Orbital Reflector

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Orbital Reflector
Type: 3U-Cubesat and work of art
Country: United StatesUnited States United States
Operator: Nevada Museum of Art
Mission dates
Dimensions: 4 kg
Size: approx. 30 × 3 m
Begin: 3rd December 2018
Starting place: VAFB SLC-4E
Launcher: Falcon 9
Status: in orbit, defectiveTemplate: future / in 5 years
Orbit data
Rotation time : about 1.5 hours
Apogee height :  approx. 575 km

The Orbital Reflector (ORS-1) was a planned space artwork by Trevor Paglen and the Nevada Museum of Art . The artwork was launched in December 2018 on board a Falcon 9 rocket and is in orbit in a small satellite . Once it unfolds, it should appear like a bright, moving star in the night sky for about two months. However, due to delays caused by the 2018/19 budget freeze in the United States and a loss of contact with the ground station , the satellite had to be abandoned. The cost of this failed installation were 1.3 million US dollars estimated.

purpose

The Orbital Reflector has no scientific or technical function. The initiators state that it should inspire people to look at the sky and think about their own place in the universe .

construction

The work of art consists of reflective foil, which is folded up and transported in a 3U Cubesat, i.e. in a standardized satellite housing measuring 34 × 10 × 10 centimeters. The satellite has a battery and four solar panels for power supply, which fold out after take-off. Then the foil should be inflated like a balloon. The result is an angular structure about 30 meters long and a few meters wide that is supposed to reflect the sunlight. Depending on the perspective, their shape resembles an elongated four-sided double pyramid or - together with the Cubesat and the solar modules - a sword .

The satellite was built by the airline Global Western, which also makes custom stratospheric balloons.

history

Trevor Paglen was interested in space travel before ; For example, he published photos of spy satellites . In 2012 he had a series of photos taken into space that showed the influence of mankind on earth.

According to the artist, the inspiration for the Orbital Reflector came from Echo 1 and Echo 2 , two shiny balloon satellites from NASA from the 1960s. Accordingly, he initially had the idea of ​​designing the object as a large reflective sphere. He approached the Center for Art + Environment of the Nevada Museum of Art with the project , which was willing to organize and co-finance the project. Work on the artwork began in 2015. A model with a silver ball was initially created, which has been exhibited in the museum since 2016. As it progressed, the design changed to a larger and elongated shape. It should offer a larger reflective surface and better flight characteristics. Financial support was obtained through Kickstarter . In addition to the museum, various art foundations and private individuals participated in the project.

Spaceflight Industries was commissioned to arrange the transport . They arranged a flight as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9 . SpaceX placed the CubeSat on a flight with numerous small satellites, initially planned for spring 2018. The date was postponed to July 2018 and then further to October and November.

The satellite finally launched successfully on December 3, 2018, together with 63 other satellites from the Rideshare flight SSO-A on board the same rocket. The US Air Force then had to register its trajectory and the Federal Communications Commission granted permission to deploy the balloon. However, due to a government shutdown enforced by US President Donald Trump and the democratic opposition , the authorities responsible were given a month's leave of absence and then had to work off any backlogs. The satellite, which was only designed to operate for a few months, apparently suffered electronic damage while waiting. When it was finally supposed to be detected, the ground station had lost contact with the missile. On May 1, 2019, the Nevada Museum of Art declared the Orbital Reflector lost.

The Cubesat is expected to burn up in the earth's atmosphere after a few years.Template: future / in 5 years

Similar projects

The satellites Echo 1 and 2 and PAGEOS had a round balloon envelope made of reflective, aluminum-coated plastic film. They were used for geodetic surveying and as passive communication satellites. The Japanese Experimental Geodetic Satellite has been orbiting the earth at an altitude of around 1,500 kilometers since 1986 . It is almost spherical, has a diameter of 2.15 meters and is equipped with 318 mirrors and 120  laser reflectors . It is also used to survey the earth .

The Orbital Reflector was to become the “first sculpture in space” and “the first satellite that only serves as a work of art”. However, Peter Beck and Rocket Lab got ahead of the museum project: In January 2018, without prior notice, they brought the Humanity Star into space, a silver sphere about one meter in diameter and reflective facets. It was seen for two months and, in addition to positive reactions, also attracted some criticism from astronomers who viewed it as light pollution .

See also

  • Iridium flare , a similar but shorter satellite phenomenon in the night sky
  • Enoch , another art project that launched on the same rocket

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Gunter Dirk Krebs: Orbital Reflector. In: Gunter's Space Page. April 5, 2018, accessed April 5, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Gunter Krebs: Falcon-9 v1.2 (Falcon-9FT). In: Gunter's Space Page. November 28, 2018, accessed December 1, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Kate Sheridan: Elon Musk's SpaceX will launch a sculpture so we can all see art in space. In: Newsweek . September 29, 2017, accessed on April 6, 2018 (Other sources give three hours orbital time, which is implausible given the planned height of the orbit.).
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Orbital Reflector. In: orbitalreflector.com. Nevada Museum of Art, accessed April 5, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Steve Bornfeld: Artist, Nevada museum to launch 'artificial star' into space - video. In: Las Vegas Review-Journal . November 18, 2017, accessed April 6, 2018 .
  6. ^ Stratospheric Ballooning. In: continuumaerospace.com. Retrieved April 6, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b c Trevor Paglen: Orbital Reflector. Kickstarter.com , accessed April 6, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Trevor Paglen - Orbital Reflector. Nevada Museum of Art, accessed April 6, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Trevor Paglen: Orbital Reflector. (Youtube video) Nevada Art, August 29, 2017, accessed April 6, 2018 (minute 5:29).
  10. ↑ Gunseli Yalcinkaya: Trevor Paglen's art installation in limbo in earth's orbit. In: deezen.com. March 22, 2019, accessed March 25, 2019 .
  11. ^ Jeff Foust: Shutdown's toll mounts for NASA and companies. In: spacenews.com. January 23, 2019, accessed January 24, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b Jennifer Kane: Lost in space: Nevada Museum of Art's million dollar 'Orbital Reflector' is gone for good. In: Reno Gazette Journal. May 1, 2019, accessed May 2, 2019 .
  13. ↑ 'Orbital Reflector' ignites global conversation and inspires wonder despite challenges. (PDF) Nevada Museum of Art, May 1, 2019, accessed May 3, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Experimental Geodetic Satellite "AJISAI" (EGS). JAXA , accessed April 6, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Loren Grush: Rocket Lab's disco ball satellite has plunged back to Earth - and some aren't sad to see it go. In: The Verge . March 22, 2018, accessed June 4, 2018 .