ST5 satellites

Although small, the ST5 satellites were "full service," meaning they carried guidance, navigation and control, attitude control, propulsion, high bandwidth, and complex communication functions. Each performed some of the same functions as their larger counterparts. ST5's objective was to demonstrate and space-test the ability of "smart" satellites to identify scientific events and implement cooperative data-taking strategies.

The ST5 project also developed and built the spacecraft bus that enables the mission's multiple micro-sats to be launched from a single rocket and spun——like Frisbees—— into an elliptical Sun synchronous orbit ranging from 300 km (186 miles) to approximately 4,500 kilometers (2,796 miles) above Earth. The spinning motion was required to stabilize the spacecraft and allow for optimal use of sunlight by the solar array panels on the sides of the spacecraft.

ST5 satellite in launch rack, mag boom folded and spin mechanism cocked.

Once deployed, magnetometers onboard each of these miniaturized satellites measured energetic particles in the magnetosphere. Returned data will help reveal ambient radiation levels and the spacecrafts' subsystem response to this hazard.

Each micro-sat was commanded individually from ground stations on Earth, except for a one-week period of "lights out." During this time, the micro-sats flew "autonomously" with pre-programmed commands in a test to find out whether ground commanding (for 24 hours) is really necessary.

ST5's "maiden voyage" paved the way for flying tens to hundreds of such miniature craft in future missions. These missions can be flown only if they are capable of responding to the changes in the charged particles and magnetic fields in the harsh environment of Earth's magnetosphere. 

LG to introduce its first LTE tablet

LG Electronics unveiled its first LTE-capable tablet, the Optimus Pad LTE. Initially launching in Korea, LG has equipped the tablet with both LTE technology and True HD IPS display, the two features that have helped LG differentiate its latest smartphone, Optimus LTE, from the competition.

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“With tablets generating five times more traffic than the average smartphone, it’s not a huge jump to assume that tablet users need and want faster connectivity,” said Dr. Jongseok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. “The combination of LG’s LTE technology with the tablet form factor is a clear advantage for consumers who use a tablet as their primary consumption device when on the move.”
Boasting the best-in-class in the tablets, LG Optimus Pad LTE provides the ultimate user environment to enjoy HD multimedia with a 1280 x 720 True HD IPS display and 8 megapixel camera for shooting high definition video. The Optimus Pad LTE is also the world’s first tablet to support an SD memory card expandable to 32GB, recognizing the importance multimedia would play for owners of this device.
 
Along with these features, the Optimus Pad LTE offers easy-to-use controls and functions such as the Smart Movie Editor for editing pictures and videos more easily. Moreover, Web Duet allows for e-mailing, messaging and SNS sharing with search functions, and On-Screen Phone (OSP) ensures compatibility with LG smartphones.
LG Optimus Pad LTE is extremely portable and aesthetically pleasing, weighing in at a svelte 479g and only 9.34mm thin. Equipped with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor running Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS, LG’s newest tablet guarantees superior performance. It also supports High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA).
Key Specifications:
■ Operating System: Android 3.2 Honeycomb
■ Memory: User 32GB (Micro SD up to 32GB)
■ Size: 245 x 151.4 x 9.34 mm
■ Weight: 497 g
■ Display: 8.9-inch IPS True HD Display
■ Resolution: 1280 x 768
■ Camera: 8MP (Rear) / 2MP (Front)
■ Processor: Qualcomm 1.5GHz Dual-Core / Dual Channel Processor
■ Battery: 6,800mAh
■ Others: HDMI, DLNA

NASA mulls sending part of space station to an asteroid

The International Space Station, the $100 billion outpost that has steadfastly orbited the Earth for more than a decade, may get a chance to explore new horizons when it retires in 2020. NASA is considering using part of it to build a spaceship that would be sent to an asteroid, while also mulling more exotic artificial-gravity designs reminiscent of Arthur C Clarke.

President Barack Obama jettisoned his predecessor's plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and in April proposed to send them to an asteroid by 2025 instead.

NASA is now trying to work out the details of how to carry out such a mission and is hosting a conference on the topic in Washington, DC, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Brian Wilcox of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, presented (pdf) some of the ideas generated by the agency's engineers during brainstorming sessions in January and June.

Mother ship Tranquility

One idea is to take apart the International Space Station, which is currently set to be retired in 2020, and use one of its crew compartments to build an asteroid-bound spacecraft in orbit instead of launching a similar capsule from Earth.

"These [asteroid] missions are going to occur at about the time that the space station is near retirement, so one has to wonder, 'Is it possible to use assets from the station as part of your mission complement?'" he said.

A space station compartment called Node 3 or Tranquility, which launched to the station aboard a shuttle mission in February, is particularly attractive for recycling because it has docking ports that could be used to attach to a pair of smaller, more nimble spacecraft. After arriving at the asteroid, astronauts could enter the smaller spacecraft and detach from the main ship in order to inspect the asteroid up close (see an illustration of the docked craft).

Spinning space odyssey

A separate idea is to use a rotating design in order to generate artificial gravity, a concept made famous in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. Two spacecraft would be tied to opposite ends of a tether a few hundred metres long and set rotating around each other at speeds of tens of metres per second (see illustration).

The rotation would make astronauts in the spacecraft feel a constant acceleration similar to Earth's gravity, preventing some of the bone and muscle loss that would otherwise occur over the months-long missions. "You can introduce quite a substantial equivalent gravity field ... [eliminating] the deleterious effects of microgravity," Wilcox said.

Wilcox described the proposals as concepts rather than part of a final design for an asteroid mission. Further discussion of how to carry out such a mission is scheduled to take place at the conference on Wednesday.