Tag Archives: satellites

IN A NUTSHELL 🌌 Researchers have developed a new method using soft X-rays to measure the reconnection rate of solar wind energy into Earth’s magnetosphere. 🔬 The team used Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer to simulate coronal mass ejections and analyzed V-shaped X-ray emissions from a Moon-distance perspective. 🌎 This approach bridges the gap between local observations and global reconnection rates, offering …

SpaceX has launched over 9,000 satellites into orbit, and the vast majority of them are still in operation today. As a result of that massive constellation, the Elon Musk-led firm controls over 60 percent of all active satellites currently in orbit. And the company’s actively working to launch tens of thousands more, in an effort to bring Starlink broadband satellite internet …

IN A NUTSHELL 🚀 Starfighters International is expanding its capabilities by acquiring twelve F-4 Phantoms for innovative space launch operations. ✈️ The F-4s will enhance the company’s ability to provide rapid and flexible access to low Earth orbit for small satellite missions. 💡 Utilizing vintage military technology, Starfighters aims to reduce launch weight and improve fuel efficiency, aligning with NASA’s …

A new group of Starlink satellites are circling the Earth after an early Saturday morning (July 26) launch from Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 5:01 a.m. EDT (0901 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The booster’s upper stage reached a preliminary orbit about nine minutes after leaving …

In an unexpected twist, two Earth-based weather satellites, Himawari-8 and Himawari-9, have provided invaluable data on Venus, a revelation that could significantly enhance our understanding of the planet’s mysterious atmosphere. Initially designed to monitor Earth’s weather patterns, these satellites, operated by Japan, have instead delivered one of the longest multiband infrared records of Venus ever recorded. This accidental discovery has …

“If you can be smart about what you’re taking pictures of, then you only image the ground and skip the clouds. That way, you’re not storing, processing, and downloading all this imagery researchers really can’t use,” said Ben Smith of JPL, an associate with NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office, which funds the Dynamic Targeting work. “This technology will help scientists …

TRACERS, short for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, will study a process known as magnetic reconnection. As particles in the solar wind head out into the Solar System at up to 1 million mph, they bring along pieces of the Sun’s magnetic field. When the solar wind reaches our neighborhood, it begins interacting with Earth’s magnetic field. The …

In a serendipitous turn of events, scientists have discovered that Japan’s Himawari-8 and Himawari-9 weather satellites, designed to monitor storms and climate patterns here on Earth, have also been quietly collecting valuable data on Venus for nearly a decade. Although meteorological satellites orbit Earth and scan the skies around it, their imaging range extends into space, allowing them to occasionally …

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two powerful communications satellites today (July 22), then aced its landing on a ship at sea. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 5:12 p.m. EDT (2112 GMT), carrying SES’ O3b mPOWER 9 and 10 satellites toward medium Earth orbit (MEO), about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) above …

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned launch of SES’ ninth and tenth O3b mPOWER satellites. Image: SpaceX Update July 22, 2:50 p.m. EDT: Added updated weather data. SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, July 22, for the launch of two satellites to medium Earth orbit, following a …