Really Rocket Science

Russian defense satellite launched from Plesetsk cosmodrome on Soyuz rocket reaches target orbit.
[The Voice of Russia – 06/08/2013]

Three NASA “phonesats” spend 6 days in orbit sending back complex data and photos of earth before burning up upon re-entry.
[Orlando Sentinel – 06/08/2013]

Indian home ministry dismisses telecom department proposal to provide satellite-based communications to beef up surveillance in India’s Maoist hotbeds.
[The Economic Times – 06/08/2013]

Despite criticism from former ESA and European industry launch-vehicle experts, ESA intends to stay on the course on Ariane 6.
[Space News – 06/07/2013]

FCC to probe Intelsat practices following CapRock complaint that satellite operators inhibit competition by failing to upgrade their equipment or replace aging satellites on a timely basis.
[Bloomberg – 06/07/2013]

Two years after launch, the first Space Based Infrared System Geo-1 missile warning satellite is quietly declared operational.
[Space News – 06/07/2013]

Russian satellite launched last year to map the Arctic stops functioning.
[SatNews – 06/07/2013]

Sierra Nevada Corporation successfully begins latest phase of hybrid rocket motor qualification testing for the Dream Chase flight vehicle.
[SatNews – 06/07/2013]

Inmarsat makes compelling argument for sending M2M over a satellite network instead of a terrestrial variation at CTIA.
[Wireless Week – 06/07/2013]

Telespazio Brazil CEO expects growth to come from three market segments – oil and gas, backhaul, and corporate networks, but most especially oil and gas.
[Satellite Today – 06/06/2013]

Coastal states brace for another hurricane season with satellite networks.
[CivSource – 06/06/2013]

KVH details four-part plan to bring variety of economical and convenient content services to mariners for the first time via its mini-VSAT product.
[SatNews – 06/06/2013]

Northrop Grumman develops new GaN packaged power amplifier for military and commercial Ka-band applications.
[Satellite Today – 06/06/2013]

GIT Satellite Communications X-Track(TM) asset management system meets requirements to become an Iridium LBS Premium Portal Provider in connection with the Iridium Extreme(R) satellite phone.
[Yahoo Finance – 06/06/2013]

Stratolaunch, the company created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to develop a low-cost satellite launching system, gives Orbital Sciences contract to build world’s largest air-launched space rocket.
[Space News – 06/05/2013]

Internet everywhere will keep the satellite industry flying.
[Forbes – 06/05/2013]

Europe launches record cargo load for the International Space Station.
[Space Travel – 06/05/2013]

CommunicAsia2013 Summit features eight dedicated tracks and two interactive workshops to cater to the growing demands of the satellite industry – to be held in Singapore, June 18 – 21.
[SatNews – 06/05/2013]

ITT Exelis wins global satellite communications system contract from DISA. [Satellite Spotlight – 06/05/2013]

Yahsat wins “Most Innovative Product and Service for Africa” for second consecutive year.
[StarAfrica – 06/05/2013]

Eutelsat and OneAccess win “Business Service Innovation” award for provision of advanced enterprise services on KA-SAT satellite.
[Yahoo Finance – 06/05/2013]

Skyware Global launches spin off company focused on electronics engineering and tactical ground systems.
[Satellite Today – 06/05/2013]

Comtech Xicom gets four U.S. Navy contracts totaling $2.5 million for high-power dual-band traveling wave tube amplifiers.
[financial news – 06/05/2013]

Eutelsat Germany expands KabelKiosk service with TV product for local and regional IP and cable network operators in Germany.
[Satellite Today – 06/05/2013]

Speedcast launches Ka-band service for North Africa and Middle East.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 06/05/2013]

SES-6 satellite is successfully launched on board an ILS Proton Breeze M booster from Baikonur, Kazakhstan; SES announces a significant long-term capacity anchor customer for SES-6 is Brazilian group Oi.
[Yahoo Finance – 06/04/2013]

CASBAA satellite industry forum to be held in Singapore June 17, will examine An Industry in Transition.
[Yahoo Finance – 06/04/2013]

Don’t forget the kbps in the energy markets – amidst the bandwidth revolution there remains an entire class of in-service low-bandwidth units serving the Oil and Gas and Utilities industries.
[Northern Sky Research – 06/04/2013]

As Intelsat continues to struggle with only “modest near-term growth prospects” and “elevated government demand risk,” the company’s fiscal future remains bright.
[Satellite Today – 06/04/2013]

Gilat’s SkyEdge II hub and VSATs to deliver education to around 2500 schools in Southeast Asia.
[Financial Content – 06/04/2013]

Geolink Satellite Services and Telesat renew Ku-band contract.
[Satellte Today – 06/04/2013]

My-HD and Arabsat celebrate success of partnership by launching full bouquet of 39 channels of which 31 are High Definition.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 06/04/2013]

SkyVision launches new corporate voice, data and video services over satellite in Africa.
[Satellite Today – 06/04/2013]

NASA develops interplanetary GPS, building test bed at Goddard and planning to send an instrument equipped with X-ray navigation technology to the International Space Station to test the system.
[Satellite Today – 06/04/2013]

Arianespace’s CEO calls for fast-track modification of Ariane 5 rocket that will enable it to launch larger electric-propelled satellites into orbit.
[Satellite Today – 06/04/2013]

India is forced to delay launch of its first navigation satellite due to malfunction in control actuator in second stage of the rocket.
[Satellite Today – 06/03/2013]

Bidding for Hulu heats up among cable, Internet, and satellite providers.
[Satellite Today – 06/03/2013]

Export-Import Bank of the United States adds to record-level support for the American satellite industry, authorizing $343.3 million loan financing AsiaSat’s purchase of communications satellites and launch services.
[PR Newswire – 06/03/2013]

Global growth private equity firm TA Associates partners with its portfolio company SpeedCast Ltd to complete acquisition of Australian satellite communications service provider Pactel International.
[Yahoo Finance – 06/03/2013]

Hughes Network Systems announces new emergency service package as the 2013 hurricane season gets underway.
[Satellite Today – 06/03/2013]

Agilent Technologies announces system design tools for Satellite Communications and Navigation.
[The Motley Fool – 06/03/2013]

Azerbaijan’s second telecommunications satellite to be launched in 2018.
[TMC.net – 06/03/2013] 

WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

SILK PAVILION from Mediated Matter Group on Vimeo.

This is very cool.

MIT Media Lab’s Silk Pavillion is worth reading about.

The Silk Pavilion explores the relationship between digital and biological fabrication on product and architectural scales.The primary structure was created of 26 polygonal panels made of silk threads laid down by a CNC (Computer-Numerically Controlled) machine. Inspired by the silkworm’s ability to generate a 3D cocoon out of a single multi-property silk thread (1km in length), the overall geometry of the pavilion was created using an algorithm that assigns a single continuous thread across patches providing various degrees of density. Overall density variation was informed by the silkworm itself deployed as a biological printer in the creation of a secondary structure. A swarm of 6,500 silkworms was positioned at the bottom rim of the scaffold spinning flat non-woven silk patches as they locally reinforced the gaps across CNC-deposited silk fibers. Following their pupation stage the silkworms were removed. Resulting moths can produce 1.5 million eggs with the potential of constructing up to 250 additional pavilions. Affected by spatial and environmental conditions including geometrical density as well as variation in natural light and heat, the silkworms were found to migrate to darker and denser areas. Desired light effects informed variations in material organization across the surface area of the structure. A season-specific sun path diagram mapping solar trajectories in space dictated the location, size and density of apertures within the structure in order to lock-in rays of natural light entering the pavilion from South and East elevations. The central oculus is located against the East elevation and may be used as a sun-clock. Parallel basic research explored the use of silkworms as entities that can “compute” material organization based on external performance criteria. Specifically, we explored the formation of non-woven fiber structures generated by the silkworms as a computational schema for determining shape and material optimization of fiber-based surface structures.

Perspective view of the completed Silk Pavilion and the Basic Research exhibit focusing on fiber density distribution studies (far right). Image: Steven Keating.

Wow, a gamma-ray burst from a star 8,000 light years away could trash our atmosphere in seconds. It could happen today — or 500,000 years from now. That’s worse than the cable guy’s estimate.

I’m not changing my plans.

However, there are a bunch of astronomers who are working on the estimate in Australia and Hawaii. Bruce Dorminey’s piece in Forbes the other day puts all the details together:

Although WR 104, a Wolf-Rayet star some 8000 light years distant, has thus far remained largely quiescent, it is ripe to undergo a core-collapse supernova of the sort that could generate a seconds-long burst of gamma-rays that, in turn, might potentially wipe out a quarter of earth’s protective atmospheric ozone.

“We could see it go supernova anywhere from tomorrow to 500,000 years from now,” said Grant Hill, an astronomer at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. “For all intents and purposes, the gamma-ray burst and optical photons from the supernova would arrive simultaneously.”

Later in the article, physicist Adrian Melott used the term “extinction event” — HULK NO LIKE THAT.

Ah, integrating an iPhone with satellite services. We’ve been after that for years and I’m sure we’ll see both talk, text, broadband data and TV — some by satcom, but mostly by terrestrial (GSM, CDMA, LTE, whatever). Dish Network will be the first.

When you’re out in the wilderness, you wish you could connect by satellite. The first was TerreStar with their Genus a few years ago. That sold for $1,100+ back then — which was nuts.

Thuraya had their system — using GSM and satellite when signal was unavailable — up and running in deserts of Asia and Africa since 2001. How many handsets have they sold? Would you believe 600,000? That’s right: it took 12 years to sell that many — and I don’t think you’re counting net handsets in use today (churn, upgrades, etc., over the years). The new boss from Michigan is really getting this moving.

A couple of months ago, they introduced SatSleeve — an enclosure, battery supplement and satellite transceiver. It costs around $650 and probably many dollars per minute to use.

Sorry I wasn’t paying attention, but I had a lot going on. I think this is a brilliant product and I hope they sell a ton of them. It takes a big thinker from Detroit to make it happen.

Just in time for the magician’s birthday.

NASA-built nanosatellite launch adapter is ready for flight.
[Space Daily – 05/20/2013]

United Launch Alliance launch of Delta IV carrying the fifth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-5) satellite is rescheduled for Thursday, May 23.
[SatNews – 05/20/2013]

European Space Agency’s Proba-V earth observation satellite is in good health following last week’s launch.
[SatNews – 05/20/2013]

Indian Space Research Organization ready to launch the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System on June 12th.
[SatNews – 05/20/2013]

Pakistan is set to become the fifth Asian country to use China’s domestic satellite navigation system.
[GPS Daily – 05/18/2013]

ViaSat-2, to be built by Boeing, will employ a design that has never been seen before to enable broad geographic reach and 2.5 times the capacity of ViaSat-1.
[Space News – 05/17/2013]

Europe’s billion-dollar Alphasat I-XL satellite, with 400 spot beams, is being readied for a launch that may be the program’s last.
[Space News – 05/17/2013]

United Launch Alliance launches fourth Global Positioning System satellite for U.S. Air Force.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/16/2013]

U.S. believes Chinese missile launch was first test of new interceptor that could be used to destroy a satellite in orbit.
[Yahoo News – 05/16/2013]

High speed satellite communications help facilitate disaster relief in tornado-struck Texas town.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/16/2013]

ViaSat announces landmark deal for Boeing to build ViaSat-2, an eagerly anticipated move following years of delay.
[Satellite Today – 05/16/2013]

Thuraya to provide a maritime broadband product by early 2014, to compete directly with Inmarsat’s Fleet Broadband.
[Space News – 05/16/2013]

