Really Rocket Science

Satnews is reporting EMC Satcom was able to fit an STM-1 circuit into a 72-MHz transponder. That’s just awesome…

EMC Satcom Technologies GmbH established a new landmark in satellite link optimization by achieving a symmetrical 155/155Mbps circuit inside a single transponder and, in tur, liberating a full 72MHz transponder. The existing STM-1 in Asia-Pacific was using a 72MHz transponder of the outbound carrier 155Mbps and another 72MHz for the inbound carrier 155Mbps. By placing EMC Satcom’s NRS Bandwidth Booster at each end of the link, a full 72MHz has been cancelled, allowing the existing symmetrical 155/155Mbps STM-1 to operate within one transponder only.

That’s right, it’s patented, too (United States Patent 7,522,877). The abstract…

The reduction of echo noise in satellite communications includes receiving an aggregate signal from multiple remote stations, where the aggregate signal includes a transmit signal, whose bandwidth is in the range of 0.1 MHz to 66 MHz, is previously sent from a hub to the multiple receiving stations, computing a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal and using the replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise interference from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations.

And Claim 1…

A method for reducing echo noise in satellite communications in which a hub communicates with multiple remote stations via a satellite having a nonlinear satellite transponder, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a transmit signal from the hub to the multiple remote stations, where the transmit signal contains at least one carrier; providing, at the hub, a replica of the transmit signal to a buffer that provides an integer sample delay; distorting, at the hub, the replica of the transmit signal according to nonlinearities of the satellite transponder to provide a distorted replica of the transmit signal; determining, at the hub, a scaled, fractional-sample time-delayed, frequency-shifted, and attenuated version of the distorted replica of the transmit signal to provide a compensated distorted replica of the transmit signal; and using, at the hub, the compensated distorted replica to represent the nonlinearities of the satellite transponder and reduce echo noise from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations via the satellite transponder; wherein the distorting step further comprises applying a block conversion to the transmit signal to form the distorted replica occupying a predetermined frequency range and the determining step further comprises tracking the integer sample closest to a weight vector centroid of an adaptive filter to provide fractional-sample delay of the distorted replica.

 Not something the satellite operators are excited about, as it uses less bandwidth. Further compression is not something they look forward to, hence the interest in 3DTV (and HDTV before that). In this case, the "less bandwidth, more through-put" benefit is for the customer.

The customer is always right.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is a "go" for launch on Friday, 14 May 2010 (STS-132). The mission will be the last for Atlantis and include two spacewalks…

Atlantis’ 12-day mission will deliver the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 that will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. MRM-1, also known as Rassvet, which means dawn in Russian, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the station’s Zarya module. MRM-1 will carry important hardware on its exterior including a radiator, airlock and a European robotic arm. Atlantis also will deliver additional station hardware stored inside a cargo carrier. Three spacewalks are planned to stage spare components outside the station, including six spare batteries, a Ku-band antenna and spare parts for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm.

One aspect of the mission not featured is the Micro-2 experiment, led by Asst. Professor Cynthia Collins of RPI. Get a sense of what this is about from Laboratory Equipment:

A team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will send an army of microorganisms into space this week, to investigate new ways of preventing the formation and spread of biofilms, or clusters of bacteria, that could pose a threat to the health of astronauts.

The Micro-2 experiment, led by Cynthia Collins, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer, is scheduled to launch into orbit on May 14 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The microorganisms will spend a week in space before returning to Earth aboard the shuttle. Within just a few hours after the shuttle’s return, Collins will be able to examine the bacteria and resulting biofilms to see how their growth and development were impacted by microgravity. The samples also will be returned to Rensselaer, to be examined using the core facilities of the Institute’s Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies.
“We know that gravity plays a key role in the development of biological systems, but we don’t know exactly how a lack of gravity affects the development of bacteria and biofilms,” Collins says. “This means while certain bacteria may be harmless on Earth, they could pose a health threat to astronauts on the International Space Station or, one day, long space flights. Our goal is to better understand how microgravity affects the relationship between humans and bacteria, so we can develop new ways of reduce the threat of biofilms to spacecraft and their crew.”

Partnering with Collins on the Micro-2 project are nanobiotechnology expert Jonathan Dordick, the Howard P. Isermann Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer and director of the Univ.’s Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, and thin films expert Joel Plawsky, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. NASA is funding the experiment.

Biofilms are complex, three-dimensional microbial communities. Bacteria commonly found in nature are often in the form of biofilms. Most biofilms, including those found in the human body, are harmless. Some biofilms, however, have shown to be associated with disease. Additionally, biofilms in locations such as hospitals — or confined locations like space shuttles — have exhibited resistance to antibiotics. This could pose a problem for astronauts, who have been shown to have an increased susceptibility to infection while in microgravity.

