Watch When a Drone Flies Through Fireworks

As reported by Wireless Design Mag: Have you ever wondered what a fireworks show looked like from the “inside?” The following video, filmed with a GoPro Hero 3, was given an up close and personal view of an Independence Day fireworks display over West Palm Beach, Florida—flown into the action by a DJI Phantom 2 unmanned aerial vehicle.

You probably won’t see many drone-filmed pyrotechnic videos circulating this year, however. Since the video went viral after last year’s Fourth of July, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declared certain areas, such as Washington, D.C., a “no-drone” zone. Other local regulations make it increasingly difficult for drone enthusiasts to operate their aircrafts during such events. Restrictions are intended to promote safety: for instance, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) considered “recreational” in nature can’t fly higher than 400 feet or through or above surrounding obstacles, and must be visible at all times.

Even so, the video is nothing short of spectacular. Despite some close calls with a few whizzing firework shells, the aircraft emerged from the explosive show unscathed.

What if Earth's Magnetic Field Flipped?

As reported by HowStuffWorks: At the moment, the Earth's Southern Magnetic pole is actually at the North Pole, (Geographic Northern Pole) and the Earth's Northern Magnetic pole is in Antarctica.  Our compass' have a north and south magnetic direction as well - but opposite poles attract, so the northern pole of our magnetic compass is pointing to the Earth's southern magnetic pole.

Imagine though getting out of bed and finding an upside-down world. Earth's magnetic field has flipped — now Greenland is in the northern magnetic pole, Antarctica in the southern, and your compass says North is South. What should you expect from a planet where you can't trust a compass to point the way you're used to?

The magnetic field does more than provide compasses a reference point: It shields us from the full impact of the solar wind — charged particles emitted from the sun that would otherwise bombard us with ultraviolet radiation. The origins of the magnetic field start thousands of miles beneath Earth's surface, where convection in the outer core produces electrical currents that, in combination with Earth's rotation, create and sustain a magnetic field that runs through the planet like a bar magnet with two poles, north and south.

When we talk about Earth's magnetic field flipping, we mean an event where those poles reverse. Based on information stored in cooled lava rocks, we know this has already happened before — about 170 times in the last 100 million years [source: Fleming]. The last time it happened was 780,000 years ago, but the causes of these reversals remain mysterious, and there's no way to fully predict when the next one might occur [source: Roach].

However, we know that a flip doesn't happen overnight. Instead, it takes anywhere from a century to 20,000 years to complete, and it's accompanied by a decline in strength of the magnetic field. Based on measurements that began in the mid-1800s, we're in the midst of one such weakening right now, and in 2014, data from European Space Agency satellites revealed that the magnetic field loses 5 percent of its strength with every passing decade [source: Sneed]. Some say the decline could stop at any time — the strength of the magnetic field today is still stronger than it's been for most of the last 50,000 years — while others says it's an indicator that the magnetic field will flip within the next 1,500 years.

Besides today's compasses pointing south instead of north, what would happen if the magnetic field flipped? While the atmosphere would still help shield the planet from radiation, the weakening of the magnetic field that precedes the reversal could make us vulnerable to cancer-causing energy particles and cosmic rays [source: Sanders]. A flipped magnetic field could disrupt communications systems and power grids. It could also produce multiple north and south poles, and birds, whales and other migratory animals that use the field to establish a sense of direction could encounter problems.

That said, a reversal of the poles probably doesn't spell doom for humanity: There's no evidence that past flips of the magnetic field caused mass extinctions or other catastrophes. You'll definitely need a new compass though; and probably a new GPS and/or Smartphone as well.

Space-Debris Drone in Development

As reported by Engadget: The Swiss aren't big on littering, and that philosophy apparently applies to space, too. After the nation's EPFL Center for Space Engineering launched its first satellites (the tiny SwissCubes) into orbit, the very next mission planned was "CleanSpace One" to get them out of orbit. For one, the researchers didn't want to add to the reams of existing space garbage threatening other satellites and astronauts at speeds of up to 15,000mph. But mainly, they want to test a practical system for cleaning space junk with relatively small targets. After considering various systems, the EPFL has settled on a "Pac-Man" solution that will trap the satellites with a conical net.

The operation will be tricky, because just finding the 4x4-inch satellites is going to be difficult. As such, the researchers are developing a high dynamic-range camera and image processing system that can spot bright reflections coming off the SwissCubes as they spin in space. Meanwhile, if the net doesn't deploy just so, the cubes could bounce off the cleanup satellite and end up in a worse spot than before.  

The team rejected several capture options, including articulated arms with claws and a "tentacle" scheme. It settled on a cone-shaped net that unfolds and closes back down, saying "this system is more reliable and offers a larger margin for maneuvering than a claw or an articulated hand." After the Clean Space One satellite gobbles up all the cubes, it will de-orbit and burn everything up on the way back down to earth. The team has now passed the prototype phase and hopes to develop the first engineering models, with the aim of launching the space junk collection satellite by 2018.

ISS Finally Resupplied After Unprecedented String of Failures

As reported by Wired: Russia's Progress 60 cargo ship successfully landed on the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station (ISS) on 5 July, delivering much-needed supplies to the crew. 

The craft brought an array of fresh cargo -- the first since April -- to the Expedition 44 crew living and working onboard, including 106 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 3,133 pounds of spare parts and hardware for experiments. The unpiloted Progress 60 is now set to remain attached to ISS until November. 

The ISS crew greeted the arrival of supplies with unreserved glee, reporting that it felt like "Christmas in July".

Their relief perhaps isn't surprising: it's the first time the ISS has received new supplies since 14 April, following a series of ill-fated resupply missions; just last week, SpaceX's umannned Falcon 9 rocket, which was carrying cargo including new water filtration equipment and experiment materials, exploded just a few seconds into its flight due to a still-unknown glitch.

An earlier Progress resupply flight in May saw the spacecraft spin out of control and disintegrate shortly after reaching orbit, while Orbital Sciences' private Antares rocket (also unmanned) exploded while attempting to take supplies to the platform in October 2014. Although NASA confirmed after the most recent disaster that the ISS crew had enough supplies to live and work comfortably until at least October, the arrival of supplies provides around an extra month of vital provisions such as food and water.

Soon the crew of ISS can look forward to a supplies boost from the Japanese HTV-5 spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch its four-day trip on 16 August. Before that, three new ISS members are set to arrive on a Russian Soyuz craft on 22 July, which will then be transporting three of the current crew members back to Earth.

Next GPS Satellite, the 2F-10 Moves Closer to Launch

As reported by SpaceFlight Now: Joining the payload with its ride to space, United Launch Alliance crews today placed the next Global Positioning System satellite atop an Atlas 5 rocket for blastoff July 15.

The Air Force’s GPS 2F-10 navigation spacecraft will be boosted 11,000 nautical miles above the Earth in a three-hour launch sequence from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Liftoff is scheduled during a window of 11:36 to 11:55 a.m. EDT.

It is the second of three GPS constellation replenishment flights planned in 2015. The first occurred on March 25 using a Delta 4 rocket. Atlas is slated to conduct another in October.

This will be the 10th Block 2F satellite sent into the GPS network since 2010. Boeing in building a dozen spacecraft of this kind featuring greater accuracy, more signals, better anti-jamming and longer design lives than previous models.

The GPS 2F-10 satellite is valued at $245 million.

Already shrouded in the launcher’s 39-foot-tall, 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone, the spacecraft was hauled to the Atlas assembly building and hoisted atop the Centaur upper stage this morning.

The fully assembled rocket, standing 189 feet tall for launch, will be wheeled out to the Complex 41 pad aboard a mobile platform on July 14.

The satellite was flown to Florida earlier this year from Boeing’s manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California. After arriving, it was taken to the Cape’s Area 59 were GPS spacecraft undergo their pre-flight preps.

Final testing, loading of hydrazine maneuvering propellant and encapsulation in the rocket’s nose cone was accomplished with the satellite.

Early today, a convoy hauled the 3,400-pound satellite north through Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility where the Atlas had been stacked over the past few weeks.

The launch will be the 70th for a GPS satellite since 1978, the 15th to use an Atlas rocket and the fourth Block 2F on Atlas.

A Drone Airplane for Mars

As reported by NBC News: NASA has been talking about sending airplanes to Mars for more than a decade, but the revolution in small satellites and drone airplanes just might turn the concept into a reality at last.

If the plan being hatched at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center works out, a folded-up glider could take a piggyback ride to the Red Planet in the 2022-2024 time frame, inside a spacecraft that would also carry a Mars rover.

During the cruise to Mars, the plane's fuselage and its 2-foot-wide (60-centimeter-wide) wings would be folded up inside a 3U CubeSat receptacle, which is about as big as a loaf of bread. A similarly sized satellite held the LightSail solar sail experiment that went through a successful orbital tryout last month.

A prototype for the airplane, known as Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars, or Prandtl-m, is to be tested later this year during a high-altitude balloon mission. The Prandtl-m craft would be sent up either from Tucson in Arizona or from Tillamook in Oregon, and released at an altitude of 100,000 feet — where Earth's atmosphere is about as dense as Mars'.

