6 ms·

Recovering Iran’s NOUR 01 ‘Military Satellite’

110 points by aaron695 7y ago

duxup 7y ago
I didn't understand all those words but that was a fun read none the less.
sswezey 7y ago
If one wants to learn more about this, where can I go to find more information about what they're doing, tools, getting started, etc.?
- ac29 7y ago
  A lot of this builds on Amateur Radio experience. If you dont have a licence, start there. You dont need a license to receive radio transmissions, but the learning involved in getting a license will give you a start on taking on more difficult projects.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  Buy an RTL-SDR on amazon (20-30$). Start playing around with the software. Listen in on aircraft and such. Then start reading about catching satellites. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/
  - heelix 7y ago
    These things are super fun. I use one to track airplanes and weather in flight with the stratux project. (http://stratux.me http://stratux.me) It pairs the USB radio receiver with a raspberry pi and broadcast the location of ADS-B equipped aircraft to your tablet with flight tracking maps. No internet for most of us in a bug smasher - the data comes in over radio waves.
- ChuckMcM 7y ago
  There are lots of "this" in that article. There is SDR, satellite downlinks, Amateur Radio protocols, and receiving equipment. My path started when I bought one of the RTL-SDR bundles from Nooelec (https://www.nooelec.com/store/ https://www.nooelec.com/store/). It came with four different antennae and some adapters to connect it to your own antenna. I spent some time reconstructing projects that people had posted on rtl-sdr.com (https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/). I installed Gnuradio companion (and various Gnuradio bits) and built an FM receiver as well as a receiver that could see the signals coming from a wireless light switch. I decided I wanted to transmit too so I bought a HackRF-one (https://www.nooelec.com/store/hackrf.html https://www.nooelec.com/store/hackrf.html). It covers way more spectrum than the RTL-SDR and it has great support in a lot of packages. What I wasn't able to do very successfully with it was look at cellular signals so when Crowd Supply ran a campaign for the Lime SDR (https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr) I got one of those. I recreated the cell basestation setup that the Myriad folks did using an old GSM phone I had in my drawer (marked "Cingular" :-)) I realized I wanted to be able to send more complex things at different frequencies so I took a detour and studied for, and received, my Amateur Radio "Extra" license (AI6ZR). Which allows me to transmit at much higher powers on many more bands. There was a company near me that was making SDRs and they needed software help, I offered to help if they would let me use their very well equipped lab of RF gear. That gave me both access to and training on "real" RF gear and helped me understand what would be useful and what wasn't needed in my own explorations. Then I started haunting ebay, swap meets, and various auction sites to track down the gear I was missing. (A spectrum analyzer, a vector signal generator, and a vector network analyzer). Bottom line, this rabbit hole just keeps going and going and going ...
  - cgpcraig 7y ago
    Oh man, you sent a CQ into the abyss and the abyss asked you for your contact card, there's no saving you anymore.
    - ableal 7y ago
      Yep, he's probably started cheerfully doodling Smith charts by now ... (I used Smith charts a couple of times in school, but did not inhale.) P.S. Just hit search for 'Amateur Radio "Extra" license curriculum', and it's impressively comprehensive, at least from the first hit, a nice PDF at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Instructor%20resources/Tiley,%20AD7FO/2016%20Extra%20Class%20rev%201%209.pdf http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Instructor%20resources/Tiley,... (it features Smith charts at page 109, and at 118 ends with a full page blank chart :)
ggm 7y ago
So the story is: Iran has a satellite, and like any other satellite it's not very risky and this leads to the other story: is blocking Iran from science and research in space actually helping? And the answer is probably not, and also nobody is going to unwind this kind of stupidity very soon. I think it would achieve more to help Iran with payloads than get snitty about a cubesat. And say they did get high resolution imaging into space and started looking at US or Israeli or Saudi military and strategic assets.. isn't that kind of normal? Might it not actually help pacify things by giving them incontrovertible evidence there isn't a risk of invasion?
- CamperBob2 7y ago
