Last week, while getting ready to climb into a bunk, I heard the yell of a raven outside. And then another, and a few more. I pulled on my boots. Outside, a steady stream of black bodies glided overhead, many of them swooping down to check me out. Their wings pushed the air in soft […]
Robert McCoy, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, was driving to the movie theater in Fairbanks on a Saturday in mid-February when his cellphone showed an incoming call. It was from someone with the Department of Defense’s Alaskan Command, a person he knows well. The caller had a request: Could the Geophysical Institute […]
Alaska Airspace is the first frontier in the UAS industry. (ANCHORAGE, Alaska) — Alaska is the first state to be able to grant permission for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to operate and test with the aim of securing certification for national airspace flight. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted the waiver this week, which was requested […]
Earth has earthquakes, Venus has venusquakes. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, working with NASA, are helping create a Venusian seismometer that can operate long enough in that planet’s extremes to provide insight into its seismicity. It’s a major challenge. Venus has surface temperatures of 900 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt […]