AGI, Corporate Members - Written by Kirk Kittell on Thursday, October 16, 2008 9:00 - 0 Comments

AGI and X PRIZE Foundation Partner for Moon Prize

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Source: AGI Press Release

Exton, PA and Santa Monica, CA (October 7, 2008)—The X PRIZE Foundation announced today that it has selected AGI, producer of analysis software for land, sea, air, and space, as an official “preferred partner” for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Preferred partners offer discounted services to the teams competing in the $30 million international competition. The Google Lunar X PRIZE challenges privately-funded teams to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to Earth. Under this partnership, AGI has agreed to provide each team with nearly $200,000 worth of complimentary software and engineering services. There are currently four other X PRIZE Foundation preferred partners: Space Exploration Technologies (Preferred Launch Partner), SETI Institute and Universal Space Network (Preferred Communications Partners), and Space Florida (Preferred Launch Site).

“AGI is thrilled to offer our ready-to-use software and space mission expertise to this exciting challenge, which is sure to advance efforts in commercial space flight while developing innovative approaches and new technologies,” says Paul Graziani, AGI president and CEO. “Our products have been relied upon for nearly two decades for analysis and 3-D visualization of space mission designs, real-time operations, and post-mission analysis, so they are an inherent fit to help these teams reach the Moon. We applaud those vying for this challenge and how their efforts will inspire young engineers and scientists of tomorrow.”

“AGI’s software is unsurpassed and will bring critical new capabilities to the competing teams,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation. “This modeling and visualization software will be a great asset for the teams. We are delighted to welcome AGI as a preferred partner for the Google Lunar X PRIZE.”

The X PRIZE Foundation’s Senior Director of Space Projects, Will Pomerantz, will discuss the current teams competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and share how they can employ AGI software for the challenge, during the 2008 AGI Users’ Conference (www.agiuc.com), being held Oct. 7-9, 2008 in Chicago. For additional information about the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition, visitwww.googlelunarxprize.org.

About X PRIZE Foundation
The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured the world’s attention when the Burt Rutan-led team, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private spaceship to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for suborbital spaceflight. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation and its partner BT Global Services are creating prizes in Exploration (Space and Oceans), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org.

About AGI
Analytical Graphics, Inc. develops commercial off-the-shelf analysis software for land, sea, air, and space that is relied upon by the national security and space communities in more than 32,000 worldwide installations. AGI’s software includes desktop applications, an embeddable engine, and lightweight component libraries, with a wide range of licensing and pricing options. For additional information about AGI, e-mail info@agi.com or explore www.agi.com.

AGI is a corporate member of the American Astronautical Society.



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Looking Ahead - Key Space Events

Jul 27 — Deadline for AAS Awards Nominations

Aug 9-13 — AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference
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AAS National Conference, Featured - Dec 2, 2008 10:35 - 0 Comments

2008 Conference Slide Presentations Posted

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2008 AAS National Conference in Pasadena, California. The slide presentations are now archived on the web site; see astronautical.org/conference/conference-2008.

Mark your calendar for the annual Goddard Memorial Symposium, and corporate sponsorship opportunities are now available.

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Corporate Members, JPL - Mar 25, 2009 11:28 - 0 Comments

Cassini Provides Virtual Flyover of Saturn’s Moon Titan

PASADENA, Calif. — “Fly me to the moon”-to Saturn’s moon Titan, that is. New Titan movies and images are providing a bird’s-eye view of the moon’s Earth-like landscapes.

The new flyover maps show, for the first time, the 3-D topography and height of the 1,200-meter (4,000-foot) mountain tops, the north polar lake country, the vast dunes more than 100 meters (300 feet) high that crisscross the moon, and the thick flows that may have oozed from possible ice volcanoes.

The topographic maps were made from stereo pairs of radar images. They are available at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

Cassini radar team member Randy Kirk with the Astrogeology Science Center at the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz., created the maps. He used some of the 20 or so areas where two or more overlapping radar measurements were obtained during 19 Titan flybys. These stereo overlaps cover close to two percent of Titan’s surface. The process of making topographic maps from them is just beginning, but the results already reveal some of the diversity of Titan’s geologic features.

“These flyovers let you take in the bird’s-eye sweeping views of Titan, the next best thing to being there,” said Kirk. “We’ve mapped many kinds of features, and some of them remind me of Earth. Big seas, small lakes, rivers, dry river channels, mountains and sand dunes with hills poking out of them, lava flows.”

Kirk will present these results today at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.

High and low features are shown in unprecedented detail at about 2.4-kilometer (1.5-mile) resolution. The maps show some features that may be volcanic flows. These flows meander across a shallow basin in the mountains. One area suspected to be an ice volcano, Ganesa Macula, does not appear to be a volcanic dome. It may still have originated as a volcano, but it’s too soon to know for sure. “It could be a volcanic feature, a crater, or something else that has just been heavily eroded,” added Kirk.

The stereo coverage includes a large portion of Titan’s north polar lakes of liquid ethane and methane. Based on these topographical models, scientists are better able to determine the depth of lakes. The highest areas surrounding the lakes are some 1,200 meters (about 4,000 feet) above the shoreline. By comparing terrain around Earth to the Titan lakes, scientists estimate their depth is likely about 100 meters (300 feet) or less.

More 3-D mapping of these lakes will help refine these depth estimates and determine the volume of liquid hydrocarbons that exist on Titan. This information is important because these liquids evaporate and create Titan’s atmosphere. Understanding this methane cycle can provide clues to Titan’s weather and climate.

Launched in 1997, Cassini completed its primary four-year mission in 2008 and is now in extended mission operations, which run through September 2010. Over the course of the mission, Cassini plans to map more than three percent of Titan’s surface in 3-D. About 38 percent of Titan’s surface has been mapped with radar so far. On March 27, Cassini will complete its 52nd targeted flyby of Titan.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a corporate member of the American Astronautical Society.

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News - Sep 12, 2008 0:02 - 0 Comments

NASA’s Future Forum in Boston, 18 September

The sixth NASA’s Future Forum will be held at the Museum of Science, Boston, on 18 September. The Future Forum is a series of events between NASA personnel — administrators, scientists, engineers — and business, technology, and academic leaders in selected cities as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of NASA. The Future Forum in Boston will focus on space exploration benefits the economic and academic sector in Massachusetts.

Previous forums were held in Seattle, Columbus, St. Louis, Miami, and San Jose. The next and final NASA’s Future Forum will be held in Chicago on 10 October 2008.

Source: NASA Press Release

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