Really Rocket Science

NASA won a Webby Award, which second-man-on-the-moon Buzz Aldrin accepted on their behalf. I love their approach: no more that five words. You've got to choose your words carefully, as Buzz did: "Humanity. Colonization. Phobos. Monolith. Mars!"

And Jake from CollegeHumor.com's "Jake and Amir," who changed his speech when he realized who he was standing next to offstage: "Holy f*cking sh*t, Buzz Aldrin!"

I think space is cool again, thanks to the general public's curiosity and fascination with space. Let's not forget the "we could use the money elsewhere" critics, as they've got a valid point.

Then there's the British metal band Iron Maiden, who opened a new tour in Texas. Yeah, they paid a visit to Johnson Space Center and got to play with the Space Shuttle Simulator.

Check out this podcast about this simulator...

The guys at EepyBird.com are at it again. This time it's a car powered by Coke Zero and Mentos. The video was seen 2 million time in its first week.

Wired went behind the scenes for this story...

Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz are the guys behind the famous video of a Mentos-and-Diet Coke, Bellagio-style fountain, which they estimate has been seen by more than 120 million people. Four years later, they’re back with a rocket car powered by nothing but Mentos and Coke Zero. The video, which debuted this week, shows the duo’s efforts to set a land-speed and distance record for a vehicle powered by nothing but erupting, minty, fizzy soda.

The video was directed by Rob Cohen (director of The Fast and the Furious). Two dimensions not enough? There’s even a 3-D rocket car video you can watch on YouTube, if you have a pair of red-and-cyan 3-D glasses.

Wired sat down with Grobe and Voltz shortly after a recent performance at Maker Faire to find out how they built their 900-pound vehicle. It contains 108 2-liter bottles of Coke Zero, 648 Mentos, an elaborate-looking system of PVC pipes and pistons, and a complicated rig for dropping all those mint candies into all those bottles at the same time. In this exclusive Wired.com video, the duo explain how they made the magic happen.

President Obama is committed to NASA's mission -- and I especially like the promise of employment in and around The Cape.

I'm puzzled by the apparent disagreement among the first moon walkers, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

First, the letter signed by Armstrong, Lovell and Cernan...

The United States entered into the challenge of space exploration under President Eisenhower’s first term, however, it was the Soviet Union who excelled in those early years. Under the bold vision of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and with the overwhelming approval of the American people, we rapidly closed the gap in the final third; of the 20th century, and became the world leader in space exploration.

America’s space accomplishments earned the respect and admiration of the world. Science probes were unlocking the secrets of the cosmos; space technology was providing instantaneous world wide communication; orbital sentinels were helping man understand the vagaries of nature. Above all else, the people around the world were inspired by the human exploration of space and the expanding of man’s frontier. It suggested that what had been thought to be impossible was now within reach. Students were inspired to prepare themselves to be a part of this new age. No government program in modern history has been so effective in motivating the young to do 'what has never been done before.'

World leadership in space was not achieved easily. In the first half century of the space age, our country made a significant financial investment, thousands of Americans dedicated themselves to the effort, and some gave their lives to achieve the dream of a nation. In the latter part of the first half century of the space age, Americans and their international partners focused primarily on exploiting the near frontiers of space with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

As a result of the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was concluded that our space policy required a new strategic vision. Extensive studies and analysis led to this new mandate: meet our existing commitments, return to our exploration roots, return to the moon, and prepare to venture further outward to the asteroids and to Mars. The program was named 'Constellation'. In the ensuing years, this plan was endorsed by two Presidents of different parties and approved by both Democratic and Republican congresses.

The Columbia Accident Board had given NASA a number of recommendations fundamental to the Constellation architecture which were duly incorporated. The Ares rocket family was patterned after the Von Braun Modular concept so essential to the success of the Saturn 1B and the Saturn 5. A number of components in the Ares 1 rocket would become the foundation of the very large heavy lift Ares V, thus reducing the total development costs substantially. After the Ares 1 becomes operational, the only major new components necessary for the Ares V would be the larger propellant tanks to support the heavy lift requirements.

