Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Nov.28.2018

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. about student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** CubeSat to Attempt Solar Sail in Orbit – ENGINEERING.com

Purdue University professor, David Spencer is leading an effort to send a CubeSat up for an attempted controlled solar sailing in Earth’s orbit. Solar sailing uses reflective sails to harness the momentum of sunlight for propulsion….

This project is sponsored by the citizen-funded Planetary Society, whose CEO is Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The CubeSat, LightSail 2, is one payload as part of the Air Force’s Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission that will launch on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in early 2019. Spencer’s research team will be tracking LightSail 2, receiving the signal from the spacecraft as well as commanding the spacecraft during operations, from the Space Flight Projects Lab at the Purdue Technology Center.https://engineering.purdue.edu/SFPL

** NNU students watch InSight landing, prepare for own satellite launch – KIVITV.com Boise, ID

“So the Marco is about double the size of RFTSat, but it’s really cool to see how NASA and JPL are also using cube sats and how NNU is using them too,” said Cox.

The Marcos being cube satellite’s used in conjunction with NASA’s InSight that landed on Mars Monday.

And engineering students at NNU are in the building stages of a satellite with similar features called RFTSat, which is also a version of a cube satellite.

** Towards drop your thesis 2018: 4.7 seconds of microgravity conditions to enable future CubeSat landings on asteroids – S. Cuartielles et al, Cranfield University

An increasing number of interplanetary missions are aiming at visiting asteroids and other small bodies, since these may provide clues to understand the formation and evolution of our Solar System. CubeSats allow a low-cost solution to land on these objects, as opposed to risking a much more expensive mothership. The weak gravitational field on these small bodies may also enable the possibility of simply dropping a CubeSat from afar (i.e. ballistic landing).

However, ballistic landing of an unpowered spacecraft may be feasible solely within certain asteroid locations, and only if sufficient energy can be dissipated at touchdown. If such conditions are not met, the spacecraft will rebound off the surface. It is likely that the necessary energy dissipation may already occur naturally due to energy loss expected through the deformation of the regolith during touchdown. Indeed, previous low-velocity impact experiments in microgravity seem to indicate that this is exactly the case. However, data from past asteroid touchdowns, Hayabusa and Philae, indicate the contrary.

This paper describes the development of an experiment which aims to bridge the aforementioned disagreement between mission data and microgravity experiment; to understand the behaviour of CubeSat landing on asteroids. …

** Cal Poly’s Latest CubeSat Reveals First High-Resolution Image of the Earth – Cal Poly News – Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

While Cal Poly’s ninth CubeSat tests a way to reduce vibrations aboard orbiting satellites, the softball-sized satellite also has been busy snapping photos of the Earth.

DAVE, or Damping and Vibrations Experiment, launched Sept. 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base with three other small satellites, or CubeSats, as secondary payload on NASA’s ICESat-2 (Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2) mission.

PolySat, the student-run research lab, released its first high-resolution image that was snapped just hours after the launch. The photo shows Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago located between Norway and the North Pole.

“This is one of our better pictures,” said Grigory Heaton, a senior studying aerospace engineering and physics. “Our satellite is not controlled. It’s just spinning, so we have to get lucky with the pictures. This one, we were right overhead and got almost the entire archipelago.”

The Norwegian archipelago Svalbard as imaged by Cal Poly CubeSat DAVE.

See also Cal Poly satellite captures photos of Earth | KSBY.com.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-329 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Fox-1Cliff Launch Scheduled for 28-Nov-2018 at 18:32 UTC
  • Robert Bankston, KE4AL, Elected AMSAT Vice-President of User Services
  • Fox-1Cliff Launch – Your Help is Needed!
  • ESA Announces “First Telemetry” Contest for ESEO
  • Happy 5th Birthday FUNcube-1
  • FCC Dismisses AMSAT’s 2004 Petition for Reconsideration
  • Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

Other CubeSat news & info:

MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took this image of Mars from about 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometers) away during its flyby of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. MarCO-B was flying by Mars with its twin, MarCO-A, to attempt to serve as communications relays for NASA’s InSight spacecraft as it landed on Mars. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon

General

Carnival of Space #588 – Cosmoquest

The Cosmoquest blog hosts the latest Carnival of Space.

Greenland asteroid impact crater – Universe Today
Activism, Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Nov.27.2018

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:

Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Sun, 11/25/2018 – Sarah Cruddas, a British space journalist, TV presenter and children’s author, talked about the Space For Humanity program that aims to enable several “non-astronauts to travel to the edge of space” on suborbital rocket flights. This segment was followed by an open lines program led by David Livingston.

