ESA VEGA: Central and eastern Europe make history with small satellites

University of Bucharest’s Goliat being integrated into the first P-POD.

Credits: ESA / A. Reyes

The first satellites entirely designed and built by Hungary, Poland, Romania are now orbiting Earth after today’s successful maiden flight of ESA's small Vega launcher.

The latest addition to Europe’s versatile family of space launchers, Vega carried nine satellites, seven of them built by European universities.

This group of ESA-sponsored educational CubeSats included Goliat from Romania, PW-Sat from Poland and Masat-1 from Hungary.

The unique opportunity to launch the first satellites from these countries was made possible by a fruitful collaboration between the ESA launcher and education programmes.

“Since Vega’s first mission was a qualification flight, ESA decided to offer the chance to European Universities of a free ride into space for small scientific or educational payloads,” noted Antonio Fabrizi, ESA’s Director of Launchers.  
 

ESA Vega Lift-Off: Inaugural Flight Of European Rocket

The small payload rocket launched from French Guiana on February 13, 2012. It will deploy nine satellites.
Credit: ESA

ESA Kourou: Successful Liftoff of Vega VV01

On 13 February 2012, the first Vega lifted off on its maiden flight from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

For further information, please visit: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Vega/

Credits line: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012

ESA: Vega VV01 waiting on Launch Pad, Kourou

ESA’s new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are in full swing for the rocket’s inaugural flight.

Flight VV01 will lift off from the new Vega launch site at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying nine satellites into orbit: the LARES laser relativity satellite and ALMASat-1 from ASI with seven CubeSats from European Universities.

For further information, please visit: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Vega/

European Space Agency (ESA): VEGA Build and launch - Live streaming video

eurospaceagency on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

ESA Vega Launch: Final ‘go’ for Vega launch Monday 13th Feb 2012

ESA’s new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are in full swing for the rocket’s inaugural flight.

Flight VV01 will lift off from the new Vega launch site at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying nine satellites into orbit: the LARES laser relativity satellite and ALMASat-1 from ASI with seven CubeSats from European Universities.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012

Vega is all set for launch on Monday. The new launcher passed its final hurdle on Saturday at Europe’s Spaceport, the Launch Readiness Review, and is ready for liftoff.

This last review checks the final status of the entire launch system, including the vehicle and the ground infrastructure, following the full dress rehearsal of the countdown and launch of earlier this week.

The first mission, designated VV01, is scheduled for liftoff during a two and a half hour launch window lasting 10:00–12:30 GMT (11:00–13:30 CET; 07:00–09:30 local time).

ESA VEGA Payload: Italian satellite to help measure space-time warp

Payloads for Vega's first mission include LARES, ALMASat 1, and seven CubeSats from universities across Europe. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace

Scheduled for launch from French Guiana on Monday, Europe's first lightweight Vega rocket is packed with nine small research satellites, including a unique Italian craft designed to help make an elusive accurate measurement of a central tenet of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

The 98-foot-tall booster is due for liftoff in a two-hour launch window opening at 1000 GMT (5 a.m. EST) Monday.

The four-stage launcher, developed with Italian leadership, will make its first flight from the Guiana Space Center, a European-run spaceport in French Guiana.

The Vega rocket will deploy its nine payloads at different altitudes, first releasing the Laser Relativity Satellite about 55 minutes after launch in a circular 901 mile-high orbit with an inclination of 69.5 degrees.

Another firing by the Vega's fourth stage, powered by a Ukrainian liqiud-fueled engine, will reduce the altitude of the orbit's low point to 217 miles before deploying Italy's ALMASat 1 technology demonstration satellite and seven two-pound CubeSats built by learning institutions across Europe.

The Vega's mission will conclude 81 minutes after launch.

Officials selected LARES as the main passenger for the rocket's qualification flight, which aims to prove Vega's flight and ground systems before it is entrusted with more costly payloads on subsequent missions.

Carved out of a single ball of tungsten, LARES is covered 92 laser retroreflectors, allowing a network of ranging stations around the world to track the spherical satellite in orbit.

By bouncing laser signals off reflectors on LARES, scientists can precisely compute its position in space.

After comparing the actual location of LARES against predictions, researchers can measure the frame-dragging effect, part of Einstein's theory of general relativity which states that a rotating mass can distort space-time around it.

"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet rotates, the honey around it would swirl, and it's the same with space and time," said Francis Everitt, a Standford University researcher who led the science team for NASA's Gravity Probe B mission, which confirmed the frame-dragging, or Lense-Thirring, effect at 37.2 milliarcseconds with a margin for error of about 19 percent.

Artist's concept of the frame-dragging effect around Earth. Credit: Stanford University

The frame-dragging effect manifests itself in minuscule changes in the orbits of satellites. Scientists observed two precursors to LARES, named LAGEOS 1 and LAGEOS 2, over several years to determine their orbital planes shifted 6 feet per year in the direction of Earth's rotation.

The LAGEOS tracking, coupled with a precise Earth gravity model, produced an estimation of the frame-dragging effect at 99 percent of the value predicted under general relativity.

The joint U.S.-Italian LAGEOS mission ultimately measured the effect with an accuracy of about 10 percent.

The objective of LARES is to refine the real effect of frame-dragging with an accuracy approaching 1 percent, according to the Italian space agency, which is funding the mission.

Better data on the frame-dragging effect around Earth will help astrophysicists study distant black holes, neutron stars and active galactic nuclei, whose immense gravity creates much stronger warping of space-time.

