satellites

SpaceX is the company that will put the NASA DART mission into space. DART is NASA's ambitious mission to test our ability to redirect an asteroid away from Earth using the impact of a spacecraft. The goal is to determine if the planet is ever threatened by an asteroid that could cause death and destruction, can humanity deflect the asteroid preventing the impact. Yesterday, SpaceX successfully static fired the Falcon 9 rocket that will put DART into orbit.

Continue Reading

Satellites orbiting the Earth today are fitted with thrusters to help them achieve the desired orbit and stay there. Today, the thrusters aboard the satellites rely on electricity used to ionize and push xenon particles for thrust. As xenon atoms are ionized, they can build thrust due to their weight. The challenge with utilizing xenon for thrust board satellites is that the gas is rare, expensive, and hard to store.

Continue Reading

Russia has shocked and enraged the international community by conducting an anti-satellite test that puts the International Space Station -- and everyone living on it -- in jeopardy. The action has provoked strong rebukes from many officials, not the least of whom is NASA Administrator Bill Nelson who expressed shock that Russia would put its own cosmonauts at risk.

Continue Reading

Along with SpaceX, Amazon was one of the companies that sought permission to put a constellation of satellites into orbit to deliver broadband Internet service around the globe. Delivering broadband Internet connectivity from orbit is an ideal method of bringing Internet connectivity to parts of the US that aren't served by broadband today. However, in many parts of the US, broadband speeds are extremely slow, and there is only one carrier meaning no competition typically leading to higher prices and slower speeds. Satellite broadband also adds more competition for underserved areas.

Continue Reading

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized Boeing's request to build and launch its own satellite-based Internet service, paving the way for another competitor to SpaceX's Starlink project. According to the announcement letter from the FCC, Boeing intends to use its future satellite constellation to provide "broadband and communications services" around the world.

Continue Reading

Verizon Communications Inc. and Project Kuiper (from Amazon.com Inc.) revealed an expansion of their existing partnership today. They've suggested that they will pair Amazon's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network (Project Kuiper) with Verizon's terrestrial mobile network to expand internet access or deliver internet access to unserved and underserved communities. They want to make this technology available to "all" people, but they don't go so far as to suggest they'll actually be delivering said technology for free.

Continue Reading

The US Space Force USSF-44 mission set to launch on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket has been delayed once again due to a 'payload readiness' issue, Space Force Command has confirmed. The USSF-44 mission was first scheduled to launch this past July, but was delayed to early October because the payload wasn't ready. The next launch date is less firm, but will happen next year.

Continue Reading

NASA and the US Geological Survey have successfully launched a joint mission involving Landsat 9, a satellite that will spend its days in space observing Earth's coastlines and landscapes over time. The mission launched at 2:12 PM ET on September 17 from Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg using the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk has a lot of ambitious plans, and almost all of those have proven to be controversial to some extent. One of the most debated, however, might be his vision of covering the Earth with Internet-beaming satellites under SpaceX's Starlink program. Although the current state of that service is far from its best, the tech luminary has made it known that it could finally be open to the public as early as next month.

Continue Reading

There was a great deal of initial excitement over what was initially presumed to be a feature debuting on the iPhone 13. After all, who wouldn't want the ability to make calls or send messages even without a cellular network connection? Subsequent insider tips, however, doused cold water on that by setting expectations on what this support for LEO (Low-Earth Orbit) satellites can and cannot do. Additional information is now putting even more limits on where these emergency features will be available and, more importantly, when.

Continue Reading

Space is an increasingly crowded place. Dead satellites and other space debris orbit our planet, making it trickier to plan new launches and jeopardizing existing missions. Cleaning up this debris is a big challenge, however, one that private company Astroscale is working to address with its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d).

Continue Reading

With barely a month left, a new insider tip about the next iPhone seems to have set the Internet ablaze. Rumors of iPhone 13 features revolving around low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites have unsurprisingly produced some speculation and pushed one company's shares up briefly. That said, newer information is now tempering those expectations, claiming that the feature might be limited to very specific scenarios and might not even arrive until next year.

Continue Reading