Between the Poles

Successful Commercial Falcon 1 Razaksat Satellite Launch

The Razaksat satellite was successfully separated from the SpaceX Falcon 1 lauch vehicle about 48 minutes after liftoff at Kwajalein at 3:35 GMT (11:35 pm EDT).   This is the first succesful launch of a satellite on a Falcon rocket.   Falcon 1 is a two stage, liquid oxygen and kerosene powered rocket designed for commercial transport of satellites to low Earth orbit.  The Falcon 1 is powered by a Merlin 1C engine,  developed by SpaceX and delivering about the same thrust as the Saturn V F-1. 

The RazakSat satellite is a joint development program between Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn.Bhd. of Malaysia and SaTReCi to develop technologies for a Near Equatorial Orbit remote sensing mini-satellite system for medium high-resolution images.  Two other satellites are on board, InnoSat and CubeSat.

This was the fifth flight of the Falcon 1 rocket, with the last two flights being successful. Later this year the first flight of the larger Falcon 9 rocket is planned from Cape Canaveral.   The Falcon-9 first stage is powered by nine Merlin engines.

Sustainability: Solar Radiation Analysis for BIM

If you're working in a building information modeling (BIM) environment and want to analyze the structure for sustainability during the conceptual design phase, there is a Solar Radiation Technology Preview at Autodesk Labs that you might want to take a look at. The Solar Radiation Technology Preview allows users to study incident solar radiation on a building. There's a video that shows you how.

3D Printing on the Desktop

I blogged about 3D printing earlier this year. 3D printing involves designing a 3D model in a design application such as AutoCAD, exporting an STL file and then literally printing a 3D object using a multi-pass inkjet-like process, but with a material which can be plastic or resin rather than ink.

At that time the only 3D printers were large floor models. I just noticed in the Beyond the Paper blog that Objet has released a desktop 3D printer. The Alaris30 has a 300 x 200 x 150 mm (11.81 x 7.87 x 5.9in)  build tray and fits on a desk. (Photo from Objet)

Global Climate Change and Arctic Sea Ice

The extent of Arctic sea ice is one of the most accessible sources of data showing the effect of global climate change.  The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) began monitoring Arctic sea ice extents in 1978 using passive microwave satellites (NSIDC Near-Real-Time DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations and the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SSMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave) at a resolution of 25 km.  September 2007 was the lowest summer Arctic sea ice extent observed since NSIDC began monitoring and recording sea ice extents in 1978.  To see an animation of observed sea ice extents for September from 1979 through 2008, go to this site and select 

• Northern hemisphere, 
• 1979
• September 
• Sea Ice Extent
• check Fixed Month Animations.

A recent article, which extrapolated Arctic sea ice extents back to 1200 CE using a combination of regional tree-ring chronology from the timberline area in Fennoscandia and δ¹⁸O from the Lomonosovfonna ice core in Svalbard calibrated for the period 1864–1997, suggests that the present low sea ice extent is the lowest  over the last 800 years and began with a decline starting in the late-nineteenth century after the so called Little Ice Age (LIA) from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, when the largest sea ice extent values occurred.  Last year the Northwest Passage was ice free in the summer for the first time in history.  Right now the Arctic is in the midst of the summer melt season. Through June ice extent tracked below the 1979 to 2000 average, and slightly above the levels recorded during June 2007.

An article published in 2007 by Julienne Stroeve and co-workers at NSIDC has suggested that the IPCC models are too conservative in their estimates that the Arctic will become completely ice-free in the summer during the second half of this century or later.  On average, the IPCC models suggest a trend that is three times smaller than what has been observed.  The observed rate indicates that sea ice conditions for September are about thirty years ahead of where the models predict and suggest it is likely that the Arctic will be ice free in the summer during the first half of this century.

Open Data Licensing

I've blogged about open data in the past and some of the issues with using Creative Commons licensing for data and why OpenStreetMap was looking at a new license specifically for data. 

The first version of Open Database License (ODbL) has been released.  ODbL 1.0 is an open license for data and databases which includes explicit attribution and share-alike requirements.  The best simple description I have heard is that ODbL is Creative Commons with Share Alike (CC by SA) without the problems.

Jordan Hatcher, the author of the ODbL, just gave a presentation on the ODbL and DbCL (Database Content license) at SOTM09.

SOTM09: Will Yahoo! Be Full Open Source Geospatial Data by End of 2010 ?

