Space tourism draws ever closer

Here's a great video of SpaceShipTwo's latest test flight over New Mexico.  It's scheduled to carry its first paying passengers later this year.  I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.

Wish I could afford to take a trip aboard her . . .

Peter

Another US spying "Oops" moment?

I was intrigued to read that US 'backdoor' components have been discovered in two surveillance satellites being manufactured in Europe for the United Arab Emirates.  DefenseNews reports:

A United Arab Emirates (UAE) deal to purchase two intelligence satellites from France worth almost 3.4 billion dirhams (US $930 million) is in jeopardy after the discovery of what was described as “security compromising components.”

A high-level UAE source said the two high-resolution Pleiades-type Falcon Eye military observation satellites contained two specific US-supplied components that provide a back door to the highly secure data transmitted to the ground station.

. . .

According to the UAE source, the discovery prompted increased talks between the UAE and Russia and a number of high-level delegations have shuttled between Moscow and Abu Dhabi.

“If this issue is not resolved, the UAE is willing to scrap the whole deal,” he added.

The UAE has drawn on Russian technology, with the GLONASS space-based navigation system fitted as a redundancy feature on a Western European weapon system, a French defense expert said.

The competition for the deal has been ongoing for more than a decade, and UAE officials in late 2012 said they had narrowed the Falcon Eye competition from 11 bidders and their backing governments to proposals from US and French teams.

The UAE source said the French team won the bid due to the US State Department’s restrictions on the use of the system, often referred to as “shutter control.”

In Paris, one defense specialist found it intriguing that France had drawn on US technology for the satellites under the Falcon Eye program.

“That is surprising,” the specialist said.

France operates the Pleiades spy satellite in what is viewed as a critical piece of the nation’s sovereignty. Given that core competence, it seemed strange that France would use US technology, although there is an agreement between Paris and Washington over transfer of capabilities, analysts said.

There's more at the link.

I wonder whether this would have been detected at all if the NSA global surveillance scandal hadn't blown up last year?  I think it's likely that the scandal prompted a much closer inspection of US electronic components by the manufacturer, leading to the discovery of the 'backdoor' elements.

This raises all sorts of interesting questions and issues.

• If these 'backdoor' components have been discovered in Pleiades-type satellites being built for the UAE, what are the odds that they - or something similar - were installed in France's original Pleiades satellites before they were launched?  Does the USA already have 'backdoor' access to one of France's most important security systems?  I'd say it's more than likely - which won't please France at all.
• The UAE contributes huge sums to US defense contractors - see, for example, the development of the F-16E/F Block 60 (the two-seat F model is shown below), the most advanced model of that fighter ever developed (much more so than the USAF's own F-16's) and funded by the UAE to the tune of billions of dollars.  This discovery, as noted in the report above, has already led to the UAE sending delegations to Russia, another major arms producer.  Will it damage future US arms exports to the Gulf - never mind the rest of the world?  Quite possibly it will.

• The USA has protested (loudly) about 'backdoor' technology in Chinese exports (follow these four links for examples and more information).  Now we've been shown to be doing the same thing ourselves.  We'll never be able to complain again with a straight face about such shenanigans by other countries.  We've just legitimized the practice.
• If the UAE cancels its contract with France for the satellites, can the manufacturer turn around and sue the USA for causing it to lose the deal?  I'd say it would have a pretty strong case, on the face of it.  The suit would be brought in European courts, too, which means that the US government couldn't censor technical or other details by using US secrecy laws.

The long and the short of it is, any nation on Earth that wants to buy any high-technology products containing US components must now assume that 'backdoors' have been installed in them.  That's already caused plummeting international sales in IT and telecommunications hardware and software for US firms.  Look for such losses to get worse.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #744

Today's award goes to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for its mission logo for the launch of mission NROL-39, carrying a classified reconnaissance payload.  In the light of the current brouhaha over the NSA's unconstitutional and (arguably) illegal spying on Americans, couldn't it have picked something a little more sensitive (not to mention politically correct) than this image?

What's next?  Changing the toll-free telephone number of the NRO's public relations office to 1-800-CHTULHU?

On the other hand, this isn't the first creepy mission logo we've seen from the NRO.  Consider this one from the previous mission, NROL-38:

A triple-headed dragon licking the earth?  Verily, the mind doth boggle . . .  Perhaps the NRO is becoming insufferably Sm(a)ug over its success rate?





Peter

A tomato in space?

I had to smile at this photograph of a freshly-delivered tomato, floating in mid-air in front of a window aboard the International Space Station orbiting the Earth.

You'll find a full-size version of the picture here.  It was taken by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.  He's putting up lots of interesting photographs of his time aboard the ISS on his Twitter feed.

Peter

The most challenging Grasshopper flight yet

SpaceX has released video footage of the most challenging flight to date of its Grasshopper reusable rocket prototype. This flight ascended over 2,400 feet, then returned safely to its launch pad. It was filmed by a Hexacopter multirotor UAV flying at about 2,000 feet - you can see one of its rotors in some of the shots.

I recommend watching the video in full-screen mode.

That's pretty impressive! Congratulations to SpaceX on achieving more than any previous company in this regard.

I understand a larger version of the Grasshopper is under development, which will be capable of much greater performance. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the air.

Peter

Wow!

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a well-established feature on the Internet.  Many are of interest only to specialists, but now and again one comes up that's a work of art in its own right.  This one seems to qualify.

It's of the M2-9 Planetary Nebula, which is about 2,100 light years from Earth.  The photograph was published on September 15th this year.  (Follow that link for a much larger version of the image.)

Spectacular, isn't it?  Does anyone know how large those hourglass shapes are, in terms of light-years in length or other measurements?  Wikipedia doesn't say.

Peter

The Moon in the round - and round, and round . . .

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been looping around and around the Moon since 2009.  Now the agency has released this video loop, compiled from who knows how many individual photographs, showing the entire surface of the Moon, including the 'dark side' previously seen only by astronauts.  As Geekquinox explains:

The moon really does rotate, even though it doesn't look like it from here. Because the moon is 'tidally locked' to the Earth, that means that it always has one face pointed towards us. However, it also means that the time it takes to rotate once is the same as the time it takes to go around the Earth — 27 days.

There's more at the link.  Here's the video.  I highly recommend watching it in full-screen mode.

I can remember the Moon landings very clearly.  I'd expected there to be colonies on the Moon by now, perhaps even a tourist resort or two.  I guess we dropped the ball on that one . . . but not to worry.  China plans to have its astronauts on the moon within a year or two.

Peter