  Yes, the whole concept is just stupid. Export regulations on technology empower both our international adversaries and commercial rivals. I'm glad I don't work for cubesatkit.com. The principal(s) of that company are about to have a very bad time.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  The powers that been do not give a toss about Iran having access to cubesat tech. That isn't the end of the rocket they are worried about. It is the booster, the thing that can also throw bombs around as easily as cubesats, that really worries them. The bans on payload-specific tech are just a tiny extension of the more meaningful bans on core rocket technology.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - ggm 7y ago
    The likelihood of a US ban preventing ICBM development when the basics are inherent and already known? Nothing in the story really related to this risk. But, you are probably right it's the latent fear. The ban only drives Iran closer to Russia. Why buy US tech when you can cut out the middleman and go to the same source the US does for engines? (I know they don't buy much any more but they did for a while, and presumably the Iranians can operate a Russian engine as well as the Americans can)
spicyramen 7y ago
Interesting mention of Mexico military sending a satellite. Historically Mexico has been a peaceful country, it even signed the Tlalelolco treaty to not develop Nuclear weapons. Probably in the war against drug cartels?
- greglindahl 7y ago
  Many peaceful countries have military satellites that do earth observation by optical and radar. It's not an offensive technology. I'm pretty sure Mexico isn't out there developing ballistic missiles and then selling them to other countries in violation of a treaty Mexico signed. That's the actual problem with this particular launch.
- duxup 7y ago
  It looks like it is built from a standard kit. Not to say it isn't military, but could be even just a military experiment or something.
- tree3 7y ago
  > Mexico military sending a satellite Literally could be anything. Militaries around the world run navigation (i.e. GPS) and weather satellites.
Gibbon1 7y ago
> This sounded initially ominous as the IRGC is a declared terrorist organization in many western countries and this mission successfully entered orbit. Looking this up we find. > The IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United States Really seriously?
- aspenmayer 7y ago
  Well they did say many. How many? One? Is the Middle East part of the West now? Or only allies of the West? I actually don’t even know how to answer that question but I do see your point.
  - asah 7y ago
    As the risk of getting political, Iran (its leadership) is one of a handful of countries that openly and repeatedly calls for the literal "annihilation" of another country. https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+annihilation+jews https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+annihilation... https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+death+to+America https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+death+to+Ame...
    - Gibbon1 7y ago
      No one cares about this any more.
    - hutzlibu 7y ago
      Ah, yes. One of the most escalating potential topics there is. So is it already risky, to say, that most statements, "calling for annihiliation" of israel, are not so drastic, when looked upon closer? So, for example the famous quote from former president Ahmadinejad, about wiping israel off the map: " Ahmadinejad was quoting the Ayatollah Khomeini in the specific speech under discussion: what he said was that "the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time." No state action is envisaged in this lament; it denotes a spiritual wish, whereas the erroneous translation – "wipe Israel off the map" – suggests a military threat. There is a huge chasm between the correct and the incorrect translations. The notion that Iran can "wipe out" U.S.-backed, nuclear-armed Israel is ludicrous." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Isra... That still leaves plenty of other statements, though and support of hamas, etc. who are less diplomatic in their words, but on the other side, you have lots of direct war threats from US and Israel, too, who are indeed nuclear armed. So who started it? Complicated of course. And I don't really have much sympathy for the mullahs, but the iranian people I met, were nice ones. And I doubt collective punishments from the outside, like the ban on space tech, are helping them get rid of the idiots. It just brings them closer together.
erwinh 7y ago
For those interested, the Nour (or is it Noor?) satellite orbit https://space-search.io/?search=cospar%2020024 https://space-search.io/?search=cospar%2020024
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
appleflaxen 7y ago
Super cool write-up! The terminology in this hobby confused me a little bit, because it wasn't what I expected. From the context it seems that "recovery" means locating, identifying, and capturing data from the satellite.
- edu 7y ago
  Same here, at the beginning I thought that "recovery" would mean to "we have obtained physical access to the satellite".
- a1369209993 7y ago
  Annoyingly, the actual legitimate terminogy for this is "acquiring" (ie as a target or signal) which is just as confusing from a colloquial perspective.

110 points by aaron695 7y ago

I didn't understand all those words but that was a fun read none the less.

If one wants to learn more about this, where can I go to find more information about what they're doing, tools, getting started, etc.?

ac29 7y ago
A lot of this builds on Amateur Radio experience. If you dont have a licence, start there. You dont need a license to receive radio transmissions, but the learning involved in getting a license will give you a start on taking on more difficult projects.
sandworm101 7y ago
Buy an RTL-SDR on amazon (20-30$). Start playing around with the software. Listen in on aircraft and such. Then start reading about catching satellites. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/
- heelix 7y ago
  These things are super fun. I use one to track airplanes and weather in flight with the stratux project. (http://stratux.me http://stratux.me) It pairs the USB radio receiver with a raspberry pi and broadcast the location of ADS-B equipped aircraft to your tablet with flight tracking maps. No internet for most of us in a bug smasher - the data comes in over radio waves.
ChuckMcM 7y ago
There are lots of "this" in that article. There is SDR, satellite downlinks, Amateur Radio protocols, and receiving equipment. My path started when I bought one of the RTL-SDR bundles from Nooelec (https://www.nooelec.com/store/ https://www.nooelec.com/store/). It came with four different antennae and some adapters to connect it to your own antenna. I spent some time reconstructing projects that people had posted on rtl-sdr.com (https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/). I installed Gnuradio companion (and various Gnuradio bits) and built an FM receiver as well as a receiver that could see the signals coming from a wireless light switch. I decided I wanted to transmit too so I bought a HackRF-one (https://www.nooelec.com/store/hackrf.html https://www.nooelec.com/store/hackrf.html). It covers way more spectrum than the RTL-SDR and it has great support in a lot of packages. What I wasn't able to do very successfully with it was look at cellular signals so when Crowd Supply ran a campaign for the Lime SDR (https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr) I got one of those. I recreated the cell basestation setup that the Myriad folks did using an old GSM phone I had in my drawer (marked "Cingular" :-)) I realized I wanted to be able to send more complex things at different frequencies so I took a detour and studied for, and received, my Amateur Radio "Extra" license (AI6ZR). Which allows me to transmit at much higher powers on many more bands. There was a company near me that was making SDRs and they needed software help, I offered to help if they would let me use their very well equipped lab of RF gear. That gave me both access to and training on "real" RF gear and helped me understand what would be useful and what wasn't needed in my own explorations. Then I started haunting ebay, swap meets, and various auction sites to track down the gear I was missing. (A spectrum analyzer, a vector signal generator, and a vector network analyzer). Bottom line, this rabbit hole just keeps going and going and going ...
- cgpcraig 7y ago
  Oh man, you sent a CQ into the abyss and the abyss asked you for your contact card, there's no saving you anymore.
  - ableal 7y ago
    Yep, he's probably started cheerfully doodling Smith charts by now ... (I used Smith charts a couple of times in school, but did not inhale.) P.S. Just hit search for 'Amateur Radio "Extra" license curriculum', and it's impressively comprehensive, at least from the first hit, a nice PDF at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Instructor%20resources/Tiley,%20AD7FO/2016%20Extra%20Class%20rev%201%209.pdf http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Instructor%20resources/Tiley,... (it features Smith charts at page 109, and at 118 ends with a full page blank chart :)

ggm 7y ago

So the story is: Iran has a satellite, and like any other satellite it's not very risky and this leads to the other story: is blocking Iran from science and research in space actually helping? And the answer is probably not, and also nobody is going to unwind this kind of stupidity very soon. I think it would achieve more to help Iran with payloads than get snitty about a cubesat. And say they did get high resolution imaging into space and started looking at US or Israeli or Saudi military and strategic assets.. isn't that kind of normal? Might it not actually help pacify things by giving them incontrovertible evidence there isn't a risk of invasion?

