NASA technology (57)

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NASA’s IRIS Mission

NASA – This image from the joint NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hinode mission shows the lower regions of the sun’s atmosphere, the interface region, which a new mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, will study in exquisite detail. Credit: NASA&JAXA/Hinode

Stargazer Aircraft Carrying IRIS Takes Off

The Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:30 p.m. EDT on June 27, 2013, headed over the Pacific Ocean to release the Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory.

IRIS will open a new window of discovery using spectrometry and imaging to trace the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona. The spacecraft will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. This interface region, located between the sun’s visible surface and its upper atmosphere, is where most of its ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth’s climate. Photo Credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft launched Thursday at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The mission to study the solar atmosphere was placed in orbit by an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket.

“We are thrilled to add IRIS to the suite of NASA missions studying the sun,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington. “IRIS will help scientists understand the mysterious and energetic interface between the surface and corona of the sun.” motr> http://tinyurl.com/q4chs2n

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Senate approves immigration bill 68-32, sending battle to House

By Alexander Bolton – Senators took the rare step of voting from their desks to mark the occasion while Vice President Biden (D-Del.) presided from the dais. The Senate used the same formal procedure to pass ObamaCare three years ago.

Fourteen Republicans voted to end debate and not a single Democrat opposed it, a significant victory for Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the lead Democratic sponsor. more> http://tinyurl.com/ozu5pax

Related>

• Immigration debate, USA TODAY
• More than half of GOP senators vote no, Ramsey Cox, Hill
• Potential 2016 GOP candidates split, Alexandra Jaffe, Hill
• Boehner: Immigration bill will require majority of both parties in the House, Russell Berman, Hill

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For Suggesting An End To QE, The Bernanke Fed Is Likely Stuck With QE

By Nathan Lewis – The notion that the Fed will continue with QE forever is not tenable, on an intellectual basis; thus, it must stop.

Simply suggesting the possible end of QE – an idea rather tame in itself – caused the conditions that justified further continuation of QE.

The U.S. economy has been on a gentle slope of deterioration, which may accelerate if asset markets stumble and mortgage rates remain at relatively elevated levels. more> http://tinyurl.com/ohym6es

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• For Suggesting An End To QE, The Bernanke Fed Is Likely Stuck With QE (forbes.com)
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• End of QE? I Don’t Buy It (dailyreckoning.com)

What is a GeoMesh Network?

By Bo Gowan – At its core, GeoMesh is a unified global network that breaks down the traditional demarcation points between submarine and terrestrial networks to create a seamless global network that is more intelligent, responsive, resilient and scalable, with less incurred network latency.

Network operators have traditionally designed and deployed submarine networks and terrestrial networks in relative isolation using different technologies, primarily due to the longer reaches involved with transoceanic routes. Today’s cable landing station (CLS), which serves as the well-known “demarcation point” between the two worlds of submarine and terrestrial networks, houses an array of terminals and switches that rather inefficiently interconnect wet plants (undersea fiber, repeaters, branching units) to terrestrial backhaul DWDM networks. more> http://tinyurl.com/nqdg93m

Related>

• GeoMesh takes “Best Optical Submarine Product” award at WDM conference, Bo Gowan, Ciena

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Google-backed 28Tbps undersea fiber goes live

By Jay Alabaster – An 8,900-kilometer undersea fiber cable system in Asia, backed by a consortium including Google, China Telecom, NEC and a host of local telecommunications companies, went live Thursday (June 27).

The project was first announced in 2009 and construction started in April of 2011. Total costs were about $400 million. NEC said the cable system consists of six fiber pairs that can carry the equivalent of 3 million HD video streams at the same time. more> http://tinyurl.com/ongfs5y

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• 28Tbps undersea fiber backed by Google, China Telecom, NEC goes live (pcworld.com)
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• Southeast Asia-Japan submarine cable to improve latency, resiliency (zdnet.com)
• Google’s Not-So-Evil Plan To Lower Your Cable Bill (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)