Planetary system

A planetary system is a set of gravitationally bound non-stellar objects in orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although such systems may also consist of bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids, natural satellites, meteoroids, comets, planetesimals and circumstellar disks. The Sun together with its planetary system, which includes Earth, is known as the Solar System. The term exoplanetary system is sometimes used in reference to other planetary systems.

There are at least 1321 known planetary systems, including 507 systems consisting of multiple planets as of 10 February 2016. These systems contain more than 2073 known exoplanets. Debris disks are also known to be common, though other objects are more difficult to observe.

Of particular interest to astrobiology is the habitable zone of planetary systems where planets could have surface liquid water.

History

Heliocentrism

Historically, heliocentrism (the doctrine that the Sun is the centre of the universe) was opposed to geocentrism (placing the Earth at the center of the universe).

Solar Systems (company)

Solar Systems is an Australian company that constructed three concentrator dish power stations in the Northern Territory of Australia, which together generate 720 kW and 1,555,000 kWh per year. This represents a saving of 420,000 litres of diesel fuel and 1550 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2003, Solar Systems completed construction of the first concentrator dish power station at Umuwa in South Australia. Solar Systems is a winner in the 2005 Engineering Excellence Awards.

Solar Systems was placed under voluntary administration on 7 September 2009 placing the Mildura Solar Power Station project and the jobs of two-thirds of the workforce at risk.

In March 2010, Silex Systems purchased the assets of Solar Systems. The power stations that were then in service were purchased by the electrical utilities that had agreed to buy the power from them.

See also

References

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Systems engineering

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how to design and manage complex engineering systems over their life cycles. Issues such as requirements engineering, reliability, logistics, coordination of different teams, testing and evaluation, maintainability and many other disciplines necessary for successful system development, design, implementation, and ultimate decommission become more difficult when dealing with large or complex projects. Systems engineering deals with work-processes, optimization methods, and risk management tools in such projects. It overlaps technical and human-centered disciplines such as control engineering, industrial engineering, software engineering, organizational studies, and project management. Systems engineering ensures that all likely aspects of a project or system are considered, and integrated into a whole.

The systems engineering process is a discovery process that is quite unlike a manufacturing process. A manufacturing process is focused on repetitive activities that achieve high quality outputs with minimum cost and time. The systems engineering process must begin by discovering the real problems that need to be resolved, and identify the most probable or highest impact failures that can occur - systems engineering involves finding elegant solutions to these problems.