ESA: First Vega rocket assembled on launch pad - images

ESA’s new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are in full swing for the rocket’s inaugural flight.

Flight VV01 will lift off from the new Vega launch site at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying nine satellites into orbit: the LARES laser relativity satellite and ALMASat-1 from ASI with seven CubeSats from European Universities.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012

Vega's upper composite, comprising LARES, ALMASat-1, seven CubeSats and the fairing, was transferred to the pad on 24 January and added to the vehicle at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Credits: ESA - M. Pedoussaut, 2012

Vega's upper composite, comprising LARES, ALMASat-1, seven CubeSats and the fairing, was transferred to the pad on 24 January and added to the vehicle at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Credits: ESA - M. Pedoussaut, 2012

ESA Vega rocket ready for first flight

Vega's maiden flight, VV01, is planned for the beginning of 2012 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

ESA’s new, small launcher will carry nine satellites into orbit on its very first flight: Italian space agency’s LARES and ALMASat-1 with seven CubeSats from European universities.

Credits: ESA - J. Huart, 2012

All four stages have undergone final acceptance, including the testing of the avionics, guidance, telemetry, propulsion, separation pyrotechnics and safety systems.

These steps culminated on 13 January with Vega’s ‘synthesis control checks’, where all systems were put into launch mode for the vehicle’s final acceptance. This included pressurising the AVUM propulsion systems that actuate the thruster valves.


The rocket’s elements were switched on from the control bench to simulate the launch countdown. The onboard software then took over and simulated the different stages of a flight. The interfaces between the vehicle and the control bench were also tested.

The test review confirmed that everything ran as expected and that the launcher is ready for flight.

ESA Cubesats delivered for first Vega flight

The Spanish CubeSat - Credits: ESA / A. Reyes

The first CubeSats to be sponsored by ESA’s Education Office have been delivered to the agency’s Space Technology and Research Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.

Integration of these 1 kilogram pico-satellites into their deployment systems, named P-PODs (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer) and the associated testing was completed by mid-November.

They will now undergo a Final Acceptance Review and, if accepted for the flight, will be sent to the European Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, to be prepared for launch on the Vega Qualification Flight.

The ESA CubeSat programme began on 28 May 2007, when Antonio Fabrizi, the Director of Launchers, and René Oosterlinck, the Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations, signed an agreement to include an educational payload on the maiden flight of the Vega launch vehicle.

The announcement of opportunity issued by ESA's Education Office in February 2008 offered the possibility of launching up to nine university CubeSats free-of-charge on Europe's newest launcher. 

2011 ESA Video: Year of the launchers

Click on the picture to link to the ESA video page

Korean 'journalists' Expelled From Defcon Black Hat Conference - Spy-on-Spy Action!

Conference Officials announced that 4 South Korean 'Journalists' had been ejected from the Defcon BlackHat conference in Vegas, after attendees became suspicious of their strange behaviour and dubious credentials.

Trojan 'Journalists' Ejected

Conference representatives released few details of the incident but they did say that on Sunday they had ejected the journalists two days earlier, after deciding that they simply weren't acting like normal press corp.

'Cyber-Tourists'?

They believe that one member of the group was a legitimate journalist, but that the other three were part of some sort of intelligence-gathering expedition.

Asking Strange Questions

Hackers who the group interviewed at the show said that their questions seemed strangely inappropriate, organisers said. The journalists had attended one day of Defcon's Black Hat sister conference before being ejected on Friday.

Normal Practice
Defcon did not release the names of the journalists or say who they claimed to work for but they did say that this kind of incident happens nearly every year. A comment made by the show's senior organisers who goes by the name "Priest."

The French Foreign Legion
In the past, they say they've caught members of Mossad, the French Foreign Legion, and other organisations posing as press. It is simply by registering as journalists, they can get more time to query researchers and if they do it correctly, they can raise no suspicions by asking probing questions.

Good Cover
"When you think about it, being a member of the press is a pretty good cover because you can ask difficult questions, people love to see their names in print and in neon lights, so they're much more likely to talk to you. You can get away with a lot more," Priest said.

Body Type
The French Legionnaires were easy to spot, he said. "There's a certain body type you find with people who are in that type of work," he said. "Broad shoulders, narrow waist, not very tall. I'm looking at these guys, thinking, 'You're in far, far too good shape to be a member of the press.'"

'Spot the Fed!'
The Legionnaires eventually admitted that they were not press and were allowed to stay at the show as regular attendees. They even went on stage for Defcon's annual "spot the fed" contest where people are invited to pick out government employees from a group of attendees.

Undercover techies
Government employees posing as press often move very quickly to technical questions, rarely showing any interest in the motivation behind the research. They get "very technical very quickly," Priest said. "They're much more interested in what the latest is and what the greatest is and how they can use it."

Intelligence gathering
Often they also ask about U.S. government systems or seem to be gathering intelligence on the presenters, he added and often attendees are happy to provide the information, thinking that it may be used in an article, particularly young, inexperienced hackers, Priest said.

Young Geeks
"You've got usually a very introverted individual (on the autistic scale), who usually doesn't have a lot of friends, and if you have someone paying some attention to you and your favourite subject, then, yeah, you're flattered; you're ego's being stroked; you're much more likely to try to impress that person."

Spy on Spy Action
So who is spying on the spies when the spies are spying on the hackers? or is that a cyclic argument?