**This is an old revision of the document!**
Table of Contents
Satellites
Created Monday 06 April 2020
See also: Spacecraft, Space, Transportation
Articles
Recovering Iran’s NOUR 01 ‘Military Satellite’
Scott Tilley Posted on April 28, 2020
Iran’s new military satellite, NOUR 01, most interesting fact may not be that it resembles a college engineering experiment but rather that it may have a connection to a Mexican military payload launched quietly from New Zealand last year.
It’s also with great pleasure that I can share Scott Chapman, K4KDR’s story of how he found Iran’s NOUR 01 [45529, 2020-024A] radio emissions and confirmed it was alive and well in orbit and noted a twist to the story in a brief interview we had.
https://skyriddles.wordpress.com/2020/04/28/recovering-irans-nour-01-military-satellite/
Cold War Satellites Inadvertently Tracked Species Declines
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday May 21, 2020 12:00AM
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine:
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit in 1957, the United States responded with its own spy satellites. The espionage program, known as Corona, sought to locate Soviet missile sites, but its Google Earth-like photography captured something unintended: snapshots of animals and their habitats frozen in time. Now, by comparing these images with modern data, scientists have found a way to track the decline of biodiversity in regions that lack historic records.
As Russia Stalks US Satellites, a Space Arms Race May Be Heating Up
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday May 24, 2020 04:34AM
Russia “is now challenging the United States' long-standing supremacy in space and working to exploit the U.S. military's dependence on space systems for communications, navigation, intelligence, and targeting.”
That's the argument made in The Bulletin by a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer who writes about technology and military strategy, Cold War history, and European security affairs (in an article shared by Lasrick).
Moscow is developing counter-space weapons as a part of its overall information warfare strategy. For example, Russia just tested an anti-satellite missile system designed to destroy satellites in low earth orbit. Moreover, military leaders in Russia view U.S. satellites as the key enablers of America's ability to execute rapid, agile, and global military operations; they are intent on echoing this success and modernizing their own military satellites to more effectively support Russian forces.
Tracking Satellites Through Crowdsourcing
Posted by msmash on Wednesday October 30, 2019 11:54AM
A newly announced project called !TruSat uses crowdsourced data to track satellites in an effort to hold companies and nations operating in space accountable. From a report:
Space junk is a growing concern for those in the space industry, as companies plan to send thousands of satellites to orbit in the coming years. Having reliable means of tracking those satellites and any space junk created from them will be key to creating a sustainable space economy. Today, governments and other organizations are trying to create standards to help limit the amount of space junk produced in orbit. Instead of relying on information from governments or companies and tracking data from the U.S. Air Force, !TruSat will use data collected by people on the ground observing satellites from their own backyards. There is already a vibrant community of people around the world who track satellites with binoculars or cameras from the ground and share that information with one another. Users of !TruSat are able to enter tracking information for satellites they observe into the program, where it will be included in a crowdsourced record showing the tracks of satellites in the night sky.
https://science.slashdot.org/story/19/10/30/1852217/tracking-satellites-through-crowdsourcing
The little CubeSat that could: Launched from space station, ASTERIA is smallest satellite to detect an exoplanet
Let's head that way. Doesn't matter if there's no intelligent life on it – there's none here, either
Wed 3 Jun 2020 / 05:13 UTC - Katyanna Quach
The ASTERIA CubeSat, launched from the International Space Station into low-Earth orbit in 2017, has become the smallest satellite to successfully detect an exoplanet.
And that's thanks to the scientists and engineers who managed to squeeze hardware capable of measuring tiny fluctuations of light from a star down to a CubeSat form factor. The 10cm × 20cm × 30cm bird managed to pick up 55 Cancri e, some 40 light years away and a celestial body that was known though had never been detected by such relatively lightweight kit before.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/03/asteria_cubesat_exoplanet_discovery/
SatNOGS
Open Source global network of satellite ground-stations
Zombie Satellites Return From the Graveyard
Mission Extension Vehicles give dead spacecraft a new lease on life
18 Jun 2020 | 18:00 GMT By Nola Taylor Redd
New technology may help to bring dead satellites back to life. Earlier this year, the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV), a spacecraft jointly managed by NASA and Northrop Grumman, made history when it resurrected a decrepit satellite from the satellite graveyard. Reviving the spacecraft is a key step in extending the lifetime of orbiting objects; a second mission is set to extend the lifetime of another satellite later this summer.
Most satellites in geosynchronous orbits (GEO) have a design life of 15 years and are launched with enough fuel to cover that timeframe. At the end of their lifetime, the crafts are required to enter a graveyard orbit mandated by the 2002 draft Mitigation Guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC). Graveyard orbits comprise paths at least 300 kilometers above the geosynchronous region, giving the zombie spacecraft room to have their orbits incrementally ground down by the gravity of the sun and moon.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/zombie-satellites-return-from-the-graveyard
Relativity Space gains new customer in Iridium and new launch site at Vandenberg
Devin Coldewey / 6:01 am PDT•June 24, 2020
Relativity Space has a new customer for its 3D-printed rockets: Established satellite maker and operator Iridium, which has picked the company for launches in 2023. To accomplish those, and other launches like them, the company is also setting up a new launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
“It’s obviously pretty huge news for us,” Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis told TechCrunch. “Not only do we have a second launch site, but we have an anchor customer. We’ve actually pre-sold more launches than any other company in the industry since SpaceX.”
How small satellites are radically remaking space exploration
“There’s so much of the Solar System that we have not explored.”
Eric Berger - 7/11/2020, 5:00 AM
At the beginning of this year, a group of NASA scientists agonized over which robotic missions they should choose to explore our Solar System. Researchers from around the United States had submitted more than 20 intriguing ideas, such as whizzing by asteroids, diving into lava tubes on the Moon, and hovering in the Venusian atmosphere.
Spaceflight Inc. debuts new orbital transfer vehicle for satellite rideshare rocket launches
Darrell Etherington@etherington / 5:54 am PDT•July 15, 2020
Seattle-based space rideshare service provider Spaceflight Inc. revealed its next-generation orbital transfer vehicle today, the Sherpa-FX. The new spacecraft acts as a deployment spacecraft for combined payloads on rideshare rocket launches — essentially providing last-mile transportation from the point at which the launch vehicle deploys the combined payload to the actual desired target deployment orbit of each satellite sharing the ride to space.
The Sherpa-FX will fly its debut mission on an upcoming SpaceX rideshare mission, currently set to take off as early as December 2020. The inaugural flight of the Spaceflight orbital transfer vehicle will carry 16 small spacecraft from a number of different companies and organizations, including one for NASA and one for the University of South Florida’s Institute of Applied Engineering.
How small satellites are radically remaking space exploration
“There’s so much of the Solar System that we have not explored.”
Eric Berger - 7/11/2020, 5:00 AM
At the beginning of this year, a group of NASA scientists agonized over which robotic missions they should choose to explore our Solar System. Researchers from around the United States had submitted more than 20 intriguing ideas, such as whizzing by asteroids, diving into lava tubes on the Moon, and hovering in the Venusian atmosphere.
Ultimately, NASA selected four of these Discovery-class missions for further study. In several months, the space agency will pick two of the four missions to fully fund, each with a cost cap of $450 million and a launch late within this decade. For the losing ideas, there may be more chances in future years—but until new opportunities arise, scientists can only plan, wait, and hope.
US military whips out credit card for unmanned low-Earth-orbit outpost prototype (aka a repurposed ISS cargo pod)
Pentagon can't wait to do some 'experimentation and testing' in space
Sat 18 Jul 2020 / 00:54 UTC Katyanna Quach
The Pentagon wants an unmanned military outpost in orbit one day – and this week hired the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to build a prototype.
Luckily for the aerospace biz, it won’t have to start from scratch. SNC, founded in 1963 and headquartered in Reno, Nevada, developed something similar called the Shooting Star, a transport pod designed to be attached to Dream Chaser, a plane it designed to fly in low Earth orbit.
Shooting Star and Dream Chaser were built for an earlier contract awarded by NASA to send 10,000lbs of supplies, such as food and scientific equipment, to the International Space Station (ISS). Now it appears that, while the Dream Chaser is a busted flush for ISS deliveries – it's missing its windows – the Shooting Star capsule could be lofted into orbit as a free-flying craft.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/18/sierra_nevada_space_station/
Insecure satellite Internet is threatening ship and plane safety
Attacks that worked 10 years ago have only gotten worse despite growing use.
Dan Goodin - 8/5/2020, 3:31 PM
More than a decade has passed since researchers demonstrated serious privacy and and security holes in satellite-based Internet services. The weaknesses allowed attackers to snoop on and sometimes tamper with data received by millions of users thousands of miles away. You might expect that in 2020—as satellite Internet has grown more popular—providers would have fixed those shortcomings, but you’d be wrong.
In a briefing delivered on Wednesday at the Black Hat security conference online, researcher and Oxford Ph.D. candidate James Pavur presented findings that show that satellite-based Internet is putting millions of people at risk, despite providers adopting new technologies that are supposed to be more advanced.
Amazon Satellites Add To Astronomers' Worries About the Night Sky
Posted by msmash on Wednesday August 12, 2020 07:03AM
Welcome to the age of the satellite megaconstellation. Within the next few years, vast networks, containing hundreds or even thousands of spacecraft, could reshape the future of Earth's orbital environment. From a report:
Much of the attention on these strings of satellites has been placed on the prolific launches of SpaceX and OneWeb, but the focus is now turning to Amazon. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission approved a request by the online marketplace to launch its Project Kuiper constellation, which, like SpaceX's Starlink and OneWeb's network, aims to extend high-speed internet service to customers around the world, including to remote or underserved communities hobbled by a persistent digital divide. The Kuiper constellation would consist of 3,236 satellites. That's more than the approximately 2,600 active satellites already orbiting Earth. While Amazon's hardware is a long way from the launchpad, SpaceX has already deployed hundreds of satellites in its Starlink constellation, including 57 additional satellites that it launched on Friday. It may expand it to 12,000, or more. Facebook and Telesat could also get into the internet constellation business.
What would you prefer: Satellite-streamed cat GIFs – or a decent early warning of an asteroid apocalypse?
Earth's crowded orbit may obscure vital readings from space, boffins warn
Thu 27 Aug 2020 / 07:02 UTC - Katyanna Quach
Swarms of small communications satellites saturating space may make it more difficult to observe and track potentially hazardous asteroids zooming toward Earth, astronomers have warned.
A report PDF] out this week compiled by the Satellite Constellations 1 (SATCON1) committee outlined the repercussions of the growing number of metallic birds in low-Earth orbit (LEO) on astronomy.
The high reflectivity of these satellites ruins images of the night sky, as far-away objects are covered by bright streaks leftover from the passage of the satellites. The effect was noticed as soon as SpaceX flung its first constellation of 60 internet-relaying satellites into the heavens last year. That number has steadily risen to 655 as of this month. And with tens of thousands more on the way, the astronomical community is racing to come up with solutions to minimize their impact on science.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/27/satellite_constellation_astronomy_warning/
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a 56-year-old satellite burning up in the sky spotted by sharp school kids
NASA's OGO-1 dies a natural death after reentering Earth's atmosphere
Tue 1 Sep 2020 / 00:58 UTC - Katyanna Quach
NASA’s first Orbiting Geophysical Observatory satellite, launched in 1964, plunged into Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated into pieces over the Pacific Ocean over the weekend.
The Center for the Near-Earth Object Studies at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory previously announced it was expecting the OGO-1 satellite to return home soon albeit not in one piece. Two teenagers in middle school on Maui – Holden Suzuki and Wilson Chau – went looking for it with astronomers at the Las Cumbres Observatory, and spotted a dot streaking across space from footage by its telescope atop Mt Haleakalā on the Hawaiian island.
Microsoft Wants To Take on Amazon in Connecting Satellites To the Cloud
Posted by msmash on Monday September 14, 2020 10:25AM
Microsoft is looking to challenge Amazon in offering a service that connects satellites directly to the company's cloud computing network, according to documents the company filed with the Federal Communications Commission last month. From a report:
The effort shows how the two largest providers of cloud infrastructure – data centers in far-flung places that can host websites and run applications with a smorgasbord of computing and storage services – regularly seek to one-up each other. That way, the companies can appear ready and willing to meet many of the needs of prospective customers. Microsoft plans to connect a Spanish imaging satellite to two ground stations – both located in Microsoft's home state of Washington – to show that it can directly download satellite “data to the Azure Cloud for immediate processing,” the FCC documents said.
Launch HN: Albedo (YC W21) – Highest resolution satellite imagery
by topherhaddad - February 1, 2021
Hey HN! I’m Topher, here with Winston and AJ, and we’re the co-founders of Albedo (https://albedo.space). We’re building satellites that will capture both visible and thermal imagery - at a resolution 9x higher than what is available today (see comparison: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gwokp4WT8JPvyue98).
My technical background is primarily in optics/imaging science related to remote sensing. I previously worked for Lockheed Martin, where I met AJ, who is an expert in satellite architecture and systems engineering. We’ve spent most of our career working on classified space systems, and while the missions we were involved with are super cool, that world is slower to adopt the latest new space technologies. We started Albedo in order to create a new type of satellite architecture that captures high resolution imagery at a fraction of the cost historically required. Winston was previously a software engineer at Facebook, where he frequently used satellite imagery and realized the huge potential of higher resolution datasets.
NASA and SpaceX agree to share data to avoid satellite collisions
The Starlink constellation could have as many as 42,000 satellites, after all.
Mariella Moon - March 19th, 2021
SpaceX already has over 1,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, but that's just a tiny fraction of the full constellation the company plans to deploy. While it originally asked the FCC for permission to launch 12,000 satellites, it could have as many as 42,000 in orbit within a few decades. Since those satellites could collide with other spacecraft in orbit — and having that many increases the chances of an accident happening — NASA and SpaceX have signed (PDF) a joint agreement in an effort to prevent their assets from crashing into each other.
As TechCrunch notes, NASA already works with other entities launching objects into orbit using a standard Conjunction Assessment process that determines the risks of a close and high-speed approach between objects in space. This agreement with SpaceX, however, will ensure they'll actively work together in the coming years to actively prevent collisions from happening.
https://www.engadget.com/nasa-spacex-avoid-starlink-collisions-091502340.html
Satellites, space debris may have already brightened night skies 10% globally – and it's going to get worse
Goodbye darkness, my old friend
Katyanna Quach - Mon 29 Mar 2021 / 22:42 UTC
Constellations of satellites and chunks of space debris orbiting Earth and reflecting sunlight may have lightened our night skies by more than 10 per cent, scientists say. We're also told the light pollution is increasing.
“We expected the sky brightness increase would be marginal, if any, but our first theoretical estimates have proved extremely surprising and thus encouraged us to report our results promptly,“ said Miroslav Kocifaj, a senior researcher at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and lead author of a study into the light pollution, published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/29/satellite_light_pollution/
OneWeb, SpaceX satellites dodged a potential collision in orbit
‘Red alerts’ of a potential disaster were sent to the companies
By Joey Roulette - Apr 9, 2021, 2:12pm EDT
Two satellites from the fast-growing constellations of OneWeb and SpaceX’s Starlink dodged a dangerously close approach with one another in orbit last weekend, representatives from the US Space Force and OneWeb said. It’s the first known collision avoidance event for the two rival companies as they race to expand their new broadband-beaming networks in space.
On March 30th, five days after OneWeb launched its latest batch of 36 satellites from Russia, the company received several “red alerts” from the US Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron warning of a possible collision with a Starlink satellite. Because OneWeb’s constellation operates in higher orbits around Earth, the company’s satellites must pass through SpaceX’s mesh of Starlink satellites, which orbit at an altitude of roughly 550 km.
One Space Force alert indicated a collision probability of 1.3 percent, with the two satellites coming as close as 190 feet — a dangerously close proximity for satellites in orbit. If satellites collide in orbit, it could cause a cascading disaster that could generate hundreds of pieces of debris and send them on crash courses with other satellites nearby.
We're entombing the Earth in an impenetrable shell of dead satellites
The night sky will never be the same.
Andrew Tarantola - April 8th, 2021
In this article: space debris, internet satellite, starlink, NASA, spacex, feature, space, cube-sat, tomorrow, megaconstellation
Sputnik’s successful launch in 1957 marked a milestone in human history as the first time a man-made object had ever orbited the Earth. But little we understood of the space-based SNAFU we were courting with the advent of satellite technology. In the 64 years since, our planet’s night skies have become increasingly congested. Today more than 3,000 satellites circle the Earth and they are joined by millions of pieces of space debris — such as bits of broken satellite, discarded rocket parts and flecks of spacecraft paint. NASA estimates that there’s around 6,000 tonnes of debris in Low Earth Orbit alone.
Northrop's servicing robot extends the life of an orbiting satellite by five years
It had to meet the actively working satellite in geosynchronous orbit.
Mariella Moon - April 13th, 2021
Intelsat's IS-10-02 communications satellite was running low on fuel — it's been in orbit since 2004, after all, and has already exceeded its original mission lifespan by five years. Thanks to Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2), however, it gained another five years of life and will stay operational instead of being decommissioned. MEV-2 launched in August and has been making its way to the satellite in geosynchronous orbit since then. On Monday, it caught up to its target and clamped onto it to provide the IS-10-02 with more fuel.
https://www.engadget.com/northrop-mev-2-extends-life-orbiting-satellite-five-years-093504981.html
Billionaire-owned Sierra Nevada Corp. creating new space company to bet on a low-Earth orbit economy
Published Wed, Apr 14 2021 7:00 AM EDT - Morgan Brennan
Another company is coming to the commercial space industry, but unlike many of the new start-ups capturing the imagination, this one already touts billions of dollars in business.
And it could potentially be soon courting investors.
Privately held Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is creating Sierra Space, an independent commercial space company with a portfolio that includes, among other things, a reusable space plane and a commercial space station — big bets under development that the new organizational structure is intended to accelerate.
Euro space boffins hatch comms satellite hijack plan to save Earth from extinction
Liv Tyler-friendly Armageddon-avoidance project won't want to miss a thing with repurposed orbiters
Matt Dupuy - Tue 13 Jul 2021 / 16:15 UTC
Space calamity boffins at Airbus and the European Space Agency (ESA) have come up with a new take on that old “massive, rogue impactor striking the Earth and wiping out all life on the planet” chestnut.
Rather than sending teams of astronauts, cosmonauts, and unlikely groups of oil workers to destroy the incoming rock with nuclear weapons, the European rocket scientists reckon they could knock it off course by pelting it with hijacked communications satellites.
The Airbus/ESA whitecoats felt that if humanity detected a possible asteroid impactor early enough to give us three years' warning, given the time it would take for any solution to get to the point of impact, it still might not give us enough time to create, build, and launch a suitable defence.
This means that if we were going to try and deflect the asteroid (a proposal which is probably easier and more predictable in its results than trying to blow it up, as depicted in the movies Armageddon and Deep Impact), we would ideally need something that is big, heavy, steerable, and numerous.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/airbus_commsat_crashing_plan/
Astronomers push for global debate on giant satellite swarms
Working with the United Nations, scientists hope to establish standards for satellite ‘megaconstellations’ and reduce disruption of astronomical observations.
Alexandra Witze - 16 July 2021 / Correction 19 July 2021
Aerospace companies have launched about 2,000 Internet satellites into orbit around Earth over the past 2 years, nearly doubling the number of active satellites. This has sparked concerns among astronomers and other skygazers, who worry about interference with observations of the night sky.
Now, in what would be the biggest international step yet towards addressing these concerns, diplomats at a United Nations forum next month might discuss whether humanity has a right to ‘dark and quiet skies’. The debate could initiate a framework for how scientists and the public would deal with the flood of new satellites — with many more expected.
China, Russia, India, and pals agree to create virtual satellite constellation
Remote sensing data to be shared among BRICS bloc, so they can all watch the world from above
Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor - Thu 19 Aug 2021 / 02:58 UTC
The space agencies of the BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – have agreed to share some satellite sensing data.
The BRICS bloc have a loose economic and diplomatic collaboration, framed around a desire to create a grouping big enough to represent a counterweight to other more established alliances and give emerging economies a collective voice in global affairs. One example of that ambition was the 2020 attempt to define e-commerce consumer protection standards to operate within the bloc, in the hope that work would influence other nations and even the UN to consider similar regulations.
Membership of the bloc doesn't guarantee harmonious relations, as demonstrated by recent ructions between India and China. But when the bloc sees a chance to benefit all members, it seldom hesitates.
Hence this new pact to share some remote sensing data gathered from satellites operated by members' space agencies.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/19/brics_satellite_data_sharing_pact/
The world must cooperate to avoid a catastrophic space collision
Governments and companies urgently need to share data on the mounting volume of satellites and debris orbiting Earth.
11 August 2021
There’s an awful lot of stuff orbiting Earth, with more arriving all the time. More than 29,000 satellites, pieces of rockets and other bits of debris large enough to track from the ground are circling the planet. Smaller items number in the millions. The Californian company SpaceX alone has launched some 1,700 satellites over the past 2 years as part of its Starlink network, which provides broadband Internet, with thousands more planned. Other companies are also planning such megaconstellations, and more and more nations are launching or plan to launch satellites.
This growing congestion is drastically increasing the risk of collisions in space. At the European Space Agency’s operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, which controls key research spacecraft, hundreds of e-mail alerts arrive each day warning of potential space smash-ups. And, in May, NASA engineers spotted a 5-millimetre-wide hole in one of the International Space Station’s robotic arms, created by a collision with an unknown piece of space junk.
These close calls highlight not only the need to be more thoughtful about what we put into space, but also that it’s well past time the global space community developed a sustainable framework for managing space traffic. Such a move would benefit both the scientists who rely on observations from orbit and humanity as a whole, because satellites are crucial for modern communication and navigation.
Why satellites are manufactured in clean rooms
- October 2020
If you want to see satellite hardware up close, you have to dress appropriately. However, your formal wear can safely stay in the closet; instead, you will need a hairnet, smock and shoe covers. The reason for this is that satellites are not manufactured in ordinary production halls, but in clean rooms. Why is that so? What kinds of things can be found in normal rooms that could damage the satellite hardware? And how clean can you get a room?
There are no completely dust-free rooms on Earth
Dust is ubiquitous on Earth. In fact, it is so omnipresent that there are no completely dust-free environments. And not all dust is the same. There is an unimaginable amount of natural and man-made dust sources. Even ordinary house dust is made up of particles of different origins. They range from human and animal skin scales and hair, pollen and other plant parts to street dust and cosmic dust.
Iodine-Powered Satellite Successfully Tested In Space For First Time
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday November 18, 2021 07:30PM
Tesseractic shares a report from New Scientist, written by Chen Ly:
A satellite has been successfully powered by iodine for the first time. Iodine performed better than the traditional propellant of choice, xenon – highlighting iodine's potential utility for future space missions. Currently, xenon is the main propellant used in electric propulsion systems, but the chemical is rare and expensive to produce. As a gas, xenon must also be stored at very high pressures, which requires specialized equipment. Iodine has a similar atomic mass to xenon but is more abundant and much cheaper. It can also be stored as an unpressurised solid, meaning it has the potential to simplify satellite designs.
U.S. Satellites Are Being Attacked Every Day According To Space Force General
Space Force general details how jamming, blinding lasers, cyber attacks, and other satellites have America's space-based capabilities under siege.
By Joseph Trevithick - November 30, 2021
S. Space Force's General David Thompson, the service's second in command, said last week that Russia and China are launching “reversible attacks,” such as electronic warfare jamming, temporarily blinding optics with lasers, and cyber attacks, on U.S. satellites “every single day.” He also disclosed that a small Russian satellite used to conduct an on-orbit anti-satellite weapon test back in 2019 had first gotten so close to an American one that there were concerns an actual attack was imminent.
Thompson, who is Vice Chief of Space Operations, disclosed these details to The Washington Post's Josh Rogin in an interview on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum, which ran from Nov. 19 to 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada. The forum opened just four days after a Russian anti-satellite weapon test involving a ground-launched interceptor, which destroyed a defunct Soviet-era electronic intelligence satellite and created a cloud of debris that presents a risk to the International Space Station (ISS). That test drew widespread condemnation, including from the U.S. government, and prompted renewed discussion about potential future conflicts in space.
Wasted space: The growing problem of facing the debris we’ve left behind
Jason Derenick - February 24, 2022 1:17 PM
This article was contributed by Jason Derenick, CTO of Exyn Technologies
No matter the technologies gained, one thing is certain; humans leave a legacy wherever they go. It’s no more evident than in the last frontier — space — where debris hasn’t left gravity’s pull and ever-so-slowly circles around Earth’s orbit. The clutter that’s growing around Earth is becoming an issue that needs containment before technology, known as “mega constellations,” joins the piles of discarded metal, paint, and screws.
According to an article in Mashable, containing debris and ridding space junk is becoming a problem that’s getting harder to solve. Russia recently tested a missile, set to “blow-up” an older satellite– having unexpected consequences. In Mashable’s recent piece, they shared, “The explosion of the around 4,850-pound satellite created a cloud of fragments that triggered an emergency response on the relatively nearby International Space Station: Astronauts awoke and hastily prepared to evacuate the threatened space outpost.”
Donald Kessler, a former NASA senior scientist, found over 40 years ago that the parts of satellites and rockets left behind in low-Earth orbit could make space travel too hazardous. Much like our growing epidemic of trash in our seas and on land, what we leave behind is affecting our day-to-day lives.
Satellite Spots Massive Asteroid Impact Crater in China
Though missing some of its rim, the recently discovered impact site is clearly recognizable from above.
Isaac Schultz - 28 February 2022 12:51PM
In 2019, researchers first described a 1.15-mile-wide crater in a mountain range in northeast China; late last year, a NASA satellite imaged the crater from space, giving a broad new view the impact’s aftermath.
The crater is in Heilongjiang Province’s Yilan County. According to the researchers who described it in 2019, it’s the second confirmed impact structure in China. The site has long been known to locals, who call it “Quanshan,” or “circular mountain ridge,” according to a NASA Earth Observatory release.
The southern rim of the crater has eroded, so from above the impact site looks more like a crescent. The rim is nearly 500 feet tall at its highest points, the researchers reported, and is slightly wider than China’s previously confirmed impact strucgture, Xiuyan, which is 1.12 miles across.
https://gizmodo.com/satellite-spots-massive-asteroid-impact-crater-in-china-1848602154
The US Space Force will use a 'digital twin' to simulate satellite incidents
Slingshot's technology could help mission teams prepare for the worst.
Jon Fingas - March 31st, 2022
The US Space Force needs to prepare for calamities, but how can it do that when it can't practice using real satellites in orbit? It's going to use a digital twin, apparently. Slingshot Aerospace says it's developing a “Digital Space Twin” that will combine physics-based modelling with real-time object mapping to help the Space Force simulate various situations and plan responses well in advance.
The twin will help mission teams decide how to react to a potential collision, for instance. The Space Force could also use the simulation to design safer and more efficient satellite constellations. And yes, the military branch will also use the digital environment to ready itself for “nefarious acts” from countries with a less-than-peaceful approach to space.
https://www.engadget.com/us-space-force-digital-twin-slingshot-aerospace-130219924.html
Two Military Satellites Just Communicated With Each Other Using Space Lasers
The DARPA-led project aims to build a constellation of military satellites in low Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - 19 May 2022 9:58AM
Two satellites recently exchanged more than 200 gigabits of data over a distance of about 60 miles (100 kilometers) using laser communication in space. The achievement sets the stage for yet another satellite constellation.
Satellites generally don’t communicate directly with each other. Instead, they use radio signals to transfer data down to a ground station on Earth, which then relays this data to another satellite. Optical terminals between satellites are considered to be faster and more secure.
https://gizmodo.com/military-satellites-communicate-with-space-lasers-1848944526
A New Satellite Tool Shows You How the Planet’s Landscape Changes Day by Day
From forests and wetlands to urban development, color-coded maps explore Earth’s evolution in great detail
Sarah Kuta, Daily Correspondent - June 17, 2022
In August 2021, as the Caldor Fire burned more than 200,000 acres in northern California, satellites captured the dramatic changes to the landscape in real-time.
That satellite data fed into a new Google tool, called Dynamic World, which recognized that an area once covered by trees had been reduced to shrub and scrub. In the days after the fire, Dynamic World’s color-coded map of the region transformed from green, where trees had grown in large enough numbers to be seen from space, to yellow, indicating a transformation to low scrub, showing the devastating outcome of the natural disaster on the land itself.
In the past, researchers interested in how the planet’s landscape changes over time have had to rely on large, cumbersome datasets and infrequently updated maps. Now, they can turn to Dynamic World, which shows exactly what’s covering the land—from crops and wetlands to buildings and trees—in great detail. The tool is updated in near real-time (about once every two to five days, depending on location), which makes it possible to monitor ecosystems as they rapidly evolve because of floods, wildfires, deforestation and urban development.
Software-defined satellite enters commercial service
Staff Writers - Paris (ESA) Aug 18, 2022
Europe's first commercial satellite capable of being completely reprogrammed while in space is now in commercial use.
Satellite operator Eutelsat has sold six of its eight beams - used for data and mobile communications - to organisations including governments and other users. It is expected that the entire satellite capacity will be sold in the coming months.
The satellite - called Eutelsat Quantum - was launched on 30 July 2021 by an Ariane 5 from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana.
The satellite offers unprecedented mission reconfiguration capacity. Its beams can be reshaped and redirected to provide information to people on moving planes, trucks and cars in close to real time.
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Software_defined_satellite_enters_commercial_service_999.html
Alarmed by Satellite Constellations, Astronomers Petition the UN for Help
An international collaboration is asking the UN to address the impacts of satellites on astronomy and devise potential solutions to the mounting problem.
Passant Rabie - 2 March 2023
Astronomers looking up at the night skies have started to feel the effects of the growing number of satellites swarming Earth orbit, and they want to do something about it before it’s too late. An international group of astronomy organizations have banded together to petition the United Nations, asking it to form a group that monitors the impact of satellites on astronomy.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO), the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) submitted a paper to the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) proposing the creation of a new expert group dedicated to the matter, according to ESO.
A delegation from these astronomy groups attended COPUOS’ 60th Session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) held from February 6 to 17, during which the most heated topic of debate was how to protect the skies from the interference of large satellite constellations. The proposal to form an expert group was submitted at the end of the session, and signed by COPUOS member states Chile, Spain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Peru, and South Africa, as well as ESO, IAU, and SKAO.
https://gizmodo.com/astronomers-petition-un-help-satellite-constellations-1850178295
Propellantless System For Satellites Will Get Tested In Space
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday March 21, 2023 12:00AM
Longtime Slashdot reader drwho writes:
A new type of propulsion system which uses no propellant, but rather only electricity, will be tested in a satellite to be launched from June 10's Falcon 9 launch. The IVO Quantum Drive utilizes an alternative theory of inertia known as “Quantum Inertia' by its originator Prof. Mike McCullough of U. Plymouth, which seeks to reconcile General Relativity (GR) with Quantum Field Theory (QFT). If successful, this would herald in a new era not only in satellite technology but in space travel as a whole. See this article for more details.
With 7,000+ satellites and growing, is space sustainable? An Ars Frontiers recap
“We've been using space as our own personal operating dumping ground.”
Eric Berger - 6/6/2023, 9:57 AM
The space industry has seen a dramatic uptick in the number of satellites launched into low-Earth orbit in recent years. Much of this growth, but not all of it, has been driven by the rapid expansion of SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation, which is now populated by more than 4,000 satellites.
In our space panel for Ars Frontiers, I had the pleasure of discussing the implications of this growth in satellites and space-based services with a distinguished panel of experts. Many issues, good and bad, have arisen, from the cluttering of low-Earth orbit to the development of powerful tools used in conflict, such as synthetic aperture radar and communications in Ukraine. You can watch the entire discussion here.
It's important to realize how much the environment in low-Earth orbit has changed over the last five years. This is the area of space from about 100 km in the atmosphere up to about 2,000 km. But the majority of satellites are clustered within a few hundred kilometers of the surface of the Earth.
Spire and OroraTech will launch a fleet of wildfire-monitoring satellites
Aria Alamalhodaei - 28 June 2023
The past few wildfire seasons in the United States and Canada have been some of the most memorable — and dangerous — on record. But despite the billions of dollars that each government pours into fighting fires, first responders are still in need of real-time wildfire detection and monitoring data.
Enter Spire Global and OroraTech. Today, the two companies announced that they would put a constellation of eight global temperature and wildfire-monitoring satellites into orbit by mid-2024.
This is not the first collaboration between the two firms. Two satellites, called Forest Observation (Forest)-1 and Recognition Experimental Smallsat Thermal Detector (Forest-2) are already in orbit. They leverage Spire’s satellite platform, integration services and ground station and OroraTech’s thermal-infrared optical temperature monitor. This new fleet of eight satellites will expand upon this work.
The next big space business: satellite pictures of other satellites
As space debris proliferates and new weapons appear, a new market is rising to document it all.
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor, Defense One - August 11, 2023
Satellite images, long used by militaries to track developments on Earth, are increasingly being used to keep tabs on the proliferating objects in space.
Maxar Technologies has been filling U.S. government orders for images of objects in space for “several years,” said Kumar Navulur, the company’s director of strategic business development. The subjects include not just objects in highly populated low Earth orbits but in medium Earth orbits, geostationary orbits, and even beyond. And since August, when Maxar received a license from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the company seeks to sell space imagery to satellite and launch companies looking to keep track of their orbiting assets.
Navulur said imagery can help solve problems of space-traffic management—for example, “As more satellites are being launched with so much debris, how do you maneuver around that and make sure that you can get [new satellites] to that orbit?”
Navulur said that while terrestrial cameras can take images of stationary objects, satellite cameras offer several advantages. “The timeliness would be the number one” feature, he said. They can currently deliver images within 72 hours and are looking to get that down to minutes.
How a Billion-Dollar Satellite Risks Upending the Space Insurance Industry
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday September 03, 2023 06:52PM
“Viasat Inc. has more than $1 billion of orbiting satellites in trouble,” reports Bloomberg, “and space insurers are girding for market-rattling claims.”
The company's roughly $1 billion ViaSat-3 Americas satellite, central to expanding its fixed-broadband coverage and fending off rivals including Elon Musk's Starlink, suffered an unexpected problem as it deployed its antenna in orbit in April. Should Viasat declare it a total loss, industry executives estimate the claim would reach a record-breaking $420 million and, in turn, make it harder — and more expensive — for other satellite operators to get insurance… Viasat on Aug. 24 reported another stricken spacecraft, saying its Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite launched in February suffered a power problem. The failure may end the craft's useful life and result in a $350 million insurance claim, Space Intel Report said.
Satellites Are Getting a Constellation of Traffic Cops
Launching this coming weekend, the first four satellites of NorthStar's planned constellation will monitor space traffic and aid in collision prevention.
Passant Rabie - 26 January 2024
Earth’s orbit will be monitored by a watchful set of robotic eyes, the first commercial constellation of satellites with the ability to keep track of objects in space to avoid collisions between spacecraft.
Canadian startup NorthStar is getting ready to launch the first four of its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites equipped with advanced optical devices for detecting space objects and star trackers for accurate positioning. The satellites will launch on board Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket on Sunday during a launch window that opens at 1:15 a.m. ET (weather permitting).
The satellites are built and operated by Spire Global, a space-based data and analytics provider, and are designed to provide continuous monitoring of space objects in low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary orbit (GEO). “Not all satellites are universally equipped with the ability to monitor space,” Spire General Manager and Global Head of Space Services Frank Frulio told Gizmodo in an email. “These four satellites represent the first commercial satellites of their kind, designed not only to simultaneously monitor near-Earth objects from space but also to deliver timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alert.”
https://gizmodo.com/northstar-spire-satellites-space-situational-awareness-1851198300
Will Satellite Megaconstellations Weaken Earth’s Magnetic Field?
February 1, 2024 - Dr.Tony Phillips
Feb. 1, 2024: Something unprecedented is happening in Earth orbit. In only a few short years, the satellite population has skyrocketed, more than doubling since 2020. In the past year alone, more satellites have been launched than during the first thirty years of the Space Age. Much of this activity is driven by SpaceX and its growing mega-constellation of Starlink internet satellites.
Environmentalists have raised many concerns about Starlink including light-pollution of the night sky, a potentially hazardous traffic jam in low-Earth orbit, and even ozone depletion. Copycat mega-constellations by other companies and countries will only multiply these concerns.
Now there’s a new reason to worry. According to a new study by Sierra Solter, megaconstellations could alter and weaken Earth’s magnetic field.
Google Joins Satellite Mission To Scan Globe for Methane Leaks
Posted by msmash on Wednesday February 14, 2024 08:42AM
A new satellite mission to track planet-warming emissions of methane gas is finally set to launch, now aided with AI technology to help build a global map of oil and gas infrastructure and surveil it for leaks [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report:
The MethaneSAT satellite was announced by the Environmental Defense Fund six years ago as a way to monitor releases of methane, an invisible gas that researchers estimate is responsible for almost a third of the emissions-induced increase in global temperatures since the start of the industrial era. The satellite is now scheduled to blast into space in March aboard a rocket operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. On Wednesday, Google said it would provide the AI computing capabilities required to crunch vast amounts of data produced by the orbiting methane monitor.
Space Force official: Commercial satellites can do a lot more than we thought
“They could shave off about a third of the time and over half the cost.”
Stephen Clark – May 19, 2025 2:12 PM
A generation ago, when former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin promoted the mantra of a “faster, better, cheaper” approach to the agency's science missions, critics often joked that NASA could only pick two.
That's no longer the case. NASA is finding success in its partnerships with commercial space companies, especially SpaceX, with lower costs, quicker results, and improved performance.
The Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office, the US government's spy satellite agency, are also capitalizing on new products and services from commercial industry. In many cases, these new capabilities come from venture-backed startups already developing and operating satellites for commercial use.
The idea is to focus the Space Force and the NRO on missions that only they can do, according to Chris Scolese, director of the NRO. Military and intelligence agencies are already buying launch services, communications services, and satellite surveillance imagery on a commercial basis. These missions also have commercial applications, so the government is purchasing products and services with rockets and satellites that already exist.
Every Satellite Orbiting Earth and Who Owns Them
Primož Rome - Thursday, February 9, 2023
How many satellites are in space? There are thousands of satellites in the sky above us at this moment, orbiting Earth. Satellites have many uses for the government, military, and even civilians. They provide us with the ability to have things like Internet access, television, GPS, and much more. They also have scientific purposes such as Earth and space observation and provide the means for high-level technology development. More than half of the 4,550 satellites orbiting Earth are used for communications purposes, and that number will continue to rise as tech billionaires look to bring high-speed Internet access to every corner of Earth.
But what we want to know is, who owns our orbit? The research team at Dewesoft analyzed data collected by the UCS Satellite Database, ESRI, and the Space Foundation to create a list of the 50 owners of the most satellites orbiting Earth. As of Sept. 1, 2021, SpaceX is leading the race, with their Starlink satellite program planning to send more than a thousand new satellites into orbit every year. SpaceX owns an incredible 36% of the satellites in orbit around Earth. Read on to see which governments, organizations, and companies own the most satellites in our orbit with this galactic graphic.
https://dewesoft.com/blog/every-satellite-orbiting-earth-and-who-owns-them
Antenna
Smart Antennas Shape Satellite Internet Tech to Come
Metasurface arrays will portably link up base stations, cars, and drones
Edd Gent - 03 May 2024
Satellite internet services are expanding rapidly, but the ground terminals required to connect to them are expensive and power-hungry. French startup Greenerwave is building a terminal that uses something they call a “reconfigurable intelligent surface” (RIS) to reduce both costs and energy consumption.
Constellations of low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites from companies like Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb promise to provide connectivity anywhere in the world. But establishing links with satellites that are constantly on the move, and rapidly switching between them to maintain a reliable connection, requires some advanced antenna technology.
Most services today rely on phased array antennas, which are made up of multiple smaller antennas that work together to shape and steer radio beams. This makes it possible to lock onto a moving target, but requires complex and costly electronics that use a lot of electricity. Paris-based Greenerwave has instead built a terminal that relies on an RIS, which is made up of scores of small, adjustable reflective units that work in concert to alter the direction and properties of a beam as it is reflected off the surface.
NASA’s 230-Foot Antenna Damaged, Further Straining Deep Space Communications
The aging infrastructure of the Deep Space Network is operating at capacity and in desperate need of an upgrade. The latest news isn't helping.
Passant Rabie - November 13, 2025
A massive antenna used to communicate with Martian spacecraft and track near-Earth asteroids has been offline for nearly two months. NASA has shared little information regarding damage sustained by the 230-foot-wide radio antenna, while ways to fix it remain unclear even as the government shutdown comes to a close.
The largest antenna at the Deep Space Network’s (DSN) site in Goldstone, California, went dark on September 16 after over-rotating, straining the cabling and piping at its center, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory revealed in a statement to SpaceNews. The hoses from the antenna’s fire suppression system were also damaged, resulting in flooding and water damage.
“The antenna remains offline as the board members, engineers and technicians evaluate the structure and make recommendations and repairs,” JPL’s statement continued. “NASA will provide information on the board’s findings and next steps for returning the antenna to service after the federal government reopens.”
Electrical
Scientists Pinpoint Cause of Mysterious Electrical Surges on Satellites
A new study measured the correlation between the number of electrons in space and the sudden release of electrical charges from satellites.
Passant Rabie - September 2, 2025
In 1994, two Canadian TV satellites failed within mere hours of each other. The pair was in a geostationary orbit when a major solar storm hit, resulting in electrostatic discharges that disabled their control electronics. Anik E1 and E2 are just one example of the effects of electric charge buildup on satellites, known as spacecraft environment discharge.
New findings show a direct correlation between a spacecraft’s electric discharge and peaks in the flux of electrons in space, identifying hundreds of incidents that can cause these surges and long-lasting damage to satellites.
A team of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory placed two sensors onboard the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program Satellite 6 (STP-Sat6) to monitor its charged environment in geostationary orbit. Over more than a year of data, the researchers identified 272 incidents of high-rate electrical discharge on the satellite, each occurring 24 to 45 minutes after periods of peak electron activity in space.
Weather
Receiving Weather Satellite Images Using SatDump
John Davidson - 2023-03-24
A generic satellite data processing software that can help you receive and decode weather satellite data and works very well with our GOES weather satellite SDR bundle.
Navigate here to download the free and open-source SatDump. (https://github.com/altillimity/SatDump)
The latest release can be seen on the right-hand side under “Releases” as shown in the screenshot below.
Airbus
Airbus Launches Device to Keep Dead Satellites from Tumbling in Space
Called Detumbler, it's designed as a way to tackle the growing problem of space debris in Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - 14 November 2023
Earth’s orbit can be a chaotic place, with defunct spacecraft darting aimlessly across the dark skies. In order to tackle the growing issue of space debris, Airbus created a new device designed to keep satellites from tumbling around after they’re no longer of use.
The device, aptly named Detumbler, launched on Saturday on board a Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. It was one 90 payloads to liftoff as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-9 mission.
Detumbler is a magnetic damping device that’s meant to be attached to a satellite that’s nearing the end of its life, according to Airbus. Weighing around 100 grams, Detumbler has a central rotor wheel and magnets that interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, which prevents unwanted motion when defunct satellites start to tumble. The device is designed to behave like a compass when the satellite is flying normally in its orbit, aligning with Earth’s magnetic field. If it begins to tumble, however, the movement of the rotor will trigger eddy currents (loops of electrical current within conductors induced by a changing magnetic field) and cause friction to slow down the motion.
https://gizmodo.com/airbus-launches-device-to-keep-dead-satellites-from-tum-1851021678
Alba Orbital
Alba Orbital’s mission to image the Earth every 15 minutes brings in $3.4M seed round
Devin Coldewey / 1:36 PM PDT•May 13, 2021
Orbital imagery is in demand, and if you think having daily images of everywhere on Earth is going to be enough in a few years, you need a lesson in ambition. Alba Orbital is here to provide it with its intention to provide Earth observation at intervals of 15 minutes rather than hours or days — and it just raised $3.4 million to get its next set of satellites into orbit.
Alba attracted our attention at Y Combinator’s latest demo day; I was impressed with the startup’s accomplishment of already having six satellites in orbit, which is more than most companies with space ambition ever get. But it’s only the start for the company, which will need hundreds more to begin to offer its planned high-frequency imagery.
The Scottish company has spent the last few years in prep and R&D, pursuing the goal, which some must have thought laughable, of creating a solar-powered Earth observation satellite that weighs in at less than one kilogram. The joke’s on the skeptics, however — Alba has launched a proof of concept and is ready to send the real thing up as well.
Amazon
Amazon Satellite Experiment Puts the Cloud in Low Earth Orbit
A test of Amazon Web Services software in orbit improved a satellite's ability to select useful images and reduce the amount of data beamed back to Earth.
Nikki Main - 30 November 2022
Satellite operators are often challenged by the horrendous amounts of data that satellites collect and transmit back to Earth. A recent experiment with prototype Amazon Web Services (AWS) software suggests cloud-based solutions, when used way above Earth’s actual clouds, can lessen the data load.
AWS, describing the experiment as the “first of its kind,” announced the test at the Amazon subsidiary’s re:Invent conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The test of the cloud-based prototype software transpired over the course of 10 months, and it presents a potential solution for satellite operators to better manage imagery and sensory data generated by orbiting spacecraft. The test was made possible through a collaboration that involved Italian company D-Orbit and Swedish startup Unibap.
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-aws-satellite-experiment-cloud-based-computing-1849832324
Amazon Leo
Amazon rebrands its Starlink competitor to Amazon Leo
The company announced the network as Project Kuiper in 2019, but it's taken a while to get off the ground since then.
Ian Carlos Campbell - Thu, November 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM PST
Amazon is making its satellite communication network a bit more official with a rebrand. The company has announced that Project Kuiper will now be called “Amazon Leo,” a nod to the fact that its network is composed of satellites in low Earth orbit.
Project Kuiper's journey to becoming a proper Amazon brand has been a long one. The company introduced the project in 2019 with the goal of offering internet in regions without a reliable connection, through a proposed constellation of over 3,000 satellites that could blanket 95 percent of the global population in high-speed internet. That constellation has yet to fully take shape, however. In the years following the Project Kuiper reveal, Amazon launched prototype satellites, detailed plans for a space laser mesh network and showed off the antennas customers will use to connect to its network, but it didn't actually launch the first 27 satellites in its constellation until April 2025.
Project Kuiper becomes Amazon Leo as satellite network trickles into orbit
Starlink challenger drops the codename, but full-blown service still years out
Richard Speed - Fri 14 Nov 2025 17:05 UTC
Amazon has rebranded its satellite broadband plan from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo. And no, Leo doesn't stand for “Late Entrants Only,” even though the project is years behind Starlink and still not ready for anyone to use.
After years of delay, Project Kuiper finally launched its first production satellites into orbit at the beginning of 2025. This came after a trial in 2023, which was followed by more delays before construction of the constellation began.
The name “Project Kuiper” was inspired by the Kuiper Belt, a ring of asteroids in the outer solar system. Great as a codename, but less so as a consumer-facing brand, hence the switch. “Leo” stands for “Low Earth Orbit,” although we're sure that the ever-creative Register readership will be able to come up with an alternative definition.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/project_kuiper_amazon_leo/
Kuiper
FCC approves Amazon’s satellite broadband plan over SpaceX’s objections
Amazon's 3,236-satellite plan greenlit despite SpaceX seeking 578-satellite limit.
Jon Brodkin - 2/9/2023, 11:49 AM
Amazon's Kuiper division can start launching satellites to offer broadband service in the US, the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday.
The FCC's International Bureau approved Kuiper's orbital debris mitigation plan. This approval was needed to satisfy a condition imposed in 2020 when the Amazon subsidiary received tentative approval for a network of 3,236 satellites in low-Earth orbit.
“Our action will allow Kuiper to begin deployment of its constellation in order to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to customers around the world,” yesterday's FCC order said.
Amazon's satellite launch plans took shape in April 2022 when it announced deals for 83 launches over five years using Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance. Amazon said the deals would let it deploy most of its 3,236 planned satellites. The company plans to deploy two prototype satellites early in 2023 on the upcoming launch of United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket.
FCC Approves Amazon's Satellite Broadband Plan Over SpaceX's Objections
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday February 09, 2023 02:00PM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
Amazon's Kuiper division can start launching satellites to offer broadband service in the US, the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday. The FCC's International Bureau approved Kuiper's orbital debris mitigation plan. This approval was needed to satisfy a condition imposed in 2020 when the Amazon subsidiary received tentative approval for a network of 3,236 satellites in low-Earth orbit. “Our action will allow Kuiper to begin deployment of its constellation in order to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to customers around the world,” yesterday's FCC order said.
Amazon convinces FCC it can avoid space junk chaos
We wanted robot butlers and flying Deloreans … and got internet-from-orbit instead
Thomas Claburn - Fri 10 Feb 2023 22:25 UTC
Amazon's plan to launch a series of satellites to offer broadband internet service can move ahead now that the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has endorsed the web giant's plan to keep space tidy.
Barring unforeseen obstacles, Amazon expects to launch its first Project Kuiper satellites “in early 2023.”
Project Kuiper received conditional approval from the FCC on July 30, 2020, subject to the American agency's approval of Amazon's orbital debris mitigation plan, among other things.
“Space safety is a core tenet for the Kuiper team, and we’re committed to operating safely and responsibly in space,” said Julie Zoller, head of global regulatory affairs for Project Kuiper, in a statement.
“Our orbital debris mitigation plans demonstrate the Kuiper System is designed to meet or exceed all requirements set forth by the FCC. We are pleased that the Commission has granted our application and we appreciate the coordination to ensure the industry is prioritizing safety.”
https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/amazon_project_kuipers_space_junk/
Amazon’s satellite internet antennas can double as picnic tables for dolls
Project Kuiper's largest antenna measures 19 inches by 30 inches.
Kris Holt - March 14, 2023 11:34 AM
Amazon has pulled back the curtain on its first slate of Project Kuiper antennas. The terminals, which will transmit data to and from Amazon’s Low Earth Orbit internet satellites, resemble furniture. The largest of the bunch is even the size of a full-blown patio table — it measures 19 inches by 30 inches. That model is intended for enterprise, government and telecommunications operations. Amazon said it will deliver internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
The standard terminal for consumers has a smaller footprint, measuring 11 inches square with a thickness of one inch. Without its mounting bracket, it weighs less than five pounds. This antenna should be able to deliver speeds up to 400 Mbps, Amazon says.
