Russia Launches Single GLONASS Satellite

As reported by GPS World: A single GLONASS-M satellite was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Saturday, June 14, at 17:16 UTC. The satellite, GLONASS-M 55 (with designation 755 once operational and also known as Kosmos 2500), was inserted into the GLONASS constellation’s Plane 3 and will occupy orbital slot 21, according to ISS Reshetnev, the manufacturer of the satellite.

Reshetnev also reported that the satellite is equipped with an experimental payload capable of transmitting signals in the L3 frequency band. The L3 signal, centered at 1202.025 MHz , is CDMA unlike the GLONASS legacy FDMA signals. The experiment will include flight testing of the new equipment and evaluation of its accuracy characteristics. The GLONASS-K1 test satellite also transmits an L3 signal.  

A video of the launch can be viewed on the Zvezda (meaning “Star”) TV network run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

LTE and GSM are Getting Hitched Thanks to New Technology

As reported by NetworkWorld: In the hunt for more spectrum to speed up mobile networks, Vodafone and Huawei Technologies have successfully tested a technology that lets LTE and GSM share the same frequencies.

The speed of future mobile networks will depend on the amount of spectrum mobile operators can get their hands on. The more they get, the wider the roads they can build.

One thing they can do to get more space is to reuse frequencies that are currently used for older technologies such as GSM and 3G. But that isn’t as easy as sounds, as operators still have a lot of voice and messaging traffic in those older networks. That traffic isn’t going away for a long time, irrespective of the level of competition from Internet-based services.

However, using a technology called GL DSS (GSM-LTE Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) Vodafone and Huawei have shown a way to allow GSM and LTE to coexist.

In a traditional mobile network, operators allocate each technology an exclusive set of frequencies. For example, many operators, including Vodafone, currently hold 20MHz of spectrum at 1.8GHz, of which 10MHz is used for LTE and the rest for GSM traffic.

GL DSS lets Huawei’s SRC (Single Radio Controller) give GSM a higher priority during periods of heavy traffic, ensuring that voice calls get though unharmed. But the SRC can also provide more room for LTE when users aren’t making calls, allowing for better throughput, the vendor said on Tuesday.

This trial verified the technology’s performance in Vodafone Spain’s commercial network, with LTE capacity gains of up to 50 percent, according to Huawei. That equals another 32.5Mbps of bandwidth, on paper. Smartphones and other devices with a cellular connection don’t have to be upgraded for the technology to work.

“What we see now is that GSM and 3G will live much longer than anyone expected. This could be one of the things you as a carrier do to increase sustainability and scalability,” said Sylvain Fabre, research director at Gartner.

Huawei and Vodafone didn't say when they expect GL DSS will become available to users.

Google Trials LTE in Project Loon’s Balloons Over Brazil

As reported by ZDNet:A year on from firing up its first wi-fi balloons in New Zealand, Google has flown its first LTE-equipped balloons in a remote town in Brazil.

Project Loon may have been overshadowed by Google's more recent $500m aerial manoeuvre and speculation it will launch a constellation of satellites. But the project which started in New Zealand nearly a year ago and aims to deliver broadband to underserved parts of the world is making progress.

Google announced on Monday it had launched an LTE-equipped balloon on the rural outskirts of Campo Maior in the north east of Brazil, connecting a local school Linoca Gayoso to the internet for the first time.

The community currently doesn't have a broadband or mobile service, which means locals rely on a few locations where a weak mobile signal can be found — including up in trees or next to soccer goalposts.

The addition of LTE to the balloons brings several benefits, according to Google. Markets where 4G LTE has launched know it for higher speed mobile broadband, but in Loon it serves a different purpose. It could allow Google to provide an internet signal directly to mobile phones as well as deliver services over longer distances than wi-fi.

(The radios used in Google's New Zealand launch operated on unlicensed spectrum in the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands used in wi-fi.)

The other benefit of LTE is that carriers are already using it on their networks. "This means that when Loon partners with telcos to deliver last-mile connectivity, we will be able to use the telecommunications companies' existing infrastructure, which will allow us to deliver service to rural and remote users seamlessly and quickly," Google said.

In its Brazilian LTE Loon trial, Google worked with two local operators — Vivo and Telebrás — to essentially extend the reach of their respective 3G and backhaul networks.

"Working with both partners allowed the team to confirm that Loon could extend LTE coverage from a 3G wireless zone or from a fibre backbone," Google said.

Google said its intent since launching the first balloons was to find partners and says its New Zealand launch was supported by Vodafone NZ.

Before the project launched, the Loon team were actually planning to buy spectrum for itself, "Captain of Moonshots" Astro Teller told Tech Crunch Disrupt earlier this year.

However, Teller said that Google CEO Larry Page wouldn't allow it, in part because it would have sparked fears that Google was "invading" the country where it launched.

The Brazilian LTE Loon trial comes after Google applied to the US communications regulator to test Loon in North Nevada using spectrum designated for LTE services. Earlier this month one of the Loon balloons, likely launched from Nevada, crashed in a remote part of Washington State, cutting a power line.

Nissan, BMW Interested in Talks with Tesla About Vehicle Charging

As reported by PC Magazine: Following this week's announcement by Tesla that the electric car manufacturer had no interest in bringing patent lawsuits against "anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology" said CEO Elon Musk, the interest of a few of the world's larger car manufacturers has been piqued. According to the Financial Times, both Nissan and BMW are allegedly "keen" to chat with Tesla about possibly working together to develop charging networks that all three manufacturers' vehicles could use.

Musk's announcement was a bit of a surprise this past week, with some seeing it as helpful suggestion by the company for pushing the growth of the electric vehicle market to new heights. Others chastised Tesla's announcement, commenting that it was a sign of the company's weakness that it has to start resorting to more eye-opening measures to move an industry that, by large, is fairly gasoline-focused. Without such a shift, critics argued, Tesla might not have enough individual oomph to make it in the difficult car market.

"Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world's factories every day," Musk wrote.

"We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform. "

According to undisclosed sources speaking to the Financial Times, both Nissan and BMW would be interested in working with Tesla to craft up some universal vehicle charging standards. To quote unnamed official: ""It is obviously clear that everyone would benefit if there was a far more simple way for everyone to charge their cars."

It's currently unclear whether said partnership would involve the companies using Tesla's proprietary charging setup in both companies' cars, or whether all three would come together and use their collective brain trust to come up with an inventive new way to charge electric vehicles quickly.

Such a partnership wouldn't be Tesla's first; the company has already teamed up with Mercedes-Benz to put its charging system (and other electrical components) in the manufacturer's B-class Electric Drive.

USAF Rejected SpaceX Offer To Launch GPS 3 Satellites for $80M Each

As reported by SpaceNews: Months before the U.S. Defense Department disclosed plans to award a sole-source contract to United Launch Alliance for a block of national security satellite launches, the Air Force turned down an unsolicited bid from Space Exploration Technologies Corp. to launch the service’s GPS 3 navigation satellites for $79.9 million each, according to new filings in federal court.

In a timeline detailing events in the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims June 4, SpaceX said it submitted the proposal on Aug. 16, 2012. 

On Sept. 18, 2012, the Air Force rejected the proposal, “explaining that the GPS III satellites ‘may be acquired by competitive methods’ from ‘certified launch providers,’” the SpaceX timeline said.

SpaceX is not expected to earn formal certification from the Air Force to bid on national security launch missions until the end of this year at the earliest. 

The exchange, as outlined, provides one of the clearest examples yet of SpaceX’s frustration with the Air Force process for buying rockets. 

SpaceX has asked the court to bar the Air Force from buying 22 first-stage rocket cores on a sole-source basis from ULA. That number, a subset of the 36 cores the Air Force ordered from ULA last year under an $11 billion contract, reflects the missions for which SpaceX believes it can compete with its Falcon 9 rocket.

Two months after the Air Force rejected SpaceX’s proposal,  Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, issued a memo approving an Air Force plan to enter into the so-called block buy contract with ULA. 

The block buy is part of a two-pronged strategy aimed at reining in the Air Force’s sky-high satellite launching costs. The other element is competition: Kendall’s plan also called for the Air Force to put up to 14 additional missions up for bid, giving newcomers like SpaceX a chance to win Pentagon business.

In March 2014, the Air Force announced it halved the number of space launches to be competitively awarded from 2015 to 2017 due in part to anticipated production slowdowns in satellite programs, primarily GPS 3.

The first of those competitively awarded missions, meanwhile, appears to be the launch of a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the nation’s spy satellites. The Air Force on June 4 issued a draft request for proposals for that mission, dubbed NROL-79.


Industry sources have long said that SpaceX was vying for the GPS 3 missions, which appear well suited to the capabilities of the Falcon 9. The court filing is the first public disclosure of the asking price.

It is unclear whether SpaceX’s offer is still on the table. A spokeswoman for SpaceX, Allison Bryan, did not answer that question before presstime.

During a meeting with reporters May 19, Michael Gass, the president and chief executive of Denver-based ULA, said the average cost of its Atlas 5 401 rocket, one of the smaller versions of that vehicle, was about $164 million per launch for those missions under contract. Future versions, meaning those purchased after the block buy, would start at less than $100 million, he said.  

ULA has accused SpaceX of charging prices that are 30 to 105 percent higher than what SpaceX has advertised online. On its website, SpaceX says its standard commercial Falcon 9 launches cost $61.2 million, although company officials have said government missions tend to have additional requirements that drive up their cost. 

The Air Force, in additions filed to the SpaceX timeline, said it issued a request for proposals (RFPs) for the block buy in March 2012, and made a redacted copy of the request available to SpaceX the following month. “No prospective launch service providers objected to the RFP’s scope or any of its terms,” the Air Force addition reads.

One of the questions raised by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing the Air Force in the case, is whether SpaceX filed its protest within the proper time frame to be given consideration.

Bloodhound SSC: Andy Green’s 1,000mph Office Revealed

As reported by Bloodhound SSC:  The cockpit of BLOODHOUND SSC, the 1,000mph (1,609km/h) Land Speed Racing car, was unveiled today in Bristol, UK. The state-of-the-art carbon fiber monocoque has been tailored to the needs of driver Andy Green and will be his supersonic office during record attempts in the South African desert in 2015 and 2016.

Hand crafted by URT Group using five different types of carbon fibre weave and two different resins, the monocoque has taken more than 10,000 hours to design and manufacture. 

Sandwiched between the layers of carbon fibre are three different thicknesses of aluminum honeycomb core (8, 12 and 20mm), which provide additional strength. At its thickest point the monocoque comprises of 13 individual layers but is just 25mm in cross section.

Let Andy show you round the outside of the cockpit in this video:

The structure weighs 200kg and bolts directly to the metallic rear chassis carrying the jet, rocket and racing car engine. The carbon front section will have to endure peak aerodynamic loads of up to three tonnes per square meter at 1,000mph (1,609kph) as well the considerable forces generated by the front wheels and suspension. It will also carry ballistic armor to protect the driver should a stone be thrown up by the front wheels at very high speeds.  

The roof of the cockpit has been designed to create a series of shock-waves that will channel the air into the Eurojet EJ200 jet engine.  If supersonic air reaches the jet engine fan blades, the airflow will break down and the engine will ‘choke’ (known as a ‘surge’). This can generate huge changes in pressure that could damage both the jet engine and Car, hence BLOODHOUND SSC using shock-waves over the canopy to slow the airflow from over 1,000mph (1,609km/h) to just 600mph (643km/h) in a distance of around one meter.  Deflecting winds traveling five times faster than a hurricane will, however, cause additional noise and vibration to be transmitted into the cockpit.

The sound levels expected in and around BLOODHOUND SSC are being carefully evaluated. The cockpit is positioned in front of three incredibly loud motors: the jet, a cluster of hybrid rockets and the racing car engine that drives the rocket’s oxidiser pump. Collectively they will generate a noise level estimated at 140 decibels. Much of the noise will be directed backwards, away from the driver, and above 750mph (1,207km/h) the Car will out-run its own sound waves. However, the Project’s engineers still anticipate that shockwave and jet intake noise levels may produce over 120 decibels inside the cockpit. Andy will wear an in-ear communications system specially made by Ultimate Ear to protect his hearing and to ensure that he can communicate with Mission Control.

BLOODHOUND has a highly specialised windscreen custom-made by PPA Group from acrylic. The plastic is heated, stretched and then two layers are bonded together to create a 25mm section, thicker than a fighter jet’s windscreen and sufficient to withstand an impact with a 1kg bird at 900mph (1,448km/h). Due to the oblique angle the windscreen is set at, the driver will in fact be looking through 50mm of curved plastic. The key challenge has therefore been to make the screen robust while maintaining absolute visual clarity.

Andy has drawn on his experience of flying fast jets and driving World Land Speed Record winners Thrust SSC and JCB Dieselmax to design the dashboard and cockpit layout. Good ergonomics are vital given that BLOODHOUND SSC will cover a mile in 3.6 seconds, or 150m in the (300 millisecond) blink of an eye. He explains the internal layout in this video:

The central screen shows the speed in miles per hour and Mach number (Mach 1 being the speed of sound), calculated by GPS, plus jet engine and rocket outputs. Dynamic speed indicators help Andy to judge when to fire the rocket and deploy the braking systems. Wheel loads are also given prominence. BLOODHOUND does not use aerodynamic downforce, as a Formula 1 car does, while lift at the nose or rear axle must also be avoided at all costs. The need to carefully balance forces throughout its 1000mph speed range is one of the major reasons why shaping the Car has taken 30 design-years.

The left-hand screen shows hydraulic pressures and temperatures in the braking and airbrake systems, while the one to Andy’s right provides information about the three engines, including temperatures, pressures and fuel levels. Together, the EJ200 jet engine and Nammo hybrid rockets produce around 210 kN (21 tonnes) of thrust, equivalent to 135,000 thrust hp, or 180 F1 cars, and Andy will monitor their status at key points during each run. 

BLOODHOUND’s dash also features two precision-engineered analogue Rolex instruments: a chronograph with built-in stopwatch, and a speedometer graduated up to 1,100mph (1,770km/h). The speedometer is a vital back-up to allow the Car to be stopped safely should the digital dashboard fail, while the chronograph will help to time the start-up and cool-down of the jet, and help to monitor the performance of other systems. Tested to withstand the severe vibration at 1,000 mph and the desert heat, these bespoke Rolex instruments are unique to BLOODHOUND SSC.

Andy enters his office via a carbon fiber hatch, 500mm in diameter, just below the jet air intake. At full power, the EJ200 fan sucks in 65 m3 of air per second, so the hatch will be fastened using latches able to withstand loads of 2.5kN (quarter of a tonne) to prevent it from getting ingested into the engine.

The instrument panels have been coated with a special non-reflective grey paint to provide the optimum background colour against which to see the gauges and controls, while the cockpit walls are white to maximise the available light in the cockpit. The Car also has interior lights, as BLOODHOUND SSC will often be prepared before dawn, when the desert will still be dark and temperatures around freezing.  During the day ambient temperatures will approach 40ºC (104ºF) though BLOODHOUND SSC will most likely not run in conditions above 25ºC (77ºF) as the metallic sections of the Car will get too hot for the team to handle and the jet engine is inefficient when burning hot, less dense air.  Cockpit temperature is still expected to approach exceed 35ºC (95ºF), so external air conditioning will be used to cool it prior to each run, though this is primarily for the comfort of the electronics, not the driver.

Andy will keep BLOODHOUND SSC on course using a bespoke 3D printed titanium steering wheel, shaped to his hands and finger reach.  Buttons on the front control the EMCOM radio, airbrakes and parachutes, while triggers on the rear of the handgrips prime and fire the rockets.  BLOODHOUND engineers developed several design evolutions of the wheel, the last of which was finalised for manufacture by Cambridge Design Partnership. BLOODHOUND has a conventional steering rack with a 30:1 ratio (compared to a normal car of around 15:1) though its long wheelbase makes for a very large turning circle: 240 metres, compared with 10 metres for a typical family hatchback.

BLOODHOUND SSC has pedals like a regular car, though once again, they are custom designed for Andy. The right-hand pedal throttles the EJ200 jet engine and will be used to start the Car moving. The left pedal controls the wheel brakes and will be used to slow the Car at speeds below 200mph (321km/h). The wheel brakes will only contribute about one percent of the total braking effort, reducing the stopping distance by around half a mile.  Braking speed is critical, as using the wheel brakes above 200mph (321km/h) will exceed their energy capacity and set fire to them.  

During a 1000mph (1,609km/h) run, BLOODHOUND SSC will cover 12miles (19.3km) in 2 minutes, exerting an acceleration force of almost 2G and peak deceleration force of 3G on Andy. This long-duration G force is another experience unique to BLOODHOUND: an F1 driver may experience higher G forces, but they only do so for a few seconds at a time. Andy will be sat in a carbon fibre seat, moulded to his body shape by Real Equip, and manufactured by URT Group.  This seat installation will provide unparalleled levels of support and safety for the driver, who will be angled back and strapped in using a Willans five point harness. Andy will also wear a Pro Ultra HANS device, to protect his neck from sudden, violent movements or decelerations, and an Arai helmet.

The cockpit also carries a Camlock air supply, feeding clean breathing air to Andy through the ‘Adom’ mask used by RAF Typhoon pilots.  This full-face race spec helmet, mated to a jet fighter-style breathing system, is again unique to BLOODHOUND and combines the best driver protection features from both motorsport and aerospace. A Willans fire suppression system has also been specified, which will douse the cockpit in foam should built-in infrared sensors detect naked flames.

Driver safety has been the prime design and engineering objective throughout BLOODHOUND’S gestation and the team has worked closely with motor racing’s governing world body, the Fédération Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) to create the best safety cell in the history of motor sport.

The cockpit is also a showcase for the extraordinary skills of UK manufacturing. The BLOODHOUND Project is grateful for the support of a raft world-class companies who share our ambition to inspire a generation to follow science and engineering by building, and racing, the most extraordinary Car in the world.

Tesla: All Our Patent Are Belong To You

From the Tesla Motors Blog: Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.

Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

When I started out with my first company, Zip2, I thought patents were a good thing and worked hard to obtain them. And maybe they were good long ago, but too often these days they serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors. After Zip2, when I realized that receiving a patent really just meant that you bought a lottery ticket to a lawsuit, I avoided them whenever possible.

At Tesla, however, we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla. We couldn't have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales.

At best, the large automakers are producing electric cars with limited range in limited volume. Some produce no zero emission cars at all.

Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day.

We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform. 

Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this regard.