Space – Page 3 – Stone Fig

Golden Apples

Planned obsolescence, a one-way trip, will be the demise of the Parker Solar Probe. It will burn up. But that’s ok; it’s all part of the plan. NASA’s probe will collect information on the Sun’s corona. The information to be gathered and beamed back to Earth is important to our understanding of solar processes.

The probe will make 24 orbits of the Sun over seven years. In its final seven orbits the probe will swing out past Venus and then slingshot back in towards the Sun to descend further through the heat of the Sun’s corona on each of its final orbits. Eventually it will pass within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface.

The corona is the upper layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, extending millions of miles beyond the visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere. Photons released by nuclear fusion deep in the interior of the Sun are emitted by the photosphere, giving light. The corona lies millions of miles above this but is curiously hotter than the Sun’s surface. Solar winds generated in the polar and equatorial regions of the Sun lash out from the corona and send massive amounts of electrically charged particles streaming away from the Sun. These winds and other solar activities are the solar weather which reaches across the 93 million miles between the Earth and the Sun and can cause havoc on Earth. The particles of the solar wind travel at speeds over one million miles per hour and can cover the distance between the Sun and the Earth in about ten days. This is much slower than the light from the Sun which can cover that distance in about eight minutes.

The most visible aspect of the solar winds is the generation of aurora, curtains of glowing colors of light, that appear near the Earth’s magnetic poles. In the northern hemisphere, these displays are often called Northern Lights. They shimmer in the Earth’s upper atmosphere when the particles of the solar wind hit the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field. The strongest of these solar winds can also destroy the electronic capability of satellites. The winds can wipe out power grids on the Earth’s surface plunging cities into blackouts which can last for days. When the bursts of energy that generate the solar winds are detected, warnings can be made so that delicate equipment can be turned off or otherwise protected. Life on Earth is protected from the charged particles of the solar wind by the Earth’s own magnetic field. But astronauts above the Earth, or perhaps on a mission to Mars, or living on the moon, are not protected from the massive stream of charged particles.

The Parker Solar Probe is helping us to develop a deeper understanding of the fundamental processes of the Sun. By studying the data received from the probe, we will be able to better forecast solar weather and protect life and property. This knowledge will also provide important information regarding how to protect astronauts when we go out to build colonies off Earth.

Recently the probe reached a milestone on it mission; it began its second orbit of the sun. Important data has already been sent by the probe and received by NASA scientists. On the second orbit, protected by its 4.5 inch carbon-composite solar shield, the probe will pass within 15 million miles of the Sun’s surface. It will go deeper. With each orbit it will transmit more data on the solar wind, and it will continue to find information related to solar eruptions which accelerate particles dangerous speeds, and will plumb the mystery of why the corona is several 100’s of time hotter than the surface of the Sun. The probe will descend deeper and deeper into the heat to discover the depths of the plasma of the Sun’s corona.

These are the golden apples of the Sun, to gain knowledge, to know, to understand.

The picture is based on NASA imagery.

Information on the Parker Solar Probe found at https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/parkersolarprobe_presskit_august2018_final.pdf .

Golden Apples of the Sun based on collection of Ray Bradbury stories of that name and from W.B. Yeats The Song of Wandering Aengus

(*Just_a_Note) – GIORDANO BRUNO

The most recent lunar eclipse on 20 January 2019 included the sighting of a meteor crashing into the disk of the full moon. The flash of the purported crash was captured by Jose Maria Madiedo, a Spanish astronomer who filmed the eclipse. After he reported it others verified a similar sighting.

On June 18, 1178 a similar sight was seen on a crescent moon. That event was recorded by Gervase of Canterbury, “the upper horn of the new moon seemed to split in two and a flame shot from it. From the midpoint of this division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out, over a considerable distance, fire, hot coals, and sparks.” The description has been thought to have been the creation of the crater Giordano-Bruno. But that crater is estimated to be at least a million years old. The event seen by the monks is now thought to have been an earthly meteor that happened to be juxtaposed over the moon as it flashed through the sky.

In both these instances an “on-the-moon” survey would answer the question. In either case viewing the moon is a worthwhile past time in summer or winter.