The company hasn’t revealed how much the terminals will cost, but says it should be able to build the standard model for less than $400 per unit. SpaceX's Starlink charges $599 for a terminal. That said, there will be a more compact and wallet-friendly terminal available from Amazon too. A seven-inch-square antenna will weigh one pound and offer speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
Amazon shifts launch of its first Internet satellites to Atlas V rocket
The Kuiper test satellites were supposed to launch on ULA's first Vulcan rocket.
Stephen Clark - 8/7/2023, 8:59 AM
Amazon has confirmed it now plans to launch the first two test satellites for the company's Kuiper broadband network on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as soon as next month, shifting the payloads off of the inaugural flight of ULA's new Vulcan rocket.
The shift has been rumored for several weeks after ULA delayed the first flight of its Vulcan rocket from the summer until the fourth quarter of the year. The delay will allow time for ULA to beef up the structure of the Vulcan upper stage's liquid hydrogen tank, which sprang a leak that resulted in a destructive fireball on a test stand in March.
The first Vulcan rocket was slated to launch the first two prototype satellites for Amazon's Kuiper constellation, a network of more than 3,200 broadband satellites that the retail and tech giant plans to deploy over the next few years. The Kuiper network is similar to SpaceX's Starlink “mega-constellation,” which already has more than 4,000 satellites in orbit.
Amazon's three rocket makers insist Project Kuiper will launch on schedule
It's not as if space is hard, is it?
Richard Speed - Wed 13 Sep 2023 14:15 UTC
The three companies tapped by Amazon to launch its Project Kuiper constellation have confirmed that they're definitely going to get the satellites into orbit despite repeated delays.
Amazon has committed to spending billions on launches using the Ariane 6, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur.
As reported by SpaceNews.com, representatives from the companies involved have confirmed that Amazon's constellation is on track to launch by the deadlines set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Not that Amazon needs much reminding, but at least half of the constellation must be launched by July 2026, with the rest by July 2029.
The deadline makes for an increasingly ambitious goal – to launch more than 1,800 satellites in less than three years.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/13/amazon_project_kuiper_deadline/
Amazon to launch first Project Kuiper internet satellites
Bezos rocket biz not involved this time – now that's a blue origin
Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 5 Oct 2023 21:38 UTC
It's been a long time coming, but Amazon is finally launching its first two Project Kuiper internet-relay satellites into orbit tomorrow, October 6, but don't expect Bezos' Starlink competitor to be ready for customers anytime soon.
Kuiper's Protoflight United Launch Alliance mission is expected to lift off in a little under 24 hours, carrying KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 to orbit. The test satellite duo will trail Kuiper's planned 3,200+ satellite constellation, and will be deorbited once Amazon finishes its experiments with the pair.
“This is Amazon's first time putting satellites into space, and we're going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds,” said Rajeev Badyal, VP of technology for Project Kuiper.
“We've done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there's no substitute for on-orbit testing.”
https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/05/project_kuiper_amazon/
The first two Amazon Kuiper satellites are set to launch on October 6
Amazon will start testing its answer to SpaceX's Starlink service.
Mariella Moon, Contributing Reporter - Updated Wed, Oct 4, 2023, 10:46 PM PDT
Amazon's Kuiper satellites will soon make their debut in orbit. The company is gearing up to deploy its first two satellites, the KuiperSat-1 and the KuiperSat-2, for its Protoflight mission that's scheduled to launch on October 6. Project Kuiper is Amazon's answer to SpaceX's Starlink service. At the moment, its plans entail launching 3,200 satellites over the next six years to form a constellation that can provide internet connectivity even to far-flung places traditional providers can't reach.
The KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 are the first version of Amazon's satellites and will provide the company with an important learning opportunity. They'll allow the company to conduct a series of tests that would add valuable real-world data to information already collected from the lab. Project Kuiper's ground team will also get the chance to observe how the network performs, since Protoflight will be testing the satellites' connection to Kuiper's ground-based network and to customer terminals. In addition, it will serve as a trial for the launch operations of subsequent satellites.
Two Project Kuiper prototype satellites finally reach orbit
Hey – gotta start somewhere
Richard Speed - Mon 9 Oct 2023 16:00 UTC
The first two satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper constellation have finally left Earth, riding a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V to orbit.
The launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 41 took place on October 6 at 14:06 EDT. The prototype satellites were dropped off into orbit less than 20 minutes later.
The mission, dubbed Protoflight, used ULA's workhorse Atlas V rocket. According to ULA: “The Protoflight launch is the first mission in a broader commercial partnership between ULA and Amazon to launch the majority of the Project Kuiper constellation.”
The use of the Atlas V, while planned, underlines the conspicuous absence of rockets from another of Jeff Bezos' space ventures: Blue Origin. Indeed, Project Kuiper requires the use of several rocket families to take a first flight, including Arianespace's Ariane 6, before it will get anywhere near the thousands of satellites the broadband constellation requires.
As for the two prototypes, both were deployed at an altitude of 311 miles (500km) above Earth and are named KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2. Amazon's Redmond mission operations center made first contact with KuiperSat-2 at 14:53 EDT and its sibling a minute later.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/09/project_kuiper_finally_reaches_orbit/
Amazon's Internet Satellites Will Use Space Lasers To Transmit Data
Posted by msmash on Thursday December 14, 2023 12:40PM
Amazon, which launched its first internet satellites in October, says it will use space lasers to ensure reliable broadband coverage even in the middle of the ocean. From a report:
The technology will enable a satellite to deliver data to a cruise ship, say, even if the spacecraft isn't in range of an Amazon ground station connected to the internet. Instead, the laser will pass the request on to another satellite that has a clear view of a ground station.
Amazon's Project Kuiper slips to end of 2024 for first full-scale launch
Starlink rival slips again, but service still set for 2025
Richard Speed - Fri 28 Jun 2024 17:35 UTC
The first full-scale mission of Amazon's Project Kuiper has slipped to the end of 2024, a year after the company finally got its prototype satellites into orbit.
In a post regarding its satellite manufacturing facility in Kirkland, Washington, Amazon said: “We're targeting our first full-scale Kuiper mission for Q4 aboard an Atlas V rocket from ULA.” It's a slip from the first half of 2024 stated by the company last year as it basked in the glow of its successful Protoflight mission.
Amazon has nine Atlas V launches on the books. The first was used for the Project Kuiper Protoflight mission, which launched a pair of satellites into orbit on October 6, 2023. The second is now penciled in for the first full-scale mission. The remaining launches are tentatively scheduled for 2025. However, Kuiper Systems will face competition from ViaSat and Boeing's Starliner for Atlas V launch slots from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) pad.
Project Kuiper will also be using Blue Origin's New Glenn and Arianespace's Ariane 6, both of which have yet to make their maiden launches, and SpaceX to build out its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network. Amazon says the constellation will consist of 3,236 satellites.
The first two prototype satellites are in the process of lowering their orbits prior to disposal in the Earth's atmosphere. In May, Amazon said it planned to lower the satellites to an altitude of 217 miles (350 kilometers) “at which point atmospheric demise will follow.”
https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/28/amazon_project_kuiper_q4/
Amazon's Kuiper secures license to take on Starlink in the UK
Everybody is going to play nice, OK?
Richard Speed - Tue 4 Feb 2025 10:16 UTC
Telecom watchdog Ofcom has granted a license application from Amazon Kuiper Services Europe for satellite connectivity in the UK.
The license will allow Kuiper to operate user terminals in the Ka-band. The plan is to let homes, businesses, and public sector organizations use the Kuiper satellite constellation once it finally launches.
So far, Amazon Kuiper Services Europe has launched two test satellites for the constellation. The initial design calls for 3,232 satellites, with production satellites scheduled to launch in 2025, using rockets from Blue Origin, Arianespace, United Launch Alliance, and even SpaceX.
In granting the license, Ofcom reckoned there would be no issue with Kuiper coexisting with in-service or planned non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite systems operating in the Ka-band. Nor did it see any material risk to competition.
That said, several would-be competitors did raise objections, mainly around coexistence. Ofcom said: “We note that larger NGSO systems such as Kuiper's do not necessarily increase the risk of interference or inline events; it could also mean a greater choice of satellites to connect to, making coexistence more rather than less likely.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/ofcom_amazon_kuiper_license/
Amazon's Project Kuiper satellites now boarding the rocket to relevance
Jeff Bezos' other space business finally shows signs of life with launch scheduled for next week
Richard Speed - Thu 3 Apr 2025 17:21 UTC
The first batch of Amazon's Project Kuiper satellites is due to be lofted into orbit next week.
The launch is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. It is expected to go ahead no earlier than 1200 ET on Wednesday, April 9.
The mission, named KA-01, will deploy 27 satellites at an altitude of 280 miles. Amazon says the payload will be the heaviest ever flown by an Atlas V, using the most powerful variant of the launcher, with five solid rocket boosters in addition to the main booster.
Delays have plagued the Kuiper project. It managed to get a pair of satellites into orbit on October 6, 2023, on the Kuiper Protoflight mission and, basking in the success of the trial, estimated that the full-scale deployment of the broadband constellation would begin in the first half of 2024.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/03/project_kuiper_launch/
Amazon Set To Launch First Operational Satellites For Project Kuiper Network
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday April 03, 2025 12:00AM
Amazon and United Launch Alliance will launch 27 full-scale satellites on April 9 as part of Amazon's Project Kuiper, marking the company's first major step toward building a global satellite internet network to rival SpaceX's Starlink. GeekWire reports:
ULA said the three-hour window for the Atlas V rocket's liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida is scheduled to open at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) that day. ULA is planning a live stream of launch coverage via its website starting about 20 minutes ahead of liftoff. Amazon said next week's mission – known as Kuiper-1 or KA-1 (for Kuiper Atlas 1) – will put 27 Kuiper satellites into orbit at an altitude of 280 miles (450 kilometers).
ULA launched two prototype Kuiper satellites into orbit for testing in October 2023, but KA-1 will mark Amazon's first full-scale launch of a batch of operational satellites designed to bring high-speed internet access to millions of people around the world. […] According to Amazon, the Kuiper satellite design has gone through significant upgrades since the prototypes were launched in 2023. Amazon's primary manufacturing facility is in Kirkland, Wash., with some of the components produced at Project Kuiper's headquarters in nearby Redmond.
Amazon's Starlink rival Project Kuiper is reportedly way behind schedule
The company’s having trouble with satellite production.
Lawrence Bonk - Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 8:35 AM PDT
Amazon’s Project Kuiper is reportedly way behind schedule, according to an investigation by Bloomberg. This is the company’s satellite internet service, which intends to rival SpaceX and Starlink. The issue seems to be one of scale, as the company has had trouble increasing production of the actual satellites.
The reporting indicates that the Kuiper team has only managed to manufacture a few dozen of these satellites. As a comparison, there are currently over 7,000 Starlink satellites in orbit. The initial production of the Kuiper satellites was delayed until the tail-end of last year, so Amazon hasn’t had too much time to ramp things up.
Beta testing didn’t start until earlier this year. Amazon had planned for an initial launch on April 8 for 27 satellites, but that got delayed until April 28.
Amazon’s Starlink competitor runs into production delays
Maxwell Zeff - 8:01 AM PDT April 23, 2025
Amazon’s Project Kuiper, the company’s initiative to launch a fleet of satellites into low-Earth orbit and beam internet connection to users, is struggling to ramp up production, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
The competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink has completed only a few dozen satellites, according to the report. The venture reportedly needs to quadruple its rate of production in order to meet a government deadline, which requires the company to launch 1,600 satellites into space by next summer.
Project Kuiper seems to be a long way off from catching up with Starlink, which currently has roughly 8,000 satellites in orbit and more than 5 million customers, the report notes.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/amazons-starlink-competitor-runs-into-production-delays/
Amazon's Starlink Rival Struggles To Ramp Up Satellite Production
Posted by msmash on Wednesday April 23, 2025 09:01AM
Amazon's internet-from-space venture is struggling to ramp up production, jeopardizing its ability to meet a government deadline to have more than 1,600 satellites in orbit by next summer. From a report:
Project Kuiper has completed just a few dozen satellites so far, more than a year into its manufacturing program, according to three people familiar with the situation. The slow pace, combined with rocket launch delays, means the company will probably have to seek an extension from the Federal Communications Commission, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters.
The agency, which has oversight of transmissions from space, expects the company to have half its planned constellation of 3,236 satellites operating by the end of July 2026. To meet that requirement, Amazon would have to at least quadruple the current rate of production, which has yet to consistently reach one satellite a day, two of the people said.
We finally know a little more about Amazon’s super-secret satellites
Amazon's Kuiper satellites look nothing like SpaceX's Starlink.
Stephen Clark – May 2, 2025 6:08 PM
The first production satellites for Amazon's Kuiper broadband network launched earlier this week, but if you tuned in to the mission's official livestream, the truncated coverage had the feel of a spy satellite launch.
This changed with a video Amazon posted on social media Friday, giving space enthusiasts and prospective Kuiper customers their first look at the real satellites. The 40-second clip shows the Kuiper satellites separating from their launch vehicle in the blackness of space following liftoff Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Since Amazon unveiled Project Kuiper in 2019, officials at the retail giant have been shy about showing even the most basic imagery of their satellites. Images released by Amazon previously provided glimpses inside the company's satellite factory near Seattle, along with views of the shipping containers Amazon uses to transport spacecraft from Washington their launch base in Florida.
But none of the images showed what the satellites actually looked like. Ars asked Amazon officials multiple times over the last two years if the company would release pictures of the satellites in production, undergoing launch preparations, or even an artist's illustration. The answer was always no, or not at this time.
This policy contrasts with that of SpaceX, which operates the Starlink network in competition with Kuiper. Starlink is the largest constellation of satellites in orbit, with more than 7,300 spacecraft currently in space. OneWeb operates the second-largest satellite fleet, with more than 650 active satellites. Both constellations broadcast Internet signals with global reach using satellites in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX and OneWeb revealed basic information and photos about their satellites before they ever launched into space.
Amazon’s Kuiper satellite broadband to offer commercial services from mid-2026
We know this because it just won a big client – Australia – which says that’s when it will start selling connections
Simon Sharwood - Tue 5 Aug 2025 04:32 UTC
Amazon’s Project Kuiper space broadband service will be ready for commercial services “from the middle of 2026” according to NBN Co, the operator of Australia’s National Broadband Network.
NBN Co revealed that date on Tuesday when it announced an alliance with Amazon to provide broadband services to remote users using Project Kuiper.
NBN Co’s news is an advance on Amazon’s most recent mention of Kuiper services commencing, which came last week when CEO Andy Jassy said he is “very hopeful to get this service into commercial beta later this year or early next year.”
It’s not hard to see why Jassy is merely hopeful, because Amazon has launched just 78 satellites of its planned 3,200 satellites, with another 24 due to go aloft on Thursday. The company’s plans call for it to launch around half its fleet by mid-2026, a target that seems unlikely given delays to its schedule.
If Amazon misses deadlines or can only offer modest service by mid-2026, it won’t be a major concern for NBN Co, which already operates a pair of broadband satellites that it uses to provide connectivity to over 100,000 premises that Australia’s immense size means it cannot reach with its wired and fixed wireless services.
However the company expects those two sats will end their working lives around 2032, and sought a replacement.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/05/amazon_kuiper_australia_mid_2026/
FCC Approves Amazon's Bid to Launch a Constellation of More Than 3,200 Internet Satellites
Alyse Stanley - 30 July 2020
The Federal Communications Commission gave Amazon the go-ahead Thursday for its ambitious Project Kuiper, which would put 3,236 broadband satellites into orbit to beam internet coverage down to Earth. With this regulatory milestone secured, Amazon’s posed to join SpaceX in the race to be the first multi-billionaire-dollar tech giant to gobble up the Space Internet market.
“We conclude that grant of Kuiper’s application would advance the public interest by authorizing a system designed to increase the availability of high-speed broadband service to consumers, government, and businesses,” FCC Secretary Marlene Dortch said in the agency’s authorization order.
https://gizmodo.com/fcc-approves-amazons-bid-to-launch-a-constellation-of-m-1844567081
Amazon’s Project Kuiper will seek multiple launch providers to carry its satellites to space
Darrell Etherington / 1:50 PM PST•December 16, 2020
Amazon SVP of Devices & Services David Limp joined us at TC Sessions: Space today, and he shared some new details about the company’s Project Kuiper broadband satellite constellation. Limp shared more details on the technical design challenges that the Kuiper team solved with its revolutionary customer terminal, but he also shared more info on the company’s plans around launching its constellation, which will number 3,236 per the current plan approved by the FCC.
“We’re launch agnostic” Limp said. “If you know somebody who has a rocket out there, give us a call. “One of the reasons we thought the time was right to do a constellation now is because of some of the dynamics happening in the launch industry. Every day, we see a new demonstration of reusability, every day we see new demonstrations of breakthroughs in better engines, whether that’s Raptor [SpaceX’s engine] or BE-4 [Blue Origin’s].”
Amazon marks breakthrough in Project Kuiper development
December 16, 2020 - Written by Amazon Staff
Custom-built antenna architecture will allow Amazon to deliver a small, affordable customer terminal to connect unserved and underserved communities around the world.
Months after receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission, Project Kuiper has hit another key milestone on its path to delivering fast, affordable broadband through a constellation of 3,236 low Earth orbit satellites.
What is ka-band?
Ka-band is a frequency range that is commonly used for satellite communications. Ka-band offers advantages like wide bandwidth and smaller wavelength, leading to better performance and smaller antenna systems.
We recently completed initial development on the antenna for our low-cost customer terminal, a critical part of the Kuiper System that allows customers to connect to satellites passing overhead. The Ka-band phased array antenna is based on a new architecture capable of delivering high-speed, low-latency broadband in a form factor that is smaller and lighter than legacy antenna designs. Our prototype is already delivering speeds up to 400 Mbps (Megabits per second), and performance will continue to improve in future iterations.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper has developed a small, low-cost customer terminal for its broadband satellite network
Darrell Etherington - 11:00 AM PST•December 16, 2020
Amazon’s Project Kuiper is perhaps one of the company’s most ambitious projects yet: Building a globe-spanning broadband wireless network to deliver affordable connectivity to underserved communities. Project Kuiper has made progress this year with a key FCC approval, and now it’s also created a prototype of a key piece of hardware that will help its future customers take advantage of the satellite network on the ground.
This is actually a big part of what will help make Project Kuiper a service that’s broadly accessible, and a development that puts the Amazon project in an industry-leading position with a unique advantage. The prototype developed by the team communicates on the Ka-band of the wireless spectrum, and is the smallest and lightest piece of hardware that can do that. It’s able to achieve speeds of up to 400 Mbps, and Amazon says that it’ll actually get better through future iterations.
Amazon bought Facebook’s satellite team to help build Starlink competitor
Amazon's Project Kuiper got some new employees as Facebook ended satellite project.
Jon Brodkin - 7/14/2021, 2:09 PM
Facebook has sold its small-satellite Internet division to Amazon and said it has no plans to become an Internet service provider. Amazon and Facebook both confirmed the sale to Ars today.
The Information first reported that “Amazon has acquired a team of more than a dozen wireless Internet experts from Facebook in an effort to boost its multibillion-dollar effort to launch thousands of satellites… The workers are in the Los Angeles area and included physicists as well as optical, prototyping, mechanical, and software engineers who had previously worked on aeronautical systems and wireless networks, according to their LinkedIn pages.” One of those is Jin Bains, who is now a director at Amazon's Project Kuiper. The employees reportedly moved to Amazon in April.
Amazon has acquired Facebook's satellite internet team
It's the end of Facebook's plan for satellite internet and a boost to Amazon's.
Steve Dent - July 14th, 2021
The race to develop satellite internet includes some pretty big players like SpaceX, Amazon, Softbank and Facebook. However, Facebook has now essentially thrown in the towel in that business, selling its internet satellite team to Amazon, The Information has reported. For Amazon, it's a significant step in its effort to develop its Project Kuiper satellite network and catch up with SpaceX's Starlink broadband constellation.
Like Starlink, Project Kuiper is designed to provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to users around the world. Amazon aims to have a 3,236-satellite constellation in orbit by 2029, with half of it launched by 2026. It also plans to build 12 ground stations around the world to transmit data to and from the satellites.
https://www.engadget.com/amazon-has-acquired-facebooks-satellite-internet-group-115312282.html
Amazon aims to launch prototype broadband internet satellites by Q4 2022 – without Bezos' Blue Origin
Meanwhile, SpaceX already has 1,000+ orbiting Starlink birds
Katyanna Quach - Tue 2 Nov 2021 / 07:02 UTC
Amazon hopes to launch two prototype satellites into low Earth orbit by the end of 2022 as part of Project Kuiper – its $10bn effort to provide a commercial satellite broadband service that will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
The two birds – dubbed KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 – are intended to put Amazon’s space technology to the test. Engineers will monitor the performance of the satellites' antennas and power and propulsion systems, and see how well the equipment communicates with Amazon's custom-built terminals on Earth.
These terminals each sport a 12-inch “single aperture phased array antenna,” and can use the Kuiper sats to relay internet connectivity. Specifically, the satellites will transmit in the 17.8-18.6GHz band and will receive signals from terminals in the 28.6-29.1GHz Ka-band.
Amazon said its Earth-side antenna design is three times smaller than traditional satellite broadband box antennas, and reckons that means its hardware will be cheaper and easier to install than rivals'. The overall goal of Kuiper is to provide a constellation of sats that beam internet traffic to and from people's terminals located on our home world's surface, connecting folks up to the global network wherever they may be.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/02/amazon_kuipersat_broadband/
Amazon's Satellite Launch Schedule Puts It Nearly 4 Years Behind Starlink
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday November 02, 2021 12:00AM Amazon plans to launch its first prototype broadband satellites in Q4 2022, which would be nearly four years after SpaceX launched its first prototype Starlink satellites. Ars Technica reports:
“This morning, we filed an experimental license application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch, deploy, and operate two prototype satellites for Project Kuiper,” Amazon said in a blog post. “These satellites – KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 – are an important step in the development process. They allow us to test the communications and networking technology that will be used in our final satellite design, and help us validate launch operations and mission management procedures that will be used when deploying our full constellation.”
Amazon Seeks US Regulators' Permission To Launch Another 4,538 Satellites
Posted by msmash on Friday November 05, 2021 01:46PM
Amazon's Kuiper Systems asked U.S. regulators for permission to launch another 4,538 satellites that would bolster its constellation as it competes with Elon Musk's SpaceX for broadband-from-space customers. From a report:
The additions would bring Kuiper's constellation to 7,774 satellites, the company said in a filing Thursday with the Federal Communications Commission. The companies are joining a rush to offer internet service from orbits near the Earth, spurred in a part by decreasing launch costs. Low orbits offer minimal lag time for data to bounce between a user on the ground and the spacecraft. Kuiper's request was among nine applications, submitted under an FCC deadline, that requested authorization for a total of more than 35,000 spacecraft. That's more than seven times the number aloft today. Those figures don't include nearly 30,000 additional satellites proposed by segment leader SpaceX, which already has launched more than 1,700 of its Starlink spacecraft.
Amazon’s First Internet Satellites Will Launch on an Unproven Rocket
The company will no longer be using ABL Space Systems to launch its Kuiper-1 and Kuiper-2 satellites and will instead use ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Passant Rabie - 13 October 2022 5:25PM
Amazon is preparing to launch its first two Project Kuiper internet satellites later this year, booking a trip on board United Launch Alliance’s upcoming Vulcan Centaur rocket, and not with an ABL Space Systems rocket as was the previous plan.
Amazon had previously signed an agreement with ABL Space Systems to launch the two prototype satellites aboard the RS1 rocket by the end of 2022. But those plans have changed as Amazon will now deploy its Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2 satellites aboard the debut flight of a Vulcan Centaur rocket, the company announced on Wednesday. For this rideshare mission, the rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and, in addition to the two Amazon satellites, will carry the Peregrine lunar lander—a NASA-funded spacecraft from Astrobotic.
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-first-internet-satellites-ula-vulcan-centaur-1849654043
What Is Amazon Project Kuiper? Will It Be Better Than Starlink?
Starlink isn't the company looking to broadcast internet to your home from space.
Katie Rees - Nov 20, 2022
In 2019, Starlink began launching satellites into space to provide people with more accessible broadband. The network is owned by Elon Musk and operated by SpaceX, another of the billionaire's companies. But Musk isn't the only one delving into this field. Amazon is also developing a satellite broadband service, currently known as Project Kuiper. So, what's Project Kuiper all about, and is it better than Starlink?
Amazon's Starlink Competitor Tops 100 Satellites
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday August 12, 2025 12:00AM
After four weather-related delays, Amazon successfully launched 24 more Kuiper internet satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, bringing its total to 102. CNBC reports:
SpaceX's Starlink is currently the dominant provider of low-earth orbit satellite internet, with a constellation of roughly 8,000 satellites and about 5 million customers worldwide. Amazon is racing to get more of its Kuiper satellites into space to meet a deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC requires that Amazon have about 1,600 satellites in orbit by the end of July 2026, with the full 3,236-satellite constellation launched by July 2029.
Amazon has booked up to 83 launches, including three rides with SpaceX. While the company is still in the early stages of building out its constellation, Amazon has already inked deals with governments as it hopes to begin commercial service later this year.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/08/12/045203/amazons-starlink-competitor-tops-100-satellites
Launch 2025 - April
Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Elon Musk’s Starlink
Annie Palmer - Mon, Apr 28 20257:02 PM EDT
Amazon on Monday launched the first batch of its Kuiper internet satellites into space after an earlier attempt was scrubbed due to inclement weather.
A United Launch Alliance rocket carrying 27 Kuiper satellites lifted off from a launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida shortly after 7 p.m. eastern, according to a livestream.
“We had a nice smooth countdown, beautiful weather, beautiful liftoff, and Atlas V is on its way to orbit to take those 27 Kuiper satellites, put them on their way and really start this new era in internet connectivity,” Caleb Weiss, a systems engineer at ULA, said on the livestream following the launch.
The satellites are expected to separate from the rocket roughly 280 miles above Earth’s surface, at which point Amazon will look to confirm the satellites can independently maneuver and communicate with its employees on the ground.
Six years ago Amazon unveiled its plans to build a constellation of internet-beaming satellites in low Earth orbit, called Project Kuiper. The service will compete directly with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which currently dominates the market and has 8,000 satellites in orbit.
The first Kuiper mission kicks off what will need to become a steady cadence of launches in order for Amazon to meet a deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission. The agency expects the company to have half of its total constellation, or 1,618 satellites, up in the air by July 2026.
Amazon deploys the first Project Kuiper internet satellites
The 27 satellites are now operating as expected in low Earth orbit.
Mariella Moon - Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 7:00 AM PDT
Amazon has finally launched its first batch of Project Kuiper internet satellites on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The company was supposed to send the first 27 satellites in the constellation, which will eventually be comprised of more than 3,200 satellites, on April 8. However, the event got pushed back. A previous Bloomberg investigation claimed that Kuiper was way behind schedule, because the company was struggling to ramp up the production of its satellites. If true, the company will have to ask for an extension from the FCC to fulfill its commitment to the government, requiring it to put 1,600 satellites in orbit next summer.
An Amazon spokesperson denied that the company was having manufacturing issues, however. They said that Amazon was on track to support its target and that it will continue increasing its production and launch rates. Around seven hours after launch, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the company has confirmed that its “first 27 production satellites are operating as expected in low Earth orbit.” Amazon now has over 80 launches scheduled with ULA on top of the Atlas V and the aerospace corporation's newer Vulcan Centaur heavy lift vehicles. The company's goal is to provide internet access to far-flung regions not typically reached by conventional internet connections. Its staunchest rival, SpaceX's Starlink, already has over 7,000 functioning satellites in orbit.
Amazon Finally Enters the Satellite Internet Race, Taking on SpaceX’s Starlink
The first operational batch of Project Kuiper satellites reached orbit Monday, kickstarting the deployment of a long-delayed broadband constellation.
Passant Rabie - April 29, 2025
Amazon has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to building a constellation of internet satellites in low Earth orbit, but the company has successfully deployed its first mission in an effort to compete with industry giant SpaceX.
The Kuiper-1 mission launched on Monday at 7:01 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first batch of 27 satellites was packed into a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V for the inauguration of the Project Kuiper constellation, which has been a long time in the making. “All Kuiper-1 satellites have successfully deployed into space,” the company wrote on X a few hours after liftoff.
The following day, Amazon confirmed that the mission is off to a good start with the satellites operating as expected. “We’ve already established contact with all 27 Kuiper satellites in orbit, and initial deployment and activation sequences are proceeding as planned,” the company announced.
Amazon’s first 27 Kuiper broadband sats make it into orbit on an Atlas V
One launch down, 80-plus to go, for a pittance compared to planned AWS spending
Simon Sharwood - Tue 29 Apr 2025 05:21 UTC
Amazon’s first attempt to hoist production versions of its Project Kuiper broadband-beaming satellites appears to have succeeded.
Jeff Bezos’ flying telco used an United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to send 27 of its satellites skywards and at 7:01PM Monday, Eastern Time, the craft left Cape Canaveral Space Force Station without incident.
Just over five minutes later, the rocket made it into orbit and the flight team declared “early milestones” were achieved and all systems were nominal. You can see the launch in this vid:
There’s no word yet on whether the satellites are working – as is usual – and Amazon has not said when it will start to offer services, or the price it will charge.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/29/amazon_kuiper_first_launch/
Legal
Amazon Sues WA State Over Washington Post Request for Kuiper Records
Posted by msmash on Thursday January 30, 2025 11:50AM
The company that Jeff Bezos founded has gone to court to keep the newspaper he owns from finding out too much about the inner workings of its business. From a report:
Amazon is suing Washington state to limit the release of public records to The Washington Post from a series of state Department of Labor and Industries investigations of an Amazon Project Kuiper satellite facility in the Seattle area.
The lawsuit, filed this week in King County Superior Court in Seattle, says the newspaper on Nov. 26 requested “copies of inspection records, investigation notes, interview notes, complaints,” and other documents related to four investigations at the Redmond, Wash., facility between August and October 2024. It's not an unusual move by the company, and in some ways it's a legal technicality.
Amazon says it's not seeking to block the records release entirely, but rather seeking to protect from public disclosure certain records that contain proprietary information and trade secrets about the company's satellite internet operations. The lawsuit cites a prior situation in which Amazon and the Department of Labor and Industries similarly worked through the court to respond to a Seattle Times public records request without disclosing proprietary information.
Launch Facility
Amazon Funds $120 Million Facility for Satellite Megaconstellation Project in Florida
Amazon's new Florida-based facility will be the final stage in the Project Kuiper pipeline and the last stop before the satellites launch to low Earth orbit.
Nikki Main - 21 July 2023
Amazon is building a facility in Florida for Project Kuiper, which aims to launch a projected 3,236 satellites into Earth’s low orbit. The company will build the $120 million facility at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) at Kennedy Space Center.
The company announced on Friday that construction is underway, and it’s the latest in a series of long-term investments into Project Kuiper—an initiative to bring high-speed internet access to underserved communities anywhere in the world. Space Florida is leasing and operating the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF), where the Project Kuiper facility is set to be constructed. This site was previously the landing location for NASA’s Space Shuttle missions.
“I am thrilled that Amazon is the first major tenant to locate [at the LLF],” Frank DiBello, CEO of Space Florida, told CNBC. “It’s a testament to the fact, though, that we view the whole state as an ecosystem supporting space.”
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-florida-satellite-facility-project-kuiper-1850664350
Amazon is building a $120M facility in Florida for Project Kuiper satellite processing
Aria Alamalhodaei - 21 July 2023
Amazon will spend $120 million on a new satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), as the company gears up to launch the first batch of Project Kuiper prototype satellites in 2024.
Construction is already underway on the new facility, the company said Friday. It will be strategically located near the launch operators that will eventually send Kuiper satellites to orbit: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which operates a massive campus at KSC and a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, and United Launch Alliance.
The 100,000-square-foot processing facility will be located at KSC’s historic Launch and Landing Facility, which was formerly known as the Shuttle Landing Facility. The site is now maintained and operated by Space Florida, an organization dedicated to stimulating space industry investment in the state.
Amazon builds new Florida satellite facility for its Starlink rival
Project Kuiper is slated to start customer broadband pilots in 2024.
Will Shanklin - July 21, 2023 1:35 PM
Amazon’s Starlink rival, Project Kuiper, is moving closer to liftoff. The company announced today that a new $120 million satellite-processing facility for the initiative is under construction at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Amazon plans to launch its first satellites “in the coming months,” followed by the first customer pilots next year.
Like Elon Musk’s Starlink, Project Kuiper aims to provide fast and affordable satellite broadband to areas “unserved or underserved by traditional internet and communications options.” (It’s an Amazon initiative but should enjoy a cozy relationship with Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.) Project Kuiper kickstarted in 2018, receiving FCC satellite licensing two years later. The company plans to create a constellation of 3,236 satellites to provide seamless broadband coverage for rural users. Amazon hasn’t yet announced consumer pricing, but it hints at budget-friendly plans, saying, “affordability is a key principle of Project Kuiper.” The company also intends to offer multiple speed / pricing tiers.
Amazon is getting ready to launch a lot of broadband satellites
Amazon unveils satellite facility in Florida, may switch prototype launch to Atlas V
Stephen Clark - 7/21/2023, 5:27 PM
Within a few years, Amazon hopes to be building and launching up to 80 satellites per month to populate the company's Kuiper constellation, a $10 billion network that is similar to fleets already operated by SpaceX and OneWeb providing Internet connectivity around the world.
In the next six months, Amazon plans to begin production of operational Kuiper satellites at a new 172,000-square-foot factory in Kirkland, Washington. On Friday, officials from Amazon and the Florida government announced that a 100,000-square-foot facility under construction at NASA's Kennedy Space Center will serve as a satellite processing facility dedicated to the Kuiper program.
Inside this facility near the old space shuttle landing strip, engineers will mount Kuiper satellites onto huge orbital deployer mechanisms standing several stories tall, then encapsulate the structure inside the nose cones of their rockets. The fully integrated payload compartments will then move out to launch pads operated by United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin—the space company established by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a few miles away.
Rocket
Facing Time Crunch, Amazon's Project Kuiper Swaps Rockets for Debut Satellite Launch
Due to ongoing development delays, ULA’s trusty Atlas V will hoist two prototype broadband satellites, not the anticipated Vulcan Centaur.
George Dvorsky - 8 August 2023
Amid time constraints and developmental delays with United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, Amazon has chosen to deploy its Project Kuiper prototype satellites this fall using an Atlas V.
“Project Kuiper is now planning to launch its prototype satellites on an Atlas V rocket,” reads an official statement on Amazon’s website. “ULA is working backward from a launch date in fall 2023. We will have more detail to share as the mission approaches.”
Amazon’s urgency is understandable, as it races against the regulatory clock. Its license with the Federal Communications Commission stipulates that it must launch half of Project Kuiper by 2026, with the entire 3,236-satellite constellation launched to low Earth orbit by 2029. A Reuters report points to a possible launch date of September 26 for the Atlas V mission.
https://gizmodo.com/facing-time-crunch-amazons-project-kuiper-swaps-rocket-1850717062
Amazon Prepares to Challenge SpaceX’s Starlink With Maiden Satellite Launch
Jeff Bezos’s space venture, Project Kuiper, is set for a Friday launch, aiming to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink in the satellite internet arena.
George Dvorsky - 4 October 2023
The Bezos-Musk rivalry intensifies this week as Amazon gears up for the launch of two demo internet satellites. This marks the beginning of the Amazon billionaire’s 3,236-satellite-strong megaconstellation that might one day compete with Musk’s leading space-based service, SpaceX—with “one day” being the operative phrase.
Amazon’s space initiative, Project Kuiper, is scheduled to launch its first two satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, on Friday, October 6. The scheduled event will take place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with the demo satellites riding aboard United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The launch window for the mission opens at 2:00 p.m. ET under an 80% favorable weather forecast, according to an emailed ULA statement.
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-kuiper-bezos-spacex-starlink-musk-ula-internet-1850899420
Amazon's first internet satellite launch was a success
ULA's Atlas V rocket took Project Kuiper's first two prototype satellites to low Earth orbit.
Kris Holt, Contributing Reporter - Updated Fri, Oct 6, 2023, 1:21 PM PDT
Amazon's first satellite launch was a success, according to United Launch Alliance. The aerospace manufacturer's Atlas V rocket took the first two Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit on Friday. The mission, which is named Protoflight, lifted off at 2:06PM ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Amazon has been working on Project Kuiper, its Starlink-esque internet satellite initiative, for quite some time. It previously planned to launch the prototypes by the end of last year.
The company sees Protoflight as a key learning opportunity, giving it the chance to record real-world (or, more accurately, offworld) data from space and add that to findings from lab and field testing. Amazon expects to gain more insight into how the network will perform across ground and space. This is also a test of satellite processing, launch and mission operations. Once the mission is over, Amazon will actively deorbit both satellites before they burn up in the atmosphere.
https://www.engadget.com/amazons-first-internet-satellite-launch-was-a-success-202130763.html
Atlas V rocket completes on-target orbital delivery for Amazon
Amazon really doesn't want to show anyone what its Internet satellites look like.
Stephen Clark - Updated 10/6/2023, 12:46 PM
The first two prototype satellites for Amazon's broadband network launched Friday from Florida, the first in a series of at least 77 rocket launches the retail giant has booked over the next six years to deploy a fleet of more than 3,200 spacecraft to rival SpaceX's Starlink system.
These first two satellites for Amazon's $10 billion Internet megaconstellation, called Project Kuiper, took off on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:06 pm EDT (18:06 UTC).
On its 99th flight, ULA's Atlas V rocket fired a Russian-made RD-180 engine and thundered off the launch pad, heading east from the Florida coastline over the Atlantic Ocean. The kerosene-fueled engine—flying without the aid of solid rocket boosters on this flight—fired more than four minutes, then a hydrogen-burning engine on the rocket's Centaur upper stage took over for a 10-minute burn to reach a targeted 311-mile-high (500-kilometer) orbit.
SpaceX
Amazon is swallowing its pride to ensure its internet satellites get to orbit on time
The company bought rides from SpaceX for its Project Kuiper satellites, with three Falcon 9 launches set for 2025.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Sat, Dec 2, 2023, 2:29 PM PST
Amazon announced on Friday that it’s signed a contract with SpaceX to deliver batches of its Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit in 2025. SpaceX is undoubtedly Amazon’s biggest competitor as it breaks into the satellite internet space, and already has a constellation of over 4,000 Starlink satellites in operation. It’s also a rival of Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos that has its own rockets in development. But when it comes to launches, SpaceX’s pace and the reliability of its Falcon 9 rocket is unmatched.
The contract with SpaceX is for three Falcon 9 launches, Amazon said in a blog post. They’re expected to lift off in mid-2025. Amazon is planning to start customer pilots of its Project Kuiper satellite internet service by the end of next year, and will soon start deploying the fleet that will support it. It launched its first two prototype satellites in October. The company already has deals for upcoming launches on United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket, Arianespace’s Ariane 6 and Blue Origin’s New Glenn — all of which have been hit by development delays and may or may not make their first flights between this year and next.
A bitter pill: Amazon calls on rival SpaceX to launch Internet satellites
Jeff Bezos' rivalry with Elon Musk takes a back seat to Amazon's launch dilemma.
Stephen Clark - 12/1/2023, 2:59 PM
Amazon announced Friday that it has purchased three Falcon 9 rocket launches from SpaceX beginning in mid-2025 to help deploy the retail giant's network of Kuiper Internet satellites.
In a statement, Amazon said the SpaceX launches will provide “additional capacity” to “supplement existing launch contracts to support Project Kuiper’s satellite deployment schedule.” SpaceX has its own broadband satellite fleet, with more than 5,100 Starlink spacecraft currently in orbit, making it a competitor with Amazon.
Last year, Amazon bought up most of the Western world's excess launch capacity from everyone but SpaceX, securing 68 rocket flights from United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, and Blue Origin to deploy thousands of satellites for the Kuiper broadband network. Amazon previously contracted with ULA for nine Atlas V launches to support the initial series of Kuiper launches, the first of which lifted off in October with Amazon's first two Kuiper prototype satellites. More Atlas Vs will start launching operational Kuiper satellites next year.
Amazon Teams Up With SpaceX in Unlikely Satellite Alliance
Confronted with a regulatory deadline, Amazon—in a twist of competitive fate—has secured three launches aboard rockets from its rival SpaceX.
George Dvorsky - 4 December 2023
Amazon, known for its speedy delivery to your doorstep, has faced delays in deploying its internet satellites into orbit, prompting the Jeff Bezos-led company to form an unexpected partnership with its rival SpaceX.
Well, we kinda saw this coming, but it’s now confirmed that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk will be collaborating on a project. Amazon has contracted SpaceX for three launches to deliver its Project Kuiper satellites into low Earth orbit. These launches, slated to begin in mid-2025, will be carried out using SpaceX’s trusty Falcon 9 rocket.
It’s an eye-opening move for at least two reasons. Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite broadband network in low Earth orbit, is set to directly compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, while Amazon’s owner, Jeff Bezos, also owns Blue Origin, a space company that has yet to achieve orbit, only reaching suborbital levels with its New Shepard launch vehicle for space tourism. Amazon senior vice president Dave Limp foreshadowed this move, stating last year, “We are open to talking to SpaceX. You’d be crazy not to given their track record here.”
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-spacex-project-kuiper-satellites-bezos-musk-1851070084
Anti-Satellite Weapons
More evidence of increasing militarization of space as US claims Russia satellite weapon test
Darrell Etherington / 11:24 am PDT•July 23, 2020
The U.S. Space Command has released details about an alleged anti-satellite weapons test it suspects Russian of conducting using an existing probe already on orbit, The Verge reports. The Russian satellite in question is the same one that made headlines back at the beginning of 2020 when it seemed to be tailing an existing orbital U.S. spy satellite. That same spacecraft appears to have deployed some kind of projectile according to Space Command, which monitors objects currently in orbit around Earth.
General John Raymond of U.S. Space Command told the Verge that this represents “further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems,” and pursing a strategy that could put U.S. and allied in-space assets at risk.
Russia tested satellite-to-satellite shooter, say UK and USA
Moscow says offending bird is a mere maintenance drone
Fri 24 Jul 2020 / 07:27 UTC - Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor
The USA and UK have alleged that Russia last week trialled an in-orbit satellite-killer weapon.
US Space Force chief of operations General John Raymond put his name to a statement that says on July 15th Russia “injected a new object into orbit from Cosmos 2543”, a satellite that Moscow insists is a maintenance vehicle but which the USA believes is a weapons platform.
Cosmos 2543 sidled up to another Russian satellite before releasing the object that moved at around 700 km/h.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/24/russian_attack_satellite_allegation/
US accuses Russia of firing anti-satellite weapon in space
And the UK is backing up the accusation.
Mariella Moon - 24 July 2020
Officials from the US and the UK have accused Russia of firing an anti—satellite weapon on July 15th. According to US Space Command, the Defense Department arm that’s responsible for military operations in outer space, it found evidence that Russia conducted a non-destructive test of the new technology. The projectile was inserted into orbit by Cosmos 2543, one of the two Russian satellites that launched in November 2019.
As Time noted, officials have been keeping a close eye on it and its twin (Cosmos 2542) since then, especially after they passed close to a powerful US military reconnaissance satellite called KH-11. US officials previously raised concerns that Russian satellites don’t behave in a consistent manner with their stated missions.
https://www.engadget.com/us-accuses-russia-antisatellite-weapon-082924884.html
Debris From Russian Anti-Satellite Test Nearly Slammed Into Chinese Satellite
China claims the debris came to within 48 feet of its satellite, but the true distance may be impossible to know.
George Dvorsky - 21 January 2022
A Chinese satellite almost bit the dust on Tuesday when debris produced by Russia’s 2021 anti-satellite test zipped past at an uncomfortably close distance.
China Aerospace News announced the close encounter on Weibo, saying an early warning system managed by China’s Space Debris Monitoring and Application Center detected the possible collision. Thankfully, nothing bad happened.
The Tsinghua Science Satellite, known to NORAD as object 46026, was projected to make “an extremely dangerous rendezvous” with debris caused by Russia’s destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) test from November 15, 2021, according to China’s space administration. The closest approach happened on January 18, when Tsinghua came within 48 feet (14.5 meters) of the wayward fragment, according to China National Space Administration.
https://gizmodo.com/debris-from-russian-anti-satellite-test-nearly-slammed-1848401781
Biden Administration Seeks Global Ban on Anti-Satellite Weapons
Following a self-imposed ban, the U.S. government will now introduce a U.N. resolution in an attempt to ban the dangerous tests worldwide.
Passant Rabie - 12 September 2022 6:10PM
While speaking at the National Space Council meeting on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the U.S. will introduce a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to call on other countries to refrain from conducting anti-satellite missile tests.
Harris announced the self-imposed ban on anti-satellite (ASAT) missile tests at Vandenberg Space Force Base in April, vowing that the U.S. would no longer conduct the tests. The U.S. is now hoping that other nations will join suit in banning the ASAT missile tests worldwide.
https://gizmodo.com/biden-administration-seeks-global-ban-on-anti-satellite-1849526521
Space companies say ASAT tests threaten economic development
“I'm hoping that more companies will be able to join as time goes on.”
Eric Berger - 11/15/2023, 10:55 AM
More than two dozen private space companies have signed on to a statement that supports an end to destructive anti-satellite testing in space.
The statement comes two years after Russia shot down one of its older satellites, Kosmos 1408, with a Nudol missile launched from the ground. The test, intended to demonstrate Russia's capability to shoot down assets in space, showered more than 1,500 pieces of debris into low-Earth orbit. This has forced the International Space Station and Chinese Tiangong station to perform avoidance maneuvers, along with many private and government-owned satellites.
Russia is not the only country to perform such tests. India recently did so, and in the more distant past, China and the US have also demonstrated such capabilities.
“Destructive DA-ASAT tests directly threaten the safety of our space systems and the long-term sustainability of the environment within which they operate,” the statement said. “These tests can create long-lasting orbital debris which threatens national assets, commercial spacecraft, human spaceflight platforms, and many of the space-based services humanity uses on a daily basis. Such debris poses a direct threat to future economic activity and innovation in low Earth orbit by raising the costs of current and future operations and creating uncertainty for investors and operators.”
ArkEdge Space
A tiny satellite showed it can take high-res pics from space
A satellite the size of a suitcase sent back these 2.5-meter resolution photos of the Earth’s surface.
Umar Shakir - Feb 7, 2025, 10:42 AM PST
Tokyo-based startup ArkEdge Space claims it has snapped what is “probably” the highest quality images of Earth taken by a small CubeSat. The photos were taken 410 kilometers above the Earth’s surface by the company’s CubeSat called ONGLAISAT, co-developed by Taiwan’s space agency TASA.
It has precision attitude control, a TASA-developed Korsch off-axis optical system, a CMOS TDI (Time Delay and Integration) image sensor, and image compression hardware that all fits inside its 6U form factor, which is about the size of a desktop computer or suitcase.
ArkEdge Space shared black and white images zoomed into areas as close as one square kilometer, showing buildings and roads with some details near Seattle and from the Patagonia region of Argentina. The company claims it captured the “world’s highest ground resolutions” in the CubeSat category, ranging from 2.5 to 3 meters. Reuters reports its mission is expected to end in March before its optical tech is applied to future missions, quoting ArkEdge CEO Takayoshi Fukuyo saying, “The pictures are as clear as aerial photography (despite) being taken by a satellite of this size.”
The ONGLAISAT mission objectives were to demonstrate the optical system in orbit, test a University of Tokyo co-developed altitude control system, and validate the TDI and process images, which all succeeded. The satellite was delivered to the ISS in November and then they were deployed from the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” on December 10th.
https://www.theverge.com/news/608297/arkedge-space-tasa-6u-onglaisat-earth-images-validation
Astranis
A promising Internet satellite is rendered useless by power supply issues
“The mission of providing Internet connectivity in Alaska will be delayed.”
Eric Berger - 7/21/2023, 11:59 AM
Astranis, a company seeking to provide Internet connectivity from geostationary space, said in May that its “Arcturus” satellite was successfully deployed following a launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket.
After taking control of the satellite, Astranis then began to send commands and update the flight software before raising Arcturus' orbit and slotting it into a geostationary position overlooking Alaska. Once there, the satellite linked up with an Internet gateway in Utah and communicated with multiple user terminals in Alaska.
Sometime after this, however, the satellite experienced what Astranis characterized as an abrupt anomaly with a supplier's component on the solar array drive assembly. In an update on Friday, Astranis co-founder John Gedmark explained that this assembly rotates to solar arrays to ensure they are always pointed at the Sun, allowing the spacecraft to remain fully powered at all times.
“The Astranis engineering team has been doing an incredible job working around the clock to troubleshoot the issue,” Gedmark said. “We have now reproduced the problem on the ground in a vacuum chamber, zeroed in on the exact source of the failure, and know how to fix it for future spacecraft. Because this failure occurred within the internal workings of a component supplied by an external vendor, we’re not in a position to go into the full technical details.”
Satellite's Solar Panel Glitch Disrupts Alaskan Broadband Plans
Arcturus, the inaugural satellite from Astranis, was supposed to deliver internet connectivity to Alaska.
Passant Rabie - 24 July 2023
A satellite in geostationary orbit ran into some trouble when the device meant to position its solar arrays towards the Sun malfunctioned, preventing it from being fully charged. As a result, the internet satellite will not be able to fulfill its primary goal of providing continuous connectivity to Alaska.
The Arcturus satellite, built by California-based company Astranis, launched in April onboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and was successfully deployed in geostationary space (a higher altitude than low Earth orbit). Since its launch, Astranis managed to commission the satellite and began demonstrating end-to-end connectivity to remote sites in Alaska in preparation for active service.
https://gizmodo.com/astranis-arcturus-satellite-glitch-alaska-broadband-1850669864
Astranis gives its “secret satellite” a formal introduction
Aria Alamalhodaei - 9 August 2023
When news broke last month that Astranis’ first commercial satellite in orbit malfunctioned, the company made an unexpected announcement: it had a backup. That backup is called UtilitySat, and the company is finally ready to give it a formal introduction.
