The United States and China are locked in a new race, in space and on Earth, over a fundamental resource: time itself. And the United States is losing. Global positioning satellites serve as clocks in the sky, and their signals have become fundamental to the global economy — as essential for telecommunications, 911 services and […]
Read MoreTag: Satellites
Persistent “hiccups” in a far-off galaxy draw astronomers to new black hole behavior
At the heart of a far-off galaxy, a supermassive black hole appears to have had a case of the hiccups. Astronomers from MIT, Italy, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere have found that a previously quiet black hole, which sits at the center of a galaxy about 800 million light years away, has suddenly erupted, giving […]
Read MoreTragic Baltimore bridge collapse aftermath seen from space (satellite photos)
Maxar Technologies captured satellite images of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which was struck by a giant cargo ship early on Tuesday (March 26). Most of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) long bridge crumbled within minutes, sending people and vehicles into the icy waters of the Patapsco River. The 984-foot-long cargo ship, named […]
Read MoreDebris from burning satellites could be affecting Earth’s magnetic field
The environmental impacts of spaceflight are becoming increasingly clear as more and more spacecraft are launched into Earth’s orbit. The growing number of satellites burning up in Earth’s atmosphere has concerned scientists for years, and now a new paper explores how the emerging shell of “conductive dust” around the planet that results from satellite re-entries […]
Read MoreTaiwan Is Building a Satellite Network Without Elon Musk
In Taiwan, the government is racing to do what no country or even company has been able to: build an alternative to Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Starlink has allowed militaries, power plants and medical workers to maintain crucial online connections when primary infrastructure has failed in emergencies, […]
Read MorePentagon UFO office developing ‘Gremlin’ sensors to help identify anomalies in orbit
The Pentagon’s UFO office is developing sensor kits to help it collect data in real time on unidentified objects in the sky or in space. That’s according to Tim Phillips, the acting head of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, a U.S. Department of Defense office aimed at studying unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), a […]
Read MoreBig, dead satellite’s crash was a space-junk wakeup call, experts say
There is some interesting residual fallout from the recent nosedive to Earth of the European Remote Sensing satellite, or ERS-2. Following its launch in April 1995, ERS-2 studied our planet for nearly 16 years. Then, in 2011, the European Space Agency (ESA) decided to bring the radar-toting spacecraft’s mission to an end. The agency commanded […]
Read MoreSatellite snaps eerily circular holes in the clouds above Florida. What caused them?
A cluster of eerily circular holes recently appeared in the clouds above Florida, a stunning new NASA image shows. The rare occurrence, which has previously (and incorrectly) been linked to UFOs, has a surprisingly simple explanation — but it took scientists more than 60 years to figure it out. NASA’s Terra satellite photographed the […]
Read MorePutin’s Nukes in Space Are Back to Scare Us Again
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan was considering what became known as “Star Wars,” a plan to shield America from Soviet missiles by deploying up to thousands of weapons in space. At the same time, as a young science writer, I was reporting on how the rays from a single nuclear detonation in orbit could wipe […]
Read MoreSatellites are burning up in the upper atmosphere – and we still don’t know what impact this will have on the Earth’s climate
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Fionagh Thomson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham University. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced it will dispose of 100 Starlink satellites over the next six months, after it discovered a design […]
Read MoreRadar images reveal damage on Europe’s doomed ERS-2 satellite during final orbits
The European Space Agency has released images showing some of the final orbits experienced by a European satellite before its fiery reintroduction to Earth’s atmosphere. The school-bus-sized European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) satellite reentered our planet’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 21, almost 29 years after its launch in April 1995. The Tracking and […]
Read MoreThe Cost of Nuclear War in Space
Just before the Russian-Ukrainian war reached its two-year milestone today, U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Russia might aim a nuclear weapon at an unusual target: not any place on Earth, but satellites orbiting in space. Putting a weapon into orbit is not just a military threat. It’s also a risk to the space economy — […]
Read MoreBus-sized European satellite crashes to Earth over Pacific Ocean
A dead European satellite fell back to Earth today, bringing an end to its nearly 30-year life in space. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) satellite reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 12:15 EST (1715 GMT) over the Pacific Ocean. The fall ended a nearly 13-year deorbiting campaign that began with 66 engine […]
Read MoreBig, dead satellite predicted to fall to Earth today. Will any debris survive the fiery reentry?
A European Space Agency spacecraft is making an uncontrolled nosedive into Earth’s atmosphere – with elements of the 2.3-ton spent satellite likely to survive the plunge into purgatory. The exact time and place above Earth that the radar-scanning ESA European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) augers in is unknown, but a new prediction of the spacecraft’s demise […]
Read MoreDead, 5,000-pound satellite is falling to Earth today. Will any debris survive the fiery reentry?
Update for Feb. 21: This post was updated on Feb. 21 to indicate the latest reentry time predictions from ESA. A European Space Agency spacecraft is making an uncontrolled nosedive into Earth’s atmosphere – with elements of the 2.3-ton spent satellite likely to survive the plunge into purgatory. The exact time and place above Earth […]
Read MoreFormer Disney TV star Bridgit Mendler co-founds satellite ‘data highway’ startup
On Tuesday (Feb. 20), after a relatively long hiatus from the public eye, Bridgit Mendler announced the launch of her new satellite data startup, Northwood. Beyond introducing quite an interesting company — one that aims to make satellite technology more accessible by mass-producing data-retrieving ground stations on Earth — there’s another major reason the launch […]
Read MoreWhen Eyes in the Sky Start Looking Right at You
For decades, privacy experts have been wary of snooping from space. They feared satellites powerful enough to zoom in on individuals, capturing close-ups that might differentiate adults from children or suited sunbathers from those in a state of nature. Now, quite suddenly, analysts say, a startup is building a new class of satellite whose cameras […]
Read MoreBig, doomed satellite seen from space as it tumbles towards a fiery reentry on Feb. 21 (photos)
Photographs taken in space show a big dead satellite as it tumbled towards a fiery end in Earth’s atmosphere. Australian commercial imaging company HEO Robotics was able to capture images of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ERS-2 Earth observation satellite on Feb. 14, 2024 as the satellite made an ungraceful fall towards our planet. ERS-2, […]
Read MoreU.S. Fears Russia Might Put a Nuclear Weapon in Space
When Russia conducted a series of secret military satellite launches around the time of its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, American intelligence officials began delving into the mystery of what, exactly, the Russians were doing. Later, spy agencies discovered Russia was working on a new kind of space-based weapon that could threaten the thousands […]
Read MoreRussia’s nuclear anti-satellite weapon poses ‘no immediate threat’ to Earth, White House says
The White House has reassured the American public that a Russian nuclear space weapon, presently in development, poses no threat to people or property on the ground. Speculation and worries about the weapon surfaced on Wednesday (Feb. 14) after House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) publicly asked President Biden to “declassify all information relating to this […]
Read MoreRussia’s nuclear anti-satellite weapon poses ‘no immediate threat’ to Earth, White House says
The White House has reassured the American public that a Russian nuclear space weapon, presently in development, poses no threat to people or property on the ground. Speculation and worries about the weapon surfaced on Wednesday (Feb. 14) after House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) publicly asked President Biden to “declassify all information relating to this […]
Read MoreRussia’s Antisatellite Technology Poses No Immediate Threat, White House Says
A White House spokesman said on Thursday that antisatellite technology being developed by Russia had not been deployed and posed “no immediate threat to anyone’s safety.” “We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on earth,” the spokesman, John F. Kirby, told reporters. […]
Read MoreIntelligence About Russia Puts Focus on New U.S. Satellite Push
Hours after the news broke on Wednesday that the United States had picked up worrisome intelligence about Russia’s capacity to strike American satellites, the Pentagon sent a missile-tracking system into orbit, part of a vast new effort to bolster the military’s growing presence in space. The timing was coincidental. But it underscored how concerns about […]
Read MoreRussia planning space-based nuclear weapon to target satellites, US Congress told
Russia is reportedly developing a space-based nuclear weapon designed to disable or destroy satellites. The United States Congress and America’s European allies were informed of Russia’s plans to develop the anti-satellite capability on Wednesday (Feb. 14). It’s unclear what the exact nature of the planned weapon is — that is, whether it involves detonating a […]
Read MoreRussian plans for space-based nuclear weapon to target satellites spark concern in US Congress
Russia is reportedly developing a space-based nuclear weapon designed to disable or destroy satellites. The United States Congress and America’s European allies were informed of Russia’s plans to develop the anti-satellite capability on Wednesday (Feb. 14). It’s unclear what the exact nature of the planned weapon is — that is, whether it involves detonating a […]
Read MoreMIT researchers remotely map crops, field by field
Crop maps help scientists and policymakers track global food supplies and estimate how they might shift with climate change and growing populations. But getting accurate maps of the types of crops that are grown from farm to farm often requires on-the-ground surveys that only a handful of countries have the resources to maintain. Now, MIT […]
Read MoreSpaceX deorbiting 100 older Starlink satellites to ‘keep space safe and sustainable’
SpaceX will deorbit some of its older Starlink internet satellites in order to reduce the number of potentially dangerous spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The company just announced that 100 Version 1 Starlink satellites will be deorbited over the next weeks and months in the name of space sustainability. SpaceX posted a statement to X […]
Read MoreUS Space Force wants satellite ‘jetpacks’ to keep old spacecraft alive in orbit
The U.S. Space Force is eyeing a number of options to extend the life of satellites that have run out of fuel. One of those options, described as a “jetpack,” is a small propulsion unit that can be added on to existing spacecraft already in orbit. Several of these ideas were presented at the Space […]
Read MoreBig, dead European satellite will crash back to Earth this month
A dead European satellite will come crashing back to Earth later this month, in a fiery death dive that its handlers will monitor carefully. The incoming spacecraft is the European Space Agency‘s (ESA) European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) satellite, which launched to Earth orbit in April 1995 and wrapped up its Earth-observing duties in September […]
Read MoreAstronomers spot 18 black holes gobbling up nearby stars
Star-shredding black holes are everywhere in the sky if you just know how to look for them. That’s one message from a new study by MIT scientists, appearing today in the Astrophysical Journal. The study’s authors are reporting the discovery of 18 new tidal disruption events (TDEs) — extreme instances when a nearby star is […]
Read MoreStudy: Stars travel more slowly at Milky Way’s edge
By clocking the speed of stars throughout the Milky Way galaxy, MIT physicists have found that stars further out in the galactic disk are traveling more slowly than expected compared to stars that are closer to the galaxy’s center. The findings raise a surprising possibility: The Milky Way’s gravitational core may be lighter in mass, […]
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