** We Know Where the 2020 Rover Will Look for Martian Life | The Planetary Society

NASA announced on November 19th that the multi-billion dollar 2020 Mars rover will land in Jezero crater, where it will begin the search for the signature of past life. The selection process took five years, and Briony Horgan of Purdue University was part of it all. She joins us to talk about this exciting and enticing target on the Red Planet. Planetary Society Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla prepares us for the much more imminent Mars landing of InSight. Orion in the northern hemisphere’s night sky can only mean winter is coming. Just ahead of it is a new What’s Up segment from Bruce and Mat.

http://dcs.megaphone.fm/PPY2769282174.mp3?key=c5f6d5f0e69786c0f4b7d52185a8b001&listener=938a13a1-2802-4836-a951-0ebe7d83fa1c

** Why a lunar base is better than LOP-G – Dr. Robert Zubrin -21st Annual Mars Society Convention – A talk given in August but posted this week on the The Mars Society YouTube channel along with several other presentation videos from the meeting.

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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes

 

Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week – Nov.26.2018

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. SPECIAL TIME: Monday, Nov. 26, 2018, 7-8:30 pm PST (9-10:30 pm CST, 10-11:30 pm EST): We welcome John Hunt to the show. John is a frequent Space Show caller, friend and supporter. This program is part of our new program to invite active and frequent Space Show participants to be guests on the program.

2. Tuesday, Nov. 27 2018, 7-8:30 pm PST; 9-10:30 pm CST; 10-11:30 pm EST: We welcome back Dr. Doug Plata to the program with news and updates.

3. Wednesday, Nov. 28 2018: Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, Nov.30, 2018, 9:30 am -11 am PST, (12:30 -2 pm EST; 11:30 am -1 pm CDT: Dr. Haym Benaroya returns as our special guest for today.

5. Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018, 12-1:30 pm PST, (3-4:30 pm EST, 2-3:30 pm CDT): We welcome space well known space journalist and advocate Leonard David regarding multiple space development stories and his new book.

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston
David Livingston

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A message from David Livingston:

