“NASA’s solar probe reveals stunning results”

Artist’s Image of Parker Solar Probe via NASA

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marty, who shares the following article from Popular Science:

NASA’s solar probe reveals stunning results after swooping in close to the sun

Rogue plasma waves and sideways, 100,000-mile-per-hour solar winds abound.

The sky is full of stars, but only one sits within our reach. Even as close as it is, the sun poses plenty of mysteries that can’t be solved from Earth. Odd patterns in sunlight during solar eclipses suggest that the corona, the sun’s outermost bit of atmosphere, inexplicably burns hundreds of times hotter than its surface. And while researchers can catch whiffs of the solar wind—streams of charged particles emanating from the sun—here on Earth, a lot of valuable data washes away by the time it blows by us. Getting measurements from right up next to the sun is a better way to understand our giant, burning ball of gas.

That’s why NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has spent the last year swooping closer and closer to the sun. In its first two passes it encountered new features that may help explain both the corona’s extreme heat and the origins of the solar wind, researchers announced on Wednesday in a series of four publications in Nature. As humanity’s first close encounter with a stellar environment continues, further observations will help researchers better understand how solar weather affects Earth, as well as how all stars age and die.

“We needed to go right to the source,” said Nicola Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division in a press conference on Wednesday.

In November 2018 and April of this year, two of Parker’s orbits brought it closer to the sun than any spacecraft had been before. Diving toward the sun and looping around the back, the probe reached about 15 million miles from the star’s surface—roughly six times closer than the distance between the sun and the Earth. At the shortest parts of its dive, the probe matched the speed of the sun’s rotation, in effect hovering above its surface. “We just sit over it, and let that part of the sun kind of wash over us,” says Kelly Korreck, head of Science Operations for one of Parker’s instrument suites that measures the solar wind.

Up close, the sun’s magnetic field and solar wind are both much more intense compared to what researchers can measure here on Earth, giving Parker an alien environment to explore. Korreck likens the craft’s experiences in the strong magnetic field to those of a diver entering the sea. “It’s kind of like going underwater,” she says. “Things sound different. You get different physics effects.”

Two features in particular came as surprises. The first were what the researchers are calling “rogue waves” in the magnetic field, which Parker registered as spikes in intensity and reversals in direction lasting for seconds to minutes as they rolled over the spacecraft. Dubbed Alfvén waves after Hannes Alfvén, a Swedish plasma physicist who won the 1970 Nobel prize in physics for their description, the phenomenon had been observed from Earth but never with such strength.[…]

Click here to continue reading the full article at Popular Science.

Also, check out this video from NASA:

Spread the radio love

USB Charging Cubes and Cables: Bill’s tests prove that not all are created equal

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post:

Power Cubes and USB Cables Multiply Like Rabbits

by Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD)

If your house is like mine, you have a box or drawer somewhere that has a tangle of 5V power cubes and cables. This is what one of my drawers looks like:

And yes I do have two full drawers.

Every new toy I receive comes with another cable and a power cube. With Christmas coming, we can all look forward to even more of them.

But I have learned that not all power cubes or cables are created equally. Earlier this year I realized that sometimes my tablets would take forever to charge and other times they seemed to re-charge a lot faster. That got me wondering what was causing the difference. I found that switching power cubes or switching cables could make a difference.

I decided to try some experiments. First I acquired a couple of Drok USB testers. These are small, inline, digital USB voltage and amp testers. They clearly show the amp draw and the voltage being furnished to the device being charged.

Second step was to gather up my power cubes and test them against a device that would load the cube close to it rated capacity. I quickly found that ANY power cube I owned that was rated at less than 1 amp at 5 volt was not capable of providing anywhere near their rated capacity. Some would drop all the way down to 4.11V at 0.47A. So I made the decision to throw away ANY power cube that was rated at less than 1 amp at 5 volts. That trimmed down the total number.

I proceeded to label each of the remaining power cubes from 1 to 10. Following is list of the cubes with their power rating:

Note: Power cubes 8, 9 & 10 have two USB ports. I had purchased these so that I could charge two devices at once. I had also thought of using them to power two Raspberry PI computers.

The following tablets were discharged down to less than 15% capacity:

Amazon Fire 10” HD Android Tablet
Amazon Fire 8” HD Android Tablet
Winbook 8” Windows 10 Tablet

Typically the Fire 10” and the Winbook will draw about 1.8 amps when charging. The Fire 8” draws slightly less than one amp. So they would make great test subjects to exercise the capability of the power cubes and cables.

