Liquid Instruments Introduces Moku:Pro – A High Performance, Software-Defined Instrumentation Platform for Engineers and Scientists

New architecture delivers nine instruments with real-time measurement capabilities to the research lab

Moku:Pro In Lab Setting

Moku:Pro brings test and measurement into the modern age, allowing engineers and researchers to dynamically switch between instruments rather than needing multiple stand-alone devices.

CANBERRA, Australia and SAN DIEGO, June 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Liquid Instruments, an innovator in precision software-defined instrumentation, today announced Moku:Pro, a high-performance platform for engineering and research labs.

Moku:Pro accelerates the transition from traditional fixed-function test and measurement hardware to a flexible field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based approach by making high-quality instruments accessible in an integrated, software-upgradeable platform.

“Researchers in engineering and physics face constantly evolving requirements – with changes occurring on timescales much shorter than the lifespan of test equipment,” said Daniel Shaddock, CEO of Liquid Instruments. “Moku:Pro’s software-enabled-hardware architecture allows it to evolve as your applications evolve, something that is simply not possible with conventional test equipment.”

Moku:Pro hosts nine powerful instruments, including an oscilloscope, lock-in amplifier, PID controller, phasemeter, arbitrary waveform generator, data logger, spectrum analyzer, frequency response analyzer, and waveform generator to ensure researchers have the instrumentation they need to quickly characterize their set up and scale their experiments. The platform was designed to meet the needs of researchers in a variety of fields, from aerospace to semiconductor. Moku:Pro’s instrument suite is particularly suited to photonics applications, including spectroscopy, microscopy, metrology, gravitational wave detection, active laser stabilization, and quantum computing.

Moku:Pro

Moku:Pro accelerates the transition from traditional fixed-function test and measurement hardware to a flexible field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based approach by making high-quality instruments accessible in an integrated, software-upgradeable platform.

“Quantum computing pushes the performance limits of electronics, optics, and flexible real-time signal processing. We see software-defined instrumentation as the future of test and measurement systems for quantum computing,” said Andrew Horsley, CEO and Co-founder of Quantum Brilliance, a full-stack quantum computing company working on room temperature diamond technology.  “Moku:Pro is a workhorse of the lab and one of the most versatile photonics tools we’ve seen.”

Bringing Instrumentation Into the Modern Era
Moku:Pro brings test and measurement into the modern age, allowing engineers and researchers to dynamically switch between instruments rather than needing multiple stand-alone devices.  Advanced ADC blending technology ensures that each instrument can function with optimal sensitivity from RF to acoustic frequencies without compromising performance for flexibility. Full connectivity via Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and USB-C ensures industry-standard, hassle-free configuration.

A key benefit of software-defined instrumentation is that it gets better over time. Moku:Pro can receive over-the-air updates to deliver improved specifications, new instruments, or entirely new capabilities. Users can expect to see these benefits as soon as September when Liquid Instruments plans to release a feature that will give Moku:Pro the ability to run multiple instruments in conjunction with one another and hot-swap instruments in and out. In this multi-instrument mode, instruments can be combined and connected to form sophisticated signal-processing pipelines. Also slated for September release is a new cloud-based tool that will allow users to directly program Moku:Pro’s FPGA. With this capability, users can implement unique signal processing algorithms and create their own custom instruments, which will further widen the gap with conventional hardware.

Moku:Pro Specifications

  • 4 analog inputs and outputs
  • Blended ADC input (10-bit+18-bit) for low noise, high bandwidth applications
  • Sampling rate of 5 GSa/s (1 channel), 1.25 GSa/s (4 channels)
  • 9 integrated instruments, including a DC-600 MHz lock-in amplifier
  • 120 GB SSD for high-speed onboard storage
  • API support for Python and MATLAB
  • Starting at $12,000 for the base configuration, ranging up to $20,000 for the full suite.

A History of Success 
The Liquid Instruments technical leadership team brings deep expertise in complex measurements with experience from Australian National University, Max Planck Institute, Lockheed Martin, Caltech, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  Moku:Pro expands the line of software-defined solutions from Moku:Lab, a twelve-instrument platform for research, and, more recently, Moku:Go, a complete and portable lab solution for undergraduate education.

For more information on Moku:Pro, visit: liquidinstruments.com

About Liquid Instruments
Liquid Instruments is a leader in precision software-defined instrumentation and is revolutionizing the way that students, engineers, and scientists learn, work, and discover. Their product line of hardware and software solutions leverages the computational power of modern FPGAs to create highly customizable instrumentation for controlling experiments and acquiring and analyzing data. The team’s IP in software-defined hardware enables Moku products to be dynamically reconfigurable in the field, serving a wide range of ever-changing experimental and process control situations. For more information, visit https://liquidinstruments.com.

The Project received funding from The Australian Government. Liquid Instruments gratefully acknowledges funding and support of the Australian Commonwealth Government through the CRC-P program administered by the Department of Industry Innovation and Science.

Media Contact
Codeword for Liquid Instruments
liquidinstruments@codewordagency.com
801-703-4092

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/37cb06a3-2242-4fe9-b6d2-0243a826051f

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8e84cd5f-7bf1-4276-9950-f57a12cfac19

New architecture delivers nine instruments with real-time measurement capabilities to the research lab

Moku:Pro In Lab Setting

Moku:Pro brings test and measurement into the modern age, allowing engineers and researchers to dynamically switch between instruments rather than needing multiple stand-alone devices.

CANBERRA, Australia and SAN DIEGO, June 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Liquid Instruments, an innovator in precision software-defined instrumentation, today announced Moku:Pro, a high-performance platform for engineering and research labs.

Moku:Pro accelerates the transition from traditional fixed-function test and measurement hardware to a flexible field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based approach by making high-quality instruments accessible in an integrated, software-upgradeable platform.

“Researchers in engineering and physics face constantly evolving requirements – with changes occurring on timescales much shorter than the lifespan of test equipment,” said Daniel Shaddock, CEO of Liquid Instruments. “Moku:Pro’s software-enabled-hardware architecture allows it to evolve as your applications evolve, something that is simply not possible with conventional test equipment.”

Moku:Pro hosts nine powerful instruments, including an oscilloscope, lock-in amplifier, PID controller, phasemeter, arbitrary waveform generator, data logger, spectrum analyzer, frequency response analyzer, and waveform generator to ensure researchers have the instrumentation they need to quickly characterize their set up and scale their experiments. The platform was designed to meet the needs of researchers in a variety of fields, from aerospace to semiconductor. Moku:Pro’s instrument suite is particularly suited to photonics applications, including spectroscopy, microscopy, metrology, gravitational wave detection, active laser stabilization, and quantum computing.

Moku:Pro

Moku:Pro accelerates the transition from traditional fixed-function test and measurement hardware to a flexible field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based approach by making high-quality instruments accessible in an integrated, software-upgradeable platform.

“Quantum computing pushes the performance limits of electronics, optics, and flexible real-time signal processing. We see software-defined instrumentation as the future of test and measurement systems for quantum computing,” said Andrew Horsley, CEO and Co-founder of Quantum Brilliance, a full-stack quantum computing company working on room temperature diamond technology.  “Moku:Pro is a workhorse of the lab and one of the most versatile photonics tools we’ve seen.”

Bringing Instrumentation Into the Modern Era
Moku:Pro brings test and measurement into the modern age, allowing engineers and researchers to dynamically switch between instruments rather than needing multiple stand-alone devices.  Advanced ADC blending technology ensures that each instrument can function with optimal sensitivity from RF to acoustic frequencies without compromising performance for flexibility. Full connectivity via Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and USB-C ensures industry-standard, hassle-free configuration.

A key benefit of software-defined instrumentation is that it gets better over time. Moku:Pro can receive over-the-air updates to deliver improved specifications, new instruments, or entirely new capabilities. Users can expect to see these benefits as soon as September when Liquid Instruments plans to release a feature that will give Moku:Pro the ability to run multiple instruments in conjunction with one another and hot-swap instruments in and out. In this multi-instrument mode, instruments can be combined and connected to form sophisticated signal-processing pipelines. Also slated for September release is a new cloud-based tool that will allow users to directly program Moku:Pro’s FPGA. With this capability, users can implement unique signal processing algorithms and create their own custom instruments, which will further widen the gap with conventional hardware.

Moku:Pro Specifications

  • 4 analog inputs and outputs
  • Blended ADC input (10-bit+18-bit) for low noise, high bandwidth applications
  • Sampling rate of 5 GSa/s (1 channel), 1.25 GSa/s (4 channels)
  • 9 integrated instruments, including a DC-600 MHz lock-in amplifier
  • 120 GB SSD for high-speed onboard storage
  • API support for Python and MATLAB
  • Starting at $12,000 for the base configuration, ranging up to $20,000 for the full suite.

A History of Success 
The Liquid Instruments technical leadership team brings deep expertise in complex measurements with experience from Australian National University, Max Planck Institute, Lockheed Martin, Caltech, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  Moku:Pro expands the line of software-defined solutions from Moku:Lab, a twelve-instrument platform for research, and, more recently, Moku:Go, a complete and portable lab solution for undergraduate education.

For more information on Moku:Pro, visit: liquidinstruments.com

About Liquid Instruments
Liquid Instruments is a leader in precision software-defined instrumentation and is revolutionizing the way that students, engineers, and scientists learn, work, and discover. Their product line of hardware and software solutions leverages the computational power of modern FPGAs to create highly customizable instrumentation for controlling experiments and acquiring and analyzing data. The team’s IP in software-defined hardware enables Moku products to be dynamically reconfigurable in the field, serving a wide range of ever-changing experimental and process control situations. For more information, visit https://liquidinstruments.com.

The Project received funding from The Australian Government. Liquid Instruments gratefully acknowledges funding and support of the Australian Commonwealth Government through the CRC-P program administered by the Department of Industry Innovation and Science.

Media Contact
Codeword for Liquid Instruments
liquidinstruments@codewordagency.com
801-703-4092

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/37cb06a3-2242-4fe9-b6d2-0243a826051f

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8e84cd5f-7bf1-4276-9950-f57a12cfac19

Liquid Instruments Lança Moku:Pro – Uma Plataforma de Instrumentação de Alto Desempenho Definida por Software para Engenheiros e Cientistas

Nova arquitetura proporciona nove instrumentos com capacidades de medição em tempo real para laboratórios de pesquisa

CANBERRA, Austrália e SAN DIEGO, June 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A Liquid Instruments, empresa inovadora em instrumentação definida por software de precisão, anunciou hoje o lançamento do Moku:Pro, uma plataforma de alto desempenho para laboratórios de engenharia e pesquisa.

O Moku:Pro acelera a transição do hardware tradicional de teste e medição de função fixa para uma abordagem flexível com base em field-programmable gate array (matriz de portas programáveis em campo – FPGA), tornando os instrumentos de alta qualidade acessíveis em uma plataforma integrada e atualizável por software.MokuPro-Digital

“Os pesquisadores em engenharia e física enfrentam exigências em constante evolução – com mudanças ocorrendo em um tempo muito menor do que a vida útil do equipamento de teste”, disse Daniel Shaddock, CEO da Liquid Instruments. “A arquitetura de hardware habilitado por software do Moku:Pro permite que ele evolua juntamente com suas aplicações, o que não é possível com equipamentos de teste convencionais.”

O Moku:Pro hospeda nove instrumentos potentes, incluindo osciloscópio, amplificador de bloqueio, controlador PID, fasímetro, gerador de forma de onda arbitrária, registrador de dados, analisador de espectro, analisador de resposta de frequência e gerador de forma de onda para garantir que os pesquisadores tenham a instrumentação necessária para caracterizar rapidamente sua configuração e dimensionar seus experimentos. A plataforma foi projetada para atender às necessidades dos pesquisadores em uma variedade de campos, do aeroespacial ao semicondutor. O conjunto de instrumentos do Moku:Pro é particularmente adequado para aplicações fotônicas, incluindo espectroscopia, microscopia, metrologia, detecção de ondas gravitacionais, estabilização a laser ativa e computação quântica.

“A computação quântica aumenta os limites do desempenho da eletrônica, óptica e processamento flexível de sinais em tempo real. A instrumentação definida por software é o futuro dos sistemas de teste e medição para computação quântica”, disse Andrew Horsley, CEO e cofundador da Quantum Brilliance, uma empresa de computação quântica completa que trabalha com tecnologia de diamante em temperatura ambiente.  “O Moku:Pro é a base de um laboratório e uma das ferramentas fotônicas mais versáteis que já vimos.”

Instrumentação na Era Moderna
O Moku:Pro leva o teste e a medição para a era moderna, permitindo que engenheiros e pesquisadores alternem dinamicamente entre os instrumentos em vez de precisarem de vários dispositivos autônomos.  A tecnologia avançada de mistura de ADC garante que cada instrumento possa funcionar com sensibilidade ideal desde a FR até as frequências acústicas sem comprometer o desempenho da flexibilidade. A conectividade total via Wi-Fi, Ethernet e USB-C garante a configuração sem problemas padrão da indústria.MokuPro-Digital 2

Um benefício fundamental da instrumentação definida por software é que ela melhora ao longo do tempo. O Moku:Pro pode ser atualizado aereamente, podendo fornecer especificações melhoradas, novos instrumentos ou recursos totalmente novos. Esses benefícios devem estar disponíveis para os usuários em setembro, quando a Liquid Instruments pretende lançar um recurso que dará ao Moku:Pro a capacidade de executar vários instrumentos em conjunto e trocar automaticamente os instrumentos. Neste modo multi-instrumento, os instrumentos podem ser combinados e conectados para formar dutos sofisticados de processamento de sinal. Em setembro também estamos planejando lançar nova ferramenta com base na nuvem que permitirá que os usuários programem diretamente o FPGA do Moku:Pro. Com essa capacidade, os usuários poderão implementar algoritmos de processamento de sinal exclusivos e criar seus próprios instrumentos personalizados, ampliando ainda mais a lacuna com o hardware convencional.

Especificações do Moku:Pro

  • 4 entradas e saídas analógicas
  • Entrada ADC combinada (10 bits+18 bits) para aplicações de baixo ruído e alta largura de banda
  • Taxa de amostragem de 5 GSa/s (1 canal), 1,25 GSa/s (4 canais)
  • 9 instrumentos integrados, incluindo um amplificador de bloqueio DC-600 MHz
  • SSD de 120 GB para armazenamento a bordo de alta velocidade
  • Suporte de API para Python e MATLAB
  • Configuração base a partir de US$ 12.000, suíte completa de até US$ 20.000.

Uma História de Sucesso
A equipe de liderança técnica da Liquid Instruments tem expertise em medições complexas na Australian National University, Max Planck Institute, Lockheed Martin, Caltech e Laboratório de Propulsão a Jato da NASA.  O Moku:Pro expande a linha de soluções definidas por software da Moku:Lab, uma plataforma de doze instrumentos para pesquisa e, mais recentemente, Moku:Go, uma solução de laboratório completa e portátil para o ensino de graduação.

Para mais informação sobre o Moku:Pro, visite:

Sobre a Liquid Instruments
A Liquid Instruments é líder em instrumentação definida por software de precisão e está revolucionando a maneira como estudantes, engenheiros e cientistas aprendem, trabalham e descobrem. Sua linha de produtos de soluções de hardware e software aproveita a capacidade computacional dos FPGAs modernos para criar instrumentação altamente personalizável para o controle de experimentos, aquisição e análise de dados. O hardware definido por IP no software da equipe permite que os produtos Moku sejam reconfiguráveis dinamicamente em campo, atendendo a uma ampla gama de situações experimentais e de controle de processos em constante mudanças. Para mais informação, visite https://liquidinstruments.com.

O Projeto recebeu financiamento do Governo Australiano. A Liquid Instruments agradece o financiamento e o apoio do Governo Australiano no programa CRC-P administrado pelo Departamento de Inovação e Ciência da Indústria.

Contato com a Mídia
Codeword em nome da Liquid Instruments
liquidinstruments@codewordagency.com
801-703-4092

Fotos deste comunicado podem ser encontradas em

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/37cb06a3-2242-4fe9-b6d2-0243a826051f

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8e84cd5f-7bf1-4276-9950-f57a12cfac19

Liquid Instruments lance Moku:Pro, une plateforme d’instrumentation définie par logiciel à hautes performances destinée aux ingénieurs et aux scientifiques

La nouvelle architecture fournit neuf instruments avec des capacités de mesure en temps réel aux laboratoires de recherche

CANBERRA, Australie et SAN DIEGO, 23 juin 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Liquid Instruments, un innovateur spécialisé dans les instruments de précision définis par logiciel, a présenté aujourd’hui Moku:Pro, une plateforme de haute performance pour les laboratoires d’ingénierie et de recherche.

Moku:Pro accélère la transition du matériel de mesure et de test à fonction fixe traditionnel vers une approche flexible basée sur les FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays ou réseaux logiques programmables) en rendant les instruments de haute qualité accessibles au sein d’une plateforme intégrée évolutive par logiciel.

« Les chercheurs en ingénierie et physique font face à des exigences en constante évolution, avec des changements survenant selon des délais beaucoup plus courts que la durée de vie des équipements de test », a déclaré Daniel Shaddock, PDG de Liquid Instruments. « L’architecture matérielle compatible logiciel de Moku:Pro lui permet d’évoluer en même temps que vos applications, ce qui est tout simplement impossible avec les équipements de test conventionnels. »MokuPro-Digital

Moku:Pro contient neuf instruments puissants, dont un oscilloscope, un amplificateur à détection synchrone, un régulateur PID, un phasemètre, un générateur de forme d’onde arbitraire, un enregistreur de données, un analyseur de spectre, un analyseur de courbes de fréquence et un générateur d’onde pour s’assurer que les chercheurs disposent des instruments dont ils ont besoin pour caractériser et adapter rapidement leurs expériences. La plateforme a été conçue pour répondre aux besoins des chercheurs dans divers domaines, de l’aéronautique aux semi-conducteurs. La suite d’instruments de Moku:Pro est particulièrement adaptée aux applications photoniques, y compris la spectroscopie, la microscopie, la métrologie, la détection des ondes gravitationnelles, la stabilisation laser active et l’informatique quantique.

« L’informatique quantique repousse les limites de performance de l’électronique, de l’optique et du traitement flexible des signaux en temps réel. Nous considérons l’instrumentation définie par logiciel comme l’avenir des systèmes de test et de mesure pour l’informatique quantique », a déclaré Andrew Horsley, PDG et cofondateur de Quantum Brilliance, une société spécialisée dans l’informatique quantique full-stack travaillant sur la technologie des diamants à température ambiante.« Moku:Pro est un cheval de bataille du laboratoire et l’un des outils photoniques les plus polyvalents que nous ayons vus. »

Intégrer l’instrumentation à l’ère moderne
Moku:Pro fait entrer les tests et les mesures dans l’ère moderne, permettant aux ingénieurs et aux chercheurs de basculer dynamiquement entre les instruments plutôt que d’avoir besoin de plusieurs appareils autonomes. La technologie avancée de mélange ADC garantit que chaque instrument peut fonctionner avec une sensibilité optimale des fréquences RF aux fréquences acoustiques sans compromettre les performances de flexibilité. La connectivité complète via Wi-Fi, Ethernet et USB-C garantit une configuration standard et sans tracas.MokuPro-Digital 2

L’un des principaux avantages de l’instrumentation définie par logiciel est qu’elle s’améliore au fil du temps. Moku:Pro peut recevoir des mises à jour par liaison radio pour fournir des spécifications améliorées, de nouveaux instruments ou des capacités entièrement nouvelles. Les utilisateurs peuvent s’attendre à voir ces avantages dès le mois de septembre lorsque Liquid Instruments prévoit de lancer une fonctionnalité qui donnera à Moku:Pro la possibilité d’exécuter plusieurs instruments conjointement les uns avec les autres et les instruments échangeables à chaud à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur. Dans ce mode multi-instruments, les instruments peuvent être combinés et connectés pour former des pipelines sophistiqués de traitement des signaux. En septembre, la sortie d’un nouvel outil basé sur le cloud qui permettra aux utilisateurs de programmer directement le FPGA de Moku:Pro est également prévue. Grâce à cette capacité, les utilisateurs peuvent mettre en œuvre des algorithmes de traitement de signal uniques et créer leurs propres instruments personnalisés, ce qui permettra d’élargir davantage l’écart avec le matériel conventionnel.

Caractéristiques de Moku:Pro

  • 4 entrées et sorties analogiques
  • Entrée ADC mélangée (10 bits+18 bits) pour les applications à faible bruit et large bande passante
  • Taux d’échantillonnage de 5 GSa/s (1 canal), 1,25 GSa/s (4 canaux)
  • 9 instruments intégrés, y compris un amplificateur à détection synchrone DC-600 MHz
  • SSD 120 Go pour un stockage à haute vitesse à bord
  • Prise en charge API pour Python et MATLAB
  • À partir de 12 000 $ pour la configuration de base, allant jusqu’à 20 000 $ pour la suite complète.

Une histoire de réussite 
L’équipe de direction technique de Liquid Instruments apporte une expertise approfondie dans les mesures complexes avec l’expérience de l’Université nationale australienne, du Max Planck Institute, de Lockheed Martin, de Caltech et du Jet Propulsion Laboratory de la NASA. Moku:Pro étend la gamme de solutions définies par logiciel de Moku:Lab, une plateforme de douze instruments pour la recherche, et, plus récemment, Moku:Go, une solution de laboratoire complète et portable pour l’enseignement de premier cycle.

Pour tout complément d’information sur Moku:Pro, veuillez consulter le site : liquidinstruments.com

À propos de Liquid Instruments
Liquid Instruments est un leader des instruments de précision conçus par logiciel et révolutionne la manière dont les étudiants, les ingénieurs et les scientifiques apprennent, travaillent et découvrent. Sa gamme de solutions matérielles et logicielles tire parti de la puissance de calcul des FPGA modernes pour créer des instruments hautement personnalisables afin de contrôler les expériences et acquérir et analyser des données. La propriété intellectuelle de l’équipe en matière de matériel informatique défini par logiciel permet aux produits de Moku d’être reconfigurés dynamiquement sur le terrain, servant une large gamme de situations expérimentales et de contrôle des processus en constante évolution. Pour tout complément d’informations, rendez-vous sur https://liquidinstruments.com.

Le projet a été financé par le gouvernement australien. Liquid Instruments tient à remercier le financement et le soutien du gouvernement du Commonwealth australien dans le cadre du programme CRC-P administré par le ministère de l’Innovation industrielle et des Sciences.

Contact auprès des médias
Codeword pour Liquid Instruments
liquidinstruments@codewordagency.com
801-703-4092

Les photographies accompagnant ce communiqué sont disponibles sur :

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/37cb06a3-2242-4fe9-b6d2-0243a826051f

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Can ET See Us? Study Finds Many Stars With Prime Earth View

Feeling like you are being watched? It could be from a lot farther away than you think.

Astronomers took a technique used to look for life on other planets and flipped it around — so instead of looking to see what’s out there, they tried to see what places could see us.

There’s a lot.

Astronomers calculated that 1,715 stars in our galactic neighborhood — and hundreds of probable Earth-like planets circling those stars — have had an unobstructed view of Earth during human civilization, according to a study Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“When I look up at the sky, it looks a little bit friendlier because it’s like, maybe somebody is waving,” said study lead author Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University.

Even though some experts, including the late Stephen Hawking, warn against reaching out to aliens because they could harm us, Kaltenegger said it doesn’t matter. If those planets have advanced life, someone out there could conclude that there is life back here based on oxygen in our atmosphere, or by the radio waves from human sources that have swept over 75 of the closest stars on her list.

“Hiding is not really an option,” she said.

One way humans look for potentially habitable planets is by watching them as they cross in front of the star they are orbiting, which dims the stars’ light slightly. Kaltenegger and astrophysicist Jacqueline Faherty of the American Museum of Natural History used the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope to turn that around, looking to see what star systems could watch Earth as it passes in front of the sun.

They looked at the 331,312 stars within 326 light-years of Earth. One light-year is 5.9 trillion miles. The angle to see Earth pass in front of the sun is so small that only the 1,715 could see Earth at some point in the last 5,000 years, including 313 that no longer can see us because we’ve moved out of view.

Another 319 stars will be able to see Earth in the next 5,000 years, including a few star systems where scientists have already spotted Earth-like planets, prime candidates for contact. That brings the total to more than 2,000 star systems with an Earth view.

The closest star on Kaltenegger’s list is the red dwarf star Wolf 359, which is 7.9 light-years away. It’s been able to see us since the disco era of the mid 1970s.

Carnegie Institution for Science planetary scientist Alan Boss, who wasn’t part of the study, called it “provocative.” He said in addition to viewing Earth moving in front of the star, space telescopes nearby could spot us even if the cosmic geometry is wrong: “So intelligent civilizations who build space telescopes could be studying us right now.”

So why haven’t we heard from them?

It takes a long time for messages and life to travel between stars and civilizations might not last long. So between those two it’s enough to limit the chances for civilizations to exchange “emails and TikTok videos,” Boss said in his own email. “So we should not expect aliens to show up anytime soon.”

Or, Kaltenneger said, life in the cosmos, could just be rare.

What’s exciting about the study is that it tells scientists “where to point our instruments,” said outside astronomer Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. “You might know where to look for the aliens!”

Source: Voice of America

Top US Economists Face Off on Inflation

WASHINGTON – History seems to have a way of placing current U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and one of her predecessors, Lawrence Summers, on opposite sides of major policy battles. Right now, the two celebrated economists are facing off in an argument about whether government spending coupled with near-zero interest rates are creating the danger of unchecked inflation.

With inflation rising sharply over the past few months, Summers is seriously – and vocally – concerned about prices rising out of control, whereas Yellen has been supportive of the Federal Reserve’s apparent belief that the extra stimulus is justified as a means of bringing the economy back toward full employment, and that inflationary pressures will be temporary.

The Federal Reserve last week made markets shudder by responding to a sharp rise in inflation by suggesting that it might raise interest rates slightly in 2023 and take other measures to tighten monetary policy somewhat sooner.

‘Errors of thinking’

Summers, the one-time president of Harvard University known for a certain lack of diplomacy when describing those who disagree with him, offered a backhanded compliment to the Fed for its decision to, as he put it, begin facing up to “reality.”

“I welcome the Fed’s limited efforts to mark its views towards reality and a growing awareness that this overheating is likely to necessitate a monetary policy response,” Summers said at the Qatar Economic Forum on Monday.

“The prevailing forecast at the Fed, in the White House, indeed in much of the consensus of professional economic forecasters in February was that we would have inflation just above 2%,” Summers said. “This year, we’ve already had more inflation than that in the first five months of the year. That would suggest to me that people should not just modify their forecasts. But should think about what their errors of thinking were that led them to be so far off in their forecasts.” Echoes of 2013

While the situation is slightly different, it has echoes of the last time Yellen and Summers found their names in headlines at the same time.

