1.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to improve understanding and stewardship of the environment. In addition to its employees, over 11,000 as of 2015, NOAA research. NOAA plays several roles in society, the benefits of which extend beyond the U. S. economy and into the larger global community. NOAA supplies information to its customers and partners pertaining to the state of the oceans and this is clearly manifest in the production of weather warnings and forecasts through the National Weather Service, but NOAAs information products extend to climate, ecosystems, and commerce as well. A Provider of Environmental Stewardship Services, NOAA is also the steward of U. S. coastal and marine environments. A Leader in Applied Scientific Research, the five fundamental activities are, Monitoring and observing Earth systems with instruments and data collection networks. Understanding and describing Earth systems through research and analysis of that data, assessing and predicting the changes of these systems over time. Engaging, advising, and informing the public and partner organizations with important information, managing resources for the betterment of society, economy and environment. NOAA formed a conglomeration of several existing agencies that were among the oldest in the federal government, NOAA was established within the Department of Commerce via the Reorganization Plan No.4 of 1970. In 2007 NOAA celebrated 200 years of service with its ties to the United States Coast, the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is a uniformed service of men and women who operate NOAA ships and aircraft, and serve in scientific and administrative posts. And in addition more than a dozen staff offices, including the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, the NOAA Central Library and this is done through a collection of national and regional centers,13 river forecast centers, and more than 120 local weather forecast offices. They are charged with issuing weather and river forecasts, advisories, watches and they issue more than 734,000 weather and 850,000 river forecasts, and more than 45,000 severe weather warnings annually. NOAA data is relevant to the issues of global warming. The NWS operates NEXRAD, a network of Doppler weather radars which can detect precipitation. Many of their products are broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio, a network of transmitters that broadcasts weather forecasts, severe weather statements, watches. The National Ocean Service focuses on ensuring that ocean and coastal areas are safe, healthy, in 1960 TIROS-1, NOAAs first owned and operated geostationary satellite was launched. Since 1966 NESDIS has managed polar orbiting satellites and since 1974 it has operated geosynchronous satellites, in 1979 NOAAs first polar-orbiting environmental satellite was launched
2.
Weather forecasting
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Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, hence, forecasts become less accurate as the difference between current time and the time for which the forecast is being made increases. The use of ensembles and model consensus help narrow the error, there are a variety of end uses to weather forecasts. Weather warnings are important forecasts because they are used to protect life, forecasts based on temperature and precipitation are important to agriculture, and therefore to traders within commodity markets. Temperature forecasts are used by utility companies to estimate demand over coming days, on an everyday basis, people use weather forecasts to determine what to wear on a given day. Since outdoor activities are severely curtailed by rain, snow and wind chill, forecasts can be used to plan activities around these events. In 2014, the US spent $5.1 billion on weather forecasting, for millennia people have tried to forecast the weather. In 650 BC, the Babylonians predicted the weather from cloud patterns as well as astrology, in about 340 BC, Aristotle described weather patterns in Meteorologica. Later, Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs, chinese weather prediction lore extends at least as far back as 300 BC, which was also around the same time ancient Indian astronomers developed weather-prediction methods. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, ancient weather forecasting methods usually relied on observed patterns of events, also termed pattern recognition. For example, it might be observed if the sunset was particularly red. This experience accumulated over the generations to produce weather lore, however, not all of these predictions prove reliable, and many of them have since been found not to stand up to rigorous statistical testing. It was not until the invention of the telegraph in 1835 that the modern age of weather forecasting began. Before that, the fastest that distant weather reports could travel was around 100 miles per day, the two men credited with the birth of forecasting as a science were officer of the Royal Navy Francis Beaufort and his protégé Robert FitzRoy. Beaufort developed the Wind Force Scale and Weather Notation coding, which he was to use in his journals for the remainder of his life. He also promoted the development of reliable tide tables around British shores, Robert FitzRoy was appointed in 1854 as chief of a new department within the Board of Trade to deal with the collection of weather data at sea as a service to mariners. This was the forerunner of the modern Meteorological Office, all ship captains were tasked with collating data on the weather and computing it, with the use of tested instruments that were loaned for this purpose. Fifteen land stations were established to use the new telegraph to transmit to him daily reports of weather at set times leading to the first gale warning service and his warning service for shipping was initiated in February 1861, with the use of telegraph communications
3.
Meteorology
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Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century, the 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data, Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology. Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local, regional, Meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics, and atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Meteorology and hydrology compose the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology, the interactions between Earths atmosphere and its oceans are part of a coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Meteorology has application in diverse fields such as the military, energy production, transport, agriculture. The word meteorology is from Greek μετέωρος metéōros lofty, high and -λογία -logia -logy, varāhamihiras classical work Brihatsamhita, written about 500 AD, provides clear evidence that a deep knowledge of atmospheric processes existed even in those times. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote Meteorology, Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. One of the most impressive achievements described in the Meteorology is the description of what is now known as the hydrologic cycle and they are all called swooping bolts because they swoop down upon the Earth. Lightning is sometimes smoky, and is then called smoldering lightning, sometimes it darts quickly along, at other times, it travels in crooked lines, and is called forked lightning. When it swoops down upon some object it is called swooping lightning, the Greek scientist Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs. The work of Theophrastus remained a dominant influence in the study of weather, in 25 AD, Pomponius Mela, a geographer for the Roman Empire, formalized the climatic zone system. According to Toufic Fahd, around the 9th century, Al-Dinawari wrote the Kitab al-Nabat, ptolemy wrote on the atmospheric refraction of light in the context of astronomical observations. St. Roger Bacon was the first to calculate the size of the rainbow. He stated that a rainbow summit can not appear higher than 42 degrees above the horizon, in the late 13th century and early 14th century, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī and Theodoric of Freiberg were the first to give the correct explanations for the primary rainbow phenomenon. Theoderic went further and also explained the secondary rainbow, in 1716, Edmund Halley suggested that aurorae are caused by magnetic effluvia moving along the Earths magnetic field lines. In 1441, King Sejongs son, Prince Munjong, invented the first standardized rain gauge and these were sent throughout the Joseon Dynasty of Korea as an official tool to assess land taxes based upon a farmers potential harvest. In 1450, Leone Battista Alberti developed a swinging-plate anemometer, and was known as the first anemometer, in 1607, Galileo Galilei constructed a thermoscope
4.
National Weather Service
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It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970, the NWS performs its primary task through a collection of national and regional centers, and 122 local weather forecast offices. As the NWS is a government agency, most of its products are in the public domain, the agency was placed under the Secretary of War as Congress felt military discipline would probably secure the greatest promptness, regularity, and accuracy in the required observations. Within the Department of War, it was assigned to the U. S. Army Signal Service under Brigadier General Albert J. Myer, General Myer gave the National Weather Service its first name, The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce. The agency first became an enterprise in 1890, when it became part of the Department of Agriculture. The first Weather Bureau radiosonde was launched in Massachusetts in 1937, the Bureau would later be moved to the Department of Commerce in 1940. On July 12,1950, bureau chief Francis W, the Weather Bureau became part of the Environmental Science Services Administration when that agency was formed in August 1966. The Environmental Science Services Administration was renamed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on October 1,1970, at this time, the Weather Bureau became the National Weather Service. NEXRAD, a system of Doppler radars deployed to improve the detection and warning time of local storms, replaced the WSR-57. Bob Glahn has written a history of the first hundred years of the National Weather Service. The NWS, through a variety of sub-organizations, issues different forecast products to users, although, throughout history, text forecasts have been the means of product dissemination, the NWS has been using more forecast products of a digital, gridded, image or other modern format. Each of the 122 Weather Forecast Offices send their graphical forecasts to a server to be compiled in the National Digital Forecast Database. The NDFD is a collection of weather observations used by organizations and the public, including precipitation amount, temperature. Specific points in the database can be accessed using an XML SOAP service. The National Weather Service issues many products relating to wildfires daily, for example, a Fire Weather Forecast, which have a forecast period covering up to seven days, is issued by local Weather Forecast Offices daily, with updates as needed. The forecasts contain weather information relevant to fire control and smoke management for the next 12 to 48 hours, such as direction and speed. The appropriate crews use this information to plan for staffing and equipment levels, the ability to conduct scheduled controlled burns, and assess the daily fire danger. Once per day, NWS meteorologists issue a coded fire weather forecast for specific United States Forest Service observation sites that are input into the National Fire Danger Rating System
5.