I tested several of my cables with the Winbook to make sure that the cable used for testing would provide the amps and voltage. I then tested each of the power cubes using that cable with each of the tablets and got the following results:

Notes:

All the cubes performed very well within their rated capacity.
It’s interesting to see how the 1 amp rated cubes did with a higher draw.
It’s clear that the cubes do NOT have limiting to their rated capacity. I would have thought that the 1 amp cubes would have been limited to providing up to but not over that amount.
Likewise, I would have thought that the tablets would limit amp draw when the voltage drops below 5 volts.

Next test was to see if the selection of cable makes a difference. I randomly selected some cables and labeled them. I used one of the Anker power cubes since they perform the best. The results were very interesting:

Notes:

The cables were of various lengths from 12” to 36”. Some of the short cables performed poorly and some of the long cables performed very well. So cable length is not necessary an indication of how it will perform. You have to test it.
All the cables performed well at 0.95 amps. But some of them could not adequately handle higher loads.
I had accidentally left the Winbook charging, so it was not at maximum charge during the cable tests.
The cables in Red have been thrown away.

I have two special cables that I had purchased. These were power splitter cables, single USB to two mini USB. I had used these for a while running two Raspberry PI’s off of one power cube. But they would reset every so often, so I thought that the splitter cable might not be providing power evenly between the two PI’s. Time to test my theory.

Notes:

The a & b denotes each of the legs of the spitters.
It’s pretty obvious that the two legs do NOT provide the same capacity at the higher loads.
These cables will also be tossed away.

Now for some fun testing. I thought I would try to load the Anker Dual Port power cubes to see if they will provide their rated power on each port.

Very impressive.

And last, I have two Anker large capacity 5V battery packs:

Battery one – Anker Astro E7, Model A1210. Capacity: 26800mAh. Rated: 4A@5V – 2A max per port.

Battery two – Anker Powercore Model A1277. Capacity: 26800 mAh. Rated: 4A@5V – 2A max per port.

Update [18 Dec 2019]: I had received a comment that I didn’t show the Anker Dual Port with both ports fully loaded.

I did another test – this time adding in my Pixel cell phone which draws about 1 amp when not fast charging.

Attached is photo showing the Anker power supply fully loaded:

(Fire 10 & Pixel on one port & Fire 8 and Winbook on the second port)

Port 1: 2.59A @ 5.03V

Port 2: 2.75A @ 5.01V

Pretty good for a cube only rated at 2.4A per port.

Conclusions:

Don’t just select a random power cube from that drawer. Be sure to select one that will provide both the required amp draw at a minimum of 5 volts.
Likewise, don’t just select a random usb cable from that drawer. Make sure the cable will carry the required current and voltage.
The Anker products that I have (power cubes and batteries) produce the rated current and voltage. I would highly recommend them.
Where before I had two drawers full of power cubes and cables; after throwing away about half of them, it has been consolidated into a single drawer.
I may buy some more of the Anker power cubes.

Wow…thank you, Bill!

Your timing is impeccable. I’ve also been weeding out a number of USB power cubes from my own “drawer-o-plenty!” I had been simply looking at the rated amount on each cube and deciding which ones to keep–tossing all of the lower amperage ones. I think I may actually save a little time and simply invest in a few Anker Elite Dual-Port chargers (note this Amazon affiliate link supports the SWLing Post). At present, the white ones are $8.99 each. I especially like the fact that the plug folds and that it automatically switches between voltage standards (100-240 VAC) while travelling between countries.

Side note: I have also been very pleased with Anker’s customer support. I purchased some Soundcore Anker bluetooth earbuds in January–by November they started having issues maintaining a Bluetooth connection. I contacted Anker customer service and after a little troubleshooting, they dispatched a new replacement pair.

Although I know well that not all USB cables are created equally, I would have never guessed there would be much difference in terms of charging ability. Your tests certainly prove otherwise. I suppose I should not be surprised because most “free” USB cables that accompany consumer electronics are of the cheapest quality. I imagine many of the conductors/wires inside those cables are as thin as a hair, hence can’t handle the demands of devices like tablets and larger smart phones.

Again, Bill, thanks so much for sharing this excellent guest post!

