Soyuz ST-B Launches with Galileo GNSS Mission

As reported by NASA Spaceflight: An Arianespace Soyuz ST-B has launched two Galileo satellites from the European Spaceport “Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG)” in Kourou, French Guiana. Following a 24 hour turnaround due to unacceptable weather, the lofting of the two FOC-M1 (FM01 and FM02) satellites took place at 12:27 UTC on Friday, ahead of several hours of flight to the separation of the duo.  

Galileo Launch:
This launch marked the business end of Europe’s Global Satellite Navigation System‘s constellation build up.

Following the launch of four satellites Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites, forming the operational nucleus of the full 30-satellite constellation – FM01 and FM02 will be the first two “Full Operational Capability (FOC) birds to head into orbit.

Named “Doresa” and “Milena”, the satellites were built in Bremen, Germany by FOC prime contractor OHB System, and are named for children who were among those winning a European Commission-organized painting competition in 2011.

The 700 kgs birds sport two Passive Hydrogen Maser atomic clocks; two Rubidium atomic clocks; Clock monitoring and control unit; Navigation signal generator unit; L-band antenna for navigation signal transmission, C-band antenna for up-link signal detection, two S-band antennas for telemetry and tele-commands and a search and rescue antenna.

Galileo’s highly-accurate atomic clocks will provide the accuracy of the system. Each satellite emits a signal containing the time it was transmitted and the satellite’s orbital position.

The Galileo program is Europe’s initiative for satellite navigation, providing a highly accurate global positioning system under civilian control – consisting of 30 satellites, along with European control centers and a worldwide network of sensor and up-link stations.

The complete Galileo constellation is to be composed of 27 operational satellites and three reserves, distributed along three circular medium Earth orbit planes at an altitude of 23,222 km, inclined 56 deg. to the equator.

Arianespace was chosen to deploy the entire Galileo constellation of 30 satellites. This began with the launch of the first two experimental satellites,Giove-A and Giove-B, orbited by Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate on Soyuz launchers from Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2005 and 2007.
The remaining 24 Galileo constellation satellites will be orbited over the next year or so, using six additional Soyuz vehicles carrying two spacecraft each, along with three Ariane 5s configured with four per launch.

Designated Soyuz Flight VS09 in Arianespace’s numbering system, this mission – the medium-lift vehicle’s ninth liftoff from French Guiana – joined the company’s record 2014 launch manifest.

The more powerful Soyuz-ST configuration is the standard version launched from French Guiana, with the additional performance provided by the Soyuz ST-B variant – including a Fregat-MT upper stage.

The Soyuz-2 was developed from the older Soyuz models, and features digital flight control systems and modernized engines. It first flew in 2004.

Two variants are currently in service; the Soyuz-2-1a, and the Soyuz-2-1b which features an RD-0124 third stage engine which provides additional thrust. The RD-0124 was declared operational on 3 May 2011.

A third configuration, the Soyuz-2-1v, debuted at the end of last year. It features an NK-33 engine in place of the RD-108A used on the core stages of the other configurations, and does not include the strap-on boosters used by other configurations.

The Soyuz-2 forms the basis for the Soyuz-ST rocket, which is optimized to fly from Kourou, and also incorporates a flight termination system and a modified telemetry system.

With the Soyuz ST-B utilizing the RD-0124 third stage engine, an additional 34 seconds of specific impulse (Isp) significantly increases the vehicle’s overall launch performance.

The RD-0124 is a staged-combustion engine powered by a multi-stage turbo-pump, which is spun by gas from combustion of the main propellants in a gas generator. These oxygen-rich combustion gases are recovered to feed the four main combustion chambers where kerosene – coming from the regenerative cooling circuit – is injected.

Attitude control is provided by main engine activation along one axis in two planes. Liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene tanks are pressurized by the heating and evaporation of helium coming from storage vessels located in the LOX tank.
Avionics for the Soyuz launcher are carried in the vehicle’s third stage, and are located in an intermediate bay between the oxidizer and fuel tanks.

As part of the Soyuz’ upgrades for its operations from the Spaceport, the launcher’s flight control system is modernized with a digital control system.

