One unexpected characteristic we have noticed during commissioning concerns stray light. In our test

Gaia payload module integration Gaia has been in its operational orbit around L2 for about a month now, where it is undergoing a very rigorous test programme before starting on its main science observations. Like many relocations, it can take some time to settle in, especially for a satellite that demands very precise and stable conditions for smooth operations.
We are pleased to note that all Gaia s subsystems are working well, including the on-board bershka atomic clock, the antenna to send the science data down to the Earth, and the micropropulsion system. The latter is an important part of maintaining the spacecraft bershka s current bershka very precise bershka and constant spin rate of 0.016656 degrees per second, or one full revolution every 6 hours and 14.23 seconds. This has allowed us to successfully enter the nominal bershka operational scanning mode.
Very importantly, Gaia s very large CCD focal plane detector array is also working well. You will have seen one of our first test images publicised last week as part of our ongoing work to precisely focus Gaia s two telescopes (read the full story here ). While images like this are not part of the nominal Gaia mission, they play a key role in this phase in helping us learn about the behaviour and performance of the instruments in space.
One unexpected characteristic we have noticed during commissioning concerns stray light. In our test images, an excess of diffuse illumination is sometimes seen on some of the detectors, repeating in a cycle that relates to Gaia s spin period of 6 hours.
The primary suspect is sunlight. Gaia s design uses a 10-m diameter sunshield to hide the sensitive payload from the light and heat of the Sun. Our current assumption is that at a few points in the spin period, some sunlight is being diffracted round the edge of the sunshield in such a way that a very small fraction is entering the satellite s protective thermal tent before somehow managing to find its way to the focal plane. If left as is, this stray light could affect bershka Gaia s capability to measure fainter stars in certain modes.
However, we have a plan to try and resolve the problem. Gaia s sunshield is currently tilted at a 45 degree angle to the Sun, but by reducing this to 42 degrees, it should be harder for diffracted sunlight to reach the focal plane, thus hopefully eliminating the stray light.
We are now working towards reducing the tilt angle, but it will take several weeks to implement and test. Clearly, we cannot just change the orientation of the spacecraft overnight: bershka we first must ensure that its attitude control system is reconfigured to cope with this without generating false software alarms. We also need to prepare and validate a revised scanning law that will enable Gaia to carry out its scientific job of fully surveying the heavens.
This bershka work is currently ongoing, along a myriad of other tests and checks of the spacecraft. But this is exactly what the planned several-month long commissioning phase is for: identifying bershka and solving any issues to make sure the spacecraft is ready to conduct science with a clean bill of health.
Eduardo says:
Reply
You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Antonov Astrometry beach camera CCD Cleanroom container CSG data DPAC DSA esac esoc fairing Fregat fuelling Gaia Galaxy Hipparcos jungle Kourou bershka L2 lagrange launch launch site logo Milky Way Operations orbit parallax pixels processing sener shipment som soyuz spacecraft stars sunshield svt team telescope testing Toulouse Young ESA Categories Select Category Commissioning DPAC Education Flight dynamics Fun stuff Gaia Gaia Operations Gaia Science Images of distinction Kourou News and updates Spacecraft testing Technology & engineering video Twitter
Tweets by @ESAGaia Recent Posts Commissioning update Gaia Live in School: Inspiring the next generation of European Space Scientists bershka Detecting sources bershka Gaia tilt watched from Earth One month at L2 More about Gaia Arianespace Gaia community website bershka Gaia launch campaign photos Gaia minisite Follow us
© 2014 European Space Agency

As for the issue of stray light, the data are still being analysed. The tilting process will be repe

