S02E01 April 28: Lunar Landings, Cybersecurity, and Repurposing Satellites

WEBVTT

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Good everybody, and welcome to the
Astronomy Today podcast for Friday, the twenty

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eighth of April twenty and twenty three. My name is Tim Gibson. I

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will be your host for today's podcast. I'm still trying to work out how

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things work ground here, so if
I make the odd mistake or two,

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please forgive me. Hopefully I will
get better over time. Now on with

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the show, Hallie, good day, Hi Tim, and welcome to Astronomy

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Today podcast. I hope you enjoy
yourself and tell bad dad jokes. Thanks

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for the introduction, Hallie. No
bad jokes for me today, although I

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may ask you for one a bit
later on. Now, would you like

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to read the headlines the Astronomy Daily
podcasts. Private companies are lining up to

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conduct lunar landings, with multiple missions
planned for the near future. Some of

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the companies involved include Astrobodic, Intuitive
Machines and Maston Space Systems. These firms

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have secured contracts with nassa's Commercial Lunar
Payload Services Program to deliver scientific instruments and

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other payloads to the Moon. In
addition, other companies such as Blue Origin

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and SpaceX are also developing lunar landers
to transport humans to the Moon in the

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future. This growing interest in lunar
exploration is expected to bring about new opportunities

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and advancements in space exploration. SpaceX
has successfully launched its Starship rocket prototype,

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which is designed to take humans and
cargo to the Moon and Mars. However,

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the rocket exploded during its landing attempt, marking the third failure of the

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Starship's landing attempts. Despite the failure, the launch was still a significant milestone

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as it demonstrated the Starship's capability to
reach high altitudes and perform controlled maneuvers.

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The Starship rocket is powered by the
Raptor engines, which are the most powerful

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rocket engines ever built. SpaceX's CEO
Alon Musk stated that the failure was due

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to a lack of fuel in the
rockets header tank during the landing attempt.

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The company is already planning the next
Starship prototype and aims to achieve a fully

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operational spacecraft in the near future.
Thales has successfully seized control of a demonstration

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satellite owned by the European Space Agency
ESA in the first ever cybersecurity exercise of

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its kind. The exercise was designed
to test the satellite's vulnerability to cyber attacks

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and to demonstrate fails ability to protect
it. During the exercise, failed cybersecurity

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experts simulated a cyber attack on the
satellite and successfully took control of it.

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This demonstration is significant as it highlights
the need for increased cybersecurity measures in space,

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as satellites are becoming increasingly important for
communication, navigation, and other critical

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functions. Failed success in the exercise
shows that the company is at the forefront

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of developing advanced cybersecurity solutions for the
space industry. Astrea, a geospatial analytics

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company, has launched a new satellite
tasking capability in partnership with major satellite imagery

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providers. The new capability enables users
to request and receive tasking of high resolution

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satellite imagery within hours. This initiative
aims to provide more timely and cost effective

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access to satellite imagery, enabling customers
to quickly analyze changes in land use,

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natural resources, and infrastructure. The
new service is expected to benefit several industries

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including insurance, finance, agriculture,
and environmental management. Astria's new capability will

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integrate with Maxer Technologies, Airbus and
Planet to provide access to a vast network

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of satellites. The company's platform uses
artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze and

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interpret satellite data, providing valuable insights
for customers. The launch of this new

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service reflects Astria's commitment to innovation and
sustainability. The company seeks to leverage the

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power of satellite imagery and data analytics
to help customers make informed decisions about resource

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management and environmental sustainability. Overall,
Astria's new satellite tasking capability is a significant

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development for the geospatial analytics industry,
offering more efficient and cost effective access to

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high resolution satellite imagery. So the
Astronomy Daily podcast, here are a couple

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of stories that I would like to
cover today. Scientists researchers at USC are

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tackling the problem of legacy satellites.
There are currently several thousand satellites orbiting Earth.

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Many have already completed their missions or
how or have outlived their primary lifespan.