Collins and her team will send up eight devices, called group activation packs (GAPs) and each containing 128 vials of bacteria, aboard the shuttle. While in orbit, astronauts will begin the experiment by manipulating the sealed vials and introducing the bacteria to different membranes. At the same time, Collins will perform the same actions with identical GAPs still on Earth at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the shuttle returns, her team will compare the resulting biofilms to see how the behavior of bacteria and development of biofilms in microgravity differed from the control group. The experiment uses BioServe Space Technologies flight-certified hardware.

The Micro-2 research team will also test if newly developed, nanotechnology-based antimicrobial surfaces – developed by Dordick at Rensselaer – can help slow the growth of biofilms on Earth and in microgravity. If successful, these new antimicrobial surfaces could one day be used in hospitals and spacecraft to help reduce the impact of biofilms on human health.

Collins’ experiment is the third Rensselaer research project to be launched into space over the past year. In August 2009, an experimental heat transfer system designed by Plawsky and Rensselaer Professor Peter Wayner was installed in the International Space Station (ISS), where it will remain for three years. In November 2009, wear-resistant, low-friction nanomaterials created by Professor Linda Schadler were blasted into orbit aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, attached to the outer hull of the ISS, and exposed to rigors of space.

 Cool experiment, but it reminds me of the 1971 film "Andromeda Strain," which I found fascinating and fearsome.

Yeah, I know: that’s the guy who played the Mad Hatter on the Batman TV show in the 1960s.

The University of Tokyo’s Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory (Nakasuka) built and launched a cubesat, 4-in/10-cm square, in 2005. The low-earth orbit spacecraft is now sending out updates via Twitter, all by itself.

The tweets, in Japanese, even feature little twitpics and have assembled over 2,600 followers. Some detail, via Asiajin:

 Nakasuga Lab., the University of Tokyo, introduced a bot account tweeting the real-time state of a satellite which is located in the earth low orbit.   The tweet(@XI-V) keeps us update with parameters like the satellite’s surface temperature, battery voltage and where it is located over of the planet and also shows us still images shooting the planet from the satellite in the space.

As we’ve blogged before, real-time tweets from space has had human intervention. This is automatic, and that’s kinda cool. This information is more than the poor boys at Intelsat have regarding the Galaxy-15 spacecraft. They get no telemetry data at all, but they do have some ranging info and ephemeris data.

As for CubeSat XI-V, a job well done by the rocket scientists at Nakasuka!

JAXA’s AKATSUKI launches in a couple of weeks.

"AKATSUKI" means "dawn" when Venus shines most brightly as the first graying of dawn appears in the east sky just prior to sunrise. The AKATSUKI is scheduled to arrive at Venus, which beautifully shines as the "morning bright star" at dawn, in the winter of 2010. The name also reflects the purpose of the PLANET-C project to newly create planetary meteorology by exploring Venus. The word "AKATSUKI", which indicates the start of a day, implies not only a beautiful scenic image, but also the power of achieving a goal, thus the name carries the thoughts and determination toward the success of the mission.

I found the video interesting…

We knew this was trouble. Now, Peter de Selding and Fox News report a crisis in the making…

Galaxy 15 stopped responding to ground controllers on April 5. The satellite’s manufacturer, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia, has said an intense solar storm in early April may be to blame.

An adrift Intelsat satellite that stopped communicating with its ground controllers last month remains out of control and has begun moving eastward along the geostationary arc, raising the threat of interference with other satellites in its path, Intelsat and other industry officials said.

In what industry officials called an unprecedented event, Intelsat’s Galaxy 15 communications satellite has remained fully "on," with its C-band telecommunications payload still functioning even as it has left its assigned orbital slot of 133 degrees west longitude 36,000 kilometers over the equator.

Galaxy 15 stopped responding to ground controllers on April 5. The satellite’s manufacturer, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia, has said an intense solar storm in early April may be to blame. It was launched into space in 2005.

The first satellite likely to face signal interference problems from the adrift Galaxy 15 is the AMC-11 C-band satellite owned by SES of Luxembourg and stationed at 131 degrees west, just two degrees away from Galaxy 15’s starting position.

Rob Bednarek, chief executive of the SES World Skies division, which operates AMC-11, said Intelsat and SES have been meeting since April 5 to coordinate how to minimize the Galaxy 15 impact on AMC-11’s media customers. [Spot satellites from Earth.]

Adrift in space

In an interview Friday, Bednarek said that while it remains unclear whether SES World Skies will be able to avoid a signal interference problem as Galaxy 15 enters the AMC-11 orbital territory, the company has benefited from full disclosure on the part of Intelsat, SES’s biggest competitor.

"The cooperation with them really has been very good," Bednarek said. "We all realize that we could be in the same position tomorrow. We are neighbors in space."

Alan Young, chief technology officer at SES World Skies, said the company’s best estimate is that Galaxy 15 will enter AMC-11’s neighborhood — meaning one-half of one degree distant — May 23. It will continue traveling at its own pace through the AMC-11 slot, exiting on the east around June 7.

Young said the period of May 31 to June 1 is going to be the riskiest time for AMC-11 customers as SES World Skies seeks to maneuver AMC-11 to the maximum extent possible out of the Galaxy 15 track while at the same time maintaining links with the company’s AMC-11 customers.

Tobias Nassif, Intelsat’s vice president for satellite operations and engineering, said Friday that the company, in concert with Galaxy 15 manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., has sent between 150,000 and 200,000 commands to the satellite in the nearly four weeks since the satellite stopped sending or responding to commands.

These communication attempts, the equivalent of mild wake-up calls to return Galaxy 15 to service, have had no effect. As it moved all Galaxy 15 customers onto Galaxy 12, which was pulled into service from another orbital location, Intelsat at first focused on recovering Galaxy 15 to regular service.

Zombie satellites in space

On May 3, Intelsat will play what as of Friday appeared to be its last card by blasting Galaxy 15 with a more powerful signal intended not to salvage the satellite, but to force it into a complete shutdown.

That attempt will last about 30 minutes. It will not be repeated, both because a second attempt is viewed as unnecessary — the treatment works or it does not — and because sending out powerful radio frequency signals carries the risk of interfering with other satellites in the area.

Even if the May 3 action succeeds, Galaxy 15 will remain a problem as it continues to wander the geostationary arc. But it is a problem that satellite operators know how to deal with. Industry experts say there are several dozen spacecraft, sometimes called "zombiesats," that for various reasons were not removed from the geostationary highway before failing completely.

Depending on their position at the time of failure, these satellites tend to migrate toward one of two libration points, at 105 degrees west and 75 degrees east. Figures compiled by XL Insurance of New York, an underwriter of space risks, say that more than 160 satellites are gathered at these two points, which Bednarek described as the orbital equivalent of valleys.

"Unfortunately for us, we were downhill from Galaxy 15 as it rolls toward" the 105 degrees west libration point, Bednarek said.

Satellite signal stealer

Satellites like Galaxy 15 and AMC-11 are so-called "bent-pipe" designs that receive signals from the ground, amplify them on board and redistribute them to customers’ ground antennas. Emptied of its customers — except one, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which uses an L-band payload on Galaxy 15 to guide aircraft landings — Galaxy 15 is no longer broadcasting. But its electronics payload is ready to capture and rebroadcast signals it receives that are intended for other spacecraft.

Young said that both SES and Intelsat are fortunate in this case because their two satellites’ customers are mainly media companies using fairly large antennas to communicate with the satellites. During the period of maximum danger for AMC-11, SES expects to be able to reroute customer signals to SES-operated teleports with still-larger antennas to maintain communications links.

Nassif said Intelsat and Orbital Sciences have solicited outside opinions from other satellite manufacturers on possible maneuvers that might return Galaxy 15 to control or force it to shut down.

"The fact is that this is the first major anomaly on an Orbital-built satellite," Nassif said. "Other manufacturers have been through problems and might have something to suggest to us."

Because nothing like this has happened before, Intelsat remains uncertain as to when Galaxy 15, as its Earth sensor realizes it is no longer in the desired position, might lose its Earth-pointing capability. That would lead to its solar arrays losing their lock on the sun. Within hours, the satellite’s batteries would discharge and the spacecraft would shut down on its own.

While cautioning that the company is revising its most-likely-scenario thinking almost on a daily basis as it gets input from Orbital Sciences and others, Nassif said the current estimate is that Galaxy 15 will lose Earth pointing by late July or early August.

As luck would have it, that timetable would mean the only other satellites in Galaxy 15’s C-band frequency that face interference issues are owned by Intelsat.

After it leaves the vicinity of AMC-11, Galaxy 15 is expected to approach Intelsat’s Galaxy 13 satellite, at 127 degrees west, around July 13. On July 30, it will enter into the Galaxy 14 satellite’s orbital territory at 125 degrees west before heading toward Galaxy 18 at 123 degrees in mid-August.

"We are in regular contact with all our customers of these satellites to keep them apprised of the situation," Nassif said. 

Out on the open interstate, you seldom have trouble receiving satellite radio from Sirius XM. As these roads pass through crowded urban, where your line-of-site with an orbiting spacecraft may impede reception, the company relies on repeaters, usually mounted alongside cell towers, to complete the reception. 18 million or so satellite radio customers are happy when this happens.

Today, the Wall Street Journal reports on a potential crisis for satellite radio:

A Federal Communications Commission plan to expand wireless Internet access is raising the ire of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and its fans, who are concerned the effort to end a 13-year fight may interfere with satellite-radio programming.

The FCC is proposing to make it easier for the winners of a 1997 airwaves auction to use those airwaves for mobile wireless Internet and phone use. Until now, a dispute about power levels and potential interference has meant the companies were limited in how they could use the airwaves they own.

The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal in May as part of a broader effort to devote more airwaves for wireless Internet services. A FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal.

Sirius XM lawyers are fighting the plan, arguing in an April 23 filing that allowing wireless providers to use those airwaves for wireless broadband will "fail to protect satellite radio’s nearly 19 million subscribers and 35 million listeners from harmful interference."

 Here’s an excerpt from a Supplement Comments filing (WT Docket No. 07-293; IB Docket No. 95-91; GEN Docket No. 90-357; RM No. 8610):

Sirius XM has commissioned Dr. Theodore S. Rappaport, P.E., of the Telisite Corporation, who is the William and Bettye Nowlin Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and the founding director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) at the University’s Austin campus, to assess the probabilities of interference to satellite radio service caused by WCS devices operating under the proposed rules that are contained in the Staff Public Notice. This analysis is contained in the attached report entitled “Technical Analysis of the Impact of Adjacent Service Interference to the Sirius XM Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS)” and provides some of the clearest evidence yet that the staff’s proposed Part 27 rules would result in crippling interference to satellite radio operations in an unacceptable number of cases. Although retained by Sirius XM to conduct this study, Dr. Rappaport has undertaken this project under the express written conditions that the opinions provided in this study are his own.

We’re all for more wireless broadband service, but not at the expense of the quality of satellite radio. The FCC, in its wisdom, will likely favor existing licensees and make sure they’re protected.

Let’s see if the topic comes up in tomorrow’s earnings call.

Thales Alenia Space delivers man-like robot on mobile platform to European Space Agency following successful testing and qualification.
[SatNews – 04/30/2010]

Russia launches Soyuz-U space rocket carrying Progress M-05M space freighter on supply mission to International Space Station.
[brahmand.com- 04/30/2010]

Tauri Group study finds commercial launch prices have dropped 34% since 1999.
[Satellite Today – 04/30/2010]

XTAR’s Vice President of Government Services Bill Schmidt passes away April 28 following heart attack.
[Satellite Today – 04/30/2010]

Hall-Of-Fame astronaut Story Musgrave says U.S. Space Program is now hampered by Administration’s fear to act; opposite attitude of 60’s when space program drove most technologically innovative decade in history.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

RADARSAT images spread of oil spill in Gulf of Mexico cause by oil rig explosion.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam hosts joint XXXVIII session of Board and meeting of Operations Committee of Intersputnik; host H.E. Mr. Le Nam Thang is elected Chairman of Board and of the joint session.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Integral Systems announces seven year extended interference detection and geolocation maintenance contract with Sky Perfect JSAT.
[MarketWatch – 04/29/2010]

Orbital Sciences gets contract from U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for spacecraft and airborne system support services worth around $95m over 5 years.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Iridium establishes a Government Advisory Board comprised of former senior U.S. government officials and business leaders to provide counsel to the company as it continues to enhance suite of products and services for government agencies.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Lockheed Martin delivers cutting-edge communications system module for second satellite in U.S. Navy’s Mobile user Objective System (MUOS) program.
[PR Newswire – 04/29/2010]

International Space University and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics join in strategic partnership to further educational opportunities internationally and enhance health of future aerospace workforce.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Norwegian satellite AIS Sat-1 to be launched from India on May 9 will be used by maritime authorities as additional means of ensuring safety at sea in the High North.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Global Gateway Media & Communications broadcasts Ex-Mayor of NY Ed Koch’s speech in Los Angeles through Speedia Media’s satellite broadcast network in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
[MarketWatch – 04/29/2010]

NASA delays launch of one of its three remaining space shuttle launches until November to allow upgrade of magnet in Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer program.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Vizada Networks introduces redeveloped Global Field Support Program, created in close co-operation with Global VSAT Forum to improve quality of customer support through training.
[SatNews – 04/29/2010]

Air Force X-37 Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2, launched from Vandenberg April 22, achieves controlled flight at more than Mach 20 at assumed elevation of 36,000 feet, but disappears 9 minutes after launch.
[R&D Magazine – 04/28/2010]

Newtec’s FlexACM® DVB-S2 Elevation IP modems will support the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) in climate research, as well as increase bandwidth for communication.
[SatNews – 04/28/2010]

Integral Systems acquires Sophia Wireless, getting industry-leading technology in high-power, high-frequency Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) and Block Upconverters (BUCs) for satellite and radar communications.
[MarketWatch – 04/28/2010]

Swedish Microwave debuts new X-Band products, including professional PLL LNB’s.
[SatNews – 04/28/2010]

Australia’s hosted payload on Intelsat IS-22 satellite is a full UHV payload that will also benefit the USA.
[Defense Industry Daily – 04/28/2010]

SES ASTRA and Samsung join forces to promote 3DTV.
[SatNews – 04/28/2010]

Gilat will Provide SkyEdge II broadband satellite communications network to Kazakhstan based telecommunication operator.
[TMCnet – 04/28/2010]

Thrane & Thrane rebrands AeroSB products as AVIATOR, intending new brand to become synonymous with power of Inmarsat SwiftBroadband and at leading edge of that terminal technology.
[SatNews – 04/28/2010]

DirecTV is first provider to offer national distribution in High Definition (HD) of Spanish-language channels Univision and TeleFutura.
[MarketWatch – 04/28/2010]

Hughes and Avanti expand partnership in Europe as Hughes maneuvers to better compete with ViaSat, planning 48 gateway Earth stations for Hylas 1 satellite.
[Space News – 04/28/2010]

Russia Space Forces launches military communications satellite from Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard Kosmos 2463 light booster.
[Aviation Week – 04/28/2010]

Sky Vision Global Networks launches new local hub in Nairobi, Kenya, to support company’s satellite based virtual private network solution.
[SatNews – 04/28/2010]

Ericsson equips Indian DTH operator Tata Sky with head-end upgrade enabling it to launch HD channels and increase SD offerings.
[SatNews – 04/28/2010]

Brightpoint announces global supply chain solutions agreement with Inmarsat; will provide fully integrated solution for fulfillment and distribution of IsatPhone Pro.
[MarketWatch – 04/27/2010]

A third launch contract has been awarded to United Launch Alliance to loft an advanced military targeting and communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
[Florida Today – 04/27/2010]

Orbital Sciences successfully launches first Minotaur IV rocket in support of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 program.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

Global Gateway expands into radio with its agreement with All Patriots Media Network, broadcasting Los Angeles programs from four stations around U.S.
[MarketWatch – 04/27/2010]

Caprock Government Solutions announces expansion of satellite and terrestrial infrastructure to include bandwidth-on-demand to more than 35 major Department of Defense locations, and direct connections at 24 critical Defense Information Systems Network access points.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

GE Satellite is selected by NASA to provide Ku-band satellite connectivity for its ground breaking science mission to study atmospheric and environmental conditions across the Pacific via Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

World Teleport Association announces results of elections for Board of Directors for fiscal year beginning April 1 2010.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

In-flight acceptance of Helios IIB satellite is completed by Astrium on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency under delegation from French space agency.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

Thuraya further develops growth in key vertical markets across Saudi Arabia with Al Farhan partnership.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

Blue Sky Network’s GPS-base aviation tracking devices to be used by Peruvian Air Force for search and rescue operations.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

Images from European Space Agency’s Planck space observatory give astronomers way to understand complex physics shaping dust and gas in our Galaxy.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

GOES-15, final spacecraft in latest series of NOAA geostationary satellites, takes its first infrared photo of Earth.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

Japan to launch "space yacht" Ikaros, to be propelled by solar particles.
[SatNews – 04/27/2010]

International Launch Services places SES-1 satellite into orbit aboard Proton-M rocket deployed from Baikonur Spaceport in Kazakhstan.
[UPI – 04/26/2010]

Gilat to provide SkyEdge communications network to Kazakhstan customer ASTEL.
[MarketWatch – 04/26/2010]

Comtech Telecommunications receives $1.2m order for AN/TRC-170 modem upgrade kits and extended warranty coverage from major contractor under U.S. Army Commoon Hardware Software-3 contract.
[MarketWatch – 04/26/2010]

World Communications Center signs blanket P.O. agreement with NASA for satellite communications equipment and services that connect via the Inmarsat and Iridium networks.
[Business Wire – 04/26/2010]

United Launch Alliance gets contract modification to perform launch services for the Advance Extremely High Frequency-3 satellite aboard expendable Atlas 5.
[SatNews – 04/26/2010]

ProTECTS Alliance gains momentum in efforts to drive two-way satellite tracking and messaging technologies.
[SatNews – 04/26/2010]

Intellian Technologies completes characterization of Eutelsat on its 60cm maritime satellite VSAT system.
[SatNews – 04/26/2010]

European Union Satellite Centre signs multiyear enterprise license agreement with ESRI Espana, giving agency greater access to latest geographic information system technology, training, and consulting services.
[SatNews – 04/26/2010]

European Spacer Agency gets funding for Alphasat from EU’s Risk-sharing Finance Facility.
[SatNews – 04/26/2010]

SES experiences first quarter revenue drop due to ASTRA 3B delays and AMC-16 anomaly.
[Satellite Today – 04/26/2010]

Satellite radio provide Sirius XM to release free application for Motorola Android, and Google Nexus One smartphones.
[Satellite Today – 04/26/2010]

Monopoly is not a bad word for digital Signage in Central and Eastern Europe.
[NSR Briefing – April 2010]

Galaxy 15 failure casts doubt on hosted payload model; recent and impending satellite failures signal need to provide creative mechanism for managing risks.
[NSR Briefing – April 2010]

WBMSAT PS services]

MODIS, MERIS, ASAR, GOES: these orbiting spacecraft and instruments are focused on helping the NOAA figure this mess out. The mess is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 50 miles offshore, estimated to be spitting out crude oil at a rate of 5,000 barrels per day.

A BP PLC executive told NBC’s "Today" show on Apr. 29 that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could be five times larger than earlier believed. His comment came the day after a controlled burn on part of the oil spill and a third leak was found.

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP Exploration & Production Inc., confirmed what US Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry first said at a hastily called news conference in a Louisiana command center late Apr. 28 in which she announced a third leak.

Landry estimated 5,000 b/d rather than the 1,000 b/d could be spilling into the gulf. For days, officials have estimated 1,000 b/d was leaking from the Macondo well Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilled on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in 4,992 ft of water near Rigel gas field. Deepwater Horizon was working for BP.

An Apr. 20 explosion and fire rocked the semi, leaving 11 crew members missing and presumed dead and injuring 17. A total of 115 people evacuated the rig. On Apr. 22, the semi sank. Cause of the accident remains under investigation.

On Apr. 29, Suttles said the leak could be as high as the USCG’s latest estimate. Previously, he had told reporters that it’s difficult and imprecise to measure spilled oil. 

Call in the robots!  But it won’t be quick. Responders are still figuring out new ways to use Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to try to trigger the blowout preventer (BOP), a series of valves that sits at the well head.

 What NOAA is doing, as of 28 April 2010…

Current NOAA efforts are focused on: gathering more information about the spill, planning for open water and shoreline remediation, and readying for environmental assessment and response. Natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) activities are now underway. 

• Winds are forecast to become strong (20+ kts) and blow from the southeast starting tomorrow and continuing through the weekend, which will continue to push surface oil towards shore
• NOAA oil-spill trajectory analyses indicate that oil continues to move towards shore.
• 100,000’ of oil-containment booms (or floating barriers) have been deployed as a precaution to protect sensitive areas in the Louisiana area.
• The effects of oil on sensitive habitats and shorelines in four states (LA, MS, AL, and FL) are being evaluated should oil from the incident make landfall in appreciable quantities
• NOAA’s Assessment and Restoration Division is evaluating concerns about potential injuries of oil and dispersants to fishes, human use of fisheries, marine mammals, turtles, and sensitive resources
• Baseline aerial surveys to assess marine life were conducted today with personnel from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), these will continue as needed

 

NOAA Roles: NOAA is a vital part of the massive response effort on the Deepwater Horizon incident.   Many personnel are on scene and many more are engaged remotely, as follows:

Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R)

• Scientific support to the U.S. Coast Guard and Unified Command

Emergency Response Division (ERD)

• Predict where the oil is going and its effects
• Overflight observations and mapping
• Identify resources at risk
• Predict fate (chemical changes) of oil
• Recommend appropriate clean-up methods
• Manage data and information

Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD)

• Plan for assessment of injuries to natural resources
• Coordinate with state and federal trustees
• Implement sampling plans

National Weather Service

• Incident weather forecasts including marine and aviation

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)

• Experimental imagery for spill trajectory forecasts

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)

• Issues related to marine mammals, sea turtles, and fishery resources

National Ocean Service

• Public Affairs support to Joint Information Center

Here’s your smokin’ video, courtest of the USCG…

Yes, Philadelphia. The hometown of W.C. Fields, who was alleged to have said "Philadelphia, wonderful town, spent a week there one night," is one of four cities to have the FAA’s NextGen system installed. The others are Houston, Louisville and Juneau. The system does it all: navigation, surveillance, and communication.

Of course, they use satellite technology.  The Philadelphia Inquirer did a nice piece on it yesterday:

"Philadelphia is a pioneer site," said Federal Aviation Administration vice president Victoria Cox, announcing that Philadelphia controllers now have the capability to track planes equipped with the technology, known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B.

It’s part of a nationwide aviation overhaul – called Next Generation, or NextGen – that the FAA hopes will be largely operational by 2018.

By 2020, all aircraft flying in U.S. airspace must have the ADS-B devices in their cockpits.

Philadelphia is a demonstration site because United Parcel Service is here and has equipped 100 aircraft with satellite-technology. US Airways Group Inc. is in the process of equipping some of its planes, the FAA said.

Philadelphia controllers also use a computer system, called STARS, that takes information, including the ADS-B signals, and translates it to the screens controllers look at.

In addition, Philadelphia was selected to get some of the first satellite-surveillance radios because of its location in congested East Coast air space. The other test sites are Louisville, Ky., where UPS is based; Houston; and Juneau, Alaska.

Seven ground radios – each about the size of two refrigerators – have been installed around Philadelphia, including two on airport property. They will be part of a network of 813 radios by 2013, the FAA said.

Once airplanes get specialized GPS devices in cockpits, pilots will transmit via satellite to ground radios, which will bounce information to control towers. Controllers, in turn, will transmit to the radios, which will broadcast up to the cockpit.

The new technology will allow pilots, for the first time, to see what controllers see: other aircraft in the sky around them, bad weather and terrain, and information such as temporary flight restrictions.

 Need more detail? Check out the FAA’s NextGen Implementation Plan (84-page PDF). There are basically five elements to this system:

1. Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). ADS-B will use the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals to provide air traffic controllers and pilots with much more accurate information that will help to keep aircraft safely separated in the sky and on runways. Aircraft transponders receive GPS signals and use them to determine the aircraft’s precise position in the sky. This and other data is then broadcast to other aircraft and air traffic control. Once fully established, both pilots and air traffic controllers will, for the first time, see the same real-time display of air traffic, substantially improving safety. The FAA will mandate the avionics necessary for implementing ADS-B.
2. System Wide Information Management (SWIM). SWIM will provide a single infrastructure and information management system to deliver high quality, timely data to many users and applications. By reducing the number and types of interfaces and systems, SWIM will reduce data redundancy and better facilitate multi-user information sharing. SWIM will also enable new modes of decision making as information is more easily accessed.
3. Next Generation Data Communications. Current communications between aircrew and air traffic control, and between air traffic controllers, are largely realised through voice communications. Initially, the introduction of data communications will provide an additional means of two-way communication for air traffic control clearances, instructions, advisories, flight crew requests and reports. With the majority of aircraft data link equipped, the exchange of routine controller-pilot messages and clearances via data link will enable controllers to handle more traffic. This will improve air traffic controller productivity, enhancing capacity and safety.
4. Next Generation Network Enabled Weather (NNEW). Seventy percent of NAS delays are attributed to weather every year. The goal of NNEW is to cut weather-related delays at least in half. Tens of thousands of global weather observations and sensor reports from ground-, airborne- and space-based sources will fuse into a single national weather information system, updated in real time. NNEW will provide a common weather picture across the national airspace system, and enable better air transportation decision making.
5. NAS Voice Switch (NVS). There are currently seventeen different voice switching systems in the NAS, some in use for more than twenty years. NVS will replace these systems with a single air/ground and ground/ground voice communications system. 

Yeah, there’s a video…

Boeing-built U.S. Air Force "miniature space shuttle" X-37B is succesfully launched amid a cloud of secrecy about its mission.
[Seattle Post Intelligencer – 04/23/2010]

CenturyTel (CenturyLink after merging with Embarq in 2009), the country’s fifth-largest local phone company, to buy Qwest, the third largest, in stock swap worth $10.6 billion.
[FierceTelecom – 04/23/2010]

BT announces the completion of its first satellite terminal in Antarctica, at one of the world’s coldest, driest, and windiest locations.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

Iridium extends relationship with KDDI of Japan, making it an authorized service provider of Iridium’s OpenPort High-bandwidth maritime satellite communication service.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

MTN Satellite Communications, in partnership with ERZIA Technologies, opens new European satellite teleport in Santander, Spain.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

Stratos Global is providing world-renowned adventurer Ray Zhab’s "Running Tunisia" expedition with Inmarsat BGANmobile broadband satellite service.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

Two Cobham businesses honored in 2010 Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in the categories of Internatikon Trade and Innovation.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

Satelllite Today to bring live webcast of the SES-1 launch Saturday, April 24.
[Satellite Today – 04/23/2010]

