“The base material for plywood is birch, and we’re using basically just the same as you’d find in a hardware store or to make furniture,” Woodsat chief engineer Samuli Nymanm, who also happens to be the Arctic Astronautics co-founder, said in an official statement. “The main difference is that ordinary plywood is too humid for space uses, so we place our wood in a thermal vacuum chamber to dry it out. Then we also perform atomic layer deposition, adding a very thin aluminum oxide layer.”

Not only will that coating prevent the plywood from releasing any gases into the atmosphere, but it will also protect the satellite from corrosive atomic oxygen, which forms in the outer edges of Earth’s atmosphere when UV radiation from the sun splits normal oxygen molecules. Sections of the satellite will be coated with other varnishes and lacquers to see how they perform, as well.

The WISA Woodsat will be equipped with two cameras: one facing space, and another on a selfie stick so engineers can monitor changes to the plywood while the satellite is in orbit. It will also carry a set of sensors to monitor pressure in onboard cavities and an amateur radio so hobbyists can relay radio signals and images around the world. Nine small solar cells will keep it powered on its journey.

A test model of the WISA Woodsat made a successful stratospheric test flight on Saturday, June 12th from the Heureka Science Center in Vantaa, Finland. The satellite reached a maximum altitude of 31.2 km (about 19 miles) over the city of Mäntsälä during its 2-hour, 54-minute flight before descending using a parachute and landing safely into a forest. The onboard “selfie camera” took photos automatically every 30 seconds, capturing the exact moment when its support balloon burst during the descent.

Why use plywood? Because Earth-orbiting satellites often catch fire and break apart as they re-enter the atmosphere. The idea is that crafts made of plywood might burn up entirely in the process, leaving no toxic substances or debris to float around in space or fall back to Earth. Plywood is also a low-cost alternative to traditional materials like carbon fiber composites with the potential to perform just as well.

The WISA Woodsat isn’t the only wooden satellite in the works. In another part of the world, Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry has teamed up with Kyoto University to experiment with different types of wood in various extreme environments on Earth and beyond.

The post In Late 2021, This Tiny Satellite Made of Plywood Will Be Launched Into Space first appeared on Dornob.

Like watching television but sick of staring at the dish-shaped eyesore in your yard, on your roof or sticking out from the side of your house? Architects enjoy shaping the big picture (so to speak) when it comes to design, but few will remember to factor in those details that most homes have but most homeowners wish to hide. Fortunately, from camouflage dish covers to huge fake rocks, there are a few clever solutions to this standard problem.

On such stealth dish from Sqish comes with various patterns pasted onto its from, from faux-brick finishes to fake wood-slat patterns, imitation concrete to artificial grass, all so it can fit into any site or setting as subtly as possible.

“You can make your Sqish even more discreet by adding a sqishoflage sticker. Take a picture of the location where the Sqish will be sited and we will supply a UV-stable matt finish sticker for you to attach. We now print 3 stickers to allow a better match, one light tone one medium and one dark…”

“The Sqish currently comes in white. It can be made more discreet by adding a skin. We can produce a skin in any colour or from an image taken of the installation site as follows:

Take an photo of the installation site ideally with our colour match chart to one side. The colour match chart helps us to match the tone. The image needs to be around 60cm wide for us to crop the correct size skin.”

Sure, the texture will never quite match the background, but it may be an aesthetic step up from those standard black, white and gray varieties that most satellite dishes tend to come in – and few residential building materials do.

There are also companies that sell stickers made to smoothly slot into the circular form of round, standard-sized satellite dishes – some (such as cats, sunflowers and flags) may be a bit too tacky for your taste but again may also be better than no dish decor at all.

The post Stickers Camouflage Ugly Satellite Dishes first appeared on Dornob.

Produced in collaboration with New Museum, blu Marble is a 20-foot-wide LED structure displaying a live transmission of planet Earth from outer space using composite photographs captured by a NASA satellite. Errazuriz says the intent of the installation is to give us all a little nudge toward greater awareness and mindfulness about our fragile, limited time on this vulnerable and extraordinarily beautiful planet, a “tiny speck in space.”

“2019 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first person walking on the moon. This historical moment shifted the human perspective on limitation and possibility. Three years later, as Apollo 17 was on its last lunar mission, the crew took the renowned picture Blue Marble showing the first image of the Earth from space.”

“The original Blue Marble picture is the most widely reproduced image of the Earth, leaving us with a remarkable image frozen in time. blu Marble pays homage to the iconic picture by bringing it to life and substantially increasing its size to raise awareness to our need for perspective and introspection.”

NASA satellite images are typically used to monitor and study the daily variations of vegetation, ozone, clouds, and other signifiers of the Earth’s health. For the installation, the artist’s team has created a bot that copies these live photographs and combines them in a single video to generate a slow animated progression. Passersby can stop and marvel at swirling weather patterns from a perspective typically only enjoyed by astronauts.

The project launched at Richard Taittinger Gallery on March 13th, featuring a speech from esteemed guest Mike Massimo: the former astronaut, New York Times bestselling author, actor, and professor who sent out the first-ever tweet from space and also holds the record for hours spent spacewalking in a single mission. During the speech, Massimo offered his unique perspective on what it’s like to view the Earth from outer space.

For one night only, blu Marble transformed the Manhattan skyline with a neighborhood display projected onto the top level of The New Museum of Contemporary Art at 235 Bowery, though the main LED-based display will continue to run between brick buildings at 159 Ludlow Street until April 14. If you can’t make it in person, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s a livestream available on the internet via the project’s sponsor, e-vapor company blu.

