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DeLorme inReach Two-Way Satellite Communicator

Posted by Andrew at 12:23 PM on January 29, 2012

DeLorme LogoAndy talks to Jim from DeLorme about the new inReach two-way satellite communicator, perfect for those really out of the way places.

The DeLorme inReach is a tracking and communication device that uses a satellite radio link to transmit text and GPS location data, rather than the mobile phone network. Owners can communicate via text message from anywhere on the planet, not just those areas with mobile phone coverage, and it’s ideal for hikers and extreme sports enthusiasts who might have an emergency far from a phone signal (or simply want to reassure family that they’re ok.)

The inReach has two modes of operation, one where you use the control unit directly, the other where an Android smartphone app talks to the control unit via Bluetooth. The app is needed for two-way text messaging, mainly as the control unit doesn’t have a keyboard, but there is a dedicated SOS button on the control unit for emergencies. Other smartphones may be supported later.

The inReach costs $250 and a monthly subscription is required for service priced at $9.95 per month. The units are available now.

The inReach is impact-resistant, waterproof, floats and weighs 8oz. Battery life is 60 hours on a pair of lithium AAs. Overall, it’s an ideal emergency backup device but please note, gadgets like this are not a substitute for proper planning, preparation and equipment. Always tell someone your plan and expected return time.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Posted in Android, Bluetooth, ces, Gear, google, GPS, space, Special Media, travel accessories

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ViaSat exede 12 Mb/s Satellite Broadband Pricing

Posted by Andrew at 1:30 AM on January 10, 2012

ViaSat LogoIn a follow up to our earlier story on ViaSat and NRTC, ViaSat have announced their new 12 Mb/s satellite broadband service, exede. The high speed service will launch on 16 January beginning at $50 per month, offering 12 Mb/s down and 3 Mb/s up, using the new ViaSat-1 satellite.

The exede service will be welcomed by rural communities that have been unable to get high speed Internet connections because of the lack of infrastructure and the distances involved. Satellite broadband overcomes these issues to offer a “feels like fiber” experience.

“With our new exede broadband service, customers across the United States will have a way to get exceptional speed whether they live in a city, suburbs or a more rural area,” said Tom Moore, senior VP of ViaSat.  “Our new exede service speeds make us very competitive with both wireless home broadband service as well as legacy DSL and many cable services.”

The exede residential broadband packages all feature the same high speed but with higher data allowances at each price point. 

exede12 Services

Up to 12 Mbps downloads
and up to 3 Mbps uploads

Data Allowance (monthly)

7.5 GB

15 GB

25 GB

Package Price (monthly)

$49.99

$79.99

$129.99

Overall, this looks like a great new service for people who were poorly served in the past, but users will have to watch out for those data limits.

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Posted in ces, internet, space

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NRTC Offers ViaSat Satellite Broadband

Posted by Andrew at 10:52 AM on January 5, 2012

ViaSat LogoThe National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative has partnered with ViaSat to offer NRTC members faster 12 Mb/s satellite broadband through ViaSat’s WildBlue service. The NRTC represents the telecommunications and information technology interests of around 1500 rural utilities and affiliates in 48 US states.

The new ViaSat-1 high-capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite was launched back in October and includes coverage over North America and Hawaii, enabling a variety of new, high-speed broadband services for WildBlue in the U.S., Xplornet in Canada, and JetBlue Airways on its domestic U.S. fleet. Capable of 140 Gb/s, this one single satellite has more capacity that all of the other North American satellites put together.

“NRTC’s electric and telephone members were the first distributors of WildBlue service, and they remain committed to ensuring that rural Americans have access to robust broadband,” said Tim Bryan, NRTC CEO.  “The enhanced satellite broadband service will make significant contributions to the communities we serve, so we are very happy to continue our relationship with ViaSat and offer the new service.”

Pricing wasn’t announced, but current WildBlue customers pay between $50 and $80 per month depending on service.  Outside of ViaSat-1′s coverage area, the NRTC will also offer 5 Mb/s broadband service through a range of delivery mechanisms. Based on figures from WildBlue, between 10 and 20 million American households are unable to get broadband through DSL or cable and for them, fast satellite broadband at a reasonable price will be warmly welcomed.

