Air Force to launch 30 satellites tonight

BTW: these are the types of satellites that will be launched.



Cubesats are cute. Tiny little things.

There's a high school, I think in Maryland that designed one that's going to be launched on another mission.

Also Sara Seager and others are developing Exoplanetsat which is going to be like 3 Cubesats put together to help in the hunt for extrasolar planets:


dspace.mit.edu...

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Is It possible the USAF is updating, to curve GPS spoofing? A couple people over at Radionavigation Lab at the UT Austin successfully spoofed GPS to take control of a small helicopter drone. The UT Austin team used only about $1000 worth of equipment to take control of an autonomous drone and pilot it away under unauthorized control. The DHS, CIA, and US Military have a huge interest in spoofing GPS, Iran stole the RQ-170 Sentinel Drone using the same method.

Of course with matters of homeland security, the open-source hacker scene has yet to publish how this spoofing attack was actually done, but here's a paper covering what is needed to remotely control up to four GPS-guided drones.

With all great innovations comes the potential for mischief. With so much of our social, commercial, and government infrastructure already online, it’s highly likely that we’ve all been targeted by cyber-attacks, even if we haven’t directly felt their results. Cars, computer cams, ATMs, databases, and power grids can be hacked.

In a recent high profile case, a week before one of the world’s most elite hackers Barnaby Jack, was scheduled to demonstrate how to interrupt pacemakers and implanted defibrillators by remotely shocking them, he was found dead in his apartment. A team at the University of Texas Austin recently experimented with a technique they call “GPS Spoofing.” They tricked the navigation system of an $80 million yacht and sent the ship off course to show GPS vulnerability.

Requirements for Successful GPS Spoofing Attacks

The Radionavigation Lab

C21H30O2I
reply to post by FissionSurplus

 

Is It possible the USAF is updating, to curve GPS spoofing? A couple people over at Radionavigation Lab at the UT Austin successfully spoofed GPS to take control of a small helicopter drone.

No. There is no need. Why? Because the USAF and all of the US military has its own GPS system for stuff like drones.

Its a bit more robust than the commercial GPS system most of us use and which UT Austin spoofed.

reply to post by JadeStar


I do now remember reading it was a commercial GPS system. Was the drone captured by the Iranians, under the same system? I was just brain storming, if they could possibly be trying to update any systems. It's very interesting to ponder their actions.

I found it interesting that in the link provided by intrprtr, there was mention of testing a system which destroys anything which goes off course.
That seems an odd reason to make significant addition to the payload by adding explosives simply in order to fill space with shrapnel.
On the other hand ...

If you can dominate space, maybe you can dominate cyber-space?

That's more like the American Dream I recognise.

mistersmith.

C21H30O2I
reply to post by JadeStar

 

I do now remember reading it was a commercial GPS system. Was the drone captured by the Iranians, under the same system? I was just brain storming, if they could possibly be trying to update any systems. It's very interesting to ponder their actions.

The Iranians have sophisticated electronic countermeasures gear. Most likely what they did was bring it down by jamming that drone's receiver with it. Which as far as I know is far easier to do than spoofing GPS and re-directing one.

mistersmith


I found it interesting that in the link provided by intrprtr, there was mention of testing a system which destroys anything which goes off course.
That seems an odd reason to make significant addition to the payload by adding explosives simply in order to fill space with shrapnel.
On the other hand ...
mistersmith.

On the other hand would you like an off course rocket falling on a populated area? What is referred to there is the self-destruct system. All rockets have one.

reply to post by JadeStar


If the system exists already, why test it?

I think I see a precedent for believing anything BUT the official explanation.
Some believe the offerings, others think "Why are they telling me that?"

Regarding falling debris, can you give any examples of American forces worrying about a little collateral damage?
That would be news to me.
And would blowing it into several pieces really render it harmless?
I rather think not.

Believe what you like JadeStar, I'll wait and see on this one.
I don't think either of us is in a position to be sure.

mistersmith.

grey580
reply to post by UnBreakable

 

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Viriginia?

When did NASA build a launch facility in VA?

This is curious.

There's a new feature on the Internet called 'google', why don't you see what it tells you?

Curious you didn't know about this.

[tease mode -- OFF]

Dustytoad
umm ok... What if I see the black triangle silently floating 300 feet off the ground again shinning bright lights in my face? Would that be a satellite?

More likely three satellites in formation -- as has been documented numerous times.

FissionSurplus
Because this is a US Air Force launch (not NASA), one has to wonder why they need nearly 30 satellites all at once.

It is possible that these satellites are required to feed signals to all the drones they plan on having in the sky. If the drones are looking for their signal from up above, versus down below, then the signal cannot be jammed or messed with from the ground.

Bummer for all of us.

So interesting that they release this info to the press, and nowhere does it state WHY.

You mean, you weren't given a one-on-one powerpoint briefing like all the rest of us were?

Gee, you're really exhibiting appalling incompetence in simple media research -- have you ever felt out-of-the-loop before?

Seriously, practice web searching.

reply to post by JimOberg


Got any ideas of your own Jim?

mistersmith.

UnBreakable
Sorry if already posted, I did a search and don't see it. Tonight's launch should be visible along east coast, weather permitting. Any UFO reports tonight can be attributed to this.


"The United States Air Force plans to blast nearly 30 satellites into orbit tonight (Nov. 19) in a record-setting launch that should be visible from a large stretch of the U.S. East Coast, weather permitting".

www.space.com...

Is there a place, web site or cable station, to see the countdown? I don't feel like standing outside for the 2 hour window LOL

reply to post by JimOberg


I thought these forums were to spread knowledge and ideas. Your few posts are to criticize other's research abilities. Instead of being critical, why don't you add something constructive. You must be a real prize to be around.

Live feed from Nasa UStream and Space.com www.space.com...

The timeframe as far as I know it so far is anywhere between 10 minutes from now to just less than 2 hours from now. They are watching for the right weather opening as usual.

Update - 8:15 PM (Eastern time I presume) which is 35 minutes from now. Countdown resumes at T-30 so in about 5 minutes they should start countdown.

Little cubes, eh.

Wonder if they have anything to do with ison, and that this was planned 7 years ago, makes me wonder how long they really knew about the comets.

Watched it from South Jersey. Had visual in less than 10 seconds from liftoff. Was watching countdown on UStream. Had the whole family out in the front yard watching. Was awesome! Didn't think I would be able to make out flame and contrail from here but was wrong. Very cool!

reply to post by grey580



en.wikipedia.org...
Hope this helps. Take care.

reply to post by antar


And down the path we go to creating our own EMP to free ourselves.

This is getting scary....but I think they'll need more than thirty.

Godfather1965
Watched it from South Jersey. Had visual in less than 10 seconds from liftoff. Was watching countdown on UStream. Had the whole family out in the front yard watching. Was awesome! Didn't think I would be able to make out flame and contrail from here but was wrong. Very cool!

Ditto your post, except that my children and I watched it from my bedroom window.
The kids loved seeing the liftoff on the computer, then almost immediately being able to see it in the sky from the window.