Geosynchronous satellite
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A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, with an orbital period the same as the Earths rotation period. Such a satellite returns to the position in the sky after each sidereal day. A special case of satellite is the geostationary satellite, which has a geostationary orbit – a circular geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earths equator. Another type of geosynchronous orbit used by satellites is the Tundra elliptical orbit, such satellites are often used for communication purposes, a geosynchronous network is a communication network based on communication with or through geosynchronous satellites. The term geosynchronous refers to the orbital period being exactly one sidereal day which enables it to be synchronized with the rotation of the Earth. Along with this orbital period requirement, to be geostationary as well and these two requirements make the satellite appear in an unchanging area of visibility when viewed from the Earths surface, enabling continuous operation from one point on the ground. The special case of an orbit is the most common type of orbit for communications satellites. If a geosynchronous orbit is not exactly aligned with the Earths equator. It will appear to oscillate daily around a fixed point, as of 2014 there are approximately 600 geosynchronous satellites, some of which are not operational. Geostationary satellites appear to be fixed over one spot above the equator, receiving and transmitting antennas on the earth do not need to track such a satellite. These antennas can be fixed in place and are less expensive than tracking antennas. These satellites have revolutionized global communications, television broadcasting and weather forecasting, TCP presumes that all loss is due to congestion, not errors, and probes link capacity with its slow-start algorithm, which only sends packets once it is known that earlier packets have been received. Slow start is very slow over a path using a geostationary satellite, RFC2488, written in 1999, gives several suggestions on this issue. Satellite dishes at such high latitudes would need to be pointed almost directly towards the horizon, the signals would have to pass through the largest amount of atmosphere, and could even be blocked by land topography, vegetation or buildings. In the USSR, a solution was developed for this problem with the creation of special Molniya / Orbita inclined path satellite networks with elliptical orbits. Similar elliptical orbits are used for the Sirius Radio satellites, the concept was first proposed by Herman Potočnik in 1928 and popularised by the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke in a paper in Wireless World in 1945. Working prior to the advent of electronics, Clarke envisioned a trio of large. Modern satellites are numerous, unmanned, and often no larger than an automobile, widely known as the father of the geosynchronous satellite, Harold Rosen, an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, invented the first operational geosynchronous satellite, Syncom 2
6.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
7.
SPEDAS
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SPEDAS is an open-source data analysis tool intended for Space Physics users. SPEDAS is free software that can download and manipulate data from space missions. It contains both a GUI and a command mode for advanced users. It offers various tools for performing calculations and transformations of the data, software modules can be developed for SPEDAS, extending its capabilities. It also includes a tool for downloading data from NASA servers using CDAWeb, SPEDAS evolved from software developed for the THEMIS mission, which was called TDAS. In turn, TDAS used IDL code developed previously for earlier missions going back to the 1990s, SPEDAS was developed by scientists and programmers of the UC Berkeleys Space Sciences Laboratory, UCLAs IGPP and other contributors. Three different types of SPEDAS deployment are available, Source code, the full IDL code for SPEDAS is available as a zip file download. To use this, users must install and license IDL from Exelis, IDL save files can run in a free but restricted version of IDL, called IDL Virtual Machine. Users have to download IDL VM from Exelis, install it and this distribution contains executable files for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. In this case, users do not have to separately install, one of the main goals of SPEDAS is to accommodate the needs of different NASA missions. Towards this goal, its architecture is modular, users can develop plugins for loading data, for configuration and for specialized calculations or operations on the data
8.
GOES-16
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It is the first of the next generation of geosynchronous environmental satellite. It is expected to provide atmospheric and surface measurements of the Earth’s Western Hemisphere for weather forecasting, severe storm tracking, space weather monitoring, GOES-16 launched at approximately 23,42 UTC on November 19,2016 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, United States. The GOES-R series program is an effort between NOAA and NASA to develop, deploy and operate the satellites. They are managed from Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the GOES-R series will extend the availability of the operational GOES satellite system through 2036. GOES-16 has several improvements over the old GOES system, the cumulative time that GOES-16 science data collection is interrupted by momentum management, station-keeping and yaw flip maneuvers will be under 120 minutes/year. This represents a two order of magnitude improvement compared to older GOES satellites. The GOES-16 instrument suite includes three types of instruments, Earth sensing, solar imaging, and space environment measuring, ABI will be able to view the Earth across 16 spectral bands, including two visible channels, four near-infrared channels and ten infrared channels. It will provide three times more information, up to four times the spatial resolution, and more than five times faster coverage. Forecasters will be able to use the higher resolution images to track the development of storms in their early stages, instruments nearly identical to ABI have been delivered to Japan for use on Himawari 8 and Himawari 9. Research and testing has demonstrated the GLM potential for improvement in tornado warning lead time and it is anticipated that GLM data will have applications to aviation weather services, climatological studies, and severe thunderstorm forecasts and warnings. The GLM will provide information to identify growing, active, studies show that a sudden increase in Total Lightning Activity—or flash rate—correlates with an increase in storm intensity. Thus, a significant increase in a flash rate may signify a storm becoming severe and causing damaging winds, large hail. The GLM consists of a telescopic CCD camera sensitive to 777.4 nm light and it has a spatial resolution of 8 kilometres to 14 kilometres and captures 500 frames per second. The CCDs pixel pitch varies across its area, two sun-facing instruments are mounted to the arm holding the solar panel, the Solar Ultraviolet Imager and the Extreme Ultra Violet / X-Ray Irradiance Sensors. Solar Ultraviolet Imager is a telescope that observes the Sun in the ultraviolet wavelength range. SUVI will observe and characterize complex, active regions of the Sun, solar flares, SUVI observations of flares and solar eruptions will provide an early warning of possible impacts to the Earth environment and enable better forecasting of potentially disruptive events. The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-Ray Irradiance Sensors detect solar soft X-ray irradiance, the Extreme Ultraviolet Sensor monitors solar variations that directly affect satellite drag/tracking and ionospheric changes, which impact communications and navigation operations. This information is critical to understanding the layers of the Earth’s atmosphere
9.
Delta IV
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Delta IV is an expendable launch system in the Delta rocket family. The rockets main components are designed by Boeings Defense, Space & Security division and built in the United Launch Alliance facility in Decatur, final assembly is completed at the launch site by ULA. The rockets were designed to launch payloads into orbit for the United States Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, Delta IV rockets are available in five versions, Medium, Medium+, Medium+, Medium+, and Heavy, to cover a range of payload size and weight. Delta IV was primarily designed to satisfy the needs of the U. S. military, the rockets are assembled at the Horizontal Integration Facility for launches from SLC-37B at Cape Canaveral, and in a similar facility for launches from SLC-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. While the Delta-IV retains the name of the Delta family of rockets, a primary change in the design is that the first stage uses liquid hydrogen fuel, rather than the kerosene fuel of earlier Delta boosters, and thus used a new engine, the Rocketdyne RS-68s. The Delta IV entered the space launch market when global capacity was already higher than demand. Furthermore, as a design it has had difficulty finding a market in commercial launches. In 2003, Boeing pulled the Delta IV from the market, citing low demand. In 2005, Boeing stated that it sought to return the Delta IV to commercial service, all of Delta IVs launches, with the exception of its debut launch carrying the Eutelsat W5 commercial communications satellite, were paid for by the US government. In 2015, ULA stated that a Delta IV Heavy is sold for nearly $400 million, the United States Air Force funds Delta IV engineering, integration, and infrastructure through contracts with Boeing Launch Services. On August 8,2008 the USAF Space and Missile Systems Center increased the cost plus award fee contract with BLS for $1.656 billion to extend the period of performance through the end of FY09, in addition a $557.1 million option was added to cover FY10. In March 2015, ULA announced plans to phase out all Delta IV launchers except the Delta IV Heavy by 2018, the Delta IV will be largely replaced by the Atlas V. On October 4,2012, a Delta IV M+ experienced an anomaly in the upper stages RL10-B-2 engine which resulted in lower than expected thrust. By December 2012 ULA had determined the cause of the anomaly to be a fuel leak, after two more successful launches, further investigation led to the delay of Delta flight 365 with the GPS IIF-5 satellite. Originally scheduled to launch in October 2013, the vehicle lifted off on February 21,2014, the Vulcan rocket is planned to replace the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. Vulcan is projected to enter service by 2019, using the Blue Origin BE-4 methane-fuelled rocket engine. The Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V are expected to stay in service for a few years after Vulcans inaugural launch, and the Heavy is expected to be discontinued in the late 2020s. The first stage of a Delta IV consists of one, or in the Heavy variety three, Common Booster Cores powered by a Rocketdyne RS-68 engine, which burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
10.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
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Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Commands 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, CCAFS is the primary head of Americas Eastern Range with three launch pads currently active. The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip provides a 10, 000-foot runway close to the launch complexes for military airlift aircraft delivering heavy, a number of American space exploration firsts were launched from CCAFS, including the first U. S. Earth satellite, first U. S. astronaut, first U. S. astronaut in orbit, first two-man U. S. spacecraft, first U. S. unmanned lunar landing, and first three-man U. S. spacecraft. The CCAFS area had used by the United States government to test missiles since 1949. On June 1,1948, the U. S. Navy transferred the former Banana River Naval Air Station to the U. S. Air Force, with USAF renaming the facility the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base on June 10,1949. On October 1,1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from the Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. On May 17,1950, the base was renamed the Long Range Proving Ground Base, in 1951, the Air Force established the Air Force Missile Test Center. Early American sub-orbital rocket flights were achieved at Cape Canaveral in 1956 and these flights occurred shortly after sub-orbital flights launched from White Sands Missile Range, such as the Viking 12 sounding rocket on February 4,1955. Following the Soviet Unions successful Sputnik 1, the US attempted its first launch of a satellite from Cape Canaveral on December 6,1957. However, the rocket carrying Vanguard TV3 blew up on the launch pad, NASA was founded in 1958, and Air Force crews launched missiles for NASA from the Cape, known then as Cape Canaveral Missile Annex. The row of Titan and Atlas launch pads along the coast came to be known as Missile Row in the 1960s, nASAs first manned spaceflight program was prepared for launch from Canaveral by U. S. Air Force crews. Mercurys objectives were to place a spacecraft in Earth orbit, investigate human performance and ability to function in space. Suborbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Armys Redstone missile from LC-5, Orbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Air Forces larger Atlas D missile from LC-14. The first American in orbit was John Glenn on February 20,1962, three more orbital flights followed through May 1963. Flight control for all Mercury missions was provided at the Mercury Control Center located at Canaveral near LC-14 and he had also convinced Gov. C. Farris Bryant to change the name of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy and this resulted in some confusion in public perception, which conflated the two. This name was used through the Gemini and early Apollo programs, however, the geographical name change proved to be unpopular, owing to the historical longevity of Cape Canaveral
11.