High speed satellite communications help facilitate disaster relief in tornado-struck Texas town.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/16/2013]

PhotoSat completes satellite topography mapping of WesternZagro’s Garmian Block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/16/2013]

International SunSat design competition launched to design next-generation of Solar Power Satellites with supportive infrastructure.
[indiegogo – May 2013]

Gogo gets FCC blanket license to operate up to 1,000 Ku-band satellite aircraft for international and domestic service.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/16/2013]

Dish asks FCC to suspend review of SoftBank’s bid for Sprint.
[Reuters – 05/16/2013]

Skybox announces strategic partnership with Japan Space Imaging to prov ide high-resolution imagery and full motion commercial video to the Japanese market.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/16/2013]

Eutelsat 3D is successfully launched by Proton M from Baikonur.
[NASA Spaceflight – 05/15/2013]

Pentagon renews lease of Chinese satellite for another year, stating that Apstar-7 remained to only satellite solution available that meets AFRICOM’s satellite communications requirements.
[Bloomberg Businessweek – 05/15/2013]

Senator McCain’s Televisions Consumer Freedom Act woul eliminate regulatory barriers ranging from blacking out sports games to how cable plans are priced, and would allow satellite providers to provide “a la carte” programming.
[Satellite Today – 05/15/2013]

Planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft loses second momentum wheel, of four, and it’s planet-hunting days may be over.
[Space News – 05/15/2013]

Astrium is selected to build Express-AMU1/EUTELSAT 36C satellite to be launched in 2015 to provide broadcast services in European part of Russian Federation in Ku and Ka bands.
[Yahoo Finance – 05/15/2013]

Dish gets four banks to finance $9 billion of its $25.5 billion bid for Sprint
[Reuters – 05/15/2013]

Russia’s Proton rocket to launch 7 ton Echostar satellite in 2015-2016.
[Russia & India REPORT – 05/15/2013]

Viasat and the L-3 Platform Integration Division sign memorandum of agreement to collaborate on complete broadband satellite communication system for airline-sized planes.
[financial news – 05/15/2013]

CASBAA’s annual Satellite Industry Forum to take place June 17 at Shangri-La, Singapore.
[Media Mughals – 05/14/2013]

By Light gets task order to provide satellite bandwidth and terrestrial services to the Missile Defense Agency.
[Satellite Spotlight – 05/14/2013]

The U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin deliver the second Mobile User Objective System satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a launch scheduled in July.
[4-traders – 05/13/2013]

Cobham purchases Axell Wireless Ltd., a privately-owned supplier of wireless communications for commercial and public safety markets.
[Microwave Journal – 05/13/2013]

Hughes signs Morsviazsputnik in Russia, the licensed operator of Inmarsat’s mobile satellite services sector in Russia, as a distribution partner for Hughes BGAN mobile satellite products.
[Yahoo Finance – 05/13/2013]

Global satellite and terrestrial connectivity provider Emerging Markets Communications commits to join the Global VSAT Form’s Satellite Spectrum Initiative Campaign, combating satellite interference.
[Satellite Spotlight – 05/13/2013]

KVH acquires media and entertainment services company Headland Media Limited.
[Satellite Today – 05/13/2013]

NSR publishes 3rd edition of its Satellite Manufacturing & Launch Services report as a guide for opportunities within the sector over the next 10 – 15 years.
[NSR – May 2013]

NSR publishes Aeronautical Satcom Markets report to answer critical questions affecting the in-flight connectivity business.
[NSR – May 2013]

 WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

Countdown To Launch – webcast of EUTELSAT 3D launch will begin at 11:00 am EDT on May 14th, with the live launch at 12:02 pm EDT / 10:02 pm Baikonur.
[ILS – Countdown to Launch]

EchoStar returns to International Launch Services to contract for launch of the heaviest commercial satellite to date.
[Space News – 05/13/2013]

Air Force expects to shave $1 billion from its space acquisition portfolio over the next five years, primarily through efficiencies that include reduced oversight of key programs.
[Space News – 05/10/2013]

Boeing wins contract from undisclosed customer for small classified satellite.
[Space News – 05/10/2013]

FCC committee votes 4-0 to advance Qualcomm plan for 150 – 200 ground stations using 500 MHz of spectrum in the 14.0 to 14.5 GHz band to provide broadband to aircraft.
[Fierce Broadband Wireless – 05/10/2013]

Intelsat adds its name to the list of commercial satellite owners whose business is feeling the effects of Sequestration.
[Space News – 05/10/2013]

DigitalGlobe’s NGA contract is protected from Sequestration.
[Space News – 5/10/2013]

On the sidelines at Milsatcom Middle East, regional governments are warned to beef up protection of military and government satellite communications in the face of increasing cyberattacks.
[The National- 05/10/2013]

Singapore Army is enhancing battlefield communications through its Wide Area Communications (WAC) system that includes the Ku-Band Satellite Communications system.
[asiaone – 05/10/2013]

Intelsat buying four more Epic satellites from Boeing.
[Space News – 05/09/2013]

Astrium to sell Yahsat military Ka-band capacity on Yahsat 1B to the U.S. military.
[Space News – 05/09/2013]

Canadian space hardware and service provider MDA, which recently acquired Space Systems/Loral, is investing in SS/L’s California campus to pursue U.S. government business.
[Space News – 05/09/2013]

Inmarsat acquires TC Communications of Australia, a satellite communications specialist, to support Inmarsat’s expanding Global Government and Enterprise Business Units.
[telecompaper – 05/09/2013]

TCS (TeleCommunication Systems) receives $2 million in incremental funding to deliver communications systems support for U.S. Marine Corps.
[Satellite Spotlight – 05/09/2013]

SatADSL, a Belgian company providing satellite Internet access and communications service in SubSaharan Africa completes capital increase aimed at financing its development over the next 5 years.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 05/09/20132]

DISA looks for new, secure capability to replace some Iridium satellite phones that are over 15 years old and going out of production.
[Defence Systems – 05/08/2013]

Telesat’s new Anik G1 satellite begins commercial service.
[NASDAQ – 05/08/2013]

New Kazakh satellite to offer paid telecommunication services to neighboring countries.
[Satellite Spotlight – 05/08/2013]

Astrium enhances it hybrid communications network offering for mining companies in remote areas with an extension of MPLS capabilities through a new POP in Paris.
[Satellite Today – 05/08/2013]

NavigationArts creates application to view and manage satellite beam information on moving military aircraft for iDirect Government Technologies.
[EON – 05/08/2013]

More than 400 space and satellite experts attend fourth edition of the Global Space & Satellite Forum and Milsatcom Middle East in Abu Dhabi.
[TradeArabia – 05/08/2013]

Startup partners with Russian firm to stream earth observation video from the International Space Station.
[Quartz – 05/07/2013]

Pentagon launches “long overdue” effort to safeguard U.S. national security satellites and develop ways to counter the space capabilities of potential adversaries.
[Reuters – 05/07/2013]

Texas House Bill supporting construction of rocket launch site in South Texas by SpaceX is blocked by longest-serving member of the Senate.
[Chron – 05/07/2013]

Berg Insight report cites ORBCOMM as the largest vendor of intermodal container tracking solutions.
[EON – 05/07/2013]

By Light is awarded a five year contract to provide a global broadband, two-way, IP data services capability in support of the Defense Logistics Agency worldwide logistical mission.
[Business Wire – 05/06/2013]

Armada’s associate CMSCG achieves swift distribution of Thuraya mobile satellite phones for fast-growing China market.
[4-traders – 05/05/2013]

 WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

Awesome video by Chris Hadfield of Sarnia, Ontario, recorded on the ISS.

Instruments on the ground or attached to weather balloons give us wind velocity measurements, helping us predict weather changes and forecasting. And they do a pretty good job with it. Anybody with a radio, TV or Internet device can avail themselves of the weather forecast. Or a newspaper. Remember those?

Although I appreciate being able to know what the weather will be like after tomorrow or next week, I long for the days when we would simply look toward the sky, feel the wind and/or humidity and make an experienced guess on the next day’s weather. Winds from the south and we’ll get rain. Chilly wind from the northwest indicates a change toward colder days ahead.

If the wind makes a difference on the ground, think about what it would mean if we were able to use an instrument in space. Enter the ESA’s Aeolus mission, which includes the Aladin UV laser instrument.

The Aeolus satellite will carry a single, but complex, instrument that will probe the atmosphere to profile the world’s winds. Reliable and timely wind profiles are urgently needed by meteorologists to improve weather forecasts. In the long term, they will also contribute to climate research.

Aeolus carries a pioneering instrument called Aladin that uses laser light scattering and the Doppler effect to gather data on wind.

The laser generates high-energy UV light, which is beamed towards Earth through a telescope. As the light travels down through the atmosphere, it bounces off molecules of gas, particles of dust and droplets of water.

By comparing the shift in frequency of the received light from the transmitted light caused by the Doppler effect, the motion of the molecules in the atmosphere can be measured, revealing wind velocity.

The laser transmitter is being developed by Selex-ES in Italy.

It has been a very long and difficult undertaking – forging new technologies in many areas such as optics, opto-electronics, precision mechanics and thermo-mechanical design.

Recent tests show all this effort has not been in vain.

Throughout three consecutive weeks, the laser transmitter remained perfectly stable at full energy, producing a total of 90 million UV laser shots.

Considering that each shot is 5 MW, peaking at an intensity similar to that of a lightning strike and that this is repeated 50 times a second – the stress on the optical components that shape and guide the laser beam is tremendous.

Predicting weather and climate changes using a space-based UV laser. Cool.

This weekend, at Rockland Community College in Suffern, N.Y., the Northeast Astronomy Forum is featuring a special guest! Jimmy Neutron creator John Davis.

I wonder if he drives a Chrysler, too.

Our friends from BigBangPrints will be there as well, among many others. Hope you can make it.

Remember real-time DVR for satellite radio? It would grab the past and future (+/-3 minutes) so you could go back a little to hear what you missed. The satellite TV ones are awesome, too. Go back as far as you like, skip the ads, etc. So we’re taking spaced-based tech and adding some magic on the ground to make it better.

I don’t have a GPS device. I use my iPhone and Google Maps. Without an Internet connection, it won’t be help — unless you download where you know you’ll be with a connection. Like remote national park. Download the maps and the GPS will still kick-in and guide you.

What if you lose your GPS connection? Think long tunnel or deep gorge — or the bad guys putting the jam on your signal. Enter DARPA and it’s new prototype timing & inertial measurement unit (TIMU)…

DARPA researchers at the University of Michigan have made significant progress with a timing & inertial measurement unit (TIMU) that contains everything needed to aid navigation when GPS is temporarily unavailable. The single chip TIMU prototype contains a six axis IMU (three gyroscopes and three accelerometers) and integrates a highly-accurate master clock into a single miniature system, smaller than the size of a penny. This chip integrates breakthrough devices (clocks, gyroscopes and accelerometers), materials and designs from DARPA’s Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (Micro-PNT) program.

Three pieces of information are needed to navigate between known points ‘A’ and ‘B’ with precision: orientation, acceleration and time. This new chip integrates state-of-the-art devices that can measure all three simultaneously. This elegant design is accomplished through new fabrication processes in high-quality materials for multi-layered, packaged inertial sensors and a timing unit, all in a tiny 10 cubic millimeter package. Each of the six microfabricated layers of the TIMU is only 50 microns thick, approximately the thickness of a human hair. Each layer has a different function, akin to floors in a building.

The TIMU is tiny and so very cool.