NZ's first Satellite

[ZeroID]

Launched on the Electron 'Still Testing', a 1 meter geodesic reflective ball made of carbon fibre.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11981271

Plus they used a new launch ring on the rocket that can place several satellites into different orbits.

These guys are just rocketing ahead with innovation !! :D

[skysurfer]

What is the purpose of this mission ?

Another load of space debris ....

[gregbradley]

Great, just what we need, the brightest object in the night sky is a manmade object. Luckily it only lasts 9 months.

Light pollution in space now eh? How is that a win for humanity like the sappy article says.

Greg.

[ZeroID]

Confess. I wasn't quite expecting that kind of response .... :shrug:

It's a proof of concept and test launch, it is carbon fibre and will leave nothing behind when it finally descends. Even the rocket body, payload fairing and 2nd stage hardware is mostly carbon fire and will be burnt to nothing.

I don't think it is going to GLARE the sky to daylight, it's only 1 meter in diameter after all. The ISS is 1000's of times bigger and it hasn't ruined the night sky to my knowledge. Or not that I have noticed anyway.

Of the three cube sats launched, two were for shipping and weather monitoring and the other for landsat imaging. All were the size of a loaf of bread. All will eventually descend but the tasks they have are important and RocketLab is providing a more cost effective and eco friendly launch option than other providers.

The 'Disco Ball' is a bit of harmless fun and a test unit for the payload launch ring.

[N1]

Russia, America, China, EU, India: radio satellites, space labs, spysats, space stations, moon rovers, space telescopes, planetary probes, people, animals

Nu Zuland: disco ball

:rockband::atom::party::party:

:poke:

[Wavytone]

Disco ball. How unimaginative.

Should at least have been a solar powered laser cannon...:lol:

[OICURMT]

Can wait to see how many images are ruined by this satellite with no useful purpose.

[gary]

Hi Brent,

Thanks for the heads-up and congratulations on Kiwi ingenuity and
determination for the successful technical achievement of developing
a commercial rocket that has proven it can place a payload in orbit.

On this side of the Tasman, where the government talks of grandiose plans for
a space agency, the millions spent on advertising the government's
innovation agenda on the side of bus stops was probably larger than
Rocket Labs entire R&D spend and all we can do is look on with
envious eyes.

At least Australian graduate aerospace engineers will not has as far to travel
for employment.

See https://www.seek.com.au/Rocket-Lab-jobs

[pmrid]

Sure about that? In that terrific video footage we all saw, those items were certainly ejected while the rocket was still climbing and in atmosphere. They fell away gracefully and they were certainly not burning as they fell - or did my eyes deceive me>
Peter

[N1]

To be fair, miniaturisation of space tech isn't altogether a bad idea and does potentially save a lot of resources and damage to the environment. So if used smartly (I'm aware that it may not), I think there are definitely some benefits to be had. And I look forward to being able to see a rocket launch with the kids without having to travel very far at all (once they establish something resembling a schedule).

[ZeroID]

They " fell away gracefully " at 120 km altitude in the near vacuum of space at about 17,000 km per hr. They will enter the atmosphere proper at about 60km altitude at a similar speed.
There won't be anything left ....

[Peter Ward]

Happy to echo the remarks and congratulate the Kiwi's for

a) actually having a space program
b) developing their own rocket engine using innovative metal 3D printing technologies

Meanwhile back in Australia we have a bureaucracy but no program as such.

Even more amusing is a talented bunch of ex-Monash Aero-Engineering grads were poached by the Kiwi's for the program...this was a win-win for both parties.....as let's face it...there is stuff-all employment for our grads in Oz.

Very much a case of "Yes Minister's" hospital with no patients....and sadly no joke, as this farce in Australia is real.

Good on you NZ! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[StuTodd]

More trash orbiting Earth. What a superb idea, makes me so proud :rolleyes:

Cue the "Macdonald Cosmic Burger Star", the "Star with your loved ones ashes in", "Stars of Facebook star" etc etc.

Stupid idea, mark my words, this won't be the end of space advertising.

[Visionary]

Yes.. and well done NZ!

[skysurfer]

Space graffiti is it called.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/26/space-graffiti-astronomers-angry-over-launch-of-fake-star-into-sky
And they are right. Stupid waste of resources.

[AndyG]

Somewhat 2nd'd... Nothing wrong with some good clean fun and bantz, but this is going to wreck some people's day (or night, to be precise).

The sad thing for us is, this new toy WILL get traction. The obvious opinion is that it's the start of something new. Astromomers (both Pro and backyarders) are the fringest of fringe minorities. We probably hold less public interest than the Flat Earthers - so kindly referenced in other threads here.

That said, good on anyone who can get useful tools into space at a good price. Congrats to such a small team using new methods also. Lets see what happens after this one falls out of the sky.

[Ric]

Congrats to the Kiwi's

More bragging rights over Australia. ;) :lol:

[ZeroID]

Actually it is not going to ruin your images. It will only be visible in the early evening and morning when the sun shines on it. When you are imaging it will not be visible, no sun.... just like all the other thousands of satellites up there.

[rally]

Great show of technological commercial R&D effort and as stated its pitiful that Australian commercial and political will is so lacking in true Yes Minister style.
So its a big congrats to the Kiwis

But unfortunately I also feel compelled to add - the egocentric, look at me approach of Beckett is nothing more than a hitech equivalent of an attention seeking Youtube hit - at the expense of clear skies.

I cannot see how any amateur or even professional could be joyed with the prospect of the brightest thing in the sky, that is otherwise completely useless, passing through their images.
Especially now knowing that their stated intention is to send as many into the sky as needed, so that no matter where you are on the planet these things will be visible - I just read the article and I've already forgotton the reason !

I am surprised but grateful however that they were unable to develop an unfolding version using MEMs or flexure hinges etc which would have meant they could have included 50 of them into the same volume of payload !

If every space capable nation added some of these to their payloads our night sky images will soon look like a radar screen full of WW2 jamming chaff.

Thank the lord for Winsorized Sigma clipping etc stacking algorithms !!!

I do hope that this is not a precedent and that nor will it continue.

[StuTodd]

Yes, the ego trip which could well open the flood gates to more of this pointless space junk being sent into skies.

[pmrid]

This would also apply, by necessary extension, to Elon Musk sending his sports car on a one-way trip to Mars? But oddly, I haven't heard any negative comment on that. Am I missing something?

Peter

[StuTodd]

If it is going to Mars then we won't be able to see it every few days. First I have heard of it but, yeah, equally stupid.:screwy:

It does hold some scientific value though as it proves that it doesn't matter how innovative and clever one may be, the ego will always win out.

[N1]

Clever this guy may be (marketing wise especially), but innovative? He's taken a technology that wastes lots of the energy it receives and changed where that energy comes from...:screwy:

I think it's only going to Mars orbit too. Apparently landing something there without breaking it is a little more demanding.

[pmrid]

If it's going into orbit, that is another example of pollution not unlike the NZ geodesic special that has been mentioned in the posts below. The Musk press release says his little car will orbit for a billion years. So Mars gets a third moon. How much hubris can one man have? Because it won't (barring accidents etc) contact Mars' surface, it presumably doesn't violate the various laws governing the use and abuse of space. But even though it may not be illegal by the letter, it's as wrong as hell by the spirit of the various treaties and international agreements.

It makes the NZ effort pale by comparison.

Peter

[astroron]

Yes Peter,the hero worship of Musk has no bounds.
It seems he can do no wrong in very many people's eyes.
From Presidents, Prime Ministers to Paupers he is like a god
Maybe it's because he is a capitalist god. ;)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[pluto]

Elon Musk is not sending his car to Mars.
The media has really done a terrible job at understanding and reporting on this.
If all goes well the Tesla will be placed into a Heliocentric Mars transfer orbit - so it will be in orbit around the Sun with its periapsis at a distance from the Sun equal to the Earth and an apoapsis at a distance equal to Mars' orbit. When the Tesla gets to the distance of Mars' orbit, Mars won't be there!
TLDR: At no point will the Tesla be anywhere near Mars.

It does sound silly but it makes sense. For example it will demonstrate the ability of the rocket to deliver at least a couple of tons into a Heliocentric orbit, plus it will give SpaceX real world experience with the type of flying nessesary to get stuff to Mars. Plus it's obviously some good advertising for Tesla.

[LewisM]

But..but...there's no charging stations out there...

[pluto]

Haha :lol:

It's probably been stripped of its batteries too - Li-Ion batteries being prone to combustion when damaged probably means their presence isn't worth the risk.

[The_bluester]

Have to admit that I was and remain somewhat taken aback by the responses in this thread. While it is a fairly pointless object you would have to regard it as simply "Test load"

Given the size and shape of the thing it is certainly NOT going to be the brightest object in the sky and the linked article in the first post said as much. Would anyone actually expect this thing to be brighter than the ISS that we actively go out there and try to watch pass over and take photos of? Or of Iridium flares that many of us look forward to just as much? One of which is a matter of hundreds of square meters of reasonably reflective surface area and the other of a couple of square meters of polished antenna. This thing might be polished but it is simply not going to reflect that kind of light in one direction.


As to catching on, seriously? After someone has done it once, what company is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to launch a single purpose object (That purpose being "Look at me, we proved that we can launch this") that only space wonks like us are likely to identify, and that only if we go and look at the ephemeris data (Or if it's "flashing" is distinctive enough to identify it positively on sight) or go to a website that has done the data trawl for us, and only if we are quick enough to do so before it falls back to earth?

From the space graffiti article "Jamming a brilliantly glinting sphere into the heavens feels similarly abusive"

Wonder what he would have made of Sputnik?

[LewisM]

Bit of a storm in a teacup. Ruining images? HA. Not likely.

I still say good on the Kiwis. Done what Australia has failed to do. Even the Bluestreak/Europa weren't ours - we just looked on with gaping mouths.

[SimmoW]

I think we are all able to voice our opinion. Its just a forum.

I was initially aghast, but then felt pleased that at least the kiwis were doing something! And its only up for 90 days or so.

Maybe the aussies should fast track a kiwi killer sat and gobble it up like a Bond villain..Im thinking a giant reflective stubby or prawn...

[N1]

Nor is their weight worth the extra fuel I expect...



Yep, and I'd like to see some of those images "ruined" by the disco ball please :P I just can't see how this thing will be any brighter, or even I]as [/I]bright as the ISS :shrug:

[baileys2611]

I'm listening hard but I don't hear any 'umph tss umph tss umph tss' music every 90 minutes when the disco ball passes over head.

:party::rockband:

[LewisM]

This disco ball is set up in such a way such that when it enters the atmosphere, the friction will create a resonance in the ball from start to finish that screams "SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET as bro" and disintegrates.

[baileys2611]

The remnants of which thump into cars somewhere on a freeway in NZ causing a mass issuance of pinkies.

[pluto]

Just noticed Heavens Above is listing a couple of (barely) visible passes soon from Sydney:
http://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=43168&lat=-33.883&lng=151.217&loc=Sydney&alt=1&tz=AEST

[baileys2611]

I got 'object F' looking at the link.

Did you mean this (http://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=43166&lat=-33.883&lng=151.217&loc=Sydney&alt=1&tz=AEST) one?

[pluto]

Yes!
That's weird because I had that page open for a few days and it definitely was Humanity Star when I first opened it but after refreshing a few times I guess it changed... perhaps HA changed the name or something...?
Either way, good catch! Thanks :)

[N1]

Faint as bro

[pluto]

:D

Also it looks like the Electrons reign as the smallest operational orbital launcher was short lived. Not really in the same class but interesting: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/02/ss-520-5-tricom-1r-test-launch/

[baileys2611]

I remember reading something like that. Apparently there was a 'surprise' object.

[pluto]

The surprise object was the "disco ball" named Humanity Star. Not sure what happened with that HA link, obviously a bug either on the site or, perhaps more likely, my brain ;)

[OICURMT]

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/03/the-demise-of-the-humanity-star