October 24, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Pentagon’s Space Development Agency certifies 19 space companies to bid on development contracts
The list covers almost every low orbit satellite and rocket company.
- Space News op-ed calls for new effort to defend against attacks on GPS
It claims little has been done, but Jay disputes this: “We, the USA, have been researching and testing this for over fifteen years.” He notes that his own company has participated in installing systems for detecting and blocking attacks.
- Blue Origin proudly shows off first stage of first New Glenn rocket, its seven BE-4 engines finally installed
Still no word on when the launch will occur.
- An animation showing the spread of debris in geosynchronous orbit from the breakup of Intelsat 33E satellite
It appears the debris could threaten almost every satellite in geosynchronous orbit, though the odds of impact probably remain slim.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Pentagon’s Space Development Agency certifies 19 space companies to bid on development contracts
The list covers almost every low orbit satellite and rocket company.
- Space News op-ed calls for new effort to defend against attacks on GPS
It claims little has been done, but Jay disputes this: “We, the USA, have been researching and testing this for over fifteen years.” He notes that his own company has participated in installing systems for detecting and blocking attacks.
- Blue Origin proudly shows off first stage of first New Glenn rocket, its seven BE-4 engines finally installed
Still no word on when the launch will occur.
- An animation showing the spread of debris in geosynchronous orbit from the breakup of Intelsat 33E satellite
It appears the debris could threaten almost every satellite in geosynchronous orbit, though the odds of impact probably remain slim.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
GPS is a notoriously weak signal and easy to block. How you can overcome a GPS denied environment makes one wonder…. I can see detecting and blocking spoofing, but not denial (other than killing the deniers).
John,
There is GPS jamming as well, which is a denial of service attack. The Russian have this built into dedicated vehicles to work in a theater-wide combat area. There has been problems with this type of attack at airports over the last few years. You can look up articles about such events.
Yes, the GPS signal is weak. Yes, it does not take much to jam it or skew it. Ways to combat this is to look at other GPS-like sources, combine them, or make algorithms to detect skewing(spoofing) and go into a stand-alone mode(s).
GPS in not only used for navigation, but as a time reference as well- where people can get their reference for PTP, IRIG-B, and God forbid NTP. Many aspects of our society rely on precise time in order to operate.
The debris tweet (X?) tells us quite a bit. That some debris was traveling at more than 500 meters per second (1/2 kilometer per second) relative speed suggests something that we would call an explosion. I don’t think that a micrometeor would cause very many pieces large enough to track by radar to travel that fast. We also saw that several pieces went into lower elliptical orbits and higher elliptical orbits, spreading them around the Earth very quickly, in three orbits or so. Such large pieces traveling that fast are a serious hazard for the remaining geostationary satellites.
These pieces would be good targets for early debris-removal tugs.