Lifeboat Foundation

China is readying its next piloted space mission, a multifaceted undertaking that will lay the foundation for the country to build a space station in Earth orbit in the 2020s.

Both Tiangong-2 (whose name means “Heavenly Palace”) and the piloted Shenzhou-11 spacecraft are now undergoing checkout at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Tiangong-2, which is scheduled to launch in mid-September, is a true “space lab” that will verify key technologies for building China’s space station, according to its chief designer, Zhu Zongpeng. [Latest News About China’s Space Program].

Continue reading “China Readies Next ‘Heavenly Palace’ for Mid-September Launch” »

CIA reveals Spacenet ‘AI in the sky’ that could constantly monitor activity on Earth via high resolution satellites…

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi film — an AI that constantly monitors the Earth, looks for unusual activity.

Continue reading “CIA reveals Spacenet ‘AI in the sky’ that could constantly monitor activity on Earth” »

Very true point.

With the launch of the world’s first quantum communication satellite, the era of unhackable communication has begun.

A first step in establishing repair standards on satellite in space; wonder could we eventually see a version of the EPA or in space.

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Defense Research Projects Agency plans to establish a consortium to discuss standards and practices for on-orbit satellite servicing as a corollary to Robotic Servicing of Geostationary Satellites (RSGS), an effort to develop robotic spacecraft to inspect, repair and move other satellites.

“Our fear was that we would create a robotic servicing capability through RSGS and when our industry partner went to Lloyds of London for insurance, someone would say, ‘You have no authority to conduct that mission,’” said Brad Tousley, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office.

Continue reading “DARPA to establish satellite-servicing consortium to discuss on-orbit repair standards” »

China 2 yr Quantum Communication program’s goal is to reliably transmit ‘unhackable’ keys from space to the ground through quantum entanglement.

China has been the first country to utilize quantum technologies within their satellites in order to mitigate the threats from cyber attacks in their country.

With this week’s overload of news flashes about the Quantum Satellite launch, I restrained from publishing too much repeat news on the launch. However, I came across an excellent article from NASAspaceflight.com that provides additional and good details about some of the initial “publically known” experiments that are to be conducted by the Chinese.

Of course, as with any government agency, not all information is shared.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/08/long-march-2d-quantu…satellite/

Continue reading “Long March 2D launches world’s first quantum communications satellite” »

Spaceflight venture Moon Express wants to be the first private company ever to land on the Moon in 2017 — and now the company has been granted approval by the United States government to launch to the lunar surface. It’s the first time the government has granted regulatory approval for a private mission beyond Earth orbit. And Moon Express came very close to being denied permission to go.

No regulatory framework currently exists for a commercial space missions to another world. Lawmakers are working on a permanent solution, but it likely won’t be ready in time for Moon Express’ 2017 mission. So the company came up with its own temporary framework — a regulatory patch — that the US government could use to oversee the company’s mission. And after a meeting between the Federal Aviation Administration, the White House, and the State Department, Moon Express has been given the approval it needs to launch to the Moon.

So far, commercial companies have mostly just launched satellites into space; all specialized private missions, like launching cargo to the space station, have been overseen by NASA. That means Moon Express could be the first private company to land on the Moon, as well as the company that travels the farthest away from our planet.

Continue reading “Moon Express becomes first private company to get US approval for lunar mission” »

Sure some things may be hyped up; however, not everything including hacking. And, I would not wish to see others make the mistake of believing that they will not be hacked by state funded hackers with access to a quantum network. Especially, when you understand China’s advances in QC and close partnerships with Australia’s QC labs and researchers.

A word of caution so we can all be excited for the right reasons.

Continue reading “Why China’s Quantum Satellite Is Incredible—And Will Surely Be Overhyped” »

Researchers display an earth-based telescope in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Aug. 17, 2016. China successfully launched the world’s first quantum satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday. Five earth-based telescopes distributed across the country will be used in the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), four of which were developed by the Institute of Optics and Electronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu. (Photo/Xinhua)