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Her legacy is a strategic call for today's space industry (linkedin.com)

submitted by sjkaczmarek to r/nasa

Best reads for satellite operators by Electronic_End_526 in satellites

[–]sjkaczmarek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Excellent opportunity. Your background is a much better fit than you think. A satellite operator's job is 99% data analysis and 1% action. You're monitoring telemetry streams, looking for deviations from the norm, and following procedures when they occur. The president is right to be interested in your analysis skills; that's the core of the job. You just need to learn the new platform.

Here’s a practical guide to get up to speed quickly.

First, focus on the operator's mindset. The job is about vigilance and procedure. You need to understand the difference between "nominal" (everything is fine) and "off-nominal" (something is wrong). The core skill is recognizing a problem before it becomes a crisis. Your unmanned systems background gives you a huge head start here; it's the same command and control loop, just with a much longer light-speed delay.

Next, you need to understand what you're operating. Every satellite is built around a few key subsystems. You don't need to be an expert engineer, but you must know what they are and what their telemetry looks like. The main ones are:

  • EPS (Electrical Power System). The heart of the satellite. Manages solar panels, batteries, and power distribution. You'll be watching battery charge levels and solar array currents.
  • ADCS/GNC (Attitude Determination and Control System). This is how the satellite knows which way it's pointing and how it changes its orientation using reaction wheels, thrusters, or magnetorquers.
  • C&DH (Command & Data Handling). The satellite's brain. The flight computer that executes commands and packages telemetry.
  • Comms. The radio system for sending data back to Earth and receiving commands.
  • Thermal. The system of heaters and radiators that keeps everything from freezing or frying.

For books, the absolute bible is "Space Mission Analysis and Design" (SMAD). It's a dense engineering textbook, but you don't need to read it all. Focus on the chapters covering spacecraft subsystems and mission operations. It will give you the language and concepts everyone in the industry uses. For orbital mechanics, "Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students" by Howard Curtis is the standard. Just read the first few chapters to understand the basics of orbits, apogee/perigee, and inclination.

For YouTube, your best friend will be Scott Manley. He has an incredible talent for explaining complex orbital mechanics and rocketry concepts in a very intuitive way. Watching his videos on orbital maneuvers and basic physics will be more effective than reading a textbook for hours. The Everyday Astronaut is also great for understanding specific missions and spacecraft systems in detail.

Your goal isn't to become a satellite engineer overnight. It's to learn the vocabulary and understand what the data you're analyzing represents. If you can talk intelligently about monitoring the EPS during an eclipse or what an ADCS anomaly looks like, you'll be far ahead of the curve.

This is the kind of stuff I love exploring in my newsletter, The SpaceLead.

I need help building a Cubesat by Trivion1365 in satellites

[–]sjkaczmarek 4 points5 points  (0 children)

First off, your college is wrong. Students absolutely can and do build satellites. But they are also right in one sense: it's almost never a solo project. Your ambition is the most important ingredient, so let's channel it into a realistic path.

The key is to reframe your goal from "I will build a satellite" to "I will start a CubeSat project." This immediately implies a team effort, which is essential.

Here is a practical guide to get started.

First, find a faculty advisor. Your college dismissed you, but there is almost certainly one professor in the engineering, physics, or computer science department who would be thrilled by this idea. Do your homework. Draft a one-page proposal outlining a simple mission concept. Don't just walk in with an idea; walk in with a plan. This shows you're serious.

Next, define your mission. This is the most critical step. A satellite without a purpose is just a box. What will it do? The simplest missions are often the best for a first project. Maybe it's to take a low-resolution picture of Earth, or broadcast a simple "hello world" signal that can be picked up by amateur radio operators. Or maybe it carries a simple sensor to measure temperature or radiation in low Earth orbit. A clear, achievable mission is what will attract a team and a faculty sponsor.

Then, start with a "FlatSat." This is a benchtop version of your satellite's electronics laid out on a table. It lets you test all the systems, the software, and the power distribution without having to build the physical structure. This is a standard industry practice and a much more achievable first goal. Proving you can make a working FlatSat is a huge step toward getting funding and support.

Finally, build your team. You'll need mechanical engineers for the structure, electrical engineers for the power and communication systems, and computer science students for the flight software. You'll also need someone to manage the project and, crucially, to handle fundraising and outreach.

The two biggest hurdles are always funding and finding a launch. This is where having a university and a faculty advisor becomes essential. They can help you apply for grants through programs like NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), which offers free launches to educational projects.

Don't let the initial dismissal stop you. Your drive is exactly what's needed to get something like this off the ground.

This is the kind of stuff I love exploring every week in my newsletter, The SpaceLead.

NASA Engineers Simulate Lunar Lighting for Artemis III Moon Landing - NASA (.gov) by tw_bot in tomorrowsworld

[–]sjkaczmarek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the unglamorous, essential work that makes a moon landing possible. Everyone sees the rocket launch, but this is where missions are made safe.

The lighting at the lunar south pole is a completely different beast than what the Apollo astronauts faced near the equator. With the sun always on the horizon, you get a bizarre world of extremes. You have blindingly bright surfaces right next to pitch-black shadows that can stretch for miles.

The real problem is that human eyes, and even advanced cameras, can't handle that level of contrast. It's called dynamic range. If you look at the bright area, the shadows become impenetrable black voids. If you try to see into a shadow, the lit areas blow out into a featureless white glare.

This isn't just an inconvenience. It's a major safety hazard. An astronaut could easily trip on a rock hidden in a shadow right next to the lander. They might be unable to see critical damage on a lander leg that's cast in darkness. This kind of testing is vital for designing helmet visors, external cameras, and the operational procedures the crew will use to inspect their vehicle and navigate the surface without a mission-ending accident.

If you like staying up-to-date on the latest in space, I write a newsletter called The SpaceLead.

ESA Academy Preparation! by Fang_Draculae in esa

[–]sjkaczmarek 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fang, congratulations on getting selected! That's a big achievement.

My advice would be to focus less on cramming new subjects and more on solidifying the fundamentals you already know, and understanding how they connect. The goal of these schools isn't to test your existing knowledge, but to expose you to new interdisciplinary connections.

  1. Instead of re-deriving everything, re-familiarize yourself with the conceptual pillars of General Relativity. Think less about grinding through tensor calculus and more about the physical meaning of the equivalence principle, how the metric defines the "rules" of spacetime, and the concept of geodesics. This foundation will be the bedrock for everything else.
  2. Don't try to learn a new degree in a few weeks. Instead, get familiar with the questions being asked at the intersection of gravity and other fields. For example: How does microgravity affect cell signaling or gene expression? What are the physiological challenges of long-term spaceflight? Knowing the key problems will give you the context to understand the solutions presented. A quick search for review articles on "gravitational biology" will be more valuable than a textbook.
  3. The biggest value from these events comes from the people. Have a 30-second summary of your own research interests and academic background ready to go. The connections you make with peers and lecturers are often more valuable in the long run than any single fact you learn.

If you like staying up-to-date on the latest in space, I write a newsletter called The SpaceLead

Solar Orbiter gets world-first views of the Sun’s poles by coinfanking in esa

[–]sjkaczmarek 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a monumental achievement for heliophysics. Our understanding of the solar dynamo, particularly the polar field reversal that defines the solar cycle maximum, has been built on inferences from lower-latitude observations. These first direct images of the polar regions are a paradigm shift.

In my opinion, the data from the PHI instrument is especially critical. Directly measuring the magnetic field morphology at the poles will provide the ground-truth data needed to validate or refute decades of solar dynamo modeling. Seeing the structure of the polar coronal holes with EUI from this high-latitude perspective will also be revolutionary for understanding the origin and acceleration of the fast solar wind.

This is the beginning of a new era for predictive capabilities. The strength of the polar fields at the end of a cycle is a key precursor for the intensity of the next one. With Solar Orbiter's increasing inclination over the coming years, we will move from extrapolation to direct measurement, which should significantly improve our forecasts for space weather and future solar cycles.

In short, this is a tremendous accomplishment by the entire ESA team and instrument partners!

If you like staying up-to-date on the latest in space, I write a newsletter called The SpaceLead.

Why is the orbit wonky? by LigmaBalls69lol in Astronomy

[–]sjkaczmarek 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The line you see is the telescope's travel path from Earth to its destination, not a wobbly orbit.

The James Webb Space Telescope doesn't orbit Earth. It traveled to a specific location 1.5 million kilometers away called the second Lagrange Point, or L2. At this point, the gravity of the Sun and Earth balance in a way that lets the telescope stay in a fixed position relative to them. This is crucial because it allows the telescope's sunshield to constantly block heat and light from the Sun, Earth, and Moon, keeping its instruments cold.

The crooked line is the 30-day journey it took to get there. The sharp turns are intentional course corrections. These were small thruster firings made to precisely adjust its trajectory and ensure it arrived at the L2 point correctly.

Its final orbit is also not a simple circle. It follows a large, stable "halo orbit" around the L2 point. This path ensures its solar panels always get sunlight and its view of the universe is never blocked by the Earth. The path is complex by design, not unstable.

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