Really Rocket Science

Yesterday’s Astronomy Picture of the Day was particularly beautiful:

From the NASA website:

Explanation: What’s that pale blue dot in this image taken from Saturn? Earth. The robotic Cassini spacecraft looked back toward its old home world earlier this month as it orbited Saturn. Using Saturn itself to block the bright Sun, Cassini imaged a faint dot on the right of the above photograph. That dot is expanded on the image inset, where a slight elongation in the direction of Earth’s Moon is visible. Vast water oceans make Earth’s reflection of sunlight somewhat blue. Earth is home to over six billion humans and over one octillion Prochlorococcus.

We’ve written before about how dramatically the intersection of television and computers — particularly through IPTV and satcom– will transform the media marketplace and the media consumption habits of ordinary people.

That transformation is several steps closer to reality, if news of new gadgets today is any indication.

First up is the DirecTV Plus HD DVR — the result of a partnership between DirecTV and Intel:

[I]n other news to come out of the Intel Developers Forum, DirecTV and Intel are joining forces to produce the DirecTV Plus HD DVR — which we first heard about all the way back at CES — allowing viewers to check out content via the interweb when connected to a Viiv PC. In addition, there will be a new software update for DirecTV subscribers by the end of the year that turns subscribers’ set-top-boxes into digital media adapters, the companies said in a press release earlier today. The new DVR, to be released later this fall, will capture 200 hours of standard definition programming or 50 hours of HD, or whatever combination of the two your little heart desires.

CNET also reports that Apple’s iTV wireless router — connecting TV to PC or Mac — will be coming out soon:

 Apple Computer’s take on the living room became a little clearer… with its preview of a new networking product….

CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple is working on a product code-named iTV that will allow both Mac and PC users to watch movies or television shows purchased from the iTunes store in their living rooms….

The iTV box won’t be available until the first quarter of 2007, but Jobs said it will cost $299 and walked attendees at Apple’s press event in San Francisco through a brief demonstration of its capabilities.

The iTV unit is basically a wireless router with ports for video connections to televisions, including an HDMI port for high-definition digital televisions. The idea is to hook it up to a television or set-top box as another video input device, and access video content stored on a Mac or PC through a special Apple remote control, Jobs said.

And if neither Apple nor DirecTV whet your whistle in anticipation of the coming transformation in consumer media choice, AT&T’s U-Verse fiber-based television service is set to offer some cool options, according to Engadget: 

 U-verse users, meet HDTV. We just got word that AT&T’s IPTV service is going to be blessed with numerous upgrades within the next few weeks that will include HDTV support, more channels, more VOD, games, personal photos and other unannounced features. This rollout seems to be within the same speculated time frame of October 25th to coincide with the launch of those brand spanking new Motorola DVR’s; whenever it does happen, though, these features will be implemented during the slow viewing times between 11 PM and 5 AM with the hope of minimizing service interruption. On a similar note, AT&T is upgrading DVRs to prep for this rollout, with customers seeing all previously recorded programs erased and all scheduled recordings canceled after October 5th. But keep in mind this is for high-def along with more content, so hopefully the ends will justify the means — you can deal with a few Adult Swim-free nights for the greater good, right?

 The times, they certainly are a-changin’.

On Saturday, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched  the M-V Launch Vehicle No. 7 (M-V-7) at 6:36 a.m. Japan Standard Time from the Uchinoura Space Center.

Within an hour, JAXA started receiving signals from the rocket’s satellite payload —  the SOLAR-B, a sun observation "microscrope" nicknamed "Hinode" ("sunrise") by JAXA engineers.

The BBC has more on the SOLAR-B and its mission of studying solar flares, which "release the equivalent of tens of millions of hydrogen bombs in just a few minutes:"

 The probe will attempt to find out more about the magnetic fields thought to power solar flares, and try to identify the trigger that sets them off.

The ultimate goal for scientists is to use the new insights to make better forecasts of the Sun’s behaviour.

Flares can hurl radiation and super-fast particles in the direction of the Earth, disrupting radio signals, frying satellite electronics, and damaging the health of astronauts….

Solar-B is expected to transform our understanding [of solar flares].

It carries three instruments: a Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), an X-ray Telescope and an Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer.

They will make continuous, simultaneous observations of specific solar features, to observe how changes in the magnetic field at the Sun’s surface can spread through the layers of the solar atmosphere to produce, ultimately, a flare.

"Solar-B acts essentially like a microscope, probing the fine details of what the magnetic field is doing as it builds up to a flare," said mission scientist Professor Louise Harra, from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL, UK.