GOES 14
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The spacecraft was built by Boeing and is based on the BSS-601 bus. It is the second of three GOES satellites to use the BSS-601 bus, after GOES13, which was launched in May 2006. It was launched by United Launch Alliance aboard a Delta IV-M+ rocket at 22,51 GMT on 27 June 2009, upon reaching geostationary orbit, on 7 July, it was redesignated GOES14. It underwent a 6-month series of tests before completing its check-out phase. Its first full disk image was sent on 27 July 2009 GOES14 was brought out of storage, on September 24,2012, it temporarily assumed the role of GOES-East after GOES13 experienced technical difficulties. GOES13 was returned to service on 18 October 2012, GOES14 was used to monitor Superstorm Sandy in parallel with the repaired GOES13 and was returned to storage afterwards. GOES14 was reactivated on May 23,2013 following another anomaly with GOES13, the first attempt to launch GOES-O was made on 26 June 2009, during a launch window running from 22, 14-23,14 UTC. Due to rain and lightning at the site, the launch was delayed from the start of the window to 22,44 GMT. The weather satellite was launched on 27 June 200922,51 UTC
12.
GOES 15
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The spacecraft was constructed by Boeing, and is the last of three GOES satellites to be based on the BSS-601 bus. The other BSS-601 GOES satellites, GOES13 and GOES14 were launched in May 2006, in total it was the sixteenth GOES satellite to be launched. GOES15 was launched atop a Delta IV-M+ rocket flying from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launch occurred at 23,57 GMT on 4 March 2010, forty minutes into a sixty-minute launch window. Upon reaching geostationary orbit on 16 March, it was redesignated GOES15, on December 6,2011, it was activated as the GOES West satellite, replacing GOES11. At launch, the mass of the satellite was 3,238 kilograms and it has a design life of ten years. Power is supplied by a gallium arsenide solar panel, which provides up to 2.3 kilowatts of power. A24 cell nickel hydrogen battery is used to power when the satellite is not in sunlight. GOES-P Press Kit GOES Timeline The History of Geostationary Satellites, from the launch of SMS-1 in May 1974 through the launch of GOES-13. GOES-15 image examples on the CIMSS Satellite Blog
13.
GOES 3
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GOES3, known as GOES-C before becoming operational, is an American geostationary weather and communications satellite. It was originally built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system and it is positioned in geostationary orbit, from where it was initially used for weather forecasting in the United States. Since ceasing to function as a satellite in 1989, it has been used as a communications satellite. GOES3 was decommissioned 29 June 2016 at the CSTARS facility in Miami, GOES3 was built by Ford Aerospace, and is based on the satellite bus developed for the SMS programme. At launch it had a mass of 627 kilograms, GOES-C was launched using a Delta 2914 carrier rocket flying from Launch Complex 17B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch occurred at 10,49 GMT on 16 June 1978, the launch successfully placed GOES-C into a geosynchronous transfer orbit, from which it raised itself to geostationary orbit using an onboard SVM-5 apogee motor. Its insertion into geosynchronous orbit occurred at 03,22 on 17 June, GOES-C underwent on-orbit testing, and was subsequently redesignated GOES3. It replaced GOES1 in service, and was operated at 135° West. In 1981, it was moved to 90° West, arriving in 1982, in 1985 it arrived back at 135° West. In 1987 it was moved to 129° West, where it operated until it became unusable for meteorological studies in 1989, after ceasing operations as a weather satellite, GOES3 was reassigned for use as a communications satellite. In 1990, it was relocated to 175° West, and in 1995 it was moved again, and has been stationed between 102° and 110° West since 1996
14.
Ground track
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A ground track or ground trace is the path on the surface of the Earth directly below an aircraft or satellite. In the case of a satellite, it is the projection of the orbit onto the surface of the Earth. A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earths surface which traces the movement of a line between the satellite and the center of the Earth. In other words, the track is the set of points at which the satellite will pass directly overhead, or cross the zenith. In air navigation, ground tracks typically approximate an arc of a great circle, in order to follow a specified ground track, a pilot must adjust their heading in order to compensate for the effect of wind. Aircraft routes are planned to avoid restricted airspace and dangerous areas, typically, satellites have a roughly sinusoidal ground track. A satellite with an inclination between 90° and 180° is said to be in a retrograde orbit. A satellite in an orbit with an orbital period less than one day will tend to move from west to east along its ground track. This is called apparent direct motion, a satellite in a direct orbit with an orbital period greater than one day will tend to move from east to west along its ground track, in what is called apparent retrograde motion. This effect occurs because the satellite orbits more slowly than the speed at which the Earth rotates beneath it, any satellite in a true retrograde orbit will always move from east to west along its ground track, regardless of the length of its orbital period. Because a satellite in an orbit moves faster near perigee and slower near apogee, it is possible for a satellite to track eastward during part of its orbit. This phenomenon allows for ground tracks which cross over themselves, as in the geosynchronous, a satellite whose orbital period is an integer fraction of a day will follow roughly the same ground track every day. This ground track is shifted east or west depending on the longitude of the ascending node, which can vary over time due to perturbations of the orbit. If the period of the satellite is slightly longer than a fraction of a day, the ground track will shift west over time, if it is slightly shorter. For orbital periods longer than the Earths rotational period, an increase in orbital period corresponds to a stretching out of the ground track. A satellite whose orbital period is equal to the period of the Earth is said to be in a geosynchronous orbit. Its ground track will have a figure eight shape over a location on the Earth. It will track eastward when it is on the part of its orbit closest to perigee, a special case of the geosynchronous orbit, the geostationary orbit, has an eccentrity of zero, and an inclination of zero in the Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed coordinate system
15.
Analemma
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In astronomy, an analemma is a diagram showing the deviation of the Sun from its mean motion in the sky, as viewed from a fixed location on the Earth. Due to the Earths axial tilt and orbital eccentricity, the Sun will not be in the position in the sky at the same time every day. The north–south component of the analemma is the Suns declination, and this diagram has the form of a slender figure-eight, and can often be found on globes of the Earth. Diagrams of analemmas frequently carry marks that show the position of the Sun at various closely spaced throughout the year. Analemmas with date marks can be used for practical purposes. Without date marks, they are of use, except as decoration. Analemmas have been used in conjunction with sundials since the 18th century to convert between apparent and mean solar time, prior to this, the term referred to any tool or method used in the construction of sundials. It is possible to photograph the analemma by keeping a camera at a location and orientation and taking multiple exposures throughout the year. Although the term usually refers to the Earths solar analemma. The resulting curve resembles a long, slender figure-eight with one much larger than the other. This curve is commonly printed on terrestrial globes, usually in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the only large tropical region with very little land. It is possible, though challenging, to photograph the analemma, by leaving the camera in a position for an entire year and snapping images on 24-hour intervals. The component along this axis of the Suns apparent motion is a result of the seasonal variation of the declination of the Sun through the year. e. This width of the analemma is approximately 7. 7°, so the length of the figure is more than six times its width. The figure-eight form arises from the relationship between the direction of the Earths axis, and the passing through the perihelion and aphelion of the Earths elliptical orbit around the Sun. There are three parameters that affect the size and shape of the analemma — obliquity, eccentricity, for an object with a circular orbit but significant axial tilt, the analemma would be a figure of eight with northern and southern lobes equal in size. For an object with an eccentric orbit but no axial tilt, the north–south component of the analemma shows the Suns declination, its latitude on the celestial sphere, or the latitude on the Earth at which the Sun is directly overhead. The east–west component shows the equation of time, or the difference between time and local mean time
16.
GOES 8
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It was launched in 1994, and operated until 2004 when it was retired and boosted to a graveyard orbit. At launch, the satellite had a mass of 2,105 kilograms, and it was built by Space Systems/Loral, based on the LS-1300 satellite bus, and was the first of five GOES-I series satellites to be launched. GOES8 was also featured in the 1996 film Twister, GOES-I was launched aboard a Martin Marietta Atlas I rocket, flying from Launch Complex 36B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch occurred at 06,04 GMT on 13 April 1994 and it was then raised into geostationary orbit by means of an R-4D-11 apogee motor. During the third burn, a malfunction of the controlling the attitude control system caused several manoeuvring thrusters to fire. This resulted in the burn being aborted, GOES8 was eventually raised to the correct orbit, and positioned at a longitude of 75° West. Following on-orbit testing, it was activated as the GOES-EAST satellite, allowing GOES7, GOES8 suffered from a design fault with the motor windings in its imager and sounder, with one of two sets failing within a few years of it becoming operational. If the other set had failed, it would have made the system inoperable and this fault also occurred on the GOES9 satellite, which was launched in 1995. It was corrected before GOES10 was launched, in 1997, one of its momentum wheels failed, however unlike with GOES9, the other wheel was not affected, and the satellite was able to continue operations. GOES8 was retired from GOES-EAST operations in 2003, when it was replaced by GOES12, following this it remained in storage for a year as a backup, before being boosted to a graveyard orbit between 4 and 5 May 2004. 1994 in spaceflight List of GOES satellites
17.
