A commercial space company seeking to shine among the satellite launch industry has secretly sent its own "star" into orbit.
Rocket Lab on Wednesday (Jan. 24) revealed to the world that "The Humanity Star" is circling Earth and is expected to become the brightest object in the night sky. Covered in 65 highly-reflective panels, the satellite is rapidly spinning, reflecting the sun's light back onto the planet, much in the same way that a disco ball casts light onto a dance floor.
mikej Member
Posts: 481 From: Germantown, WI USA Registered: Jan 2004
posted 01-24-2018 05:50 PM
The website says that it will be overhead in my part of the world in only 948 hours, 5 minutes!
However, if my calculations are correct, that will be in the daylight.
denali414 Member
Posts: 593 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 01-24-2018 05:58 PM
That is one big disco ball! Cue the Donna Summers. Get to see it in 1067 hours.
TRS Member
Posts: 721 From: Wellington, New Zealand Registered: Mar 2003
posted 01-25-2018 11:23 PM
Mixed reaction in New Zealand to the "disco ball":
Head of the New Zealand Space Agency, which is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Peter Crabtree, said the humanity star was not "space junk" because it was built to disintegrate within nine months.
Mike Dixon Member
Posts: 1397 From: Kew, Victoria, Australia Registered: May 2003
posted 01-26-2018 12:09 AM
Hope it's hit by debris.
oly Member
Posts: 905 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 01-26-2018 05:00 AM
My personal thought on this is that it a cool idea for a company's first flight and if anyone gets a chance to look up and see it over the next nine months I hope they wonder what it is and do some research to find out more.
It is not the first time such an object has been deployed and it won't last long. The chance of someone witnessing it without seeking it out is low due to the fact they have to have the right conditions to see it.
Rocket Lab don't give an exact time to see it on their website. It is not like they deployed a huge billboard with advertising (it will happen one day) but rather they have put another bright star in the sky for a few months (it is way smaller than the ISS).
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 4437 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-26-2018 06:06 AM
quote:Originally posted by oly: Rocket Lab don't give an exact time to see it on their website.
You may find the pass predictions generated by Heavens Above more useful... just make sure to update local position prior to searching dates.
denali414 Member
Posts: 593 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 01-26-2018 06:08 AM
I actually enjoy getting the e-mails from NASA on when the ISS is going to be overhead our house. First time amazed my neighbor when I told him there would be a UFO at 7:02 p.m. tonight over his house and he and his kids looked up and were shocked to see the light going across the sky at 7:02.
It actually got one of his kid's very interested in astronomy and science from that. So there is a benefit in my opinion for even this kind of goofy stuff turning people to astronomy and science.
Panther494 Member
Posts: 402 From: London UK Registered: Jan 2013
posted 01-26-2018 07:28 AM
Not sure how I feel about this. We have the ISS providing a wonderful, inspirational view above us already. Occupied and built by many nations. Truly awesome. This ball just appears as junk I'm afraid.
oly Member
Posts: 905 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 01-26-2018 08:02 AM
quote:Originally posted by SpaceAholic: ...predictions generated by Heavens Above
I did not realize that Heavens Above had included the Humanity Star to their site. Thank you.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-27-2018 05:09 PM
Astrofarmer Imaging NZ video
Not the best conditions for observing it, but this is it. It will not really be visible or bright until mid February.
I just sat fixed cam and waited. Recorded this morning at 01:06 am NZT, Sat, 27 Jan 2018. Moonlight and cloud made it hard. Then I lost it in Earth's shadow. Observing on a clear dark night will be a blast with it's disco ball display. 180mm @f2.8 in aps-c mode (260mm equivalent) A7s.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-20-2018 01:32 PM
The Humanity Star satellite is returning to Earth earlier than expected, reports The Atlantic.
The Humanity Star, a satellite launched into space in January, will reenter Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate sometime this week, according to websites that track the movement of objects in orbit around the planet. The satellite was always going to come back down. But it was supposed to remain in orbit for nine months, according to Rocket Lab, the U.S. spaceflight company, based in New Zealand, that built the satellite.
SatView and Space-Track, databases that track all artificial satellites and space probes around Earth, forecast that the Humanity star will reenter the atmosphere sometime on Thursday, March 22. (See SatView's page here, and Space-Track's page here.) Rocket Lab's own tracker shows that the satellite's altitude is already steadily dropping.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-22-2018 12:39 PM
The Humanity Star is no more. From Jonathan McDowell on Twitter:
Space-Track has issued the decay notice - Humanity Star has reentered. No revision to the entry window, was sometime in the 1246-1344 UTC range, somewhere on the white-colored track in Marco's map.
denali414 Member
Posts: 593 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 03-17-2019 10:31 AM
Really good story on Rocket Lab and the Cubesat revolution:
I guess the humanity star was potentially quite a full circle moment given your origins as a kid looking up at the stars and deciding to get in to it?
Yeah that was bitter-sweet because not everybody liked that.
Yes that was a bit of a bizarre reaction.
Yeah but for every negative comment we saw on that, we got probably two positives. It makes a better story to have some tension there. But still I maintain I would do that again in a heartbeat. That was a great mission. And to see just the thousands that wrote in and actually that overview experience where they looked up and it was like ‘oh okay I am on this rock in the middle of the universe, maybe some of these things aren’t as big of a deal as I thought’. So that was a wonderful project.
posted 01-24-2018 11:55 AM
advertisement