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05 Mar 19. Cobham & Inmarsat Launch SB-Helo X-Stream Helicopter Satcom. New system will bring resilience to rotary wing aircraft communications. Cobham Aerospace Communications and Inmarsat today announce the launch of SB-Helo X-Stream™ helicopter satcom solution for Cobham AVIATOR SP systems. The new system will improve communications through rotor blades by reducing packet loss by up to 40%.
Few solutions exist in the market to transmit data such as video imagery to a satellite network in the same way as is possible from fixed wing aircraft. This is due to the interference caused by the rotors, which leads to intermittent, jittery data streams and distorted video at the receiving station.
After extensive testing, Inmarsat and Cobham have developed a protocol in network Quality of Service (QoS) selection, as an enhancement of the Swiftbroadband X-Stream™ service; one of Inmarsat’s streaming services offering guaranteed on-demand high-streaming data rates over its L-band network.
This allows data from rotary wing aircraft to be transmitted to the Inmarsat satellite network, via dedicated modulation schemes. The increased resilience of the data pipeline passing through the rotors means that the transmission of high intensity data, like video, will see an improvement in throughput of around 37%. The free of charge software update will allow a helicopter operating from a remote location to transmit a significantly improved video or data stream. This capability is crucial for organisations operating rotary wing aircraft in specialised roles such as search and rescue, medical evacuation and military forces.
Todd McDonell, President of Global Government at Inmarsat said: “We are very happy to announce the availability of the SB-Helo X-Stream, an enhancement of the Inmarsat X-Stream service that meets the needs of this growing sector of the government market in an efficient and cost-effective way. Having worked with Cobham in the development of this new protocol, we are very pleased with the results we have seen from the trials and foresee that this cost-effective solution will be greatly sought after in the growing government helo market.”
Willem Kasselman, VP Sales, Marketing and Support at Cobham Aerospace Communications, commented: “The launch of this new system represents a breakthrough for Cobham, solving a long-standing problem in helicopter satcom communications. The partnership between Cobham Aerospace Communications and Inmarsat is an important one for us and we look forward to building on this announcement and expanding and improving other related services over the coming months.”
04 Mar 19. Cobham’s Waveguides and Assemblies Enable OneWeb Satellites. Cobham congratulates its partner, OneWeb Satellites, on the successful launch of the first satellites of an ambitious 600 spacecraft constellation. Incorporating rigid and flexible designs, Cobham Ku and Ka band waveguides are featured on the spacecraft. Waveguides enable the communications systems on the satellites by channeling electromagnetic waves from one point to another. OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus, is launching a constellation of satellites into low Earth orbit to deliver internet broadband service to consumers around the world.
“Cobham is honored to be part of this historic endeavor and congratulates the OneWeb team on its inaugural launch. We are proud to help bring the vision of connectivity for everyone, everywhere closer to reality,” said Bob McArthur, Vice President and General Manager, CNI and Interconnect Solutions for Cobham Advanced Electronics Solutions. “Cobham has a long history of engineering some of the most complex and challenging space technologies in the industry. Cobham waveguides offer innovative solutions with complex shaping and incorporate high electrical performance. Our ability to provide custom bracketry and accommodate complex geometries enables ease of integration and rapid turnaround times.”
Cobham offers a full range of rectangular (size WR-22 to WR430) and double ridge (WRD-180 to WR430) waveguides, supporting industry-standard microwave tests and measurements for low- and high-power laboratory applications. In addition, Cobham can create assemblies of passive and active microwave and coaxial components to custom specifications, allowing the development and production of complete modular transmit/receive devices. Cobham specializes in custom bracketry and integrated waveguides from cast to 3D printed to hybrid. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
05 Mar 19. Sydney Uni signs collaboration deal with Japanese CubeSat start-up. The University of Sydney’s ARC Training Centre for CubeSats has joined with Japanese space start-up and launch company Space BD to support satellite development programs. In an important step for the Sydney University-based ARC Training Centre for CubeSats, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and their Applications (CUAVA). A new partnership with Space BD will provide satellite deployment services from the International Space Station for two CUAVA satellites that are under development.
Led by the University of Sydney, CUAVA is working to train the next generation of workers in commercial space, solve vital research problems and help develop a world-class Australian space industry.
‘CUAVA-1’ is the first satellite being developed by CUAVA, with the purpose to certify advanced communication, remote sensing, GPS, and space environment instruments and provide their data to users on Earth.
“We are excited to announce our first overseas contract for satellite deployment from a fast-growing country with a brand-new space agency, Australia. Starting with this project, we hope that co-operation in space between the two countries will further advance and strengthen our partnership across the Pacific region. Space BD will endeavour to further our contributions to the Australian space industry,” said Yuske Taguchi, senior manager at Space BD.
After being selected as a commercial service provider by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Space BD has experienced rapid growth, which has led to their first overseas contract to provide end-to-end launch and deployment services for the two CUAVA satellites.
“Signing this launch contract with Space BD is a crucial and very exciting step forward for CUAVA and all our students and partners. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Space BD and to the CUAVA-1 CubeSat enabling major progress on our research and commercialisation projects,” Professor Iver Cairns said.
Through this partnership, Space BD will contribute to the growth of the booming Australian space industry and further expand its space utilisation services across the globe.
Space BD brings together a group of business development experts with diverse backgrounds, connecting networks of information and people to create new business frameworks and industries. (Source: Space Connect)
01 Mar 19. Space Force Would Be by Far the Smallest Military Service. The Trump administration’s proposed Space Force, which faces an uncertain fate in Congress, would be the smallest military service — by far. Details of the Pentagon’s proposal released Friday show the new service would have about 15,000 personnel, including an unspecified number of civilians, but would begin in 2020 as only a headquarters of about 200. The proposal was submitted Wednesday to Congress, which must authorize the new service. Space Force would be the first new military service since an independent Air Force was established in 1947 as part of a broad reorganization of the government’s military and intelligence agencies.
Space Force would reside within the Department of the Air Force, similar to how the Marine Corps exists within the Department of the Navy. It would have its own chief of staff, a four-star general who would answer to the secretary of the Air Force, currently Heather Wilson. Currently the smallest branch of the armed forces is the Coast Guard, which has about 40,000 active-duty members in uniform and is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The second-smallest service, the Marine Corps, has 186,000. The biggest military service is the Army, with 487,500 active-duty members.
President Donald Trump has pushed the Pentagon to create a Space Force that is “separate but equal to” the other military services. His first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, initially was cool to the idea, arguing against adding expensive new layers of bureaucracy.
Critics have questioned the need to create a Space Force as a separate military service, noting that there are relatively small numbers of people required to carry out space-related missions. The Pentagon argues that a separate service will give space issues a stronger voice within the military and create a special space culture and expertise.
The plan submitted to Congress calls for phasing in a Space Force over five years beginning with the 2020 budget year. This would add an estimated $2bn in costs beyond what is spent on existing military space activities. Many details of the new service have yet to be worked out, including whether it would have its own boot camp for recruits and whether it would have its own uniform design.
Not all space-related government activities would fall under the Space Force. It would not include the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and maintains intelligence satellites in space.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan issued a written statement Friday calling the proposal “an historic moment for our nation,” ensuring the U.S. can “compete, deter and, if needed, win in a complex domain.” He credited Trump with a “bold vision for space.”
