NASA working on refueling satellites

Artist's concept of a servicing satellite (Image: NASA)

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Geostationary satellites cost a fortune and, despite their sophistication, they break down or eventually run out of propellant to keep them oriented. This is unfortunate when the nearest garage is back on Earth, so NASA wants to remedy this with an orbital version of roadside service. The space agency is developing a service robot that can visit ailing satellites and refuel or even repair them on the spot.

Geosynchronous satellites are a vital part of the modern world. Orbiting 22,300 miles (35,800 km) above the earth, they are a key link in global telecommunications, and keep a constant eye on the planet’s weather. They are extremely valuable both for the work they do, and due to the cost of building them and putting them in orbit.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum holds the Robotics Refueling Mission unit (Image: NASA)

Unfortunately, their service life can be frustratingly short. Even if a satellite operates flawlessly for years without a component failing, there comes a day when it runs out of propellant and can no longer keep itself on station and properly pointed. When that happens, it goes from being a vital part of the global infrastructure to so much space junk. With 149 government-owned spacecraft and 275 commercial satellites currently in geosynchronous orbit, that is a very large investment at risk.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is working to develop orbital robots that can intercept, refuel and service geosynchronous satellites. The refueling program is already at an advanced enough stage that a technology demonstrator called the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) in July of last year. The RRM was installed on a temporary platform outside the station.

Though it’s designed to refuel satellites, the RRM isn't just an outer space petrol pump. It’s more of a robotic mechanic with tools to manipulate wires, unscrew caps and operate valves. In March of this year the space station’s RRM, nicknamed “Dextre,” cut two twisted "lock wires" – each one measuring 20 thousandths of an inch (0.5 mm) in diameter. This was an extremely delicate operation and a first for a space robot.

Technicians in protective gear test satellite refueling pump hardware (Image: NASA)

The reason why the RRM needs these capabilities is that the service robot isn't just intended to refuel satellites designed to receive it, but others as well. Goddard wants a robot capable of carrying out what it calls the five “Rs” – refueling, repositioning, remote survey, component replacement or repairing – on any satellite that might require its services.

Working with Goddard are engineers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their job is to find a way to safely and effectively refuel satellites using hypergolic propellants such as nitrogen tetroxide, hydrazine and monomethyl hydrazine. It’s a tricky job because these propellants are highly corrosive and toxic, and have low viscosity, which means they spread easily whether you want them to or not. Worse, they ignite on contact with one another, so leaks are definitely out.

Also, the systems on the recipient satellite aren't very robust, so the pumping system needs to be very accurate to avoid blowing a hose or gasket. With this in mind, Kennedy has been testing a proof-of-concept pump. The next phase will be to develop a flight-ready pump and work out operating procedures with testing to begin in the next year. Meanwhile, the astronauts aboard the ISS will be carrying out a refueling demonstration later this year.

Source: NASA

LG Nexus price to start at US$399 unlocked?

Rumours to date have given us a pretty good idea of what the LG Nexus 4 (or LG Optimus G Nexus) will likely look like, its specifications, and even the announcement date. All that is really missing at this point is the price and ByteNow looks to have that last bit of information. According to their anonymous source, the next Nexus device could start as low as US$399 for the 8GB model.

The report adds that the LG Nexus 4 will go on sale through Google Play and that there may be no carrier partnerships (and subsidized pricing) at launch time. Google and LG will offer GSM-only models at first to keep prices as low as possible. More expensive LTE models have been ruled out for now.

If the 8GB model sells for US$399, it is possible that the 16GB one will sell arond the US$449 mark.

As for the name, it looks like it is about 60% in favour of LG Nexus 4 and 40% for LG Optimus Nexus.

 

Asus PadFone 2 Details Revealed, Sports a 4.7-inch display

The facts of the Asus Padfone 2 smart phone, which is set to be presented in a meeting in Tuscany next 7 days, have been exposed online. Operating on a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processer, the Padfone2 activities a 4.7-inch IPS 720p HD show.

Asus has offered the next version of the smartphone-tablet combination with a 4.7-inch Extremely IPS+ HD show, assisting a 1280×720 pixel quality. The Padfone 2 will game a large 10.1-inch show while operated by a 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processer reinforced by 2GB RAM. The product is operated by a 2140 mAh power supply.