As interesting as these events are, an important aspect of the history of science is caught in the web of the craters of the moon. Giordano-Bruno was an outspoken Italian philosopher in the second half of the 1500s. He was a proponent of an infinite universe (1584) which was at odds with the teaching of the powerful universities and church movements of the time. For his trouble to shake the minds of the youth into new paths of thought he was burned at the stake on February 17, 1600.

Art work based on a photograph of the statue of Giordano Bruno by Ettore Ferrari, in Campo de’ Fiori in Rome. Photograph by David Olivier., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=923033.

Meteor Crater

In December of last year Science News reported on the discovery of a crater under the ice in Greenland. It is thought to have been caused by a meteorite nearly a mile wide. It was discovered during a scan of the thickness of the ice in the polar regions. The researchers were drawn to look more closely at the area due to the rounded edge of the ice over the crater.

In 2001 I was taking a commercial flight from California to the east coast. As I often do I took out the airline magazine from the seat back pocket and looked at the map of all the airline’s routes. As my trip took me via Dallas, I realized that the route would take us over Winslow, Arizona. This meant we might be flying over America’s most accessible meteor crater. I asked the flight attendant if she would ask the pilot to let us know if the crater could be seen from the airplane. About half an hour later the pilot announced that if we were to look out the windows on the right side of the plane we could see the crater.

There far below us with a clearly raised edge was an obvious crater in the Arizona desert. It was by no means tiny even at our perspective from thirty-some thousand feet. It was roundish, with a particularly squared-off shape. You could clearly see that it was a depression in the Earth.

Years before I had been there to see the crater, and had taken the opportunity to walk down to the crater’s floor. In 1971 I was driving to California for a stint in the Navy. My route west took me along I-40 which passes the Meteor Crater. I needed a break from the highway, and I was curious about what the crater looked like. It was summer, and it was hot. When I entered the visitors’ center and was purchasing a ticket the man at the counter asked if I was in the military and when I showed him my military ID card he waved me on through. I asked him if I could hike down into the crater. He said that if I wanted to I would have to hurry because it was at least an hour’s hike down and back. As I walked towards the door to the outside he called out to me, “Take plenty of water. And look out for snakes.” Good advice to a down-east boy on his first trip to the desert. The path was over a quarter mile long and rocky and steep. When I finally reached the bottom, I stood on the crater floor and looked up at the rim towering 500 feet above me. It had been windy and hot when I stood on the rim. On the crater floor there was no wind, and it was hotter. I don’t remember as much of the hike down into the crater as much as I remember the hike back out. I didn’t see any snakes, but I kept thinking that I should have carried more water. The path up was a scramble in the loose sand and rocks that easily gave way under my feet. When I reached the rim, I was hot, tired, and thirsty.

But it was a good hike – if only that I could say that I had done it. It’s not something they allow visitors to do anymore and probably with good reason. The crater can be a trap. It was simple to get down into it, but not so easy to get out of.

At over a half mile wide the Arizona crater is impressive in size but it doesn’t even crack the top ten of known impact craters on the surface of the earth. But most of the known craters are not as visible or accessible as the one in Arizona. They are hidden by millennia of erosion or they may be under water. The largest known impact crater is Vredefort crater in South Africa. It is 118 miles across and was created by an impacting celestial body that was approximately 3 to 6 miles across approximately 2 billion years ago. This crater is more than twice the size of the Chicxulub crater which is theorized to have been the finishing blow to the reign of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The recently discovered but undated crater under the Greenland ice sheet is 19 miles wide. Another crater in Greenland reported in 2012 in Space.com is estimated to be three billion years old and the oldest known impact site on Earth.

But back to Arizona. In the early 1900’s attempts were made to find the meteorite that crashed in to what is now the Painted Desert of Arizona. The object is estimated to have been up to 300,000 tons. The mass of the meteor and its speed likely caused the meteor to vaporize in its explosive impact. When you are on the rim of the crater its not hard to look up and imagine what the object might have looked like as it streaked across the sky and then exploded just before impact, carving out the crater. Soil and plants and rocks and rubble were heaved upward and outwards.

