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The Future of Scientific Management, Today!

FEBRUARY 06/2014 UPDATES [LIST]. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

Faraway Planets May Be Far Better for Life http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/superhabitable-planets/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sciam/space+%28Topic:+Space%29

Six Trends That Will Shape Consumer Behavior This Year http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/02/04/six-trend…this-year/

Viewing Cancer as a Physics Problem Suggests New Treatments http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/viewing-cancer-as-…reatments/

Brain Scans Show Promise for Early Detection of Cognitive Problems http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-scans-show-p…-problems/

DNA-origami nanotubes self-align with self-organized nanoscale patterns to create nanoelectronic circuits http://www.kurzweilai.net/dna-origami-nanotubes-self-align-w…c-circuits

First single-molecule LED http://www.kurzweilai.net/first-single-molecule-led

Virus-free, cord-blood-derived stem cells repair retinal tissue in mice http://www.kurzweilai.net/virus-free-cord-blood-derived-stem…ue-in-mice

Will ‘borophene’ replace graphene as a better conductor of electrons? http://www.kurzweilai.net/will-borophene-replace-graphene-as…-electrons

The mind-blowing mathematics of sunflowers http://www.sciencedump.com/content/mind-blowing-mathematics-sunflowers

Miniature satellites utilize UDP-based multicasting over WIFI to relay data in a more secure and direct way. http://www.psfk.com/2014/02/outer-space-wifi-global-access.html#!usmgT

First Single-Molecule LED http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/nanotechno…lecule-led

The Critical Security Controls for Effective Cyber Defense 5.0 Opens to Public Comment https://www.sans.org/press/the-critical-security-controls-fo…omment.php

Six Simple Insights to Become a Better Innovator http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140203094739&#4…-innovator

13 Predictions About The Future That Were Spectacularly Wrong http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/wrong-predictions-a…97269.html

The future of wearables: 8 predictions from tech leaders http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57618181-94/the…h-leaders/

India’s first ‘school in the cloud’ aims to elevate kids http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57618332-1/i…vate-kids/

Nationalism could destroy global economy, warns Christine Lagarde http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/10615697/N…garde.html

“Perception” and “Prediction” Goal of Ford’s MIT/Stanford Automated Driving Partnership http://www.arisplex.com/analysis/perception-prediction-goal-…rtnership/

Johnson & Johnson Takes Newspaper Readers Back With Ads That Smell Like Baby Powder http://www.fastcocreate.com/3025969/johnson-johnson-takes-in…aby-powder

Scratch-Off Bus Stop Ads Reveal Hidden Art http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/02/scratch-off-these-bus-stop…idden-art/

How Architecture Could Shape Your Microbiome http://www.fastcodesign.com/3025782/asides/how-architecture-…microbiome

Expansion Boom in the UK from Overseas Internet Shoppers http://localuknews.co.uk/article/expansion-boom-in-the-uk-fr…t-shoppers

Twitter Is Hiring Commerce Specialists http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/03/twitter-is-hiring-commerce-specialists/

Teaching Surgery With Google Glass–Will This Actually Work? http://www.fastcolabs.com/3026021/teaching-surgery-with-goog…ually-work

Lightwaves used by neuroscientists to improve brain tumor surgery http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140129114612.ht…ceDaily%29

DARPA wants self-destructible computer chips http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/02/04/darpa-wants-self-dest…ter-chips/

Spare parts for fighter jets made by 3D printers http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/spare-parts-for-fighter-jets…45;3256664

A market for anti-NSA technology emerges http://www.lohud.com/usatoday/article/4656195

Construction’s Growing Role in Renewable Energy http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/features/2014/01/13/316343.htm

CDM Jan 2014 is out for free – Welcome 2014: The Year of Mobile Spying and Privacy Concerns http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/21818/security/cdm-jan-2…cerns.html

Solving the Mobile Device Dilemma: InZero Systems offers 2-Tablets-in-1 http://www.prlog.org/12276372-solving-the-mobile-device-dile…-in-1.html

