Satellites: Web Articles
Europe Joins the Space (Solar Power) Race | Next 100
"While Solaren (a U.S. solar energy firm) and JAXA (the Japanese Space Agency) envision beaming power via radio waves, Astrium (a European aerospace giant) is working instead on high-powered infrared lasers to carry the energy. Astrium is also collaborating with scientists at the University of Surrey to develop devices that convert infrared energy to electricity. Its chief technology officer says a space mission to demonstrate the technology should be feasible within five years, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology.
Solaren's Nansen said the United States lags in the development of space solar power, despite many years of studying its potential, because NASA says it's an energy program, and the Department of Energy says it's a space program. So unless private U.S. companies can deliver, expect Japan, Europe or even Russia to take the lead.
Nansen, like a growing number of experts believes space must become the next great source of clean energy here on Earth. Agree or not, you can believe him when he says, "I’ve worked on this long enough to know it’s not easy."
Monitoring peatland from Earth and space | R&D Mag
"A team of UK scientists led by Dr. Karen Anderson (University of Exeter) has developed a new technique for monitoring the condition of peatlands. It could help monitor the damage that is being done to peatlands through human activity. Such disruption is contributing to global warming, as peatlands can release the carbon they absorb and store if they are damaged by drainage or peat extraction processes.
The team used a combination of images captured from Earth and space to measure spatial patterning in peatland surfaces as an indicator of their condition. This new method uses a novel coupled approach, using satellite images from space and airborne laser scanning data, and has resulted in improved peatland mapping products."
European space company wants solar power plant in space | PhysOrg.Com
"EADS Astrium, Europe's biggest space company, plans to put a solar power satellite in orbit to demonstrate the collection of solar power in space and its transmission via infrared laser to provide electricity on Earth."
"The transmission of power via infrared laser has been tested in Astrium’s laboratories, and they are now concentrating on improving the system’s efficiency. Work on developing converters...[for] received infrared energy to electricity is proceeding rapidly, and Astrium is collaborating in this work with scientists at the University of Surrey, in the UK. The company is hoping to achieve 80% efficiency in the conversion."
The End of Magical Climate Thinking | Foreign Policy
"The Obama administration succumbed, like many others, to a sort of magical climate thinking that promised a painless and even prosperous transition to a low-carbon future with the tools already at hand. The only official within his administration to accurately grasp the technology challenges faced, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, was sidelined at crucial moments. Here is the back story of how the Obama administration dramatically raised and then dashed America's -- and the world's -- hopes that 2009 would be a pivotal year for remaking our collective energy future." This article places blame on both government and green energy advocates for "magical thinking" about what will surely at minimum be a tough, expensive, decades-long slog. The importance of space infrastructure advancements, especially by the private sector, to developing innovative lower-cost solar power and biospheric and climate monitoring systems will be major. Earth and its environment are increasingly understood as one evolving macro-ecosystem traveling through space over eons.
Comsatcom Acquisition Could Be $700M Yearly | AVIATION WEEK
"The US government is embarking on an comprehensive, 20-year program worth as much as $700 million per year to procure commercial satellite bandwidth and services to support the Defense Dept. and state and local agencies." This is the Future Comsatcom Services Acquisition (FCSA) program that will merge the needs of these groups for a potential "15-20% in savings." According to the article, FCSA is "not a replacement" for the terminated Transformational Satellite (TSAT) system, "but the access it will provide to bandwidth will relieve some of the burden left after the program's termination." A request for proposals is expected to be issued this February. Defense Information Systems Agency program executive officer Bruce Bennett "says the goal now is to protect the signals traveling to and from the satellite as opposed to physical protection of the satellites." Thanks to AIAA News.
Orbital super-sensor to observe space weather | R&D Mag
"Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, Oct. 18, 2009, the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) developed by NRL's Space Science Division and Spacecraft Engineering Department offers a first of its kind technique for remote sensing of the ionosphere and thermosphere from space. "
Robot Armada Could Explore New Worlds | R&D Mag
"An armada of robots may one day fly above the mountain tops of Saturn's moon Titan, cross its vast dunes and sail in its liquid lakes. Wolfgang Fink, visiting associate in physics at the California Institute of Technology, says we are on the brink of a great paradigm shift in planetary exploration, and the next round of robotic explorers will be nothing like what we see today."
French Defense Budget Proposes Milsatcom Privatization | SpaceNews.com
"The French Defense Ministry’s 2010 budget request would sell France’s military satellite telecommunications system to a private-sector operator that would lease 90 percent of the capacity back to the French government, and would retain the remaining 10 percent to sell to other governments on a commercial basis."
This appears to be one aspect of the French-style commercialization of space. Could this happen in the U.S.? Military space entities in the U.S. are already leasing portions of commercially-developed communication satellites for their own use. Is the current NASA COTS program a step in this direction as some think? Is this shift toward commercialization both inevitable and wise?
Space-Age Safety: How GPS Satellites Could Help Prevent Auto Accidents | GPS Daily
"Researchers have found potential for a GPS satellite to act as an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control and communicate with the vehicle's stability control systems and other safety features to prevent a rollover or other serious accident." Ford Motor Company's investment in university R&D is paying off.
NRO Embraces Cubesats for Testing Advanced Technologies: SpaceNews
" In an effort to reduce risk in developing operational spy satellites, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has started a new program that will use tiny satellites, known as cubesats, as in-space test platforms for promising new technologies. Last year, the spy satellite agency established a cubesat program office dedicated to small satellites weighing between 1 and 5 kilograms each. Located within the NRO's Advanced Systems and Technology division, the new Colony Program Office has 12 cubesats in production this year and plans to purchase between 20 and 50 additional cubesats at roughly $250,000 each over a two-year period beginning in 2010."