"What we don’t know is what triggers a flare; we don’t understand the physics of that phase at all. Solar-B will show us how tangled the field is, and how the field lines collide to produce all that energy."

In October, NASA will contribute to the growing understanding of solar flares when it launches its Stereo mission – twin spacecraft that will make 3D observations of the sun.

Better understanding of solar flares is critical, as John Davis, Solar-B project scientist at Nasa’s Marshall Center, told the BBC.

"The information that Solar-B will provide is significant for understanding and forecasting of solar disturbances, which can interfere with satellite communications, electric power transmission grids, and threaten the safety of astronauts travelling beyond the safety of the Earth’s magnetic field," he said.

(Video of the M-V-7 launch can be found here (in the right hand column).) 

We’ve written recently about DIY techniques for getting satellite reception on your RV. But doing it yourself, we readily admit, requires actually doing something yourself, which can be a drag (especially on Mondays!) .

Sometimes, after all, you just want to lean back and have the sort of unbridled fun that the guys in the photo to the right are clearly having.

Luckily for the want-it-now crowd, there are several consumer options already on the market that will bring you (or, more precisely and safely, your passengers) satellite television reception in your minivan or SUV while you barrel down the interstate.

One such system is RaySat’s T5 low-profile in-motion satellite antenna,  which "can work across multiple Ku-Band frequencies (factory option) in either linear or circular polarization (field option) and operate over many geographical regions, multiple satellites and any DTH (dedicated) infrastructure." Another system — the TracVision A7 mobile satellite system — is now being offered by DIRECTV, which also offers a mobile programming option:

Recognizing the growing interest among American motorists who want the same DIRECTV entertainment experience in their cars that they have in their homes, DIRECTV is now delivering to car video screens live local news, weather, traffic, sports and other local entertainment programming.

Local broadcast channels via DIRECTV are now available to mobile customers on the open road within the continental United States to vehicles that have been equipped with a TracVision A7 mobile satellite TV system, launched today by KVH Industries, Inc. DIRECTV will provide mobile customers their local broadcast channels within the designated market areas where it already offers them to home viewers. Local channels availability may vary by market. DIRECTV delivers local programming in 142 markets, representing 94 percent of U.S. television households.

DIRECTV’s TOTAL CHOICE(R) Mobile with local channels package, created exclusively for mobile customers with a low-profile automotive TracVision system, is available for $44.99, and offers more than 185 channels. To receive local channels in their car, DIRECTV customers must purchase a new TracVision A7 satellite TV system, which includes an integrated GPS unit and new 12-volt receiver jointly developed by DIRECTV and KVH.

The mobile local channels offering is part of a larger strategy by DIRECTV to target the more than 20 million U.S. vehicles expected to have in-vehicle passenger video systems by 2011, according to the leading analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.

We’ve written before about the nexus between IPTV and satellite communications technology, including SES Americom’s IP-PRIME (which recently signed up more than 120 channels through transport agreements with leading television programmers and networks) — but what about IP Radio?

Companies like Barix (whose consumer products can be viewed here) utilize IP radio and satellite technology for IP connections as a backup against studio power outages, as Radio World reports:

Barix AG said Clear Channel Satellite Services is using its products for point-to-multipoint IP connectivity from Englewood, Colo., to Clear Channel radio towers in the southeastern United States….

The system was launched in June in advance of the hurricane season and connects stations in the Gulf region. Stations there “now can remain on the air in the event that studios go dark in extreme weather or other disaster conditions, allowing stations to broadcast important information to local populations in emergency situations,” the supplier stated.

Englewood streams audio to towers sites in preparation for broadcast should studios experience power outages. Barionets at those sites are used to activate and switch the Exstreamer backup audio feed for transmission over the air. The latter devices are controlled from Englewood via the IP connection established over the satellite.

Stations in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas are connected; the broadcast group hopes to expand the system to around 900 towers over the next year.

Such systems provide important redundancy to over-the-air broadcasts, but radio (eh, Marconi?) is not just about broadcasting from one to many — it’s about multi-point, multi-way communications, as well.

Which, when you think about it, is exactly the model upon which internet protocol is designed. So why aren’t we seeing more IP Walkie Talkies?

Well, we may soon. Cisco last fall announced technology and a new business unit "focused on integrating two-way radio, cellular, VoIP and other communications methods into an IP backbone:"

 The IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS) consists of existing Cisco products and new server software that Cisco says will let public safety organizations and companies IP-enable two-way radio voice traffic and integrate disparate radio infrastructures with other public safety or private organizations.

