Engineering planetary lasers for interstellar communication

Transmitting large amounts of data efficiently among neighboring stars will vitally support any eventual contact with extrasolar intelligence, whether alien or human. Laser carriers are particularly suitable for high-quality, targeted links. Space laser transmitter systems designed by this work, based on both demonstrated and imminent advanced space technology, could achieve reliable data transfer rates as high as 1 kb/s to matched receivers as far away as 25 pc, a distance including over 700 approximately solar-type stars. The centerpiece of this demonstration study is a fleet of automated spacecraft incorporating adaptive neural-net optical processing active structures, nuclear electric power plants, annular momentum control devices, and ion propulsion. Together the craft sustain, condition, modulate, and direct to stellar targets an infrared laser beam extracted from the natural mesospheric, solar-pumped, stimulated CO2 emission recently discovered at Venus. For a culture already supported by mature interplanetary industry, the cost of building planetary or high-power space laser systems for interstellar communication would be marginal, making such projects relevant for the next human century. Links using high-power lasers might support data transfer rates as high as optical frequencies could ever allow. A nanotechnological society such as we might become would inevitably use 10 to the 20th power b/yr transmission to promote its own evolutionary expansion out of the galaxy

Parametric analysis of microwave and laser systems for communication and tracking. Volume 3 - Reference data for advanced space communication and tracking systems

Reference data for advanced microwave and laser communication and tracking systems - Vol.

The Apertif Surveys:The First Six Months

Apertif is a new phased-array feed for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), greatly increasing its field of view and turning it into a natural survey instrument. In July 2019, the Apertif legacy surveys commenced; these are a time-domain survey and a two-tiered imaging survey, with a shallow and medium-deep component. The time-domain survey searches for new (millisecond) pulsars and fast radio bursts (FRBs). The imaging surveys provide neutral hydrogen (HI), radio continuum and polarization data products. With a bandwidth of 300 MHz, Apertif can detect HI out to a redshift of 0.26. The key science goals to be accomplished by Apertif include localization of FRBs (including real-time public alerts), the role of environment and interaction on galaxy properties and gas removal, finding the smallest galaxies, connecting cold gas to AGN, understanding the faint radio population, and studying magnetic fields in galaxies. After a proprietary period, survey data products will be publicly available through the Apertif Long Term Archive (ALTA, https://alta.astron.nl). I will review the progress of the surveys and present the first results from the Apertif surveys, including highlighting the currently available public data

SPICA:revealing the hearts of galaxies and forming planetary systems : approach and US contributions

How did the diversity of galaxies we see in the modern Universe come to be? When and where did stars within them forge the heavy elements that give rise to the complex chemistry of life? How do planetary systems, the Universe's home for life, emerge from interstellar material? Answering these questions requires techniques that penetrate dust to reveal the detailed contents and processes in obscured regions. The ESA-JAXA Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission is designed for this, with a focus on sensitive spectroscopy in the 12 to 230 micron range. SPICA offers massive sensitivity improvements with its 2.5-meter primary mirror actively cooled to below 8 K. SPICA one of 3 candidates for the ESA's Cosmic Visions M5 mission, and JAXA has is committed to their portion of the collaboration. ESA will provide the silicon-carbide telescope, science instrument assembly, satellite integration and testing, and the spacecraft bus. JAXA will provide the passive and active cooling system (supporting the

JTEC Panel report on electronic manufacturing and packaging in Japan

This report summarizes the status of electronic manufacturing and packaging technology in Japan in comparison to that in the United States, and its impact on competition in electronic manufacturing in general. In addition to electronic manufacturing technologies, the report covers technology and manufacturing infrastructure, electronics manufacturing and assembly, quality assurance and reliability in the Japanese electronics industry, and successful product realization strategies. The panel found that Japan leads the United States in almost every electronics packaging technology. Japan clearly has achieved a strategic advantage in electronics production and process technologies. Panel members believe that Japanese competitors could be leading U.S. firms by as much as a decade in some electronics process technologies

Reports to the President

A compilation of annual reports for the 1999-2000 academic year, including a report from the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as reports from the academic and administrative units of the Institute. The reports outline the year's goals, accomplishments, honors and awards, and future plans