Really Rocket Science

A decade ago, space tourism was just a dream, even for the richest of the rich. In 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space tourist, paying more than $20 million. Since then, a number of multi-millionaire and billionaires have made the journey on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. (The program is booked-up until 2009.) Now, space tourism might be possible for even six-figure savings accounts.

Looking to cash-in on the new desire for out-of-this-world travel, an explosion of commercial space tourism is underway. Most of the proposed programs propose suborbital flights, which still provide a traveler with a view of the earth's curvature and a short period of weightlessness, without the danger and expense of full re-entry. Single tickets are expected to sell for $200 to $300 thousand dollars.

While a half-dozen companies are already developing plans (including RocketPlane and PlanetSpace), Virgin Galactic appears to be the most established. Galactic draws together the only company to actually put a privately developed craft into outerspace (California-based Scaled Composites) with the financial and marketing genius of British Billionaire, Richard Branson. The company will launch its "flights" as early as late-2009 from California's Mojave Spaceport until New Mexico's Spaceport America is complete (making Virgin Galactic essentially an American enterprise). Watch Virgin's promotional simulation (very cool):

Now, Europe is expected to jump into the game with an announcement at this week's Paris Air Show. From the London Times:

EUROPE is to enter manned space travel for the first time, almost half a century after the first cosmonaut orbited the Earth.

EADS Astrium, Europe’s biggest builder of satellites and rockets, is this week expected to announce plans to carry tourists into space. The firm is due to unveil plans at the Paris air show for a spacecraft that will carry tourists out of the atmosphere for a brief ride at 3,000mph before ferrying them back to Earth.

Europe stood on the sidelines during the space race between America and Russia in the cold war, largely because of the vast cost. The first human space flight carried Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut, once round the Earth in 1961, and in 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon.

Europe’s programme, conducted through the European Space Agency, has confined itself to unmanned probes, such as the Giotto mission of 1986, which explored the tail of Halley’s comet. However, European astronauts, including the Britons Helen Sharman and Michael Foale, have flown on Russian and Nasa missions.

A spokesman for EADS Astrium said: “We are going to reveal a space tourism project next week for the Paris air show.” The scheme is thought to be the first step in a plan to take space tourists into orbit and even to dock at a “space hotel”.

NASA's space shuttle is on schedule to launch at 7:38 p.m. EDT (23:38 GMT) tonight, 8 June 2007. NASA's Launch Blog will begin coverage at 1:30 p.m. (17:30 GMT). Read more about the countdown here. Take a close look at the photo above and you'll see an alligator in the foreground.

Live HDTV coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. (22:00 GMT) on HDNet, and naturally NASA TV:

NASA Television is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) - compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) with modulation of QPSK/DBV, data rate of 36.86 and FEC 3/4 is needed for reception. NASA TV Multichannel Broadcast includes: Public Services Channel (Channel 101); the Education Channel (Channel 102) and the Media Services Channel (Channel 103).

Let's hope this one turn out better than Sinosat-2 did. Here's the news report, via IHT:

China launched a new communications satellite into orbit early Friday [1 June 2007] to provide broader radio and television signal coverage across the country, state media reported.

The Long March-3A rocket lifted off from the Xichang launching center in southwestern China eight minutes after midnight (1608 GMT) and separated from the SinoSat-3 satellite 24 minutes later, the Xinhua News Agency said.

The long-scheduled launch follows the failed deployment last October of another communications satellite, SinoSat-2, whose solar panels and communications antennae did not operate properly, Xinhua said.

China has spent decades building an indigenous space program and is trying to attract customers from abroad, after a series of failed launches in the 1990s dampened demand for Chinese launch services.

Both the rocket and the satellite used Friday were mainly developed and manufactured domestically, Xinhua said.

The satellite deployed Friday was not developed as a replacement for the inoperable SinoSat-2, Xinhua said, though Sino Satellite Communications Co., the satellite's operators, may use SinoSat-3 to replace part of the service the other satellite was to have provided.

Xinhua quoted a company spokesman as saying that a substitute satellite would take at least three years to develop.