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

Short Waves / Short Poems first episode

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, T. D. Walker, who shares the following announcement:

Short Waves / Short Poems is a 15 minute program that features poets reading their work. Attention to a poem parallels in many ways attention to a shortwave radio broadcast–both require a deliberate searching for and listening to the medium. I also wanted to explore what it means to put an art that is undergoing a resurgence on a medium that seems to be diminishing in its reach. And above all that, I wanted to bring good poetry to shortwave listeners.

Our first episode will air Saturday 14 December at 2am UTC on 5130kHz, and it will feature work by poets Deborah L. Davitt, Amy Lowell, and A.J. Odasso, all of which use storms as a way to examine the workings of love, loss, and contemplation. We’re planning on running weekly for four weeks, with different poets each episode.

More information about the show is at our website: www.shortwavesshortpoems.com. I’ve included an introductory clip on our About page.

We’re happy to receive reception reports, and QSL cards are available. You can reach us via email at [email protected] or via postal mail at Short Waves / Short Poems, PO Box 515622, Dallas, TX 75251, USA.

And a bit about me: I’m the author of Small Waiting Objects (CW Books, 2019), and my poems and science fiction stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, The Future Fire, Web Conjunctions, The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Abyss & Apex, Kaleidotrope, and elsewhere. As a longtime radio enthusiast, I’m delighted to be able to combine my aim to bring poetry to a wider audience with my interest in shortwave radio.

Readers, please note that 2:00 AM UTC on Saturday is 9:00 PM EST/ 6:00 PM PST today (Friday).

Spread the radio love

Encore – Classical Music – new frequency and time

Cambridge Consultants design a prototype $10 DRM receiver

4 Replies

DRM broadcast (left) as seen via a KiwiSDR spectrum display.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Bird, who shares the following news via Cambridge Consultants:

Digital launched, ever so long ago, with TV and radio. So what’s the big story? It’s that the last piece of the digital jigsaw is finally in place: a system called Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), designed to deliver FM-radio-like quality using the medium wave and short wave bands.

We’re familiar with AM on medium wave and accustomed to the horrible buzz, splat, fade away and back again. But it does have a great advantage in that it will reach for hundreds of miles from a single transmitter. That’s a lot easier than FM or DAB, which both need transmitters every 30 or 40 miles. No fewer than 443 DAB transmitter sites are needed to cover the UK alone.

So take a modern digital scheme, apply some clever (and low cost) computing power, and you can get good sound for hundreds of miles. You get to choose radio stations by name instead of kilohertz, and you can even receive text and pictures. Emergency warning and information features are also built into DRM.

Great technology. But will it fly? Is it available for everyone?

The new news is that India, through its national broadcaster All India Radio, has invested in and rolled out a national DRM service, live today. Just 35 transmitters cover that large country. New cars in India have DRM radios in them now. Other countries like South Africa, Malaysia and Brazil are likely to follow India’s lead.

But something’s missing. The radios that can receive DRM are still prohibitively expensive, especially for those markets that would benefit most. So vast swathes of the world remain unconnected to the services that DRM can provide. Where’s the cheap portable that you can pick up from a supermarket to listen to the news or sport?

Cambridge Consultants has just held its annual Innovation Day, where we throw open our doors to industry leaders and reveal future technology. One of our highlights was the prototype of a DRM design that will cost ten dollars or less to produce, addressing that vital need for information by the 60-ish per cent of our global population that doesn’t have internet or TV. It’s low power, so can run from solar or wind-up.

This design will be ready in 2020, available for any radio manufacturer to licence and incorporate into its own products. We’re doing our bit to make affordable radios for every corner of the globe!

Click here to read this post at the Cambridge Consultants website.

Michael also shares this piece from Radio World regarding this project.

I must admit: there have been so many proposed low-cost DRM receiver designs that never came to fruition, it’s easy to be skeptical. I assume the $10/9 Euro design will be for the receiver chip only–not the full portable radio, of course. They plan to bring this to fruition in 2020, so we’ll soon know if they succeed.

Spread the radio love

NASA publishes free eBook: Earth At Night

NOAA Space Weather Enthusiasts Dashboard gets an upgrade

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jake Brodsky (AB3A), who writes:

I am a regular at
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts

I just noticed today that the formerly crunchy low resolution x-ray view of the sun has been replaced by the GOES-16 SUVI images on a three hour loop. This has a 195 Angstrom view of the sun in great detail, so you can immediately see where the holes are forming in the corona.

Solar weather enthusiasts don’t need to go to the solar dynamics observatory page all the time to see what the last three hours looked like.

Thanks for the tip, Jake!

Spread the radio love