'SpaceTech' in pixels and pictures

Ben Gurion University System Produces High-Res Images at Low Cost | pixels and pictures | Scoop.it

From aabgu.org - January 8, 2019 9:12 AM

An article in the December issue of the journal Optica demonstrated that nanosatellites the size of milk cartons arranged in a spherical (annular) configuration were able to capture images that match the resolution of the full-frame, lens-based or concave mirror systems used on today’s telescopes.

BGU Ph.D. candidate Angika Bulbul, working under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Rosen of BGU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explains the groundbreaking nature of this study, saying it proves that by using a partial aperture, even a high-resolution image can be generated. This reduces the cost of traditionally large telescopic lenses.

“We found that you don’t need the entire telescope lens to obtain the right images. Even by using a partial aperture area of a lens, as low as 0.43 percent, we managed to obtain a similar image resolution to the full aperture area of a mirror or lens-based imaging system,” says Bulbul. “The huge cost, time and material needed for gigantic traditional optical space telescopes with large curved mirrors can be slashed.”

Cassini’s Mission to Saturn in 100 Images | pixels and pictures | Scoop.it

From www.nytimes.com - September 15, 2017 2:01 AM

Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004, after a seven-year voyage. It was the first spacecraft to orbit the ringed planet.

Like Earth, Saturn has a tilted axis. Cassini arrived in the depths of northern winter, with Saturn’s rings tipped up and its north pole in darkness.

Cassini used infrared to view the hexagonal jet stream swirling around Saturn’s north pole, a six-sided vortex capped with a shimmering aurora.

As spring approached and sunlight returned to Saturn’s north pole, Cassini studied the polar hexagon and the dark hurricane at its center.

Each season on Saturn lasts about seven Earth years. Cassini watched as Saturn’s rings slowly tipped downward, casting narrower and narrower shadows.

The shadows grew narrower until the spring equinox, when Saturn’s rings and equator were flat to the sun.

The change in seasons brought a huge storm that wrapped around Saturn’s northern hemisphere. Cassini detected lightning deep within the planet.

Mission scientists were particularly interested in Titan, Saturn’s largest moon — a hazy ball larger than the planet Mercury.

Cassini’s cameras were able to pierce Titan’s smoggy nitrogen atmosphere, revealing sunlight glinting on frigid lakes of liquid methane and other hydrocarbons.

Cassini released the Huygens probe to parachute through Titan’s atmosphere. As it descended, the probe recorded rivers and deltas carved by methane rain.

Cassini returned to Titan over 100 times, using the large moon’s gravity to gradually shift the spacecraft’s orbit around Saturn.

Cassini used Titan’s gravity to tour Saturn’s rings, climbing high above the ring plane and threading gaps between the rings.

After 22 passes inside the rings, Cassini will plow into Saturn’s rippled clouds on Friday. The spacecraft will incinerate itself to prevent any future contamination of the moons Enceladus or Titan.

Ben Gurion University System Produces High-Res Images at Low Cost

Cassini’s Mission to Saturn in 100 Images