CamperBob2 7y ago
Yes, the whole concept is just stupid. Export regulations on technology empower both our international adversaries and commercial rivals. I'm glad I don't work for cubesatkit.com. The principal(s) of that company are about to have a very bad time.
sandworm101 7y ago
The powers that been do not give a toss about Iran having access to cubesat tech. That isn't the end of the rocket they are worried about. It is the booster, the thing that can also throw bombs around as easily as cubesats, that really worries them. The bans on payload-specific tech are just a tiny extension of the more meaningful bans on core rocket technology.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ggm 7y ago
  The likelihood of a US ban preventing ICBM development when the basics are inherent and already known? Nothing in the story really related to this risk. But, you are probably right it's the latent fear. The ban only drives Iran closer to Russia. Why buy US tech when you can cut out the middleman and go to the same source the US does for engines? (I know they don't buy much any more but they did for a while, and presumably the Iranians can operate a Russian engine as well as the Americans can)

spicyramen 7y ago

Interesting mention of Mexico military sending a satellite. Historically Mexico has been a peaceful country, it even signed the Tlalelolco treaty to not develop Nuclear weapons. Probably in the war against drug cartels?

greglindahl 7y ago
Many peaceful countries have military satellites that do earth observation by optical and radar. It's not an offensive technology. I'm pretty sure Mexico isn't out there developing ballistic missiles and then selling them to other countries in violation of a treaty Mexico signed. That's the actual problem with this particular launch.
duxup 7y ago
It looks like it is built from a standard kit. Not to say it isn't military, but could be even just a military experiment or something.
tree3 7y ago
> Mexico military sending a satellite Literally could be anything. Militaries around the world run navigation (i.e. GPS) and weather satellites.

Gibbon1 7y ago

> This sounded initially ominous as the IRGC is a declared terrorist organization in many western countries and this mission successfully entered orbit. Looking this up we find. > The IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United States Really seriously?

aspenmayer 7y ago
Well they did say many. How many? One? Is the Middle East part of the West now? Or only allies of the West? I actually don’t even know how to answer that question but I do see your point.
- asah 7y ago
  As the risk of getting political, Iran (its leadership) is one of a handful of countries that openly and repeatedly calls for the literal "annihilation" of another country. https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+annihilation+jews https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+annihilation... https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+death+to+America https://www.google.com/search?q=iran+statements+death+to+Ame...
  - Gibbon1 7y ago
    No one cares about this any more.
  - hutzlibu 7y ago
    Ah, yes. One of the most escalating potential topics there is. So is it already risky, to say, that most statements, "calling for annihiliation" of israel, are not so drastic, when looked upon closer? So, for example the famous quote from former president Ahmadinejad, about wiping israel off the map: " Ahmadinejad was quoting the Ayatollah Khomeini in the specific speech under discussion: what he said was that "the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time." No state action is envisaged in this lament; it denotes a spiritual wish, whereas the erroneous translation – "wipe Israel off the map" – suggests a military threat. There is a huge chasm between the correct and the incorrect translations. The notion that Iran can "wipe out" U.S.-backed, nuclear-armed Israel is ludicrous." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Isra... That still leaves plenty of other statements, though and support of hamas, etc. who are less diplomatic in their words, but on the other side, you have lots of direct war threats from US and Israel, too, who are indeed nuclear armed. So who started it? Complicated of course. And I don't really have much sympathy for the mullahs, but the iranian people I met, were nice ones. And I doubt collective punishments from the outside, like the ban on space tech, are helping them get rid of the idiots. It just brings them closer together.

erwinh 7y ago

For those interested, the Nour (or is it Noor?) satellite orbit https://space-search.io/?search=cospar%2020024 https://space-search.io/?search=cospar%2020024

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

appleflaxen 7y ago

Super cool write-up! The terminology in this hobby confused me a little bit, because it wasn't what I expected. From the context it seems that "recovery" means locating, identifying, and capturing data from the satellite.

edu 7y ago
Same here, at the beginning I thought that "recovery" would mean to "we have obtained physical access to the satellite".
a1369209993 7y ago
Annoyingly, the actual legitimate terminogy for this is "acquiring" (ie as a target or signal) which is just as confusing from a colloquial perspective.