good article on Genesis I

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/14bigelow/

Details status and explains why Genesis controllers have so far only
gotten a handful of small images. (Not to leave you in suspense,
they're still trying to establish an S-band communications link.)

Best,
- Joe

And here's another, at Cosmic Log, also with details I haven't seen
elsewhe http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/13/1086.aspx

It's great to see Robert Bigelow making himself available and actually
talking to reporters about his plan. It wasn't exactly a secret before,
but clearly something has changed in their PR strategy, and Bigelow
himself is now actively trying to stir up public interest.

And here's another, at Cosmic Log, also with details I haven't seen
elsewhe http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/13/1086.aspx

He's really serious about the US thing, eh? (As also seen in the
America's Space Prize rules). He's building antennas in Hawaii and
Alaska (compare with NASA who has their biggest non-CONUS antennas in
Australia and Spain).

What's next? Guam and Samoa?

(Not that it's a bad thing; I can think of any number of reasons why
he'd want to do this...)

"Joe Strout" wrote in message
...
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/14bigelow/

Details status and explains why Genesis controllers have so far only
gotten a handful of small images. (Not to leave you in suspense,
they're still trying to establish an S-band communications link.)

From the following article, it sounds more like they've currently only have
one ground station in operation, so that's limiting bandwidth. That and
much of the initial data coming down is telemetry type data, not pictures.
As time goes on, it seems like they'll be using more bandwidth for pictures
and less for telemetry. That and they hope to build more ground stations.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...7/13/1086.aspx

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)

In article ,
Jim Kingdon wrote:

And here's another, at Cosmic Log, also with details I haven't seen
elsewhe http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/13/1086.aspx

He's really serious about the US thing, eh? (As also seen in the
America's Space Prize rules). He's building antennas in Hawaii and
Alaska (compare with NASA who has their biggest non-CONUS antennas in
Australia and Spain).

What's next? Guam and Samoa?

(Not that it's a bad thing; I can think of any number of reasons why
he'd want to do this...)

Off the top of my head, I can imagine that as a U.S. company, his legal
expenses go down pretty dramatically if he keeps it all within the U.S.

Or maybe he just believes in supporting the American economy as much as
he reasonably can -- but he'll (quite reasonably) go to Russia for a
launch if there are no viable American alternatives.

Best,
- Joe

In article ,
Jim Kingdon wrote:
He's really serious about the US thing, eh? (As also seen in the
America's Space Prize rules)...

My understanding is that he's looked at the ITAR rules, and understandably
decided that he wants no part of that nightmare. If that disqualifies
otherwise-interesting foreign suppliers, that's too bad.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:11:23 -0400, Jeff Findley wrote:


"Joe Strout" wrote in message
...
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/14bigelow/

Details status and explains why Genesis controllers have so far only
gotten a handful of small images. (Not to leave you in suspense,
they're still trying to establish an S-band communications link.)

From the following article, it sounds more like they've currently only
have one ground station in operation, so that's limiting bandwidth.
That and much of the initial data coming down is telemetry type data,
not pictures. As time goes on, it seems like they'll be using more
bandwidth for pictures and less for telemetry. That and they hope to
build more ground stations.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...7/13/1086.aspx


Sometimes going to the source is best.

http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/mult...s_to_stars.php

begin qoute

Las Vegas, We Have a Problem

Just as the anticipated time of SpaceQuest's contact with the Genesis I
was approaching, a major storm caused power outages in much of the
Arlington area. SpaceQuest, which was to receive the first communication
from Genesis I and relay it to Las Vegas, had no power. Now, there was a
little more than 30 minutes before SpaceQuest controllers were supposed to
hear a cry of life from the Genesis I, but there was no life in the
receivers in Virginia.

SpaceQuest engineers were in a bind. They had 30 minutes to find a way to
get power and receive first contact from the Genesis I. As SpaceQuest
engineers scrambled for a solution, one noticed that there was light in a
restaurant across the street, which still miraculously had power.
Desperate for power, they got all the extension cords they could find and
went across the street to ask for help. The restaurant owner agreed to
help and SpaceQuest had power.

"They ran the cords across the road to get power from the restaurant,"
Bigelow said. "Cars were driving across the cord as it powered their
computers and receivers."

Even after power was restored, there was another major obstacle to
overcome: the automatic system that allowed the antenna to automatically
move into position to listen to the spacecraft was not functioning
properly due to the power outage. Time was running out, and SpaceQuest
engineers now would have to manually steer the antenna themselves to
receive the signal.

end quote

http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/

--
Craig Fink
Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @

Henry Spencer wrote:
In article ,
Jim Kingdon wrote:

He's really serious about the US thing, eh? (As also seen in the
America's Space Prize rules)...


My understanding is that he's looked at the ITAR rules, and understandably
decided that he wants no part of that nightmare. If that disqualifies
otherwise-interesting foreign suppliers, that's too bad.


Only those of them who need to put their hands on BA hardware,
which includes Kosmotras. Otherwise it works well, he bought
a life support system from a German company for $1,3 million,
instead of buying it in US for around $100 million.

Regards,
NE

http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/.../24250261.html

Henry Spencer wrote:

My understanding is that he's looked at the ITAR rules, and understandably
decided that he wants no part of that nightmare. If that disqualifies
otherwise-interesting foreign suppliers, that's too bad.
In a recent interview, he complained bitterly about the hoops he had to
jump through just to launch Genesis I on a foreign launcher.

see http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/13/1086.aspx