if not exceptionally fast. They plan to begin selling vehicles in the second half of 2016.

Initially they will sell to emergency service providers and then sell to general public customers in 2017. The cost will be around US$200k. The vehicle will also be marketed for applications as an unmanned drone called the Martin Skyhook that can carry up to 120 kg.

Here’s a video of an unmanned flight test from last year:

It obviously doesn’t actually use jet engines but ducted fan driven by a two-stroke V4 piston engine. It can fly for up to 30 minutes. Here are the technical specs. Note it has a ballistic parachute for emergencies.

Most importantly for a start up with a new product in a new category of products, they have also made significant progress in obtaining funding. The Chinese company KuangChi Science Limited agreed to put A$50M into the company: Martin Aircraft signs agreement with KuangChi Science Limited.

This allowed them to move to an IPO, where they can raise additional funding: Update on Cornerstone investor and IPO

And they began trading on the Australian stock market on Tuesday:

So it looks like we may finally see an actual commercial ducted-fan VTOL one-person vehicle on the market:

Science and Technology

Sci-Tech: Hyperloop Tech developing high-speed ‘cargoloop’

Last fall a virtual company called Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) began designing an implementation of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop concept for super-fast mass transportation. HTT, currently funded through (JumpStartFund), expects to become a public company soon:  The Crowdsourced Company Building Elon’s Hyperloop Is Going Public – WIRED.

Meanwhile, another company called Hyperloop Technologies Inc. has formed and is backed by “a formidable lineup of Silicon Valley and Washington superstars” according to Forbes: Hyperloop Is Real: Meet The Startups Selling Supersonic Travel – Forbes.

They are taking a different approach to the hyperloop:

Even more surprising than the platinum-plated roster: Hyperloop Tech’s initial mission. They intend to go way beyond Musk’s original vision and focus first on freight rather than human transportation. This high-speed “cargoloop” could go over land or under water. Imagine submerged skeins of steel tubes crisscrossing the ocean or up and down the coasts hurtling shipping containers at near supersonic speeds. Need iPhones? Press a button and a container-load is on its way from Shenzhen overnight

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Science and Technology, Space Systems

Video: NASA Innovative Advance Concepts (NIAC) Symposium

The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program held the NIAC 2015 Symposium on January 27-29, 2015 in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Here was the agenda.

NIAC projects involve technologies at the leading edge and often just a bit beyond.

Videos of the presentations are available online at 2015 NIAC Symposium on Livestream.

Lots of interesting talks. Here, for example, is a keynote address by noted science fiction author Joe Haldeman (starts at 31:30):

And here is one of the sessions:

Larry Matthies, NASA JPL – Titan Aerial Daughtercraft • David Wettergreen, Carnegie Mellon University – Nomadic Exploration: Following routes of solar sustenance and temperate climate • Robert Winglee, University of Washington, Seattle – Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments