GPS has become a part of everyday life for most of us, with phones, cars, boats and planes relying on the network of satellites to pinpoint their location.

However, the US military has revealed a tiny chip, small enough to fit on a penny, that could do away with the need for an expensive network of orbiting base stations.

The tiny chip contains three gyroscopes, three accelerometers and a master clock, and when combined with computer software, can work out exactly where it is going.

The tiny chip contains three gyroscopes, three accelerometers and a master clock. It could replace GPS systems, and lead to a new generation of small gadgets able to navigate themselves 

HOW IT WORKS

Three pieces of information are needed to navigate between known points ‘A’ and ‘B’ with precision: orientation, acceleration and time.

This new chip integrates state-of-the-art devices that can measure all three simultaneously. 

The sensors and a timing unit are all in a tiny 10 cubic millimeter package. 

Each of the six microfabricated layers of the TIMU is only 50 microns thick, approximately the thickness of a human hair.

'Combined, these tools can track what direction the chip is moving and how fast, and its tiny size means it can be put on just about anything without much effect on its weight or shape,' says DARPA, the US military research agency.

The chip takes up just 10 cubic millimeters, and as the picture shows, fits neatly into the Lincoln Memorial on the back of a penny. It contains three gyroscopes and three accelerometers (one of both for each directional axis), and a highly accurate master clock.

This is useful for creating small drones and robots, ordnance that adjusts its own trajectory, and of course as a backup when more powerful positioning systems go down.

The device is so small it could even be placed in bullets and small missiles. 

The new chip could be used is small munitions to allow them to find their target even if the GPS system is damaged or unavailable 

'Both the structural layer of the sensors and the integrated package are made of silica,' said Andrei Shkel, DARPA program manager. 

'The resulting chip is small enough and should be robust enough for applications when GPS is unavailable or limited for a short period of time such as personnel tracking, handheld navigation, small diameter munitions and small airborne platforms.'

Courtesy of GIS Lounge

The ESA has recently released a small spin-off company that is going to help drivers around the world stay a little bit safer with the help of space age technology. EstrellaSat’s job is to create long-distance monitoring technology specifically designed to help predict the movements of drivers who work carting mine loads to and from important destinations, which in turn, can prevent serious accidents from happening. Jean Verhardt, CEO of EstrellaSat, used help from the ESA’s specialized Business Incubation Center located in Noordwijik, Netherlands in order to get EstrellaSat off the ground.

Much of the technology that will be used to prevent accidents will be taken from ESA space technology, as well as many of Verhardt’s personal technology developments created at the Business Incubation Center. This space age tech is going to involve high efficiency monitoring equipment tracking the movement of the trucks hauling massive loads from mines, as well as high sensitivity gyroscopes that can detect extremely subtle movements in each truck’s direction. Specifically, the gyroscopes are designed to pick up the several thousand movements which are linked to signs of fatigue in drivers, including slight shifts in steering, acceleration, and breaking.

The factors which make mine driving so difficult and deadly are quite serious, and have lead to hundreds of deaths in the past couple of years. Verhardt notes, “Sixty-five percent of serious accidents are caused by fatigue.” Many of the drivers throughout the mining world have to work long hours, often between 12 to 16 hours per shift. Due to the excessive lengths of time that they spend driving, fatigue is a very common problem – one that happens to be directly linked to approximately 65% of all accidents. With loads that these trucks carrying varying from 160 to 180 tons, there is little room for mistake, and even a simple swerve can cause fatal consequences. As a result, the need for better technology became apparent to those concerned about the drivers’ safety.

Currently, the fatigue-sensing technology is being tested in mines near El Brocal, Peru. So far, there has been much progress in terms of sensor data. However, there are still some major obstacles that EstrellaSat has to overcome before the technology can be sent out to the far reaches of the world. Scientists are still trying to figure out what is the threshold of fatigue that should alert drivers to take a quick break. Moreover, they are still unable to get much data due to the fact that Peru does not always have the 3G internet necessary in order to facilitate easy monitoring. So the company is working with ESA’s ESTEC space research and technology centre to use wifi and satellite in order to connect the sensors on the vehicles with the remote monitoring offices.  This constant connection and streaming of data will allow staff in those remote offices the ability to monitor driver behavior in real-time.

EstrellaSat got support from ESA’s ESTEC space research and technology centre to develop a way to link the motion sensors on the vehicles to remote offices via wifi and satellite. Credit: EstrellaSat.

The next phase of the project will be the development of vests to monitor temperature, heart rate and other physiological data to provide more accurate indications of driver fatigue.

Courtesy of Business Insider

Artist’s rendering of the planetary system of HR 8799 at an early stage in its evolution, showing the planet HR 8799c, as well as a disk of gas and dust, and interior planets.

Astronomers could one day create rough maps of the continents and oceans on far-away planets, determining the balance of oceans, lands, and overhanging clouds.