UtilitySat is aptly named: as Astranis CEO John Gedmark explained in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch, it is designed to be exceedingly useful. Gedmark – who refers to UtilitySat as “the Swiss Army Knife of satellites” – said it will be the first satellite of its kind capable of multiple missions, and the first satellite equipped with transponders in the standard Ku, Ka, and Q/V bands for different mission profiles.
UtilitySat’s most obvious use case is the one the public learned about in July: it can be launched as an on-orbit spare, taking on part of the load if a dedicated Astranis satellite glitches and can no longer provide connectivity. But this is far from its only application.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/09/astranis-gives-its-secret-satellite-a-formal-introduction/
Astranis wants to bring internet connectivity to up to 5 million in Mexico
Aria Alamalhodaei - 7 September 2023
Astranis, a venture-backed startup that builds and operates small broadband satellites in a far-off orbit, released more details today about its plans to provide internet access to Mexico.
As part of the deal, Astranis will launch two satellites next year for Mexican internet service provider Apco Networks. Those two satellites will provide broadband access to up to 5 million people. The deal between the two firms was announced back in March, but the exact number of people that will be served by the two Astranis sats has not been disclosed until now.
More than 30% of Mexico’s 127 million-strong population — or around 38 million people — don’t have access to the internet. Satellite is often the only way for some of the most remote and rural Mexican communities to connect to the internet; other ways to connect, like fiber optic cables, are especially challenging to implement due to the country’s mountainous terrain. Astranis CEO John Gedmark told TechCrunch that the company is looking at plans to launch additional satellites to serve the remaining 33 million people in Mexico that will still be without reliable internet.
AstroForge
The First Secret Asteroid Mission Won't Be the Last
Posted by msmash on Wednesday December 27, 2023 12:40PM
AstroForge, a private company, wants to mine a space rock, but it doesn't want the competition to find out which one. From a report:
For generations, Western space missions have largely occurred out in the open. We knew where they were going, why they were going there and what they planned to do. But the world is on the verge of a new era in which private interests override such openness, with big money potentially on the line. Sometime in the coming year, a spacecraft from AstroForge, an American asteroid-mining firm, may be launched on a mission to a rocky object near Earth's orbit. If successful, it will be the first wholly commercial deep-space mission beyond the moon. AstroForge, however, is keeping its target asteroid secret.
Odin
Asteroid Mining Startup Loses Its Spacecraft Somewhere Beyond the Moon
AstroForge's attempt to launch the first commercial deep space mission fell apart shortly after liftoff.
Passant Rabie - March 6, 2025
A privately built spacecraft is tumbling aimlessly in deep space, with little hope of being able to contact its home planet. Odin is around 270,000 miles (434,522 kilometers) away from Earth, on a silent journey that’s going nowhere fast.
California-based startup AstroForge launched its Odin spacecraft on February 26 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The probe was headed toward a small asteroid to scan it for valuable metals, in service of the company’s ambitious goal of mining asteroids for profit. AstroForge was also hoping to become the first company to launch a commercial mission to deep space with its in-house spacecraft, a dream that fell apart shortly after launch.
After Odin separated from the rocket, the company’s primary ground station in Australia suffered major technical issues due to a power amplifier breaking, delaying AstroForge’s first planned attempt to contact the spacecraft, the company revealed in an update on Thursday. The mission went downhill from there, as several attempts to communicate with Odin failed and the spacecraft’s whereabouts were unknown. “I think we all know the hope is fading as we continue the mission,” AstroForge founder Matt Gialich said in a video update shared on X.
The first private asteroid mission probe is probably lost in deep space
AstroForge lost contact with Odin, but is still optimistic about the effort.
Anna Washenko - Thu, Mar 6, 2025, 2:48 PM PST
It was a swing and a miss for the first private attempt at an asteroid mission, but the company is still chalking it up as a win. California startup AstroForge launched a spacecraft dubbed Odin on February 26, but the team lost communication with it shortly after its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
“The chance of talking with Odin is minimal, as at this point, the accuracy of its position is becoming an issue,” the company said in its extensive debrief of the mission. Technical issues occurred at its primary ground station in Australia, but AstroForge said that other problems also could have occurred on Odin to further prevent establishing contact.
Although the launch was a bust, AstroForge maintained optimism about the project as a valuable learning experience for its eventual goal of creating and operating an asteroid mining vehicle. The company is targeting the asteroid 2022 OB5, with the aim of eventually landing on its surface and extracting potentially valuable resources. Odin was built in 10 months for $3.5 million, a sliver of the money and time federal space projects have taken to complete.
Astroscale
ADRAS-J
A satellite designed to inspect space junk just made it to orbit
Astroscale's ADRAS-J will attempt to rendezvous with a defunct Japanese H-2A rocket upper stage.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Sun, Feb 18, 2024, 11:22 AM PST
Astroscale’s ADRAS-J spacecraft, a demonstration satellite that could inform future space junk cleanup efforts, is now in orbit after a successful launch from New Zealand on Sunday. The satellite was sent to space atop an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab. Its mission, which was selected by Japan’s space agency (JAXA) for Phase I of the Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration program, will see ADRAS-J rendezvous with an old Japanese rocket upper stage that’s been in orbit since 2009.
The accumulation of waste in Earth’s orbit from decades of spaceflight is an issue of growing concern, and space agencies around the world are increasingly working to address it, in many cases tapping private companies to develop potential solutions. One of the most effective ways to deal with space junk could be to deorbit it, or move it to a lower altitude so it can burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. ADRAS-J will be the first to target a piece of existing large debris and attempt to safely approach and characterize it, relying on ground-based data to hone in on its position.
Wow! Private space-junk probe snaps historic photo of discarded rocket in orbit
“Behold, the world's first image of space debris captured through rendezvous and proximity operations during our ADRAS-J mission.”
Mike Wall - 26 April 2024
Space junk just got an epic close-up.
The ADRAS-J satellite, operated by the Japanese company Astroscale, successfully maneuvered to within a few hundred meters of a discarded rocket body this month, snapping a striking photo to memorialize the achievement.
“Behold, the world's first image of space debris captured through rendezvous and proximity operations during our ADRAS-J mission,” Astroscale said today (April 26) in a post on X that shared the photo.
ADRAS-J (short for “Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan”) launched to Earth orbit atop a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle on Feb. 18.
The 330-pound (150 kilograms) probe's main task is to rendezvous with, and study, a big hunk of space junk — the upper stage of the Japanese H-2A rocket that launched the GOSAT Earth-observation satellite in 2009. Such work will help prove out technologies that future spacecraft can use to service satellites or capture and de-orbit debris objects, according to Astroscale.
https://www.space.com/astroscale-adras-j-space-junk-rendezvous-mission-photo
AST & Science
Texas satellite company defends itself against NASA criticisms
“We’re not a bunch of cowboys launching satellites.”
Eric Berger - 11/5/2020, 6:13 AM
The founder of a Texas-based company that wants to put more than 200 very large satellites into low-Earth orbit has pushed back on concerns from NASA that these spacecraft pose an orbital debris threat.
“We’re not a bunch of cowboys launching satellites,” said Abel Avellan, founder of AST & Science, in an interview. “This is a serious, well-funded project.”
The company, which has 160 employees and has moved into XCOR's old facility at Midland's airport, has asked the Federal Communications Commission for access to the US market to sell Internet connectivity to mobile phones from space. NASA took the rare step of objecting to the AST mega-constellation proposal to put as many as 243 satellites in an orbit at 720km, commenting last Friday that it could lead to a “catastrophic collision” with its A-Train satellites in a nearby orbit.
BlueBirds
Largest Commercial Satellites Unfurl, Outshining Most of the Night Sky
Trust me, we're not happy about it either.
Passant Rabie - October 25, 2024
The dawn of annoyingly massive satellites is upon us, shielding our views of the shimmering cosmos. Five of the largest communication satellites just unfolded in Earth orbit, and this is only the beginning of a Texas startup’s constellation of cellphone towers in space.
AST SpaceMobile announced today that its first five satellites, BlueBirds 1 to 5, unfolded to their full size in space. Each satellite unfurled the largest ever commercial communications array to be deployed in low Earth orbit, stretching across 693 square feet (64 square meters) when unfolded. That’s bad news for astronomers as the massive arrays outshine most objects in the night sky, obstructing observations of the universe around us.
Things are just getting started for AST SpaceMobile, however, as the company seeks to create the first space-based cellular broadband network directly accessible by cell phones. “The deployment of our first five BlueBird commercial satellites marks just the beginning of our journey,” Abel Avellan, founder and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said in a statement. “Our team is already hard at work building the next generation of satellites, which will offer ten times the capacity of our current BlueBirds, further transforming mobile connectivity and delivering even greater benefits to our customers and partners worldwide.”
https://gizmodo.com/largest-commercial-satellites-unfurl-outshining-most-of-the-night-sky-2000516738
BlueWalker
Obnoxiously Large Satellite Could Mean Bad News for Astronomers Observing the Skies
AST SpaceMobile's BlueWalker 3 is scheduled to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on September 10.
Passant Rabie - 9 September 2022
A huge satellite is about to take flight, spreading its giant antenna array to potentially block astronomers’ views of the cosmos. AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 is scheduled for launch on Saturday to test the company’s broadband network technology, but the prototype satellite is extremely bright and could interfere with celestial observations.
BlueWalker is scheduled to ride to low Earth orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 7:51 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in low Earth orbit, the satellite will test out the Texas-based company’s ability to directly beam internet connectivity from space to people’s cellphones. The Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile Abel Avellan recently boasted on Twitter, “Made in TX— size matters!” when referring to the satellite. And indeed it does, as this bad boy sports a 693 square foot array of antennas (64 square meters) that will unfold in space. With its antenna fully unfurled, the satellite is expected to be among the brightest objects in the night sky, according to Sky and Telescope.
Absurdly Large Satellite Phones Home After Successful Launch
AST SpaceMobile's recently launched BlueWalker 3 satellite will soon unfurl its massive antenna, making it among the brightest objects in the night sky.
Passant Rabie - 15 September 2022 2:50PM
AST SpaceMobile has established communications with its prototype satellite, BlueWalker 3, confirming its successful arrival in Earth orbit. The company will soon unfurl the satellite’s massive antenna array, which has astronomers worried that it could block their views of celestial objects in the sky.
BlueWalker 3 launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Ground teams contacted the satellite less than an hour after liftoff, confirming its trajectory, the company announced on Wednesday. In a September 9 tweet, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said it was “one of our most complicated missions,” without providing any details.
https://gizmodo.com/ast-spacemobile-contacts-internet-prototype-satellite-1849539901
Giant satellite outshines stars, sparking fresh concerns for astronomers
Transmissions from BlueWalker 3 also pose threat to radio observatories
14 Nov 2022 4:15 PM - Zack Savitsky
Since launching in September, the communications satellite BlueWalker 3 has orbited Earth, curled up as if in a cocoon. Now, it has hatched, unfurling an antenna array as big as a highway billboard, its maker, Texas-based AST SpaceMobile, announced today. Astronomers say the satellite’s brightness has spiked by a factor of 40, rivaling the brightest stars in the sky.
“It’s like exactly what astronomers don’t want,” says astronomer Meredith Rawls of the University of Washington, Seattle, who helps run the International Astronomical Union’s Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference. “It’ll show up as a superbright streak in images and potentially saturate camera detectors at observatories.”
Thousands of commercial satellites already litter low-Earth orbit. The 64-square-meter BlueWalker 3 is the largest one yet, considerably brighter than any of the Starlink satellites deployed by SpaceX, says astronomer John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting. On top of the light pollution, BlueWalker 3 is testing a transmission technology that threatens to trespass into the frequencies used by radio observatories on Earth, he says. “This just fundamentally feels different,” he says. “We’re in new territory here.”
After Unfurling Its Massive Array, Commercial Satellite Becomes as Bright as Orion's Stars
AST SpaceMobile fully deployed the satellite's array of antennas that stretches across 693-square-feet.
Passant Rabie - 15 November 2022 1:18PM
Since its launch in September, the BlueWalker 3 satellite has had anxious observers watching the skies in anticipation of its full deployment. Now, the prototype satellite has fully stretched out its massive array of antennas, significantly increasing its brightness and posing a threat to astronomers’ views of the cosmos.
On Monday, AST SpaceMobile announced the complete deployment of the communication array of its test satellite, unfurling its 693-square-foot (64-square-meter) antenna array in low Earth orbit. The array of antennas is the largest-ever commercial communications array deployed in low Earth orbit, designed to beam down connectivity directly to people’s phones.
Annoyingly Oversized Satellite Facilitates First 5G Call to a Regular Cellphone
With its enormous 693-square-foot array, AST SpaceMobile's BlueWalker 3 prototype satellite is now among the brightest objects in the night sky.
Passant Rabie - 21 September 2023
As part of its efforts to create a space-based cellular broadband network, AST SpaceMobile made the first ever 5G phone call between its prototype satellite and a Samsung Galaxy S22.
The Texas-based startup used its BlueWalker 3 satellite to place a call from a wireless dead zone in Maui, Hawaii to a Vodafone engineer in Madrid, Spain using AT&T spectrum, AST SpaceMobile announced on Tuesday. The call, which was made on September 8, lasted for roughly two minutes and was the first demonstration of space-based 5G connectivity, according to the company.
https://gizmodo.com/ast-spacemobile-bluewalker-satellite-5g-connectivity-1850858508
Enormous Satellite Discovered to Outshine All but the 7 Brightest Stars
AST SpaceMobile's BlueWalker 3 satellite is now one of the brightest objects in the night sky. Alarmingly, it's the first of 100, so the worst is yet to come.
Passant Rabie - 2 October 2023
Late last year, a communications satellite unfurled its giant wings, stretching out a 693-square-foot (64-square-meter) antenna array in low Earth orbit. Once fully deployed, BlueWalker 3 became one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshined only by the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and seven stars, according to new research.
Texas-based startup AST SpaceMobile launched its prototype satellite in September 2022 as part of its plan to connect smartphones directly to orbit, essentially establishing cellphone towers in space. As the first of more than 100 satellites set to build an orbital constellation, the prototype satellite is already a major threat to Earth-based observations of the universe.
The authors of a new study published today in Nature compiled observations of BlueWalker 3 from professional and amateur astronomers in Chile, the U.S., Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Morocco. Through the different telescopes, BlueWalker 3 appeared as bright as two of the ten brightest stars in the night sky, Procyon and Achernar.
https://gizmodo.com/ast-spacemobile-bluewalker3-satellite-bright-light-1850892010
One of the brightest objects in the night sky is a human-made satellite
The BlueWalker 3 satellite has the largest commercial antenna array in low-Earth orbit, and it's reflecting tons of sunlight.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Mon, Oct 2, 2023, 2:27 PM PD
A prototype satellite has become one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and it may soon be accompanied by dozens more. An observation campaign tracking the BlueWalker 3 satellite, launched in September 2022 by AST SpaceMobile, found that it is at times brighter than all but a handful of stars and planets that can be seen from Earth. The findings published in the journal Nature highlight a fast-escalating concern among astronomers, who have warned that the influx of private space ventures in low-Earth orbit could alter our view of the night sky and interfere with research.
Researchers with the International Astronomical Union’s Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) observed BlueWalker 3 over the course of 130 days. BlueWalker 3’s antenna array measures just shy of 700 square feet, making it the largest yet for a commercial satellite in low-Earth orbit. That huge array reflects sunlight and after it unfurled, its brightness spiked. The effect isn’t constant, but instead fluctuates depending on factors like the satellite’s position relative to the sun, and the viewing angle. The CPS team observed it from sites in Chile, the US, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Morocco.
A New Satellite Outshines Some of the Brightest Stars in the Sky
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday October 05, 2023 12:00AM
Becky Ferreira writes via the New York Times:
Last November, a satellite in low-Earth orbit unfurled into an expansive array that extends across nearly 700 square feet, about the size of a studio apartment. The satellite, BlueWalker 3, has since become one of the brightest objects in the sky, outshining some of the most radiant stars in the Milky Way, according to a study published on Monday in Nature – and it is just the first of dozens of similar satellites that are in development by AST SpaceMobile, a company that aims to keep smartphones connected from orbit. “The issue is not necessarily that one satellite,” said Siegfried Eggl, an astrophysicist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an author of the new study, “but that it is a predecessor or prototype of a constellation, so there's going to be a lot of those out there eventually.”
Axiom Space
Axiom Space Station
Axiom's Private Space Station Could Arrive As Early As 2028
Posted by BeauHD on Friday December 20, 2024 11:00PM
Axiom Space has revised its plan for assembling its commercial space station by launching the Payload, Power, and Thermal module first, enabling it to operate as a free-flying platform as early as 2028 – two years ahead of the original timeline. Space.com reports:
NASA awarded Axiom Space a contract in 2020 to attach one or more modules to the International Space Station (ISS), which is set to retire by 2030 at the earliest. The original plan called for Axiom to detach a multi-module group from the ISS, creating a commercial outpost in low Earth orbit that will continue operating after the ISS is gone. But that plan has now been altered.
To create its space station, Axiom plans to launch five modules: a payload/power/thermal element, an airlock, a research/manufacturing hub, and a pair of habitat modules. The original plan was for Axiom to launch the Habitat 1 module to the ISS first, followed by the additional elements. The new assembly sequence will see the Payload, Power and Thermal module launch to the ISS first. This module could detach from the station – and become a free flyer called Axiom Station – as soon as 2028, according to the company. After that happens, Axiom will continue assembling the outpost, launching the Habitat 1 module to meet up with it. Habitat 1 will be followed by the airlock, the Habitat 2 module, and then the research and manufacturing facility.
NASA, Axiom Space Change Assembly Order of Commercial Space Station
Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program - Dec 19, 2024
In coordination with NASA, Axiom Space modified its planned assembly sequence to accelerate its ability to operate as a viable free-flying space station and reduce International Space Station reliance during assembly.
NASA awarded Axiom Space a firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract in January 2020, as the agency continues to open the space station for commercial use. The contract provides insight into the development of at least one habitable commercial module to be attached to the space station with the goal of becoming a free-flying destination in low Earth orbit prior to retirement of the orbiting laboratory in 2030.
The initial Axiom Space plan was to launch and attach its first module, Habitat 1, to the space station, followed by three additional modules.
Under the company’s new assembly sequence, the Payload, Power, and Thermal Module will launch to the orbiting laboratory first, allowing it to depart as early as 2028 and become a free-flying destination known as Axiom Station. In free-flight, Axiom Space will continue assembly of the commercial destination, adding the Habitat 1 module, an airlock, Habitat 2 module, and the Research and Manufacturing Facility.
“The updated assembly sequence has been coordinated with NASA to support both NASA and Axiom Space needs and plans for a smooth transition in low Earth orbit,” said Angela Hart, manager, Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “The ongoing design and development of commercial destinations by our partners is critical to the agency’s plan to procure services in low Earth orbit to support our needs in microgravity.”
Mission 4 (June 2025)
Axiom Mission 4 finally set for launch June 25
Fifth and final Crew Dragon ready for first flight to the ISS tomorrow
Richard Speed - Tue 24 Jun 2025 19:02 UTC
NASA has a launch date for Axiom Mission 4. The much-delayed private astronaut expedition is now targeting for liftoff on Wednesday, June 25.
After scrubs due to weather and a leaky SpaceX Falcon 9, NASA opted to shift the mission to June 19 to evaluate the result of repairs to leaks in the Russian segment of the orbiting laboratory.
A launch date of June 22 was set, but the US space agency announced on June 19 that it was standing down to continue evaluating International Space Station (ISS) operations following the latest repair attempts in the aft segment of the outpost's Zvezda module.
The US space agency said, “Because of the space station's interconnected and interdependent systems, NASA wants to ensure the station is ready for additional crew members, and the agency is taking the time necessary to review data.”
Controversy hit the mission from the start. The Crew Dragon capsule originally planned for Axiom 4 ended up being used for Crew-10 due to issues qualifying the capsule, which is the fifth and final vehicle to be built by SpaceX. The swap meant a delay for Axiom 4 but also an earlier return to Earth for the crew of the Boeing Starliner, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/24/axiom_mission_4_finally_set/
How to watch the Axiom Mission 4 astronauts reach the ISS
Their Dragon capsule is expected to dock with the ISS at 7AM on June 26.
Mariella Moon - Wed, Jun 25, 2025, 6:30 AM PDT
A new Dragon spacecraft launched on top of a Falcon 9 rocket at 2:31AM Eastern time on June 25, 2025 to take the four astronauts of Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. It's the second Axiom mission that's been sponsored in part by national governments, with the country and space organization of each participant contributing to mission costs. Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson serves as the mission commander, while Indian Space Research Organisation astonaut Shubhanshu Shukla is the mission pilot. ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of the Hungarian Space Office join them as mission specialists.
Basalt
Basalt plans to ‘hack’ a defunct satellite to install its space-specific OS
Aria Alamalhodaei - 8:00 AM PDT May 30, 2024
Space startup Basalt Technologies started in a shed behind a Los Angeles dentist’s office, but things have escalated quickly: Soon it will try to “hack” a derelict satellite and install its space-specific OS. (With the owner’s permission, of course).
The startup’s co-founder, Alex Choi, found himself living in said shed after suddenly getting kicked out of his MIT dorm due to the coronavirus pandemic. He had been in the thick of building the university’s first custom satellite bus, and was continuing that work in LA. Because almost everyone else on the project had quit, Choi was hiring. He ended up bringing on physicist and engineer Maximillian Bhatti, who had, for the same reason, lost his optical physics job at the California Institute of Technology.
“I get my parents to drive me to this dilapidated shed,” Bhatti recounted in a recent interview. “This nerd opens the door. And then inside this shed are tens of thousands of dollars of space-grade equipment, because we’re building a satellite here. So that kind of kicked off the next six months of our lives.”
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/30/basalt-closes-3-5m-to-turn-space-into-a-software-defined-industry/
Beesat-1
38C3: Hacker hijacks and repairs Beesat-1 satellites from the ground
The Beesat-1 test satellite launched into space by TU Berlin in 2009 stopped delivering data in 2013. An inventor managed to breathe new life into it.
Stefan Krempl - Dec 29, 2024 at 8:41 pm CET
Once upon a time there was a small satellite. Its creators from TU Berlin christened it Beesat-1 and launched it into a comparatively high orbit over 700 kilometers from Earth using an Indian rocket in autumn 2009. It was not only intended to serve as a model for a whole family of other Beesats, but also to prove that mini or pico satellites weighing less than one kilogram can perform similar technological functions to their big brothers. But in 2013, the celestial body was no longer good for anything. It could no longer send any useful data back to the university. With a few tricks, a resourceful hacker managed to repair the flying object from the ground despite the update mechanism not working and presumably make it fully functional again for the next 20 years.
What sounds like a fairy tale is reality, as the hacker PistonMiner revealed on Saturday at the 38th Chaos Communications Congress (38C3) in Hamburg. Beesat-1 was launched into space as one of the early, just hand-sized CubeSats, which have external dimensions of around 10 × 10 × 10 cubic centimetres. Its main purpose was to demonstrate the performance of newly developed, miniaturized reaction wheels and other technologies for pico satellites.
BlackSky
BlackSky’s latest satellites return images just 58 hours after SpaceX launch
Darrell Etherington / 6:14 am PDT•August 17, 2020
There’s an increasing demand for fast turnaround time in the satellite imaging industry, especially among clients across government and defense, who want responsive, near-real time performance because of how quickly situations on the ground can develop and change. BlackSky, a sensor and satellite-based monitoring technology company, has broken new ground in terms of responsiveness by delivering photos from its newly launched satellites within 58 hours.
BlackSky was able to photograph images of Port Elizabeth in South Africa just over two days after launch, offering analysis in detail of the photographs returned including information like the speed of vehicles operating in the port, as well as ship identification and cargo information.
Blue Sky
UK satellite startup Blue Skies Space wants to sell astronomy data ‘as a service’
Paul Sawers - 4:00 PM PDT August 7, 2024
A U.K. space startup has revealed plans to launch its first satellite as part of SpaceX’s rideshare program, ushering in what it claims will be a “new era of space research,” where astronomy data is collected, packaged and sold “as a service.”
Similar to previous missions, SpaceX’s Transporter 15 program next year will use a Falcon 9 rocket to transport payloads from third-party companies into space — including that of London-based Blue Skies Space, which has revealed that its inaugural Mauve satellite will be part of the launch in October 2025.
The satellite, which is designed to complement data provided by existing astronomical efforts such as that of the famed Hubble Telescope, will be focused on stellar spectroscopy (the spectrum of light emitted by stars), which can convey information such as star composition, temperature, density, mass, distance, luminosity and more.
Boeing
FCC approves Boeing satellites, rejecting SpaceX’s interference claims
FCC approves 147-satellite plan without adding conditions requested by SpaceX.
Jon Brodkin - 11/3/2021, 2:49 PM
The Federal Communications Commission today gave Boeing permission to launch 147 broadband satellites. While that's a fraction of the number of satellites approved for other low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, the decision allows Boeing to compete in the emerging LEO satellite broadband market.
“As detailed in its FCC application, Boeing plans to provide broadband and communications services for residential, commercial, institutional, governmental, and professional users in the United States and globally,” the FCC said in its announcement approving the license.
The 147 planned satellites include 132 low-Earth satellites orbiting at an altitude of 1,056 km and 15 “highly inclined satellites” that would orbit at altitudes between 27,355 and 44,221 km. The FCC authorized Boeing to conduct space-to-Earth transmissions in the 37.5–42.0 GHz frequency bands and Earth-to-space operations in the 47.2–50.2 GHz and 50.4–51.4 GHz bands.
In its 2017 application to the FCC, Boeing said its plan to operate satellites at both high and low altitudes is “a cost-effective means to achieve global coverage.” The combination will “provide high-speed broadband communications to consumers wherever they are located, while also providing the benefits of very low latency through LEO communications,” Boeing said. Boeing previously proposed a constellation that could have included nearly 3,000 satellites, but it scaled back its plans.
Boeing swipes at Starlink as it finishes two internet slinging satellites
5,000 redirectable beams in each bird
Laura Dobberstein - Tue 6 Dec 2022 07:33 UTC
Boeing has delivered a pair of O3b mPOWER satellites to telecom network provider SES – and had a dig at rival space broadband technologies along the way.
The spacecraft are scheduled for launch into a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of about 5,000 miles (8,000km) next month.
Once in orbit, the satellites “will provide low-latency, high-throughput connectivity to users around the world,” said Boeing. The satellites will do this using 5,000 steerable beams in each bird.
SES chief technology officer Ruy Pinto explained the satellites would provide connectivity to government and businesses in remote regions – areas often devoid of such services.
“In times of natural disasters, when networks are disrupted, O3b mPOWER's low-latency services can quickly restore critical communications networks,” added Pinto.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/06/boeing_ses_internet_sats/
Anti-Jamming
Boeing signs off anti-jamming tech that keeps satellites online
China and Russia won't be jammin' US sats no more
Laura Dobberstein - Wed 8 Mar 2023 06:27 UTC
Boeing said on Tuesday its anti-jam ground-based satellite communications system had passed the necessary tests to validate it for use in the U.S. Space Force’s Pathfinder program.
The aerospace giant hit the milestone by demonstrating the system, called the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES), with an on-orbit operational satellite. Engineers tested what would happen if field-deployed equipment was accessed via the US military's jam-resistant waveform, the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW).
The tests proved PTW was resistant to jamming but also validated hardware and software integration between PTES and the Department of Defense’s satellite communications (SATCOM) architecture.
Now that all this testing is done and dusted, the US Space Force plans to deploy PTES over the government’s Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) fleet, of which Boeing is also the prime contractor, where it will provide PTW processing over the fleet sometime in 2024.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/08/boeing_antijamming_software_tech_validated/
Q4S
Boeing to launch quantum comms satellite testbed in 2026
After Starliner stumbles, the aerospace giant eyes a new frontier - entanglement swapping in space
Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 12 Sep 2024 17:30 UTC
Undeterred by the problems of its Starliner crewed space capsule, Boeing has a plan to do a bit of uncrewed science – launching a satellite upon which it will run a demo of quantum entanglement swapping that could help enable secure comms. NASA and Boeing welcomed Starliner back to Earth following the uncrewed spacecraft's successful landing at 10:01 p.m. MDT Sept. 6, 2024, at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico Boeing's Calamity Capsule returns to Earth without a crew READ MORE
Boeing says it plans to send the satellite, dubbed “Q4S,” to orbit sometime in 2026 on a self-funded mission to demonstrate the feasibility of quantum communications - at least in the West.
“Quantum entanglement swapping underpins the communication of the future, expanding quantum networks beyond simple point-to-point communication. We're launching Q4S to prove it can be done in orbit,” said Jay Lowell, Boeing's chief of disruptive computing, networks and sensors. “We're making a big bet on quantum technology.”
China has already demonstrated orbital quantum comms using its eight-year-old “Micius” satellite. That effort apparently worked so well the Middle Kingdom was this week declared the world's quantum comms leader according to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF).
The Foundation believes Micius has demonstrated the potential to build a global quantum network - which is exactly what Boeing is hoping it will be able to do with Q4S.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/boeing_quantum_satellite/
Botswana
Botswana Successfully Launches First Satellite, BOTSAT-1
March 15, 2025 - Samuel Nyangi
Botswana’s first satellite, BOTSAT-1, was successfully launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9—Transporter 13 rideshare mission on Saturday, March 15, 2025, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, USA. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off the Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at 06:39 am GMT, carrying 74 satellites. These included BOTSAT-1, 26 satellites as part of the Transporter-13 rideshare mission, and a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellite for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation.
BOTSAT-1 is a 3U hyperspectral Earth Observation satellite developed by the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) and led by Dr Dimane Mpoeleng, BOTSAT-1’s Project Lead. The project was done in collaboration with EnduroSat, the satellite’s lead manufacturer. Similarly, ExoLaunch managed the launch in partnership with Space X as part of the Transporter missions, a smallsat rideshare programme.
https://spaceinafrica.com/2025/03/15/botswana-successfully-launches-first-satellite-botsat-1/
Broadband / Internet
Why pigeons mean peril for satellite broadband
By Chris Vallance, Technology Reporter - 28 August 2021
“It's actually been very good but I noticed a series of outages - some a second, some longer,” says Prof Alan Woodward.
The University of Surrey cyber-security expert is talking about his new satellite broadband service from space entrepreneur Elon Musk's Starlink company.
The outages, he thinks, may be caused by a lot of “pesky pigeons”, which “have taken a fancy to sitting on the dish”.
That small grey dish sits on the kitchen roof. To the curious pigeon, it might conceivably look like a modern bird bath rather short on water.
DARPA Wants to Build an 'Internet' of Connected Satellites in Low Earth Orbit
The agency is bringing together experts to build tools that seek to standardize communication between tens of thousands of satellites.
Mack DeGeurin - 11 August 2022 4:45PM
If you’ve taken a good look at the night sky in recent years you may have noticed a few more twinkling lights. That’s largely due to a surge in low Earth orbit satellites, an increasing number of which are being deployed to offer satellite internet service. SpaceX, OneWeb, and Amazon, the latter through its yet-to-launch Project Kuiper, together reportedly plan to launch over 46,000 more satellites into space in the coming years.
There’s a problem though. In their haste to get satellites up and running and beat out competitors, few of these satellite companies actually bothered to hammer out a set of standards that would let their satellites communicate with other firms’ satellites. Enter DARPA, the Pentagon’s gonzo research and development arm. As part of its Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program DARPA is bringing together a team of experts to standardize communications between the ever-increasing hoard of satellites. The end goal, according to DARPA, is a type of “internet” of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that lets civil, government, and military satellites easily communicate with each other.
https://gizmodo.com/darpa-wants-to-build-an-internet-of-connected-satellite-1849402673
Capella
Capella Space now offers the highest resolution SAR imagery commercially available
Darrell Etherington / 6:00 AM PST•December 16, 2020
SF-based small satellite startup Capella Space is now exclusively offering the most cutting-edge synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery available on the commercial market. The company has now made available 50cm x 50cm “Spot” imagery — much higher resolution than the previous 1m x 25cm images that were the best available. SAR imagery offers advantages versus other types of satellite-based observation, because it can operate regardless of cloud cover, air visibility, lighting (whether it’s day or night) and more.
Capella Space has designed, built and operated its SAR satellites entirely in-house, making it the first U.S. company to do so. Founded and led by former JPL engineer Payam Banazadeh, the company has so far launched one of its satellites to orbit on a Rocket Lab launch that lifted off at the end of August. The company has plans to launch two more of its spacecraft on board a future SpaceX rideshare launch, potentially before year’s end.
A New Satellite Can Peer Inside Buildings, Day or Night
The resolution is so crisp that you can see inside individual rooms.
Dan Robitzski - December 16th 2020
A few months ago, a company called Capella Space launched a satellite capable of taking clear radar images of anywhere in the world, with incredible resolution — even through the walls of some buildings.
And unlike most of the huge array of surveillance and observational satellites orbiting the Earth, its satellite Capella 2 can snap a clear picture during night or day, rain or shine.
“It turns out that half of the world is in nighttime, and half of the world, on average, is cloudy,” CEO Payam Banazadeh, a former system engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Futurism. “When you combine those two together, about 75 percent of Earth, at any given time, is going to be cloudy, nighttime, or it’s going to be both. It’s invisible to you, and that portion is moving around.”
Capella Space Defends High-Resolution Satellite Photos Described as 'Eerily Observant'
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday December 19, 2020 06:34PM
“A new satellite from Capella Space was described as “pretty creepy” by Bustle's technology site Input:
Like other hunks of metal currently orbiting Earth, the Capella-2 satellite's onboard radar system makes it capable of producing ludicrously high-resolution visuals from its data. More unconventional is the service Capella has launched to match: the government or private customers can, at any time, request a view of anything on the planet that's visible from the sky…
Capella’s Earth-imaging satellites are deorbiting faster than expected
Aria Alamalhodaei - 3 August 2023
Capella Space’s synthetic aperture radar satellites are falling back to Earth much sooner than the three years they were anticipated to operate, according to publicly available satellite data.
The startup has launched a total of ten small satellites to low Earth orbit since 2018, including eight in its family of “Whitney”-class spacecraft. Five of these satellites have reentered the atmosphere since the end of January of this year, including three of the Whitneys. Those Whitney sats were in orbit for less than two-and-a-half years; one, Capella-5, was in orbit for less than two years.
That leaves five of the constellation in orbit, including the Capella-9 and Capella-10 launched on March 16, which are operating at an altitude of around 584 km and 588 km, respectively.
According to filings with the Federal Communication Commission, the propulsion system of Capella-9 was built by Phase Four. At least one of the satellites that has reentered prematurely, Capella-5, also used Phase Four propulsion. In that same filing from March 2022, Capella said its Capella-9 satellite would operate at an orbital altitude of 525 km, and maintain an altitude between 475-575 km for three years. It seems this is the typical mission profile of Capella satellites.
Cellular Phone Service
Android one-ups Apple’s satellite SOS with general-purpose satellite SMS
Qualcomm packs traditional Iridium satellite compatibility into a normal phone.
Ron Amadeo - 1/5/2023, 2:41 PM
Hey, Android users! Are you jealous of the iPhone 14's ability to connect to satellites? Well, it's been a few months, and Qualcomm is already getting a similar feature up and running on Android. Meet “Snapdragon Satellite” a way to send satellite messages from a normal-sized Android phone. Unlike on the iPhone, this is real, two-way, SMS-style texting that you'll supposedly be able to use for more casual conversations instead of the iPhone's highly compressed, emergency-only, one-way questionnaire system that discourages composing a message.
Qualcomm's solution will run on the Iridium satellite constellation—this is the 25-year-old, 66-satellite network that powers traditional, purpose-built satellite phones with giant external antennas. Qualcomm says this is now going to work with normal-sized smartphones and with normal, internal-only antennas. Qualcomm's VP of Product Management, Francesco Grilli, gave a big overview of the service and says “in most cases” you won't even need a new antenna. Iridium runs in the 1-2 GHz L Band, the same as GPS and some mid-band cellular service, so your phone already has an antenna for this.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches first phone service satellites
Starlink satellites, carried on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, can beam signals directly to smartphones from space
Guardian staff and agencies - Wed 3 Jan 2024 10.12 EST
SpaceX launched a rocket on Tuesday carrying the first set of Starlink satellites that can beam signals directly to smartphones from space.
Elon Musk’s space business struck a deal in August 2022 with wireless carriers to provide phone users in “dead zones” with network access via its Starlink satellites.
One of the carriers, T-Mobile US, confirmed that the satellites, carried on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, were in low-Earth orbit this morning.
The direct-to-cell service will begin with text messaging, followed by voice and data capabilities in the coming years, T-Mobile’s statement said. Satellite service will not be immediately available to T-Mobile customers; the company said that field testing would begin “soon”.
SpaceX plans to “rapidly” scale up the project, according to Sara Spangelo, senior director of satellite engineering at SpaceX. “The launch of these first direct-to-cell satellites is an exciting milestone for SpaceX to demonstrate our technology,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/03/spacex-elon-musk-phone-starlink-satellites
AST SpaceMobile
Google and AT&T invest in Starlink rival for satellite-to-smartphone service
AST SpaceMobile gets $206.5 million and is partnering with Google and AT&T.
Jon Brodkin - 1/22/2024, 9:53 AM
Google, AT&T, and Vodafone are investing $206.5 million in AST SpaceMobile, a Starlink competitor that plans to offer smartphone service from low-Earth-orbit satellites.
This is the first investment in AST SpaceMobile from Google and AT&T, while Vodafone had already put money into the satellite company. AST SpaceMobile announced the funding in a press release on Thursday and announced a $100 million public offering of its stock on the same day.
“Vodafone and AT&T have placed purchase orders for network equipment from AST SpaceMobile to support planned commercial service,” the satellite company said. Google has meanwhile “agreed to collaborate on product development, testing, and implementation plans for SpaceMobile network connectivity on Android and related devices.” AST, which has one very large test satellite in orbit, previously received investments from Rakuten, American Tower, and Bell Canada.
SpaceX subsidiary Starlink has deals with T-Mobile in the US and several carriers in other countries for satellite-to-smartphone service. T-Mobile is expected to offer Starlink-enabled text messaging this year, with voice and data service beginning sometime in 2025.
AT&T formalizes deal for space-based cellular service on unmodified mobiles
AST still only has a single test satellite in orbit, so don't hold your breath
Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 16 May 2024 22:15 UTC
Not to be outdone by Starlink and T-Mobile, AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have finalized a deal to eventually bring a space-based connectivity option to AT&T, too.
AT&T said the definitive commercial agreement between the pair means AST will provide a space-based broadband network for unmodified cell phones until 2030, though it's not clear when service will come online.
AT&T and Google invested $155 million into AST in January and the pair were linked last year when Vodafone announced it had made the first space-based 5G phone call using an unmodified handset when it called AST's BlueWalker 3 test satellite last September. AT&T said in a press release that the pair have been in discussions about providing satellite services since 2018.
The announcement comes as SpaceX's Starlink service and cellular carrier T-Mobile have also partnered to deliver cellular service to unmodified devices from space to Earth. While Vodafone beat T-Mobile to the punch with its first satellite phone call, Starlink and the uncarrier demonstrated a two-way text conversation using a Starlink Direct-to-Cell (DTC) equipped satellite earlier this year.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/16/att_ast_satellite_calls/
AT&T Goes Up Against T-Mobile, Starlink With AST SpaceMobile Satellite Deal
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday May 16, 2024 03:00AM
Michael Kan reports via PCMag:
AT&T has struck a deal to bring satellite internet connectivity to phones through AST SpaceMobile, a potential rival to SpaceX's Starlink. AT&T says the commercial agreement will last until 2030. The goal is “to provide a space-based broadband network to everyday cell phones,” a spokesperson tells PCMag, meaning customers can receive a cellular signal in remote areas where traditional cell towers are few and far between. All they'll need to do is ensure their phone has a clear view of the sky.
AT&T has been working with Texas-based AST SpaceMobile since 2018 on the technology, which involves using satellites in space as orbiting cell towers. In January, AT&T was one of several companies (including Google) to invest $110 million in AST. In addition, the carrier created a commercial starring actor Ben Stiller to showcase AST's technology. In today's announcement, AT&T notes that “previously, the companies were working together under a Memorandum of Understanding,” which is usually nonbinding. Hence, the new commercial deal suggests AT&T is confident AST can deliver fast and reliable satellite internet service to consumer smartphones – even though it hasn't launched a production satellite.
AT&T deal will make every phone a satellite phone
Its partner, AST SpaceMobile, will launch its first five commercial satellites this summer.
Mariella Moon - Thu, May 16, 2024, 3:13 AM PDT
Soon, AT&T subscribers will have the option to ensure that they have access to cell service even in typical dead zones, like deep inside national parks or far-flung rural locations. The mobile carrier has been working with AST SpaceMobile since 2018 under a Memorandum of Understanding, helping the latter test two-way audio calls, texts and video calls via satellites in space using ordinary smartphones. Now, the companies have entered a definitive commercial agreement, which means AT&T is getting close to offering subscribers the capability to transform their regular phones into legit satellite devices.
Phones need to be close enough to cell towers to be able to get any sort of service. That's why people aren't usually able to call their families, or even text them, when they're in a forest or in the mountains. AT&T's satellite-to-phone service will use satellites as cell towers, and since they're placed in orbit, they're able to provide connectivity even in remote areas.
https://www.engadget.com/att-deal-will-make-every-phone-a-satellite-phone-101351590.html
Verizon joins satellite phone party, links up to AST SpaceMobile
Rival AT&T is also with AST, although T-Mobile went with SpaceX’s Starlink
Dan Robinson - Thu 30 May 2024 19:09 UTC
Verizon has become the latest telco to sign up for a satellite phone service, joining rival US operator AT&T in choosing AST SpaceMobile as its provider, even though the latter has yet to put any of its commercial satellites into orbit.
Word of the latest partnership was confirmed by AST SpaceMobile, which claimed it means the pair would be able to provide a service with 100 percent coverage of the continental US, using the 850 MHz spectrum band.
To seal the deal, Verizon is putting up $100 million in investment, $65 million of which is commercial prepayments (with $45 million subject to certain conditions), and $35 million of convertible notes.
AST's satellite service is designed to operate with standard, unmodified mobile handsets, and it appears the aim is to extend the reach of Verizon’s network into areas where it currently does not have coverage.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/30/verizon_satellite_phone_service/
AST SpaceMobile promises the Moon with seamless satellite phone service
Yet all its birds remain resolutely earthbound
Dan Robinson - Thu 4 Jul 2024 12:46 UTC
AST SpaceMobile has reiterated its plans to enable a satellite phone service covering the entire continental US that will work seamlessly with existing devices, thanks to spectrum sharing agreements with AT&T and Verizon.
The satellite operator inked deals with the two US telecoms giants in May that will eventually allow them to offer subscribers the ability to make calls using its satellite network when they are out of range of a ground-based cell tower.
In an open letter to partners, shareholders, and future users, AST SpaceMobile chief Abel Avellan now claims his company is “uniquely positioned” to achieve 100 percent geographical coverage throughout the continental US, thanks to having both AT&T and Verizon on board.
Avellan was keen to promise that the service would work seamlessly with standard smartphones, and that the frequencies used would reach even inside buildings to provide a connection, minimizing dead zones and dropped calls, even in remote areas.
“You'll have a seamless experience with either carrier,” he claimed. “You'll simply connect to AST SpaceMobile's network through your carrier, AT&T or Verizon, for reliable cellular service for a smooth and worry-free experience.”
The key to unlocking this coverage lies in the “power of the premium 850 MHz low-band spectrum,” which offers “superior signal penetration in the low band cellular range,” according to Avellan. “AT&T and Verizon together will share with AST SpaceMobile a portion of their respective bands of 850 MHz low-band spectrum to enable nationwide satellite coverage.”
The way this works is that AST “employs a segment of the 850 MHz band in conjunction with our terrestrial operations,” Avellan said, and whether users are an AT&T or Verizon subscriber, they don't need to worry about which carrier's 850 MHz spectrum is being used.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/04/ast_spacemobile_plans/
SpaceX
Another US Carrier Will Soon Allow You to Send Text Messages Via Satellite
Jowi Morales - 27 November 2024
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just granted SpaceX the ability to provide direct-to-cell coverage to T-Mobile customers. This means that the provider's users can still send text messages, even if they’re outside the network’s cell coverage, by using the company’s satellite constellation to communicate.
SpaceX Lets T-Mobile Customers Send Text Messages via Satellite
The FCC (PDF) has finally given approval for SpaceX to provide direct-to-cellular services within the US, and the company’s partnership with T-Mobile means its users could soon send text messages even if they’re outside the range of land-based cell sites.
We’ve had satellite phones for decades now and even Apple is making satellite connections work with the iPhone 14 and later models, but SpaceX’s direct-to-cell service is different as it doesn’t require any special smartphone model or extra equipment.
FCC Approves T-Mobile, SpaceX License To Extend Coverage To Dead Zones
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday November 26, 2024 11:00PM
The FCC said it has approved a license for T-Mobile and SpaceX's Starlink to provide supplemental coverage to cover internet dead zones. Reuters reports:
The license marks the first time the FCC has authorized a satellite operator collaborating with a wireless carrier to provide supplemental telecommunications coverage from space on some flexible-use spectrum bands allocated to terrestrial service. The partnership aims to extend the reach of wireless networks to remote areas and eliminate “dead zones.”
T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a partnership in 2022 and in January the first set of satellites supporting the partnership was launched into low-Earth orbit with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. “The FCC is actively promoting competition in the space economy by supporting more partnerships between terrestrial mobile carriers and satellite operators to deliver on a single network future that will put an end to mobile dead zones,” said FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.
FAA tests Starlink terminals as Musk claims Verizon tech is ‘not working’
Sean O'Kane - 7:41 AM PST February 25, 2025
The Federal Aviation Administration has started testing the use of SpaceX Starlink satellite internet terminals in the national airspace system, nearly two years after Verizon was awarded a $2 billion contract to perform similar work.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk claimed on his social media platform X that the Verizon system “is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.”
A spokesperson for Verizon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The news, first reported by Bloomberg, comes just a few weeks after new U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Musk and his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” were going to help “upgrade” the air traffic control system.
The FAA explained in a statement Monday that Alaska has long had issues with reliable weather information for the aviation community.
“The 2024 FAA Reauthorization required the FAA to fix telecommunications connections to address those needs,” the statement posted on X reads. “That is why the FAA has been considering the use of Starlink since the prior administration to increase reliability at remote sites, including in Alaska.”
China
Shijian-19
China’s Reusable Satellite Returns to Earth After Experimenting With Crop Mutations in Space
The Shijian-19 satellite carried seeds to orbit, exposing them to the microgravity environment to test plant mutation in space.
Passant Rabie - October 11, 2024
A Chinese satellite has returned to Earth after spending two weeks in orbit conducting experiments on plant mutation, as the country looks to space to enhance its agricultural crops.
Shijian-19, China’s first reusable satellite, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site near Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 10:39 p.m. ET on Thursday (10:39 a.m. Beijing Time on Friday), according to China National Space Administration (CNSA). The satellite carried returnable payloads, including seeds from various locations, to test plant and microorganism breeding in space. All of the payloads were retrieved once the spacecraft landed.
“This mission carried out space breeding, new technology verification and space science experiments, and focused on promoting the development and application of new space technologies,” CNSA wrote in a statement. “At the same time, it carried a number of international cooperation payloads and became a good platform to promote international space cooperation, which is of great significance to promoting space exploration and space utilization.”
Shiyan-28B
Secretive Chinese Satellite Emerges in Surprising Orbit After 6-Day Vanishing Act
Shiyan-28B finally appeared in an unexpectedly low orbit, but its mission remains unclear.
Passant Rabie - July 14, 2025
Nearly a week after launch, space tracking systems were able to locate a mysterious satellite parked in an unusually low orbit. China launched the experimental satellite to test new technologies, but it’s still unclear exactly what it’s doing in its unique inclination.
Shiyan-28B 01 launched on July 3 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, riding on board a Long March 4C rocket. The satellite is part of China’s experimental Shiyan series, reportedly designed for exploration of the space environment and to test new technologies. It typically takes a day or two for space tracking systems to locate an object in orbit, but the recently launched Chinese satellite was hard to find.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Domain Awareness unit was finally able to catalogue Shiyan-28B 01 on July 9, six days after its launch. The U.S. space monitoring system located the Chinese satellite in a 492 by 494 mile orbit (794 by 796 kilometer orbit) with an 11-degree inclination, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell wrote on X. At the time of launch, it was estimated that the satellite would be tilted at a 35-degree inclination relative to Earth’s equator. Its unusually low inclination, however, suggests that the rocket performed a dogleg maneuver, meaning that it changed direction midway through ascent, and its second stage performed three burns to reduce inclination, according to McDowell.
Chinese Space Station / Celestial Palace
China Set to Launch First Crew to Its New Space Station
The team will live in the space equivalent of a three-bed, one-bath for several months.
Isaac Schultz - 16 June 2021 1:56PM
China’s first crewed mission to its new space station is scheduled to blast off tomorrow morning from a launchpad at the Jiuquan Space Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The mission will be China’s longest crewed mission to date.
The three-person crew will launch to the new space station, called Tiangong, in a Long March-2f rocket at 9:22 a.m. local time, according to the China Manned Space Agency as reported by AFP. They’re heading for the 55-foot-long core module of the space station, called Tianhe, which was launched in April. The launch caused a stir last month when the rocket that carried the module made an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry.
https://gizmodo.com/china-set-to-launch-first-crew-to-its-new-space-station-1847110632
China successfully launches first crewed mission to its new space station
It's the first of 11 missions to complete construction of the Tianhe station.
Steve Dent - June 17th, 2021
China has launched its first crewed mission in five years, successfully sending three astronauts to its new Tianhe space station, CNBC has reported. Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo will be the first three astronauts to board the station and will spend three months there testing systems and doing spacewalks.
