Lifeboat Foundation

Acoustic resonators, found in devices like smartphones and Wi-Fi systems, degrade over time with no easy way to monitor this degradation. Researchers from Harvard SEAS and Purdue University have now developed a method using atomic vacancies in silicon carbide to measure the stability of these resonators and even manipulate quantum states, potentially benefiting accelerometers, gyroscopes, clocks, and quantum networking.

Acoustic resonators are everywhere. In fact, there is a good chance you’re holding one in your hand right now. Most smartphones today use bulk acoustic resonators as radio frequency filters to filter out noise that could degrade a signal. These filters are also used in most Wi-Fi and GPS

GPS, or Global Positioning System, is a satellite-based navigation system that provides location and time information anywhere on or near the Earth’s surface. It consists of a network of satellites, ground control stations, and GPS receivers, which are found in a variety of devices such as smartphones, cars, and aircraft. GPS is used for a wide range of applications including navigation, mapping, tracking, and timing, and has an accuracy of about 3 meters (10 feet) in most conditions.

The week of Oct. 23 through Oct 30 is a big one for low-Earth orbit (LEO) with all but one flight headed to already existing constellations. This includes two Falcon 9 launches on opposite sides of the country, one Russian Soyuz 2.1b launch, and two different launches planned out of China, one involving humans.

Two Chinese launches start the week, with the first being a Chang Zheng 2D preparing for its flight from LC-3 at Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Then, a Chang Zheng 2F/G will launch out of LC-90 at the China Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, before a Soyuz 2.1b launches out of Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Then the first Falcon 9 launches more Starlink satellites on the other side of the world out of SLC-4E at Vandenberg Spaceforce Base (VSFB). Then, on the other side of America, Falcon 9 Starlink launches out of SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

Chang Zheng 2D – Yaogan 39 Group 04

Researchers integrate terahertz vortex beam emission to advance radar target detection technology.

You may not realize it, but the Doppler effect is everywhere in our lives, from tracking the speed of cars with radar to locating satellites in the sky. It’s all about how waves change their frequency when a source (like a radar signal) and a detector are in motion relative to each other. However, traditional radar systems hit a roadblock when trying to detect objects moving at right angles to their radar signals. This limitation has driven researchers to explore an entirely new approach.

Introduction to Vortex Radar.

NOAA scientists investigating the stratosphere have found that in addition to meteoric ‘space dust,’ the atmosphere more than seven miles above the surface is peppered with particles containing a variety of metals from satellites and spent rocket boosters vaporized by the intense heat of re-entry.

The discovery is one of the initial findings from analysis of data collected by a high-altitude research plane over the Arctic during a NOAA Chemical Science Laboratory mission called SABRE, short for Stratospheric Aerosol processes, Budget and Radiative Effects. It’s the agency’s most ambitious and intensive effort to date to investigate aerosol particles in the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that moderates Earth’s climate and is home to the protective ozone layer.

Using an extraordinarily sensitive instrument custom-built at NOAA in Boulder, Colorado, and mounted in the nose of a NASA WB-57 research aircraft, scientists found aluminum and exotic metals embedded in about 10 percent of sulfuric acid particles, which comprise the large majority of particles in the stratosphere. They were also able to match the ratio of rare elements they measured to special alloys used in rockets and satellites, confirming their source as metal vaporized from spacecraft reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

You may not realize it, but the Doppler effect is everywhere in our lives, from tracking the speed of cars with radar to locating satellites in the sky. It’s all about how waves change their frequency when a source (like a radar signal) and a detector are in motion relative to each other. However, traditional radar systems hit a roadblock when trying to detect objects moving at right angles to their radar signals. This limitation has driven researchers to explore an entirely new approach.

Imagine a radar system that doesn’t just rely on linear waves but instead uses spiraling electromagnetic waves with orbital angular momentum (OAM). These special “vortex” waves have a helical twist and introduce a signature rotational Doppler effect when they encounter a spinning object.

To improve identification and detection of these rotational Doppler effects, researchers from University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) have harnessed terahertz (THz) waves by developing an integrated THz vortex beam emitter, as reported in Advanced Photonics.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 22 Starlink internet satellites to orbit this evening (Oct. 17), if all goes according to plan.

The Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 5:20 p.m. EDT (2120 GMT). If SpaceX doesn’t hit that target, there are five backup opportunities available between 6:11 p.m. EDT and 8:48 p.m. EDT (2211 to 48 GMT), company representatives wrote in a mission description.

Starlink’s website update is revealing a bit more about its plans for a satellite-delivered cell phone service. The new page for “Starlink Direct to Cell” promises “ubiquitous coverage” from “cellphone towers in space” that will work over bog-standard LTE. The current timeline claims there will be text service starting in 2024, voice and data in 2025, and “IoT” service in 2025.

Today satellite phone connectivity still requires giant, purpose-built hardware, like the old-school Iridium network phones. If you’re only looking for emergency texting, you can also make do with Apple’s introduction of the barely there connectivity paradigm, requiring being inside a connectivity window, holding up a phone, and following a signal-targeting app. Starlink wants to bring full-blown space connectivity to normal smartphone hardware.

Starlink satellites will soon be offering Direct to Cell capabilities to enable texting, calling, and browsing everywhere on Earth. SpaceX will start satellite-based text messaging in 2024 and expand to voice and text support in 2025. They will offer cellular connectivity to IoT devices in 2025. The service will work with existing LTE phones without the need for any hardware, firmware changes, or special apps.

Direct to Cell will also connect IoT devices with common LTE standards. SpaceX plans to equip its future Starlink satellites with an advanced eNodeB modem. This innovation will essentially transform a Starlink satellite into a cellphone tower in space.

This will be enabled by tens of thousands of satellites and eventually millions of satellites will replace most of the 5 million cell towers on Earth. It will means everyone and everything can be connected. All people, robots, and self driving vehicles will be connected.

Chinese scientists claim they’ve had unexpected success in developing a high-powered microwave (HPM) weapon, according to The Diplomat. The magazine notes that in January, Huang Wenhua, deputy director of China’s Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, was awarded for his research on directed energy, which HPM weapons use.

HPM systems are able to destroy electronic equipment, and in an age when most combat systems—from tanks to planes, radios to satellites—rely on electronics, the weapons could change the way wars are fought. Warships will be fitted with HPM weapons to intercept incoming missiles.

The HPM project, alongside other projects involving lasers and electromagnetic pulses, is part of the Chinese regime’s “Assassin’s Mace” (or “Trump Card”) program designed to defeat a technologically superior opponent by disabling or destroying the technology that makes the opponent superior.