Archives for April 2021

OneWeb is opening a state-of-the-art Service Demonstration experience at the new Innovation Center at Westcott Venture Park, which is run and managed by the Satellite Applications Catapult and was funded by Buckinghamshire LEP through the Local Growth Fund.

Situated in Buckinghamshire, UK, OneWeb’s unique facility will welcome customers from May 1st to demonstrate the performance and potential applications of their satellite network in real-time.

The Service Demo will showcase equipment and high-speed connectivity, and visitors will be able to see the OneWeb network in action including download and upload speeds and latency. Sales support staff will also be on hand to discuss the technology, potential partnerships, testing requirements and further collaboration opportunities.

Focused on attracting partnerships with commercial communications or internet solution providers, the Service Demo experience will play a vital role in launching OneWeb’s unique service for UK businesses. The center will develop a long-term commercial proposition for its technology in collaboration with the UK’s innovative satellite communications sector.

OneWeb selected Westcott as part of its collaboration with the Satellite Applications Catapult to demonstrate high speed data transfer through space to their 5G network. Aligned to OneWeb’s mission to deliver broadband connectivity and bridge the Digital Divide, this strategic business partnership is the next step in OneWeb’s journey to enable a cross-fertilization of technologies to enable other businesses to collaborate and benefit from advances in the UK space sector.

Opening the Service Demo is yet another milestone for OneWeb as it continues to demonstrate its progress in commercialization of the network. In recent weeks the company has also announced an Innovation Challenge further onboarding of customers globally, and in March 2021, OneWeb conducted network demonstrations to the U.S. Government and will be rolling out additional demonstration kits and demo centers in key markets globally.

The Norwegian Space Agency has announced the successful launch of the NorSat-3 maritime tracking smallsat, built by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) in Toronto, successfully launched on April 28, 2012, aboard Arianespace‘s Vega Flight VV18 from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana — this is the 17th SFL satellite launched within the past eight months.

NorSat-3 carries two instrument payloads. The primary device is an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver that acquires messages from civilian maritime vessels to provide information on ship locations and marine traffic.

The smallsat is also equipped with an experimental navigation radar detector developed by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) to augment the AIS receiver.

Combining a navigation radar detector and AIS receiver will potentially provide much better maritime awareness for the Norwegian Coastal Administration, Armed Forces and other maritime authorities. Detection of navigation radar from ships will provide the ability to verify the accuracy of received AIS messages and to detect vessels whose AIS messages have not been received.

SFL developed the 16.5 kg NorSat-3 smallsat on the company’s space-proven, Next Generation, Earth Monitoring and Observation (NEMO) platform,under contract to the Norwegian Space Agency, with funding from the Norwegian Coastal Administration. SFL also built the NorSat-1 and -2 maritime tracking smallsats now on-orbit and the firm is currently developing the NorSat-TD (Technology Demonstrator) satellite that is slated for launch in 2022.

“SFL congratulates Norway on its leadership in space-based maritime traffic monitoring,” said SFL Director Dr. Robert E. Zee. “NorSat-3 was contacted shortly after launch and is healthy. Commissioning is underway.”

Other launches of SFL-built satellites in just the past eight months include missions developed for the Dubai-based Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates, GHGSat Inc. of Canada, HawkEye 360 of the U.S., Space-SI of Slovenia, and a Canadian-based telecommunications company.

SFL offers a complete suite of smallsats that satisfy the needs of a broad range of mission types from 3 to 500 kilograms. Dating from 1998, SFL’s heritage of on-orbit successes includes 69 satellites and distinct missions related to Earth observation, atmospheric monitoring, ship tracking, communication, radio frequency (RF) geolocation, technology demonstration, space astronomy, solar physics, space plasma, and other scientific research. In its 23-year history, SFL has developed a variety of satellites that have achieved more than 144 cumulative years of operation in orbit. These smallsat missions have included SFL’s trusted attitude control and, in some cases, formation-flying capabilities. Other core SFL-developed components include modular (scalable) power systems, onboard radios, flight computers, and control software.

NanoAvionics has successfully established communications with “Bravo,” the second smallsat the company built and launched for Aurora Insight, a U.S. business analytics company for the wireless industry.

“Bravo” was sent into LEO on April 28 onboard an Arianespace Vega rocket by Italian rocket maker Avio. It followed the launch of its twin satellite “Charlie” earlier this year on SpaceX’s Transporter-1 rideshare mission, and the demo-satellite “Alpha” launched in 2018.

Flying at a height of 500-600 miles above Earth, scanning radio frequencies (RF), these satellites form a critical part of Aurora’s technology, which maps network activity around the world. The company’s technology also includes RF sensors on vehicles, aircraft, buildings and other objects to measure spectrum and wireless networks, including 5G deployments. 

NanoAvionics, which recently announced its business expansion into the smallsat market, built the buses, integrated the sensor payloads and provided launch and operation services for Aurora Insight, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Both 6U smallsats are based on NanoAvionics’ flight-proven M6P bus. To provide the required capabilities for Aurora’s radio frequency spectrum mission, they include a higher performance configuration to provide more power through deployable panels and the most precise method for pointing and navigation in nanosats by an added star tracker subsystem.

Using machine learning algorithms, Aurora creates accurate information on the availability of radio frequency spectrum and wireless infrastructure, measuring 5G, LTE, IoT, 3G/2G, Wi-Fi and TV signals. This information enables mobile network operators, mobile service operators, tower companies, and RF spectrum users to innovate and invest in wireless networks, resulting in stronger connections for communities and smarter industries.

“While we had many launches, the excitement that comes with each successful mission – like the twin satellites for Aurora Insight – never ceases,” said Vytenis J. Buzas, CEO of NanoAvionics. “The advantage that attracts our customers is the combination of our standardized buses, already lowering cost, with easy and thus cost-effective custom modification. Due to our experience and services, they can outsource the whole end-to-end satellite infrastructure and operations to us and focus entirely on their data and business.”

Jennifer Alvarez, CEO of Aurora Insight, said, “Our newest satellites will capture unprecedented data on wireless networks, including 5G deployments. With this new layer of global spectrum data, Aurora Insight is well-equipped to provide the wireless industry with actionable insights for investment decisions and long-term growth.” 

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has signed a contract with Norway’s Andøya Space, securing one of the most coveted launch sites in Europe.

RFA is engaged in launch vehicle development for NewSpace with its state-of-the-art staged combustion engine technology. This high-performance engine design, coupled with the most cost-effective production techniques possible, is essentially new to Europe.

With OHB’s support, RFA has succeeded in acquiring key technologies and key talent that will drive the RFA ONE launch vehicle business case to global market dominance. Recent fire tests have shown that RFA is on a successful path to establishing an efficient and powerful rocket motor technology for Europe.

Andøya Space got their zonal area approval September 2020 and have permit for 30 launches per year from their new spaceport 35 km south of the existing launch site. The spaceport’s location, 69 degrees north and above the Arctic circle on the coastline of Andøya in Nordland county, possesses a flightpath that ensures a trajectory whose ground track does not cross populated areas. Andøya Space,provides launch pads, payload integration facilities as well as technical infrastructure on site.

“This agreement secures launch capacity to cover the first years of operation for us. We are very happy that Europe’s most advanced rocket launch complex is partnering with us. We have everything in place now from launch site, over customers to traction on the development program to get the first launch campaign going“, said Jörn Spurmann, Chief Commercial Officer of RFA. “Flexible access to space from continental Europe aids RFA in offering its customers the best and most cost-effective launch service for their payloads.”

“A partnership with Rocket Factory is another big milestone for the European New Space Industry,” said Odd Roger Enoksen, CEO and President of Andøya Space. “We look forward to supporting their ambitious launch cadence from our spaceport. Our relationship with RFA has grown strong through the past years and we are particularly proud that RFA continues to be part of our vision to create a competitive European New Space industry.”

York Space Systems is now producing a larger satellite platform with double the payload volume of the company’s current spacecraft bus in response to market demand.

The new LX-CLASS is designed to have a total mass of more than 350 kilograms, up from 180 kilograms for its flight-proven S-CLASS satellite platform. The LX-CLASS will reuse more than 90% of the S-CLASS design, reducing schedule and cost risk for missions ranging from communications to EO and will also include cybersecurity and encryption systems developed for military customers on the S-CLASS.

