World of Satellite-News Updates

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April 29th, 2013

Russia... Joining Its Orbiting Siblings (Launch)

Russia has successfully launched a satellite for the GLONASS navigation system from...
...its northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the Defense Ministry reported last Friday. The GLONASS-M satellite was launched by a Soyuz 2-1b rocket on Friday morning Moscow time, Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said. After reaching a designated orbit, the satellite will complete several weeks of commissioning and testing before entering regular service.

GLONASS is Russia’s global positioning systems and is designed for both military and civilian use. The new spacecraft will join the GLONASS system of 23 operational satellites, two spacecraft undergoing in-orbit maintenance and three orbital spares as well as a new-generation GLONASS-K in test flight, according to the Defense Ministry. The GLONASS satellite constellation, which was initially completed in 1995, suffered from insufficient financing that eventually caused gaps in coverage. However, a renewed commitment to the system saw full global coverage restored by 2011.

 

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April 29th, 2013

Virgin Galactic... Rocket-Powered First Flight... (Spacecraft)

Virgin Galactic completed the first rocket-powered flight of its...
...space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2). The test, conducted by teams from Scaled Composites (Scaled) and Virgin Galactic, officially marks Virgin Galactic’s entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt, our single most important flight test to date,” said Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson, who was on the ground in Mojave to witness the occasion. “For the first time, we were able to prove the key components of the system, fully integrated and in flight. Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship’s powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end. We saw history in the making today and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved.”



SS2 First Supersonic Flight Telescope Image,
courtesy of Virgin Galactic.The test began at 7:02 a.m. local time when SS2 took off from Mojave Air and Space Port mated to WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), Virgin Galactic’s carrier aircraft. Piloting SS2 were Mark Stucky, pilot, and Mike Alsbury, co-pilot, who are test pilots for Scaled, which built SS2 for Virgin Galactic. At the WK2 controls were Virgin Galactic’s Chief Pilot Dave Mackay, assisted by Clint Nichols and Brian Maisler, co-pilot and flight test engineer, respectively, for Scaled.
Upon reaching 47,000 feet altitude and approximately 45 minutes into the flight, SS2 was released from WK2. After cross-checking data and verifying stable control, the pilots triggered ignition of the rocket motor, causing the main oxidizer valve to open and igniters to fire within the fuel case. At this point, SS2 was propelled forward and upward to a maximum altitude of 55,000 feet. The entire engine burn lasted 16 seconds, as planned. During this time, SS2 went supersonic, achieving Mach 1.2. The entire rocket-powered flight test lasted just over 10 minutes, culminating in a smooth landing for SS2 in Mojave at approximately 8:00 a.m. local time.

“The rocket motor ignition went as planned, with the expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid vehicle handling qualities throughout,” said Virgin Galactic President & CEO George Whitesides. “The successful outcome of this test marks a pivotal point for our program. We will now embark on a handful of similar powered flight tests, and then make our first test flight to space.”

In the coming months, the Virgin Galactic and Scaled test team will expand the spaceship’s powered flight envelope culminating in full space flight, which the companies anticipate will take place before the end of 2013.

 

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April 29th, 2013

Dejero + IMT... Changing Network Conditions Accounted For... (SatBroadcasting™—ENG)


Dejero and Integrated Microwave Technologies, LLC (IMT) have announced that the...
...Dejero + Nucomm Connect Live transmitter was named a Pick Hit by Broadcast Engineering magazine at the 2013 NAB Show. Connect Live is a next-generation, camera-mounted cellular and microwave bonding system for electronic newsgathering (ENG) that offers mobile news teams a highly flexible and powerful alternative to traditional satellite and microwave links.

The Pick Hits are the longest-running and most prestigious technical awards presented at the NAB Show, chosen by a panel of independent judges who tour the show floor for three days to identify innovative products and technologies. The judges make their selections based on numerous criteria, including the technical and financial improvements the product can bring to a facility's operation. The Dejero + Nucomm Connect Live transmitter was among only 33 products chosen as Pick Hits.

