
Space Hackers Prepare to Reboot 35-Year-Old Spacecraft - andyjohnson0
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/space-hackers-prepare-to-reboot-35-year-old-spacecraft
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ChuckMcM
Its a pretty noble mission. I wonder what the salvage rights are. Which is to
say if NASA abandons a spacecraft, and you bring it back into service, are you
now the owner of it and its data? Would the original science team be able to
tell you what to do with it? Even if you didn't want to?

That said, I was really disappointed that the dish antennas were dismantled at
Onizuka AFB [1] (aka the 'blue cube') they were originally part of a group of
space craft communication satellites and could even track things in LEO (fun
to watch a giant dish following a satellite)

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onizuka_Air_Force_Station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onizuka_Air_Force_Station)

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jgrahamc
That's great.

Now, who wants to join me in trying to talk to Britain's only self-launched
(i.e. launched with our own rocket) satellite:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_(satellite)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_\(satellite\))?
Most of the documentation is in the National Archive (I have copies).

~~~
andyjohnson0
Assuming you're serious, what kind of equipment and knowledge would be needed?

According to the wiki page a team at UCL was planning to try, but the link to
Roger Duthie's blog is dead. Any idea if they achieved anything?

Update:

Missing blog post content is at [1], courtesy of archive.org. Looks like they
built some comms hardware. The full series of posts relating to Prospero is at
[2]. Interesting read.

[1]
[http://web.archive.org/web/20121026003633/http://blogs.ucl.a...](http://web.archive.org/web/20121026003633/http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/prospero-
satellite/2012/04/04/long-overdue-update/)

[2]
[http://web.archive.org/web/20121026003618/http://blogs.ucl.a...](http://web.archive.org/web/20121026003618/http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/prospero-
satellite/)

~~~
jgrahamc
_Assuming you 're serious_

Yes, but have not found anyone who is also serious and also need some funds to
pay for necessary equipment.

The National Archives has lots of good stuff about Prospero, including:

"Operational control of Prospero":
[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?ur...](http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C10848999)

~~~
jacquesm
How much money do you think you need? A few private donations level or
kickstarter level?

Consider just raising some prize money and then announcing a race for the
first group to have confirmed contact with the satellite, and get out of the
way?

~~~
jgrahamc
More than money I need expertise. Although I have an amateur license I'd like
to work on it with someone who is experienced with AMSAT type work.

Also, I would prefer not to do the race as the real motivator for me is the
thrill of doing it and the fun of learning about how it was done.

It probably could be done as a Kickstarter and I'm guessing for the low
£1,000s (radio, antenna, probably some interesting pre-amp/filter stuff).

~~~
jacquesm
Ok, consider yourself funded for 250 pounds, who else would like to chip in?

I'm really really rusty on VHF, do not have any required licenses and all my
HAM contacts have dried up due to old age so that's pretty much all I think I
can help with. The most I did in hardware terms in the last 6 months was to
make an old Unitra grammophone work again, not quite in the right league :).

~~~
jgrahamc
Thanks for that. Good to know I'm not alone in thinking that talking to that
satellite would be awesome.

~~~
jacquesm
Mail me your IBAN please and I'll wire you the money, maybe do an official
call-out for this project on your blog? That might get you some more help
and/or funding. I really hope that you get this done, beware that there are a
number of other satellites transmitting on the exact same frequency.

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franzb
I'm curious about the kind of authentication required to communicate with a
satellite from the eighties. Does anyone know?

~~~
blueintegral
There is none. This spacecraft doesn't even have an onboard computer. The only
reason people don't routinely hack spacecrafts like this is because you need a
worldwide network of huge dish antennas to communicate with it. Right now,
outside of the Deep Space Network, only the Aricebo dish is capable of
transmitting to it. Once it gets closer to earth (within a few million miles),
the 20 meter dish at Moorehead in Kentucky will be used.

~~~
toomuchtodo
You could use multiple, smaller dishes than Aricebo; coordination is required
though.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_interferometer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_interferometer)

Example: The VLA [http://www.vla.nrao.edu/](http://www.vla.nrao.edu/)

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aaronbasssett
Please do not power off or unplug your machine.

Installing update 1 of 14560 ..

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flurpitude
How many objects orbit at L1? Is there a risk of collision if we put many
objects there?

~~~
privong
It appears there are not very many objects currently at L1 [0]. L1 is an
unstable Lagrange point, so satellites located "at" L1 generally orbit around
the L1 point in a Lissajous Orbit [1]. Given that, I suspect more satellites
can be put in these types of orbits around L1 than would "fit" at L1 in a more
stationary configuration.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_objects_at_Lagrangian_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_objects_at_Lagrangian_points#L1)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lissajous_orbit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lissajous_orbit)

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xexers
I wish my CV had an entry titled "Space Hacker"

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privong
Here's some info on a doppler shift detection of ISEE3, using ARECIBO:

[http://spacecollege.org/isee3/isee-3-reboot-project-
hardware...](http://spacecollege.org/isee3/isee-3-reboot-project-hardware-
detects-isee-3-at-arecibo.html)

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bluehazed
Imagine that on your business card.

"Space Hacker"

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coldcode
Now that is hacking without a net. Get it to work on time, or the satellite
dies.

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joshdance
The obligatory xkcd - [http://xkcd.com/1337/](http://xkcd.com/1337/)

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baldfat
If this happens I am scared.

We will now have people hacking into Space Objects as the new pinnacle of
extreme hacking. Someone is going to do something bad with this new idea.

~~~
andyjohnson0
In this case it requires a 400W transmitter and an _extremely_ large parabolic
antenna. Probably not something they'll have at the local hackerspace.

Satellites in LEO/MEO might be reachable with more readily obtainable
equipment though.

~~~
jacquesm
The 400W transmitter is doable, the large parabolic antenna would be a bit
harder to hide. Though, as you up the power you can use a smaller antenna. The
giveaway then becomes fried birds falling out of the sky.

~~~
Already__Taken
You also wouldn't have the hardest time finding where a 400W+ signal is coming
from.

~~~
jacquesm
You're going 'up' with a highly directional antenna, and you're going to be
transmitting _very_ short bursts. The biggest risk will be the lobes
projecting from the antenna some of those will be pointing back at the planet
instead of into space. Airtraffic will have the biggest risk of interference
(also because the frequency band is close).

So kidding aside you will need to make very certain that (1) you have the
right permits and (2) that your gear is not inadvertently sending out a dirty
signal. The narrower the better. Better start shopping for a second hand
spectrum analyzer ;)