The company is currently building 15 under-contract spacecraft in a facility designed to produce 20 simultaneously. The number of S-CLASS under production is exceeding 10 in number and the LX-CLASS [is] ramping production throughout this year. As the platforms share more than 90% of components and systems, York can scale and shift production between them based on market demand.

In October 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains and businesses around the world, York had plans to produce 50 satellites in 2020 — and hundreds annually in the future. According to the company, demand is continuing to align with its previous expectations.

York’s LX-CLASS will also feature the same autonomous operations capability used by the S-CLASS, which enabled the company to reduce the number of people needed to operate a constellation for a specific customer from 15 to zero. In August, the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency awarded York a $94 million contract to partly build a network of satellites in low Earth orbit for the military.

York and Lockheed Martin are building 10 satellites each for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 0 mesh network, slated to launch in 2022.

DEWC Systems and Australian launch services company Gilmour Space Technologies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch the next generation Miniaturized Orbital Electronic Warfare Sensor Systems (MOESS) system as a sovereign, space-based, Electronic Warfare (EW) system.

In a bid to increase Australia’s Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare (ISREW) capability, DEWC Systems and Gilmour Space have signed a five-year sovereign collaboration to advance the sensor capability, deployment and uptake of ISREW satellites in LEO.

The companies also envisage co-development projects based on the current 3U platform including assets in the 80 to 100 kg class that will lead to a smallsat prototype. A joint research activity will be conducted to understand the requirements of manufacturing a prototype satellite using commercially available components.

DEWC Systems role in the partnership is to further develop its Miniaturized Orbital Electronic Warfare Sensor Systems (MOESS) – a dynamically reprogrammable, multi-purpose, Electromagnetic sensor system integrated and deployed on smallsats to provide a unique and enhanced space-based EW capability for Australia. MOESS was DEWC Systems’ first collaborative project with top South Australian universities and the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) where the development of a proof-of-concept was funded by the Defence Innovation Partnerships two years ago.

Phase Two, funded through a Defence Innovation Hub contract, enabled DEWC Systems to work on the design and development of assembled systems and demonstrate the technology.

Phase three will see a maturing of the system with a view to integrate with a small satellite, launch the prototype to orbit and demonstrate the live capability. This collaboration seeks to develop the technologies required to ensure that the launch will be on an Australian made rocket.

DEWC Systems, being the first Australian company to launch a payload on a space-capable rocket from Australian soil that helped lead Australia into the Space 4.0 era, will be a step closer to launching a constellation of cubesats.

“We are committed to developing a LEO launch and satellite platform that will support new and valuable sovereign space capabilities, such as DEWC System’s ISREW solution for Defence,” said Adam Gilmour, CEO of Gilmour Space.

“I believe in the ingenuity, innovation and the ‘can do’ attitude of the Australian spirit. Through effective collaboration with like-minded Australian companies, such as DEWC Systems and Gilmour Space Technologies, I am confident that we can deliver a true and enduring sovereign Defence space capability,” said Ian Spencer CEO of DEWC Systems.

DEWC Systems is a South Australian owned technology company founded by veteran EW operators for the purpose of enhancing Australia’s technological capabilities in EW system design and development. DEWC Systems is focused on developing innovative, state-of-the-art systems and sub-systems for Defence and Space applications including the Wombat S3 (Smart Sensor Suite) and STAC (Sensor Telemetry and Communications) products.

Gilmour Space Technologies is a leading venture-backed Australian launch services provider and spacecraft manufacturer. The company’s mission is to provide affordable and reliable spacecraft and launch services to global customers with their next-generation G-class satellite platform and Eris orbital rockets. Launching in 2022.

On Wednesday, April 28, 2021, at 10:50 pm local time (01:50 UTC on Thursday, April 29), a Vega launch vehicle operated by Arianespace lifted off successfully from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America) –this mission marked Vega’s return to flight and was also the second successful launch by Arianespace’s teams in less than 72 hours.

The mission’s primary purpose was to orbit Pleiades Neo 3, the first of four satellites in an advanced EO constellation. Pleiades Neo 3 was wholly funded and manufactured by its operator, Airbus.

