TXF S11 BTS

SpaceX's Supersized Starship Rocket and the Future of Galactic Explorati...

Artemis will fail if NASA cancels Lunar Gateway. Here's why...

The Gaia Space Telescope-A Quiet Achiever

 

Sequencing a Star

The Gaia space observatory recently collected a trove of scientific data about the Milky Way that provides new insights into the galaxy’s evolution and the DNA of thousands of stars, the Telegraph reported.

Currently located more than 900,000 miles from Earth, the powerful telescope was launched in 2013 to piece together the largest and most accurate multi-dimensional map of the Milky Way.

The European Space Agency – which developed Gaia – released new data that showed the positions of nearly two billion stars and the phenomenon of “starquakes.”

Starquakes are tsunami-like vibrations on a star’s surface that can change its spherical shape. Gaia found thousands of these starquakes, including some on stars that actually shouldn’t experience them.

But one of the biggest findings was the complex chemical makeup of many stars, which can tell the story of the galaxy’s evolutionary history.

The space telescope detected that some stars in the Milky Way are primordial ones that formed after the Big Bang and mainly had light elements, such as hydrogen and helium.

Some of these primeval celestial bodies eventually died, releasing metals and other heavy elements that enriched galaxies – and subsequently created new stars with newer elements.

Primordial stars are located in the far reaches of our galaxy, while the younger stars – such as our sun – are closer to the center.

Scientists said such findings are “analogous to sequencing the DNA of the human genome.”

“This new data release creates a detailed bank of information, essentially working as a DNA map that allows us to understand the stellar population of our galaxy, and track its past, present and future,” said Nicholas Walton, a member of the ESA Gaia Science Team.

Jeff Bezos and Kuiper could destroy Starship AND Artemis! Here's how.

The latest info about Boca, Starship and upcoming static fires and the o...

10 reasons why EVERYONE should care about British Spaceflight!

China Is Getting Serious About Apace Exploration!!!!

China jettisons underdog tag to become space force Andrew Mullen Deputy Editor, Political Economy

25 June 2022 Dear Global Impact Readers,  Space, they say, is the final frontier. But how far does that frontier go and what’s out there?  China, has in recent years, accelerated all things space as part of its busy science programme we recapped a few weeks ago, from landing a rover on Mars to nearing completion of its Tiangong space station. In this issue, the SCMP’s Stephen Chen, the news editor for science with our China desk, is back to look at China’s exploits and gaze into what the future holds for its ambitious space programme.  Andrew Mullen Deputy Editor, Political Economy ‘Mom is going to war’ Astronaut Liu Yang rejected her children's request to wave goodbye at the launch pad. "Mom is going to war," said the first Chinese woman in space in a farewell letter penned just before the Shenzhou 14 mission earlier this month that sent her into space for a second time.  "As a soldier on duty, I have to forget about family when facing threats. I am afraid I will cry when I see you," she added. Colonel Liu and her two male crew members will spend six months in orbit completing the construction of the Tiangong space station, the most sophisticated infrastructure built by one nation in space. The work intensity will exceed previous missions, although they will need to keep an eye out for some surprise visitors, such as unfriendly satellites, which can pose a threat to their lives. China has, up until recently, been an underdog in the space race after its request to join 15 other nations in the ageing International Space Station programme was rejected.  Its efforts have been hampered slightly due to international sanctions, with China’s space industry forced to build almost everything itself. For the same reason, few nations have launched satellites using Chinese rockets, even though they are technically advanced, relatively low in cost and highly reliable. This has not stopped China, in recent years, conducting more space launches than any other country after its scientists and engineers developed a new generation of rockets despite having suffered initial setbacks. They also built the world's first quantum satellite, though some people thought the technology would not work. The most precise atomic clocks in space, the fastest laser communication experiments, the nimblest imaging satellite and the most powerful space laser device are also recent achievements by China’s scientists.  They also landed the first spacecraft on the far side of the moon. In China’s first visit to Mars, a graveyard for many previous missions by other countries, they were also able to put a rover on the surface without first-hand knowledge of the red planet. But Chinese space authorities have bigger ambitions. They have teamed up with Russia to build an international research station on the Moon, while a sample return mission from Mars is scheduled in 2031, two years before Nasa. In a save-the-Earth experiment, a Chinese spacecraft will also slam into a large asteroid to change its course. And a solar power station in space will beam energy wirelessly to almost anywhere on the surface of the planet. To achieve these goals, Chinese researchers are developing some revolutionary technologies. By 2035, they plan to build a fleet of hypersonic space planes that can transport thousands of passengers to lower Earth orbit every year at a cost significantly lower than rockets.  Several space nuclear reactors under development can produce over one megawatt of power for interstellar journeys or settlements. A planetary defence system consisting of a huge radar network will monitor space debris and detect asteroid threats with unprecedented accuracy and timeliness. China's rise as a space power, though, has not always been well received. Some researchers have urged the military to destroy the world's largest internet satellite network if it poses a threat to China's national security. New Chinese satellites are fortified by an extra shield against new space weapons such as high power microwaves that can disrupt communication or burn sensors and chips. Just before Liu took off, a jamming device was found near the launch site in the Gobi desert, although it was unclear whether the discovery was a sabotage attempt or an accident. “Don't be afraid of failures,” Liu told her children in the letter. “Just do it again, and again.”

