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Cleaning up a Hacked Website

November 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Your Saviour!

Hacked

I’ve been hacked!

Hackers attack websites for a variety of purposes. Apart from defacement hacks more and more sites are becoming targets for criminals attempting to steal data – passwords, bank account details etc. There are numerous articles which describe such attacks, and that type of hack requires immediate specialist intervention and assistance. While this article here deals specifically with defacement hacks, the resources recommended here are equally applicable to all website hacking situations.

I hope that readers haven’t had the following experience. Here’s a typical scenario: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Organisations, Software

See the Sirius FM-4 Satellite at The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum

October 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The SiriusXM Satellite at The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

The SiriusXM Satellite at The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

The SiriusXM FM-4 Satellite at The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, USA. Photo by Dane Penland

One of the first satellites designed to provide space-based digital radio service to consumers in the United States and Canada was donated by SiriusXM Radio and Space Systems/Loral to the Smithsonian. The Sirius FM-4 broadcasting satellite was built as a flight-ready back-up for a constellation of three satellites developed by SiriusXM and manufactured by Space Systems/Loral. The FM-4 satellite will be on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar of the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

“The availability of a flight unit like Sirius FM-4, which was never launched, is extremely rare and will be a significant addition to the museum’s collection,” said Martin Collins, space history curator. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Communication Satellites, Organisations

Loss of the OTS 1 Satellite

September 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
NASA Camera Frame 1

OTS In Orbit - Artist's Impression

The OTS Satellite In Orbit – Artist’s Impression

This is a sorry tale of how four years’ work was destroyed in 54 seconds. Some say that the number thirteen is unlucky and on 13th September 1977, exactly 35 years ago today, this proved to be the case for me and the whole team that developed the OTS satellite. Here’s how things played out.

The European Space Agency’s Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) was one of the very first geostationary, 3-axis-stabilised Ku-Band communications satellites. It was developed as a test bed for a host of new European technologies and transmission techniques aimed at bringing regional TV and trunk telephony services to Europe. It was the forerunner of the highly successful ECS satellites which were subsequently operated and managed by EUTELSAT.

I spent four years working on different aspects of the OTS satellite, the communications transmission design and on the ground segment earth stations. For any interested readers with a technical bent you can check out details on the EXPERIENCE and PUBLICATIONS pages of this site.

In March 1977 I took on the role of designing, planning and implementing the in-orbit testing (IOT) of OTS. This was to be carried out from Telespazio’s Fucino earth station complex in the mountains east of Rome, Italy, and you can check out the Fucino earth station complex with the interactive Google Map on my related blog post [Read more...]

Filed Under: Communication Satellites, Earth Station Locations, Launch Vehicles, Launches, Organisations

50 Years of Satellite Communications

July 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It’s not often that I publish two blog posts in quick succession, but this is an exception. Only a couple of weeks ago on July 10th 2012 I posted “The Birth of Satellite Communications” on the anniversary of the launch of Telstar, the world’s first commercial communications satellite.
That blog post was subsequently published in the July 2012 MilsatMagazine article here.

Since then I have come across some other references and resources that I believe are really worth capturing and sharing. First, an excellent 12 minute video produced by the European Space Agency and entitled “50 Years via Satellite”. Below the ESA video are links to some things that The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum have contributed. All these are worth watching.

ESA-Euronews video: 50 Years via Satellite

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The Smithsonian Institute National Air and Space Museum Links:
The Smithsonian Institute hosted a commemorative event here.
The chair of their History Division, Paul Ceruzzi, produced a very good blog post here.

Many thanks to Isabel Lara (@isalara) at The Smithsonian for providing these two links.

Filed Under: Communication Satellites, Earth Stations, Organisations

Olympic Games 2012 – Powered by Satellites

July 26, 2012 by 5 Comments
London 2012 Olympic Games Stadium

Without satellites, the Olympics wouldn’t be what they are …

London 2012 Olympic Games Stadium

London 2012 Olympic Games Stadium

Only a lucky few million people will actually attend the London 2012 Olympic Games, whereas billions of people all over the world will feel part of the event as a result of the immediacy of live television.

The following 4 minute video produced by the European Space Agency, a leading light in the development of satellite communications, gives an overview of how this is achieved:

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In the coming days the Olympic Games will attract a worldwide audience and from wherever we are on the globe we’ll all be able to follow the events in London. This is a fantastic showcase for space technologies which are often unknown and taken for granted.

The evolution of space activity, and in particular, satellite telecommunications, has transformed the planet into a big stadium where everybody has a front seat. This video recalls the extraordinary progresses made in the relay of sports and the new tools now available for professionals and spectators around the world.
More background information can be found on: http://www.esa.int/esaTE/index.html

Filed Under: Communication Satellites, Organisations

Vega Launch – Europe’s Newest Satellite Launcher

February 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Watch live streaming video from eurospaceagency at livestream.com

Tomorrow, 13th February 2012 will see the launch of Europe’s newest satellite launch vehicle, Vega, from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Spaceport at Kourou, weather permitting. This first test flight Vega launch will carry 9 payloads – seven Cubesat satellites plus two Italian Space Agency satellites.

The video feed above provides an extremely interesting overview of the Vega programme, and will switch to live coverage of the launch at 10:40 CET on Monday 13th February.

The Vega project is controlled and managed from ESA’s ESRIN Centre for Earth Observation at Frascati, just south of Rome. An idyllic location, given it is at the heart of some of Italy’s finest vineyards. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Launch Sites, Launch Vehicles, Organisations

Radar Wars

February 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Radar Wars

Radar Wars

Radar Wars

Not my usual sort of post, but this just had to be shared.

Believe me, this could well be true. I could recount some similar, real situations – but then they’d have to shoot me!

Attribution: I always like to acknowledge, reference and attribute things which I put into posts, if possible. On researching this I couldn’t track down the original source but I did find this: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/radar.asp. It’s well worth a read as there are a lot of solid technical facts therein.

Filed Under: Missiles, Organisations

New Asia-Pacific Editor for SatMagazine + MilsatMagazine

December 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Well, I guess the time has arrived for me to come in from the cold and own up to who I really am!

I’m Dr Bob Gough, managing director of Carrick Communications Ltd, and I’ve just been appointed as the Asia-Pacific Editor for SatMagazine and MilsatMagazine. These are published monthly by the long-established Satnews Publishers, which is arguably the market leading publisher in the field. I’ll be contributing to the Insight and Focus features of both magazines.

I’m really excited by this because, as you’ll have realised, I’m very much into satellite communications and space, and I also like writing – I enjoy trying to paint pictures in readers’ minds.
I’ve got a feeling that this could become an all-consuming activity!

As part of this editorial position, I’m always on the lookout for newsworthy stories, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Organisations, Telecommunications

Good News for Goonhilly, Space Science & Cornwall

December 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I love being able to report good news and I heard some very good news yesterday. So much so that I think I’ve upset all my Twitter followers by bombarding them with tweets – I apologise! (a quick “Thank You” to @DocLorraine, @DrLucyRogers and @stewartwardby for responding so quickly).

What was so good that it got me all excited? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Deep Space Comms, Earth Stations, Organisations, Radio Astronomy

Goonhilly – Yesterday, Today + Tomorrow

November 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
November 2011 SatMagazine Cover

November 2011 SatMagazine Cover

SatMagazine Cover November 2011

Having been involved one way and another with the Goonhilly satellite earth station for some 35 years, imagine my delight at being asked by Satnews Publishers to write an Insight Feature about it for their monthly SatMagazine. I viewed this as a real honour, since Satnews Publishers is a long-established and arguably the market-leading source of news and in-depth articles about space and the satellite communications industry.

The timescale was very tight and over a weekend, but so what. The only problem was that I needed to gather and verify all sorts of facts, and that meant ruining the weekend of a few colleagues in the UK. They were brilliant and went out of their way to help me. I disturbed one person at 9:00pm UK time on the Saturday night while he was out with his family at the Blackpool Illuminations.
He was good about it but I don’t think his wife will ever speak to me again!

To view the Insight Feature at SatMagazine click here:

“Goonhilly – Yesterday, Today + Tomorrow”

If, after reading the Feature, any of you are interested in the details [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Earth Stations, Organisations

Watch Dramatic NASA NPP Launch

October 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

NASA’s National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket at 5:48 a.m. EDT today, on a mission to measure both global climate changes and key weather variables. Just watch this superb live NASA video of today’s NPP launch from Vandenberg.

Now here’s a coincidence. It’s only a few hours ago that I published [Read more...]

Filed Under: Earth Observation Satellites, Launch Sites, Launch Vehicles, Organisations

Help Save Goonhilly Earth Station Complex

October 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Photo courtesy of and copyright Ian Jones, 2011


Photo courtesy of and copyright Ian Jones, 2011

Goonhilly 3 Antenna and the Orion Constellation

Everybody’s heard of Goonhilly, haven’t they? No? I’m amazed, so here’s the story of a piece of UK National and technological heritage and why it desperately needs your support right now.

There’s an urgent petition to the UK Government which needs to be considered and, if agreed with, then signed by all people who do not want to see yet another piece of national heritage callously discarded by short-term-interest politicians and NMP (not my problem) bureaucrats.
If I sound cynical, just look at what the last Government did with the Foreign Office Library. They scrapped it! Apparently, you can now find original, ancient treaties etc of the British Empire for sale on EBay!!!

The petition site is at http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/goonhilly

Goonhilly Downs – a windswept, out-of-the-way location on the Lizard peninsular by the Atlantic Ocean in south west Cornwall, England became a dramatic focal point at the dawn of the satellite communications era. Why, you might ask? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Countries, Earth Station Locations, Earth Stations, Organisations, Telecommunications

Oh Deer – The MX Missile, a Flying Coffin and the Twin Towers

September 15, 2011 by 2 Comments
Manhattan Skyline With World Trade Centre

Manhattan Skyline With World Trade Centre

Manhattan Skyline With World Trade Centre

The anniversary of the atrocity committed against the USA has triggered memories of a day some 30 years ago which culminated in a picture-perfect flight into NYC’s La Guardia airport, the approach being down the Hudson River with a sharp turn to port across Manhattan onto the final approach. A stunning afternoon view of Manhattan and the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

However, the story starts the day before. I was marketing & sales director of a company that I’ll call F-Corp (if there’s a real company called F-Corp, I apologise.It’s not you!). I’d been in the States visiting customers and I flew into the town of Binghamton in upstate New York at about 9:00pm one evening. It was early spring, very cold and with recent snow on the ground.

Why Binghamton? Well, F-Corp had developed a completely new technology for very high-performance, small, light weight microwave filters. These devices had major advantages in airborne and space applications where light weight and stability in extremes of temperature and pressure were essential. They met the US military’s MIL STD 5400E environmental specifications. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Air Travel, Books, Cities, Links, Missiles, Organisations, People, Wildlife & Nature

First and Last Launches of the Space Shuttle

July 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Well spotted. The internal photo isn’t a picture of the Space Shuttle. It’s the European Space Agency‘s (ESA) first astronaut, Wubbo Ockels, inside the ESA Spacelab D1 in the Shuttle’s cargo bay (both pictures are courtesy of and copyright ©NASA).

I’m writing this piece now because today is to be the very last flight of a space shuttle. As I type, the launch is scheduled for about 5 hours’ time, weather at Cocoa Beach permitting.

Spacelab was developed in parallel and in conjunction with NASA’s space shuttle to be the orbiting laboratory in the Shuttle’s cargo bay, as a follow-on for Skylab and prior to the ISS (International Space Station).

The Spacelab programme was run from ESA’s ESTEC facility (European Space Technology Centre) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. I worked at ESTEC all through the 1970s – not on Spacelab but on different communications satellites. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apollo, Astronauts, Countries, Launches, Organisations, Space Shuttle, Spacelab