While many in Congress support organizational changes to improve U.S. space defense capabilities, some key members question the wisdom of creating a separate military service. Sen. James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has expressed doubts, although on Friday he issued a statement welcoming the Pentagon’s proposal. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, has questioned the need for a separate space service, as has the new Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state. (Source: glstrade.com/New York Times.com)
05 Mar 19. CSIRO and Boeing continue collaborative research relationship. CSIRO and Boeing have taken their teamwork to new heights with the announcement of 20 new joint research projects across the aerospace and space domains. Over the past 30 years, CSIRO and Boeing have delivered more than 200 projects and jointly invested more than $180m on a wide variety of aerospace technologies such as new manufacturing processes, coatings, fire retardants and software for data analytics. The new CSIRO-Boeing agreement includes four new joint space technology research projects:
- Space situational awareness, such as monitoring space debris;
- On-board image processing and analytics for Earth observation satellites;
- Lightweight, radiation shielding materials for spaceflight; and
- On-orbit manufacturing of space structures or satellite components.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews congratulated the organisations for their co-operation, saying CSIRO and Boeing are both leaders in their respective fields.
“For 30 years they have explored technologies together, ranging from airport modelling software to collision awareness and aircraft paint. These exciting new projects promise to reap substantial rewards for both organisations and complement our national effort in space,” Minister Andrews said.
This announcement comes following the government’s investment of an additional $97m into the CSIRO and the recent creation of the Australian Space Agency.
“Space technology is getting smaller, access to space is becoming cheaper and innovation cycles are becoming shorter, and all sorts of companies can make significant contributions to the space economy,” Minister Andrews added.
Boeing HorizonX is a pathfinder organisation that accelerates innovation and explores what’s possible outside of Boeing’s traditional market offerings. The new projects were announced at the Avalon International Airshow in Victoria, where the two organisations are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their partnership.
Boeing chief technology officer Dr Greg Hyslop said, “Boeing and CSIRO have a wealth of space technology expertise, and our collaboration stands to propel Australia’s space industry forward. Boeing’s extensive experience in space dates back to the beginnings of NASA’s crewed space program and the start of satellite-based communications systems, and CSIRO has a 75-year history in developing space technologies.”
CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said the record number of joint projects reflected the strength of the relationship between Australia’s national science agency and Boeing.
“Partnering with a global leader like Boeing is critical for CSIRO to deliver on our purpose – solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Whether it’s new materials to withstand incredible forces, 3D-printed rocket fuel, or artificial intelligence to guide our way through intractable problems, CSIRO is using science to create innovative industries for Australia,” Dr Marshall said.
Boeing and CSIRO have made numerous innovative breakthroughs since forming their partnership in 1989. These include CSIRO’s ‘Paintbond’ technology, which has been applied to more than a thousand Boeing aeroplanes around the world, saving millions of dollars in maintenance costs.
In 2018, both CSIRO’s investment fund, managed by Main Sequence Ventures, and Boeing HorizonX Ventures, the company’s venture capital fund, announced investments in Australian nanosatellite communications start-up Myriota. Boeing has named CSIRO as a supplier of the year three times, including the past two consecutive years. (Source: Space Connect)
02 Mar 19. Space Force to cost $2bn, include 15,000 personnel in first five years. The Trump administration plans to spend $2bn in new funding over a five-year period to create its Space Force, during which roughly 15,000 space-related personnel will transfer from existing roles. Officials unveiled those details and the Pentagon’s legislative proposal for the new military service March 1. Defense leaders sent the formal proposal to Congress Feb. 27 after President Donald Trump ordered its creation in June.
While many of the details have yet to be determined — will the service have a bootcamp (unclear), its own service academy (no), their own uniforms (possible) or recruitment centers (probably) — a Space Force would share resources such as an acquisition chief, general counsel and chaplains with the broader Department of the Air Force.
“Space is not just a support function. It’s a war-fighting domain. We have to be prepared to fight, deter and win,” a senior defense official said Friday. “With these changes, we need to adapt.”
“This is a good path forward, which allows us to deliver capabilities, faster, better, and stay ahead of the adversaries,” another defense official said.
Details of the legislative proposal were first reported by Defense News in December but questions about personnel size and budget figures have remained open questions.