The three astronauts rode in a Shenzhou-12 spacecraft atop a Long March 2F rocket that launched around 9:22 AM China time from the Juiquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The mission was declared a “complete success” at 9:43 AM.
https://www.engadget.com/china-launches-first-three-astronauts-to-its-space-station-082044099.html
Chinese Astronauts Board Space Station In Historic Mission
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday November 29, 2022 09:00PM
Three Chinese astronauts arrived on Wednesday at China's space station for the first in-orbit crew rotation in Chinese space history, launching operation of the second inhabited outpost in low-Earth orbit after the NASA-led International Space Station. Reuters reports:
The spacecraft Shenzhou-15, or “Divine Vessel”, and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) on Tuesday in sub-freezing temperatures in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, according to state television. Shenzhou-15 was the last of 11 missions, including three previous crewed missions, needed to assemble the “Celestial Palace”, as the multi-module station is known in Chinese. The first mission was launched in April 2021.
China refreshes crew of its 'Celestial Palace' space station
Incoming trio includes first female engineer, a returning taikonaut, and one newbie
Iain Thomson - Wed 30 Oct 2024 03:45 UTC
Three taikonauts have successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and are on their way to the Tiangong space station.
The mission crew was only announced yesterday, and is made up of experienced taikonaut Cai Xuzhe, 48, and two relative beginners: former Air Force pilot Song Lingdong, 34, and Wang Haoze, 34, the first female engineer to make the trip into orbit and the third female taikonaut. The Shenzhou 19 mission took off safely at 2027 UTC (0427 local time) and docked with the space station seven hours later.
“Like everyone else, I dream of going to the space station to have a look,” Wang said at a press conference. “I want to meticulously complete each task and protect our home in space. I also want to travel in deep space and wave at the stars.”
Three crew are already aboard Tiangong and have spent six months in orbit. The two crews will spend the next four days together before the departing trio return to Earth.
The new crew will conduct a series of spacewalks to install a debris shield around the fledgling station, and to launch cubesats. They'll also carry out experiments in microgravity, and lecture students on Earth. The Chinese worked with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to decide what to try out in orbit.
“China's space station is an excellent platform for international collaboration,” Lin Xiqiang, a spokesperson for the China Manned Space Agency, told state media. “No matter which country participates, it is humanity's collective quest to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.”
A cargo resupply mission next month will bring supplies that should suffice to keep the three taikonauts fed and watered until their planned April 2025 return.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/30/china_tiangong_crew_refresh/
Einstein Satellite
Finally, a Telescope Named 'Einstein' Is Heading to Space
Space's latest X-ray telescope, aptly named after the most famous physicist of all time, is poised to unveil the mysteries of nature's most extreme phenomena.
Isaac Schultz - 21 December 2023
The Einstein Probe, an X-ray telescope managed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will be ready to launch next month. The probe will look for transient events in X-ray light and try to answer some fundamental questions about black holes and gravitational waves.
Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, and Webb. Undoubtedly iconic names, but now, in a long overdue development, we’re finally going to have a space-based telescope named after the famed German-born theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein.
The Einstein Probe was built in collaboration with ESA and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. In return for their contributions (in hardware and scientific consultations), ESA will get access to 10% of the probe’s data, according to an agency release. The release did not state when in January the launch would be attempted.
https://gizmodo.com/einstein-probe-space-telescope-x-rays-black-holes-1851117476
Einstein Probe finds two stars that have spent 40 million years taking turns eating each other
Odd X-ray flashes gave the game away, just few weeks after China-led mission launched
Iain Thomson - Wed 19 Feb 2025 07:01 UTC
The Einstein Probe telescope has spotted evidence of one star consuming matter from another.
The first clue that led to this discovery was an X-ray flash emanating from the Small Magellanic Cloud, around 200,000 light years from Earth. The flash was unexpected so scientists were keen to learn more.
The flash was spotted by the Einstein Probe’s Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT), which uses a novel type of design known as a lobster eye that can scan 3,600 square degrees simultaneously using 432 micro-pore optic (MPO) sensors.
The spacecraft also packs another telescope - the aptly named Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT), which was used to examine the source of the flash. NASA shifted its Swift and NICER X-ray instruments to study that region as well. 18 days later the European Space Agency added its XMM-Newton x-ray 'scope to the search and the result was the discovery of a new emissions beacon in the sky dubbed EP J0052 from an unusually bright burst of energy.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/19/einstein_probe_twin_stars_revealed/
Guowang
China orbits first Guowang internet satellites, with thousands more to come
China launched the first 10 spacecraft in a planned constellation of 13,000 internet satellites.
Stephen Clark - Dec 16, 2024 8:41 PM
The first batch of internet satellites for China's Guowang megaconstellation launched Monday on the country's heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket.
The satellites are the first of up to 13,000 spacecraft a consortium of Chinese companies plans to build and launch over the next decade. The Guowang fleet will beam low-latency, high-speed internet signals in an architecture similar to SpaceX's Starlink network, although Chinese officials haven't laid out any specifics, such as target markets, service specifications, or user terminals.
The Long March 5B rocket took off from Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, at 5:00 am EST (10:00 UTC) Monday. Ten liquid-fueled engines powered the rocket off the ground with 2.4 million pounds of thrust, steering the Long March 5B on a course south from Wenchang into a polar orbit.
After shedding four strap-on boosters and the core stage, the rocket's Yuanzheng 2 upper stage ignited to maneuver into the targeted orbit for payload separation. The mission delivered 10 Guowang satellites into an orbit roughly 680 miles (1,100 kilometers) above the Earth, with an inclination of 86.5 degrees to the equator, according to publicly-available US military tracking data.
Incident 2024
Launch of Chinese-French Satellite Scattered Debris Over Populated Area
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 23, 2024 12:34AM
“A Chinese launch of the joint Sino-French SVOM mission to study Gamma-ray bursts early Saturday saw toxic rocket debris fall over a populated area…” writes Space News:
SVOM is a collaboration between the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES). The mission will look for high-energy electromagnetic radiation from these events in the X-ray and gamma-ray ranges using two French and two Chinese-developed science payloads… Studying gamma-ray bursts, thought to be caused by the death of massive stars or collisions between stars, could provide answers to key questions in astrophysics. This includes the death of stars and the creation of black holes.
However the launch of SVOM also created an explosion of its own closer to home.A video posted on Chinese social media site Sina Weibo appears to show a rocket booster falling on a populated area with people running for cover. The booster fell to Earth near Guiding County, Qiandongnan Prefecture in Guizhou province, according to another post…
Refuel 2025
China Set for Critical Orbital Refueling Test With 2 U.S. Satellites Watching Closely
The orbital demonstration could be a game-changer for extending the lifespan of satellites in space.
Passant Rabie - June 10, 2025
Two Chinese satellites are about to rendezvous in geostationary orbit, docking with one another for an experimental demonstration that could extend the longevity of spacecraft.
Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 performed a series of maneuvers this past weekend, reaching a close distance of just two degrees of longitude from one another on Monday, according to space situational awareness company COMSPOC. The pair are set to meet on Wednesday for a docking procedure for China’s first on-orbit refueling test in geostationary orbit (GEO), acting like a space gas station to extend the lifespan of satellites. China’s satellites aren’t alone, however, as two U.S. surveillance spacecraft are lurking nearby to watch it all happen, with the Pentagon fearing the technology could represent a significant milestone in China’s space ambitions.
The two satellites were developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Shijian-25 launched in January while Shijian-21 lifted off earlier in 2021. Around a year after its launch, Shijian-21 docked with a defunct Chinese satellite, the Beidou-2 G2 navigation satellite, and towed it to the graveyard orbit above GEO, SpaceNews reported at the time.
Chinese Satellites Complete First High-Altitude Rendezvous For Possible Groundbreaking Refueling
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday July 09, 2025 12:00AM
Two Chinese satellites, SJ-25 and SJ-21, have reportedly completed the first autonomous high-altitude orbital docking. “Although unconfirmed, this is thought to be the first orbital refueling at such a height – the two satellites are currently over 20,000 miles from Earth,” reports ExtremeTech. From the report:
Orbital refueling is an important component in keeping satellites and space stations in low Earth orbit flying, but any efforts beyond that have been merely speculative until the past few years, when serious efforts from a range of private and national entities have explored its possibilities. China may have gotten ahead of the curve with this latest docking, though, in an impressive world first that raises serious concerns for satellites from nations and entities that align themselves differently from China's goals and ambitions.
In January, a satellite designated SJ-25 was launched “for the verification of satellite fuel replenishment and life extension service technologies,” according to the Chinese state-owned designer, Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (via Ars Technica). Sometime last week, it matched orbits with the SJ-21 satellite, which previously conducted space debris maneuvering tests in 2021 and has remained in a geosynchronous orbit ever since.
Satellite
Russian Space Junk Hit a Chinese Satellite in March, Evidence Suggests
Collisions in orbit have the potential to be disastrous. Currently, some 900,000 artificial objects from 0.4 inches to 4 inches wide are zipping around Earth.
George Dvorsky - 18 August 2021 5:00PM
The mysterious breakdown of the Yunhai 1-02 satellite in March has likely been solved. The discarded remnants of an old Russian rocket appear to have smashed into the Chinese satellite, in what is an ominous sign of things to come in our increasingly cluttered low Earth orbit.
On March 22, 2021, the 18th Space Control Squadron of the U.S. Space Force published a surprising tweet announcing the breakup of Yunhai 1-02—a Chinese military satellite launched in September 2019. The breakup had occurred four days earlier, and it wasn’t immediately clear as to why this satellite, at less than two years old, should suddenly experience such a calamitous malfunction. In its tweet, the Space Force squadron said its “analysis is ongoing” and that it would track the 21 newly created pieces of debris.
https://gizmodo.com/russian-space-junk-hit-a-chinese-satellite-in-march-ev-1847511922
Space Force Detects Mystery Object in Orbit Alongside Chinese Satellite
They’re calling it an “apogee kick motor,” but the object’s true identity and purpose remain unknown.
George Dvorsky - 8 November 2021 1:00PM
China’s Shijian-21 spacecraft, a satellite with the stated purpose of cleaning up space junk, has an orbital companion, but we’re not entirely sure what it is.
The Shijian-21 satellite was launched to space by a Long March-3B rocket on October 23. Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said the spacecraft “entered the planned orbit successfully” and that it “will be mainly used to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies.”
That’s pretty much all we know about Shijian-21, as China tends to be tight-lipped when it comes to its affairs in space. But on November 3, the U.S. military detected a companion object in orbit alongside Shijian-21, as SpaceNews reports. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron catalogued it as an “apogee kick motor” and assigned it the designation 2021-094C.
https://gizmodo.com/space-force-detects-mystery-object-in-orbit-alongside-c-1848016044
China's small Beijing-3 satellite can take high-resolution images of US cities within seconds, a speed its American counterparts can't match, scientists say
Matthew Loh - Dec 29, 2021, 1:13 AM
A small, one-ton Chinese satellite can quickly snap high-resolution images of US cities that are so detailed they can identify individual military vehicles and the weapons they carry, Chinese scientists involved in the Beijing-3 satellite project said on Tuesday.
The commercial Beijing-3 satellite, launched by China in June, conducted an in-depth scan of a 1,470 square-mile area in the San Francisco Bay. The satellite captured the area within 42 seconds, The South China Morning Post first reported, citing results published this month in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Spacecraft Engineering.
Beijing-3 has a unique advantage up its sleeve: It can pitch and yaw at up to 10 degrees per second while not compromising image quality as it orbits the Earth, said lead scientist Yang Fang, who headed the project run by DFH Satellite Company under the Chinese Academy of Space and Technology.
https://www.insider.com/china-space-race-satellite-high-resolution-san-francisco-in-seconds-2021-12
Chinese Satellite Observed Grappling Another and Pulling It Out of Orbit
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday January 30, 2022 09:34AM
Last week a Chinese satellite “was observed grabbing another satellite and pulling it out of its normal geosynchronous orbit,” reports the Drive, “and into a 'super-graveyard drift orbit.'”
“The maneuver raises questions about the potential applications of these types of satellites designed to maneuver close to other satellites for inspection or manipulation and adds to growing concerns about China's space program overall.”
On January 22, China's Shijian-21 satellite, or SJ-21, disappeared from its regular position in orbit during daylight hours when observations were difficult to make with optical telescopes. SJ-21 was then observed executing a “large maneuver” to bring it closely alongside another satellite, a dead BeiDou Navigation System satellite. SJ-21 then pulled the dead satellite out of its normal geosynchronous orbit and placed it a few hundred miles away in what is known as a graveyard orbit. These distant orbits are designated for defunct satellites at the end of their lives and are intended to reduce the risk of collision with operational assets….
Chinese Satellite Burns Up Over New Orleans, Creating Fireballs in the Sky
The imaging satellite was decommissioned two years ago and abandoned to burn up upon reentry through Earth's atmosphere.
Passant Rabie - December 26, 2024
Hundreds of stargazers reported fireballs over the southeastern U.S. earlier this week. But this was no natural phenomenon—just another case of dead satellites littering Earth’s orbit.
The fireworks came from defunct Chinese satellite that reentered through Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday night and burned up over New Orleans, Louisiana. The satellite’s reentry resulted in bright streaks across the skies over several states, including Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi, according to reports shared online. Although the satellite didn’t pose a threat to onlookers, its uncontrolled reentry highlights the need for better regulation of nonoperational space junk.
Surveillance / Spy Satellite
Chinese Satellite Goes on Inexplicable Sightseeing Tour After Researchers Put AI in Control
An AI put in control of an Earth-imaging satellite to make it more efficient chose its own target areas—including the home of an Indian army regiment.
Kevin Hurler - 17 April 2023
There’s been plenty of conversation around using AI in writing and art, but researchers in China have evidently brought machine intelligence to spaceflight. An AI was allowed to control a satellite’s camera for a full day, during which time it took photos of different locations on Earth—and it chose targets for reasons that eluded the researchers.
According to a report from the South China Morning Post, researchers controlled the Qimingxing 1 satellite with a ground-based AI system, as detailed in a paper published in the journal Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University. The research team is a part of the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, and the goal of the experiment was to determine how artificial intelligence might help streamline Qimingxing 1's Earth observation workflow through enhanced selectivity of different locations on the planet.
In other words, they’re trying to make Earth-observation satellites smarter and more efficient, so as to prevent them from aimlessly capturing troves of images that require copious amounts of processing back on Earth.
https://gizmodo.com/chinese-researchers-let-ai-control-satellite-1850344169
Do these Buddhist gods hint at the purpose of China’s super-secret satellites?
Until recently, China's entries in the realm of spaceflight patches often lacked originality.
Stephen Clark – May 17, 2025 10:00 AM
Mission patches are a decades-old tradition in spaceflight. They can range from the figurative to the abstract, prompting valuable insights or feeding confusion. Some are just plain weird.
Ars published a story a few months ago on spaceflight patches from NASA, SpaceX, Russia, and the NRO, the US government's spy satellite agency, which is responsible for some of the most head-scratching mission logos.
Until recently, China's entries in the realm of spaceflight patches often lacked the originality found in patches from the West. For example, a series of patches for China's human spaceflight missions used a formulaic design with a circular shape and a mix of red and blue. The patch for China's most recent Shenzhou crew to the country's Tiangong space station last month finally broke the mold with a triangular shape after China's human spaceflight agency put the patch up for a public vote.
But there's a fascinating set of new patches Chinese officials released for a series of launches with top secret satellites over the last two months. These four patches depict Buddhist gods with a sense of artistry and sharp colors that stand apart from China's previous spaceflight emblems, and perhaps—or perhaps not—they can tell us something about the nature of the missions they represent.
Code
Open Satellite Project
The Open Source Satellite Project
Cubesat
The first cubesat to fly and operate at the Moon has successfully arrived
“That is a huge, huge step for the agency.”
Eric Berger - 11/14/2022, 8:42 AM
After a journey of nearly five months, taking it far beyond the Moon and back, the little CAPSTONE spacecraft has successfully entered into lunar orbit.
“We received confirmation that CAPSTONE arrived in near-rectilinear halo orbit, and that is a huge, huge step for the agency,” said NASA's chief of exploration systems development, Jim Free, on Sunday evening. “It just completed its first insertion burn a few minutes ago. And over the next few days they'll continue to refine its orbit, and be the first cubesat to fly and operate at the Moon.”
This is an important orbit for NASA, and a special one, because it is really stable, requiring just a tiny amount of propellant to hold position. At its closest point to the Moon, this roughly week-long orbit passes within 3,000 km of the lunar surface, and at other points it is 70,000 km away. NASA plans to build a small space station, called the Lunar Gateway, here later this decade.
But before then, the agency is starting small. CAPSTONE is a scrappy, commercial mission that was supported financially, in part, by a $13.7 million grant from NASA. Developed by a Colorado-based company named Advanced Space, with help from Terran Orbital, the spacecraft itself is modestly sized, just a 12U cubesat with a mass of around 25 kg. It could fit comfortably inside a mini-refrigerator.
The First Cubesat To Fly and Operate At the Moon Has Successfully Arrived
Posted by BeauHD on Monday November 14, 2022 07:30PM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
After a journey of nearly five months, taking it far beyond the Moon and back, the little CAPSTONE spacecraft has successfully entered into lunar orbit. “We received confirmation that CAPSTONE arrived in near-rectilinear halo orbit, and that is a huge, huge step for the agency,” said NASA's chief of exploration systems development, Jim Free, on Sunday evening. “It just completed its first insertion burn a few minutes ago. And over the next few days they'll continue to refine its orbit, and be the first cubesat to fly and operate at the Moon.”
Database of CubeSats (and Nanosatellites)
World's largest database of nanosatellites, over 4400 nanosats and CubeSats
CubeSat constellations, companies, technologies, missions and more Sister websites www.factoriesinspace.com and www.newspace.im
“I believe the big future of nanosatellites is still to come!”
Facts as of 2025 April 30
Nanosats launched: 2956 CubeSats launched: 2730 PocketQubes launched: 95 Interplanetary CubeSats: 18 Most nanosats on a rocket: 120 Countries with nanosats: 91 Companies in database: 786 Forecast: 1900 nanosats to launch 2024-2029
Collision
Satellite collision anticipated by EU space agency fails to materialize... for now at least
Internet rubberneckers and crisis-starved media left to ponder non-event
Thomas Claburn - Sat 10 Apr 2021 / 11:01 UTC
Two days ago, the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) initiative warned of a possible collision on Friday between two orbiting objects, but it now appears they passed each other without incident.
The two chunks of space junk are identified as OPS 6182 (1978-042A), a defunct US meteorological satellite, and SL-8 R/B (1981-041B), a rocket body launched in 1971 by the former Soviet Union to deliver a satellite into orbit.
Initially, EU SST estimated the chance of collision at above 1 per cent, and by Thursday, that figure had been revised upward to more than 20 per cent. The abandoned pieces of equipment were initially expected to come within 10m of each other, an uncomfortably small gap given the possible consequences.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/10/satellite_collision_eu/
SpaceX denies claim that Starlink and OneWeb satellites almost collided
SpaceX says collision-avoidance system works fine despite OneWeb's false claim.
Jon Brodkin - 4/21/2021, 10:14 AM
SpaceX has accused satellite-broadband rival OneWeb of spreading a false story claiming that the companies' satellites nearly crashed into each other.
In reality, ”[t]he probability of collision never exceeded the threshold for a [collision-avoidance] maneuver, and the satellites would not have collided even if no maneuver had been conducted,” SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission in an ex parte filing. The filing describes a meeting that SpaceX and OneWeb representatives had with FCC staff yesterday in which SpaceX said it “corrected the record regarding recent press reports regarding physical coordination between SpaceX and OneWeb.”
How OneWeb Lied About a Near-Miss Collision With a SpaceX Satellite
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday April 22, 2021 06:00AM
In a follow-up to a story previously reported, Slashdot reader Turkinolith shares a report from Teslarati:
In the latest trials and tribulations of a SpaceX Starlink competitor that went bankrupt after spending $3 billion to launch just 74 small internet satellites, it appears that OneWeb knowingly misled both media and US regulators over a claimed 'near-miss' with a Starlink satellite. Back on April 9th, OneWeb went public with claims that SpaceX had mishandled its response to a routine satellite collision avoidance warning from the US military, which monitors the location of satellites and space debris. According to OneWeb government affairs chief Chris McLaughlin, SpaceX disabled an automated system designed to detect and automatically command Starlink satellite collision avoidance maneuvers to let OneWeb move its satellite instead. McLaughlin also stated that “Coordination is the issue – it is not sufficient to say 'I've got an automated system.'” He also recently criticized the maneuverability of Starlink satellites, claiming that “Starlink's engineers said they couldn't do anything to avoid a collision and switched off the collision avoidance system so OneWeb could maneuver around the Starlink satellite without interference.” As it turns out, OneWeb's “near-miss” appears to have been a farce and the company scrambled to promise to retract those statements in an April 20th meeting with the FCC and SpaceX.
This Startup's Free Software Could Prevent Satellite Collisions
Slingshot Aerospace is rolling out a free version of its space traffic control software to satellite operators around the world.
Passant Rabie - 14 September 2022 11:20AM
Space is getting a little too crowded, increasing the risk of orbital collisions. Slingshot Aerospace, a company specializing in space data analytics, is now offering a solution to regulate some of the traffic up there. The company announced on Tuesday that it is rolling out a free version of its space traffic control system to help satellite operators dodge collisions.
“Space connects every single one of us every day,” Melanie Stricklan, co-founder and CEO of Slingshot Aerospace, told Gizmodo. “Our lives have become dependent upon space, and that dependency means that there’s actually a growing vulnerability,” requiring us to better “manage these critical assets that are over our heads.”
https://gizmodo.com/this-startups-free-software-could-prevent-satellite-col-1849531806
Collision 2024 Feb
‘Too Close for Comfort’: Two Satellites Nearly Collide Above Earth
Two satellites missed each other by less than 66 feet on Wednesday, a close call that could have significantly increased orbital debris.
George Dvorsky - 28 February 2024
In a tense moment for space safety, two satellites—NASA’s TIMED spacecraft and the defunct Russian Cosmos 2221—came alarmingly close to smashing into each other above Earth, prompting concerns about the risks of space debris.
The near miss happened at approximately 1:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, as the two satellites brushed past each other some 378 miles (608 kilometers) above Earth, according to LeoLabs, a California-based company specializing in tracking and analyzing objects in Low Earth Orbit.
The satellites in question were NASA’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission (TIMED) spacecraft, launched in 2001 to study the Sun and Earth’s upper atmosphere, and the Russian Cosmos 2221, a defunct defense satellite launched in 1992. LeoLabs reported that the two satellites came within a mere 66 feet (20 meters) of each other. Considering the speed at which these objects travel–over 17,500 miles per hour (28,165 kilometers per hour)–this was “too close for comfort,” as the company said on X. Both of these spacecraft lack maneuverability, leaving ground observers with no choice but to watch helplessly, without the ability to intervene.
https://gizmodo.com/satellite-near-miss-leo-labs-fcc-rules-space-safety-1851293980
Near miss! NASA satellite, dead Russian spacecraft zoom past each other in orbit
The two craft came within about 65 feet (20 meters) of each other this morning (Feb. 28).
Mike Wall - 28 February 2024
A NASA satellite almost got clobbered high above Earth this morning (Feb. 28).
At 1:34 a.m. EST (0634 GMT), according to agency officials, the dead Russian spy satellite Cosmos 2221 zoomed uncomfortably close to a NASA craft dubbed TIMED that has been studying Earth's atmosphere since 2001.
“While the two non-maneuverable satellites will approach each other again, this was their closest pass in the current predicted orbit determinations, as they are gradually moving apart in altitude,” NASA officials wrote in an update today.
That update didn't report just how close the encounter was — but satellite-monitoring company LeoLabs gave us the numbers, and they are sobering. The two spacecraft, which are orbiting at an altitude of about 378 miles (608 kilometers), missed each other by less than 65 feet (20 meters).
https://www.space.com/near-collision-nasa-timed-satellite-russian-space-junk
Near Collision 2025 Dec
Chinese Spacecraft Got Disturbingly Close to Smashing Into a Starlink Satellite
The close call underscores the need for improved coordination between satellite operators, Starlink’s vice president of engineering said.
Ellyn Lapointe - December 15, 2025
Low-Earth orbit is getting a little crowded. As operators around the world launch more satellites and spacecraft each year, there is an urgent need to prevent collisions like the one a Starlink satellite narrowly avoided last week.
That close call followed the launch of a Chinese Kinetica 1 rocket on Tuesday, December 9, from the Jinquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The rocket deployed nine satellites, one of which nearly crashed into a Starlink 350 miles (560 kilometers) above Earth, according to Michael Nicolls, vice president of Starlink engineering.
“When satellite operators do not share ephemeris for their satellites, dangerously close approaches can occur in space,” Nicolls posted on X Friday. He explained that, to his team’s knowledge, Kinetic 1’s launch operator did not take the necessary precautions to prevent collisions with satellites already in orbit, resulting in a 655-foot (200-meter) close encounter between one of its deployed satellites and a Starlink.
“Most of the risk of operating in space comes from the lack of coordination between satellite operators—this needs to change,” Nicolls wrote.
SpaceX Alleges a Chinese-Deployed Satellite Risked Colliding with Starlink
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday December 14, 2025 09:24PM
“A SpaceX executive says a satellite deployed from a Chinese rocket risked colliding with a Starlink satellite,” reports PC Magazine:
On Friday, company VP for Starlink engineering, Michael Nicolls, tweeted about the incident and blamed a lack of coordination from the Chinese launch provider CAS Space. “When satellite operators do not share ephemeris for their satellites, dangerously close approaches can occur in space,” he wrote, referring to the publication of predicted orbital positions for such satellites…
[I]t looks like one of the satellites veered relatively close to a Starlink sat that's been in service for over two years. “As far as we know, no coordination or deconfliction with existing satellites operating in space was performed, resulting in a 200 meter (656 feet) close approach between one of the deployed satellites and STARLINK-6079 (56120) at 560 km altitude,” Nicolls wrote… “Most of the risk of operating in space comes from the lack of coordination between satellite operators — this needs to change,” he added.
Chinese launch provider CAS Space told PCMag that “As a launch service provider, our responsibility ends once the satellites are deployed, meaning we do not have control over the satellites' maneuvers.”
And the article also cites astronomer/satellite tracking expert Jonathan McDowell, who had tweeted that CAS Space's response “seems reasonable.” (In an email to PC Magazine, he'd said “Two days after launch is beyond the window usually used for predicting launch related risks.”
Corona
The CORONA Story
Damage
Satellites keep breaking up in space. Insurance won't cover them.
Cheap, uninsured satellites are creating more space junk — and it's starting to rain down on our heads.
Tom Brown - 27 June 2025
Airplane passengers crossing the Indian Ocean who peered out their windows on Oct. 19, 2024, might have seen what looked like a fast-moving star suddenly flash and fade. Above their heads, a $500 million satellite was exploding.
Operators confirmed the destruction of the Intelsat-33e satellite two days later. There was a bright flash as the satellite's fuel ignited, followed by the flickering of the debris cloud as it fragmented into at least 20 pieces. Those satellite parts are now zooming around Earth, along with around 14,000 tonnes of space debris. The satellite wasn't insured.
As space junk increases, more operators are choosing to launch without any insurance at all. To compensate, companies are cutting back on the cost of satellites and launching more of them at faster rates, thus creating a feedback loop as the cheaper satellites break up more easily and add to the problem.
Data
A wartime plea to Western satellite companies: “We need this data, please”
“Within one hour there will be an attack on Kyiv again.”
Eric Berger - 2/28/2022, 5:00 PM
Ukrainian entrepreneur Max Polyakov was emotional and, at times, angry, during a 20-minute call with reporters on Monday evening as he spoke about the attack by the Russian military on his homeland.
“Within one hour there will be an attack on Kyiv again,” Polyakov said, pointing emphatically to his watch. “We need the data now.”
The data he referred to were real-time observations made by commercial satellites flying over Ukraine. Polyakov pleaded with the operators of these satellites, primarily Western-based companies who sell data to governments and private customers, to freely share their data with one of his companies, EOS Data Analytics.
Polyakov said EOS would rapidly process this data for passes over Ukraine and provide some basic analytics before sending the information to the Ukrainian Defense Service and the Ministry of Digital Transformation. EOS has the capability to quickly differentiate between 18 different types of Russian military vehicle, he said.
Gigantic Satellite Beams Data From Space at 4G Speeds
AST SpaceMobile wants to build a space-based cellular broadband network in low Earth orbit, but at a potential cost to astronomy.
Passant Rabie - 22 June 2023
Texas-based AST SpaceMobile used its space-based cellular tower to transmit signals at 4G speeds to off-the-shelf smartphones, marking a success for its prototype satellite.
On Wednesday, the company announced that its engineers conducted a series of tests of the BlueWalker 3 satellite in June, beaming down data at download speeds above 10 Mbps from space straight to regular cell phones in Hawaii. The 4G speeds were achieved using AT&T spectrum and Nokia RAN technology, with the company now preparing to test the satellite at 5G speeds.
“Achieving this milestone from an unmodified, standard cell phone on the ground connecting through our low Earth orbit satellite is another groundbreaking moment in telecommunications history,” Abel Avellan, chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said in the company’s statement.
https://gizmodo.com/gigantic-satellite-beams-data-from-space-4g-speeds-1850566692
Deorbit (General)
Satellite operators want option to exceed deorbiting rules
The sky is getting crowded, but some think the FCC is moving too fast to clean it up
Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 22 Sep 2022 16:43 UTC
A group of satellite operators has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider its proposed five-year window to remove orbital junk by adding language that would let them request waivers to exceed the limit.
Iridium Communications, HughesNet operator EchoStar, Luxembourg-based SES, and OneWeb, currently building a satellite constellation it said will provide global broadband, penned the letter [PDF] earlier this week. The group asked that the FCC “adopt explicit language recognizing that operators may seek and obtain waivers of the five-year post-mission disposal rule for good cause,” as well as establish “objective criteria” for evaluating waiver requests.
The FCC proposed its new rule, which would reduce the period space operators have to remove retired equipment from low-Earth orbit (LEO, defined as below 2,000 kilometers) from 25 years to five, earlier this month in a bid to clear up the increasingly crowded space surrounding Earth.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/22/satellite_deorbiting_waivers/
FCC OKs satellite de-orbit rule despite possible conflict with NASA guidelines
5-year satellite de-orbit rule passes despite lawmakers questioning FCC authority.
Jon Brodkin - 9/29/2022, 12:55 PM
The Federal Communications Commission today unanimously approved a rule that aims to minimize space debris by requiring low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to be disposed no more than five years after being taken out of service. “The new rules shorten the decades-old 25-year guideline for deorbiting satellites post-mission, taking an important step in a new era for space safety and orbital debris policy,” the FCC said in a press release.
As previously reported, the new five-year rule will be legally binding, unlike the current 25-year standard that's based on a NASA recommendation proposed in the 1990s. The FCC has said it will apply to “space stations ending their missions in or passing through the low-Earth orbit region below 2,000 kilometers.”
Satellites already in orbit will be exempt from the new requirement. There's also a grandfathering period of two years for satellites that are already authorized by the FCC but not yet launched.
FCC Approves 5 Year Satellite Deorbiting Rule
Jessica Lis - September 30, 2022
And just like that, we finally have concrete new orbital debris rules. By a 4-0 vote, the FCC approved a long-awaited orbital debris draft ruling yesterday. The rule shortens the time required for satellite operators to deorbit LEO satellites to no more than 5 years after completing their mission, from 25 years.
The agency hopes the new rule will lead to more accountability and less risk of collision. This is the first codifying rule on the topic of orbital debris, replacing the decades-long guideline of 25 years. There will be a two-year grace period for satellite companies to transition.
The FCC reiterated its commitment to tackling orbital debris in the press release, saying: “the FCC takes seriously the short- and long-term challenges of orbital debris. Defunct satellites, discarded rocket cores, and other debris now fill the space environment, creating challenges for current and future missions,” the agency said.
https://payloadspace.com/fcc-approves-5-year-satellite-deorbiting-rule/
Satellites must be deorbited within five years of completing missions, FCC rules
The aim is to reduce the growing risk of orbital debris.
Steve Dent - September 30, 2022 5:25 AM
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted new rules to address the growing risk of “space junk” or abandoned satellites, rockets and other debris. The new “5-year-rule” will require low-Earth operators to deorbit their satellites within five years following the completion of missions. That's significantly less time than the previous guideline of 25 years.
“But 25 years is a long time,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “There is no reason to wait that long anymore, especially in low-earth orbit. The second space age is here. For it to continue to grow, we need to do more to clean up after ourselves so space innovation can continue to respond.”
Rosenworcel noted that around 10,000 satellites weighing “thousands of metric tons” have been launched since 1957, with over half of those now defunct. The new rule “will mean more accountability and less risk of collisions that increase orbital debris and the likelihood of space communication failures.”
https://www.engadget.com/satellite-de-orbit-five-years-fcc-092538937.html
Destruction
Why blow up satellites when you can just hack them?
A pair of German researchers showed how easy it is
Iain Thomson - Thu 7 Aug 2025 23:20 UTC
Black Hat Four countries have now tested anti-satellite missiles (the US, China, Russia, and India), but it's much easier and cheaper just to hack them.
In a briefing at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, Milenko Starcik and Andrzej Olchawa from German biz VisionSpace Technologies demonstrated how easy it is by exploiting software vulnerabilities in the software used in the satellites themselves, as well as the ground stations that control them.
“I used to work at the European Space Agency on ground station IT and got sick of telling them what was wrong and not having them fix it,” Olchawa told The Register, “So I decided to go into business to do it myself.”
Satellites are proliferating. In 2005, there were fewer than 1,000 in orbit (many of them inactive). But two decades later, there are about 12,300 functioning satellites, per the European Space Agency. The majority of those are Starlink satellites owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, but there has also been a sharp rise in the number of military platforms thanks to rising global tensions. Plus, it's cheaper than ever to build and launch such hardware, they explained.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/07/balck_hat_satellites/
Energy Transfer
Satellite Beams Solar Power Down To Earth, In First-of-a-Kind Demonstration
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday June 07, 2023 12:00AM
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have successfully demonstrated the capability of steering power in a microwave beam from a satellite to targets in space, as well as transmitting some of that power to a detector on Earth. Science Magazine reports:
The Caltech mission, funded by the Donald Bren Foundation and Northrop Grumman Corporation, aimed to go a step further with lightweight, inexpensive, and flexible components. The microwave transmitter was an array of 32 flat antennas packed onto a surface slightly larger than a dinner plate. By varying the timing of signals sent to the different antennas, the researchers could steer the array's beam. They pointed it at a pair of microwave receivers about a forearm's distance away and switched the beam from one receiver to the other at will, lighting up an LED on each.
Caltech claims to have beamed energy to Earth from satellite
Tech has potential to power war-torn spots and remote regions
Dan Robinson - Wed 7 Jun 2023 22:41 UTC
Researchers at a US university claim to have beamed energy from a satellite in orbit to a detector on Earth, demonstrating that harvesting energy from solar panels in space is technically possible.
The eggheads at the California Institute of Technology, aka Caltech, said they used a satellite launched into orbit in January to demonstrate the ability to transmit power wirelessly in space, and also to beam detectable power back to Earth.
Known as the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), the satellite is the first technology prototype from Caltech's Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) to make it into orbit.
SSPP was founded a decade ago, with the objective of harvesting solar power in space and transmitting it to receivers on the ground, as The Register has previously reported.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/07/satellite_energy_earth/
Scientists beam solar power to Earth from space for 1st time ever
The Space Solar Power Demonstrator's MAPLE experiment was able to wirelessly transfer collected solar power to receivers in space and direct energy to Earth.
Robert Lea - 12 June 2023
A space solar power prototype has demonstrated its ability to wirelessly beam power through space and direct a detectable amount of energy toward Earth for the first time. The experiment proves the viability of tapping into a near-limitless supply of power in the form of energy from the sun from space.
Because solar energy in space isn’t subject to factors like day and night, obscuration by clouds, or weather on Earth, it is always available. In fact, it is estimated that space-based harvesters could potentially yield eight times more power than solar panels at any location on the surface of the globe.
The wireless power transfer was achieved by the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment (MAPLE), an array of flexible and lightweight microwave power transmitters, which is one of the three instruments carried by the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1).
https://www.space.com/space-solar-power-satellite-beams-energy-1st-time
ESA
DRACO
Europe's Space Agency Will Destroy a Brand-New Satellite in 2027 Just To See What Happens
Posted by msmash on Friday September 27, 2024 12:25PM
The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch a satellite into Earth's orbit in 2027 to watch it get wrecked as it reenters the atmosphere. From a report:
The project is intended to help understand how exactly satellites break apart so that scientists can learn how to prevent the creation of more space debris. Space junk is becoming a bigger problem as we send more satellites into orbit, but there are efforts to try and address it. This mission is part of the ESA's Zero Debris Charter initiative to stop the creation of additional space debris by 2030. The mission is called the Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO), and the insides of the satellite will collect data as the craft gets destroyed during reentry into the atmosphere. It will also contain a 40-centimeter capsule designed to survive the destruction that will transmit the collected data as the capsule moves toward the ocean.
EURECA
X-raying a satellite
Nov 25, 2025 - ANNA ETTLIN
It is rare for satellites to return to Earth intact after their mission in space – one example is the European satellite EURECA. Empa researchers have studied the satellite using various non-destructive X-ray methods. These could be used in future in the development of reusable space technologies, as well as in aviation and the automotive industry.
Whether it's a sprained ankle or a backpack at the airport, X-ray images are an everyday occurrence in many areas. Empa researchers at the Center for X-Ray Analytics have succeeded in taking images that are far less commonplace: In collaboration with the Swiss Space Center (now Space Innovation at EPFL) and the Swiss Museum of Transport, they have X-rayed an entire satellite.
The imaged satellite is called EURECA – short for EUropean REtrievable CArrier – and is one of a kind. It was launched into space in 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier deployed EURECA into orbit. There, the 4.5-ton satellite remained for the next eleven months – until it was captured by the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on July 1, 1993, and brought back to Earth. This makes EURECA one of the very few satellites to have returned from its mission in space intact.
https://www.empa.ch/web/s604/eureca-satellit-mit-roentgenmethoden-untersucht
Genesis
European Space Agency to measure Earth at millimeter scale
Awards contracts for spacecraft to bring the IoT to space
Laura Dobberstein - Wed 20 Mar 2024 07:30 UTC
The European Space Agency has committed €76.6 million ($83 million) toward the development of Genesis – a flying observatory that will provide positioning services accurate to a single millimeter.
The cash is roughly one third of the €233 million ($253 million) awarded for contracts related to position calculating satellite systems that was announced on Tuesday.
Genesis is expected to provide International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) – a global coordinate system that precisely defines the positions and movements of Earth, down to that single millimeter of accuracy with a long-term stability of 0.1mm per year.
The satellite will accomplish this by having the usual main Earth-measuring techniques co-located on board – including satellite navigation ranging, very-long-baseline interferometry, satellite laser ranging and a system that uses Doppler shift in radio signals between ground stations and satellites to determine satellite positions known as Doppler Orbitography and Radio positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS). All will be synchronized by an ultra-stable oscillator (USO).
When used together, the ESA expects to be able to correct for biases inherent in each technique.
LIGO
A Massive Gravitational Wave Observatory Is Returning to Action
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration will restart with renewed sensitivity this week following a three-year hiatus.
Isaac Schultz - 25 May 2023
After a prolonged absence from the gravitational-wave-detection scene, the massive LIGO project is back up and running.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) works in conjunction with the Virgo detector in Italy and the KAGRA detector in Japan to suss out gravitational waves—perturbations in the fabric of spacetime caused by interactions of massive objects.
The collaboration made monumental news in 2016 when it first made a gravitational wave detection, confirming a phenomenon predicted by physicist Albert Einstein over a century ago. The basic idea is that objects with terrific gravitational fields, generally the densest objects in the universe, such as black holes and neutron stars, cause ripples in spacetime when they form, interact, and merge.
https://gizmodo.com/massive-ligo-gravitational-wave-observatory-returning-1850474684
Gravitational-wave detector LIGO is back — and can now spot more colliding black holes than ever
The twin gravitational-wave detectors have started a new observation run after a major upgrade.
Davide Castelvecchi - 24 May 2023
After a three-year hiatus made longer by pandemic troubles, the search for gravitational waves — ripples in space-time that are the hallmarks of colliding black holes and other cosmic cataclysms — has resumed.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which has two massive detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, is now restarting with improved sensitivity after a multimillion-dollar upgrade. The improvements should allow the facility to pick up signals from colliding black holes every two to three days, compared with once a week or so during its previous run in 2019–20.
The Virgo detector near Pisa, Italy, which has undergone its own €8.4-million (US$9-million) upgrade, was meant to join in, but technical issues are forcing its team to extend its shutdown and perform further maintenance. “Our expectation is we’ll be able to restart by the end of summer or early autumn,” says Virgo spokesperson Gianluca Gemme, a physicist at Italy’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Genoa.
LIGO goes to space: ESA to proceed with LISA gravitational wave detector
A gravitational wave detector in space will be sensitive to unexplored phenomena.
John Timmer - 1/25/2024, 2:21 PM
On Thursday, the European Space Agency's Science Programme Committee gave the go-ahead to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA project. This would mean the construction of the mission's three spacecraft could begin as early as a year from now. While the interferometer would follow the same basic principles as the ground-based LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) experiment that first detected gravitational waves, the hardware would be placed 2.5 million kilometers apart, making it sensitive to an entirely new range of astronomical phenomena.
MTG-S1
Europe’s first geostationary sounder satellite is launched
Europe has taken a major step forward in strengthening resilience to extreme weather with the launch of Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1
Europe has taken a major step forward in strengthening its resilience to extreme weather events with the successful launch of the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) satellite. MTG-S1 will deliver new streams of atmospheric data, enabling earlier, more accurate warnings that protect lives, property and infrastructure.
02 July 2025
Extreme weather events like storms, flooding, and heatwaves have caused hundreds of billions of euros in damage and claimed tens of thousands of lives across Europe in the past decades. Launched on 1 July 2025, MTG-S1 will provide Europe’s national meteorological services with high-frequency data on temperature, humidity and trace gases throughout the atmosphere – enabling forecasters to detect the earliest signs of severe weather, extend the lead times of weather warnings, improve forecasting, and help protect lives and property.
Phil Evans, Director-General of EUMETSAT, said: “MTG-S1 will provide entirely new types of data products that will support specialists across EUMETSAT member states in detecting signs of atmospheric instability even before clouds begin to form. Combined with data from the MTG imaging satellites, it will, for the first time, offer a space-based view of the full lifecycle of convective storms. This will provide tremendous support to national meteorological services in carrying out their vital work, helping to save lives, reduce disruption, and strengthen resilience.
“The effects of the climate crisis are not distant threats: they are already being felt across Europe – through more frequent storms, longer heatwaves, and shifting climate patterns. MTG-S1 will support more timely warnings, safer travel decisions, more effective emergency response, and support informed action.
“My sincere thanks go to everyone who made MTG-S1 possible – our teams at EUMETSAT, our member states, the European Union, the European Space Agency, national meteorological services, and all our industrial and academic partners. This successful launch is a testament to the strength of European cooperation. We now look forward to moving to the next phases and preparing the satellite for full operations.”
https://www.eumetsat.int/europes-first-geostationary-sounder-satellite-launched
Proba-3
Two European satellites launch on mission to blot out the Sun—for science
This will all happen nearly 40,000 miles above the Earth, so you won't need your eclipse glasses.
Stephen Clark - Dec 5, 2024 8:39 PM
Two spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency launched on top of an Indian rocket Thursday, kicking off a mission to test novel formation flying technologies and observe a rarely seen slice of the Sun's ethereal corona.
ESA's Proba-3 mission is purely experimental. The satellites are loaded with sophisticated sensors and ranging instruments to allow the two spacecraft to orbit the Earth in lockstep with one another. Proba-3 will attempt to achieve millimeter-scale precision, several orders of magnitude better than the requirements for a spacecraft closing in for docking at the International Space Station.
“In a nutshell, it’s an experiment in space to demonstrate a new concept, a new technology that is technically challenging,” said Damien Galano, Proba-3's project manager.
The two Proba-3 satellites launched from India at 5:34 am EST (10:34 UTC) Thursday, riding a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The PSLV released Proba-3 into a stretched-out orbit with a low point of approximately 356 miles (573 kilometers), a high point of 37,632 miles (60,563 kilometers), and an inclination of 59 degrees to the equator.
These Satellites Just Nailed the Most Precise Formation Flight in Space History
ESA's Proba-3 just achieved a world-first: millimeter-precise formation flying, entirely on its own.
Isaac Schultz - May 8, 2025
The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission has achieved something no other mission—or synchronized swimmer—has before: autonomous, precision formation flying in space with millimeter accuracy.
ESA’s Proba-3 satellites—the Occulter and the Coronagraph, respectively—maintained a steady 492-foot (150-meter) distance from one another in a highly elliptical orbit, simulating a single massive instrument. The same principle is used by satellite constellations and planned space telescopes to capitalize on the laws of physics and the relatively noiseless environment of space to collect more data than otherwise possible. But Proba-3’s goal is unique: to align the spacecraft in such a way that one (the Occulter) can block out the Sun’s glare, while the other (the Coronagraph) can take a clean look at its wispy outer atmosphere—the solar corona.
For this to work, the two spacecraft can’t just drift around together—they must stay aligned with millimeter-level (0.04-inch) precision, with no micromanagement from Earth. Specifically, the instruments need to be aligned such that there’s nearly 500 feet (152.4 m) between them, and a 4.6-foot (1.4-m) disc on the Occulter casts a 2-inch (5-centimeter) shadow on the Coronagraph—that’s all the latter needs to be sheltered from the Sun’s brilliance and image its faint, ethereal corona.
After initial positioning by ground control, the satellite duo’s autonomous system of cameras, LEDs, and laser rangefinders brings the two spacecraft closer together, leveraging an algorithm to ensure that the Coronagraph stays safely in the Occulter’s shadow.
SpaceLab
They did it for science: 40 years since Spacelab module first launched
The legacy lives on, but best not mention that landing, eh?
Richard Speed - Tue 28 Nov 2023 17:44 UTC
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the first launch of the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Spacelab module aboard astronaut John Young's final Space Shuttle mission.
Spacelab was a significant step for the Europeans. It was born from studies undertaken by the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) - the precursors of today's ESA.
As the Apollo program began to wind down, NASA considered how to get to orbit and do useful work without requiring more expendable Saturn rockets. ELDO proposed a reusable space tug, but NASA opted for a 'kick-stage' from its Space Shuttle, which was still on the drawing board.
ERS-2
Giant Satellite Set for Fiery Reentry After 13 Years of Orbital Creep
Europe's ERS-2 satellite is set to meet its demise in a week or so, officially concluding its trailblazing 16-year mission.
Passant Rabie - 8 February 2024
After 13 years of slow orbital decay, a legacy satellite will finally be put out of its misery by plunging through Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up into tiny fragments.
The second European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS-2, is scheduled for an atmospheric reentry in mid-February, ending a 16-year mission that revolutionized our understanding of climate change and how we observe Earth from space, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced this week.
ERS-2 launched in 1995, four years behind its sister satellite, ERS-1, to measure the ocean’s surface temperature and winds at sea. At the time, the pair were the most sophisticated Earth observation satellites ever built and they collected groundbreaking data on diminishing polar ice, changing land surfaces, sea-level rise, warming oceans, and atmospheric chemistry, according to ESA. That data helped scientists begin to understand the impact humans were having on planet Earth.
https://gizmodo.com/ers-2-climate-satellite-uncontrolled-reentry-esa-1851238768
Chunks of deorbiting ESA satellite are expected to reach the ground
Danger to humans? Less than '1 in 100 billion', says agency
Richard Speed - Mon 19 Feb 2024 15:00 UTC
ESA's ERS-2 satellite is heading back to Earth this week and some substantial fragments are likely to survive re-entry, although the chances of anyone being injured by a hunk of space junk are vanishingly small.
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) posted some images of the doomed European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) satellite at the end of last week. As of today, ESA's Space Debris Office reckons that re-entry will take place 1114 UTC on February 21, give or take 15 hours.
ESA said that due to the uncontrolled nature of the re-entry: “It is impossible to know exactly when and over which region on Earth this will happen.” However, as the moment nears, scientists should be able to predict the location more accurately.
The worry is that while most of the 2,294 kg satellite will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, substantial chunks could survive re-entry. Some reports estimate the largest pieces to weigh in at 52 kg.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/19/esas_ers2_satellite_deorbit/
A big European satellite will make an uncontrolled return to Earth Wednesday
What goes up must come down.
Eric Berger - 2/19/2024, 6:10 AM
Nearly three decades ago, the European Space Agency launched its largest and most sophisticated Earth observation satellite to date, the European Remote Sensing 2 satellite, on an Ariane 4 rocket. The spacecraft functioned well for more than 15 years before the space agency decided it was reaching the end of its operational lifetime.
Over the course of a number of maneuvers, operators lowered the satellite's altitude from 785 km (488 miles) to 573 km (356 miles) during the year 2011, allowing it to eventually be dragged into Earth's atmosphere for disposal. As part of this process, the satellite's propellant tanks were drained. This was to minimize the risk of a catastrophic explosion that could have generated a large amount of space debris, the agency said.
Now, more than a dozen years later, the European Remote Sensing 2 satellite is due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere this week. The problem is that the satellite will make an uncontrolled reentry, so European operators don't know where it will land. The trade-off for draining propellant more than a decade ago is that there is no fuel to ensure the satellite falls into a remote patch of ocean.
Not a Scene From Star Wars: This Is a Real Satellite Falling to Earth
ERS-2 made an uncontrolled reentry on Wednesday and landed in the North Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Hawaii.
Jody Serrano - 21 February 2024
Many Star Wars fans probably thought they were dreaming when the European Space Agency published images of what looked like a TIE starfighter in space. Alas, it wasn’t the Empire, but rather glimpses of a decades-old Earth observation satellite making its return home.
The recent images of the satellite, known as the second European Remote Sensing satellite, or ERS-2, were taken by space tech company HEO using cameras onboard other satellites. ESA has been preparing for ERS-2’s reentry since early February. It decommissioned ERS-2 back in 2011 and subsequently began the years-long deorbiting process, which entailed lowering the ERS-2’s altitude to avoid collisions with other satellites and depleting its remaining fuel.
https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-observation-satellite-ers-2-return-earth-1851277505
5,000-Pound Satellite Successfully 'Deorbited' Wednesday
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 24, 2024 07:34AM
On Wednesday afternoon “a European Space Agency satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean…” reports CNN, “and there have been no reports of damage, according to the agency.”
The agency's Space Debris Office, along with an international surveillance network, monitored and tracked the Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite throughout February to make predictions about the reentry, which occurred at 12:17 p.m. ET Wednesday. The ESA provided continuous live updates on its website. At around 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth's surface, the satellite broke apart due to atmospheric drag, and the majority of the fragments were expected to burn up in the atmosphere.
ESA's ERS-2 satellite began to come apart earlier than predicted
Harmlessly entered over the North Pacific, but solar array was already bent
Richard Speed - Tue 27 Feb 2024 11:45 UTC
The European Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite has re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. While no damage to property was reported, some impressive shots were taken of the spacecraft starting to buckle as it approached re-entry.
The images were taken by the German Fraunhofer Institute for High Energy Physics and Radar Techniques and show the ERS-2 satellite breaking apart earlier than scientists had anticipated.
Fraunhofer FHR was commissioned by ESA and the joint Space Situational Awareness Centre to track the final orbits of ERS-2. The spacecraft was monitered using the Tracking and Imaging Radar (TIRA), and the resulting images showed the changes in the spacecraft's structure as it descended.
The final images of the tumbling satellite were captured on February 21, approximately ten orbits before re-entry. The solar array is clearly coming loose from the body of the spacecraft.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/27/esas_ers2_began_its_disassembly/
Exploration Company
After successfully entering Earth’s atmosphere, a European spacecraft is lost
“This partial success reflects both ambition and the inherent risks of innovation.”
Eric Berger – Jun 24, 2025 5:32 AM
A European company that seeks to develop orbital spacecraft for cargo, and eventually humans, took a step forward this week with a test flight that saw its “Mission Possible” vehicle power up and fly successfully in orbit before making a controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere.
However, after encountering an “issue,” the Exploration Company lost contact with its spacecraft a few minutes before touchdown in the ocean.
In an update on LinkedIn Tuesday morning, the company characterized the test flight as a partial success—and a partial failure.
“The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after black out,” the company said in a statement. “We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon. We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads.”
FCC
The FCC Wants a 5-Year Deadline to Deorbit Defunct Satellites
A proposed and long-overdue draft order would severely shorten the timeframe under which satellite operators must dispose of their defunct spacecraft.
Passant Rabie - 9 September 2022 3:15PM
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a draft order that would require satellites to reenter Earth’s atmosphere just five years after their missions end, rather than the current 25-year deadline, in what is an effort to reduce space junk.
FCC released the order on Thursday and is scheduled to take it up on September 29 for a scheduled open meeting. The draft order recommends the disposal of satellites through uncontrolled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere (and subsequent disintegration) as soon as practicable, and no more than five years following the end of the spacecraft’s mission. If adopted, the order would apply to satellites operating at altitudes below 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers), and were launched two years after the adoption of the draft order. It would also apply to U.S.-licensed satellites, in addition to satellites licensed by other jurisdictions seeking to access U.S. markets.
https://gizmodo.com/fcc-wants-5-year-deadline-deorbit-defunct-satellites-1849517361
FCC to fight space debris by requiring satellite disposal in 5 years or less
Planned rule for low Earth satellites requires deorbit 5 years after end-of-life.
Jon Brodkin - 9/9/2022, 10:47 AM
The Federal Communications Commission has a plan to minimize space junk by requiring low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to be disposed no more than five years after being taken out of service.
A proposal released yesterday by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel would adopt “a first-ever rule requiring non-geostationary satellite operators to deorbit their satellites after the end of their operations to minimize the risk of collisions that would create debris.” It's scheduled for an FCC vote on September 29.
The five-year rule would be legally binding, unlike the current 25-year standard that's based on a NASA recommendation proposed in the 1990s.
FCC Agrees to Form Space Bureau to Keep Up With Growing Satellite Industry
The proposed Space Bureau would oversee satellite licensing, orbital communications, and space debris.
Passant Rabie - 10 January 2023
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is getting ready to launch its own Space Bureau, expanding on its role in regulating a rapidly evolving industry in Earth orbit.
On Monday, the FCC adopted a plan to reorganize the agency, transforming its International Bureau to a Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs. The latest move is an effort to become more prepared for dealing with the growing satellite industry and allocate more resources towards its regulation.
https://gizmodo.com/fcc-form-space-bureau-satellite-industry-1849971227
Galileo
Galileo's Ground Segment Problem
Posted on Oct 19 2020
The European Global Navigation Satellite System Galileo has recently been suffering from frequent “almost disruptions”, most likely partially due to Corona, and possibly also due to Brexit, but in any case due to some historical stinginess.
Before I explain what is going on, I should hasten to say that most days of the week, Galileo is working well for most users. But for example, Monday the 28th of September, one satellite was off by a stunning 5 meters. For a satellite system claiming 1 meter accuracy, that is rather dire.
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/galileos-ground-segment-problem/
Galileo satnav system gets two new somewhat confusing satellites
Despite being the 27th and 28th launched, they're the first of a dozen first-gen birds
Laura Dobberstein - Mon 6 Dec 2021 07:16 UTC
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the successful launch of the 27th and 28th satellites in its Galileo satnav constellation on Sunday.
“With these satellites we are now increasing the robustness of the constellation so that a higher level of service guarantees can be provided,” said ESA Director of Navigation Paul Verhoef.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/06/galileos_debut_first_gen_satellites/
ESA salutes Galileo satellite system meeting aviation standards
It's all in the software
Richard Speed - Tue 30 Jan 2024 16:15 UTC
The European Space Agency (ESA) has celebrated the Galileo satellite navigation system meeting civil aviation standards governing flight phases from take-off to landing and explained how the feat was done.
The requirements around Safety-of-Life operations are laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and govern the use of systems where a malfunction would have catastrophic consequences.
Galileo was not designed to comply with ICAO's rules. After all, Europe already had the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which supplements the US Global Positioning System (GPS). The system permits accuracy to within 1.5 meters and since 2011 was declared compliant for Safety-of-Life operations.
Considering Galileo is the European Commission's bid to free itself of dependence on GPS, using it for civil aviation had a certain inevitability. Augmentation by EGNOS would be required for take-off and landing.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/30/esa_galileo_aviation/
GOES
GOES-West - Sector view: Pacific Southwest
German / Germany
Spy Satellites
Two of the German Military's New Spy Satellites Appear To Have Failed In Orbit
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday July 03, 2024 03:00AM
Ars Technica's Eric Berger writes:
On the day before Christmas last year, a Falcon 9 rocket launched from California and put two spy satellites into low-Earth orbit for the armed forces of Germany, which are collectively called the Bundeswehr. Initially, the mission appeared successful. The German satellite manufacturer, OHB, declared that the two satellites were “safely in orbit.” The addition of the two SARah satellites completed a next-generation constellation of three reconnaissance satellites, the company said. However, six months later, the two satellites have yet to become operational. According to the German publication Der Spiegel, the antennas on the satellites cannot be unfolded. Engineers with OHB have tried to resolve the issue by resetting the flight software, performing maneuvers to vibrate or shake the antennas loose, and more to no avail. As a result, last week, German lawmakers were informed that the two new satellites will probably not go into operation as planned.
GPS
GPS: The Global Positioning System
A global public service brought to you by the U.S. government
CBS News: GPS III: How the Global Positioning System's next generation of satellites are being developed
GPS is going places
Here are five things you didn’t know the navigation system could do
By Alexandra Witze - 10.29.2019
You might think you’re an expert at navigating through city traffic, smartphone at your side. You might even hike with a GPS device to find your way through the backcountry. But you’d probably still be surprised at all the things that GPS — the global positioning system that underlies all of modern navigation — can do.
GPS consists of a constellation of satellites that send signals to Earth’s surface. A basic GPS receiver, like the one in your smartphone, determines where you are — to within about 1 to 10 meters — by measuring the arrival time of signals from four or more satellites. With fancier (and more expensive) GPS receivers, scientists can pinpoint their locations down to centimeters or even millimeters. Using that fine-grained information, along with new ways to analyze the signals, researchers are discovering that GPS can tell them far more about the planet than they originally thought it could.
https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2019/gps-going-places
GPS Vulnerabilities
Bruce Schneier - February 22, 2021 at 6:17 AM
Really good op-ed in the New York Times about how vulnerable the GPS system is to interference, spoofing, and jamming — and potential alternatives.
The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act included funding for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Transportation to jointly conduct demonstrations of various alternatives to GPS, which were concluded last March. Eleven potential systems were tested, including eLoran, a low-frequency, high-power timing and navigation system transmitted from terrestrial towers at Coast Guard facilities throughout the United States.
“China, Russia, Iran, South Korea and Saudi Arabia all have eLoran systems because they don’t want to be as vulnerable as we are to disruptions of signals from space,” said Dana Goward, the president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the implementation of an eLoran backup for GPS.
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/02/gps-vulnerabilities.html
GPS Only Exists Because Of Two People: Albert Einstein And Gladys West
Ethan Siegel Senior Contributor - Feb 18, 2021,02:00am EST
Over the span of a single lifetime, the world has changed in ways that would have been virtually unimaginable in the first half of the 20th century. Two major breakthroughs that occurred in physics — relativity and quantum physics — suddenly made a number of previously unthinkable endeavors possible. From modern electronics to computers, smart phones, the internet, brain imaging and more, everyday life in 2021 is vastly different from what it was back when many of us were first born.
One of those technologies that’s been revolutionary for our society is GPS: the Global Positioning System. From anywhere in the world, signals can be transmitted by a network of medium-Earth orbit satellites to wherever your location is, pinpointing your position to an accuracy of better than 1 meter (3 feet) more than 95% of the time. Devices with the latest (L5) receivers, released in 2018, are capable of reliably determining your location to within 30 centimeters (12 inches).
Satellite-navigation systems such as GPS are at risk of jamming
Alternatives are needed
May 6th 2021
THE PHRASE “critical infrastructure” conjures up solidly earthbound images: road and rail networks, water and sewage pipes, electricity grids, the internet, and so on. Such stuff is so wound into the warp and weft of life that it is simultaneously both essential and taken for granted. One piece of infrastructure which has become critical over recent decades, though, is anything but earthbound. This is the various constellations of satellites, the most familiar of which is probably America’s Global Positioning System (GPS), that orbit about 20,000km above Earth, broadcasting to the world precisely where they are and exactly what time it is.
Navigating without GPS is one thing – so let's jam it and see what happens to our warship
Meaconing, loss of position, and the Royal Navy's response
Gareth Corfield - Wed 22 Sep 2021 / 09:12 UTC
Learning to fix your position without GPS is one thing. Actively jamming it to induce a deliberate system failure aboard your own ship is quite something else, as we found on Monday.
The Register is currently embedded aboard HMS Severn, the Royal Navy's navigation training ship. Yesterday afternoon we witnessed the practical effects of jamming GPS.
These were much less than the apocalyptic effects some excitable parts of the media would have you believe. A couple of alarms went off, Severn's bridge crew cancelled them, and everyone continued as normal.
“If you lose GPS,” said Commander Philip Harper, “it's not like you lose your position straightaway. It's likely to inject some velocities as it goes.”
https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/22/hms_severn_gps_navigation_training/
What Is GPS Spoofing? How to Guard Against GPS Attacks
By altering the satellite signals, GPS spoofing can force your device to report its location falsely.
By Kinza Yasar - 23 September 2021
GPS technology is part and parcel of our modern lives and most people cannot imagine traveling without it. Every time we type a location into our phones, we expect the GPS to identify the quickest route to our destination.
Unfortunately, this does not always happen as GPS signals are also vulnerable to cyberattacks and signal alterations due to a practice known as GPS spoofing.
So what is GPS spoofing? How does it take place and why? And can you protect against it?
https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-gps-spoofing-how-to-guard-against-gps-attacks-/
SpaceX Satellite Signals Used Like GPS To Pinpoint Location On Earth
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday September 28, 2021 12:00AM
schwit1 shares a report from GPS Daily:
Engineering researchers have developed a method to use signals broadcast by Starlink internet service satellites to accurately locate a position here on Earth, much like GPS does. It is the first time the Starlink system has been harnessed by researchers outside SpaceX for navigation. The researchers used signals from six Starlink satellites to pinpoint a location on Earth within 8 meters of accuracy. The researchers did not need assistance from SpaceX to use the satellite signals, and they emphasized that they had no access to the actual data being sent through the satellites – only to information related to the satellite's location and movement.
Researchers use Starlink satellites to pinpoint location, similar to GPS
Researchers track 6 satellites to get location with accuracy of 8 meters.
Jon Brodkin - 9/27/2021, 1:25 PM
Signals from SpaceX Starlink broadband satellites can be used to pinpoint locations on Earth to within 8 meters of accuracy, engineering researchers reported in a new peer-reviewed paper. Their report is part of a growing body of research into using signals from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites for navigation, similar to how GPS works.
This technology won't replace your smartphone's map application any time soon, and this initial experiment apparently required 13 minutes of tracking six Starlink satellites to pinpoint a location on Earth. But researchers were able to achieve the locational feat without any help from SpaceX, and they say the test proves the method could be used for navigation.
“The researchers did not need assistance from SpaceX to use the satellite signals, and they emphasized that they had no access to the actual data being sent through the satellites—only to information related to the satellite's location and movement,” an Ohio State News article said.
US Flight Traffic Controllers Complain Military Tests Interfered with GPS Signals
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday October 09, 2021 @12:34PM
IEEE Spectrum reports that air traffic controllers for America's Federal Aviation Administration “were confused and frustrated by an increase in military tests that interfered with GPS signals for civilian aircraft, public records show.”
The incidents happened for controllers supervising flights over Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to their report (shared by Slashdot reader schwit1):
In March and April this year, flight controllers at the Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center filed reports on NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), a forum where aviation professionals can anonymously share near misses and safety tips. The complaints accused the FAA of denying controllers permission to ask the military to cut short GPS tests adversely affecting commercial and private aircraft. These so-called “stop buzzer” (or “cease buzzer”) requests are supposed to be made by pilots only when a safety-of-flight issue is encountered. “Aircraft are greatly affected by the GPS jamming and it's not taken seriously by management,” reads one report. “We've been told we can't ask to stop jamming, and to just put everyone on headings.”
FAA Fumbled Its Response To a Surge in GPS Jamming
Confusion over stopping military tests had flight controllers fuming
Mark Harris - 07 Oct 2021
FAA air traffic controllers supervising flights over Arizona, New Mexico and Texas were confused and frustrated by an increase in military tests that interfered with GPS signals for civilian aircraft, public records show.
In March and April this year, flight controllers at the Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center filed reports on NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), a forum where aviation professionals can anonymously share near misses and safety tips.
The complaints accused the FAA of denying controllers permission to ask the military to cut short GPS tests adversely affecting commercial and private aircraft. These so-called “stop buzzer” (or “cease buzzer”) requests are supposed to be made by pilots only when a safety-of-flight issue is encountered.
The Navy is testing a GPS-like device that doesn’t require satellites
“The future is extremely bright for this line of research.“
By David Roza - Nov 24, 2021 5:59 PM
The Navy is researching a new technology that could help sailors and Marines navigate in places where the Global Positioning System just doesn’t work.
Unlike GPS signals, cosmic ray muons are a natural source of radiation that can pass through rock, buildings and earth and can be used at high latitudes north of the Arctic Circle, where GPS satellites do not work well due to their orbital constraints, the Office of Naval Research wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-muon-navigation-arctic-circle/
GPS
Bartosz Ciechanowski - January 18, 2022
Global Positioning System is, without a doubt, one of the most useful inventions of the late 20th century. It made it significantly easier for ships, airplanes, cars, and hikers to figure out where they are with high degree of accuracy.
One of the most exciting aspects of this system are the satellites surrounding Earth. Here’s a current constellation of active satellites, you can drag the view around to see it from different angles:
Russia Is Jamming GPS Satellite Signals In Ukraine, US Space Force Says
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday April 14, 2022 06:00AM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Space.com:
Another piece of space infrastructure for Ukraine is under attack, according to an NBC report. Jammers from Russian forces besieging the country are targeting global positioning system (GPS) satellite signals that are used for navigation, mapping and other purposes, the report said, quoting the U.S. Space Force. “Ukraine may not be able to use GPS because there are jammers around that prevent them from receiving any usable signal,” Gen. David Thompson, the Space Force's vice chief of space operations, told NBC Nightly News Monday (April 11). “Certainly the Russians understand the value and importance of GPS and try to prevent others from using it,” Thompson added. He noted that Russia has not directly attacked any satellites in orbit, but the Space Force is keeping an eye out for such possibilities.
Rethinking GPS: Engineering Next-Gen Location at Uber
April 19, 2018 / Global
Location and navigation using global positioning systems (GPS) is deeply embedded in our daily lives, and is particularly crucial to Uber’s services. To orchestrate quick, efficient pickups, our GPS technologies need to know the locations of matched riders and drivers, as well as provide navigation guidance from a driver’s current location to where the rider needs to be picked up, and then, to the rider’s chosen destination. For this process to work seamlessly, the location estimates for riders and drivers need to be as precise as possible.
Since the (literal!) launch of GPS in 1973, we have advanced our understanding of the world, experienced exponential growth in the computational power available to us, and developed powerful algorithms to model uncertainty from fields like robotics. While our lives have become increasingly dependent on GPS, the fundamentals of how GPS works have not changed that much, which leads to significant performance limitations. In our opinion, it is time to rethink some of the starting assumptions that were true in 1973 regarding where and how we use GPS, as well as the computational power and additional information we can bring to bear to improve it.
GPS Does Not Allow For Leap Seconds
The following are based on your PC clock:
Local time is the date/time reported by your PC (as seen by your web browser). If your PC clock is accurate to a second then the other time scales displayed above will also be accurate to within one second. UTC, Coordinated Universal Time, popularly known as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), or Zulu time. Local time differs from UTC by the number of hours of your timezone. GPS, Global Positioning System time, is the atomic time scale implemented by the atomic clocks in the GPS ground control stations and the GPS satellites themselves. GPS time was zero at 0h 6-Jan-1980 and since it is not perturbed by leap seconds GPS is now ahead of UTC by 18 seconds. Loran-C, Long Range Navigation time, is an atomic time scale implemented by the atomic clocks in Loran-C chain transmitter sites. Loran time was zero at 0h 1-Jan-1958 and since it is not perturbed by leap seconds it is now ahead of UTC by 27 seconds. TAI, Temps Atomique International, is the international atomic time scale based on a continuous counting of the SI second. TAI is currently ahead of UTC by 37 seconds. TAI is always ahead of GPS by 19 seconds.
The Galmon GNSS Monitoring Project
Posted on Jan 08 2020
Welcome to the Galmon project!
Our goals are to monitor the major Global Navigation Satellite Systems, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou, but also Space Base Augmentation Systems like WAAS, EGNOS and GAGAN.
Galmon is an open source & open data project with a community of over 30 station operators running more than 50 receivers. Some history of the project may be found in the second part of this blog post, and on this page on the big Galileo 2019 outage.
Satellite Status
Why is GPS free?
2 June 2023 - zakelijke
As far as I can remember, I never needed a paid data bundle to use GPS on my phone and old car navigation devices didn't require a subscription to get a good GPS signal. This seems odd to me since a lot of money had to be spent on sattelites when GPS was created. Why did the creators of GPS decide not to charge any money for it?
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/13y7ee7/why_is_gps_free/
GPS Needs To Toughen Up, Or Get Trampled Down
Fred George - May 13, 2025
GPS is under siege from hostile forces. In 2024, there were as many as 700 daily GPS jamming and spoofing incidents, according to an analysis of ADS-B reports by Switzerland’s Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The Swiss institution recorded 41,000 GPS spoofing events from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15 last year.
One of the deadliest GPS L1 civil signal interference events occurred on Dec. 25. On that date, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer 190, was lured off course while enroute from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia. When it strayed, Russia fired a surface-to-air missile at the airliner. The exploding warhead riddled the aircraft’s hydraulic system with shrapnel, crippling the jet.
The pilots struggled to maintain control of the doomed airliner, but were forced to crash-land at Aktau, Kazakhstan, resulting in the deaths of 38 of the 67 people onboard.
While that episode occurred near the Russian-Ukrainian war zone, ZHAW also reports GPS jamming and spoofing hot spots in Finland, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has recorded an increase in GPS signal interference jamming and spoofing in North America, particularly in the continental U.S., along with most of Western Europe.
There also have been isolated incidents in Africa, Australia and the Pacific Rim nations. GPS signal interference even has been detected over the North Atlantic, according to Dana Goward of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. Signal interference has been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea, according to DOT.
Alternative
Inside the race to find GPS alternatives
Startup Xona Space Systems hopes to provide an unspoofable alternative to increasingly threatened GPS.
Tereza Pultarova - June 6, 2025
Later this month, an inconspicuous 150-kilogram satellite is set to launch into space aboard the SpaceX Transporter 14 mission. Once in orbit, it will test super-accurate next-generation satnav technology designed to make up for the shortcomings of the US Global Positioning System (GPS).
The satellite is the first of a planned constellation called Pulsar, which is being developed by California-based Xona Space Systems. The company ultimately plans to have a constellation of 258 satellites in low Earth orbit. Although these satellites will operate much like those used to create GPS, they will orbit about 12,000 miles closer to Earth’s surface, beaming down a much stronger signal that’s more accurate—and harder to jam.
“Just because of this shorter distance, we will put down signals that will be approximately a hundred times stronger than the GPS signal,” says Tyler Reid, chief technology officer and cofounder of Xona. “That means the reach of jammers will be much smaller against our system, but we will also be able to reach deeper into indoor locations, penetrating through multiple walls.”
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/06/1117978/inside-the-race-to-find-gps-alternatives/
Antenna
How Do Satellites Communicate with a GPS System? A Look at the GPS Antenna
July 25, 2018 - Marie Christiano
Antennas provide the wireless linkage required for any satellite-based system. Here's a look at the many antennas of GPS.
Antennas provide the wireless linkage required for any satellite-based system. Here's a look at the many antennas of GPS.
Antennas are the links of GPS.
In this article, we'll go over the three segments of a working GPS antenna:
- The space segment transmits position, navigation and timing (PNT) signals, as well as satellite status.
- The control segment handles the telemetry, tracking and control (TTC) signals needed for corrections.
- The user segment receives the PNT signals and provides the GPS data we've come to rely on.
In addition, there's control of the satellite constellation itself, providing uninterrupted, continuous GPS coverage.
Let's get started.
European GPS
Europe Reluctantly Chooses SpaceX to Launch Its GPS Satellites
Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to undertake its first launch of European satellites equipped with classified technology, specifically for the Galileo system.
Maxwell Zeff - 23 October 2023
SpaceX has reached a deal to launch four Galileo satellites next year in coordination with the European Space Agency, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Two launches on Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rockets will add to the 28 satellites currently orbiting Earth in Europe’s global navigation system.
The deal still must reach a final approval by the European Union’s executive branch, which is likely to happen before the end of 2025. A spokesperson for the European Commission told the WSJ they are “taking all necessary steps to ensure that the Galileo constellation continues to provide outstanding services in the coming months and years.”
https://gizmodo.com/europe-spacex-contract-launch-galileo-gps-satellites-1850949500
Interference
Aviation Sector Sees No Fast Tech Solution To GPS Interference Problem
Posted by msmash on Friday January 26, 2024 12:01PM
Global regulators, aviation security specialists and manufacturers failed to reach an agreement on a quick technical fix to the problem of GPS spoofing near war zones, instead calling for better training of pilots to deal with the issue, Reuters reports, citing sources briefed on the talks. From the report:
Airlines have been urging quick action after a series of incidents where navigation systems were disrupted to show a false location or wrong time, though aircraft flight controls remained intact. Spoofing might involve one country's military sending false Global Positioning System signals to an enemy plane or drone to hinder its ability to function, which has a collateral effect on nearby airliners.
GPS Interference Now a Major Flight Safety Concern For Airline Industry
Posted by BeauHD on Monday January 29, 2024 04:02PM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register:
Europe's aviation safety body is working with the airline industry to counter a danger posed by interference with GPS signals – now seen as a growing threat to the safety of air travel. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a recent workshop on incidents where people spoofed and jammed satellite navigation systems, and concluded these pose a “significant challenge” to safety. Mitigating the risks posed by such actions will require measures to be enacted in the short term as well as medium and long term timescales, the two bodies said. They want to start by sharing information about the incidents and any potential remedies.
GPS interference now a major flight safety concern for airline industry
You're wrong to think that jammin' was a thing of the past
Dan Robinson - Mon 29 Jan 2024 13:26 UTC
Europe's aviation safety body is working with the airline industry to counter a danger posed by interference with GPS signals - now seen as a growing threat to the safety of air travel.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a recent workshop on incidents where people spoofed and jammed satellite navigation systems, and concluded these pose a “significant challenge” to safety.
Mitigating the risks posed by such actions will require measures to be enacted in the short term as well as medium and long term timescales, the two bodies said. They want to start by sharing information about the incidents and any potential remedies.
In Europe, this information sharing will occur through the European Occurrence Reporting scheme and EASA's Data4Safety program. Given the global nature of the problem, a broader solution would be better, but this would have to be pursued at a later date, EASA said.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/29/satellite_navigation_jamming_now_a/
Why GPS Fails In Cities. And What Researchers Think Could Fix It
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday October 12, 2025 07:40PM
ScienceDaily reports:
Our everyday GPS struggles in “urban canyons,” where skyscrapers bounce satellite signals, confusing even advanced navigation systems. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) scientists created SmartNav, combining satellite corrections, wave analysis, and Google's 3D building data for remarkable precision. Their method achieved accuracy within 10 centimeters during testing [90% of the time]. The breakthrough could make reliable urban navigation accessible and affordable worldwide…
“Cities are brutal for satellite navigation,” explained Ardeshir Mohamadi. Mohamadi, a doctoral fellow at NTNU, is researching how to make affordable GPS receivers (like those found in smartphones and fitness watches) much more precise without depending on expensive external correction services.
Jamming
GPS Signals Are Being Disrupted in Russian Cities
Posted by msmash on Thursday December 15, 2022 10:00AM
Jamming and spoofing attacks can cripple GPS connections entirely or make something appear in the wrong location, causing disruption and safety issues. Just ask Russia. From a report:
New data analysis reveals that multiple major Russian cities appear to have faced widespread GPS disruption during the past week. The signal interference follows Ukraine launching long-range drone attacks deep into Russian territory, and it may act as a way to potentially stop drones that rely upon GPS for navigation, experts say. The GPS interference has “expanded on a scale that hasn't been seen before,” says Erik Kannike, a program manager at Estonian defense intelligence firm SensusQ who has been monitoring the situation. “What we're seeing now, since about a week ago, is GPS jamming bubbles covering hundreds if not thousands of kilometers around tactical cities.”
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/12/15/1750229/gps-signals-are-being-disrupted-in-russian-cities
Map
Map centered on Black Sea area of Europe
https://gpsjam.org/?lat=45.00000&lon=35.00000&z=3.0
You can also have a date on the line
https://gpsjam.org/?lat=45.00000&lon=35.00000&z=3.0&date=2023-10-10
The Dangerous Rise of GPS Attacks
Thousands of planes and ships are facing GPS jamming and spoofing. Experts warn these attacks could potentially impact critical infrastructure, communication networks, and more.
Matt Burgess - Apr 30, 2024 1:16 PM
The disruption to GPS services started getting worse on Christmas Day. Planes and ships moving around southern Sweden and Poland lost connectivity as their radio signals were interfered with. Since then, the region around the Baltic Sea—including neighboring Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—has faced persistent attacks against GPS systems.
Tens of thousands of planes flying in the region have reported problems with their navigation systems in recent months amid widespread jamming attacks, which can make GPS inoperable. As the attacks have grown, Russia has increasingly been blamed, with open source researchers tracking the source to Russian regions such as Kaliningrad. In one instance, signals were disrupted for 47 hours continuously. On Monday, marking one of the most serious incidents yet, airline Finnair canceled its flights to Tartu, Estonia, for a month, after GPS interference forced two of its planes to abort landings at the airport and turn around.
The jamming in the Baltic region, which was first spotted in early 2022, is just the tip of the iceberg. In recent years, there has been a rapid uptick in attacks against GPS signals and wider satellite navigation systems, known as GNSS, including those of Europe, China, and Russia. The attacks can jam signals, essentially forcing them offline, or spoof the signals, making aircraft and ships appear at false locations on maps. Beyond the Baltics, war zone areas around Ukraine and the Middle East have also seen sharp rises in GPS disruptions, including signal blocking
https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangerous-rise-of-gps-attacks/
GPS Jamming Is Screwing With Norwegian Planes
Posted by msmash on Friday October 18, 2024 09:50AM
An anonymous reader shares a report:
From the ground, northeastern Norway might look like fjord country, peppered with neat red houses and dissected by snowmobile tours through the winter. But for pilots flying above, the region has become a danger zone for GPS jamming. The jamming in the region of Finnmark is so constant, Norwegian authorities decided last month they would no longer log when and where it happens – accepting these disturbance signals as the new normal.
Nicolai Gerrard, senior engineer at NKOM, the country's communications authority, says his organization no longer counts the jamming incidents. “It has unfortunately developed into an unwanted normal situation that should not be there. Therefore, the [Norwegian authority in charge of the airports] are not interested in continuous updates on something that is happening all the time.” Pilots meanwhile, still have to adapt, usually when they are above 6,000 feet in the air. “We experience this almost every day,” says Odd Thomassen, a captain and senior safety adviser at the Norwegian airline Wideroe. He claims jamming typically lasts between six and eight minutes at a time.
https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/10/18/1650237/gps-jamming-is-screwing-with-norwegian-planes
EU To Boost Satellite Defences Against GPS Jamming, Defence Commissioner Says
Posted by msmash on Monday September 01, 2025 12:15PM
An anonymous reader shares a report:
The European Union will deploy additional satellites in low Earth orbit to strengthen resilience against GPS interferences and will improve capabilities to detect it, EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said on Monday. His remarks followed an incident on Sunday in which the GPS system aboard European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's aircraft was jammed en route to Bulgaria. Bulgarian authorities suspect the jamming was due to due to interference by Russia, an EU spokesperson said.
Modernization / Upgrade
Pentagon has little to show for two decades of GPS modernization work
Not even the venerable expertise of the US Space Force is enough to push progress
Brandon Vigliarolo - Tue 10 Sep 2024 18:30 UTC
Despite more than two decades of work, the US military's GPS modernization efforts are still so muddled that uninterrupted operation of a secure network of GPS satellites could be at risk.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report yesterday filled with phrases like “multiple delays” and “significant development challenges” to describe the Space Force-led effort to transition to military-code GPS. Also known as M-Code, the tech can be encrypted and is resistant to jamming and spoofing.
Adoption of M-Code GPS requires new equipment in three places: space, ground control, and user equipment. The Space Force has been working on all three, and 24 of the 31 satellites in the GPS constellation are now M-Code capable, but there's little hardware on the ground able to make use of the enhanced signals.
“GAO has reported on challenges DoD experienced developing these systems since 2009 and made many recommendations to improve those efforts,” the report stated, noting that eight of nine recommendations made since 2022 had been met. The Space Force took responsibility for the DoD's GPS modernization efforts in August 2021, and the report doesn't mention recommendations made prior.
“GAO has issued many recommendations to DoD regarding GPS Modernization in the past reports which DoD is in the process of implementing, but results could take time,” GAO Director of contracting and national security acquisitions Jon Ludwigson told The Register.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/10/gps_modernization_us_gao/
Spoofing
400% increase in GPS Spoofing; Workgroup established
17 July, 2024
Troubling data shows a significant spike in GPS Spoofing over the last few months, with an increasing impact on flight safety.
The number of flights affected has risen from an average of 200 daily in the period January-March, to around 900 daily for the second quarter of 2024. On some days, as many as 1350 flights have encountered spoofing. Flight crews also report that the intensity of the spoofing is increasing.
At the same time, the number of locations where spoofing is highly active has increased from three to more than ten. At the outbreak of the new spoofing phenomenon in September 2023, spoofing was encountered in northern Iraq (near Baghdad), Egypt (near Cairo), and Israel. Since then, the Black Sea, Cyprus, the Korean border, and Russia have become spoofing hotspots.
https://ops.group/blog/400-increase-in-gps-spoofing-workgroup-established/
Hacking Satellites
Nyan Sat - Satellite Communications Challenge
We'll be guiding you through a crash course on satellites - their history, where in (well, around) the world they are, and how they send and receive data. Accompanying this guide (though not strictly required for it) is a set of equipment we've used ourselves to get everything going.
If you have the means, we recommend buying the equipment yourself. If you don't, we've put together a kit that we'll send to you for a very reasonable price, though supplies are limited. The list of parts is below, or you can click here to request a kit. We also have stickers and T-shirts here. If you don't want a kit right now, you can continue on to the next section.
How did you spend your time at university? Pizza, booze, sleeping? This Oxford student is snooping on satellites
Bug-hunter details how his team slurped data… IN SPAAAAACE
Fri 7 Aug 2020 / 22:01 UTC - Shaun Nichols
DEF CON FYI, if you didn't already know: readily available satellite TV electronics can be used to sniff and inspect satellite internet traffic.
That's according to a team lead by University of Oxford PhD student (and occasional GDPR exploiter) James Pavur, who presented his crew's findings on the matter at this year's remote edition of the DEF CON hacking conference. See below for the presentation in full.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/07/defcon_satellite_hacking/
DIY Satellite Ground Station
by sashae with sophied | June 26, 2020 17:12 26 Jun 17:12
Guide for the reception of NOAA satellite images using software defined radio on Windows or MacOS
We document here only a few ways to receive an Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) from active National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. Other software and hardware setups are possible! Importantly, the guide is limited to Windows and MacOS. Please get in touch if you would like to contribute instructions for Linux or another operating system.
https://publiclab.org/notes/sashae/06-26-2020/diy-satellite-ground-station
Researchers used a decommissioned satellite to broadcast hacker TV
What happens when an old satellite is no longer in use but can still broadcast?
Lily Hay Newman, wired.com - 3/31/2022, 8:56 AM
Independent researchers and the United States military have become increasingly focused on orbiting satellites' potential security vulnerabilities in recent years. These devices, which are built primarily with durability, reliability, and longevity in mind, were largely never intended to be ultra-secure. But at the ShmooCon security conference in Washington, DC, on Friday, embedded device security researcher Karl Koscher raised questions about a different phase of a satellite's life cycle: What happens when an old satellite is being decommissioned and transitioning to a “graveyard orbit”?
Koscher and his colleagues received permission last year to access and broadcast from a Canadian satellite known as Anik F1R, launched to support Canadian broadcasters in 2005 and designed for 15 years of use. The satellite's coverage extends below the US southern border and out to Hawaii and the easternmost part of Russia. The satellite will move to its graveyard orbit soon, and nearly all other services that use it have already migrated to a new satellite. But while the researchers could still talk to the satellite using special access to an uplink license and transponder slot lease, Koscher had the opportunity to take over and broadcast to the Northern Hemisphere.
“My favorite thing was actually seeing it work!” Koscher tells WIRED. “It's kind of unreal to go from making a video stream to having it broadcast across all of North America.”
Hackers Take Control of Government-Owned Satellite in Alarming Experiment
Researchers said they could access an imaging satellite’s control interface, letting them manipulate its systems and introduce malicious code.
Kyle Barr - 27 April 2023
Just how vulnerable are the thousands of government-operated satellites speeding along their orbits above our heads? A team of researchers proved they could hack into a European Space Agency-owned satellite, allowing them to take full control of its communication, imaging—and even its maneuverability systems.
The intrusion was a controlled hack as part of ESA’s ongoing CYSAT conference. According to a Tuesday release, a cybersecurity team from the multinational tech company Thales took up ESA’s Hack CYSAT challenge and found a way to seize control of an OPS-SAT nanosatellite originally sent up into low Earth orbit back in 2019. The intrusion allowed the hackers access to the satellite’s global positioning system, attitude control system, and even its onboard camera.
https://gizmodo.com/hackers-control-government-owned-satellite-test-esa-1850383452
Eight Teams of Hackers Will Compete To Breach U.S. Satellite In Space
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday June 24, 2023 12:00AM
In August, white-hat hackers at the DEFCON hacker convention will compete to try and breach the computer systems on a satellite in orbit. It took four years, but “this year, we are in space for real,” said Steve Colenzo, Technology Transfer Lead for the Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate in Rome, New York, and one of the contest organizers. From a report:
Hack-A-Sat 4, taking place live at DEFCON Aug. 10-13 in Las Vegas, will be the first-ever hacking contest staged on a vehicle in orbit. In previous years, the contests used genuine working satellite hardware, but running safely on the ground. […] Hack-A-Sat 4 is an attack/defend contest in which teams compete to hack each other's systems while defending their own. It is being staged by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Space Force. More than 380 teams signed up for the qualification round in April, and the eight top-scoring ones, which include contestants from Australia, Germany, Italy and Poland, as well as the U.S., will participate in the finals at DEFCON.
Want to pwn a satellite? Turns out it's surprisingly easy
PhD student admits he probably shouldn't have given this talk
Iain Thomson - Fri 11 Aug 2023 13:01 UTC
A study into the feasibility of hacking low-Earth orbit satellites has revealed that it's worryingly easy to do.
In a presentation at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Johannes Willbold, a PhD student at Germany's Ruhr University Bochum, explained he had been investigating the security of satellites. He studied three types of orbital machinery and found that many were utterly defenseless against remote takeover because they lack the most basic security systems.
“People think that satellites are secure,” he said. “Those are expensive assets and they should have encryption and authentication. I assume that criminals think the same and they are too hard to target and you need to be some kind of cryptography genius. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to give this talk.”
Satellite operators have been lucky so far. The prevailing wisdom is that hacking this kit would be prohibitively expensive due to the high cost of ground stations that communicate with the orbital birds, and that such hardware benefited from security by obscurity – that getting hold of the details of the firmware would be too difficult. Neither is true, the research indicates.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/11/satellite_hacking_black_hat/
These 3 teams just hacked a US Air Force satellite in space ... and won big cash prizes
The issue of satellite cybersecurity has taken center stage in recent years.
Brett Tingley - 16 August 2023
The U.S. Air Force has announced the winners of its first-of-its-kind satellite hacking contest.
This year's Hack-A-Sat competition tasked teams with hacking into an actual satellite on orbit. This was the first year that the competition tasked teams with hacking an actual live satellite zooming above Earth; previous years used simulated satellites on the ground.
The small cubesat, known as Moonlighter, was developed by the Aerospace Corporation and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and launched on June 5, 2023 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with a cargo payload for the International Space Station.
Five teams competed in the Hack-A-Sat competition from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14 as part of the annual DEF CON hacking convention in Las Vegas. The winning team this year was “mHACKeroni,” a group consisting of members of five Italian cyber research teams. The first place prize was $50,000. In second place, winning $30,000, was the Polish cyber research team “Poland Can Into Space.” And in third place, the joint British-American team “jmp fs:[rcx]” won $20,000.
https://www.space.com/satellite-hacking-hack-a-sat-competition-winners
Russian Satellites
Russian military satellite comms provider offline after hack
ALSO: Ransomware hit on Mancunian Uni spills NHS patient deets, USPTO leaks inventor info, and this week's crit vulns
Brandon Vigliarolo - Mon 3 Jul 2023 05:24 UTC
A Russian satellite communication provider has been knocked offline by hackers, and more than one party – including hackers who say they're associated with mutinous mercenary outfit Wagner Group – has claimed responsibility.
Multiple news sources have reported that Dozor-Teleport – which counts among its customers Russian energy companies and the country's military – was knocked offline on early Thursday morning, Moscow time. It appeared to still be down as of late Friday night in the Russian capital.
Amtel Svyaz, Dozor's parent company and itself a satellite service provider, also experienced outages not long before Dozor was hit.
Cosmos 2553
Russian Satellite Linked to Its Nuclear Anti-Satellite Weapon Program Appears Out of Control, Analyst says
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday April 27, 2025 02:59PM
An anonymous reader shared this report from Reuters:
The secretive Russian satellite in space that U.S. officials believe is connected to a nuclear anti-satellite weapon program has appeared to be spinning uncontrollably, suggesting it may no longer be functioning in what could be a setback for Moscow's space weapon efforts, according to U.S. analysts… [The Cosmos 2553 satellite launched in 2022] has had various bouts of what appears to be errant spinning over the past year, according to Doppler radar data from space-tracking firm LeoLabs and optical data from Slingshot Aerospace shared with Reuters.
Believed to be a radar satellite for Russian intelligence as well as a radiation testing platform, the satellite last year became the center of U.S. allegations that Russia for years has been developing a nuclear weapon capable of destroying entire satellite networks, such as SpaceX's vast Starlink internet system that Ukrainian troops have been using. U.S. officials assess Cosmos 2553's purpose, though not itself a weapon, is to aid Russia's development of a nuclear anti-satellite weapon. Russia has denied it is developing such a weapon and says Cosmos 2553 is for research purposes….
“This observation strongly suggests the satellite is no longer operational,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said of LeoLabs' analysis in its annual Space Threat Assessment published on Friday.
Cosmos 2588
New Russian Satellite Appears to Be Stalking U.S. Satellite in Orbit
The latest incident raises concern that Russia is developing anti-satellite weapons.
Passant Rabie - June 4, 2025
A recently launched Russian satellite is getting uncomfortably cozy with a U.S. reconnaissance satellite, leading Space Command to worry that it’s part of an anti-satellite weapon being deployed to orbit.
Cosmos 2588 launched on May 23 to a near-circular orbit, placing it eerily close to a U.S. reconnaissance satellite, USA 338. The move prompted suspicion that it’s an attempt by Russia to deliberately stalk the U.S. government satellite. This isn’t the first time Russia has deployed a sneaky satellite to trail behind and allegedly observe another satellite in orbit, but this time it may be connected to Russia’s controversial anti-satellite program.
“U.S. Space Command can confirm Russia’s recent launch put a Russian satellite into an orbit near a U.S. government satellite,” a Space Command spokesperson is quoted as saying to Breaking Defense. “Russia continues to research, develop, test, and deploy a suite of counter space systems that threaten the safety and the stability of the domain, so consistent with all on-orbit objects, USSPACECOM will continue to monitor for concerning behavior or activity related to this launch.”
Slingshot Aerospace reports that the alleged spy satellite, Cosmos 2588, is a NIVELIR military inspection satellite likely carrying a kinetic weapon onboard. Its alignment with USA 338 “strongly suggests COSMOS 2588 may be actively monitoring or ‘chasing’ it,” the satellite tracking company wrote in a statement.
https://gizmodo.com/russias-new-satellite-appears-to-be-stalking-u-s-satellite-in-orbit-2000611080
Kosmos 482
After 53 Years, a Failed Soviet Venus Spacecraft Is Crashing Back to Earth
The spacecraft suffered an engine anomaly that left it stuck in Earth's orbit for decades, and now it's slated for an uncontrolled reentry.
Passant Rabie - April 28, 2025
A 53-year-old Venus probe that failed to escape low Earth orbit is expected to make an uncontrolled reentry in the coming weeks. Built to withstand extreme heat, parts of the spacecraft could survive the descent and crash on Earth.
The lander module from an old Soviet spacecraft is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere during the second week of May, according to Marco Langbroek, a satellite tracker based in Leiden, the Netherlands. “As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact,” Langbroek wrote in a blog update. “The risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero.”
Kosmos 482 launched on March 31, 1972 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan. The mission was an attempt by the Soviet space program to reach Venus, but it failed to gain enough velocity to enter a transfer trajectory toward the scorching-hot planet. A malfunction resulted in an engine burn that wasn’t sufficient to reach Venus’ orbit and left the spacecraft in an elliptical Earth orbit, according to NASA. The spacecraft broke apart into four different pieces, with two of the smaller fragments reentering over Ashburton, New Zealand, two days after launch. Meanwhile, two remaining pieces, believed to be the payload and the detached upper-stage engine unit, entered a higher orbit measuring 130 by 6,089 miles (210 by 9,800 kilometers).
After 53 Years, a Failed Soviet Venus Spacecraft Is Crashing Back to Earth
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday April 30, 2025 12:00AM
Kosmos 482, a failed Soviet Venus probe, is expected to make an uncontrolled reentry in mid-May after orbiting Earth for 53 years. Gizmodo reports:
The lander module from an old Soviet spacecraft is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere during the second week of May, according to Marco Langbroek, a satellite tracker based in Leiden, the Netherlands. “As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact,” Langbroek wrote in a blog update. “The risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero.”
Kosmos 482 launched on March 31, 1972 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan. The mission was an attempt by the Soviet space program to reach Venus, but it failed to gain enough velocity to enter a transfer trajectory toward the scorching-hot planet. A malfunction resulted in an engine burn that wasn't sufficient to reach Venus' orbit and left the spacecraft in an elliptical Earth orbit, according to NASA. The spacecraft broke apart into four different pieces, with two of the smaller fragments reentering over Ashburton, New Zealand, two days after launch. Meanwhile, two remaining pieces, believed to be the payload and the detached upper-stage engine unit, entered a higher orbit measuring 130 by 6,089 miles (210 by 9,800 kilometers).
Soviet probe from 1972 set to return to Earth ... in May 2025
Not, it's not the plot of a sci-fi disaster movie
Richard Speed - Sat 3 May 2025 11:27 UTC
A Soviet probe launched more than half a century ago is due to return to Earth in the next week or two, and there's every chance that the vehicle will make it all the way to our planet's surface. Venera-8 Descent Module
“You wouldn't want it bashing you on the head,” wrote astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the space junk set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. That is if, as seems likely, the object in question is indeed the entry capsule of a failed Soviet mission to Venus.
Specifically, that would make the object a key component of Kosmos 482, which launched in March 1972 from Baikonur on top of a Molniya rocket with the intention of getting to the harsh alien world. Just days earlier, a Soviet Venera-8 probe had blasted off, and its descent module ultimately made it to the surface of Venus and survived for 50 minutes. It's understood Kosmos 482 included a Venera-8-like descent module.
The usual mission profile of the time was to launch a spacecraft into a parking orbit around the Earth before firing up an engine to send the vehicle on a trajectory to Venus. Unfortunately, Kosmos 482 never made it out of Earth orbit, most likely due to a premature shutdown of the engine. As such, rather than receiving a Venera designation, the stranded spacecraft was given the name Kosmos 482, and the Soviet space program moved on.
While the space race ebbed and flowed, Kosmos 482 continued orbiting. According to McDowell, US tracking found three objects in the 206 x 9,800 km orbit, where the ill-fated mission ended up.
“One,” he wrote, “was labelled as Kosmos-482, one as the rocket stage, and one as debris. 'Kosmos-482' and the 'rocket stage' (1972-023A and B) had relatively rapid orbital decay and reentered in 1981 and 1983 respectively.
“The debris object, 1972-023E, came down more slowly.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/03/soviet_probe_from_1972_set/
53-Year-Old Soviet Spacecraft Will Plummet Back to Earth This Week
The spacecraft’s expected area of reentry spans vast regions on both sides of the equator, where it could potentially land in a single piece.
Passant Rabie - May 6, 2025
Kosmos 482 has been trapped in Earth’s orbit for 53 years but its wandering journey is coming to an end. The failed Venus mission is expected to reenter through the atmosphere in a dramatic fall toward its home planet, where it may remain intact or scatter its bits across a still unknown location on either side of the equator.
The Soviet-era spacecraft will plunge through Earth’s atmosphere sometime between May 8 to 12. As of now, the exact location of where Kosmos 482 will crash-land on Earth is still unknown, with a preliminary estimate that stretches across large parts of the world on either side of the equator. It’s also unclear whether the spacecraft will remain in one piece or if it will break apart during reentry, raining down bits of debris.
https://gizmodo.com/53-year-old-soviet-spacecraft-will-plummet-back-to-earth-this-week-2000598701
A Soviet-era spacecraft built to land on Venus is falling to Earth instead
Kosmos 482 is encased in a titanium heat shield, with a good chance of reaching the surface intact.
Stephen Clark – May 8, 2025 1:59 PM
Kosmos 482, a Soviet-era spacecraft shrouded in Cold War secrecy, will reenter the Earth's atmosphere in the next few days after misfiring on a journey to Venus more than 50 years ago.
On average, a piece of space junk the size of Kosmos 482, with a mass of about a half-ton, falls into the atmosphere about once per week. What's different this time is that Kosmos 482 was designed to land on Venus, with a titanium heat shield built to withstand scorching temperatures, and structures engineered to survive atmospheric pressures nearly 100 times higher than Earth's.
So, there's a good chance the spacecraft will survive the extreme forces it encounters during its plunge through the atmosphere. Typically, space debris breaks apart and burns up during reentry, with only a small fraction of material reaching the Earth's surface. The European Space Agency, one of several institutions that track space debris, says Kosmos 482 is “highly likely” to reach Earth's surface in one piece.
Uncontrolled Soviet Probe Crashes to Earth, Hitting Unknown Location
Kosmos 482 performed an uncontrolled reentry on May 10, possibly crashing into the Indian Ocean.
Passant Rabie - May 12, 2025
A failed Venus mission fell from the sky over the weekend after aimlessly orbiting Earth for the past 53 years. Various agencies closely monitored Kosmos 482’s reentry, but its exact landing site remains unknown due to conflicting reports.
Kosmos 482 performed an uncontrolled reentry on Saturday, May 10, plunging through Earth’s atmosphere around 2:24 a.m. ET, according to Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos. The Soviet-era spacecraft was built to withstand the scorching temperatures of Venus, so it’s likely that parts of it survived the heat of atmospheric reentry before crashing on Earth. So far, however, there have been no reports of visual observations of Kosmos’ descent nor has there been recovery of its debris from the ocean.
Roscosmos said that the Soviet-era spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, around 350 miles (560 kilometers) west of Middle Andaman Island. The European Space Agency (ESA) also monitored the probe’s descent, placing its reentry time at 2:16 a.m. ET. ESA failed to spot the spacecraft over Germany for an expected pass that was supposed to take place at 3:32 a.m. ET, and therefore stated that the reentry had most likely already occurred. The U.S. Space Force, on the other hand, places the spacecraft’s reentry between 1:20 a.m. and 1:44 a.m. ET.
After more than half a century, the voyage of Kosmos 482 is over
The Soviet Union aimed for Venus, but hit the Indian Ocean instead
Richard Speed - Tue 13 May 2025 11:32 UTC
The odyssey of the Soviet Union's failed attempt to reach Venus came to an end over the weekend with the probe either disintegrating during reentry or what remained of it splashing harmlessly into the ocean. Venera-8 Descent Module
The spacecraft, dubbed Kosmos 482, had orbited the Earth since it launched in March 1972. It followed the Soviet Venera 8 probe and would have most likely been Venera 9 if it weren't for a suspected engine failure that left the lander stranded in orbit around the Earth for more than half a century.
The rocket stage associated with the spacecraft and its main bus reentered Earth's atmosphere decades ago, but the lander remained in orbit until this weekend. Scientists were concerned that since the lander was designed to survive a reentry through the atmosphere of Venus, it might also make it through Earth's atmosphere relatively intact, with its near-500 kg mass impacting the surface at around 240 km/h.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/13/after_more_than_half_a/
Kosmos 482's Final Descent Captured in One Haunting Image
Michelle Starr - Thu, May 15, 2025 at 6:00 AM PDT
More than 50 years ago in the early 1960s, the Soviet space program embarked on a bold new undertaking to go where no human had gone before.
The Venera mission to explore Earth's nearest orbital neighbor, Venus, is to date the only mission to have successfully landed spacecraft on the deeply inhospitable planet. But, of the 29 probes dispatched on the Venera mission, only 16 landed on or orbited the nearby world.
Most of the remainder got temporarily stuck in Earth orbit, falling back to the surface in the same year they were launched.
One probe, renamed Kosmos 482, took a little more time to return. Launched in March 1972, it spent just over 53 years stuck looping through space before finally plunging through our atmosphere on 10 May 2025 in an uncontrolled reentry that captured the global imagination.
Now, images captured by a German radar station present what is likely to be the last time we'll ever see the failed probe.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/kosmos-482s-final-descent-captured-130043459.html
Hubble
30 years on, Hubble is still making dazzling discoveries
Steve Dent - 17 December 2020
Given that it was expected to last 10 years and considering all the early problems, it’s hard to believe the Hubble Space Telescope made it to 30. What’s more, it continues to be one of the most useful instruments in space, not just for doing science but essentially creating art, as well.
To celebrate that anniversary, NASA announced it has released 30 newly created Hubble images as part of the Caldwell catalog. That’s a collection of 109 famous astronomical bodies that can be seen by amateur astronomers on small telescopes, compiled by Patrick Moore and published by Sky & Telescope magazine in December 1995. That in turn was inspired by the Messier catalog, a collection of 110 objects that can also be spotted using amateur scopes. (Hubble has revisited 96 Messier images too, including the celebrated Pillars of Creation.)
https://www.engadget.com/30-years-on-hubble-is-still-making-dazzling-discoveries-143028587.html
A borked bit of code sent the Hubble Space Telescope into safe mode, revealing a bunch of other glitches
Writing to forbidden memory and not closing the door cause headaches for custodians of restored spacecraft
Richard Speed - Fri 12 Mar 2021 / 16:13 UTC
The Hubble Space Telescope resumed science operations this morning after a software error knocked the veteran spacecraft offline.
In what sounds for all the world like an on-orbit Blue Screen of Death, a software update uploaded to the spacecraft attempted to write to a location in computer memory to which it didn't have permission. The main flight computer took exception and sent the telescope into a safe mode on the morning of 7 March.
While engineers have recovered the spacecraft – after all, this is why “safe modes” exist – the problem has shown up other issues. Most seriously, the aperture door at the top of the spacecraft did not automatically close.
Hubble Space Telescope is back online after software glitch
By Meghan Bartels - 12 March 2021
The venerable Hubble Space Telescope is recovering from a glitch that halted its science operations over the weekend, according to NASA.
The telescope entered “safe mode” unexpectedly on Sunday morning (March 7), stalling the observatory's science observations due to an apparent software glitch. Science operations resumed late Thursday (March 11). While Hubble is partially back to work, NASA is still troubleshooting one instrument on the 30-year-old telescope, according to a statement released on Friday (Mar. 12).
https://www.space.com/hubble-space-telescope-recovers-from-glitch-march-2021
Hubble Space Telescope may now depend on a computer that hasn't booted since 2009
Perhaps instrument-halting failure is due to compute and interconnect hardware, not memory, after all
Katyanna Quach - Thu 24 Jun 2021 / 01:10 UTC
The Hubble Space Telescope may need to boot up a backup computer that's been dormant since 2009 to carry on operations.
Science work by the orbiting rig came to a halt on June 13 after the computer tasked with controlling the instruments stopped responding to the main computer, and its sensors were put into safe mode as a precaution. Attempts to restart the system as normal have been unsuccessful, leaving the telescope largely useless.
At first, NASA thought the issue was down to a memory module that had failed due to an accumulation of radiation damage, which was causing the instrumentation computer to lock up. Switching to a backup memory module didn't fix the problem. Now the agency says the memory errors may be a symptom of another fault, rather than the root cause, and it may be time to switch to a backup instrument computer.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/24/hubble_space_computer/
Hubble Trouble: NASA Can't Figure Out What's Causing Computer Issues On The Telescope
June 23, 20214:48 PM ET - Joe Hernandez
The storied space telescope that brought you stunning photos of the solar system and enriched our understanding of the cosmos over the past three decades is experiencing a technical glitch.
Scientists at NASA say the Hubble Space Telescope's payload computer, which operates the spacecraft's scientific instruments, went down suddenly on June 13. Without it, the instruments on board meant to snap pictures and collect data are not currently working.
Scientists have run a series of tests on the malfunctioning computer system but have yet to figure out what went wrong.
NASA still trying to identify what took Hubble offline
Space agency needs to know exactly what's wrong in order to switch to backup hardware.
John Timmer - 7/1/2021, 12:51 PM
On June 13, the Hubble Space Telescope took itself offline due to a fault in its payload computer, which manages the telescope's scientific instruments. Since then, NASA has been doing the sort of troubleshooting that's familiar to many of us—with the added pressure of the hardware being irreplaceable, in space, and about the same vintage as a Commodore 64.
So far, controllers have managed to figure out several things that are not at fault, based on attempted fixes that haven't worked. The workers have narrowed the problem down, but they haven't pinpointed it. And at this point, the next steps will depend on the precise nature of the problem, so getting a diagnosis is the top priority.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/nasa-still-trying-to-identify-whats-taken-hubble-offline/
NASA Identifies ‘Possible Cause’ of Hubble Glitch
Operations are now underway to restore a failing computer on the storied space telescope.
ByGeorge Dvorsky - 15 July 2021 10:50AM
The Hubble recovery team thinks it’s finally tracked down a problem that’s kept the space telescope out of commission for over a month.
The problem started on June 13, when an onboard computer suddenly ground to a halt. All science instruments on Hubble went into safe mode as a result, and it’s been that way ever since. The telescope is otherwise fine, but normal operations have been suspended.
The problem is with the payload computer, which controls and monitors Hubble’s science instruments. It’s the most serious glitch to afflict Hubble in years, raising concerns that the aging telescope might finally be finished. Launched in 1990, Hubble has conducted over 1.5 million observations and contributed significantly to our understanding of the solar system, galaxies, and the universe in general.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-identifies-possible-cause-of-hubble-glitch-1847298221
Hubble is back, thanks to backup hardware
Next up is getting the scientific instruments back out of safe mode.
John Timmer - 7/16/2021, 9:52 AM
NASA announced on Friday that it has switched to backup computing hardware on the Hubble Space Telescope, potentially ending over a month of uncertainty regarding the telescope's future. The success came just two days after the agency indicated that it had narrowed down the source of the original fault.
The iconic telescope has been offline since mid-June, when the payload computer started failing in attempts to write data to memory. This computer is responsible for both managing the scientific instruments and ensuring that the data they produce is sent back to Earth. While its failure didn't pose any dangers to the hardware itself, it left the telescope unable to perform any observations.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/nasa-successfully-switches-the-hubble-to-backup-hardware/
Hubble Space Telescope Is Back
NASA was finally able to bring the orbiting observatory back online after it spent a month in safe mode.
Isaac Schultz - 16 July 2021 9:44AM
NASA was able to bring Hubble Space Telescope’s backup payload computer online, according to a Twitter post from the telescope’s social media team. The announcement will bring a sigh of relief to space lovers, following a month of anxiety over whether the aging technology could be resuscitated at all after it slipped into a non-operational safety mode in mid-June.
Now 31 years old, Hubble is a senior citizen as far as space technology goes. Its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is slated to launch this fall after numerous delays. Hubble has jumped into safe mode numerous times before, most recently in March. But this sojourn went on for so long that it was starting to seem possible that the telescope had finally observed its last galaxy.
https://gizmodo.com/hubble-space-telescope-is-back-1847305715
Rebooted Hubble Telescope Wastes No Time, Captures Cool New Pics of Misfit Galaxies
Science operations resumed on July 17 after the orbiting observatory spent a month stuck in safe mode.
George Dvorsky - 20 July 2021 11:50AM
It was looking grim there for a while, but Hubble is back in business after a computer glitch kept the space telescope offline for over a month. With no time to waste, the 31-year-old observatory is already back at work, capturing vivid new images of oddball galaxies.
Unsavory billionaires blasting off into space are making us grouchy, so thank goodness for the Hubble Space Telescope. The storied observatory represents all that’s good about our ventures into space; to date, the telescope has taken more than 1.5 million observations of objects near and far, and its data has been cited in more than 18,000 scientific publications, according to NASA.
https://gizmodo.com/rebooted-hubble-telescope-wastes-no-time-captures-cool-1847327365
The Hubble Space Telescope Is in Safe Mode for the Third Time This Year
The telescope’s science instruments appear to be fine, but normal operations have been suspended.
George Dvorsky - 2 November 2021 11:15AM
The Hubble Space Telescope has entered into a protective safe mode, in what is now an upsettingly regular occurrence. Mission team members have yet to identify the source of the latest issue.
The problem began during the early hours of October 23, when error codes produced by Hubble’s science instruments pointed to the “loss of a specific synchronization message,” according to a NASA press release. These messages enable the instruments to accurately respond to data requests and commands. Mission team members performed the required reset, allowing operations to resume the following morning.
But at 2:38 a.m. EDT on October 25, the same thing happened again, but this time the science instruments churned out a batch of loss of synch messages. Hubble automatically went into safe mode as a result, and it’s been in this state ever since. Science operations are currently on hold, but the NASA team insists that Hubble’s instruments are “healthy” and that the space telescope will stay in safe mode for the duration of the investigation.
https://gizmodo.com/the-hubble-space-telescope-is-in-safe-mode-for-the-thir-1847981152
With Hubble Stuck in Safe Mode, NASA Tinkers With Its Storied Space Telescope
An instrument not used since 2010 was turned on in an attempt to source the problem.
George Dvorsky - 5 November 2021 11:54AM
Mission specialists continue to troubleshoot an issue with the Hubble Space Telescope that caused it to enter into a protective safe mode late last month.
Hubble automatically entered into safe mode on October 25 after a batch of synchronization messages got lost. NASA says the space telescope is otherwise fine and that Hubble’s science instruments remain healthy, but normal science operations had to cease as a result of the anomaly. Without these synch messages, Hubble’s instruments can’t accurately respond to data requests and commands. That’s obviously not ideal for a precision instrument that orbits Earth at speeds approaching 17,000 miles per hour (27,400 km/hr).
Mission team members are in full-on troubleshooting mode, as they attempt to source the problem on hardware responsible for commanding Hubble’s instruments, according to a NASA update. In particular, they’ve got their eyes on the Control Unit circuitry, which churns out the synchronization messages and communicates them to Hubble’s instruments.
https://gizmodo.com/with-hubble-stuck-in-safe-mode-nasa-tinkers-with-its-s-1848003880
NASA Has a New Plan to Wake Up the Hubble Space Telescope
Undeterred by the latest Hubble disruption, NASA has extended the space telescope's support contract to 2026.
George Dvorsky - 17 November 2021 4:29PM
Hubble Space Telescope, with all but one of its science instruments currently in safe mode, could soon be back in business, as mission team members prepare to roll out a recovery plan.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument is the only science tool currently working on Hubble. NASA revived this camera on November 7, and it’s been gathering scientific data ever since. This particular instrument was the first to be brought back from safe mode because it has the smallest potential of creating future complications should lost synchronization messages continue to occur, according to NASA.
Synchronization messages, which allow Hubble’s instruments to accurately respond to data requests and commands, have been pegged to this latest Hubble headache. The 31-year-old telescope is otherwise fine, but a flurry of missing synchronization messages caused its science instruments to automatically enter into safe mode on October 25. Team members have been searching for the root cause of the problem ever since, requiring NASA to suspend Hubble’s usual astronomical duties.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-has-a-new-plan-to-wake-up-the-hubble-space-telesco-1848077668
Hubble update: One camera back, more to come
Still uncertain of why it misbehaved, controllers are cautiously restoring service.
John Timmer - 11/18/2021, 3:27 PM
Earlier this month, NASA announced that the scientific instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope had been left in safe mode after a series of problems with the timing signals that coordinate their activity. While NASA is still uncertain about the cause of the problem, it has already returned one camera to operations and plans to bring a second online shortly.
Meanwhile, the agency is making plans for updates that would make all instruments less sensitive to failures of the timing signals. But, since it can't figure out the source of the problems, and the problem hasn't recurred recently, it's moving very cautiously.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11/hubble-update-one-camera-back-more-to-come/
The Morning After: The Hubble telescope wakes up from 'hibernation'
And real-life 'Rocket League'.
Mat Smith - December 8th, 2021
NASA's Hubble telescope has been in a month-long nap since going into system failure in late October. However, early yesterday, the agency announced it is waking Hubble up. NASA says the telescope is now functioning as normal, with all four active instruments collecting data.
On October 23rd, NASA first noticed Hubble's instruments weren't receiving messages from the telescope's control unit. NASA ended up putting the telescope into a sort of safe mode while it tried to figure out what happened. That safe mode takes a long time to come out of because of the sensitivity of Hubble's hardware. Rapid power or temperature changes aren't good for its lifespan. The telescope is now 31 years old — Hubble may be nearing the end of its useful life in space. NASA will use the telescope till the end, though, planning to use it in tandem with the Webb telescope, which is expected to finally launch on December 22nd.
NASA Returns Hubble to Full Science Operations
Dec 7, 2021 - NASA
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope team recovered the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on Monday, Dec. 6, and is now operating with all four active instruments collecting science. The team has still not detected any further synchronization message issues since monitoring began Nov. 1.
The team will continue work on developing and testing changes to instrument software that would allow them to conduct science operations even if they encounter several lost synchronization messages in the future. The first of these changes is scheduled to be installed on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph in mid-December. The other instruments will receive similar updates in the coming months.
Hubble has been operating now for over 31 years, collecting ground-breaking science observations that have changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. With the launch of the Webb Telescope planned for later this month, NASA expects the two observatories will work together well into this decade, expanding our knowledge of the cosmos even further.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-returns-hubble-to-full-science-operations
The Hubble telescope is fully operational again after a month-long nap
NASA had to shut the telescope down in late October following some communications issues.
Nathan Ingraham - December 7th, 2021
NASA's Hubble telescope has been in a “coma” since going into system failure in late October — but today, the agency announced that it is waking Hubble up. After multiple instrument sync failures that required putting Hubble into safe mode, NASA says the telescope is now functioning as normal, with all four active instruments collecting data.
On October 23rd, NASA first noticed that Hubble's instruments weren't receiving sync messages from the telescope's control unit. Communications issues continued for several days, which led NASA to put the telescope into a sort of safe mode — something that takes a long time to come out of because of the sensitivity of Hubble's hardware. Rapid power or temperature changes aren't good for its lifespan, so NASA took its time here.
https://www.engadget.com/nasa-hubble-telescope-is-operational-again-155710162.html
There's a New Plan to Relocate Hubble Space Telescope and Extend Its Lifespan
NASA asked commercial providers to find a way to boost Hubble’s orbit, and now Momentus Space and Astroscale have offered a solution.
George Dvorsky - 9 May 2023
Like any satellite in Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope is sinking, and it’s been doing so for the past 33 years. A proposed solution from two space startups offers an intriguing strategy for safely boosting Hubble’s orbit, allowing NASA to extend the lifespan of its storied observatory.
Hubble is currently healthy, but atmospheric drag will eventually cause it to re-enter our planet’s atmosphere at some point during the mid-to-late 2030s. Since launching in 1990, the telescope’s orbital height has fallen by roughly 18 miles (30 kilometers).
Not ready to say goodbye, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) late last year, asking the commercial sector to devise strategies for reboosting Hubble’s orbit. The winning team would then have to provide the necessary resources and services to get the job done, including the launch vehicle, spacecraft, crew (if applicable), and mission operations (excluding Hubble operations).
https://gizmodo.com/boost-hubble-telescope-orbit-nasa-astroscale-momentus-1850419968
The Hubble Space Telescope is sinking! Two startups want to save it for free
But it's up to NASA to approve a rescue mission. Cue Aerosmith
Katyanna Quach - Thu 11 May 2023 03:28 UTC
Momentus and Astroscale, two startups specializing in space infrastructure and orbital debris, want to collaborate and help boost NASA's aging Hubble Space Telescope into a safe orbit.
Hubble has far exceeded its original mission and expected run time, thanks to five space shuttle missions that sent astronauts to repair its instruments between 1993 and 2009.
NASA reckons there's more life in Hubble yet – but only if its altitude can be pushed higher to stop it falling and reentering Earth's atmosphere in the mid 2030s. Atmospheric drag has been slowly degrading the satellite's orbit, and it is expected to drop to 500 kilometers above Earth by about 2025.
In a bid to save the sinking telescope, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) in December to explore potential solutions from commercial vendors. NASA's not going to spend any money on this, but organizations willing to do the job would receive “technical information and technical consultation,” from NASA Goddard.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/11/hubble_space_telescope_rescue/
The Hubble Telescope Just Sized Up an Earth-Sized Exoplanet
The transiting world is Earth-like…but roughly 500° Fahrenheit.
Isaac Schultz - 17 November 2023
The Hubble Space Telescope just ogled an exoplanet passing in front of a star in a triple system, revealing the nearby world’s mass.
The world is named LTT 1445Ac, and it was discovered in 2022 by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The world orbits a red dwarf star (one in a set of three) that is 22 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Eridanus. LTT 1445Ac shares its host star with two larger planets.
TESS doesn’t have the optical resolution necessary to determine the planet’s diameter accurately. Now, a team of researchers used the veteran Hubble telescope to certify the world’s size; their results are accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal and are currently hosted on the preprint server arXiv.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-hubble-telescope-size-of-exoplanet-ltt-1445ac-1851031858
Remember when the Hubble Space Telescope was more punchline than science powerhouse?
30 years ago astronauts embarked on ambitious mission to fix Hubble … and NASA's reputation
Richard Speed - Mon 4 Dec 2023 18:30 UTC
Today is the thirtieth anniversary since NASA launched the first servicing mission for the stricken Hubble observatory, a record that lands just as the the space telescope faces a fresh round of fixes.
On December 4, 1993, at 0926 UTC, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was secured in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Endeavour, ready to be serviced in a mission on which the future of NASA depended.
After decades of stunning imagery and science, it is difficult to imagine the HST being the punchline of a bad joke… a very, very expensive bad joke. However, 30 years ago, the HST was in fact a disappointment. A flaw in its main mirror had reduced the space telescope's capabilities, and since its launch in April 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the flagship observatory had returned images that were not as sharp as scientists – or the media – had been promised.
This meant that NASA's reputation was on the line as the hugely ambitious mission to service the HST and correct its optics got underway. After all, how could the agency be trusted with billions of taxpayer dollars to build its new space station if this was its idea of quality control?
https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/04/remember_when_the_hubble_space/
Hubble Space Telescope hasn't had any visitors for 15 years
STS-125 – the Space Shuttle mission that almost never happened
Richard Speed - Tue 14 May 2024 10:58 UTC
It is fifteen years since the Hubble Space Telescope was captured by a Space Shuttle for the final time.
By the time its final servicing mission, STS-125, arrived, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) had already been in orbit for 19 years. Following the 13-day mission, the HST continued to generate prodigious amounts of science while also suffering the occasional failure.
Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on May 11, 2009, from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A. The HST was grappled by the Shuttle's arm on May 13, 2009, setting the scene for a mission requiring five spacewalks that scientists hoped would give the old thing another five years of operational life.
By the time Atlantis launched, the HST was ailing. The plan had been to launch in 2008, but a failure of Hubble's Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SIC&DH) unit meant a swift rejig of the payload and a shift to 2009 to give engineers time to get a replacement ready for the mission. It would, after all, be the last time astronauts laid gloves on the observatory.
The mission was hectic. The first spacewalk replaced the failed SIC&DH unit, the Wide Field Camera, and added a Low Impact Docking System just in case a future spacecraft might need to dock with the Hubble. Subsequent spacewalks replaced the gyroscopes, batteries, and other instruments. Slightly alarmingly, one astronaut, Mike Massimino, had to use brute force to remove a handrail during a spacewalk to repair an instrument that had never been intended to be fixed on orbit.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/14/15_years_hubble_servicing/
Hubble Celebrates 35th Year In Orbit
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday April 24, 2025 03:00AM
To celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope's 35th anniversary in orbit, NASA and ESA released a series of new, out-out-of-this-world images spanning planets, nebulae, and galaxies. From a press release:
Hubble today is at the peak of its scientific return thanks to the dedication, perseverance and skills of engineers, scientists and mission operators. Astronaut shuttle crews gallantly chased and rendezvoused with Hubble on five servicing missions from 1993 to 2009. The astronauts, including ESA astronauts on two of the servicing missions, upgraded Hubble's cameras, computers and other support systems.
By extending Hubble's operational life the telescope has made nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets. Hubble discoveries have resulted in over 22,000 papers and over 1.3 million citations as of February 2025. All the data collected by Hubble is archived and currently adds up to over 400 terabytes. The demand for observing time remains very high with 6:1 oversubscriptions, making it one of the most in-demand observatories today.
Hubble's long operational life has allowed astronomers to see astronomical changes spanning over three decades: seasonal variability on the planets in our solar system, black hole jets traveling at nearly the speed of light, stellar convulsions, asteroid collisions, expanding supernova bubbles, and much more.
https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/04/23/2244236/hubble-celebrates-35th-year-in-orbit
Hubble Space Telescope is still producing science at 35
Remember when NASA was laser focused on that?
Richard Speed - Fri 25 Apr 2025 14:29 UTC
It was 35 years ago when the Hubble Space Telescope deployed into orbit, sent by a space agency facing an existential crisis. Thirty-five years on, not much seems to have changed.
The Hubble Space Telescope, a NASA and ESA project, was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission took place a few short years after the Challenger disaster, which blew a sizeable hole in NASA's reputation for technical competence.
And after the multi-billion-dollar observatory was deployed, that reputation would take another ding: the telescope's primary mirror had a flaw. The sharpness of the images produced by the telescope was markedly less than expected, with many looking famously blurry.
The blow to NASA's technical reputation when the problem became clear cannot be underestimated. The agency was still recovering from the Challenger disaster, where the US space shuttle orbiter exploded shortly after its launch from Cape Canaveral in 1986, killing seven astronauts. The fallout from the findings of the Rogers Commission Report, which criticized the decision-making process that led to the loss of the Space Shuttle and its crew, as well as the design of the vehicle's components, hurt the agency's standing.
NASA, therefore, needed the Hubble Space Telescope, construction of which was also kicked off in the 1970s, to be a roaring success. But the initial results were not good.
While replacing Hubble's flawed mirror was not possible – the spacecraft was designed to be serviced while in orbit, but swapping out the mirror was not feasible – the nature of the flaw meant that corrective optics could be installed on the first servicing assignment, and the potential of the observatory realized.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/25/hubble_space_scope_35/
Budget
NASA veteran warns Hubble faces death by a hundred cuts
Former astronaut laments software shutdowns, staff reductions amid ongoing budget squeeze
Richard Speed - Mon 21 Jul 2025 17:57 UTC
Interview “I would say I'm cautiously optimistic, but that probably overstates how I'm feeling.”
Dr John Grunsfeld, former astronaut, NASA chief scientist, and retired associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, was talking to The Register in the wake of the proposed cuts to NASA's budget and, in particular, the proposal to reduce the agency's science budget by almost half.
At the time of writing, it appears that the US Congress has rejected the full extent of the cuts. After we spoke with Grunsfeld, the US Senate Appropriations Committee voted to approve its version of NASA's 2026 funding legislation, retaining 2025's $7.3 billion. The Planetary Society's Chief of Space Policy, Casey Dreier, said: “This is huge news for NASA science, and a complete rejection of the White House's draconian proposal.”
However, plenty of wrangling remains before the budget is finalized and the House and Senate funding bills reconciled. “When that will happen is anyone's guess,” said Dreier, “but likely not until the fall.” The deliberations have the effect of creating short-term uncertainty in a community accustomed to working in the long term.
Grunsfeld's five Space Shuttle missions included three to service the Hubble Space Telescope. His last flight, STS-125 in 2009, was the final mission to the Hubble, and included the installation of the Wide Field Camera 3.
The observatory, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, is not slated for immediate termination, but, according to Grunsfeld, it is at risk of death by a hundred smaller cuts, many of which are already underway.
“If you look at the Hubble budget,” he says, “it's currently $93.3 million. It's been that number – roughly – for the last 15 years.
“People love Hubble. The science community rallies behind it. The American public rallies behind it, and we've been able to convince the Senate and the House to keep the same number as last year.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/21/hubble_astronaut_budget_fears/
Gyro Issues
Aging Hubble Telescope Moves To 'One-Gyro' Operations
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday June 05, 2024 03:00AM
The 34-year-old Hubble Space Telescope is now operating with its final two working gyroscopes, necessitating a switch to a less productive “one-gyro” mode to extend its operational life. This contingency plan will reduce Hubble's productivity by over 12%, limit its ability to track fast-moving objects, and decrease the portion of the sky it can observe. That said, NASA expects it to keep functioning through 2035. Science.org reports:
Normally, Hubble measures its location in space with a system that includes three gyroscopes – rapidly spinning wheels that can sense forces in three directions. But in a 4 June press conference, NASA officials said one of the telescope's three remaining gyroscopes is on the fritz. The agency is now invoking a contingency plan: a “one-gyro” mode that keeps the other functioning gyroscope in reserve. The mode will reduce the telescope's productivity by more than 12% but preserve its ability to observe for years to come, Mark Clampin, NASA's astrophysics division director, said at the press conference. “We believe this is our best approach to support Hubble science through this decade and into the next.”
Hubble's gyroscopes, which spin at 19,200 revolutions per minute, are extremely precise but finicky. The agency has flown a total of 22 gyroscopes across various servicing missions and is now down to the last two of the six currently onboard. In one-gyro mode, Hubble must rely on its less precise star trackers and other sensors to verify its position, a slower process that leads to reduced productivity. “It will take us more time to slew from one target attitude to the next, and to be able to lock on to that science target,” said Patrick Crouse, Hubble's project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Pesky Glitch Forces NASA to Change the Way Hubble Works, and It's Not for the Better
The aging telescope will now resort to using one gyroscope, which will add extra time when locking onto new targets.
Passant Rabie - 5 June 2024
For more than 30 years, NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope has been scouring the cosmos to look for ancient galaxies and dazzling nebulae. The wear and tear of traveling through low Earth orbit is starting to show on the aging telescope, forcing it to resort to using only one of its three remaining gyroscopes to determine its orientation.
NASA made the decision to transition Hubble to one-gyro mode after a series of issues with one of its three gyroscopes caused the telescope to repeatedly suspend its science operations, the space agency announced on Tuesday. “We believe this is our best approach to support Hubble’s science through this decade and into the next,” Mark Clampin, director of the astrophysics division at NASA, said during a press briefing. “One-gyro mode actually returns Hubble to consistent science operations and it allows us to keep another gyro working…for potential future use.”
https://gizmodo.com/aging-hubble-telescope-one-gyroscope-mode-nasa-1851519624
Hubble will transition to single-gyro mode to gain a few more years of operational life
So about that commercial servicing mission, hmm?
Richard Speed - Wed 5 Jun 2024 16:45 UTC
NASA has confirmed that the time has come: the venerable Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is to run in one-gyro mode from now on.
The observatory has six gyroscopes, installed during the final Space Shuttle servicing mission in 2009, but over the years, three have failed. A fourth began showing signs of wear, resulting in the spacecraft dropping into safe mode in April. That event has now resulted in engineers deciding the time has come for the HST to transition into a mode whereby it can be pointed using only one gyro.
The mode requires other instruments onboard the spacecraft to be used for pointing the telescope as well as a single gyroscope. According to NASA, the technique was already demonstrated in 2008 “with no impact to science observation quality.”
However, the agency noted that “there are some expected minor limitations.” It will take longer for the observatory to slew and lock onto a science target, and it won't be able to track moving objects closer than Mars, “though these are rare targets for Hubble.”
https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/05/hubble_to_transition_to_singlegyro/
The Hubble Space Telescope has lost a majority of its gyroscopes
“We do not see Hubble as being on its last legs.”
Eric Berger - 6/4/2024, 3:18 PM
The venerable Hubble Space Telescope is running out of gyroscopes, and when none are left, the instrument will cease to conduct meaningful science.
To preserve the telescope, which has been operating in space for nearly three and a half decades, NASA announced Tuesday that it will reduce the Hubble's operations such that it will function on just a single gyroscope. This will limit some scientific operations, and it will take longer to point the telescope to new objects and lock onto them.
But in a conference call with space reporters, Hubble officials stressed that the beloved scientific instrument is not going anywhere any time soon.
“I don’t personally see this as a major restriction on its ability to do science,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.
Image / images
417-Megapixel Andromeda Galaxy Panorama Took Over a Decade to Make
Jan 16, 2025 - Jeremy Gray
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have completed the most comprehensive survey of the Andromeda galaxy and created a 417-megapixel panorama. It took over a decade to make and includes more than 600 photos.
The massive 42,208 by 9,870-pixel panorama is the largest photomosaic ever created using Hubble Space Telescope observations. The vast mosaic features 200 million stars, which is still just a fraction of the estimated one trillion stars in Andromeda. Spread across 2.5 billion pixels, the mosaic’s details will help scientists learn more about Andromeda’s history, including distant mergers with smaller satellite galaxies.
As the Milky Way galaxy’s nearest neighbor, Andromeda has long captivated astronomers. A century ago, Edwin Hubble, for whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named, determined that Andromeda, then described as a “spiral nebula,” was actually far outside the Milky Way galaxy. Before this discovery, people believed the Milky Way comprised the entire Universe. Hubble’s discovery instantly transformed humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.
https://petapixel.com/2025/01/16/417-megapixel-andromeda-galaxy-panorama-took-over-a-decade-to-make/
Outage 2023
Hubble science instruments still out after going down 3 times in a week
Oh no, errant gyro!
Laura Dobberstein - Thu 30 Nov 2023 14:00 UTC
NASA has confirmed it is working to resume science operations on the Hubble Space Telescope after an ongoing gyroscope issue put it in safe mode.
According to NASA, the instruments are stable and telescope is in good health, but a faulty reading from one of its gyros caused it to automatically enter safe mode, suspending science operations once again, on November 23rd.
Directions to resume operations must come from the ground.
Among the paused instruments onboard are an advanced camera for surveys, a cosmic origins spectograph, a space telescope imaging spectrograph, wide field camera, fine guidance sensor and near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer.
The November 23rd incident was the third time in a week such incident had occurred. The misbehaving gyro caused the space telescope to enter safe mode on November 19th and November 21st. Both incidents were recoverable.
However, its now apparent that gyro is going to need some fixing. NASA revealed it is running tests to understand the issue and come up with a solution.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/30/hubble_science_instruments_down_for/
Hubble Space Telescope is back in the game after NASA fixes gyro glitch
No repair mission required – for now
Katyanna Quach - Fri 8 Dec 2023 07:34 UTC
The Hubble Space Telescope is expected to resume science operations on Friday, after a gyroscope glitch forced NASA to suspend astronomical observations for weeks.
“After analyzing the data, the team has determined science operations can resume under three-gyro control,” the US space agency confirmed in its latest update. “Based on the performance observed during the tests, the team has decided to operate the gyros in a higher-precision mode during science observations. Hubble's instruments and the observatory itself remain stable and in good health.”
Launched in 1990, the telescope has been serviced multiple times over its decades-long lifetime. In 2009 Hubble was equipped with six new gyros. Only three remain operational.
Gyros measure how fast the telescope turns, and help it stay fixed onto a cosmic target as it orbits in space. One of them began behaving oddly, however, leading to faulty readings – so Hubble automatically entered safe mode on November 19.
NASA initially managed to fix the issue, but the problem returned again and again. By November 23, Hubble had entered and exited safe mode two more times and engineers decided to run more tests to try and come up with a better solution. Subsequently NASA appears to have found a better system and the 'scope is expected to resume operations on December 8 and hopefully keep going for a while longer.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/08/hubble_space_telescope_fixed/
Outage 2024
Hubble Telescope Put Into Dreaded Safe Mode Due to Ongoing Glitch
The orbiting observatory was recently shut down in November because one of its instruments started giving incorrect readings.
Passant Rabie - 26 April 2024
NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope isn’t doing so well. The observatory has been suffering from a pesky glitch affecting its gyroscope, causing it to suspend its science operations for a second time in less than six months.
On Friday, NASA announced that Hubble had automatically entered safe mode on Tuesday, April 23 when one of its three operational gyroscopes returned faulty readings. Engineers are currently working on a solution to resume the telescope’s observations.
This marks the second time the space telescope has halted its scientific operations due to the same issue. Earlier in November 2023, one of the gyros returned similar wacky readings, which prompted Hubble’s safe mode. The telescope resumed operations the next day, only to enter safe mode once again. It was finally brought back to life in mid-December 2023.
https://gizmodo.com/hubble-telescope-put-into-dreaded-safe-mode-due-to-ongo-1851438846
Photobomb / Satellite Tracks
Hubble images photobombed by space hardware on the up
Big brains worry investment explosion could hit astronomy
Lindsay Clark - Fri 3 Mar 2023 20:00 UTC
Research published this week shows increasing interference with astronomical images caused by commercial satellites, adding to concern over the effects of the private space industry on science.
Using deep learning algorithms to scan historic images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2002 and 2021, researchers found 2.7 ± 0.2 percent of images with a typical exposure time of 11 minutes contained at least one satellite trail.
But over that period, the likelihood of a space hardware photobomb have increased sharply. The mean satellite fraction for the Advanced Camera Survey/Wide-Field Channel (ACS/WFC) affected increased from 2.8 ± 0.2 percent in 2002-2005 to 4.3 ± 0.4 percent in 2018-2021, for example.
The researchers found that the proportion of images affected depends on the size of the field of view, exposure time, filter and pointing. “With the growing number of artificial satellites currently planned, the fraction of Hubble Space Telescope images crossed by satellites will increase in the next decade and will need further close study and monitoring,” said the resesarch published in Nature Astronomy.
The work was led by Sandor Kruk, post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/03/hubble_satellite_interference/
Satellite Swarms Like SpaceX’s Starlink Are Increasingly Spoiling Hubble Telescope Images
New research shows the alarming degree to which Hubble images are being ruined by satellites passing through the telescope’s field of view.
George Dvorsky - 3 March 2023
The steadily growing satellite population has been posing challenges for ground-based astronomy, but new research reveals that space-based telescopes like Hubble are also suffering.
Satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) spin around Earth once every 90 minutes. Factor in the thousands upon thousands of satellites currently working in orbit, and you can quickly grok the problem as far as ground-based astronomy is concerned. Constellations such as Starlink and OneWeb greatly exacerbate the issue, producing annoying streaks in astronomical imagery. So serious is the situation that scientists have declared satellite constellations an “existential threat for astronomy.”
Space-based astronomy might seem like an obvious solution, with SpaceX founder Elon Musk suggesting as much in a May 2019 tweet. Research published this week in Nature Astronomy suggests otherwise, showing the extent to which the Hubble Space Telescope is being impacted by these burgeoning satellite swarms.
https://gizmodo.com/satellite-constellations-ruin-hubble-telescope-images-1850184063
Even Hubble’s seeing a growing number of satellite tracks
An analysis of past Hubble images shows an increasing number of satellite tracks.
John Timmer - 3/7/2023, 12:13 PM
A combination of space junk and a growing constellation of functional satellites like SpaceX's Starlink have astronomers worried about the potential for orbital materials to interfere with observations. And justifiably so, given that researchers are currently arguing over whether one observation represents one of the farthest supernovae ever observed or a spent Russian booster.
This clutter is obviously a big problem for ground-based observatories, which sit below everything in orbit. But several observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, sit in low-Earth orbit, which places them below many satellites. And a new survey of Hubble images shows that it's capturing an increasing number of satellite tracks in its images. So far, this hasn't seriously compromised its science, but it clearly shows that orbiting observatories aren't immune to these problems.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/even-hubbles-seeing-a-growing-number-of-satellite-tracks/
Hubble Scientists Develop Software Fix for Satellite Streaks in Images
Multiple exposures and cleaning software mitigates the annoying streaks from high-orbit satellites.
Isaac Schultz - 12 June 2023
The Hubble Space Telescope images the cosmos from low Earth orbit, but an abundance of artificial satellites circle the planet at higher altitudes. That’s become an irritation in recent years, as the thousands of devices leave bright streaks in Hubble imagery.
Now, researchers with the Space Telescope Science Institute have developed a tool to identify the telltale trails satellites leave in Hubble images taken by the telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, which has a wider field of view than the telescope’s other imagers.
In an institute release, the scientists stressed that these satellite marks are more a nuisance than a glaring problem. They appear in about 10% of the space telescope’s exposures of the cosmos—which seems significant until you learn that they affect less than half a percent of the given exposure.
https://gizmodo.com/hubble-scientists-software-fix-satellite-streaks-images-1850530923
HughesNet
Jupiter 3 Satellite Pushes SpaceX Rival Closer to Starlink Internet Speeds
HughesNet is now offering 100 Mbps speeds to its internet customers following the launch of its latest geostationary satellite.
Passant Rabie - 21 December 2023
Following the launch of its next-generation satellite, Hughes Network Systems is now starting to offer faster internet speeds to compete with its main industry rival SpaceX.
The Maryland-based company has launched new high-speed satellite internet plans for its customers in the Americas, with download speeds up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps), Hughes announced this week. This brings it a little bit closer to SpaceX’s Starlink internet speeds, which ranges between 25 to 220 Mbps.
Hughes launched its next-generation Jupiter 3 (EchoStar XXIV) satellite on July 29. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carried the internet satellite, delivering it to a geosynchronous orbit that’s 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above the Earth surface. Unlike SpaceX, which is building a satellite constellation of Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit that’s around 342 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth, Hughes is relying on its Jupiter 3 satellite to deliver connectivity to rural areas.
https://gizmodo.com/hughes-satellite-internet-hughesnet-jupiter-3-starlink-1851117374
Hunter Satellites (Military)
Enter the hunter satellites preparing for space war
Startup plans to launch prototype pursuit satellites on a SpaceX flight later this year.
Mark Harris, wired.com - 2/2/2023, 7:17 AM
Former US Air Force major Even “Jolly” Rogers is worried about a space war. “Conflict exists on a continuum that begins with competition and ultimately leads into full-scale conflict like what you’re seeing in Ukraine,” he says. The US, he adds, is already “in active competition with Russia and China for freedom of action and dominance of the space domain. And it’s evolving very quickly.”
So on January 26 last year, the former US Air Force major incorporated True Anomaly, Inc to “solve the most challenging orbital warfare problems for the US Space Force,” he later tweeted.
According to a recent filing with the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC), True Anomaly is now gearing up for its first orbital mission. In October, True Anomaly hopes to launch two Jackal “orbital pursuit” spacecraft aboard a SpaceX rocket to low earth orbit. The Jackals will not house guns, warheads, or laser blasters, but they will be capable of rendezvous proximity operations (RPO)—the ability to maneuver close to other satellites and train a battery of sensors upon them. This could reveal their rivals’ surveillance and weapons systems or help intercept communications.
In their first mission, dubbed Demo-1, the Jackals will merely spy on each other, using thrusters, radar, and multi-spectral cameras to approach within a few hundred meters. If that goes well, Rogers envisages deploying thousands of autonomous spacecraft in service of the US military, controlled by a team of human operators and AI “to pursue adversaries wherever they fly, and to provide the tools of accountability.”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/enter-the-hunter-satellites-preparing-for-space-war/
Imaging
Satellite Imaging: How Does It Work and What Is It Used For?
Have you ever wondered why satellite imaging is so important? This article will through all you need to know.
By Jake Harfield - 30 June 2021
The first images taken from space were from suborbital flights in the 1940s, and the first satellite image was taken in 1959 by Explorer 6. Satellite imaging is the use of satellites to collect data about the Earth via orbiting satellites or very high-altitude aircraft.
Satellite imaging has come a long way since then. There are now over 2,000 satellites in orbit around the Earth, and many different kinds with varying capabilities. Satellite imaging has uses in meteorology, conservation, geology, agriculture, cartography, education, intelligence, warfare, and more.
SkyFi Lets You Order Up Fresh Satellite Imagery In Real Time With a Click
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday May 23, 2023 @05:02PM from the Netflix-of-the-geospatial-world dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch:
Commercial Earth-observation companies collect an unprecedented volume of images and data every single day, but purchasing even a single satellite image can be cumbersome and time-intensive. SkyFi, a two-year-old startup, is looking to change that with an app and API that makes ordering a satellite image as easy as a click of a few buttons on a smartphone or computer. SkyFi doesn't build or operate satellites; instead, it partners with over a dozen companies to deliver various kinds of satellite images – including optical, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and hyperspectral – directly to the customer via a web and mobile app. A SkyFi user can task a satellite to capture a specific image or choose from a library of previously captured images. Some of SkyFi's partners include public companies like Satellogic, as well as newer startups like Umbra and Pixxel.
Smaller Satellite Images
Mark Litwintschik - Sun 01 December 2024
In 2009, Skybox Imaging was founded. They built and launched two satellites before being acquired by Google in 2014. Google went on to launch another five satellites before selling the firm to Planet Labs in 2017.
Planet Labs is a 13-year-old, San Francisco-based satellite manufacturer and constellation operator. They have around 1,000 employees, operate or have operated four different constellations throughout their history and they take a photo of the entire Earth every day using 100s of satellites. Planet Labs has since added another 14 satellites to the SkySat constellation.
The satellite that took the imagery in this post is SkySat-6, also known as SkySat-C4 or “SSC4”. It was launched on the 16th of September, 2016 from Kourou, French Guiana. This satellite is much heavier than the “cellphone parts in space” Dove satellites Planet Labs is famous for. It weighs around 100 KG whereas the Dove satellites are around 4 KG.
Originally these satellites could collect imagery at a resolution of 80cm until Planet Labs lowered their altitude from 500 KM to 450 KM above the Earth's surface in 2020. This resulted in their resolution improving to 50cm.
In this post, I'll examine an image SkySat-6 took of Kiribati in 2020 and see how much I can reduce its filesize with WebP compression.
I'd like to thank Chris Holmes at Planet Labs for suggesting the imagery used in this post.
India
Indian Rocket Carrying Earth-Monitoring Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit
The EOS-03 Earth observation satellite, now destroyed, was supposed to track cyclones and other environmental threats from space.
George Dvorsky - 12 August 2021 4:29PM
India’s space agency says an unknown technical glitch prevented the upper stage of its GSLV-F10 rocket from igniting, in what is a frustrating setback for the burgeoning space power.
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10 (GSLV-F10) blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota at 5:34 a.m. local time on August 12. The first and second stages went as planned, but shortly before the five-minute mark of the mission, when the third and final stage was supposed to ignite, nothing happened.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was brief in its description of the failed launch, saying “ignition did not happen due to technical anomaly,” so the “mission couldn’t be accomplished as intended.”
https://gizmodo.com/indian-rocket-carrying-earth-monitoring-satellite-fails-1847476318
Iran
Russia Helps Iran Launch Satellite, Promises It's Not Meant for Military Surveillance
While U.S. officials are reportedly concerned about military spying, Iran says its latest and most sophisticated satellite will gather environmental data.
Kyle Barr - 9 August 2022 2:25PM
A new Russian-made, Iranian-operated satellite launched to orbit on Tuesday, joining the growing cloud of devices circling the Earth. Though unlike your average SpaceX Starlink, the high-powered imaging satellite has U.S. intelligence officials biting their nails, concerned over what both Russia and Iran could be looking at down below.
Iran’s Khayyam satellite was launched into orbit on Tuesday morning, riding atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket that took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to Iran’s state-affiliated Tasnim news agency. Iranian state news agency IRNA wrote that Khayyam, named after the 12th century Persian mathematician and poet, is already in its 310-mile-high (500-kilometer-high) orbit and is sending out its first bits of telemetry data.
https://gizmodo.com/russia-launches-iranian-satellite-but-no-military-purpo-1849390804
Iran Launches Third Military Satellite to Orbit, Raising Tensions on the Ground
The U.S. is concerned that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons and advance its ballistic missile program.
Passant Rabie - 28 September 2023
Iran claims it has successfully placed a third imaging satellite in orbit, a move that will likely garner more criticism from the Western world over fears that the Islamic republic is bolstering its ballistic missile technology.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force launched the Noor-3 satellite on board its three-stage Qased rocket, local media reported. The launch took place on Wednesday from an undisclosed location. The U.S. Space Force tracked two objects that were consistent with a launch from Shahrud, Iran around 2:00 a.m. ET, according to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
https://gizmodo.com/iran-launch-third-military-satellite-orbit-tensions-1850883964
Chamran 1
Iran successfully launches indigenous Chamran 1 satellite into space
(Viewed 19 September 2024) - Ilkha
Iran has successfully launched its Chamran 1 research satellite into space using the domestically developed Qaem 100 satellite carrier.
The satellite was placed in a 550 km orbit, weighing approximately 60 kg. Its main mission is to test hardware and software systems related to orbital maneuver technology in height and phase.
The Chamran 1 satellite and the Qaem 100 carrier were both designed and built by aerospace experts from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The successful orbiting operation marks a significant step in Iran's space ambitions, highlighting its growing capabilities in satellite technology.
Intelsat
Intelsat 33e
Boeing-Made Satellite Explodes In Space
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday October 24, 2024 12:00AM
“Boeing has had a series of issues over the past few years,” writes Slashdot reader quonset. “From planes crashing, lost service records, to a recent strike which cost them $6 billion, now comes word a satellite they made has exploded in space.” CBS News reports:
The Intelsat 33e satellite, which was launched in 2016 and provides communications across Europe, Asia and Africa, experienced “an anomaly” on Saturday, Intelsat said in a news release. Attempts were made to work with Boeing and repair the satellite, but on Monday, the U.S. Space Force confirmed that the satellite had exploded. The satellite's breakup left some customers without power or communications services. Intelsat said it is working with third-party providers to limit service interruptions, and is in communication with customers.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/24/0142204/boeing-made-satellite-explodes-in-space
Northrup Grumman Contract
4 more years! Intelsat, Northrop Grumman extend satellite servicing contract
Mission Extension Vehicle to fuel up helpless but functional sats
Richard Speed - Fri 24 May 2024 19:35 UTC
Northrop Grumman has signed a four-year contract renewal with Intelsat to continue providing on-orbit extension services for satellites.
The extension will result in the geosynchronous satellite IS-10-02 ultimately gaining another nine years of life thanks to Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) 2. MEV-1 is currently docked with IS-901, which will be transported into a graveyard orbit. MEV-1 will then head off to assist another satellite.
MEV-1 was launched in 2019 and docked with IS-901 in 2020. In 2021, the Northrop Grumman team went further and sent MEV-2 to rendezvous with another Intelsat satellite, IS-10-02.
IS-10-02 was the first operational communications satellite to have years added to its service life by an MEV.
The purpose of the MEV program is to extend the life of satellites as they run out of fuel but are otherwise still operational.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/24/intelsat_and_northrop_grumman_deal/
Interference
UN telecom agency wags finger at Russia for satellite interference
European neighbors say interference comes from Moscow and Kaliningrad, Kremlin claims it didn't find anything
Matthew Connatser - Tue 2 Jul 2024 18:26 UTC
The UN's Radio Regulations Board (RRB) has asked Russia to play nice with Europe and not interfere with satellites.
The RRB, a part of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the telecom agency for the United Nations, held its 96th meeting [PDF] last week to discuss a number of topics, including alleged satellite interference several European countries suspect is coming from Russia. France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Ukraine all said they had experienced some sort of interference in the last few months.
The disruption has resulted in taking down broadcasts and even TV hijacking in two cases, which involved children's TV shows in the Netherlands being replaced with Russian war videos.
Although Russia has denied any knowledge of the interference, telling the RRB it hasn't detected any whatsoever, the evidence is stacking up against the country. The interference has largely targeted channels with Ukrainian programming, and Sweden claims it only started seeing meddling after it joined NATO.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/02/russia_satellite_interference/
International Space Station (ISS)
ISS Maneuvers to Avoid Space Debris, in What’s Becoming the New Normal
George Dvorsky - September 23, 2020 10:49AM
Yesterday, NASA and Russian flight controllers performed an “avoidance maneuver” to protect the International Space Station from a wayward chunk of space debris. This episode—already the third of its kind this year—highlights a growing problem and the importance of mitigating potential collisions in space.
Low Earth orbit (LEO) is vast and mostly empty, but when you have thousands upon thousands of objects zipping around at speeds over 6 miles per second (10 km/s), this space in space suddenly seems a lot smaller.
Such was the concern earlier this week when NASA, along with U.S. Space Command, detected an unknown piece of space debris that was expected to come uncomfortably close to the International Space Station. To safeguard the outpost and its crew, NASA and Russian flight controllers scheduled an impromptu “avoidance maneuver” to place the ISS out of harm’s way.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-maneuvers-to-avoid-space-debris-in-what-s-becoming-1845152811
Vexing Space Station Air Leak Traced to Russian Module After False Alarm
George Dvorsky - 30 September 2020 10:36AM
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station sprung to action late Monday night following concerns that a persistent air leak had grown in size. It turned out to be a false alarm, but during the event, the crew managed to trace the source of the leak to a Russian service module.