While initially focused on public safety and government users – patching together systems of separate police, fire and governmental organizations, for example – Cisco says the IPICS platform will appeal to a broad range of public and private enterprise customers because the system also is capable of integrating disparate data and video signals with an IP infrastructure.

"[IPICS] is not a communications system in itself; it’s something that enables disparate communication systems out there to work together in an IP format," says Brad Curran, an industry analyst with Frost and Sullivan who tracks government and military communications technology industries.

Cisco Systems president and Chairman  John Chambers recently gave the keynote address (more info here) and a demonstration of IPICS at the Security Standard Conference in Boston:

IPICS focuses on voice interoperability across multiple networks, and provides services for user management, policy creation, and integration of diverse PTT devices. But Chambers said its underlying architecture would enable IPICS to extend beyond voice to provide complete information-based interoperability and collaboration, with the contextual integration of voice, video, and data resources.

The potential for a company as large as Cisco to transform IP Radio and push past the barriers of interoperability should not be underestimated. Indeed, it could be as transformative as radio itself.

Before radio, after all, instant communications across great distances relied upon point-to-point connections via the telegraph. Today’s networks similarly limit communications to those with devices capable of communicating on those networks. True interoperability — a result of the nexus between satcom, IP and radio — could literally change the way we communicate.

But then, as Rocket Scientists (cough, cough), we’ve always been excited by the potential of new technology. 

Intel, working in conjunction with Brazilian schools and companies, has brought easily accessible broadband to Parintins, an isolated city of 114,000 on an island in the Amazon Basin, CNET News reports.

A tower for WiMax, a long-range wireless technology, was set up on the island and connects two schools, a hospital, a community center and a university to a broadband network…. The new WiMax network could help eliminate some of the problems that come with living deep in Brazil’s interior. The hospital, for instance, will use the link for telemedicine and remote diagnostics. The city only has one hospital and 32 doctors. "Most likely, if you need a specialist you need to go to Manaus (a 15-hour boat ride away) or Sao Paolo," said Carreon. Intel estimates that the new network will serve about 1,500 students and 10,000 community members.

Computing News in Minsk provides additional details on Intel’s movement into Brazil:

Intel aims to extend wireless PC access to millions of citizens in Latin America and train more than a million teachers about the effective use of technology in the classroom. In Parintins, Intel has already trained 24 teachers through its education initiatives. The Intel Teach Program teaches teachers how to use technology to improve the way students learn. The Intel Learn Program provides job-readiness skills to underprivileged students between the ages of 10 and 18.

The Intel press release describes the deployment of WiMax in Parintins as part of a "global movement to bring technology to the next billion people." Video and an audio interview with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett is also available on the Intel site.

 Brazil isn’t the only emerging market entering the WiMax era: DataWeek reports that Saab Grintek is preparing a WiMax roll-out in South Africa. Given the ability of WiMax to "leapfrog" into areas with under-developed infrastructures, it may well be that WiMax will arrive in emerging markets long before it’s seen widely in European, North American and Asian markets.

American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari is set to become the world’s first female space tourist on Monday when she departs the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Russian Soyuz rocket as part of Virginia-based Space Adventures plan to bring ordinary (if wealthy) tourists to the stars. 

The AP provides details: 

After months of preparation at Moscow’s Star City training centre and a payment of some 25 million dollars (20 million euros), Ansari is due to spend 10 days on board the ISS, fast becoming the world’s most exclusive resort.

After Ansari, Michael Lopez-Alegria of the United States and Mikhail Tyurin of Russia have adapted to weightlessness, the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule will dock at the ISS on Wednesday.

Ansari, a 40-year-old engineer who made her millions in the US telecoms sector, is planning to take pictures, shoot film and write an Internet travel blog during her stay.

Space.com notes that Ansari is no stranger to space flight:

Ansari’s family made a multimillion-dollar contribution to back the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million suborbital competition for privately-developed, reusable spacecraft. A team led by veteran aerospace designer Burt Rutan and backed by millionaire Paul Allen won the contest in 2004 when their piloted SpaceShipOne vehicle launched into suborbital space twice in two weeks.

Together with her husband Hamid and brother-in-law Amir, Ansari also co-founded the Dallas-based company Prodea to develop the Explorer line of air-launched suborbital vehicles under a partnership with Space Adventures.

Explorer spaceport plans in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore are moving ahead in anticipation of the spacecraft’s development.

Space.com also offers a great interview with Ansari.

We’ll have more coverage of the launch and, of course, Ansari’s blog, on Monday.
 

We wrote last month about the Chinese launch of their seed-breeding satellite.