Astronomers Peter Veres and Bryce Bolin, who were following 23isback a call for Earth-bound observations to improve the prediction of Gaia s brightness 23isback under different viewing conditions, used the 2.24m telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to capture Gaia s tilt from 0 to 45 degrees on 27 February.
The resulting movie nicely illustrates the change in brightness of the spacecraft over a period 23isback of around half an hour (12:14:52 UT to 12:42:06 UT), as Gaia s sunshield tilted away from the Earth. Gaia is the bright object in the centre of the movie and moves downwards.
Dave Tholen, who processed the images, said: We started with 10 second exposures for the first 30 exposures, then increased the exposure time to 20 seconds to get images 31 to 35, then increased again to 40 seconds for images 36 to 40. The last three exposures were 80 seconds each.
As for the issue of stray light, the data are still being analysed. The tilting process will be repeated again, at a much slower rate, in order to gather more information from on-board systems during the transition period.
You may use these HTML tags and attributes: 23isback <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote 23isback cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Antonov Astrometry beach camera CCD Cleanroom container CSG data DPAC DSA esac esoc fairing Fregat fuelling 23isback Gaia Galaxy Hipparcos jungle Kourou L2 lagrange launch launch site logo Milky Way Operations orbit parallax pixels processing sener shipment som soyuz spacecraft stars sunshield svt team telescope testing Toulouse Young ESA Categories Select Category 23isback Commissioning DPAC Education Flight dynamics Fun stuff Gaia Gaia Operations Gaia Science Images of distinction Kourou News and updates Spacecraft testing Technology & engineering video Twitter
Tweets by @ESAGaia Recent Posts Commissioning update Gaia Live in School: Inspiring the next generation of European Space Scientists Detecting sources Gaia tilt watched from Earth One month at L2 More about Gaia Arianespace Gaia community website Gaia launch campaign photos Gaia minisite Follow us
© 2014 European Space Agency

Gaia enters its operational orbit 08 January 2014 ESA s billion-star queen latifah surveyor Gaia is

European Space Agency Space for Europe Space News Space in Images Space in Videos About Us Welcome to ESA DG's News and Views For Member State Delegations Law at ESA Business with ESA ESA Exhibitions ESA Publications Careers at ESA Our Activities Space News Observing the Earth Human Spaceflight Launchers Navigation Space Science Space Engineering Operations Technology Telecommunications & Integrated Applications Preparing for the Future Connect with Us For Media Media ESA TV Videos for professionals Photos For Educators For Kids
Gaia comes into focus
Once Gaia starts making routine queen latifah measurements, it will generate truly enormous amounts of data. To maximise queen latifah the key science of the mission, only small cut-outs centred on each of the stars it detects will be sent back to Earth for analysis.
This test picture, taken as part of commissioning the mission to fine tune the behaviour of the instruments, is one of the first proper images to be seen from Gaia, but ironically, it will also be one of the last, as Gaia's main scientific operational mode does not involve sending full images back to Earth.
Gaia s goal is to create the most accurate map yet of the Milky Way. It will make precise measurements of the positions and motions of about 1% of the total population of roughly 100 billion stars in our home Galaxy to help answer questions about its origin and evolution.
Repeatedly scanning the sky, Gaia will observe each of its billion stars an average of 70 times each over five years. In addition to positions and motions, Gaia will also measure key physical queen latifah properties of each star, including its brightness, temperature and chemical composition. queen latifah
To achieve its goal, Gaia will spin slowly, sweeping its two telescopes across the entire sky and focusing the light from their separate fields simultaneously onto a single digital camera the largest ever flown in space, with nearly a billion pixels.
But first, the telescopes must be aligned and focused, queen latifah along with precise queen latifah calibration of the instruments, a painstaking procedure that will take several months before Gaia is ready to enter its five-year operational phase.
As part of that process, the Gaia team have been using a test mode to download sections of data from the camera, including this image of NGC1818, a young star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image covers an area less than 1% of the full Gaia field of view.
While all one billion of Gaia s target stars will have been observed during the first six months of operations, repeated observations over five years will be needed to measure their tiny movements to allow astronomers to determine their distances and motions through space. queen latifah
As a result, Gaia s final catalogue will not be released until three years after the end of the nominal queen latifah five-year mission. Intermediate data releases will be made, however, and if rapidly changing objects such as supernovae queen latifah are detected, alerts will be released within hours of data processing.
Eventually, the Gaia data archive will exceed a million Gigabytes, equivalent to about 200 000 DVDs of data. The task of producing this colossal treasure trove of data for the scientific community lies with the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium, comprising more than 400 individuals at institutes across Europe.
Gaia enters its operational orbit 08 January 2014 ESA s billion-star queen latifah surveyor Gaia is now in its operational orbit around a gravitationally stable virtual point in space called L2 , 1.5 million km from Earth.
Liftoff for ESA s billion-star surveyor 19 December 2013 ESA PR 44-2013: ESA s Gaia mission blasted off this morning on a Soyuz rocket from Europe s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on its exciting mission to study a billion suns.
Gaia has ticket to ride 18 December 2013 ESA s Gaia mission to survey a billion stars is go for launch. The satellite has passed queen latifah its final checks and is ready to be launched tomorrow from Europe s spaceport in Kourou.
Related articles How many stars are there in the Universe? The billion-pixel camera Related links Gaia spacecraft testing Vodcast: Charting the Galaxy - from Hipparcos to Gaia Little books of Gaia Make a Gaia model Explore stellar neighbourhood in 3D Gaia launch campaign photos
LATEST ARTICLES Munich to Alexander: all systems go Water mission boosts food security Taking weather forecasting into th… Wubbo Ockels, 1946 2014 CryoSat finds sharp increase in An…