In September, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson floated a cost of $13bn for the Space Force, while an independent estimate from the Center for Strategic and International Studies put the additional costs at around $550m per year. However, senior department officials said March 1 that the Pentagon plans to spend about $72m on setting up a headquarters for the service with about 200 staffers in fiscal 2020. As the force ramps up, those costs could rise to about $500 m per year. Those costs are in addition to the roughly $10bn the Department of Defense already spends on unclassified space programs.
An executive summary of the legislative proposal stresses that the $2bn represents “less than 0.05 percent” of the Pentagon’s expected budget during that five-year period, and adds that “more than 95 percent of the Space Force annual budget is estimated to consist of resources that will have been transferred from existing DoD budget accounts.”
“Additional resources will be dedicated to building out the Space Force headquarters and establishing and maintaining new support elements such as education, training, doctrine, and personnel management centers,” the summary continues. “Once the Space Force is fully established, these additive costs are estimated to be $500 m annually, which would represent approximately 0.07 percent of the annual DoD budget.”
In a statement released by the Pentagon, acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan called the legislative proposal a “historic moment for our nation” and “a strategic step towards securing America’s vital national interests in space.” Wilson added that “We will continue to be the best in the world at space and establishing a dedicated space force strengthens our ability to deter, compete and win in space.”
Five-year timeline
The legislative proposal offers up a rolling plan between FY20 and FY24 for how to phase in the new service.
In FY20, DoD would create the initial Space Force headquarters. An undersecretary of the Air Force for space (who must be nominated and confirmed by the Senate) and the service’s Chief of Staff, a four-star position, would lead the organization. While reporting to the Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff will also serve on the Joint Chiefs, like how the commandant of the Marine Corps operates.
Such a move would create “institutional advocacy and priority for that domain and it wouldn’t be subject to personalities,” a senior defense official said.
Those initial Space Force personnel will be a “mix of military and civilian personnel with key military leadership positions filled by individuals from each Military Department,” per the summary. “Some personnel will be transferred from the existing Military Services, some new personnel would be hired, and some personnel would be temporarily detailed to the Space Force to provide surge capacity and expertise during stand-up.”
In FY21 and FY22, the plan calls for the majority of missions transferred from existing space-related offices to the new service. “This will include relevant space operational elements, acquisition elements, training and education elements, and other identified space-specific entities,” per the summary.
For example, the Navy’s Mobile User Objective System, a narrowband communications satellite system, or satellites in use by the Missile Defense Agency would likely shift to the Space Force, space officials said. The Secretary of Defense would sign off on those moves.
In the following two years, FY23 and FY24, new units or organizations could be stood up, including potentially “activating additional operational, acquisition, and/or training units, as necessary to meet new mission demands and to establish organic space-specific capacity for doctrine development, intelligence analysis, education, etc.”
All told, roughly 15,000 “highly technical” personnel from existing offices will move under the aegis of the Space Force by the end of FY24. Those individuals may be transferred both voluntarily and involuntarily, and will move with the grade, rank, duty, and pay status they had previously.
While in the past decade Air Force Space Command has been described as including as many as 40,000 employees, not all of those workers were strictly focused on space and may have provided support functions.
Some new general officer roles will be required to fill out the Space Force, which requires Congressional authorization. Just how many is unclear, with the proposal promising a report to Congress on that issue sometime in FY20.
One challenge in setting up the Space Force during this period will be collaboration with the intelligence community, whose National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) will remain independent of the new military branch.
The new service, along with its adjacent U.S. Space Combatant Command, will “place greater demand on the IC to better understand space threats and to provide intelligence support to planning, operations, and acquisition,” per the summary.
“The Space Force, in collaboration with the IC, will identify, prioritize, and advocate for the intelligence capabilities, personnel, training, and organizational constructs necessary to provide intelligence support to DoD and IC space missions. Such intelligence support could include staffing a joint intelligence operations center; improving foundational military intelligence, including scientific and technical intelligence; and developing tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination processes and capabilities.”
In addition, the Space Force will assume functions currently executed by Air Force Space Command elements within the NRO.
