space

In his Lift12 talk, Hojun Song tells the story of his first satellite, which will take off from Kazakhstan this August. Hojun also shared with us his struggles and his plans for the future. Inspiring!

Today on February 20, two days before the opening of the Lift12 conference – and an excellent example of Lift’s examination of new technology trends – is the launch of “Genève, Ville Vivante”. This is a fascinating visual representation of the movement of people in the city, made possible by geolocalization of anonymized mobile phone data. Impressive animations and large panels will explain what new perspectives of the city these digital traces offer.

An initiative by the City of Geneva, Pierre Maudet. In collaboration with Lift and Interactive Things. A big thank you to Yves Cretegny, former Lift CEO and Fabien Girardin, who initiated this project together with Eric Favre, CIO of the city of Geneva, back in 2010.

See this impressive installation by yourself!
Mainstation of Geneva,
exit passage du Mont Blanc
Feb 20 - March 4 2012
Official opening ceremony Feb 20 14:00, in presence of Mr. Pierre Maudet, mayor of Geneva.

Ville Vivante Trailer from Interactive Things on Vimeo.

As Endeavour makes its final trip into space, another nountry gets ready to spend the taxpayers’ money up there. Earlier this week, China announced a plan to build a manned space station (names Tiangong or heavenly palace) in the next decade - joining Russia’s Mir and the joint International Space Station (ISS).

While largely symbolic, the Chinese ambition to conquer space “on their own” also signals that the tables are turning when it comes to spending money into such lofty endeavours. The good news is that, in this age of standardization, the docking hardware will be compatible with ISS enabling some high-level exchange between both station.

As a reminder, the spatial arms’ race wasn’t the least factor precipitating the end of the Soviet Union empire. No doubt that China will avoid that history repeats itself.

Jennifer Magnolfi’s work at the front-end of Research and Development for Herman Miller focuses on exploring the integration of technology in building systems and interior habitats. Prior to this, Jennifer served as an instructor at the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, and technical advisor to the Star Design Program, a design and research collaboration between NASA and Lund University.

At Lift11, Jennifer will talk about the design process for space habitats, how designers and engineers approach the creation of space habitats for the extreme conditions offered by life in micro-gravity environments.

Jennifer Magnolfi

Research & Development (USA)
Herman Miller Ideation Studio
» View Lift11 speakers

Laurent Haug: What is your work focusing on?

Jennifer Magnolfi: My current work focuses on what I call Programmable Environments. I explore how users can interact with and modify their surroundings in high-tech spaces, how technology and space come together to create new possibilities for people. I study environments where technology systems are a fundamental part of the design of the interior space, in some cases, indispensable to its performance.

How does one design for space habitat?

Designing for a space habitat poses very different constraints. The basic difference is gravity. In space you build around micro-gravity, a condition you have on the ISS for example. Your body does not differentiate between up or down, which changes your relationship to physical space. The notions of walls, floor and ceiling are obsolete, if you will. The other obvious aspect affecting systems design are those that provide basic protection from the environment - external agents such as as lunar regolith or galactic radiation. During the design process, Earth analogs such as the desert or the poles are used as locations to provide extreme conditions for testing habitat approaches.

How much does one draw from Earth habitats in designing for space?

Inevitably, what is known from living on Earth and its architecture is used as an inspiration. The functions to be recreated first are the basic elements of human habitation: having a meal, hygiene, work, community life, etc. Beyond any inspiration from earth, however, I think it would be fair to say that the habitat is itself a complex and inhabitable life-support system: the primary function of a habitat is to ensure the survival of the crew. That is likely to evolve in planning for longer missions in the future, like going to Mars for example. Astronauts are extreme users, trained for the success of the mission. However, in longer missions, it is estimated that aspects of design beyond function and safety will influence more the design of the habitat, such as comfort, or creating a sense of place.These aspects of designing for space will take on more importance once we have made the leap from low Earth orbit on our exploration journeys.

Are space habitats inspired by science fiction?

There is an interesting connection between Hollywood and space design. As early as the 1950’s, the movie industry has created visions that are adopted as popular images, therefore influencing the perception of what is possible. This influence will likely be more evident in private enterprises. In general, much of the design of crew habitats is determined by the state of development of technology as well as the constraints of the mission, such as lower Earth orbit travel, or lunar surface missions, etc.

Honor Harger is New Zealand born curator and artist with a particular interest in art which uses new technologies, sound and broadcasting. She is currently director of Lighthouse in Brighton, UK.

Honor Harger is working on broadcasting what Pythagoras and Johannes Kepler called "the music of the spheres", the "sounds" that extra-celestial bodies like the sun or planets produce. Her project Radio Astronomy allowed thousands of people to emotionally connect with space in a new way.

Honor Harger

Director (NZ)
Lighthouse
» View Lift11 speakers

Laurent Haug: Can you introduce us to the Radio Astronomy project?

Honor Harger: In 2001, we went to the forests of Western Latvia to work with a large radio dish called RT32. It was formerly used by the Soviet Union to spy on communications between Europe and America during the Cold War. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and their withdrawal from Latvia, it's existence - previously a highly classified state secret - was revealed. The Russian authorities wanted to blow it up, but fortunately they gave RT32 to the scientific community, and it began it's life as a radio telescope, focused on celestial, rather than earthly signals.

The telescope was not about images, it was about radio. We realised that if we attached a radio receiver and amplifier to the telescope, we would be able to listen to was was detecting, in the same way that we listen to ordinary broadcast radio. The project was born. We started to collaborate with other radio telescopes around the world, and together with scientists from NASA, Latvia and the UK, created a website where people could tune in to these radio telescopes, and listen to space.
That's how the adventure began.

What does it mean to listen to space?

Whilst our project uses what we describe as "sounds from space", it is important to understand that stars and planets are not directly audible. Sound waves can not propagate in the vacuum of space. However, it is possible for radio waves emitted from celestial bodies, such as Jupiter and the Sun, to be heard by using radio technology. In our galaxy, the Sun is the strongest source of radio waves - so it's the most powerful transmitter in the radio sky. Jupiter also sends us strong radio signals.

What we hear is very curiously linked with our experience of radio here on earth - the sounds are a bit like the sound of static between the stations.

What did you try to achieve through this project?

What we're trying to do is give people a sonic encounter with space. Though weight of images associated with space is overwhelming, in popular culture, we have no sense of what space sounds like. Indeed, most people associate space with silence. But using radio, we can listen to what would otherwise be inaudible.
We'd like to think that listening to the radio waves of planets, stars, and our Sun, makes these phenomena more tangible and comprehensible. Listening brings these distant objects a little bit closer to us.

Our listeners were a combination of people who visited the various exhibitions of the project, which were displayed in galleries and museums around the world, the online audience, and the on-air audience of people who heard the broadcast when it was transmitted on FM and Shortwave radio at specific times in certain countries.

For some of the scientists we worked with, the project recalled the early history of the science of radio astronomy. Before astronomy was computerised, radio astronomers would monitor radio telescopes by listening. They used to be very skilled at detecting changes in astronomical activity by ear. We found that we were reconnecting contemporary radio astronomy with it's history.

A question that everybody probably has in mind: could you capture noises from an alien form of life?

Well, for us it is exciting and inspiring enough to be able to listen to the stars and planets. In theory it is possible that scientists will detect an extraterrestrial signal using radio astronomy technology, but the search thus far hasn't found anything.

We're aware, of course, that the popular image of radio astronomy is very strongly linked with the search for extraterrestrial life. This has no doubt been influenced by the film, "Contact", where Jodie Foster's character detects an extraterrestrial signal whilst listening to space. But so far, none of our listeners has sent us an email saying, "I think I've found something!"

Maybe the question is more, "is anybody listening to us?" We have, after all, been sending our own radio waves into space, via our television and radio broadcasts, for many years...

Lucie Green is a solar researcher based at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL's Department of Space and Climate Physics. Her research area is the study of activity in the atmosphere of our nearest star, the Sun.

At Lift11, Lucie will talk about why and how we study the Sun to better understand the impact it has on earth. I interviewed her today to find out what she will talk about during Lift11 this February.

Lucie Green

Solar Researcher (UK)
Mullard Space Science Laboratory
» View Lift11 speakers

Laurent Haug: Lucie, why is the study of the Sun important

Lucie Green: The first reasons are scientific. The Sun is our closest star, and studying it allows us to better understand all the stars in the galaxy. With a technique called spectroscopy, we can through the study of light find out more about the composition of the Sun, its temperature, its activity.

The second reason is that the Sun is a giver of life. It distributes huge amounts of energy to the earth, and that happens through a reaction called "nuclear fusion" that, if we can recreate it, would provide a huge source of power for the earth

How do you study the Sun concretely?

We use a spacecraft built by Japan, UK and the USA. Called Hinode, it was launched in 2006 and allows us to make observations that would not be possible from the surface of the earth as our atmosphere blocks out light. Hinode allows us to see very small features and the evolution of magnetic fields.

What is your research focused on?

I work specifically on a phenomena called Coronal Mass Ejections. These are bubbles of magnetic field (sometimes bigger than the earth!) that are ejected outside of the Sun's atmosphere. When they reach us, they can sometimes create huge interferences (the and the famous Northen lights) that also flow through rocks and... our power grid. In Canada in 1989, 6 million people where deprived of electricity for a cost of one billion pounds because of one of these ejections which happen from once every three days to three times a day!

Is the solar industry growing?

The solar industry is - as we say in the UK - recession busting. Despite the current economical conditions, it is so important to our lives that it grows. And the more we research the Sun, the more we will be impacted positively by it as we become able to leverage its huge powers.

^{Beidou's satellite constellation.}

Remember Beidou? The Chinese satellite was intended to save China from using foreign satellites for GPS systems and other types of tracking. According to Caixin, Beidou has veered off-course.

It appears that Beidou’s largest user demographic are some 10′000 Chinese fishermen in the South China Sea. Its limited use comes from the delayed release of decoding files - know as interface control document or ICD - to access the Beidou system, making it a low value proposition for application developers, not to mention the expensive terminals which don’t work with the US GPS standard.

This is too bad for a project that was intended to compete with the GPS, the European Galileo or the Russian Glonass. Beidou could end up be solely used by the government and the military or by Chinese firms since foreign companies have all been denied access to the ICD, unless they partner with a domestic enterprise. The day of open standards isn't there yet.

Quick question for you guys before the week-end: we added to the Lift11 program an inspiring session on space. Space as in "deep space". We have booked three speakers already: an architect who has worked on designing environments for spatial habitation systems, a specialist of the sun, and an artist who listens to space. We would like to also touch on space tourism, one of the biggest change happening to that field and unfolding before our eyes. Do you have ideas of good speakers on that topic?

^{Get your space ticket from Virgin Galactic now, only 200'000$!}

Hojun Song thinks kids will soon ask their parents to offer them satellites, and that an open source initiative could make it more affordable and realistic than you think. He is an artist and dreamer, and he might very well achieve his goal as early as next year, sending a satellite collecting data from the cosmos and transforming it into information artists could use back on earth. He will be speaking at Lift Asia 09 in the Networked objects, from wifi rabbits to ubiquitous cities session alongside Rafi Haladjian, Adrian David Cheok and Julian Bleecker

Basic information
Assistant Professor
Coming from Canada
Working at Concordia University, Design & Computation Arts

Bio
Anne Galloway recently completed a PhD in sociology and anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, which involved an ethnographic study of the design of mobile and pervasive technologies for urban environments. Interested in connections between technological, spatial and cultural practices, Anne’s current research explores how actor-network theory and critiques of everyday life can help people understand and shape emergent technologies.

Her work has been presented to international audiences in technology, design, art, architecture, social and cultural studies, as well as published in a variety of books and journals. Anne currently teaches design and computation arts at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. She also works part-time as a design researcher on the Touch Project, led by Timo Arnall and based at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.

As part of the LIFT09 programme, Anne will join Dan Hill and Carlo Ratti to discuss how the blending of the digital and the physical stands to reshape everyday urban life.

Why LIFT and what Anne expects
LIFT offers the opportunity to exchange different perspectives on shared interests, and I’m looking forward to meeting new people and making new connections.

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