Seeing stars, finding nukes: Radio telescopes can spot clandestine nuclear tests

File image: Very Large Array (VLA).

In the search for rogue nukes, researchers have discovered an unlikely tool: astronomical radio telescopes. Ohio State University researchers previously demonstrated another unlikely tool, when they showed that South Korean GPS stations detected telltale atmospheric disturbances from North Korea's 2009 nuclear test.

Both techniques were born out of the discovery that underground nuclear explosions leave their mark-on the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere.

Now, working with astronomers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), they have analyzed historical data from the Very Large Array (VLA), a constellation of 27 radio telescopes near Socorro, New Mexico-and discovered that the VLA recorded a very similar pattern of disturbances during the last two American underground nuclear tests, which took place in Nevada in 1992.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Seeing_stars_finding_nukes_Radio_telescopes_can_spot_clandestine_nuclear_tests_999.html

First-ever hyperspectral images of Earth's auroras

The aurora as seen as a color composite image from the NORUSCA II camera. Three bands were combined to make the image. Each band was assigned a different color - red, green, and blue - to enhance the features of the aurora for analysis. Credit: Optics Express.

Hoping to expand our understanding of auroras and other fleeting atmospheric events, a team of space-weather researchers designed and built NORUSCA II, a new camera with unprecedented capabilities that can simultaneously image multiple spectral bands, in essence different wavelengths or colors, of light.

The camera was tested at the Kjell Henriksen Observatory (KHO) in Svalbard, Norway, where it produced the first-ever hyperspectral images of auroras-commonly referred to as "the Northern (or Southern) Lights"-and may already have revealed a previously unknown atmospheric phenomenon.

Details on the camera and the results from its first images were published in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/First_ever_hyperspectral_images_of_Earths_auroras_999.html

Skybox Imaging Completes Significant Testing Milestone Preceding its First Satellite and Product Launch

Skybox Imaging (has successfully completed the simulated space environmental test of its first high-resolution imaging microsatellite. During the 16-day test campaign conducted at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., the satellite was placed in a thermal vacuum chamber that accurately simulated the thermal and environmental conditions of low Earth orbit. Skybox evaluated the spacecraft's performance in a variety of operational modes.

This included a "day-in-the-life" test where the Skybox operations team simulated flying the spacecraft for 20 orbits. The test data collected was used to accurately correlate the detailed spacecraft thermal and power models and verify that all subsystems performed as expected.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Skybox_Imaging_Completes_Significant_Testing_Milestone_Preceding_its_First_Satellite_and_Product_Launch_999.html