Born in Chile and based in New York, Sebastian Errazuriz is known for his experimental approach to design, blurring the boundaries between disciplines with thought-provoking objects that are both conceptual and functional. He’s also no stranger to controversy, producing such works as a fur-critiquing stuffed animal jacket, sculptural shoes inspired by his former romantic partners, and wildly transforming cabinets and credenzas that unfurl in ways that seem almost impossible based on their proportions. When it comes to work by Errazuriz, it’s wise to always expect the unexpected.

The post Sebastian Errazuriz Livestreams Earth Onto Manhattan Skyline for “blu Marble” Installation first appeared on Dornob.

Yes, the foam — which is similar in composition to the fire retardant used in handheld fire extinguishers — has been significantly improved since it was invented in 1902. And the axe that we see the firefighters carrying, dubbed “Pulaski,” was updated with an elongated handle after an ergonomic study helped its designers better understand how to reduce fatigue. Still, significantly newer technologies like satellite imaging have yet to be implemented successfully.

There are a few reasons that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) seems so slow to introduce truly sophisticated technology. For starters, planning requires extensive collaboration between members of Congress, forest management, and eye witnesses on the ground. Congressional-level efforts to allocate more money to technology are already underway, as more money is consumed by the increasing severity of the state’s wildfires. Ralph Gonzales, the Fire and Aviation Portfolio Manager at the U.S. Forest Service’s Technology and Development program in San Dimas, California, also explains that the state doesn’t “want to introduce unintended consequences.”

So while many elements found in the following technologies are not brand new, what is new is the concept of bundling them together for use in firefighting, with a focus on early detection, mapping, and improved helicopter performance.

FUEGO: Early Detection of Wildfires from Space

FUEGO is a collaboration between UC Berkeley (led by Carl Pennypacker, an astrophysicist at the Lawrence National Berkeley Laboratory) and Fireball, a Reno-based company headed by CEO Tim Ball, who himself boasts almost a decade of firefighting experience and a doctorate from Stanford.

The project’s crowdfunding page reads: “Using modern digital technology, FUEGO [Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit] will utilize platforms at various altitudes to detect wildland fires very early, measure wildland fires with high precision and specificity, and then feed such results into modern fire simulation programs.” While the system is still being developed, the team envisions something along the lines of geosynchronous satellites and aerial drones integrated with existing piloted aircraft and fire towers. Sensors and infrared cameras would aid in spotting wildfires before they became too difficult to control.

Currently, wildfires are most commonly reported by witnesses on the ground, and less often by airplanes or weather satellites. Pennypacker says that the usual half-hour response time could be cut down to two minutes or less with FUEGO. Before that can happen, however, funding will have to be procured for the up-to $300 million satellite needed for the system. The team has even started entertaining the idea of a partnership with the US Defense Department, which already uses similar satellites.

Collector: A Geographic Information System Mapping App

Collector is an app developed by Esri, a company that specializes in information management. With a user-friendly interface that takes advantage of the built-in GPS hardware we all have on our smartphones and tablets, the app allows firefighters to download maps and work offline. As soon as they have cell service, their data is uploaded. They are then able to see a fire’s size and location, as well as any structures and roads in its vicinity.

Collector runs off the GIS (Geographic Information System): a multi-layered approach that efficiently stores and analyzes spatial data. The system allows firefighters to measure the acreage of affected areas, share photos, get directions, and track containment progress.

The hope here is that GIS tools like Collector could eventually replace radio communication for both aircraft and ground crews. Lisa Elenz, the Assistant Director of Capabilities, Development, and Integration for the Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Management Division, explained: “We’re trying to expand our ability to access information off-aircraft, download it while they’re still in the air, store it, and make it searchable for analysis and documentation. We want to improve situational awareness so we have better information for line officers, decision makers, and crews on the ground.” Cal Fire has been using the app since 2014 to help map wildfire damage.

Black Hawk “Firehawk” Helicopters Carry More Firefighters and Water

In the summer of 2018, the City of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department received an S-70 Black Hawk helicopter from the Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky. LA County Fire Department has also started replacing their aging, Vietnam-era “Super Huey” helicopters with Black Hawks.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Air Operations Chief Chuck Macfarland states: “Never before has the City of San Diego operated as large and as powerful a helicopter as the Black Hawk, which can accurately place almost three times more water on a wildland fire in a single drop than our current fleet. By hitting wildland fires aggressively in their initial stage, we will be able to keep fires small.” The Black Hawk, now dubbed the Firehawk, can carry up to 11 firefighters and all of their gear. The aircraft boasts an 1,000-gallon (8,000-pound) belly tank, extended landing gear and rescue hoist, and a retractable snorkel. In comparison, the existing fleet of Super Huey helicopters can carry just eight firefighters and about 360 gallons of water or foam. Among other functions, the aircraft’s digital cockpit allows for precision hover, and its digital moving map is able to pinpoint precise location and destination. It’s easy to see why adoption of this particular technology is so attractive to fire departments.

“We’ve got a new dynamic in the landscape,” says Edward Struzik, author of Firestorm: How Wildfires Will Shape Our Future. “We’ve got heat drying up the forests, extending droughts, providing more fuel for ignition. The heat drives winds like the Santa Anas even harder than in the past.” The Forest Service currently has 80 people doing research and development, much of which focuses on the incorporation of new technologies. Here’s hoping these innovative measures provide at least a little relief to the increasing intensity of California’s wildfires.

The post New Technology in the Works to Fight Wildfires first appeared on Dornob.