Todd and his team will try to get a demo of the satellite service at next week’s CES.

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Posted in ces, internet, space

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Curiosity Is On It’s Way To Mars

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 11:43 AM on November 27, 2011

The big one we have all been waiting for is on it’s way.  The Mars Science Laboratory, better known as the Curiosity rover, lifted off yesterday from Florida and began it’s 8 and half month journey to the red planet.  Curiosity carries with it the hopes and dreams of, not just a lot of scientists and NASA engineers, but also a lot of average Americans who can only dream of this trip and what can be discovered there.

Carried into space on an Atlas 5 rocket, Curiosity, a rover the size of a car, will touch down in the Gale Crater and begin it’s systematic experiments in search of the building blocks of life on Mars.  Gale Crater is described by Universe Today as “one of the most scientifically interesting locations on the Red Planet because it exhibits exposures of clay minerals that formed in the presence of neutral liquid water that could be conducive to the genesis of life.”

The launch yesterday went off without a hitch and the rover is now on it’s way to the red planet.  Before you get too excited, Curiosity won’t discover life (if any), but only find if the necessary conditions are present.  Finding actual life will have to wait for the next mission.  As with all things this complicated, expensive, and time-consuming the scale of time is much greater than we all would like it to be.

You can watch a video of yesterday’s launch below.

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Posted in nasa, Science, space

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The Modern Space Race

Posted by Andrew at 8:21 AM on September 15, 2011

The Institute of Engineering and Technology’s monthly magazine always has plenty of tech articles and this month is no exception with a look at the different approaches to space flight being adopted by the US and Russia in Gateway to the Stars.

In the US, privateers are pushing forwards with the new Spaceport America in New Mexico, while the Russians continue with the Soviet-era Baikonur Cosmodrome. The pictures of the new spaceport under construction and Virgin Galactic craft contrast sharply with the utility of Baikonur. Obviously the sites are aiming at different markets, one consumer-led into sub-oribital flight, the other for ballistic launches, typically satellites and cargo runs to the ISS.

Picture courtesy of Virgin Galactic. The new spaceport terminal is the building under construction in the foreground.

The article also has some great trivia. Did you know that the nearest settlement to Spaceport America is called “Truth or Consequences” or that Baikonur Cosmodrome is actually 300 km from Baykonur so as to mislead the West? Or that the launch countdown to zero can be credited to Fritz Lang’s 1929 film “The Woman in the Moon”?

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Posted in space, Transportation

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Great ISS and Meteor Video

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 10:53 AM on August 14, 2011

One of my favorite web sites, Universe Today, has linked up a video that really captured my imagination.  The video, captured by Bryan Stewart and posted to Vimeo, shows the International Space Station (ISS) passing overhead during the recent Perseid Meteor Shower.

The video is 1:06 in length and was filmed in Texas at 6:25am on August 10, 2011.  In addition to some great videography, it also features a soundtrack that is Carl Sagan set to music.  What more could you ask for?!

If you have never seen the ISS pass over, it’s a steady, non-blinking white light that moves fairly quickly across the sky.  Not meteor-fast, but you will only have 1-2 minutes of viewing time to follow it from one horizon to the other.

If you want to find out if/when it will be viewable in your area, I recommend the Heaven’s Above website.  You will to need to enter the coordinates of your location, but once you have it set up you can bookmark it with your coordinates and you will not need to ever enter them again.  In addition to the ISS, it also gives information on such passes as Iridium Satellites.

The video is posted below.  Enjoy.

ISS pass with perseid meteor from Bryan Stewart on Vimeo.

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Posted in Astronomy, iss, Science, space, video

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Geek Joke of the Day

Posted by Andrew at 12:10 PM on August 8, 2011

This is really bad….

Apparently the NASA Juno probe
couldn’t use a real-time operating system
because it’s Io bound.

Thanks to @marnanel for that gem.

