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Mars Base

Using thoughts to control airplanes -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...140527101454.htm

scibyte132

shared by Mars Base on 27 May 14 - No Cached
  • Scientists have now demonstrated the feasibility of flying via brain control -- with astonishing accuracy
  • first breakthrough
  • succeeded in demonstrating that brain-controlled flight is indeed possible -- with amazing precision
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Seven subjects took part in the flight simulator tests
  • They had varying levels of flight experience, including one person without any practical cockpit experience whatsoever
  • The accuracy with which the test subjects stayed on course by merely thinking commands would have sufficed, in part, to fulfill the requirements of a flying license test
  • Several of the subjects also managed the landing approach under poor visibility
  • scientists are now focusing in particular on the question of how the requirements for the control system and flight dynamics need to be altered to accommodate the new control method
  • Normally, pilots feel resistance in steering and must exert significant force when the loads induced on the aircraft become too large
  • This feedback is missing when using brain control
  • The researchers are thus looking for alternative methods of feedback to signal when the envelope is pushed too hard, for example
  • Mars Base on 27 May 14
     
    Using thoughts to control airplanes
Mars Base

Demo of mind-controlled exoskeleton planned for World Cup - 0 views

phys.org/...led-exoskeleton-world-cup.html

scibyte130

shared by Mars Base on 11 May 14 - No Cached
  • The World Cup opening ceremony
  • June 12
  • a standout for athletes and their fans but yet another eye-opener may make the Sao Paulo stadium opener long remembered globally
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • a mind-controlled exoskeleton designed to enable a paralyzed person to walk is to make its debut.
  • BBC report provided the latest developments in the robotic suit. "If all goes as planned," wrote Alejandra Martins, "the robotic suit will spring to life in front of almost 70,000 spectators and a global audience of billions of people."
  • The exoskeleton was developed by an international team of scientists, part of the Walk Again Project, and described by the BBC report as a "culmination" of over 10 years of work
  • The goal is to show the brain-controlled exoskeleton during the opening ceremony of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
  • The (DiVE) website talks about the day when "the first ceremonial kick in the World Cup game may be made "by a paralyzed teenager, who, flanked by the two contending soccer teams, will saunter onto the pitch clad in a robotic body suit."
  • According to the BBC, since November, Nicolelis has been training eight patients at a lab in Sao Paulo, amidst "media speculation that one of them will stand up from his or her wheelchair and deliver the first kick of this year's World Cup.")
  • the exoskeleton is being controlled by brain activity and it is relaying feedback signals to the patient.
  • The patient wears a cap which picks up brain signals and relays them to a computer in the backpack, decoding the signals and sending them to the legs.
  • A battery in the backpack allows for around two hours' use. The robotic suit is powered by hydraulics.
  • Many different companies helped to build the skeleton's components
  • they used a lot of 3-D printing technology for purposes of both speed and achieving strong but light materials, along with using standard aluminum parts
  • "When the foot of the exoskeleton touches the ground there is pressure, so the sensor senses the pressure and before the foot touches the ground we are also doing pre-contact sensing. It's a new way of doing skin sensing for robots," Cheng
  • Dr Gordon Cheng, at the Technical University of Munich
  • Duke University in November announced that in a study led by Duke researchers, monkeys learned to control the movement of both arms on an avatar using just their brain activity.
Mars Base

Potent antibodies neutralize HIV and could offer new therapy, study finds - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...es-neutralize-hiv-therapy.html

scibyte72 HIV

shared by Mars Base on 14 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Michel Nussenzweig's Laboratory of Molecular Immunology found that a combination of five different antibodies
  • effectively suppressed HIV-1 replication and kept the virus at bay for a 60 day period after termination of therapy
  • longer half-life
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • current antiretroviral drugs require daily intake.
  • These especially potent antibodies were only recently discovered
  • identified and cloned from HIV-infected patients whose immune systems showed an unusually high ability to neutralize HIV
  • Antibodies had been written off as a treatment for HIV/AIDS because previous studies showed only a limited effect on controlling the virus
  • before these more potent antibodies were discovered
  • HIV-1 is notorious for evading the immune system's attacks by constantly mutating
  • antibodies target HIV-1's surface protein gp160, a large molecule that forms a spike that seeks out host cells and attaches to them
  • One antibody alone wasn't enough to quell the virus; neither was a mix of three
  • five of them in unison proved too complicated for gp160 to mutate its way out of.
  • Although HIV-1 infection in humanized mice differs in many important aspects from infection in humans, the results are encouraging to investigate these antibodies in clinical trials
  • It also may be that a combination of antibodies and the already established antiretroviral therapy is more efficacious than either alone
  • could be used as a treatment one day, it is conceivable that patients would only need to take traditional drugs until the virus is controlled
  • then receive antibodies every two to three months to maintain that control
Mars Base

