International Space Station: Beehive Of Man’s Activities In Space II

International Space Station: Beehive Of Man’s Activities In Space II

The establishment of International Space Station (ISS) took 12 years with major support from five nations in addition eleven other nations who made different level of contributions. US President Reagan was the brain behind ISS who then conceived the idea of a relatively permanent space station in 1984 and directed NASA to build it. At that time, many thought of the idea as braggadocio of American leadership after her outstanding success of sending people to moon under the Apollo 11 project fifteen years earlier.  No one could imagine the critical role a permanent space station could play in human space exploration nearly four decades later. With American policy of consistency and leading role, the International Space Station became a reality and from November 2000 to date, the station has been continuously populated with scientists of different nationalities experimenting different theories and hypothesis.

As mentioned in the first part of this piece, ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by human crews, after the Soviet and Russian Salyut, Almaz and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US.  The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the US Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle and the rest of other crafts coming and leaving the station continuously. ISS is in deed a beehive of human activities in space. Now, what are the successes achieved in ISS and the prospects as the world moves towards a target year of 2028? The lifespan of ISS was initially planned to operate only up to the year 2020, but in 2014 the US decided to extend its life to 2024. Since then Russia has proposed to extend further the life of the ISS to 2028, and the US space agency NASA seemed ready to accept this new extension. Prospectively, it may reach a target of 2030. On the feats recorded in ISS, NASA alone has catalogue of experiments, which will benefit from extension of the life of the ISS for a few more years. For example, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, NASA’s particle physics detector, is researching “dark matter” using a setting that would not be possible on the Earth’s surface.

There are colossal achievements made in ISS by several nations from different continents of the world. First, ISS provides to U.S. and her partners an operational outpost in space, the most austere environment ever known in the history of humanity. Globally, ISS serves as a platform where more than 2,400 experiments have been conducted since it was first launched. ISS received more than 230 visitors from 18 countries in the last twenty years. In the August 2019 issue of online Journal “ Scientific America 175” Christian Zur wrote article, which stated; “The station's crew have logged over 1,300 extravehicular activity (EVA) hours on more than 217 spacewalks”.

Few years back, Julie Robinson, NASA Space Station program scientist presented ten top achievements of ISS at the 64th International Astronautical Congress in Beijing, China. Among the achievements were, the result of investigation the effects of the space environment on the human body during long duration spaceflight. There is a considerable loss of bone and muscle mass of the astronauts during space mission. Using ISS, Astronauts are now able to address the bone loss that has historically accompanied long periods of weightless.  Proper diet, including adequate amounts of vitamin D, and exercise are found to be the solution.  Resistive exercise, like weight lifting on the Earth, is a recent addition and is now helping to prevent a similar terrestrial ailment such as osteoporosis. Understanding the metabolic processes that lead to osteoporosis and developing the medications and therapies for prevention is a good feat.

Another accomplishment is using optical instruments on the space station to assess water quality in the world’s coastal bays. This was hitherto an impossible task due to large volume of water and area coverage. In addition to this feat, there are a significant number of instruments in Earth remote sensing and astrophysics that are providing new access to data for various services on earth. This makes ISS to be a significant platform for understanding of the Earth system and the universe

Another breakthrough is the study of Combustion engine in the space, the so-called “cold flame”. Some of the research findings revealed more efficient ways of fuel consumption in mechanical power generation engines using combustion system.

Again Studies in ISS have shown increased virulence of bacteria in space. The findings point to possible vaccines, perhaps one to combat salmonella, which is responsible for 15,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths in the world annually. The activities in ISS are inspiring, mobilizing and teaching students across globe about the values of science, technology, engineering and math, or what famously referred as the “STEM fields”. This way the Space station crews and other activities have involved 63 million of the world’s students as at 2016 with additional 100s thousands from then to date. Among these ISS educational activities, over 43 million students came from 49 countries across the globe. These educational activities involved more than 28 million teachers located in different places within the 49 countries.

Another very important feat is research on “dark matter”, a substance that scientists are just beginning to understand. As a substance, “dark matter” is believed to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total energy density. In fact, the universe is made up of matters. In ISS, there are series of studies of dark matter using the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an external observatory that was installed by space shuttle astronauts in 2011. No doubt, the results of these studies will substantially lead to discovery of mystery of space that is likely to advance the course of mankind.  