Another uncertainty for the service is how the guard and reserve components will work. The legislative proposal essentially punts on that question, pledging a more detailed proposal for FY21. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
27 Feb 19. The SES-12 Satellite is Now Fully Operational. The newest satellite for SES — SES-12 — is now ready to serve its video, fixed data, mobility and government customers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The satellite, which is designed with state-of-the-art wide beams and high throughput beams, will join SES-8 at 95 degrees East. SES-12is the latest satellite that SES has launched to that orbital position where it will operate under the authority of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The all-electric satellite will replace and augment the services currently being provided on SES’s NSS-6 satellite. SES-12 is SES’s third hybrid satellite with wide beams and high throughput payload. Like SES-14 and SES-15 which serve the Americas, the SES-12 high throughput payload is SES’s solution for enhancing cost-effective connectivity solutions for aeronautical and maritime customers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. SES-12 will also be pivotal in enabling governments to provide connectivity programs to bridge the digital divide, and in allowing telcos, mobile network operators and internet service providers to deliver reliable and enhanced cellular backhaul and faster broadband services.
Together with SES-8, SES-12 will reach key direct-to-home neighborhoods. The satellites will provide payTV operators the reliability and scalability to improve viewing experiences by enhancing their content offerings, including delivering higher-quality picture quality to address the audience’s burgeoning demand for HD and Ultra HD content.
SES-12 has six wide beams and 72 high throughput user spot beams, and also has a Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) to increase payload flexibility to provide much more customizable bandwidth solutions to SES customers. The all-electric SES-12 spacecraft was built by Airbus Defence and Space, and launched by SpaceX. It will join SES’s network of seven geostationary satellites and 16 MEO satellites across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Ruy Pinto, CTO at SES, said the company is excited that SES-12 is now ready to serve customers in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and SES wishes to thank the Airbus and SpaceX teams for their hard work on making this possible. SES-12, with its high performance capacity, will be able to offer much more reliability and flexibility to customers and enable them to deliver premium services. (Source: Satnews)
27 Feb 19. Cobham SATCOM to Supply Ground Infrastructure for the World’s most Advanced L-band Satellite Constellation. Cobham SATCOM will provide L-band ground infrastructure for Inmarsat’s I-6 constellation, currently set for first launch in 2020 — the company’s next generation radio access network (RAN) leverages scalable technologies to deliver a more flexible, digital system, enabling Inmarsat customers to keep pace with market requirements.
According to the company, I-6 will be the world’s most advanced L-band satellite constellation. The network will extend Inmarsat’s L-band BGAN offering, delivering additional capacity while enabling future capabilities from advanced global safety services and low cost mobile solutions, to Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
This initiative continues a 30-year plus partnership between Cobham SATCOM and Inmarsat extending across land, maritime, space, and aviation. In addition to producing market-leading user terminals in all categories, Cobham SATCOM has developed and maintained the L-band radio access network and constructed Inmarsat Land Earth Stations in 17 countries since 1990.
Paul Kahn, President of Communications and Connectivity at Cobham, said this next chapter in the partnership with Inmarsat builds upon the firm’s track record of mutual success and strengthens Cobham SATCOM’s position as a global market leader in satellite ground infrastructure. Both Cobham and Inmarsat share the vision and mission of improving connectivity for users and their devices everywhere. By ensuring global availability of reliable safety services, hundreds of lives can be saved every year.
Peter Hadinger, CTO, Inmarsat, added that Inmarsat-6 extends Inmarsat’s commitment to L-band customers through the 2030s and allows the company to expand the capabilities of this unique communications architecture to new and improved services. Securing the highest performing and most innovative hardware for Inmarsat-6 has been a critical focus for Inmarsat — long-term partner Cobham SATCOM meets the firm’s rigorous specifications and continues to provide Inmarsat with a sustainable, competitive advantage. (Source: Satnews)
26 Feb 19. Northrop Grumman Successfully Completes the Cygnus ISS Cargo Supply Mission — Smallsat Hosted Payloads Launched. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has successfully completed the company’s 10th cargo supply mission to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract.
