Developments in quantum entanglement research may mean satellites hold the key to encrypting communications here on Earth – using a preliminary form of teleportation. “If we can use correlations between entangled photons to establish a quantum key, it could be used for secure communications,” University of Waterloo associate professor Thomas Jennewein told Scientific American. A quantum key occurs when two entangled quanta, such as two [...]
Post Tagged with: “security”
Sequestration and Espionage: Public Loses Access to NASA
What happens when the world’s largest space agency gets hit by simultaneous arbitrary budget cuts and accusations of security lapses? It starts pulling up the drawbridges, that’s what. On March 13, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden issued a new policy on NASA personnel travelling to conferences: they can’t. In response to sequestration cuts that went into effect March 1, NASA decided that [...]
Meteor Startles Northeast United States
On Friday, March 22, much of the northeastern US witnessed a fireball shooting low across the sky a little before 8 p.m. EDT. NASA later confirmed the fireball to belong to a meteor, just under one meter in diameter. Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, told reporters that the incident was [...]
Former NASA Employees Bring Safety to Oil Rigs
What does a NASA safety engineer do when his shuttle’s been retired and his agency’s downsizing? He signs up with the oil industry. It turns out that many of the risk assessment methodologies and safety culture elements that NASA employees have honed over the the past decades translate quite nicely to the oil industry, according to recent reporting by Fuelfix‘s [...]
Epsilon Rocket Data Stolen by Hackers
On Friday November 30th, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced an investigation into a possible data leak relating to its Epsilon rocket due to a computer virus. “The data stolen from the space agency included information about the Epsilon, a solid-fuel rocket still under development,” said New York Times reporter Martin Fackler. “While the Epsilon is intended to launch satellite [...]
Emergence of Cyber Security Products for Space Systems
With recent events, such as the published cyber breach of Landsat-7 and Terra AM-1 and cyber intrusions into space agencies like NASA and JAXA, public awareness of the cyber defense needs of space assets is rising . Questions such as ‘what is being done to protect satellites and ground stations?’ are being asked by governments, service providers, and possibly even [...]
Synchronized Tumbling: Developing a Space Debris Removal Skill
In-orbit rendezvous is a potential solution to address space debris removal, considered to be the predominant issue facing the arena of outer space security and safety. DARPA, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is using an unusual resource to develop rendezvous capability with out of control satellites: a high school competition. “The control procedures that were developed for the [...]
A Primer on the Legal Issues Surrounding Space Debris Remediation, Part 1
Space debris is considered to be the prominent issue facing the arena of outer space security and safety. More than 57 years of space activities by the space faring nations have left a debris environment that is self-perpetuating and threatens to render useless the outer space environment particularly in low-earth orbit. Space debris ranges in size from fragments less than [...]
50th EELV Launch Takes-off With Atlas V
On June 20, an Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, carrying a spy satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office. The launch was the 50th Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) take-off, including 31 Atlas V and 19 Delta IV missions since 2002. “Twelve of the 50 EELV launches have been NRO missions and these have been vital to our [...]
More Details on NRO Spy Telescope Transfer to NASA Revealed
A USA Today article highlights details surrounding the two space telescopes gifted to NASA by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The information, which was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request made to NASA by USA Today, consists of a question and answer sheet provided to NASA Public Affairs personnel. The information provided addresses such matters as: • what [...]