 

This Wednesday, at the ISCe 2007 Conference in San Diego, Robert E. Berry - former systems fellow and chairman of Ford Aerospace and SS/L - will be given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

More about Berry from the press release announcing the award:

"Berry led SS/L and its predecessor, Ford Aerospace, from 1977 to 2000 and, with his willingness to push innovative concepts, was responsible for some of the world's most advanced communications and meteorological satellite projects for defense, civil, and commercial applications. He cultivated the international market for U.S.-based satellite manufacturing, and under his leadership, SS/L developed the technologies that have put the company at the forefront in providing high-power satellites for direct-to-home television, satellite radio, broadband Internet and international fixed satellite services."

During Berry's tenure at Ford Aerospace, his team built many satellites for IntelSat, including the notable IntelSat 5 and IntelSat 7 series. After Ford Aerospace was sold to Loral in 1990, Berry led SS/L in developing the FS-1300, which was a very advanced and reliable satellite that in some cases exceeded its design life of 10 - 15 years.

More from the press release:

"Berry was instrumental in providing three generations of satellite platforms to Intelsat, helping the intergovernmental consortium provide fixed satellite services to more than 149 countries, territories, and dependencies. He initiated and managed Ford Aerospace's participation on the Milstar industry team and advocated multi-mission satellite systems, with SS/L providing military communication payloads for commercial satellites for France, Japan, Spain and Australia. Currently at SS/L, he consults with both government and commercial interests to explore new applications arising from combining satellite, wireless, and fibered transmission."

The ISCe 2007 conference takes place this week, June 5th - 7th, in San Diego. Besides honoring Robert Berry, the conference is hosting a number of other impressive speakers and sure-to-be engaging talks. Check out the speaker list here.

In a related note, Berry's company Ford Aerospace is also where Linda Hudson, currently of BAE Systems, got her start. She was the first woman manager at Ford, overseeing the quality assurance division. After making a name for herself as an executive at Ford, she eventually became the first female vice president at General Dynamics and now, as the president of BAE's land and armaments division, has made a significant impact in the defense industry with BAE's recent $4.1 billion purchase of Armor Holdings. London newspaper The Times calls her "the most powerful woman in the American defence industry" (link).

Recently, Hudson travelled to London to host a BAE leadership conference. She must have made quite an impression, as one British observer noted that "she talked a lot of sense – without the jingoism and rubbish you normally hear from American defence experts" (link).

 

 

According a local news agency, Kazakhstan Today, DirecTV's new HD-dedicated satellite won't be launched until next month:

Launch of space vehicle DirecTV-10 planned for June 20 has been postponed at the cosmodrome Baikonur. Federal space center Baikonur press service informed the agency.

According to the press service, the launch date of the American telecommunication satellite DirecTV-10 has been shifted for July. "The date transfer has been done due to the request of foreign manufacturers of the satellite and is connected with the terms of preparation of a space satellite and its delivery to the cosmodrome," the press service informed.

The exact date of the satellite launch by means of a carrier rocket Proton-M will be defined later after delivery of the satellite to the cosmodrome and will depend on the degree of readiness of foreign partners.

This was indeed confirmed by DirecTV's press guy, via SatelliteGuys.us:

here's a statement i just received from bob mercer, directv's director of public relations:

``The launch date of D10 has slipped to july 7. there were some late processing issues in the Boeing factory but they have been resolved and we are moving forward.''

he sent me a follow-up email from his blackberry to clarify the date:

``that's actually july 6 in the US.''

Back in January, DirecTV promised up to 70 national HD channels via this and another new satellite in 2007. This is a key launch for them.

 

 

 

South Africa's SumbandilaSat, an 81-kg LEO (low-earth orbit) observation/imagery satellite, which was to launch via a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea, has been postponed. The story, via Engineering News (South Africa):

The launch of South Africa's first government satellite from a Russian submarine next month has been postponed indefinitely, an official said on Tuesday.

"It has been postponed because official documentation still needs to be arranged to issue a decree for the launch," said Nhlanhla Nyide, spokesman for the Department of Science and Technology.

"They are currently working on the process ... We will hear from them when they have set a new date for launch," Nyide said.

He told said no additional costs will be incurred and South Africa's nascent space programme would not be affected because of the cancellation of the launch, which was to have taken place in the Barents Sea near Norway.

The R26-million satellite, intended to orbit some 500 km (310 miles) above earth and have a life-span of three years and longer, would carry high-resolution imaging cameras.

The images from the South African-built satellite would be used across a wide array of applications, from agriculture to land use and infrastructure mapping.

South Africa has pledged millions of rands to build its astronomy and space sector, with the construction of the South African Large Telescope creating a hub for astronomy research in southern Africa.

In July 2006 cabinet approved the establishment of a South African Space Agency as an institutional vehicle to look at space science and technology.

 

 

This would have been a cool launch. Back in December, 2006, the satellite was handed off to Russia:

South Africa's low-earth-orbiting microsatellite, SumbandilaSat, left for Russia on Thursday, ahead of its launch into space off a submarine in early 2007.

The 81-kg SumbandilaSat will generate satellite imagery through its remote sensing camera at 6,25 m ground sampling distance.

Upon arrival in Russia, SumbandilaSat will be taken to the Russian naval base at Murmansk, where the Russian navy will integrate it with a launch rocket. The satellite will then be transported to a submarine at Severemorsk, just off the Russian coast, where it will be launched into space.

The launch window period is between April and May and is strongly dependent on weather conditions at the time. Once in orbit, SumbandilaSat will pass over South Africa mid-morning and mid-evening, at an average orbit altitude of 500 km.

In addition to its earth observation and communications payloads, SumbandilaSat carries five experimental payloads, which will present the scientific community with exciting results in low frequency radio waves, radiation, software defined radio, forced vibrating string and radio amateur transponders.

Speaking at the hand-over ceremony, in Stellenbosch, Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena said that the development of SumbandilaSat offered South Africa a number of competitive advantages and would support decision-making in natural resource management and sustainable development. He added that the images yielded by the satellite would be used in various applications, which had direct benefits to societies, such as flood and fire disaster management; enhancing food security through crop yield estimation; ensuring better human and animal health through enabling the prediction of the outbreaks of diseases; better monitoring of land cover and use; as well improved capabilities for water resource management.

The actual construction of the SumbandilaSat had been completed at the end of September and had been followed by a battery of trials, including functional testing, space environmental testing, vibration testing and burn-in testing, designed to establish the satellite's readiness prior to a flight acceptance review.

“The environmental-testing phase determined SumbandilaSat's ability to withstand extreme variance in temperatures, while the vibration tests verified its ability to endure the shocks it will undergo as it is launched into space. The burn-in testing phase comprised the actual and continual running of the satellite and its systems in order to confirm that all components are fully functional,” the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said.

Sunspace project manager for SumbandilaSat Harry van der Heyden said that the review presentation included an introduction to the hardware produced, as well as the ground support equipment developed for the satellite. “We also conducted demonstrations to illustrate how the satellite communicates with the ground support equipment.”

The birth of SumbandilaSat was initiated by the DST and was given life by numerous stakeholders, including the University of Stellenbosch, Sunspace, the South African Space Council, the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Trade & Industry, and Communications, as well as the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The launch of SumbandilaSat is envisaged to strengthen South Africa's technological capability and innovation in space science and technology, as well as reinforce the country's role in national, regional and international space initiatives.

This is but one aspect of a budding interest in space, as evidenced by South Africa's National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme. The first "space age school" was established in 2003.

Here's a clip of U.S. Trident missiles being launched from a sub:

 

The list of cable channels keeps growing and they all need to find a way to get it to the top 100 cable systems. Since 1976, the best way to get your cable channel distributed is by satellite -- it is the technology that made HBO and CNN what they are today.

First step is to secure a lease on a C-band satellite that cable systems are already "looking at" (have a downlink antenna assigned to it). CED Magazine's series of wall charts include the annual "Orbital Arc Chart" (link launches PDF), which shows you a snapshot of all the cable channels and which satellites they're on. Want more detail? Check Lyngsat for each satellite's ladder chart.

Getting space segment in a high-value "cable neighborhood" is not cheap. For a start-up, viable alternatives to going it alone include origination and uplink centers such as Comcast Media Center (CMC) in Colorado and Crawford Communications in Georgia. 

CMC uplinks the entire HITS ("headend in the sky") platform, which carries a ton of channels.

Broadcast Newsroom just ran a piece on Crawford setting a record for new channel uplinks: 14 new channels so far this year. overall, they uplink 135 full time cable channels. I like their new video tour:

 

 

 

 

Well, sort of...

Via the Los Angeles Times:

Listeners shocked by XM hosts' suspension

Many cancel the service. Some suspect a proposed merger with Sirius is a factor in the punishment.

By Jim Puzzanghera and Amy Kaufman, Times Staff Writers
May 17, 2007

WASHINGTON — Satellite radio bills itself as the Wild West of the airwaves, an uncensored outpost beyond the reach of federal regulators where expletives fly with impunity and the banter can get as raunchy as at a strip club.

