DeepEarthScience

Last week, components of the TUDelft satellite tracking station were delivered. This includes a radio, amplifiers, Software Defined Radio (SDR), a GPS-based clock and other cool electronics. We are now planning the integration of all the components in the existing ground station, which is used for the data downlink and command uplink of the Delfi-C3 and Delfi-n3Xt (both student designed and built satellites currently orbiting Earth). But how does this tracking (you speak of) works? It starts with capturing and recording the communications signal of the satellite, which is transmitted continuously (if the Sun shines on the solar cells to produce energy). This is where all the fancy and complicated electronics play a role. (However, I am not an expert in this, so I will only explain the physics behind it). The high frequency (145.870 MHz) electromagnetic signal is down-converted to a signal that can be made digital, such that a computer can process it. First we put the signal throug...

A few years ago I was obsessed about Einstein's theory of gravity. I wanted to know everything about it, so I browsed a lot on the internet, trying to find information about the topic (I could have gone to the library, however I was still in the frame of mind that everything on the internet is correct). So one day I came across the following website: Bending Spacetime in the Basement . Wow, can one do this at home?!? First take a good look at the website. He's got a point by stating that he is bending spacetime. It unfortunately has nothing to do with warp-drives and wormholes (Which was what I was looking for), but his experiment is quite cool nonetheless. It somehow proves (I will discuss this later on) that the theory of gravitation found by Newton, not only works for planet and stars, but also for smaller everyday objects. Everything attracts each other. Impressed by the simplicity of the experiment and the fact that it is about gravitation (I think this is one of...

This weekend we watched the fourth part of the Ice Age movies, called Continental Drift. Scrat the squirrel, always finding a spot to bury his beloved acorn, breaks a mountain and falls into the core of Earth. Arrived at a very small and solid core, he accidentally rotates the core, causing old continents to break up and drift appar, forming the current continents (Australia, Antarctica, Africa, Europe, South America and Asia. North America is formed at the end of the movie, where Scrat pulls the plug of Scratlantis (Yes, again Atlantis, it just must exist), forming North America.). A really funny scene and it gave me inspiration for this post. This weekend I was struggling to think about a blog subject. Thanks to Scrat, I found my acorn: Continental Drift. In my research I work with topography, gravity and seismic observations. I am trying to combine all these observations in a new way, such that I get better insight of the old continental structure unde...

This week I had to defend science a lot (which means I was a lot on facebook and twitter, following discussions between religious people, scientists and people that just like to shout things). I noticed that the definition of science is unclear, not well understood and just disregarded in internet discussions. I know that you cannot be right on the internet (You will miss a good night sleep, next to a gorgeous lady (xkcd)), but I can try ;). There are many definitions of science but I like the following one: "Science has the purpose to reduce uncertainty with use of observation and discussion" It clearly states that science does not (really not, so please keep this in mind) have absolute answers to all the questions in life, but tries to keep us busy (with a lot of discussion) by reducing the uncertainty in the answers. It says don't panic, just look around and enjoy. Observations play a primarily and important role in this process. My link to the rest ...