Now the Chinese hope to breed lots of new channels for millions of people with the launch of its SinoSat 2 satellite at the end of October:

A Chinese Chang Zheng (Long March) 3B carrier rocket is scheduled to launch the SinoSat 2 (a.k.a. Xinnuo 2), satellite… from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. According to Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration, the Xinnuo 2 large-capacity communications satellite, with an anti-jamming system, will provide direct television broadcasting services to the Chinese mainland, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. On Monday, August 4, the satellite left the production facility after receiving its final checks by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence. Xinnuo 2 is based on the Dongfanghong 4 platform and has been designed to work with the ChinaSat 9 satellite in the same orbit, to provide communications services to the Chinese mainland. The ChinaSat 9 satellite is based on the Spacebus 4000 C1 platform and will be positioned at 92.2 degrees east. The Xinnuo 2 satellite, which has taken China six years to develop, is designed to have a lifespan of 15 years, and operated in geosynchronous orbit at 110.5 deg E. China has managed to launch 70 satellites since the 1970’s, of which, currently only 20 are still in service today.

China Daily has additonal information on how the Chinasat 9 and Sinosat 2 satellites will improve television coverage in local areas; the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union notes that the new satellite will provide up to 300 million mainland households with "access to cable-quality TV services that have so far been restricted to China’s more urban areas."

The launch of SinoSat 9 comes just in time a new cultural great leap forward in China, as January, 2007 will bring the introduction of a Chinese version of America’s Next Top Model to Chinese television.

(The photo above shows the areas of coverage for the new satellite.)

Back in June, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) and satellite internet provider WildBlue announced the creation of "WildBlue U" (opens in PDF) — a program and contest to promote the use of WildBlue’s satellite internet services in rural areas where DSL or traditional cable access to high speed internet service is unavailable.

Today the NRTC awarded Bobby Mills a $10,000 scholarship for selling the most WildBlue satellite Internet subscriptions over the summer. From the NRTC press release:

Mills was one of 28 students who participated in "WildBlue U," a program NRTC created and implemented in partnership with local utilities. The program provided paid internships to students to market WildBlue in their communities. As of Sept. 1, 2006, the interns participating in WildBlue U sold nearly 1,500 WildBlue subscriptions over the summer. Mills attends the University of Nevada, Reno where he is majoring in journalism. To help drive WildBlue sales, Plumas Sierra and Mills developed a "Got Bobby?" campaign, which featured information about Bobby and WildBlue on its Web site with an appeal to help Bobby win the contest and earn a $10,000 scholarship. "The style and coordination of the WildBlue U program offered up a competitive atmosphere that provided one with a real sense of job contentment, and an uplifting feeling of success with each closed sale," said Mills. "Commissions and rewards within the program were extremely generous, especially when taking the state of a typical college student’s wages into consideration." In addition to the $10,000 scholarship, NRTC awarded eight $1,000 scholarships. 

 
The NRTC contest isn’t the only contest promoting the intersection of today’s students with satellite technology. Next Friday marks the final deadline for submissions to the SES Americom Arthur C. Clarke Challenge (preliminary applications were due Sepember 1st. The Clarke Challenge is a "new annual award program for the very best creative, problem-solving idea that can propel the continued growth and expansion of commercial communications services and applications from satellites operating in the Clarke Orbit." More information on the Clarke Challenge can be found here; we’ll also bring you updates on the submissions and awards here at Really Rocket Science after the application date closes.

Japan, seeking to reduce its dependence on the United States and other countries for its foreign intelligence capabilities, launched its third spy satellite into orbit today aboard an H2-A rocket, the BBC reports:

Japan has two spy satellites already in orbit. Two others were lost when a rocket failed in November 2003.

Japan began its intelligence-gathering satellite programme following North Korea’s test launch of a long-range missile that flew over Japan in 1998.

This launch follows a series of missile tests by Pyongyang in July, which included a new weapon, the Taepodong-2, which is potentially capable of hitting parts of the United States.

The Japan Times provides more detail on the need for the satellite in a preview article published on Saturday:

The satellite will likely focus mainly on North Korea, particularly its ballistic missile sites. Tokyo considers the missiles one of the main threats to the country.

But since Japan’s spy satellites are inferior to those of the U.S. military, and even some newer commercial satellites, government officials say Japan must keep developing its own surveillance technology to ensure it has an independent source of intelligence.

"We have been far behind the U.S. To put it bluntly, the gap is like the one between a kindergartner and a college student," said Yoshio Omori, former head of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, an intelligence-gathering body that reports directly to the prime minister.

"Without independent information-gathering capability, Japan will be a blind follower (of other countries)," Omori warned.