The design and the production of the flight components and infrastructure to implement this vision was well underway. Detailed planning of all the major sectors of the program had begun. Enthusiasm within NASA and throughout the country was very high.

When President Obama recently released his budget for NASA, he proposed a slight increase in total funding, substantial research and technology development, an extension of the International Space Station operation until 2020, long range planning for a new but undefined heavy lift rocket and significant funding for the development of commercial access to low earth orbit.

Although some of these proposals have merit, the accompanying decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating.

America’s only path to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz (at a price of over 50 million dollars per seat with significant increases expected in the near future) until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves. The availability of a commercial transport to orbit as envisioned in the President’s proposal cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope.

It appears that we will have wasted our current ten plus billion dollar investment in Constellation and, equally importantly., we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded.

For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature. While the President's plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years.

Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.

Neil Armstrong
Commander, Apollo 11

James Lovell
Commander, Apollo 13

Eugene Cernan
Commander, Apollo 17

And here's Buzz Aldrin's piece in USA TODAY...

Since the release of President Obama's NASA budget for the next fiscal year, the debate over America's future course in space has become unusually heated, resulting in a polarization of views that has divided Congress and many members of the space community. All want what is best for our nation, but few see a chance at a consensus that can bring us all together.
We'll get that chance today.

The president will visit the Kennedy Space Center to air these views in a conference on America's future in space. This meeting offers the administration, Congress and the American people our best — and possibly our only — chance to reach such a consensus. This is a reasonable way forward that builds on the president's budget proposal while extending our reach ever deeper into space.

As I have said before, I agree broadly with the president's plan because it contains many elements that I have advocated for years. These include a flexible path for exploration with a robust technology development program enabling the extension of the human presence to Mars. His plan avoids rerunning the moon race that America won 40 years ago and opens a new era for commercial space transportation after years of government dominance of access to low-Earth orbit.

We need specifics

These are good principles, to be sure. But the budget lacks key details. First, I think that the president needs to be clear that Mars is the ultimate goal. The stepping stones to the Red Planet might include missions such as flybys of comets, approaches to near-Earth objects, and finally a manned mission to the Martian moon Phobos. This flexible path would create the infrastructure and transportation systems that would enable commercial and international development near Earth.

NASA also should be clearer about the purpose behind investments in technology. For example, we can utilize the investments made in the Orion spacecraft to jump-start the development of a human deep-space exploration capability. And using the spare hardware left over from the assembly of the International Space Station, I propose we develop a prototype deep-space exploration vehicle that can be docked to and tested at the station.

Over time, astronauts at the station could then outfit the ship, making it capable of forays beyond low-Earth orbit, around the moon, then deeper into space — to near-Earth orbit crossing asteroids, and on to Mars. I also encourage the president to set a clear goal to develop the heavy lift capability needed for our journey to Mars. There are, in effect, placeholders for these programs in the $19 billion devoted to NASA in the president's budget, but I think we deserve a greater level of clarity.

Restore America's place

While transitioning the operation of crew delivery to private industry, it is important that the system we develop is capable of enabling broader commercial markets. To do this, the future plan should include the development of a reusable, space plane-like runway lander as the next generation of crew carrying space transport.

Other astronauts might have different views, and I respect them, but I believe that working with this president toward a consensus on how America can lead human exploration, commercialize that effort in a timely way as possible, and set our collective sites on Mars is more likely to create the kind of sustained effort, commitment and legacy that we all want to see. This seems more productive than simply opposing a change of course.

I also differ with the president's plan in a few critical ways, one being that we should keep the space shuttle in flight while we develop a heavy-lift launch vehicle. This should be a national priority. These investments will give us a solid basis for the civil space program for decades to come.

These additions offer us the chance at a middle ground that preserves our highly specialized workforce, maintains critical access to space, and will enable us to maintain and service the International Space Station. Most important, we can re-establish American space leadership by reaching for this manned mission to Mars.