During the mission, the “S.S. John Young” Cygnus met the needs of multiple customers throughout this flight to the International Space Station. The spacecraft removed more than 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of disposal cargo from the space station.
After departure, the extended mission included the deployment of three CubeSats via the NanoRacks External Cygnus Deployer at two different altitudes and two CubeSats from the Slingshot CubeSat Deployer System. Slingshot, a new commercial customer for Cygnus, is a flexible platform that can fly hosted payloads and CubeSats. The spacecraft also operated a commercial powered payload for another new customer, UbiquitiLink, Inc. These innovative uses of Cygnus beyond the primary mission demonstrate expanded commercial opportunities enabled by partnerships built through the space station.
The mission officially concluded on February 25 at 4:05 a.m. EST when Cygnus performed a safe, destructive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. The mission began November 17, 2018, when Cygnus launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Antares™ rocket from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Upon arrival at the orbiting laboratory, Cygnus delivered approximately 7,400 pounds (3,350 kilograms) of cargo, supplies and scientific experiments to the astronauts. It remained docked for 81 days at the orbiting laboratory before departing the space station on February 8.
The next Cygnus launch, known as the NG-11 mission, is currently scheduled in mid-April. This will be the final mission under Northrop Grumman’s CRS-1 contract with NASA before starting the CRS-2 contract missions in the fall of 2019.
Executive Comment
Frank DeMauro, VP and GM, Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, reported that this was a flawless mission for Cygnus that further demonstrated its ability to operate as an on-orbit science platform and launch pad for deployment of commercial CubeSats on extended missions. Now, the company turns attention to the next launch this spring where Cygnus will fly on an extended duration mission to further demonstrate its abilities as an on-orbit test platform. These capabilities will showcase Cygnus as an evolving space vehicle that can build on the positive impact of the space station to grow new commercial partnerships. (Source: Satnews)
25 Feb 19. Ubiquitilink’s Claim Means Every Phone is Now a Satellite Phone. Last month I wrote about Ubiquitilink, which promised, through undisclosed means, it was on the verge of providing a sort of global satellite-based roaming service. But how, I asked? (Wait, they told me.) Turns out our phones are capable of a lot more than we think: they can reach satellites acting as cell towers in orbit just fine, and the company just proved it.
Utilizing a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, Ubiquitilink claimed during a briefing at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that pretty much any phone from the last decade should be able to text and do other low-bandwidth tasks from anywhere, even in the middle of the ocean or deep in the Himalayas. Literally (though eventually) anywhere and any time.
Surely not, I hear you saying. My phone, that can barely get a signal on some blocks of my neighborhood, or in that one corner of the living room, can’t possibly send and receive data from space… can it?
“That’s the great thing — everybody’s instinct indicates that’s the case,” said Ubiquitilink founder Charles Miller. “But if you look at the fundamentals of the RF [radio frequency] link, it’s easier than you think.”
The issue, he explained, isn’t really that the phone lacks power. The limits of reception and wireless networks are defined much more by architecture and geology than plain physics. When an RF transmitter, even a small one, has a clear shot straight up, it can travel very far indeed.
Space towers
It’s not quite as easy as that, however; there are changes that need to be made, just not anything complex or expensive like special satellite antennas or base stations. If you know that modifying the phone is a non-starter, you have to work with the hardware you’ve got. But everything else can be shaped accordingly, Miller said — three things in particular.
Lower the orbit. There are limits to what’s practical as far as the distance involved and the complications it brings. The orbit needs to be under 500 kilometers, or about 310 miles. That’s definitely low — geosynchronous is 10 times higher — but it’s not crazy either. Some of SpaceX’s Starlink communications satellites are aiming for a similar orbit.
Narrow the beam. The low orbit and other limitations mean that a given satellite can only cover a small area at a time. This isn’t just blasting out data like a GPS satellite, or communicating with a specialized ground system like a dish that can reorient itself. So on the ground you’ll be looking at a 45 degree arc, meaning you can use a satellite that’s within a 45-degree-wide cone above you.
