CAJ - meet some of the asteroids

Hi,

Since this is one of my last blog posts, it will be dedicated to the leading actors of my CAJ – the asteroids themselves.

Gaspra

is located in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. From its irregular shape and its big craters it is suggested that Gaspra is between 300 and 500 million years old. Given the fact that the Universe is at least 13 to 16 billion years old, it is a rather young asteroid. Gaspra is about 17 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide. Every seven hours it revolves around itself completely.

Eros

is with about 33 kilometres one of the largest asteroids that is drifting dangerously close to Earth. It is an S-type asteroid which means that it contains nickel, iron and magnesium. Here is the blog post that informs you about the classification of asteroids. Eros, which was named after the Greek god of love and desire orbits the Sun.

Wild 2

is in fact a comet but has an asteroid-like composition. In 2006 the NASA stardust mission came back to Earth and brought samples of Wild 2 with them. This was the time scientists managed to bring a specimen of an asteroid back to Earth. Grains of Wild 2 were collected and the material was analysed. Because of its ejection of dust and gas, it is believed that Wild 2 is the second most active planetary surface in our solar system. The most active is the Sun.

Ceres

is with a diameter of about 950 kilometres (about the size of Texas) a very big asteroid and a dwarf planet at the same time. Moreover, it is the closest dwarf planet to Earth. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and makes up nearly one third of its mass. In 2013 scientists could prove that there is water on Ceres which may erupt from its surface. Here you can read the full story.

Next year a specimen of this asteroid will arrive on Earth which should prove if there is also an ocean. Scientists think that this dwarf planet could contain more fresh water than Earth does. Isn’t this amazing? Because of its closeness and its mineral resources, Eros could be a suitable asteroid in terms of mining. 

CAJ - Elon Musk

When I first read about Elon Musk, I decided that he deserves his very own blog post. I am not sure whether you have heard about him but Elon is the founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors, Solar City and, the company I am currently most interested in, SpaceX. In my previous blog posts I have already started introducing SpaceX’s philosophy and its aims. If you would like to read the post again click here.

This post is dedicated to the mastermind behind these companies which all have something in common. They were controversially discussed when public was first informed about the projects. Tesla Motors, for example, was founded to produce electric cars. German companies such as Daimler and Robert Bosch criticised Musk because his supercharging network does not work with models from other manufacturers. SolarCity provides customers with solar energy and is, despite criticism, now America’s largest solar power provider. SpaceX, finally, was founded in order to extend human life to other planets and to take the first humans to Mars. Musk stated in a recent interview that he will reach this goal by 2026. This would mean that in less than 15 years people would be able to do something which was long considered impossible.

So, who is this man whose major goal is to make life multi-planetary in order to protect people from extinction? Musk did neither study aeronautic nor has ever been in space. He is an autodidact which means that he taught himself what he needed to know. Musk was born in South Africa and has been interested in the Universe ever since. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and was 28 years old when he founded the e-mail payment company PayPal. Only three years later PayPal was so successful that Ebay bought it and Musk received $ 160,000,000. Instead of buying a helicopter and a house in the Caribbean, he invested the money in new companies such as SolarCity or SpaceX.

There are some great interviews with him but this is the one I like most: http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity. The way Musk talks about his projects and how he behaves on stage reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg. They both do not look like billionaires, although they are. Elon Musk is a very inspiring person and could be the role model for many young people who dream of inventing something. I was surprised that someone like Elon Musk is not very present in Austrian newspapers or TV programmes. However, there was an article about him in the “Standard”. I hope that people read it and got to know this fascinating personality. 

CAJ - Is it legal?

    When I discussed my CAJ with some of my flatmates, a very interesting question came up. I told them about asteroid mining and how companies such as Planetary Resources or SpaceX are trying to actually achieve their goal when someone interrupted me “But is it legal to do that? I mean, do they buy asteroids beforehand and then send their rockets there to mine for mineral resources?”. This reminded me of the question Hendrik asked me in class. “Who should own asteroids – are there any laws?”. I honestly had no idea but I have to admit that the question was reasonable, so I started looking this issue up.