It also comes prepared with a huge 13MP rear-facing photographic camera, which Bloomberg guarantees us can take some “phenomenal” pictures. It’s hard to tell the quality of the pictures from viewing it clip, but it’s fairly easy to think about how good pictures look when clicked with a 13MP photographic camera.

The people at Bloomberg were fortunately enough to temporarily go hands-on with the system in an appointment with ASUS primary Jerry Shen, and were type enough to put movie of the experience up on YouTube for the globe to see.

Maruti Alto 800 Crosses 6000 Pre-Launch Bookings

Maruti Suzuki has bagged 6000 pre-launch booking orders for the eagerly awaited Alto 800. Bookings for the small car have opened on October 1 after Maruti launched a web page (www.marutisuzukialto800.com/). On the site, those interested can complete all the details and pre-book the car, with deliveries expected to start during the Diwali holidays.
Looking at the response, the company believes that 10,000 bookings before the car’s official launch is very much possible.
New Alto 800 is more fuel efficient than the outgoing variant and has been developed at an investment of Rs 470 crores and is based on the same platform seen on the earlier Alto which was launched 12 years ago. The current model will offer fuel efficiency of 22.74 kmpl which is enhanced by 15% as compared to the previous model while it will sport improved gear shift and additional space in rear passenger cabin. Once launched, MSIL hopes to have a production schedule of 800 cars per day.

Apple Pays for Swiss Railway Clock Design

The apple company may be willing to invest large numbers in judge over some trademark battles, but it is familiar with the training of record and has made the decision not to clutter with the Europe.

Last 30 days, Switzerland’s train owner SBB took Cupertino to process for getting the style of its time for iOS 6's Clock app. Now the globe's preferred fondleslab producer has made the decision to pay up and certificate the style from SBB, rather than danger the anger of the Europe railways.

The iPad Clock app, according to an SBB representative, was “an unwanted use by apple,” and thus they required to work out a “legal and financial” quality to the problem to avoid trademark violation.  However, SBB later confessed that it was “rather extremely pleased that a product as essential as The apple company is using our style,” to explain that they were not basically getting cash for the use of the style.  SBB already does actually certificate the clock’s style to other organizations, such as the company Mondaine, so it can be presumed that The apple company did pay to use the style.

According to SBB, the train time, which was initially developed by Hendes Hilfike in the mid 1940s has become “a icon of advancement and stability.”

Angry Birds Star Wars is the new Android game from Rovio

 



While I got bored of Angry Birds a long time ago, I might just go back to playing it for my love of the Star Wars franchise (the original trilogy, not the horrid new one). Rovio has posted a teaser video of Angry Birds Star Wars, the next Angry Birds game that they teased with an animated image just a couple of days ago. The game will be available for download on November 8th.

The angry birds will no doubt be the Jedi taking on the evil Imperial Sith Forces of those bad piggies. We can probably expect to see Star Wars inspired contraptions and levels, and maybe even a final level taking place in the Death Star. While there is no knowing how the gameplay will be, let us hope it is something new and not just a rehash of the gameplay from the previous games.

Watch the teaser video below. And please Rovio, no Jar Jar Binks.
 

LG Optimus GK referred by Samsung Securities, might be your Optimus G II

 

LG has been in the news lately, and rightly so, as it holds the keys to the next Nexus phone due for release in a few weeks from now.

As per an investment report leaked from Samsung Securities, LG Electronics is forecasted to achieve a significant  turnaround in its smartphone business arm in the first quarter of 2013, and set itself up as the 3rd largest smartphone manufacturer in the word in the first half of 2013. Finnish giant Nokia currently holds the #3 spot, after having revived its strategy through its Windows Phone 7 devices over the last year. The report is actually a standard investment advisory which analyzes a company and recommends a buy or sell order for its stock, based on existing and forecasted performance. In this case, the report indicates a ‘Buy” order for LGE stock, which is usually a positive indicator for times to come.

Now for the more interesting part- the document also makes note of the Optimus G, indicating that it should hit overseas markets sometime in November. It also mentions two hitherto unheard of models (referring to them as successors) – the V2 and GK. Could the GK possibly be the Optimus G II?

No other details are known at this point, and it would be interesting to wait and watch what LG brings to the table over the next few months, and whether it will lay stake to its spot up the ladder to the #3 spot by mid-2013.  What do  you folks think?

LG, Optimus G2