In 1994 I was again standing on the rim of the Arizona crater. I could look up and imagine the bright light that suddenly appeared in the sky and with a thunderous roar exploded in front of me. Of course if I had been standing there 50,000-some years ago I would have been vaporized as well. What is a safe distance from such a blast? Miles and miles I am sure. And even if I was at such a distance to only feel the earth tremble and to see the blinding flash on the horizon and to have been knocked to my knees by the pressure wave from the explosion, I am sure that it would have left a searing mark on my memory. The mark I carry now is one of looking up from the crater floor towards the rim and realizing that the best path for me to take was upward and out before the night fell. And I was wishing I had brought more water.

Information on the craters mentioned above may be found at:

Regarding the Vredefort site, https://geology.com/articles/vredefort-dome.shtml

The recently found crater in Greenland was reported in the December 8, 2018 Science News, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/impact-crater-greenland-asteroid-younger-dryas

In 2012 Space.com reported on what is the oldest known impact site on Earth, https://www.space.com/16366-oldest-meteorite-crater-earth-found.html

The home page of the Arizona Meteor Crater is https://www.meteorcrater.com/

China brings light to Lunar Incognita

This time the dragon jumped over the moon.

China has landed the fourth in a series of lunar explorers named Chang’e on the far side of the moon. The name is for the Chang’e, the mythological goddess of the moon. The far side, also know has the dark side, has been relatively unexplored. This is the first soft landing on the dark side of the moon, and it includes the rover, Yutu, (“jade rabbit”) to explore the surface which for nearly all of human history has been hidden from view.

The first three missions of China’s lunar exploration tested their ability to attain orbit and achieve a soft landing on the moon. An additional mission placed the satellite Queqiao (magpie Bridge) (That beautiful story will deserve an article of its own.) at LaGrange point L2 to enable communications with Chang’e 4 and the lunar rover.

Lunar Incognita has become Lunar Sciamus, the moon that we know. This is a very rudimentary translation. This rough translation is in the plural tense because it is all of humanity that will be able to know the moon and to understand its formation and its promise. The landing site of Chang’e 4 is a large plain known as the Von Karman crater which is located within the South Pole Aitken (SPA) Basin. The rover will study the surface of the far side which is thought to be significantly different from the surface of the near side, the side that can be seen from the Earth. According to a BBC article on the mission and landing, the SPA crater is one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system and the largest on the moon. The Chinese science team wants to study the massive sheet of melted rock that filled the crater.

In 1969 when astronauts first stepped on the moon, we memorialized the event. There was a plaque attached to the lunar lander descent stage that was left on the moon. It reads “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. We came in Peace for all mankind.”

And now what was hidden is being revealed. And the hope is that all of humanity will benefit from what is discovered. Is it worldly riches? Perhaps, it will likely become a stepping stone to creating a forward location – like a base camp at the foot of Everest – for humanity’s new stage of exploration of our solar system and beyond.

China has made a great leap in helping humanity establish this wider presence. The lunar rover rolled off the lander two days after Chang’e 4 had successfully reached the moon’s surface. Future planned missions will collect and return samples of the moon’s surface.

This success is part of a broader achievement that continues to look forward into the future. Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program is quoted in China’s news agency as saying, “We (humanity) have a responsibility to explore and understand [the moon]. Exploration of the moon will also deepen our understanding of Earth and ourselves.”

There is, perhaps, a future of people living and working and spending their lives on the moon or on other planets and moons of the solar system. Each of them will have a role in bringing a bright and strong future to all of humanity.

Our highest congratulations to our friends in China for an extraordinary achievement.

Information in this article is based on:

China News Agency article by Xinhua writers Yu Fei, Quan Xiaoshu, and Xie Jiao,

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/03/c_137717597.htm

and BBC article by Paul Ricon

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46760729

Butterfly Toss

In August I wrote about the launch of a micro satellite from the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), (The Big Toss, August 23, 2018). An astronaut launched the small satellite by throwing it into space, to be accepted by Earth’s gravity, and to orbit the planet until its orbit decays and the tiny satellite plunges to its fiery end. Now there is another toss to discuss. This toss is a thought experiment. The actual toss is not something that an astronaut can participate in now or ever. This “other toss” is a hypothetical toss of a tiny particle into a black hole. Yes, a black hole! One of those “ginormous” (as described by Douglas Stanford of Stanford University who is the subject of this post), swirling, end-of-all events that spurs our imaginations and haunts our dreams as they churn at the center of their galaxies.

These events consume all that comes within their reach. And that is where Douglas Stanford’s and Stephen Shenker’s hypothesis rests. However, “rest” might be an inappropriate description as the particle that is tossed, as pictured above, from Stanford’s sailboat does not rest as it plummets into the never-return zone of the black hole.

The picture is taken from the cover of the October 13, 2018 edition of Science News Magazine (SN). The issue profiles ten scientists to watch. These scientists include those working in planetary science, biology, chemistry, sustainable energy and other fields. I was drawn to the description of Stanford’s and Shenker’s work, and intrigued by the picture on the cover of SN of a young Stanford standing in a sailboat and tossing a particle into the imagined immensity of a black hole. According to SN, Stanford spent his younger years on a sailboat with his parents and siblings. The picture on the cover brings the young-Stanford together with the now-Stanford picturing the toss of a tiny particle into the black hole.

In my previous post, the acceleration of the tiny satellite from the ISS was described as being “flung” out into space. There seemed to have no aiming in that fling but a general understanding that whatever was tossed from the ISS would assume an orbit around the Earth. When we consider a black hole and a sailboat sitting near the edge of the black hole we must suspend reality and allow the sailboat to be a stable platform, unaffected by the pull of the black hole and always at a distance from the black hole’s event horizon that allows continuous observation of the passing stream of particles into the black hole. The event horizon defines the limit of correspondence or awareness of a physical item as it passes from the space around the black hole to being absorbed into the mass of the black hole and becoming part of it. On this side of the event horizon the particle can be observed. On the far side of the event horizon, inside the black hole, the particle can no longer be observed.

So we suspend reality and assume that the sailboat is not affected by the tidal pulls of the black hole or the material that is flowing in an endless stream into its unseen maw.

I can only imagine that the scientist standing in the stable sailboat preparing to toss the particle into the black hole, unlike the astronaut preparing to fling a micro satellite, has some aiming in mind. Of course, the intent is different. The astronaut wants the tiny satellite that is being flung to establish an orbit around the Earth. On the other hand, Stanford as he stands in his sailboat, is aiming at the black hole. Of course anything that is tossed outwards from this stable platform will be pulled into the black hole. But I can imagine if it were me looking into that which cannot be seen, I would say to myself, “I think I will aim at the middle (wherever that is)”. Further, I might wonder if I could skip the particle along the surface of the black hole like a stone on a lake? This last is of course beyond reason as once the particle has touched the event horizon the particle is consumed and cannot come back out – even in a skip. But when the particle hits the surface of the black hole will it make ripples?

But this isn’t the point of the SN article. Stanford and Shenker have hypothesized that a tiny particle, when it is consumed by the black hole, will cause a chaotic reaction in the black hole. The black hole will increase in size and there will be a change in the Hawking Radiation. If I eat too much pie, I feel full. When a black hole consumes a particle, the black hole expands. It’s event horizon moves outward. Maybe it expands only by the tiniest degree, but it is hypothesized to expand. In addition, when the tiny particle is consumed there is an alteration of the Hawking Radiation emitted by the black hole.

What then of another particle that is sitting outside the event horizon of the black hole and has not yet been consumed? And what if this other particle – we are again suspending reality – is as stable as the sailboat and is not caught in the flow of material that is rushing into the black hole, although this particle is bathed in the Hawking Radiation emitted from the black hole. Now that the first particle that was tossed into the black hole has been consumed, and as a result the black hole has expanded, it may expand to the point that its event horizon now encompasses the second particle. The second particle is now consumed.

The SN article states, “A seemingly insignificant alteration has ballooning effects – the definition of chaos.” The outcome for a system (the black hole) has become highly sensitive to potential massive change generated from an initial, minute change. A tiny initial condition may result in – who knows what? The black hole is ballooned outward, and it consumes more. The ballooning affects the amount of Hawking Radiation. The tiny particle has multiple effects on the black hole. It was swallowed into an imperceptible hard but tarry pool that will not release what has fallen in. The Hawking Radiation might tell a tale, but what comes out is not what went in.

The SN Magazine may be found at https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sn-10-scientists-to-watch-2018?tgt=nr

Or Maybe Not a Comet !

On August 17, I wrote about a possible comet that I had “found” and had reported to the Harvard Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT). For several days I patiently awaited the knock on the door. Perhaps even a medal struck in my honor, but it was not to be.

Science is as much about saying what a thing isn’t, as it is about saying what a thing is. It’s not just about saying you’re right; it’s also about saying you’re wrong.* And I have to say I was wrong. Although I do not say it with chagrin or shame (a modicum of embarrassment perhaps) as I believe I accurately described the object I saw in the night sky. But if nothing else a comet moves, and my object did not.

I can still see it faint and fuzzy in basically the same location when I look for it with my binoculars. When I first saw it I was exploring the constellation Lyra. I also knew that the famed Ring Nebula was close by. Actually, I had been looking for the Ring Nebula when I first spotted the fuzzy object. All my charts showed the Ring Nebula, Messier-57, on the line between Lyra-beta and Lyra-gamma at the base of the lyre. The object that I saw seemed well above this line. Perhaps I had mistaken two different stars, Lyra-lambda and Lyra-Nu, as the base of the lyre. This would place M-57 above the line that would connect those two stars. That would place it in about the position that I first saw the fuzzy object. But lambda and nu are also considerably less bight with a lower magnitude than the stars that form the true base of the lyre. This would have been a difference that I believe I would have noticed.

The object is still there. I can resolve it (barely) with my binoculars. It looks the same – faint and fuzzy. But it is not moving. I will try to find a better optical instrument for viewing it. I will check other and perhaps more detailed star charts. If it is the Ring Nebula, which I now suspect, then with a better optical device I hope to be able to resolve the object into the beautiful ring shape created by the transformation of a star. The nebula was formed when a red giant star passing through the last stages in its evolution explosively cast off its outer layers. It is now collapsing into a white dwarf.

And I can continue to wait for the telegram from CBAT. I have to laugh, but at the same time I feel a certain level of embarrassment for a comet this is likely not.

I will go outside and observe the object again tonight. The moon does not rise too soon to interfere by flooding the humid, late summer sky with light. I will try out my old and fairly trusty telescope – as soon as I fix its tripod.

And now I have a story to tell, and a question to answer. What is that object that I see?

* In his November 2012 blog post to Scientific American, Steven Pomeroy speaks to the rightness of being wrong. He relates what Richard Feynman said on the subject; “”If it disagrees with experiment (note: in the instance of my observed object if it does not fit the parameters of a comet), it’s wrong. In that simple statement, is the key to science.”

The Big Toss

I think that we have all done it, boys and girls alike. Maybe it starts with tossing pine cones at a tree. Or maybe by tossing a rock or ball into the air to see if you can hit it with a handy stick. This game often changes into one of, “How high can I throw this ball?” And then it becomes, “Can I throw it so high that it won’t come down?” To our vast disappointment, no. It always comes back down. And it always will thanks to gravity (g). No matter how much force (F) we put into it, no matter how hard we throw it, it always comes down.

A recent NASA/AP article published in the online Herald out of Rock Hill, SC provided a picture of Russian astronaut Sergey Prokopyev flinging a small satellite into orbit from outside the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is itself in orbit around the Earth at a velocity of about 5 miles per second. Sergey’s sturdy “fling” (the word used to describe the launch) imparted additional velocity (V) to the satellite as it traveled away from the ISS.

