Items tagged with Satellite
As the space around Earth becomes more crowded with satellites and other spacecraft, NASA has a plan for a sustainable future within the cosmos. The space agency recently released the first part of its integrated Space Sustainability Strategy, marking initial progress for NASA on the issue at hand.
It feels like...
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Sources familiar with the project say SpaceX entered into a classified contract with a US intelligence agency to build a network of spy satellites. The new venture is believed to fall under a $1.8 billion contract signed with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that oversees the operation...
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A Japanese launch service provider’s attempt to become the first private entity in Japan to launch a satellite into orbit ended abruptly, mere seconds after liftoff. Space One’s solid-fuel Kairos rocket executed an abort command after detecting an issue, leading to a spectacular explosion.
Just five seconds after...
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NASA made the decision to cease and desist with its $2B OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) project due to continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges. The now defunct project was also abandoned because of a lack of desire among the broader community for refueling unprepared spacecraft...
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NASA confirmed a near miss between its own TIMED satellite and Russia’s defunct Cosmos 2221 satellite. If the two had collided, it could have generated considerable debris at about 373 miles (600km) above Earth’s surface.
The Department of Defense was closely monitoring the situation between the two satellites...
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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s a satellite falling from space! A 2.5-ton European Space Agency (ESA) satellite that launched in 1995 is about to make a grand return to Earth today. During its service life, the ERS-2 satellite collected data on Earth’s land surfaces, oceans, and polar caps and monitored natural...
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The House Intelligence Committee chairman issued a warning this week of a “national security threat” in light of intel suggesting Russia is seeking to put a nuclear weapon in space. Lawmakers quickly tried to ease the public’s mind on the situation, even though one source remarked it was “very concerning” and a big...
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While ring formations around small objects in the solar system are not well understood, new research suggests one theory for why thin rings may exist around those that orbit between Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Chariklo, classified as a Centaur, was the first asteroid ever found to have a ring system...
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Amazon has inked a deal with Blue Origin rival SpaceX for three Falcon 9 launches to support deployment of Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network. The company previously secured 77 heavy-lift rockets from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance, which should be enough...
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History's first ever fine for space junk has been issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to Dish Network. This move is an early warning to other satellite operators that Congress is getting serious about space debris. Is it enough, however?
In an announcement this week, the FCC said that is had...
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Astronomers are slamming a massive low-Earth orbit communications satellite because it is brighter in the night sky than most stars. Astronomers are concerned that without some type of regulation on these extremely bright satellites, the effect could be detrimental to observing the stars from Earth and performing...
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ClearSpace-1 is part of the first-ever mission to remove existing space debris from orbit through a highly precise and close proximity operation. The upcoming cleanup mission will target a defunct rocket part that was launched into space in 2013.
With companies like SpaceX launching more satellites than ever while...
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Researchers have set a new record for the fastest space-to-ground laser communications with data rates of 200 gigabits per second. The blistering speed is 100 times faster than the swiftest internet speeds in most major cities, and is capable of transmitting more than 2 TBs of data in a single five-minute pass over a...
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Scientists are still discovering new aspects of eruption of an underwater volcano near Tonga last year that sent plumes of ash 35 miles above the ground. The latest finding of this powerful eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai indicates the blast was strong enough to cause plasma bubbles in the ionosphere that can...
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Residents in Kyiv were left baffled after a bright object was observed in the sky around 22:00 local time. The object was at first thought to be a NASA satellite reentering Earth's atmosphere, but the space agency responded that the satellite in question was still in orbit at the time of the sighting.
The Ukrainian...
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Rocket Lab successfully launched its "Stronger Together" mission from Launch Complex 2 in spectacular fashion yesterday. It was the space company's second launch from the complex and its 34th Electron mission overall.
When people think about rocket launches, their minds typically go toward SpaceX. However, there...
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Elon Musk shared a first-hand view of the first "V2 Mini" Starlink satellites being released above Earth on his Twitter account. The new V2 Minis include key technologies that'll boost Starlink coverage and performance, such as more powerful phased array antennas and the use of E-band for backhaul, which should enable...
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A strange occurrence was caught in the night sky in Hawaii that may have left some thinking there was a glitch in the matrix. The actual cause of the green laser light show in the night sky was a satellite, first believed to be emanating from a NASA satellite orbiting Earth. Upon further investigation, however, it is...
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The first image from ShadowCam reveals the permanently shadowed wall and floor of Shackleton crater in incredible, never before seen detail. NASA-funded ShadowCam is one of six instruments onboard the Korean Aerospace Research Institute's Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter.
The poles of the Moon are in a perpetual state of...
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NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured a time-lapse video that shows 133 days in the life of the Sun in just one hour. SDO is a geosynchronous-orbiting satellite designed to help researchers understand the Sun's influence on Earth by studying the solar atmosphere.
A recent video posted by NASA chronicles...
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NASA's retired Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere after nearly four decades in space. For 21 of those years, ERBS actively investigated how Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the Sun.
The Department of Defense has projected that the 5,400-pound satellite will...
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Qualcomm today introduced Snapdragon Satellite, the world's first satellite-based solution capable of supporting two-way messaging for premium smartphones and beyond. The joint venture between Qualcomm and Iridium will bring satellite-based connectivity to next-generation premium Android smartphones, with Garmin...
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