This month marks 61 years since the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. Here are three documentaries (of increasing length) about Sputnik and the opening of the Space Age:
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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes
Small satellites, which typically refers to spacecraft in the kilogram to a few hundred kilograms range, have become in the past few years a large and growing part of what is happening in space. Smallsats have actually been around since the start of the Space Age. Just a few years after Sputnik reached orbit, the first amateur satellite reached orbit as well. (See A Brief History of AMSAT.) Note that “amateur” here refers primarily to the involvement of the amateur radio community and the use of amateur radio bands for communications with the satellites.
For decades, smallsats remained a niche activity carried out mostly by AMSAT and university student teams. Now companies like Planet and Spire operate hundreds of satellites in orbit for commercial purposes and constellations with thousands of satellites are set to be deployed during the coming years.
The Small Satellite Conference has been held annually in Logan, Utah since 1987 and it’s growth from a gathering of less than a hundred people to a jamboree with a few thousand people has mirrored the growth in the smallsat sector. In this interview, Dr. Pat Patterson, Director of Advanced Concepts at Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory and Chairman of the SmallSat Conference, talks about the Constellations, a New Space and Satellite Innovation Podcast: Sputnik, Constellations and the Evolution of the Small Sat Industry
After referring to the 84 kg Sputnik, launched in 1957 as a “small satellite,” Dr. Patterson discusses the three keys to the growth of the small sat industry: affordability, responsiveness and shorter development cycles. And because the barrier to entry is so much lower for small satellites, more and more small companies begin to come online bringing a lot more competition, which brings a lot more good ideas to the table.
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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes
** SpaceX Builds a Big Falcon Rocket | The Planetary Society
A mostly SpaceX episode as the ambitious company provides updated details regarding its huge new rocket and introduces its first astronauts. Mat Kaplan shares more from the company’s headquarters, while Planetary Society Digital Editor explains and explores the BFR. Jason also celebrates the successful landing of two asteroid “rovers” from Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft. And we’ll tell you What’s Up in the night sky as we offer another space trivia contest.
** The Space Show | 28 Sep 2018 – Elizabeth Kennick describe “new programs and updates for the Teachers In Space (TIS) program”.
** The Space Show | 02 Oct 2018 – Dr. Christopher Morrison talked about “new ideas for space nuclear power, new approaches and fuels being developed by his company, UltraSafe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) and multiple related nuclear space topics“.
** The Space Show | 01 Oct 2018 – Bjarke Gotfredsen from Cape Town, South Africa discussed “STEM in South Africa, global STEM learning with technology tools, astrobiology partnerships with the Carl Sagan Center at SETI, searching for Mars life via the Andes and much more“.
** Satellite Refueling, Life Extension and the Future of Small Sats – Constellations, a New Space and Satellite Innovation Podcast:
As we learned from our podcasts at the Small Satellite Conference in Utah this August, the small sat industry is simultaneously growing in so many directions…from new streamlined manufacturing techniques, to more launch options, a plethora of emerging applications and, of course the economic outlook for the industry Who better to discuss these issues than Carolyn Belle, Senior Analyst at NSR, who built their Small Satellite practice. Listen as Carolyn discusses the potential impact of SpaceX, One Web and other planned mega constellations on the GEO operators; the impact of new small sat propulsion systems and the emergence of in-orbit services including satellite refueling, life extension and salvage. Carolyn also addresses the hype that has surrounded the industry but believes that we’re only starting to scratch the surface of the value they might deliver moving forward.
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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
Here is the latest Space to Ground report from NASA on activities related to the International Space Station:
Competitive tennis reaches orbit:
Fun Facts about a “Year of Education on Station:
Three ISS crew members returned to earth this week:
The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan on 4 October 2018, at 11:45 UTC (07:45 EDT, 17:45 local time) with the International Space Station Expedition 56 crew members, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, NASA astronauts A.J. (Drew) Feustel and Ricky Arnold. The three crew members spent 197 days in space.
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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes
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Cell phones:
The Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft continues its deployment of remote-control systems onto the asteroid Ryuga (see earlier posting here about deployment of two micro-rovers). On Wednesday the spacecraft released the MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) lander, which was built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French Space Agency (CNES).
Hello #Earth, hello @haya2kun! I promised to send you some pictures of #Ryugu so here’s a shot I took during my descent. Can you spot my shadow? #AsteroidLanding pic.twitter.com/dmcilFl5ms
— MASCOT Lander (@MASCOT2018) October 3, 2018
MASCOT has four primary scientific tools to study the surface of the small asteroid:
This video previewed the MASCOT mission, which lasted about 17 hours before its batteries ran out:
Artist’s view of the deployment of MASCOT:
The target area for the MASCOT “landing”:
See also
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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