Physicists use Kinect to control holographic tweezers (w/ Video) - 0 views

phys.org/...olographic-tweezers-video.html

scibyte70 Kinect

shared by Mars Base on 05 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Researchers
  • in Scotland have devised a means of using a Microsoft Kinect sensing system to allow for hand control of holographic optical tweezers
  • Laser tweezers are laser based devices that allow for manipulation of very small objects; typically at the cellular level
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • A laser beam is projected towards a target, but before reaching it, is split into three separate beams
  • three beams are broadcast onto the edges of the object to be manipulated
  • as the beams are moved the object is caused to move in lockstep
  • , fine tuning control of the laser to cause the movement of an object has been less than ideal
  • researchers to continue looking for alternative means
  • In this new research, the team connected a Microsoft Kinect device to the tweezers and then demonstrated an ability to move microscopic sized objects by moving their hands around in the air.
  • connecting a Kinect device to their virtual tweezers, the researchers found that they were able to define the space in which they wished to work by using simple hand movements and then to connect, virtually to a particular tiny object
  • The Kinect
  • is not precise enough to capture subtle movements however
  • doesn't allow for force-feedback, or the ability to feel the resistance of an object as its being moved
  • HoloHands, is not sophisticated enough to allow for serious research work
  • being used as a tool for educational purposes, either as a tool, or implemented as a learning game.
Mars Base

Researchers describe first 'functional HIV cure' in an infant - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...-03-functional-hiv-infant.html

scibyte84 HIVTreatment

shared by Mars Base on 04 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center
  • describe the first case of a so-called "functional cure" in an HIV-infected infant
  • The infant described in the report underwent remission of HIV infection after receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 30 hours of birth
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • investigators
  • investigators say the prompt administration of antiviral treatment likely led to this infant's cure by halting the formation of hard-to-treat viral reservoirs
  • Prompt antiviral therapy in newborns that begins within days of exposure may help infants clear the virus and achieve long-term remission without lifelong treatment by preventing such viral hideouts from forming in the first place
  • dormant cells responsible for reigniting the infection in most HIV patients within weeks of stopping therapy
  • researchers say they believe this is precisely what happened in the child described in the report
  • "functionally cured," a condition that occurs when a patient achieves and maintains long-term viral remission without lifelong treatment and standard clinical tests fail to detect HIV replication in the blood
  • a sterilizing cure—a complete eradication of all viral traces from the body
  • a functional cure occurs when viral presence is so minimal, it remains undetectable by standard clinical tests, yet discernible by ultrasensitive methods
  • The child described
  • was born to an HIV-infected mother and received combination antiretroviral treatment beginning 30 hours after birth.
  • A series of tests showed progressively diminishing viral presence in the infant's blood, until it reached undetectable levels 29 days after birth
  • The infant remained on antivirals until 18 months of age, at which point the child was lost to follow-up for a while
  • Ten months after discontinuation of treatment, the child underwent repeated standard blood tests, none of which detected HIV presence in the blood
  • Test for HIV-specific antibodies—the standard clinical indicator of HIV infection—also remained negative
  • Currently, high-risk newborns—those born to mothers with poorly controlled infections or whose mothers' HIV status is discovered around the time of delivery—receive a combination of antivirals at prophylactic doses to prevent infection for six weeks and start therapeutic doses if and once infection is diagnosed
  • this particular case
  • may change the current practice because it highlights the curative potential of very early ART
  • natural viral suppression without treatment is an exceedingly rare phenomenon observed in less than half a percent of HIV-infected adults
  • HIV experts have long sought a way to help all HIV patients achieve elite-controller status
  • "elite controllers," whose immune systems are able to rein in viral replication and keep the virus at clinically undetectable levels
  • investigators caution they don't have enough data to recommend change right now to the current practice of treating high-risk infants
  • but the infant's case provides the rationale to start proof-of-principle studies in all high-risk newborns
  • next step is to find out if this is a highly unusual response to very early antiretroviral therapy or something we can actually replicate in other high-risk newborns
  • A single case of sterilizing cure has been reported so far
  • in an HIV-positive man treated with a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. The bone marrow cells came from a donor with a rare genetic mutation of the white blood cells that renders some people resistant to HIV
  • Such a complex treatment approach, however, HIV experts agree, is neither feasible nor practical for the 33 million people worldwide infected with HIV
  • researchers say preventing mother-to-child transmission remains the primary goal
  • Prevention really is the best cure, and we already have proven strategies that can prevent 98 percent of newborn infections by identifying and treating HIV-positive pregnant women
Mars Base

These Artificially Intelligent Legos Look Awesome | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...intelligent-legos-look-awesome

scibyte97

shared by Mars Base on 04 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • IDG News Service took a tour of Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo, and found a series of wired Legos, complete with cameras, motors, and a dash of artificial intelligence, all stuffed inside special bricks
  • a motorized Lego platform controlled by a computer squared off against a platform controlled by a human with a PlayStation controller
  • The computer's platform used a camera to locate and chase down the human's platform
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • This project's still in the experimental phase, so it'll likely be quite a while before anyone can pick up a kit from the store
Mars Base