The technique uses reflected starlight off the surface of an exoplanet. To test the idea, researchers analyzed data from the Deep Impact spacecraft, which has observed Earth from far away, to distinguish between natural surfaces on our own planet.

"The analysis told us there were three important features," study researcher Nicolas Cowan, of Northwestern University, told Inside Science News Service, "and their spectra look an awful lot like land, ocean, and clouds."

Cowan presented the technique in January at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif. He uses the colors of light that get reflected off the surface of a planet to determine how much land and ocean there might be on its surface.

It's like determining what someone is watching on TV by looking at the colors reflected off of the opposite wall in a dark room.

For this technique to be used on actual exoplanets, researchers will need to develop a telescope that's strong enough to see these pinpricks of light reflected by a distant world, which won't be possible for at least another decade.

That's not the only way we can get a handle on what other planets are made of, though. Researchers were just able to determine the atmospheric makeup of a relatively close planet. 

The study, published in the journal Science on Thursday, March 14, used direct imaging of the solar system HR 8799, which lies about 130 light-years from Earth. Four planets around the star are visible to astronomers.

The star system is young, probably only 30 million years old, and these planets are extra huge gas giants, so not any planet that would be habitable for humans, but it's a start. It's possible this planetary system could hold smaller, more Earth-like planets as well, though they are too small to see.

The researchers zoomed in one of the outer planets, called HR 8799c, they could see water vapor and carbon monoxide in its atmosphere.

"The most exciting part of this result is that we were able to make these observations of an exoplanet atmosphere with this level of detail, much more than I even imagined was possible," study researcher Quinn Konopacky, of the University of Toronto, said in a press conference. "We have broken the light from the planet down to such a fine level of detail that the chemical fingerprints of the molecules in the atmosphere are breathtakingly sharp and distinct. This is important because it requires data of this quality to truly probe the makeup of a planetary atmosphere, and in turn, say something about how the planet formed."

Getting a good view of these exoplanets could help us understand which are the best to investigate as possibly habitable — the next Earth. So far, we've found more than 800 exoplanets, though none seem to be "just right" enough to move to yet. 

One of the discovery images of the planetary system obtained by the Keck II telescope using the adaptive optics system
and NIRC2 Near-Infrared Imager.

A Nexus powered satellite to be launched today – fingers crossed, welcome to the age of the Maker Sat ? 

STRaND-1 (the Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator), is a shoe box sized satellite weighing just 4.3kg.

It will launch into a 785km sun-synchronous orbit on ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota, India.

STRaND-1 will also be the first UK CubeSat to be launched and has been developed by University of Surrey’s Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL).  Amazingly the build and test phase of the project was completed in just three months.

The brains of the satellite is a Google Nexus One smartphone running Android. The Nexus One contains manages several key functions of the satellite providing cameras, radio links, accelerometers and high performance computer processing.

This in my mind is a great demonstration of  what is possible by taking a different approach to engineering in the age of sophisticated consumer electronics,  that said the guys at Surrey are Rocket Scientists who really know their stuff and launching even 4kg into orbit still needs access to powerful and expensive machines, but tinkering with my Raspberry PI and Arduino projects I can still dream..

Follow the launch at @SurreyNanosats

Singapore is making a major push to develop its satellite and space technology industry.

Minister in the prime minister’s office and second minister for trade and industry, S Iswaran, announced setting up of an inter-agency office to oversee the development of Singapore’s local space industry.

The Economic Development Board (EDB), together with participating ministries and agencies, have formed the Office for Space Technology and Industry or OSTIn.

They include the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the National Research Foundation (NRF).

Speaking at the Global Space Technology Convention, Iswaran said the inter-agency office will plan and execute economic strategies to drive the growth of the local space industry. The office will also work with industry stakeholders to help them realise their satellite business from Singapore.

Those who are keen to either expand their businesses into the space industry or strengthen their existing satellite capabilities could also tap on funds from the new office.

In addition, the office will champion the build-up of local public research capabilities and talent pool in the industry.

It is supporting two R&D projects from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore to jump-start Singapore’s public satellite capabilities.

Iswaran said, “We believe Singapore will become a compelling location for satellite-related companies to grow their businesses, develop their technologies and export new solutions to the world.

“In view of the growing competition, many satellite companies are now looking to develop expertise that will enable them to maintain their competitive edge while finding new growth and market opportunities.

“In this context, these companies will be able to tap on Singapore’s strengths in adjacent industries, as well as our market connectivity, geo-political neutrality, pro-business environment, and R&D infrastructure to bring their business and innovation initiatives to fruition.”

Iswaran added the public research entities have also established their own space-related R&D programmes. Companies looking to commercialise or conduct R&D in satellite technologies can partner these research institutions.

Separately, Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics) said its subsidiary ST Electronics (Satellite Systems) is developing the first made-in-Singapore commercial remote sensing satellite.

Named TeLEOS-1, this earth observation satellite is targeted to be launched in 2015.

Set up in 2011, ST Electronics (Satellite Systems) is a joint venture of ST Electronics, NTU and DSO National Laboratories.