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Category: satellites – Page 65

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will fly for a record-breaking 14th time on Saturday night (Sept. 10), launching 34 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites and a huge direct-to-smartphone connectivity test spacecraft to orbit, and you can watch it live.

The two-stage Falcon 9, topped with the Starlinks and AST SpaceMobile’s Blue Walker 3 test satellite, is scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida Saturday at 9:10 p.m. EDT (0110 GMT on Sept. 11). Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company (opens in new tab).

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Apple could become the first commercially available smartphone with a satellite in the U.S.

Just a day after Apple announced the iPhone 14’s emergency SOS via satellite feature, SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk revealed that SpaceX had talked with Apple Inc about using Starlink connectivity.

We’ve had some promising conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity.

1, 2

He tweeted on Thursday that the companies have had “promising conversations”, adding that Apple’s iPhone team is “super smart”. “For sure, closing link from space to phone will work best if phone software & hardware adapt to space-based signals vs Starlink purely emulating cell tower,” Musk said on Twitter.

Continue reading “Elon Musk reveals SpaceX and Apple discussed Starlink support for iPhone 14” | >

Probably the biggest new feature for the iPhone 14, 14 Plus and 14 Pro isn’t one you’ll use ever day, but you’ll be glad you have it if you need it. The new phones have a built-in satellite connection that people can use to send emergency SOS messages in places where there’s no available cellular signal.

First, your iPhone will help you orient your phone in the direction you need to point it to get the best signal. Once you have a connection, you can open up a message interface that lets you communicate with emergency service providers. Apple says that because of satellite connectivity limits, it’ll take much longer to send messages than you’re used to, so the feature includes some automatic questions it prompts you to answer, like “is anyone hurt?” It’ll have auto-populated answers that you can tap to respond. Apple is also compressing messages to a third of their normal size to make sending them a little quicker.

Apple say that once the message is sent to the satellite, it then gets routed to emergency response centers; if those centers are only set up for voice calls, they’ll first be passed to a response center that’ll then get in touch with emergency response.

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Practical nuclear fusion is, famously, always 10 years in the future. Except that the Pentagon recently gave an award to a tiny startup to launch a fusion power system into space in just five.

There is no shortage of organizations, from VC-backedstartups to nation states, trying to realize the dream of cheap, clean, and reliable power from nuclear fusion. But Avalanche Energy Designs, based near a Boeing facility in Seattle, is even more ambitious. It is working on modular “micro fusion packs,” small enough to hold in your hand yet capable of powering everything from electric cars to spaceships.

Last month, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) announced it had awarded Avalanche an unspecified sum to develop its Orbitron fusion device to generate either heat or electricity, with the aim of powering a high-efficiency propulsion system aboard a prototype satellite in 2027. The contract to Avalanche was one of two awarded by the DIU—the second going to Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear for development of its radioisotope battery.

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Demonstration of concept I first developed for The Millennial Project at the turn of the century. Even had the same name.

https://tmp2.fandom.com/wiki/Inchworms.

https://tmp2.fandom.com/wiki/Modular_Unmanned_Orbital_Laboratory_-_MUOL

https://tmp2.fandom.com/wiki/Telerobotic_Outpost

GITAI developed the GITAI IN1 (Inchworm One), an inchworm-type robotic arm equipped with “grapple end-effectors” on both ends of the arm. This unique feature increases “Capability”, which enables it to connect to various tools (end-effectors) to perform multiple tasks for various applications, and “Mobility”, which enables it to move in any direction. It can also connect/disconnect itself among different vehicles, such as rovers, landers, satellites, etc. In collaboration with the already announced GITAI R1 lunar rover, the GITAI IN1 has successfully completed various tests corresponding to Level 3 of NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) in a simulated lunar environment at the JAXA Sagamihara Campus.

Continue reading “The GITAI IN1, an inchworm-type robotic arm” | >

WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said it selected teams to help develop an on-orbit satellite communications translator within just eight days of releasing a formal solicitation. Now, the Pentagon agency charged with making investments in transformational technology wants to apply that quick approach to other programs.

DARPA announced last month that 11 teams would participate in Phase 1 its Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node program, dubbed Space-BACN, an in-space terminal designed to help government and commercial satellites communicate.

The capability is increasing in relevance as companies such as SpaceX and organizations including the Space Development Agency launch large constellations of satellites to low Earth orbit, within 1,000 kilometers of the planet’s surface. Awardees range from universities to commercial companies, some of which have never worked with the U.S. Department of Defense. DARPA didn’t announce the total value of the agreements.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is moving forward with plans to transform the way it manages major launch ranges after briefing industry this month on a forthcoming operations and maintenance contract.

Ranges in Florida and California have seen huge growth in both the rate at which customers are launching satellites and the number of companies certifying new rockets to fly those missions. The Space Force estimates that within the next few years the ranges it manages at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center could host as many as 300 launches annually, up from 31 launches last year and 67 planned for 2022.

The surge in activity requires a new way of operating, service officials say, and it’s why the Space Force is planning to award a contract in 2024 to support range operations, maintenance, sustainment integration and other efforts. In briefing slides from the Aug. 11 industry day, which more than 100 companies attended, the service says it will solicit proposals next May for the five-year contract. No value for the contract was given.

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https://youtu.be/fWYJwB3FMP0

Power is life, whether in the void or on another planet far from Earth.
Therefore, the use of nuclear energy and a constant, powerful supply of.
electricity has the potential to speed up, improve, and lower the cost of.
interplanetary travel.
The NASA-supported SpaceX nuclear rocket technology may be the way of.
the future for space travel. It might significantly shorten journey times to far
off locations, improve launch flexibility, and make astronaut safety.
throughout spaceflight. Additionally, it might reduce the likelihood of hostile.
attacks against satellites.
What is this space technology, and how does it work?
Join us as we explore how SpaceX’s insane new nuclear Starship shocked the.
entire space industry.

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The CHIPS Act of 2022 was signed into law on Aug. 9. It provides tens of billions of dollars in public support for revitalization of domestic semiconductor manufacturing, workforce training, and “leap ahead” wireless technology. Because we outsource most of our device fabrication — including the chips that go into the Navy’s submarines and ships, the Army’s jeeps and tanks, military drones and satellites — our industrial base has become weak and shallow. The first order of business for the CHIPS Act is to address a serious deficit in our domestic production capacity.

Notoriously absent from the language of the bill is any mention of chip security. Consequently, the U.S. is about to make the same mistake with microelectronics that we made with digital networks and software applications: Unless and until the government demands in-device security, our competitors will have an easy time of manipulating how chips function and behave. Nowhere is this more dangerous than our national security infrastructure.

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