IN A WEEK when NASA revealed that a computer hacker interrupted
communications on a space shuttle mission in 1997, a new space research project
has been launched which could give hackers the ultimate kick: control of a
spacecraft.
Surrey Satellite Technology, a space science company based in Guildford, has
been commissioned by NASA to investigate how satellites can be controlled using
cheap Internet technology. SST’s SNAP-1 experimental satellite, launched last
week from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, may be the first satellite to test
Internet control technology, says Chris Jackson, SST’s ground station
manager.
But the idea of Web browsers being used to control spacecraft raises the
spectre of hackers taking the controls. This week, NASA official Roberta Gross
told BBC TV’s Panorama programme that a malicious computer user struck
as the shuttle docked with Mir in 1997. The hacker so overloaded NASA computers
that transmission of data on astronauts’ vital signs was “delayed”. Fail-safes
cut in and NASA says no harm was done.
Advertisement
Most satellites communicate with Earth using expensive software that is
custom-written for each mission. But using Internet protocols—in which
data is sent and received in packets that are recognised by most
computers—could make space-flight control much cheaper, Jackson says. The
technology could also allow satellite operators to access spacecraft at any
time, from any PC, anywhere.
But opening up satellites to the Internet will make hacking into the system a
real concern. NASA says that it has had 500 000 hacking attempts on its
computers in the past year alone—but Jackson says the SST study will be
addressing the security issues.