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner were awakened by flight controllers late Monday and told to scour the Russian side of the International Space Station in an attempt to pinpoint the source of an air leak that appeared to be growing in size. Thankfully, the flight controllers were wrong, as they mistook a temporary temperature change aboard the ISS for a growing leak, according to NASA. The overall rate of the air leak, which was detected a year ago, is the same as it was before.
https://gizmodo.com/vexing-space-station-air-leak-traced-to-russian-module-1845226944
A Busted Toilet Kicked Off a Seriously Crappy Night on the ISS
George Dvorsky - 20 October 2020 10:55AM
It was another long night aboard the International Space Station, as the crew had to deal with a series of minor problems, in what is starting to sound like a broken record.
As always, we have to preface things by saying the crew is safe, and none of the new problems are particularly serious. They’re more of an annoyance, but annoyances on the ISS seem to be in an abundance these days.
https://gizmodo.com/a-busted-toilet-kicked-off-a-seriously-crappy-night-on-1845424023
Remember, remember, the 14th of November (if you're an astronaut): NASA names the date for Crew-1 mission to ISS
Also: ESA looks to the Moon, RocketLab launches another 10 sats, and SpaceX probably thinks that's cute
Richard Speed - Fri 30 Oct 2020 / 10:45 UTC
In brief NASA has stuck a pin in 14 November (15 Nov for those running on GMT) for the launch of the first crew rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS) to be launched from US soil.
The four-person crew is also the largest to be loaded into a spacecraft since the Space Shuttle was retired.
The mission had been pushed back due to an investigation following the aborted launch of Falcon 9 carrying a GPS satellite earlier this month. In the briefing, managers explained that material blocking a valve in the engine's gas generator was the culprit, which triggered the last-second abort. The material itself, a lacquer similar to nail polish, should have been removed, but a tiny amount remained: enough to abort the launch.
How to hear the ISS
The amateur radio station on the ISS can be received using very simple equipment.
ISS Ditches 2.9-Ton Pallet of Batteries, Creating Its Most Massive Piece of Space Trash
George Dvorsky - 15 March 2021 11:45AM
Weighing 2.9 tons and traveling 4.8 miles per second, this heap of old batteries is now the heaviest single piece of garbage to be jettisoned from the International Space Station.
The pallet is packed with nickel-hydrogen batteries, and it will stay in low Earth orbit for the next two to four years “before burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere,” according to a NASA statement. SpaceFlightNow reports that the pallet is the “most massive object ever jettisoned from the orbiting outpost.”
NASA spokesperson Leah Cheshier confirmed this as being the case.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-creating-its-m-1846476992
Holes patched in Russian segment of the ISS though pesky pressure loss continues
Space: Not all its cracked up to be
Richard Speed - Mon 15 Mar 2021 / 18:34 UTC
Bad news for astronauts and cosmonauts alike: The International Space Station (ISS) is continuing to lose pressure after Russian attempts to patch cracks in the outpost's hole have failed to stem leaks.
Leaks in the Zvezda service module of the Russian segment of the ISS have plagued the laboratory over the last year. One leak was patched last year and pair of new ones cropped up in January.
Earlier this month, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov got cracking with the sealing paste to staunch the flow of air from the module before closing the Transfer Chamber hatch in order to conduct a pressure level check.
ISS Supercluster
Space station update: Mystery tiny but growing air leak sparks search for hole
Terror at 1,340,000 feet – if this was anything to truly worry about right now
Fri 21 Aug 2020 / 00:45 UTC - Katyanna Quach
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will attempt to find and patch the source of a tiny air leak first detected last year.
In September 2019, NASA, Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Russia’s Roscosmos – whose hardware makes up the station – were alerted to a drop in air pressure within the orbiting science lab. The decrease was so slight at the time that trying to fix it wasn't prioritized on the nauts’ to-do-list.
Now the rate of leakage has increased just enough that the current crew will finally attempt to find and repair the damage. Bear in mind some leakage is expected, and compensated for, so no one's freaking out over this.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/21/space_station_air_leak_search/
New Cracks on ISS Expose Deteriorating State of Russian Segment
The tiny fissures were spotted in the Zarya module, which launched to space in 1998.
George Dvorsky - 31 August 2021 11:43AM
Newly detected cracks in an old Russian ISS module could worsen over time, according to a senior Russian space official. It’s the latest in a series of setbacks as Russia considers its future with the orbital outpost.
“Superficial fissures have been found in some places on the Zarya module,” Vladimir Solovyov, flight director of the Russian segment of the ISS, told RIA news agency, as Reuters reports. “This is bad and suggests that the fissures will begin to spread over time.”
It’s unknown if the cracks, detected by Russian cosmonauts, are currently leaking oxygen to space. Zarya, or Functional Cargo Block (FGB), was the first section of the ISS to reach orbit, having launched on November 20, 1998. The module measures 41.2 feet (12.6 meters) long and 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) wide.
https://gizmodo.com/new-cracks-on-iss-expose-deteriorating-state-of-russian-1847590281
Astronaut's Photo Shows a Huge Blue Flash in Earth's Atmosphere
The “transient luminous event” appeared as the International Space Station passed over Europe.
Isaac Schultz - 11 October 2021 4:47PM
Last week, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured a lightning strike over Europe. But unlike most lightning, this electrical outburst was not a bunch of spiky tendrils but rather a big blue bubble over the continent.
The “transient luminous event,” as such upper atmospheric lightning is known, was spotted in a timelapse taken by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. This sort of lightning looks different from the flashes that occur in and below storm clouds and tends to be much larger.
There are sprites, which are vertical, supertall bright flashes of red or bluish-green light; jets, which tend to be blue and occur in the stratosphere; and elves, which are very high-altitude electromagnetic pulses. There are also trolls, which are jet-like, and other magically named luminous forms of lightning that happen above the clouds.
https://gizmodo.com/astronauts-photo-shows-a-huge-blue-flash-in-earths-atmo-1847840152
Oops, they did it again – rogue Soyuz spurt gave ISS orbit an attitude problem
Crew successfully de-orbited on Sunday carrying vital payload: footage for a movie shot in space
Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor - Sun 17 Oct 2021 23:59 UTC
The International Space Station has again had to compensate for unexpected thrusting by a Russian spacecraft.
Readers may remember that Russia's Nauka module unexpectedly fired its thrusters upon arrival at the ISS in July 2021.
The space station tilted 45 degrees and required restorative action to resume its intended orbit.
Last Friday, something similar occurred.
As detailed in a NASA update, at 5:02am on October 15th the Soyuz capsule docked at the ISS conducted a test of its thrusters ahead of its return to Earth.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/17/iss_unplanned_soyuz_burn/
Surprise Soyuz thruster firing tilted and turned the ISS
It caused an emergency, but the astronauts onboard are out of danger.
Mariella Moon - October 16th, 2021
The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station had to initiate emergency protocols after the spacecraft tilted and turned by 57 degrees on Friday. All is well now, but the Roscosmos and NASA ground teams had to spring to action and alert their personnel in space after noticing the change in orientation. According to The New York Times, the incident happened while cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky was testing the engines aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that's currently docked with the station.
NASA spokesperson Leah Cheshier told the publication that “the thruster firing unexpectedly continued” when the engine testing was scheduled to end. By 5:13 AM Eastern time, the ISS lost control of its orbital positioning. Russian controllers in Moscow immediately told Novitsky that the station turned 57 degrees, while NASA's mission control in Houston told its astronauts to begin emergency procedures. Flight controllers were able to regain control of the station around 30 minutes later. The Soyuz spacecraft that caused the incident is expected to fly a Russian fillm crew — that same one that flew to the ISS to shoot the first feature film there earlier this month — back to Earth.
https://www.engadget.com/soyuz-spacecraft-thruster-firing-turned-iss-122409715.html
SpaceX-powered trip to ISS grounded by 'medical issue'
It's not COVID-19 and it's not an emergency, insists NASA
Laura Dobberstein - Tue 2 Nov 2021 - 05:39 UTC
Four astronauts will not begin their journey to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday as planned after NASA revealed an unspecified medical problem with the crew.
Their launch was scheduled for Sunday, October 31 from the Florida coast, and postponed due to unfavorable weather until Wednesday. The next open opportunity to get their SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and human-ferrying Crew Dragon spacecraft out of the atmosphere is Saturday at 2336 US Eastern Time (0336 UTC).
https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/02/spacex_iss_medical_issue/
Space Station Will Make an Emergency Maneuver After Detection of Threatening Space Junk
A fragment from a Chinese weather satellite will come to within 2,000 feet of the ISS, prompting the orbital relocation.
George Dvorsky - 10 November 2021 12:30PM
An impromptu “space debris evasion maneuver” has been scheduled to prevent errant space junk from slamming into the International Space Station, in what is becoming an increasingly routine procedure.
Preliminary calculations suggest the space junk will come to within 1,970 feet (600 meters) of the International Space Station on Thursday, November 11 at approximately 8:00 p.m. ET (Friday, November 12 at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time), according to Russian space agency Roscosmos. That’s too close for comfort, requiring the ISS to be positioned farther away from the danger zone. The maneuver is scheduled for Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. ET (11:15 p.m. Moscow time).
https://gizmodo.com/space-station-will-make-an-emergency-maneuver-after-det-1848031344
You, me and debris: NASA cans ISS spacewalk because it's getting too risky outside
Broken antenna will have to wait as warning comes in less than 24 hours before airlock opening
Richard Speed - Tue 30 Nov 2021 12:24 UTC
NASA has delayed a spacewalk scheduled today from the International Space Station amid concerns about debris.
The spacewalk by NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron was due to have started today with a switch to spacesuit battery power at 12:10 UTC followed by an exit from the outpost's Quest airlock.
The planned 6.5-hour spacewalk was to have Marshburn positioned at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm and swung out over the structure by ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer at the controls within the orbiting lab. Barron was to assist with the replacement of an antenna on the P1 truss.
The antenna recently lost the ability to send signals to Earth via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite systems. Not the end of the world, as the ISS is rammed full of redundancy, including in the comms department, but since a spare is available (on the truss structure) managers figured restoring full redundancy was worth a jaunt outside the airlock.
What will life in orbit look like after the ISS? NASA hands out new space station contracts
The end is coming, and nobody wants a homeless 'naut
Richard Speed Fri 3 Dec 2021 20:23 UTC
NASA has splashed the cash on design contracts for space stations and a multibillion-dollar job for more Artemis boosters.
With the days of the International Space Station (ISS) numbered, NASA is looking to maintain an uninterrupted US presence in low-Earth orbit. Although Axiom Space has plans to build from the ISS, the $415.6m award is about developing space station designs and “other commercial destinations in space.”
Blue Origin, which has partnered with Sierra Space to develop the Orbital Reef, received $130m. Nanoracks, which is working on a commercial low-Earth orbit destination called “Starlab” (with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin), received $160m, and Northrop Grumman's Cygnus-based station received $125.6m. The Cygnus currently does duty as a freighter for the ISS.
What's Next After the International Space Station?
Posted by EditorDavid on Monday December 27, 2021 12:39AM
$100 billion was spent building the International Space Station — including 42 different assembly flights, reports Recode. Yet “after two decades in orbit, the International Space Station will shut down,” as NASA re-focuses on sending humans back to the moon.
While they plan to keep it functioning as long as possible, NASA “has only technically certified the station's hardware until 2028 and has awarded more than $400 million to fund private replacements.” (Which they estimate will save them $1 billion a year.)
So then what happens?
When these stations are ready, NASA will guide the ISS into the atmosphere, where it will burn up and disintegrate. At that point, anyone hoping to work in space will have to choose among several different outposts. That means countries won't just be using these new stations to strengthen their own national space programs, but as lucrative business ventures, too. “Commercial companies have the capability now to do this, and so we don't want to compete with that,” Robyn Gatens, the director of the ISS, told Recode. “We want to transition lower-Earth orbit over to commercial companies so that the government and NASA can go use resources to do harder things in deep space.”
https://science.slashdot.org/story/21/12/27/0449252/whats-next-after-the-international-space-station
United States extends ISS operations through 2030
The Biden-Harris administration was widely expected to continue US involvement with the International Space Station.
Dana Wollman - January 1st, 2022
The United States is extending its operations aboard the International Space Station through 2030, NASA confirmed Friday in a blog post. “The International Space Station is a beacon of peaceful international scientific collaboration and for more than 20 years has returned enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit humanity,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
Though it was never in doubt that the US would continue its near-term commitment to the ISS, NASA's announcement comes amid heightened tensions with Russia, one of several nations sharing access to the Space Station. 2021 also saw Russia deepen its cooperation in space with China, another US adversary, as The New York Times noted in June.
https://www.engadget.com/united-states-iss-extension-through-2030-191501602.html
New images of the International Space Station reveal that it is still a jewel
Now that astronauts can fly around the space station again, we can appreciate it anew.
Eric Berger - 1/12/2022, 5:59 AM
The International Space Station is now more than two decades old. And while primary construction of the orbiting laboratory ended a little more than a decade ago, before the retirement of NASA's space shuttle, the station has continued to evolve with smaller modules and an ever-changing array of visiting spacecraft.
Over this time the station has begun to show its age, being exposed to the extreme hot and cold temperatures of space, a vacuum environment, and micrometeoroid debris. For more than 20 years, these harsh conditions have worn on the station, inducing stress fractures and other damage.
Following the space shuttle's retirement in 2011, NASA lost the ability to fly humans around the station to catalog these changes with highly detailed photographs. But thanks to the emergence of SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle, astronauts have started circumnavigating the station once again after undocking and before heading home.
The first movie studio in space could be attached to the ISS in 2024
Kris Holt - 10:08 AM PST January 20, 2022
A module that hosts a film studio and sports arena could be connected to the International Space Station by December 2024. Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE), which is co-producing a Tom Cruise movie that will partly be shot in space, is behind the project. If and when SEE-1 is up and running, it plans to host TV and film productions, as well as music events and some kind of sports, which can be filmed or livestreamed, according to Variety.
Axiom Space, which two years ago won a NASA contract to construct the first commercial ISS module, will build the station. All going well, SEE-1 will be connected to Axiom’s arm of the ISS. Axiom Station is scheduled to split from the ISS in 2028 with SEE-1 still attached.
ISS Will Plummet To a Watery Grave In 2030
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday February 03, 2022 02:00AM
The International Space Station (ISS) will continue its operations until 2030 before heading for a watery grave at the most remote point in the Pacific, Nasa confirmed in a new transition plan this week. The Guardian reports:
More than 30 years after its 1998 launch, the ISS will be “de-orbited” in January 2031, according to the space agency's budget estimates. Once out of orbit the space station will make a dramatic descent before splash landing in Point Nemo, which is about 2,700km from any land and has become known as the space cemetery, a final resting place for decommissioned space stations, old satellites, and other human space debris. Also known as the “Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility” or the “South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area,” the region around the space cemetery is known for its utter lack of human activity. It's “pretty much the farthest place from any human civilization you can find,” as NASA put it. Nasa said it plans to continue future space research by buying space and time for astronaut scientists on commercial spacecraft.
https://science.slashdot.org/story/22/02/03/041247/iss-will-plummet-to-a-watery-grave-in-2030
How to incinerate the International Space Station
Fingers crossed the event will more resemble Mir's end than Skylab's.
Andrew Tarantola - February 23rd, 2022
It took NASA and its partners nearly four dozen trips between 1998 and 2010 to haul the roughly 900,000 pounds worth of various modules into orbit that make up the $100 billion International Space Station. But come the end of this decade, more than 30 years after the first ISS component broke atmosphere, the ISS will reach the end of its venerable service life and be decommissioned in favor of a new, privately-operated cadre of orbital research stations. The ISS described by moduleNASA
The problem NASA faces is what to do with the ISS once it’s been officially shuttered, because it’s not like we can just leave it where it is. Without regular shipments of propellant reactant to keep the station on course, the ISS’ orbit would eventually degrade to the point where it’s forward momentum would be insufficient to overcome the effects of atmospheric drag, subsequently plummeting back to Earth. So, rather than wait for the ISS to de-orbit on its own, or leave it in place for the Russians to use as target practice, NASA will instead cast down the station from upon high like Vader did Palpatine.
NASA is no stranger to getting rid of refuse via atmospheric incineration. The space agency has long relied on it in order to dispose of trash, expended launch vehicles, and derelict satellites. Both America’s Skylab and Russia’s Mir space stations were decommissioned in this manner.
https://www.engadget.com/how-to-incinerate-international-space-station-160038987.html
How to save the International Space Station and prevent the dreaded “gap”
Unity in space remains in the best interest of the international partners.
Eric Berger - 3/7/2022, 7:28 AM
In the 10 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, relations between the first nation to reach space and the Western world have been stripped to the bone.
To wit: Europe's space agency has canceled several launches on Russian rockets, a contract between privately held OneWeb and Roscosmos for six Soyuz launches has been nullified, Europe suspended work on its ExoMars exploration mission that was set to use a Russian rocket and lander, and Russia has vowed to stop selling rocket engines to US launch companies.
Virtually every diplomatic and economic tie between Russia's space industry and Europe and the United States has been severed but one—the International Space Station.
Billionaires Sent to Space Weren't Expecting to Work So Hard on the ISS
The first private astronauts, who paid $55 million to journey to the ISS, needed some handholding from the regular crew.
Passant Rabie - 17 May 2022 6:31AM
If you’re one of a few people fortunate enough to be able to afford a $55 million ticket to space, the odds are that you’re not much accustomed to hard labor. Members of the all-private crew to the International Space Station recently reflected on their journey to low Earth orbit, complaining that they had too much work to do aboard the laboratory as it circled our planet.
During a press conference on Friday, the four-man crew of Axiom Space’s Ax-1 mission admitted that they tried to fit too much into their schedules, which ended up putting a strain on them as well as on the astronaut crew that was already living and working on the station, SpaceNews reports.
NASA Suspends ISS Spacewalks Because Its Spacesuits Are Leaking Water
The most recent incident happened in March, when water began to pool inside an astronaut's helmet.
Passant Rabie - 19 May 2022 4:40PM
It might be time for NASA to ditch its aging ISS spacesuits. The space agency announced a pause to all its spacewalks until it has a better handle on a lingering and frightening issue that’s causing water to leak inside of astronauts’ helmets.
The latest incident happened during an extravehicular activity (EVA) in March, but this isn’t the first time a helmet has filled up with water during a spacewalk—a potentially life-threatening scenario for astronauts. NASA has raised concerns that the aging spacesuits on board the ISS might not be usable anymore and that it may be time to swap them out for a newer model currently in development. The spacesuits that NASA uses now are more than 40 years old, and the agency seems to be running out of fully functional space suits; only 18 usable units are available on the ISS, according to a 2017 report.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-spacesuits-leaking-water-iss-1848949499
A fiery end? How the ISS will end its life in orbit
As big as a football field and heavier than 200 elephants, de-orbiting the International Space Station represents a monumental challenge. But is there another future for the space station?
Jonathan O'Callaghan - 2nd May 2023
Drift into the wrong part of the Pacific Ocean in eight years, and you might be in for a shock. Tearing through the sky will be some 400 tonnes (880,000lbs) of metal, set aglow by its re-entry through the atmosphere. This raging inferno will crash into the ocean, across an area maybe thousands of kilometres in length, signalling the end of one of humanity's greatest projects – the International Space Station (ISS).
The ISS has been orbiting the Earth since construction on it began in 1998. It has hosted more than 250 visitors from 20 countries since its first crew arrived in November 2000. “The space station has been a huge success,” says Josef Aschbacher, the head of the European Space Agency (Esa), one of the more than a dozen partners in the programme. It has been a boon for international collaboration, not least between the US and Russia, who partnered shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. “It is really one of the big international victories,” says Thomas Zurbuchen, Nasa's former head of science.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230502-a-fiery-end-how-the-iss-will-end-its-life-in-orbit
Adventure in Space: ISS Astronauts Install Fifth Roll-out Solar Blanket to Boost Power
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 11, 2023 03:13PM
The international space station is equpped with four 39-foot blankets (11.8-meters), reports CBS News. The first one was delivered in December of 2000 — and now it's time for some changes:
Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station Friday and installed the fifth of six roll-out solar array blankets — iROSAs — needed to offset age-related degradation and micrometeoroid damage to the lab's original solar wings.
Floating in the Quest airlock, veteran Stephen Bowen, making his ninth spacewalk, and crewmate Woody Hoburg, making his first, switched their spacesuits to battery power at 9:25 a.m. EDT, officially kicking off the 264th spacewalk devoted to ISS assembly and maintenance and the seventh so far this year. NASA is in the process of upgrading the ISS's solar power system by adding six iROSAs to the lab's eight existing U.S. arrays. The first four roll-out blankets were installed during spacewalks in 2021 and 2022. Bowen and Hoburg installed the fifth during Friday's spacewalk and plan to deploy the sixth during another excursion next Thursday.
Russian Cosmonaut Rides New Robotic Arm Outside ISS for the First Time
The Russian space agency had previously threatened to withhold access to Europe's robotic arm at the height of geopolitical tensions last year.
Passant Rabie - 10 August 2023
At the end of a nearly seven hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS), a Russian cosmonaut got to strap onto a giant, 37-foot-long robotic arm attached to the orbiting lab for its first test drive in space.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin stepped outside the space station on Wednesday at 10:44 a.m. ET for a scheduled spacewalk that lasted for six hours and 35 minutes. After completing the assembly and maintenance work to the ISS, Prokopyev tested the European Robotic Arm (ERA) as a way for astronauts to safely move across the outside of the space station during their spacewalks.
Prokopyev rode at the end of the massive robot arm while another cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, controlled ERA from inside the Nauka module at a slow and steady pace. Wednesday’s spacewalk was Prokopyev’s eighth spacewalk to date, but presumably a rather memorable one as he became the first to ride the robotic arm. NASA uses the Canadarm in a similar manner when transporting astronauts during spacewalks.
https://gizmodo.com/cosmonaut-rides-new-robotic-arm-outside-iss-first-time-1850724337
Looking back at 25 years of the ISS
The US-built Unity node docked with the Russian-built Zarya module on December 6, 1998.
Will Shanklin, Contributing Reporter - Updated Wed, Dec 6, 2023, 9:31 AM PST
Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station’s (ISS) physical assembly in orbit. On December 6, 1998, the crew aboard the space shuttle Endeavor attached the US-built Unity node to the Russian-built Zarya module, kicking off the modular construction of the ISS. A quarter century later, we look back at the milestones and breakthroughs from one of humanity’s most impressive marvels of engineering and international cooperation.
The ISS, which orbits the Earth 16 times every 24 hours at a speed of five miles per second, has been inhabited by researchers for over 23 years. It’s the product of five space agencies from 15 countries. NASA, Roscosmos (Russia’s national space agency), ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) have contributed to the station’s assembly and operation.
https://www.engadget.com/looking-back-at-25-years-of-the-iss-173155049.html
13 Things You Didn't Know About the International Space Station
Think you know everything there is to know about the ISS? Guess again.
George Dvorsky - 23 January 2024
The International Space Station is so hot right now, with no less than two movies out featuring the orbital lab, namely I.S.S. and Constellation. Indeed, the ISS is an absolute icon and a fixture of popular culture. But beyond its well-known status as a pioneering space laboratory, it harbors a wealth of lesser-known facts and features.
The ISS spins around Earth once every 90 minutes, and it’s done so continuously for the past quarter century. It’s the space lab that just keeps on ticking, despite the odd toilet malfunction, air leak, or impromptu backflip. From its unique fire safety measures tailored for microgravity environments to the intricacies of its water recycling system, the ISS is a marvel of engineering and human ingenuity. There’s much to know about this extraordinary laboratory in the sky, some details being more esoteric than others.
https://gizmodo.com/13-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-international-space-1851169182
Daily Telescope: I spy, with my little eye, the ISS
What is black and white and constantly in flight?
Eric Berger - 5/16/2024, 5:00 AM
Good morning. It's May 16, and today's image comes from an on-demand satellite imagery company named HEO. Only this image is not of the Earth, but rather the International Space Station.
According to the company, which is headquartered in Australia, one of its cameras imaged the space station at a distance of 69.06 km away, over the Indian Ocean. HEO flies its sensors as hosted payloads on satellites in Earth orbit. However, HEO's focus is not on Earth; it's on other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit to assess their status and identify anomalous behavior.
As for the space station, it remains in good health after a quarter of a century of operations. NASA is currently working with its international partners to extend the station's operations through 2030. After that, the space agency would like to retire the vehicle and transition to commercially operated space stations.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/daily-telescope-i-spy-with-my-little-eye-the-iss/
Orbital Paparazzi Captures a Sneaky Picture of the ISS
The non-Earth imaging satellite was less than 50 miles away from the space station when it snapped the shot.
Passant Rabie - 17 May 2024
The International Space Station (ISS) was caught looking a little undignified in a new photo captured by an imaging satellite in orbit.
This week, Australia-based HEO Robotics released a photo of the ISS like we’ve never seen it before. The fuzzy black-and-white image was taken by one of the company’s non-Earth imaging satellites as it was a mere 43 miles (69 kilometers) away from the 356-foot-long (109 meters) space station.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-viewed-from-orbit-satellite-space-heo-robotics-1851484181
“Archeology” on the ISS helps identify what astronauts really need
Regular photography shows a tool shed and more isolated toilet would be appreciated.
Jacek Krywko - 8/9/2024, 10:10 AM
“Archeology really is a perspective on material culture we use as evidence to understand how humans adapt to their environment, to the situations they are in, and to each other. There is no place, no time that is out of bounds,” says Justin Walsh, an archeologist at Chapman University who led the first off-world archeological study on board the ISS.
Walsh’s and his team wanted to understand, document, and preserve the heritage of the astronaut culture at one of the first permanent space habitats. “There is this notion about astronauts that they are high achievers, highly intelligent, and highly trained, that they are not like you and me. What we learned is that they are just people, and they want the comforts of home,” Walsh says.
Russian Cosmonauts Smash Record for Longest Stay on the ISS
The pair exceeded the previous record of 370 consecutive days spent on board the space station.
Passant Rabie - September 20, 2024
Two cosmonauts have set the record for the most days spent continuously aboard the International Space Station (ISS), surpassing the previous record holders, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, and Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev.
On Friday, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub broke the record for the longest-duration stay on the ISS, according to Russian state-run media outlet TASS. The pair launched to Earth orbit on September 15, 2023, as part of the Expedition 71 crew, and are scheduled to return to Earth on September 23, spending a total of 374 days on board the space station.
The previous record holders are U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio, and Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev. The trio spent a total of 370 days on board the ISS due to a faulty Soyuz spacecraft that led to them being stranded in space and extending their six-month long mission to over a year.
This time around, no spacecraft glitches are to blame for the new record, and one of the cosmonauts is no stranger to time spent floating in microgravity. Aside from his consecutive days in orbit record, the 59-year-old Kononenko also recently became the first person to reach 1,000 cumulative days spent in space, Spaceflight Now reported.
https://gizmodo.com/russian-cosmonauts-smash-record-for-longest-stay-on-the-iss-2000501477
The ISS Is in the ‘Riskiest Period of Its Existence,’ NASA Safety Panel Warns
Growing air leaks, and the lack of a deorbit plan top the list of concerns for the aging space station.
Passant Rabie - April 18, 2025
The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting Earth since 1998, housing groups of astronauts in the microgravity environment around 250 miles above the surface of the planet. All of that time in space has taken a toll on its aging hardware, and the space station is due to retire within the next few years. Until then, however, safety experts are warning of long-running issues that threaten the safety of the ISS, and the crew on board.
During a meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) held on Thursday, members of a NASA safety panel stated that there are growing risks threatening the space station as it nears the end of its use, SpaceNews reported. “The ISS has entered the riskiest period of its existence,” Rich Williams, a member of the panel, said during the meeting.
At the top of the list of growing risks is a leak where air has been escaping at an increasing rate from a tunnel that connects a docking port to a Russian module. In 2019, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos reported the detection of an air leak found in the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which the space agency had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. The rate of air that has been leaking from Russia’s Zvezda module had doubled from one pound of air per day in 2019 to a little over two pounds around a week before the launch of the Progress MS-26 cargo spacecraft in February 2024.
Could a Paper Plane Thrown From The International Space Station Survive The Flight?
10 July 2025 - Andy Tomaswick, Universe Today
Sometimes there are profound questions in life that must be answered, like “What is the meaning of existence?”, “Are we alone in the universe?” or “What happens if you throw a paper airplane from the International Space Station?”
Luckily, that third one has finally been answered, because of course someone would eventually.
A new paper from Maximilien Berthet and Kojiro Suzuki from the University of Tokyo looks at “the dynamics of an origami space plane during Earth atmospheric reentry” – in other words, what happens when you throw a paper plane out of the ISS.
First, let's go over some technical ideas that are necessary to understanding this seemingly simple concept.
Explore 25 years onboard the International Space Station
This multimedia project replays every day of the past 25 years onboard and consists entirely of historical mission material.
American Astronaut
NASA stands by its astronaut after incendiary Russian claims
“I fully support Serena, and I will always stand behind our astronauts.”
Eric Berger - 8/13/2021, 1:51 PM
On Friday afternoon, NASA pushed back on personal attacks made by Russia's state-owned news service against NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor.
“NASA astronauts, including Serena Auñón-Chancellor, are extremely well-respected, serve their country, and make invaluable contributions to the agency,” said Kathy Lueders, chief of human spaceflight for NASA. “We stand behind Serena and her professional conduct. We do not believe there is any credibility to these accusations.”
Shortly after Lueders tweeted this statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson concurred. “I whole-heartedly agree with Kathy’s statement,” he said. “I fully support Serena and I will always stand behind our astronauts.”
The statements of support come more than 24 hours after the Russian news service TASS, which is widely distributed and speaks with the authority of the Russian government, published new claims about Auñón-Chancellor's behavior as an astronaut aboard the International Space Station in 2018. TASS claimed that Auñón-Chancellor had an emotional breakdown in space and then damaged a Russian spacecraft so that she could return to Earth early.
After Ars reported these claims on Thursday, NASA offered a weak statement that in no way exonerated Auñón-Chancellor. “To protect their privacy, the agency will not discuss medical information regarding crew members,” the agency said in part.
NASA Weakly Defends Astronaut Following Russian State Media Accusations of ISS Sabotage
Russian state media is rehashing an old theory to explain how a tiny drill hole formed on a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station.
George Dvorsky - 16 August 2021 2:00PM
Still stinging from the recent ISS cartwheeling mishap, Russian state-owned news agency TASS alleges that a NASA astronaut deliberately damaged a docked Soyuz spacecraft for the purpose of facilitating a prompt return to Earth, in an incident dating back to 2018. The claim is unfounded and outrageous—but you wouldn’t know it from NASA’s tepid response.
TASS is directing the accusation at NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, who served as a member of the Expedition 56/57 crew, along with Alexander Gerst of ESA and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, from June 6, 2018 to December 20, 2018. TASS claims that an anonymous source told the news agency that Auñón-Chancellor developed deep vein thrombosis while in orbit, a condition that, according to the source, could have made her mentally unstable, leading her to drill a hole into the Soyuz spacecraft to expedite a return to Earth.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-weakly-defends-astronaut-following-russian-state-m-1847494365
NASA postpones spacewalk as it would be too much of a pain in the neck for astronaut
ISS installation work to be carried out some other time
Katyanna Quach - Wed 25 Aug 2021 / 01:28 UTC
NASA on Tuesday postponed a spacewalk after one of the astronauts due to work outside the International Space Station had a “pinched nerve” in his neck.
US astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide were hoping to step out into the void at 1230 UTC on August 24. The pair were instructed to install equipment along the spacecraft’s Integrated Truss Structure, the 108.5-metre-long pole that stretches across the length of the ISS, to support upgraded solar panels for the station.
But, alas, Vande Hei was suffering from a pinched nerve, which thwarted NASA’s plans. “This issue is not a medical emergency,” the American agency confirmed. “The spacewalk is not time-sensitive and crew members are continuing to move forward with other station work and activities.”
It’s not clear when the spacewalk will be rescheduled for; NASA said it’ll have to wait until after next week when the crew is expected to receive supplies in a SpaceX cargo capsule on the August 28.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/25/nasa_spacewalk_injury/
Russia threatens criminal charges against a NASA astronaut
Russia continues to deflect from embarrassing situation that occurred 3 years ago.
Eric Berger - 11/30/2021, 7:18 AM
The Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, said it has completed an investigation into a “hole” found in a Soyuz spacecraft when the vehicle was docked to the International Space Station in 2018.
Moreover, Roscosmos told the Russian publication RIA Novosti that it has sent the results of the investigation to law enforcement officials. “All results of the investigation regarding the hole in the habitation module of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft were transmitted to Law Enforcement officials,” Roscosmos said. No further details were provided.
In Russia, the results of such an investigation are sent to law enforcement to allow officials to decide whether or not to initiate a criminal case, which would be akin to issuing an indictment. Russia does not have a grand jury system like in the United States, where investigators hand over their evidence to prosecutors, who decide whether to press charges.
While no astronauts or cosmonauts were ultimately in danger, the August 2018 incident has been embarrassing for Russian space officials. At the time, a 2 mm breach was discovered in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 vehicle docked with the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, and NASA's Serena Auñón-Chancellor had flown to the station inside this Soyuz in June.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11/russia-threatens-criminal-charges-against-a-nasa-astronaut/
Russia may press criminal charges in 2018 ISS pressure leak incident
'These attacks are false and lack any credibility,' said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
Igor Bonifacic - November 30th, 2021
In 2018, astronauts aboard the International Space Station plugged a 2mm “hole” in a Soyuz MS-09 vehicle that had docked with the station in June of that year. While the pressure leak never posed an immediate threat to those aboard, it set off a bizarre turn of events that saw Russia open an investigation to find out if the incident was the result of sabotage.
Per an RIA Novosti article spotted by Ars Technica, the country's Roscosmos space agency recently completed its probe of the event and sent the results to Russian law enforcement officials, opening the door for them to announce criminal charges. Roscosmos didn't' say anything official about the cause of the pressure leak, but that hasn't stopped Russian media from spreading misinformation.
The RIA Novosti article references Russian media reports that allege the hole may have been drilled by NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, a crew member of the ISS at the time of the incident. Specifically, per Russia's TASS news agency, the country's Izvestia newspaper claimed Aunon-Chancellor may have drilled the hole out of a “desire to return to Earth because of a blood clot or a fight with her onboard the International Space Station.” Citing its own source, TASS claims “the hole had been drilled in weightlessness by a person not acquainted with the spaceship's design.”
https://www.engadget.com/roscosmos-2018-iss-report-174303244.html
Saga of Tiny Drill Hole in the ISS Continues as Russia Sends Investigation to Police
NASA administrator Bill Nelson described Russian state media rumors that a NASA astronaut drilled the hole as false and without credibility.
George Dvorsky - 1 December 2021
The results of a Roscosmos investigation into a hole in the International Space Station have been handed over to “law enforcement authorities,” Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti claims. The incident happened three years ago, when a leaky drill hole was detected in the Russian Soyuz MS-09 module. Further information wasn’t provided, and there’s “no official information about the initiation of a criminal case on this matter,” according to RIA Novosti.
The small drill hole never put the ISS at risk, but Russian state media has propagated nasty and seemingly unfounded rumors about its cause. Earlier this year, Russian state-owned news agency TASS alleged that NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor became psychologically unstable after developing deep vein thrombosis, compelling her to drill a hole in the Soyuz capsule in the hopes of expediting an early return to Earth. Roscosmos hasn’t offered any evidence to support this accusation, and NASA is standing by its astronaut.
https://gizmodo.com/saga-of-tiny-drill-hole-in-the-iss-continues-as-russia-1848143729
Axiom Mission 2 / Axiom 2 / Ax-2
What You Need to Know About Ax-2—the Second Private Mission to the ISS
Axiom Space is getting ready to launch its second crew to the space station, where they will spend eight days conducting experiments in Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - 17 May 2023
The second private crew to the International Space Station (ISS) is getting ready to strap into a SpaceX Dragon capsule, venturing to low Earth orbit as part of Axiom Space’s follow-up mission to the orbiting lab.
Axiom Mission 2, or Ax-2, is scheduled for liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 21. The rocket will launch from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following a roughly 16-hour journey to low Earth orbit, the four-person crew will dock to the space station’s Harmony module and begin its eight-day stay on board the ISS.
https://gizmodo.com/axiom-ax-2-second-private-mission-iss-explainer-nasa-1850445293
Bacteria
Mutated Strains of Unknown Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found Lurking on ISS
It’s not clear how the space bacteria may affect the health of astronauts on the ISS—or humans back down on Earth.
Passant Rabie - 18 April 2024
The International Space Station (ISS) is home to crews of astronauts conducting research in low Earth orbit, but it also hosts a group of mutated bacteria that are thriving under the harsh conditions of space.
A group of researchers took a closer look at bacterial strains on board the ISS and found that they had mutated to a different form that’s genetically and functionally distinct from their Earthly counterparts. In a new study published on PubMed, scientists suggest that bacteria in space becomes more resistant to treatment or drugs, and are able to openly persist in the microgravity environment in abundance.
Over the past two decades, the ISS has hosted nearly 300 astronauts. Although astronauts tend to travel light, they do unintentionally bring their microbes with them to space. As a result, a unique microbial population has grown on the space station. In 2019, researchers conducted the first extensive survey of bacteria and fungi on board the ISS, and found a whole bunch of microorganisms living among the astronauts.
https://gizmodo.com/mutated-strains-drug-resistant-bacteria-iss-1851416863
Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria Found on ISS Mutating to Become Functionally Distinct
Elizabeth E. Keller - Apr 16, 2024
In a new scientific paper funded by an Ames Space Biology grant, Principal Investigator Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory strains of the bacterial species Enterobacter bugandensis isolated from the International Space Station (ISS) were studied. Thirteen strains of E. bugandensis, a bacterium notorious for being multi-drug resistant, were isolated from the ISS. Study findings indicate under stress, the ISS isolated strains were mutated and became genetically and functionally distinct compared to their Earth counterparts. The strains were able to viably persist in the ISS over time with a significant abundance. E. bugandensis coexisted with multiple other microorganisms, and in some cases could have helped those organisms survive.
Publication Impact: Closed human-built environments, such as the ISS, are unique areas that provide an extreme environment subject to microgravity, radiation, and elevated carbon dioxide levels. Any microorganisms introduced to these areas must adapt to thrive. By delving into microbial dynamics in extreme environments, this research opens doors to effective preventative measure for astronaut health.
Contaminants
The ISS Has Higher Levels of Potentially Harmful Contaminants Than Most Homes
Scientists analyzed a sample of dust from the space station's air filters and found numerous contaminants, including dreaded “forever chemicals.”
Passant Rabie - 9 August 2023
The International Space Station (ISS) has been home to more than 250 astronauts who have lived and worked on board the orbiting lab for months at a time. Unlike homes on Earth, however, the space station has been discovered to have higher levels of chemical contamination lingering in dust.
A group of scientists analyzed a dust sample from the air filters on board the ISS and found higher concentrations of potentially harmful chemical compounds than those found in floor dust in most American households. The latest findings were published Tuesday in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, and could have implications for the design of future space stations that will succeed the ISS.
https://gizmodo.com/the-iss-has-higher-levels-of-potentially-harmful-contam-1850721572
Debris
aka Crash / Damage / Collision
Astronaut Tool Bag Becomes Unexpected Satellite After ISS Spacewalk Slip-Up
A tool bag that accidentally floated away during a spacewalk is now visible as it orbits Earth, resembling a small, moving point of light in the night sky.
Passant Rabie - 7 November 2023
In space, misplacing a bag of tools is hard to recover from. A tiny mishap during a recent spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) has led to a new object in the night sky, with a tool bag now orbiting Earth ahead of the space station, temporarily taunting the astronauts who dropped it.
During a spacewalk on November 1, astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were carrying out handy work outside the ISS when they accidentally let a tool bag float away where it could no longer be reached. The bag of tools, orbiting Earth at the same velocity of 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour) as the ISS, is now circling the planet ahead of the orbital lab, according to EarthSky.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-tool-bag-orbits-earth-space-junk-1850998462
The CRASH Clock is ticking as satellite congestion in low Earth orbit worsens
It's getting crowded up there
Richard Speed - Fri 12 Dec 2025 14:28 UTC
Earth's orbit is starting to look like an LA freeway, with more and more satellites being launched each year. If you're worried about collisions and space debris making the area unusable – and you should be – scientists have proposed a new metric to contribute to your anxiety: the CRASH Clock.
The CRASH (Collision Realization And Significant Harm) Clock is a proposed Key Environmental Indicator (KEI) to give an estimate of how long it would take before a catastrophic collision occurs if collision avoidance maneuvers cease or there is a loss of situation awareness.
The clock is currently 2.8 days, which doesn't sound too bad until you consider that in 2018, before the mega-constellation launches got underway (yes, Starlink, we're looking at you), the CRASH Clock was 121 days.
Professor Sam Lawler explained the origin of the acronym in a post on Mastodon: “We needed a metric. I originally wanted to do something like 'Kessler Countdown' or 'Kessler Clock' but this isn't a countdown to Kessler Syndrome, it's just showing how bad things are in orbit, and how quickly they could get worse. So, our name for this metric is… Collision Realization And Significant Harm: the CRASH Clock!”
Kessler Syndrome is a theoretical scenario where collisions in orbit result in an exponentially increasing amount of debris, effectively rendering some orbital regions unusable. As Lawler noted, the CRASH Clock is more about highlighting how crowded orbit is becoming and how quickly it could get worse in the event of something like a major solar storm or a software issue knocking out collision avoidance systems.
While the CRASH Clock is concerning, if collision avoidance systems continue to perform flawlessly (and any software engineer will know all about coding perfection), there should be no immediate problem.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/12/crash_clock_orbit_collision/
2024 Station Trash / Batteries
A Half-Ton of ISS Space Station Trash Will Crash Into the Earth
Heaviest-ever piece of ISS space trash set for uncontrolled reentry
George Dvorsky - 7 March 2024
A 2.9-ton cargo pallet, once used for a critical battery upgrade mission on the International Space Station (ISS), is now approaching the end of its journey and is expected to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere in the coming days.
The pallet, tossed from the ISS in March 2021 by the trusty Canadarm2, is facing imminent destruction in Earth’s atmosphere three years after serving its purpose in a major battery replacement project on the station. According to Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell, the pallet “will not totally burn up on reentry—about half a ton of fragments will likely hit the Earth’s surface,” McDowell noted on X.
It’s the end of the orbital road for the heaviest piece of ISS space trash, which has been gradually falling towards Earth like a fly getting sucked up in a kitchen drain. The expected reentry of the cargo pallet into Earth’s atmosphere is between March 8 at 7:30 a.m. ET and March 9 at 3:30 a.m. ET, according to McDowell. The exact location of reentry is not known.
https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-march-2024-1851317508
Grab a helmet because retired ISS batteries are hurtling back to Earth
'Luminous phenomena' on the cards, but half a ton of debris could survive
Richard Speed - Fri 8 Mar 2024 19:39 UTC
A pallet of used batteries from the International Space Station (ISS) is due to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at some point in the next day, and some parts of the 2.6 metric ton mass are likely to hit the ground.
The pallet contains nine batteries in total and was released from the ISS on January 11, 2021. According to ESA's Space Debris Office, entry is predicted at 1756 UTC on March 8. However, the date and time currently have an uncertainty of 0.4 days, which makes pinpointing the location of re-entry difficult until nearer the time.
ESA said: “The re-entry will occur between -51.6 degrees South and 51.6 degrees North.” This is quite a large area, but it is indicative of the inherent challenges in predicting a “natural” re-entry.
Not that jettisoning the batteries had been the original intent. Between 2017 and 2020, the aging nickel-hydrogen power packs previously used on the ISS had to be swapped out for more powerful lithium-ion units. The old batteries were mounted onto cargo pallets for the Japanese HTV freighters, which would then depart the ISS and make a controlled re-entry.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/iss_battery_packs_reentry/
5,800 Pounds of Batteries Tossed Off the ISS in 2021 Fell to Earth Today
Posted by EditorDavid on Friday March 08, 2024 08:15PM
Space.com describes it as “a nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station” — which crashed back to earth today. One satellite tracker claims to have filmed it passing over the Netherlands…
“A couple minutes later reentry and it would have reached Fort Meyers” in Florida, posted astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. But instead it re-entered the earth's atmosphere “over the Gulf of Mexico between Cancun and Cuba,” Friday afternoon. “This was within the previous prediction window but a little to the northeast of the 'most likely' part of the path.”
A hunk of junk from the International Space Station hurtles back to Earth
Three tons of trash from the space station fell to Earth in an unguided reentry.
Stephen Clark - 3/8/2024, 4:10 PM
A bundle of depleted batteries from the International Space Station careened around Earth for almost three years before falling out of orbit and plunging back into the atmosphere Friday. Most of the trash likely burned up during reentry, but it's possible some fragments may have reached Earth's surface intact.
Larger pieces of space junk regularly fall to Earth on unguided trajectories, but they're usually derelict satellites or spent rocket stages. This involved a pallet of batteries from the space station with a mass of more than 2.6 metric tons (5,800 pounds). NASA intentionally sent the space junk on a path toward an unguided reentry.
Massive Pallet of Old Batteries Re-Enters Earth’s Atmosphere, Marking Heaviest ISS Trash Return Yet
After three years of uncontrolled descent, the 2.9-ton cargo pallet has finally fallen to Earth.
Passant Rabie - 11 March 2024
On Friday, March 8, a pallet of used batteries from the International Space Station (ISS) reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico following an unpredictable journey through orbit.
The pallet contained nine batteries and weighed in at 2.9 tons. It had been tossed by the Canadarm2 robotic arm in March 2021 and and has since been tumbling towards Earth in an uncontrolled reentry. The chaotic fall through orbit finally came to an end last week when the cargo pallet reentered on March 8 around 3:29 p.m. ET somewhere above Cancun and Cuba, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who has been tracking the piece of ISS trash.
https://gizmodo.com/massive-pallet-of-old-batteries-re-enters-earth-s-atmos-1851326309
NASA Is Being Sued for Dropping Space Junk on a Florida Home
The space agency tossed a massive pallet of old batteries from the ISS, and a piece of it fell through a family's roof.
Passant Rabie - 24 June 2024
A family from Florida filed a claim against NASA for a small piece of trash that the space agency had tossed from the International Space Station (ISS), which ended up in their home.
Earlier this year, a two-pound cylindrical-shaped object crashed through the roof of a family home in Naples, Florida, creating a hole in the ceiling and the floor. The incident coincided with the reentry of a massive pallet of old batteries from the ISS, which plummeted through the atmosphere on the same day over the Gulf of Mexico, ultimately heading toward southwest Florida.
The homeowner reported the incident and NASA retrieved the object for analysis. In April, the space agency confirmed that, upon studying the object’s dimensions and features, it was indeed a fragment from the flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-lawsuit-space-junk-florida-home-battery-pallet-1851557694
NASA ought to pay up after space debris punched a hole in my roof, homeowner says
Otero family sues Uncle Sam for $80K+ to make everything right
Matthew Connatser - Mon 24 Jun 2024 17:16 UTC
A Florida homeowner has sued NASA for more than $80,000 in compensation after debris from the International Space Station smashed a hole in his roof.
Alejandro Otero is understandably upset that the plummeting trash crashed into his family's house on March 8. According to his attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy, nobody was injured, and only Otero's son Daniel was home at the time.
The debris “left a sizable hole from the roof through the sub-flooring,” the father's legal team said at the end of last week.
NASA confirmed in April debris, part of a battery pack it had jettisoned from the International Space Station back in 2021, had hit a home in Naples, Florida. Otero's counsel told The Register it was undisputed that the equipment that landed on the Oteros' home was the kit dumped by NASA.
The American agency said it would not be appropriate to comment on a pending lawsuit.
The Oteros are claiming the space debris really did a number on their home, and the family's legal team confirmed it is seeking at least $80,000 from NASA to cover repairs, business interruptions, emotional damage, and other costs. The home's insurer has also put in a claim.
Worthy said: “If the incident had happened overseas, and someone in another country were damaged by the same space debris as in the Oteros' case, the US would have been absolutely liable to pay for those damages under the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects also known as the 'Space Liability Convention.'
“We have asked NASA not to apply a different standard towards US citizens or residents, but instead to take care of the Oteros and make them whole.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/24/nasa_ought_to_pay_up/
Deorbit
The International Space Station will deorbit in glory. How's your legacy tech doing?
Your past projects may be a pain, but can they rain fiery death from above?
Rupert Goodwins - Tue 30 Aug 2022 08:33 UTC
The International Space Station is showing its age. It's older than a third of the population, over two and a half billion people who have never known a time without humans in orbit.
Bits and pieces of it keep going wrong, most recently the EVA spacesuits; Russia may or may not be about to bail; and it's more Red Dwarf than the Enterprise when it comes to space germs.
You thought it was difficult getting a cleaner to come to your apartment in the city? From one point of view, it's worn out, super-expensive to run, and is not contributing much to space exploration any more, and is soaking up far too much of space engineers' brain time.
NASA Calls on Commercial Partners to Design a Spacecraft to Deorbit the ISS
The space station is scheduled for retirement by 2030 and must be deorbited safely to prevent it from crashing onto populated areas.
Passant Rabie - 21 September 2023
The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting Earth for 24 years, hosting crews of astronauts and running experiments in the microgravity environment. By 2030, however, the space station’s reign in low Earth orbit must come to an end and NASA is figuring out exactly how to do that.
NASA put out a request for proposals for private space companies in the U.S. to come up with a design for a spacecraft to safely deorbit the ISS as part of its retirement plan, the space agency announced on Wednesday.