60 SECOND CATCH-UP • China's Mars mission on track to lead the world in retrieving Martian rocks by 2031, says programme veteran • Chinese astronauts enter space station on six-month Shenzhou 14 mission •  China's Shenzhou 14 mission begins mission to finish the Tiangong space station • Opinion: Why China's ambitions in space should not be underestimated • China-US space race heats up as Chinese firm plans over 40 launches this year • Profile: China’s first woman in space Liu Yang returns for Shenzhou 14 mission as next generation takes centre stage •  Are we alone? Chris Hadfield on UFOs, the ISS and China in space • Opinion: China set to become the most committed spacefaring nation

 

Congress cuts funding for Starship, but not SLS. Again!!

SpaceX Crew Dragon to the Moon instead of NASA's SLS, Why not?

The Building Blocks Of Life Discovered On Asteroids

 

Rocks of Life

Asteroids and comets around the galaxy could be holding the building blocks of life.

At least that seems the case with the Ryugu asteroid, located more than 200 million miles from the Earth, Live Science reported.

In a first-of-its-kind study, Japanese scientists discovered more than 20 amino acids on the diamond-shaped space rock, after studying samples taken from it.

In 2018, Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed on Ryugu and a year later collected about 0.2 ounces from the asteroid’s surface and subsurface. The samples were stored in an airtight container and then sent back to Earth.

Researchers noted that the celestial body is a carbonaceous asteroid, which means that it contains a large amount of carbon-rich organic matter. This matter could have originated from the same nebula that gave birth to the sun and the planets of the solar system roughly 4.6 billion years ago.

The team described the samples as “the most primitive material in the solar system we have ever studied.”

They added that amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of all proteins and integral for the existence of life on our planet.

Their presence in Ryugu and other primordial space rocks has scientists wondering whether some comets and asteroids – possibly all of them – could be carrying these life-building molecules.

Some suggested that the findings offer a clue that “life could have been born in more places in the universe than previously thought.”

Meanwhile, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a rock sample from the Bennu asteroid and are hoping to find more clues about the evolution of our solar system once they return to Earth next year.

How to get to the Moon WITHOUT SLS or Starship!

Voyager's Terrifying New Discovery On Neptune Changes Everything

 

Dust accumulating on InSight’s sollar arrays has drastically reduced the power they can produce, meaning the mission will likely end in a matter of months. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Learning to let go of space missions

by Jeff Foust
Monday, June 13, 2022

The end of InSight is in sight.

At a press conference last month, NASA officials acknowledged what had long been feared: dust accumulating on the solar panels of the lander was diminishing their output to the point where, soon, the spacecraft will not generate enough power to operate its instruments. And, by late this year, the panels won’t generate enough power to keep the spacecraft alive at all.

“As the power goes down, we’re not actually sure exactly how well the spacecraft will perform. It’s exceeded our expectations at just about every turn on Mars,” Banerdt said of InSight

The announcement was not a surprise. Since last year, project leaders said they were aware of the dropping power levels caused by accumulating dust. They hoped for a “cleaning event,” like a dust devil passing over the lander that could remove the dust, similar to what happened to the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that kept them operating for years. However, no such cleaning events took place, and other measures—notably using the lander’s robotic arm to drop regolith near the panels, so that the wind would cause some pebbles to bounce off the panels and kick up dust—offered only a short-term fix.

NASA used a briefing to outline how the lander would spend its final sols on Mars. The arm would be placed in a final “retirement pose” so that a camera mounted on it could observe the seismometer, the lander’s main instrument. That seismometer will move into intermittent operations and then shut down completely as soon as July as power levels continue to drop.

It might hold out a little bit longer. “We’re in an operating regime we’ve never been in before,” Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at JPL, said at the briefing. “As the power goes down, we’re not actually sure exactly how well the spacecraft will perform. It’s exceeded our expectations at just about every turn on Mars. It may last longer than that.”