America's future in space is worth the modest, additional investment that will be required by this flexible path. I hope that, as passions cool, we can all come together at this important meeting to bring our nation fully into a 21st century space program, one that is, as my friend Norm Augustine put it, "worthy of a great nation."

OK, both agree on leadership in space.  Especially Mars and deep space, and we can't get there without a heavy-lift launcher. Manned space flight -- and commercial space -- need more heavy-lift rocket development and manufacturing.

 What the International Space Station looks like in the X-band, via The Planetary Society...

 On March 13, 2008, the International Space Station (ISS) passed across the field of view of Germany's remote sensing satellite, TerraSAR-X, at a distance of 195 kilometers.

In contrast to optical cameras, radar does not "see" surfaces. Instead, it is much more sensitive to the edges and corners which bounce back the microwave signal it transmits. Unless they are directly facing the radar spacecraft, smooth surfaces such as those on the ISS solar and radiator panels, do not reflect a strong signal to the detector, so they appear dark. Yet the bright spots outlining edges and corners clearly show the shape of the ISS. The central element on the ISS, to which all the modules are docked, has a grid structure that presents a multiplicity of reflecting surfaces to the radar beam, making it readily identifiable. This image has a resolution of about one meter.

Credit: German Aerospace Center (DLR)

In an Ex Parte Submission yesterday, the Justice Department is asking the FCC to allocate more spectrum for wireless broadband:

Reallocating spectrum that is being underutilized would encourage the deployment of wireless services and could help to make such services more competitive with wireline offerings. First, an increase in the amount of spectrum that firms could devote to broadband would lower the cost of providing wireless broadband services and encourage entry. Second, more spectrum would allow providers to increase the capacity and reliability of their offerings, thereby bringing them closer to cable modem and fiber-based broadband. Third, the increased capacity in the systems would help support new applications. We urge the Commission to give priority to making more spectrum available to wireless broadband providers so as to maximize their potential to compete against the established wireline ones. According to the FCC Broadband Status Report, there is no time to spare, given the exploding demand for broadband mobile use, the long lags historically experienced in allocating spectrum to new uses, and the danger that "the spectrum pipeline is drying up."

We're all for it here. Good luck in getting the DoD to surrender some of its spectrum. We have a better chance is getting of that "white space" made available by the digital transition by broadcasters.

The DoJ is correct in citing direct-broadcast satellite's introduction as bringing true competition to the video marketplace, and making more spectrum available to wireless broadband services will likely have the same effect.

Judge says no to SES, via Space News...

The U.S. bankruptcy court handling the sale of satellite operator ProtoStar Ltd.’s assets on Dec. 10 rejected a proposed deal between ProtoStar and prospective buyer SES, clearing the way for a wide-open Dec. 16 auction of the in-orbit ProtoStar 2 telecommunications satellite. SES is likely to confront at least one other serious bidder at the auction — Asiasat of Hong Kong — and may also face a bid from satellite fleet operator Intelsat, industry officials said. The Delaware Bankruptcy Court refused to accept ProtoStar’s proposed arrangement with SES under which SES agreed, in advance of the auction, to pay $185 million in cash for ProtoStar 2 on condition that it receive $6.3 million in compensation in the event it was outbid. That meant SES was assured of taking ownership of ProtoStar 2 unless another bidder was willing to pay more than $191.3 million for the satellite. Industry officials said the decision means ProtoStar 2 ultimately could sell for less than $185 million, depending on how badly Asiasat wants the spacecraft, a Boeing 601HP model launched in May and stationed at 107.7 degrees east longitude in geostationary orbit. It carries 27 Ku-band transponders and 13 S-band transponders. The S-band capacity is leased to Indostar and Indovision of Indonesia. SES and Asiasat both have orbital slots nearby and could move ProtoStar 2 to these positions without losing the Indonesian S-band business. Washington- and Bermuda-based Intelsat does not have an active orbital position in the neighborhood, but its representatives nonetheless have been active in the ProtoStar 2 preauction proceedings and attended the Dec. 10 hearing as well, according to bankruptcy court records of the meeting. Aside from SES, Asiasat and Intelsat, no other satellite operators or prospective buyers appeared at the court hearing, according to the list of attendees. Officials from all three companies declined Dec. 11 to discuss their strategies for ProtoStar 2. Intelsat won the ProtoStar 1 satellite at auction in late October, paying $210 million in cash. Intelsat plans to move the satellite, now called Intelsat 25, to 31.5 degrees west, where its C-band payload will provide communications links between Africa and the United States. The Ku-band payload will be used for a beam over West Africa, according to Intelsat.

