There is a view that the recent China's attempt to capture a satellite in space by using mechanical arm actually demonstrates their capability to develop counter-space technologies. This article attempts to put this experimentation in space by China into context.
The 'test' under discussion was initially viewed as a scientific experiment. China had launched three satellites on July 19, 2013 by using their Long March-4C launcher.
Officially, China has identified these satellites as 'scientific experimentation satellites to perform experiments on space maintenance technologies.' Also, these satellites are expected to be used for the observation of space debris. Amongst these three satellites (Chuang Xin-3, the Shiyan Weixing-7 and the Shijian-15) the satellite Shiyan Weixing-7 made a sudden manoeuvre on Aug 19, 2013.
It was a surprise rendezvous with a completely different satellite, Shijian 7 (SJ-7, Practice 7), launched by China in 2005. Interestingly, since its launch Shiyan Weixing-7 (SY-7) had completed a series of orbital changes and was put close to Chuang Xin-3(CX-3) but as mentioned, suddenly it conducted an unusual manoeuvre with a different satellite.
Space analysts are of the opinion that SY-7 has a robotic arm and it could rendezvous with CX-3 which might have been developed to act as target for the robotic arm experiment. But, instated it rendezvoused with SJ-7.
Presently, there is no clarity in regards to the exact nature of this 'maintenance technology' tested by China by doing such manoeuvre. It is likely that the mechanical arm was used to capture another satellite in space. But, as per some analysts, another possibility is that, 'the test involved detaching a part of one satellite and its release into a separate orbit, and the subsequent recapturing of this component by using the extension arm'.
Now, the basic challenge is to know whether this activity is a part of China's space warfare programme.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
ESA GAIA Launch delayed by technical issue
The European Space Agency says it will delay the launch of a galaxy-mapping spacecraft due to a technical issue with some on-board components.
The launch of the Gaia mission -- intended to survey billions of stars to create a precise 3-D map of our Milky Way galaxy -- was postponed Tuesday after a technical issue was identified in another satellite already in orbit that shares some components with the Gaia spacecraft.
To avoid potential problems, the components on Gaia -- two transponders generating timing signals for down-linking the science telemetry -- will be replaced, the ESA's Paris headquarters announced Wednesday.
The transponders will be removed from Gaia, currently at the ESA Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, and returned to Europe where the potentially faulty components will be replaced and verified, the agency said.
The change means it will not be possible to meet the previously targeted launch date of Nov. 20, ESA scientists said; the next available launch window is Dec. 17 to Jan. 20, 2014.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
World View Enterprises design for near-Space Balloon and Capsule
WWE CEO Jane Poynter said people would pay $75,000 to spend a couple hours looking down at the curve of the Earth.
AP Photo/World View Enterprises
The latest space tourism venture depends more on hot air than rocket science.
World View Enterprises announced plans Tuesday to send people up 19 miles in a capsule, lifted by a high-altitude balloon.
Company CEO Jane Poynter said the price for spending a couple of hours looking down at the curve of the Earth will be $75,000.
But it's not quite space. Space starts at 62 miles.
Still, the plan requires approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial space. She said it uses existing technology and the first launch could be as early as the end of 2016.
The same team last February proposed a private venture to send a married couple to Mars in 2018.
Credit: AP Photo/World View Enterprises
Cygnus Releases from International Space Station
Orbital Sciences engineers now will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Cygnus had been attached to the space station's Harmony module for 23 days. The spacecraft delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing and student experiments, on a demonstration cargo resupply mission to the station.
Cygnus was launched on Orbital's Antares rocket on Sept. 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Image Credit: NASA/Karen Nyberg
India ISRO sets November 5 for Mars Orbiter mission launch
Scientists on Tuesday set November 5 for the delayed launch of India's first mission to Mars, which was postponed due to problems in positioning a seaborne tracking system.
Blast-off for the unmanned Mars Orbiter Mission had to be rescheduled after the state-run Indian Space Agency Organisation (ISRO) said at the weekend that it would be unable to launch as expected on October 28.
Two Indian ships have been sent to Fiji in the Pacific Ocean to enable constant tracking of the rocket, but one of them has been late to arrive because of bad weather.
"The Mars Orbiter Mission has been rescheduled to November 5 and its spacecraft will be launched at 14:36 IST (Indian Standard Time) from Sriharikota spaceport," ISRO spokesman Deviprasad Karnik told AFP.
The 1.3-tonne Orbiter probe will be launched on a 350-tonne rocket from Sriharikota on the Bay of Bengal, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Chennai. The nine-month Mars mission was approved by the government and has a budget of 4.5 billion rupees (73 million dollars).
India says the mission will mark a significant step in its space programme, which has already placed a probe on the Moon and is a source of national pride in the country of 1.2 billion.
But the spending has also attracted criticism as the government struggles to tackle widespread poverty and massive infrastructure problems. A host of countries have previously launched missions to Mars, including the United States, Russia, Japan and China.
ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia counts down to launch
ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia will be launched from Europe's spaceport in Kourou on 20 November to begin a five-year mission to map the stars with unprecedented precision.
Gaia's main goal is to create a highly accurate 3D map of our Milky Way Galaxy by repeatedly observing a billion stars to determine their positions in space and their movement through it.
Other measurements will assess the vital physical properties of each star, including temperature, luminosity and composition. The resulting census will allow astronomers to determine the origin and the evolution of our Galaxy.
Gaia will map the stars from an orbit around the Sun, near a location some 1.5 million km beyond Earth's orbit known as the L2 Lagrangian point.
The spacecraft will spin slowly, sweeping its two telescopes across the entire sky and focusing their light simultaneously onto a single digital camera, the largest ever flown in space – it has nearly a billion pixels.
For the last two months Gaia has been rigorously tested in Kourou as part of the launch campaign.
"Getting ready for launch is an extremely busy phase for the mission teams, but it's also extremely exciting and rewarding to see our mission so close to launch," says Giuseppe Sarri, ESA's Gaia project manager.
Credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut, 2013
Earlier this month the spacecraft's sunshield passed the final deployment test in the cleanroom in Kourou. It has now been stowed in its final configuration ready for the launch.
Shortly after launch, the sunshield will be deployed, forming a 10.5 m-wide 'skirt' around Gaia's base.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Electrolux Design Lab competition: Flying mini-robot cleaners wins
His design is of a ball shaped unit that houses sensing technology along with 908 independent tiny flying miniature flying robots—upon command from the host unit, they fly off and clean up dust and dirt in someone's house.
They can also deposit air freshening chemicals.
The annual Electrolux Design Lab competition is held by the famous household appliance maker for the purpose of stimulating, and prodding to action, design students from around the world.
The first prize winner this year gets 5,000 Euros and a chance to work with professionals in the field at Electrolux's main design center for six months. (These will be the same designers that failed to come up with anything as creative as the prize winner. I hope Zapata is impressed!)
Zapata's design was inspired by both nature and work being done at Harvard, he told those in attendance at the award ceremony.
He noted the efficiency and cleanly beautiful way insects work together to pollinate flowers in his garden.
His idea also calls for the main unit to have the capability of scanning a house to note its layout and of course, to detect which parts of it need cleaning.
That information would be conveyed to the flying bots and they would then go clean it.
Electrolux reports that over 1700 entries were received this year from 60 countries across the globe. The competition was conducted in five stages, each winnowing down the number of entrants.
The final winners were chosen by a panel of experts.
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