DOCSLIB.ORG

Cubesats in Search of Hotspots for Life

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cubesats in Search of Hotspots for Life CubeSats In Search of Hotspots for Life Pete Klupar Breakthrough Prize Foundation [email protected] Fermi: “Where is everyone?” Within a few thousand light years there are 10’s of millions of stars In cosmic terms, the Sun is neither particularly old, nor young…. So, If civilization, once it formed survived in the MW, why isn’t there evidence of it? It’s a timescale problem, 13Gyr vs. 100,000 yrs [email protected] 3 2018 Breakthrough Prize Winners 2018 Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences Awarded: Joanne Chory, Don W. Cleveland, Kazutoshi Mori, Kim Nasmyth, and Peter Walter. New Horizons in Physics Prizes Awarded; 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Physics Awarded; Christopher Hirata, Douglas Stanford, and Charles L. Bennett, Gary Hinshaw, Norman Jarosik, Andrea Young. ($100,000) each Lyman Page Jr., David N. Spergel, and the WMAP Science Team New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes Awarded; Aaron Naber, Maryna Viazovska, Zhiwei Yun, and 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Awarded; Wei Zhang. (7) ($300,000) each Christopher Hacon and James McKernan. (13) 5/28/2019 4 Breakthrough Junior Challenge 2016 2016 2017 Hillary Diane Andales. Submit application and video no later than July 1, 2018 at 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time Ages 13 to 18 $250K Scholarship $100K Lab $50K Teacher 2015 Ryan Chester Ohio 5/28/2019 5 5/28/2019 6 BREAKTHROUGH WATCH Star, masked by coronagraph •Thermal imaging: Existing 10-m class Earth-like planet telescope have the sensitivity to catch thermal emission from an Earth-like planet orbiting Alpha Cen A or B. Very Large Telescope (Credit: ESO) •Astrometry: A habitable planet in orbit around Alpha Cen A or B would pull its host star by about 1 micro-arcsecond. Simulated 100h exposure This tiny periodic motion could be with 8-m telescope (Credit: Christian Marois) detected with a small space telescope measuring accurately the angular separation between binary systems. •Reflected light imaging: A small space telescopes equipped with a high- performance coronagraph masking starlight, can catch the visible starlight reflected by a habitable planet in orbit around nearby stars. Baycenter Together, thermal imaging, and astrometry could Astrometry Stars orbits around system measure the planet mass, orbit, radius, and center of mass (Barycenter) 5/28/2019 temperature 7 BREAKTHROUGH STARSHOT • Near Term Goals 2019 to 2023 • Series of demonstrations reduce risk and demonstration • Develop systems models to predict systems performance • Concentrate on LASER (~55%), Sail(~30%), Comms (10%) and Systems (5%) • Long Term 2023 to 2030 • Design and Demonstrate end to end system • Far Term Goals 2040 to 2060 • Send a probe to a nearby (< 5pc) earth like planet in the habitable zone • Probe to achieve 20% light speed • Return meaningful scientific data to earth within 5 years of encounter 5/28/2019 8 Breakthrough Starshot Starshot CENTAURI SYSTEM MISSION POINT DESIGN $8.4B CAPEX comprised of: $2.0B lasers (200 GW transmitted power) $3.0B optics (2.8 km array effective diameter) $3.4B energy storage (68 GWh stored pulse energy) $7M energy cost per Starshot (68 GWh @$0.1/kWh) 4.2 m sail diameter 3.8 g sail mass 9 min (521 s) beam duration 10 min (594 s) sail acceleration time 40 Pa temperature-limited photon pressure 562 N temperature-limited force 15,000 g’s temperature-limited acceleration 2,300 g’s final acceleration (at 0.15 au, 73 ls from source) 34 kW/m2 beamer maximum radiant exitance 14.4 GW/m2 sailcraft theoretical maximum irradiance 5/28/2019 8.5 GW/m2 sailcraft temperature-limited irradiance 9 Photon Engine Challenges • Atmospherics • Atmospheric compensation of >1km apertures • Generating/maintaining the irradiance profile on the sail • Phasing • Phasing up to 