Studies on robot technology are ongoing in ISS. There are improvements in robotics accomplished with the station’s Canadian built robot arms that are leading to improvements in brain surgery techniques. Another ongoing medical trial is “Microgravity micro-encapsulation”. This is a scientific concept using the weightless environment to develop drugs that can attack specific tumors with chemotherapy.

The global coverage of satellites offers a unique, fact-based perspective that can help us overcome our greatest challenges. Information from these spacecraft can help us improve agricultural yields and protect habitat loss and stop deforestation. They discovered the hole in the ozone layer and their data today remains key to fighting climate change; and they’ve helped us to connect the world through Internet and communication, an intangible service for millions. Satellites in space have done much for us so far and, in the future, they will offer much more. With access to the Internet comes increased knowledge sharing, the benefits of the best doctors and teachers via tele-medicine and education, and greater communication.

In conclusion, ISS is presently serving many countries as a platform to make advancement in space technology and thus, different nationals are assiduously and harmoniously working in respective of their ideological lineage, religious or political differences. As we move deep into 21^st century, the economic, political and military powers will depend on technological superiority of a nation. Nations with less population and high technological advancement may have control over countries with large population as long as such countries lag behind technologically. The question is where is the place Africa particularly Nigeria in this global rat race?   Nigeria has all it takes to build a sound technology to key into the global competition of superiority. With more than 10 millions university graduates of science and technology and over 200 research and development centers, it is just a matter of political will, commitment and dedication on the part leaders and the nation to make a giant step towards technological advancement. President Buhari has a golden opportunity to kick-start this process. Time waits for nobody.        

International Space Station: Behive of Man’s Activities in Space

International Space Station: Behive of Man’s Activities in Space

I am still talking about space technology at the risk of boring my readers. To my thinking, Space technology is one of the most amazing wonders of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Satellite, a man-made structure hanging in space between 150 and 35,000 kilometers above the earth surface rotating around the earth while receiving and sending signals with amazing outcomes. These outcomes are so impactful to humanity positively thereby making lives comfortable and enjoyable. Imagine life today without GSM and Internet services.  The space technology is attempting to unravel the wonders of nature, the omnipotent perfect creation of the universe and the mysteries surrounding the space and its contents. As stated in my previous articles, there are classifications of satellites; Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with a range of distance between 160 to 2,000km from the earth surface, Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites with a distance between 2,000 and 35,000Km and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites with a distance over 35,000 km from the earth surface. Among these satellites, the biggest and busiest and long lasting one is the International Space Station (ISS).

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest man-made structure ever put into space since 1998. ISS was so large that it couldn’t be launched in its entirety at once. It was therefore sent in space in pieces, and then constructed while in orbit. The first ISS component was launched in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving on 2^nd November 2000. Since then, the station has been continuously occupied by people up to date, which is about 22 years today. The weight of ISS is 450,000kg with a size of 108.51 meters by 73.15 meters, which is approximately equivalent to a football field. The ISS program is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station are established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. What are these five participating agencies?

NASA is an acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA was established in 1958 as an agency with distinct civilian orientation for peaceful scientific applications in space science and technology. Since its establishment, most US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for un-crewed NASA launches. Since establishment, NASA is assiduously working to achieve her vision of discovering and expanding knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

The second is “Roscosmos”, a State Corporation for Space Activities, which was originally part of a Russian Federal Space Agency. It was saddled with responsibilities for a wide range and types of space flights and cosmonautics programs for the Russian Federation. The corporation evolved over the years and consolidated itself and became “the national state corporation” on 28 December 2015 through a presidential decree.

The third is “JAXA” (Japan), which is an acronym of "National Research and Development Agency on Aerospace Research and Development". It is the Japanese national aerospace and space agency. JAXA was formed on 1^st October 2003 through the merger of three previously independent organizations; Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), and National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orbit. It is also involved in many more advanced missions such as asteroid exploration and possible human exploration of the Moon. Its motto or corporate slogan is “Explore to Realize”, which was made from previous slogan “Reaching for the skies, exploring space”.

ESA is an acronym of European Space Agency. ESA is an intergovernmental organization of 22 member states of European Union, dedicated to the exploration of space. The agency was established in 1975 with head office located in Paris, France. ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,200 two years ago (2018) and had an annual budget of about €5.72 billion (~US$6.43 billion) in 2019. ESA's space flight program includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of un-crewed exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle. The agency is also working with NASA to manufacture the Orion Spacecraft service module, that will fly on the Space Launch System.

Lastly, CSA (Canada) is an acronym of Canadian Space Agency, which is the national space agency of Canada. It was established by the Canadian Space Agency Act which received Royal Assent on May 10, 1990. The agency reports to the federal Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development. The agency has headquarters located at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Quebec. It also has offices in Ottawa, Ontario, at the David Florida Laboratory, and small liaison offices in Houston, Washington, D.C., and Paris. Canada has a famous history of being among the few countries that started space research immediately after the World II. In September 1962, Canada became the third country after USA and USSR to put an artificial satellite into space when it launched “Alouette 1” that studied the ionosphere. Alouette 1 was part of a joint U.S.- Canadian scientific program. Its purpose was to investigate the properties of the top of the ionosphere, and the dependence of those properties on geographical location, season, and time of day. In 1972, Canada became the first country in the world to establish its own domestic geostationary communication satellite network after launching Anik A-1 into space.

Since 1998, these five countries have been harmoniously working complementing each other to make the success of International Space Station (ISS) to what it is today. The result of this success is advancing space technology to a greater height in the last two decades. ISS is used in several areas of space research to study planetary, cosmic bodies and solar system. With estimated cost well exceeding $100 billion since the program started, ISS is the most expensive man-made object ever built in space.

The ISS is a low Earth orbit satellite maintaining an orbit at an average altitude of 400 kilometers above earth surface. ISS moves with a speed of 28,800 kilometer per hour thereby circling the Earth in roughly 92 minutes and completes 15.5 orbits per day. This ultra-hypersonic speed makes the ISS weightless while circling the Earth. Thus, astronauts working and living on the Station experience 16 sunrises and sunsets each day of 24 hours. This means that the people, mostly astronauts working in ISS experience night and day each one-and-half hour time making our 24-hour day equivalent to 16 days over there.

Specifically, ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.  There are several activities by different people visiting and staying in ISS. It is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecrafts: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the US Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and formerly the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. What are the successes achieved in ISS and prospects as move towards 2030, the target year of the satellite? To be continued next week.

Communication Satellites: Advances in ICT Revolution

Communication Satellites: Advances in ICT Revolution

https://neptuneprime.com.ng/2020/01/communication-satellites-advances-in-ict-revolution-by-professor-mk-othman/?fbclid=IwAR14q6UttBct7doacId1ouRsUkVYzloaXXxv07q7UhSIn0V4AdlZLoqceoI

My readers, please, refer to the concluding part of my 4-series article titled “Apollo 11: What next After 50 Years of Man’s Terrestrial Romance with Space?” published between August and September in this Column. Somewhere in that article I wrote “On launching satellite for communication, this column will feature several breakthroughs made in communication satellites another time”. I think the time has come to fulfill that pledge. The outcomes of the satellite technology are positively affecting all facets of human developments in what we call “global village”. An enormous thank to “Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”. I am sure it may interest many to know the antecedents and advances of the ICT revolution in today’s world.  Although, this subject is highly technical, sometimes incomprehensive and boring to people who are not scientifically grounded but care will be taken to simplify the technical jargons of the ICT gurus for the benefits of others.    

One of the most amazing natural creations in planetary world is space, a region beyond the earth’s atmosphere or even beyond the solar system. Some of the contents of the space, billions of kilometers away from the earth are seen with naked eyes while millions of others are seen with the aid of telescopes and yet several others in billions are never seen. The wonders of nature, the Omnipotent perfect creation of the universe. Mysteries surrounding the space and its contents motivated the development of space science that gave birth to space technology. Today, Space technology is referred to an aerospace industry for use in spaceflight, satellites, or space exploration. It is in this space a huge man-made structure called ‘satellite’ or spacecraft is placed and operated by mankind and for the benefit of mankind.  A satellite is an object in space that moves around a bigger object. In space, there are two types of satellites: natural, as in the case of moon orbiting the Earth and artificial as in case of International Space Station orbiting the Earth. Before sixty years ago, nobody was thinking of artificial satellite in space until in the year, 1957.

Historically, Russia was the first country to send artificial satellite into space. The satellite was a beach-ball-size probe nicknamed “Sputnik”. Sputnik was launched on Oct. 4^th, 1957. The launching of Sputnik shocked the world especially the developed countries, as it was believed then that Russia was not technologically capable of sending satellites into space. The Sputnik launch sent a shockwave through the American public, who then believed they were more scientifically superior compared to the other countries especially Russia, which then Soviet Union. This was in addition to American economic boom amid a post-war. With a single shot of Sputnik into space, the Soviet Union not only launched the first artificial satellite but also officially inaugurated what was then termed a "space race" with the United States. The space race was a series of competitive technology demonstrations between the United States and the Soviet Union, aiming to show superiority in spaceflight. It was an outgrowth of the mid-20th-century Cold War, a tense global conflict that pitted the ideologies of capitalism and communism against one another. Consequently, the Russian satellite launch made American public reflected the echoes of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during the Second World War, sixteen years earlier. Americans felt that the Soviets were behind the U.S. technologically after the devastation of World War II, so the successful satellite launching by Russia means a lot to Americans. Being a period of fear and anxiety, could Soviet Unions launch ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons at the United States through Satellite? Space race heightened the intensity of the cold war. Well, the cold war came and gone without casualties, the world continued to enjoy the unlimited benefits of satellite technology. Now, what are the breakthroughs in communication satellite?

Every man-made satellite consists of four main parts; a power system or prime mover, which could be solar or nuclear source, a means of controlling its altitude, an antenna to transmit and receive information, and a payload such as a camera or particle detector to collect information. With these components, satellites function effectively over long period from months to years uninterrupted. Broadly, satellites are used functionally for improved weather forecasts for large areas on earth, land watching to track series of changes in forests, water and other parts of Earth's surface over time and communication services.  As discussed in my previous articles, satellites are basically classified into three categories depending on their distance from the earth surface. There are Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with a range of distance between 160 to 2,000km from the earth surface, Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites with a distance between 2,000 to 35,000Km and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites with a distance over 35,000 km from the earth surface. GEO satellites are seen to be stationary because their movement is the same relative to the earth’s rotation. They revolve around the earth at 360^o in every 24 hours.

In the last five centuries, amongst all the modern advancements, space technology has been the most impactful on humanity with trillion of US Dollars investment.  In all aspects of the space technology, communication satellite has probably had more effect on the average person than the rest. Satellite communications is truly the only commercial space technology that generates billions of dollars annually in sales of products and services all over the world.

There are three types of communication services that satellites provide: telecommunications, broadcasting, and data communications. Telecommunication services include telephone calls and services provided to telephone companies, as well as wireless, mobile, and cellular network providers. What is historical antecedent of using satellite for communication services?

According to Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/technology/satellite-communication/Satellite-applications), the world's first active communications satellite, Telstar 1, was launched in 1962. Telesat’s predecessors at AT&T and Bell Laboratories built the satellite. During its seven months in operation, Telstar 1 dazzled the world with live images of sports, entertainment and news. It was a simple single-transponder low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite, but its technology of receiving radio signals from the earth’s surface, and then amplified and retransmitted the signals over a large portion of the earth's surface, set the standard for all communications satellites that followed. As discussed in this column, within decades between the 1960s and 1970s, advances in satellite performance came quickly and a global industry began to develop. Satellites were mainly used at first for international and long-distanced telephone traffic and distribution of select television programming, both internationally and domestically. In 1973 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began distributing its video programming to Canadian customers using Telesat’s Anik A satellite. Then in 1975 HBO began distributing its video programming to US customers by satellite. The commercial and technical success of these ventures led to a greater use and acceptance of satellite broadcasting. By the 1990s, satellite communications became the primary means of distributing TV programs around the world.

In a relatively short span of time, satellite technology has developed from the experimental with Sputnik in 1957 to the sophisticated and powerful technology applicable in all aspects of human endvors. Future communication satellites will have more onboard processing capabilities, more power, and larger-aperture antennas that will enable satellites to handle more bandwidth. There is likely to have further improvements in satellites’ propulsion and power systems will increase their service life to 20–30 years from the current 10–15 years. In addition, other technical innovations such as low-cost reusable launch vehicles are in development. With increasing video, voice, and data traffic requiring larger amounts of bandwidth, there is no dearth of emerging applications that will drive demand for the satellite services in the years to come. The demand for more bandwidth, coupled with the continuing innovation and development of satellite technology, will ensure the long-term viability of the commercial satellite industry well into the 21st century.

In the next few years, there will more people in the world needing communication services at cheaper rate and higher speed, on real-time. The scientists working tirelessly will come out with more advancement in communication satellites to meet the demands of the teeming world population. Nigeria, as a nation should key into this technological breakthrough for the benefits of Nigerian and in deed the entire African continent.