4 Things You Need to Know About Future NSA Director Michael Rogers http://mashable.com/2014/01/31/nsa-director-michael-rogers/

Bank Financing Played Big Role in Trade Collapse http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/01/31/bank-financing-pla…-collapse/

What We Talk About When We Talk About Economies Of Scale In Tech http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/02/what-we-talk-about-when-we-…e-in-tech/

Al-Qaida Cuts Ties with Syrian Rebel Group http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/al-qaida-cuts-ties-syrian-rebel-group/

House Approves Bill on WMD Medical Countermeasures Expenditures http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/house-approves-bill-authorizi…rmeasures/

Moscow Agrees To Process Uzbekistan’s Spent Nuclear Fuel http://article.wn.com/view/2014/02/04/Moscow_Agrees_to_Proce…lear_Fuel/

Top 13 Cyber Security predictions for 2014… http://techday.com/it-brief/news/top-13-cyber-security-predi…14/174862/

Cyber Security Market Forecast 2014–2024 http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cyber-security-mar…87631.html

Obama hooks up new school broadband plan http://www.zdnet.com/obama-hooks-up-new-school-broadband-plan-7000025964/

Sailors allegedly cheated on nuclear reactor tests http://www.stripes.com/

Secret Service urges lawmakers to do more on cyber crime http://news.yahoo.com/secret-urges-u-lawmakers-more-cyber-cr…ector.html

As Cyber Crime Matures, More Hacked Accounts Expected http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2014/02/03/as-cyber-cr…-expected/

Cyber-defence boss joins security company, warns: ‘You can’t keep a determined adversary out’ http://www.zdnet.com/cyber-defence-boss-joins-security-compa…000025931/

Military Force vs. Diplomacy: Can You Have One Without the Other? http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2014/01/military-force-vs-di…f=d-skybox

Nation Faces Many Threats, Intelligence Chief Says http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121608

Change Agents: William Li’s robot wants to police you http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/01/26/knightscope-k5…t/4018047/

Troubleshooting TBI: How to Beat the Odds http://military-fitness.military.com/2014/02/troubleshooting…-odds.html

Narratives in the analytics era http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2014/2/4/5360412/nhl-analytics-narratives-media

Rural carriers start connecting customers to doctors via mobile video chat http://gigaom.com/2014/02/04/rural-carriers-start-connecting…ideo-chat/

Out in the Open: Man Creates One Programming Language to Rule Them All http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/02/julia/

From Secondary Intelligence Shortage to Secondary Intelligence Surplus http://www.clearci.com/blog/bid/193744/From-Secondary-Intell…ce-Surplus

The networked car is no longer just an idea; it will be mandated in future vehicles http://gigaom.com/2014/02/03/the-networked-car-is-no-longer-…-vehicles/

Why the only thing better than big data is bigger data http://qz.com/169206/why-the-only-thing-better-than-big-data-is-bigger-data/

QUOTATION: “…Thirty-five years ago, psychologist and visionary Dr. Abraham Maslow warned, ‘life is moving far more rapidly now than ever before in the rate of growth of facts, knowledge, techniques, and inventions. We need a different kind of human being able to life in a world that changes perpetually, who has been educated to be comfortable with change and situations in which he has absolutely no forewarning. The society that can turn out those people will survive. Societies which do not will die.’…”

RECOMMENDED BOOK: Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime by Aubrey de Grey and Michael Rae. ISBN-13: 978–0312367077

Regards,

Mr. Andres Agostini

Risk Management Tranformative Futurist

http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

The Starfire Space Cannon on kickstarter

Coming Soon :

Cheap Access to Space

Jules Verne’s dream of a Space Cannon will soon come true with a little help from Kickstarter.

For the past several years I have been developing a series of advanced, low cost space launch technologies. My Current project is the Starfire Space cannon, an 8″ bore, 45′ long, multi-chambered gun propulsion launch system that has been custom designed to launch payloads into space.

I am running a Kickstarter campaign to support the inaugural launches of the Starfire Space Cannon. During this project we will be conducting a series of suborbital flights which lead to the development of a low cost satellite launching system.

If you have a moment please check out my kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1682852725/the-starfire-space-cannon , and if you share my passion for low cost space flight please donate to this project.

Thank you,

Richard Graf

The Future Observatory

FEBRUARY 05/2014 UPDATES [LIST]. By Mr. Andres Agostini at www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com

Do autistic brains create more information at rest or do they have weaker connectivity — or both?
http://www.kurzweilai.net/do-autistic-brains-create-more-inf…ty-or-both

‘Electronic tongue’ identifies brands of beer with 81.9% accuracy
http://www.kurzweilai.net/electronic-tongue-identifies-brand…9-accuracy

Bodily maps of emotions
http://www.kurzweilai.net/bodily-maps-of-emotions

Antibiotic ‘smart bomb’ can target specific strains of bacteria
http://www.kurzweilai.net/antibiotic-smart-bomb-can-target-s…f-bacteria

Trends and Predictions: How the Future Looks Like for Web Design in 2014

Trends and Predictions: How the Future Looks Like for Web Design in 2014

Credit cards of the future: 4 exciting trends
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/credit-cards-of-the-future-4-e…z2sMsGbooH

The 5 foods best-suited for 3D printing
http://www.fooddive.com/news/the-5-foods-best-suited-for-3d-printing/222556/

Nature is Not Human-Centric
http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2014/01/nature-is-not-human-centric/

Your Brain Is Fine-Tuning Its Wiring Throughout Your Life
http://myscienceacademy.org/2014/02/03/your-brain-is-fine-tu…9896376047]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[]

The World’s Smallest Engine Runs on a Single Atom
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/extre…m-16451781

Guest column: Constituent care — Are government contact centers ready for the generational flood?
http://fedscoop.com/guest-column-constituent-care-government…SY.twitter

Searching for Life on Earth-Like Planets May Be a Mistake, Need to Consider Superhabitable Planets

Searching for Life on Earth-Like Planets May Be a Mistake, Need to Consider Superhabitable Planets

Survey says more attention being paid to data privacy, but still a ways to go
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/013114-survey-says-mor…ign=buffer

Quantum engineers make a major step towards a scalable quantum computer
http://www.kurzweilai.net/quantum-engineers-make-a-major-ste…m-computer

Was There A Beginning Of Time And Will There Be An End Of Time?
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/timeslowingdown.php?utm_source…vEN9LTSmHd

DHS has become the epicenter for government cybersecurity
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/32882?c=cyber_security

THE FUTURE OF THE MIND: Official Trailer
http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/89414/the-future-of-the-mind/

What the Internet of Things Will Mean for CIOs
http://www.cio.com/article/747634/What_the_Internet_of_Things_Will_Mean_for_CIOs

Why predictive maintenance is more relevant today than ever before
http://www.simafore.com/blog/bid/204618/Why-predictive-maint…ver-before

Stanford scientists put free text-analysis tool on the web
http://engineering.stanford.edu/research-profile/stanford-sc…s-tool-web

Dangerous ideas: About that Princeton Facebook study — wrong, but not entirely crazy
http://which-50.com/post/75339864941/dangerous-ideas-about-t…book-study

Personal Banking and the Data-Driven Approach
http://www.analyticbridge.com/profiles/blogs/personal-bankin…e=activity

20 Lessons Enterprise CIOs Can Learn from Supercomputing
http://www.datanami.com/datanami/2012-11-12/20_lesso…uting.html

Big data misused to justify vaccination
http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/big-data-mi…accination

First Single-Molecule LED
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/nanotechno…lecule-led

Employment in Renewable Energy Sector Reaches 5.7 Million Globally
http://www.irena.org/News/Description.aspx?NType=A&mnu=cat&P…ews_ID=351

The World Has Deep Areas of Expertise. We Need Agility and Context
http://bigthink.com/big-think-edge/the-world-has-deep-areas-…nk+Main%29

Marc Andreessen Has A Great Answer For Why Bitcoin Matters
http://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-on-why-bitcoi…2014-1

Motorola Patents Electronic Telepathy
http://hplusmagazine.com/2014/01/14/electronic-telepathy/

