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why are we not getting these type of startups in Europe .... btw: Will is british

I agree, the mentality is different, it's hard to find VC funding for hardware stuff, even more so if you wanna shoot your HW into space. but there is movement, e.g. pioneers.io, they are in vienna and are actively trying to get more VC funding (in europe) for HW and other engineering startups

thanks for the link ... just read this blog ... http://pioneers.io/blog/space-race-2-0-putting-satellites-into-the-hands-of-everyone a lot of selling talk but fundamentally I agree that they have a point ... and as ACT we will face the criticism in not so long that we have not managed (nor tried hard enough) to convince ESA about the need to embrace this "new space"

The researchers are busy working on a feasibility study assigned to them by the ESA. The idea is that by combining a rover that can navigate over large distances with a snake robot that can crawl along the ground and can get into inaccessible places, so many more possibilities could be opened up, e.g. collecting samples from tight spots that the rovers cannot reach.

I remember that ESA was looking into similar things for the Vulcain 2/2+ NE upgrade together with Volvo and other companies. Does anybody know about the status of that program (google does not ;-))?

Relevant to our recent discussion on big data at ESA?

relevant yes, though the article gives little information on the "how"

What is the best (wisest) size for a group of individuals? Couzin and Kao put together a series of mathematical models that included correlation and several cues. In one model, for example, a group of animals had to choose between two options-think of two places to find food. But the cues for each choice were not equally reliable, nor were they equally correlated. The scientists found that in these models, a group was more likely to choose the superior option than an individual. Common experience will make us expect that the bigger the group got, the wiser it would become. But they found something very different. Small groups did better than individuals. But bigger groups did not do better than small groups. In fact, they did worse. A group of 5 to 20 individuals made better decisions than an infinitely large crowd. The problem with big groups is this: a faction of the group will follow correlated cues-in other words, the cues that look the same to many individuals. If a correlated cue is misleading, it may cause the whole faction to cast the wrong vote. Couzin and Kao found that this faction can drown out the diversity of information coming from the uncorrelated cue. And this problem only gets worse as the group gets bigger.

Couzin research was the starting point that co-inspired PaGMO from the very beginning. We invited him (and he came) at a formation flying conference for a plenary here in ESTEC. You can see PaGMO as a collective problem solving simulation. In that respect, we learned already that the size of the group and its internal structure (topology) counts and cannot be too large or too random. One of the project the ACT is running (and currently seeking for new ideas/actors) is briefly described here (http://esa.github.io/pygmo/examples/example2.html) and attempts answering the question :"How is collective decision making influenced by the information flow through the group?" by looking at complex simulations of large 'archipelagos'.

what seems to be an impressively detailed space game

> The games we write are always games with a scientific purpose (not training not educational) I'd say investigating how to get the crowd may be an important part of "science of crowdsourcing". So, an obvious example would be comparing how many participants the original ACT space mission game attracted versus a variant implemented in Kerbal and why. Easily made and easily publishable I think. But that's just an obvious example I can give on the spot. I think there is more potential than that, so would not dismiss the idea so definitively. But then, correct me if I'm wrong, social sciences are still not represented in the ACT... Perhaps an idea to revive during the upcoming retreat? ;-)

it's on sale on steam til tomorrow by the way if anyone's interested

nice research - almost like a follow-up to our BMI work some time ago

Artes-20 embracing crowdsourcing and putting substantial money into it - at least its first step

CNES research to detect warning signs of earthquakes in the ionosphere. Jaxa is also interested in conducting such studies. To my opinion it's worth taken a closer look at what they are doing!! 

Update: it seems we are already looking into it, I found this recent call from ESRIN: IONOSPHERIC SOUNDING FOR IDENTIFICATION OF PRE-SEISMIC ACTIVITY (RE-ISSUE) ESA Open Invitation To Tender AO7548 Open Date: 08/07/2013 Closing Date: 09/09/2013

Interesting ideas - though some metaphors are a bit far fetched. Personally, I think it could be interesting if every scientific article would also have a how-to or tutorial section that gives a recipe of how to apply the newly gained knowledge. Of course, that might be tough to do... :-)

The API of the world is already there (a bit), it is the previous knowledge developed by others. Open Source projects such as the wheel or the brick, allow everyday amazing new APPs to be build such as buildings and cars .... There still is merit, though, in learning from software developments techniques in the everyday world projects. This is indeed the motivation for the ACT to do work in open source (SOCIS, GSoC) and push its members to use stuff like wiki, svn, github, jenkins, and alike. This way we are performing and fostering (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/foster) research into working methods in the hope we will be able to export some of its benefit to the larger ESA.

It's out there for TWO days and no one has posted it here yet? What's happening to the ACT... In any case, yet-another-year-ACT-didn't-make-it... Better luck next time.

read them when they came out - as probably 90% of ACTers but did not see any of them worth posting ...

I think e.g. de Tommaso et al. results have application in almost any business, ESA notwithstanding, in terms of implications for optimal office decor...

The Earth Monitoring Competition is annually awarding prizes to innovative solutions for business and society based on Earth observation data.

The Sentinel-2A satellite has been in orbit for only a matter of weeks, but new images of an algal bloom in the Baltic Sea show that it is already exceeding expectations. Built essentially as a land monitoring mission, Sentinel-2 will also certainly find its way into marine applications.

The pics were also published on ESA website few days ago.

Fake! They are made with PANGU.

The only proper way to browse Ariadnet.

so any ideas from us here?! :)

btw: have been discussing something similar with Roger ... a bit less ambitious but still ...

presentations from the related nanosatellite event http://www.nestra.jp/NS_sympo/information_e.html (DLR, SSTL and european unis were there but no ESA...)

couldn't find his legs ... but they might not be needed anyway on the ISS ....

Cool. Since ESA is always said to be inspired by NASA projects, can the ACT look at it from a different perpective? What about sending humans to the ISS without legs? Think of the mass and volume it would save. It would also improve robot-human interaction. Robots would no longer feel inferior. I'm sure most people would give up limb to go to space.

Not again, pleeeaaase!!! Alright, you don't know the story, ask Dario or Leo...

he just did .... don't worry, it's already over again .... how are you btw?

To Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, and Review Editors for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) "I would also like to emphasize that enhanced media interest in the work of the IPCC would probably subject you to queries about your work and the IPCC. My sincere advice would be that you keep a distance from the media and should any questions be asked about the Working Group with which you are associated, please direct such media questions to the Co-chairs of your Working Group and for any questions regarding the IPCC to the secretariat of the IPCC." and an amusing related memo on how to deal with reporters if you can't avoid them. I particularly enjoyed the list of words that mean one thing to scientists and something else to other people. https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B88iFXWgVKt-NDc2N2FiM2QtYzQzYS00MWMxLWE4MGEtZjUwZDlmNzc3MTcz&hl=en

well compare to ESA it's sure it doesn't seem weird. Imagine one second a journal article about climate change: "We contacted Dr. X of the IPCC, who refused to answer to our questions..."

this is not what the memo recommends ... it just says speak only about what you can confidently speak about and refer to others for other questions ...

Pretty close to what we suggested for "system of systems." Was an excellent exercise in bullshitting, but of course ESA is not innovative enough. Now it's too late, Daimler did it...

not sure they will end up needing a lot of "space" though ...

There is no "space" yet, at least I didn't find any. But that's because they didn't consider specific hardware, but normal mobile phones. The step to include "space" is obvious, though, and I'm sure they thought about this as well...