September 3, 2013 1 NEWS FROM COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING Written by the Beta Team of CSESoc Beta Issue # 82 Produced by Wen Di LIM Iota edition Edited by CSESoc EXEC, Tim Wiley Week 04 Session 2, 2013 and Samuel POLLOCK. bETA Free as in speech and our awesome BBQs. TECH Cubesats When I say ’satellite’, most people will a tube with a spring in the bottom able their versatility. Cubesat missions have think of a box in the sky sporting a large to store these satellites during launch and tracked ships, looked for earthquakes, dish and a pair of photovoltaic wings. spit them out afterward when in orbit. hosted biological experiments, flown Others may think of the Hubble Space in formation, tested new technologies, Telescope, Google Maps, or phone calls broadcasted the Ecuadorian national from boats. All will think of them as anthem, and studied space weather. They expensive - the domain of governments have sported tethers, solar sails, and and large corporations. Historically, this plasma thrusters. OSSI-1 is an open- has been the case, but within the past source artistic meditation on fantasy decade, things have started to change. and reality, inviting ordinary people to connect with the heavens. STraND-1 and In the late 1990s, professors from Cal PhoneSat 1.0 have Google Nexus Ones for Poly and Stanford got together and came brains. up with something amazing: a design containing all the subsystems of a satellite Cubesats are even pioneering business but small and cheap enough for a team models: ArduSat paid for itself through a of students to build, test, and operate. Of The first six cubesats launched in 2003 Kickstarter campaign which gave pledgers course, the technology of the time meant aboard a reworked ICBM. More followed the chance to take pictures using the on- that they wouldn’t be able to do much in 2005, and since then their relatively board camera, broadcast messages, and more than make a few basic measurements low cost and quick build times have led run their own space-based experiments on and beep but as they were teaching tools, to ever increasing numbers taking to the the impressive range of system sensors. this was OK. skies. This year, 19 have already entered Future projects quite literally aim higher - orbit with a further 62 planned for later there are plans to land cubesats on the The key to this breakthrough was in the year. In total, cubesats will make moon and a plasma thruster capable standardisation. Each satellite would be up nearly 25% of all satellites launched in of powering interplanetary, or even shaped like a stack of at most three 10 by 2013. interstellar, missions is in the works. 10 by 10 centimetre cubes, weigh up to a kilogram, and be nestable into a P-POD, What makes cubesats marvellous is CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE. Compiler Conspiracy - page4 iLounge - page6 Bits in a Bunch - page7 News in Brief - page3 Transitions of a Transfer -3 Microsoft Part 2 - page4-6 http://beta.csesoc.unsw.edu.au Computer Science and Engineering September 3, 2013 2 TECH Cubesats - contd. Cubesats are creating an industry. Outside the box, Nanosatisfi, founded In ten years, these small boxes have gone GOMspace, Clyde Space, Pumpkin by the makers of ArduSat, hopes to put from grad-student science projects to the Inc, and Innovative Solutions in Space an entire constellation of satellites with a cutting edge of the final frontier. They’re (ISIS) are all companies which sell wide range of sensors into orbit, offering spearheading a new age in space, where cubesat structures, hardware and software people outside of conventional space you don’t have to be a major superpower to people who want to lighten their programs the chance to do anything their or telecommunications powerhouse for development load. Getting them to hardware can support in space. Skybox, a the sky to no longer be your limit. space is harder and more expensive, but Silicon Valley based startup, plans to use ISIS, Nanosatellite Launch Services, and a constellation of cheap, mass-produced Incidentally, if you want to be part Spaceflight Services can arrange such nanosatellites to provide rapidly updated, of the nanosatellite revolution, build things. Existing space institutions are high-quality satellite images. A space your skills, get experience working on getting into them in a big way. NASA mining company, Deep Space Industries, big projects, and have fun and make in the USA and ESA in Europe both is making extensive use of cubesats and friends, come along to BLUEsat! We’re have programs through which universities their commercially available components a group of students who are building can get their cubesats launched for free. in their planned missions. Their main a satellite and are looking for new Even UNSW is getting in on the action - competitor, Planetary Resources, whose members. For more information, email we’ll be launching UNSW-EC0 in 2015 Arkyd 100 space telescope was among [email protected] or drop by as part of QB50; a mission which uses a the most successful projects in Kickstarter room 419 in the Electrical Engineering cubesat constellation to study the lower history, also plan to use cubesats as a way building after 10 am on Saturdays :) thermosphere. of testing their technology in space. ANNE GWYNNE-ROBSON OPINION It’s All About Perspective Transitions of a Transfer There is much to be said about university Hurrah! A major concern is that, if I am required life. In reality it can encompass anything to transfer what will happen to the bonds from trying to remember what you’ve One of the most exciting experiences that were formed with my cohort? What learnt in the current week’s lecture, of first year life was getting accustomed will I do and how will I cope in a new to trying to balance work or even to different clubs and societies. Upon environment? These insidious questions mastering the art of sleeping properly. walking into Semester 1 O-week we are have the ability to cast a sense of dread Even those who have overcome their bombarded with sneaky onesie-clothed amongst most transfer students. Sure first year hurdles still find it hard to yellow ninjas that distribute Lipton ice-tea you’ll have time to see your friends again, accept the idea that it’s okay to go to different fairy floss stations with sugar but you won’t get the daily routine of to events during a school night - i.e. covered yellow-shirts. (I did manage to lectures with them and other rituals that MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFri see one yellow-shirt accidentally drop you’ve gotten accustomed to. - I’ll stop before this turns into a Rebecca some sugar on themselves - yikes!) All Black song. these new experiences and unique people So what happens now? combined into one of the most fascinating It’s like first year again. Except you’re In most cases, first year university life glimpses to the hectic university life. older. And unluckily for us this year, no introduces you to new timetables, new Oktoberfest. people and new activities. We are But often, these new experiences are espoused with greater autonomy as our attached to the new-ness and the wonder of Getting accustomed to new things! success resonates on our personal abilities learning about university for the first time. For me one of the strangest things I had and determination. In most cases this I think here, lies a key principle concern to encounter was trying not use Java logic equates to a lot of all-nighters and caffeine for someone like myself and even others in C. This was really difficult because of to cram for that exam nassignment who have been somewhat desensitised to ObjectsClassesLongNameExceptionCoco- npresentation. Furthermore we start to most university life; “What if I don’t like Puffs.Cache - (made up library name and propel ourselves into our disciplines, what I’m doing?”. yes names are really this long). finding out what we like and forming some sort of camaraderie with our cohort. If you Such a tremulous assertion has the CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE exclude the stress, first year can be like the possibility of questioning the experiences sunshines and lollipops of experiences. you’ve had in your first year of university. http://beta.csesoc.unsw.edu.au Computer Science and Engineering September 3, 2013 3 OPINION It’s All About Perspective - contd. Java: //Evil class Creating new routines! does as well as coping with competitors. public class HelloWorld { If you’re used to studying with a group of public static void main() { people from your old degree you might This is only week 3! (Almost 4) System.out.println( not be able to do that again. Or it can be Ranting on about club events and transfers ``Hello, World''); the complete opposite - there’s more group may seem as an off tangent analysis but } work and you’d be required to spend the the relation they have with one another } pesky hours not googling cute animal is profound. The social barriers and videos on YouTube. Out with the old, in hurdles one faces during a transfer can be To c: //Life makes sense! with the new! overcome through the active involvement #include <stdio.h> with CSE clubs and events. The reason int main(void) { Partaking in new society events why this is so, is because it provides you printf(``Hello World''); New society events allow one to better with a similar inclusive feeling as starting return 0; understand new technical advancements university in your first year.