New Solar Cells Get the Blues in a Good Way

Energy Update: New Solar Cells Get the Blues in a Good Way

A window to the future of research
http://www.mpg.de/7865824/Science_Tunnel

Surface map of a brown dwarf
http://www.mpg.de/7870755/surface-map-brown-dwarf

The future of oil supply
http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/2014/2006.xhtml

The Human enhancement and the future of work project
http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/human-enhancement/workshop-report/

Whole-genome sequence of a flatfish provides insights into ZW sex chromosome evolution and adaptation to a benthic lifestyle
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.2890.html

Scientists reading fewer papers for first time in 35 years
http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-reading-fewer-papers-f…rs-1.14658

Elsevier opens its papers to text-mining
http://www.nature.com/news/elsevier-opens-its-papers-to-text-mining-1.14659

Top UK university pledges reform to ‘change the culture’ of its animal research

Top UK university pledges reform to ‘change the culture’ of its animal research

Challenging Israel

Challenging Israel

Pruning Synapses Improves Brain Connections
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39055/…nnections/

Science Cartoonist Doesn’t Draw “Funny Style”
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39033/…ny-Style-/

Opinion: The Burden of Proof
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39053/…-of-Proof/

The Dilemma of Space Debris
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/the-d…ace-debris

Flights of Fancy in Avian Evolution
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/fligh…-evolution

How to Fight Back Against Antibiotic Resistance
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/how-t…resistance

Ocean Acidification: The Other Climate Change Issue
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/ocean…ange-issue

QUOTATION: “…The flattening of the world is going to be hugely disruptive to both traditional and developed societies. The weak will fall further behind faster. The traditional will feel the force of modernization much more profoundly. The new will get turned into old quicker. The developed will be challenged by the underdeveloped much more profoundly. I worry, because so much political stability is built on economic stability, and economic stability is not going to be a feature of the flat world. Add it all up and you can see that the disruptions and going to come faster and harder. No one is immune ─ not me, not you, not Microsoft. WE ARE ENTERING AN ERA OF CREATIVE DESTRUCTION ON STEROIDS. Dealing with flatism is going to be a challenge of a whole new dimension even if your country has a strategy. But if you don’t have a strategy at all, well, again, you’ve warned…”

RECOMMENDED BOOK: The Living Company: Growth, Learning and Longevity in Business by Arie De Geus
ISBN-13: 978–1857881851

Regards,

Mr. Andres Agostini
href=“www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com”>www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com
href=“www.TheProfessionalFuturist.blogspot.com”>www.TheProfessionalFuturist.blogspot.com
href=“www.ThisSuccess.wordprocessor.com”>www.ThisSuccess.wordprocessor.com
href=“www.xeeme.com/AAgostini”>www.xeeme.com/AAgostini

Ten Commandments of Space

1. Thou shalt first guard the Earth and preserve humanity.

Impact deflection and survival colonies hold the moral high ground above all other calls on public funds.

2. Thou shalt go into space with heavy lift rockets with hydrogen upper stages and not go extinct.

The human race can only go in one of two directions; space or extinction- right now we are an endangered species.

3. Thou shalt use the power of the atom to live on other worlds.

Nuclear energy is to the space age as steam was to the industrial revolution; chemical propulsion is useless for interplanetary travel and there is no solar energy in the outer solar system.

4. Thou shalt use nuclear weapons to travel through space.

Physical matter can barely contain chemical reactions; the only way to effectively harness nuclear energy to propel spaceships is to avoid containment problems completely- with bombs.

5. Thou shalt gather ice on the Moon as a shield and travel outbound.

The Moon has water for the minimum 14 foot thick radiation shield and is a safe place to light off a bomb propulsion system; it is the starting gate.

6. Thou shalt spin thy spaceships and rings and hollow spheres to create gravity and thrive.

Humankind requires Earth gravity and radiation to travel for years through space; anything less is a guarantee of failure.

