TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
May 27, 2024
Chamaeleon I Molecular Cloud
Dark markings and bright nebulae in this telescopic southern sky view are telltale signs of young stars and active star formation. They lie a mere 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the local bubble and the Chamaeleon molecular cloud complex. Regions with young stars identified as dusty reflection nebulae from the 1946 Cederblad catalog include the C-shaped Ced 110 just above and right of center, and bluish Ced 111 below it. Also a standout in the frame, the orange tinted V-shape of the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula (Cha IRN) was carved by material streaming from a newly formed low-mass star. The well-composed image spans 1.5 degrees. That's about 17 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby Chamaeleon I molecular cloud.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
‘Korean NASA’ opens its doors
Updated: 27 May. 2024, 18:32
The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), a new governmental body dedicated to advancing Korea’s aerospace sector, opened its doors on Monday.
KASA was based off NASA from the United States. The creation of the agency was one of the Yoon administration's key campaign pledges.
The government aims to develop more than 2,000 aerospace companies and generate 500,000 jobs through the establishment of the agency, with the goal of becoming one of the top five global space powers by 2045.
Yoon Young-bin, a former aerospace engineering professor from the Seoul National University, was appointed to head the agency on April 24.
“I am delighted that KASA, a long-awaited aspiration of many aerospace professionals, finally opened its doors today,” Yoon said at the opening ceremony in KASA’s building in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang.
“As excited as I am, I feel a profound sense of responsibility. I believe that the establishment of this agency will serve as a crucial cornerstone in leading our country into [becoming] a full-fledged aerospace powerhouse through fostering a private-led aerospace industry ecosystem.”
Yoon held an inaugural staff meeting to express gratitude to the employees who relocated to Sacheon to work at KASA. A total of 293 employees will work at the agency.
Alongside Yoon, other senior officials to head the agency include KASA’s deputy chief Rho Kyung-won, a senior official at the Ministry of Science and ICT, and deputy administrator John Lee, a former senior executive at NASA.
Lee managed major space projects while working at NASA for 29 years. He also worked at the White House budget office.
Rho was the director-general in charge of launching Korea’s first domestically developed space rocket system, Naro, in 2013.
He was also part of the team establishing KASA since last September while serving in the Science Ministry. “The future tasks of KASA will entail a continuous pursuit of challenges and accomplishments,” Yoon concluded.
“To truly become a space technology powerhouse, we need more proactive and concentrated efforts. I urge everyone to give their best for the development of Korea’s aerospace industry.”
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-05-27/business/industry/Korea-AeroSpace-Administration-opens-its-doors/2055657
2024 hurricane season should be busy, NOAA says
May 4, 2024
With La Nina conditions evolving in the Pacific and near-record warm waters in the Atlantic, scientists expect the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season to be a busy one.
Forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service, release an outlook every year ahead of hurricane season that includes what kind of storm activity they predict between June 1 and Nov. 30.
CPC researchers say there's an 85% chance that this year's hurricane season will be more active than normal, with the potential for 17 to 25 named storms (which boast wind speeds of at least 39 mph, or 63 kph).
The outlook also predicts that eight to 13 of those storms will develop into hurricanes (which have winds of at least 74 mph, or 119 kph), with four to seven strengthening to major hurricane status.
A major hurricane is anything that reaches at least Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale — meaning it has sustained winds of at least 111 mph (179 kph).
A "typical" hurricane season has 14 named storms with seven hurricanes, three of which are major.
A number of factors are conspiring to make the 2024 season especially active.
To set the stage for tropical storm systems, you need warm ocean water, with a minimum temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), plenty of moisture in the air and low vertical wind shear, or minimal wind speed and direction change with height.
With water temperatures already spiking to near-record levels across the Atlantic, that first box is already checked heading into hurricane season.
There's plenty of heat energy available for storms to soak up like a sponge, fueling storms as an abundance of moisture is produced in the air.
To complete the recipe for the "perfect storm," you need low vertical wind shear, which can historically occur more often depending on the current phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO is a climate pattern in which the water temperature in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean becomes warmer or cooler than normal.
In addition, there's a seesaw effect with the strength of trade winds and vertical wind shear.
We've been in one of the strongest "El Nino" climate patterns ever recorded, but scientists report that this phase is ending and predict "La Nina" conditions will follow.
What we typically see during a La Nina period is a decrease in wind shear in the tropics, which makes Earth's atmosphere a lot less stable and much more favorable for storms to develop and strengthen. A good example of this was the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.
This was a single-year La Nina and was the busiest storm season on record, with 15 hurricanes — including the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
"La Nina tends to bring more hurricane activity than normal in the Atlantic, and the unusually warm tropical Atlantic Ocean should only enhance the likelihood of enhanced activity," Nat Johnson, a scientist on NOAA's ENSO team and with the agency's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, told Space.com.
"We need to be prepared for the possibility of a very active hurricane season."
In addition, there's concern that it will also be an above-normal West African monsoon season. This would result in an increased chance of waves coming from Africa that could turn into powerful tropical systems with longer lifespans in the Atlantic.
As those waves interact with the conditions set forth from a La Nina pattern (and the ingredients mentioned above), storms have more opportunity to develop, grow and intensify — perhaps doing so extremely rapidly.
This happened with Hurricane Maria, which went from a Category 1 hurricane to Category 5 in less than a day before ravaging the northeastern Caribbean in 2017.
"It's important to note that some of the strongest storms to hit the U.S. underwent rapid intensification within a few days before landfall, so not all storms will give us a lot of time to get prepared if we wait," Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, told Space.com.
"All of the ingredients are in place for a very active hurricane season; it's a reason to be concerned, but not alarmed. I hope there will be at least some missing or weak ingredients to limit the number or strength of storms this season.
Use this time to your advantage. Take the time now to put together a plan and a preparedness kit so that you're ready for what the season may bring."
NOAA is working to get us all ready, by ramping up forecast communications, decision support and storm recovery efforts.
cont
https://www.space.com/busy-2024-hurricane-season-noaa
Google installation 'The Orb' offers space to contemplate and communicate
May 27, 2024
The Orb, a new pavilion in Google’s Charleston East Campus, mesmerises and captivates. The installation, conceived as an ‘anchoring artwork’ for the tech giant, began life as an international, open competition for architects and artists organised by Burning Man on behalf of Google. The result, selected out of 45 semi-finalist proposals during a six-month process including a public vote, is set at the entrance of the company’s Mountain View, California complex. Designed by New York computational design experts The Very Many, led by founder and architect Marc Fournes, it elegantly marks the point where public and private space intersect.
'The Orb', Google HQ pavilion by The Very Many, USA
Standing tall and dramatic in its twisting, organic shapes that span 10m in height, the piece is made out of an ultra-thin, self-supported, aluminium shell structure in a crisp white hue. Its folds and myriad of tiny perforations create an intricate play of light and shadow. The ‘puzzle structure’s’ slender pieces were laser cut and powder coated in Europe and shipped to California during the pandemic – a logistical challenge in itself, Fournes points out.
Sat comfortably in the open plaza, the structure is meant as a moment of ‘productive distraction.’ ‘Underneath the airy and acrobatic minimal surface of The Orb, we carve out a moment of shade, where you can slow down even as you remain connected. Inside, the riveted surface and non-linear environment beckons attention and distracts you from your devices,’ the architect explained. ‘We call it “visual wandering” – the journey your eye takes to understand an unfamiliar space. It’s our meditative challenge to the viewer, to figure out how it comes together, to see the continuities across parts, and to discover new details while finding unique perspectives each time you return.’
The newly unveiled commission was awarded to The Very Many in 2018.
It makes the most of Fournes’ extensive experience in computational design, honed at architecture practices such as SOM, Ross Lovegrove and Zaha Hadid Architects, which blurs the boundaries between art and architecture.
https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/google-the-orb-the-very-many-california-usa
Space Force inches closer to classified remote work
MAY 24, 2024
Some guardians could soon do their classified work from home thanks to a new prototype.
GDIT calls it the Enigma Project: a digital environment that allows users from government, academia, industry, and others to access classified and unclassified information from a single device.
“We did the initial operational capability of our Commercial Solutions for Classified,” or CSFC, which is a “single device, laptop, that someone can have [Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network and Secret Internet Protocol Router Network] on it at the same time…So someone doesn't have to physically go in and out of a secure spot,” said Travis Dawson, Enigma’s director.
