nasa – An Autonomous Agent / exploring the noosphere Sun, 15 Oct 2017 02:53:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.3 Thorium – Kirk Sorenson /2015/05/thorium-kirk-sorenson/ /2015/05/thorium-kirk-sorenson/#disqus_thread Mon, 11 May 2015 01:20:18 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=1107 Kirk Sorenson does an excellent job describing the current state of the American nuclear energy program and its future. He sees hope from the current enthusiasm of the Chinese, who are developing extensive nuclear reactor technology. Perhaps their focus will encourage the rest of the world. The nuclear energy field has been plagued by misconceptions for decades. There is a definite need for someone to stand up and cut through all the ignorance surrounding this important subject.

There are probably hundreds of new reactor designs. Kirk’s favourite is the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR). He talks extensively about its benefits, its problems, its safety, and how it can be put into operation. Hopefully, people will see his arguments as valid and convincing. Read more on his blog: Energy from Thorium. Gordon McDowell’s videos present the ideas of Sorenson in a clear and concise manner and there are numerous lectures and talks given by Sorenson on YouTube.

I would also recommend James Mahaffey’s book, Atomic Awakening.

]]> /2015/05/thorium-kirk-sorenson/feed/ 0 Human Decision Making Ability, Optimal Control /2013/03/human-decision-making-ability-optimal-control/ /2013/03/human-decision-making-ability-optimal-control/#disqus_thread Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:09:00 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=209 Before humans first landed on the moon, NASA scientists and academics spent years devising a solution to the moon landing problem. The problem is that humans are physically incapable of making correct logical conclusions under stochastic conditions not consistent with human evolution. A human would quickly get lost in the flood of information processing required to land a craft going 25,000 mph. The solution: programming a computer to make the landing control decisions. In other words, for the first time in human history the helmsman on the ship of exploration was not human. In other words, it was the computer which landed us on the moon. So, how are we really supposed to comprehend, “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”
As a general conclusion, for things that require such decisions at such speeds or with huge numbers of parameters we need computers. In order to properly maintain a society as large as humans, there will come a time when we will have reached a limit to sustainable growth due to reaching the limits imposed by evolution on human decision making abilities. That time has already occurred. In order to continue to grow, we will have governments which rely on computer decisions to correctly sustain large numbers of people. However, this will raise the interesting situation in which the president or ruler of a country will be faced with a decision – it could be a political or social. Does he/she accept the outcome of the computer’s calculation or his own, human solution.

I guess nothing I have written should be surprising or new. However, my point is that governments of large nations are not really entirely run by humans. So we can’t entirely blame public officials;  rather, some of the blame should be on algorithms inside the computers which helped make those decisions.

]]> /2013/03/human-decision-making-ability-optimal-control/feed/ 0 The Biggest Bangs: The Mystery of Gamma-ray Bursts, the Most Violent Explosions in the Universe – Jonathon Katz /2013/01/the-biggest-bangs-the-mystery-of-gamma-ray-bursts-the-most-violent-explosions-in-the-universe-jonathon-katz/ /2013/01/the-biggest-bangs-the-mystery-of-gamma-ray-bursts-the-most-violent-explosions-in-the-universe-jonathon-katz/#disqus_thread Fri, 04 Jan 2013 03:02:00 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=335

The Biggest Bangs: The Mystery of Gamma-ray Bursts, the Most Violent Explosions in the Universe by Jonathan Katz is a decent book on gamma-ray bursts and their history.  I would recommend this book as an introduction to these transient phenomena.

]]> /2013/01/the-biggest-bangs-the-mystery-of-gamma-ray-bursts-the-most-violent-explosions-in-the-universe-jonathon-katz/feed/ 0 The Restless Universe: Understanding X-Ray Astronomy in the Age of Chandra and Newton – Eric Schlegel /2013/01/the-restless-universe-understanding-x-ray-astronomy-in-the-age-of-chandra-and-newton-eric-schlegel/ /2013/01/the-restless-universe-understanding-x-ray-astronomy-in-the-age-of-chandra-and-newton-eric-schlegel/#disqus_thread Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:30:00 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=336

 

Chandra X-Ray observatory, named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, has provided scientists with the best x-ray images ever taken of the universe. To explore the satellite’s mission and its discoveries, I would recommend reading The Restless Universe: Understanding X-Ray Astronomy in the Age of Chandra and Newton by Eric Schlegel.

NGC 922 – X-Ray
NGC 922 – Optical
NGC 922 – X-Ray and Optical
]]> /2013/01/the-restless-universe-understanding-x-ray-astronomy-in-the-age-of-chandra-and-newton-eric-schlegel/feed/ 0 Moon Hunters: NASA’s Remarkable Expeditions to the Ends of the Solar System – Jeffrey Kluger /2013/01/moon-hunters-nasas-remarkable-expeditions-to-the-ends-of-the-solar-system-jeffrey-kluger/ /2013/01/moon-hunters-nasas-remarkable-expeditions-to-the-ends-of-the-solar-system-jeffrey-kluger/#disqus_thread Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:45:00 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=338

Anyone interested in a first hand account of NASA‘s robotic missions to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn will find Moon Hunters: NASA’s Remarkable Expeditions to the Ends of the Solar System by Jeffrey Kluger to be a great read. Various moons, like Europa and Titan, may harbor forms of life and the only way to find out is to explore them. The book narrates the discoveries of various probes, such as Ranger, Voyager, and Galileo.

]]> /2013/01/moon-hunters-nasas-remarkable-expeditions-to-the-ends-of-the-solar-system-jeffrey-kluger/feed/ 0 Lost in Space: The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age – Greg Klerkx /2013/01/lost-in-space-the-fall-of-nasa-and-the-dream-of-a-new-space-age-greg-klerkx/ /2013/01/lost-in-space-the-fall-of-nasa-and-the-dream-of-a-new-space-age-greg-klerkx/#disqus_thread Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:06:00 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=359

The discoveries and missions of NASA are extraordinary.  However, since the early 1990’s there has been an obvious decline in NASA’s exploration, primarily due to bureaucratic decisions. Perhaps space exploration should be left to the private sector? This is the question asked by Greg Klerkx in his novel Lost in Space: The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age.

]]> /2013/01/lost-in-space-the-fall-of-nasa-and-the-dream-of-a-new-space-age-greg-klerkx/feed/ 0 Earth at Night /2013/01/earth-at-night/ /2013/01/earth-at-night/#disqus_thread Tue, 01 Jan 2013 21:13:00 +0000 https://anautonomousagent.com/?p=384 All the light from human activity creates a spectacular view from space. Check out these videos:

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