In 2013, both were on then-President Barack Obama’s short list to replace Ben Bernanke as the next chair of the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. central bank. As vice chair of the Fed, Yellen seemed like a natural pick to many, but Summers had served as director of the National Economic Council during the first two years of Obama’s first term, and was seen as a contender, too.

Facing a barrage of criticism from the left wing of the Democratic Party, which saw him as too close to Wall Street and believed Yellen would be more likely to pursue the goal of full employment rather than simply managing inflation, Summers withdrew from the running. He was forced to sit on the sidelines as the Obama administration continued to drag the U.S. economy out of the morass of the Great Recession.

Unsparing criticism

Now, more than two decades since Summers ran the Treasury Department, Yellen is occupying that office, and the two find themselves again on opposite sides of a debate over how the U.S. should be managing the recovery from a recession — this one brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

During the first six months of the Biden administration, Yellen at Treasury and her successor at the Fed, Jerome Powell, have overseen an administration policy that calls for trillions of dollars in extra government spending on both financial support for Americans and investment in infrastructure and social spending.

Summers has been unsparing in his criticism of injecting huge amounts of money into the economy, out of concern that it will cause inflation to spike. Once again, he has drawn the wrath of liberal Democrats who are clamoring for more government spending,

‘More…grave risks than I can remember’

“These are the least responsible fiscal macroeconomic policies we have had for the last 40 years,” Summers said in March, after a major stimulus package passed.

He added, “There are more risks at this moment that macroeconomic policy will cause grave risks than I can remember.”

For her part, Yellen has charted a course for the Biden administration that deeply discounts Summers’ concerns.

“In the United States, there have been factors that are transitory that in past years have raised inflation without affecting the underlying inflation rate and factors that have lowered it that have also been transitory,” she said in remarks earlier this month. “And I genuinely believe that policy should look through transitory factors.”

Change in thinking

In the past decade, there has been a pronounced shift in the way U.S. policymakers approach the question of inflation.

The Fed and other central banks around the world have moved from a time when central bank policymakers were deliberately opaque about their plans — “If you understood what I said, I must have misspoken,” former Fed chair Alan Greenspan once famously told a senator — to being extremely explicit about what they plan to do.

The Fed now believes in “average inflation targeting,” which means that it will use the tools at its disposal to try to make inflation average about 2% — meaning that it will allow the rate to be higher sometimes, and lower at others, but always moving around the 2% axis.

Managing expectations

One of the reasons for being specific about an inflation target is that price increases have a psychological factor. If people expect prices to keep going up sharply, they will buy things now rather than putting them off, creating a self-fulfilling cycle of higher and higher prices.

That’s why policymakers frequently talk about “inflation expectations.” Part of the bet they are making, and one that has paid off for years, is that by creating a strong presumption that inflation will be kept in check, it will make inflation expectations “sticky.” That means that it will take more than a brief run of higher- than- average inflation to convince consumers that an upward price spiral is just around the corner.

When it comes to managing inflation by managing expectations, “Larry didn’t really get the memo,” said Ken Kuttner, professor of economics at Williams College, referring to Summers.

The former treasury secretary, he said, is simply not as sanguine about the central bank’s ability to gently change the course of inflation once prices start rising.

Holding the course

In testimony prepared for delivery to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Tuesday morning, Federal Reserve Board Chair Powell conceded that “inflation has increased notably in recent months” but gave no suggestion that he, Yellen, and others managing the recovery for the Biden administration, are planning a major policy change in the near future.

Part of the change in inflation is explained by the calendar, he said, as the low-inflation months early in the pandemic are taken out of the calculation of the annual rate.

Other factors include those that he and others at the Fed have been pointing to all along, including “the rebound in spending as the economy continues to reopen; and the exacerbating factor of supply bottlenecks, which have limited how quickly production in some sectors can respond in the near term.”

Powell’s conclusion remains essentially unchanged, he indicated in remarks echoing Yellen’s assessment. “As these transitory supply effects abate, inflation is expected to drop back toward our longer-run goal,” he said.

Source: Voice of America