50 M devices • Pointing the beamer array and stabilizing the beam • High fill factor array • Production • Manufacturing the beamers • Cost predictability and control • Producing the power and storing the energy 5/28/2019 10 Sail Challenges Material properties, which influence the choice of materials and how the sail with the sail is to be made, are its reflectivity, absorptivity and transmissivity, tensile strength in its areal density. Sail thickness: 50 nm, Sail Density: 0.7 g/cm3 , Sail reflectivity: 0.99995, Sail Absorptance : 0.00001, Sail emissivity: 0.5, Acceleration withstand 60,000 gs Total optical power: 50 GW Stability, is influenced by sail shape, beam shape and the distribution of mass, such as payload, on the sail. Laser system interactions, with the sail through its power density distribution on the sail, causing acceleration, the duration of the beam, the width of the beam, the pointing error of the beam as well as its pointing jitter. 5/28/2019 11 Communication Starshot • Return 100 images from ~4 Light Years • 4 mega pixel images, 16 bit per image, 64 Mbits per image • RTG - ~ 0.3g Pu-238 400 mWthermal /g *.3 g* 7% conversion eff ~ 10 mW • Pointing Attitude Determination and Control Finding Earth • Error correction X band 8.4 GHz, 3.6 cm 780 nm, 0.78 μm Ka band 32 GHz, ~1 cm 1550 nm, 1.5 μm lunar-laser-communication-1.PNG 12 5/28/2019 13 Selected Moons in Solar Systems With Earth, Mars and Venus for Scale Enceladus All bodies to scale 1 pixel =25 km Earth Mars 14 Venus Cost Drivers Atlas V Solar $110 M Falcon Heavy • Leaving Earth is Hard Falcon 9 $90M $62M SLS • Payload Development/ Science Team $800M • Spacecraft Development Astra $1M Electron $6M Relativity Space $5M 17 M tall Your Name Here 70 M tall 70 M tall 53 M tall 111 M tall 15 Launch Vehicle Performance C3 = 85 = Mercury Orbit C3=100 = Jupiter Exotic Approaches • Ion Propulsion • Used on several ESA and NASA missions. • Accelerate Xenon ions to 40 km/sec • Requires many 10’s KW of power, very large solar arrays to perform breaking burn at Saturn • E-wire Propulsion • Electric solar wind sail, invented in 2006 by Pekka Janhunen in Finland • Uses the solar wind momentum for producing thrust • Bench unit built, No on orbit demonstrations, power consumption high • Position Propulsion • Basic research on going, no bench top demonstrations • Astra/Rocket Lab (small rockets) • Rocket Lab has demonstrated lift • Would require extended flight times to targets 17 SUN DIVER CONCEPT ❶ ❶ launch, deploy ❷ deceleration (90 days) ❸ closest approach to Sun Earth ❹ acceleration (1 day) ❷ ❺ cruise ❻ take/relay data Acceleration ❸ Solar flux ❻ ❺ ❹ Circular membrane sail Sun with integrated payload 8/17/2017 Breakthrough Starshot Proprietary 5 Travel times are shown in green below. 261 days 152 days 176 days 11 days 8/17/2017 Breakthrough Starshot Proprietary 1 9 Venus Why Venus • Cheaper place to make mistakes than Jupiter, the Lonely Ugly Step Sister of Earth • Venus was a temperate world long ago, with seas that persisted for eons — perhaps 2 billion years or more, according to recent modeling research. • Temperatures and pressures at 50 Km are close to those of Earth's surface, so it's possible that Venusian life — if it ever existed — didn't die out • Mostly sulfuric acid clouds, biologists have found all manner of hardy microbes here on Earth capable of tolerating similarly extreme conditions. And these same acidic Venus clouds could potentially provide chemical energy to any microbes that may be floating around up there, researchers have said. • Intriguingly, Venus' upper atmosphere also abounds with a mysterious compound that absorbs ultraviolet (UV) radiation • The planet has gobbled up many tons of Earth rocks that were blasted into space by violent impacts over the past 4.5 billion years, some of which may have sheltered unwittingly voyaging microbes. (Venus material has also made its way to Earth, so it's also possible that our planet was colonized long ago by native Venusians.) Venus Investigation David Grinspoon, Mason Peck and Sanjay Limaye; Planetary Science Institute 22 Properties of Venus Clouds Hospitable to Life • Global clouds are much larger, more continuous, and stable than clouds on Earth. Particle lifetimes of months (Grinspoon et al, 1993). “Particles do not fall” (Imamura, 2006) • Large “mode 3” particles at lower cloud level (~ 50 km altitude) -- 1 bar atm pressure -- ~350 K -- make up most of the mass of the cloud deck -- may contain an unknown, non-absorbing core material which comprises up to 50% by volume of the particles (Cimino, 1982; Grinspoon et al. 1993). • Superrotation of atmosphere shortens duration of the night • Chemical disequilibrium => coexistence of H2 and O2 H2S and SO2 LEO, Venus or Enceladus Missions • LEO: • Chipsats with chirality sensors; Chipsats 2.0 in the ignorosphere • Sprite deployment from high- “Microfluidic chips for chirality exploration” Stefan Nagl, Philipp Schulze, et al altitude balloons as precursor to Anal. Chem., 2011, 83 (9), pp 3232–3238 DOI: 10.1021/ac200150w Venus science March 28, 2011 • Venus: • Chipsats ballutes deployed outside or inside atmosphere • Enceladus: • Plume detection 25 55 SPQR (SMALL PAYLOAD QUICK RETURN) 26 Venus Clouds ► Target area: Clouds between 30km to 70km ► Chemistry: Life chemical readily available including Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Hydrogen, in usable forms ► Physics: physical conditions similar to standard conditions on earth, 20C and 100K Pa at 50 km, No radiation belts, will be exposed Cosmic Rays induced magnetic field provides protection from Solar Wind. ► Energy: Significant chemical and solar energy available ► Accessibility: Difficult to get to 50km dense atmosphere, multiple flybys ► Possible detection sensors: UV Spectrometers and Organic Analyzer ► Cruise Duration: 5 to 12 month cruise from earth ► Mission description: Mothership Ride Share to GTO Holman Xfer to Venus SOI, enter Elliptical orbit drop 10 small reentry vehicle with payloads, $18,000K 27 Icy Satellites…not “ocean worlds”, but planet-sized aqueous caves! Europa Enceladus Mothership Daughters and Granddaughters Enceladus • Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lecture-29 (PDF)
    Life in the Universe Orin Harris and Greg Anderson Department of Physics & Astronomy Northeastern Illinois University Spring 2021 c 2012-2021 G. Anderson., O. Harris Universe: Past, Present & Future – slide 1 / 95 Overview Dating Rocks Life on Earth How Did Life Arise? Life in the Solar System Life Around Other Stars Interstellar Travel SETI Review c 2012-2021 G. Anderson., O. Harris Universe: Past, Present & Future – slide 2 / 95 Dating Rocks Zircon Dating Sedimentary Grand Canyon Life on Earth How Did Life Arise? Life in the Solar System Life Around Dating Rocks Other Stars Interstellar Travel SETI Review c 2012-2021 G. Anderson., O. Harris Universe: Past, Present & Future – slide 3 / 95 Zircon Dating Zircon, (ZrSiO4), minerals incorporate trace amounts of uranium but reject lead. Naturally occuring uranium: • U-238: 99.27% • U-235: 0.72% Decay chains: • 238U −→ 206Pb, τ =4.47 Gyrs. • 235U −→ 207Pb, τ = 704 Myrs. 1956, Clair Camron Patterson dated the Canyon Diablo meteorite: τ =4.55 Gyrs. c 2012-2021 G. Anderson., O. Harris Universe: Past, Present & Future – slide 4 / 95 Dating Sedimentary Rocks • Relative ages: Deeper layers were deposited earlier • Absolute ages: Decay of radioactive isotopes old (deposited last) oldest (depositedolder first) c 2012-2021 G. Anderson., O. Harris Universe: Past, Present & Future – slide 5 / 95 Grand Canyon: Earth History from 200 million - 2 billion yrs ago. Dating Rocks Life on Earth Earth History Timeline Late Heavy Bombardment Hadean Shark Bay Stromatolites Cyanobacteria Q: Earliest Fossils? Life on Earth O2 History Q: Life on Earth How Did Life Arise? Life in the Solar System Life Around Other Stars Interstellar Travel SETI Review c 2012-2021 G.
    [Show full text]
  • Materials Challenges for the Starshot Lightsail
    PERSPECTIVE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0075-8 Materials challenges for the Starshot lightsail Harry A. Atwater 1*, Artur R. Davoyan1, Ognjen Ilic1, Deep Jariwala1, Michelle C. Sherrott 1, Cora M. Went2, William S. Whitney2 and Joeson Wong 1 The Starshot Breakthrough Initiative established in 2016 sets an audacious goal of sending a spacecraft beyond our Solar System to a neighbouring star within the next half-century. Its vision for an ultralight spacecraft that can be accelerated by laser radiation pressure from an Earth-based source to ~20% of the speed of light demands the use of materials with extreme properties. Here we examine stringent criteria for the lightsail design and discuss fundamental materials challenges. We pre- dict that major research advances in photonic design and materials science will enable us to define the pathways needed to realize laser-driven lightsails. he Starshot Breakthrough Initiative has challenged a broad nanocraft, we reveal a balance between the high reflectivity of the and interdisciplinary community of scientists and engineers sail, required for efficient photon momentum transfer; large band- Tto design an ultralight spacecraft or ‘nanocraft’ that can reach width, accounting for the Doppler shift; and the low mass necessary Proxima Centauri b — an exoplanet within the habitable zone of for the spacecraft to accelerate to near-relativistic speeds. We show Proxima Centauri and 4.2 light years away from Earth — in approxi- that nanophotonic structures may be well-suited to meeting such mately
    [Show full text]
  • Breakthrough Propulsion Study Assessing Interstellar Flight Challenges and Prospects
    Breakthrough Propulsion Study Assessing Interstellar Flight Challenges and Prospects NASA Grant No. NNX17AE81G First Year Report Prepared by: Marc G. Millis, Jeff Greason, Rhonda Stevenson Tau Zero Foundation Business Office: 1053 East Third Avenue Broomfield, CO 80020 Prepared for: NASA Headquarters, Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Washington, DC 20546 June 2018 Millis 2018 Grant NNX17AE81G_for_CR.docx pg 1 of 69 ABSTRACT Progress toward developing an evaluation process for interstellar propulsion and power options is described. The goal is to contrast the challenges, mission choices, and emerging prospects for propulsion and power, to identify which prospects might be more advantageous and under what circumstances, and to identify which technology details might have greater impacts. Unlike prior studies, the infrastructure expenses and prospects for breakthrough advances are included. This first year's focus is on determining the key questions to enable the analysis. Accordingly, a work breakdown structure to organize the information and associated list of variables is offered. A flow diagram of the basic analysis is presented, as well as more detailed methods to convert the performance measures of disparate propulsion methods into common measures of energy, mass, time, and power. Other methods for equitable comparisons include evaluating the prospects under the same assumptions of payload, mission trajectory, and available energy. Missions are divided into three eras of readiness (precursors, era of infrastructure, and era of breakthroughs) as a first step before proceeding to include comparisons of technology advancement rates. Final evaluation "figures of merit" are offered. Preliminary lists of mission architectures and propulsion prospects are provided.
    [Show full text]
  • Pterossauros Nasciam Sem a Capacidade De Voar
    NOTAS 1 Pterossauros nasciam sem a capacidade de voar Os filhotes de pterossauros, répteis ala- dos já extintos, contemporâneos dos dinossauros, rompiam seus ovos prontos para andar, mas não para bater asas e ga- nhar os ares. Assim que nasciam, os ossos Ovos fossilizados da cintura estavam formados. Isso permi- do pterossauro Hamipterus tia que eles se apoiassem sobre as patas tianshanensis e traseiras e dessem os primeiros passos. reconstituição Porém, a estrutura óssea que dá suporte artística da espécie aos movimentos do músculo peitoral, essencial para sustentar o voo, ainda não estava totalmente constituída. Os recém- -nascidos também não tinham todos os dentes, limitação que provavelmente os impedia de se alimentar sozinhos. Para sobreviver até que os ossos de apoio das asas e os dentes estivessem completos, os filhotes tinham de permanecer um bom tempo sob o cuidado dos pais. Esse cenário, sobre o desenvolvimento embrio- nário e os primeiros movimentos, ainda tímidos, dos filhotes de pterossauros, é sugerido em um estudo feito por paleon- tólogos brasileiros e chineses (Science, 1º de dezembro). “O descompasso entre o desenvolvimento dos ossos da cintura e os da musculatura peitoral indica que os pterossauros não conseguiam voar ao nascer”, comenta o paleontólogo Ale- xander Kellner, do Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), um dos autores do trabalho. Com o auxílio de imagens de tomografia com- putadorizada, o grupo analisou o interior de 16 ovos de pterossauros da espécie Hamipterus tianshanensis, que viveu há cerca de 120 milhões de anos na bacia de Turpan-Hami, no noroeste da China.
    [Show full text]
  • Looking at Earth: an Astronaut's Journey Induction Ceremony 2017
    american academy of arts & sciences winter 2018 www.amacad.org Bulletin vol. lxxi, no. 2 Induction Ceremony 2017 Class Speakers: Jane Mayer, Ursula Burns, James P. Allison, Heather K. Gerken, and Gerald Chan Annual David M. Rubenstein Lecture Looking at Earth: An Astronaut’s Journey David M. Rubenstein and Kathryn D. Sullivan ALSO: How Are Humans Different from Other Great Apes?–Ajit Varki, Pascal Gagneux, and Fred H. Gage Advancing Higher Education in America–Monica Lozano, Robert J. Birgeneau, Bob Jacobsen, and Michael S. McPherson Redistricting and Representation–Patti B. Saris, Gary King, Jamal Greene, and Moon Duchin noteworthy Select Prizes and Andrea Bertozzi (University of James R. Downing (St. Jude Chil- Barbara Grosz (Harvard Univer- California, Los Angeles) was se- dren’s Research Hospital) was sity) is the recipient of the Life- Awards to Members lected as a 2017 Simons Investi- awarded the 2017 E. Donnall time Achievement Award of the gator by the Simons Foundation. Thomas Lecture and Prize by the Association for Computational American Society of Hematology. Linguistics. Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Clara D. Bloomfield (Ohio State 2017 University) is the recipient of the Carol Dweck (Stanford Univer- Christopher Hacon (University 2017 Robert A. Kyle Award for sity) was awarded the inaugural of Utah) was awarded the Break- Joachim Frank (Columbia Univer- Outstanding Clinician-Scientist, Yidan Prize. through Prize in Mathematics. sity) presented by the Mayo Clinic Di- vision of Hematology. Felton Earls (Harvard Univer- Naomi Halas (Rice University) sity) is the recipient of the 2018 was awarded the 2018 Julius Ed- Nobel Prize in Economic Emmanuel J.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview of SPRITE: Saturn Probe Interior and Atmosphere Explorer Concept
    Overview of SPRITE: Saturn PRobe Interior and aTmosphere Explorer Concept Marcus Lobbia1 Co-Authors: Amy Simon2, Rolf Danner1, Dave Atkinson1, Cavan Cuddy3 1 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology 2 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 3 Lockheed Martin Space Systems © 2017 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Predecisional information for planning and discussion only Saturn Probe Mission Concept – Decadal Survey • Planetary Sciences Decadal Survey – Saturn Probe mission one of several recommended Medium-class missions for New Frontiers program • Objectives – 1: Determine Saturn’s Role in Solar System Formation and Evolution • Measure noble gas abundances and isotopic ratios in Saturn’s atmosphere – 2: Characterize Saturn’s atmosphere structure and composition • Measure atmospheric structure and cloud properties at Probe descent location SPRITE is proposed as a New Frontiers candidate mission to address these high-priority Decadal Survey objectives Predecisional information for planning and discussion only 2 jpl.nasa.gov Saturn’s Role in Solar System Formation • Did Saturn arrest Jupiter migration to inner solar system? – In situ measurements will help identify Saturn’s age and formation location – Sample elemental abundances and isotopic ratios from 0.2 to 10 bars pressure Predecisional information for planning and discussion only 3 jpl.nasa.gov Truth Beneath Saturn’s Clouds • What are the properties and locations of Saturn’s various cloud layers? What are vertical profiles of pressure,
    [Show full text]
  • Pnas11141toc 3..7
    October 14, 2014 u vol. 111 u no. 41 u 14637–14960 Cover image: Pictured is a duck during feeding. Ducks and other tactile foraging birds rely on their sense of touch, rather than sight, to feed in murky water. Eve R. Schneider et al. found that the trigeminal ganglia in duck bills contain a high number of neurons hypersensitive to mechanical stimuli. Multiplication of mechanosensitive neurons, however, may reduce the number of thermosensitive neurons. This tradeoff may confer an advantage on tactile foraging birds, which can tolerate cold water temperatures without diminishing feeding efficiency. See the article by Schneider et al. on pages 14941–14946. Image courtesy of Eve R. Schneider (Bagriantsev Lab). From the Cover 14941 Duckbill mechanosensitivity 14675 Mobility of packaged viral DNA 14740 Strong male bonds among Guinea baboons 14822 Losing independence in microbial mutualism 14864 Density-based sickle cell detection E4288 Reply to Azuaje: Predicting effective combined Contents therapies for heterogeneous tumors Boyang Zhao, Michael T. Hemann, and Douglas A. Lauffenburger THIS WEEK IN PNAS INNER WORKINGS—An over-the-shoulder look at scientists at work 14637 In This Issue 14639 Inner Workings: Coding on the big screen Robert Frederick LETTERS (ONLINE ONLY) QNAS E4284 Delphi: Somewhere between Scylla and Charybdis? Fergus Bolger and Gene Rowe 14640 QnAs with Alan Guth E4285 Are Marine Group II Euryarchaeota significant Paul Gabrielsen contributors to tetraether lipids in the ocean? Stefan Schouten, Laura Villanueva, Ellen C. Hopmans, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, and Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté RETROSPECTIVE E4286 Reply to Schouten et al.: Marine Group II planktonic Euryarchaeota are significant contributors to tetraether lipids in the ocean 14641 Jake MacMillan: A pioneering chemist in Sara A.