But the decision this week by XM Satellite Radio to suspend shock jocks Opie and Anthony for 30 days for crude sexual comments about First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Queen Elizabeth II has listeners wondering whether there's a new sheriff in town.

Some XM listeners were outraged — not at the comments but at XM's reaction.

"I signed up for XM because it's uncensored. I like these guys because they are so unfiltered," said Placentia resident Paul Hebert, who canceled his $12.95 monthly XM subscription Tuesday in protest.

He wasn't alone. Hundreds of angry subscribers have flooded XM's operators with calls to cancel since the suspension was announced Tuesday. About 60 listeners smashed their XM receivers Wednesday outside the WFNY-FM studios in New York, where Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia continued to air their tamer, over-the-air broadcast for CBS Radio.

"The reaction is mind-blowing," said Ryan Saghir of North Branford, Conn., who runs a blog about satellite radio called Orbitcast. "One of the main attractors to satellite radio is the unregulated content. Once you take away that … you're going to have some upset subscribers."

But industry observers said XM might have been more worried about offending federal regulators, who can block the company's proposed merger with its only rival, Sirius Satellite Radio, than staying true to its slogan, "Beyond AM. Beyond FM. XM."

Sensitivities have been heightened in Washington since the controversy over veteran shock jock Don Imus' racially offensive comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which led to his firing last month by CBS Radio.

"It's hard to read anything into it other than that they're catering to federal officials," said William Kidd, a media analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.

XM spokesman Nathaniel Brown would not comment on whether the pending merger was a factor in the suspension and would not say how many people had canceled their subscriptions. XM has suspended on-air personalities before, he said, but none with as high a profile as Hughes and Cumia.

It's not the first time a skit has landed the two shock jocks in trouble. CBS Radio, then known as Infinity Broadcasting, fired them in 2002 for broadcasting two listeners apparently having sex in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. The Federal Communications Commission fined Infinity $357,000 for the stunt.

XM, which does not fall under the FCC's indecency rules because it is a pay service, hired Hughes and Cumia in 2004. Their program, "The Opie & Anthony Show," airs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on XM and 24 CBS radio affiliates, which picked the duo back up last year.

It continues until about 11 a.m. only on XM, a segment that the show's website touts as "uncut, uncensored and totally filthy."

On May 9, the XM portion of the show aired a skit featuring a character called Homeless Charlie, who graphically described having sex with Bush, Rice and the queen. Hughes and Cumia played along, laughing and asking questions.

XM issued a statement condemning the comments, and Cumia and Hughes apologized on the air Friday.

On Monday's show, Hughes and Cumia complained about "dumb rules" and an "umbrella of morality and decency" that led Imus and some other hosts to get fired. XM officials suspended the pair Tuesday, saying the comments "put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter."

Satellite radio followers said the suspension was unprecedented. Some XM listeners were stunned and angry when they heard about it.

Ed L. Kelley of Wagoner, Okla., said he spent six hours on the phone Tuesday night trying to cancel. He's talking to an attorney about a class-action suit, saying that because "The Opie & Anthony Show" appears on one of XM's "explicit-language" channels, the company has violated its promise to deliver uncensored content.

"These guys make me laugh and they make fun of everybody equally," Kelley said.

Debbie Wolf, co-founder of People Against Censorship, called the suspension "outrageous" and organized the demonstration outside CBS Radio's studios. Christopher Lewis of Glenmoore, Penn., quickly registered http://www.cancelxm.com , and the message boards there and on other satellite radio sites have filled up with dozens of angry comments.

"I will not support a company that has decided the one true reason they exist no longer matters," wrote one poster on Orbitcast.

Howard Stern, who left traditional radio in 2004 after battling regulators, also weighed in from his new post at Sirius.

"If you want free speech," he told his listeners Wednesday, "walk in a closet and talk to yourself."

Kidd said the suspension could make it difficult for XM to attract edgy radio personalities who have viewed satellite as a haven for their outrageous acts.

"This will probably be a decision that XM will have to live with and, I suspect, likely regret over time," he said.

The suspension would be as surprising as HBO pulling "The Sopranos" for offensive content and will reverberate through the industry, said Tom Taylor, a former program director who edits the trade journal Inside Radio.

"People in the satellite world have felt safe … until this week," he said.

