Valuing and realising our natural capital assets : Tellus all about it

The 2011 White Paper ‘The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature’ commits us to be the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than it inherited. The Tellus projects - a series of multi-partner environmental survey and research projects carried out in the UK and Ireland - have delivered innovative data and research that have successfully shaped policy and stimulated new investments in mineral, energy and infrastructure resources. On 12 May, at a meeting of the All Party Group on Earth and Environmental Sciences chaired by Martin Caton MP, Andy Howard, Mike Young and Marie Cowan explained how the Tellus Projects are transcending their original goals to contribute to the wider objective of measuring and realizing the value of our natural capital assets, and to help deliver the world-leading research needed to inform decisions and measure success in meeting the White Paper objectives

Shuttle Abort Flight Management (SAFM) - Application Overview

One of the most demanding tasks that must be performed by the Space Shuttle flight crew is the process of determining whether, when and where to abort the vehicle should engine or system failures occur during ascent or entry. Current Shuttle abort procedures involve paging through complicated paper checklists to decide on the type of abort and where to abort. Additional checklists then lead the crew through a series of actions to execute the desired abort. This process is even more difficult and time consuming in the absence of ground communications since the ground flight controllers have the analysis tools and information that is currently not available in the Shuttle cockpit. Crew workload specifically abort procedures will be greatly simplified with the implementation of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade (CAU) project. The intent of CAU is to maximize crew situational awareness and reduce flight workload thru enhanced controls and displays, and onboard abort assessment and determination capability. SAFM was developed to help satisfy the CAU objectives by providing the crew with dynamic information about the capability of the vehicle to perform a variety of abort options during ascent and entry. This paper- presents an overview of the SAFM application. As shown in Figure 1, SAFM processes the vehicle navigation state and other guidance information to provide the CAU displays with evaluations of abort options, as well as landing site recommendations. This is accomplished by three main SAFM components: the Sequencer Executive, the Powered Flight Function, and the Glided Flight Function, The Sequencer Executive dispatches the Powered and Glided Flight Functions to evaluate the vehicle's capability to execute the current mission (or current abort), as well as more than IS hypothetical abort options or scenarios. Scenarios are sequenced and evaluated throughout powered and glided flight. Abort scenarios evaluated include Abort to Orbit (ATO), Transatlantic Abort Landing (TAL), East Coast Abort Landing (ECAL) and Return to Launch Site (RTLS). Sequential and simultaneous engine failures are assessed and landing footprint information is provided during actual entry scenarios as well as hypothetical "loss of thrust now" scenarios during ascent

Reviews

The following publications have been reviewed by the mentioned authors;APU - Design and Technological Activity. A Framework for assessment, 1987 by the Department of Education and Science, reviewed by H. G. DentonTowards Post-Modernism - Design Since 1851 by Michael Collins, reviewed by S. W. GarnerOffice Furniture by Lance Knobel, reviewed by S. W. GarnerThe Toolbox Companion. An A-Z to DIY tools, materials and their uses by Mike Lawrence, reviewed by Howard DentonElectrical Appliances by Penny Sparks, reviewed by Mike HallDesignwise by N. McLean and C. Platt, reviewed by Howard Dento

A lunar space station

A concept for a space station to be placed in low lunar orbit in support of the eventual establishment of a permanent moon base is proposed. This space station would have several functions: (1) a complete support facility for the maintenance of the permanent moon base and its population; (2) an orbital docking area to facilitate the ferrying of materials and personnel to and from Earth; (3) a zero gravity factory using lunar raw materials to grow superior GaAs crystals for use in semiconductors and mass produce inexpensive fiber glass; and (4) a space garden for the benefit of the air food cycles. The mission scenario, design requirements, and technology needs and developments are included as part of the proposal