The problem led some to wonder why the mission didn’t have some means of cleaning the arrays: some envisioned a brush on the end of the robotic arm, wiping the arrays as one might dust furniture at home. Banerdt explained that was easier—and cheaper—said than done. “If we put more money into the solar arrays, we would have less to put into the science instruments, so we tried to find the right balance,” he said. (InSight, as part of NASA’s Discovery program, had to fit into a cost cap and had other issues, such as problems with the seismograph’s development that delayed the launch two years.)

Even with the solar array problems that are ending its life, InSight is a success, NASA argued: it operated well beyond its prime mission of one Martian year (a little under two Earth years) and met its science goals with its spectrometer despite problems with a heat flow probe that was unable to burrow into the surface. Weeks before the briefing, NASA announced InSight had measured its strongest quake to date, the equivalent of a magnitude 5.

But even successful, long-lived missions have to come to an end, someday. Around the same time that NASA held the briefing about InSight, it also reported an issue with the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched nearly 45 years ago and now speeding out of the solar system. The spacecraft’s attitude control system was returning data that didn’t match the actual behavior of the spacecraft.

“A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission,” said Dodd.

The spacecraft itself appears to be otherwise operating well, and the strength of the signal received by the Deep Space Network suggests the spacecraft is properly oriented. But the issue with what’s called the AACS could be a sign of more serious problems to come.

“A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission,” Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL, said in a statement. “The spacecraft are both almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planners anticipated. We’re also in interstellar space—a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft have flown in before. So, there are some big challenges for the engineering team.”

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter, originally planned to make five flights, has flown 28 times, but not since late April. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter is only a tiny fraction of the age of Voyager 1, but it has far exceeded its life. The experimental helicopter was originally designed to make up to five flights over a few weeks in April 2021, but then the project would end to allow the Perseverance Mars rover to continue on its mission.

Ingenuity, though, performed so well that it got an extension. “The scientists said, ‘This is really useful, let’s adopt it and make it an operation support element,’” recalled Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, during a meeting last week of the National Academies’ Space Studies Board. Ingenuity completed its 28th flight in late April, having served as a scout for Perseverance.

However, the onset of winter at Jezero Crater on Mars is affecting Ingenuity. The helicopter lost communications with Perseverance, and hence with Earth, for several days in early May because heaters to keep its electronics warm drained its batteries. The project has adapted by lowering the threshold temperature at which the heaters turn on, but has since lost an inclinometer, an instrument used to measure its orientation before the start of a flight, possibly because of exposure to cold temperatures.

The limited sunlight and thus power available during winter will keep Ingenuity largely on the ground until spring—if it survives. “In a handful of months we’ll start getting back into Martian spring where we get very energy positive again and back to business,” said Jaakko Karras, chief engineer for Ingenuity, after a talk at the International Space Development Conference in late May. Engineers have come up with a workaround to allow flights to continue without the inclinometer.

However, the mission is long into bonus time and dealing with conditions it was not designed for, since no one expected it to still be operating after more than a year. Zurbuchen, speaking at the Space Studies Board, wanted to set expectations accordingly.

“I want you to know, no matter that happens now, this is a huge success. And this too will end,” he said of Ingenuity. “We had every success that we wanted on this, and we will celebrate this. I don’t care what happens next. This is a success.”

“Death is inevitable for all of us,” Zurbuchen said, “and it’s also inevitable for all the spacecraft.”

He had similar views about the issues with Voyager 1 and InSight. “This mission is doing amazing science. It’s exploring the near-galactic environment,” he said of Voyager. The project team has solved similar problems in the past, he said, but one day may run into one it cannot. When that happens, “we should take out the champagne and not somehow pretend there is a problem.”

As for InSight, he noted he was in alignment with Banerdt on how to wrap up the mission. “We’re going to maximize the science, not the lifetime of the mission,” he said.

Banerdt said the same at last month’s briefing. “There really hasn’t been too much doom and gloom on the team. We’re still focused on operating the spacecraft,” he said. “We’re still figuring out how to get the most science out of it.”

Eventually every mission, no matter how long-lived, will eventually fail for one reason or another. “Death is inevitable for all of us,” Zurbuchen noted during the meeting, “and it’s also inevitable for all the spacecraft.”

But resurrection is possible, too. NASA’s extended mission or InSight is set to end this year, on the assumption that power levels drop below critical levels. However, if conditions improve in the spring as the landing site gets more sunlight, and if InSight finally gets a long-awaited cleaning event, the spacecraft could revive. NASA plans to check in next year for any signals from InSight.

“The Martian environment is very uncertain. We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Kathya Zamora Garcia, InSight deputy project manager, at the briefing last month. “We’ll be listening.”

---

Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review, and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.

Note: we are using a new commenting system, which may require you to create a new account.

