Presentations
Showing 1 to 12 of 12.
The Seventh Cycle—What I Needed to Know and Learned from the Secrets of the Japanese Garden
2016.06.07
Dr. Richard "Dick" Fisher, Director Heliophysics Division (Emeritus), NASA Headquarters, presented a Maniac Talk entitled, "The Seventh Cycle -- What I Needed to Know and Learned from the Secrets of the Japanese Garden." As in the case of learning how to perform in any specialized context, Dick found there were a number of issues he was neither taught nor learned from life experience. Using his own journey, Dick summarized a few of the more useful, to identify and make available things and ideas that helped him with his time with NASA.
Seeing the Light
2015.11.24
NASA Solar Scientist Spiro Antiochos presented a Maniac lecture entitled "Seeing the Light." Spiro shared his twists and turns from the last 40 years while trying to understand the workings of the Sun as revealed by observations, primarily from NASA missions, and passed on lessons learned on generating new ideas and theories that apply to all areas of science.
Turning the power grid into an extremely large space science instrument
2015.06.04
Geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) that flow in power grids during space weather storms can be a hazard for reliable transmission of electricity. GSFC’s space weather team has developed new technology that not only provides real-time information for mitigation of the hazard but also allows the grid to serve as a space physical antenna. The work is being conducted with the US transmission industry’s support.
HEROES: High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun
2015.06.04
The HEROES project is a joint balloon payload between GSFC and MSFC whose purpose was to develop and fly a cross-discipline mission (heliophysics and astrophysics) with two PIs one for each discipline. It was funded by the HOPE program (MSFC was the lead institution). The goal of the program is to train early-career scientists and engineers on space-flight mission from conception through flight operations while holding to the review cycle typical of spacecraft missions (i.e. NPR 7120 5D). The heliophysics science goal of the mission was to investigate Parker’s theory of nano flare heating of the solar corona whereby many small flares are constantly going off, accelerating electrons which lose their energy and heat the solar atmosphere.
Investigating What Makes Planets Habitable
2015.06.03
What if Earth didn’t have its protective magnetosphere? Are magnetic fields a prerequisite for life? How does space weather from a planet’s star affect whether the planet is habitable or not? We can begin to address these questions by studying planets in our solar system: How do planets without magnetospheres, such as Venus, react to emissions from the sun?
Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) “THE PATH TO A HELIO EXPLORER”
2015.06.03
The Sun is a unique laboratory to study particle acceleration which occurs throughout the Universe. The Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the solar system. HSD will propose FOXSI to the next Small Explorer opportunity to enable our first look into the acceleration region where energetic particles are generated.
Understanding Universal Processes at Earth by Exploring the Solar System
2015.06.03
Studying 4 different objects using 4 different missions (combined with theory and modeling) offers new and valuable perspectives on some fundamental physical processes that occur throughout the universe and in particular at Earth.
NASA/GSFC and NSF Led CubeSat: Studying Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs)
2015.06.03
Firefly is exploring the relationship between lightning and intense bursts of radiation called Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes (TGFs), which result when the Earth's atmosphere accelerates electrons up to tens of MeV in less than one millisecond.
From Picking Potatoes to Measuring the Biggest Bangs in the Solar System -- Always a Farm Boy!
2014.10.01
NASA Solar Physicist Dr. Brian Dennis presented a Maniac Talk entitled "From Picking Potatoes to Measuring the Biggest Bangs in the Solar System -- Always a Farm Boy!" Brian described his formative years in England, then summarized our present understanding of how solar flares work and reviewed possible advances in instrumentation that could lead to major breakthroughs in the future.
Showing 1 to 12 of 12.