The satellite is …. – wait! What is the satellite for? That information is hard to find; I will keep looking for it. But the interesting part of the NASA/AP release (no pun intended) is the novel approach to the satellite launch. When I think of a satellite launch I picture massive engines belching fire and towering rockets boosting bus-size devices to be hurled into space. In the time since satellites were first launched in the 1960’s, improvements in technology have allowed satellites to shrink so that now there is a distinct class of satellites that go by various names such as cube-sats, mini-sats, and nano-satellites. NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) has been working to guide the development of this area of space science over the last decade or more, and since 2016 ARC has hosted the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI). The S3VI provides information on the state of the art of small space craft technology which includes nano-satellites and other space craft weighing less than 180 kg (up to about 400 pounds). The larger satellites at the higher end of this scale dwarf the nano-satellites such as the tissue-box size Sirius recently launched from the ISS. All these “small” satellites still need to be carried above the Earth’s atmosphere by some rocket, but for these Sirius satellites I find their final launch/release quite amazing.

The Sirius “nano” satellite is described in the NASA/AP article as being about the size of box of tissues. “Nano” means one-billionth of a unit, but in this case it is used as a word for tiny or diminutive. The satellite is small enough to be held by one hand. According to the NASA released video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APko4n4H8fc) it has a handle to make it easier to hold and launch.

“OK Sergey, you are a ‘Go’.” says the director. “Hold it by the handle and just deploy it.” And with that Astronaut Prokopyev achieves the dream of every child that has ever tossed a ball into the air; it does not come down. Of course it will eventually come down as gravity (g) plays its ruthless role and overcomes the imparted forces of the velocity (V) of the ISS and the force (F) of Sergey’s “fling”. Eventually gravity will tug the little satellite down into Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up on re-entry.

But if Sergey was five years old and continued to look up after he had tossed the nano-sat, he would be excited to see the small, gleaming satellite continually traveling away from him until it disappeared from sight.

How thrilling to feel that you have won against gravity.

The picture is based on a Charles Schultz drawing of the ”Peanuts” character Charlie Brown. I know we all wish Charlie Brown the best of luck in hitting the big toss.

Watch for my article reporting back on what the satellite is for. Perhaps we will use a sling shot next time. Why not?

A Comet – Maybe

It is my habit to go outside in the night. I enjoy the night. It is generally cooler. It is quieter as the sounds of the day are gone. But the sounds of the night can be magnified so that the rustle of leaves being blown by the wind can sound like a distant charge of cavalry.

And at night the stars are out.

I remember when my father would take me outside and show me the Milky Way. He taught me to recognize the Great Bear and Orion. He introduced me to the stars of the night; Polaris, Vega, Deneb, Betelgeuse. That was seventy years ago. There were fewer people living in the rural areas. There were fewer lights, and the clarity of the night sky was such that can hardly be imagined now. But Orion and the Great Bear and others – Scorpio, Pegasus, and Cygnus – were as friends who returned with the passing years. I would go outside on a Summer night or in the cold of Winter to look up. I have had a series of small telescopes, but I prefer just to gaze and to recognize and to remember the stories my father told me while these stars shown overhead. I would stay outside and watch for shooting stars and satellites. I would seek dark places to watch meteor showers. I built simple mechanisms that allowed me to track stars for night photography.

And I would seek out comets. I camped out on islands that I had to reach in my kayak to see Halley’s Comet. I even took a reasonably good picture of Halley’s using my homemade tracker with a medium lens mounted on my camera. I went to the mountains to look for some of the comets of the last half century. I would marvel at the photographs others had taken.

But what I enjoy is to sit outside late at night and look up. I am easily thrilled by a passing satellite – or the International Space Station. I have seen numerous meteors spark into life and disappear. But in the back of my mind I always wondered if I would be the first to see a new comet. Why not? Many new comets are found by amateur astronomers. I just need to look in the right place at the right time.

And maybe I have!

Three nights ago I was out sitting in my “gazing” chair and using my binoculars to pick out some of my favorite stars. I was also looking for a particular Messier object that seemed to allude me. So I decided to look at some of the double stars that are often part of the constellations. Then I saw a fuzzy object and wondered what it was. When I went inside I looked for it on a star chart and could not find it. I decided to look for it again the following night. On the second night the object was still in the general area where I had seen it the night before – but perhaps slightly beyond where I thought it was. Today I looked for it in my detailed star charts and saw no object in that place. I went on-line and asked if a comet had been reported in that area. No comet had been reported.

So I reported it.

The Sky and Telescope site gave me direction on how to determine if there is a possibility that it is a comet. The site also gave information on reporting it to the Harvard Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT). I estimated the right ascension and the declination from my star charts. I described it – and I think “fuzzy” is the universal term for describing a comet. I translated the viewing time into Universal Time (UT). And I sent in my report.

Now I will wait, and I will go outside later tonight to see if I can find it again.

An Acorn in my Hand

When I walked outside this morning it was warm and humid but there was promise of change in the air. It is August, and we are well into summer so the temperature and the humidity were not a surprise. But I realized in my first few steps into the day that a change was coming. It was not as bright. The sun had not yet come up. The days are growing shorter. Soon we will have darker mornings and cooler nights. Then the moisture will slip away and we will enter Fall and Winter. There will be no more long, balmy days. But it will be a great time to go outside into the dark and to marvel at creation.

Any day or any hour we can look around and see creation all about us. Yet for me to look up at the clear night sky and see the stars and distant galaxies is always the most fantastic of moments. In the current summer nights Arcturus and Vega rule the night sky. The Summer Triangle of Vega together with the bright stars Altair and Deneb is clearly visible even on less than pristine nights. As we approach Fall, Orion with its brilliant display will rise in the night sky.

Each of these stars and the hundreds of billions of stars in each of the visible galaxies are part of the vastness of creation. Each of them – which we see as points of light of varying brightness – was born out of a cataclysmic explosion and a whirling vortex of hot gasses which coalesced to form stars, galaxies, and for us, our planet, Earth. This is not to imply that ours is the only planet. We know we reside in our star’s system with eight other planets (I am including Pluto) and a myriad of asteroids and comets and minor planets. And beyond the Solar system we have discovered there are a multitude of other stars with planets circling them. All of these are part of the vastness of creation. But we are on this one, and that makes it the most important planet in the universe for us. We are part of it. It is our home. It coalesced from the cosmic dust, and so did we.

When I lie down on the grass under a night sky full of stars I can marvel at creation. I look up and let my mind be swept away to amazing and far distant places. I wonder how we will get to there. Will we be able to wander across other worlds? I know that we will someday make that journey, and I am a little sad that I will not be on that ship. I am sure we will find unknown marvels in the vastness of creation.

I stand up from gazing at the stars and look around me. I see the forms of grass waving around my legs and the outline of trees in the darkness. I walk over to an oak tree, and I bend down and pick up a fallen acorn. I hold it up and study it and realize that inside this acorn are packed all the marvels of the universe, the galaxies, our solar system, and this Earth, our home.

Where AI ?

“The Mars Curiosity rover is equipped with “AI” technology that selects research targets.” This statement introduces Elizabeth Howell’s article in Seeker (published 08/22/2017). The article presents NASA’s current and planned future use of robots with “AI” on Mars and potentially for missions beyond the solar system. But how else will we use Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Where can AI take us? Where are we allowing AI in our lives? Is it taking us into the realm of science fiction and a world apocalypse as pictured in the Terminator movies? Or is it taking us into a highly promising realm in which information can be gathered, and decisions can be made rapidly resulting in an improved life for humanity?

For the Mars rover – or any other expensive and far-off piece of rolling stock, we do not want it to have to query us – its operators/mission-controllers – whenever it perceives an issue with its surroundings. We do not want it to have to ask us whether it should stop or turn around or go straight whenever it reaches an obstacle. Especially if it takes 30 minutes (Mars approximate query and response time) or 2 hours (Jupiter approximate query and response time). We can all understand that a piece of equipment or a scientific instrument which can operate independently may be a greater benefit to us and perhaps to the device itself.

Now consider something closer, the common household thermostat. Thermostats operate on their own once they are programmed to do so. If your thermostat had to ask you if the house was too hot at 82 degree (F), and you as the mission-controller had to get up and touch it or yell across the room to tell it what to do – you would not be satisfied. The system would not be efficient. There would only be the perception of the surroundings by the thermostat but no helpful outcome. The type of independence found in the common thermostat requires that the robot – or independent operational equipment (InEqu) – must progress beyond a perception of its surroundings and take an action.

