Is China Militarizing Space? New Junk
Collector Could Be Anti-Satellite Weapon (Source: SCMP)
A small spacecraft sent into orbit by the Long March 7 rocket launched
from Hainan in southern China on Saturday is tasked with cleaning up
space junk, according to the government, but some analysts claim it may
serve a military purpose.
The Aolong-1, or Roaming Dragon, is equipped with a robotic arm to
remove large debris such as old satellites. Tang Yagang, a senior
satellite scientist with the China Aerospace Science and Technology
Corporation, said the Aolong-1 was the first in a series of craft that
would be tasked with collecting man-made debris in space.
For instance, it could collect a defunct Chinese satellite and bring it
back to earth, crashing it safely into the ocean, he said.
But the question is: did China develop the cutting-edge technology only
to clean up space junk? To the military, the robot had potential as an
anti-satellite weapon, the researcher said. The Roaming Dragon is
small. During peacetime, the craft could patrol space and prevent
defunct satellites from crashing into big cities such as Shanghai or
New York. During wartime, they could be used as deterrents or directly
against enemy assets in space, said the researcher. (6/28)
Chinese Space Garbageman is Not a
Weapon (Source: Space Daily)
China has launched a robot space garbageman. It's about time. Space
debris is a growing problem, and more countermeasures must be taken to
combat this threat. De-orbiting satellites with robots is a useful
option in some cases.
Curiously, a story in Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" on Tuesday
June 28 accused China of launching a space weapon in the Roaming
Dragon, with the garbage collection story as a cover. All things
considered, this accusation seems somewhat unfair to the project. Space
analysts around the world are aware that China has tested
anti-satellite weapons.
China operates an extensive fleet of military support satellites and
surely intends to make even more progress in this area in the future.
But the Roaming Dragon seems like an impractical space weapon... Let's
be clear. China is a major force in military space. Its rapid advances
in this field pose a strategic challenge to global security. But the
calling the Roaming Dragon a weapon test seems to be stretching
credibility. Click here.
(6/28)
India Tells Aerospace Industry to
Enhance Capacity to Meet Demands (Source: Space Daily)
The Indian aerospace industry should enhance its capacity to meet the
growing demand for space-based services, India's space agency ISRO
said. "It is imperative for the aerospace industry to enhance its
capacity to meet the rapidly increasing national demand for space-based
services," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman A.S.
Kiran Kumar said at a conference on 'Enabling spacecraft systems
realization through industries' here. (6/28)
Airbus to Expand Poland's Satellite
Production Capabilities (Source: Space Daily)
Airbus Defence and Space, the world's second largest space company,
will be constructing a complex of clean rooms near Warsaw, thus
boosting its Polish satellite production facility. The facilities are
intended for use by PZL Warszawa-Okecie, a subsidiary of Airbus Defence
and Space and PGZ. The clean rooms will initially be used for the
production of harnesses, a vital element to keep the various electronic
satellite components connected. (6/28)
Georgia Congressman Supports Spaceport
Initiative (Source: Brunswick News)
A member of Congress from Georgia says he supports the development of a
spaceport in the state. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), whose district
includes the site of the proposed spaceport in Camden County, toured
the area Monday and afterwards said he was "very enthusiastic" about
the prospects of a launch site there.
He said he wasn't concerned with potential environmental impacts from
the spaceport, despite statements from the National Park Service that
launches there could restrict access to the nearby Cumberland Island
National Seashore. (6/28)
Seattle Space Pioneers Still Searching
for Business Plan (Source: Crosscut)
The sky’s the limit on a burgeoning new industry in the Seattle area.
No, not even the sky: These businesses have their eyes set on outer
space. The region has become a hub for space technology companies such
as Planetary Resources, which wants to mine asteroids, and Blue Origin,
which builds rockets.
This cluster of local growth is why the NewSpace Conference decided to
hold the event in Seattle last week, moving it away from Silicon Valley
for the first time in the conference’s 11-year history. The conference
brought aerospace engineers, company executives, investors and hopeful
entrepreneurs together to talk about the state of the “NewSpace” age
and where it’s heading. Click here.
(6/28)
New NASA Tech Could Provide the Entire
Solar System with Internet (Source: Inhabitat)
NASA is celebrating the first deployment of new technology at the
International Space Station (ISS) that makes it much easier, faster,
and more efficient to transmit data to Earth. Essentially, it’s the
first step toward internet connectivity in space that is just as
reliable as your home Wi-Fi signal. The new system, called
Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), provides a smart solution
to interrupted connections, and lays the groundwork for Solar
System-wide internet connectivity in the not-so-distant future. Click here.
(6/27)
Google Earth and Maps Get Sharper
Satellite Imagery with New Update (Source: Tech Crunch)
Now Google has updated Google Earth with the imagery from Landsat 8,
launched in 2013. The new satellite is able to capture images with
“greater detail, truer colors, and at an unprecedented frequency —
capturing twice as many images as Landsat 7 does every day,” Google
announced on its Google Maps blog this afternoon.