The Space Show / OGLF 2018 Annual Fund Raising Campaign
Nov. 25, 2018
Please support The Space Show.  Your support is appreciated.
Dear Space Show Listeners:
On behalf of The Space Show, One Giant Leap Foundation (OGLF) and myself, I want to wish you all the very best for the upcoming Christmas and holiday season and for the New Year 2019. May it be a year full of health, happiness, prosperity, and peace. Like all of you, I also hope for a 2019 with lots of significant and productive space development, including the continued expansion of commercial space business opportunities, economic development, and yes, lots of near term lunar activities, both commercially and for our return to the Moon and on to Mars.
I also want to thank all of you who have so generously supported The Space Show/OGLF during this and previous years. Simply put, The Space Show owes its existence and success to all of you, listeners, callers, emailers, and guests alike. Your commitment to space development and The Space Show over the past 18 plus years is and has been very special to me and to everyone in our audience. It is also important to understand that Space Show funding needs are ever present and since we are a listener supported program, our future is largely in your hands. If you have questions relating your support for The Space Show, please contact me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.
In addition to asking you for your support in our annual fund raising campaign, I would like to briefly tell you about our newly revised OGLF Advisory Board (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/advisory-board.htm). Please look over the guidelines and if you are interested, let me know. We want your active participation, support and feedback and we believe the new Advisory Board will fill the bill for The Space Show. During 2019 The Space Show plans on maintaining the four programs per week schedule plus our short Hotel Mars segment hosted by John Batchelor of The John Batchelor Show. Note that Mr. Batchelor controls Hotel Mars and it is possible he might make changes in the program and/or schedule. I am still considering using the Monday program for a more timely Space Show topic presentation. Options for this are being developed and will be run by our Board of Directors and the new Advisory Board as soon as possible.
Please remember that The Space Show relies entirely upon your financial support for its continued operation and programming. Your financial support enables us to distribute our copyrighted content freely to everyone with online access. We never take fees from guests to be on the program, even when we are helping the guest promote books, movies, or other IP, including ideas and theories. Simply put, we do not do infomercials and we never will do them. Given our policy, we continue to need your financial support and help in maintaining and growing The Space Show. We want to continue providing a credible forum for your creative, scientific and opinion work, projects, theories, ideas, books, and views. That said, our costs (in all categories of operations) continue to rise and at times challenge our very existence. Your contributions help us in meeting these challenges. To remain strong and viable for 2019, your support for The Space Show is essential.
The Space Show is a non-profit 501C3 and California Public Benefit Corporation. Our parent 501C3 corporation is the One Giant Leap Foundation (OGLF) (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org). We understand that you have choices in making your tax deductible contributions and we certainly appreciate your including us in your gifting priorities. Contributions to The Space Show should be made through Pay Pal or if by check to One Giant Leap Foundation. Mailing and Pay Pal instructions can be found by clicking on the Pay Pal button on the right side of our home page, www.thespaceshow.com or by clicking on the OGLF page, www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/individuals.htm. From The Space Show home page, please use the Pay Pal button on the right side (www.paypal.com/webapps/shoppingcart). Don’t forget The Space Show Amazon support programs. For more information and to have your Amazon purchases help support The Space Show, please click on the large Amazon button near the center of our home page.
Space Show business and corporate sponsorships for 2019 are now available. Our program is unchanged from 2018. The sponsor gets his business banner ad placed on The Space Show home page plus I will read a 60 second or less sponsor PR message on each full length Space Show program. On the 60 minute programs, I mention each sponsor by name and thank them for their sponsorship but to save time for the guests, I don’t read the respective 60 second PR sponsor messages. For information on being a sponsor, email me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. These sponsorship opportunities are limited given I read the sponsor message on each regular length live show. Only so many messages can be read without eating into the guest talk time so if you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible.
The year 2018 is quickly coming to a close. Now is the time to support The Space Show/OGLF by making a contribution to help maintain and further develop our programming and show access. If you pay U.S. federal taxes, you get a tax deduction for your gift. The same is true for those of you paying California taxes as we are both a federal 501C3 nonprofit corporation and a California Public Benefit Corporation. Please check with your tax adviser regarding any and all tax questions that you might have regarding your potential OGLF tax deductions. You are also encouraged to contact me with your questions and comments about the show or anything else. Above all, please remember that we do need and appreciate your support.
Per above, you can make your donation online using Pay Pal by clicking on the Pay Pal logo on the right side of our home page. For those of you who prefer mailing a check, please make your check payable to One Giant Leap Foundation, Inc. and mail it in care of me to P.O. Box 95, Tiburon, CA 94920 USA. Remember, your gift makes possible The Space Show programming and all of the services we provide including our blog. Your generous support makes it possible to bring to all of you a wide variety of topics, issue discussions, factual information, timely analysis, a toll free line, listener interaction with our guests, and innovative guests from around the world. And don’t forget our blog which is available both before and during a program as well as after the program has aired and is archived. As I always say, your donations and support are what keeps The Space Show on the air.
Thank you for your support. I look forward to sharing the New Year with you through The Space Show and OGLF. Please contact me at drspace@thespaceshow.com if you have any questions. Let’s all work to make 2019 a banner year for space, prosperity, health, and peace around the world. Finally, I want to stress just how much your gift to TSS and OGLF is appreciated and needed for 2019 and beyond.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. David Livingston
The Space Show/One Giant Leap Foundation, Inc.
Events, Mars, Space Science

Videos: Follow the Insight Mission landing on Mars today [Update]

[ Update: The landing was a success: NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface | NASA

NASA’s InSight Mars lander acquired this image of the area in front of the lander using its lander-mounted, Instrument Context Camera (ICC). This image was acquired on Nov. 26, 2018, Sol 0 of the InSight mission where the local mean solar time for the image exposures was 13:34:21. Each ICC image has a field of view of 124 x 124 degrees. Credits: NASA/JPL-CalTech

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NASA’s Insight spacecraft will set down on the Martian surface today Nov. 26th at around noon PST (3 p.m. EST). NASA TV will provide live coverage:

InSight was launched on May 5th and marks the first landing of a NASA spacecraft on the Red Planet since the Curiosity rover arrived in 2012. InSight’s mission, which should last at least two years, is to study Mars’ deep interior. The studies will help scientists better understand the formation of Mars as well as other rocky worlds, including Earth.

InSight is accompanied by two mini-spacecraft in a test named Mars Cube One (MarCO). This is the first deep-space mission for CubeSats. The MarCO satellites will not land but instead will fly by Mars and attempt to relay data from InSight during its entry into the planet’s atmosphere and the landing sequence.

For the key events during the landing, see NASA InSight Landing on Mars: Milestones | NASA.

Here is a preview of the Insight landing:

NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet on Nov. 26. One day before landing, the mission team provides an update and explanations of everything that must go right during the entry, descent and landing of the spacecraft. 

And here is a Q&A with the Insight mission team:

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon

Everyone can participate in space