The company is known for its Animusic compilations of computer-generated animations, based on MIDI events processed to simultaneously drive the music and on-screen action, leading to and corresponding to every sound. The animated short « Pipe Dream, » showed at SIGGRAPH’s Electronic Theater in 2001, details the use of this specific sequencing.
Unlike many other music visualizations, Animusic uses MIDI information to drive the animation, while other software programs, such as Blender, animate figures or characters to the music. Any animated models in Animusic are created first, and are then programmed to follow what the music, or MIDI information, instructs them to do. ‘Solo cams’ featured on the Animusic DVD shows how each instrument plays through a piece of music from beginning to end.
Many of the instruments appear to be robotic or play themselves using seemingly curious methods to produce and visualize the original compositions. The animations typically feature dramatically-lit rooms or landscapes in rustic and/or futuristic locales.
The music in Animusic is principally pop-rock based, consisting of straightforward sequences of triggered samples and digital patches mostly played « dry » (with few effects). There are no lyrics or voices, save for the occasional chorus synthesizer. According to the director’s comments on Animusic 2, most instrument sounds are generated with software synthesizers on a music workstation (see Software Programs for more info). Many sounds resemble stock patches available on digital keyboards, subjected to some manipulation, such as pitch or playback speed, to enhance the appeal of their timbre.
Watching the tragedy of war continue to unfold daily in Ukraine, we open our hearts to the suffering of people young and old. As an international community of Engaged Buddhism in the Plum Village tradition, we observe the war with pain and alarm.
In our Buddhist community, every Christmas we listen with great joy to the sound of Russian church bells, and we open our hearts to the rich spiritual heritage of Russia and Europe. Our teacher, the venerable Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, has said that “A bell is always a bell; whether it’s Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or Buddhist, it is still a bell.” Listening to the bell, no matter what our cultural or religious roots are, we can have a deep encounter where we touch peace and a shared spiritual dimension. We all yearn for peace. We all need peace.
Our community’s own roots lie in the tradition of Engaged Buddhism in Vietnam, where more than three million people died in a war that lasted nearly 20 years and some two million fled as refugees. We know from our teacher that war is never a solution. It leads only to division and hatred that can last for generations.
Our teacher worked tirelessly for peace in Vietnam by never choosing sides. Instead, he appealed to adversaries to look deeply into each other’s pain, anxiety, and existential fear, and to consider the war’s horrific toll on all victims. Forced into exile, he became a spiritual leader of a global movement for peace, reconciliation, and disarmament.
We believe our teacher’s universal message of peace can offer hope at this pivotal time for Ukraine, Russia, and humanity. History shows us that war can be transformed into peace; survivors can heal despite their wounds. In the name of our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, and his great love, compassion, and wisdom, we his students call for an immediate ceasefire, to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. We send our love and support to negotiators on both sides. May they listen deeply to each other and create the conditions for peace.
The Buddha tells us that our true enemy is not to be found in others but in our own fear, anxiety, and sorrow, our anger, greed, ignorance, and hatred. War is made possible by dualistic and discriminative thinking, and by the idea that only by eliminating our so-called enemy can we have peace and security. But as the Buddha said, hatred cannot resolve hatred. Only understanding and love can transform hatred.
As our teacher has said, when there is peace in ourselves, there will be peace in the world. If we succeed in achieving an end to the war in Ukraine and a lasting peace, the whole world will benefit, for as a human family we are interconnected and interdependent. We pray, too, that precious global resources can be redirected from war to where they are most needed, namely, to tackle disease, poverty, hunger and malnutrition, human trafficking – including exploitation of vulnerable children – environmental stress, and climate change.
Our world needs a culture of peace. Our human family needs to accelerate to a higher stage of evolution; to a “cosmic” spirituality and ethic that can unite all peoples and nations, removing separation and discrimination. In this spirit, as a community of Engaged Buddhism, we renewed our commitment on New Year’s Eve 2021 to practice mindfulness for peace on earth. Below, we share with our love this solemn vow.
The work of peace is the work of great and noble beings. As a human family, for the sake of the Ukrainian people, the people of Russia, and soldiers on both sides, our most urgent task is to invest all our energy and skills in exploring every viable option for peace at this time of great danger for humanity.
All our ancestors and descendants are counting on us.
With love and trust,
Bhikkhu Thích Chân Pháp Ấn Elder Monk in the Plum Village Community
Bhikkhuni Thích Nữ Chân Không Elder Nun in the Plum Village Community
Some more now on what’s left of the Antonov An-225 – known as Mriya (Dream) – the aircraft that was once the largest in the world by several measures.
The Ukrainian cargo plane was being housed in a hangar at Kyiv’s Hostomel Airport, which became a fiercely contested site of intense fighting after the invasion was launched.
The Ukrainian state defence company put the cost of rebuilding the plane at $3bn.
Russian forces are now reported to have withdrawn from the airport, and today the BBC has visited where they captured some of these images:
« Un nuage ne meurt jamais ». Nouvelle vidéo sur la vie et les enseignements du maître zen Thich Nhat Hanh et de ses communautés « Village des Pruniers » en Lot et Garonne.
Un rappel de la primauté de la connaissance de soi et d’une philosophie de paix et rejet de la guerre. Une belle vidéo et inspiration constante. A regarder sans modération.
Je pense à une amie de jeunesse et de toujours Charlotte Ngo Dinh Luyen-yakovlev 🙏
In a world that seems to be more challenging, frenetic, superficial, disconnected, and even frightening, is Vivre pour autrui the answer? For me, yes, I think it is but more on that later.
When I was young and would ask my mother what she wanted for her birthday she would always respond with: “Peace of mind.” I bet you’ve heard it too. This used to frustrate me no end; as a young girl, I had no idea what that was or how to get it for my mum.
“Mum, what is peace of mind and why do you want it?” I would ask. She would smile and say one day you will understand the value of peace of mind and you will want it too.
Like most, my 20s found me exploring who I was, building relationships, and finessing the beginnings of a career. In my 30s, I seemed to come into my own, relishing my life, relationships, marriage and work with real confidence and zest for life. Peace of mind ironically was the last thing on my mind.
Then one day, when I was about to turn 40-something, I heard myself saying those very words. My husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said, “Peace of mind.”
Where on earth did that come from!
So what is vivre pour autrui? It simply means to ‘live for others.’ It is from this phrase that the word altruism comes. And for those of you that thought that it meant ‘peace of mind’, well in a way, for me, it does.
Helping others has brought me such happiness, peace, and fulfillment and an unquenchable desire to not only demonstrate altruism but to cultivate it, promote it, and hopefully inspire others to vivre pour autrui.
“Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out for a walk.
It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its most spectacular moment, flowers and smells and outstanding poetical imagery smoothly transferring you into another world.
It doesn’t have to be a walk during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter.
Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but ‘steal’ some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be.”
Report by Jonathan AMOS, BBC News, after statement by ESA, published 28/2/2022
It’s « very unlikely » the British-built Mars rover, Rosalind Franklin, will launch this year.
The European Space Agency (Esa) says the project is now at risk because of the worsening diplomatic crisis over the war in Ukraine.
The robot is part of a joint venture with the Russian space agency.
It’s due to launch on a Russian rocket in September and land eight months later using Russian hardware, but this cooperation may now be hard to justify.
The Rosalind Franklin Rover seen sitting on top of the Russian Kazachok lander
Esa said in a statement on Monday that « sanctions and the wider context » had put a big question mark next to Rosalind Franklin, which is named after the British scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA.
« We deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the war in Ukraine, » the agency stated.
« We are giving absolute priority to taking proper decisions, not only for the sake of our workforce involved in the programmes, but in full respect of our European values, which have always fundamentally shaped our approach to international cooperation. »
At the weekend, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced it would be suspending flights of its Soyuz rockets from the European Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, as retaliation for EU economic sanctions.
Rosalind Franklin has only a limited time to launch to Mars this year – just a short, 10-day window in late September and early October.
This narrowness is governed by the alignment of the planets.
If the robot misses the window, it must wait another 26 months before getting another go.
The rover itself is built, as is its Russian descent and landing mechanism, known as Kazachok. Some technical issues still need to be resolved, but there is every confidence the pair could reach the launch pad in time – given the opportunity.
In the current climate, however, the sentiment is not positive.
Analysis by Rebecca Morelle, BBC Science Editor
Untangling decades of space cooperation
The aspiration is that space sits well above any conflicts happening on Earth below. And for decades, Russia and the West have found room to co-operate, even when tensions were high during the Cold War and Crimea crisis.
But the invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point, and the idea of continuing business as usual in the skies above has become harder to contemplate. However, untangling decades of cooperation will not be easy.
If the ExoMars programme is suspended, does this mean the spacecraft is put in storage and then wheeled back out again for launch once the crisis comes to an end? Or does it mean the elements that Roscosmos have made – the landing system – are redesigned and rebuilt without Russia’s involvement?
These sorts of questions will be being asked right now for every western mission involving Russia.
The trickiest problem though is the International Space Station. The infrastructure on the orbiting outpost is so entwined that Russia would struggle to operate there without the other space agencies – and vice versa. It may be that the ISS remains a beacon of space cooperation – because there is no alternative.
In the UK’s House of Commons last week, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said space cooperation with Russia was difficult to justify. « I must say that hitherto I have been broadly in favour of continuing artistic and scientific collaboration but in the current circumstances, it’s hard to see how even those can continue as normal, » he told MPs.
Rosalind Franklin is the second stage in a two-part space programme known formally as ExoMars. The first part is a satellite that was launched to the Red Planet in 2016. It is studying the planet’s atmosphere and is due to act as a telecommunications relay platform for Rosalind Franklin when it arrives. Within Esa, the UK has been the second largest contributor to the ExoMars programme (behind Italy), having invested over €300m (£250m), with most of that geared towards leading the development of the rover.
Another non-Russian rocket could be found to launch the robot in 2024, but sourcing western hardware to place the vehicle on the surface of the planet might not be so straightforward. The expertise exists in Europe – and especially in the US – to build such a descent and landing system, but it would surely take more than two years to design, build and test, meaning Rosalind Franklin would be pushed even further into the future. This would inevitably lead some to question its continuing relevance as a scientific endeavour.
The robot’s objective is to drill up to 2m into the ground to look for traces of life. No other planned Mars mission has this goal. Esa’s desire to send a six-wheeled vehicle to the Red Planet is a long-running saga. The idea was first approved by member states as far back as 2005, with a launch pencilled in for 2011. Indecision, technical woes and funding shortfalls subsequently saw the project miss launch window after launch window.
Neither the UK Space Agency nor Airbus UK, who assembled Rosalind Franklin, wanted to add to Esa’s Monday statement.
SpaceFlightNow article by Stephen Clark published 26 February 2022
Blaming European sanctions enacted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian space agency said Saturday it is recalling dozens of engineers and technicians from French Guiana and suspending Soyuz rocket operations there, grounding a pair of European navigation satellites previously set for launch in early April.
The decision, announced by Russian space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin, also brings into question the long-term future of the Soyuz launch base at the Guiana Space Center, a European-run spaceport on the northeastern coast of South America.
Russian teams were preparing a Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage for launch April 5 from the spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, with two European Galileo navigation satellites. The two European satellites and their Russian launch vehicle have already been delivered to the space center, but the preparations require expertise from Russian crews.
“In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and withdrawing its technical personnel, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana,” Rogozin tweeted Saturday.
The Soyuz launch base in French Guiana entered service in 2011 under the auspices of a cooperative agreement between Roscosmos and the European Space Agency. Since then, 27 Soyuz rockets have launched from the Guiana Space Center, carrying Galileo navigation satellites, commercial communications and Earth observation payloads, space science missions, and French and Italian military satellites.
French Guiana is an overseas department of France, meaning the spaceport is built on the territory of a NATO country. The Soyuz launch pad in French Guiana is European-owned, and the French launch service provider Arianespace oversees launch operations at the site.
It took three years and cost European governments $800 million to develop the Soyuz launch capability in French Guiana.
The European Union announced new sanctions this week against Russia, targeting Russian businesses and defense enterprises after Russia’s military invaded Ukraine. On Friday, the EU said it would freeze any European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Roscosmos said there are 87 Russian citizens currently in French Guiana preparing for the planned Soyuz launch in April. They are employees of NPO Lavochkin, which manufactures the Fregat upper stage, and the Progress Rocket Space Center, builder of Russia’s Soyuz rocket. There are also staff at the Guiana Space Center from TsENKI, a Russian company that provides ground infrastructure and support services for space missions.
“The issue of the departure of Russian employees is being worked out,” Roscosmos said.
File photo of Soyuz rocket processing inside the MIK integration hangar at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Baudon
After the April launch, another Soyuz rocket was scheduled to take off from French Guiana later this year with two additional Galileo navigation satellites. The Galileo network is Europe’s independent space-based global navigation system, an analog to the U.S. military’s GPS fleet, Russia’s Glonass system, and China’s Beidou navigation constellation.
Galileo satellites are already beaming navigation signals to users around the world. More than 2 billion smartphones have been sold with Galileo-enabled chipsets, allowing users to locate themselves with navigation signals from Galileo satellites alongside data from GPS network.
The most recent launch for the Galileo system in December deployed the 27th and 28th operational Galileo satellites on a Soyuz rocket. The Galileo program is a multibillion-dollar initiative managed by the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, a separate entity from ESA.
The full Galileo constellation needs 30 satellites, including 24 active platforms and six spares. The launches later this year with Soyuz rockets were planned to complete the full deployment of the network, but that timetable is in doubt with Soyuz operations suspended.
After this year, future Galileo satellites are planned to launch on European Ariane 6 rockets to upgrade the system and replace old spacecraft. The Ariane 6 rocket’s debut has been delayed, and its first launch is scheduled for no earlier than the end of 2022. Once Ariane 6 is flying, ESA and
When fully operational, the Galileo network will provide independent navigation fixes for users without needing GPS signals. With both networks available, combining Galileo and GPS data can give users a more precise position estimate.
Other missions booked to launch on Soyuz rockets from French Guiana include the French military’s CSO 3 optical spy satellite and the EarthCARE climate science mission for the European Space Agency.
ESA’s Euclid telescope, designed to study dark energy and dark matter, is also assigned to a Soyuz launch from French Guiana next year.
Arianespace and ESA did not respond to questions on the future of Soyuz launches in French Guiana, but ESA issued a statement Friday — before Roscosmos said it was suspending Soyuz operations at the Guiana Space Center — saying it was assessing “possible consequences for ESA’s ongoing activities” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In this photo before a launch in December, two European Galileo navigation satellites are prepared for attachment to their Russian-made Fregat upper stage at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Baudon
“ESA is committed to continuing the work of all its program activities, including the ongoing ExoMars launch campaign, to ensure their successful implementation, wherever possible,” the agency said.
The ExoMars mission is a joint program between ESA and Roscosmos. The first element the ExoMars mission was a European-built science orbiter launched to Mars in 2016 by a Russian Proton rocket.
The next piece of ExoMars is a European rover designed to be delivered to the surface of the Red Planet next year by a Russian-built entry vehicle and lander. The ExoMars rover is scheduled to launch in September on another Russian Proton rocket.
The mission architecture requires close cooperation between Russia and Europe, with Russia responsible for the launch and landing. ESA’s rover carries most of the scientific instrumentation, including payloads supplied by NASA.
NASA said Thursday that new U.S. sanctions against Russia announced by President Biden will not have any immediate effects on the International Space Station, another program that requires close international cooperation between Western nations and Russia.
Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space agency, also said Saturday that Roscosmos will stop cooperation with NASA on the Venera-D project, a planned robotic exploration mission to Venus. He said continuing with the partnership would be “inappropriate.”
Arianespace also manages commercial Soyuz rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. The next of those missions is set for takeoff from Kazakhstan on March 4 with 36 more satellites for OneWeb’s global internet network, and officials have not announced any delay for that launch.
Header picture : A Soyuz ST-B rocket takes off from the Guiana Space Center on Feb. 10 with 34 new OneWeb internet satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron
C’était un 7 février 1984. Bruce McCandless le premier astronaute à effectuer une sortie non-attachée sur son siège MMU (Manned Manoeuvering Unit).
J’avais acheté l’image en grand format poster. Il a décoré mon bureau-studio à Toulouse pendant de nombreuses années. Je disais bonjour à Bruce chaque jour. Une inspiration constante. Avec un déménagement l’affiche a été enroulée, un souvenir à conserver. Il faut que je ressorte le rouleau.
Légende : Shuttle Mission STS-41-B. In one of the most spectacular post-Apollo space images, shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless performs the first untethered spacewalk, using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (or MMU) – a technique originally intended to be demonstrated during Gemini.
