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In collaboration with Robert De Laurentis (https://flyingthrulife.com/) we were able to “fly” one of our third generation “wafer scale spacecraft” from the south Pole to the north Pole in a modified twin engine aircraft piloted solo from “Pole to Pole”. Starting in November 16, 2019 Robert took off from San Diego, CA to flew south eventually flew over the South Pole and then “hopped” northward until reaching the North Pole and then returning to San Diego in August 2020.

His mission was both of exploration in the limits of solo flight in small aircraft but also as a “World Ambassador” promoting peace and the vision of exploration. We have been working with Robert for several years as he prepared for his historic mission. Robert became interested in our work on finding a solution to enable humanity to reach far outside our solar system and enter another. We installed a fully functional autonomous WSS Gen 3 “spacecraft” on the inside of his aircraft looking out of a window, taking pictures, logging GPS coordinates and sensor data. All this was done autonomously with no human input over the 10 month mission. The UCSB WSS-3 worked flawlessly.

See UCSB Current article: https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2020/020031/poles-stars

Funding: UCSB funding for this program comes from NASA grants NIAC Phase I DEEP-IN – 2015 NNX15AL91G and NASA NIAC Phase II DEIS – 2016 NNX16AL32G for the NASA Starlight program and the NASA California Space Grant NASA NNX10AT93H as well as a generous gift from the Emmett and Gladys W. fund. We also acknowledge the support of the Breakthrough Foundation for our Starshot effort.

Below – Selection of images taken by WSS-3.  Flight path and UCSB WSS payload design  are also shown.

Below – Selection of images takes by UCSB WSS prior to and during flight using the embedded imaging system. The 5 MP images were taken every 2.5 seconds. Approximately 4000 images were taken and stored in onboard flash memory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie of flight images at 15 fps

Below – Recreation of flight path using more than 700,000 points of GPS data collected in-flight by the WSS

Yuri’s night commemorates the first flight of a human into space: the Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who flew on April 12, 1961.

Each year Yuri’s night is celebrated around the world.

While events are held worldwide, the closest event to UCSB, and the one at which our group presents, is in Los Angeles at the Museum of Science and Industry. This year the event will be on Saturday night, April 6^th, 2019.

https://www.la.yurisnight.net/

https://yurisnight.net/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

Article about Yuri Gagarin on Space.com

Some pictures from the past two Yuri’s Nights at which our group presented:

PeterK&aliens

UCSB at Yuri's Night

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Some pics of our group at Yuri’s Night, 2019:

May 2016

www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/us-lawmaker-orders-nasa-plan-trip-alpha-centauri-100th-anniversary-moon-landing

“Although such approaches may seem impossibly sci-fi for many space scientists, the report also refers to ‘beam energy approaches.’ The report mentions that the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program is already funding a study of “directed energy propulsion for wafer-sized spacecraft that in principle could achieve velocities exceeding 0.1c.”

(UCSB NASA Program – now called Starlight – emphasis added)

page 60, Excerpt from the 114TH CONGRESS REPORT of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2d Session

“The Committee encourages NASA to study and develop propulsion concepts that could enable an interstellar scientific probe with the capability of achieving a cruise velocity of 0.1c. These efforts shall be centered on enabling such a mission to Alpha Centauri, which can be launched by the one-hundredth anniversary, 2069, of the Apollo 11 moon landing.”

“…within one year of enactment of this Act, NASA shall submit an interstellar propulsion technology assessment report with a draft conceptual roadmap, which may include an overview of potential advance propulsion concepts for such an interstellar mission, including technical challenges, technology readiness level assessments, risks, and potential near-term milestones and funding requirements.”

This article covers DE-STAR, slowing down spinning asteroids, and photon propulsion.

Read it by checking out the link below:

http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2015/015844/asteroid-deflection-science-fiction-or-reality

The joint Planck – BiCEP team analysis of the March 2015  reported gravity wave detection from inflation have been published and shows no significant evidence of gravity waves in the BiCEP data contrary to the Harvard Press announcement of March 17 2015. The primary issue was the incomplete accounting of dust contamination in the BiCEP field which mimics an inflationary signature.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/03/backing-the-big-bang/

http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck/publications

http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/1502.00612

A Joint Analysis of BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck Data

Authors: BICEP2/Keck, Planck Collaborations: P. A. R. Ade, N. Aghanim, Z. Ahmed, R. W. Aikin, K. D. Alexander, M. Arnaud, J. Aumont, C. Baccigalupi, A. J. Banday, D. Barkats, R. B. Barreiro, J. G. Bartlett, N. Bartolo, E. Battaner, K. Benabed, A. Benoit-Lévy, S. J. Benton, J.-P. Bernard, M. Bersanelli, P. Bielewicz, C. A. Bischoff, J. J. Bock, A. Bonaldi, L. Bonavera, J. R. Bond, J. Borrill, F. R. Bouchet, F. Boulanger, J. A. Brevik, M. Bucher, I. Buder, E. Bullock, C. Burigana, R. C. Butler, V. Buza, E. Calabrese, J.-F. Cardoso, A. Catalano, A. Challinor, R.-R. Chary, H. C. Chiang, P. R. Christensen, L. P. L. Colombo, C. Combet, J. Connors, F. Couchot, A. Coulais, B. P. Crill, A. Curto, F. Cuttaia, L. Danese, R. D. Davies, R. J. Davis, P. de Bernardis, A. de Rosa, G. de Zotti, J. Delabrouille,

J.-M. Delouis, F.-X. Désert, C. Dickinson, J. M. Diego, H. Dole, S. Donzelli, O. Doré, M. Douspis, C. D. Dowell, L. Duband, A. Ducout, J. Dunkley, X. Dupac, C. Dvorkin, G. Efstathiou, F. Elsner, T. A. Enßlin, H. K. Eriksen, J. P. Filippini, F. Finelli, S. Fliescher, O. Forni, M. Frailis, A. A. Fraisse, E. Franceschi, A. Frejsel, S. Galeotta, S. Galli, K. Ganga, T. Ghosh, M. Giard, E. Gjerløw, S. R. Golwala, J. González-Nuevo, K. M. Górski, S. Gratton, A. Gregorio, A. Gruppuso, J. E. Gudmundsson, M. Halpern, F. K. Hansen, D. Hanson, D. L. Harrison, M. Hasselfield, G. Helou, S. Henrot-Versillé, D. Herranz, S. R. Hildebrandt, G. C. Hilton, E. Hivon, M. Hobson, W. A. Holmes, W. Hovest, V. V. Hristov, K. M. Huffenberger, H. Hui, G. Hurier, K. D. Irwin, A. H. Jaffe, T. R. Jaffe, J. Jewell, W. C. Jones, M. Juvela, K. S. Karkare, J. P. Kaufman, B. G. Keating, S. Kefeli, E. Keihänen, S. A. Kernasovskiy, R. Keskitalo, T. S. Kisner, R. Kneissl, J. Knoche, L. Knox, J. M. Kovac, N. Krachmalnicoff, M. Kunz, C. L. Kuo, H. Kurki-Suonio, G. Lagache, A. Lähteenmäki, J.-M. Lamarre, A. Lasenby, M. Lattanzi, C. R. Lawrence, E. M. Leitch, R. Leonardi, F. Levrier, A. Lewis, M. Liguori, P. B. Lilje, M. Linden-Vørnle, M. López-Caniego, P. M. Lubin, M. Lueker, J. F. Macías-Pérez, B. Maffei, D. Maino, N. Mandolesi, A. Mangilli, M. Maris, P. G. Martin, E. Martínez-González, S. Masi, P. Mason, S. Matarrese, K. G. Megerian, P. R. Meinhold, A. Melchiorri, L. Mendes, A. Mennella, M. Migliaccio, S. Mitra, M.-A. Miville-Deschênes, A. Moneti, L. Montier, G. Morgante, D. Mortlock, A. Moss, D. Munshi, J. A. Murphy, P. Naselsky, F. Nati, P. Natoli, C. B. Netterfield, H. T. Nguyen, H. U. Nørgaard-Nielsen, F. Noviello, D. Novikov, I. Novikov, R. O’Brient, R. W. Ogburn IV, A. Orlando, L. Pagano, F. Pajot, R. Paladini, D. Paoletti, B. Partridge, F. Pasian, G. Patanchon, T. J. Pearson, O. Perdereau, L. Perotto, V. Pettorino, F. Piacentini, M. Piat, D. Pietrobon, S. Plaszczynski, E. Pointecouteau, G. Polenta, N. Ponthieu, G. W. Pratt, S. Prunet, C. Pryke, J.-L. Puget, J. P. Rachen, W. T. Reach, R. Rebolo, M. Reinecke, M. Remazeilles, C. Renault, A. Renzi, S. Richter, I. Ristorcelli, G. Rocha, M. Rossetti, G. Roudier, M. Rowan-Robinson, J. A. Rubiño-Martín, B. Rusholme, M. Sandri, D. Santos, M. Savelainen, G. Savini, R. Schwarz, D. Scott, M. D. Seiffert, C. D. Sheehy, L. D. Spencer, Z. K. Staniszewski, V. Stolyarov, R. Sudiwala, R. Sunyaev, D. Sutton, A.-S. Suur-Uski, J.-F. Sygnet, J. A. Tauber, G. P. Teply, L. Terenzi, K. L. Thompson, L. Toffolatti, J. E. Tolan, M. Tomasi, M. Tristram, M. Tucci, A. D. Turner, L. Valenziano, J. Valiviita, B. Van Tent, L. Vibert, P. Vielva, A. G. Vieregg, F. Villa, L. A. Wade, B. D. Wandelt, R. Watson, A. C. Weber, I. K. Wehus, M. White, S. D. M. White, J. Willmert, C. L. Wong, K. W. Yoon, D. Yvon, A. Zacchei, A. Zonca

et al. (216 additional authors not shown)

(Submitted on 2 Feb 2015)

Abstract: We report the results of a joint analysis of data from BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck. BICEP2 and Keck Array have observed the same approximately 400 deg 2   patch of sky centered on RA 0h, Dec. −57.5deg  . The combined maps reach a depth of 57 nK deg in Stokes Q  and U  in a band centered at 150 GHz. Planck has observed the full sky in polarization at seven frequencies from 30 to 353 GHz, but much less deeply in any given region (1.2 μ  K deg in Q  and U  at 143 GHz). We detect 150×  353 cross-correlation in B  -modes at high significance. We fit the single- and cross-frequency power spectra at frequencies above 150 GHz to a lensed-Λ  CDM model that includes dust and a possible contribution from inflationary gravitational waves (as parameterized by the tensor-to-scalar ratio r  ). We probe various model variations and extensions, including adding a synchrotron component in combination with lower frequency data, and find that these make little difference to the r  constraint. Finally we present an alternative analysis which is similar to a map-based cleaning of the dust contribution, and show that this gives similar constraints. The final result is expressed as a likelihood curve for r  , and yields an upper limit r 0.05 <0.12  at 95% confidence. Marginalizing over dust and r  , lensing B  -modes are detected at 7.0σ  significance.