October 2011 Archives

You knew something like this had to happen some day. Bloomberg has the scoop, citing a draft of the annual US-China Economic and Security Review, itself citing closed briefings from the US air force. Excerpt below, and link here.

A Landsat-7 earth observation satellite system experienced 12 or more minutes of interference in October 2007 and July 2008, according to the report.

Hackers interfered with a Terra AM-1 earth observation satellite twice, for two minutes in June 2008 and nine minutes in October that year, the draft says, citing a closed-door U.S. Air Force briefing.

The draft report doesn't elaborate on the nature of the hackers' interference with the satellites.

The news comes hot on the heels of news about a keystroke logger infecting Predator UAV ground stations. Presumably this involves NASA's Near Earth Network ground station in Svalbard, Norway, but this is yet to be confirmed. The nature of the 'interference' is unknown, and there is no immediate comment from NASA or USAF.

I doubt NASA's data is heavily encrypted, but it would be interesting to see just how targeted these civil observation satellites are, and what data -- if any -- was taken, and what the extent of control was.

Vega, the European Space Agency's new light launcher, has now got its maiden flight date set, for 26 January 2012. ESA had been hoping to launch during 2011, but the critical parameter was to get Vega launched between the 20 October launch of Soyuz and the beginning of preparations at Kourou, French Guiana for the next Automated Transfer Vehicle launch, via Ariane 5, to the International Space Station.

European made components have arrived by sea at Kourou from Avio's factory in Colleferro, near Rome. The inaugural campaign will begin on November 7 with rollout of Vega's P80 first stage to the launch pad, followed during the subsequent weeks by stacking of the Zefiro 23 second stage and Zefiro 9 third stage - all of which are loaded with solid-propellant. A progress review will be held on December 7 to authorize a continuation of the final integration process - allowing the bi-propellant Attitude and Vernier Upper Module (AVUM) to be mated atop the launcher, and final operations to begin with the mission's multi-spacecraft payload.

carrying LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite) and nine cubesat educational payloads of varying sizes.

Vega will lift off from the Spaceport's ZLV launch site, which originally was used for the Ariane 1 and Ariane 3 vehicles.

The medium-lift Soyuz and light category Vega will complement ESA's heavylift Ariane 5s to provide a fully flexible range of launch options at Kourou. Vega, whose first stage is one of the world's biggest carbon fibre single-piece structures, is designed to launch satellites up to 1.5 tonnes into 700km polar orbits. As French Guiana is much closer to the equator than Soyuz's normal launch site at Baikonur, added boost from the Earth's spin will nearly double its maximum payload to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) to 3 tonnes. Ariane 5 can lift 10 tonnes to GTO, though ESA member governments are thought to be moving towards approval of a mid-life upgrade to increase payload capacity.

A longer-term project is also underway, to develop a a high-thrust cryogenic engine that could form the basis of ESA's next-generation launcher. It will not fly until about 2025, but is intended to provide a medium-lift capability in a modular design, with a re-ignitable upper stage and options for strap-on solid propellant boosters offering extra thrust.

If you're interested in the future of spaceflight, it's worth taking the time to watch this video from The Amazing Meeting (TAM) 2011. Lightly moderated by Phil Plait of the blog Bad Astronomy, the panel features Bill Nye (the science guy), famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, legendary physicist Lawrence Krauss and astronomer Pamela Gay.

At issue is whether human spaceflight is as valuable as robotic probes, and whether or not to go ice fishing on Europa.

It's important to note that although panelists mention the James Webb telescope, the panel took place before the SLS decision.

Following this morning's successful Soyuz launch from French Guiana, the mission's payload - the first two Galileo navigation satellites - are due for separation at 16:20 CEST/14:20GMT. The European Space Agency will provide live streaming from 15:40 CEST/14:40GMT:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Galileo_IOV/SEMDRFFURTG_0.html

According to launch operator Arianespace, this morning's Soyuz countdown abort was caused by a leak in a launch pad pneumatic system that activates the pre-planned disconnection of fueling lines to the rocket's third stage, before the vehicle lifts off. The problem was not on the rocket itself, according to Arianespace chief executive Jean-Yves Le Gall.

