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Category: satellites – Page 185

Researchers display an earth-based telescope in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Aug. 17, 2016. China successfully launched the world’s first quantum satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday. Five earth-based telescopes distributed across the country will be used in the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), four of which were developed by the Institute of Optics and Electronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu. (Photo/Xinhua)

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BLASTOFF! China has launched their new Quantum Satellite today Tuesday. It is the beginning of a whole new tech & communications world.

BEIJING—China on Tuesday launched the world’s first quantum satellite, which will help it establish “hack-proof” communications between space and the ground, state media said, the latest advance in an ambitious space program.

The program is a priority as President Xi Jinping has urged China to establish itself as a space power, and apart from its civilian ambitions, it has tested anti-satellite missiles.

The Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, or QUESS, satellite, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the remote northwestern province of Gansu in the early hours of Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

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SpaceX successfully landed a reusable Falcon 9 rocket on a floating drone ship at sea early Sunday after the vehicle had sent a Japanese communications satellite into orbit.

The California-based company’s eighth launch this year was part of its ongoing effort to re-use costly rocket parts instead of jettisoning them into the ocean.

It was also the fourth time SpaceX has vertically landed a used Falcon 9 rocket aboard a floating platform at sea.

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Although this another article that highlights again China’s planned launch; I wanted to share it because it does (in a pragmatic approach) highlight a couple of the key benefits for having QC.

The imminent launch of the world’s first quantum communication satellite is widely believed to herald a breakthrough in China’s development of quantum technology.

Mysterious and confusing, the study of minute particles smaller than atoms has been applied in fields as diverse as computer processing, lasers and nuclear technology.

How will quantum communication change our lives — especially in the age of cyber attacks, wiretapping and information leakage?

Continue reading “How will quantum communication change life?” | >

Nifty.

Radio communication is a weak point for most military operations — it is often not long enough or strong enough to adequately meet soldiers’ needs. The U.S. Air Force’s “go big or go home” solution to improve their long-distance calls? Supercharge the atmosphere by detonating aerial plasma bombs attached to tiny satellites, reports New Scientist.

The Air Force is asking for help in developing plasma bombs, which would be delivered to the atmosphere by tiny cube satellites and then detonated to release ions upon arrival. The Air Force is working with several research teams, each of which is tasked with coming up with their own design for the plasma bombs. The first stage of the project is theoretical, requiring researchers to come up with an atmospheric plasma delivery method. Selected researchers then will be invited to test their proposal in a vacuum chamber simulator and eventually on exploratory flights.

One team, comprised of researchers from Drexel University and General Sciences, is developing a controlled bomb that uses a chemical reaction to heat a piece of metal beyond its boiling point. Once vaporized, the metal will react with atmospheric oxygen to create the ionized plasma. Another proposal under development by researchers from the University of Maryland and Enig Associates also uses vaporized metals to supercharge the atmosphere. This proposal is much more explosive, though, using mini-detonations to heat pieces of metal rapidly, causing them to vaporize. The amount of plasma produced in this latter reaction can be controlled by changing the intensity and form of the explosion.

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Nice.

Summary: “Nano satellite missions are low-cost and can do multiple jobs with a greater degree of accuracy. “It will be an advanced nano satellite weighing about one kg designed for a specific task of conducting oceanographic studies. S Satheesh Chandra Shenoi, Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and National Institute of Ocean Technology, said it’s good that educational institutions are venturing into space programmes. Close on the heels of the successful launch of SATHYABAMASAT, which the students of Sathyabama University worked on since 2009 to monitor the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, the Academy of Maritime Education and Training (AMET) is working on an ocean observation “AMETSAT — Nano Satellite Project” with the national space agency. Also, the incidences of aircrafts such as the Indian Air Force AN-32 going missing leaving no clues warrant more ocean observation satellites, though with little larger life span, unlike nano satellites which usually have a life space of 6 months, another AMET faculty member said.

CHENNAI: With the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) opening its arms to educational institutions and private industry to participate in space exploration missions, there is a renewed enthusiasm among researchers and student community. Close on the heels of the successful launch of SATHYABAMASAT, which the students of Sathyabama University worked on since 2009 to monitor the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, the Academy of Maritime Education and Training (AMET) is working on an ocean observation “AMETSAT — Nano Satellite Project” with the national space agency. G Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor, AMET, made the announcement during the sixth convocation held here on Wednesday. The deemed university has also bagged a project on “Marine Exploration of Submerged Poompuhar and Dwarka”. N Manoharan, Director, Research of AMET, told Express on the sidelines of the convocation that the project was in an early stage.

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Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) announced that it has signed a Public-Private Partnership with NASA to deliver a HYDROS™ propulsion system for a CubeSat mission. Concurrently, TUI has signed an associated contract to provide three HYDROS thrusters sized for Millennium Space Systems’ (MSS) ALTAIR™ class microsatellites to support three different flight missions. Total contract value for the two efforts is $2.2M.

The HYDROS propulsion system uses in-space electrolysis of water to generate hydrogen and oxygen gas, which it then burns in a bipropellant thruster. This water-electrolysis method allows small satellites to carry a propellant that is non-explosive, non-toxic, and unpressurized. The hydrogen and oxygen generated on-orbit will enable high-thrust and high-fuel-efficiency propulsion so these small satellites can perform missions requiring orbital agility and long-duration station-keeping.

The partnership with NASA is a cost-sharing program funded under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s “Utilizing Public-Private Partnerships to Advance Tipping Point Technologies” Program. In this effort, TUI will conduct lifetime and environmental testing of prototypes of HYDROS systems sized for CubeSats and microsatellites and then deliver a flight unit HYDROS thruster intended for testing on a CubeSat mission as part of NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstration Program, at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

The purchase of HYDROS thrusters by MSS represents a significant commercial customer investment that will enable the HYDROS Public-Private Partnership to develop and deliver a transformative propulsion technology meeting needs for both NASA and commercial small satellite endeavors.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to partner with NASA and Millennium Space Systems to demonstrate this revolutionary thruster technology,” said Dr. Rob Hoyt, TUI’s CEO and Chief Scientist. “Traditionally it has been very difficult to launch small satellites with propulsion capabilities due to the risks that standard propellants such as hydrazine pose to the launch vehicle’s primary payload. HYDROS will enable highly-maneuverable satellites to launch as secondary payloads without posing a significant risk to primary payloads. In the future, when asteroid and lunar mining efforts begin to provide in-situ resources, the HYDROS technology will enable use of the water ice available on asteroids and the Moon to propel the spacecraft, equipment, and resources needed for a robust in-space economy.”

Continue reading “Tethers Unlimited Signs Contracts with NASA and Millennium Space Systems to Deliver HYDROS™ Water-Propelled Thrusters” | >

China and the US; tensions are mounting and China’s new Quantum Satellite is aiding more fuel to the flames.

By: James Holbrooks (UndergroundReporter) Beijing — Only days after completing production of the largest amphibious aircraft ever built, China has just revealed plans to launch the world’s first satellite designed to conduct quantum experiments in space — a move that could one day lead to a highly secure “orbital internet.”

Assuming the initial satellite performs well, as many as 20 additional craft would follow in the effort to create a new category of communications network. Chinese researchers believe their work could ignite a space race as other nations move to refine the technology.

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