Reports are coming from the State of the Map 2009 conference in Amsterdam, where Gary Gale, Head of UK Engineering for the Yahoo! Geo Technologies group gave a talk, that Yahoo! is planning to be using fully open source geospatial data by 2010.  Steven Feldman says it best "... Yahoo will have removed all proprietary place data by 2010 and will make their data open." 

Of course the inference is that Yahoo! would be using data sources like OpenStreetMap rather than commercial providers like Navteq or TeleAtlas.

You can follow the SOTM09 presentations at OpenGeoData.

Last Call Working Draft for W3C Geolocation API

The Geolocation API specification defines an API for scripted access to geographical location information. The document just published by the Geolocation Working Group is a Last Call Working Draft, which means that the Working Group has determined that this document has satisfied technical requirements and is ready to advance through the W3C Technical Recommendation process to become a W3C Recommendation. Comments can be sent to [email protected]. 

The requirements for the Geolocation API are to

1. provide location data in terms of a pair of latitude and longitude coordinates.
2. provide information about the accuracy of the retrieved location data.
3. support "one-shot" position updates.
4. allow an application to register to receive updates when the position of the hosting device changes.
5. allow an application to cheaply query the last known position.
6. provide a way for the application to receive updates about errors that may have occurred while obtaining a location fix.
7. allow an application to specify a desired accuracy level of the location information.
8. be agnostic to the underlying sources of location information.

Department of Energy Announces $3.9 Billion for Smart-grid Technologies and Electric Transmission Infrastructure

Under the ARRA the Department of Energy has announced the availability of $3.9 Billion to develop smart-grid technologies and electric transmission Infrastructure.  The U.S. Secretary of Energy announced that the Department of Energy is looking for grant applications to support modernization of the electric grid, to support renewable energy sources and to improve the reliability, efficiency and security of the US transmission and distribution system. The stated objectives are to lower utility bills, reduce US dependence on oil, which is mostly imported, and contribute to reduced emssions.

The maximum award for Smart Grid Investment Grants will be $200 million, and the maximum award for Smart Grid Demonstrations will be $100 million.

G8 Targets Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 80% by 2050

According to the Globe and Mail the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union) have agreed to target limiting the global temperature increase to 2^o Celsius (about 4^o F).  To do this the G8 have agreed to target reducing the greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and sulphur hexafluoride (GHG) of the world's 32 industrialized nations by 80% by 2050, although it has not been agreed which reference year to use.  The US and Canada have 2005 or 2006 in mind, whereas other countries believe 1990, the reference year for the Kyoto Accord on global climate change, should be the reference year. (Between 1990 and 2006, Canada's GHG emissions grew by 26 per cent.) Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries, which did not include the US, had agreed to reduce their collective GHG emissions by 5.2% compared to the year 1990. 

A major issue that remains outstanding and which will be discussed today is the proportion of  GHG emissions reduction to be allocated to industrialized countries (G8) and to emerging countries (especially the G5, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa ).

The G8 discussions on global climate change are in preparation for the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December of this year which is tasked with coming up with an agreement to replace the Kyoto Accord which expires in 2012.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which was passed by the US House of Representatives and is scheduled for a vote in the Senate in the near future, also specifically mentions 2^o C as the temperature increase target, specifically, "global average surface temperature 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the pre-industrial average".

Google Chrome OS (Operating System)

Many people have been expecting a Google OS since the Google Chrome browser was released.  I still use Firefox most of the time, but am finding Chrome increasingly attractive because of performance and stability. In particular I like that each panel is a separate process, so you can shut a hung panel down without shutting the entire browser down.  In June according to Net Applications, the market share breakdown was as follows:

• Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 65.64%
• Firefox 22.14%
• Safari 9.01%
• Chrome 2.01%

Quite respectable market share for a 9 month old browser.

According to the Google Blog the Google Chrome OS is a light weight, open source operating system initially targeted on netbooks.  I've blogged several times about what companies are doing to reduce the time you wait while your computer is booting.  Google appears to be putting a lot of effort into addressing this problem. Chrome OS is designed to be lightweight for rapid booting so that you will be able to be on the web within seconds of turning your netbook on.  It will run on x86 as well as ARM processors and will use a Linux kernel.  Also it will have a completely redesigned security layer to minimize issues with viruses and other malware. Netbooks running Chrome OS are expected to be available in the second half of 2010.