Le Gall added: "During the final phase of third stage fueling, there apparently was a change in pressure in this pneumatic system, and we observed the unplanned disconnection of the two connectors that enable the fueling of Soyuz' third stage with liquid oxygen and kerosene.

"The problem apparently is due to a valve leak in this pneumatic system, and we have taken the decision to empty the launcher and replace the valve."

Le Gall underscored that the identified anomaly is in the ground-based pneumatic system, not on the launch vehicle.

Fueling of the Soyuz is performed inside the mobile service gantry, which continues to remain in place on the launch pad.  The launcher and its payload of two Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) satellites are in a safe mode, as is the ELS launch site.

Le Gall said a decision is to be made later today on whether to reschedule the liftoff for tomorrow: "We will confirm this once the valve is replaced; the decision also will take into account the launch team members - who worked all night during the original countdown."

If the launch is approved for tomorrow, the liftoff time would be four minutes earlier - at 7:30 am local time, or 1230 CST/1030 GMT.

Watch the launch live here.

This morning's scheduled historic first launch of a Soyuz rocket from the European Space Agency's French Guiana facility was delayed when "an anomaly detected during fueling of the Soyuz launcher's third stage" interruped the countdown.
According to launch operator Arianespace, the Soyuz (pictured being set up on the pad) and its two Galileo satellites, along with the launch facility, have been placed in a safe mode. A new launch date will be formally announced later today, but an earlier statement by the European Commission's wonderfully-named esPRESSo news service said that 24h would do the trick, with lift-off now expected for 1230 CEST/1030 GMT/0730 local time tomorrow, Friday 21 October.
The launch will be the first shot in a push to orbit enough Galileo navigation spacecraft for global coverage in 2014 - that's seven years behind the original plan, so a day more to loft the first couple units is neither her nor there.
Watch the launch online here.

Don't let anybody tell you the people at Surrey Satellite Technology aren't very serious about what they do - or don't have a sense of humour. Herewith one of the bins at their Guildford headquarters:

Just as the Iranians don't reveal failed launches, NASA doesn't reveal all their satellite reentries...

Have a good weekend!

From Flightglobal/Ascend space guru Phil Hylands:

During the Iranian month of Shahrivar (23 August - 22 September) Iran attempted to launch a Rhesus Monkey into space on a Kavoshgar-5 launch vehicle into a sub-orbital trajectory. It was to fly to an altitude of 120 kilometres for a 20 minute flight. This launch failed and therefore was not published by the Iranian authorities. The details of the failure have not been made public nor the fate of the Monkey. On October 3rd the Iranian authorities indefinitely postponed any plans to send a Monkey into space without giving any reasons.

A Turkish paper, Hurriyet Daily News, says the monkey died during the process. (H/T Atlanticwire). Recall that the American space programme killed quite a few monkeys in its early days as well. The Soviets preferred to launch dogs; some of them died, including the famed Laika, a Moscow stray that became the first Earth-born creature ever launched into orbit.

Flightglobal/Ascend's database notes four Iranian rocket launches:

SAFIR 1 SUBORBITAL TEST FLIGHT	SUBORBITAL LAUNCH: Failed to achieve correct trajectory (Launcher related)	04/02/2008
IRANIAN DUMMY SATELLITE	LAUNCH: Failed to enter Earth orbit (Launcher Pre-sep related)	16/08/2008
OMID	LAUNCH: Satellite launched successfully	02/02/2009
RASAD 1	LAUNCH: Satellite launched successfully	15/06/2011

The European Space Agency just released this video to show how its Galileo satellite navigation system works. I love the part about how a nanosecond error in the onboard clocks would translate to a 30m error on the ground - but if that error were a second, the position error would amount to 300,000km, enough to leave driver wondering whether they were approaching the house or cruising on the Moon.


The first two spacecraft are due for launch on 20 October, and then ESA will be making a fast-track push to provide near-global coverage in 2014 and, in 2019, a full constellation of 27 spacecraft and three orbiting spares.

Unlike the USA's GPS system, Galileo will be fully under civilian control. The idea is to ensure that Europe is self-sufficient in a technology that is becomming increasingly indispensible. Galileo will also do a better job than GPS at high latitudes, so Nordic Europeans should really notice the difference. Everybody else can be sure sure of continuous service - no worries about the US military degrading the signal in an emergency - and, combined with the ground-based signal enhancement system called EGNOS that went live earlier this year, can get position information accurate to less than 1m. EGNOS signals are free, too, and Brussels is encouraging companies to develop receivers and services to exploit them.

Budget wrangles will have delayed Galileo by seven years by the time coverage goes global in 2014, but it should be well worth the wait. Satnav services are already coming down in price, so the combination of an added layer of reliability and better geographic coverage should make them cheap and easy to use for any conceivable application.

(Awesome image from wearscience.com)

2011 Nobel Prize in Physics
Contrary to popular opinion, scientific breakthroughs are rarely the result of a brilliant person waking up one day with an ephiphany. Generally speaking, a big scientific breakthrough is the result of discrete groups of mere relatively-smart people, working in cooperation or isolation, conducting observations or experiments that add incrementally to humanity's knowledge.

Singling out individuals to praise has its benefits (it makes things easier on ignorant aerospace journalists for one) but it's worth noting that however brilliant and creative the awardees themselves may be, they're at the pinnacle of a very large human pyramid.

With that, congratulations to Drs. Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess for winning the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. Working in two teams, with time on some serious telescopes (including the Hubble Space Telescope), they discovered that light from a certain Type 1A supernova (a type known for its dependable characteristics) had greater redshift than expected. Which means that the supernova is moving away from Earth faster than expected. The expansion of the universe was supposed to be slowing down due to gravitational attraction, not speeding up. It was a surprising finding, because it meant there had to be some force overcoming gravitational pull. This gave rise to a weird theory: dark energy, the idea that there is a form of previously undetected energy. Since then, scientists have found all sorts of indirect evidence for dark energy.

I don't pretend to understand the math, the science or really even the English language. Fortunately, there are people that do (PDF):

From urine to rocket fuel
From the journal Nature comes an article about anammox bacteria, which feed on ammonia (NH3) and excrete nitrogen (N2). The bacteria was discovered in a sewer in the 1990s, but has since become a common addition to sewage facilities as a waste purification method.

To turn ammonia into nitrogen, the bacteria must initiate several successive chemical reactions. One of these intermediate steps results in the creation of hydrazine (N2H4), a chemical that wasn't previously known to occur in nature. Amongst other things, hydrazine is used as an in-space monopropellant for spacecraft. The thrusters that spacecraft use to move around in space? Largely hydrazine.

The new paper explores just how anammox bacteria are able to make hydrazine. Since chemistry is to me largely indistinguishable from witchcraft, here's what Jyllian Kemsley of Chemical & Engineering News had to say:

"Kartal and colleagues found that K. stuttgartiensis first uses a reductase enzyme to convert NO₂^- to NO. Then a three-protein hydrazine synthase complex combines NO and NH₄⁺ to form N₂H₄. Finally, a hydrazine dehydrogenase enzyme converts N₂H₄ to N₂. The electrons for the first two steps of the process come from the final oxidation of N₂H₄ to N₂."

The hydrazine is of course produced in very small amounts, and at this stage it doesn't seem practical to harvest it, which would require somehow stopping subsequent reactions (and a whole lot of money). But hey, pretty cool, huh?