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00:13

astrobites: Planets Get Heat With A Little Help From Their Friends

posted on February 06, 2014 by Jaime Green

For planets too old for plate tectonics, a companion planet could drive tidal heating to keep conditions primed for life.

Everyone

@TildalWave Methinks it comes close to qualify as an ad. Kourou is an erm healthy location to launch space-craft from - equatorial, coastal etc.

TildalWave

06:10

@Everyone I meant that they tend to run videos of the customers right up to the launch, then jump to the rocket less than one minute to ignition and soon after launch start with a press conference. It does sometimes feel a bit "brainwashy"

Stack Exchange

15:39

NASA Image of the Day: Crescent Moon Rising and Earth's Atmosphere

posted on February 06, 2014

On Feb. 1, 2014, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata tweeted this view of a crescent moon rising and the cusp of Earth's atmosphere. Distinct colors are visible because the dominant gases and particles in each layer of the atmosphere act as prisms, filtering out certain colors of light. > Follow @Astro_Wakata on Twitter Image Credit: NASA

Everyone

17:54

@TildalWave Good thing I don't have a brain (+:p
p.s. Do all asteroids on record spin?

TildalWave

@Everyone if I'd have to put my money on it then I'd say yes, at least slowly due to gravitational perturbations but why not run a query on NEO database?

Everyone

Right ... I went and forgot all about the NEO db

TildalWave

18:45

@deerhunter Cheers for assigning a bounty to that unanswered question of mine! I was just thinking to start some initiative on our Space Exploration Meta to try and answer questions that yet haven't been, but got swamped with other stuff ... I might post something tomorrow. In the meantime, pick a few of your fav unanswered questions and I'll add bounties to them. As thanks, but also to increase our answered questions rate.

Stack Exchange

19:29

NASASpaceFlight.com: Ariane 5 ECA set to launch with ABS-2 and Athena-Fidus

posted on February 06, 2014 by Chris Bergin

Arianespace are preparing to launch another two satellites into orbit – namely ABS-2 and Athena-Fidus - via their Ariane 5 ECA rocket on Thursday. Launch from the European Spaceport in... Related posts:Ariane 5 ECA dual launch with ST-2 and GSAT-8Arianespace have launched two telecommunications satellites via their Ariane 5... Ariane 5 ECA conducts dual satellite launch from KourouArian…

TildalWave

19:47

Live stream for the launch of Ariane 5 ECA VA217 deploying ABS 2 & Athena-Fidus communication satellites is available on Arianespace TV. Launch coverage starts at 20:15 GMT/UTC. More links: Press Kit | Mission Updates | Launch Campaign Diary Video

TildalWave

20:10

In 5 minutes ... cc @called2voyage @geoffc @undo @everyone @iszi @davidfreitag @ernestopheles @pearsonartphoto @stu

TildalWave

20:25

weather looks crap, countdown is on hold at T-7

Undo

arrives

PearsonArtPhoto

I've got too much to worry about launching our satellites to worry about someone else's launch...

Undo

Heh, the ping is showing up in inboxes now.

Stu

made it.. why the hold?

TildalWave

@Stu weather

@PearsonArtPhoto what are you launching?

Stu

20:28

it does look like crap

TildalWave

@Stu perhaps, but that's a warm crap, it's a freezing crap here

PearsonArtPhoto

Working on getting my company's satellites ready to launch. I'm not quite ready to publicly disclose my company, at least not on this site...

TildalWave

hehe

@PearsonArtPhoto ah OK no problem ;)

Stu

yea, it looks like tropical paradise to me right now.

PearsonArtPhoto

It's a commercial company, but I want to make sure I don't inadvertently give off something company proprietary.

TildalWave

20:29

as long as it's not North Korea!

PearsonArtPhoto

Sufficeth to say the next few months will be busy.

No, it's a US commercial company;-)

Stu

thats great @PearsonArtPhoto! hire me!

TildalWave

cool

PearsonArtPhoto

Located near Washington DC.

No positions opened...

Stu

haha

Undo

20:30

looks up space launch companies near DC

Stu

figures

TildalWave

@PearsonArtPhoto do you need someone to sweep the floors?

PearsonArtPhoto

There might be one for a satellite operator position, but...

It's not a space launch company, but there's a dozen or more satellite companies in the area;-)

Undo

@PearsonArtPhoto That's the guy who goes up with it on the rocket, right?