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These are legacy satellites, and while
some of them may have broken hardware

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and will eventually run out of energy, leave orbit and burnout in space,

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others are physically in good conditions.
So the question becomes what to do with

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them? As ce researches are looking
at ways to possibly reuse satellites for different

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things. They are collaborating with the
software company Tangrum Flex to figure out how

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they can replace the software components within
the satellites to repurpose them. The approach

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that they are taking is to look
inside the satellite and say, this particularly

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a piece of software did this particular
function before. Can we actually replace that

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function to make it do something else
as a path to repurposing it. I

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think this is an absolutely brilliant use
of old hardware spinning around in satellites around

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the Earth. If we can get
this done, it would mean a lot

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of savings in money and old satellites
crushing to Earth when we could reuse them

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for other purposes. Here is a
great story about extending the use of satellites

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and spacecraft. Voyager two, launched
in nineteen seventy seven, is more than

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twelve billion miles that's twenty billion columns
from Earth using its five science instruments to

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study interstellar space. To keep those
instruments operating despite a diminishing viminishing power supply,

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the aging spacecraft has begun using a
small reservoir a backup power set aside

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as part of an onboard safety mechanism. The move will enable the mission to

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postpone shutting down the science instruments until
twenty twenty six rather than this year.

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Voyager two and its twin, Voyager
one, are the only ever spacecraft to

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operate outside the heliosphere, the protective
bubble of particles of magnetic fields generated by

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the Sun. The probes are helping
scientists answer questions about the shape of the

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heliosphere and its role in protecting Earth
from the energetic particles and other radiation found

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in the interstellar environment. The science
data that the voyages are returning gets more

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valuable the further away from the Sun
they go, so we are definitely interested

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in keeping as many science instruments operating
as long as possible, said Linda Sprilker,

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Voyagers Project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsional
Lab in Southern California, which manages

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the mission FANASSA. Both Voyager probes
power themselves with radioisotope thermoelectric generators RTGs,

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which convert heat from decaying plutonium into
electricity. The continual decay process means the

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generator produces slightly less power each year. So far, the declining power supply

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hasn't impacted the mission's science output,
but to compensate for the loss, engineers

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have turned off heaters and other systems
that are not essential to keeping the spacecraft

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flying. With those options now exhausted
in Voyager two, one of the spacecraft's

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five science instruments, was next on
their list. Voyager one is currently operating

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one less science instrument than its twin
because of an instrument failed early in the

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mission. As a result, the
decision about whether to turn off an instrument

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on Voyager one won't come until sometimes
next year. In search of a way

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to avoid shutting down a Voyager two
science instrument, the team took a closer

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look at a safety mechanism designed to
protect the instruments in case the spacecraft's voltage

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the flow of electricity changes significantly.
Because of a fluctuation in voltage could damage

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the instruments. Voyager is equipped with
a voltage regulator that triggers a backup circuit.

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In such an event, this circuit
can access a small amount of power

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from the RTG that set aside for
this purpose. Instead of reserving that power,

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the mission will now be using it
to keep the science instruments operating now

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to show that we really are an
international podcast. I'm currently sat in a

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very old Georgian property in the city
of Bath in Somerset in the United Kingdom,

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and I'm going to cover a local
story to me but may be useful

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for other people to understand and listen
to it. Bath University has established a

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low cost observatory located at the University
of Bath's campus and is proving to be

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again changing experimental tool for undergraduate studying
events in space. The facility, which

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is built and equipped for less than
thirty five thousand pounds, features a roll

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off roof, two high quality computer
controlled telescopes, solar panels, and can

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accommodate two people at a time.
The timber cabin was designed to give astrophysicist

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students hands or experience observing objects in
the night sky. Students use their time

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in the observatory to gather data and
ties that ties into specific science projects or

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modules on their courses. I think
that's a great local story to me and

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I hope everybody enjoyed the insight into
how to create a low cost observatory for

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students. Now, just before we
finish over to you, Hallie, do

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you have a dad joke for today? Why did the sun go to school

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to get brighter? Thanks Hally,
You're going to get no comment from me

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on your dad jokes. So I
hope everybody you've enjoyed today's version of the

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podcast. It's good day from me
and it's good day from Hallie. See

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you next time on Astronomy Today podcast. Thank you very much for listening.

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Bye for now the Astronomy They'll Be
podcast