7. Thou shalt harvest the Sun on the Moon and use the energy to power the Earth and propel spaceships with mighty beams.

8. Thou shalt freeze without damage the old and sick and revive them when a cure is found; only an indefinite lifespan will allow humankind to combine and survive. Only with this reprieve can we sleep and reach the stars.

9. Thou shalt build solar power stations in space hundreds of miles in diameter and with this power manufacture small black holes for starship engines.

10. Thou shalt build artificial intellects and with these beings escape the death of the universe and resurrect all who have died, joining all minds on a new plane.

Petition for Americium Emergency Stockpile

I continue to survey the available technology applicable to spaceflight and there is little change.

The remarkable near impact and NEO on the same day seems to fly in the face of the experts quoting a probability of such coincidence being low on the scale of millenium. A recent exchange on a blog has given me the idea that perhaps crude is better. A much faster approach to a nuclear propelled spaceship might be more appropriate.

Unknown to the public there is such a thing as unobtanium. It carries the country name of my birth; Americium.

A certain form of Americium is ideal for a type of nuclear solid fuel rocket. Called a Fission Fragment Rocket, it is straight out of a 1950’s movie with massive thrust at the limit of human G-tolerance. Such a rocket produces large amounts of irradiated material and cannot be fired inside, near, or at the Earth’s magnetic field. The Moon is the place to assemble, test, and launch any nuclear mission.

Such Fission Fragment propelled spacecraft would resemble the original Tsolkovsky space train with a several hundred foot long slender skeleton mounting these one shot Americium boosters. The turn of the century deaf school master continues to predict.

Each lamp-shade-spherical thruster has a programmed design balancing the length and thrust of the burn. After being expended the boosters use a small secondary system to send them into an appropriate direction and probably equipped with small sensor packages, using the hot irradiated shell for an RTG. The Frame that served as a car of the space train transforms into a pair of satellite panels. Being more an artist than an *engineer, I find the monoplane configuration pleasing to the eye as well as being functional. These dozens and eventually thousands of dual purpose boosters would help form a space warning net.

The front of the space train is a large plastic sphere partially filled filled with water sent up from the surface of a a Robotic Lunar Polar Base. The Spaceship would split apart on a tether to generate artificial gravity with the lessening booster mass balanced by varying lengths of tether with an intermediate reactor mass.

These piloted impact threat interceptors would be manned by the United Nations Space Defense Force. All the Nuclear Powers would be represented.…..well, most of them. They would be capable of “fast missions” lasting only a month or at the most two months. They would be launched from underground silos on the Moon to deliver a nuclear weapon package towards an impact threat at the highest possible velocity and so the fastest intercept time. These ships would come back on a ballistic course with all their boosters expended to be rescued by recovery craft from the Moon upon return to the vicinity of Earth.

The key to this scenario is Americium 242. It is extremely expensive stuff. The only alternative is Nuclear Pulse Propulsion (NPP). The problem with bomb propulsion is the need to have a humungous mass for the most efficient size of bomb to react with.

The Logic Tree then splits again with two designs of bomb propelled ship; the “Orion” and the “Medusa.” The Orion is the original design using a metal plate and shock absorbing system. The Medusa is essentially a giant woven alloy parachute and tether system that replaces the plate with a much lighter “mega-sail.” In one of the few cases where compromise might bear fruit- the huge spinning ufo type disc, thousands of feet across, would serve quite well to explore, colonize, and intercept impact threats. Such a ship would require a couple decades to begin manufacture on the Moon.

Americium boosters could be built on earth and inserted into lunar orbit with Human Rated Heavy Lift Vehicles (SLS) and a mission launched well within a ten-year apollo type plan. But the Americium Infrastructure has to be available as a first step.

Would any of my hundreds of faithful followers be willing to assist me in circulating a petition?

*Actually I am neither an artist or an engineer- just a wannabe pulp writer in the mold of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

ATLAS — Watchmen To The Hour That The Sky Falls In

With the recent meteor explosion over Russia coincident with the safe-passing of asteroid 2012 DA14, and an expectant spectacular approach by comet ISON due towards the end of 2013, one could suggest that the Year of the Snake is one where we should look to the skies and consider our long term safeguard against rocks from space.

Indeed, following the near ‘double whammy’ last week, where a 15 meter meteor caught us by surprise and caused extensive damage and injury in central Russia, while the larger anticipated 50 meter asteroid swept to within just 27,000 km of Earth, media reported an immediate response from astronomers with plans to create state-of-the-art detection systems to give warning of incoming asteroids and meteoroids. Concerns can be abated.
ATLAS, the Advanced Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System is due to begin operations in 2015, and expects to give a one-week warning for a small asteroid – called “a city killer” – and three weeks for a larger “county killer” — providing time for evacuation of risk areas.

Deep Space Industries (a US Company), which is preparing to launch a series of small spacecraft later this decade aimed at surveying nearby asteroids for mining opportunities, could also be used to monitor smaller difficult-to-detect objects that threaten to strike Earth.

However — despite ISON doom-merchants — we are already in relatively safe hands. The SENTRY MONITORING SYSTEM maintains a Sentry Risk Table of possible future Earth impact events, typically tracking objects 50 meters or larger — none of which are currently expected to hit Earth. Other sources will tell you that comet ISON is not expected to pass any closer than 0.42 AU (63,000,000 km) from Earth — though it should still provide spectacular viewing in our night skies come December 2013. A recently trending threat, 140-metre wide asteroid AG5 was given just a 1-in-625 chance of hitting Earth in February 2040, though more recent measurements have reduced this risk to almost nil. The Torino Scale is currently used to rate the risk category of asteroid and comet impacts on a scale of 0 (no hazard) to 10 (globally-impacting certain collisions). At present, almost all known asteroids and comets are categorized as level 0 on this scale (AG5 was temporarily categorized at level 1 until recent measurements, and 2007 VK184, a 130 meter asteroid due for approach circa 2048–2057 is the only currently listed one categorized at level 1 or more).

An asteroid striking land will cause a crater far larger than its size. The diameter calculated in kilometers is = (energy of impact)(1÷3.4)÷106.77. As such, if an asteroid the size of AG5 (140-meter wide) were to strike Earth, it would create a crater over twice the diameter of Barringer Meteor Crater in northern Arizona and affect an area far larger — or on striking water, it would create a global-reach tsunami. Fortunately, the frequency of such an object striking Earth is quite low — perhaps once every 100,000 years. It is the smaller ones, such as the one which exploded over Russia last week which are the greater concern. These occur perhaps once every 100 years and are not easily detectable by our current methods — justifying the $5m funding NASA contributed to the new ATLAS development in Hawaii.

We are a long way from deploying a response system to deflect/destroy incoming meteors, though at least with ATLAS we will be more confident of getting out of the way when the sky falls in. More information on ATLAS: http://www.fallingstar.com/index.php

Human Extinction Looms

Humanities wake-up call has been ignored and we are probably doomed.

The Chelyabinsk event is a warning. Unfortunately, it seems to be a non-event in the great scheme of things and that means the human race is probably also a non-starter. For years I have been hoping for such an event- and saw it as the start of a new space age. Just as Sputnik indirectly resulted in a man on the Moon I predicted an event that would launch humankind into deep space.

Now I wait for ISON. Thirteen may be the year of the comet and if that does not impress upon us the vulnerability of Earth to impacts then only an impact will. If the impact throws enough particles into the atmosphere then no food will grow and World War C will begin. The C stands for cannibalism. If the impact hits the ring of fire it may generate volcanic effects that may have the same effect. If whatever hits Earth is big enough it will render all life above the size of microbes extinct. We have spent trillions of dollars on defense- yet we are defenceless.

Our instinctive optimism bias continues to delude us with the idea that we will survive no matter what happens. Beside the impact threat is the threat of an engineered pathogen. While naturally evolved epidemics always leave a percentage of survivors, a bug designed to be 100 percent lethal will leave none alive. And then there is the unknown- Earth changes, including volcanic activity, can also wreck our civilization. We go on as a species the same way we go on with our own lives- ignoring death for the most part. And that is our critical error.

The universe does not care if we thrive or go extinct. If we do not care then a quick end is inevitable.

I have given the world my best answer to the question. That is all I can do:

http://voices.yahoo.com/water-bombs-8121778.html?cat=15

AIAA Rocky Mountain — Sentinel Program

For those in Colorado who are interested in attending a talk by John Troeltzsch, Sentinel Ball Program Manager, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. please R.S.V.P Chris Zeller ([email protected]) by Tuesday, 26 February 2013 for badge access. US citizenship required.

6:00 pm Thursday, February 28th 2013
6:00 pm Social, 6:30 pm Program
Ball Aerospace Boulder Campus RA7 Conference Room
1600 Commerce St
Boulder, CO 80301

It will be good to see you there.

About the Talk:
The inner solar system is populated with a half million asteroids larger than the one that struck Tunguska and yet we’ve identified and mapped only about one percent of these asteroids to date.

This month’s program will introduce the B612 Foundation and the first privately funded deep space mission–a space telescope designed to discover and track Near Earth Objects (NEO). This dynamic map of NEOs will provide the blueprint for future exploration of our Solar System, enabling potential astronaut missions and protection of the future of life on Earth.

The B612 Foundation is a California 501©(3) non-profit, private foundation dedicated to protecting the Earth from asteroid strikes. Its founding members Rusty Schweickart, Clark Chapman, Piet Hut, and Ed Lu established the foundation in 2002 with the goal of significantly altering the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner.

The B612 Foundation is working with Ball Aerospace, Boulder, CO, which is designing and building the Sentinel Infrared (IR) Space Telescope with the same expert team that developed the Spitzer and Kepler Space Telescopes. It will take approximately five years to complete development and testing to be ready for launch in 2017–2018.

About John Troeltzsch:
John Troeltzsch is the Sentinel mission program manager for Ball Aerospace. Troeltzsch received his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1983 and was immediately hired by Ball Aerospace. While working at Ball, Troeltzsch continued his studies at C.U. and received his Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1989. He has been a member of AIAA for over 30 years. During his 29 years at Ball Aerospace, Troeltzsch has worked on three of Hubble’s science instruments and in program management for the Spitzer Space Telescope. Following Spitzer’s launch in 2003, Troeltzsch joined Ball’s Kepler team and was named program manager in 2007. For the Kepler mission, Troeltzsch has managed the Ball team, including responsibility for cost, schedule, and performance requirements.

Link to pdf copy of invitation, http://www.iseti.us/pdf/AIAA-Sentinel-Feb.pdf

Water, Bombs, WE CAN GO NOW

I was recently accused on another blog of repeating a defeatist mantra.

My “mantra” has always been WE CAN GO NOW. The solutions are crystal clear to anyone who takes a survey of the available technology. What blinds people is their unwillingness to accept the cost of making it happen.
There is no cheap.

Paul Gilster comments on his blog Centauri Dreams, concerning Radiation, Alzheimer’s Disease and Fermi;

“Neurological damage from human missions to deep space — and the study goes no further than the relatively close Mars — would obviously affect our planning and create serious payload constraints given the need for what might have to be massive shielding.”

Massive shielding.
This is the game changer. The showstopper. The sea change. The paradigm shift.
The cosmic ray gorilla. Whatever you want to call it, it is the reality that most of what we are familiar with concerning human space flight is not going to work in deep space.
Massive Shielding=Nuclear Propulsion=Bombs
M=N=B
We have to transport nuclear materials to the Moon where we can light off a nuclear propulsion system. The Moon is where the ice-derived Water to fill up a Massive radiation shield is to be found.
Massive Shield=Water=Lunar Base
M=W=L
Sequentially: L=W=M=N=B
So, first and last, we need an HLV to get to this Lunar Base (where the Water for the shield is) and we need to safely transport Nuclear material there (and safely assemble and light off the Bombs to push the shield around).

Radiation shielding is the first determining factor in spaceship design and this largely determines the entire development of space travel.

http://voices.yahoo.com/water-bombs-8121778.html?cat=15

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