Harris Corporation is providing NEXIO AMP advance media platform to German national public television broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen to support HD migration and centralization of ZDF’s playout center in Mainz.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

SES ASTRA will launch 3D demo channel on ASTRA May 4.
[SatNews – 04/23/2010]

European Commission announces financing of Alphasat telecommunications satellite to be launched in 2012, a joint effort of the European Space Agency and Inmarsat to extend high-speed voice and data to remote European areas, Africa, and the Middle East.
[UPI – 04/22/2010]

U.S. Army modifications to VSAT terminals to increase security of battlefield communications will include a change from hardware key exchanges to software key exchanges.
[Defense Systems – 04/22/2010]

First images of the sun returned by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Satellite please research scientists.
[IndyPosted – 04/22/2010]

Schlumberger looks for buyer for its satellite unit GCS, provider of satellite antennas and specialised communications for oil rigs, tankers, and other hard-to-reach sites.
[Reuters – 04/21/2010]

Expand Networks’ advanced WAN optimization technology supports satellite communications services for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California.
[SatNews – 04/21/2010]

Gateway Communications increases presence in West Africa with signature of two deals in Guinea.
[TMCnet – 04/21/2010]

Global Satellite Engineering has partnership with Ocens data services, with Ocens using GSE’s SatCollect software to reduce in-bound call expenditures.
[SatNews -04/21/2010]

Flexible commercial satellite services acquisition joint effort of GSA and DISA holds great promise, according to director of satellite communications, teleport, and services at DISA.
[Defense Systems – 04/21/2010]

Caprock launches latest value-added service offering, Crew Infotainment, reaching remote employhees across energy, maritime, and government services industries.
[SatNews – 04/21/2010]

KVH doubles their mini-VSAT Broadband network’s bandwidth in the North Pacific Ocean Region.
[SatNews – 04/21/2010]

ARINC Incorporated announces that three major Asia Pacific carriers have selected the company’s GLOBALinkSM data link services for airline communications and flight operations.
[SatNews – 04/21/2010]

Barcelona Moon Team, a multidisciplinary joint venture in Spain, announces entry into Google Lunar X Prize competition challenging engineers across the globe to build and launch to the moon a privately funded spacecraft capable of exploration.
[SatNews – 04/21/2010]

Lockheed Martin gets $10 million task award to provide satellite and tactical communications for U.S. Marine Corps.
[CBS News – 04/20/2010]

Chinese villages in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu stricken by the 7.1 magnitude quake all have contact to the outside world restored, with fixed-line and mobile service being restored, and some 234 satellite phones serving the regioin.
[China Daily – 04/19/2010]

Iridium and Quake Global partner to enhance new generation of intelligent industrial satellite transceivers.
[Market Watch – 04/19/2010]

SES ASTRA signs capacity agreement with South African pay-TV operator On Digital Media for three transponders on ASTRA-4A.
[SatNews – 04/19/2010]

ViaSat wins $6.6 million MIDS-LVT add-on order to its $21.5 million Multifunctional Information Distribution System – Low Volume Terminals.
[Satellite Today – 04/20/2010]

U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command selects Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp for next generation ocean altimetry satellite GFO-2.
[SatNews – 04/19/2010]

Vizada unveils its mobile satellite communications offering for Asia-Pacific military customers at the Defense Services Asia trade show.
[SatNews – 04/19/2010]

Satellite operators Artel, Caprock, and Globecomm file complaints with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and called for a congressional and regulatory inquiry over alleged unfair business practices.
[Satellite Today – 04/19/2010]

Raytheon wins DigitalGlobe contract to provide enhance constellation-collection management system.
[Satellite Today – 04/19/2010]

SeaMobile Europe wins connectivity services contract for AG2R Transat maritime race
[Satellite Today – 04/19/2010]

Heard On The Grapevine – Galaxy 15 update – Last week it was reported that Galaxy 15 was drifting with the payload on with no control over the satellite because of failed command receivers.  Information obtained this week reveals that it was the Upllink/Downlink Unit that failed June 9 due to Solar flare activity, causing an inability to process uplinked commands.  Different failure mode, same result, with adjacent satellites at risk of massive interference if approached by Galaxy 15.

Samsung puts 3D TV health warning on its Australian web site, Worries include epileptic seizure or stroke, convulsions, involuntary movement, motion sickness, nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, disorientation, and altered vision.
[samsung.com 3D TV warning]

NSR to host free webinar "SATELlite-Based Earth Observation (EO): Ready for Phase 4 of Growth?"
[NSR Webinar Registration]

NSR Industry Briefing – Growing the Government and Military COTM Market – Easier Said Than Done.
{NSR Industry Briefing]

WBMSAT PS services