Starlink Satellites Changed Course to Avoid Collisions 25,000 Times in the Past 6 Months

 Still concerned about the process near the earth.

Half of all Starlink avoidance maneuvers have come between Dec. 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023.

By Ryan Whitwam July 12, 2023  in the WSJ via ExtremeTech

When SpaceX began launching its Starlink megaconstellation in 2019, barely 2,000 operational satellites were orbiting Earth. Today, that number is over 6,000, with SpaceX controlling over 4,000. As space around Earth becomes ever more crowded, the chance of a collision increases. New data released by the FCC shows how serious that problem might become. In the past six months, SpaceX has been forced to reroute its satellites to avoid collisions more than 25,000 times.

On the one hand, it's good to know that SpaceX is working to limit close interactions between orbiting objects. However, 25,000 avoidance maneuvers in just six months is a lot. That works out to 137 maneuvers every single day. The FCC report (PDF) also includes the total number of recorded avoidance maneuvers from all four years of Starlink's existence: 50,000.    ...  '

Amazon To Go Head to Head with SpaceX

 Satellite Internet Dominance

ACM NEWS

Amazon To Go Head to Head with SpaceX in a Battle for Satellite Internet Dominance

By MIT Technology Review, March 27, 2023

The rocket's inaugural flight will carry two prototype Project Kuiper satellites to orbit.

A booster for the United Launch Alliance's new heavy-lift Vulcan Centaur rocket is readied for integration.

Credit: United Launch Alliance

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are about to lock horns once again. Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)  approved the final aspects of Project Kuiper, Amazon's effort to deliver high-speed Internet access from space. In May, the company will launch test versions of the Kuiper communications satellites in an attempt to take on SpaceX's own venture, Starlink, and tap into a market of perhaps hundreds of millions of prospective internet users.

Other companies are hoping to do the same, and a few are already doing so, but Starlink and Amazon are the major players. "It is really a head-to-head rivalry," says Tim Farrar, a satellite expert from the firm TMF Associates in the U.S. 

The rocket that will launch Amazon's first two Kuiper satellites—the United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket—has been assembled at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Its inaugural launch is set to fly two prototype Kuiper satellites, called KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, as early as May 4. Ultimately, Amazon plans to launch a total of 3,236 full Kuiper satellites by 2029. The first of that fleet could launch in early 2024.

"They have ambitions to be disruptive across the technology sector," says Farrar. "It's hardly surprising that they've jumped in here."

From MIT Technology Review

Sky Clutter: If You Could See Every Satellite in Low Earth Orbit!

(UPDATED)

A thoughtful,  interactive piece, which clearly demonstrates the increasing clutter in low earth orbit.   

If You Could See Every Satellite, What Would The Sky Look Like? 360/VR

By Scott Manley  1.51M subscribers

There are over ten thousand satellites in orbit, but only the largest ones in low earth orbit are visible in the hours just after sunset. What would the sky look like if you could see everything in space? I took satellite data and rendered a view of the night sky for an 'average' viewer in North America.

All the code and files needed to make this are shared with my supporters at Patreon      https://www.patreon.com/posts/31591742

Background Music is Spatial Harvest by Kevin Macleod.

Satellite data from 

https://www.space-track.org/

https://celestrak.com

https://prismnet.com/~mmccants ... ' 

Russian official says civilian satellites may be military target

Obvious, chilling .... The clear future of warfare

Russian official says civilian satellites may be “legitimate” military target

Russia wasn't happy about Starlink providing broadband in Ukraine after invasion.

JON BRODKIN - 9/16/2022   ArsTechnica

A Russian diplomat said civilian satellites could be legitimate military targets in a statement that seems to refer to Starlink providing broadband access in Ukraine. Civilian satellites "may become a legitimate target for retaliation," the Russian official said in a statement to the United Nations' open-ended working group on reducing space threats.

The quote is from an unofficial English translation of the statement on September 12 by Konstantin Vorontsov, head of the Russian delegation to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) working group. The translation is provided with other countries' statements from the session on the UNODA's meeting website.... '

Catching Falling Satellites with Robots

Good to see such 'mundane', garbage collection type problems being addressed as we continue to fill our local area of space. 

To Catch a Falling Satellite

By IEEE Spectrum, March 16, 2022

The U.S.-German TumbleDock/ROAM project is exploring ways to contain and stabilize out-of-control satellites so they can either be taken out of orbit, or possibly refueled or repaired. The project team has completed tests at the International Space Station (ISS), using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Astrobee robots.

Researchers had the robots substitute for tumbling satellites, and "chaser" spacecraft were sent to retrieve them to develop algorithms that chasers can use to locate and safely catch the debris in real time. Each cubical Astrobee is equipped with navigation cameras, compressed-air thrusters, and Snapdragon processors similar to those found in smartphones. ISS tests showed tht such maneuvers are possible, in principle.

From IEEE Spectrum   View Full Article 

Test of a European Space Brain

Are we extending to the stars?

 First Test of Europe's Space Brain

European Space Agency, in CACM, July 28, 2021

The European Space Agency (ESA) operated a spacecraft successfully using a next-generation mission control system. Current missions are being converted to the European Ground System-Common Core (EGS-CC), which will function as the "brain" of all European spaceflight operations by 2025. Freely available to all European entities, the EGS-CC was used to monitor and control ESA's OPS-SAT Space Lab, a 30-centimeter (12-inch) satellite created to test and validate new mission control techniques and on-board systems. OPS-SAT mission manager Dave Evans said during the test, ESA's European Space Operations Center used the software to send routine commands to the spacecraft and to receive data from the mission. EGOS-CC project manager Klara Widegard said, “This has been a hugely successful validation of this new versatile control system, demonstrating the exciting future of mission control technologies and Europe’s leading position in space.”

Space Fence? Traffic Cop for Low Earth Orbit.

 With all the communications things going up wonder this.  Worried about the loss our clear skies, but also just getting in each others way.   Its getting crowded up there.   Will a "Space Fence' Work?

A Traffic Cop for Low Earth Orbit

By Keith Kirkpatrick   Communications of the ACM, May 2021, Vol. 64 No. 5, Pages 15-17  10.1145/3453703

On Earth, avoiding collisions is a key priority for traffic cops, air traffic controllers, and the parents of toddlers. It is no different in space—and perhaps even more critical—given that objects orbiting the Earth are moving at more than 17,000 m.p.h., which means that even very small objects less than a centimeter in diameter have caused damage to the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and satellites.

In fact, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimates there are more than 500,000 such objects orbiting the Earth that are larger than a marble, and at least a million smaller pieces of debris that cannot be tracked. Based on the growing number of commercial and government launches of spacecraft, satellites, and even space stations, the number of objects that will need to be catalogued, tracked, and managed is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. And the solutions to this issue are fraught with both technical and political challenges.

A key organization charged with tracking and notifying the operators of space objects of a potential course collision is the 18th Space Control Squadron (SPCS), part of the U.S. Air Force's Space Surveillance Network (SSN), which currently tracks 27,000 objects in low Earth orbit (up to 2,000km above the Earth's surface), medium Earth orbit (2,000km to 3,600km up), and geosynchronous equatorial orbit (located 35,786km above the Earth).

The 18th SPCS is co-located with the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, CA, and is charged with handling conjunction assessments (the close physical encounters of two tracked objects in space), collision avoidance, and reentry assessment for satellites and other objects returning to Earth from space.

Object tracking is handled via a network of sensors and telescopes located around the world and in space, and utilizes two-line element (TLE) position datasets (which incorporate the parameters required to uniquely identify an orbiting element at a given point in time), which can then be fed into models that take into account atmospheric drag, gravitational drag caused by the Earth's shape, the Earth's spin, and various other factors in order to predict the motion of each orbiting object over time.

The Space Surveillance Network also incorporates the Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR), which is located in the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). HUSIR, the highest-resolution, longest-range sensor in the world, simultaneously generates X- and W-band images that can provide valuable information about the size, shape, and orientation of Earth orbiting objects. HUSIR was incorporated into the SSN in 2014.

In March 2020, additional object tracking capability known as the Space Fence, designed to provide higher resolution for tracked objects, was declared operational. Located on Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, the Space Fence uses an S-band radar system to track objects primarily in low Earth orbit (though it is also capable of tracking objects in higher orbits), and allows the tracking of objects below the previous size limitation of 10cm.

While the Space Fence technology permits greater visibility of smaller objects orbiting the Earth, it requires a significant amount of compute power to project the paths of these objects, according to Mike Gruntman, a professor of Astronautics at the University of Southern California's School of Engineering.  .... "

Starlink to Connect Vehicles as Well

Further general connectivity.

SpaceX plans to beam its Starlink internet to vehicles, not just homes   By Trevor Mogg

SpaceX wants to beam internet from its Starlink satellites to vehicles on Earth.

The revelation came via a recent SpaceX filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting permission to install its internet terminals in moving vehicles — not just people’s homes.  ... ' 

On the Satellite Crowd

 A discussion of the crowding of satellites, mentioned here a number of times before.   The crowd needs to be much better managed. 

Thousands More Satellites Will Soon Orbit Earth—We Need Better Rules to Prevent Space Crashes By Lauren Napier  in The Singularity Hub

In recent years, satellites have become smaller, cheaper, and easier to make with commercial off-the-shelf parts. Some even weigh as little as one gram. This means more people can afford to send them into orbit. Now, satellite operators have started launching mega-constellations—groups of hundreds or even thousands of small satellites working together—into orbit around Earth.

Instead of one large satellite, groups of small satellites can provide coverage of the entire planet at once. Civil, military, and private operators are increasingly using constellations to create global and continuous coverage of the Earth. Constellations can provide a variety of functions, including climate monitoring, disaster management, or digital connectivity, like satellite broadband.

But to provide coverage of the entire planet with small satellites requires a lot of them. On top of this, they have to orbit close to Earth’s surface to reduce interruption of coverage and communication delays. This means they take up an already busy area of space called low Earth orbit, the space 100 to 2,000km above the Earth’s surface.

There are many issues associated with introducing this many satellites into orbit, from the dangers of space junk to obstructing our view of the night sky. But the shift toward mega-constellations is also a challenge for global space governance. ... ' 

Small Sat Launching by Drone

 Been watching the numerous satellite launches going on, like primarily to improve communications to remote areas. Agree with some of the worries for the future,  will we be able to see the stars in future years?   Will kids of the future see the sky?     Here is another that is now happening, drone plane launching.

Huge drone set to launch satellites in mid-air  by Peter Grad , Tech Xplore

We all have images in our mind of rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station hurtling astronauts into space and satellites into orbit.

But those launches may be a thing of the past as a new generation of drones that can do the same job cheaper, safer and better steps into play.

Alabama-Based Aevum unveiled its Ravn X Autonomous Launch Vehicle Wednesday that it says is the world's largest unmanned aircraft system.

The Ravn X fleet, with aircraft at 80 feet long and 60 feet wide, can deliver satellite payloads with precision accuracy every 180 minutes around the clock. Best of all, company officials say, it can be done safer than current space delivery systems because the crafts are unmanned.  ... "

Whats does a Space Force Do?

 Well one thing, guarding against cybersecurity threats.

US Space Force guards against cybersecurity threats miles above Earth

If space is indeed the “final frontier,” as narrated in the famous opening voiceover in “Star Trek,” it is also becoming the final line of defense against threats to technologies that have become essential for daily life.

From the use of GPS to navigate traffic congestion to fighting forest fires with heat sensors, orbiting satellites play a critical role in providing convenience and safety for countries around the globe. And as governments and private enterprises launch more satellites, the attack surface has expanded as well.

“Space is becoming congested and contested,” said Lt. Gen. John F. Thompson (pictured), commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in California. “The cyber aspects of the space business are truly, truly daunting and important to all of us. Integrating cybersecurity into our space systems, both commercial and government, is a mandate.”

Thompson spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Space & Cybersecurity Symposium. They discussed the vital role of GPS infrastructure, threats from nation states, the military’s adoption of a DevSecOps mindset, hiring goals and funding for startups with innovative ideas designed to protect the final frontier.

Trillions in GPS value

As a division of the U.S. Space Force, the Space and Missile Systems Center is responsible for acquiring and developing military space systems. This includes both orbiting satellites and ground communications systems for the U.S. Space Force, critical partners in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, according to Thompson. 

USAF Seeks Shift in How Jets, Missiles, Satellites Are Designed

Makes sense to construct a digital model of any complex system. The robustness of the model will be important.  Also depends on contexts of use.  Risks. 

USAF Seeks Shift in How Jets, Missiles, Satellites Are Designed
The Washington Post
Aaron Gregg; Paul Sonne

U.S. Air Force acquisition and technology official Will Roper aims to make computer modeling a requirement for designing military jets, missiles, and satellites. He envisions government-owned, computer-generated models powered by artificial intelligence that test millions of potential weapons designs virtually before going to prototype, at significantly lower cost. Roper was inspired by Boeing and Saab's use of digital models in designing the T-7 Red Hawk trainer aircraft, especially "digital threading," in which designers produced a digital twin of the jet before manufacture. The National Defense Industrial Association's Hawk Carlisle said with digital engineering, "you can produce an airplane that is much faster, has fewer challenges in the manufacturing process, and is much more accurate and perfect."

Too Many Satellites?

Have been among those to warn of having too many communications sats in orbit.  Now it is becoming a reality.  Article talks some of the details.

Hundreds of astronomers warn Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites could limit scientific discoveries.

SpaceX plans to launch thousands of satellites as part of its Starlink space internet project
Hundreds of astronomers have warned that satellite constellations like Elon Musk‘s Starlink network could prove “extremely impactful” to astronomy and scientific progress.

A report by the Satellite Constellations 1 (Satcon1) workshop found that that constellations of bright satellites will fundamentally change ground-based optical and infrared astronomy and could impact the appearance of the night’s sky for stargazers around the world.

The research brought together more than 250 astronomers, satellite operators and dark-sky advocates to better understand the astronomical impact of large satellite constellations.... "

Hacking Cubesat Satellites

In FastCompany,  I had mentioned the worry about them polluting space.  Here a further issue when you put so many targets up there.  I assume the threat is being carefully considered,but consider too that new hacks are constantly emerging.  and software will be updated to defend it.  Depends on the seriousness of the results of the hack. How many Cubesat Satellites are to many?

What happens when all the tiny satellites we’re shooting into space get hacked?
Hackers could shut them down—or turn them into weapons.   .... " 

Last month, SpaceX became the operator of the world’s largest active satellite constellation. As of the end of January, the company had 242 satellites orbiting the planet, with plans to launch 42,000 over the next decade. This is part of its ambitious project to provide internet access across the globe. The race to put satellites in space is on, with Amazon, U.K.-based OneWeb, and other companies chomping at the bit to place thousands of satellites in orbit in the coming months.  ... " 

Repairing a Satellite with Deep Learning AI in Space

By predicting lost data from other existing sources using deep learning.  Note the alternative uses of the approach, say in the case of solar storms.  Considerable complexity with varying goals.

IBM helped NASA fix one of its satellites using cutting-edge deep learning A.I.
How do you fix a satellite that’s floating 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface?

That’s a question that NASA had to answer when it ran into problems with one of its crucial satellites. The satellite in question was the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which launched in 2010 with the important goal of studying the Sun and the effects of solar activity on Earth. This is important for all sorts of reasons — not least because solar storms can knock out GPS satellites, shut down electrical grids, and scramble communications.

Unfortunately, one of the SDO’s three instruments, responsible for measuring ultraviolet light, stopped working due to a fault. This data is essential to satellite operators, since it can affect the flight path of orbiting satellites. Not properly compensating for atmospheric changes due to ultraviolet light may cause satellites to fall out of orbit and burn up or crash.

It was deemed too costly to repair the $850 million satellite in space. As a result, NASA called in experts from IBM, SETI, Nimbix, Lockheed Martin, and its own Frontier Development Lab to see if they could solve the problem from Earth using cutting-edge artificial intelligence. The request? Could they figure out how to use data from the SDO’s remaining two instruments — its atmospheric imaging assembly and helioseismic and magnetic imager — to work out the missing ultraviolet radiation measurements. The answer: Apparently, yes.

“One of the biggest challenges was to find the optimal A.I. framework and model for the problem at hand — namely, virtually ‘resurrecting’ the failed SDO instrument so that we could once again get the data that instrument would have produced if it was still working,” Graham Mackintosh, A.I. advisor to SETI and NASA, told Digital Trends. “The team automated the task of modifying, testing, and recording the results of almost 1,000 different versions of the deep learning model before settling on the final approach they determined to be optimal.”  .... "

The Farm is the Grid

Intriguing partnership for data.  Need more of this.   Metadata and data.   Data has value.

Airbus, John Deere connect tractors, satellite data
By Lawrence Specker | lspecker@al.com

Flying tractors may not be in the cards just yet, but the seemingly odd-couple pairing of Airbus and John Deere has jointly won a major European agriculture innovation award.

In conjunction with the upcoming 2019 SIMA agriculture industry show in Paris, the two companies have received a silver medal for their Live NBalance program, which Airbus describes as “a service merging satellite and tractor data to monitor intra-field nitrogen balance even more precisely during the growing season.”

Tractor data? So much for the dream of going back to the farm to get off the grid. Apparently now the farm is the grid.   ... "

Imaging Large Human Spaces by Satellite

Impressive patterns revealed.

Imagining gigantic places with satellite imagery   Data Visualization and Statistics by Nathan Yan

Artist Marcus Lyon imagines worlds where there are so many people that the only thing left to do is to make gigantic places to fit everyone. The patterns repeat themselves over and over, and it’s no longer about the individual exploring an entire place. [via kottke] .... " 

Pattern Recognition in Road Tracing

We had a similar challenge when we managed roads and their quality in Alberta.   We were mostly interested in if the roads had degraded, and needed to manage resources to improve them to a level where they would satisfy predicted transport needs.   We had Aerial and Satellite images.   Now you can selectively deploy drones.   And we needed to include predicted changes like tree growth, storms  and forest fires.  This does some of the things we could have used then.  Perhaps also some applications to supply chain needs?

A new way to automatically build road maps from aerial images
“RoadTracer” system from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory could reduce workload for developers of apps like Google Maps. ....  By Adam Conner-Simons | MIT, CSAIL 

A New Way to Automatically Build Road Maps From Aerial Images 

" ... Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers have developed a system for automatically constructing road maps from aerial images with 45-percent more accuracy than existing methods. The RoadTracer system “is well-suited to map areas of the world where maps are frequently out of date, which includes both places with lower population and areas where there's frequent construction," says MIT professor Mohammad Alizadeh. RoadTracer begins with a known location on a road network, using a neural network to examine the surroundings and determine which point is most likely to be the next part of the road. It adds that point and repeats the process to plot out the network of the road step by step..... " 
(Updated) See also 'Automated site Mapping'  Used in Archaeology,  related method beyond examining just roads.

Context in Satellite Imagery

Nathan in Flowingdata shows a different kind of data imagery.    Advanced Sat imagery handles this today, but recall doing it for forestry assets before that was common.   Makes you think about context once again.  Link through for more details.

SimCity-like views using satellite imagery   By Nathan Yau

Maps typically show a view from straight above, which is good for navigation and to see regional patterns over large areas. However, missing out on the extra dimension of height can mean missing out on context. Robert Simmon for Planet Labs shows off some work in getting the less abstract perspective at a large scale.  ... " 

Satellites for Business

The ultimate large scale sensory play.   At an early time we looked at them for supply chain data, to support decisions, modeling and analytics.  I continue to follow advances.

This Company Has the Largest Fleet of Orbiting Satellites in Human History. Here's What it Plans to Do Next

Planet Labs' fleet can photograph all the land on earth every day--and it's just getting started.
 
By Kevin J. Ryan in Inc. .... "