As a space geek I am always fascinated how Space is used in cultural expressions. People actually wear the NASA logo on their clothes nowadays without knowing what those letters stand for. I recently asked a kid on the street and he just said he liked the logo. Something with combination of vintage/retro style and progressive technological glamour. 

Recently I built up a new Raspberry PI 4 to become my household's game computer. Next to the obligated Mario, Donkey Kong and Sonic installments for my kids, I went on a tour through long forgotten gameconsoles. In my childhood I started out with a Philips Videopac 7000 and not long after, I jumped on the MSX-2 boat. Now with Retropie running on my Raspberry Pi, I could recreate those 2 oldies and experience again lots of other game consoles that I used to play at friends. I realized again that Space is such a great context for videogames. Unfortunately, this is often also in combination with shooting aliens and destroying asteroids. As an experiment, I went for a search of Space retro games with some realism included. The first game I stumbled into is the Space Shuttle Project for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was released in 1991. The objective is to fly the Space Shuttle into Space and execute all kinds of missions. It is really nice that lots of technical details and terms are correct. The gamedevelopers were clearly advised well. Check the longplay below. 

A second game I found is called the Halley Project. The comet Halley orbits the sun and is visible from Earth every 75 years. In 1986, the European Space Agency ESA made a visit to the Comet with the Giotto Probe and made some scientific discoveries about its nucleus. So the timing was really great for 'launching' this game! The Halley Project game was developed by the French game company Mindscape in 1985. It first appeared on the Atari 800, and trying to get it to work on my Retropie was really a mess. I got it to work with an obscure emulator but then when my kids wanted to play Sonic on the SEGA Megadrive emulator, the whole controller configuration was messed up and I needed to reconfigure. Then I found the game was also available on Commodore Amiga and this was much more smoother to get to work. In The Halley Project, the player assumes the role of a star pilot whose mission is to travel between the various bodies of the solar system. The distances between worlds are realistic, their sizes reasonably accurate, and the task of landing safely often less than easy. Below you can hear the special Commodore Amiga song that was specially composed for the Halley Project launch on this computer.

Another classic is Lunar Lander. The first actual Lunar Lander game was actually developed back in 1969, the year of Apollo 11. It was written in the FOCAL programming language for the DEC PDP-8 minicomputer by Jim Storer. The real breakthrough for this game was in 1979 for the Atari console. Below you can see the screenplay for the MSX version from 1985.

A game that I have not yet managed to install on my Retropie is Rendezvous for the Apple II. This is a Space Shuttle Simulation game published in 1982 and developed by Titan Computer Products and NASA Scientist Wesley Huntress. 

If you happen to know other Space Retro games in the same realistic genre as the ones in this blog, let me know in the comments as I want to play them all!

Oh, and did you know that Bitcoin legend Hal Finney was an Atari game developer back in the 70s/80s? Guess what he liked as context for his games? Yes, Space! Read an interesting interview with him back in 2006 here.

Together with my students at InHolland Aeronautical & Precision Engineering, I am going to perform a test on the uplink channel for Bitlinq. This is a wonderfull Systems Engineering practice for my students to combine Arduino programmed RF technology, 2-axis pointing (with LEGO Mindstorms & Labview) and Orbit prediction using AGI's System Toolkit. We foresee to execute a test on March 25 where we will point our Lacuna Space IOT terminal  directly to the overflying LS100 (or M6P) satellite. Part of the test is to relay a payment of a Lightning Network invoice, that we will receive from the other side of the globe, through the Blockstream Satellite service. Another part of the test is to find out how effective the pointing will be, compared to an unpointed IOT terminal. Another fun thing: when individual students execute the tasks well, that I set for them, I am giving them small rewards in LN BTC. They love it!

P.S.: the YouTube video shows that the 2-axis pointing works! Next step is to program it to directly point at the satellite.

A second functional test has been performed, specifically to show Bitlinq's Internet access usecase. A wikipedia search command was uplinked to the Lacuna Space LS1 satellite (see above), using our LoRaWAN terminal, as part of in total 23 messages. The search command was downlinked to the Lacuna Space groundstation in Denmark and made available through the Bitlinq application running at the TTN (The Things Network). From there, the Bitlinq API queried the internet with the search command, and packaged the resulting webpage in a document for uplink through the Blockstream Satellite API. From there, the document was broadcasted over the entire globe, and we received it through our own dish pointed at the Geostationairy TELSTAR 11N satellite above the Atlantic Ocean. This shows that no firewall can stop Bitlinq to provide access to the full internet. Next challenge is to demonstrate a Lightning Network payment between 2 off-grid locations, with only SatCom access through Lacuna Space and Blockstream Satellite.

Bitlinq is a subscriptionless censorship resistant full-duplex global messaging system in the making. A bit like the Batphone.

 First functional tests have been performed using the Eye On Orbit teleport. Using a low-power IOT antenna from Lacuna Space, we were able to send over 35 messages to their LS1 satellite that was passing over the North Sea. These messages were downlinked to the Lacuna Space groundstations and then relayed to the portal of TTN (The Things Network). The Bitlinq API automatically selected one of them to push to the Blockstream Satellite API, that on its turn relayed the message to 4 geostationairy satellites for Global Broadcasting. 

The Eye On Orbit teleport

The Lacuna Space antenna

The Lacuna Space LS1 satellite pass crossing the North Sea

One of the transmitted messages was globally broadcasted through the Blockstream Satellite API

Was holding my breath for a moment last night as two defunct satellites were hurling toward each other at a relative velocity of more than 14 km/s. If this head-on collision between the IRAS Space Telescope and the GGSE 4 satellite would have occurred at an altitude of 900 km, a large number of fragments would be the result. The space environment would have become a bit more polluted than it already was and more satellites would have a higher risk level for meeting up with a deadly painflake. Luckily, the two satellites zoomed passed each other at only 48 meters apart. It is mindboggling to think that both satellites have been orbiting our planet for so long. IRAS was launched in 1983 and the GGSE-4 (or also called POPPY-4B) even back in 1967. And then, decades later they would meet in Space head-on!

Such an event shows that we should take very serious on how, where, why and what we occopy the Low-Earth Orbits with. Incidentally, also yesterday, SpaceX launched another batch of 60 Broadband Internet satellites into its now 242 satellite constellation called Starlink. The Starlink mega-constellation could eventually total 42,000 satellites, according to regulatory filings from the company. If this number becomes a reality, events like yesterday with the near-collision of IRAS and GGSE-4 will happen much more frequently, and it is inevitable that real collisions take place.

Unfortunately, there is not yet international regulations in place for responsible use of the space environment. There is mere good intentions, also on the side of SpaceX concerning active debris prevention. But with the numbers they have now been filing, even good intentions could not be enough I think.

2020 will be a record year for rocket launches. China’s main space contractor CASC alone, foresees to launch 40 missions into Space. European launch provider ArianeSpace foresees a record of 22 launches from its South American spaceport Kourou in French Guyana. This also includes the maiden flight of Ariane 6, the main competitor for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Just a bit north of Kourou is Cape Canaveral, the main US Spaceport now operated by the US Space Force. They now anticipate a total of 48 launches to Space. Main contributant to the number of US launches will be the Broadband internet system StarLink from SpaceX. Each launch will supply another 60 satellites to this growing constellation. Lots of discussion going on where astronomers complain about the foreseen influence of so many satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to their observations. They are right to some point. The excessive filing at the FCC for in total 42.000 (!!) satellites is really a threat, not only for Astronomy observations from Earth, but also for satellite collisions to take place and a looming creature called the Kessler Syndrome.  This is a theoretical scenario [wikipedia] in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions. Even with good intentions for keeping Space clean, accidents will eventually happen. It is time for global regulations.

2019 was definitely one of those rollercoaster rides in the history of my company Eye On Orbit (since 2013). I have never been so busy keeping so many balls in the air. Some of the give-it-a-try balls became beautiful projects. Some of the steady ones crashed unexpectedly mid-air. Thanks so much to all the family and friends that stood by me and cheered for Eye On Orbit in 2019!

Two of the key topics that I worked on for Industry this year were Methane Remote Sensing from Space and (Optical) SatCom. One of the projects I worked on (and I can disclose) has a special mention in this post: Bitlinq. This project emerged from an idea that popped in my head during my work on the BlockStream Satellite project, that concluded so beautifully with a test at ESTEC this summer!

For Bitlinq, the hopes and expectations are high for some good news to share in the first quarter of 2020.

Another topic, close to my heart, that I encountered on the outreach & PR front was 'Space Exploration'. As the Apollo 11 landing celebrated its 50 year anniversary on July 21 this year, I have not before talked to the media so often. I 'endured' a total of 31 unique media interviews this year! Although it is superclear to me that the general public in the Netherlands is very space minded, this example does not lead our government to invest more in the programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA). The Netherlands has become a backbencher in the United Space of Europe and runs the risk that there will be more pull to ESTEC resources to outside of the Netherlands. Nevertheless, I continue with full force my Space outreach & PR efforts and my agenda for January and February is filling-up!

Also, on the outreach & PR front, I did 10 Eye On Orbit Ruimtevaart Podcasts this year. Most of these podcasts were in close and very pleasant cooperation with Peter Steggerda and Wim Zonneveld from the radioshow MediaMix on Den Haag FM.

As part of my education activities this year, two have stood out:

1. the LEGO SPACE workshops with Ellen Pennings from de Bonte Bouwplaats in Delft. This is a follow-up of the great LEGO Moon City project from 2018. With the 1 million LEGO parts available at the Bonte Bouwplaats, anything can be built at the Bonte Bouwplaats. Using SPACE as the context, we have experienced the power of the combination of LEGO and SPACE first hand, in our workshops and training events for kids and adults. Keep an eye on this website for more info and progress on our LEGO SPACE workshops
   
2. InHolland Aeronautical Engineering: This University College Education provider is one of the leading institutes for the education of the Space Engineer of the future. I am priviligized to be part of their team where I teach classes on Precision Engineering, of course fully immersed in Space Engineering. In 2020, I will work with them in 2020 to increase the amount of Space content in their projects and classes. Special thanks to Monique Martens from Delft Municipality for hooking me up with them this year!   

Have a great main engine shutdown of 2019 and see you for ingition and lift-off in 2020! If you are in need of independent, reliable, creative and focused expertise for policy, programmes, projects and proposals for space activities, I do hope our paths will cross (again) in the new year!