Space Systems Command awarded GDIT $18 million as part of an other transaction agreement to develop a digital environment in January 2023. The agreement has since been extended to January 2025 to add more commercial cloud environments that can handle secret-level data.
“It's a collaborative digital environment across multiple security classifications for multiple users across government, industry, academia, et cetera,” that will help with “application onboarding, integration, and support services for any third-party applications from across contractors vendors, supporting those operations,” said Dawson.
GDIT demonstrated Enigma—outfitted with software development, digital engineering and IT management tools—at Los Angeles Air Force Base about three weeks ago.
But while there seemed to be some initial excitement on using a portable secret-work capable computer, there’s a catch.
“You can't just pop your laptop up at Starbucks,” Dawson said.
“Some of the things within that user agreement would be, you know, you're in a closed space, there's no windows, there's no one else home, your cell phone isn't with you—things of that nature.”
Dawson stressed that Enigma’s technology isn’t new and has been sanctioned by the National Security Agency.
But there’s potential, especially because the uptake has been slower for secure capabilities that can handle classified information to take hold, compared to the use of remote unclassified work that became widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the Pentagon also updated its telework policy earlier this year, which included use of classified telework devices.
The cloud-based prototype could also help users overcome limitations of existing infrastructure, such as what’s available on base.
“The reliability is not always there,” he said, so users are “not solely dependent on defense circuits, which are down or have stability concerns.”
Enigma also has an in-office version that uses a “trusted thin client” that can connect to the environment. But it is still a single device where users can toggle between the unclassified and classified networks up to the secret level.
GDIT may also explore upping the classification levels in addition to the request for more cloud providers.
“There is a desire for this to eventually go to a [top secret] and [special access program] level. But that's not within our purview at the moment right now. That's just a desire of the government forthcoming,” Dawson said.
https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2024/05/space-force-inches-closer-classified-remote-work/396900/
Airmen, Space Force Guardians Could Grow Beards Under Pilot Program Proposed by House
May 23, 2024 at 2:29pm ET
Airmen and Space Force Guardians would be allowed to grow beards one of the most requested policy changes among the rank and file as part of a proposed pilot program floated Wednesday evening by the House Armed Services Committee.
The beard proposal, sponsored by Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, was added into the committee's version of the National Defense Authorization Act.
It directs the Air Force secretary to "establish a pilot program to allow members of the Air Force and Space Force to grow beards," as well as research "compatibility of beards with military equipment."
The legislation would also order the services to analyze "the effect of beard growth on discipline, morale and unity within the ranks."
The Air Force and Space Force would be required to weigh whether allowing beards improves inclusivity or if beards cause any negative perceptions or bias against service members.
While the added amendment must also face scrutiny from the Senate and more discussion before becoming law, its addition marks the strongest efforts to date to get the Air Force and Space Force to seriously consider letting their members wear facial hair.
Beards are allowed in the Air Force and Space Force only if a service member has a medical or religious accommodation to grow one.
Airmen and Guardians with shaving waivers have to "keep all facial hair trimmed to the same length and it may not to exceed 1/4-inch in length," according to the Department of the Air Force instruction, which states they "may shave or trim their facial hair to present a neat, clean, professional military image."
But Department of the Air Force leadership has been discussing for years how that may be affecting the force, particularly when it comes to razor bumps known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, a skin condition that affects about 60% of Black men, according to studies by the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.
Service members have also reported in the past that shaving waivers have harmed their careers.
In 2022, Military.com reported that officials were discussing a beard pilot program with the department's Black/African American Employment Strategy Team.
Later that same year, the Air Force began allowing members of its public-facing honor guard to sport beards, within regulations, if they had a waiver.
Military.com also reported last month that medical shaving waivers have exploded in popularity for the Air Force and Space Force, nearly doubling in just three years.
If the House legislation is passed, lawmakers would have six months to start implementation of the program, according to the amendment language.
The committee's annual defense policy bill must still be voted on by the full House, and then a final version must be negotiated with the Senate, meaning the beard pilot program may or may not make it into the final law.
One year into the program, the Air Force would be required to submit a report to the House and Senate armed services committees on the initial findings.
The pilot program would run for three years, and then a briefing about whether to expand it or make it permanent would be due to Congress.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/05/23/airmen-space-force-guardians-could-grow-beards-under-pilot-program-proposed-house.html