Laser-powered 'needle' promises pain-free injections - 0 views

phys.org/...-powered-needle-pain-free.html

scibyte63 MedicalDevice

shared by Mars Base on 14 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • To test the effectiveness of the drug delivery system, a special gel is used to mimic the behavior of human skin
  • hypodermic needles are still the first choice for ease-of-use, precision, and control
  • A new laser-based system, however, that blasts microscopic jets of drugs into the skin could soon make getting a shot as painless as being hit with a puff of air
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • The laser is combined with a small adaptor that contains the drug to be delivered, in liquid form, plus a chamber containing water that acts as a "driving" fluid
  • A flexible membrane separates these two liquids
  • This type of laser is commonly used by dermatologists, "particularly for facial esthetic treatments
  • Each laser pulse, which lasts just 250 millionths of a second, generates a vapor bubble inside the driving fluid.
  • pressure of that bubble puts elastic strain on the membrane, causing the drug to be forcefully ejected from a miniature nozzle in a narrow jet a mere 150 millionths of a meter (micrometers) in diameter
  • little larger than the width of a human hair
  • impacting jet pressure is higher than the skin tensile strength and thus causes the jet to smoothly penetrate into the targeted depth underneath the skin
  • Tests on guinea pig skin show that the drug-laden jet can penetrate up to several millimeters beneath the skin surface, with no damage to the tissue
  • Because of the narrowness and quickness of the jet, it should cause little or no pain
  • This region of the skin has no nerve endings, so the method "will be completely pain-free
  • ou/Seoul National University. In previous studies, the researchers used a laser wavelength that was not well absorbed by the water of the driving liquid, causing the formation of tiny shock waves that dissipated energy and hampered the formation of the vapor bub
  • laser with a wavelength of 2,940 nanometers, which is readily absorbed by water. This allows the formation of a larger and more stable vapor bubble
  • The laser-driven microjet injector can precisely control dose and the depth of drug penetration underneath the skin. Control via laser power is the major advancement over other devices
  • now working with a company to produce low-cost replaceable injectors for clinical use
  • Further work would be necessary to adopt it for scenarios like mass vaccine injections for children
Mars Base

Russians desperately try to save Mars moon probe (Update) - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...cientists-mars-moon-probe.html

mars scibyte21 Phobos-Grunt

shared by Mars Base on 10 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • A Russian space probe aiming to land on a Mars moon was stuck circling the Earth after equipment failure Wednesday, and scientists raced to fire up its engines before the whole thing came crashing down.
  • successfully launched by a Zenit-2 booster rocket just after midnight Moscow time Wednesday
  • separated from the booster about 11 minutes later and was to fire its engines twice to set out on its path to the Red Planet, but never did
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • probably due to the failure of the craft's orientation system
  • Phobos-Ground was Russia's first interplanetary mission since a botched 1996 robotic mission to Mars, which failed when the probe crashed shortly after the launch due to an engine failure
  • Depending on the actual root of the failure, this is not an impossible challenge
  • the effort to restore control over the probe is hampered by a limited earth-to-space communications network that already forced Russian flight controllers to ask the general public in South America to help find the craft
  • Amateur astronomers were the first to spot the trouble when they detected that the spacecraft was stuck in an Earth orbit
  • About seven tons of nitrogen teroxide and hydrazine, which could freeze before ultimately entering, will make it the most toxic falling satellite ever
  • billed as the heaviest interplanetary probe ever may become one of the heaviest space derelicts to ever fall back to Earth out of control
  • The spacecraft is 13.2 metric tons (14.6 tons), with fuel accounting for a large share of its weight
  • Scientists had hoped that studies of Phobos' surface could help solve the mystery of its origin and shed more light on the genesis of the solar system. Some
Mars Base

Writing in cursive with your eyes only - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...2012-07-cursive-eyes.html

scibyte56 communication

shared by Mars Base on 27 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • A new technology
  • might allow people who have almost completely lost the ability to move their arms or legs to communicate freely
  • eye-writing technology tricks the neuromuscular machinery into doing something that is usually impossible: to voluntarily produce smooth eye movements in arbitrary directions
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • could be of great benefit for people deprived of limb movements, such as those with Lou Gehrig's disease (also known as ALS), the researchers say. It might also help to improve eye movement control in people with certain conditions such as dyslexia or ADHD and/or for experts, such as athletes or surgeons, whose activities strongly rely on eye movements
  • In everyday life, smooth pursuit eye movement is used to track moving targets
  • fact our eyes never cease to move
  • normally impossible to control those movements smoothly in any direction.
  • got a hint that smooth eye movements just might be possible in a completely accidental way
  • technology relies on changes in contrast to trick the eyes into the perception of motion
  • now working on a better version of his eye writer, and tests with ALS patients should start next year
  • He was moving his own eyes in front of an unusual visual display in his lab and discovered that it produced some odd effects. For one thing, he could see his own eye movements. With a little practice, he gradually discovered that he could control those eye movements, too.
Mars Base

SpaceX's First Mission to the Space Station: How It Will Work | Dragon COTS 2/3 Flight ... - 0 views

