Apparently I have been away for a while. Blackbird has not been active on this blog for six years. A lot has happened in that time. The world of radio communication has changed. The world of amateur radio has progressed into the digital age, but the story of the Blackbird satellite remains the same. There are more indications that the Blackbird constellation has been deployed, and the single satellite that was recovered in the story by the teens and their air force pilots has been replaced by multiple satellites with capabilities that only on the verge of imagination 6 years ago. Cell phones were in there infancy still, and now they are ubiquitous. There has been some concern in the computing world that the laws of increasing speed of the computers has not been followed. Computers are no longer doubling their speed every 18 months as they had been for a decade. But the digital transmissions on the internet have increased exponentially. Broadband networks and broadband service with cable internet, fiber optic internet, and DSL have nearly completely made the dial-up telephone modem obsolete. Yes, there are a few computer users who still rely on the dialup service, but the data transfers are limited.
For those of you who have read the book, BLACKBIRD, the characters have moved on to the next adventure. The space shuttle program has been mothballed, and all of the shuttles are in museums. The only access the USA astronauts have to low earth orbit on the ISS is the Russian Proton rocket system and Soyuz vehicles. American rocket science is progressing, but the current launches of Space X Dragon rockets only are verified for supplies to ISS and not yet rated for human transport. There have been 54 Expedition crews on the ISS, and the current crew of 3 Americans, 2 Russians, and one Japanese astronaut.
There has still been no report of the Blackbird constellation on the usual media. Even though Matryoshka has been present on the station for more than 6 years, there has been no report of its activities, missions, or any problems concerning its flight characteristics. The Air Force is still denying all knowledge of such a craft.
For those of you who are interested in following up on the secret satellite programs, there has been a new development in the world of radio listening. Recently it was discovered that a simple chipset in a computer dongle used in remote areas for television reception has been found to be capable of receiving a wide range of radio signals. The frequency range of the typical chipset is 24 MHz through 2 GHz, continuously, but newer versions of the chipset have been found to receive broadcasts from the 1KHz through 2 GHz range. The modes of transmission able to be received by this dongle include all FM, FM stereo, Narrow Band FM, AM, Upper Sideband, Lower Sideband, Double Sideband, and a host of digital communications. The device is termed: Software Defined Radio, and the programs that run on the standard Windows or Apple computer are able to resolve and decode the radio signals with accuracy never before obtained at a fraction of the cost of similar conventional radio receivers. These dongles can be obtained for sale on the internet, and the software to decode the signals is either free or inexpensive. It now may be the time to scan frequencies commonly used for satellite command, control, and communication to be able to determine the nature of the Blackbird constellation described in the story six years ago. Good luck with the listening.
It is not well known, but there is an unabridged version of the Blackbird story that includes details not published in the first edition. That version contains an additional three hundred pages of details concerning the exact mechanism of discovery of Blackbird, the nature of the cellphone systems at the time, and the background of the characters in the story.
Each of the characters has moved into the next chapter of their life. Major Tom has passed on to eternity, with a final word, solemnly written on his grave marker: "I expected this, but not just yet."
Christopher and Leonardo completed their college degrees; Chris in aeronautical engineering, and Leo in astrophysics, as that just made the most sense to him. Honoria continued with a degree in electrical engineering and communications science, and is currently working on a deep space communications project in support of the Mars Cycler system of transport to the planet Mars. Chris has been working on a project to use computers to detect folds in space, with the ultimate goal of using the information to shorten space travel time between planets and other star systems. In his words: "You have to start somewhere."
More to come. Dr. John
