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Remote Sensing Using LDIR
Written by Deb St. George, Publisher, Agritrax.com   


The remote sensing technique of using a laser to examine things at a distance is generally referred to as lidar, which stands for "light detection and ranging."

Boeing was awarded a NASA Human and Robotic Technology Development contract in 2004 that is to be completed by 2008 called the Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology Demonstration. The program is to help NASA to develop the critical technologies needed to return to the moon and one day to Mars called the Vision for Space Exploration. As part of this four-year demonstration with a first year value of $3.1 million, engineers at Huntington Beach, Calif. are to integrate Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) terrain mapping and safe site selection software and hardware with flight proven guidance and control to provide autonomous navigation and hazard avoidance during landing. Boeing is scheduled to develop the hardware and software that will build a prototype lander for testing, culminating in a drop test over hazardous terrain.

The Precision Landing & Hazard Assistance Technology Program

Exploration Clipper (Click to Enlarge)

In order to demonstrate Adaptive Software Architecture that is applicable to different Lunar and Mars lander concepts with technology that includes a LIDAR sensor, site algorithms, guidance navigation and control integrated, fault tolerant implementation, a rapid prototyping method is being used.


Rapid Prototyping Method

NASA Human and Robotic Technology Development is strategically linked to Project Constellation Spirals one and two, which are efforts to return humans to the moon by 2020.

Lunar Hopper Mission (Click To Enlarge)
A sister technology, laser radar, or ladar, uses a laser like a radar to locate an object. Lidar, however, refers to the more general case of using a laser to derive additional properties of an object such as density or chemical composition.

Mars rover ready for descent into Victoria Crater
NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is scheduled to begin a descent down a rock-paved slope into the Red Planet's massive Victoria Crater. This latest trek carries real risk for the long-lived robotic explorer, but NASA and the rover team expect it to provide valuable science.
   FULL STORY

 
Alternative Energy for the Home
Written by Deb St. George, Publisher, Agritrax.com   
The trend toward homes that are powered by alternative energy sources, ranging from wind turbines and solar collection cells to hydrogen fuel cells and biomass gases, is one that needs to continue into the 21st century and beyond. We have great need of becoming more energy independent, and not having to rely on the supplying of fossil fuels from unstable nations who are often hostile to us and our interests. But even beyond this factor, we as individuals need to get “off the grid” and also stop having to be so reliant on government-lobbying giant oil corporations who, while they are not really involved in any covert conspiracy, nevertheless have a stranglehold on people when it comes to heating their homes (and if not through oil, then heat usually supplied by grid-driven electricity, another stranglehold).

As Remi Wilkinson, Senior Analyst with Carbon Free, puts it, inevitably, the growth of distributed generation will lead to the restructuring of the retail electricity market and the generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

The power providers may have to diversify their business to make up for revenues lost through household energy microgeneration. She is referring to the conclusions by a group of UK analysts, herself included among them, who call themselves Carbon Free. Carbon Free has been studying the ever-growing trend toward alternative energy-using homes in England and the West. This trend is being driven by ever-more government recommendation and sometimes backing of alternative energy research and development, the rising cost of oil and other fossil fuels, concern about environmental degradation, and desires to be energy independent. Carbon Free concludes that, assuming traditional energy prices remain at their current level or rise, microgeneration (meeting all of one's home's energy needs by installing alternative energy technology such as solar panels or wind turbines) will become to home energy supply what the Internet became to home communications and data gathering, and eventually this will have deep effects on the businesses of the existing energy supply companies.

Click Here To Learn More.

 


 

 
Welcome to AgriTrax - REVIEW: E-Vap Cap
Written by Deb St. George, Publisher, Agritrax.com   

The E-Vap Cap has been specifically designed for open water storage to provide a barrier between water and atmosphere, completely preventing evaporation.

New Mexico Problems

1) Drought Problems: New Mexico relies exclusively on ground water for its water supply. More than 80% of the water currently consumed in New Mexico is for agriculture and not residential usage. In Deming, NM a law was recently passed that would  limit new household (domestic) wells to an acre-foot of water per year (as opposed to 3 acre-ft of water per year), a 66 percent reduction from the current allotment. An acre-foot, about 326,000 gallons, can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households. In Deming, NM the price for a new well permit went from $5 to $125 per application, but wells for livestock were excluded.

 

Facts: Evaporation is a major source of water depletion in Deming, NM.  It is predicted that air temperatures will be increasing by up to 7 degrees over the next few decades, decreased moisture levels and increasing water demand.

Although the city of ABQ is building a treatment plant to treat Rio Grande water, the city is allowed only so much water to be drawn.

2) Flooding Problems: In New Mexico when it rains, it is said to rain all at once. When there is flooding, a lot of ground water is left standing and a lot of mosquitoes are attracted to the area. New Mexico has had cases of West Nile Virus caused by the mosquitoes. Although the State environmental officials plan to help New Mexico communities figure out how to reduce arsenic in their drinking water before new, lower federal standards go into effect in January 2006, the flooding may increase the risk that people may be exposed to arsenic not only through drinking water, but indirectly though food crops irrigated by contaminated groundwater. (Example: In the west-southwest of Bangladesh, where the highest concentrations of arsenic are found in soil, irrigated land had higher levels compared to adjacent non-irrigated fields. See Studies abroad)

Ferns Remove Arsenic from Soil and Water. Note: Ferns are also being used to remove arsenic from drinking water. In a recent pilot study in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the ferns significantly decreased the level of arsenic in samples of the city�s drinking water. Other plants should be tested for this ability. Scientists are genetically modifying trees to remove environmental toxins. "Current methods to rid dirt of these poisons run about $1 million per acre-foot of earth (the volume of a foot-deep acre of soil). Using plants to do the same job, on the other hand, costs about $3,000."


According to Albuquerque-AP -- Two plants will be built on Albuquerque�s West Side to remove arsenic from water. Federal regulations cutting the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water go into effect in 2006. The plants will cost about $2.5 million. They�re being built by a private water company, New Mexico Utilities Incorporated. That company serves about 14,000 customers in northwest Bernalillo County.  (Want to know how many wells there are in Deming, NM? Go to http://accommodation-in-greece.com/content/view/25/32/ and download the worldwind desktop program (change to lower altitude) for Deming and you can see there are many wells in the area. FREE TESTS OF PRIVATE DOMESTIC WELLS)


There is unusual New Mexico rainfall this year.

Metro Area

Site

This Season

Normal

Change

Sunport

6.82 in

2.42 in

+ 4.40 in

Foothills

11.42 in

3.40 in

+ 8.02 in

Corrales

8.47 in

2.32 in

+ 6.15 in

Rio Rancho

7.30 in

2.67 in

+ 4.63 in

South Valley

6.47 in

2.19 in

+ 4.28 in

Petroglyphs

6.25 in

2.58 in

+ 3.67 in

Other Cities

City

This Season

Normal

Change

Ruidoso

12.42 in

6.73 in

+ 5.69 in

Socorro

7.34 in

2.47 in

+ 4.87 in

Capitan

10.05 in

5.63 in

+ 4.42 in

Tucumcari

9.09 in

4.61 in

+ 4.48 in

Deming

6.53 in

3.25 in

+ 3.28 in

Grants

5.54 in

2.79 in

+ 2.75 in

Gallup

5.13 in

2.73 in

+ 2.40 in

Los Lunas

4.29 in

2.30 in

+ 1.99 in

Clovis

4.92 in

4.40 in

+ 0.52 in

Portales

4.87 in

4.65 in

+ 0.22 in

Truth or Consequences

3.52 in

2.83 in

+ 0.69 in

Carlsbad

2.87 in

2.81 in

+ 0.06 in

Farmington

2.13 in

1.41 in

+ 0.72 in


Possible Solutions:
The E-Vap Cap has been specifically designed for open water storage to provide a barrier between water and atmosphere, completely preventing evaporation.

The E-Vap Cap product is said to also reduce algal and weed growth, and reduce salt build up in storage area, maximizing rainfall water, reducing odor on sites and reduces the wave action that causes bank erosion on unlined storages.

Watch a demonstration of the E-Vap Cap Requires RealPlayer):

"E-Vap Cap is made from Polyethylene. It is multi-layered, 0.5mm thick and contains buoyancy cells trapped within the layers of material, which allow the material to float above the water. The top layer is white and is UV stabilised to reflect sunlight away. The bottom layer is black to reduce the sunlight entering through the cover and to stop any biological activity below the cover. The material is sunlight and air impervious, and hinders any water growth activity. The quality of the Polyethylene used for the E-Vap Cap is food grade material, so it will not contaminate water." It might also hinder reduce the mosquitoe population."

The E-Vap Cap is currently being used in vineyards, on farms, cattle properties and in the horticulture industry.

"The material is custom sized and shaped for every site and pre-fabricated in large panels for ease of installation. These panels are anchored on one end of the dam and rolled out to the other side using supplied rope. The panels are then thermally welded together using a purposely-designed machine Warwick calls the 'Water Whizz'. The Water Whizz travels between the preview panel and propels itself across the water between two panels, like a floating sewing machine, thermally welding panel sides together. The cover is secured by trenches dug into the dam walls to prevent it from blowing away in high wind conditions. If wildlife need access, covers can be built with an area of exposed edge."

"The cover has been designed with drainage holes drilled through the material to allow rainwater to fall onto the cover and into the storage area, and to emit any gas build up which could occur below the surface of the cover. The E-Vap Cap material has a slight stretch to it, which allows for varying water levels."

"The cover has been independently tested and results show evaporation is reduced by close to 100%. Andrew Moon, a melon grower in Queensland's South West, has installed the cover on this four-hectare farm. He says he has cut evaporation down next to nothing. The cover is stretched across 40,000 square metres, twice the surface area of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Uncovered storage such as that could lose at least one third of its water to evaporation."

See the New Inventors http://www.abc.net.au/newinventors/txt/s1211504.htm
 

 

 
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