Connect Live is a powerful combination of IMT's coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (COFDM) technology and Dejero's patent-pending Adaptive Bitrate Encoding technologies. Adaptive Bitrate Encoding enables the transmitter to compensate for changing network conditions by adjusting frame rate, resolution, encoding rates, and streaming parameters. When the story is critical and cellular issues arise, news crews can feel confident the story will get covered by switching to microwave. In this manner, the system is able to bond up to four cellular 3G or 4G LTE networks—as well as any combination of Ka-band satellite, Wi-Fi®, Ethernet—to provide maximum throughput for video transmissions. Driven by innovation from both companies, the new Connect Live system is the most versatile SD/HD live-news wireless camera system on the market today, and it offers full integration with the Dejero LIVE+ platform. The system is packaged with a five-inch, high-resolution touch-screen monitor designed to mount directly onto a range of small-format HD cameras used in today's broadcasts.

 

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April 29th, 2013

Hubble Happenings... Feeling The Heat... (Imagery)


Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have shown for the first time that...
...bursts of star formation have a major impact far beyond the boundaries of their host galaxy. These energetic events can affect galactic gas at distances of up to twenty times greater than the visible size of the galaxy—altering how the galaxy evolves, and how matter and energy is spread throughout the Universe. When galaxies form new stars, they sometimes do so in frantic episodes of activity known as starbursts. These events were commonplace in the early Universe, but are rarer in nearby galaxies. During these bursts, hundreds of millions of stars are born, and their combined effect can drive a powerful wind that travels out of the galaxy. These winds were known to affect their host galaxy—but this new research now shows that they have a significantly greater effect than previously thought.

An international team of astronomers observed 20 nearby galaxies, some of which were known to be undergoing a starburst. They found that the winds accompanying these star formation processes were capable of ionising [1] gas up to 650,000 light-years from the galactic centre—around 20x further out than the visible size of the galaxy. This is the first direct observational evidence of local starbursts impacting the bulk of the gas around their host galaxy, and has important consequences for how that galaxy continues to evolve and form stars.

“The extended material around galaxies is hard to study, as it’s so faint,” says team member Vivienne Wild of the University of St. Andrews. “But it’s important—these envelopes of cool gas hold vital clues about how galaxies grow, process mass and energy, and finally die. We’re exploring a new frontier in galaxy evolution!”

The team used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) instrument [2] on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to analyze light from a mixed sample of starburst and control galaxies. They were able to probe these faint envelopes by exploiting even more distant objects—quasars, the intensely luminous centres of distant galaxies powered by huge black holes. By analysing the light from these quasars after it passed through the foreground galaxies, the team could probe the galaxies themselves.


“Hubble is the only observatory that can carry out the observations necessary for a study like this,” says lead author Sanchayeeta Borthakur, of Johns Hopkins University. “We needed a space-based telescope to probe the hot gas, and the only instrument capable of measuring the extended envelopes of galaxies is COS.”

The starburst galaxies within the sample were seen to have large amounts of highly ionised gas in their halos—but the galaxies that were not undergoing a starburst did not. The team found that this ionisation was caused by the energetic winds created alongside newly forming stars. This has consequences for the future of the galaxies hosting the starbursts. Galaxies grow by accreting gas from the space surrounding them, and converting this gas into stars. As these winds ionise the future fuel reservoir of gas in the galaxy’s envelope, the availability of cool gas falls—regulating any future star formation.

“Starbursts are important phenomena—they not only dictate the future evolution of a single galaxy, but also influence the cycle of matter and energy in the Universe as a whole,” says team member Timothy Heckman, of Johns Hopkins University. “The envelopes of galaxies are the interface between galaxies and the rest of the Universe—and we’re just beginning to fully explore the processes at work within them.”

The team's results will appear in the May 1, 2013, issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Notes:
[1] A gas is said to be ionised when its atoms have lost one or more electrons — in this case by energetic winds exciting galactic gas and knocking electrons out of the atoms within.
[2] Spectrographs are instruments that break light into its constituent colours and measure the intensity of each colour, revealing information about the object emitting the light — such as its chemical composition, temperature, density, or velocity.

 

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May 2nd, 2013
UK Space Agency + NASA... May The Forces Be With Them... (Space Projects)

The Sun and our neighbouring planet Mars are two destinations that the U.K. and U.S. will be exploring together in...
...the coming years, following recent agreements for collaboration on three big space projects. During a visit this week to space facilities and companies in the U.K., Mason Peck, Chief Technologist at NASA, said, “Cooperation and collaboration are critical to meet increasingly global challenges, and our partnership with the United Kingdom in space exploration and technology development is essential to meeting common goals. I’m delighted I have the opportunity to see first hand the good work UK space companies are doing, and continue building this strong partnership.”