GOES 10
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It was retired and maneuvered to a graveyard orbit on 1 December 2009. GOES-K was launched aboard an International Launch Services Atlas I rocket, the launch occurred at 05,49 GMT on 25 April. Its launch was the flight of the Atlas I rocket. At launch, the satellite had a mass of 2,105 kilograms, and it was built by Space Systems/Loral, based on the LS-1300 satellite bus, and was the third of five GOES-I series satellites to be launched. Following launch, it was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 105° West for on-orbit testing, during on-orbit testing, the system used to rotate the solar array in order to track the Sun malfunctioned. Early in testing it briefly stopped working twice, and then seventeen days into testing, following two months of analysis, it was determined that it had only stopped working in one direction, so the satellite was rotated 180 degrees, and the array operated in reverse. Less than a later, it was reactivated after the attitude control system on the GOES9 satellite started to fail. During July, it was prepared for service, before assuming GOES-WEST operations at the end of the month. In August, it was moved to a longitude of 135° West, GOES10 transmitted weather data while it was still moving, which required users to track the satellite in order to continue receiving data. This was the first time that a GOES satellite which was still operational was replaced, GOES10 was operated at 135° West until 27 June 2006, when it was replaced by GOES11, as it was running low on fuel. In December 2007, it took over GOES-EAST during an outage of GOES12. This made it one of two satellites to have been used as both GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST, the other being GOES7. GOES10 was retired on 1 December 2009 due to almost complete depletion of propellant, remaining fuel was used to boost it into a graveyard orbit. 1997 in spaceflight List of GOES satellites
18.
GOES 11
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It was launched in 2000, and operated at the GOES-WEST position, providing coverage of the west coast of the United States, until December 6,2011. GOES-L was launched aboard an International Launch Services Atlas IIA rocket, the launch occurred at 07,07 UTC on 3 May. The launch was scheduled for 15 March 1999, however it was delayed to allow the Eutelsat W3 satellite to be launched first. Following this, it was rescheduled for 15 May, on 30 April, the Centaur upper stage of a Titan IVB failed during the launch of USA-143. Since a version of the Centaur was also used on the Atlas II, less than five days after the Titan failure, a Delta III failed to launch Orion 3. The failure occurred during the second restart, and as the Delta III. When the Centaur was cleared for flight in August 1999, GOES-L was rescheduled to launch in November and this then slipped to December in order to allow a UFO to launch ahead of it, before slipping again when a DSCS launch was added to the manifest. In January 2000, a date of 3 May was announced. The launch on 3 May occurred successfully, forty minutes into the launch window, at launch, the satellite had a mass of 2,217 kilograms, and an expected operational lifespan of five years, although it carried fuel for longer. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, based on the LS-1300 satellite bus, following launch, GOES11 was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 104° West for testing and on-orbit storage. In 2006, it was moved to 135° West to replace the GOES10 satellite, by the time it entered service, it had already been in orbit for a year past the end of its design life. On December 6,2011, GOES11 was decommissioned and replaced by GOES15, on December 15,2011, the booster was fired to move the satellite 185 miles above its previous orbit, and it was officially decommissioned. 2000 in spaceflight List of GOES satellites
19.
GOES 12
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It was launched on July 23,2001, and spent its first 21 months in space as an on-orbit spare. From April 2003, the took over the GOES-East position. In April 2010, GOES-East operations were taken over by GOES13 and it remained at this post until it was decommissioned on August 16,2013 and subsequently boosted to a graveyard orbit. GOES-M was launched aboard an International Launch Services Atlas IIA rocket, at launch, the satellite had a mass of 2,279 kilograms, and an expected operational lifespan of five years, although it carried fuel for longer. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, based on the LS-1300 satellite bus, and was the last of five GOES-I series satellites to be launched. It served as a spare until 2003, when it was called up to replace GOES8. Although GOES11 was the backup in line for activation. The Solar X-ray Imager failed in April 2006, since December 2007, GOES12 has experienced three thruster leaks during orbital adjustment manoeuvres, two of which led to major outages. The first of these occurred in December 2007, during a manoeuvre to reduce the inclination of the satellites orbit. The faulty thruster was shut down, and the satellite was returned to its station by means of what was thought at the time to be a backup thruster. During this outage, GOES10, a satellite which had been kept in orbit to provide coverage of South America, was briefly returned to service to cover for GOES12. Another outage occurred on 14 December 2008, when an inactive thruster leaked, the on-orbit-spare satellite, GOES13, was brought online in case GOES12 had to be replaced, and took over imagery from its storage location at 105° West while the fault was investigated. The problem cleared several weeks later, and the satellite was returned to operational status on 5 January 2009, since then, several other leaks have occurred, however none has impacted operations. During a leak in May 2009, the GOES13 satellite was again activated, because of the thruster problems, GOES12 was replaced by GOES13 in the GOES-East position. GOES12 was decommissioned on August 16,2013,2001 in spaceflight List of GOES satellites
20.
GOES 13
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On April 14,2010, GOES-13 became the operational weather satellite for GOES-EAST. GOES-N was launched aboard a Boeing Delta IV-M+ rocket, flying from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launch occurred at 22,11,00 GMT on 24 May 2006. The launch had been delayed due to a number of issues. First, it had scheduled to fly on a Delta III. Further delays were caused after the previous Delta IV launch, the flight of the Heavy configuration. Then, two attempts in August 2005 were scrubbed, the second attempt just four minutes and twenty six seconds prior to liftoff. After these launch attempts, the flight termination system batteries expired. A strike by workers at Boeing subsequently pushed the back to May 2006. At launch, the satellite had a mass of 3,133 kilograms, and it was built by Boeing, based on the BSS-601 satellite bus, and was the first of three GOES-N series satellites to be launched. It is currently in an orbit at a longitude of 75° West. GOES-13 has been serving actively as GOES-East since April 2010, in December 2007, it was called up to provide coverage of the east coast of the United States during an outage of GOES12 due to a thruster leak. After the problem with GOES12 cleared, it resumed operations and it was also briefly activated in mid May 2009, when GOES12 developed another thruster problem, however it did not need to take over operations, and was deactivated by the end of the month. In April 2010, GOES-13 replaced GOES-12 as GOES-East at 75° West, in December 2006 GOES-13 observed a solar flare so intense it damaged its Solar X-ray Imager. On September 12,2012, GOES13 began to return images with an amount of noise. The noise gradually increased to the point at which the satellite was placed in standby mode on September 24 in order to allow engineers to diagnose the problem, GOES13 returned to normal operations on October 18,2012. GOES14 was kept in normal operations and used to monitor Superstorm Sandy in parallel with GOES13 before GOES14 returned to standby status, GOES13 unexpectedly suffered an anomaly at 03,40 UTC on May 22,2013 which left it unable to return weather data. GOES14 was again activated, taking over GOES-East operations at 06,00 UTC on May 23, however it currently remains at its storage position at 105 degrees West. GOES13 was scheduled to return to status at 15,45 UTC on June 6,2013 However that was delayed due to a Critical Weather Day
21.
Geostationary orbit
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A geostationary orbit, geostationary Earth orbit or geosynchronous equatorial orbit is a circular orbit 35,786 kilometres above the Earths equator and following the direction of the Earths rotation. An object in such an orbit has a period equal to the Earths rotational period and thus appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky. Using this characteristic, ocean color satellites with visible and near-infrared light sensors can also be operated in geostationary orbit in order to monitor sensitive changes of ocean environments, the notion of a geostationary space station equipped with radio communication was published in 1928 by Herman Potočnik. The first appearance of an orbit in popular literature was in the first Venus Equilateral story by George O. Smith. Clarke acknowledged the connection in his introduction to The Complete Venus Equilateral, the orbit, which Clarke first described as useful for broadcast and relay communications satellites, is sometimes called the Clarke Orbit. Similarly, the Clarke Belt is the part of space about 35,786 km above sea level, in the plane of the equator, the Clarke Orbit is about 265,000 km in circumference. Most commercial communications satellites, broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbits, a geostationary transfer orbit is used to move a satellite from low Earth orbit into a geostationary orbit. The first satellite placed into an orbit was the Syncom-3. A worldwide network of operational geostationary meteorological satellites is used to provide visible and infrared images of Earths surface, a geostationary orbit can only be achieved at an altitude very close to 35,786 km and directly above the equator. This equates to a velocity of 3.07 km/s and an orbital period of 1,436 minutes. This ensures that the satellite will match the Earths rotational period and has a footprint on the ground. All geostationary satellites have to be located on this ring. 85° per year, to correct for this orbital perturbation, regular orbital stationkeeping manoeuvres are necessary, amounting to a delta-v of approximately 50 m/s per year. A second effect to be taken into account is the longitude drift, there are two stable and two unstable equilibrium points. Any geostationary object placed between the points would be slowly accelerated towards the stable equilibrium position, causing a periodic longitude variation. The correction of this effect requires station-keeping maneuvers with a maximal delta-v of about 2 m/s per year, solar wind and radiation pressure also exert small forces on satellites, over time, these cause them to slowly drift away from their prescribed orbits. In the absence of servicing missions from the Earth or a renewable propulsion method, hall-effect thrusters, which are currently in use, have the potential to prolong the service life of a satellite by providing high-efficiency electric propulsion. This delay presents problems for latency-sensitive applications such as voice communication, geostationary satellites are directly overhead at the equator and become lower in the sky the further north or south one travels. At latitudes above about 81°, geostationary satellites are below the horizon, because of this, some Russian communication satellites have used elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits, which have excellent visibility at high latitudes
22.
Contiguous United States
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The contiguous United States consists of the 48 adjoining U. S. states plus Washington, D. C. on the continent of North America. S. The greatest distance entirely within the 48 contiguous states is 2,802 miles, the greatest north-south line is 1,650 miles. Together, the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D. C. occupy an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles. Of this area,2,959,064.44 square miles is land, composing 83. 65% of U. S. land area, officially,160,820.25 square miles is water area, composing 62. 66% of the nations total water area. The contiguous United States would be placed 5th in the list of states and dependencies by area. The 2010 census population of area was 306,675,006, comprising 99. 33% of the nations population. While conterminous U. S. has the meaning of contiguous U. S. other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity. The term was in use prior to the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states of the United States, the District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part of CONUS. OCONUS is derived from CONUS with O for outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental United States, the term Lower 48 is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. The National Geographic style guide recommends the use of contiguous or conterminous United States instead of lower 48 when the 48 states are meant, both Alaskans and Hawaiians have unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to them. Alaska became the 49th state of the United States on January 3,1959, Alaska is on the northwest end of the North American continent, but separated from the rest of the United States Pacific coast by the Canadian province of British Columbia. In Alaska, given the ambiguity surrounding the usage of continental, several other terms have been used over the years. Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States on August 21,1959 and it is the southernmost and so far, the latest state to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles from North America, in Hawaii and overseas American territories, for instance, the terms the Mainland or U. S. Mainland are often used to refer to the continental United States, apart from off-shore US islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous US are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada. Point Roberts, Washington, Elm Point, Minnesota, and the Northwest Angle in Minnesota are three such places, alburgh, Vermont, is not directly connected by land, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from from New York. The 48 contiguous United States are, Washington, D. C. is distinct from the state of Washington, extreme points of the United States Mainland Definition of continental Definition of contiguous Definition of coterminous and conterminous
23.
Central America
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Central America is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. Central America is bordered by Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the east, Central America consists of seven countries, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The combined population of Central America is between 41,739,000 and 42,688,190, Central America is a part of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala through to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur frequently, these disasters have resulted in the loss of many lives. In the Pre-Columbian era, Central America was inhabited by the peoples of Mesoamerica to the north and west. Soon after Christopher Columbuss voyages to the Americas, the Spanish began to colonize the Americas, the seven states finally became independent autonomous states, beginning with Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, followed by El Salvador, then Panama, and finally Belize. Middle America is usually thought to comprise Mexico to the north of the 7 states of Central America as well as Colombia, usually the whole of the Caribbean to the north-east and sometimes the Guyanas are also included. According to one source, the term Central America was used as a synonym for Middle America as recently as 1962, in Brazil, Central America comprises all countries between Mexico and Colombia, including those in the Caribbean. Mexico, in whole or in part, is included by British people. For the people living in the 5 countries formerly part of the Federal Republic of Central America there is a distinction between the Spanish language terms América Central and Centroamérica, in the Pre-Columbian era, the northern areas of Central America were inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. Most notable among these were the Mayans, who had built numerous cities throughout the region, and the Aztecs, following Christopher Columbuss voyages to the Americas, the Spanish sent many expeditions to the region, and they began their conquest of Maya territory in 1523. Soon after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado commenced the conquest of northern Central America for the Spanish Empire. Beginning with his arrival in Soconusco in 1523, Alvarados forces systematically conquered and subjugated most of the major Maya kingdoms, including the Kiche, Tzutujil, Pipil, and the Kaqchikel. By 1528, the conquest of Guatemala was nearly complete, with only the Petén Basin remaining outside the Spanish sphere of influence, the last independent Maya kingdoms – the Kowoj and the Itza people – were finally defeated in 1697, as part of the Spanish conquest of Petén. In 1538, Spain established the Real Audiencia of Panama, which had jurisdiction over all land from the Strait of Magellan to the Gulf of Fonseca. This entity was dissolved in 1543, and most of the territory within Central America then fell under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia Real de Guatemala. This area included the current territories of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Mexican state of Chiapas, the president of the Audiencia, which had its seat in Antigua Guatemala, was the governor of the entire area
24.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
25.
Water vapor
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Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor, is the gaseous phase of water. It is one state of water within the hydrosphere, water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Unlike other forms of water, water vapor is invisible, under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and removed by condensation. It is lighter than air and triggers convection currents that can lead to clouds, use of water vapor, as steam, has been important to humans for cooking and as a major component in energy production and transport systems since the industrial revolution. Likewise the detection of water vapor would indicate a similar distribution in other planetary systems. Water vapor is significant in that it can be evidence supporting the presence of extraterrestrial liquid water in the case of some planetary mass objects. Whenever a water molecule leaves a surface and diffuses into a surrounding gas, each individual water molecule which transitions between a more associated and a less associated state does so through the absorption or release of kinetic energy. The aggregate measurement of kinetic energy transfer is defined as thermal energy. Liquid water that becomes water vapor takes a parcel of heat with it, the amount of water vapor in the air determines how fast each molecule will return to the surface. When a net evaporation occurs, the body of water will undergo a net cooling directly related to the loss of water, in the US, the National Weather Service measures the actual rate of evaporation from a standardized pan open water surface outdoors, at various locations nationwide. Others do likewise around the world, the US data is collected and compiled into an annual evaporation map. The measurements range from under 30 to over 120 inches per year, formulas can be used for calculating the rate of evaporation from a water surface such as a swimming pool. In some countries, the evaporation rate far exceeds the precipitation rate, evaporative cooling is restricted by atmospheric conditions. Humidity is the amount of vapor in the air. The vapor content of air is measured with devices known as hygrometers, the measurements are usually expressed as specific humidity or percent relative humidity. This condition is referred to as complete saturation. Humidity ranges from 0 gram per cubic metre in dry air to 30 grams per cubic metre when the vapor is saturated at 30 °C, another form of evaporation is sublimation, by which water molecules become gaseous directly, leaving the surface of ice without first becoming liquid water. Sublimation accounts for the slow disappearance of ice and snow at temperatures too low to cause melting
26.
Optical phenomena
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Optical phenomena are any observable events that result from the interaction of light and matter. See also list of topics and optics. A mirage is an example of an optical phenomenon, common optical phenomena are often due to the interaction of light from the sun or moon with the atmosphere, clouds, water, dust, and other particulates. One common example is the rainbow, when light from the sun is reflected and refracted by water droplets, some, such as the green ray, are so rare they are sometimes thought to be mythical. Others, such as Fata Morganas, are commonplace in favored locations, other phenomena are simply interesting aspects of optics, or optical effects. For instance, the colors generated by a prism are often shown in classrooms, optical phenomena include those arising from the optical properties of the atmosphere, the rest of nature, of objects, whether natural or human-made, and of our eyes. Also listed here are unexplained phenomena that could have an optical explanation, there are many phenomena that result from either the particle or the wave nature of light. Some are quite subtle and observable only by precise measurement using scientific instruments, one famous observation is of the bending of light from a star by the Sun observed during a solar eclipse. This demonstrates that space is curved, as the theory of relativity predicts, afterglow Airglow Alexanders band, the dark region between the two bows of a double rainbow. Some consider many of these mysteries to simply be local tourist attractions that are not worthy of thorough investigation. Minnaert, Light and Color in the Outdoors, ISBN 0-387-97935-2 John Naylor Out of the Blue, A 24-hour Skywatchers Guide, CUP,2002, ISBN 0-521-80925-8 Abenteuer im Erdschatten
27.
Tropical cyclone
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Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface and this energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as noreasters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of momentum imparted by the Earths rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they form within 5° of the equator. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter, Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. Cyclone refers to their nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect, in addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes. Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level, the environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as warm core systems. The near-surface wind field of a cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm, however, due to the Earths rotation, as air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically in order to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of the troposphere and this radius is typically coincident with the inner radius of the eyewall, and has the strongest near-surface winds of the storm, consequently, it is known as the radius of maximum winds. Once aloft, air flows away from the center, producing a shield of cirrus clouds
28.
Hurricane Hugo
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Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused widespread damage and loss of life in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Southeast United States. It formed over the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands on September 9,1989, Hugo moved thousands of miles across the Atlantic, rapidly strengthening to briefly attain category 5 hurricane strength on its journey. It later crossed over Guadeloupe and St. Croix on September 17 and 18 as a category 4 hurricane, weakening slightly more, it passed over Puerto Rico as a strong category 3 hurricane. Further weakening occurred several hours after re-emerging into the Atlantic, becoming downgraded to a category 2 hurricane, however, it re-strengthened into a category 4 hurricane before making landfall just slightly north of Charleston, on Sullivans Island September 21 with 140 mph sustained winds. It had devolved to a remnant low near Lake Erie by the next day, as of 2016, Hurricane Hugo is the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the East Coast north of Florida since 1900. Of this total, $7 billion was from the United States and Puerto Rico, since 1989, however, it has been surpassed by multiple storms and now ranks as the eleventh costliest in the United States. Hurricane Hugo originated as a wave, which moved off the west coast of Africa on September 9. Soon after moving off the African coast, it was classified as Tropical Depression Eleven southeast of the Cape Verde Islands, winds were initially 30 mph but they reached 35 mph soon after. Moving on a westward track at 18 knots, Tropical Depression Eleven steadily intensified. On September 13, Hugo rapidly intensified, and reached hurricane strength 1265 miles east of the Leeward Islands, a low-pressure area to the south caused Hugo to gradually turn to the west-northwest, while the storm was slowly strengthening. Shortly after, Hurricane Hugo began to intensify,24 hours after it was classified as a hurricane. After this bout of strengthening, Hugo began to rapidly deepen. After becoming a hurricane, Hugo reached Category 4 strength. The hurricane briefly reached category 5 intensity on September 15 at 1800 UTC and its maximum sustained winds had increased to 160 mph and the minimum central pressure had dropped to 918 millibars. After peaking in intensity as a category 5 hurricane, Hugo weakened slightly to a category 4 hurricane. In the early hours of September 17, Hugo crossed in between Guadeloupe and Montserrat while its winds were near 140 mph, when hurricane-force winds extended only 45 mi from the center. Less than 24 hours later, it made landfall on the island of St. Croix. That day, Hurricane Hugo also made landfalls in Puerto Rico, in Vieques and Fajardo, Hugo began to accelerate to the northwest soon after exiting eastern Puerto Rico
29.
Hurricane Andrew
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Hurricane Andrew was, at the time of its occurrence in August 1992, the most destructive hurricane in United States history. Passing directly through the town of Homestead, Florida, a city south of Miami, Andrew obliterated entire blocks of homes, over 25,000 houses were destroyed in Miami-Dade County alone, and nearly 100,000 more were severely damaged. 65 people were killed and the total across the affected regions exceeded $26 billion. Andrew originated from a wave over the central Atlantic, becoming the fourth tropical cyclone. In Miami-Dade County alone, damage was estimated at $25 billion. Several hours later, the hurricane emerged over the Gulf of Mexico at Category 4 strength, with the Gulf Coast of the United States in its projected path, after weakening slightly, Andrew moved ashore near Morgan City, Louisiana, as low-end Category 3 storm. The effects of land caused the hurricane to rapidly lose its intensity. The next day, Andrew merged with a system over the southern Appalachian Mountains. In the Bahamas, Andrew brought storm surge, hurricane-force winds, about 800 houses were destroyed in the archipelago, and there was substantial damage to the transport, water, sanitation, agriculture, and fishing sectors. Overall, Andrew left four dead and $250 million in damage throughout the Bahamas, in parts of southern Florida, Andrew produced severe winds, a wind gust of 177 mph was observed at a house in Perrine. These winds wreaked catastrophic damage in Florida—Miami-Dade County cities of Florida City, Homestead, a total of 63,000 homes were destroyed and more than 101,000 others were damaged, leaving roughly 175,000 people homeless. As many as 1.4 million people lost power at the height of the storm, in the Everglades,70,000 acres of trees were downed. Rainfall in Florida was substantial, peaking at 13.98 in in western Miami-Dade County, altogether, Andrew killed 44 and left a record $25 billion in damage in the state. Before moving ashore Andrew caused extensive damage to oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and it produced hurricane-force winds along its path through Louisiana, leaving about 152,000 without electricity. Over 80% of trees in the Atchafalaya River Basin were downed, throughout the basin and Bayou Lafourche,187 million freshwater fish were killed in the hurricane. An F3 tornado in St. John the Baptist Parish wrecked 163 structures, with 23,000 houses damaged,985 others destroyed, and 1,951 mobile homes demolished, property losses in Louisiana exceeded $1.5 billion. The hurricane caused the deaths of 17 people in the state, Andrew spawned at least 28 tornadoes along the Gulf Coast, especially in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 14, under the influence of a ridge of high pressure to its north, the wave tracked quickly westward
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Numerical weather prediction
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Numerical weather prediction uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of computer simulation in the 1950s that numerical weather predictions produced realistic results. Manipulating the vast datasets and performing the calculations necessary to modern numerical weather prediction requires some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Even with the power of supercomputers, the forecast skill of numerical weather models extends to only about six days. Factors affecting the accuracy of numerical predictions include the density and quality of observations used as input to the forecasts, post-processing techniques such as model output statistics have been developed to improve the handling of errors in numerical predictions. A more fundamental problem lies in the nature of the partial differential equations that govern the atmosphere. It is impossible to solve these equations exactly, and small errors grow with time, present understanding is that this chaotic behavior limits accurate forecasts to about 14 days even with perfectly accurate input data and a flawless model. This approach analyzes multiple forecasts created with an individual forecast model or multiple models and it was not until the advent of the computer and computer simulations that computation time was reduced to less than the forecast period itself. The ENIAC was used to create the first weather forecasts via computer in 1950, in 1954, Carl-Gustav Rossbys group at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute used the same model to produce the first operational forecast. Operational numerical weather prediction in the United States began in 1955 under the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit, in 1956, Norman Phillips developed a mathematical model which could realistically depict monthly and seasonal patterns in the troposphere, this became the first successful climate model. Following Phillips work, several groups working to create general circulation models. The first general circulation model that combined both oceanic and atmospheric processes was developed in the late 1960s at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. As computers have more powerful, the size of the initial data sets has increased. These newer models include more physical processes in the simplifications of the equations of motion in numerical simulations of the atmosphere, in 1966, West Germany and the United States began producing operational forecasts based on primitive-equation models, followed by the United Kingdom in 1972 and Australia in 1977. The development of limited area models facilitated advances in forecasting the tracks of tropical cyclones as well as air quality in the 1970s and 1980s, by the early 1980s models began to include the interactions of soil and vegetation with the atmosphere, which led to more realistic forecasts. The output of forecast models based on atmospheric dynamics is unable to resolve some details of the weather near the Earths surface. As such, a relationship between the output of a numerical weather model and the ensuing conditions at the ground was developed in the 1970s and 1980s. The process of entering data into the model to generate initial conditions is called initialization
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Ground station
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For stations controlling unmanned aerial vehicles, see Ground control station. Ground stations may be located either on the surface of the Earth, Earth stations communicate with spacecraft by transmitting and receiving radio waves in the super high frequency or extremely high frequency bands. When a ground station successfully transmits radio waves to a spacecraft, a principal telecommunications device of the ground station is the parabolic antenna. Ground stations may have either a fixed or itinerant position, article 1 § III of the ITU Radio Regulations describes various types of stationary and mobile ground stations, and their interrelationships. Specialized satellite earth stations are used to telecommunicate with satellites—chiefly communications satellites, other ground stations communicate with manned space stations or unmanned space probes. A ground station that primarily receives telemetry data, or that follows a satellite not in geostationary orbit, is called a tracking station, when a satellite is within a ground stations line of sight, the station is said to have a view of the satellite. It is possible for a satellite to communicate with more than one station at a time. A pair of stations are said to have a satellite in mutual view when the stations share simultaneous, unobstructed. Teleports may provide various broadcasting services among other functions, such as uploading computer programs or issuing commands over an uplink to a satellite. In May 1984, the Dallas/Fort Worth Teleport became the first American teleport to commence operation, the Telecommunications Industry Association also acknowledges this definition. The ITU Radiocommunication Sector, a division of the International Telecommunication Union, from 1927 to 1932, standards and regulations now governed by the ITU-R were administered by the International Consultative Committee for Radio. Eutelsat publishes similar standards and requirements, such as the Eutelsat Earth Station Standards, uplinkStation. com, a corporate directory of commercial teleports, satellite television operators, et al. World Teleport Association Accessed on 22 April 2009
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Wallops Island
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Wallops Island is a six-square-mile island off the Eastern Shore of Virginia, part of the Virginia Barrier Islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. It is located in Accomack County, Virginia, the island is just south of Chincoteague Island, a popular tourist destination. Wallops Island proper, originally known as Kegotank Island, was granted to John Wallop by the Crown on April 29,1692, ownership was divided down through the years, until the Commonwealth of Virginia seized the property in 1876 and 1877 in lieu of unpaid taxes. From 1877, ownership was divided and sub-divided until 1889. The Club was incorporated and assumed ownership in 1933 as the Wallops Island Association, Inc. Association members, the Association grazed sheep, cattle, and ponies on the area until the mid-1940s. In 1947, the U. S. Navy began using the upper two-thirds of the island on a basis for aviation ordnance testing. Forerunner of NASA, leased the lower 1,000 acres for rocket launching facilities, the Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuge is located on the island. The current population of Wallops Island is 434
33.
Satellite dish
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A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive electromagnetic signals from satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television. The parabolic shape of a dish reflects the signal to the focal point. Mounted on brackets at the focal point is a device called a feedhorn. This feedhorn is essentially the front-end of a waveguide that gathers the signals at or near the focal point, the LNB converts the signals from electromagnetic or radio waves to electrical signals and shifts the signals from the downlinked C-band and/or Ku-band to the L-band range. Direct broadcast satellite dishes use an LNBF, which integrates the feedhorn with the LNB, the theoretical gain of a dish increases as the frequency increases. The actual gain depends on factors including surface finish, accuracy of shape. A typical value for a consumer type 60 cm satellite dish at 11.75 GHz is 37.50 dB, with lower frequencies, C-band for example, dish designers have a wider choice of materials. The large size of dish required for lower frequencies led to the dishes being constructed from metal mesh on a metal framework, at higher frequencies, mesh type designs are rarer though some designs have used a solid dish with perforations. A common misconception is that the LNBF, the device at the front of the dish, modern dishes intended for home television use are generally 43 cm to 80 cm in diameter, and are fixed in one position, for Ku-band reception from one orbital position. Prior to the existence of direct broadcast satellite services, home users would generally have a motorised C-band dish of up to 3 m in diameter for reception of channels from different satellites. Overly small dishes can still cause problems, however, including rain fade, in Europe, the frequencies used by DBS services are 10. 7–12.75 GHz on two polarisations H and V. This range is divided into a low band with 10. 7–11.7 GHz, and this results in two frequency bands, each with a bandwidth of about 1 GHz, each with two possible polarizations. In the LNB they become down converted to 950–2150 MHz, which is the range allocated for the satellite service on the coaxial cable between LNBF and receiver. Lower frequencies are allocated to cable and terrestrial TV, FM radio, in a single receiver residential installation there is a single coaxial cable running from the receiver set-top box in the building to the LNB on the dish. The DC electric power for the LNB is provided through the coaxial cable conductors that carry the signal to the receiver. In addition, control signals are transmitted from the receiver to the LNB through the cable. The receiver uses different power supply voltages to select antenna polarization, a satellite finder may aid in aiming. A dish that is mounted on a pole and driven by a motor or a servo can be controlled and rotated to face any satellite position in the sky
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Radiant energy
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In physics, and in particular as measured by radiometry, radiant energy is the energy of electromagnetic and gravitational radiation. As energy, its SI unit is the joule, the quantity of radiant energy may be calculated by integrating radiant flux with respect to time. The symbol Qe is often used throughout literature to denote radiant energy, in branches of physics other than radiometry, electromagnetic energy is referred to using E or W. The term is used particularly when electromagnetic radiation is emitted by a source into the surrounding environment and this radiation may be visible or invisible to the human eye. The term radiant energy is most commonly used in the fields of radiometry, solar energy, heating and lighting, in modern applications involving transmission of power from one location to another, radiant energy is sometimes used to refer to the electromagnetic waves themselves, rather than their energy. In the past, the term electro-radiant energy has also been used, the term radiant energy also applies to gravitational radiation. For example, the first gravitational waves ever observed were produced by a black hole collision that emitted about 5. 3×1047 joules of gravitational-wave energy. Because electromagnetic radiation can be conceptualized as a stream of photons, alternatively, EM radiation can be viewed as an electromagnetic wave, which carries energy in its oscillating electric and magnetic fields. These two views are completely equivalent and are reconciled to one another in quantum field theory, EM radiation can have various frequencies. The bands of frequency present in a given EM signal may be defined, as is seen in atomic spectra, or may be broad. In the photon picture, the energy carried by each photon is proportional to its frequency, in the wave picture, the energy of a monochromatic wave is proportional to its intensity. This implies that if two EM waves have the intensity, but different frequencies, the one with the higher frequency contains fewer photons. When EM waves are absorbed by an object, the energy of the waves is converted to heat and this is a very familiar effect, since sunlight warms surfaces that it irradiates. Often this phenomenon is associated particularly with infrared radiation, but any kind of radiation will warm an object that absorbs it. EM waves can also be reflected or scattered, in case their energy is redirected or redistributed as well. Radiant energy is one of the mechanisms by which energy can enter or leave an open system, such a system can be man-made, such as a solar energy collector, or natural, such as the Earths atmosphere. In geophysics, most atmospheric gases, including the greenhouse gases, allow the Suns short-wavelength radiant energy to pass through to the Earths surface, heating the ground and oceans. The absorbed solar energy is partly re-emitted as longer wavelength radiation, radiant energy is produced in the sun as a result of nuclear fusion
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Albedo
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Albedo is a measure for reflectance or optical brightness. It is dimensionless and measured on a scale from zero to one, surface albedo is defined as the ratio of radiation reflected to the radiation incident on a surface. The proportion reflected is not only determined by properties of the surface itself and these factors vary with atmospheric composition, geographic location and time. While bi-hemispherical reflectance is calculated for an angle of incidence. The temporal resolution may range from seconds to daily, seasonal or annual averages, unless given for a specific wavelength, albedo refers to the entire spectrum of solar radiation. Due to measurement constraints, it is given for the spectrum in which most solar energy reaches the surface. This spectrum includes visible light, which explains why surfaces with a low albedo appear dark, albedo is an important concept in climatology, astronomy, and environmental management. The term albedo was introduced into optics by Johann Heinrich Lambert in his 1760 work Photometria, any albedo in visible light falls within a range of about 0.9 for fresh snow to about 0.04 for charcoal, one of the darkest substances. Deeply shadowed cavities can achieve an effective albedo approaching the zero of a black body, when seen from a distance, the ocean surface has a low albedo, as do most forests, whereas desert areas have some of the highest albedos among landforms. Most land areas are in a range of 0.1 to 0.4. The average albedo of Earth is about 0.3 and this is far higher than for the ocean primarily because of the contribution of clouds. Earths surface albedo is regularly estimated via Earth observation satellite sensors such as NASAs MODIS instruments on board the Terra, thereby, the BRDF allows to translate observations of reflectance into albedo. Earths average surface temperature due to its albedo and the effect is currently about 15 °C. If Earth were frozen entirely, the temperature of the planet would drop below −40 °C. If only the land masses became covered by glaciers, the mean temperature of the planet would drop to about 0 °C. In contrast, if the entire Earth was covered by water — a so-called aquaplanet — the average temperature on the planet would rise to almost 27 °C, hence, the actual albedo α can then be given as, α = α ¯ + D α ¯ ¯. Directional-hemispherical reflectance is sometimes referred to as black-sky albedo and bi-hemispherical reflectance as white-sky albedo and these terms are important because they allow the albedo to be calculated for any given illumination conditions from a knowledge of the intrinsic properties of the surface. The albedos of planets, satellites and asteroids can be used to infer much about their properties, the study of albedos, their dependence on wavelength, lighting angle, and variation in time comprises a major part of the astronomical field of photometry
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Magnetometer
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A compass is a simple example of a magnetometer, one that measures the direction of an ambient magnetic field. Magnetometers are widely used for measuring the Earths magnetic field and in geophysical surveys to detect anomalies of various types. They are also used in the military to detect submarines, consequently, some countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, classify the more sensitive magnetometers as military technology, and control their distribution. Magnetic fields are vector quantities characterized by strength and direction. The strength of a field is measured in units of tesla in the SI units. 10,000 gauss are equal to one tesla, measurements of the Earths magnetic field are often quoted in units of nanotesla, also called a gamma. Gaussmeters and teslameters are magnetometers that measure in units of gauss or tesla, in some contexts, magnetometer is the term used for an instrument that measures fields of less than 1 millitesla and gaussmeter is used for those measuring greater than 1 mT. There are two types of magnetometer measurement. Vector magnetometers measure the components of a magnetic field. Total field magnetometers or scalar magnetometers measure the magnitude of the magnetic field. Magnetometers used to study the Earths magnetic field may express the components of the field in terms of declination. Absolute magnetometers measure the magnitude or vector magnetic field, using an internal calibration or known physical constants of the magnetic sensor. Relative magnetometers measure magnitude or vector magnetic field relative to a fixed but uncalibrated baseline, also called variometers, relative magnetometers are used to measure variations in magnetic field. Magnetometers may also be classified by their situation or intended use, stationary magnetometers are installed to a fixed position and measurements are taken while the magnetometer is stationary. Portable or mobile magnetometers are meant to be used while in motion, laboratory magnetometers are used to measure the magnetic field of materials placed within them and are typically stationary. The performance and capabilities of magnetometers are described through their technical specifications, major specifications include Sample rate is the amount of readings given per second. The inverse is the time in seconds per reading. Sample rate is important in mobile magnetometers, the sample rate, bandwidth or bandpass characterizes how well a magnetometer tracks rapid changes in magnetic field
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X-ray
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X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz, X-ray wavelengths are shorter than those of UV rays and typically longer than those of gamma rays. Spelling of X-ray in the English language includes the variants x-ray, xray, X-rays with high photon energies are called hard X-rays, while those with lower energy are called soft X-rays. Due to their ability, hard X-rays are widely used to image the inside of objects, e. g. in medical radiography. The term X-ray is metonymically used to refer to an image produced using this method. Since the wavelengths of hard X-rays are similar to the size of atoms they are useful for determining crystal structures by X-ray crystallography. By contrast, soft X-rays are easily absorbed in air, the length of 600 eV X-rays in water is less than 1 micrometer. There is no consensus for a definition distinguishing between X-rays and gamma rays, one common practice is to distinguish between the two types of radiation based on their source, X-rays are emitted by electrons, while gamma rays are emitted by the atomic nucleus. This definition has problems, other processes also can generate these high-energy photons. One common alternative is to distinguish X- and gamma radiation on the basis of wavelength, with radiation shorter than some arbitrary wavelength, such as 10−11 m and this criterion assigns a photon to an unambiguous category, but is only possible if wavelength is known. Occasionally, one term or the other is used in specific contexts due to precedent, based on measurement technique. Thus, gamma-rays generated for medical and industrial uses, for radiotherapy, in the ranges of 6–20 MeV. X-ray photons carry enough energy to ionize atoms and disrupt molecular bonds and this makes it a type of ionizing radiation, and therefore harmful to living tissue. A very high radiation dose over a period of time causes radiation sickness. In medical imaging this increased risk is generally greatly outweighed by the benefits of the examination. The ionizing capability of X-rays can be utilized in treatment to kill malignant cells using radiation therapy. It is also used for material characterization using X-ray spectroscopy, hard X-rays can traverse relatively thick objects without being much absorbed or scattered. For this reason, X-rays are widely used to image the inside of visually opaque objects, the most often seen applications are in medical radiography and airport security scanners, but similar techniques are also important in industry and research
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Proton
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A proton is a subatomic particle, symbol p or p+, with a positive electric charge of +1e elementary charge and mass slightly less than that of a neutron. Protons and neutrons, each with masses of one atomic mass unit, are collectively referred to as nucleons. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of every atom, the number of protons in the nucleus is the defining property of an element, and is referred to as the atomic number. Since each element has a number of protons, each element has its own unique atomic number. The word proton is Greek for first, and this name was given to the nucleus by Ernest Rutherford in 1920. In previous years, Rutherford had discovered that the nucleus could be extracted from the nuclei of nitrogen by atomic collisions. Protons were therefore a candidate to be a particle, and hence a building block of nitrogen. In the modern Standard Model of particle physics, protons are hadrons, and like neutrons, although protons were originally considered fundamental or elementary particles, they are now known to be composed of three valence quarks, two up quarks and one down quark. The rest masses of quarks contribute only about 1% of a protons mass, the remainder of a protons mass is due to quantum chromodynamics binding energy, which includes the kinetic energy of the quarks and the energy of the gluon fields that bind the quarks together. At sufficiently low temperatures, free protons will bind to electrons, however, the character of such bound protons does not change, and they remain protons. A fast proton moving through matter will slow by interactions with electrons and nuclei, the result is a protonated atom, which is a chemical compound of hydrogen. In vacuum, when electrons are present, a sufficiently slow proton may pick up a single free electron, becoming a neutral hydrogen atom. Such free hydrogen atoms tend to react chemically with other types of atoms at sufficiently low energies. When free hydrogen atoms react with other, they form neutral hydrogen molecules. Protons are spin-½ fermions and are composed of three quarks, making them baryons. Protons have an exponentially decaying positive charge distribution with a mean square radius of about 0.8 fm. Protons and neutrons are both nucleons, which may be together by the nuclear force to form atomic nuclei. The nucleus of the most common isotope of the atom is a lone proton
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Alpha particle
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Alpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of decay. Alpha particles are named after the first letter in the Greek alphabet, the symbol for the alpha particle is α or α2+. Because they are identical to helium nuclei, they are sometimes written as He2+ or 4 2He2+ indicating a helium ion with a +2 charge. If the ion gains electrons from its environment, the particle can be written as a normal helium atom 4 2He. Some science authors may use doubly ionized helium nuclei and alpha particles as interchangeable terms, the nomenclature is not well defined, and thus not all high-velocity helium nuclei are considered by all authors to be alpha particles. As with beta and gamma rays/particles, the used for the particle carries some mild connotations about its production process and energy. Thus, alpha particles may be used as a term when referring to stellar helium nuclei reactions. A higher energy version of alphas than produced in alpha decay is a product of an uncommon nuclear fission result called ternary fission. However, helium nuclei produced by particle accelerators are less likely to be referred to as alpha particles, alpha particles, like helium nuclei, have a net spin of zero. Due to the mechanism of their production in standard alpha radioactive decay, alpha particles generally have an energy of about 5 MeV. They are a highly ionizing form of radiation, and have low penetration depth. They are able to be stopped by a few centimeters of air, however, so-called long range alpha particles from ternary fission are three times as energetic, and penetrate three times as far. To a lesser extent, this is true of very high-energy helium nuclei produced by particle accelerators. The best-known source of particles is alpha decay of heavier atoms. When an atom emits an alpha particle in alpha decay, the mass number decreases by four due to the loss of the four nucleons in the alpha particle. The atomic number of the atom goes down by two, as a result of the loss of two protons – the atom becomes a new element. Examples of this sort of nuclear transmutation are when uranium becomes thorium, or radium becomes radon gas, alpha particles are commonly emitted by all of the larger radioactive nuclei such as uranium, thorium, actinium, and radium, as well as the transuranic elements
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Ambigram
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An ambigram is a word, art form or other symbolic representation whose elements retain meaning when viewed or interpreted from a different direction, perspective, or orientation. The meaning of the ambigram may either change, or remain the same, Douglas R. Hofstadter describes an ambigram as a calligraphic design that manages to squeeze two different readings into the selfsame set of curves. Different ambigram artists may create completely different ambigrams from the word or words. The earliest known non-natural ambigram dates to 1893 by artist Peter Newell, the last page in his book Topsys & Turvys contains the phrase THE END, which, when inverted, reads PUZZLE. In Topsys & Turvys Number 2, Newell ended with a variation on the ambigram in which THE END changes into PUZZLE2, from June to September,1908, the British monthly The Strand published a series of ambigrams by different people in its Curiosities column. Of particular interest is the fact all four of the people submitting ambigrams believed them to be a rare property of particular words. In 1969, Raymond Loewy designed the rotational NEW MAN ambigram logo, the mirror ambigram DeLorean Motor Company logo was first used in 1975. John Langdon and Scott Kim also each believed that they had invented ambigrams in the 1970s, Langdon and Kim are probably the two artists who have been most responsible for the popularization of ambigrams. John Langdon produced the first mirror image logo Starship in 1975, Robert Petrick, who designed the invertible Angel logo in 1976, was also an early influence on ambigrams. The earliest known published reference to the term ambigram was by Hofstadter, the original 1979 edition of Hofstadters Gödel, Escher, Bach featured two 3-D ambigrams on the cover. Langdon also produced the ambigram that was used for versions of the books cover. Brown used the name Robert Langdon for the hero in his novels as an homage to John Langdon, in music, the Grateful Dead have used ambigrams several times, including on their albums Aoxomoxoa and American Beauty. In the first series of the British show Trick or Treat and these cards can read either Trick or Treat. The Transformers movie series have logos that are a robot face whether viewed right side up or upside down, there are two such logos, one for an Autobot, and one for a Decepticon. In 2015 iSmarts logo on one of its travel chargers went viral because upside-down it read +Jews. The company noted that. we learned a lesson of what not to do when creating a logo. ”Ambigrams are exercises in graphic design that play with optical illusions, symmetry. Some ambigrams feature a relationship between their form and their content, ambigrams usually fall into one of several categories, 3-Dimensional A design where an object is presented that will appear to read several letters or words when viewed from different angles. Such designs can be generated using constructive solid geometry, chain A design where a word are interlinked, forming a repeating chain
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SSL (company)
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SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC, of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a variety of government. The company was founded as the Western Development Laboratories of Philco, the Space Systems Division of Aeronutronic/Ford Aerospace/was acquired in by Loral Corp. in 1990 for $715 million from Ford Motor Company, and renamed Space Systems/Loral. In 2012 Space Systems/Loral was acquired by the Canadian aerospace company MacDonald Dettwiler for $875 million, sSL’s major competitors are Boeing Satellite Systems, Lockheed Martin, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space and JSC Information Satellite Systems. In 1960, the Courier 1B, built by then Philco, as of December 2016, there are 87 SSL-built GEO satellites currently on orbit. SSL manufactures satellites based on its SSL1300 series platform in Palo Alto, satellites in the series include ProtoStar I, ICO G1, SIRIUS FM-6 and SES NEW SKIES NSS-12. As of September 2015 there were 80 satellites based on the 1300 series platform on orbit, the company designed and built AsiaSat 8, which was launched on 5 August 2014, and AsiaSat 6, which went into orbit on 7 September 2014. The two satellite launches cost AsiaSat $110 million, the satellites were expected to last 15 years, and contain high-powered C-band transponders providing video and broadband services to the Asia-Pacific region. SSL and Constellation Services International have proposed a space tug based on the 1300 platform. The tug would be used to bring supplies to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, NASA eventually decided to pursue another proposal for this project. SSL, however, continues to provide Battery Orbital Replacement Units, Battery Charge Discharge Units, SSL designed and delivered a propulsion system based on their 1300 platform for the NASA LADEE mission. On April 17,2014, between 9,30 p. m and 10,22 p. m, using a private company to provide the propulsion system leverages the capability of commercially proven technology for U. S. Government missions. SSLs customers include AsiaSat, Azercosmos, Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk. A. SES World Skies, Shin Satellite, Singtel, Sirius Satellite Radio, Sky Perfect JSAT Corporation, Spainsat, Star One, Telenor, Telesat Canada, Thaicom, ViaSat, WildBlue, and XM Satellite Radio. Aerospace manufacturer List of spacecraft manufacturers Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area SSL company website SSL at Answers. com
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