The Russian Spacer Threat And Defense Against It

 

A bodyguard satellite could detect potential attacks against the satellites its protecting and defend against them

The Russian space threat and a defense against it with guardian satellites

by Matthew Mowthorpe
Monday, June 13, 2022

Russia has a long history of developing space weapons. It has demonstrated a capability to kinetically intercept satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) from space and more recently from the ground in late 2021. Additionally, it can use ground-based lasers to dazzle satellites in LEO. Russia can conduct radiofrequency (RF) jamming from mobile platforms against communication satellites in LEO. This article examines Russia’s ASAT concepts and places them in the context of military space doctrine that threatens both US and NATO allies’ satellites. The increasing threat to satellites has led to the development of the concept of a bodyguard satellite.

Russian counterspace programs

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has reinvigorated its political desire to obtain counterspace capabilities for the same reason as China, to advance its regional power and limit the ability of the US to counter Russia’s freedom of action. Russian military thought sees modern warfare as a struggle over information dominance and netcentric operations that can take place without clear boundaries. Russia is pursuing the goal of incorporating EW capabilities throughout its military to both protect its own space-enabled capabilities and degrade or deny those capabilities to its adversary. In space, Russia is seeking to mitigate the superiority of US and NATO space assets by fielding a number of ground, air, and space-based offensive capabilities.

In space, Russia is seeking to mitigate the superiority of US and NATO space assets by fielding a number of ground, air, and space-based offensive capabilities.

The former Soviet Union tested a co-orbital ASAT system known as Isrebitel Sputnikov (IS). This was based on a SS-9 missile and used a shrapnel at an effective range of 50 meters. However, it needed two orbits to approach the target satellite, which gave the target satellite several hours to detect the attack and take evasive action.[1] The IS was capable of targeting satellites up to 2,200 kilometers with an estimated kill probability of 70–80%, and an IS-M system was developed to rendezvous with a single orbit. It was intended to develop the system IS-MD to intercept satellites in GEO, however the program was ended in 1993.[2]

Russia has been testing technologies for rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) in both LEO and GEO in order to develop a co-orbital ASAT capability.[3] Russia is likely to have started a co-orbital ASAT program called Burevestnik.[4] The concept of Burevestnik is most likely that it will not carry a kinetic kill vehicle like its Soviet predecessor, but will serve as a launch vehicle for small interceptor satellites that can approach and disable enemy satellites.[5] The status of this program is unclear, as open reporting is often contradictory, nevertheless, the concept appears to be one modified out of Soviet era development, and as such cannot be ruled out.

Figure 1: Burestvestnik showing Ishim rocket flying to space from a MiG-31.[6]

There were plans to use the MiG-31 as a satellite launch platform in the late 1990s, with a 2005 proposal called Ishim to equip the aircraft with a three-stage solid-fuel rocket capable of placing 160-kilogram satellites into 300-kilometer orbits with a 46-degree inclination.[7]

Russian RPO in LEO

On December 25, 2013, three small satellites were launched into LEO which looked like a routine Rodnik satcom activity. The Russian MOD publicly announced the three satellites, Cosmos 2488, 2489, and 2490, had successfully separated from the upper stage. However, a fourth payload, Cosmos 2491, was catalogued by the US military. Cosmos 2491 remained dormant until the end of 2019, in LEO at an altitude of 1500 kilometers. Cosmos 2491 was identified by NASA as a secretive Russian satellite which performed orbital rendezvous and inspection maneuvers.[8]

On May 23, 2014, during another Rodnik mission, three military satellites were declared by the Russian government: Cosmos 2496, 2497, and 2498. Similar to the 2013 launch, a fourth payload was identified, Cosmos 2499. In mid-June 2014, Cosmos 2499 began a series of maneuvers to match the orbit of the Briz-KM upper stage that had placed them in orbit. At the end of November 2014, Cosmos 2499 passed within a kilometer of the Briz-KM. They then drifted apart, until in Janunary 2015 Cosmos 2499 did a further series of maneuvers to achieve an orbit a few kilometers above and several hundred kilometers away from the Briz-KM. On March 26, 2016, Cosmos 2499 adjusted its orbit slowly bringing it closer to the Briz-KM by about tens of kilometers per day.[9]

Cosmos 2523 was released at a velocity of 27 meters per second. At this speed, it appears likely that Cosmos 2523 could be a projectile and part of an ASAT mission.

