satellites

This Massive Cold War Spy Satellite Was Hidden from the World Until Now

The HEXAGON satellite spied on America’s Cold War foes for over a decade, taking extremely detailed (film!) photographs from space. It was 60 feet long—bigger than a bus. And the public never, ever saw it. We did. To celebrate its 50th birthday, the top secret satellite operators at the National Reconnaissance Office gave the public…

Space & Spaceflight Sam Biddle

NASA’s Not Sure Where in the World This Satellite Will Crash

The 20-year-old UARS satellite has dropped out of orbit—as old satellites are wont to do—and is reentering the atmosphere. Too bad NASA can’t pinpoint where—or when—exactly it will land. Could be the middle of the Pacific, could be the middle of Paris—it’s a surprise! If you have to leave your house on or around September…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Tarantola

The Scout Observer: Your Personal SATCOM, Powered by iPhone

There’s not really much that needs to be said about this six-pound beast of a box than what’s hinted at in the headline: Basically, this is a portable satellite communications device that’s built around an iPhone dock. Inside the box are a spectrum analyzer, power meter, multimeter and a Low Noise Block Downconverter. The latter…

Tech News Jack Loftus

12 Satellites Under Construction

This Labor day, be thankful that NASA engineers have worked so hard to keep the satellites they build from raining down upon the Earth like a biblical hell fire of scientific progress. And be thankful our friends at Oobject have assembled this incredible collection of satellites being built. Though if these aren’t enough to stimunlate…

Space & Spaceflight Oobject.com

The Earth Has a Ring

Of anti-protons! While it’s not as visually cool as what Saturn has going for it, this is still an important development, even if we can’t technically “see” the ring with our primitive Earthling eyes. According to New Scientist, this anti-proton ring joins the previously discovered positron cloud that’s also circling the Earth like an invisible…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

A Tiny Man-Made Probe Is Orbiting a Massive Asteroid 117 Million Miles from Earth

History, made: The unmanned Dawn spacecraft has successfully entered orbit around Vesta, a massive asteroid some 117 million miles from our planet. This is the first spacecraft to orbit and object in our solar system’s asteroid belt. [MSNBC] You can keep up with Jack Loftus, the author of this post, on Twitter

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

Students Prank School (and Google Earth) with Giant Grass Penises

My senior prank now suddenly feels extremely lackluster. A bunch of New Zealand tricksters killed grass in the form of giant penises all around their school’s property—and now the internet has made it forever. The stunt was discovered by a gentleman browsing the neighborhood for property, when he stumbled upon not the dream lot, but…

Tech News Sam Biddle

The Ghosts of Saturn

Designer Chris Abbas collected a ton of Cassini photography from the Saturn mission and made this video. It is at times simultaneously eerie and awe-inspiring. This is not your father’s NASA highlight reel. Nine Inch Nails provides the soundtrack because that’s exactly what you’d expect of a ghostly Saturn fly-by video. Which reminds me: If…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

The Most Precise GPS Satellite in the World

Location’s on our mind today. There are currently 24 satellites that make up our Global Positioning System. The most recently launched, the GPS IIF SV-1, is part of a new series that offer a whole bundle of upgrades. https://kotaku.com/ispy-conspiracy-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-every-5793925 The GPS satellites have traditionally been launched in blocks. The first block (with a truly original…

Privacy & Security Max Behrman

First Ever Spacecraft “Black Box” Successfully Survives Fall from Space

We know the venerable black box can survive a harrowing plane crash, but what about falling from orbit? Today we know it can, although the form factor and recovery method aren’t quite the same as they would be for an airplane. The space-based version is called the re-entry break-up recorder (REBR), says the Aerospace Corporation…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

No One Was Hurt in This Google Maps Plane Crash

Follow this link to a Google Maps shot of Alameda, California, and you’ll see an arresting site: a downed commercial aircraft spewing debris, with its wings snapped into pieces and its hull cut cleanly in half. It looks like a crash perfect enough for a TV show. And in fact that’s just what it was.…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

Scientists Want To Track Diseased Mice from Space

Scientists can track deadly hantavirus-carrying mice (yes, deadly mice) using satellite images of flourishing vegetation, according to a new study. Spying on mouse food from space could give doctors the ability to predict outbreaks—and save lives. [Live Science]

Tech News Husain Sumra

Japanese Space Agency Caught Piece Of Space Junk This Big

The problem of space junk is being dealt with in a novel way by Japanese space agency JAXA, which plans to rope up loads of the broken old stuff from the 1960s in an old-fashioned, analogue, traditional net several kilometres wide. The triple-layered metal thread net will then be burned up in the atmosphere once…

Space & Spaceflight Gary Cutlack

We’re Going to Investigate Europa’s 62-Mile Deep Ocean for Signs of Life

It’s official: NASA and the ESA will be sending specialized probes to the Jupiter moon Europa to further investigate that icy, ocean-y place for signs of life. In 2020. Patience! Called the Europa Jupiter System Mission, this joint initiative will see two probes dispensed into Jovian orbit, where they will scour Europa and several other…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

British Satellites Will Beam Info Down From Space Using Android Smartphones

The communication components in smartphones and satellites aren’t all that different, except that satellite guts are better rated for external factors like temperature and impact. But one British aerospace firm wants to see how well a smartphone fares in space. Wired says that the University of Surrey and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited are working together…

Space & Spaceflight Adrian Covert

Giant F*cking Rocket Carries Spy Satellite Into Orbit

Sure, it’s just another Delta IV rocket carrying another top-secret spy satellite into orbit, but it’s also a reminder that WE CAN SEND SHIT INTO SPACE, and that’s always awesome. Like watching space ships and fire? Peep the video. https://gizmodo.com/us-spy-satellite-is-the-largest-satellite-in-the-world-5696611 At 1:10PM PST, the this Delta IV, the largest spacecraft in the world, took off…

Space & Spaceflight Joe Brown

Google and George Clooney Aim Satellites at Sudan, Become “Anti-Genocide Paparazzi”

Ahead of an early January referendum, the two partners, along with Harvard and the United Nations, want Sudanese rebels to know that they are being watched. George Clooney is joining Google, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and the United Nations in an effort called the Satellite Sentinel Project to monitor violence and human rights violations in…

Tech News Jenara Nerenberg - Fast Company

Up Close and Personal with Hyperion, Saturn’s Mysterious Ugly Potato Moon

In November, the Cassini probe got very, very close to Hyperion, one of Saturns many moons. These 61 frames comprise a fly-by movie of the moon. Defrost the thing and add some sour cream and it’s good enough to eat! As Bad Astronomy explains it, the jump cuts and discrepancies in the animation are probably…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

Three Russian GLONASS Satellites Are In the Pacific Following Catastrophic Rocket Launch

Heads up, Hawaii! Three Russian GLONASS satellites just went into the Pacific drink courtesy a failed Proton-M rocket launch in Kazakhstan. Дерьмо! For the uninitiated, GLONASS stands for GLObal NAvigation Satellite System when it’s translated from Russian (ГЛОбальная НАвигационная Спутниковая Система), and is part of a system that’s meant to rival the U.S.’s Global Positioning…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Buy This Bankrupt Satellite to Share Internet With the Poor

A school bus-sized satellite—the world’s most capable—is for sale, as its corporate owner goes under. But rather than let it slowly die, a non-profit is raising money to repurpose it as a free internet provider for the poor. Buy This Satellite says it’ll take $150,000 in contributions to get the ball rolling towards a successful…

Space & Spaceflight Sam Biddle

This Massive Cold War Spy Satellite Was Hidden from the World Until Now

NASA’s Not Sure Where in the World This Satellite Will Crash