    

    There is a United Nations Outer Space Treaty that prohibits ownership of celestial bodies by nations. However, there is no specific regulation for companies or individuals. Here is the link to it: http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/space1.html

    Theoretically, every country has the right to withdraw from this treaty. If the United States pulled out, the problem would be solved and Planetary Resources would be officially allowed to mine for minerals.

    

    In June 2012 several experts met at a Space Resources Roundtable to discuss the legal issue behind off-Earth resources. The discussion revealed that the opinion of legal experts is deeply divided on this issue. According to Leslie Gertsch, director of the Rock Mechanics & Explosives Research Centre at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, "the form that space law will finally take will depend on who has the guts and funds to start the process, what case it’s started with, […] and how the lawyers chose to argue their respective points during its course".

    

    One of the most interesting questions to me is what one of the companies has to say about owning asteroids.

    Unsurprisingly, the founders of Planetary Resources are convinced that space mining is legal. Co-founder Eric Anderson told Discovery News in an interview "We as a U.S. company certainly have the right to go on asteroid and make use of its resources. It is a stated goal of the U.S. government to enable and promote commercial activities and economic activity in space.”

    

    Another person who is in favor that private companies should have the right to mine on asteroids is Art Dula. He is a space law professor at the University of Houston. Dula states that the outer space treaty permits the ‘use’ of outer space by nongovernmental organizations. However, it does not permit commercial or business use. Moreover, he is convinced that the project cannot be realized at the moment and that people should not worry too much about it. “It costs so much just to get up there. You have to get a gang of billionaires together to even talk about this stuff."

CAJ - discussion

I have discussed my CAJ top (asteroid mining) with my flat mates. The discussion was interesting and really informative. There were some aspects I have not thought of before:

• The question “Can asteroids collide with each other?” came up. I was not quite sure but would have said so. In order to clear it up, we googled it and found out that asteroids can collide. We then imagined the consequence of a collision between two asteroids when one had a “fuel station” on it. We discussed what would happen to them. Would the fuel explode? Would the shock wave be big enough to harm or destroy life on Earth?

• David said: Sometimes asteroids leave orbit. It could happen that they burn up in the atmosphere or, in the worst case, crash into Earth (that already happened). We looked that up on the NASA website and found out that he is right. About once a year, an asteroid, in the size of a car, hits Earth’s atmosphere and creates a fireball. What would happen if there was a fuel depot on this specific asteroid?

• When Hendrik asked me “Who should own asteroids?”, I honestly had no idea what to answer. Meanwhile I have found out that there is a United Nations treaty that prohibits ownership of celestial bodies by nations. However, there is no specific regulation for companies or individuals. I asked my friends the same question and they came up with answers ranging from “no one should own them” to “the company that first manages to mine them” to “everyone should be allowed to buy asteroids and do with them whatever they want”.

• Unsurprisingly, the biggest question was “Why would you mine on asteroids and not use the money for more ‘sensible purposes’?” I tried to explain them the advantages of asteroid mining (that the mined materials could be used for various purposes such as spaceship fuel or in medicine (platinum is needed for implants or pacemakers)) but I think I could not convince them. “Wouldn’t it be cleverer to invest in sustainable development and the conservation of resources rather than thinking about mining for mineral resources somewhere in the universe?”, one person asked.

CAJ - News

Hi,

There happened something quite interesting regarding my CAJ topic. Chris Lewicky, the Chief Engineer of Planetary Resources announced at the annual FiRe (the Future in Review Conference) in Utah that they decided to reduce their efforts in terms of mining for metals on asteroids and shifted their focus towards mining water. At the conference he explained different ways of how the company could mine for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen in order to produce space fuel out of these components. Lewicky also announced that the number of suitable NEAs is growing rapidly. Three new near-Earth asteroids are discovered every day.

In an interview, co-founder Eric Anderson made clear that he did not give up his idea but that mining for water is the company's main goal now. The reason behind the decision to scale back the space-mining mission is attributed to insurmountable technical hurdles and great costs. Although the company has some very wealthy donators and is not dependent on financial aid from governments or other organizations, the project is not financially worthwhile.

The advantage of mining water is that it could be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen and used as propellants. If it would be possible to construct "gas stations" on asteroids, satellites, which would normally burn up when they run out of fuel and get back to Earth, could be used more often. Mr. Anderson admitted that it is "more sexy to talk about [...] bringing something back to Earth" but that this goal is more difficult and cannot be realized by now. Moreover, it is important that there are already gas stations or other fuel depots on asteroids because the machines which could mine for minerals also need fuel. Eric Anderson does already have a tight schedule for his new project. Test launches should start by the end of this year and the first telescopes should be send to asteroids in 2016.

Here is the BBC World Service Podcast about the FiRe and Lewicky's talk: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01z6f5n

How instant photographs work

When taking a photograph with an instant camera, the actual picture can be hold in hands a few minutes later. What may seem like magic is in fact the result of a chemical reaction. The process begins with the plastic film base that is coated with silver particles. These particles are light-sensitive. Black and white films have one layer of silver, whereas color films have three layers which are sensitive to different colors. The top layer is sensitive to blue light, the layer in the middle is sensitive to green and the third layer is sensitive to red light. When a film is exposed, the light-sensitive particles react to the different colors and form metallic silver. In order to get a picture, the film needs to be developed. Instant cameras are similar to a photo laboratory because they contain all chemicals which are necessary for the developing process. There is a developer layer attached to each color layer. The reagent, a mix of light blockers, neutralizers and other elements starts the chemical chain reaction and activates the developer on each layer. The reagent is collected in a blob at the white bottom of the film sheet. After having taken the picture, the camera rollers push the chemicals from the blob in the middle of the film sheet and roll it up to the end of the frame. The reagent chemicals then move through the layers and, after a chemical reaction, appear as colors. When watching an instant image develop, this chemical reaction can be seen.

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Zombie Abstract

Zombies are revived humans that live on the flesh of other people. This scientific paper examines what would happen if these undead creatures, which represent an infectious disease in this context, attacked our planet. This is achieved by enhancing the basic model for infections (SIR). There are different ways of getting rid of the illness. First of all, there is the basic model (SZR) which explains how the transmission of the infection works. Secondly, the model with latent infection (SIZR) extends the basic model by assuming that there is a period of time between the point when a person gets infected and when the outbreak of the disease happens. Thirdly, the quarantine model includes the possibility of separating some infected people from the rest of the population to hinder them from infecting others. The model with treatment supposes that it is possible to find a cure against the infection. Finally, the impulsive eradication model assumes that it is possible to control the disease by attacking it strategically. Calculations reveal that all models would have more or less success stemming the spread of the disease but only the impulsive eradication model would be able to defeat the cause of the infection effectively enough so that people would not be completely eradicated. 

CAJ - SpaceX

The focus in my previous blog posts was either on asteroid mining itself or on the company Planetary Resources. I think that it is important to mention that Planetary Resources is not the only company that is interested in this matter. The company SpaceX was founded in 2002 in order to “revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets”, according to their website. Its founder Elon Musk, also the founder of PayPal, is convinced that space exploration is important for preserving human life. He is worried that something like a natural disaster, a super virus or other threats could be responsible for our extinction. Therefore, he thinks that it is necessary to have a backup plan in case something bad happens to our Earth. SpaceX’s rocket “Falcon 9” and the spacecraft “Dragon” were sent 12 times to the International Space Station in order replace its space shuttle.

This sounds all very promising but Elon is not only interested in space exploration. He also thinks about how to revolutionize the transportation system. For this reason he suggested the construction of something he called “Hyperloop”. This would be a tube over or under the ground which could connect Los Angeles with San Francisco. The Hyperloop should be, among others, safe, fast, cheap, self-powering and would look something like that: 

Looks very futuristic, doesn't it?

Of course, this project has not that much to do with asteroid mining but I think that it has more in common than you probably would think. Both projects are yet not realizable and both need visionary people who believe in their ideas in order to make them happen in the future.

SpaceX's website: http://www.spacex.com/

More information about the Hyperloop:  

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf

CAJ - my abstract

Asteroid mining describes the general idea of finding suitable Near Earth Asteroids - NEAs. Suitable in this context means that they are rich in one or more mineral resources, such as water, metals, oxygen or hydrogen. This CAJ focuses on various phases of asteroid mining, from the beginning, when it deals with the question “how to find suitable NEAs” to the actual stage of mining for mineral resources. All of these steps contain some problems and questions that are yet unsolved. There is, for example, the problem of how to attach machines to asteroids since their gravity field is very small. Another aspect scientists think about is where to actually process the mined material. It could be either done directly on the asteroid, on the Earth or maybe somewhere else, such as on the ISS, the international space station. Various sources have been used to write this CAJ. Many different people, who work in this field, have published or contributed to all sorts of mediums, such as books, presentations, videos, academic papers or scientific websites. It is important to mention that the problem of having various sources is that they do sometimes contradict each other. A company that is really interested in asteroid mining and is investing much money is Planetary Ressources. Although they did not yet manage to actually mine for materials on asteroids, they have made progress. However, Planetary Ressources made clear that they do not expect to make profit with their idea overnight, since asteroid mining is something that takes time. Many problems are yet unsolved and need to be fixed in order to make this project happen in the future. 

How to go back in time and kill Hitler

How to kill Hitler

Needed materials:

• A time machine
• Poison (you can use any type of poison you like but make sure that it does not have a strong smell or taste)
• Plaster
• Corn flour
• Milk
• A bowl
• Airtight container

1.  Make sure that you absolutely want to poison Hitler and are prepared to live with any consequences that might occur. If so, go to step 2. If not, convince someone else to carry out the task.
2. Mix poison that is strong enough to kill an adult man. If you know how to do this, go to step 4. If you have never done something like that before, read step 3 for instructions.
3. Mix 113g of plaster with 113g of corn flour in a bowl and add 0.3 litres of milk. Form small balls and put them in an airtight container.
   
4.  CAUTION: Do not act as a guineapig! Find a person you dislike. Try out the poison to see if it works.
5. If everything went as planned, continue to step 6. If not, mix stronger poison.
6. Find a time machine and get access to it. If you do not know who possesses a time machine, type your question into Google and you will make a find.
   
   
7. Adjust the settings on the time machine. If you do not know how to do that, read the manual.
8. It is important to carry out your plan before the beginning of World War II. Therefore, choose January 1932, when Hitler is a guest at the Berlin hotel “Kaiserhof”.
9. Make sure you have the airtight container with you and go back in time.
   
10. CAUTION: Do not get caught! Once at your destination, steal suitable clothes to not attract attention.
11. Get to the hotel. If you do not know where it is, ask passersby.
    
12. CAUTION: Do not get caught! Sneak into the hotel’s kitchen.
    
    
    
13. CAUTION: Make sure to ask in a way that does not attract attention! Find Hitler’s dish. If you do not know which one it is, ask the kitchen staff.
14. Grate some of your poison over the dish.
15. Get out of the kitchen quickly and head back to your time machine.
16. Type in today’s date and go forwards in time.
    
17. Remove all traces, such as the clothing and the rest of the poison. 

Instructional/Group: How To Make a Camera Lucida

http://anitagoestocollege.blogspot.co.at/2014/05/how-to-make-camera-lucida.html

CAJ - abstract

Acta Astronautica
Volume 73, April–May 2012, Pages 49–66
Assessment on the feasibility of future shepherding of asteroid resources

Abstract

Most plausible futures for space exploration and exploitation require a large mass in Earth orbit. Delivering this mass requires overcoming the Earth's natural gravity well, which imposes a distinct obstacle to any future space venture. An alternative solution is to search for more accessible resources elsewhere. In particular, this paper examines the possibility of future utilisation of near Earth asteroid resources. The accessibility of asteroid material can be estimated by analysing the volume of Keplerian orbital element space from which Earth can be reached under a certain energy threshold and then by mapping this analysis onto an existing statistical near Earth objects (NEO) model. Earth is reached through orbital transfers defined by a series of impulsive manoeuvres and computed using the patched-conic approximation. The NEO model allows an estimation of the probability of finding an object that could be transferred with a given Δv budget. For the first time, a resource map provides a realistic assessment of the mass of material resources in near Earth space as a function of energy investment. The results show that there is a considerable mass of resources that can be accessed and exploited at relatively low levels of energy. More importantly, asteroid resources can be accessed with an entire spectrum of levels of energy, unlike other more massive bodies such as the Earth or Moon, which require a minimum energy threshold implicit in their gravity well. With this resource map, the total change of velocity required to capture an asteroid, or transfer its resources to Earth, can be estimated as a function of object size. Thus, realistic examples of asteroid resource utilisation can be provided.

Purpose: Most plausible futures of space exploration require a large mass in Earth orbit. Delivering this mass requires overcoming the Earth’s natural gravity… (=Context of the problem);

Scope: This paper examines the possibility of future utilisation of NEA resources

Methods: Accessibility of asteroid material can be estimated by analysing the volume of Keplerian… ; the NEO model estimates probability of finding an object…; resource map provides realistic assessment of the mass of material resources

Findings: Results show that there is a considerable mass of resources that can be accessed and exploited; asteroid resources can be accessed with an entire spectrum of levels of energy

Conclusion: With this resource map, velocity required to transfer resources to Earth can be estimated; realistic examples of asteroid resource utilisation can be provided

The abstract is well written and organized and contains all elements of an abstract, namely the purpose (=the context of the problem), the scope (=what the author’s attention is exactly), methods (=methodology used and materials involved), findings (=what the results show, an interpretation of the results’ significance) and a conclusion (=what can be done with the findings).

However, there are some functions in it which makes the abstract a bit complicated.

CAJ - is it realistic?

Hi,

This post focuses on the question whether asteroid mining is realistic or not.

Eric Anderson, the founder of Planetary Resources, makes very clear that asteroid mining takes its time. He says that he “does not expect to be in the black overnight. We have long-term goals”. This means that the project will probably not start tomorrow or next week. In April 2012 the company announced that they would like to start mining for asteroids in 24 months with a spaceship called “Arkyd”. However, they did not reach their goal. On their website they mention that two NEAs (=near-Earth asteroids) have been explored by robotic spacecraft and that NASA is working on its own mission, the OSIRIS- Rex¹ spacecraft. It should explore the promising asteroid 1999 RQ 36 in 2016 of which observations suggest that it is rich in carbon.

1999 RQ 36: Pretty big, huh?

On the other hand, Planetary Resources is also making progress. Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-American software executive donated $ 20 million to the company. Simonyi is the fifth space tourist worldwide, a fact that shows that he is a rather wealthy man. The company is investing the money in their Large Scale Synoptic Telescope which is used for further asteroid observation. As you can see, asteroid mining is something that takes time, a lot of money and effort. But the fact that they cannot realize their project now does not mean that it cannot happen in the further future.

Planetary Resources has created a very nice video on the subject of asteroid mining. Of course it supports it but the video is nicely animated, informative and not very complicated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fYYPN0BdBw

CAJ - Asteroid mining

Hi!

In this blog post we will mainly focus on the question how to mine asteroids but at first some facts about a man who is very interested in asteroid mining. In 1997 the US astrophysicist John S. Lewis wrote a book called “Mining the Sky” in which he describes his vision that asteroid mining could save the world’s three most severe problems, namely mineral resources, generation of energy and food supply. Although this book was written over ten years ago it is still interesting for today’s scientists. Lewis was a highly regarded professor of planetary science at the University of Arizonas and is expert in this field. In his book he states that asteroids could not only be used for mining purposes but could also be hollowed out and used as living space.

