Lifeboat Foundation

What happens if you launch satellites into space without government permission, but with government funding?

We may find out soon, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates satellite operations by US citizens and companies. It has completed an inquiry into the January launch of four small satellites built by a start-up called Swarm Technologies, and has referred the case to its enforcement bureau, according to a spokesperson.

The FCC, which does not comment on potential enforcement actions, can propose financial penalties and ban companies and individuals from operating satellites. Swarm’s CEO, Sara Spangelo, did not respond to a request for comment.

Continue reading “Swarm may have to answer for launching satellites without US permission” »

Apparently needs a lot of work before it can actually operate like a eel/snake. But, i’d wrap this up in skin so it could look like a snake/eel. Give it solar power skin so it could recharge its own batteries; maybe try to use that system that was supposed to be able to eat organic matter to convert into power. Then, put a bunch of sensors on it, and HD cameras for eyes, and rig it so it could transmit to satellites. And you have a pretty impressive drone that can operate in any body of water and on land close to water.

An innovative, eel-like robot developed by engineers and marine biologists at the University of California can swim silently in salt water without an electric motor. Instead, the robot uses artificial muscles filled with water to propel itself. The foot-long robot, which is connected to an electronics board that remains on the surface, is also virtually transparent.

Continue reading “Transparent eel-like soft robot can swim silently underwater” »

WASHINGTON — The light-lift Vega rocket is Europe’s vehicle of choice for small satellites, but has mainly launched spacecraft weighing hundreds of kilograms. While that’s smaller than what Arianespace normally launches on an Ariane 5 or Soyuz, it’s not the “small” that people generally think of when they think smallsats.

Last week, Arianespace signed a contract with smallsat rideshare organizer Spaceflight Industries of Seattle to conduct two Vega launches with a new adaptor for cubesats and microsats. The first of those launches is expected no sooner than 2019.

Spaceflight will line up the passengers for the Small Spacecraft Mission System (SSMS), an adapter developed by the European Space Agency to accommodate 10 to 15 smallsats ranging from single-digit-kilogram cubesats to microsats up to 400 kilograms.

SpaceX is about to launch a $337 million NASA satellite.

I guess the anti satellite missiles and lasers are a real threat now.

The Air Force is desperate to replace larger satellites that are vulnerable to attack, and fast.

US military leaders are bullish about small satellites as tools to spy on adversaries and provide secure communications, but there’s just one problem: There isn’t a good way to get them into space, on demand.

Continue reading “The US Military Will Award $10 million to the Company That Can Launch Satellites on Short Notice” »

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) — SpaceX said all systems and weather were “go” for blast-off on Wednesday of its first high-priority science mission for NASA, a planet-hunting space telescope whose launch was delayed for two days by a rocket-guidance glitch.

FILE PHOTO: NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, U.S., is shown in this artist’s rendering image obtained on April 9, 2018. Courtesy Chris Meaney/Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA/Handout via REUTERS.

On Monday, April 16, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA’s new exoplanet hunter will train its sights on nearer, brighter stars than its predecessors did. If TESS lives up to scientists’ predictions, it could energize our search for life in the cosmos.

When the Kepler space telescope launched in 2009, scientists didn’t know what fraction of stars hosted planets. The Kepler mission was a statistical exploration looking to see how frequently planets occur around stars, Harvard astronomer David Latham told Space.com. “One of the big surprises from Kepler was to find this whole population of planets with sizes between that of Neptune and Earth — and there aren’t any in our solar system, zero — and they’re everywhere out there,” said Latham, who’s worked on the Kepler project for nearly 20 years.

“Kepler is what made us become aware that planets are as common as telephone poles,” SETI Institute astronomer Seth Shostak told Space.com.” But the stars that Kepler was staring at for four years … they were all somewhere between 500 and 1,500 light-years away.” TESS will survey the local neighborhood for planets like Earth. [NASA’s TESS Exoplanet-Hunter in Pictures].

Continue reading “NASA’s TESS Satellite Will Supercharge Search for Nearby, Earth-Like Worlds” »

200,000 nearby stars. There have to be some planets in there, right?

Tracking methane in the air is hard because it rises and spreads from the source. Measurements taken on the ground and from planes vary all over the place.

Hamburg says the satellite, called MethaneSAT, is the best thing yet for quantifying and tracking the gas: “It will be able to see where it’s happening [and] how much, across the globe — not just the big sources, but all the sources collectively, and understand the scale of the problem. That’s the kind of data we don’t have anywhere in the world.”

The satellite will be about the size of a beer keg and is due for launch in three years. It’s funded with money raised from wealthy philanthropists.

Continue reading “Environmental Group Plans Methane-Tracking Satellite” »