On March 31, 2015, three Gonets-M satellites were launched and openly declared as Gonets M11-M13, along with a classified military payload, Cosmos 2504. In April 15, Cosmos 2504 maneuvered to bring it close to the Briz-KM upper stage. Between April 15 and 16, 2015, Cosmos 2504 went from an estimated 4.4 kilometers to 1.4 kilometers below the Briz-KM.[10] On July 3, 2015, Cosmos 2504 lowered its apogee and perigee by around 50 kilometers each, maneuvering away from the Briz-KM. After a periof of inactivity, on March 27, 2017, Cosmos 2504 lowered its orbit, and passed within two kilometers of a piece of Chinese debris from the 2007 ASAT test. This could indicate that Cosmos 2504 was an inspection satellite.[11]

On June 23, 2017, Cosmos 2519 was launched, which Russian officials included “a space platform which can carry different variants of payloads.” It made a series of small maneuvers in late July and August. On August 23, 2017, a small satellite designated Cosmos 2521 separated from Cosmos 2519. Cosmos 2521 was declared by Russian officials as “intended for the inspection of the condition of a Russian satellite.” On October 30, Cosmos 2523 another small satellite, separated from Cosmos 2521. Cosmos 2523 was released at a velocity of 27 meters per second. At this speed, it appears likely that Cosmos 2523 could be a projectile and part of an ASAT mission. Throughout March, April, and June 2018, Cosmos 2519 and 2521 conducted several RPOs of each other.[12]

On July 10, 2019 Russia launched another set of four military payloads, designated Cosmos 2535, 2536, 2537, and 2538. On August 7 to 19, Cosmos 2535 and 2536 began a series of RPO with approach distances as close as 30 kilometers before backing off to 180 to 400 kilometers.

On November 25, 2019, Russia launched Cosmos 2542, which was likely the second satellite in the Nivelir series. On December 6, Cosmos 2542 released a subsatellite, Cosmos 2453, which remained within two kilometers of Cosmos 2542 for three days before it conducted a series of maneuvers to raise its apogee to 590 kilometers by December 16. These maneuvers suggest that Cosmos 2453 moved to where it could observe a US intelligence satellite, USA 245. Cosmos 2453 came within 20 kilometers of USA 245 several times in Janunary 2020. This proximity sparked concerns from the then-commander of US Space Command. It is likely that Cosmos 2453 was an inspection satellite.

In June 2020, Cosmos 2543 maneuvered to come within 60 kilometers of Cosmos 2535. On July 15, similar to the event of the first Nivelir, a small piece of debris separated from Cosmos 2543 at a relative velocity between 140 to 186 meters per second.[13] It is likely this is a similar event to Cosmos 2523 in October 2017, which was the first of Russia’s Nivelir test program. Both the US and UK Space Commands called on Russia to desist their testing of the system.

Direct ascent missile

Nudol is being developed for direct-ascent ASAT operations. Almaz-Antey, whose principal role is active space defense technologies, has pitched the system as valuable for holding US LEO assets at risk.[14] Nudol is a TEL-based system composed of the 14A042 Nudol rocket, 14P078 command and control system, and 14TS031 radar.

Nudol is undergoing flight testing and it has been reported as being tested around ten times, with varying levels of success. In November 2021, Russia successfully intercepted one of its own satellites in LEO, using Nudol. The operational capability of NUDOL is up to 850 kilometers. It is likely, given successful testing, Nudol will be operational by 2025.

Russian electronic warfare

Russia places a high priority on integrating EW into military operations. The Russian Army fields several types of mobile EW systems capable of jamming specific satellite communication user terminals with tactical ranges.[15] Russia can likely jam communications satellites uplinks over a wide area from fixed ground facilities. Russian military doctrine calls for incorporating EW capabilities throughout its services to not only protect its space-derived capabilities but also seek to deny those capabilities to its adversaries. In the realm of space, Russia is attempting to mitigate the US space superiority by developing and fielding a number of ground-, air-, and space-based offensive capabilities.[16]

More recently in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian jamming of GPS signals in Ukraine was detected by US forces in the region.

Russia has developed fixed and mobile jammers. To protect fixed facilities Russia is deploying 250,000 GPS jammers on cell phone towers through the country with the aim of reducing the accuracy of foreign UAVs and cruise missiles over the Russia landmass.[17] These Pole-21 systems are reported to have an effective range of 80 kilometers. The second category are mobile systems and are integrated within mobile EW units. They are equipped with multifunctional EW equipment, some of which have GPS jamming capability. Two of these are the R-330Zh “Zhitel” and the “Borisoglebsk-2”. These systems protect Russian units by jamming tactical signals. These systems have been deployed in support of Russian deployments to Syria and Ukraine.

