Archive for the ‘Around the Blogs’ Category
The Moonwalk of 1969
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
I remember watching the first human steps on the Moon on 20 July 1969, along with a couple of hundred people at a hotel in the Catskills. It was the only TV set around.
42 years later, it’s worth revisiting the article in The New York Times from that day. Check out the lead…
Men have landed and walked on the moon.
Two Americans, astronauts of Apollo 11, steered their fragile four-legged lunar module safely and smoothly to the historic landing yesterday at 4:17:40 P.M., Eastern daylight time.
Neil A. Armstrong, the 38-year-old civilian commander, radioed to earth and the mission control room here:
“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
The first men to reach the moon–Mr. Armstrong and his co-pilot, Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. of the Air Force–brought their ship to rest on a level, rock-strewn plain near the southwestern shore of the arid Sea of Tranquility.
About six and a half hours later, Mr. Armstrong opened the landing craft’s hatch, stepped slowly down the ladder and declared as he planted the first human footprint on the lunar crust:
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
His first step on the moon came at 10:56:20 P.M., as a television camera outside the craft transmitted his every move to an awed and excited audience of hundreds of millions of people on earth.
Tentative Steps Test Soil
Mr. Armstrong’s initial steps were tentative tests of the lunar soil’s firmness and of his ability to move about easily in his bulky white spacesuit and backpacks and under the influence of lunar gravity, which is one-sixth that of the earth.
“The surface is fine and powdery,” the astronaut reported. “I can pick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers like powdered charcoal to the sole and sides of my boots. I only go in a small fraction of an inch, maybe an eighth of an inch. But I can see the footprints of my boots in the treads in the fine sandy particles.
After 19 minutes of Mr. Armstrong’s testing, Colonel Aldrin joined him outside the craft.
The two men got busy setting up another television camera out from the lunar module, planting an American flag into the ground, scooping up soil and rock samples, deploying scientific experiments and hopping and loping about in a demonstration of their lunar agility.
They found walking and working on the moon less taxing than had been forecast. Mr. Armstrong once reported he was “very comfortable.”
And people back on earth found the black-and-white television pictures of the bug- shaped lunar module and the men tramping about it so sharp and clear as to seem unreal, more like a toy and toy-like figures than human beings on the most daring and far- reaching expedition thus far undertaken.
Nixon Telephones Congratulations
During one break in the astronauts’ work, President Nixon congratulated them from the White House in what, he said, “certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made.”
“Because of what you have done,” the President told the astronauts, “the heavens have become a part of man’s world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility it required us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to earth.
“For one priceless moment in the whole history of man all the people on this earth are truly one–one in their pride in what you have done and one in our prayers that you will return safely to earth.”
Mr. Armstrong replied:
“Thank you Mr. President. It’s a great honor and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States but men of peace of all nations, men with interests and a curiosity and men with a vision for the future.”
Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin returned to their landing craft and closed the hatch at 1:12 A.M., 2 hours 21 minutes after opening the hatch on the moon. While the third member of the crew, Lieut. Col. Michael Collins of the Air Force, kept his orbital vigil overhead in the command ship, the two moon explorers settled down to sleep.
Outside their vehicle the astronauts had found a bleak world. It was just before dawn, with the sun low over the eastern horizon behind them and the chill of the long lunar nights still clinging to the boulders, small craters and hills before them.
Colonel Aldrin said that he could see “literally thousands of small craters” and a low hill out in the distance. But most of all he was impressed initially by the “variety of shapes, angularities, granularities” of the rocks and soil where the landing craft, code-named Eagle had set down.
The landing was made four miles west of the aiming point, but well within the designated area. An apparent error in some data fed into the craft’s guidance computer from the earth was said to have accounted for the discrepancy.
Suddenly the astronauts were startled to see that the computer was guiding them toward a possibly disastrous touchdown in a boulder-filled crater about the size of a football field.
Mr. Armstrong grabbed manual control of the vehicle and guided it safely over the crater to a smoother spot, the rocket engine stirring a cloud of moon dust during the final seconds of descent.
Soon after the landing, upon checking and finding the spacecraft in good condition, Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin made their decision to open the hatch and get out earlier than originally scheduled. The flight plan had called for the moon walk to begin at 2:12 A.M.
Flight controllers here said that the early moon walk would not mean that the astronauts would also leave the moon earlier. The lift-off is scheduled to come at about 1:55 P.M. today.
Their departure from the landing craft out onto the surface was delayed for a time when they had trouble depressurizing the cabin so that they could open the hatch. All the oxygen in the cabin had to be vented.
Once the pressure gauge finally dropped to zero, they opened the hatch and Mr. Armstrong stepped out on the small porch at the top of the nine-step ladder.
“O.K., Houston, I’m on the porch,” he reported, as he descended.
On the second step from the top, he pulled a lanyard that released a fold-down equipment compartment on the side of the lunar module. This deployed the television camera that transmitted the dramatic pictures of man’s first steps on the moon.
Ancient Dream Fulfilled
It was man’s first landing on another world, the realization of centuries of dreams, the fulfillment of a decade of striving, a triumph of modern technology and personal courage, the most dramatic demonstration of what man can do if he applies his mind and resources with single-minded determination.
The moon, long the symbol of the impossible and the inaccessible, was now within man’s reach, the first port of call in this new age of spacefaring.
Immediately after the landing, Dr. Thomas O. Paine, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, telephoned President Nixon in Washington to report:
“Mr. President, it is my honor on behalf of the entire NASA team to report to you that the Eagle has landed on the Sea of Tranquility and our astronauts are safe and looking forward to starting the exploration of the moon.”
The landing craft from the Apollo 11 spaceship was scheduled to remain on the moon about 22 hours, while Colonel Collins of the Air Force, the third member of the Apollo 11 crew, piloted the command ship, Columbia, in orbit overhead.
“You’re looking good in every respect,” Mission Control told the two men of Eagle after examining data indicating that the module should be able to remain on the moon the full 22 hours.
Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin planned to sleep after the moon walk and then make their preparations for the lift-off for the return to a rendezvous with Colonel Collins in the command ship.
Apollo 11′s journey into history began last Wednesday from launching pad 39-A at Cape Kennedy, Fla. After an almost flawless three-day flight, the joined command ship and lunar module swept into an orbit of the moon yesterday afternoon.
The three men were awake for their big day at 7 A.M. when their spacecraft emerged from behind the moon on its 10th revolution, moving from east to west across the face of the moon along its equator.
Their orbit was 73.6 miles by 64 miles in altitude, their speed 3,660 miles an hour. At that altitude and speed, it took about two hours to complete a full orbit of the moon.
The sun was rising over their landing site on the Sea of Tranquility.
“We can pick out almost all of the features we’ve identified previously,” Mr. Armstrong reported.
After breakfast, on their 11th revolution Colonel Aldrin and then Mr. Armstrong, both dressed in their white pressurized suits, crawled through the connecting tunnel into the lunar module.
They turned on the electrical power, checked all the switch settings on the cockpit panel and checked communications with the command ship and the ground controllers. Everything was “nominal,” as the spacemen say.
LM Ready for Descent
The lunar module was ready. Its four legs with yard-wide footpads were extended so that the height of the 16-ton vehicle now measured 22 feet and 11 inches and its width 31 feet.
Mr. Armstrong stood at the left side of the cockpit, and Colonel Aldrin at the right. Both were loosely restrained by harnesses. They had closed the hatch to the connecting tunnel.
The walls of their craft were finely milled aluminum foil. If anything happened so that it could not return to the command ship, the lunar module would be too delicate to withstand a plunge through earth’s atmosphere, even if it had the rocket power.
Nearly three-fourths of the vehicle’s weight was in propellants for the descent and ascent rockets–Aerozine 50 and nitrogen oxide, which substituted for the oxygen, making combustion possible.
It was an ungainly craft that creaked and groaned in flight. But years of development and testing had determined that it was the lightest and most practical way to get two men to the moon’s surface.
Before Apollo 11 disappeared behind the moon near the end of its 12th orbit, mission control gave the astronauts their “go” for undocking–the separation of Eagle from Columbia.
Colonel Collins had already released 12 of the latches holding the two ships together at the connecting tunnel. He did this when he closed the hatch at the command ship’s nose. While behind the moon, he was to flip a switch on the control panel to release the three remaining latches by a spring action.
At 1:50 P.M., when communications signals were reacquired, Mission Control asked: “How does it look?”
“Eagle has wings,” Mr. Armstrong replied.
The two ships were then only a few feet apart. But at 2:12 P.M., Colonel Collins fired the command ship’s maneuvering rockets to move about two miles away and in a slightly different orbit from the lunar module.
“It looks like you’ve got a fine-looking flying machine there, Eagle, despite the fact you’re upside down,” Colonel Collins commented, watching the spidery lunar module receding in the distance.
“Somebody’s upside down,” Mr. Armstrong replied.
What is “up” and what is “down” is never quite clear in the absence of landmarks and the sensation of gravity’s pull.
As Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin rode the lunar module back around to the moon’s far side, the rocket engine in the vehicle’s lower stage was pointed toward the line of flight. The two pilots were leaning toward the cockpit controls, riding backwards and facing downward.
“Everything is ‘go,’” they were assured by Mission Control.
Their on-board guidance and navigation computer was instructed to trigger a 29.8-second firing of the descent rocket, the 9,870-pound-thrust throttable engine that would slow down the lunar module and send it toward the moon on a long, curving trajectory.
The firing was set to take place at 3:08 P.M., when the craft would be behind the moon and once again out of touch with the ground.
Suspense built up in the control room here. Flight controllers stood silently at their consoles. Among those waiting for word of the rocket firing were Dr. Thomas O. Paine, the space agency’s administrator, most of the Apollo project officials and several astronauts.
At 3:46 P.M., contact was established with the command ship.
Colonel Collins reported, “Listen, baby, things are going just swimmingly, just beautiful.”
There was still no word from the lunar module for two minutes. Then came a weak signal, some static and whistling, and finally the calm voice of Mr. Armstrong.
“The burn was on time,” the Apollo 11 commander declared.
When he read out data on the beginning of the descent, Mission Control concluded that it “look great.” The lunar module had already descended from an altitude of 65.5 miles to 21 miles and was coasting steadily downward.
Eugene F. Kranz, the flight director, turned to his associates and said, “We’re off to a good start. Play it cool.”
Colonel Aldrin reported some oscillations in the vehicle’s antenna, but nothing serious. Several times the astronauts were told to turn the vehicle slightly to move the antenna into a better position for communications over the 230,000 miles.
“You’re ‘go’ for PDI,” radioed Mission Control, referring to the powered descent initiation–the beginning of the nearly 13-minute final blast of the rocket to the soft touchdown.
When the two men reached an altitude of 50,000 feet, which was approximately the lowest point reached by Apollo 10 in May, green lights on the computer display keyboard in the cockpit blinked the number 99.
This signaled Mr. Armstrong that he had five seconds to decide whether to go ahead for the landing or continue on its orbital path back to the command ship. He pressed the “proceed” button.
The throttleable engine built up thrust gradually, firing continuously as the lunar module descended along the steadily steepening trajectory to the landing site about 250 miles away:
“Looking good,” Mission Control radioed the men.
Four minutes after the firing the lunar module was down to 40,000 feet. After five and a half minutes, it was 33,500 feet. At six minutes, 27,000 feet.
“Better than the simulator,” said Colonel Aldrin, referring to their practice landings at the spacecraft center.
Seven minutes after the firing, the men were 21,000 feet above the surface and still moving forward toward the landing site. The guidance computer was driving the rocket engine.
The lunar module was slowing down. At an altitude of about 7,200 feet, with the landing site still about five miles ahead, the computer commanded control jets to fire and tilt the bug-shaped craft almost upright so that its triangular windows pointed forward.
Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin then got their first close-up view of the plain they were aiming for. It was then about three and a half minutes to touchdown.
The brownish-gray panorama rushed below them–myriad craters hills and ridges, deep cracks and ancient rubble on the moon, which Dr. Robert Jastrow, the space agency scientist, called the “Rosetta Stone of life.”
“You’re ‘go’ for landing,” Mission Control informed the two men.
The Eagle closed in, dropping about 20 feet a second, until it was hovering almost directly over the landing area at an altitude of 500 feet.
Its floor was littered with boulders.
It was when the craft reached an altitude of 300 feet that Mr. Armstrong took over semimanual control for the rest of the way. The computer continued to have control of the rocket firing, but the astronaut could adjust the craft’s hovering position.
He was expected to take over such control anyway, but the sight of a crater looming ahead at the touchdown point made it imperative.
As Mr. Armstrong said later, “The auto-targeting was taking us right into a football field- sized crater, with a large number of big boulders and rocks.”
For about 90 seconds, he peered through the window in search of a clear touchdown point. Using the lever at his right hand, he tilted the vehicle forward to redirect the firing of the maneuvering jets and thus shift its hovering position.
Finally, Mr. Armstrong found the spot he liked, and the blue light on the cockpit flashed to indicate that five-foot-long probes, like curb feelers, on three of the four legs had touched the surface.
“Contact light,” Mr. Armstrong radioed.
He pressed a button marked “Stop” and reported, “okay, engine stop.”
There were a few more cryptic messages of functions performed.
Then Maj. Charles M. Duke, the capsule communicator in the control room, radioed to the two astronauts:
“We copy you down, Eagle.”
“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
“Roger, Tranquility,” Major Duke replied. “We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We are breathing again. Thanks a lot.”
Colonel Aldrin assured Mission Control it was a “very smooth touchdown.”
The Eagle came to rest at an angle of only about four and a half degrees. The angle could have been more than 30 degrees without threatening to tip the vehicle over.
The landing site, about 120 miles southwest of the crater Maskelyne, is on the right side of the moon as seen from earth. The position: Lat. 0.799 degrees N., Long. 23.46 degrees E.
Although Mr. Armstrong is known as a man of few words, his heartbeats told of his excitement upon leading man’s first landing on the moon.
At the time of the descent rocket ignition, his heartbeat rate registered 110 a minute–77 is normal for him–and it shot up to 156 at touchdown.
At the time of the landing, Colonel Collins was riding the command ship Columbia about 65 miles overhead.
Mission control informed the colonel, “Eagle is at Tranquility.
“Yea, I heard the whole thing,” Colonel Collins, the man who went so far but not all the way, replied. “Fantastic.”
When the Apollo astronauts landed on the Sea of Tranquility, the temperature at their touchdown site was about zero degrees Fahrenheit in the sunlight, even colder in the shade.
During a lunar night, which lasts 14 earth days, temperatures plunge as low as 280 degrees below zero. Unlike earth, the moon, having no atmosphere to act as a blanket, is unable to retain any of the day’s warmth during the night.
During the equally long lunar day, temperatures rise as high as 280 degrees. By the time of Eagle’s departure from the moon, with the sun higher in the sky, the temperatures there will have risen to about 90 degrees.
This particular landing site was one of five selected by Apollo project officials after analysis of pictures returned by the five Lunar Orbiter unmanned spacecraft.
All five sites are situated across the lunar equator on the side of the moon always facing earth. Being on the equator reduces the maneuvering for the astronauts to get there. Being on the near side of the moon, of course, makes it possible to communicate with the explorers.
Totally Viral
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011All viral videos, to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
EMBED-All The Greatest Viral Videos In One Song – Watch more free videos
DIY Friday: Solar Bike & Scooter
Friday, July 15th, 2011
Here’s a project that’ll keep you rocket scientists busy: a solar-power-assisted bicycle (and scooter, for the kids). Via Earth Techling…
Weighing around 50 pounds, the KPV features two options for recharging its LiFePO4 main battery pack. One option is connecting to mains electricity via the onboard AC-DC power supply, while the other is an emissions free method making use of 14 6″x6″ mono crystalline solar cells wired in a series, the output of which is controlled via a group of dpdt rocker switches. It is noted by Hope that one can direct “the output to charge any two batteries/capacitors from either the main 24 volt battery pack, 12 volt battery booster pack or 10.8 volt capacitor bank. The two extra electrical energy storage packs have been added for extended range functionality.”
A video from last fall demonstrates the power of the sun…
Really High Definition TV
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Dude, they busted the Dish Network truck. No TV party tonight.
The U.S. Border Patrol is out to get you, via KGBT-TV…
More than $2.3 million dollars of marijuana is off the streets after Border Patrol agents learned a cloned Dish Network van was being used to smuggle drugs.
U.S. Border Patrol agents reported tha the seizure happened in the rural Starr County community of La Casita on Wednesday, April 20th.
Court records were not immediately available but Border Patrol agents reported spotted a Dish Network van exiting a brushy area near the Rio Grande River.
Working on a tip that are drug smugglers are now using counterfeit vehicles from well-known companies as a cover, Border Patrol stopped the van.
Border Patrol agents reproted immediately noticing a strong odor of marijuana. Investigators looked inside and found 100 bundles with close to 3,000 pounds of marijuana worth $2.3 million dollars inside.
SlingBlockDishBuster!
Friday, April 8th, 2011
How quickly analysts respond to big stories in industries they “follow” or otherwise expert in their inner workings. Many examples exist, but this one really got me…
David Berliner, an adviser at BDO Consulting, told Kary that the deal may be all about gaining customers for Dish Network’s satellite service. He cited a similar situation — the $95 million acquisition of electronics chain The Wiz by Cablevision in 1998. Cablevision “got access to Wiz customers to sell Cablevision services,” said Berliner.
Customers at Nobody Beats The Wiz? There’s no real loyalty in retail consumer electronics.
The issue in this acquisition comes down to streaming rights. Blockbuster had a chance to buy Netflix 10 years ago for $50 million. You’ll recall Sling Media is now part of the DISH Network family and this deal gives them streaming rights to video content practically overnight.
Comcast: prepare for battle. Your on-demand service is now getting hit from all sides. Fiber, satellite, Internet, P2P, etc.
Back to Blockbuster. Was it really Netflix that killed it? Yeah, I think so. Check out this infographic from last month in SocialTimes…
WBMSAT News Bits February 18, 2011
Friday, February 18th, 2011SatNews Publishers announces release of free online Satellite Industry Database, a digital tool designed for professionals that instantly and easily provides critical satellite company information.
[SatNews - 02/18/2011]
UK Satellite and Cable Broadcasters’ Group fights proposal by House of Lords Communications Committee to restrict advertisements on pay and free-to-air channels to seven ad-minutes per hour.
[Hollywood Reporter - 02/18/2011]
Eutelsat revenue growth across all businesses up 13.3% in first half of 2011, with group share of net income up 25%.
[PR Newswire - 02/18/2011]
SES to launch SES-4 and SES-5 satellites this year, to meet needs of the largest European Direct-to-Home (DTH) providers and fuel growth in Africa and the Middle East.
[Peace FM Online - 02/18/2011]
European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli gets photo of Arianespace 5 launch of ATV Johannes Kepler from International Space Station.
[SatNews - 02/18/2011]
Global Xpress deal a "win-win" for Inmarsat and iDirect.
[NSR - 02/18/2011]
Division of Ottawa company Calian Technologies signs US$15 million contract to provide antennas and rf systems to VT iDirect.
[Winnipeg Free Press - 02/18/2011]
Strongest solar flare in four years disrupts ground communications.
[9NEWS.com - Denver - 02/18/2011]
Echostar to take control of numerous Hughes satellite farms around the country as part of acquisition.
[Broadcast Engineering - 02/17/2011]
TerreStar Networks withdraws bankruptcy restructuring plan which would have given ownership to Echostar and other creditors.
[Denver Post - 02/17/2011]
Orbital awarded contract for SES-8 satellite by SES WORLD SKIES.
[Trading Markets - 02/17/2011]
Panasonic Avionics signs Letter of Intent with Scandinavian Airlines to deliver full broadband connectivity and mobile phone service on SAS’ domestic, pan-European, and intercontinental flights.
[SatNews - 02/17/2011]
Yahsat’s first satellite arrives successfully at launch site.
[zawya - 02/17/2011]
KVH unveils world’s smallest, most affordable maritime VSAT antenna, measuring just 14.5", providing download speeds as fast as 2Mbps on KVH’s proven mini-VSAT broadband network.
[SatNews - 02/17/2011]
SES Astra and Eutelsat both win long-term capacity deals in Italy and Germany, continuing to ramp up their capacity market rivalry.
[Satellite Today - 02/17/2011]
TeleCommunications Systems announces exclusive arrangement with Cisco to commercialize IT communication services on the World’s first space router.
[Marketwire - 02/17/2011]
EchoStar and Hughes combination expected to deliver substantial value to shareholders.
[Satellite Spotlight - 02/16/2011]
Ariane 5 launches second European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for servicing of the International Space Station, carrying aloft its heaviest payload ever (19,700 kg).
[SatNews - 02/16/2011]
Intelsat plans landmark African satellite launch, with New Dawn, the region’s first private sector communications satellite, to be launched from French Guiana March 29.
[Broadcasting Cable - 02/16/2011]
TeleCommunications Systems SwiftLink Tactical Transportable Tropo Solution receives 2010 Satellite Spotlight Product of the Year Award from TMC.
[SatNews - 02/16/2011]
Tennis enthusiasts across European Russia, Siberia, and Ukraine enjoyed coverage of Australian Open 2011 from leading Russian satellite broadcaster NTV-PLUS and Global Crossing.
[SatNews - 02/16/2011]
50 years ago NASA launched Explorer 9, a balloon satellite (satelloon), as U.S. raced to catch up to Soviet Union in space race.
[The Atlantic - 02/16/2011]
Globecomm Systems completes satellite uplink hub for Televisa at its Mexico City Broadcast Center.
[SatNews - 02/16/2011]
Boeing hands over first LightSquared satellite, SkyTerra 1, for service after post-launch testing is completed.
[Space Daily - 02/15/2011]
U.S. Air Force and Lockheed in talks over AEHF satellite, and financial fallout from engine failure preventing the satellite from reaching intended orbit.
Reuters – 02/15/2011]
NewCom international telemedicine project connects Haiti hospital with top doctors in U.S.
[MMD Newswire - 02/15/2011]
Blue Sky Network, which developed technology to pass packet-based data over Iridium satellites for tracking aircraft, finds other uses for its satellite technology.
[xconomy - 02/15/2011]
RRsat carries over 50 religious broadcast channels worldwide.
[PR Newswire - 02/15/2011]
Sky-Stream selects iDirect TDMA to power Apple TV platform in Dubai.
[Satellite Today - 02/15/2011]
Echostar to buy Hughes Communications for about $1.32B.
[Bloomberg - 02/14/2011]
$78 billion in additional Pentagon cuts: diminishing demand for commercial SATCOM? Maybe not.
[NSR - 02/14/2011]
Avanti Communications shares expected to soar as company is transformed by operations based on the new HYLAS 1 satellite, and its follow-on satellites to be launched.
[Sharecast - 02/14/2011]
New report by Global Industry Analysts projects world satellite transponders demand to exceed 7,150 36-MHz transponder equivalents by 2015.
[Benzinga - 02/14/2011]
Glonass-K replacement set for launch February 24.
[Satellite Today - 02/14/2011]
XipLink to provide bandwidth optimization technology to Middle Eastern Internet service provider Icces for Saudi Arabia-based network.
[Satellite Today - 02/15/2011]
Wireless advances could put end to new cell towers – small cubic antenna systems acting as outdoor femtocells could be backhauled by fiber or satellite.
[R&D Magazine - 02/11/2011]
Blog That Hosted Payload
Friday, February 11th, 2011
Interested in government payloads hosted by commercial spacecraft? There’s a blog for that! That’s right, rocket scientists: Space News and Intelsat General put together a Drupal-based blog entitled "Hosted Payloads" last week. Good idea, but will you have enough content to sustain it?
Satellite operators Intelsat and SES have been talking about it for years, so why not blog about it? Cisco’s IRIS is up, and CHIRP will be going up this year, with a second EGNOS payload on Sirius-5 to follow. Brilliant idea to get Intelsat to sponsor the "microsite."
The timing is actually pretty good. Today’s Wall Street Journal has a piece on space budgets and actually gives some ink to hosted payloads, with Intelsat saying it’s working on three hosted payloads…
Intelsat and other companies have also joined with some Pentagon offices to champion putting more "piggyback" military payloads aboard privately funded and operated satellites.
Such arrangements offer expanded surveillance and communication capabilities significantly faster than, and at a fraction of the cost of, building and launching military satellites. Intelsat has three such agreements in place with the U.S. government and is discussing several others, industry officials said.
What I find peculiar is the Pentagon is talking to two Luxembourg-based companies for hosted payloads. Why not talk to the home boys at U.S. Space LLC? I’d rather deal with Telesat, as they fly a WAAS payload on Anik F1R.
To really get a taste of the details and possibilities of hosted payloads, you should read the Jon Glass story in GeoPlace.com. Excellent summary…
"It’s the speed and cost efficiency that is really driving the government’s interest in this," adds Jeff Foust, senior analyst with Futron Corp., a technology-management consulting firm that helped organize several government/industry workshops on hosted payloads. "There’s a steady stream of opportunities for hosted payloads, because you have 20 to 25 commercial GEO satellites being ordered and launched every year, plus you have special opportunities such as Iridium NEXT that have a much larger number of satellites in a global system."
Because hosted payloads are relatively new, developing a set of policies and procedures that make it easier for government agencies and the private sector to partner on projects is a challenge. This includes developing mechanisms that regulate contracts and pricing as well as enable federal agencies to take advantage of available opportunities. Because of existing regulations and bureaucratic barriers, government agencies can find it difficult to move at the same speed as the private sector.
A key purpose of hosted-payload workshops has been to give industry and government officials a forum to identify potential barriers and begin to develop solutions. The important thing, notes Foust, is that with the new U.S. space policy, government supporters of hosted payloads now have the official backing of the administration to pursue opportunities.
"It’s a trite phrase, but the use of hosted payloads has the potential to be a win-win," adds Foust. "It’s an opportunity for the industry to maximize potential revenue by making use of satellite capacity that otherwise might go unused. For the government side, it provides a greater degree of flexibility to get important payloads up faster and less expensively than the traditional way of doing business. There’s a great potential here to do more with less and provide some real savings to the taxpayers."
Oh, and SES WorldSkies has a blog now, too. Good luck commenting on that one. SEO, anyone?
WBMSAT News Bits January 7, 2011
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Clooney-sponsored Satellite Sentinel Project to monitor election proceedings in volatile Sudan.
[CBN News - 01/07/2011]
New Israeli military technology speeds up warfare, harnessing digital and satellite technology to enable response to battlefield changes in seconds.
[msnbc - 01/07/2011]
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. wins contract from the European Space Agency to provide spectrometer as part on instrumentation for Sentinel 5 Precursor atmospheric monitoring mission.
[Satellite Today - 01/07/2011]
GeoEye wins contact from Republic of the Maldives for vessel monitoring system for fisheries management and safety.
[SatNews - 01/07/2011]
Colorado Springs military contractor Infinity Systems Engineering wins $17.4M 5 1/2 year contract from Air Force Space Command for communications and engineering support on three military communications satellite systems.
[Colorado Springs Gazette - 01/07/2011]
EchoStar Advance Technologies acquires Utah-based Moved Networks, a technology innovator delivering advanced solutions for large scale streaming of quality video on the internet.
[SatNews - 01/07/2011]
Newcom International of Miami is ranked fourth fastest growing teleport in the world for 2010 by the World Teleport Association.
[Satellite Spotlight - 01/07/2011]
ARTEL wins first contract award for satellite services under the new $5B General Services Administration and Defense Information Services Agency joint-contract vehicle.
[PR Newswire - 01/06/2011]
Spot Connect lets Bluetooth phones communicate with satellites.
[Mobile Magazine - 01/06/2011]
Comtech wins $27.2M order to provide satellite communications equipment to U.S. Army.
[M2M - 01/06/2011]
Shares of Gilat Satellite Networks surge after contracts with Colombia’s Ministry of Information Technology and Communications are extended.
[Bloomberg - 01/06/2011]
Albania’s DigitAlb pay-TV platform extends to 2020 its satellite capacity at Eutelsat’s 16 degrees East neighborhood.
[PR Newswire - 01/06/2011]
Iridium’s Direct Internet software package makes it easier and faster to connect to the Internet using the 9555 and 9505A satellite phones.
[SatNews - 01/05/2011]
RapidEye signs partnership agreement with NiK Insaat Ticaret of Turkey to add the company to its distributor team in Turkey.
[SatNews - 01/05/2011]
ISRO plans to launch at least two large communications satellites this year to mitigate shortage of transponders due to failure of two consecutive GSLV missions.
[Economic Times - 01/05/2011]
Integral Systems Inc. wins $10M five-year IDIQ contract to modernize U.S. Coast Guard’s satellite communications for its large cutters.
[Satellite Spotlight - 01/05/2011]
DTH and the drive towards Hybrid – even though terrestrial networks seem to be the more logical source, there is not dearth of satellite-enabled solutions.
[NSR - 01/05/2011]
GlobaLogix acquires Blast Energy Services satellite division, adding fully integrated satellite services to its comprehensive suite of services supporting recovery and analysis of data for its energy industry customers.
[Business Wire - 01/05/2011]
Lubbock County Texas plans to integrate Spacenet’s satellite equipment and services into its mobile command vehicle that is used across state to maintain data, voice, and video communications during emergency situations.
[TMCnet - 01/05/2011]
Lockheed Martin Space Systems wins sole source contract from NASA for Systems Engineering for In-Space Servicing.
[SatNews - 01/04/2011]
Thales Alenia Space signs contract with French space agency CNES to produce Surface Waves Investigation and Monitoring instrument for teh China France Oceanography Satellite.
[SatNews - 01/04/2011]
Voice of Russia reports plans for about 50 space launches from three launching pads and 10 combat training and test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2011.
[SatNews - 01/04/2011]
Globecomm Systems wins $7.3M managed services contract from a Government prime contractor.
[TMCnet - 01/04/2011]
Blue Marble Network announces new Maritime VSAT service for Asia Pacific market.
[SAT PR News - 01/04/2011]
Perla Group International procures $4.5M of satellite and teleport infrastructure and plans to build world class teleport in the Mediterranean, likely in Cyprus.
[Marketwire - 01/04/2011]
Intelsat plans to immobilize "Zombiesat" Galaxy 15 following communications shutdown and equipment reset caused by loss of power – considers moving it to one of Intelsat’s orbital slots and fully testing the satellite’s communications capabilities.
[Aviation Week - 01/04/2011]
Indian developer Tripura launches Geo-Spatial 3D satellite-based imagery system to track terrorists and curb crime.
[Satellite Today - 01/03/2011]
Failure of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle on December 25 caused by snapped connectors.
[Spaceflight Now - 12/31/2010]
Orbital-built KOREASAT-6 launched from European space center in French Guiana.
[BusinessWire - 12/30/2010]
Charles Ergen of Echostar and Dish Network accumulates debt of bankrupt satellite operators TerreStar Networks and DBSD North America in challenge to Harbinger Capital, pursuing broadband spectrum owned by the bankrupt companies.
[The Wall Street Journal - 12/30/2010]
ILS to launch Satmex 8 in 2012.
[Satellite Today - 12/30/2010]
ImageSat settles spy satellite dispute with Serbia.
[Satellite Today - 12/30/2010]
India’s NRSC plans to launch 30 satellites by 2020.
[Satellite Today - 12/29/2010]
Turkey’s test satellite 3USAT debut set for September 2011.
[Satellite Today - 12/29/2010]
Satellite optimization enhances service delivery in a 4G world.
[TMCnet - 12/29/2010]
Upcoming NSR webinar – The Satellite Industry Year in Review . . . and a Look Ahead to 2011.
[gotomeeting.com]
Korean & Spanish Rocket Scientists: A Happy Lot
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
Last week’s on-target Ariane 5 launch occurred at sunset in French Guiana, providing an excellent view of the vehicle’s ascent – including the separation of its two solid boosters at an altitude of some 67 km., and the payload fairing’s jettisoning at 106 km. Estimated orbital parameters at the injection of its cryogenic upper stage:
- Perigee: 249.4 km. for a target of 249.4 km.
- Apogee: 35,922 km. for a target of 35,907 km.
- Inclination: 2.99 deg. for a target of 3.00 deg.