 

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Posted in Geek Culture, space

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The Real Cost of SETI

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 5:13 PM on May 2, 2011

I found an interesting info-graphic today while browsing one of my favorite science blogs – Bad Astronomy, run by astronomer, author, and debunker of woo, Phil Plait.  As everyone has probably heard, SETI, the “search for extraterrestrial intelligence” is being shut down.  The issue was budget-related.  To be fair, Phil got this from the Microcosmologist blog.  A portion of the image is shown below, but you really need to click it and view the whole thing for full effect.

seti info-graphic

The cost of SETI operations is $2.5 million per year, or the cost of 5 Tomahawk missile.  And, from that starting point, costs just spiral out of control.  I ask you all, if you believe in this program, then read what both links I provided have to say.

Check out the info-graphic that displays what we spend elsewhere.  Sure, things like national-defense are necessary.  But, when $1 from every Starbucks customer could fund such great science for years, is that really too much to ask?  When a single bank executive could fund SETI with walking-around money, is that too much to ask?  Google could fund this project without even missing the money.  Hint to any Google execs who read this blog…

Are we alone?  It seems unlikely in a universe so vast.  Can we find ET?  Again, in a universe so vast…  But, without SETI, then one of our best chances will disappear.  And that, I think, is a real shame.  Perhaps SETI needs to sign up for KickStarter….

 

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Posted in space

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Yuri Gagarin 50th Anniversary Links

Posted by Andrew at 4:47 PM on April 17, 2011

Image credit: NASA

To conclude our short series of posts on Yuri Gagarin’s first orbit of the Earth in Vostok 1 fifty years’ ago, I thought I might put together a few of the best links that I’ve found on the web for those who want to know more about Yuri and his historic flight.

  1. Yuri Gagarin’s Wikipedia Entry
  2. YuriGagarin50.org – A comprehensive site dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s Flight Into Space
  3. BBC Gagarin 50 Years On – The BBC’s micro-site about Gagarin and space flight.
  4. Sky at Night magazine – I’m afraid you’ll have to find a bookstore or newsagents and buy this one.
  5. NASA – Yuri Gagarin – NASA’s celebration of Yuri.
  6. RIA Novosti’s Gagarin Coverage – Russia’s state-owned newsgency’s take on Yury and the celebrations.
  7. RIA Novosti’s Image Library – Do an advanced search for Gagarin and put in dates from 1960 to 1965.
  8. Astronautix – This is a fascinating site. Once you’ve finished with Gagarin, have a browse round some of the other articles.
  9. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre – Bit difficult to navigate around and translated from Russian but some interesting stuff and photos.
  10. Yuri Gagarin Flight Video on YouTube – Just turn the sound down.
  11. Vostok 1 Mission on YouTube
  12. Propaganda Booklet
  13. Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin – Generally considered to be the best biography – available from good bookstores everywhere.

Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments.

Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin

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Posted in Science, space

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First Orbit

Posted by Andrew at 5:09 PM on April 14, 2011

Continuing the celebration of Yuri Gagarin’s orbit of the Earth in Vostok 1 back in 1961, First Orbit is a documentary film that joins archive footage of the event with modern shots taken from the International Space Station (ISS). The filmmaker, Christopher Riley, collaborated with the European Space Agency to see if it would be possible to film the same view across the planet that Gagarin saw out of the window of his tiny spacecraft. As you might guess, it was possible, and by filming at particular time on a particular orbit, astronaut Paolo Nespoli captured a re-creation of that historic flight.

The film unfolds in real-time and includes Gagarin’s original communications with ground control, call sign Dawn. Fortunately there are English subtitles if your Russian is a bit rusty. There’s a stirring soundtrack by Philip Sheppard and it’s really quite mesmerising to watch. You almost forget that it happened 50 years ago and the real-time nature of it makes it feel that it’s unfolding as you watch.

The film is available on YouTube (below) but you can also freely download it in a variety of sizes. I’d recommend downloading the 1.9 GB hi-def version, and putting on the big TV. Set aside 108 minutes and become Yuri.

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Posted in Film, Science, space

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