Final Frontier Booty

In Search of Gravitomagnetism

20 APRIL 2004   NASA   CLIFFORD WILL

... A National Research Council panel, among them Cliff Will, wrote in 1995, "In the course of its design work on Gravity Probe B, the team has made brilliant and original contributions to basic physics and technology.. They invented and proved the concept of a drag-free satellite, and most recently some members of the group have pioneered differential use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to create a highly reliable and precise aircraft landing system."

... Physicists are both anxious and excited by Gravity Probe B. They're anxious because gravitomagnetism might not be there. Einstein's theory could be wrong (a possibility held unlikely by most), and that would spark a revolution in physics. They're excited for the same reason. Everyone wants to be on hand for the next great advance in science. 

... Today we're surrounded by the benefits of their research. Light bulbs. Computers. Washing machines. The Internet. The list goes on and on. What will gravitomagnetism be good for? Is it just "another milestone on the path of our natural quest to understand nature?" wonders Will. Or something unimaginably practical? Time will tell. Read More

NASA Announces Results of Epic Space-Time Experiment
4 MAY 2011   NASA   DR TONY PHILLIPS

... The idea behind the experiment is simple:

Put a spinning gyroscope into orbit around the Earth, with the spin axis pointed toward some distant star as a fixed reference point. Free from external forces, the gyroscope's axis should continue pointing at the star--forever. But if space is twisted, the direction of the gyroscope's axis should drift over time. By noting this change in direction relative to the star, the twists of space-time could be measured. 

In practice, the experiment is tremendously difficult. 

... According to calculations, the twisted space-time around Earth should cause the axes of the gyros to drift merely 0.041 arcseconds over a year. An arcsecond is 1/3600th of a degree. To measure this angle reasonably well, GP-B needed a fantastic precision of 0.0005 arcseconds. It's like measuring the thickness of a sheet of paper held edge-on 100 miles away. 

"GP-B researchers had to invent whole new technologies to make this possible," notes Will. Read More

NASA develops 3D printing factory in space
30 AUGUST 2013   DEZEEN   MARCUS FAIRS

The US space agency this week announced it was awarding technology firm Tethers Unlimited Inc (TUI) a $500,000 contract to develop the facility.

The NASA funding - a second-phase contract that follows an initial contract issued earlier this year - will allow TUI to continue work on its SpiderFab technology, which allows large-scale spacecraft components to be built in space, avoiding the expense of building the components on earth and transporting them into space using rockets. 

... TUI will now develop a "Trusselator" capable of using additive manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing to fabricate truss structures in space. TUI's website describes the Trusselator as a system "for on-orbit fabrication and integration of solar arrays using a combination of 3D printing and automated composite layup techniques". 

"The Trusselator is the key first step in implementing the SpiderFab architecture," said Hoyt. "Once we’ve demonstrated that it works, we will be well on our way towards creating football-field sized antennas and telescopes to help search for Earth-like exoplanets and evidence of extraterrestrial life." Read More

Dharma & Epigenetics: Can Mindfulness Medically Ease Our Loneliness?
"We regard loneliness as an enemy. Heartache is not something we choose to invite in. It’s restless and pregnant and hot with the desire to escape and find something or some-one to keep us company. When we can rest in the middle [of meditation], we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cooling loneliness that completely turns our usual fearful patterns upside down."  ― Pema Chödrön, Six kinds of loneliness
7 JANUARY 2014 BUDDHIST PEACE FELLOWSHIP DAVID P BARASH

A recent scientific report suggests that meditation has a discernible (and beneficial) effect on brain function, especially among elderly people suffering from various consequences of loneliness and depression. Before describing and commenting on this finding, I would like to note that one of the most appealing aspects of Buddhism (at least for me) is its compatibility with science...

... [T]he Dalai Lama has long had a genuine scientific interest in mind-brain correlations, such that he was the invited plenary speaker at the huge Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in November, 2005. He eventually spoke on "The Neuroscience of Meditation," but before doing so, his very invitation caused an uproar. There was a protest petition, which garnered about 1,000 signatures, mostly from scientists worried about religion invading science, and thereby degrading it. In any event, his lecture touched on something that has also received a great deal of attention, probably much more than it deserves: namely, the question of whether meditation actually causes bona fide changes in brain function among those who engage in it. Evidently, it does. 

The recent study that generated the piece you are now reading thus fits into a rapidly developing tradition linking neurobiology and meditation. Indeed, the scientific world – and not just that of lay-persons – was abuzz some time ago when a group at the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, led by professor of psychology Richard J. Davidson, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (probably the most prestigious scientific publication in the US), that Tibetan Buddhists who had practiced serious meditation for many years had brain-wave patterns that differed consistently from those of a non-meditating control group. Read More