Dr. David Parker, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, added, “The UK has a long history of playing crucial roles in big US missions and a strong relationship with our colleagues at NASA. Space is big business for both the UK and global economies and an increasingly integral part of our lives. If we want to continue this success and push the boundaries of exploration, we must continue to foster the industry’s growth through strategic investment and close partnership with other space-faring nations.”


Sunjammer—the first collaborative mission scheduled for launch, will see two U.K. instruments fly on the largest solar sail ever constructed. Due for launch in 2014, this NASA mission will fly towards the Sun demonstrating solar sail technology and a range of other technologies. U.K. scientists at Imperial College London and MSSL are developing the mission’s magnetometer (MAGIC) and wind analyser (SWAN)— instruments that will study space weather and prove new technology in that field. While in space, the U.K. instruments onboard Sunjammer will start monitoring different aspects of space weather, paving the way to a better understanding of its processes and their influence on spaceborne and ground-based systems and assessing its potential to harm property or human health.

Insight—Due for launch in 2016, NASA’s Insight mission will also feature an instrument funded by the UK Space Agency, but this one will be going to the Red Planet. Designed to investigate the interior structure and processes of Mars, the SEIS-SP seismometer will listen for Marsquakes and use that information to map the boundaries between the rock layers inside the planet. The data will help determine if the planet has a liquid or solid core and provide some clues as to why its surface is not divided up into tectonic plates as on Earth. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientist understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve. The SEIS-SP will be provided by space scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford.

A European Mission with strong U.K. involvement, Solar Orbiter will travel closer to the Sun than any previous mission, studying the star’s Polar regions for the first time. It will also be synchronous with the Sun’s rotation, providing long duration observations for the first time and enabling the mission to observe the build up of events such as solar storms.
The UK Space Agency recently brokered an agreement for NASA to provide an instrument for the UK-led Solar Wind Analyser (SWA) suite of instruments. The SWA suite, led by MSSL, will measure the different elements of the solar wind and characterize their behavior under different solar conditions. The Mission is due for launch in 2017.

These latest collaborative missions follow in the footsteps of many other big NASA and international missions that have seen the U.K. play a crucial role. Among the most successful are the Cassini Huygens mission to explore Saturn and its moons, the STEREO Sun mission and the Swift gamma ray burst mission. Also under construction and due for launch in 2018 is the James Webb Space Telescope—a partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency that has a great deal of U.K. involvement in the form of the MIRI camera and spectrometer.

 

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May 2nd, 2013
Hiltron... @ BroadcastAsia2013 With... (SatBroadcasting™—SATCOM)

Hiltron will promote its full range of satellite communication products and services at...
...BroadcastAsia2013. Exhibiting on stand 5A1-01 at Broadcast Asia, Hiltron will be represented by Michael Schiestl, Managing Director. The center of attention will be the HMAM-IOT advanced satellite antenna mount, HCS4 satellite communications control system and HMCS D-SNG satellite-link monitor and controller.

Based on Hiltron's established and successful HMAM motorized antenna mount, the HMAM-IOT enables cost-efficient uplinks to be operated via inclined-orbit satellites. Satcom operators can achieve substantial reductions in costs by using satellites that are beyond their main service life. To conserve guidance propellant, older satellites are permitted to drift further from their nominal target position. The HMAM-IOT incorporates advanced tracking capabilities which enable the antenna to follow these variations in position.

The Hiltron Control System version 4 (HCS4) is a highly versatile controller with a wide range of applications in satellite communication. It allows easy switchover between main and backup devices such as downconverters, high-power amplifiers, waveguide switching systems, MPEG digital video broadcast encoders/modulators and integrated receiver/decoders. The HCS4 can also be used to power, control and monitor optical-fibre transceivers. Developed from Hiltron's established HCS3 satcom controller, the HCS4 is available with a touch-sensitive colour LCD screen on the front panel to allow very easy local control. Full remote operation via a user-friendly web-browser-based interface and SNMP is also possible.

Hiltron's HMCS is a software-based compact monitor and controller which enables digital satellite newsgathering truck staff to operate a complete satellite link. Integral auto-pointing capabilities enable a satellite feed between two ground locations to be established quickly and easily. The HMCS is a designed as a cost-efficient solution for any new HD DSNG truck or as a replacement for older satellite link control apparatus. It has an intuitive graphic interface with colour-coded alarm message handling and provides full control of contribution encoders. The HMCS integrates seamlessly with Hiltron's field-proven HSACU D-SNG antenna control unit.

 

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May 2nd, 2013
Boatracs’ BTConnect®...2,000 Vessels Can’t Be Wrong

“The adoption rate of this new product has been tremendous...Signing up over 2,000 vessels in just over a year...”
Boatracs Inc., a provider of integrated satellite communications and software solutions to the maritime industry, announced today that over 2,000 vessels are now being managed with Boatracs BTConnect®, making it the most widely used vessel tracking and fleet management software in the U.S. commercial maritime market.


BTConnect is the only fleet management platform to combine visual monitoring of vessel positions on an interactive map with location based two-way messaging and reporting, providing intelligence that enables owners and operators of offshore service, inland waterways, coastal workboat and commercial fishing fleets to run their companies more efficiently, safely and profitably.

BTConnect was launched to the maritime industry in North America as Boatracs’ next generation fleet management platform in early 2012, introducing a shore-side user interface that is web-based for flexible access to fleet-wide data from any computer, tablet or smart phone. The shore-side software was designed to improve efficiency with a single display that combines automated position reports with a host of other valuable features including route planning, map overlays, custom landmarks and historical vessel positions as well as two-way messages, logs and reports that include detailed vessel position information on all ship to shore communications. An optional vessel side application is also available with a simple user interface for captains to receive and send messages and logs to facilitate collecting critical vessel data.

“BTConnect is an outstanding product for managing our liftboats,” said W.D. ‘Butch’ Bazer, Operations Manager for the Liftboat Division of Aries Marine. “The software is very easy to navigate and the mobile access to fleet information is fantastic. The ability to log on from any computer or phone to see accurate vessel positions, messages and logs in real time greatly improves my visibility into fleet operations. We love the new application and use it every day to manage our boats more efficiently!”

BTConnect supports hardware on the OmniTRACS, AIS, KVH mini-VSAT and Iridium satellite networks. Boatracs is one of the few companies serving the maritime industry that provides both software and satellite communications hardware. That unique perspective has driven software development optimized for maritime communications networks by utilizing data compression and least cost routing to minimize data transmission costs.

Other unique benefits of Boatracs BTConnect include:


Integrated view to allow dispatch to monitor vessel positions and send a message or work order from the same display to streamline operations; positions are included on every ship to shore communication sent so fleet managers know what and where events occur.
Custom landmarks and global map layers to monitor and manage vessels with greater precision to increase vessel productivity and ensure compliance with regulations.
Extensive permission settings for granting limited or full information access to select employees, customers or third parties to put the right information in the hands of the right users.
Notifications tool to automatically route messages and logs to designated departments – billing information can go to accounting while safety information goes to HSE and vessel information goes to engineering - distributing vessel data easily and efficiently.
BTConnect API to access data for back office integration with databases and other applications such as accounting to streamline billing.
BTConnect integrates AIS data in its interface for even greater operational value.
“The adoption rate of this new product has been tremendous,” said Irwin Rodrigues, President and CEO of Boatracs. “Signing up over 2,000 vessels in just over a year underlines the value users are receiving from BTConnect as a shore-side fleet management solution. BTConnect is being used by maritime operations ranging from a single vessel to 100+ vessel fleets and customer feedback has been outstanding on the ease of use and access to operational data, demonstrating the broad range and versatility of its features. Staying connected to your fleet has become a critical component of successfully managing fleets today, and BTConnect provides the visibility owners and operators need to be competitive and profitable.”

 

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May 2nd, 2013
Roscosmos For More... (ISS Transportation)

NASA has signed a $424 million modification to its contract with the...
...Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) for full crew transportation services to the International Space Station in 2016 with return and rescue services extending through June 2017. NASA is facilitating development of a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the space station and low-Earth orbit beginning in 2017. This modification to the Roscosmos contract will ensure continued U.S. presence aboard the space station as NASA prepares for commercial crew providers to begin those transportation operations.

NASA is committed to launching U.S. astronauts aboard domestic spacecraft as soon as possible. Full funding of the administration's Fiscal Year 2014 budget request is critical to making these domestic capabilities possible by 2017.

This firm-fixed price modification covers comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, flight operations, landing and rescue of six space station crew members on long-duration missions. It also includes additional launch site support, which was provided previously under a separate contract. The modification will allow for a lead time of about three years Roscosmos needs to build additional Soyuz vehicles. These services will provide transportation to and from the International Space Station for U.S., and Canadian, European or Japanese astronauts.

 

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May 2nd, 2013
Harris CapRock Fleet Installation For Royalty...The Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

In nine months the company completed the process, which included the de-installation and installation of more than 120 large antenna systems onboard the fleet.

Harris CapRock Communications, the leading global provider of managed communication solutions for remote and harsh environments, has completed installing advanced communications solutions onboard 33 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. vessels that will improve crew morale, guest experiences and company operational efficiencies.

Harris was awarded the contract in April 2012, to provide communications services onboard Royal Caribbean’s fleet for its Royal Caribbean International®, Celebrity Cruises® and Azamara Club Cruises® brands.

“The new high-performing communication service deployed across our fleet enables innovative information technology solutions that improve both the crew and the guest experience while also improving our operational efficiencies. Harris CapRock’s capability as a world-class communications systems integrator makes this possible through seamless service delivery backed by 24/7 monitoring to ensure communications are always on,” said Bill Martin, vice president and chief information officer, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

In nine months Harris CapRock completed the process, which included the de-installation and installation of more than 120 large antenna systems onboard the fleet. Each ship was equipped with Harris CapRock’s SpaceTrack™ stabilized antenna systems, which deliver more than five times the amount of bandwidth previously available. The solution combines Ku-band and C-band connectivity to maximize service availability and avoid downtime.

Installations spanned across more than 16 ports in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific and involved more than 59,000 individual components.

 

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May 1st, 2013
Proteus... Bathymetric Bay Projects (Mapping)

Proteus has been awarded a major contract by the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) to deliver...
...complete bathymetric surveys of five Irish bays. In addition to operational mapping, Proteus will use satellite data to create a seabed classification map and perform water quality monitoring on one of the bays for proof-of-concept purposes. GSI issued a competitive request for proposals following a successful 2012 pilot in which Proteus demonstrated the effectiveness of a commercial satellite-based bathymetry process in Ireland’s Wexford Harbour. Developed by EOMAP GmbH and commercialized by Proteus, the technique extracted seafloor elevation measurements to depths in excess of 20 meters with vertical accuracies better than 10 percent of water depth, using no ground truthing. GSI validated the pilot’s results with a multi-beam echo sounding survey.

The five bays included in the operational contract are among Ireland’s most commercially valuable and environmentally important: Cork, Shannon, Dingle, Dundalk and Carlingford. They include turbulent bays fed by fast-flowing rivers that frequently shift submerged sandbars and significant areas of shallows. As a result, bathymetric surveying can be particularly challenging and expensive using marine sonar or airborne LiDAR. To date, airborne bathymetric LiDAR has failed to achieve coverage in these particular bays.

Proteus works with EOMAP to commercialize satellite-derived bathymetric and seafloor classification processes developed, and owned by, EOMAP GmbH of Munich, Germany. The process extracts seafloor information from high-resolution, 8-band multispectral imagery collected by DigitalGlobe Inc.’s WorldView-2 satellite and acquired by Proteus through its direct relationship with DigitalGlobe. Derived products have high accuracy, meeting the requirements of engineering, environmental monitoring and strategic geospatial planning applications.

“Compared with maritime sonar and airborne LiDAR, satellite-derived bathymetric surveys are completed at a fraction of the time and cost,” said David Critchley, Proteus CEO. “The ecological constraints, submerged reefs, and political issues that hamper traditional hydrographic mapping methods are of no hindrance to us.”

In addition to generating the bathymetric maps for the five Irish bays, Proteus will also deliver a seabed habitat map for one of the bays, also derived from the DigitalGlobe imagery. In Dingle Bay, Proteus will perform water quality monitoring on a demonstration basis. Using a new process applied to NASA MODIS and U.S. Landsat image data, the firm will measure suspended sediments, chlorophyll and other organic matter in the water.

Since 2011, Proteus has been producing seafloor survey and seabed classification projects using multispectral satellite imagery and the product generation technology of EOMAP. These mapping projects have been delivered for environmental, oil & gas, marine biology and other coastal zone applications in Europe, the Middle East and Caribbean. These projects have been completed in a fraction of the time & cost of traditional methods.