Russia demonstrated its GPS jamming capability during the Russian 2017 Zapad military exercise and during a NATO exercise, when Norway determined Russia was responsible for jamming GPS signals in the Kola Peninsula during Exercise Trident Juncture.[18] The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in April 2021 identified an increase in GPS jamming by Russia, or pro-Russian forces, in Ukraine. On April 6, 2021, a Special Monitoring Mission long-range UAV was unable to take off from a Ukrainian airbase in Stepanivka due to GPS signal interference.[19] More recently in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian jamming of GPS signals in Ukraine was detected by US forces in the region.[20]

On February 24, 2022, a cyberattack against a commercial satellite network belonging to the US company Viasat not only had an impact on Ukrainian military actors but also damaged the terminals of civilian customers across Europe and affected thousands of wind turbines in Germany.[21] Tens of thousands of satellite modems had their Internet service knocked out after being flooded with traffic along with destructive commands to overwrite key data. This highlights the wider impact that cyberattacks can have on the satellite industry. The cyberattack is likely to have come from Russia.

Satcom jamming

The R-330Zh “Zhitel” mobile jammer is reported to able to jam commercial Inmarsat and Iridium receivers within a tactical local area. The TsNII research institute has declared that Tirada-2S was under development and will be used to conduct uplink jamming of comsats.[22] It is likely Tirada-2S is currently in service. Another system under development is Bylina-MM, which is designed to suppress the onboard transponders on comsats such as Milstar, Skynet, and Italsat.[23]

A key project in Russia’s EW programme is TOBOL designated 14Ts227, with a project infrastructure code of 8282. The following Tobol sites are mentioned:

• 8282/1: near Shcholkovo (Moscow region) (NIP-14) (military unit 26178)
• 8282/3: near Ulan-Ude (Republic of Buryatiya) (NIP-13) (military unit 14129)
• 8282/4: near Ussuriysk (Primorskiy region) NIP-15) (military unit 14038)
• 8282/5: near Yeniseisk (Siberia) (NIP-4) (military unit 14058)
• 8282/6: near Pionerskiy (Kaliningrad region) (military unit 92626)
• 8282/7: near Armavir (Krasnodar region) (no known NIP number) (military unit 20608)[24]

Indications about the goals of Tobol suggest that the site would have an array of ground-based antennas that would pick up and jam what are called unauthorized signals sent to satellites or relayed via satellites to the ground. Vatutin, who heads a department within Russian Space Systems and is identified as Tobol’s chief designer, has co-authored several papers and patents related to the protection of satellites from electronic attack. One such patent describes an array of ground-based antennas that would be used to pick up and jam unauthorized signals sent to satellites relayed via satellites to the ground.[25] In another scenario, unauthorized signals downlinked from a satellite to the ground would be identified by monitoring stations, following which the tropospheric stations would transmit jamming signals that would reach receivers after being reflected off the troposphere and cancel out the effects of the unauthorized signals.[26]

Another paper co-authored by Vatutin discussed the possibility of using EW techniques to prevent both optical and radar reconnaissance satellites from sending images to data relay satellites as they fly over. This reflects growing interest in the use of EW systems to counter foreign reconnaissance assets.

The Krashuka-4 mobile EW system, designed to counter airborne early warning and control and other airborne radar, has an effective range of 300 kilometers. Due to its range and power, it is also effective against LEO synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellites.[27]

Directed energy weapons

Russia has a long history of research in high-energy laser physics. Russia revived its old Soviet Airborne Laser system in 2012, called Sokol-Echelon. The Russian ABL was designed to counter space-based reconnaissance assets in the infrared part of the spectrum, dazzling rather than destroying.[28] The laser type selected was a carbon monoxide laser. In mid-2018 a court document declared that the MOD had decided to cancel the project in late 2017, however, contracts signed as part of the project continue to appear on the Russia’s government procurement website afterwards.

Russia is upgrading its Krona optical surveiallnce system in North Causcasus with laser dazzling capabilities. The Krona complex historically included ground-based radars and optical telescopes for tracking, identifying, and characterising space objects. Under a project code-named Kalina for the Ministry of Defence, its goal was the creation of a channel for the supression of electro-optical systems of satellites using solid-state lasers.[29] Russia is also planning to develop a laser with a range of 40,000 kilometers to attack early warning satellites in geosynchronous orbit.[30]

Protection satellites from threats: Bodyguard satellites

The concept of a Bodyguard satellite is a co-orbital satellite able to serve against increasing threats to satellites in orbit. It offers continuous monitoring of the environment of approaching objects, provides indicator and warning of threats prior to attack, and characterization of range, source, and capabilities. Bodyguard satellites can counteract and disrupt stalker satellite activity.

For space defenses to act as a deterrent, an opponent must believe such defenses exist and that they are effective, even if the opponent does not fully understand what they are or how effective they may be.

Bodygard satellites is part of what would be termed Active Defense. This can be divided into two categories based on where these defensive systems are based. Space-based defences include onboard systems that are integrated in to the satellites they protect, and offboard systems that are hosted on separate satellites such as Bodyguard satellites. Offboard defences can be used to provide “zone defense” of multiple satellites or act as defensive patrols that roam within orbital regimes in response to threats. Terestrial defenses are cross-domain systems based on Earth that target counterspace systems and the systems that support them either on Earth or in space.[31]

An offboard jamming and spoofing system could be placed on a Bodyguard satellite. This could disrupt sensors on an incoming kinetic ASAT weapon so that it cannot steer itself effectively in the terminal phase of flight. Similar systems could be used to deceive space domain awareness sensors by altering the reflected radar signal to change the location, velocity, and number of satellites detected, similar to digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) jammers are used on military aircraft. A challenge for offboard systems is that they may not be within the field of view of the sensors on an incoming ASAT warhead. For both onboard and offboard systems, their effective operation depends on an accurate characterisation of the radar and communication systems on threats before an attack commences.[32]

Laser systems can be used to dazzle or blind the opical or infrared sensors on an incoming ASAT weapon in the terminal phase of flight. Blinding an ASAT weapon’s guidance system could allow a satellite to effecitively “evade” a kinetic attack. It could also be used to blind the optical sensors on inspector satellites to prevent them from imaging a satellite that wants to keep its capabilities concealed or frustrate enemy space domain awareness. An onboard laser system would add weight and power requirements competing for mission payload resources. Placing an offboard laser system on a bodyguard satellite, provided they could be maneuvered within the field of view of the sensors of an incoming ASAT weapon when they are needed. The effective operation of a laser defense system depends on an accurate characterization and understanding of the technical capabilities such as the the wavelengths of light to which an adversary sensors are sensitive.

Satellites could be equiped with systems that either fire a projectile at at an incoming ASAT weapon or use a HPM to have physical destructive effects, such as overheating or causing short circuits. A drawback to a kinetic system is that it could leave orbital debris that could affect the safe operation of the protected satellite. A variation on a weapon system would be to use the bodyguard satellite itself as a co-orbital system in extremis. A potential weakness to this approach is that an adversary could launch a salvo of ASAT weapons to saturate the defenses.

A space vehicle could be used to physically seize a threatening satellite that is being used to attack or endanger other satellites. Such a system could also be used to collect and dispose of harmful orbital debris resulting from an attack. A key limitation of a physical seizure system is that each satellite would be time and propellant limited depending on the orbit in which it is stored. Several commercial companies are developing capabilities for on-orbit servicing. A distinguishing feature would be the ability to conduct proximity operations with an uncooperative or uncontrolled object.

Space defenses both raise the expected costs and reduce the expected benefits of beginning or extending conflict into space. For space defenses to act as a deterrent, an opponent must believe such defenses exist and that they are effective, even if the opponent does not fully understand what they are or how effective they may be.[33]

Systems with a defensive mission are sometimes called DSATs (defensive satellites). DSAT systems are only effective over a very limited range and they are associated with a specific satellite system. In this case, DSATs could legitimately be seen as strictly defensive, since they could not attack an opposing ASAT system unless it advanced within range. Self-defense systems could not be added to current satellites, since the weight and power requirements of such add-on systems could make the satellite they would be protecting become commercially unviable.[34]

Endnotes

1. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 66
2. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 67
3. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 17
4. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 17
5. B. Hendrickx, Burevestnik: a Russian air-launched antisatellite system, 27 April 2020
6. B. Hendrickx, Burevestnik: a Russian air-launched antisatellite system, 27 April 2020
7. B. Hendrickx, Burevestnik: a Russian air-launched antisatellite system, 27 April 2020
8. NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive.
9. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 70
10. B.Weeden, “Dancing in the Dark Redux: Recent rendezvous and proximity operations in space,” The Space Review, 5 October 2015
11. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 70
12. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 71
13. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 73
14. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 80
15. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 87
16. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 18
17. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 88
18. Mark Episkopos, GPS Jamming: can NATO Defeat This Russian Weapon in the Arctic?, National Interest, 3 March 2021
19. Spot Report 6/2021: SMM long-range UAV unable to take off due to dual GPS signal interference, 7 April 2021.
20. Theresa Hitchens, “Local” Russian GPS jamming in Ukraine hasn’t affected US Support ops, so far, Breaking Defence 1 March 2022.
21. The War in Ukraine and the European Space Sector, ESPI Briefs, May 2022.
22. Bart Hendrickx, “Russia gears up for electronic warfare in space (part 1),” The Space Review, October 26, 2020
23. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 91
24. Bart Hendrickx, “Russia gears up for electronic warfare in space (part 2), The Space Review, November 2, 2020.
25. Bart Hendrickx, “Russia gears up for electronic warfare in space (part 2), The Space Review, November 2, 2020.
26. Bart Hendrickx, “Russia gears up for electronic warfare in space (part 2), The Space Review, November 2, 2020.
27. B. Weeden and V. Samson, Global Counterspace Capabilities, April 2021, 91
28. Bart Hendrickx, “Peresvet: a Russian mobile laser system to dazzle enemy satellites,” The Space Review, June 15, 2020.
29. Bart Hendrickx, “Peresvet: a Russian mobile laser system to dazzle enemy satellites,” The Space Review, June 15, 2020.
30. Zhenhua Liu , Chuanwen Lin and Gang Chen, “Space Attack Technology Overview” Journal of Physics, 2020
31. Defence Against the Dark Arts in Space, Protecting Space Systems from Counterspace Weapons, CSIS Feb 2021.
32. Defence Against the Dark Arts in Space, Protecting Space Systems from Counterspace Weapons, CSIS Feb 2021.
33. Defence Against the Dark Arts in Space, Protecting Space Systems from Counterspace Weapons, CSIS Feb 2021.
34. Steve Fetter, Protecting Our Military Space Systems, 1988, 14

