Musings of a Babylon Lurker

Iran Launches a satellite into orbit.

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 | space, technology | No Comments

Today Iran is a member of a very exclusive group of countries – those who have launched satellites into space.
The then Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in October 1957. The United States followed with the successful launch of Explorer 1 in January 1958.
France, Japan, China, the United Kingdom, India and Israel followed later .

The satellite is called “Omid” which means “Hope” in Persian, and carries experimental control systems, communications equipment, and a small remote sensing payload, according to Iranian news reports.

I do find it a bit worrying that a nation with a stated hostile intent towards USA and Israel in particular, and the West in general, now has the capability to deliver whatever type of weapons they have (their secrecy about the nuclear installations, anyone ?) to any place in the world.

It remains, however, quite a feat from a nation to do what they have done, so we must have some respect for their technical abilities. Let us hope that they will learn the lesson of the Cold War – and that they will not start a “hot one”.

Find more information on Spaceflight Now

Tags: satellite, space

RIP Mars Phoenix Lander.

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 | science, solar energy, space, technology | No Comments

NASA has finished listening for the Phoenix Mars Lander, reports Spaceflight Now in *this article*.

It comes due to the Martian Winter fast approaching, the solar panels are unable to keep the batteries charge…. and it is a little tricky to send someone to run a generator or change the batteries.

In a sense it is sad to lose a spacecraft, but Phoenix had done what it was supposed to do, and was operational for 2 months longer than its original 3 months mission. Not bad at all. The Odyssey orbiter appears to continue functioning, so not all is over yet, even if we are unlikely to hear it for some time while Mars passes behind the Sun (from our perspective).

Tags: Mars, phoenix lander, space

Endeavor on the ground again

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | space, technology | 2 Comments

Just watched the landing of the shuttle Endeavor on NASA TV, all went perfectly well.

Beautiful video footage.

Now it is time for some sleep.

And no further radio comms were heard in the last pass over Europe.

Tags: landing, Space Shuttle

Waiting for the Space Shuttle to land

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | space, technology | No Comments

In about 2 hours from now the Shuttle Endeavor should land at Edwards Air Force base, since the weather forecast for Florida is poor both today and tomorrow.

Just heard comms on their UHF frequency (259.700MHz), read back of data for the landing procedure.

There is one more orbit before landing, and I will try to listen once more tonight.

Tags: shuttle landing

Ice on Mars ! Life on Mars ?

Thursday, November 27th, 2008 | astronomy, science, space | 2 Comments

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected large glaciers just under the surface of Mars.

This can be very interesting as water supply when (yes, I am optimistic) we send people to Mars – they do not have to bring large supplies of water. Could it be that – with care – the people going there can be self supporting with water supply ? Quite possible.

This is also a sign that Mars has had much more water than it has today. Maybe it even had an atmosphere dense enough to support life, more or less as we know it.

Full story.

Tags: ice, Mars, water

Babylon 5 : 10 years since the final episode aired.

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 | Babylon 5, film and tv, scifi, space | 1 Comment

Exactly 10 years ago, November 25th 1998 the final episode of “Babylon 5″, “Sleeping in Light” was aired for the first time, completing the epic story.

Interesting is that just a few days ago the ISS had its 10th anniversary, too (the first module Zarya was launched). An imaginary space station was decommissioned and a the building of a real life space station was initiated.

B5 is a show I have watched several times by now, and one of the few shows (scifi or otherwise) that I recommend to lots of people. One of the things is that every single time I have seen it, there is something new – a new connection inside the story, a detail that has gone unnoticed before etc.

I have introduced it to a few people, watching it together with them and seen them come to love the show as I do. Not many shows can do that, and none other has done this for me.

Tags: Babylon 5

10th Anniversary for ISS

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Uncategorized, space, technology | No Comments

10 years ago today, on 20th November 1998, the first module of the International Space Station, the Russian Zarya module was launched.

At the moment of writing the ISS passes above my head (nearly), and an amateur satellite listener/tracker has strong signals coming down on the S-band (2217.5 MHz).

Since then the ISS has been built up *very* slowly, mainly due to the lots of maintenance of the Space Shuttle fleet, and of course the re-entry failure of Columbia.

Right now the crews of ISS and Endeavor are busy repairing solar panels and installing living quarters for 3 more people, making the ISS ready for what should have been the normal crew of 6.

I am looking forward to seeing the ISS fully operational.

Tags: ISS

Hubble Directly Observes a Planet Orbiting Another Star

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | astronomy, science, space | No Comments

This is the kind of thing that can excite me. Imaging a planet 25 light years away in visible light. The Hubble Space Telescope ha done just that.

Around the star Formalhaut Hubble found a ring of dust, corresponding to the Kuiper Belt in our own solar system. an Anomaly in the shape of the ring indicated that the gravitational pull of a planet influenced the ring. The hunt was on.

Two images taken 21 months apart show an object following the star and apparently orbiting Formalhaut in about 870 years.

Before we get too excited, there is no real chance of finding any ET’s in the Formalhaut system. The star is only 200 million years old and burning fast – the life expectancy is only 1000 million years, not enough for life as we know it to develop.

There are indications of further planets around Formalhaut, this time inside the dust ring, but none are observed yet.

More details from ESA’s website

Tags: exoplanet

Chandrayaan 1 lets Lunar impactor on the loose

Sunday, November 16th, 2008 | science, space, technology | No Comments

The Indian Moon probe Chandrayaan 1 has successfully entered into its operational orbit about 100km over the surface of the Moon.

On Friday the Moon Impact Probe was released for a crash landing near the Moon’s South Pole. While diving the impactor sent images and telemetry back to the orbiter, those will be relayed back to Earth at a slower pace. The descent took about 25 minutes and the data will be relayed in the next few days.

Instruments are beginning to be activated, and a new chapter in the lunar exploration is beginning.

The probe has already sent some very good images back, see link below.

Full story from

Spaceflight Now

ISRO’s Chandrayaan website

Lunar images from Chandrayaan

Tags: moon, space probe

Shuttle going up tonight

Saturday, November 15th, 2008 | space | 3 Comments

I am sitting here at the computer with NASA TV running. The final preparations for the launch of STS-126 with new living quarters and other items.

I will set my receiver at 259.700 MHz (AM mode) listening for the possibly few seconds of communication to the ground.

Unless …. the launch is canceled at the last moment.

Tags: shuttle launch, space