TildalWave

@Undo just his life, the body stays on the ground

PearsonArtPhoto

20:31

LOL. BTW, I'm going to be pretty much out of commission next week, I'm flying to Colorado for a week for business, so...

Undo

That's OK. I've run out of comments to flag anyway...

Stu

hahahahaa

going to Boulder?

TildalWave

@PearsonArtPhoto we'll manage, but I'll delay my "let's answer ALL the questions initiative" then, we'll need you to help us answer some

PearsonArtPhoto

Actually, if you put my company as a list of satellite companies, I'd be impressed. We're not a company people usually think of when they talk about satellites.

I've been slowing deliberately my answering rate, it's just not as much fun after 10K, and besides, we need more people at higher reputation levels.

TildalWave

@PearsonArtPhoto LEGO?

PearsonArtPhoto

20:35

Besides, I still have the only site tag badge;-)

Undo

I know your company now. You obviously work for Random House. The Thesaurus people.

TildalWave

@PearsonArtPhoto I'm getting close on the-moon

PearsonArtPhoto

Yeah, I need to answer a question or two there to get it, when it crosses the 100 question threshold.

pearsonartphoto.com/Events/Small-Satellite-Conference/…

Undo

In related news, I've taken on the impossible - helping launch Software Recommendations :P

Stu

@Undo nice work! i was pulling for that one

PearsonArtPhoto

20:39

I will say this much, my company specializes in satellites, and related stuff.

Undo

It's kinda neat - it feels like half the active people are from mSO, and so meta.SR is crazy active.

PearsonArtPhoto

And it's a pretty small company, but fairly well known in the right circles.

geoffc

@Undo My colleague is consulting at Random House, I will ask him to look up in their internal white pages for Pearson's name. :)

TildalWave

@PearsonArtPhoto erm, there's a company logo on that cubesat in the background :P

Undo

We have 72 questions in our meta already, and this is barely the second day. With two-three answers per question. It's kinda neat.

@geoffc Hah, good idea!

TildalWave

20:40

or maybe it's a CPU cooler :)

PearsonArtPhoto

That picture was of a cubesat in the background actually, that was taken in 2006.

It wasn't my satellite, it belongs to the students at CalPoly.

Stu

@PearsonArtPhoto you keep dropping hints, may as well let the cat out of the bag

geoffc

Not Orbital. Not SSTL. Not Orbcomm.

TildalWave

it's CTSISAIWKITRC

Stu

@PearsonArtPhoto ahh so thats a picture from when you were studying?

PearsonArtPhoto

20:42

It was at the small satellite conference at 2006. I was a student at the time at the University of Arizona.

TildalWave

Company That Specializes In Satellites And Is Well Known In The Right Circles

Stu

haha yea i couldnt figure that one out

TildalWave

Because I left out F for Fairly

and LLC

PearsonArtPhoto

@geoffc How would you know that I don't work at those companies? Just curious...

TildalWave

If I google for "Company That Specializes In Satellites And Is Well Known In The Right Circles" the first link seems suspicious

PearsonArtPhoto

20:45

The second one is for me.

Stu

did you google CTSISAIWKITRC?

PearsonArtPhoto

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. The telescope is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images with almost no background light. Hubble's Deep Field has recorded some of the most detailed visible-light images ever, allowing a deep view into s...

geoffc

@PearsonArtPhoto You said companies not normally thought of for Satellites. Those are really satellite companies.

Orbital might be the closest to not, since people think Minotaur, Pegasus, Anatares launch vehicles not satellites.

TildalWave

@PearsonArtPhoto I get a different order, of course, we all do thanks to google tracking our habits

PearsonArtPhoto

What I mean was that if you asked a lay person what a company that builds satellites, they come up with companies like Boeing, Orbital, Lockheed, and maybe a few others. You probably wouldn't find even an enthusist who would put my company on the list.

Or maybe my company is more well known than I'd think. It is pretty much a pure satellite company, however.

geoffc

20:47

I consider myself an enthusiast. So therefore I listed my list. :) You seem to suggest I got it first try (or at least 1 out of 3 tries).

I am guessing Orbital then.

But you excluded Orbital, so forget that.

TildalWave

Astrium is definitely one

geoffc

(Who bought Surrey? Astrium?)

Orbcomm would be cool, since you would be launching on a Falcon 9 this year. :)

Stu

are we dealing with com satellites? if so the list is very long

geoffc

Orbital would be cool, since you could have access to neato Antares/Cygnus stuff.

SSTL would be boring.

