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GET /hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/UY4IDBIMSF7JTSLOZRS6KUVKXEKYKMZV/
{ "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/UY4IDBIMSF7JTSLOZRS6KUVKXEKYKMZV/", "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/", "message_id": "[email protected]", "message_id_hash": "UY4IDBIMSF7JTSLOZRS6KUVKXEKYKMZV", "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/UY4IDBIMSF7JTSLOZRS6KUVKXEKYKMZV/", "sender": { "address": "whiteld (a) usa.net", "mailman_id": "64092cdf17de46d2bbf0a5ab7a58e6f9", "emails": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/sender/64092cdf17de46d2bbf0a5ab7a58e6f9/emails/" }, "sender_name": "Lowell White", "subject": "[amsat-bb] An interesting DARPA project has been announced for\tsatellites", "date": "2011-10-21T12:34:40Z", "parent": null, "children": [], "votes": { "likes": 0, "dislikes": 0, "status": "neutral" }, "content": "I am posting this information with hopes that the opportunity it may represent\ncould be of help to AMSAT members as well as possibly to AMSAT at large. I'm\nnot posting it to launch endless debates but to raise hopes that there is\nindeed a need for folks with our (collective) types of skills and potential to\nadvance the technology (i.e. the state of the art) for Amateur purposes. Since\ncommercial and/or government involvement (funding, etc) is often needed for\nnew technologies to flourish prior to the technology designs, and even 'scraps\nand leftovers' being re-purposed for Amateur use, it seemed germane. \n\nKind regards & 73, \n\nLowell\nK9LDW\n\n==========\n\nDARPA... Seeking Interested Performers For Phoenix Program... \n\n[SatNews] Innovators are now being sought for DARPA satellite servicing\ntechnology programs. \n\nMore than $300 billion worth of satellites are estimated to be in the\ngeosynchronous orbit (GEO—22,000 miles above the Earth). Many of these\nsatellites have been retired due to normal end of useful life, obsolescence or\nfailure; yet many still have valuable components, such as antennas, that could\nlast much longer than the life of the satellite. When satellites in GEO\n“retire,” they are put into a GEO disposal or “graveyard” orbit. That\ngraveyard potentially holds tens to more than a hundred retired satellites\nthat have components that could be repurposed – with the willing knowledge\nand sanction of the satellite’s owner. Today, DoD deploys new, replacement\nsatellites at high cost—one of the primary drivers of the high cost is the\nlaunch costs, which is dependent on the weight and volume of antennas. The\nrepurposing of existing, retired antennas from the graveyard represents a\npotential for significant cost savings. \n\nDARPA’s Phoenix program seeks to develop technologies to cooperatively\nharvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in\nGEO and demonstrate the ability to create new space systems at greatly reduced\ncost. “If this program is successful, space debris becomes space\nresource,” said DARPA Director, Regina E. Dugan. This concept will require\ndiverse expertise from the international and nontraditional space communities.\nFor example, today’s ground-based robotics systems allow surgeons to perform\ntelesurgery on a patient thousands of miles away, and advanced remote imaging\nsystems used for offshore drilling view the ocean floor thousands of feet\nunderwater. These types of capabilities, if re-engineered for zero gravity,\nhigh-vacuum and harsh radiation, could be used in space to allow the\nrepurposing of valuable antennas from retired GEO satellites. \n\n “Satellites in GEO are not designed to be disassembled or repaired, so\nit’s not a matter of simply removing some nuts and bolts,” said David\nBarnhart, DARPA program manager. “This requires new remote imaging and\nrobotics technology and special tools to grip, cut, and modify complex\nsystems, since existing joints are usually molded or welded. Another challenge\nis developing new remote operating procedures to hold two parts together so a\nthird robotic ‘hand’ can join them with a third part, such as a fastener,\nall in zero gravity. For a person operating such robotics, the complexity is\nsimilar to trying to assemble via remote control multiple Legos at the same\ntime while looking through a telescope.” \n\n To optimally use those repurposed assets, the Phoenix program will develop\nlow-cost, scalable electronics and structural modules that would allow\nlocalized control and communication with each other and a master satellite,\nala DARPA’s System F6, that together harnesses the repurposed antennas.\nPhoenix specifically seeks technologies for developing a new class of small\n“satlets,” or nanosatellites, which can be sent more economically to the\nGEO region through existing ride-along services with commercial satellite\nlaunches and then robotically attached to the antenna of a nonfunctional\ncooperating satellite to essentially create a new space system. The\nnanosatellites may leverage the technologies, infrastructure, protocols and\narchitecture developed within the ongoing System F6 program. \n\n Technical expertise is sought to design a payload orbital delivery system, or\nPODS, to safely house the satlets when they are launched aboard a commercial\nsatellite. A separate on-orbit “tender,” or satellite servicing station,\nis planned to be launched into GEO. Once the tender arrives on-orbit, the PODS\nwould be released from its ride-along host and linked with the tender to\nbecome part of the satellite servicing station’s “tool belt.” The tender\nplans to be equipped with grasping mechanical arms and remote vision systems\nto remove components and satlets from the PODS using unique space tools to be\ndeveloped in the program. \n\nCritical to the success of the Phoenix program is active participation from\nboth U.S. and international communities involved in vital technical areas such\nas: \n-Radiation tolerant microelectronics and memory storage\n-Distributed wireless mobile platform solutions for ad hoc connectivity and\ncontrol\n-Industrial electronic control systems\n-Terrestrial microminiature guidance and control measurement units\n-Industrial robotics end effectors and tool changeout mechanisms and\ntechniques\n-Computer-assisted medical robotics microsurgical telepresence, tools and\nimaging\n-Remote underwater imaging/vision technologies used in the offshore oil and\ngas drilling industry\n-Terrestrial manufacturing of high volume microelectronics and computer data\nstorage\n-Terrestrial thermal management design technology of electronic devices and\nsystems\n-Low-cost industrial manufacturing of high-volume sheet metal and other\nstructural materials\n-Additive manufacturing on various structural materials\n\n DARPA will host two upcoming industry days in November 2011 for interested\nperformers.\n\nSource: http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi\n\n###\n\n\n", "attachments": [] }