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Episode 119: Professor Ivan Almar and Astronomy in Hungary during the Soviet Era 

By Gurbir Dated: January 9, 2025 Leave a Comment

During the International Astronautical Congress in Milan in October 2024, Professor Iván Almár was elected to be a member of the Astronautics Hall of Fame. 

Professor Ivan Almar
Professor Ivan Almar: Credit Konkoly Observatory Budapest, Hungary DSc

It is an honour previously bestowed on individuals or groups that in the past have included Apollo 11 astronauts,  NASA Administrator Charles Bolden,  Zezhou SUN Designer-in-Chief of Chang’e-4 Program, Yuri Koptev General Director of the Russian Space Agency, the James Webb Space Telescope team from (NASA, ESA and CSA), and the Tianwen-1 Spacecraft Development Team. 

I am familiar with Theodore Von Karman and Herman Oberth, both of whom are associated with Hungary. They played an instrumental role in the development of astronautics. Since Hungary was under the influence of the USSR for most of the post-WW2 years, the astronautics it conducted were not easily publicly accessible.

Ivan Almar completed his university studies in 1954 and became aware of the activities for the International Geophysical Year 1957-58. He knew that the USSR Academy of Sciences and other countries planned to build and launch satellites to observe the Earth from orbit. The coincidence of time and place set him on his long career. His contributions included 

  • Director of the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest 
  • The founding director of the Satellite Geodetic Observatory in Hungary
  • President of the Hungarian Astronautical Society 
  • Co-developer of the Rio Scale, used to quantify the impact of any public announcement regarding evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. 
  • Author of the San Marino Scale to quantify the potential impact of employing electromagnetic communications technology to announce Earth’s presence. 
  • The London Scale can evaluate and present complex information about the scientific importance, validity and potential consequences of an alleged discovery of ET life.
  • I met and recorded this interview during the International Astronautical Congress in Milan on Friday, 18th October 2024.

I started by asking him how his interest in astronomy started.

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Indian Space Research Organisation PSLV-C60/SPADEX Mission

By Gurbir Dated: December 30, 2024 Leave a Comment

Later today (see countdown), ISRO will launch Pits #PSLV-C60/SPADEX Mission. SPAce Docking EXperiment (SPADEX) dual spacecrafts.

The mission objective is to test in-orbit rendezvous​ and docking. Primary payloads are two separate spacecraft, each of about 200+kg, a chaser and a target. The PSLV will place them in two different orbits, and 10 days later, the chaser will adjust its orbit, approach and dock with the target. Control of the combined spacecraft, power transfer between them, and subsequent undocking procedures are also part of the mission.

In addition, ISRO continues to exploit the 4th stage as the PSLV Orbital Experiment Platform (POEM) at around 350km altitude. The POEM will host 24 experiments, 10 of which are non-governmental – academic institutions or private sector startups. The POEM and hosted payloads have a lifetime of a few months, but the SPADEX mission​ is expected to operate for two years.

See the countdown here. The launch will be streamed on Youtube live here.

For more details, the ISRO subreddit is an excellent source.

PSLV-C60: SpaDeX Mission Updates and Discussion.
byu/Ohsin inISRO

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Black Friday 2024. 50% discount code

By Gurbir Dated: November 19, 2024 Leave a Comment

This years #BlackFriday code is BlackFriday_50%_29Nov-8Dec2024 and is valid between 29th November and 8th December, inclusive.

The code is applied to the basket at checkout and only a single postage fee is applicable irrespective of the number of books purchased. Here is what you need to do. (any problems – email info@astrotalkuk.org)

1. Go to https://gurbir.co.uk/shop/

2. Select a book and add to basket

3. Select optional available formats


4. When finished – select View Basket

 5. Enter coupon code BlackFriday_50%_29Nov-8Dec2024

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International Astronautical Congress 2024 – Milan, Italy

By Gurbir Dated: October 14, 2024 Leave a Comment

The IAC2024 kicked off this morning with the “Responsible Space for Sustainability” theme. There was a bit more pomp and ceremony because the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, turned up. A couple of ceremonial soldiers accompanied him in colourful attire, very shiny swords and grandiose headgear.

The morning kicked off with IAF president Clay Mowry’s lively speech, in which he welcomed almost 7,000 attendees from over 100 countries. After thanking all the partners and sponsors, mentioning many individually, he made a startling announcement. A bit of space was here at the IAC.

He said that extraterrestrial material from space was making an appearance here in Milan. Samples of asteroid Benu from the US mission OSIRIS-REx, which returned last year, are on display at the NASA booth in the exhibition. In June, China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe returned samples of moon rock from the lunar farside. The CNSA booth has a sample from that mission on display.

There are around 30 astronauts here at the IAC and two of them Samantha Cristoforetti and Luca Parmitano made it on to the stage.

Some awards were given during the ceremony. These included the IAF World Space Award for the success of Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing near the lunar south pole in 2023. ISRO Chairman accepted the award by standing in front of a picture of a large team of ISRO scientists and engineers.

Michael Gold, Executive Vice President for Civil Space and External Affairs received the “Redwire chief growth officer” award. He squeezed in lots of Star Trek references in his acceptance speech.

There was an odd “Time Capsule cam”. A camera on the stage was going to be capturing all the events, and then the footage would be sent up to space and sent to the ISS. Apparently, as a symbol that this commitment to space sustainability is not just for us here on Earth. The ISS has had full access to the internet for a very long time. If they wanted, the ISS crew could have streamed this ceremony on youtube like many others. I think I missed something!

This is the fifth time an IAC has been held in Italy and the first in Milan. 562 years ago, Leonardo De Vinci lived for two decades in Milan and made his initial designs for a flying machine there. If he is up there looking down, I can’t help but think he is looking at our progress and saying – what took you so long!

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