Lifeboat Foundation

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to carry what will soon become the International Space Station’s first privately-built airlock.

The company has previously built standardized boxes for space-based experiments and tiny satellite deployers, The Verge reports.

The Bishop is shaped like a bell jar and attaches itself to the outside of the space station using a number of clamps and latches.

Continue reading “The ISS Is About to Get Its First Commercial Airlock” »

Featured Image Source: Merrillan, Wisconsin resident r/ darkpenguin22 via Reddit.

SpaceX is building its Starlink internet network in low Earth orbit. The aerospace company plans to fund its space program by offering affordable, low-latency, broadband internet globally. SpaceX initially plans to deploy 4,409 internet-beaming Starlink satellites, according to a recent letter the company sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These satellites will operate at altitudes between 550 to 570 kilometers above Earth. To date, there are approximately 708 Starlink satellites already in low Earth orbit.

Company employees are actively private beta testing the Starlink network via user terminals that look like a ‘UFO on a stick’ and Wi-Fi router. – “They show super-low latency and download speeds greater than 100 [megabits] per second [Mbps],” SpaceX Senior Engineer Kate Tice shared during the latest deployment broadcast, “That means our latency is low enough to play the fastest online video games and our download speeds are fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once.”

Orbion is a four-year-old startup in Houghton, Michigan, that specializes in Hall-effect plasma thrusters for small satellites.

WASHINGTON — Small satellite manufacturer Blue Canyon Technologies announced Sept. 15 it selected Orbion Space Technology to supply the electric propulsion system for the U.S. military’s Blackjack constellation.

Blue Canyon is producing four satellites for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackjack program. DARPA plans to launch as many as 20 small satellites to demonstrate that a mesh network in low Earth orbit can meet military requirements at lower cost and shorter design cycles than traditional Pentagon programs.

Continue reading “Blue Canyon selects Orbion electric thrusters for DARPA’s Blackjack satellites” »

Scientists analyse images over seven decades.

German and Russian scientists say they have documented the life cycle of a volcano for the first time, revealing that it has a kind of “memory”.

The volcano in question is Bezymianny, an active stratovolcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia which suffered a collapse in its eastern sector back in 1956.

Continue reading “Watching a volcano make a comeback” »

The company disclosed the benchmarks in a presentation to the FCC.

The FCC authorized Microsoft to perform proof-of-concept demonstrations of a service that would connect its cloud computing service Azure with a ground station the company proposed to build.

“If the demonstrations result in significant market interest, Microsoft will file an application for regular earth station authority with the International Bureau (IB) to support future commercial operations,” the company wrote in the filings.

The company’s strategy will put it in competition with Amazon, which in November 2018 launched its similar AWS Ground Station service.

Continue reading “Microsoft wants to take on Amazon in connecting satellites to the cloud” »

Singapore-based blockchain data firm CyberVein has become one of 12 firms participating in the construction of China’s Hainan Wenchang International Aerospace City. Construction commenced last month, with the site previously hosting a satellite launch center. Described as “China’s first aerospace cultural and tourism city,” it will be a hub for the development of aerospace products and support services intended for use in Chinese spacecraft and satellite launch missions. The 12-million-square-meter facility will host the country’s first aerospace super-computing center, and will focus on developing 40 technological areas including big data, satellite remote sensing and high precision positioning technology. CyberVein will work alongside major Chinese firms, including Fortune 500 companies Huawei and Kingsoft Cloud, and will leverage its blockchain, artificial intelligence and big data technologies to support the development of the city’s Smart Brain Planning and Design Institute.”

Blockchain firm CyberVein is partnering with the Chinese government to build a blockchain-powered governance system for its aerospace ‘smart city.’

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My latest publication in Satellite Markets and Research, with significant contribution of Ms. Zoe Shahid.

by Muhammad Furqan and Zoe Shahid

Brisbane, Australia, September 4, 2020 —Exponentially increasing numbers of announced ambitious NGSO (Non-Geo Stationary Orbit) or LEO-HTS (Lower Earth Orbit – High Throughput Satellites) Mega Constellations have been creating waves in the world of technology. Their success will not be a mere disruption to the existing system, it will be a whole new system altogether.

Continue reading “Challenges to LEO HTS Megaconstellations” »

SpaceX just launched more satellites in a month than history has ever seen. But that’s bad news for astronomers.

SpaceX’s newest satellites sport sun visors — an effort to reduce their brightness in the night sky and their impact on astronomers’ telescopes.