Post by auntym on Jan 15, 2012 13:16:34 GMT -6
www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/01/weekend-feature-avatars-will-they-play-a-role-in-the-future-of-space-exploration.html
Avatars --Will They Play a Role in the Future of Space Exploration?
January 14, 2012
"Tomorrow’s NASA space program will be different," said Wallace Fowler of the University of Texas, a renowned expert in modeling and design of spacecraft, and planetary exploration systems. "Human space flight beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), beyond Earth’s natural radiation shields (the Van Allen belts), is dangerous.
Currently, a human being outside the Van Allen belts could receive the NASA defined “lifetime dose” of galactic cosmic radiation within 200 days. If the Sun spews out a coronal jet of radiation in a solar storm in the direction of the spacecraft, a lethal dose can be received in a few hours. Mars does not have the equivalent of the shielding Van Allen belts, so a Mars base would also need shielding. Until we develop appropriate shielding, probably an intense magnetic field around the spacecraft, human travel, even to the moon, will likely be limited."
"Robotic missions, in the short term, will be limited to the inner solar system," continues Fowler aruing the hard realities of manned space travel. "In the inner solar system (within the orbit of Mars), the solar cells can be used to power spacecraft.
Beyond Mars, spacecraft power systems rely on radioactive means to create electricity, and we do not currently have a supply source for the needed material. There is a very short supply of Plutonium 238, the radioactive element used to provide electricity for spacecraft going to Jupiter and beyond. We have exhausted the U.S. supply and have been buying it from the Russians. Now they are in short supply and other sources are not currently available."
Robots, however, are a far cry from true Pandora-like avatars that allow the human user to truly 'experience' the environment. This is where virtual reality technologies come into play.
The Virtual Interactive Environment Workstation (VIEW) was an early virtual reality instrument developed at NASA Ames. It was a leap forward in true 'immersion' of the user in a virtual environment, and was the first systems to use a 'data glove'. This glove measured and tracked how a user moved their fingers, allowing interaction with the virtual world.
CONTINUE READING: www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/01/weekend-feature-avatars-will-they-play-a-role-in-the-future-of-space-exploration.html
Avatars --Will They Play a Role in the Future of Space Exploration?
January 14, 2012
"Tomorrow’s NASA space program will be different," said Wallace Fowler of the University of Texas, a renowned expert in modeling and design of spacecraft, and planetary exploration systems. "Human space flight beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), beyond Earth’s natural radiation shields (the Van Allen belts), is dangerous.
Currently, a human being outside the Van Allen belts could receive the NASA defined “lifetime dose” of galactic cosmic radiation within 200 days. If the Sun spews out a coronal jet of radiation in a solar storm in the direction of the spacecraft, a lethal dose can be received in a few hours. Mars does not have the equivalent of the shielding Van Allen belts, so a Mars base would also need shielding. Until we develop appropriate shielding, probably an intense magnetic field around the spacecraft, human travel, even to the moon, will likely be limited."
"Robotic missions, in the short term, will be limited to the inner solar system," continues Fowler aruing the hard realities of manned space travel. "In the inner solar system (within the orbit of Mars), the solar cells can be used to power spacecraft.
Beyond Mars, spacecraft power systems rely on radioactive means to create electricity, and we do not currently have a supply source for the needed material. There is a very short supply of Plutonium 238, the radioactive element used to provide electricity for spacecraft going to Jupiter and beyond. We have exhausted the U.S. supply and have been buying it from the Russians. Now they are in short supply and other sources are not currently available."
Robots, however, are a far cry from true Pandora-like avatars that allow the human user to truly 'experience' the environment. This is where virtual reality technologies come into play.
The Virtual Interactive Environment Workstation (VIEW) was an early virtual reality instrument developed at NASA Ames. It was a leap forward in true 'immersion' of the user in a virtual environment, and was the first systems to use a 'data glove'. This glove measured and tracked how a user moved their fingers, allowing interaction with the virtual world.
CONTINUE READING: www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/01/weekend-feature-avatars-will-they-play-a-role-in-the-future-of-space-exploration.html