The full-scale mock-up of NASA's MarCO CubeSat held
by Farah Alibay, a systems engineer for the technology
demonstration, is dwarfed by the one-half-scale model of
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter behind her.

A follow-up balloon flight would test the CubeSat deployment technology, and if that test goes well, yet another prototype would be sent up by a suborbital sounding rocket. That test calls for releasing the CubeSat at about 450,000 feet and deploying the airplane at 110,000 to 115,000 feet.

"If the Prandtl-m completes a 450,000-foot drop, then I think the project stands a very good chance of being able to go to NASA Headquarters and say we would like permission to ride to Mars with one of the rovers," Bowers said.

The idea of sending a drone glider to Mars represents just one small step in a larger effort to send humans to Mars — and there are lots of ideas about how to do it. Here are some of the latest Red Planet rumblings:

Report gives Mars One a boost

The Mars One plan to send citizen astronauts on one-way trips to the Martian surface has come in for a lot of criticism, but on Wednesday, the Dutch-based venture released an independent report saying that it's possible to build habitats to sustain the settlers.

The report from Paragon Space Development Corp. lays out the design for a system that could extract water and oxygen from Martian soil — and recycle much of the waste water that's generated by the crew.

Building a habitat capable of supporting life on Mars is "an attainable goal," Grant Anderson, Paragon's president and CEO, said in a news release. "If the will and the means are provided, we will see humans begin to explore and even colonize other planets in our lifetime."

The report comes in the wake of an MIT study that concluded Mars One's plans to build a Red Planet habitat were not feasible unless new technologies could be developed. In addition to the questions about technical feasibility, Mars One faces the challenge of raising the billions of dollars that would be required for trips to Mars — even if they're only one-way.

Strategy for Mars trips in the 2030s

While Mars One says it's aiming to land humans on Mars starting in 2027, NASA has a more extended timeline for Red Planet exploration. The space agency is working toward a goal of sending astronauts to Mars and its moons starting in the 2030s. But is even that timeline realistic in an age of tight budgets?

In April, a panel of scientists and engineers provided the broad outlines of a mission architecture that could get crews onto the Martian moon Phobos in 2033, onto the Martian surface for a short stay in 2039, and a yearlong mission in 2043 — all while staying within what's expected to be NASA's budgets during that time frame. This week, the full report was published as an article in the journal New Space. It will be freely available to download until July 29.

The report assumes that NASA will go ahead with the development of its Orion deep-space crew vehicle and heavy-lift Space Launch System, as well as a deep-space habitat, a lander with an ascent vehicle, and a space tug that would take advantage of solar electric propulsion.

"I think we can build a consensus around a long-term 'Humans to Mars' program, provided that we acknowledge cost constraints and act accordingly by limiting our appetite for new technology and by pacing the missions to meet our budget," Scott Hubbard, a former NASA official who is now a Stanford professor as well as New Space's editor-in-chief, said in an editorial accompanying the report.

Visions of Mars are on the rise

In his editorial, Hubbard referred to two high-profile movies that feature human missions to Mars: "The Martian," which stars Matt Damon and premieres in October; and "Out of this World," a film in development that has signed up Asa Butterfield ("Ender's Game") as its leading actor.

While you're waiting for the movies to come out, you can either read the novel on which "The Martian" is based, written by Andy Weir; or a thin little volume titled "How We'll Live on Mars," in which Stephen Petranek lays out a scenario for a Mars settlement in 2027.

Petranek traces the history of our Martian aspirations, going back to the era of Wernher von Braun and looking ahead to the era of billionaire-backed space programs. Weir, meanwhile, lays out a human-against-nature story that ranks right up there with "Robinson Crusoe." Either book will whet your appetite for future visions of Mars.

Drone Helps Rescue Trapped Rafters

As reported by Engadget: Drones aren't just useful as scouts and signalers during rescue operations -- they can play a hand in the actual rescue, too. When the Auburn Fire Department went to help recover two young men stranded in the middle of rapids in Mechanics Falls, Maine, Fire Chief Frank Roma used a DJI Phantom 3 to deliver a tag line that carried a much-needed life jacket. It also doubled as an observer while emergency crews sent an inflatable boat to bring the men back to shore, as you can see in the video below. 

While Roma notes that the Phantom 3 was his personal machine rather than official equipment, he's eager to see drones used more often in the field. This only "scratch[es] the surface," he tells TV network WMTW. It'll be a while before robots are carrying you out of danger, unfortunately, but that key role in a river rescue offers a glimpse of what's possible.