    [Show full text]
  • Cosmology After WMAP (5)
    Cosmology After WMAP (5) DavidDavid SpergelSpergel Geneve June 2008 StandardStandard cosmologicalcosmological modelmodel StillStill FitsFits thethe DataData ! General Relativity + Uniform Universe Big Bang " Density of universe determines its fate + shape ! Universe is flat (total density = critical density) " Atoms 4% " Dark Matter 23% " Dark Energy (cosmological constant?) 72% ! Universe has tiny ripples " Adiabatic, scale invariant, Gaussian Fluctuations " Harrison-Zeldovich-Peebles " Inflationary models QuickQuick HistoryHistory ofof thethe UniverseUniverse " Universe starts out hot, dense and filled with radiation " As the universe expands, it cools. • During the first minutes, light elements form • After 500,000 years, atoms form • After 100,000,000 years, stars start to form • After 1 Billion years, galaxies and quasars ThermalThermal HistoryHistory ofof UniverseUniverse radiation matter NEUTRAL r IONIZED 104 103 z GrowthGrowth ofof FluctuationsFluctuations •Linear theory •Basic elements have been understood for 30 years (Peebles, Sunyaev & Zeldovich) •Numerical codes agree at better than 0.1% (Seljak et al. 2003) Sunyaev & Zeldovich CMBCMB OverviewOverview ! We can detect both CMB temperature and polarization fluctuations ! Polarization Fluctuations can be decomposed into E and B modes q ~180/l ADIABATIC DENSITY FLUCTUATIONS ISOCURVATURE ENTROPY FLUCTUATIONS DeterminingDetermining BasicBasic ParametersParameters Baryon Density 2 Wbh = 0.015,0.017..0.031 also measured through D/H DeterminingDetermining BasicBasic ParametersParameters
    [Show full text]
  • Professor Peter Goldreich Member of the Board of Adjudicators Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Prize in Astronomy
    The Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is an international award to honour individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have recently achieved distinguished and significant advances, who have made outstanding contributions in academic and scientific research or applications, or who in other domains have achieved excellence. The award is dedicated to furthering societal progress, enhancing quality of life, and enriching humanity’s spiritual civilization. Preference is to be given to individuals whose significant work was recently achieved and who are currently active in their respective fields. Founder's Biographical Note The Shaw Prize was established under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw. Mr Shaw, born in China in 1907, was a native of Ningbo County, Zhejiang Province. He joined his brother’s film company in China in the 1920s. During the 1950s he founded the film company Shaw Brothers (HK) Limited in Hong Kong. He was one of the founding members of Television Broadcasts Limited launched in Hong Kong in 1967. Mr Shaw also founded two charities, The Shaw Foundation Hong Kong and The Sir Run Run Shaw Charitable Trust, both dedicated to the promotion of education, scientific and technological research, medical and welfare services, and culture and the arts. ~ 1 ~ Message from the Chief Executive I warmly congratulate the six Shaw Laureates of 2014. Established in 2002 under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw, the Shaw Prize is a highly prestigious recognition of the role that scientists play in shaping the development of a modern world. Since the first award in 2004, 54 leading international scientists have been honoured for their ground-breaking discoveries which have expanded the frontiers of human knowledge and made significant contributions to humankind.
    [Show full text]
  • Kazutoshi Mori and Peter Walter Receive the 2014 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
    Kazutoshi Mori and Peter Walter receive the 2014 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award Corinne L. Williams J Clin Invest. 2014;124(10):4138-4142. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI78419. News Cells are continuously faced with life-and-death decisions based on their ability to handle stressful situations. One indicator of stress is the accumulation of unfolded proteins within the ER, which induces a transcriptional cascade aimed at increasing the folding capacity of the ER. If the burden is too great and homeostasis cannot be restored, the response shifts from damage control to the induction of apoptotic pathways. This unfolded protein response (UPR) is conserved among all eukaryotes, and dysfunction in this pathway underlies many human diseases, including diabetes and cancer. The 2014 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research award honors Kazutoshi Mori of Kyoto University and Peter Walter of the UCSF (Figure 1) for their contributions toward unraveling the pathways involved in mediating the complex cellular response to ER stress. A simple question In the 1970s, the identification of a set of proteins that were induced in response to viral transformation set the stage for understanding heat shock-independent cellular stress responses. These particular proteins were constitutively present in cells and notably increased in response to glucose deprivation (1) or agents that block post-translational glycosylation, such as tunicamycin. Based on this apparent glucose-dependent regulation, they became known as glucose-regulated proteins (GRPs). One
    [Show full text]
  • Small-Scale Anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background: Experimental and Theoretical Perspectives
    Small-Scale Anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background: Experimental and Theoretical Perspectives Eric R. Switzer A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS [Adviser: Lyman Page] November 2008 c Copyright by Eric R. Switzer, 2008. All rights reserved. Abstract In this thesis, we consider both theoretical and experimental aspects of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy for ℓ > 500. Part one addresses the process by which the universe first became neutral, its recombination history. The work described here moves closer to achiev- ing the precision needed for upcoming small-scale anisotropy experiments. Part two describes experimental work with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), designed to measure these anisotropies, and focuses on its electronics and software, on the site stability, and on calibration and diagnostics. Cosmological recombination occurs when the universe has cooled sufficiently for neutral atomic species to form. The atomic processes in this era determine the evolution of the free electron abundance, which in turn determines the optical depth to Thomson scattering. The Thomson optical depth drops rapidly (cosmologically) as the electrons are captured. The radiation is then decoupled from the matter, and so travels almost unimpeded to us today as the CMB. Studies of the CMB provide a pristine view of this early stage of the universe (at around 300,000 years old), and the statistics of the CMB anisotropy inform a model of the universe which is precise and consistent with cosmological studies of the more recent universe from optical astronomy.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Cosmic Acceleration: Connecting Theory and Observation
    Understanding Cosmic Acceleration V(!) ! E Hivon Hiranya Peiris Hubble Fellow/ Enrico Fermi Fellow University of Chicago #OMPOSITIONOFAND+ECosmic HistoryY%VENTS$ UR/ INGTHE%CosmicVOLUTIONOFTHE5 MysteryNIVERSE presentpresent energy energy Y density "7totTOT = 1(k=0)K density DAR RADIATION KENER dark energy YDENSIT DARK G (73%) DARKMATTER Y G ENERGY dark matter DARK MA(23.6%)TTER TIONOFENER WHITEWELLUNDERSTOOD DARKNESSPROPORTIONALTOPOORUNDERSTANDING BARYONS BARbaryonsYONS AC (4.4%) FR !42 !33 !22 !16 !12 Fractional Energy Density 10 s 10 s 10 s 10 s 10 s 1 sec 380 kyr 14 Gyr ~1015 GeV SCALEFACTimeTOR ~1 MeV ~0.2 MeV 4IME TS TS TS TS TS TSEC TKYR T'YR Y Y Planck GUT Y T=100 TeV nucleosynthesis Y IES TION TS EOUT DIAL ORS TIONS G TION TION Z T Energy THESIS symmetry (ILC XA 100) MA EN EE WNOF ESTHESIS V IMOR GENERATEOBSERVABLE IT OR ELER ALTHEOR TIONS EF SIGNATURESINTHE#-" EAKSYMMETR EIONIZA INOFR Y% OMBINA R E6 EAKDO #X ONASYMMETR SIC W '54SYMMETR IMELINEOF EFFWR Y Y EC TUR O NUCLEOSYN ), * +E R 4 PLANCKENER Generation BR TR TURBA UC PH Cosmic Microwave NEUTR OUSTICOSCILLA BAR TIONOFPR ER A AC STR of primordial ELEC non-linear growth of P 44 LIMITOFACC Background Emitted perturbations perturbations: GENER ES carries signature of signature on CMB TUR GENERATIONOFGRAVITYWAVES INITIALDENSITYPERTURBATIONS acoustic#-"%MITT oscillationsED NON LINEARSTR andUCTUR EIMPARTS #!0-!0OBSERVES#-" ANDINITIALDENSITYPERTURBATIONS GROWIMPARTINGFLUCTUATIONS CARIESSIGNATUREOFACOUSTIC SIGNATUREON#-"THROUGH *throughEFFWRITESUPANDGR weakADUATES WHICHSEEDSTRUCTUREFORMATION
    [Show full text]