This idea sounded a bit weird for me when I first read about it but then reminded me of the “Dystopia film” we watched in Hendrik’s class. Lewis thinks that living on other planets could solve the problem of overpopulation. Of course, these asteroids would have to be earth-like or terrestrial planets and be composed primarily of rocks or metals. The existence of water is also essential since human beings cannot live without it. John S. Lewis calculated that ten quadrillion people could live on these earth-like worlds. Ten quadrillion is that much: 10 000 000 000 000 000 = 10¹⁵ (I have no idea how you can calculate something like this but he is a professor and I am sure he knows what he is doing, so...).

Enough of that, let’s focus on how asteroid mining could work in practice. At the moment scientists can think of three possible ways.

    1.  The first one is to mine the materials and bring them back to Earth to process them there.

a.  Advantage: All needed machinery to process the material is on Earth

b.  Disadvantage: The room on the spaceship is limited à very time-consulting to mine whole planet

    2.  Process the materials directly on asteroids and bring the final product back to Earth

a.  Advantage: Some of the mined materials could be used as fuel for the return flight à spaceship has to transport less fuel à can transport more material

b.  Disadvantage: Every needed machine would have to be brought to the asteroids first

     3.  Bring the asteroids to the International Space Station (ISS)

a.  Advantage: Whole asteroids could be mined

b.  Disadvantage: If something goes wrong the asteroid could hit the Earth. This would lead to a catastrophic event.

As you can see scientists are thinking a lot about this subject but have not found the ideal way yet.

Migrant Mother - Description

Depressed, hopeless and gazing into space, Florence Owens Thompson depicts the sorrow surrounding her. She is in the center of the photograph, taking up most of the image. Her arm is supporting her head, looking like she is in fear of the future. The long and bony fingers are touching her narrow and dry lips, which have not tasted proper food and clean water for quite some time. Deep wrinkles around her mouth and eyes make her look older than she probably is, as well as revealing her concern for the family's future. The mother is wearing a checked shirt and a vest that look old, torn and itchy, as if they were made out of burlap. Hidden in her arm lies an infant wrapped in a dirty blanket. Next to the mother are her two older children leaning on her shoulders. Both children are not facing the camera but have instead buried their faces in their hands. It seems as though they are trying to hide behind their mother where they feel safe and protected. What can be easily noticed by looking at the children is that they have the same hairstyle, namely a bowl haircut. The light hair color of the child standing on the viewers right side makes a good contrast to the mother’s and other childs dark hair. Last but not least, the pale background illustrates the hopelessness and bleakness of her situation.

(237 words)

CAJ - 55 Cancri e

Hey guys!

This is my second CAJ blog post and it deals with a very interesting planet. I am aware that my main topic is asteroid mining but I read something that is so cool that I could not resist to blog about it.

Imagine a planet that is completely covered with diamonds. Sounds great, doesn’t it? If you discovered this planet and were allowed to mine it what would you do with all the diamonds? Would you start wearing jewellery like this:

Or use it for other purposes:

What would you say if I told you that there is a planet in the universe that consists of one third of pure diamonds? You won’t believe me? Here we go:

The planet 55 Cancri e was discovered in 2004 by scientists and its surface is believed to be covered with graphite and diamonds. 55 Cancri e is 40 light years, which are about 125 091 648 000 kilometres, away from our solar system. Compared to the distance between the earth and the moon, which is “only” 1.3 light seconds, 55 Cancri e is a very remote planet and it would take a long time to get there. For this reason it was not yet possible to land on the planet but scientists managed to compute the size and volume of it. 55 Cacri e is twice the size of the earth and eight times heavier. It is orbiting a sun like star very closely and therefore a year on this planet lasts only 18 hours. Due to its closeness it can get very hot on 55 Cancri e, 2000° Celsius and more are normal temperatures. If scientists were able to mine the planet, diamonds would probably become very cheap on earth and nearly everyone could afford them.

Although this sounds very promising and astronomers are very interested in exploring the diamond planet and taking probes of it, it could take a long time until they finally manage to do so because of the position and the high temperature on 55 Cancri e. 

Narrative article homework

Paul, the young doctor with black hair and ice blue eyes quickly follows a nurse in her 40s through the wide corridors of Saint Peter’s University Hospital in London. The typical smell of disinfectant is in the air. They stop in front of the delivery room’s swing doors through which you can see hospital staff working hectically. Cecilia, the nurse, informs him in brief about the patient whom he should help. “Sophie, a 20 year old woman, came earlier today because of severe back pain. She was sent home with painkillers because the doctor who examined her could not find anything. He thought that she was suffering from menstrual cramps. Now she is back, I did an ultrasound and found out that she is pregnant. The baby will be here any minute.” Paul listens to the nurse in disbelief but knows that there is no time to lose. He pushes against the heavy doors and hears Sophie screaming because of labour pains.

Narrative: Little History of Photography

2^nd Version: History of photography - narrative

Boulevard du Temple, taken in 1839 by painter and chemist Louis Daguerre, is hanging on one of Louvre’s walls and is watching the tourists who pass by. Suddenly it notices a man in his 40s with shorts and a t-shirt who looks very dissatisfied with his camera. The photo can hear him moaning that the camera he bought does not take pictures satisfyingly. Boulevard du Temple laughs to itself and thinks of the time it was taken. The photo is sure that if this man could hear the story of photography, he would appreciate the tiny device he is holding in his hands.

The day the photo was taken was a very special one. Daguerre was the first photographer who managed to depict a person on a photo. Because of the long exposure time it was impossible to photograph moving objects such as passersby. Nevertheless, the man on the photo remained still long enough and so became part of this historic photo. However, it was not the first one that had been taken. In 1825 Joseph Niepce photographed Le Gras in France. Niepce’s idea was to apply bitumen to metal plates. The material hardened in the light and the unhardened rest was washed away. The metal plate was polished, the negative covered with ink and the photographed image would appear. Still, this early technique had its downsides. The plates were very heavy and expensive. Therefore, only rich people could afford being photographed. Secondly, exposure time was very long thus people being photographed needed something to lean on, namely props. This is why oval tables and pillars can often be seen on early photos. Long exposure would also lead to Mezzotint which means that photos have a soft black to grey to white gradation.

 A few years later, Daguerre invented his own technique, the daguerreotype, where the plate would be coated with silver, exposed and then the remaining silver would be removed. Time went by and photography became more popular. In 1840 almost every miniaturist had become a professional photographer because no one was interested in miniatures anymore.

The photo remembers all these events as though they were yesterday. The tourist in the museum should be grateful for all the people who worked on developing photography and cameras which led to what he is holding in his hands right now.

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Comment:
My fellow students had some very useful suggestions for my text. They pointed out that the introduction should be separated from the main text. They also felt that there was no connection between some sentences so I rewrote these parts.

Asteroid mining (CAJ)

Hello and welcome to my first CAJ post!

I decided to write about a relatively unknown project – asteroid mining. I am 99% sure that most people do not know what this project is about and what the aim of it is. Luckily the uncertainty is over and over the next few weeks and months you will learn all important facts, at least what I consider important J, about asteroid mining.
Let’s begin.

•   Who is interested in asteroid mining?
•  The company Planetary Resources was founded in 2010 by Eric Anderson. Its mission is “to expand Earth’s natural resource base by exploring the space and developing technologies for asteroid mining”.
• Anderson is convinced that space mining could be the start of a completely new industry sector.

• Which elements do they think asteroids contain?

o   Scientists have already successfully discovered NEAs, Near-Earth Asteroids, which contain one or more of these elements: iron, nickel, magnesium, water, metal, oxygen, gold, platinum.

• Why do they want to mine for these elements in the universe? All of them can be found on earth.
•  Some of these elements are very expensive on Earth and/or are getting less. Platinum, for example, is very rare on Earth. On an Asteroid with about 30 meters diameter there could be platinum worth to 50 billion US dollars. If it became possible to mine for water in the universe, asteroids could be used as a kind of gas stations. Hydrogen and oxygen could be used for spaceship fuel and would reduce the price drastically because fuel would not have to be transported from the Earth to the universe.