This system incorporates a digital computer and inertial measurement unit that are based on proven technology – giving the Soyuz improved navigation accuracy and control capability.
The new digital control system provides a more flexible and efficient attitude control system, and it gives the additional flight control authority required for the new, enlarged Soyuz ST payload fairing.

See Also

• UPDATES Soyuz ST-B Launch
• L2 Russian Section
• 65 Launch Vehicle Manuals (L2)
• Click here to Join L2

In addition, it improves flight accuracy for the Soyuz’ first three stages, and provides the ability to perform in-flight roll maneuvers as well as in-plane yaw steering (dog-leg) maneuvers.

The Fregat upper stage is an autonomous and flexible upper stage designed to operate as an orbital vehicle.  Flight qualified in 2000, it extends the Soyuz launcher’s capability to provide access to a full range of orbits (medium-Earth orbit, Sun-synchronous orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, and Earth escape trajectories).

Fregat consists of six spherical tanks arrayed in a circle (four for propellant, two containing the avionics), with trusses passing through the tanks to provide structural support. The stage is independent from the Soyuz’ lower three stages, having its own guidance, navigation, control, tracking, and telemetry systems.

The Fregat uses storable propellants (UDMH/NTO) and can be restarted up to 20 times in flight – enabling it to carry out complex mission profiles. It can provide 3-axis stabilization or perform a spin-up of the spacecraft payload.

The Fregat first flew in 2000, and has been used on Soyuz-U, Soyuz-FG, Soyuz-2 and Zenit rockets.

The launch was performed from the purpose-built ZLS launch facility for Soyuz – located in the Spaceport’s northern sector near the city of Sinnamary.

Construction of the launch site began in 2007, as Arianespace advanced their plans to add two launch vehicles to their family. (See large set of construction photos in L2).

The Spaceport’s Soyuz launch site combines the proven design elements from the long-existing site at Baikonur Cosmodrome with satellite integration procedures that are in concert with the spacecraft processing used for Ariane missions.

Located 12 kilometers northwest from the existing Ariane 5 launch complex, the new Soyuz facility extends the Spaceport’s operational zone further up the French Guiana coastline.

The launch vehicle’s assembly building is 92 meters long, 41 meters wide, and 22 meters tall, allowing the vehicle to be assembles horizontally, prior to rolling out to the launch site, which is configured after the Russian Baikonur and Plesetsk Cosmodromes, albeit with a new mobile launch service tower.

The Soyuz’ transfer to the Spaceport’s launch zone is performed with the launcher riding horizontally atop a transporter/erector rail car.

Soyuz was then raised into position on the pad, and in contrast with the Baikonur Cosmodrome processing flow, is protected by a gantry that moves into place for payload integration.

Tesla Model S Software Update Brings iPhone Unlocking and Ignition Start

As reported by TechCrunch: Tesla owners have been looking forward to OS 6.0, a software update for their vehicles, for a while now, but it’s finally rolling out to vehicle owners, reports Electrek. The system adds a bunch of new features for Model S vehicles, including a new Calendar app for in-car use, and big improvements to the Maps/Navigation software. What’s amazing (and surprising) for iPhone users is that they can now unlock and start their car from their devices if they forget their physical key fob at home.

The update is yet another indication of Tesla’s commitment not only to future customers, but also to existing vehicle owners. Musk announced just last week that the Model S would get a warranty extension for its drive train of infinite miles for up to eight years. Bringing major changes to the in-car software system post-purchase is another deviation for the standard operating procedure for vehicle owners, and letting them use their smartphones as remote access and remote starters is ordinarily an expensive aftermarket upgrade.  

Basically Tesla needs to make these cars affordable for ink-stained hacks like myself stat. The new $35,000 Tesla Model 3 is now official, but its limited range makes it less appealing (unless they switch to Sakti3 solid state batteries), and we have to wait until 2017 for it to go on sale. Until then, I guess I’ll just have to stick with envy.

Startup Sakti3 Says its Battery Could Double the Range of a Tesla Model S

As reported by GigaOM: It’s been quite awhile since we’ve heard anything from battery startup Sakti3. The seven-year-old University of Michigan spin-out has been heads down working on a high performance “solid-state” lithium ion battery and on Wednesday announced that it’s produced a battery that can double the range of an electric car (like a Tesla Model S) or double the usage time of a gadget like a wearable device.

On top of that, Sakti3 said its batteries are safer to operate than the current standard ones, and that down the road the batteries could be produced commercially for around $100 per kilowatt hour, Sakti3 CEO Ann Marie Sastry said in a statement on Wednesday. For comparison’s sake, Tesla has said at one point that it’s currently buying lithium ion batteries for its cars for somewhere between $200 and $300 per kilowatt hour.

Solid state batteries have solid electrodes and electrolytes, compared to traditional lithium ion batteries that use a liquid electrolyte. That means solid state batteries are less flammable and can be safer to operate. The Sakti3 team made this video of an engineer dropping hot soldering material onto the cell, and it continues to operate in a safe temperature range.

Solid state batteries also can have a higher energy density (the amount of energy stored for a set volume). Sakti3 said the energy density for this latest battery cell is 1100 watt hours per liter, which translates into a 9-hour usage time for something like a smartwatch (from 3.5 hours) or a 480 mile electric car range (from the 256 mile range of a Tesla).

Yeah, imagine an almost 500-mile range Tesla car. Crain’s Detroit Business called the company one of the top 10 most innovative partly because it received four patents last year around battery manufacturing, a solid-state propulsion systems and automotive hybrid tech. MIT Tech Review named them one of their top 50 most disruptive companies of 2012.

Sakti3 is still in the pilot stage and isn’t yet producing these batteries commercially at scale. But the company says it made its breakthrough energy dense battery on “fully scalable equipment.” The company is backed by $30 million in venture funding from Khosla Ventures, GM Ventures, Itochu, and a grant from the State of Michigan.

Google's Driverless Cars Designed to Exceed the Speed Limit

As reported by BBC News: Dmitri Dolgov told Reuters that when surrounding vehicles were breaking the speed limit, going more slowly could actually present a danger, and the Google car would accelerate to keep up.

Google's driverless prototypes have been widely tested on roads in selected areas of the US.   The UK will allow driverless cars on public roads in 2015.

Google first announced its driverless car division in 2010, and has been testing its technology in modified cars built by other manufacturers.

The cars have traveled on more than 300,000 miles of open road, mostly in California.

In May, the US tech firm said it would start building its own self-driving cars.

The bubble-shaped vehicles will seat two people, propulsion will be electric, and to begin with they will be limited to 25mph (40km/h) to help ensure safety.

In July, the UK government announced that driverless cars will be allowed on public roads from January next year.

In addition, ministers ordered a review of the UK's road regulations to provide appropriate guidelines.

This will cover the need for self-drive vehicles to comply with safety and traffic laws, and involve changes to the Highway Code, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales.

Commenting on Google self-drive cars' ability to exceed the speed limit, a Department for Transport spokesman said: "There are no plans to change speed limits, which will still apply to driverless cars".

In a separate development on Monday, the White House said it wanted all cars and light trucks to be equipped with technology that could prevent collisions.

Radio signals emitted by the vehicles would allow them to "talk" to each other, and alert drivers to potential accidents.

 

Nissan is one of many companies developing self-drive vehicles

How do driverless cars work?

The label "driverless vehicle" actually covers a lot of different concepts.

Indeed, the cruise control, automatic braking, anti-lane drift and self-parking functions already built into many vehicles offer a certain degree of autonomy.

But the term is generally used to refer to vehicles that take charge of steering, accelerating, indicating and braking during most if not all of a journey between two points, much in the same way airplanes can be set to autopilot.

Unlike the skies, however, the roads are much more crowded, and a range of technologies is being developed to tackle the problem.

One of the leading innovations is Lidar (light detection and ranging), a system that measures how lasers bounce off reflective surfaces to capture information about millions of small points surrounding the vehicle every second. The technology is already used to create the online maps used by Google and Nokia.

Another complementary technique is "computer vision" - the use of software to make sense of 360-degree images captured by cameras attached to the vehicle, which can warn of pedestrians, cyclists, roadworks and other objects that might be in the vehicle's path.

Autonomous vehicles can also make use of global-positioning system (GPS) location data from satellites, radar, ultrasonic sensors to detect objects close to the car and further sensors to accurately measure the vehicle's orientation and the rotation of its wheels, to help it understand its exact location.

The debate now is whether to allow cars, like the prototype unveiled by Google in May, to abandon controls including a steering wheel and pedals and rely on the vehicle's computer.

Or whether, instead, to allow the machine to drive, but insist a passenger be ready to wrest back control at a moment's notice.

Researchers Hack Into Michigan's Traffic Lights

As reported by MIT Technology Review: Ever get lucky enough to hit three or four green lights in a row on your way home from work? It turns out it might not be so hard to make that happen all the time.

With permission from a local road agency, researchers in Michigan hacked into nearly 100 wirelessly networked traffic lights, highlighting security issues that they say are likely to pervade networked traffic infrastructure around the country. More than 40 states currently use such systems to keep traffic flowing as efficiently as possible, helping to reduce emissions and delays.

The team, led by University of Michigan computer scientist J. Alex Halderman, found three major weaknesses in the traffic light system: unencrypted wireless connections, the use of default usernames and passwords that could be found online, and a debugging port that is easy to attack.

“The vulnerabilities we discover in the infrastructure are not a fault of any one device or design choice, but rather show a systemic lack of security consciousness,” the researchers report in a paper they’re presenting this week at a computer security conference. They did not disclose exactly where in Michigan they did the research.

Although the road agency responsible for implementing the system has never faced serious computer security threats, the possibility will become more worrisome as transportation authorities and car makers test new ways for infrastructure and vehicles to communicate in order to reduce congestion and accidents (see “The Internet of Cars Is Approaching a Crossroads”).

“They need to be worrying about this and think about security—it needs to be one of their top priorities,” says Branden Ghena, a graduate student who worked on the project. “It’s hard to get people to care about these things in the same way that it’s hard to get people to change their passwords.”

Wirelessly networked traffic lights have four key components. There are sensors that detect cars, controllers that use the sensor data to control the lights at a given intersection, radios for wireless communication among intersections, and malfunction management units (MMUs), which return lights to safe fallback configurations if an “invalid” configuration occurs. For example, if somehow every light at an intersection is green, the system might fall back to having them all become flashing red lights.

The Michigan researchers found that anyone with a computer that can communicate at the same frequency as the intersection radios—in this case, 5.8 gigahertz—could access the entire unencrypted network. It takes just one point of access to get into the whole system.

After gaining access to one of the controllers in their target network, the researchers were able to turn all lights red or alter the timing of neighboring intersections—for example, to make sure someone hit all green lights on a given route. They could also trigger the lights’ MMUs by attempting invalid configurations.

At the end of their report, Halderman and his group propose simple recommendations for improving the security of traffic infrastructure. First and foremost, traffic-system administrators should not use default usernames and passwords. Also, they should stop broadcasting communications unencrypted for “casual observers and curious teenagers” to see.

The researchers note that their study has implications beyond traffic lights. More and more devices like voting machines (see “Why You Can’t Vote Online”), cars, and medical devices are computer controlled and will ultimately be networked. This “phase change,” as they call it, comes with “potential for catastrophic security failures.”

Another researcher who has investigated traffic infrastructure, Cesar Cerrudo, the chief technology officer of the computer security company IOActive Labs, says he was not surprised by the Michigan group’s findings.

“We have been finding vulnerabilities for a long time, but hardware vendors still don’t seem to ‘get it,’” Cerrudo wrote in an e-mail. “They continue doing the same mistakes that software vendors did 10 years ago.”

Starfish Hopes to Prevent Children From Being Left Behind in Hot Cars

As reported by AL.com: A Birmingham tech startup, Studio Whale, says it has a solution to the horrific accident of hot car deaths among infants and toddlers that we've been hearing about so much this summer. 

A UAB enterprise software developer and new father, Mathew Brian Sheets, has developed an application in the interest of his infant son.

Meet Starfish.

   

Starfish is a small weight-sensor that fits into a child's car seat. The sensor links via Bluetooth to an application on your iPhone or Android device. Once you place your child into the car, Starfish sends you a notification that the child is in his or her car seat.

Once activated, Starfish sets up a "geo-fence" around itself with a 20 foot radius. If you leave (or your phone leaves) that geo-fence while your child is still in the car seat, you'll receive a notification alarming you of your deadly mistake. 

If you haven't responded to the notification within five minutes, Starfish will notify your list of emergency contacts. 

On their Kickstarter page, Studio Whale says that 85 percent of its design and engineering process is completed, with a working prototype, and a manufacturing partner ready to go.

They are looking for $15,000 in funding for their first production run. At the time of this publication, Starfish had just passed the $1,000 mark with 25 days left to go.

Of course, Starfish can only protect children left in the car unintentionally. Roughly 20 children have died since the beginning of 2014 due to hyperthermia (heat stroke). 

California Legislature Mulls Curbs on Use of Aerial Drones by Paparazzi

As reported by the LA Times: When singer Miley Cyrus recently spotted a mysterious drone hovering over her Los Angeles home, she posted video of the aerial intruder on Instagram, complaining that it appeared to be a new tactic by the paparazzi.

The incident, in which Cyrus was photographed in her backyard, was no surprise to Patrick J. Alach. He is legal counsel for the Paparazzi Reform Initiative, a group representing celebrities and others that has persuaded lawmakers to tighten laws governing photography of those he represents.

The use of aerial drones equipped with cameras to catch celebrities at home and in other private places is "a huge concern, especially for public figures who want to have some privacy in their backyards," Alach said.

A proposal pending in the Legislature would prohibit the use of aerial drones to collect video, photos and audio from celebrities and others in a way that violates their privacy rights.

The concentration of entertainment-industry figures and paparazzi in California has led to other restrictions on photographers. One enacted last year made it illegal to photograph a celebrity's son or daughter without consent if it causes substantial emotional distress.

"Having a district that covers Los Angeles, we have plenty of paparazzi issues as it is, without having drones hovering over nightclubs or restaurants," state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) said.

Some media groups object to further restrictions.

"For the most part, these laws are written so overly broad and vague that they impede and infringe upon news gathering," said Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Assn. "They couch everything in the terms of the paparazzi," but drones, like helicopters, can have legitimate news gathering purposes, he said.

Osterreicher said adequate privacy laws already exist, and the commercial use of drones is already prohibited in federal airspace by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is in the process of developing guidelines for their use by next year.

The FAA estimates that 30,000 drones will fill the nation's skies in less than 20 years as public and private uses are allowed.

Assemblyman Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) introduced the pending state legislation. It would build on existing state law against invasion of privacy by photographers using enhanced devices such as telephoto lenses or long-range microphones.

Chau noted that the law does not clearly address the emergence of drones, and it could be argued that they are not enhanced devices. His bill would remove the enhancement element, extending the law to any device, including drones.

"As we continue to push the boundaries of technology by developing devices that grant us access to previously inaccessible locations and allow us to perform otherwise difficult tasks from a distance," Chau said, "we are also pushing the boundaries of personal space and privacy."

Those in the paparazzi business disagree on how drones should be used.

The pictures of Cyrus in her backyard were offered for sale to a major photo broker, who told The Times he declined to purchase them because he does not buy photos of people on their private property.

The broker, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of liability, said he uses drones to take shots of celebrities' homes for a website as long as no individuals can be seen in the pictures to raise personal privacy issues.

On the East Coast, operators of the website 247paps.tv boasted of using a drone to get video of actress Selena Gomez in March when a shoot for an Adidas ad was blocked from photographers' view.

In Los Angeles, celebrity photographer Giles Harrison last week took pictures in public places of rocker Steven Tyler and actor Pierce Brosnan. But he said it would be "creepy" to use a drone to get an image of someone in their backyard.

"There are certain lines that paparazzi shouldn't cross," Harrison said, "and I feel that the use of drones to photograph celebrities more than crosses that line."

Another veteran Hollywood photographer, Eric Ford, said that if the proposed California law is enacted, he will have to reconsider the possibility of getting a drone to stay competitive. But he said there may be times when drones are justified.

"I totally understand if you are the person being photographed that that could maybe be unsettling," Ford said. "The only thing I would say to that is: If you don't want to be photographed doing something, just be inside your house."