Lengthen the wavelength. Here simple physics come into play: generally, the shorter the wavelength, the less transparent the atmosphere is to it. So you want to use bands on the long (lower Hz) side of the radio spectrum to make sure you maximize propagation.
Having adjusted for these things, an ordinary phone can contact and trade information with a satellite with its standard wireless chip and power budget. But there’s one more obstacle, one Ubiquitilink spent a great deal of time figuring out.
Although a phone and satellite can reach one another reliably, a delay and Doppler shift in the signal due to the speeds and distances involved are inescapable. Turns out the software that runs towers and wireless chips isn’t suited for this; the timings built into the code assume the distance will be less than 30 km, since the curvature of the Earth generally prevents transmitting farther than that.
So Ubiquitilink modified the standard wireless stacks to account for this, something Miller said no one else had done.
“After my guys came back and told me they’d done this, I said, ‘well let’s go validate it,’ ” he told me. “We went to NASA and JPL and asked what they thought. Everybody’s gut reaction was ‘well, this won’t work,’ but then afterwards they just said ‘well, it works.’ ”
The theory became a reality earlier this year after Ubiquitilink launched their prototype satellites. They successfully made a two-way 2G connection between an ordinary ground device and the satellite, proving that the signal not only gets there and back, but that its Doppler and delay distortions can be rectified on the fly.
“Our first tests demonstrated that we offset the Doppler shift and time delay. Everything else is leveraging commercial software,” Miller said, though he quickly added: “To be clear, there’s plenty more work to be done, but it isn’t anything that’s new technology. It’s good solid hardcore engineering, building nanosats and that sort of thing.”
Since his previous company was Nanoracks and he’s been in the business for decades, he’s qualified to be confident on this part. It’ll be a lot of work and a lot of money, but they should be launching their first real satellites this summer. (And it’s all patented, he noted.)
Global roaming
The way the business will work is remarkably simple given the complexity of the product. Because the satellites operate on modified but mostly ordinary off-the-shelf software and connect to phones with no modifications necessary, Ubiquitilink will essentially work as a worldwide roaming operator that mobile networks will pay to access. (Disclosure: Verizon, obviously a mobile network, owns TechCrunch, and for all I know will use this tech eventually. It’s not involved with any editorial decisions.)
Normally, if you’re a subscriber of network X, and you’re visiting a country where X has no coverage, X will have an agreement with network Y, which connects you for a fee. There are hundreds of these deals in play at any given time, and Ubiquitilink would just be one more — except its coverage will eventually be global. Maybe you can’t reach X or Y; you’ll always be able to reach U.
The speeds and services available will depend on what mobile networks want. Not everyone wants or needs the same thing, of course, and a 3G fallback might be practical where an LTE connection is less so. But the common denominator will be data enough to send and receive text at the least.
It’s worth noting also that this connection will be in some crucial ways indistinguishable from other connections: it won’t affect encryption, for instance.
This will of course necessitate at least a thousand satellites, by Miller’s count. But in the meantime, limited service will also be available in the form of timed passes — you’ll have no signal for 55 minutes, then signal for five, during which you can send and receive what may be a critical text or location. This is envisioned as a specialty service at first, then as more satellites join the constellation, that window expands until it’s 24/7 and across the whole face of the planet, and it becomes a normal consumer good.
Emergency fallback
While your network provider will probably charge you the usual arm and leg for global roaming on demand (it’s their prerogative), there are some services Ubiquitilink will provide for free; the value of a global communication system is not lost on Miller.
“Nobody should ever die because the phone in their pocket doesn’t have signal,” he said. “If you break down in the middle of Death Valley you should be able to text 911. Our vision is this is a universal service for emergency responders and global E-911 texting. We’re not going to charge for that.”