• That sounds really interesting but what are asteroids anyway?
• Asteroids are leftover materials from the early solar system. They are classified into three different categories:
• C-type: More than 75% of all known asteroids are considered to be a C-type. Their structure is similar to that of the sun but do not contain hydrogen and helium.
• S-type: These asteroids contain nickel, iron and magnesium.
• M-type: Only a small number of asteroids fit into this category. Nickel and iron can be found on them.

• Where can I get more information about this topic?
•  In my next post J
• Also, this is a great video to start with:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9cLLNpo2f8

• 
  

PSA: After-death-avatar

A day in the life of ... Katrin

 “Here in the city, the measure is frozen…” Milow is singing on my bedside table. Unfortunately he is not really there, it is just my alarm clock. Still humming his song, my Thursday can begin. I usually get up at 6:50 am to make sure that the day does not start off stressful. After I have dressed myself and packed my backpack, I am ready for the world. I live in a dorm and therefore share a big kitchen with the other residents. One of them is my “breakfast buddy” Benedikt with whom I always have a nice chat before going to university. My breakfast usually looks the same – one yoghurt pot. I do not drink coffee or tea in the morning, so I am rather quick.

My breakfast

After breakfast I head off to university by my bike, Jessy. I do not like to take the bus because every time I have to do it, e.g. when it rains, it comes late and/or is overcrowded. Using Jessy is a great way to exercise and to wake up.

Jessy :)

University starts at 8:15 with English. It is followed by Sign Language and another English class. After all those courses I am really looking forward to cycling home and cooking dinner. While cooking I like to talk to my friends in the dorm about current events. I then do my homework or read a book. Between half past seven and eight the best part of the day begins. We all gather in the kitchen for what we call “cake evening”. Every Thursday one person is in charge of baking a cake. We sit around the table, gossip about university, play “Activity” or watch TV. At the moment we are busily engaged on watching “Germanys next Topmodel”.

This week we had "Peach and Strawberry Crumble"

I usually go to bed around midnight because I have to get up again at 6:50 am on the next day. On Fridays I normally take the train home to Lower Austria, but this is another story…

Pecha Kucha

“Pecha what?“, this was my first thought when my classmates told me about this special form of presenting a topic. I could not come to class when Hendrik explained what PK (I love this abbreviation J) is and therefore it took me some days to find out that it is just an “ordinary” PowerPoint presentation. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed because I thought that Pecha Kucha needs a specific program. However, when I could not find a download link, I started to realize that PK needs no additional program.

Together with my presentation partner Sandra, I decided on the topic “Globish”. I had never heard of Globish before but what we found on the Internet sounded interesting.

After some discussions, we agreed not to do an ordinary presentation – for example we decided not to start with something like: “Hello and welcome to our presentation. Today we would like to tell you something about….” This was too boring for us. We thought that that a special presentation format deserves a special style of presenting.

We agreed on a dialogue, something like a discussion, to inform our audience as well as entertain them.
It was good fun to write the text but the best part of our PK presentation was when we had to choose pictures for our slides.

Unlike “normal” presentations, where you just tell your audience everything you know about the topic, we could not use a cheat sheet. Who uses cards in a conversation? “Hello, how are you?” “Hmm…, wait… ah…good, thank you!” Would be funny – but a bit awkward.

So we had to learn our text by heart, which was not really difficult and I have to admit that I enjoyed it J. The trickiest part was to time our dialogue so that we speak exactly 20 seconds per slide. Fortunately we had the genius idea to create a timer which ran backwards from 20 to zero. This little graphic was really helpful.

Although we had no plan at the beginning, and were not quite sure if we could manage this project, the presentation went really well and I think we both enjoyed it. This was one of the most funny presentations I ever did. Thanks to Sandra who was a great project partner!