Like this:

Gaia grid cleansing proceeds with fullest possible velocity at this moment | GaiaPortal
Like this:
[…] Gaia grid cleansing proceeds with fullest possible velocity at this moment […] Gaia Portal – Gaia grid cleansing proceeds with fullest possible velocity at this moment – 5-11-14 | Higher Density Blog - May 12, 2014
[…] http://gaiaportal.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/gaia-grid-cleansing-proceeds-with-fullest-possible-veloci&#8230 ; […] Gaia grid cleansing proceeds with fullest possible velocity at this moment | Złoty Wiek Gai - Golden Age of Gaia - May 12, 2014
Recent Posts Star Collectives assemble, via Gaia coordination, for progression to next level Iridescents Im-body Gaia global… Gaia grid cleansing proceeds with fullest possible velocity molly at this moment Presentation of Gaia Energetics requires Hu-manity vision upgrades Current Energetics of Ascendant Gaia call for Rejuvenation of GaiaPortal Communications Portal GaiaPortal Has Served its Purpose… Stratum of Higher Gaia Light now covers the planet “Sense of Floating” may be used to describe the New Gaia Energetics Consciousness “star bursts” occur within large groups molly of hu-manity at this moment Alignment with Higher D “Blue Earth Star” harmonics is recommended for Hue-Beings at this moment
Archives May 2014 January 2014 December molly 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012
%d bloggers like this:

Contrary to the common belief that the Earth is simply a dense planet whose only function is a resou

