Science and Technology

Gerard ′t Hooft on physics beneath quantum mechanics + Video: Joe Polchinsky on Black Holes and Firewalls

The following two items involve topics that you may not be fully understand  (I sure don’t) but can still be fun if you have any interest in fundamental physics:

Nobel physicist Gerard ′t Hooft offers some interesting speculation on what sort of physics might lie beneath quantum mechanics: Does Some Deeper Level of Physics Underlie Quantum Mechanics? An Interview with Nobelist Gerard ’t Hooft – Critical Opalescence/Scientific American Blog Network

(‘t Hooft, by the way, is an enthusiastic supporter of the Mars One initiative: Prof. Dr. Gerard ‘t Hooft, ambassador of Mars One – Mars One.)

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Joe Polchinsky gives a general overview of the black hole intersection of quantum mechanics and general relativity and the key questions that arise there:

Caption:

Speaker: Joe Polchinsky, Kavli Institute for Particle Physics, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract:

Thought experiments have played an important role in figuring out the laws of physics. For the unification of quantum mechanics and gravity, where the phenomena take place in extreme regimes, they are even more crucial. Hawking’s 1976 paper “Breakdown of Predictability in Gravitational Collapse” presented one of the great thought experiments in the history of physics, arguing that black holes destroy information in a way that requires a modification of the laws of quantum mechanics. Skeptics for years failed to poke holes in Hawking’s argument, but concluded that if quantum mechanics is to be saved then our understanding of spacetime must break down in a radical way.

Dr. Polchinsky will present some of the history of these ideas, what has already been learned from this puzzle, and the recent `firewall’ controversy, which argues that Einstein’s theory breaks down radically for an observer falling into a black hole.

Mars, Solar Sci-Fi, Space films and videos

Video: Trailer for “The Last Days on Mars”

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The film The Last Days on Mars has been released in the UK and is being released in the US today on Video on Demand and on Dec. 6 to theaters:

History, Space books

Books: “Russia in Space” and “My Brief History”

 I’ve had these book review links in my queue for weeks and finally posting them. I’m reading several books for review myself and will try to say something about them soon.

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Anatoly Zak, who runs the RussianSpaceWeb.com website,  has a book out on the Russian space program and industry and its getting good reviews:

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Jeff Foust writes about a new autobiography of Stephen Hawking : Review: My Brief History – The Space Review

My Brief History is not just a play on words, but an accurate description: it is a short (less than 150 pages, with pictures) autobiography by Hawking, describing his life from his modest childhood through his academic pursuits and personal challenges. His decision to study cosmology, he writes, was rooted in a childhood interest in model trains and complex board games: “an urge to know how systems worked and how to control him,” something he says his studies of the universe now satisfy. “If you understand how the universe operates, you control it, in a way.”

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Oct.9.13

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Former NASA space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale spoke at the von Braun Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama this week : Keynote speaker at von Braun Symposium says NASA needs to ‘try new strategies’ –  al.com

Unfortunately, due to the govt shutdown, there were no NASA officials there to hear him say this:

“The current plan is fragile in the political and financial maelstrom that is Washington,” Hale said. “Planning to fly large rockets once every three or four years does not make a viable program. It is not sustainable.

“Continuing to develop programs in the same old ways, from my observations, will certainly lead to cancellation as government budgets are stretched thin. It is time to try new strategies.”

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More space policy links:

Space Radio, Space Science, Space Systems

Juno Flyby today – Hams to send messages to the Jupiter spacecraft

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Today is Say ‘HI’ to Juno! Day in which amateur radio operators can send a message to the Mission Juno probe:

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fly past Earth on October 9, 2013 to receive a gravity assist from our planet, putting it on course for Jupiter. To celebrate this event, the Juno mission is inviting amateur radio operators around the world to say “HI” to Juno in a coordinated Morse Code message. Juno’s radio & plasma wave experiment, called Waves, should be able to detect the message if enough people participate. So please join in, and help spread the word to fellow amateur radio enthusiasts!

This animation shows how Juno uses the earth’s gravity to get an assist

And this video has a description of the flyby from Juno team members:

The  JunoCam on the spacecraft is also taking pictures of the earth.

Update: Bill Nye of the Planetary Society gives a his explanation of how the probe uses the earth to get a boost to Jupiter:

Update 2: The fly-by may help solve a mystery: ESA and NASA stumped by cosmic mystery / Operations – ESA

Engineers hope that the new measurements will unravel the decades-old ‘flyby anomaly’ – an unexplained variation in spacecraft speeds detected during some swingbys.

“We detected the flyby anomaly during Rosetta’s first Earth visit in March 2005,” says Trevor Morley, flight dynamics expert at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

“Frustratingly, no anomaly was seen during Rosetta’s subsequent Earth flybys in 2007 and 2011. This is a real cosmic mystery that no one has yet figured out.”

Everyone can participate in space