podcast Archives - AstrotalkUK

Episode 77 – Satellite tracking – the early days

Sven Grahn has been working in the space field in one way or another for over fifty years. Officially retired, he continues to work as a project leader of a student satellite at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

He is perhaps best known for his work in tracking satellites launched by the secretive Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s.In those pre-internet days, his work along with others helped to identify individual mission characteristics such as mission types, members of the crew, take off and landing times. He recorded over 1000 conversations from orbiting spacecraft as they flew over Sweden.

In this interview, he speaks about

The impact of the space race on his choice of career
His work on sounding rockets and meteorology in Sweden and beyond
Satellite tracking. What he tracked, heard and recorded using radio and tape recorders.
How he came to research and write about the satellite tracking conducted at Jodrell Bank radio telescope in England

As an 11-year-old, Sven had seen Sputnik in the sky over Sweden with his own eyes. I started by asking him how the onset of the space race had impacted his choice of career?

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Episode 76 – Space law

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One of the earliest characteristics of human civilisation (large populations living together in organised cities) was the creation of rules or laws that everyone who lived there agreed to abide by.

The 50th anniversary of first humans to visit the Moon is celebrated later this year. In 1968 it was pretty much just two countries and a few space missions per year. Today, over 70 countries have something in the way of a space programme and along with a blossoming private space sector, space is likely to become very busy in the next decade or so. This surge of space activity will determine how the laws in space will apply and begin to set the scene for human civilisation beyond Earth. On earth, most nations follow international laws most of the time.

International rules for operating in space were defined by the UN in five treaties established between 1967 – 1984.

1967 – The Outer Space Treaty: Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.
1968 – Rescue Agreement. Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space.
1972 – The Liability agreement. Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects.
1976 – The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space.
1984 – The Moon Treaty. Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.

How will these laws fair in space? For example, will all governments

“authorise and supervise” their “non-governmental entities” in space?
comply with international liabilities for physical damages caused by their space objects?
agree on who can build what and where on the Moon?
establish mining and ownership rights to materials on the Moon and other celestial bodies?
maintain the principles of human rights in space.

These are some of the questions I discuss with Bayar Goswami, a Doctoral student at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University (IASL) in Canada. A TedX speaker, Bayar has an interest in space as well as law and I started by asking him what came first.

The distinction between terms, such as signed, ratified and accessioned, is described here. A status of which nations have signed which treaty is maintained by the UN here. A summary of the five treaties is available here.

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Episode 72: Satish Dhawan Space Centre

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ep72 — From left to right. V. Seshagiri Rao Associate director, Dr M.Y.S. Prasad SDSC director, Dr S.V. Subba Rao Deputy Director

Located about 80km from Chennai on India’s east coast, Satish Dhawan Space centre is used by ISRO to launch all of its satellites including those to the Moon and Mars. Also known as Sriharikota, it was established during the late 1960s but today it has a vehicle assembly building, two launch pads and a state of the art mission control centre.

In this episode, Dr MYS Prasad, the director at Satish Dhawan Space Centre describes the key services and activities that take place at India’s 21st century rocket launch complex. This interview was recorded in January 2014 and Dr Prasad stood down as director on 31st May 2015.

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Episode 71 – TATA Institute for Fundamental Research

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Homi Bhabha 1909 - 1966 — Homi Bhabha 1909 – 1966

The Indian Space Program was initiated by a brilliant nuclear physicist Homi Bhabha who pretty much immediately handed over the space program to Vikram Sarabhai. Bhabha himself pursued the goal of establishing premier scientific institutions for fundamental research in India. At the time he regarded scientific institutions to be critical for the new emerging independent India. Whilst working in the Indian Institute of Science, in 1945 he came up with the idea of an institution for fundamental research and went on to establish the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) which continues to operate today.

Although separate organisations, the connection between ISRO and TIFR remains strong to this day. Many of the instruments and subsystem onboard ISRO’s satellites are designed and constructed within TIFR. In this episode, the former director of TIFR, Professor Mustansir Barma talks about Homi Bhabha, his achievements in physics and the role of the TIFR in modern India.

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