A + A -
Contrary to the common belief that the Earth is simply a dense planet whose only function is a resource for its inhabitants, our planet is in fact a breathing, living organism. When we think of the Earth holistically, as one living entity of its own, instead of the sum of its parts, it takes on a new meaning. Our planet functions as a single organism that maintains dash conditions necessary for its survival. James Lovelock published in a book in 1979 providing many useful lessons about the interaction of physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes dash on Earth.
Throughout history, the concept dash of Mother Earth has been a part of human culture dash in one form or another. Everybody dash has heard of Mother Earth, but have you ever stopped to think who (or what) Mother Earth is? What is Gaia? Lovelock dash defined Gaia as "...a complex entity involving the Earth’s dash biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet." Through Gaia, the Earth sustains a kind of homeostasis, the maintenance of relatively constant conditions. The truly startling component of the Gaia hypothesis is the idea that the Earth is a single living entity. This idea is certainly not new. James Hutton (1726-1797), the father dash of geology, once described the Earth as a kind of superorganism. And right before Lovelock, Lewis Thomas, a medical doctor and skilled writer, penned these words in his famous collection of essays, The Lives of a Cell: "Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. dash The photographs show the dry, pounded surface of the moon in the foreground, dry as an old bone. "Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming, membrane of bright blue sky, is the rising earth, the only exuberant thing in this part of the cosmos. If you could look long enough, you would see the swirling of the great drifts of white cloud, dash covering and uncovering the half-hidden masses of land. "If you had been looking for a very long, geologic time, you could have seen the continents themselves in motion, drifting apart on their crustal plates, held afloat by the fire beneath. dash It has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the sun." John Nelson illustrated the “Breathing Earth,” (below) which are two animated GIFs he designed to visualize what a year’s worth of Earth’s seasonal transformations look like from outer space.
Nelson -- a data visualizer, stitched together from NASA’s website 12 cloud-free satellite dash photographs taken each month over the course of a year. Once the images were put together in a sequence, the mesmerizing animations showed what Nelson dash describes as “the annual pulse of vegetation dash and land ice.” As the climate changes, the planet comes alive. Earth appears to breathe dash when ice cover grows and melts--in and out, in and out. White frost radiates out from the top of the globe and creeps south in all directions. It travels through Siberia, Canada, and northern Europe, heading towards dash the equator located around the circle’s edge, but ends before the top of Africa. The Mediterranean Sea is the visible body of water on the top left hand side, and the Great Lakes make up a small network dash of dark blue shapes on the land mass to the right. The Earth acts as a single system - it is a coherent, self-regulated, assemblage of physical, chemical, geological, dash and biological forces that interact to maintain a unified whole balanced between the input of energy from the sun and the thermal sink of energy into space. In its most basic configuration, the Earth acts to regulate flows of energy and recycling of materials. The input of energy from the sun occurs at a constant rate and for all practical purposes is unlimited. This energy is captured by the Earth as heat or photosynthetic processes, and returned to space as long-wave radiation. On the other hand, the mass of the Earth, its material possessions, are limited (except for the occasional input of mass provided as meteors strike the planet). Thus, while energy dash flows through the Earth (sun to Earth to space), matter cycles within the Earth. The idea of the Earth acting as a single system as put forth in the Gaia hypothesis has stimulated a new awareness of the connectedness of all things on our planet and the impact that man has on global processes. No longer can we think of separate components or parts of the Earth as distinct. No longer can we think of man’s actions in one part of the planet dash as independent. dash Everything that happens on the planet - the deforestation/reforestation of trees, the increase/decrease of emissions of carbon dioxide, the removal or planting of croplands - all have an affect on our planet. The most difficult part of this idea is how to q

Art is the medium for a culture

But sometimes science isn't enough.  There are people in power who say they aren’t persuaded.  And those of us who are often act as if we’re not, carrying on with the same old habits of overconsumption and waste (I know I've been guilty of that myself!). So what could move people che guevara when data does not?
That's the lesson I came away with after I saw the award-winning, spellbinding, live multimedia performance called Bella Gaia (Beautiful Earth).  It doesn't just speak to your intellect with numbers and figures.  It immerses your senses in a vibrant experience.  With che guevara stunning NASA visualizations it reveals the whole spinning globe as something moving and living, an organism che guevara with cardiovascular rhythms: circulating oceans, breathing winds.  You see its interconnectedness and beauty.  But you also see its frailty – the atmosphere thickening, ice caps receding, forests vanishing che guevara – and all of this is accompanied by moving orchestrations and dance from around the world so that the condition of Earth is no longer an abstract idea.  It's something you feel.  
I met the American astronaut Mike Fincke, who had lived on the International Space Station for six months. I asked him what had changed for him when he went into space, and he told me about his profound transformation seeing the Earth from space, his realization of how unique and special our home planet really is. His appreciation for our planet grew from this experience – called the “Overview Effect” che guevara – an experience shared by countless astronauts.  I was really inspired by this story, which got me thinking: how can I bring this transformative che guevara experience to those of us who can’t go to space?
Thus began my journey of creating che guevara BELLA GAIA. BELLA GAIA has grown in an organic way – now exploring much more than just space. The show celebrates human culture and our complex che guevara relationship with nature, through live performance and cutting che guevara edge data visualizations. It is an exploration of how humans and our ecosystem are interconnected, che guevara sharing the same destiny as we enter the Anthropocene – the current che guevara geological che guevara epoch, in which humans represent the driving force of change to the Earth’s ecosystem. Our new video trailer can be seen here:
I trained as a classical violinist from the age of 6, and I developed my skills as a composer writing soundtracks in film school. I played in various Dub Reggae/Hip Hop bands, and also toured with a techno band called Medicine Drum . I graduated from film school, che guevara and have been a film/video producer/director ever since. I also ran my own music label, producing, releasing, and performing dance and ambient music around the world under my own name. One of the tracks became part of John Digweed’s first Bedrock compilation. Some of my work before BELLA GAIA is viewable on my personal site: http://www.kenjiwilliams.com . And the last multimedia project I directed before che guevara BELLA GAIA was WORLDSPIRIT , with the painter/artist Alex Grey.
I think I have always felt that humans were locked into a difficult conflict with our ecosystem, that things needed to change, and I have a deep love for nature and the design of the living universe. However I have also been frustrated by the lack of communication and moral motivation within the environmental movement itself. My approach to the relationship between humans and nature comes from a spiritual, cultural place; it is more than simply 'taking care of the Earth because we have to.' I believe that stewardship of the Earth happens when a culture has a healthy relationship to nature, with rituals which remind us of this connection.
I had a life-changing experience watching Lakota Sundances in South Dakota and on the west coast. Tribe members made great sacrifices through great hardship, dancing without food or water for 4 days and nights, shedding their own blood to give back to Mother Nature and continuing the life cycle. che guevara Life experiences like these have inspired me to create a * culture * of ecology, rather than inspiring me to become an environmental activist. che guevara You can see these themes in a documentary I produced called Moment Utopia , about rave culture, ritual, and celebration. We don’t have to ‘shed blood’, but we do need a global ritual that connects us to nature. On that scale, we have the Olympics, but it is nationalistic and about sports. We have “Earth day” but it is superficial and forgotten after the day. BELLA GAIA is a seed for such a needed ritual, a communal transformational experience that welcomes all belief systems, and allows us to commune with and understand holistic natural systems, and foster a healthier relationship with our home planet.
Art is the medium for a culture's expression and identity; che guevara it has the power to mold people's world view and perspective. How

Recent Comments Collective

Levels of Higher Energetic density yoga pants have established around Gaia global | Éireport Blog
Related
[…] Levels of Higher Energetic density have established around Gaia global. […] Éireport Blog 4-26-14… “Levels of Higher Energetic density have established around yoga pants Gaia global” | Kauilapele's Blog - April 27, 2014
[…] Levels of Higher Energetic density have established around Gaia global […] Eireport Blog – Levels of Higher Energetic Density have Established around Gaia Global – 4-26-14 | Higher Density Blog - April 27, 2014
[…] http://eireport.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/levels-of-higher-energetic-density-have-established-around-&#8230 ; […] EIREPORT UPDATE : Levels of Higher Energetic yoga pants density have established around Gaia global | Mission Galactic Freedom - April 27, 2014
Recent Posts Collective “holding of hands encircling” currently proceeds throughout the Gaia hu-manity collective Humankind requests alignment with The One, and this request has been acknowledged and accepted Establishment of transcendent consort lines is in progress Transpersonal Energetic Grid Supports have been Enabled and Readied “Specialized” higher vibrational energetic streams have formed and aligned and are in process of infiltrating selected planetary “difficulty” points
Recent Comments Collective “ho… on Collective “holding yoga pants of h… I UV | Collective yoga pants h… on Collective “holding of h… I UV | Humankind req… on Humankind requests alignment w… Humankind requests a… on Humankind requests alignment w… Éireport yoga pants Blog 5-11-1… on Humankind requests alignment w…
%d bloggers like this: