@AkaSci@fosstodon.org
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

AkaSci

@AkaSci@fosstodon.org

SatCom Scientist
Writing occasionally about space missions, astronomy, planetary science, satellites and science in general.
He/Him
#science #space #technology #astronomy #satellites #Democracy

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AkaSci, to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

On May 22, 1849, Congressman Abraham Lincoln received a patent for his method of lifting boats over shoals.

The invention "Buoying Vessels Over Shoals" used a set of inflatable fabric bladders along the sides of a boat to lift the boat, to help it pass over bars and shallow waters, and to help free it when stuck.

There is no evidence that the invention was ever put to practical use.

Lincoln remains the only U.S. president to have a patent in his name.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6469A/en
1/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Lincoln also submitted a scale model of his invention, fabricated with the help of Walter Davis, a Springfield mechanic. The model is now kept at the Smithsonian.

"The idea came as a result of river and lake expeditions he made as a young man, ferrying people and produce on the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. At least twice his boats ran aground on sandbars or hung up on other obstacles."

https://www.si.edu/object/abraham-lincolns-patent-model%3Anmah_213141
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/abraham-lincoln-only-president-have-patent-131184751/
2/n

AkaSci, to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

A particularly dangerous situation (PDS) tornado watch for northwestern Illinois, eastern and central Iowa, southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin valid until 9 p.m. CDT.

A tornado watch for western Iowa and northwest Missouri until 5 p.m. CDT.

A tornado watch for most of western Missouri, extreme eastern Kansas, northeast Oklahoma and extreme northwest Arkansas until 10 p.m. CDT.

Over 12 tornadoes so far.

If you are in the area, please take precautions.
https://www.spc.noaa.gov/
1/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

A tornado demolished a few wind turbines near Prescott, Iowa.

The city of Greefield took a direct hit.

You can watch Reed Timmer's live storm chasing at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ShM64bs1Q if you want to vicariously experience these storms.
2/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

That is a frightening sight of the tornado near Red Oak, IA taken by Andrew Justin.

3/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

@tehstu
Please stay safe.

Here are some tornado safety tips in case you need a refresher - https://www.ready.gov/tornadoes

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Throw a dust storm into the mix and we have quite a mess on our hands.

18 tornadoes confirmed so far.
๐Ÿ™
4/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

The sharp temperature differential along the Mississippi river matches the storm front.

http://www.karstenhaustein.com/climate
5/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Horrific scene and the path of the tornado in Greenfield, Iowa, about 60 miles southwest of Des Moines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew9mlhlGO9E
6/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

As the earlier storm line moves north, new cells are erupting over Arkansas. Tornado watch is in effect for many counties.

From https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0283.html -
Primary threats include -

  • A couple tornadoes possible
  • Scattered large hail and isolated very large hail events to 2 inches in diameter possible
  • Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible

7/n

AkaSci, (edited ) to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Remember the X8.7 solar flare on May 14, as sunspot region 3664 was rotating away from earth?

The CME from that flare reached Mars on May 19. Mars rover Curiosity took some nighttime images of the Martian sky hoping to catch an aurora.

Mars lacks a global magnetic field, hence Martian aurorae are not concentrated at the poles, but instead appear as a โ€œglobal diffuse auroraโ€ associated with Marsโ€™ ancient, magnetized crust.

Not clear if Curiosity succeeded.

https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4188-4190-aurora-watch-on-mars/
1/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Here are some images of Martian aurora taken by Mars orbiter MAVEN.

"Under favorable solar wind conditions, discrete auroral events occur most evenings and may last for hours. MAVENโ€™s observations show that discrete auroras occur at an altitude of ~130 km in the atmosphere, where energetic charged particles cause CO, CO2+, N2, and atomic oxygen to glow."

The NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission has been studying Mars' atmosphere since Sept 21, 2014.

https://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/2021/10/26/maven-spots-recurring-discrete-aurora-on-mars-likely-visible-to-future-astronauts/
2/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Looks like Mars rover Perseverance also decided to take a look at the sky last night.

Just a few stars shine in the image below taken using the SkyCam, an upward-facing camera located on the top deck of the rover.

This image was acquired on May 21, 2024 (Sol 1156) at the local mean solar time of 03:43:18.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/
3/n

AkaSci, (edited ) to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

ESA stated this morning that the fireball seen over Portugal last night was a piece of a comet, not a meteor. Implying that it was composed mainly of ice, not rocky material?

"We estimate that it flew over Spain and Portugal travelling at ~45 km/s before burning up over the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of ~60 km.

The likelihood of any meteorites being found is very low."

https://fosstodon.org/@esaoperations@bird.makeup/112467315956871360

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

@TMEubanks
Thanks, as always, for your insights.

AkaSci, to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Tomorrow morning, May 20, the container ship M/V DALI, which caused the collapse of the Key Bridge near Baltimore, will be refloated and moved to a local marine terminal 2.5 miles away.

After overnight preparations, 5 tug boats will tow/push the vessel away during high tide at 5:24 a.m.

The graphic below from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows the steps and procedures of the operation.

See thread at https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/112161857289027291 for info on the bridge collapse.

๐Ÿ‘
https://www.keybridgeresponse2024.com/post/update-28-unified-command-announces-plan-for-refloating-transit-of-m-v-dali
1/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Here is a view of the container ship M/V DALi and its surroundings yesterday, after parts of the bridge lying across its bow were cleared using small explosives on May 13.

A dive survey was conducted this week in preparation for Monday's planned refloat and transit operation.

The shipping channel is planned to be reopened by the end of the month.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZVvjrFbdSE from CBS affiliate WUSA9
2/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Free at last!

The container ship M/V DALI, which caused the collapse of the Key Bridge near Baltimore, has been refloated and has been towed to a local marine terminal 2.5 miles away.

It's interesting that the containers on the vessel were not offloaded prior to the move.

๐Ÿ‘
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDSasHBRLGk
3/n

JohnBarentine, to space
@JohnBarentine@astrodon.social avatar

โ€œWeโ€™ve talked in the past about there being academic evidence, engineering studies. What we are actually seeing now with those satellites in operation is empirical evidence. You see the noise floor on our satellites increase to the degree that services cannot be provided.โ€

https://spacenews.com/omnispace-reports-interference-from-starlink-direct-to-device-payloads/

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

@JohnBarentine
Omnispace's letter and presentation to the FCC on May 17 on interference from Starlink D2D satellites. Contains technical data and evidence of interference -
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/105172055305971/1

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

@PWei888 @JohnBarentine
I wonder why.
Try going thru this page which has a link to the doc.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search-filings/filing/105172055305971

Or search here for "Omnispace" - https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search-filings

AkaSci, (edited ) to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

The venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft is experiencing another glitch. Instead of sending science and engg. data, it is sending a 0101 bit pattern.

The problem has been narrowed down to the flight data system (FDS), which is not communicating properly with the telecom unit (TMU). A reboot did not help.

Stay tuned as NASA engrs work out a fix for this 1970's era computer, which has performed magnificently during its long 46-year journey to the planets and to outer space.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/
1/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Six months after it suffered a serious brain injury and after months of mind-boggling ultra-long-distance surgery, the Voyager 1 spacecraft walked and talked at full data rate today!

After transmitting a full memory readout on Friday at 40 bps, Voyager 1 switched to the science-mode 160 bps rate, which presumably the DSN site at Goldstone was able to receive and decode today.

Congrats and kudos to all who made it happen.
๐Ÿ‘ :mastodance:
https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
29/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

For those curious about the downlink data rates used by Voyager, it uses 40 bps for engg. data and 160 bps for science data. It requires use of the 70m antenna at the 3 DSN sites. A 1.4 kbps rate is supported with 5 arrayed antennas at Madrid.

Voyager 1 is 24 billion km away. Tx power = 23W. Rx power = -160 dBm (1e-19 watts). A WiFi signal is > 10 billion times stronger!

Earlier data rates (kbps) for V2:
From Jupiter: 115.2
Saturn: 44.8
Uranus: 29.9
Neptune: 21.6

https://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/DPSummary/Descanso4--Voyager_new.pdf
30/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Voyager 1 is now communicating via the 70m antenna at the NASA DSN site in Madrid, still transmitting at the 160 bps "science mode" rate.

Steady as she goes!

https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
31/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

@GarySchulz
I do not know. We will have to wait and see what the Voyager team tells us. They probably do not know yet since they have not downloaded the contents of the digital tape recorder yet. Downloading that requires all 5 antennas in Madrid to be used in array mode.

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Confirmation today from the Voyager 1 team that the transmission received on Sunday contained science data from 2 of the 4 operating instruments - the plasma wave subsystem and the magnetometer. The other 2 instruments - the cosmic ray subsystem and the low energy charged particle instrument - require recalibration, which will be done in the coming weeks.

The delicate software operation is working as expected.

๐Ÿ‘ :mastodance:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/05/22/voyager-1-resumes-sending-science-data-from-two-instruments/

32/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Here is some info on the various instruments on the two Voyager spacecraft and their current status.

Note that several instruments have been permanently turned off either because of failures or to save power (power level from the RTGs has dropped over 50% since start-of-mission, over 46 years ago).

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/

33/n

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