www.space.com/agon-space-station-flight.html

scibyte47 SpaceX iss PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 16 May 12 - No Cached
  • SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver food, supplies and science experiments
  • SpaceX is one of two companies with NASA contracts for robotic cargo delivery flights (Virginia's Orbital Technologies Corp. is the other), but is the first to actually try a launch
  • Here's how the robotic mission is expected to play out:
  • ...50 more annotations...
  • Step 1: Launch
  • from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX has use of the facility's Space Launch Complex 40
  • The initial ascent is powered by Falcon 9's first stage, consisting of nine SpaceX Merlin 1C rocket engines
  • Step 2: Main Engine Cut Off/Stage Separation
  • At a little before 180 seconds into the flight, the Falcon 9's first stage engines will cut off, and the first stage will drop off, falling back to Earth
  • the booster's second stage engines should start, further propelling the vehicle into orbit.
  • Step 3: Payload Separation
  • Around 9 minutes into the flight, the Dragon capsule should separate from Falcon 9's second stage and orbit on its own
  • capsule will deploy its solar arrays to start soaking up energy from the sun
  • Dragon is on its own and must maneuver using its onboard thrusters
  • Step 4: Orbital Checkouts
  • Dragon will begin a series of checkouts to make sure it's functioning as designed and ready to meet up with the station
  • test out its abort system to prove it can terminate its activities and move away from the space station if something goes wrong.
  • demonstrate its performance in free drift phase, with thrusters inhibited
  • Teams on the ground will lead the vehicle through tests of
  • Absolute GPS (AGPS) system, which uses global positioning system satellites to determine its location in space
  • Step 5: Fly-Under
  • fire its thrusters to perform a fly-under of the International Space Station
  • to 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) below the outpost
  • make radio contact with the station using a system called the COTS Ultra?high frequency Communication Unit to communicate.
  • Dragon will also test a secondary locator system called the relative GPS system, which uses the spacecraft's position relative to the space station to establish its coordinates
  • the six-person crew inside the orbiting laboratory will be monitoring their new visitor
  • use a crew command panel onboard the station to communicate with the capsule and send it a command to turn on a strobe light.
  • After completing the fly-under, Dragon will loop out in front, above and then behind the space station to position itself for docking.
  • Step 6: Rendezvous
  • during Dragon's fourth day of flight, the spacecraft will fire its thrusters again to bring it within 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) of the space station
  • there, NASA's Mission Control team in Houston will run through a "go-no go" call to confirm all teams are ready for rendezvous
  • If everyone is "go," Dragon will inch closer, to about 820 feet (250 meters) away from the space station.
  • series of final checkouts will be performed to make sure all of Dragon's location and navigation systems are accurate
  • If all looks good, Dragon's SpaceX control team on the ground will command the vehicle to approach the space station
  • When it reaches 720 feet (220 meters), the astronauts onboard the outpost will command the capsule to halt.
  • After another series of "go-no go" checks
  • approach to 656 feet (200 meters), and then 98 feet (30 meters), and finally 32 feet (10 meters), the capture point.
  • Step 7: Docking
  • Mission Control will tell the space station crew they are "go" for capturing Dragon
  • astronaut Don Pettit will use the station's robotic arm to reach out and grab Dragon, pulling it in to the bottom side of the lab's Harmony node, and then attaching it.
  • The next day, after more checkouts, the crew will open the hatch between Dragon and the station.
  • Over the coming weeks, the astronauts will spend about 25 hours unpacking the 1,014 pounds (460 kilograms) of cargo that Dragon delivers
  • none of the cargo is critical (since this is a test flight),
  • capsule will arrive bearing food, water, clothing and supplies for the crew.
  • Step 8: Undocking
  • Dragon is due to spend about 18 days docked at the International Space Station.
  • the station astronauts will use the robotic arm to maneuver the capsule out to about 33 feet (10 meters) away, then release it. Dragon will then use its thrusters to fly a safe distance away from the laboratory.
  • Step 9: Re-entry
  • About four hours after departing the space station, Dragon will fire its engines to make what's called a de-orbit burn
  • will set the capsule on a course for re-entry through Earth's atmosphere
  • spacecraft is equipped with a heat shield to protect it from the fiery temperatures of its 7-minute re-entry flight.
  • Step 10: Landing
  • due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean to end its mission
  • There, recovery crews will be waiting to collect the capsule about 250 miles (450 kilometers) off the West Coast of the United States
  • Mars Base on 21 May 12
     
    Mission Overview
Mars Base

Driverless Taxis in European Cities from 2014 - 0 views

www.scienceworldreport.com/...-european-cities-from-2014.htm

scibyte117

shared by Mars Base on 23 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • Driverless taxis will be carrying passengers during demonstration projects in five European cities as of February 2014.
  • cybercars, by the EU-funded CityMobil2 project, is one of a number of research initiatives that are testing out specially designed self-driving road vehicles as the technology required to navigate them becomes cheaper and more reliable.
  • Cybercars have traditionally sensed the world through expensive gyroscopes, microwaves and laser beams
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • cheap cameras and fast image-recognition algorithms has led to a new technique known as visual odometry
  • a computer analyses images to determine the position and orientation of the vehicle.
  • researchers have better access to the technology required for automated vehicles
  • e V-Charge project, a consortium of companies and universities which is working on fully automated low-speed driving in cities using only cameras and other low-cost sensors mounted on standard cars
  • . The consortium is working to produce detailed maps and a perception system that allows a vehicle to recognize its location and identify nearby pedestrians and vehicles, all using only stereoscopic or fisheye cameras.
  • team has taken this a step further, pioneering a guidance system that works economically by using a single camera.
  • car manufacturers are already making automated piloting features of their own – radar-based cruise control, anti-braking systems (ABS) and lane-control assistance
  • cables and hydraulic pressure valves which previously linked the controls of the vehicle to its working parts are gradually being replaced with electronic circuits
  • While companies such as Google see autonomous cars in a couple of decades
  • CityMobil2 project
  • thinks that they could be hitting the road sooner than that
  • The challenge lies in their environment
  • believes that, in addition to teaching cars to respond autonomously to traffic conditions, traffic should be adapted to automated cars
  • In their current state of development, cybercars could already drive safely in pedestrian areas and designated lanes
  • , investors are at present deterred by their high initial investment and perceived risks.
  • why they are being implemented in small stages
  • The first CityMobil project shuttled passengers across the car park of London Heathrow airport in a fleet of driverless pods
  • CityMobil2, now brings specially designed automated vehicles to designated roads inside the city centre
  • The project plans to procure two sets of automated vehicles which will tour five cities in a series of demonstration projects each lasting six to eight months
  • CityMobil2 is bringing together experts from ministries in each member state to agree on technical requirements by the time the project concludes in 2016 that could feed into a future European directive on the issue
Mars Base

China's Yutu Moon Rover Unable to Properly Maneuver Solar Panels - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...properly-maneuver-solar-panels

scibyte122 scibyte123 ChineseSpaceProgram-Yutu

shared by Mars Base on 04 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • The serious technical malfunction
  • of China’s Yutu moon rover
  • has been identified as an inability to properly maneuver the life giving solar panels
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • “Yutu suffered a control circuit malfunction in its driving unit,” according to a newly published report on March 1 by the state owned Xinhua news agency.
  • prevented Yutu from entering the second dormancy as planned
  • A functioning control circuit is required to lower the rovers mast
  • They must be folded down into a warmed electronics box to shield them from the damaging effects of the Moon’s nightfall when temperatures plunge dramatically to below minus 180 Celsius, or minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • The panel driving unit also helps maneuver the panels into position to efficiently point to the sun to maximize the electrical output
  • Chinese space engineers engaged in troubleshooting to try and identify and rectify the technical problems in a race against time to find a solution before the start of Lunar Night 3.
  • The 140 kilogram rover was unable to move during Lunar Day 3 due to the mechanical glitches.
  • “Yutu only carried out fixed point observations during its third lunar day
  • it did complete some limited scientific observations. And fortunately the ground penetrating radar, panoramic and infrared imaging equipment all functioned normally.
  • Yutu and the companion Chang’e-3 lander have again gone into sleep mode during Lunar Night 3 on Feb. 22 and Feb 23 respectively, local Beijing time.
  • the issue with the control circuit malfunction in its driving unit remains unresolved and a still threatens the outlook for Yutu’s future exploration.
  • Yutu is now nearing its planned 3 month long life expectancy
Mars Base

A Sunny Outlook for NASA Kepler's Second Light | NASA - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...-for-nasa-keplers-second-light

scibyte110 scibyte111 Kepler

shared by Mars Base on 26 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • A repurposed Kepler Space telescope may soon start searching the sky again.
  • A new mission concept, dubbed K2, would continue Kepler's search for other worlds, and introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, young and old stars, active galaxies and supernovae
  • In May, the Kepler spacecraft lost the second of four gyroscope-like reaction wheels, which are used to precisely point the spacecraft, ending new data collection for the original mission
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • required three functioning wheels to maintain the precision pointing necessary to detect the signal of small Earth-sized exoplanets
  • With the failure of a second reaction wheel, the spacecraft can no longer precisely point at the mission's original field of view. The culprit is none other than our own sun
  • pushes the spacecraft around
  • the pressure exerted when the photons of sunlight strike the spacecraft
  • Without a third wheel to help counteract the solar pressure, the spacecraft's ultra-precise pointing capability cannot be controlled in all directions.
  • Kepler mission and Ball Aerospace engineers have developed an innovative way of recovering pointing stability by maneuvering the spacecraft so that the solar pressure is evenly distributed across the surfaces of the spacecraft
  • To achieve this level of stability, the orientation of the spacecraft must be nearly parallel to its orbital path around the sun
  • This technique of using the sun as the 'third wheel' to control pointing is currently being tested on the spacecraft and early results are already coming i
  • During a pointing performance test in late October, a full frame image of the space telescope's full field of view was captured showing part of the constellation Sagittarius
  • Photons of light from a distant star field were collected over a 30-minute period and produced an image quality within five percent of the primary mission image quality
  • Additional testing is underway to demonstrate the ability to maintain this level of pointing control for days and weeks.
  • The K2 mission concept has been presented to NASA Headquarters
  • A decision to proceed to the 2014 Senior Review – a biannual assessment of operating missions – and propose for budget to fly K2 is expected by the end of 2013
  • For four years, the space telescope simultaneously and continuously monitored the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, recording a measurement every 30 minutes.
Mars Base

Teams Working Cooling System Issue; Station Crew Carries on With Research | NASA - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...-crew-carries-on-with-research

scibyte113 iss

shared by Mars Base on 13 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • Dec. 12, 2013
  • suspect a flow control valve actually inside the pump module itself might not be functioning correctly
  • hat flow control valve regulates the temperature of the ammonia in the loop so that when the ammonia is re-introduced into the heat exchanger on the Harmony node it does not freeze the water also flowing through the exchange
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Mission managers have deferred the decision on whether to proceed with or postpone the launch of the Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus commercial cargo craft until more is known about the flow control valve issue
  • Cygnus is currently scheduled to launch Dec. 18 from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and rendezvous with the station on Dec. 21
  • Wednesday, the first of two reboosts of the station took place to raise the station’s orbit and set up
  • for Russian vehicle launches and dockings in 2014
  • also places the station in position for the arrival of Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus commercial cargo vehicle this month
  • e 7-minute, 41-second firing
  • Expedition 38 crew members also tackled a variety of other tasks Thursday, including maintenance work and scientific research
  • work on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, or ARED, which allows the crew to perform a wide range of weightlifting exercises in the weightless environment of the station
  • installed a jumper in the Quest airlock to provide contingency power to the airlock’s secondary shell heaters
  • prepared the U.S. spacesuits for some upcoming scheduled maintenance
  • deployed eight bubble detectors for the RaDI-N experiment, which seeks to characterize the neutron radiation environment of the station
  • removed and stowed a NanoRacks platform. NanoRacks provides lower-cost microgravity research facilities for small payloads utilizing a standardized “plug-and-play” interface
  • spoke with students in Kyoto, Japan, via the amateur radio aboard the station
  • unloading cargo from the Progress 53 cargo vehicle that docked to the station on Nov. 29
  • collected micro-accelerometer data for the Identification experiment, which examines the station’s dynamic loads during events such as dockings and reboosts
  • continued the replacement of fans in the Zvezda service module with low-noise units and used a sound level meter to measure the results.
  • conducted routine maintenance on the life support systems in the Zvezda service module
Mars Base

Breakthrough therapy allows four paraplegic men to voluntarily move their legs - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...araplegic-men-voluntarily.html

scibyte126

shared by Mars Base on 08 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Four young men who have been paralyzed for years achieved
  • moving their legs—as a result of epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord
  • All four participants were classified as suffering from chronic, motor complete spinal cord injuries and were unable to move their lower extremities prior to the implantation of an epidural stimulator
  • ...42 more annotations...
  • The stimulator delivers a continuous electrical current to the participants' lower spinal cords, mimicking signals the brain normally transmits to initiate movement
  • an initial study, published in May 2011
  • evaluated the effects of epidural stimulation in the first participant
  • who recovered a number of motor functions as a result of the intervention
  • three years later, the key findings documented
  • detail the impact of epidural stimulation in a total four participants, including new tests
  • What is revolutionary
  • is that the second, third and fourth participants
  • were able to execute voluntary movements immediately following the implantation and activation of the stimulator.
  • The participants' results and recovery time were unexpected, which led researchers to speculate that some pathways may be intact post-injury and therefore able to facilitate voluntary movements.
  • Two of the four subjects were diagnosed as motor and sensory complete injured with no chance of recovery at al
  • Because of epidural stimulation, they can now voluntarily move their hips, ankles and toes
  • groundbreaking for the entire field and offers a new outlook that the spinal cord, even after a severe injury, has great potential for functional recovery.
  • In epidural stimulation, the electrical current is applied at varying frequencies and intensities to specific locations on the lumbosacral spinal cord
  • corresponding to the dense neural bundles that largely control the movement of the hips, knees, ankles and toes
  • With the participants, once the signal was triggered, the spinal cord reengaged its neural network to control and direct muscle movements.
  • When coupling the intervention with rehabilitative therapy, the impact of epidural stimulation intensified
  • Over the course of the study, the researchers noted that the participants were able to activate movements with less stimulation, demonstrating the ability of the spinal network to learn and improve nerve functions
  • uncovered a fundamentally new intervention strategy that can dramatically affect recovery of voluntary movement in individuals with complete paralysis, even years after injury
  • The belief that no recovery is possible and complete paralysis is permanent has been challenged
  • Beyond regaining voluntary movement, the research participants have displayed a myriad of improvements in their overall health
  • increases in muscle mass and regulation of their blood pressure, as well as reduced fatigue and dramatic improvements to their sense of well-being.
  • all four men were able to bear weight independently, as reported by the team
  • The study offers hope that clinical therapies can be developed to advance treatment for the nearly 6 million Americans living with paralysis, including nearly 1.3 million with spinal cord injuries.
  • The four paralyzed participants ranged in neurological level from C7–T5 and were at least two years post-injury at the time of the intervention
  • Two of them had been rated "A" on the American Spinal Injury Association's classification system, meaning they had absolutely no sensation or cognition below the site of their injury
  • surprising the scientists, who believed at least some of the sensory pathway must be intact for epidural stimulation to be successful.
  • With this study, the investigators show that their findings about a motor complete patient regaining movement, as published three years ago in The Lancet, were not an anomaly
  • At the present time,
  • there are no effective evidence-based treatments for chronic spinal cord injury
  • , the implications of this study for the entire field are quite profound, and we can now envision a day when epidural stimulation might be part of a cocktail of therapies used to treat paralysis
  • first learned that a patient had regained voluntary control as a result of the therapy, we were cautiously optimistic
  • The research was funded by the Reeve Foundation and the National Institutes of Health
  • the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Kessler Foundation, the University of Louisville, the Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Foundation, the Frazier Rehab Institute and University Hospital.
  • Investing in epidural stimulation
  • Now that spinal stimulation has been successful in four out of four patients, there is evidence to suggest a large cohort of individuals,
  • previously with little realistic hope of any meaningful recovery from spinal cord injury, may benefit from this intervention
  • how we see motor complete spinal cord injury
  • don't have to necessarily rely on regrowth of nerves in order to regain function
  • observed this in four out of four people suggests that this is actually a common phenomenon in those diagnosed with complete paralysis
  • The scientists are optimistic that the therapy intervention will continue to result in improved motor functions
  • based on observations from the research, there is strong evidence that with continued advancements of the epidural stimulator, individuals with complete spinal cord injuries will be able to bear weight independently, maintain balance and work towards stepping
Mars Base

Contingency Spacewalk Planned Next Week, But Dragon Must Arrive At Space Station First - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...-arrive-at-space-station-first

scibyte126 iss

shared by Mars Base on 14 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • : a quick 2.5-hour run to swap out a failed backup computer that controls several systems
  • including robotics
  • t NASA doesn’t want to go ahead with it until spare spacesuit parts arrive, in the aftermath of a life-threatening suit leak that took place last summer.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • Those parts are on board the
  • SpaceX Dragon spacecraft
  • The spacewalk would take place April 22 — if Dragon gets there as planned on Wednesday
  • e Dragon is carrying a new spacesuit, components to fix an existing spacesuit, critical research experiments and food for the six crew members of Expedition 39.
  • The challenge, however, is making sure the station could be ready even if the primary multiplexer demultiplexer (MDM) fails before spacewalkers can make the backup replacement.
  • There are more than a dozen MDMs on station, but each one controls different functions
  • This primary MDM not only controls a robotics mobile transporter, but also radiators and a joint to move the station’s solar arrays, among other things.
  • . NASA needs to reposition the arrays when a vehicle approaches because plumes from the thrusters can put extra “loads” or electrical power on the system.
  • Luckily, the angle of the sun is such these days that the array can sit in the same spot for a while, at least two to three weeks
  •  NASA configured the station so that even if the primary computer fails, the array will automatically position correctly
  • NASA also will move a mobile transporter on station today so that the station’s robotic arm is ready to grasp the Dragon when it arrives, meaning that even if the primary computer fails the transporter will be in the right spot
  • If Dragon is delayed again, the next launch opportunity is April 18 and the spacewalk would be pushed back
  • There are at least two or three spare MDMs on station
  • the one needed for this particular spacewalk is inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory, which is handily right next to the S0 truss and spacesuit worksite.
Mars Base

New device can reduce sleep apnea episodes by 70 percent, study shows - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...ce-apnea-episodes-percent.html

scibyte115 SleepDisorder

shared by Mars Base on 09 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • After one year, patients using the device had an approximately 70 percent reduction in sleep apnea severity, as well as significant reductions in daytime sleepiness
  • Implantation of a sleep apnea device called Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation (UAS) therapy can lead to significant improvements for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),
  • the first to evaluate the use of upper airway stimulation for sleep apnea
  • ...27 more annotations...
  • Stimulation Therapy for Apnea Reduction (STAR) trial
  • conducted at 22 medical centers in the United States and Europe
  • OSA, which affects more than 8 million men and 4 million women in the U.S. and is twice as common in men
  • is characterized by repeated episodes of upper airway collapse during sleep, due to narrowing or blockage
  • Patients with OSA stop breathing, known as apnea, frequently during sleep, often for a minute or longer
  • Repeated episodes of apnea can lead to daytime fatigue, and increase a person's risk for heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and even death.
  • Treatments for OSA include weight loss, upper airway surgeries, oral appliances, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which is considered the primary treatment for OSA
  • CPAP is a successful treatment when used on a regular basis, as many as half of the patients who have been prescribed CPAP are unable to use it regularly
  • largely due to discomfort with the mask and/or the lack of desire to be tethered to a machine
  • Inspire UAS therapy
  • differs from other traditional sleep apnea devices and surgical procedures
  • targets the muscle tone of the throat rather than just the anatomy
  • Two thirds of patients using the Inspire UAS therapy device had successful control of their OSA
  • even more reported improvement in snoring, daytime sleepiness and quality of life measures
  • Eighty-six percent of patients were still using the device every night at the one year mark, which compares very favorably to CPAP
  • From 724 candidates initially screened, the STAR trial implanted and prospectively evaluated 126 moderate-to-severe OSA patients who had difficulty using or adhering to CPAP therapy:
  • 83 percent of the participants were men, the mean age was 54.5 years, and the mean body-mass index was 28.4.
  • All patients underwent surgery to implant the device.
  • The device stimulates the nerve of the tongue during sleep, thereby enlarging and stabilizing the airway and improving control of breathing.
  • Surgical implantation of the upper-airway stimulation system was performed by otolaryngologists at 22 academic and private centers
  • The device was implanted in three areas
  • stimulation electrode was placed on the hypoglossal nerve, which provides innervation to the muscles of the tongue
  • a sensing lead was placed between rib muscles to detect breathing effort
  • a neurostimulator was implanted in the upper right chest, just below the clavicle bone
  • Patients used a "controller" to turn on the device at night, so it is only used when the patient sleeps
  • device is designed to sense breathing patterns and deliver mild stimulation to a patient's airway muscles to keep the airway open during sleep.
  • various sleep-disorder measuring systems, patients were found to experience 68 to 70 percent fewer sleep-apnea episodes per hou
Mars Base

Heart repair breakthroughs replace surgeon's knife - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...eakthroughs-surgeon-knife.html

scibyte87 scibyte88 heart

shared by Mars Base on 25 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Many problems that once required sawing through the breastbone and opening up the chest for open heart surgery now can be treated
  • through a tube
  • These minimal procedures used to be done just to unclog arteries and correct less common heart rhythm problems
  • ...42 more annotations...
  • Now some patients are getting such repairs for valves, irregular heartbeats, holes in the heart and other defects—without major surgery
  • Doctors even are testing ways to treat high blood pressure with some of these new approaches
  • Instead of opening the chest, we're able to put catheters in through the leg, sometimes through the arm
  • Many patients after having this kind of procedure in a day or two can go home
  • It may lead to cheaper treatment, although the initial cost of the novel devices often offsets the savings from shorter hospital stays
  • Not everyone can have catheter treatment, and some promising devices have hit snags in testing
  • Others on the market now are so new that it will take several years to see if their results last as long as the benefits from surgery do.
  • these procedures have allowed many people too old or frail for an operation to get help for problems that otherwise would likely kill them
  • You can do these on 90-year-old patients
  • also offer an option for people who cannot tolerate long-term use of blood thinners or other drugs to manage their conditions
  • Heart valves
  • Millions of people have leaky heart valves. Each year, more than 100,000 people in the United States alone have surgery for them
  • Without a valve replacement operation, half of these patients die within two years, yet many are too weak to have one.
  • just over a year ago,
  • Edwards Lifesciences Corp. won approval to sell an artificial aortic valve flexible and small enough to fit into a catheter and be wedged inside the bad one
  • At first it was just for inoperable patients. Last fall, use was expanded to include people able to have surgery but at high risk of complications.
  • Catheter-based treatments for other valves also are in testing. One for the mitral valve
  • mixed review by federal Food and Drug Administration advisers this week; whether it will win FDA approval is unclear. It is already sold in Europe
  • Heart rhythm problems
  • Catheters can contain tools to vaporize or "ablate" bits of heart tissue that cause abnormal signals that control the heartbeat
  • Now catheter ablation is being used for the most common rhythm problem—atrial fibrillation, which plagues about 3 million Americans and 15 million people worldwide.
  • Ablation addresses the underlying rhythm problem. To address the stroke risk from pooled blood, several novel devices aim to plug or seal off the pouch
  • The upper chambers of the heart quiver or beat too fast or too slow. That lets blood pool in a small pouch off one of these chambers
  • Clots can form in the pouch and travel to the brain, causing a stroke
  • a tiny lasso to cinch the pouch shut. It uses two catheters that act like chopsticks. One goes through a blood vessel and into the pouch to help guide placement of the device, which is contained in a second catheter poked under the ribs to the outside of the heart. A loop is released to circle the top of the pouch where it meets the heart, sealing off the pouch.
  • A different kind of device
  • sold in Europe and parts of Asia, but is pending before the FDA in the U.S
  • like a tiny umbrella pushed through a vein and then opened inside the heart to plug the troublesome pouch.
  • Early results from a pivotal study released by the company suggested it would miss a key goal, making its future in the U.S. uncertain.
  • Heart defects
  • St. Jude Medical Inc.'s Amplatzer is a fabric-mesh patch threaded through catheters to plug the hole
  • In two new studies, the device did not meet the main goal of lowering the risk of repeat strokes in people who had already suffered one, but some doctors were encouraged by other results
  • Сlogged arteries
  • The original catheter-based treatment—balloon angioplasty—is still used hundreds of thousands of times each year in the U.S. alone
  • A Japanese company, Terumo Corp., is one of the leaders of a new way to do it that is easier on patients—through a catheter in the arm rather than the groin
  • Newer stents that prop arteries open and then dissolve over time, aimed at reducing the risk of blood clots, also are in late-stage testing
  • High blood pressure
  • About
  • 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks
  • Researchers are testing a possible long-term fix for dangerously high pressure that can't be controlled with multiple medications.
  • uses a catheter and radio waves to zap nerves, located near the kidneys, which fuel high blood pressure
  • At least one device is approved in Europe and several companies are testing devices in the United States
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Sun in the Way Will Affect Mars Missions in April - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte87 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 26 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The positions of the planets next month will mean diminished communications between Earth and NASA's spacecraft at Mars
  • Mars will be passing almost directly behind the sun, from Earth's perspective. The sun can easily disrupt radio transmissions between the two planets during that near-alignment
  • To prevent an impaired command from reaching an orbiter or rover, mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are preparing to suspend sending any commands to spacecraft at Mars for weeks in April
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • NASA's Mars Odyssey
  • sixth conjunction for
  • The travels of Earth and Mars around the sun set up this arrangement, called a Mars solar conjunction, about once every 26 months
  • which has been orbiting Mars since 2001
  • are not identical to each other. They can differ in exactly how close to directly behind the sun Mars gets, and they can differ in how active the sun is
  • The Mars solar conjunctions
  • Both orbiters will continue science observations on a reduced basis compared to usual operations. Both will receive and record data from the rovers.
  • Odyssey will continue transmissions Earthward throughout April, although engineers anticipate some data dropouts, and the recorded data will be retransmitted later
  • The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will go into a record-only mode on April 4.
  • anticipates that the orbiter could have about 40 gigabits of data from its own science instruments and about 12 gigabits of data from Curiosity accumulated for sending to Earth around May 1.
  • Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is approaching its fifth solar conjunction. Its team will send no commands between April 9 and April 26. The rover will continue science activities using a long-term set of commands to be sent beforehand.
  • Curiosity
  • can also continue making science observations from the location where it will spend the conjunction period. Curiosity's controllers plan to suspend commanding from April 4 to May 1.
Mars Base

NASA - Astronauts Complete Spacewalk to Repair Ammonia Leak, Station Changes Command - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...e35_051113_eva.html

scibyte94 iss ViewerFeedback

shared by Mars Base on 19 May 13 - No Cached
  • Expedition 35 Flight Engineers
  • completed a spacewalk
  • to inspect and replace a pump controller box on the International Space Station’s far port truss (P6) leaking ammonia coolant
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • A little more than 2 1/2 hours into the spacewalk
  • removed the 260-pound pump controller box from the P6 truss and replaced it with a spare that had been stowed nearby
  • Spacewalkers practice underwater in the facility and divers provide assistance and dive safety protection during spacewalk simulations
  • The spacewalk is the 168th in support of the assembly and maintenance of the space
  • The device contains the mechanical systems that drive the cooling functions for the port truss.
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