An emergency broadcast system when networks are down is also being planned — power outages following disasters are times when people are likely to panic or be struck by a follow-up disaster like a tsunami or flooding, and reliable communications at those times could save thousands and vastly improve recovery efforts.
“We don’t want to make money off saving people’s lives, that’s just a benefit of implementing this system, and the way it should be,” Miller
said.
It’s a whole lot of promises, but the team and the tech seem capable of backing them up. Initial testing is complete and birds are in the air — now it’s a matter of launching the next thousand or so. (Source: Satnews/Techcrunch)
01 Mar 19. Statement from Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan and Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson on the Delivery of the Legislative Proposal to Congress for the U.S. Space Force. The Pentagon announced today the delivery of the legislative proposal to Congress on the establishment of the Space Force.
Attributed to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan: “This is an historic moment for our nation. The Department of Defense’s legislative proposal to establish the United States Space Force as the sixth branch of the Armed Forces is a strategic step towards securing America’s vital national interests in space. Our approach follows President Trump’s bold vision for space and commits resources to deliver more capability faster, ensuring the United States can compete, deter, and, if needed, win in a complex domain.”
Attributed to Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson: “We will continue to be the best in the world at space and establishing a dedicated space force strengthens our ability to deter, compete and win in space.” (Source: US DoD)
26 Feb 19. Pentagon Wants Satellites That Can Dodge Incoming Fire. As China and Russia move to weaponize space, the U.S. military is working to give its constellations a “fighting chance.”
In the event of a shootout in space, the Defense Department is working to create satellite constellations that can dodge missiles or even satellite-based weapons, according to U.S. Air Force officials.
“We have to give our mission systems an opportunity to participate in their own defense, give them a fighting chance,” Michael Dickey, who runs the Enterprise Strategy and Architectures Office at Air Force Space Command, said at a Mitchell Institute event on Capitol Hill on Friday. “We’ve begun to introduce changes.”
Col. Russell Teehan, Portfolio Architect of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, added “We are doing a lot of work in that area.”
The remarks come a little more than a week after the Defense Intelligence Agency warned that China and Russia are developing space-based lasers and other weapons.
Those nascent threats mean that future U.S. satellites will have to be able to maneuver much faster and more artfully. “It’s not hard to imagine, if someone is shooting at you, you would maybe like to get out the line of fire and so creating some agility with our space systems becomes very important,” said Dickey. “Maneuverability takes fuel and thrusters and all of that. You’ll start to see that in the next round of modernization.”
But there are limits to how well satellites can dodge and weave in space. They fly far above the atmosphere that allows fighter planes to maneuver, and they are too small to carry much rocket fuel. “Our satellites aren’t pulling nine Gs, right?” Dickey said. observed, referring to gravitational force. He described the maneuvering as something of a slow-motion glide, “kinda like a Keanu Reeves thing in the Matrix.”
One key to helping satellites avoid attack is moving them out of what Teehan called “predictable orbits.” These include geosynchronous earth orbits, which keep satellites above a particular spot on the Earth’s surface, and low earth orbits, in which they zoom around the world. Teehan said people are coming up with ways to move satellites from high orbits to low ones to provide a year of intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance capability. “Imagine the dynamic architecture you can create if you can create maneuver in the domain?” he said.
Another key is getting better situational awareness data off those satellites and then sharing it with more people, faster.
Said Teehan, “A lot of this is: who else is watching what’s going on? And can I synchronize forces? Because if Johnny goes to the right, and Sally goes to the left, if we work just at the tactical level, you will not synchronize forces. It’s not just on board, it’s synchronizing the sensors and data flows to operate as an enterprise organization.”
Recent attention has focused on more exotic solutions, such as arming satellites to ward off incoming missiles or other enemy weapons. he Defense Department also has a program to put robotic arms on satellites to do repair work. In theory, a satellite could use a robotic arm to defend itself from an enemy space weapon that was getting too close.
At the breakfast, the officials declined to rule out either possibility.
“We have a lot of things we can do,” said Dickey. (Source: Satnews/DefenseOne)
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