General

Carnival of Space #648 – BrownSpaceman

BrownSpaceman hosts the latest Carnival of Space.

Betelgeuse, a red giant. Image via Universe Today & Carnival of Space

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Astronomy, Education

Videos: Night Sky for February 2020

[ Update:  What’s Up: February 2020 Skywatching Tips from NASA

Looking for astronomy highlights for February 2020? This month is the best time of the year to try to view Mercury, soon after sunset; Mars disappears behind the Moon on Feb. 18; and the bright red star on Orion’s shoulder, Betelgeuse, has been acting weird. (Or has it?) Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/whats-up….

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Tonight’s Sky: February – Space Telescope Science Institute – YouTube

In February, the Winter Triangle is your guide to the night sky: The northern hemisphere is treated to views of the stars Procyon, Sirius, and Betelgeuse. Keep watching for the awe-inspiring space-based views of the Orion Nebula, which is sculpted by the stellar winds of central bright stars.

** What’s in the Night Sky February 2020 – Alyn Wallace

** The Virtual Planetarium: what to see in the night sky, February 2020 – BBC Sky at Night Magazine – YouTube

The Sky at Night presenters Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel reveal what they will be observing in the night sky throughout February

** Eyes on The Sky: February 2020 – Hudson Valley Community College – YouTube

Hudson Valley Community College astronomy instructor Richard Monda gives a detailed update of what will be happening in the night sky from Jan. 27, 2020 – Feb. 29, 2020 in the Northeastern US. Eyes on the Sky is a series of informational videos relating to Astronomy in the Capital Region of New York State and the Northeastern United States. The videos are hosted by Richard J. Monda, an astronomy instructor in the college’s Biology, Chemistry and Physics Department.

** Astronomy Events In February 2020 – The Secrets of the Universe – YouTube

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Radio

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Feb.1.2020

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

The KRAKsat CubeSat.

** A review of KRAKsat performance after its deployment from the ISS in June 2019. The satellite was developed by students at the AGH University of Science and Technology  and Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. It was “one of the first Cubesat type satellites in Poland but also the first satellite in the world which uses magnetic liquid, called ferrofluid, for orientation control”. KRAKsat was active in orbit for about two weeks before a cascade of problems led it into an unstoppable reboot cycle.

This slow energy drain continued until the voltage dropped to the point that the power supply shut down, and that’s were things really started going south. Once the satellite shut down the batteries were able to start charging back up, which normally would have been a good thing. But unfortunately the KRAKsat had no mechanism to remain powered down once the voltage climbed back above the shutoff threshold. This caused the satellite to enter into and loop where it would reboot itself as many as 150 times per orbit (approximately 90 minutes).

The paper then goes into a laundry list of other problems that contributed to KRAKsat’s failure. For example, the satellite had redundant radios onboard, but the software on them wasn’t identical. When they needed to switch over to the secondary radio, they found that a glitch in its software meant it was unable to access some portions of the onboard flash storage. The team also identified the lack of a filesystem on the flash storage as another stumbling block; having to pull things out using a pointer and the specific memory address was a cumbersome and time consuming task made all the more difficult by the spacecraft’s deteriorating condition.

** Recognition for the CubeSat projects of the students at The Weiss School (preK-8) in Palm Beach Garderns, Florida:

More about the two Weiss School CubeSats

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-026 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • HuskySat-1 With AMSAT VHF/UHF Linear Transponder Planned for Deployment Soon
  • Celebration of 50th Anniversary of Australis-OSCAR 5
  • ARRL to Argue for Continued Access to 3-GHz Spectrum as FCC Sets Comment Deadlines
  • FO-99 (NEXUS) 1st Anniversary Report
  • Amateurs in the News: “96-year-old Amateur Radio operator at Ontario Science Centre speaks with astronaut”
  • Upcoming ARISS Contacts
  • Upcoming AMSAT Events
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

  • Resources:
    • PolySat – “PolySat is a student run, multidisciplinary independent research lab. We are the CubeSat development team of Cal Poly, an originator and leader for launches in the CubeSat community.”
    • Pauline Faure – Inside the CubeSat Lab at Cal Poly – Cold Star Project

Dr. Pauline Faure, Assistant Professor at California Polytechnic State University’s Aerospace Engineering Department, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan. We’re talking about what it’s like to be a student in Cal Poly’s CubeSat Lab. Dr. Faure has international experience in Europe, Japan and the USA. The lab has completed eight missions in the past year including the bus for Lightsail 2. This is a great interview for space students.

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In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Jan.31.2020

Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Christina Koch’s Memorable Moments: Part 4

The longest-ever single spaceflight by a female astronaut is now 322 days long, and still counting! Today NASA astronaut Christina Koch moved past her colleague Suni Williams into seventh place for most time spent in space among all American astronauts. With less than a week to go, Koch recalls the biggest surprise of the mission and the most memorable item she received on a cargo flight.

** Down to Earth – Black Velvet of Space

In honor of the space station 20th anniversary, NASA Astronaut Bill McArthur shares his experience living and working in space aboard the International Space Station in this episode of “Down to Earth – Black Velvet of Space.” As he describes it, he experienced a shift in his worldview known as “the Overview Effect,” a term coined by space philosopher Frank White.

** Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo resupply vehicle departed from the ISS on Friday morning:

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Activism, Roundup

Space policy roundup – Jan.31.2020

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest (find previous space policy roundups here):

Webcasts:

** Boeing Cancels Phantom Express Launch Vehicle 2 Years After Winning XS-1 Contract from DARPA – Scott Manley

The XS-1 program was a DARPA project to develop a rapidly reusable launch vehicle which could also be used for hypersonic research. Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Masten Space Systems were seen as the main contenders, but Boeing eventually won with a design based on the RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engine. After 2 years working on the project Boeing stopped, essentially killing the project and leaving another hypersonic aircraft project unfinished.

** Hotel Mars/The Space Show – Wed, 01/22/2020 – John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston talk with Dr. Robert Zubrin about “Humans to Mars, back contamination, destroying all water on Earth and more”

** Episode T+145: Caleb Henry – Main Engine Cut Off

Caleb Henry of SpaceNews joins me to talk about the recent happenings in the satellite industry, including new ITU milestones for megaconstellations, SpaceX’s big year for Starlink, OneWeb’s progress, and DirecTV’s battery issue.

** January 28, 2020 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

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