Great flashback on Make:Online and Barminski:

OK, you're not really going to drink beer on C-SPAN or Larry King Live. But you can make it look like you did on video. I don't know why you'd want to, but let's just say you do. I know I did.

The method used to achieve this effect is called compositing. You will need a source video recorded from a television show, a replacement video you will shoot yourself, and a static matte — a shape cut out of the source video with Photoshop to hold the new video.

Materials

C-SPAN
Analog-to-video capture device
Final Cut Pro and Photoshop
Video camera
Tripod
Beer
Microphone to record belch
Business suit

 More from Barminski.

Maker Channel 103 – Smoke Rings, Theremin Orchestra, Pulse-Jet, Beer on CSPAN from make magazine on Vimeo.

From the Space Elevator Games...

Keep up with developments via the Space Elevator Blog. Next month, a conference in Luxembourg.

Viasat announces it is buying WildBlue Communications for $568M in cash and stock.

[TheStreet.com  - 10/01/2009]

Thales Alenia Space signs contract with APT Satellite Company Limited to design and build APSTAR 7, to provide broadcasting and communications services over the Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East, and part of Europe.
[SatNews - 10/01/2009]

Ariane 5 delivers two payloads to orbit; Amazonas 2 for Spain's HISPASAT, the COMSATBw-1 for Germany.
[SatNews - 10/01/2009]

EGNOS, a free satellite navigation network, is launched by the European Union, intended to help pilots, drivers, and blind people by fine tuning GPS accuracy to within 2 meters..
[SatNews - 10/01/2009]

Terrestar Genus hybrid satellite/cell phone is coming to AT&T.
[Digital Trends - 10/01/2009]

Comtech EFData gets $1.1M order from U.S. government for equipment to support the government's satellite-based communications infrastructure.
[Newsday - 10/01/2009]

TeleCommunications Systems gets $11.7M contract from U.S. Army to provide additional Secret Internet Protocal Router and Non-secure Int ernet Protocal Router FSAT systems to the United States Forces Afghanistan.
[Sys-Con - 10/01/2009]

Soyuz TMA-16 launch carries Jeffrey Williams and Maxim Suraev of the 21st space station crew into space for a six month stay aboard the International Space Station.
[SatNews - 09/30/2009]

B-52 bombers will be getting a new satellite communications system, to be developed and installed by Boeing.
[Minot  Daily News - 09/30/2009]

NSS-12 satellite, the first satellite built by Space Systems/Loral for SES NEW SKIES, is delivered to Kourou launch base for October 29 scheduled launch.
[TMCnet - 09/30/2009]

THOR 6, aTelenor's latest satellite, arrives safely at Guiana Spaceport In Kourou for scheduled end of October launch.
[SatNews - 09/29/2009]

Terrestar will be able to deliver the most advanced communications services over a large area using a single satellite instead of multiple satellites using 18-meter antenna deflector built and successfully deployed by Harris.
[TMCnet -09/29/2009]

KVH TracPhone FleetBroadband systems receive new "505" emergency calling service which routes calls directly to Coast Guard rescue centers worldwide.
[PRNewswire - 09/28/2009]

China plans to build and launch a communications satellite for Laos.
[RedOrbit - 09/27/2009]

WBMSAT PS - Satellite Communications Consulting Services

We've been ready for the digital transition, with a DB4 antenna locked on to local broadcasts. Haven't gotten my new coupons yet (the old ones expired, which was stupid).

The FCC is giving it one last push, evidenced by this appearance on CNBC: