SpaceX to try Rocket Landing on Floating Ocean Platform

As reported by Fox News: The private spaceflight company SpaceX is hoping to bring a rocket back from space and land it on a giant, floating platform in the middle of the ocean, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Oct. 24.

The company is expecting to try to land the booster on the platform as part of their next launch to space. Musk explained that landing a reusable rocket on the floating platform — which measures about 300 feet long by 170 feet wide — is a big step toward bringing the company's Falcon 9 rocket back to dry land. Musk and SpaceX hope to develop reusable rocket systems and capsules in order to decrease the cost of access to space, which could even make a colony on Mars a viable option at some point.

SpaceX has already successfully flown boost stages of the Falcon 9 back to Earth, landing in the ocean after delivering various payloads to space, but the company has not attempted to land the rocket back on a floating platform before. According to publicly released schedules, SpaceX's next Falcon 9 launch is currently scheduled for December, when the California-based company is expected to launch its fifth official robotic cargo mission for NASA to the International Space Station using the Dragon spacecraft. [SpaceX Reusable Rocket Re-entry Caught by Chase Plane (Video)]

"We're going to try to land on [the floating landing platform] on the next flight," Musk said today  during a discussion here at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AeroAstro 100 conference. "If we land on that flight, I think we'll be able to re-fly that booster."

Musk doesn't necessarily think that this first attempt will be successful, however. The landing platform will be floating in the Atlantic Ocean with engines that can be used to keep it in position; however, it could still be "tricky" to land on top of it, Musk said.

Musk expects that SpaceX has about a 50 percent or less chance of succeeding in landing on the next flyback, but future launches and landing could have more chance of success.

Carrying almost two tons of cargo, a SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down
 west of Baja California, marking an end to the forth of 12 unmanned deliveries
 by the company to the International Space Station.

"There are a lot of launches that will occur over the next year," Musk said. "I think it's quite likely that one of those flights, we'll be able to land and re-fly, so I think we're quite close."

In July, SpaceX successfully brought its Falcon 9 booster in for a soft landing in the ocean after launching to space, but they weren't able to recover the rocket stage. After landing in the Atlantic, the Falcon 9 toppled over as planned, but, according to a Twitter post from Musk at the time, the boost stage broke apart shortly after the soft landing. Other than that, the July test appeared to go as planned.

The Geography of NFL Fandom

"This map displays Facebook fans of NFL teams across the United States.  Each county is color-coded based on which official team page has the most 'Likes' from people who live in that county." (Facebook)

As reported by the Atlantic: Last Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks crushed the Green Bay Packers in the first regular NFL game of the season.

One way of looking at that: The 46 players wearing Seattle Seahawks uniforms had a higher score than the 46 players in Green Bay Packers uniforms, in a nationally televised game of American football.

Another? The residents of Seahawks terrain—which stretches from the northernmost Alaskan tundra to the potato fields of central Idaho—won some spiritual victory against the cheeseheads of Packers territory, which consumes all of Wisconsin and some of Michigan’s upper peninsula.

We can be so precise about these geographies of fandom because the Facebook Data Science team just released its 2014 NFL American fandom map. The map shows every American county’s favorite professional football team, as judged by the NFL team that Facebook users in that county have ‘liked’ the most.

The Cowboys rule a lot of land, but they’re not unambiguously “America’s Team.”

The New York Times called the baseball version of the map “unprecedented,” arguing that, for questions like this, there’s no superior data set: “Fans may not list which team they favor on the census, but millions of them do make their preferences public on Facebook.”

Now we can examine the football version. Here’s a larger version of the map if you want to check out your home county, but there are also some regions and phenomena that stuck out.

First of all, unlike the MLB map, there’s no clear “national” team. In the baseball map, Yankees fans functioned like cosmic background radiation. Love for the the Bronx Bombers bubbled up in the absence of some local franchise, appearing not only in greater New York City but also in North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada and New Mexico.

That’s just not a feature of the NFL map. The Cowboys come closest, but they’re not “America’s team” as unambiguously. Beyond Texas and its neighbors, the only isolated pockets of Cowboys fandom are in southern Nevada and southeastern Virginia. That’s it.

After the Cowboys, the Broncos control a huge region. Pluralities of Broncos fans can be found all the way from three of the Four Corners to the 49th northern parallel. Rivaling the Broncs in terms of sheer regional hegemony are the 49ers, which rule almost all of California; and the Patriots, whose fans run from Hartford, Connecticut to Caribou, Maine.

And hopefully fans of all of those teams can work up some pity for the New York Jets, whose supporters rule… well, nowhere. No U.S. county has a plurality of Jets fans, at least on Facebook.

Most interesting to me, though, is the Great Lakes region, where old clubs compete for dominance.

Facebook Data Science

The borders here become stark and stubborn. The Lions would control all of Michigan—except for those pesky Packs in the southern Upper Peninsula. The Colts could claim Indiana—if not for greater Gary. And Packers green hovers at the edge of Vikings country, as if waiting to move in.

Though none of these borders are quite as patchwork as the Jaguars fans tucked between Georgia’s Falcons and Panthers country:

Facebook Data Science

Another place to check out: Los Angeles, whose residents apparently still cling to the Raiders—a franchise which abandoned the city 20 years ago.

Facebook Data Science

Facebook is one of many tech companies that periodically releases free analyses of data. In February, for instance, it revealed what it sees when two users fall in love. Data like this is always fun, and helps us get at questions that are otherwise unanswerable—but it’s also a chance to think about everything that giant social networks like Facebook can see, things that are deeper or more important than which team a certain county roots for.

NASA Antares Rocket Headed to the ISS Explodes Shortly after Launch

As reported by ClickOrlando: NASA's Antares rocket, headed to the International Space Station, exploded shortly after launch Tuesday night.

The rocket was unmanned, and NASA officials said no personnel appeared to be in danger.
However, there was "significant" property damage.

The explosion lit up the sky at the launch pad in Virginia and occurred about 6 seconds after liftoff.

The Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft were set to launch at 6:22 p.m. ET. It was set to carry some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

"There was failure on launch," NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. "There was no indicated loss of life.

Bolden added, "There was significant property and vehicle damage. Mission control is trying to assess what went wrong."

GPS IIF-8 Ready for Launch

As reported by Schriever Air Force Base: The U.S. Air Force is scheduled to launch the eighth Boeing-built Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, Oct. 29. The launch window opens at 1:21 p.m. EDT and will remain open for 18 minutes.

This mission marks a major achievement for the GPS IIF program; this will be the fourth GPS IIF space vehicle launched this year. The first seven of the twelve GPS IIF satellites are currently on-orbit and meeting all mission requirements. The Boeing built GPS IIF satellites add a new third civil signal (L5) for commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications, improved navigational accuracy through advanced atomic clocks and a longer design life than its predecessor models.

"The GPS IIF-8 satellite vehicle is ready for launch, and the improved capabilities of the GPS IIF satellite continues the legacy of delivering global positioning, navigation and timing services" said Col. Bill Cooley, director of Space and Missile Systems Center's Global Positioning Systems Directorate. "We have a legacy to be very proud of and we will continue to live up to our commitments by sustaining and enhancing GPS mission capabilities to ensure we continue to deliver a healthy, stable and robust GPS constellation for users around the world," he said. 

GPS continues to perform as the world's premier space-based positioning and navigation system providing Positioning, Navigation, and Timing services for users with continued uninterrupted service. Operated by U.S. Air Force Space Command, the GPS constellation continues to provide worldwide PNT services seven days a week, 24-hours a day.

Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the U.S. Air Force's center of acquisition excellence for acquiring and developing military space systems. Its portfolio includes the Global Positioning System, military satellite communications, defense meteorological satellites, space launch and range systems, satellite control networks, space-based infrared systems and space situational awareness capabilities.

How Telematics Has Completely Revolutionized the Management of Fleet Vehicles

As reported by Entrepreneur: Telematics has revolutionized the management of fleet vehicles, reducing wear and tear and the amount of time it takes to roll up to a customer's door. A glance at UPS shows how they do it better than anyone, and how you can streamline the operation of your own company vehicles.

If you want to understand the importance of telematics tracking software, consider that it helped UPS--the world's largest private shipper and one of the largest fleet operators, with more than 100,000 vehicles logging 3 billion miles per year--cut its preventative maintenance schedule in half over the last five years.

That's right: UPS went from 240,000 preventative maintenance inspections per year to 120,000. What's especially impressive is that the company did this while increasing the reliability of its vehicles.

Director of automotive engineering Dale Spencer, who oversees the UPS fleet, explains that the company is atypical in that it owns the majority of its vehicles (as opposed to leasing them). It has more than 1,400 garages worldwide dedicated to maintaining every delivery truck or car.

For decades, UPS used the same maintenance schedule: changing the oil, fluids and brakes at prescribed intervals, no matter what. That changed with the introduction of sophisticated, proprietary tracking software, as well as advances in engine technology.

"In the past three to five years we've seen 50 percent better fuel efficiencies come to medium-duty trucks," Spencer says.

UPS has learned to trust the data--to monitor every truck remotely, from a high-temperature warning to signals as to whether a driver is wearing a seat belt. "We have the driver data; we know how fast they're driving, how hard they're stopping," Spencer says. "That driver will change bad habits before it costs us money."

The software also allows the company to spot wear trends. "We could see certain parts wearing out on the same vehicles too quickly," Spencer says. That enabled UPS to go back to the vehicle manufacturer and argue for a warranty claim because it was possible to document a pattern. Even a small-business owner with a 10-vehicle fleet might have such an advantage, he says, "as long as they had the data to prove it."

That said, you don't need a system as elaborate as UPS' to reap the rewards of tracking your fleet. Spencer claims that even off-the-shelf telematics software "will give you discipline on maintenance." Used right, you'll know about a problem in any vehicle before it's a crisis. And like UPS, you'll be able to keep your fleet on the road longer and get more miles out of it because repairs are done before a vehicle becomes seriously damaged.

GPS III Satellites Delayed after Integration Hiccups

The GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed.

As reported by the Democrat & Chronicle: When was the last time you got lost behind the wheel?

The Global Positioning System satellite system that first went operational in the mid-1990s has revolutionized everything from business supply chain management to family summer vacation road trips with the ability to take signals beamed from those satellites and instantly compute exactly where you are on Earth.

But plans for the latest generation of GPS satellites, GPS III, are running substantially behind schedule due to technical problems faced by defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin and a subcontractor, Exelis Inc.’s Rochester-based Geospatial Systems Division.

Exelis earlier this fall shipped the first Navigation Payload Element to the U.S. Air Force for testing and then delivery to Lockheed Martin for integration into the rocket. That is three years later than originally expected.

The original timetable of the GPS III program had the first of those eight Lockheed Martin-built satellites going into orbit by Halloween. Now that first GPS III launch is expected to be sometime in 2016. “The Air Force sets the actual launch dates,” said Chip Eschenfelder, spokesman for Lockheed Martin’s Colorado-based Space Systems business.

Exelis declined to comment for this report, referring questions to the Air Force.

Eschenfelder said Lockheed Martin and Exelis in 2013 discovered development issues with that first Navigation Payload Element “which required further work.”

“The delays have been driven by first-time development and integration issues, including design changes to eliminate ... signal interference within the satellite,” he said. “It is important to understand the GPS III navigation payload is not just an upgrade to legacy GPS navigation payloads. It is an entirely new product.”

The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in a statement said, “The solution to this problem has been identified” and the satellite’s Mission Data Unit — essentially the satellite’s computer — “is expected to be fully qualified next summer.”

One of the GPS system’s primary functions is for military applications, missile guidance and reconnaissance. The major upgrade to GPS III is a high-power jam-resistant military code, as well as better security, said Capt. Caitlin Suttie, Air Force Space Command spokeswoman. “It’s the next step in GPS technology, just like the iPhone 6,” she said.

GPS III “will deliver three times better accuracy, provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities for our military users, and include enhancements which extend spacecraft life to 15 years — 25 percent longer than the GPS IIF satellites being launched today,” said Eschenfelder.

While Lockheed Martin is contracted for eight satellites, that will be only the start of the GPS III constellation. “We try to have upwards of 20 for redundancy,” Suttie said.

Exelis’ GPS business — based in New Jersey but part of Geospatial Systems — is Lockheed Martin’s subcontractor handling the navigation payload element, which actually generates the GPS signals for civilian and military users.

“Without the navigation payload, there would be no GPS,” Eschenfelder said.
Exelis’ role in future GPS III satellites is somewhat up in the air. Lockheed Martin late last year put out a request for information looking for alternate payload providers.

The Air Force and Lockheed Martin are reworking the contract “to play out an efficient and affordable delivery schedule” for the eight GPS III satellites that accounts for the delays in the first, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center said in a statement in response to questions.

And while Lockheed Martin is contracted to build those eight, “the Air Force is conducting market research to explore the industry base to determine if there is a viable GPS III Production Readiness alternate source, including an alternative navigation payload,” according to Space and Missile Systems Center.

Lockheed Martin’s Eschenfelder said the company “had discussions with several companies” about building navigation payloads, though he declined to give further details.

“Issuing (a request for information) is a normal business practice,” he said. “We regularly do this for all our programs to better understand what technology industry has to offer. In the end, this allows us to offer the best available capabilities to our customers.”

Once that the navigational payload has been delivered to Lockheed Martin, Eschenfelder said, “Exelis will be into the production phase, where the company has historically performed very well.”

Audi Robotic Racecar Relies on GPS

As reported by IEEE Spectrum: This weekend Audi will show off its self-driving technology under what would seem to be the most challenging conditions imaginable: a race track.

Yet despite the high speeds involved, the feat is simpler in some ways than navigating city streets, where you have to recognize and avoid pedestrians and squirrels.  A race car merely has to keep its position on the track, moving in and out of it only when passing or dodging another car.

And because the track is a known quantity, the car can keep it all in its little electronic head and rely heavily on GPS—provided it’s corrected to an accuracy of just a few centimeters. Which, in this case, it will be.

The public demonstration will take place on Sunday at the Hockenheim race track, in southwestern Germany. The car, an RS 7, will do a lap or two at race pace, around 250 kilometers per hour (149 miles per hour). It will duel with an identical, but human-piloted car. My money’s on the robot.

“We’re going into the curves, the cornering, just like a professional race driver,” Peter Bergmiller, a technician for Audi, says in the company’s video promotion.  “So for example, we have lateral accelerations of more than 1 g.”
Watch the promo:

The Robotic Racecar is related to it's predecessor the TTS which climbed Pikes Peak in Colorado in 2010 without a driver though at much slower speeds:

The Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb is one of the oldest, most impressive, and difficult races in the US.