As before, the new Google Earth imagery is also cloud-free, thanks to
mining nearly a petabyte of data. That’s more than 700 trillion pixels,
the company notes, or 7,000 times more pixels than the number of
estimated stars in the Milky Way, it adds, having fun with the numbers.
(6/27)
The Wizard War in Orbit : Black Black
Boxes (Source: Space Review)
As the US signals intelligence satellite effort ramped up in the 1960s,
agencies developed a wide range of payloads to fly on spacecraft to
study radar signals and communications. In the second part of his
history on the subject, Dwayne Day explores what is known about some of
those efforts through declassified documents. Click here.
(6/27)
Jovian Fireworks: Juno Arrives at
Jupiter (Source: Space Review)
While many Americans will spend next Monday celebrating Independence
Day, NASA will be busy with the arrival of the Juno spacecraft at
Jupiter. Jeff Foust reviews the goals of the mission and the challenges
it faces dealing with the harsh radiation environment around the giant
planet. Click here.
(6/27)
A New Level of Urgency for Space-Based
Solar Power (Source: Space Review)
The US military has examined space-based solar power in the past, but
has taken little action beyond studies. Nathan Kitzke argues that
developing even small-scale systems could have benefits for both
military operations and national leadership. Click here.
(6/27)
How Next President Can Build New
National Security Space Strategy (Source: Breaking Defense)
The next administration must do a “strategic rebalancing” of means to
achieve what have been consistent national space security ends (goals):
stability, sustainability and freedom of access. But a significant
challenge to both reaffirming ends, and determining and implementing
means, is structure, as we point out in a recent Strategy Paper for the
Atlantic Council. Click here.
(6/27)
If We’re Going to Get to Mars, These
Rockets Need to Work (Source: WIRED)
If humans are going to get to Mars, they’re going to need rockets with
some serious liftoff power. NASA’s Space Launch System is the most
powerful rocket in the world—it has twin five-segment solid rocket
boosters, four liquid propellant engines, and a minimum of 70 metric
tons of lifting power—but engineers won’t know until June 28th if it’s
really going to work. Click here.
(6/27)
Aerojet Rocketdyne Consolidates Space
and Defense Business Units (Source: Space News)
Aerojet Rocketdyne announced June 27 that it expects to save $8
million annually by consolidating its six business units into two:
Space and Defense. Both units will report to Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO
Eileen Drake once senior vice presidents have been named. Until that
happens, the Space unit will report to Drake and the Defense unit will
report to Aerojet Rocketdyne Chief Operating Officer Mark Tucker.
Aerojet Rocketdyne also announced last week that it plans to save up to
$20 million a year by refinancing its debt. Neither California,
Alabama, Florida, Virginia nor Washington — all states with a
significant Aerojet Rocketdyne presence — had posted layoff notices
from the company. (6/27)
DARPA’s Next Space Project: Command
and Control Software (Source: Space News)
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency could award contracts
worth as much as $21.5 million for industry to develop new software
systems meant to improve how the Defense Department visualizes and
responds to threats in space. The contracts are the first part of a
DARPA program called Hallmark, which, in the past year, has become one
of the agency’s top space priorities. The agency requested $28 million
for the program in its 2017 budget. (6/27)
New Horizon’s Spacecraft Just Spot a
Canyon on Pluto’s Moon (Source: CSM)
Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, has a canyon that rivals not only Earth’s
Grand Canyon, but every other canyon in the solar system. NASA’s New
Horizons spacecraft offered humanity its first detailed look at the icy
worlds on the edge of the solar system when it sped past Pluto on July
14, 2015, with seven instruments collecting data that scientists will
continue to receive until October.
The data sent back so far has already pointed to far more dynamic
processes than scientists could have predicted shaping the dwarf planet
and its moon over the past 4.5 billion years, which is exactly why the
scientists launched the probe into the unknown. (6/27)
US, Chinese Spacecraft May Cut Demand
for Russia's Soyuz Vehicles (Source: Tass)
Russia’s spacecraft manufacturer Energia fears that successes of US
companies and China’s progress in upgrading its Shenzhou vehicles may
reduce the demand for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. "Systematic
perfection of China’s manned spacecraft Shenzhou and creation of a
national orbital station Tiangong are fraught with the risk demand for
Russia’s manned spacecraft on the world market may ease unless their
technical parameters and costs are improved," Energia said in the
annual report. (6/27)
Russia's Plan To Spin Off a New Space
Station From the ISS (Source: Popular Mechanics)
The potential breakup of an international alliance is now brewing, and
no, we're not talking about Brexit. This one is happening above our
heads. Russian plans to split the ISS have been circulating for years.
Now, for a host of political, financial, and technical reasons, this
isn't just a wild idea on paper anymore.
Russia's main contractor in human space flight just detailed its plans
to separate the newest modules from the International Space Station
(ISS) once the long-lived project comes to an end in the 2020s. It
plans to build a new habitable base in Earth orbit called the Russian
Orbital Station, or ROS. The outpost will include three modules
initially, possibly joined by two more in the future. (6/27)
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