Remote sensing of the blue marlin and yellowfin tuna path

The blue marlin and tuna path

The movies below were created by putting together infrared satellite images from the last 30 hours from May 06-07, 2013 from the Bahamas area. The darker the shade of grade the warmer the water temperature. We follow the currents by their signature surface water temperature. These movies shows that the warmest and bluest (from ocean color satellite data) water south and east of Cat Island (east of Andros Island) and right hand bottom corner of the image sequence also is the primary source of blue marlin and yellowfin tuna in the Bahamas. When this water moves northward toward the Abacos Island and then westward to the Gulf Stream (shown in the upper left hand side), then an abundance of blue marlin and yellowfin tuna enter the Gulf Stream. Presently this water is being pulled northeastward and away from Cat Island. However, the water is then being pulled northwestward by a relatively large clockwise rotating eddy. Then another relatively smaller eddy on the  southwest side of the bigger eddy is pulling some of the water and fish westward. Some of this blue marlin – yellowfin water and the fish are moving westward toward the Great Abaco Canyon (northeast of Abaco). Then this water is being pulled westward by yet another clockwise eddy and bringing the fish to the filament of Gulf Stream water northwest of Walkers Cay. Some of this water and fish is being pulled into the Gulf Stream while some is being pulled northward by the eddy. If the larger eddy moves westward it will pull the water and fish closer to Abaco and the northern island chain which will facilitate their movement to the Gulf Stream. Once in the Gulf Stream these fish often cross western side which brings the blue marlin, yellowfin tuna and other highly migratory fish like white marlin and mahi into proximity of the coastal zone from Jacksonville Florida to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. A few weeks ago there was a large pool of this water moving northwestward and fishing action with blue marlin started off Jacksonville, Florida and other areas north. While the present conditions are not providing the maximum number of fish to move this way, there still are likely to be plenty of fish moving westward.

http://youtu.be/JhMW9F4YG-g

http://youtu.be/NxGPT27R3bc

First Galileo-Only Position Fix Performed!

First Galileo-Only Position Fix Performed! | GPS World

Entitling its release “From Orbit with Love,” the European Space Agency (ESA) proudly announced today, March 12, 2013, that the first four satellites of the future Galileo Satellite Navigation constellation achieved their first-ever autonomous position fix. The positioning was replicated and confirmed by a team at the NavSAS group of Politecnico di Torino, Italy.

The obtained accuracy lies in the 10-meter range, according to ESA. ESA added that considering the infrastructure is only partly deployed, this fulfills expectations. As with GPS or any satellite navigation system, a minimum of four satellites is required to make a position fix in three dimensions.

The position fix was obtained by ESA’s navigation laboratory in the Netherlands, using the four satellites, launched in October 2011 and 2012, and the Galileo programme’s ground infrastructure, consisting of control centers in Italy and Germany and a global network of ground stations.

“This fundamental step confirms the Galileo system works as planned,” read the official statement.

“Once testing of the latest two satellites was complete, in recent weeks our effort focused on the generation of navigation messages and their dissemination to receivers on the ground,” explained Marco Falcone, ESA’s Galileo system manager.

Measurements of individual Galileo horizontal position fixes performed for the first time using the four Galileo satellites in orbit plus the worldwide ground system between 1000 and 11:00 CET on Tuesday 12 March 2013, showing an overall horizontal accuracy over ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, of 6.3 m.

This first position fix of longitude, latitude, and altitude took place at the Navigation Laboratory at ESA’s technical heart ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, early on the morning of March 12, with an accuracy between 10 and 15 meters, which was expected, taking into account the limited infrastructure deployed so far.

“The test of today has a dual significance: historical and technical,” notes Javier Benedicto, ESA’s Galileo project manager. “From the historical perspective, this is the first time ever that Europe has been able to determine a position on the ground using only its own independent navigation system, Galileo. From the technical perspective, generation of the Galileo navigation messages is an essential step for beginning the full validation activities, before starting the full deployment of the system by the end of this year.”

With only four satellites for the time being, the full Galileo constellation is visible at the same time for a maximum two to three hours daily. This frequency will increase as more satellites join the constellation in orbit, along with extra ground stations coming online, for Galileo’s early services to start at the end of 2014.

The European Commission’s program head for Galileo, Paul Flament, granted an interview last week with GPS World, recapping the coming launch activities and expectations for initial and full operational capabilities, the latter with a target constellation of 30 satellites. The interview will appear in the April issue of the magazine, which is specially devoted to Galileo and European navigation initiatives.

With the validation testing activities under way, users might experience breaks in the content of the navigation messages being broadcast, said ESA. In the coming months the messages will be further elaborated to define the offset between Galileo System Time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), enabling Galileo to be relied on for precision timing applications, as well as the Galileo to GPS Time Offset, ensuring interoperability with GPS.

  Full story on GPSWorld.com 

Landsat Data Continuity Mission Overview

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=158308891

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, will provide moderate-resolution measurements of Earth's terrestrial and polar regions in the visible, near-infrared, short wave infrared, and thermal infrared. There are two instruments on the spacecraft, the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) and the Operational Land Imager (OLI). LDCM will provide continuity with the nearly 40-year long Landsat land imaging data set, enabling people to study many aspects of our planet and to evaluate the dynamic changes caused by both natural processes and human practices.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Changing the economics of Space

The Space Systems are in our imagination an area of ​​enormous innovation, with a strong emotional connotation, which give a contribution in the "Value" almost infinite. Space associate unique capabilities that range from the most noble purposes and rich ethical connotations, such as the monitoring of environmental resources and land, to the less "noble" uses such as military, speculation on raw materials and so on.
This value associated with unlimited space activities has undoubtedly allowed, in recent years, enormous progress. The NASA programs of the 60 available to virtually unlimited budget and this has enabled the start of human exploration of the universe.
This approach, however, is gradually went into crisis, whereas the competition for economic resources, mainly public, forced him to abandon this model in infinite resources without the fund, except for a few exceptions, knew it.
These bad habits are also reflected in the Italian space industry which, despite having a history of excellence, is not without its shadows related to 'state industry and the choices of the most appropriate continental alliances.
A crisis, certainly accelerated by the global financial crisis, which offers an opportunity to review the space industry in its fundamental and release capacity of our industrial system to date badly used.

More on this article from Giovanni Sylos Labini on the Planetek Blog
Planetek Blog »Changing the economics of space - Giovanni Sylos Labini

Su Marte vivere è… Cosmic

Su Marte vivere è… Cosmic - SN - Planet Inspired

Due brevetti italiani rendono meno fantascientifica la vita sul pianeta rosso

Costruire abitazioni e vivere su Marte? Appare impensabile, e invece si può. O, meglio, si potrà. Ed a beneficiarne saranno soprattutto gli astronauti, interessati a studiare la vita sul misterioso pianeta rosso.

Grazie a due brevetti italiani, che costituiscono il risultato del progetto Cosmic, il primo progetto italiano finanziato dall’ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), sono stati finanziati 500.000 euro, per sfruttare le materie presenti nel suolo di Marte; al fine di fabbricare “mattoni” da utilizzare per la costruzione di strutture abitabili e nuove tecnologie. Lo scopo del progetto è di ottenere dall’atmosfera e dal suolo, tutti gli elementi essenziali alla sopravvivenza dell’uomo. L’idea è nata pensando all’attività degli studiosi che approdano sul Pianeta per necessità di studio.

Il primo brevetto è stato depositato dall’Università di Cagliari e dall' Asi e punta a costruire, sul posto, strutture capaci di proteggere gli astronauti in missione da meteoriti e raggi cosmici, offrendo loro un ambiente dove vivere e lavorare in serenità. Per farlo, sarà necessario come prima cosa, portare su Marte pannelli solari ed impianti, per estrarre, direttamente dal suolo, gli elementi utili a costruire veri e propri “mattoni” da assemblare per realizzare strutture abitabili .

Il secondo brevetto  è di proprietà dell’Università di Cagliari, dell’Asi e del Centro di Ricerca, Sviluppo e Studi Superiori in Sardegna (Csr4). Il progetto consentirà  di sfruttare l’atmosfera e il suolo di Marte, per produrre tutto ciò che è indispensabile alla sopravvivenza degli astronauti, dalla respirabilità dell'aria, all’acqua potabile, al nutrimento, per arrivare alle strutture abitabili ed impianti per produrre propellenti e fertilizzanti.

Il progetto COSMIC ha per obiettivo lo sviluppo di nuove tecnologie per l'esplorazione umana dello spazio,e ha consentito tra gli altri risultati, il deposito, nel luglio 2010, della domanda di brevetto congiunto UNICA/ASI per la realizzazione di elementi strutturali ad uso civile ed industriale sul suolo lunare e marziano. Il progetto è coordinato dal Giacomo Cao professore dell'Università di Cagliari (UNICA) e responsabile del Programma Bioingegneria del CRS4 ed è finanziato dall'Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). Cao ha sottolineato l’importanza di questo tipo di ricerche in quanto “permettono all’Italia di sedersi al tavolo delle grandi agenzie spaziali” con grandi risvolti industriali per il Paese. Ed infatti alcune delle tecnologie sviluppate e brevettate nell'ambito del progetto Cosmic sono tra quelle prese in considerazione dalla NASA, nell'ambito dell'ISECG (International Space Exploration Coordination Group), a cui partecipano 14 Agenzie Spaziali. Si tratta di tecnologie e processi che saranno montati su veicoli in grado di raggiungere la Luna atterrando in modo autonomo e permetteranno sia la produzione di elementi strutturali, utilizzando risorse reperibili in sito, sia l’incremento della percentuale di ilmenite (un ossido misto di ferro e titanio già presente sul suolo lunare) necessario anche per la produzione di ossigeno.

@Redazione Planet Inspired

MARINER 9: Missions to Mars - 13 November 1971

Mariner 9 Launch: May 30, 1971; Arrival: Nov. 13, 1971 NASA - Missions to Mars

Mariner 8 and 9 were the third and final pair of Mars missions in NASA's Mariner series of the 1960s and early 1970s. Both were designed to be the first Mars orbiters, marking a transition in our exploration of the red planet from flying by the planet to spending time in orbit around it. 

Image right: Olympus Mons, seen by Mariner 9.
 Image credit: NASA/JPL. 

Unfortunately, Mariner 8 failed during launch on May 8, 1971. 

Mariner 9 was launched successfully on May 30, 1971, and became the first artificial satellite of Mars when it arrived and went into orbit, where it functioned in Martian orbit for nearly a year. Mariner 9 complete its final transmission October 27, 1972. 

Upon arrival, Mariner 9 observed that a great dust storm was obscuring the whole globe of the planet. Ground controllers sent commands to the spacecraft to wait until the storm had abated, the dust had settled, and the surface was clearly visible before compiling its global mosaic of high-quality images of the Martian surface. The storm persisted for a month, but after the dust cleared, Mariner 9 proceeded to reveal a very different planet than expected -- one that boasted gigantic volcanoes and a grand canyon stretching 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) across its surface. More surprisingly, the relics of ancient riverbeds were carved in the landscape of this seemingly dry and dusty planet. Mariner 9 exceeded all primary photographic requirements by photo-mapping 100 percent of the planet's surface. The spacecraft also provided the first closeup pictures of the two small, irregular Martian moons: Phobos and Deimos.

Credit: NASA NASA - Missions to Mars