According to the Sri Lankan Army, LTTE broadcasts continue via the Intelsat 12 satellite. Via the Asian Tribune:

THE SRI LANKAN EMBASSY in Washington has complained to the US Justice Department, State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against Washington based Intelsat Ltd., for reneging its promise of removing the National Television of Tamil Eelam (NTT) channel and Pulikalin Kural radio from the Intelsat 12 satellite transponder and for continuing to facilitate and broadcast terrorist propaganda.

Before lodging the complaint, the Sri Lankan Embassy brought to the communication satellite company's notice that despite its assurance that it has removed both channels from its transponder, it continues to broadcast National Television of Tamil Eelam, and Pulikalin Kural (Voice of Tigers radio) the official television and radio of the LTTE.

Intelsat Ltd., according to sources, laid down conditions to the Sri Lanka Embassy that talks with them should not be publicised or divulged to anyone which the Embassy refused even to consider.

Subsequently, the Sri Lankan Embassy alleged that the satellite provider is violating US law by continuing to broadcast the propaganda television and radio services of the foreign terrorist organisation LTTE, through the satellite they own despite public assurances given ago to the contrary.

National Television of Tamil Eelam, the official television channel of the LTTE is a free-to-air channel to Asia and an encrypted channel to Europe.

The four-hour daily programme of the NTT channel broadcasts propaganda material of the LTTE, a terrorist organisation banned in United States of America, Canada, India and in European Union countries.

The illegal transmission of the NTT channel of the LTTE was for the first time brought to Intelsat Ltd's notice by Asian Tribune on March 10.

Dianne VanBeber, Intelsat Ltd Vice President in charge of Investor Relations and Corporate Communication, told 'Asian Tribune' that the LTTE is pirating the Intelsat's 12 bandwidth without the company's knowledge.

"Intelsat has notified the original customer for the capacity that they are in violation of their contract, and Intelsat has informed them to cease transmissions," VanBeber said.

Asked to identify the original customer of Intelsat, VanBeber refused to disclose the service provider's name who has accommodated the LTTE's media without Intelsat Ltd's knowledge.

Asked whether Intelsat was not aware that the LTTE's National Television of TamilEelam was using the Intelsat 12 satellite bandwidth since 2005, she clarified that Intelsat Ltd acquired PanAmSat only on July 3, 2006, and LTTE's National Television of Tamil Eelam might have come to quietly share the Intelsat 12 satellite.

She said: "We are taking action to cease their transmission soon." Subsequently this issue was taken up by Bernard Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka's Ambassador in Washington with Intelsat's General Counsel, Phillip Spector.

A press statement was released by the Intelsat after the meeting.

In a press statement dated April 10 Intelsat Corporation said: "Intelsat officials, including its technical experts, met with Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States, Bernard Goonetilleke, on April 10 to discuss the steps Intelsat is taking to address the unauthorised use of one of its satellites by the LTTE.

During the meeting, Intelsat's General Counsel, Phillip Spector, said:' "Intelsat does not tolerate terrorists or others operating illegally on its satellites. Since we first learned of the LTTE's signal piracy, we have been actively pursuing a number of technical alternatives to halt the transmissions. We are clear in our resolve to ending this terrorist organisation's unauthorised use of our satellite'."

Later, the Sri Lankan embassy revealed that Intelsat Ltd., stated that during April 21-22 they switched off the transponder of the free to air NTTE channel beamed to Asia and the encrypted channel beamed to Europe.

The Lyngsat site confirms that both the television and radio broadcasts were up and running on 29 April 2007 -- nearly three weeks after we first blogged it. The program can be found every day, from 18:00 to 21:30 GMT, on Intelsat 12, transponder 2 (downlink frequency: 11,504 Vertical; symbol rate: 2894; FEC: 3/4).

How did that happen? If you read ToTheCenter.com, you'd think it was indeed turned off:

INTELSAT INFORMS SRI LANKA EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON IT SWITCHED OFF LTTE BROADCASTS FROM THEIR SATELLITE

( By Walter Jayawardhana)

Sri Lanka’s envoy in Washington, D.C. said his office had been given an assurance by Washington based Intelsat Corporation that they have switched off the transponder used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to broadcast its propaganda, during the last weekend.

“We were told last evening by Intelsat executive Phillip Spector that the transponder used by the LTTE was switched off during the weekend,” Bernard Goonetileke, Washington, D.C.’s Sri Lankan Ambassador told this correspondent.

However, Goonetileke said he was still not sure whether the banned terrorist group has made some other arrangements with a European satellite company to carry on with the broadcasts continually.

He said inquiries are made to check whether LTTE is continuing its broadcasts and whether they are doing it through another channel, suspected to be Globe Cast satellite of a European company.

A press release issued by the Washington, D.C. Embassy of Sri Lanka said,
“Intelsat Ltd., a U.S. based satellite company has terminated the “unauthorized” use of one of its satellites, Intelsat12, by the Sri Lanka based terrorist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), for its TV and radio transmissions to Europe and Asia.”

The Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Intelsat Ltd., Mr. Phillip Spector, confirmed to Rajika Jayatilake, Counselor (Information) at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington, D.C., that Intelsat Ltd. had, over the April 21/22 weekend, shut down the transponder, which the LTTE had used for its transmissions, the press release said further.

Whatever new channel the LTTE is using will have to be advertised through some means since the viewers and listeners of its propaganda have to be informed about the changes in the broadcasting frequencies. So far, no such advertisement has been found.

Following the meeting with Ambassador Goonetileke on April 10, 2007, Mr. Phillip Spector, of Intelsat Ltd., stated that the LTTE transmissions were “unauthorized.” Countering the position taken by Intelsat Ltd., speaking from Sri Lanka’s north to wire services in Colombo, the LTTE denied it was using the satellite services illegally. “We are accessing it legally and there is no signal piracy,” said an LTTE spokesman.

However, inquiries by this correspondent could not find out any evidence to confirm the statement of Phillip Spector, that the LTTE was a pirate of the satellite.

The Embassy press statement traced the history of the LTTE-INTELSAT connection as follows: “Since March 2005, the LTTE had been transmitting TV and radio programs through Europe Star 1 satellite owned by French satellite provider, Alcatel. PanAmSat, a satellite operator headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut in the U.S., acquired Europe Star 1 satellite in July 2005. In July 2006, Intelsat Ltd. acquired PanAmSat, following which, Europe Star 1 satellite was renamed Intelsat12. The programs that the LTTE had been transmitting through Europe Star 1, thus continued uninterrupted even after Intelsat Ltd. acquired the satellite.”

It is believed that it was the intense pressure used by the Washington Embassy of Sri Lanka and the U.S. State Department and the Department of Justice, together with press publicity, that was adversely affecting Intelsat that finally brought an end of the deal.

The Sri Lanka Embassy said, the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Justice had both been informed that a terrorist group designated by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), was using a satellite owned by a U.S. based satellite company to transmit their TV and radio programs to Europe and Asia. (EOM)

 

Launched in March, the Orbital Express mission has been progressing nicely. We blogged this cool space video last month, and I like the possibilities of this mission: on-orbit servicing of satellites. Potentially saving millions for all dependent on commercial space systems.

Then we read this from the DARPA Public Affairs Office, via SpaceRef.com:

15 May 2007 Update from Jan Walker, DARPA PAO:

"During Scenario 3-1 execution on the evening of May 11, Orbital Express encountered a serious sensor flight computer anomaly on the ASTRO while stationkeeping at 10 meters separation distance from the NextSat. Onboard fault protection reacted immediately, placing the ASTRO into an abort trajectory which carried it to a hold-point 120 meters from the NextSat. The Orbital Express team has spent the past several days recovering from this fault and from problems associated with loss of relative navigation at the longer-than-anticipated separation distances for this scenario. The ASTRO has since coasted at distances of up to several kilometers from the NextSat. Both vehicles are safe. The ASTRO powered up its redundant sensor flight computer and is processing sensor data nominally. The team is in the process of developing a recovery scenario for ingress and remate, and hopes to execute this ingress in the next several days."

Editor's 14 May 2007 note: At this point ASTRO and NextSat should be a few meters apart. Some observers are suggesting that they are kilometers apart. No word from DARPA.

OE observed with Nextsat, SeeSat-L

"... NEXTSAT appeared to trail by about 0.5 deg, when at a range of about 600 km, which indicates a distance of about 5 km."

The account by New Scientist was more alarming than that:

The US military's experimental satellite mission, Orbital Express, may be in peril. The lead spacecraft ASTRO has drifted several kilometres away from where it should be.

No updates from Boeing yet, but they've got a great team of people working on this mission. I'm sure they'll recover from this without a scratch.