Arianespace’s 18th Vega mission also deployed several smallsats using the company’s rideshare service SSMS (Small Spacecraft Mission Service). These auxiliary payloads included an observation smallsat for the Norwegian space agency, Norsat-3, and four cubesats for the operators Eutelsat, NanoAvionics/Aurora Insight and Spire.

The SSMS rideshare service, developed with the support of the European space industry, was first deployed by Arianespace in September of 2020. Funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), Arianespace’s SSMS service will soon be joined by the Multiple Launch Service (MLS), a similar offering that uses the Ariane 6 launch vehicle. With these two services, Arianespace can offer a wide range of affordable launch opportunities for small satellites and constellations.

The production of the Vega launcher and preparations for mission VV18 were handled by Avio, industrial prime contractor for the Vega launcher, under the direction of Arianespace and ESA. They followed all recommendations issued by the Independent Inquiry Commission set up after the failure of the 17th Vega mission (VV17).

VV18 is the third Arianespace mission of 2021, following two successful Soyuz launches, on March 25 and April 26, from the Vostochny launch base in Russia.

Vega is a new-generation light launcher, perfectly suited to both commercial and government payloads. Because of its high performance and versatility, Arianespace provides the best possible launch solution for small and medium spacecraft headed into a wide range of orbits (Sun-synchronous, ballistic, transfer to the Lagrange point L1, etc.), for EO, science, education, defense and other applications. With Vega C, Arianespace will offer enhanced performance and greater payload volume for future customers at the same price as for launches by Vega.

“I would like to congratulate everybody involved at Arianespace, ESA and Avio for successfully returning Vega to flight,” said Stéphane Israël, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace. “I am especially proud of our teams who were able to carry out two launches, on two different continents, in less than 72 hours – kudos!”

The AVUM stage will ignite its engine for the first time, in a powered phase lasting about eight minutes, followed by a ballistic phase lasting 37 minutes. The AVUM stage will then restart its engine for a second burn lasting a little over one minute, before releasing the Pleiades Neo 3 satellite.

The next two AVUM ignition phases will last about 37 minutes in all, followed by the release of the five auxiliary payloads. That will mark the end of mission VV18, one hour and 42 minutes after liftoff.

The first of four satellites in an advanced EO constellation, Pleiades Neo 3 was wholly funded and manufactured by its operator, Airbus. The 18th mission of Europe’s Vega light launcher will also orbit an observation smallsat for the Norwegian space agency, Norsat-3, plus four cubesats for the operators Eutelsat, NanoAvionics/Aurora Insight and Spire. These smallsats will be carried as auxiliary payloads on the innovative Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) deployment system. The SSMS rideshare service, developed with the support of the European space industry, was first deployed by Arianespace in September 2020.

Funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), Arianespace’s SSMS service will soon be joined by the Multiple Launch Service (MLS), a similar offering that uses the Ariane 6 launch vehicle. With these two services, Arianespace can offer a wide range of affordable launch opportunities for small satellites and constellations.

The production of the Vega launcher and preparations for mission VV18 were overseen by Avio, the prime contractor for the Vega launcher, under the direction of Arianespace and ESA. They followed all recommendations issued by the Independent Inquiry Commission established after the failure of the 17th Vega mission (VV17).

About the Pléiades Neo 3 satellite

Pléiades Neo 3 is the first of the Pléiades Neo constellation to be launched. Entirely funded, manufactured, owned and operated by Airbus, Pléiades Neo is a breakthrough in Earth observation domain.

With 30 cm resolution, best-in-class geolocation accuracy and twice-a-day revisit, the four Pléiades Neo satellites unlock new possibilities with ultimate reactivity. Thanks to these state-of-the-art satellites, each step of the acquisition and delivery cycle offers top-level EO services now and going forward for the next ten years. In addition, their reactive tasking ability allows urgent acquisitions 30 to 40 minutes following request – which is five times higher than previous constellations – and respond to the most critical situations in near real-time, very useful for natural disaster. Pléiades Neo will also operate for mapping, urban and defence applications.

The Pléiades Neo constellation is 100% commercially available and will provide institutional and commercial customer’s needs. Images captured by Pléiades Neo will be streamed into the OneAtlas on-line platform, allowing customers to have immediate data access, analytics and correlation with Airbus’ unique archive of optical and radar data.

There are two additional Airbus Defence and Space Intelligence missions for three satellites in the Arianespace backlog to be launched on Vega from the Guiana space center.

Pleiades Neo 3 will be the 131^st Airbus Defence and Space built satellite to be launched by Arianespace. There are currently 20 Airbus Defence and Space built satellites in Arianespace’s backlog: CERES (x3), SYRACUSE 4B (COMSAT NG 2), EUTELSAT QUANTUM, METOP-SG A1 & METOP-SG B1, THEOS-2, CSO 3, Pléiades Neo (x3), JUICE, Measat-3d, Biomass, EarthCARE and CO3D (x4). In addition, Airbus Defence and Space is involved in the construction of the OneWeb satellites.

SES has signed agreements with key infrastructure service providers around the world to build its eight, initial, O3b mPOWER satellite ground stations.

Construction has already started on these advanced technology satellite ground stations, which will become operational in the second half of this year. The eight sites will provide telemetry, tracking and control capabilities to enable SES’s management of the constellation. They will also be leveraged to raise the satellites into the right orbit after the scheduled launches.

As previously announced, two of the satellite ground stations are located at Dubbo, NSW, Australia (operated by Pivotel) and Thermopylae, Greece (operated by OTE). Other locations include Merredin, Perth, Australia; Phoenix, Arizona, US; Chile; the United Arab Emirates; Senegal, as well as SES’s own satellite ground station in Hawaii.

Four out of the eight sites will be co-located and operated with Microsoft’s Azure data centres; the one-hop connectivity to the cloud from remote sites will provide O3b mPOWER customers the ability to optimize business operations with significant flexibility and agility.

Building on the success of O3b, each of the 11, high-throughput, low-latency, O3b mPOWER satellites will deliver high-speed connectivity services from tens of megabits to multiple gigabits per second, providing fibre-like connectivity to customers globally. The O3b mPOWER satellite ground stations have many technically advanced features compared to the existing O3b satellite ground station. They include a new generation of fast-install, 5.5-meter carbon fibre antennas which can be installed without the need of expensive and time-consuming photogrammetry.

In addition, they will use energy-efficient, solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) and a low electrical load for the antenna control unit (ACU). The satellite ground stations will use SES’s gateway management system for automated operations and handovers, which will be tightly integrated with SES’s unique resource management capability, Adaptive Resource Control (ARC) and other SES software sub-systems. With this configuration, SES will dynamically manage and optimise space and ground resources to meet the changing needs of its customers. These combined technology advances result in improved efficiency and lower total cost of ownership.

The first three O3b mPOWER satellites are scheduled for launch in the third quarter of this year, with the next three in the first quarter of 2022. After orbit raising, O3b mPOWER will start delivering services in the third quarter of 2022.

Stewart Sanders, Executive Vice President of Technology and O3b mPOWER program manager at SES, said, “We are thrilled to have chosen these eight locations and construction is underway. We are also deep in discussions with several telco players and operators who are keen to have their own O3b mPOWER satellite ground station. This is particularly exciting, as it means that SES’s provision of a core network of command, control and data gateways will be augmented with a number of customer satellite ground stations; satellite ground stations provisioned according to our customer needs, with regards to location, size and infrastructure requirements. We expect a number of these customer satellite ground stations to include virtualized installations of the cloud at the edge of the deployed networks, thus improving the end- user experience.”

On Wednesday, April 28 at 11:44 p.m. EDT, SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the seventh launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 03, Turksat 5A, and four Starlink missions.

Following first-stage separation, SpaceX sucessfully landed the booster engine on drone ship ‘Just Read The Instructions’ in the Atlantic ocean.

Once Starlink is complete, the venture is expected to profit $30-50 billion annually. This profit will largely finance SpaceX’s ambitious Starship program, as well as Mars Base Alpha.

The mission will launch around 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network.

We’ve had a few scares recently, and the number of close calls requiring an automated or manual maneuver to avoid a collision will increase dramatically in the future…

There was a recent dispute between OneWeb and SpaceX regarding the possibility of a collision between two of their low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. OneWeb’s satellite (OneWeb-1078) was launched on March 25 and headed for its orbit at an altitude of 1,200 km when, in early April, it passed near a SpaceX satellite (Starlink-1546) in orbit at about 450 km.

There was no collision, but subsequently, OneWeb’s government affairs chief Chris McLaughlin said SpaceX had turned off their autonomous collision-avoidance system so OneWeb could maneuver around their satellite and SpaceX denied that they had switched the system off and said, “there was never a risk of collision.”

This sounds a little like a PR battle, but both sides may have been sincere because satellite tracking is imprecise. The satellites were being tracked by SpaceX, OneWeb, and two independent organizations, the Air Force 18th Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) and LeoLabs which offers a commercial satellite tracking service. As we see in the plot shown below (source), their estimates of the probability of collision vary.

In addition to helping explain the dispute between SpaceX and OneWeb, the variance in these estimates illustrates the difficulty of accurately tracking and predicting satellite orbits. The incident also highlights the difficulty of communicating and cooperating in deciding on maneuvers to avoid collisions.

SpaceX and OneWeb began deploying their broadband Internet service constellations recently, but as of early 2020, LeoLabs was tracking about 14,000 objects in LEO that were 10 centimeters across and larger. About 1,700 were functional satellites working on other applications, and the rest were debris. We also had a debris-collision warning Last week when the astronauts en route to the International Space Station were instructed to put on their spacesuits due to the possibility of a collision with a piece of space junk.

Fast forward five years

The SpaceX-OneWeb and astronaut-debris events provide an early warning. There are around 3,000 satellites in LEO today, but how about five years from now? As shown below, the five would-be broadband constellation operators have the authorization to launch over 30,000 satellites and, if we add in pending requests for approval, the total increases to around 100,000. Furthermore, Russia and the European Union are working on broadband satellite plans, as are the US and Chinese militaries. And don’t forget the forthcoming large non-broadband constellations, like Geely’s Geespace constellation.

We’ve had a few scares recently, and the number of close calls requiring an automated or manual maneuver to avoid a collision will increase dramatically in the future. Runaway debris in LEO would cost us more than just having to give up the goal of global broadband service. It would disrupt critical applications we already depend upon in climate science, emergency response, agriculture, etc. I am confident that LEO broadband providers can find solutions to the technical problems they face, like low-cost antennas, inter-satellite laser links, and spectrum sharing. Still, collision avoidance is tougher because, in addition to technical innovation like improving the accuracy and resolution of terrestrial and space-based orbit tracking, it will take political action.

The map below shows that 72 nations own and/or operate satellites, but last week, English-speaking engineers at SpaceX and OneWeb were unable to agree on the orbit data and communicate and cooperate when it appeared that a collision might be forthcoming. If SpaceX and OneWeb cannot agree, what will happen when, for example, military satellites from China and the US are involved?

Space, like the oceans, is a global commons, and it is not in anyone’s interest to spoil it. We need global regulations, standards, procedures, and a means of enforcing compliance if we are to avoid collisions and mitigate debris. We are running out of time. We’ve been working on maritime law for centuries, and the UN International Maritime Council has 174 member states — have we begun talking about this issue with the Chinese?

It’s time to act

The European Space Agency (ESA) has produced a 12-minute video (with cool animations) that describes the debris problem and the current debris mitigation guidelines, which are neither universally followed nor adequate for the future. ESA projects for automating collision avoidance, refueling and repairing satellites in space, active debris removal, and technology to hasten the deorbiting of defunct satellites are mentioned in this call for action. Indeed the title of the video is “Time to Act.”

Space, like the oceans, is a global commons, and it is not in anyone’s interest to spoil it. We need global regulations, standards, procedures, and a means of enforcing compliance if we are to avoid collisions and mitigate debris. We are running out of time. We’ve been working on maritime law for centuries, and the UN International Maritime Council has 174 member states — have we begun talking about this issue with the Chinese?

By Larry Press, CircleID

Larry Press, Professor of Information Systems at California State University – He has been on the faculties of the University of Lund, Sweden and the University of Southern California, and worked for IBM and the System Development Corporation. Larry maintains a blog on Internet applications and implications at cis471.blogspot.com and follows Cuban Internet development at laredcubana.blogspot.com

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