the wholeness of seeing

Hi folks -

I just got this mail from my friend Bob Miller (Exploratorium) in San Fransisco.
              I think you might enjoy it.

                       Alf Christian

> From: bobm@exo.net
> Sent: 2006-08-07 09:06:51 CEST
> To: kultur.faktor@online.no
> Subject: 2nd try at wholeness
>
>
>
> Alf -
>
> Here it is, I hope:
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: STEPHEN P. MARAN
> To: KC.COLE@latimes.com
> Sent: 9/30/2004 9:59 AM
> Subject: U COLORADO: Giant 'Pinhole Camera' for Exoplanet Studies
>
> THE FOLLOWING RELEASE WAS RECEIVED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, AT
> BOULDER, AND IS FORWARDED FOR YOUR INFORMATION. (FORWARDING DOES NOT
> IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.) Steve Maran,
> American Astronomical Society
>
> (Please note my address from Oct. 1: maran@aas.org &
> telephone: 1-202-328-2010 x116. Steve Maran)
>
>
> Contact: Webster Cash, (303) 492-4056
> cash@origins.colorado.edu
> Jim Scott, (303) 492-3114
>
> Sept. 30, 2004
>
> CU PROPOSAL TO IMAGE DISTANT PLANETS
> FUNDED FOR FURTHER STUDY BY NASA
>
> A NASA institute has selected a new University of Colorado at
> Boulder proposal for further study that describes how existing
> technologies can be used to study planets around distant stars with
> the help of an orbiting "starshade."
>
> The concept by CU-Boulder Professor Webster Cash of the
> Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy was one of 12 proposals
> selected for funding Sept. 28 by the NASA Institute for Advanced
> Concepts, or NIAC. Cash's proposal details the methods needed to
> design and build what essentially is a giant "pinhole camera" in
> space.
>
> The football field-sized starshade would be made of thin,
> opaque material and contain an aperture, or hole, in the center
> roughly 30 feet in diameter to separate a distant planet's light from
> the light of its adjacent parent star, Cash said. A detector
> spacecraft equipped with a telescope would trail tens of thousands of
> miles behind the orbiting starshade to collect the light and process
> it.
>
> Such a system could be used to map planetary systems around
> other stars, detect planets as small as Earth's moon and search for
> "biomarkers" such as methane, water, oxygen and ozone. Known as the
> New Worlds Imager, the system also could map planet rotation rates,
> detect the presence of weather and even confirm the existence of
> liquid oceans on distant planets, he said.
>
> "In its most advanced form, the New Worlds Imager would be
> able to capture actual pictures of planets as far away as 100
> light-years, showing oceans, continents, polar caps and cloud banks,"
> said Cash. If extra-terrestrial rainforests exist, he said, they
> might be distinguishable from deserts.
>
> "To me, one of the most interesting challenges in space
> astronomy today is
> the detection of exo-solar planets," said Cash. "We have created an
> affordable concept with very practical technology that would allow us
> to conduct planet imaging in visible and other wavelengths of light."
>
> The beauty of the pinhole as an optical device is that it
> functions as an almost perfect lens, said Cash, who is a professor in
> CU-Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department. 'This
> device would remove the limiting problem of light scattered from the
> parent star due to optical imperfections."
>
> The successful proposal was authored by Cash, Princeton
> University's Jeremy Kasdin and Sara Seager of the Carnegie
> Institution of Washington. Nine other proposal advisers from
> universities and industry contributed to the New Worlds Imager
> concept, said Cash.
>
> NIAC was created in 1998 to solicit revolutionary concepts
> from people and organizations outside the space agency that could
> advance NASA's missions. The winning concepts, chosen because they
> "push the limits of known science and technology," are expected to
> take at least a decade to develop if they eventually are selected for
> a mission flight, according to NASA.
>
> In 1999, Cash headed a winning NIAC proposal for a new,
> powerful x-ray telescope technology that will allow astronomers to
> peer into the mouths of black holes. That telescope package is now
> under development by NASA as the multi-million dollar MAXIM mission
> and is slated for launch next decade.
>
> Other concepts funded in 2004 by NIAC include a proposal for
> a lunar space elevator, new super-conducting magnet technology for
> astronaut radiation protection and a magnetized beam
> plasma-propulsion system.
>
> Teams that submitted winning proposals to NIAC this year were
> awarded $75,000 for a Phase 1, six-month viability study. Those
> proposals that go on to win approval for Phase 2 studies next year by
> the space agency will be funded with up to $400,000 for two
> additional years, according to NASA.
>
> "We are thrilled to team up with imaginative people from
> industry and universities to discover innovative systems that meet
> the tremendous challenge of space exploration and development," said
> NIAC Director Robert Cassanova. Cassanova also is a member of the
> Universities Space Research Association, which administers NIAC for
> NASA.
> -30-
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO CONTINUE RECEIVING PRESS RELEASES THAT ARE
> FORWARDED TO THE NEWS MEDIA VIA THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY,
> PLEASE REPLY ACCORDINGLY TO ANY INCOMING PRESS RELEASE, OR WRITE
> TO stephen.p.maran@nasa.gov. Requests for referrals to experts
> should be sent to the same address. Starting Sept. 30, 2004,
> write to maran@aas.org or call 1-202-328-2010 ext. 116.
> Download this as a file
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Received on Mon Aug 7 01:23:13 2006