TildalWave

Amsat, Quitetiq, Loral, DMC,...

geoffc

20:51

Loral, I would consider known.

TildalWave

Globalstar, Spaceway, Iridium, PanAmSat, XTAR,...

Intelsat

PearsonArtPhoto

No one gets paid with Amsat...

TildalWave

JSAT Corp.

hey look, a Wiki page who'd have thought :)

List of communication satellite companies

This is a list of all companies currently operating at least one commercial communication satellite or currently has one on order. {|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%;" |- !International |- | * Horizons * RASCOM |- !Africa |- | — Nilesat — NigComSat Ltd |- !Asia and Oceania |- | — SingTel Optus * Chinasat * ChinaStar * Sinosat * APT Satellite Holdings Limited * AsiaSat * Agrani * ISRO/Antrix (INSAT) * ISRO/DECU (EDUSAT・GSAT) * PT Datakom * PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara * PT Telkom — Iranian Space Agency * RRsat * Station711 * Spacecom * Broadcasting Satellite Syst...

PearsonArtPhoto

There's way more than I'd have thought...

TildalWave

problem is, that doesn't really narrow it down LOL

geoffc

20:58

None of those are near DC.

Orbital is.

Iridium, Globalstar, PanAmSat, IntelSat are all clearly well known satellite companies.

I am hoping for Orbcomm or Orbital personally. :)

TildalWave

weather is still crap, looks even worse now

still about an hour and a half of the launch window tho

Undo

:(

TildalWave

for @Everyone so he feels better that he's not missing much :)

Stu

looks soo owaaarrrrmmm

geoffc

The SRB's on Ariane 5 are honking big!

1.5Mlbs thrust each! That is F-1 category! Not quite Shuttle SRB (2.8 MLbs) but BIG!

Titan 4 boosters were 3.2 or 3.4 MLbs thrust. Holy crap those ar ebig!

TildalWave

21:14

@geoffc heh yes they are but SLS will use even more powerful ones

Undo

SLS?

TildalWave

Space Launch System

|family=Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicles |derivatives= |comparable= |status= Undergoing development |sites=LC-39, Kennedy Space Center |launches= |success= |fail= |partial= |other_outcome= |first= December 17, 2017 |only= |payloads=Orion MPCV |stagedata = }} The Space Launch System (SLS) is a United States Space Shuttle-derived heavy launch vehicle being designed by NASA. It follows the cancellation of the Constellation Program, and is to replace the retired Space Shuttle. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 envisions the transformation of the Ar...

Undo

Ahhhh

PearsonArtPhoto

Just to make things even more fun, keep in mind that the company headquarters might not be here, but there could be still a significant presence here.

And on that note, I'm leaving for the night.

TildalWave

yeah thanks, that only leaves us with 50 more options than we started with

geoffc

21:21

3.6MLbs thrust out of a 5 segment booster, with new fuel material. Gonna be LOUD!

Solids are scary, how much thrust they can have!

1.8 MLbs for F-1B is about the highest liquid fueled engine out there. RD-170/171 is only 1.5 MLbs or so, and needed 4 thrust chambers for it. (Zenit main engine, which was originally side booster on Energia).

TildalWave

oh we're live

countdown resumed

T-6:30

T-2 min.

David Freitag

@TildalWave Is there a link to the live stream?

TildalWave

@DavidFreitag first link on starred posts

2 hours ago, by TildalWave

Live stream for the launch of Ariane 5 ECA VA217 deploying ABS 2 & Athena-Fidus communication satellites is available on Arianespace TV. Launch coverage starts at 20:15 GMT/UTC. More links: Press Kit | Mission Updates | Launch Campaign Diary Video

David Freitag

@TildalWave Tried it, there's no video there

TildalWave

T-40 s

@DavidFreitag arianespace.tv

click on the arrow button

Undo

21:30

Liftoff!

TildalWave

it's fast

Stu

silly french

yea its super fast

David Freitag

Bah humbug - my connection isn't good enough for streaming :[

Stu

whats the thrust compared to the shuttle?

TildalWave

dunno, depends when, solid cores have different thrust profiles and main block is variable too

data for max thrust should be easy to find tho

Stu

21:35

yea i'll find some. thx

TildalWave

STS at 6,825,704 lbf and Ariane 5 ECA 3,201,000 lbf

Stu

great! thanks. Ariane 5 weighs about 1/4th of STS

sorry, more like 1/3rd

welp, great launch

until next time

TildalWave

see you ;)

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