A schematic shows how China’s Micius satellite could theoretically enable secure quantum communications. (SMOC Graphic)
Chinese researchers report that they’ve set a new distance record for quantum teleportation through space, the phenomenon that Albert Einstein once scoffed at as “spooky action at a distance.”
The technology isn’t yet ready for prime time, but eventually it could open the way for a new type of unbreakable encryption scheme based on the weirdness of quantum physics.
The experiment, reported today in the journal Science, involved transmitting pairs of entangled photons from China’s orbiting Micius satellite to ground stations in the mountains of the Tibetan plateau, separated by more than 745 miles (1,200 kilometers).
Asgardia says its nanosatellite would be deployed into space from a boxlike module attached to the exterior of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft, shown here. (NanoRacks Photo)
Asgardia is due to delve into the details during a Hong Kong news conference on June 13, but an application filed with the Federal Communications Commission says the Asgardia-1 nanosatellite will be delivered to the International Space Station aboard an Orbital ATK Cygnus resupply flight, currently scheduled for September.
The CubeSat-style spacecraft will measure 4 by 4 by 8 inches, or roughly the size of a loaf of bread, and weigh about 5 pounds.
An artist’s conception shows a constellation of satellites in orbit. (Credit: OneWeb)
The OneWeb satellite venture says it has terminated its deal for a mega-merger with Intelsat because not enough of Intelsat’s bondholders agreed to a debt swap. The deal would have been facilitated by a $1.7 billion investment from Softbank, but it was contingent on a go-ahead from at least 85 percent of the bondholders.
An aerial view shows the Stratolaunch airplane outside its hangar for the first time. The twin-fuselage aircraft is the world’s largest airplane, measured by wingspan. (Stratolaunch Photo)
Six years after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started up Stratolaunch Systems, the billionaire’s air-launch venture brought its humongous twin-fuselage airplane out in the open for the first time today.
“Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for fuel testing,” Allen said in a tweet that featured an aerial photo of the plane. More pictures were posted to Stratolaunch’s website.
Stratolaunch CEO Jean Floyd said the plane’s emergence from its hangar at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port was part of a “major milestone in its journey toward providing convenient, reliable and routine access to low Earth orbit.”
The plane is designed to carry up to three Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rockets at a time into the air, and then set them loose to launch payloads into orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rises from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending an Inmarsat satellite into space. (SpaceX via YouTube)
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket today launched the Inmarsat-5 F4 telecommunications satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit ranging beyond 22,000 miles in height – so high that there was no chance to bring the first-stage booster back for a landing.
The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at the beginning of the launch window, at 7:21 p.m. ET (4:21 p.m. PT).
Over the past year, SpaceX has made Falcon 9 booster landings seem almost routine. But missions aimed at putting satellites in geostationary orbits typically require so much oomph that there’s not enough fuel for a controlled descent.
Instead, the first stage tumbled back down to crash harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX didn’t even bother to install landing legs on the rocket.
SpaceX plans to launch its own satellites on Falcon 9 rockets, like the one shown here lifting off from NASA’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. (SpaceX Photo)
SpaceX has laid out its latest schedule for the satellite broadband service it’s developing in the Seattle area, starting with the launch of a prototype satellite by the end of this year.
The ambitious plan foresees beginning the launch of operational satellites into low Earth orbit aboard Falcon 9 rockets in 2019, with the constellation reaching its full complement of 4,425 satellites by 2024.
That constellation would provide high-speed internet access to billions of people around the globe, beaming data via the Ku and Ka transmission bands to SpaceX’s laptop-sized user terminals. Another 7,500 satellites operating in the V-band could be added later to boost the network’s capabilities.
This week’s update came in testimony provided to the Senate Commerce Committee by Patricia Cooper, SpaceX’s vice president for satellite government affairs.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its Florida launch pad. (NRO via Twitter)
SpaceX launched a top-secret satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office today, then brought its Falcon 9 booster back for a spectacular touchdown at its Florida landing zone.
Today’s liftoff from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida officially ended United Launch Alliance’s monopoly on spy satellite launches.
An image from BlackSky Spectra displays visible-light imagery, synthetic aperture radar readings and infrared data over Panama City and the Miraflores Locks. The imagery comes from Airbus Pléiades, Airbus TerraSAR-X and USGS Landsat. (Spaceflight Industries Photo)
Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries lifted the curtain on another satellite imaging service today: BlackSky Spectra, a Web-based platform that knits together pictures in a wide range of wavelengths, from visible light and infrared to radar imagery.
The on-demand service lets users easily search through more than 25 million archival images – and order up fresh pictures – from a multispectral, multinational squadron of satellites.
“BlackSky is transforming how we look at the world by integrating the widest variety of sensors into a revolutionary, easy-to-use service,” Jason Andrews, CEO of Spaceflight Industries, said today in a news release. “Increasing our capacity to take images and expanding the data set enables organizations to understand our changing world like never before.”
The new satellites in the BlackSky network include Airbus’ Pléiades, SPOT6/7, KazEOSat-1 and TerraSAR-X. They join 21AT’s TripleSat, SIIS’s KOMPSAT2/3/3A/5 and UrtheCast’s Deimos-2 on BlackSky’s menu.