---

Dr. Matthew Mowthorpe currently works in the UK Military Future Programmes at Airbus Defence and Space. Prior to this, he worked at the Ministry of Defence, where he managed the Space Team examining threats to and from Space. Dr Mowthorpe has published in numerous journals on the weaponization of space and notably published the book The Militarization and Weaponization of Space published by Rowman and Little in the US.

Note: we are using a new commenting system, which may require you to create a new account.

A Review Of The Far Side Of The Moon

 

Review: Far Side of the Moon

by Jeff Foust
Monday, June 13, 2022

Far Side of the Moon: Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman and the Woman Who Gave Him Wings
by Liisa Jorgensen
Chicago Review Press, 2021
hardcover, 336 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-1-64160-606-6
US$30.00

The personal toll that the Apollo program had on the families of the astronauts went to the Moon, kept out of public view during the program itself, has increasingly come to light through memoirs and other accounts. As Liisa Jorgensen notes in the opening pages of her book Far Side of the Moon, of the 29 Apollo astronauts who flew, 19 of them had marriages than ended in divorce.

As Jorgensen succinctly put it: “Frank took the risks—she absorbed the fear.”

Jorgensen profiles an astronaut whose marriage did not end in divorce: Frank Borman celebrated the 70th anniversary of his marriage to his wife Susan in 2020. Nonetheless, it was not without stress, one that led to a nervous breakdown and hospitalization of Susan Borman a few years after Frank Borman left NASA. The book chronicles that intertwined life, and how a relationship pushed to the breaking point grew stronger over the years.

The stresses on the marriage came from several factors, Jorgensen argues, not the least of which was Frank’s career as an Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut, which put his life at risk. At the same time, Susan was told, as a military wife, to subordinate her life to his: “it was as important as your religious faith to be completely dedicated to your husband.” As Jorgensen succinctly put it: “Frank took the risks—she absorbed the fear.”

That was complicated by Susan’s own life: her father died while she was growing up and she had a strained relationship with her mother, who wrongfully blamed her for her father’s death. She had to internalize all the stress she experienced, unable to share it with Frank, who was often away for long periods while in the military and at NASA. She hid that most of the time, although an exception was watching the Apollo 8 launch from her home: photos clearly showed how worried she was about a mission that NASA officials privately acknowledged to her beforehand had a 50/50 chance at success.

Susan Borman reached the breaking point after Frank left NASA to become an executive at Eastern Airlines. “No boys to take care of. No military wives to get together with. It was just her and the voices in her head, and they wouldn’t stop,” Jorgensen writes. After a lengthy stay at an institution, Susan recovered, while Frank rededicated himself to a marriage he had long been absent from.

Jorgensen based the book on extensive interviews with Frank Borman and friends and family, as well as correspondence that Frank had saved over the decades; Susan, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago, was no longer able to speak by the time that Jorgensen started working on the book. The book includes extensive recreations of dialogue presumably from the memories of Frank and others. One wonders about the accuracy of such recollections, given the flaws of memory, but they do presumably communicate the intent of what was discussed, if not a word-for-word recollection.

Far Side of the Moon shows how the wives of early NASA astronauts dealt with stress that was hidden from public view, and even from their own husbands. That stress destroyed some relationships, but in the case of the Bormans, helped to eventually forge a much stronger bond.

---

Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review, and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.

Note: we are using a new commenting system, which may require you to create a new account.