The type of independence needed in the Mars rover is of a higher level. The rover needs to be able to operate with a high level of independence in order to fulfill its mission. It must be able to perceive its surroundings, determine possible alternative courses of action, analyze the potential outcome of an action, then make a decision, and act along the chosen course of action.

This decision-making has long engrossed science fiction fans and generated countless arguments concerning the application of Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics. These laws establish a progression of decision-making to protect humans as well as the robot itself. These ideas intrigue us even though we are barely on the threshold of AI. How can we be certain that a robot on Mars will follow a given process of decision making that will enable it to protect itself and thereby protect its mission?

Also, what are these robots that can take independent action? Please do not picture a bipedal, smiling ape visage. Yet that is what we most often think of when we hear the term “robot.” I would venture to say that the vast majority of robots around us today look nothing like a human or a rabbit or any creature that we may try to envision. A welding robot which looks like a disembodied ant eater is probably one of the more common robots. It has no need for legs or for a face or for friendly features. It has a task to do and a place to fit. I will certainly agree that when we humans have to deal directly with a robot it is nice to have a familiar appearance or a cute face so we are at ease in our dealings with them. I raise my hat to the robots in the Henn-na hotel in Nagasaki as reported by Monisha Rajesh in The Guardian (08/14/2015). A smiling lady – a velociraptor, both of which we all know and love. These androids (from the Greek as in human-like) are willing to interact with us due to their programming. We might be willing to interact with them as they do not appear any more dangerous that a kitten. Japan will likely continue to lead in AI/InEqu. Their preparations for the 2020 Olympics include AI in transportation, security, and in traveler’s assistance such as language translation and general information.

But back to the question – where are we taking – or being taken – by AI in our lives? The initial answer is we, the builders of the InEqu (pronounced as ‘any-que’), will allow AI to take us as far as we program it. But then there is the case of Facebook’s robots as presented in Forbes.com by Tony Bradley, 07/31/2017. These devices remarkably went beyond their programming. Here was a system created to support a Facebook process, but then the AI devices developed their own language to speed/enhance their ability to communicate with itself/each other. Isn’t enhancing speed and operability what we want? To be able to sort information quickly? To be able to improve processes quickly? In this case, it might not have been a total surprise to Facebook’s “people”, but to the rest of us it was a “Wow” moment. Hopefully one in which we said, “Wow – isn’t that cool,” rather than “Wow – shut it off and don’t do that anymore.”

Only two decades ago many of us thought that a vacuum cleaner that operated by itself and could scare the pants of a cat was pretty sharp. We have moved beyond that quickly and will continue to do so. This, like the thermostat, may be considered “little AI”. Yet – again – where will we end up? I believe we will not end – but will continue to progress and to harness the ability of an InEqu to analyze (think?) and act independently for our benefit. In other words, to help us pursue and uphold our inalienable rights.

My first interaction with “big AI” will likely be the self-driving car. No kitten this, and hopefully my first interaction will not involve insurance companies. But these large, metal moving machines are just the InEqu’s that we are driving towards (pun intended).

I love to drive; in an active sense. I get into my car, and hands on the wheel I drive to work. I may listen to music on the radio. I watch the other drivers and pay attention to the road. I see a driver over there paying attention to their text message. I see another in animated conversation with a person that may be on the other side of the planet. For those people (assuming they are not androids) self-driving cars cannot come soon enough. But for me I will stay in my big old Detroit steel shell and enjoy the road. It is my cocoon against the assault of AI. It’s coming sure enough. I’m just not ready to participate. This then is my declaration of being independent.

Wired magazine in their August 2017 issue asks if we fear the future. I say, No. I look forward to the future. I just hope that when the texting population gets to their destination that the AI in their Detroit steel is programmed to wake them up and ask them if they want to take their coffee with them. Wired magazine enjoys writing about AI. And we should be glad that they do. It keeps alive the idea of machines/robots/InEqu that can do their jobs/processes quickly and efficiently and allow their human counterparts time to improve the overall process. This is not an us versus them; it is just an us – InEqu and people. In the meantime, enjoy the science fiction and stay in touch with will be appearing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.