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Category: satellites – Page 57

UltraAir will enable the exchange of large amounts of data using laser beams in a network of ground stations and satellites in geostationary orbit at 36,000 km above the Earth.

Aerospace corporation Airbus and Dutch high-tech industrial supplier VDL Group will jointly develop and manufacture a laser communication terminal for aircraft, known as UltraAir, according to a press release by the first company published on Tuesday.

The concept is based on a project led by Airbus and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). The two companies will now prepare a demonstration of a prototype and a first flight test in 2024.

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The satellite had an expected two-year-service life, but it blew past that mark. “For 21 of its years in orbit, the ERBS actively investigated how the Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the Sun, and made measurements of stratospheric ozone, water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, and aerosols,” NASA said.

Spacefaring machines that come back to Earth are subject to an intense reentry process. NASA expected most of ERBS to burn up, “but for some components to survive the reentry.” The return trajectory over a body of water means anything that wasn’t toast likely fell harmlessly into the sea.

The satellite’s uneventful fall back to its home planet is a bit of good news at a time when orbital space is increasingly crowded with junk, debris and defunct satellites. ERBS went out in a blaze of glory after its distinguished service to science.

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A modified Boeing 747 aircraft, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, will launch a rocket from under its wing around midnight local time.

S SpaceX works towards the first orbital launch of its fully reusable Starship rocket, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit is looking to perform the first-ever orbital launch from British soil.

If all goes to plan, the Virgin Orbit launch will kickstart an exciting year for the British space industry.

Virgin Orbit / Twitter.

The company, an offshoot of Virgin Galactic, will use a repurposed 747 jumbo jet tonight, Jan. 9, to launch nine satellites into orbit. The launch is set to take place just before midnight GMT from Newquay Airport in Cornwall in the south of England, as per the BBC.

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“The 5,400-pound satellite will reenter the atmosphere at approximately 6:40 pm EST on Sunday, January 8,” with no risk to humans.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) defunct satellite is poised to hit the ground on Sunday.

“The Department of Defense predicted that the 5,400-pound satellite will reenter the atmosphere at approximately 6:40 p.m. EST on Sunday, January 8, with an uncertainty of +/- 17 hours,” read the statement.

Wikimedia Commons.

Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), launched in 1984, spent nearly 40 years in orbit as part of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission, according to a press release by the U.S. Space Agency on Friday.

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A team from Nagoya University in Japan has observed, for the first time, the energy transferring from resonant electrons to whistler-mode waves in space. Their findings offer direct evidence of previously theorized efficient growth, as predicted by the non-linear growth theory of waves. This should improve our understanding of not only space plasma physics but also space weather, a phenomenon that affects satellites.

When people imagine , they often envision it as a perfect vacuum. In fact, this impression is wrong because the vacuum is filled with charged particles. In the depths of space, the density of charged particles becomes so low that they rarely collide with each other.

Instead of collisions, the forces related to the electric and magnetic fields filling space, control the motion of charged particles. This lack of collisions occurs throughout space, except for very near to celestial objects, such as stars, moons, or planets. In these cases, the charged particles are no longer traveling through the vacuum of space but instead through a medium where they can strike other particles.

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Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD) launched on January 3rd may be a breakthrough for harvesting solar energy from space.

A Caltech-designed prototype satellite containing an experiment, the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD), was launched on January 3rd of this year in what could prove to be a breakthrough for harvesting the energy of the Sun from space. The satellite goes by the name Momentus Vigoride and hitched its ride into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Solar energy from space has been the dream of science fiction writers beginning with Isaac Asimov back in 1941 in a short story called Reason which later was included in a collection that Asimov published in 1950 entitled I, Robot. In the story, Asimov described a space station that collected energy from the Sun and transmitted it by microwave beam to various locations. Asimov recognized the distinct advantage of building solar power generating stations in space out of the Earth’s shadow and therefore continuously being able to harvest the energy of the Sun.

When the first telecommunication satellites were launched into geosynchronous orbits around Earth, it became obvious that not just communications could be offered in a continuous stream using satellite technology. A photovoltaic array parked in a similar orbit would stream electrical energy to Earth ground receivers. And depending on the size of an array deployed at that altitude, a satellite or a few of them to ensure no single failure, could become an endless supplier of all the energy the planet would need. There were technical problems still to work out.

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SpaceX Starlink Internet service will soon be available across the West African country of Nigeria, according to Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Pantami. SpaceX already delivered some Starlink user terminals to the country to commence services. “As part of the partnership, SpaceX is to provide broadband access across the whole of Nigeria, enabling nationwide access to broadband connectivity way ahead of the December 2025 schedule, as outlined in our national broadband plan,” said Pantami. “With this collaboration with SpaceX’s Starlink, Nigeria is set to be the first African country to introduce the service.” Nigeria’s goals was to cover 90% of the country’s population with reliable internet access by 2025, the goal is now attainable because the Starlink satellite network is easy to set up and capable of beaming high-speed internet to rural and remote communities. SpaceX’s official Starlink Coverage Map says the service is ‘coming soon’ to Nigeria, users must input their address on the website to find out if its already available in their specific area.

On the partnership with SpaceX and StarLink. They have now commenced the deployment of their facilities in Nigeria is the first African country to reach that partnership & also approval for the deployment. pic.twitter.com/QamCN2AG4z — Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (@ProfIsaPantami) December 29, 2022

The company sent an email to potential customers living in Nigeria, stating that the service is available for pre-order. “Order now to reserve your Starlink expects to expand service in your area [Nigeria] in 2023. You will receive a notification once your Starlink is ready to ship,” the email says. The hardware to access the satellite internet service costs $600 [N438,000] in Nigeria with an internet subscription of $43 [N31,390] per month.

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