![]() The homes, which must meet strict sustainable building design guidelines, face inward to a community garden where each household has a plot to grow what they choose. Thierfelder describes the 11 clusters as “microcosms within the broader community”. ![]() Owners of the smallest and most affordable lots must meet eligibility criteria, involving an income and asset cap. These lots are bought under a strata model. To this end, the design features clusters of mixed housing lots. Unlike the traditional off-grid image of physical and social isolation, the emphasis here is on building a community. The lot price includes access to the water supply, connection to the solar microgrid and batteries, NBN fibre and connection to the sewerage system.Ĭommunity members walk the 119ha ecovillage site near Margaret River, WA. Lots in the latest stage will range from $140,000 (with eligibility criteria) for a “groupie” lot of about 400 sq.m, up to about $425,000 for the bigger family lots of about 1000 sq.m. Owners of the smallest and most affordable lots must meet eligibility criteria, and there is an income and asset cap. ![]() Our major demographic is young families and then 50- to 60-year-old semi-retirees and retirees.” We have young people right through to 90 year olds. In fact we’ve attracted a great cross-section in both age and demographics. “We didn’t want this to become an eco-retirement village. “We have kept it as affordable as possible for people who really need it. “The demand is running hot,” Thierfelder says. Witchcliffe Ecovillage now has about 25 houses completed, and another 60 under construction. By using a pair of probes flying in highly elliptical orbits, scientists will be able to study the radiation belts over space and time, learn how particles within the belts are produced and behave during space weather events, and what mechanisms drive the acceleration of the particles.Thierfelder says the project’s success thus far can be attributed to the private funding arrangement – and sheer determination. The spacecraft, carrying the best and most comprehensive instrumentation ever sent into the radiation belts, will fly through surging and swelling belts of energized particles that would damage ordinary spacecraft. “Both the twin spacecraft and the entire RBSP team are eager to begin their exploration of one of the most dangerous parts of space near our planet.” “Everything is ready and prepared for RBSP to launch as scheduled,” said Richard Fitzgerald from APL. The spacecraft are atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket currently being prepared to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Understanding the science of space weather will lead to better space weather predictions, which in turn will allow us to better manage and protect our technological infrastructure in space and on the ground. They also can disable satellites, cause power grid failures, and disrupt the Global Positioning System, television, and telecommunications signals. Space weather fluctuations can increase radiation exposure for pilots and passengers during polar aircraft flights. There are many mysteries that need to be resolved.” “One of the fundamental objectives of the RBSP mission is to use Earth’s magnetosphere as a natural laboratory to understand generally how radiation is created and evolves throughout the universe. “The dramatic dynamics of Earth’s radiation belts caused by space weather are highly unpredictable,” said Barry Mauk from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. Space weather is caused, in great part, by the Sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space, including solar events such as giant eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections. RBSP will help scientists understand how the invisible radiation belts - named for James Van Allen, who discovered them - behave and react to changes in the Sun, thereby contributing to Earth’s space weather. “RBSP will further explore the connection of solar variability and its impacts on Earth’s radiation belts.” “At the end of this month, we will turn our attention from planet Mars to planet Earth, both immersed in the atmosphere of our Sun,” said Barbara Giles from NASA’s Heliophysics Division. The data will help researchers develop an understanding of the Van Allen radiation belts, two rings of high-energy electrons and protons that can pose hazards to human and robotic explorers. The RBSP spacecraft are designed to fly and operate in the heart of the most hazardous regions of near-Earth space to collect crucial data. Final preparations have begun for launch on Thursday, August 23, from Florida’s Space Coast. NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission will send two spacecraft into the harsh environment of our planet’s radiation belts.
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