The ISS will remain operational until 2030. After which, the space station has to be deorbited in a safe manner to prevent the lab from falling onto populated areas. To do that, NASA is suggesting a “new spacecraft design or modification to an existing spacecraft that must function on its first flight and have sufficient redundancy and anomaly recovery capability to continue the critical deorbit burn,” the space agency wrote.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-iss-commercial-partners-deorbit-iss-tug-orbit-1850860764
Bids For ISS Demolition Rights Are Now Open, NASA Declares
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday September 28, 2023 12:00AM
Jude Karabus writes via The Register:
NASA has confirmed it will ask American companies to duke it out for the opportunity to deorbit the International Space Station – quietly releasing a request for proposals last week. The specs, which appeared on U.S. government e-procurement portal SAM.gov, are for a vehicle the agency has dubbed the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), which will be focused on the space station's final deorbit activity. According to NASA, it will be a “new spacecraft design or modification to an existing spacecraft” that must function on its first flight (yep, important that), as well as have “sufficient redundancy and anomaly recovery capability to continue the critical deorbit burn.”
Building a Spacecraft to Deorbit ISS 'Not Optional,' Claims NASA Safety Panel
Failure to properly dispose of the space station could result in catastrophe, the panel warns.
Passant Rabie - 27 October 2023 12:35PM
A safety panel highlighted the urgency of safely deorbiting the International Space Station (ISS) after it retires in 2030, warning of a catastrophe if the spacecraft were to make an uncontrolled reentry through Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) urged the space agency to develop a space tug to deorbit the ISS, saying that the deorbit vehicle is “not optional,” according to Space Policy Online.
“The day will inevitably come when the Station is at the end of its life—and we may not be able to dictate that day—it is inconceivable to allow the Station to deorbit in an uncontrolled manner,” ASAP Chair Patricia Sanders said during a briefing at the panel’s third quarter meeting on Thursday. The ISS is “simply too massive and would pose extreme hazard to populations over a broad area of Earth. This needs to be resourced and resourced now if we are to avert a catastrophe.”
https://gizmodo.com/spacecraft-space-tug-iss-deorbit-nasa-safety-budget-1850966490
NASA Selects International Space Station US Deorbit Vehicle
NASA / Abbey A. Donaldson - 26 June 2024
NASA is fostering continued scientific, educational, and technological developments in low Earth orbit to benefit humanity, while also supporting deep space exploration at the Moon and Mars. As the agency transitions to commercially owned space destinations closer to home, it is crucial to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbit of the International Space Station in a controlled manner after the end of its operational life in 2030.
NASA announced SpaceX has been selected to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will provide the capability to deorbit the space station and ensure avoidance of risk to populated areas.
“Selecting a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit at the end of station operations. This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of space near Earth,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The orbital laboratory remains a blueprint for science, exploration, and partnerships in space for the benefit of all.”
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-international-space-station-us-deorbit-vehicle/
SpaceX scores $843M NASA contract to de-orbit ISS in 2030
Aria Alamalhodaei - 2:57 PM PDT June 26, 2024
NASA has selected SpaceX to develop a spacecraft that will de-orbit the International Space Station in 2030 — a contract valued at as much as $843 million, the agency announced Wednesday.
The ISS is nearing the end of its operational life, and as plans for new, commercially owned space stations heat up, the one that started it all will eventually have to be safely disposed of at the end of the decade.
Few details about the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, as NASA calls the craft, have been released so far. However, NASA clarified that the vehicle will be different from SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which delivers cargo and crew to the station, and other vehicles that perform services for the agency. Unlike these vehicles, which are built and operated by SpaceX, NASA will take ownership of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle post-development and operate it throughout its mission.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/26/spacex-scores-843m-nasa-contract-to-deorbit-iss-in-2030/
NASA will pay SpaceX nearly $1 billion to deorbit the International Space Station
The space agency did consider alternatives to splashing the station.
Eric Berger - 6/27/2024, 9:54 AM
NASA has awarded an $843 million contract to SpaceX to develop a “US Deorbit Vehicle.” This spacecraft will dock to the International Space Station in 2029 and then ensure the large facility makes a controlled reentry through Earth's atmosphere before splashing into the ocean in 2030.
“Selecting a US Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit at the end of station operations,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations, in a statement. “This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of space near Earth.”
NASA has a couple of reasons for bringing the space station's life to a close in 2030. Foremost among these is that the station is aging. Parts of it are now a quarter of a century old. There are cracks on the Russian segment of the space station that are spreading. Although the station could likely be maintained beyond 2030, it would require increasing amounts of crew time to keep flying the station safely.
Additionally, NASA is seeking to foster a commercial economy in low-Earth orbit. To that end, it is working with several private companies to develop commercial space stations that would be able to house NASA astronauts, as well as those from other countries and private citizens, by or before 2030. By setting an end date for the station's lifetime and sticking with it, NASA can help those private companies raise money from investors.
NASA gives SpaceX the privilege of crashing the ISS into the sea
The company is being paid $843 million to a build a rocket to “deorbit” the space station.
Lawrence Bonk - Updated Thu, Jun 27, 2024, 8:58 AM PDT
SpaceX just won a $843 million contract to, basically, crash the International Space Station (ISS) into the sea. It’s part of a NASA program to safely deorbit the ISS within the next ten years.
The ISS has been continuously operating since 1998 and, like all things, has been aging. The space station is due to end its orbital tenure in or around 2030. However, NASA doesn’t want the whole thing just careening into Earth’s atmosphere, throwing dangerous junk everywhere like season two of Breaking Bad. The agency wants a nice and controlled re-entry. That’s where SpaceX comes in.
Save Freedom: We must stop the destruction of the International Space Station
Rick Tumlinson - July 2, 2024
Last week was incredibly depressing. For anyone paying attention, it finally became apparent that, unless a dramatic change occurs after decades of service, coming events may well push an American icon into the trash heap of history.
I am, of course, speaking of NASA’s decision to hire SpaceX to dump the International Space Station on the Earth. Truth be told, this decision has put me in a quandary. The greatest exploration entity in history is hiring the best space company in history to do the stupidest thing in its history.
As one of the few people on the planet with some small standing in the discussion, I’ve been against the idea of destroying the ISS since it was first announced. First, as one of the leaders of the Space Frontier Foundation, I helped lead an almost successful campaign in Congress to have it canceled in the early 1990s. Why? Because we believed the government shouldn’t build buildings and drive trucks (like the space shuttle). Also, by then, it was clear that President Reagan’s announced vision of the station as a spaceport to the Solar System, to be completed in the mid-90s for under $10 billion, was not going to happen. Judged by the expectations set by the President, the ISS was never finished, as construction on it stopped somewhere around the year 2010 after $100 billion had been spent by the U.S. and its partners. We lost the fight by one vote. Or, as my NASA friends say, they saved it by one vote.
https://spacenews.com/save-freedom-we-must-stop-the-destruction-of-the-international-space-station/
SpaceX’s vehicle to deorbit the International Space Station is a Dragon on steroids
Aria Alamalhodaei - 3:53 PM PDT July 17, 2024
The $843 million spacecraft SpaceX is designing to bring down the International Space Station at the end of the decade will be a super-powered version of its Dragon capsule that’s used to transport astronauts and cargo to orbit today, the company revealed Wednesday.
NASA awarded SpaceX the massive contract to develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) last month. It won the award — over the only other bidder, Northrop Grumman — in part because the design leverages so much flight-proven hardware, NASA said in a source selection statement published Tuesday.
NASA was looking for proposals that maximized the use of flight heritage because reliability will be key, Dana Weigel, NASA’s ISS program manager, said during a Wednesday press conference. But even with the significant incorporation of the Dragon architecture, around half of the USDV will be entirely new, and 100% of the deorbit functionality will be new to this spacecraft, she said.
The USDV’s purpose is to execute a series of critical burns that will take place over the last week of the station’s life, but NASA is planning to launch the spacecraft around 18 months before these burns will take place. It will dock to the forward port of the ISS, where it will remain while the ISS slowly “drifts down” to Earth, Weigel said. The agency will leave crew onboard for as long as possible to maintain the station’s trajectory, but they’ll eventually depart for the final time around six months before reentry.
Musk Deorbit Demand
Elon Musk recommends that the International Space Station be deorbited ASAP
“There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.”
Eric Berger – Feb 20, 2025 11:10 AM
In a remarkable statement Thursday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the International Space Station should be deorbited “as soon as possible.”
This comment from Musk will surely set off a landmine in the global space community, with broad implications. And it appears to be no idle comment from Musk who, at times, indulges in deliberately provocative posts on the social media network X that he owns.
However, that does not seem to be the case here.
“It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars,” Musk wrote at midday on Thursday.
This original statement was somewhat ambiguous. Last July, NASA awarded Space X an $843 million contract to modify a Dragon spacecraft to serve as a propulsive vehicle to safely guide the aging space station into the Pacific Ocean in 2030. So in some sense, preparations are already underway to shut down the laboratory.
Musk’s Plan to Kill the ISS Early Is a Selfish, Shortsighted Move
The billionaire and presidential buddy is focused on Mars but ignores the many reasons why ditching the ISS too soon is a mistake.
Adam Kovac and George Dvorsky - February 21, 2025
The immediate future of the International Space Station is suddenly in doubt thanks to a single tweet. Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX and unelected advisor to President Donald Trump on basically everything, wants the venerable station gone, and he wants it gone sooner rather than later.
On Thursday, Musk posted on his X platform that he believes it’s “time to begin preparations for deorbiting” the ISS. “It has served its purpose,” he declared. “There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.” When asked to elaborate, Musk said his hope is to see the orbital lab gone by 2027, roughly three years ahead of its scheduled decommissioning.
https://gizmodo.com/musks-plan-to-kill-the-iss-early-is-a-selfish-shortsighted-move-2000566650
Elon Musk Urges Deorbiting the International Space Station 'As Soon as Possible'
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday February 23, 2025 07:34AM
An anonymous reader shared this report from ABC News:
Elon Musk called this week for the deorbiting of the International Space Station (ISS) “as soon as possible.” “It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the [ISS],” Musk wrote in a post on X on Thursday. “It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let's go to Mars.” In a follow-up post, Musk said he was planning to recommend to President Donald Trump that the station be brought down “as soon as possible” and that the 2030 timeline for deorbiting be moved up to two years from now.
Jordan Bimm, space historian and professor of science communication at the University of Chicago, told ABC News what he thinks was one of the most important findings to come out of ISS research: “that microgravity affects the body in lots of deleterious ways.”
“That leads to your bone loss, muscle loss, changes in the fluid inside our bodies that are normally being pulled down by Earth's gravity, changes to the eye and vision loss and things like that. We have gotten good data on how that progresses over time, and importantly, we have developed countermeasures for these things as well, including resistance training or running on a treadmill, things like that…”
Reuse / Extension
NASA Open To Extending ISS Beyond 2030
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday November 04, 2023 12:00AM from the flexible-timelines dept.
Jeff Foust reports via SpaceNews:
A NASA official opened the door to keeping the International Space Station in operation beyond 2030 if commercial space stations are not yet ready to take over by the end of the decade. Speaking at the Beyond Earth Symposium here Nov. 2, Ken Bowersox, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said it was “not mandatory” to retire the ISS as currently planned at the end of the decade depending on the progress companies are making on commercial stations. “The timeline is flexible,” he said of that transition from the ISS to commercial stations. “It's not mandatory that we stop flying the ISS in 2030. But, it is our full intention to switch to new platforms when they're available.” […]
https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/11/03/235229/nasa-open-to-extending-iss-beyond-2030
Experiments
ISS resupply drops off experiments for life in deep space
If we're going to go beyond the Moon, we'll need food, a way to build stuff, and health diagnostic technology
Brandon Vigliarolo - Mon 28 Nov 2022 17:30 UTC
SpaceX's 26th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station arrived this weekend, bringing with it a bundle of scientific experiments to further prepare humans for life beyond Earth.
Before we enter an age that could see people trek to the stars and become an interplanetary species, we'll first have to address some major hurdles, like how we'll manage to stay healthy or how different levels of gravity will affect the building of structures on alien worlds.
For Moon or Mars-bound astronauts, the experiments brought on board aim to address those very concerns.
Germs
ISS Astronauts Are Testing a New Surface Coating to Fight Space Germs
Boeing developed an antimicrobial surface coating to help prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria on the space station.
Passant Rabie - 15 November 2023
For astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS), space germs are bad news. The confined environment, plus a weakened immunity system, and more aggressive bacteria, means that catching a cold in space is way worse than on Earth. In order to help stop the spread of viruses in space, Boeing developed an antimicrobial surface coating that is currently being tested on board the ISS.
The polymer coating launched to the space station on November 9 as part of SpaceX’s 29th commercial resupply mission. The ISS experiment will place several aluminum placards in four locations on the station, including the galley, the toilet, and the workout and hygiene areas, according to the ISS national lab.
The placards contain two sets of materials found on spacecraft, such as a seat buckle and fabric from airplane seats and seat belts, one is covered with the antimicrobial surface coating while the other is not. Astronauts on board the space station visit the objects every few days to touch them, transferring naturally occurring microbes from their skin to test the effectiveness of the coating. Using swabs, astronauts will collect microbes on these surface materials and ship them back to Earth where they will be analyzed in a lab.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-astronauts-antimicrobial-surface-coating-bacteria-1851025584
Leak 2022
A Russian spacecraft started leaking uncontrollably on Wednesday night
After three hours Wednesday night, the leak remained ongoing.
Eric Berger - 12/14/2022, 7:58 PM
A Russian spacewalk was canceled at the last minute on Wednesday night when a spacecraft attached to the International Space Station unexpectedly sprang a large leak.
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were dressed in spacesuits, with the airlock depressurized, when flight controllers told them to standby while the leak in a Soyuz spacecraft was investigated. The spacewalk was subsequently called off shortly before 10pm ET (03:00 UTC Thursday).
The leak appears to have originated in an external cooling loop located at the aft end of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. Public affairs officer Rob Navias, who was commentating on the spacewalk for NASA Television, characterized the spacecraft as leaking “fairly substantially.” Video of the coolant leak showed particles streaming continuously from the Soyuz, a rather remarkable sight.
Radiator leak from Russian ISS module leaves spacewalkers cooling their heels
NASA said the capsule's external radiator cooling loop is the likely culprit.
Will Shanklin - December 15, 2022 3:51 PM
Russia's Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, currently docked at the International Space Station (ISS), began leaking coolant Wednesday evening. According to Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, the instrument and assembly compartment’s outer skin was damaged. Fortunately, the crew is safe, and they conducted normal operations afterward. NASA said in a blog post that “the external radiator cooling loop of the Soyuz is the suspected leak source.”
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin were already in their suits, preparing for a nearly seven-hour spacewalk, when the crew noticed low-pressure readings. The cosmonauts postponed their walk indefinitely and weren't exposed to the coolant. “Roscosmos is closely monitoring Soyuz spacecraft temperatures, which remain within acceptable limits,” NASA said. “NASA and Roscosmos continue to coordinate external imagery and inspection plans to aid in evaluating the external leak location.” The crew plans to investigate further using the station’s robotic arm.
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 21st, carrying the two cosmonauts and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. The Russian space agency added that “a decision will be made” about the cosmonauts’ future aboard the ISS. A spacewalk scheduled for Dec. 21 is postponed indefinitely as the investigation continues.
https://www.engadget.com/iss-soyuz-ms-22-capsule-leak-205133518.html
Here’s what we know, and what we don’t, about the damaged Soyuz spacecraft
The biggest concern is the flight computers on board the Soyuz spacecraft.
Eric Berger - 12/16/2022, 8:42 AM
Since a Soyuz spacecraft began to leak coolant uncontrollably on Wednesday night, flight controllers at Roscosmos, NASA, and other International Space Station partners have been closely studying data from the incident.
Although there is no immediate danger to the seven astronauts on board the space station, this is one of the most serious incidents in the history of the orbiting laboratory, which has been continuously occupied for nearly a quarter of a century. Among the most pressing questions: Is the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft safe to fly back to Earth? If not, when can a replacement, Soyuz MS-23, be flown up? And if there is an emergency, what do the three crew members slated to fly home on MS-22 do in the meantime?
NASA has not held any briefings since the incident and has only released a fairly bland update on its blog. But there is a lot happening behind the scenes, and this story will attempt to summarize what is known—and what is not—at this time.
Strike From a Space Rock May Have Caused Soyuz Coolant Leak at the ISS
NASA and Roscosmos are investigating yesterday's troublesome spacecraft leak, which could affect the astronauts' ride back to Earth.
Passant Rabie - 16 December 2022 12:05PM
Ground teams are investigating the cause of an upsetting coolant leak that erupted yesterday on the Russian Soyuz Ms-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS). Experts are now saying that a micrometeorite may have been responsible.
Micrometeorites are tiny pebbles, roughly the size of a grain of sand, that zip around space at high speeds, occasionally impacting spacecraft. The Webb Telescope’s primary mirror was smacked by a micrometeorite earlier in May, slightly impacting its performance. They may be small, and usually cause no harm, but should a micrometeorite manage to hit something like a spacecraft radiator, well, that has the potential to produce some badness.
https://gizmodo.com/micrometeorite-soyuz-coolant-leak-iss-nasa-roscosmos-1849903375
Leak Inspection Finds Hole in Russian Spacecraft Docked to ISS
Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov described the ongoing situation at the space station as “not very pleasant,” saying a replacement spacecraft is being prepared.
George Dvorsky - 19 December 2022
An inspection has revealed an 0.8-millimeter-wide hole in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft that sprung a coolant leak outside the International Space Station last week. Russian space agency Roscosmos will make a decision on the flight-worthiness of the spacecraft later this month, at which time Russia may choose to expedite the launch of a replacement capsule.
The hole is located on the ship’s instrumentation compartment on the Soyuz service module, according to Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov and as reported by state-run TASS news agency. “The primary guidance, navigation, control and computer systems of the Soyuz are in the instrumentation compartment, which is a sealed container filled with circulating nitrogen gas to cool the avionics equipment,” NASA says.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-coolant-leak-hole-soyus-spacecraft-russia-1849910293
Russia says it will take no immediate action on damaged Soyuz spacecraft
In reality, the Soyuz is a hardy spacecraft.
Eric Berger - 12/19/2022, 7:59 AM
After working through the weekend to better characterize damage to its Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, Russian specialists have decided to take no immediate action.
In a lengthy statement published Monday morning by Roscosmos (a VPN is required to access the site from Western nations), the Russian space corporation said it believed that a tiny piece of debris ruptured an external cooling loop that radiates heat from inside the Soyuz into space.
Working with NASA on Sunday to operate the long Canadarm2 manipulator arm, Russian specialists were able to get a clear look at the damaged area on the aft end of the Soyuz spacecraft. The area of the hole is about 0.8 mm across, which, although small, allowed all of the coolant in the external loop to be dumped into space last Wednesday. Importantly, the visual inspection discovered no other notable damage to the Soyuz vehicle from the debris strike.
Fate of Russia’s Damaged Soyuz Spacecraft to Be Decided in January
Russia’s space agency is now convinced that a foreign object struck its Soyuz MS-22 capsule on December 15, triggering an alarming coolant leak outside the ISS.
George Dvorsky - 28 December 2022 11:50AM
Roscosmos says it needs more time to evaluate the flight worthiness of its damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, leaving the safety of three ISS crew members in doubt.
According to a Roscosmos statement, investigators “will make organizational decisions about future actions of ground specialists and the crew of the ISS Russian segment, as well as on possible changes in the station’s flight program in January 2023 ” as reported by state-run TASS news agency. The Russian space agency had originally hoped to announce a decision on December 27. Two working groups are currently evaluating the spacecraft and the situation, with no specific date given for the January decision.
https://gizmodo.com/russia-s-soyuz-spacecraft-to-be-decided-in-january-1849933913
NASA may tap SpaceX to rescue ISS 'nauts in Soyuz leak
And Elon's still distracted by Twitter, yes? OK, that's probably for the best
Katyanna Quach - Fri 30 Dec 2022 01:50 UTC
NASA is considering using SpaceX to bring three astronauts back to Earth from the International Space Station after the Russian spacecraft due to return the crew suffered a significant coolant leak.
On December 14, the Russian MS-22 Soyuz capsule, which is right now docked to the ISS, started spraying droplets of coolant into space. That's the coolant that's supposed to control the internal temperature of the podule, and it is reportedly now drained of that vital liquid.
The leak lasted hours, disrupting station operations, and forcing station cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to abandon a spacewalk planned for that day. Russia's space agency Roscosmos reckoned the leak could have been caused by a tiny micrometeoroid puncturing the capsule.
Officials are still assessing the situation, and will decide whether the Soyuz craft will be able to safely return Prokopyev and Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, to Earth in March. With a broken coolant system, the capsule may be unsafe for humans as it reenters our atmosphere. Russia is said to be pulling together plans to get the trio home.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/nasa_iss_soyuz_rescue/
Backup Soyuz can’t get to ISS before late February
In the wake of a Soyuz coolant loss, NASA and Roscosmos still exploring options.
John Timmer - 12/22/2022, 11:38 AM
Today, NASA held a press briefing to describe the situation on the International Space Station (ISS) in the wake of a major coolant leak from a Soyuz spacecraft that is docked at the station. At the moment, neither NASA nor Roscosmos has a clear picture of its options for using the damaged spacecraft. If it is unusable in its current state, then it will take until February to get a replacement to the ISS.
Soyuz spacecraft are one of two vehicles used to get humans to and from the ISS, and serve as a “lifeboat” in case personnel are required to evacuate the station rapidly. So, while the leak doesn't place the ISS or its crew in danger, it cuts the margin for error and can potentially interfere with future crew rotations.
As Roscosmos indicated earlier this week, the impressive-looking plume of material originated from a millimeter-sized hole in a coolant radiator. Although the coolant system has redundant pumps that could handle failures, the leak resulted in the loss of all the coolant, so there's nothing to pump at this point.
SpaceX Could Help Bring Back 3 Astronauts Stranded on the ISS
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft sprung a leak last month, jeopardizing three astronauts' ride back to Earth.
Passant Rabie - 3 January 2023
NASA may turn to its commercial partner SpaceX to transport three astronauts back to Earth after a Russian Soyuz spacecraft suffered a coolant leak in mid-December.
In a blog post published on Friday, NASA said that it “reached out to SpaceX about its capability to return additional crew members aboard Dragon if needed in an emergency.” At the moment, NASA is investigating whether or not the Soyuz spacecraft would still be capable of carrying astronauts on the trip back from the International Space Station, the space agency added.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-nasa-stranded-astronauts-iss-soyuz-leak-1849944286
Cosmonaut Stranded on Mir in 1991 Now Heads Rescue Mission to ISS
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday March 05, 2023 04:33PM
An anonymous readers this surprising story from Mashable:
When a Russian spaceship docked as a lifeboat for three stranded men at the International Space Station in February, one may have wondered if Sergei Krikalev, heading the rescue mission, felt any deja vu.
If that name doesn't ring a bell, he's also sometimes known as “the last Soviet” for his more than 311 days spent in space as the Soviet Union collapsed 250 miles beneath him in 1991. He was only meant to be at the Mir station for five months. Instead, he remained for close to a year, never abandoning the outpost.
The Spacecraft Circus on the ISS Continues
Russia may expedite launch of its next ISS crew mission after saying a manufacturing defect, not a micrometeorite, may have caused two recent coolant leaks.
Passant Rabie - 10 March 2023
Russia’s Soyuz MS-24 crew capsule could launch to the International Space Station sooner than planned to replace a potentially unsafe spacecraft slated to return three astronauts back to Earth, Russian media reported. Upsettingly, the potentially unsafe spacecraft is MS-23, a replacement craft sent to the ISS to replace the damaged MS-22.
The Soyuz MS-24 was scheduled for launch on September 15, but may now launch on June 7 instead, three anonymous industry sources told state-run Russian newspaper Izvestia. The potential decision to launch the spacecraft three months earlier was prompted by concerns of manufacturing defects affecting multiple Russian vehicles—a common defect that has already, maybe, caused two spacecraft to leak coolant while docked to the ISS.
https://gizmodo.com/russia-considers-soyuz-ms-24-rescue-mission-iss-1850211810
Replacement Ship
Roscosmos and NASA Have a Plan to Replace Damaged Soyuz Spacecraft at ISS
The space agencies refuse to call it a “rescue mission,” in an obvious attempt to downplay the current risk posed to three stranded ISS crew members.
George Dvorsky - 11 January 2023
Roscosmos says it will launch an uncrewed Soyuz to replace the damaged spacecraft currently docked at the International Space Station. The MS-22 Soyuz sprung a coolant leak in December after being struck by a micrometeorite, as both Roscosmos and NASA are now claiming.
The plan is to launch the replacement MS-23 Soyuz spacecraft on or around February 20, which is several weeks earlier than the original launch date for the mission. The uncrewed MS-23 will be a welcome sight for NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, who are currently without a reliable ride back home.
https://gizmodo.com/roscosmos-nasa-plan-to-replace-damaged-soyuz-iss-1849975348
Russia will abandon Soyuz on orbit, fly up a new one to bring crew home
The temperature inside the vehicle could reach the low 40s Celsius during Earth return.
Eric Berger - 1/11/2023, 7:25 AM
Four weeks ago, as two Russian cosmonauts were preparing to conduct a spacewalk, a Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station started to leak uncontrollably.
The spacewalk was canceled, and since then, Russian and US spaceflight engineers have been analyzing the cause of the leak and its implications for future travel to and from the large laboratory in low-Earth orbit. They have now deduced that a micrometeoroid or small piece of orbital debris struck the external cooling loop of the Soyuz spacecraft, causing all of its coolant to vent into space, and put a recovery plan into place.
Replacement Ship Leak
A second Russian spacecraft docked at the ISS is leaking coolant
The incident follows December's Soyuz MS-22 leak.
Igor Bonifacic| - February 11, 2023 2:13 PM
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but a Russian spacecraft docked with the International Space Station has sprung a leak. On Saturday morning, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency disclosed on Telegram that a Progress cargo ship docked with the ISS had lost cabin pressure. NASA later said the depressurization was due to a coolant leak.
“The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated,” NASA announced. “The hatches between Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations.”
Per Space.com, Progress 82 arrived at the ISS on October 28th. Before Saturday's announcement, the spacecraft was scheduled to leave the station on February 17th. It’s unclear if Roscosmos will move forward with that timeline as originally planned. Russia’s Progress spacecraft are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere after they complete their resupply missions, meaning there’s no way for Roscosmos to investigate the leak on the ground. The timing of the discovery comes on the same day that a second Progress spacecraft docked with the ISS, and less than two months after another Russian spacecraft sprung a leak at the space station.
https://www.engadget.com/a-second-russian-spacecraft-docked-at-the-iss-is-leaking-191321865.html
Another Russian spacecraft docked to the space station is leaking
None of this will comfort NASA as it partners with Russia on the space station.
Eric Berger - 2/11/2023, 8:47 AM
Russia's state-owned space corporation, Roscosmos, reported Saturday that a Progress supply ship attached to the International Space Station has lost pressure in its external cooling system.
In its statement, Roscosmos said there was no threat to the seven crew members on board the orbiting laboratory. NASA, too, said the hatch between the Progress MS-21 vehicle and the space station was open. Notably, the incident with the supply ship came within hours of the safe docking of another Progress ship, MS-22, which is in good health.
Although the initial Roscosmos statement was vague about the depressurization event, Dmitry Strugovets, a former head of space agency Roscosmos' press service, later clarified it was a coolant leak. “All of the coolant has leaked out,” he said via Telegram.
This is the second Russian spacecraft to suffer a cooling system leak in less than two months at the space station.
Another Russian Spacecraft at ISS Has A Coolant Leak
Marcia Smith - February 11, 2023 5:33 pm ET / Updated: February 11, 2023 6:15 pm ET
A Russian cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station suffered a coolant leak today, the second in as many months. In December, the Soyuz MS-22 crew spacecraft lost all of its coolant. Engineers concluded it likely was due to a micrometeorite strike, but now that Progress MS-21 seems to have a similar leak, they will have to look even more closely at the data to ensure there is no common defect that could affect other spacecraft. Soyuz MS-23, a replacement for Soyuz MS-22, is scheduled for launch next week.
NASA confirmed the coolant leak this afternoon, saying NASA specialists are helping troubleshoot the problem and the seven ISS crew members are in no danger.
The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated. The hatches between the Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations. — NASA
The incident takes place just two months after the Soyuz MS-22 crew spacecraft dramatically spewed coolant into space just as two Russian cosmonauts were about to exit the nearby airlock to conduct a spacewalk. The December 14, 2022 EST leak was caused by a hole in the spacecraft’s coolant loop. Based on imagery analysis and a hypervelocity test conducted on the ground, Roscosmos and NASA believe the hole was created by a micrometeorite impact.
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/another-russian-spacecraft-at-iss-has-a-coolant-leak/
Second Soyuz springs a leak, astronauts stuck on ISS for an extra month
Trust us tovarishch, we're just going to do a few more checks
Katyanna Quach - Tue 14 Feb 2023 01:30 UTC
Russia's space agency will hold off returning three astronauts from the International Space Station as it works with NASA to investigate a coolant leak issue that impacted an uncrewed freighter spacecraft last weekend.
The Progress MS-21 – also known as the Progress 82 spacecraft – arrived at the floating space lab in October 2022 carrying water and other supplies. After months of being docked to the station's Poisk module, the vehicle suddenly began spewing liquid coolant.
On February 11, engineers at the Russian Mission Control Center detected a drop in pressure inside its coolant loop, but the station and the crew onboard are safe.
“The hatches between the Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations,” NASA confirmed in a statement.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/14/soyuz_iss_spacecraft_delay/
A Second Russian Spacecraft Has Sprung a Leak at the ISS
A Russian cargo ship experienced a radiator leak on Saturday, in an incident that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Soyuz MS-22 leak in December.
George Dvorsky - 13 February 2023
Not one but two Russian vehicles docked to the International Space Station have leaky radiators, the latest being a Progress 82 freighter that arrived last October. Russia attributed the first leak, which happened in December, to a micrometeorite, but the unusual parallels between the two have investigators wondering about a “systematic error.”
Sergey Krikalev, executive director for crewed space programs at Roscosmos, broke the news to reporters on Saturday, February 11, Russian state media TASS reported. “There was a coolant leak from the thermal control system on the cargo ship that has been docked to the station for several months,” he said, adding that the situation is similar to the one that happened to the radiator of Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 capsule in mid-December.
https://gizmodo.com/russia-progress-82-coolant-leak-iss-nasa-roscosmos-1850107883
Spacecraft Leak Postpones Russian 'Lifeboat' Mission to ISS
The launch of an uncrewed replacement Soyuz capsule to the ISS will have to wait, as investigators sort out the cause of a second coolant leak.
George Dvorsky - 14 February 2023
For the second time in two months, a docked Russian spacecraft at the International Space Station has sprung a coolant leak. Investigators don’t yet know the cause of the latest leak, prompting Russia’s space agency to delay the launch of a ‘lifeboat’ that’s meant to secure the safety of two cosmonauts on board.
The MS-23 Soyuz spacecraft—the uncrewed replacement vehicle—was scheduled to launch on Sunday, February 20, but Roscosmos has now bumped the mission to an unspecified date in early March. The Soyuz spacecraft it’s meant to replace, MS-22, sprung a coolant leak in mid-December, rendering it unsafe for a crewed journey back home.
https://gizmodo.com/spacecraft-leak-postpones-russian-iss-lifeboat-mission-1850112444
Russia claims an “external impact” damaged its Progress spacecraft
Two Russian spacecraft in two months have been struck this way. Supposedly.
Eric Berger - 2/21/2023, 9:29 AM
Russia's main space corporation, Roscosmos, provided updates on Tuesday about its two spacecraft that recently suffered failures to their cooling systems while attached to the International Space Station.
Although there were several items of note in these updates—which are not readily available to Western audiences due to Russian Internet restrictions—perhaps the most surprising claim is that both the Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21 spacecraft were damaged near their heat radiators by “external impacts.” This seems highly improbable, to say the least.
Third Ship
Russia's replacement Soyuz spacecraft arrives at ISS to bring back MS-22 crew
The spacecraft successfully docked on Saturday evening.
Igor Bonifacic - February 26, 2023 1:51 PM
MS-23, the Soyuz spacecraft Russia sent to bring cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio back to Earth, has arrived at the International Space Station. Per Space.com, Russia’s Roscosmos Space Agency announced early Sunday morning that the unmanned vessel docked with the ISS at 7:58PM ET on Saturday evening. As expected, the flight launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on February 24th.
MS-23 was originally scheduled to launch later this year, but Roscosmos was forced to push up the flight after MS-22 – Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio’s original return craft – sprung a coolant leak in December following a micrometeoroid strike. The incident put Roscosmos and NASA in a tricky spot. If an emergency broke out on the ISS and the entire crew had to evacuate, it wasn’t clear whether MS-22 could carry its crew safely back to Earth. Roscosmos and NASA eventually settled on a contingency plan that would have seen MS-22 transport Prokopyev and Petelin, while Rubio would have hitched a ride on the SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon. Thankfully, the two agencies weren’t forced to put that plan to the test.
Leak 2023
For the third time in a year, Russian hardware on the space station is leaking
Will this leak be blamed on “external impacts” as well?
Eric Berger - 10/10/2023, 6:51 AM
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli looked out of the large windows on the International Space Station on Monday afternoon and saw that it was snowing in space.
Well, not really snowing. But there were flakes flying by that looked a lot like flurries. They emanated from one of two radiators that service the “Nauka” science module attached to the Russian segment of the space station. The flakes were frozen coolant, and as a protective measure, she and other crew members on the orbiting laboratory closed the shutters on the US segment windows.
Moghbeli and the other crew members were never in any real danger from the radiator leak, but the problem does raise serious concerns about the viability of Russian hardware in space. That is because this is the third such leak that has occurred with Russian equipment in less than a year.
It is not clear what all of this means, but let's start with what we do know about the three leaks and then discuss what all this might mean for the future of the International Space Station.
ISS Faces Another Coolant Leak Linked to Russian Hardware
This is the third coolant leak from Russia's hardware in Earth orbit within a year, but astronauts on board remain safe and out of immediate danger.
Passant Rabie - 10 October 2023
Russia’s Nauka module sprung a leak on Monday in the latest incident of faulty hardware on board the International Space Station (ISS).
Flight controllers at NASA’s mission control noticed Nauka’s backup radiator, which is mounted to the outside of the module, was leaking coolant at approximately 1:00 p.m. ET on October 9, the space agency wrote in a blog post. Using cameras on the exterior of the ISS, the flight controllers saw flakes coming from one of the two radiators on the multipurpose laboratory module.
The ground control team asked the crew on board the ISS to look outside for signs of the flakes, according to CBS News reporter William Harwood. “NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli confirmed the presence of the flakes from the cupola windows, after which the crew was asked to close the shutters on U.S. segment windows as a precaution against contamination,” NASA wrote, adding that the crew is not in any danger.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-coolant-leak-russian-hardware-nauka-module-1850914299
NASA Delays Spacewalks Due to ISS Coolant Leak
The space agency is investigating a backup radiator on the Russian module that sprung a leak earlier this week.
Passant Rabi - 12 October 2023
As NASA looks into the most recent incident of a leak from the International Space Station (ISS), two spacewalks have been delayed until ongoing investigations are complete.
NASA postponed spacewalks that were originally scheduled for Thursday, October 12 and Friday, October 20, with new dates for the extravehicular activities to be announced later, the space agency wrote in a blog update on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, flight controllers at NASA’s mission control noticed that the backup radiator on Russia’s Nauka module was leaking coolant into low Earth orbit. Although the leak has now stopped, NASA engineering and flight control teams are still reviewing data and video of the incident to investigate the cause of the radiator malfunction.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-delays-iss-spacewalks-russia-coolant-leak-1850922220
Leak 2023 - Number 2
Spacewalk turns into spacework as cosmonauts grapple with ISS leak
A towel is just about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can carry
Richard Speed - Thu 26 Oct 2023 14:30 UTC
One spacewalking cosmonaut was hit on their visor by a contaminated tether as a pair of International Space Station crew members ventured outside the outpost a few hours ago to investigate a leaky radiator.
Streamed live on NASA TV, the spacewalkers had several tasks, but it was dealing with the leak earlier this month from a radiator on the Nauka module that was the highlight.
The cosmonauts, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, were tasked with inspecting and isolating the coolant leak, which required turning the valves to cut the radiator off from the cooling system.
While frozen crystals had been observed spewing into space, the cosmonauts could initially find no sign of the leak on the connecting line. However, traces were spotted where the radiator panels were connected. Later in the spacewalk, a large blob of coolant was observed on a line at a radiator joint.
The cosmonauts brought towels to mop up the mess, but it soon became apparent they didn't have enough. One end of a tether became soaked in the stuff, and it appeared to have touched the visor of a cosmonaut.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/26/spacewalking_cosmonauts_find_iss_leak/
Bubble of Toxic Coolant Abruptly Ends Russian ISS Spacewalk
The two Russian cosmonauts were in the process of isolating a leaking radiator when a bubble of coolant leaked out of it.
Passant Rabie - 26 October 2023
A bubble of coolant leaked out of a radiator attached to the International Space Station (ISS), jeopardizing an ongoing spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub exited the ISS and began their spacewalk at 1:49 p.m. ET. During the nearly eight hour spacewalk, the pair were inspecting a leak on a backup radiator on Russia’s Nauka laboratory module when residual coolant spewed out of the leak site, NASA wrote in a blog post.
The spacewalking cosmonauts were told to leave the area immediately out of fear for their safety, although NASA later revealed that the coolant did not get onto their suits. Before reentering through the Poisk airlock, the cosmonauts wiped down their suits and tools “to look for signs of coolant and wipe off any coolant as necessary,” NASA wrote.
https://gizmodo.com/bubble-toxic-coolant-ends-russian-iss-spacewalk-nasa-1850961885
The Air Leak on ISS Russian Module Is Getting Worse
The leak, originating from a vestibule of the Zvezda module, was first reported by Russia in 2020 and has now worsened to twice its original intensity.
Passant Rabie - 29 February 2024
NASA is monitoring a leak on the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS), from which air has been escaping at an increasing rate for nearly four years. The space agency acknowledged that the leak is growing, while claiming it poses no threat to the astronauts on board.
The rate at which air is leaking in the Zvezda service module has doubled from one pound a day to “a little over two pounds a day,” NASA ISS Program Manager Joel Montalbano revealed during a press briefing on Wednesday, according to SpacePolicyOnline.
The Roscosmos space agency first reported the leak in August 2020, which was found in the Russian Zvezda life support module that Russia launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. The leak is in a vestibule (named Prk) located between the docking port and the rest of the module. The module contains important life support systems, and crews rely on it as a critical support hub in emergencies.
https://gizmodo.com/2024-iss-zvezda-module-leak-doubles-in-severity-1851297253
Leak 2025
There’s another leak on the ISS, but NASA is not saying much about it
A crew mission has been delayed until next Wednesday at the earliest.
Eric Berger – Jun 13, 2025 10:12 AM
There's another leak on the International Space Station, and NASA has already delayed one crew launch to the orbiting laboratory as a result.
Beyond that, the space agency is not offering much information about the unfolding situation in orbit. However, multiple sources have confirmed to Ars that the leak is a serious concern for the space agency as it deals with hardware that is approaching three decades in orbit.
To understand the current situation, it is important to review past leaks on the station, which has an aluminum structure. The station has had a slow but increasing leak since 2019. The air leaks are located in the transfer tunnel of the space station's Russian Zvezda service module, one of the oldest elements of the complex, the first elements of which were launched in 1998. The transfer tunnel, known by the Russian acronym PrK, connects the Zvezda module with a docking port where Soyuz crew and Progress resupply spacecraft attach to the station.
From time to time, Russian cosmonauts have experimented with repairs to the small cracks, but they have generally only slowed the progression of the leak, which amounts to a couple of pounds of air per day. The best solution has been to close the hatch leading to the PrK module except when spacecraft dock with the attached port.
ISS leaks push Axiom Mission 4 launch to no earlier than June 19
Evaluation of latest repairs to Russian segment ongoing
Richard Speed - Mon 16 Jun 2025 15:35 UTC
NASA has pushed back the launch of Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station (ISS), citing concerns over persistent leaks aboard the aging orbital outpost. A new No Earlier Than (NET) date is set for June 19.
Concerns over ISS leaks have been mounting for some time. The orbiting laboratory is getting long in the tooth, and the Russian segment is beset by small cracks, resulting in leaks and drops in pressure.
NASA said it worked with Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, “to understand a new pressure signature, after the recent post-repair effort in the aft-most segment of the International Space Station's Zvezda service module.”
As of the weekend, NASA said pressure was now “stable” where before it would have dropped. This could indicate the latest repair effort was successful. That said, the stabilization could be caused by air flowing into the transfer tunnel across the hatch seal from the main part of the ISS.
It isn't clear what form the most recent repairs took. In a chat with The Register, one wag joked that a combination of glue, duct tape, and hope was used. We asked Roscosmos for details of the repairs and will update the article should it respond.
European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen told The Register in a 2024 interview that, in the worst case, the Zvezda hatch could be permanently sealed without impacting ISS operations too badly. “As long as Russia is willing to forego that docking port.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/16/axiom_delay_iss_leak/
NASA Moves Ahead With Private ISS Mission After Air Leak Repairs
The agency reported a new pressure signal in the leaky Russian module, which could mean the leaks have been sealed.
Passant Rabie - June 16, 2025
NASA is looking to launch Axiom Space’s fourth private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) this week, after recent attempts to repair air leaks in the Russian module appear to have been successful.
Last week, the space agency abruptly postponed the launch of Axiom Mission 4, which was set to launch on June 11. NASA cited a new pressure signal in a segment of the Zvezda service module that’s been leaking air, very slowly, for nearly six years. In a follow-up statement on Saturday, NASA explained that the pressure signal (a change in airflow or cabin pressure picked up by sensors) may be a sign that the leaks have been sealed. There’s also a chance, however, that air began flowing to a different area in the aft segment of the Russian module, leading to the new pressure signal.
“Following the most-recent repair, pressure in the transfer tunnel has been stable. Previously, pressure in this area would have dropped,” NASA wrote in a statement. “This could indicate the small leaks have been sealed. Teams are also considering the stable pressure could be the result of a small amount of air flowing into the transfer tunnel across the hatch seal from the main part of [the] space station.”
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-moves-ahead-with-private-iss-mission-after-air-leak-repairs-2000616335
Leak Stops on the International Space Station. But NASA Engineers Still Worry
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday June 28, 2025 12:34PM
On the International Space Station, air has been slowly leaking out for years from a Russia-controlled module, reports CNN. But recently “station operators realized the gradual, steady leak had stopped. And that raised an even larger concern.”
It's possible that efforts to seal cracks in the module's exterior wall have worked, and the patches are finally trapping air as intended. But, according to NASA, engineers are also concerned that the module is actually holding a stable pressure because a new leak may have formed on an interior wall — causing air from the rest of the orbiting laboratory to begin rushing into the damaged area. Essentially, space station operators are worried that the entire station is beginning to lose air.
Much about this issue is unknown. NASA revealed the concerns in a June 14 statement. The agency said it would delay the launch of the private Ax-4 mission, carried out by SpaceX and Houston-based company Axiom Space, as station operators worked to pinpoint the problem. “By changing pressure in the transfer tunnel and monitoring over time, teams are evaluating the condition of the transfer tunnel and the hatch seal,” the statement read.
More than a week later, the results of that research are not totally clear. After revealing the new Wednesday launch target Monday night, NASA said in a Tuesday statement that it worked with Roscosmos officials to investigate the issue. The space agencies agreed to lower the pressure in the transfer tunnel, and “teams will continue to evaluate going forward,” according to the statement… The cracks are minuscule and mostly invisible to the naked eye, hence the difficulty attempting to patch problem areas.
SS is still leaking air after latest repair efforts fail
Russian boffins searching for root cause in their segment of the outpost, former cosmonaut says
Richard Speed - Fri 1 Aug 2025 13:45 UTC
The International Space Station (ISS) is still leaking air from the Russian segment of the outpost despite efforts to eliminate the losses.
Sergey Krikalev, executive director of the Human Space Flight Program at the Russian space agency Roscosmos, made the admission during the pre-launch news conference for NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission.
The leaks were first detected in 2019 and, despite multiple efforts to locate and repair them, the ISS is still losing air. The crew is not in any danger, but cracks in the aging structure are less than ideal. In October 2024, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogenson told The Register that one option was to seal off the affected section of the ISS – a NASA report [PDF] stated that the leaks were in the Service Module Transfer Tunnel. Permanently sealing off the area would result in the loss of a Russian docking port.
While not disastrous for operations onboard the outpost, Roscosmos would obviously prefer not to do this and was hopeful that recent repair attempts had dealt with the issue.
The recent Axiom 4 mission was postponed so that engineers could “understand a new pressure signature, after the recent post-repair effort in the aft-most segment of the International Space Station's Zvezda service module,” NASA said in June.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/01/iss_is_still_leaking/
Leak
As leaks on the space station worsen, there’s no clear plan to deal with them
“We heard that basically the program office had a runaway fire on their hands.”
Eric Berger - 6/7/2024, 7:03 AM
NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, still have not solved a long-running and worsening problem with leaks on the International Space Station.
The microscopic structural cracks are located inside the small PrK module on the Russian segment of the space station, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module. After the leak rate doubled early this year during a two-week period, the Russians experimented with keeping the hatch leading to the PrK module closed intermittently and performed other investigations. But none of these measures taken during the spring worked.
“Following leak troubleshooting activities in April of 2024, Roscosmos has elected to keep the hatch between Zvezda and Progress closed when it is not needed for cargo operations,” a NASA spokesperson told Ars. “Roscosmos continues to limit operations in the area and, when required for use, implements measures to minimize the risk to the International Space Station.”
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/on-the-space-station-band-aid-fixes-for-systemic-problems/
NASA confirms space station cracking a “highest” risk and consequence problem
NASA and Roscosmos have not agreed on the point at which the leak rate is untenable.
Eric Berger - 9/27/2024, 7:49 AM
US space officials do not like to talk about the perils of flying astronauts on the aging International Space Station, elements of which are now more than a quarter of a century old.
However, a new report confirms that NASA managers responsible for operating the space station are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station, essentially a tunnel that connects a larger module to a docking port, which is leaking.
Russian and US officials have known that this small PrK module, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module, has been leaking since September 2019. A new report, published Thursday by NASA's inspector general, provides details not previously released by the space agency that underline the severity of the problem.
An International Space Station Leak Is Getting Worse, NASA Confirms
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday September 28, 2024 11:52AM
Ars Technica reports NASA officials operating the International Space Station “are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station” — because it's leaking.
The “PrK” tunnel connecting a larger module to a docking port “has been leaking since September 2019… In February of this year NASA identified an increase in the leak rate from less than 1 pound of atmosphere a day to 2.4 pounds a day, and in April this rate increased to 3.7 pounds a day.”
A new report, published Thursday by NASA's inspector general, provides details not previously released by the space agency that underline the severity of the problem…
Despite years of investigation, neither Russian nor US officials have identified the underlying cause of the leak. “Although the root cause of the leak remains unknown, both agencies have narrowed their focus to internal and external welds,” the report, signed by Deputy Inspector General George A. Scott, states. The plan to mitigate the risk is to keep the hatch on the Zvezda module leading to the PrK tunnel closed. Eventually, if the leak worsens further, this hatch might need to be closed permanently, reducing the number of Russian docking ports on the space station from four to three.
Growing Air Leak in Russian Segment Now Deemed Greatest ISS Risk, Report Reveals
NASA and Roscosmos have elevated the air leak to the highest level of risk, but they can't agree on when it becomes unmanageable.
Passant Rabie - October 1, 2024
The International Space Station (ISS) houses astronauts at an altitude of 250 miles above the surface of Earth in a (mostly) sealed environment. For the past five years, however, air has been escaping at an increasing rate from a tunnel that connects a docking port to a Russian module. The leak was addressed in a new report, which revealed the true severity of the issue and the risk it poses to the crew.
The report, published Thursday by NASA’s Office of Inspector General, details how the ISS program had elevated the air leak to the highest level of risk based on its likelihood and severity. The heightened risk probability was the result of a noticeable increase discovered in February in the rate of air that has been leaking from Russia’s Zvezda module, which had doubled from one pound of air per day to a little over two pounds.
The OIG report highlights several other risks, including limited evacuation options for the crew during emergencies, the absence of a deorbit vehicle in the ISS deorbit plan, and rising maintenance costs for the station.
The leak was first discovered in September 2019. Roscosmos reported the detection of an air leak found in the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which the space agency had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. The rate of air leaking from the hole increased around a week before the February 14 launch of the Progress MS-26 cargo spacecraft, which docked to the aft end of Zvezda. The hatch that connects the module to the ISS remained open for five days as the crew offloaded the cargo from Progress MS-26 onto the space station, but was closed shut afterwards.
The International Space Station Has Been Leaking for Five Years
Pesky leaks on the International Space Station aren’t the most serious issue facing U.S. human spaceflight
Meghan Bartels - November 1, 2024
In the hostile conditions beyond Earth, a spacecraft is all that stands between an astronaut and certain death. So having yearslong seemingly unfixable leaks on the International Space Station (ISS) sounds like a nightmare scenario. It’s also a reality, one that a recent agency report calls “a top safety risk.” Amid months of headlines about astronauts stranded by Boeing’s Starliner vehicle and NASA’s announcement of a contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to destroy the ISS early next decade, the ongoing concerns about the leaks come as another reminder that supporting a long-term population in space is a challenge that’s quite literally out of this world.
Simultaneously, the station’s leaks are mundane—perhaps shockingly so for those of us who are neither engineers nor astronauts. “When you’re on the space station, it’s like your life here,” says Sandra Magnus, an engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a former NASA astronaut who previously served on NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, an independent panel that monitors safety concerns. “You don’t run around in your daily life and wonder if you’re going to get hit by a car when you cross the street, right? It’s your life—you just live your life.”
The ISS Is Leaking Air—And NASA and Russia Can’t Agree Why
NASA elevated the air leak to the highest level of risk, but Russia isn't convinced it's that serious.
Passant Rabie - November 15, 2024
For the past five years, air has been escaping through a Russian section of the International Space Station (ISS) at an increasing rate. NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, are still in disagreement over the root cause of the leak, as well as the severity of the consequences.
The leak was first discovered in 2019 in the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which Roscosmos had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. Earlier this year, NASA elevated the leak to the highest level of risk as the rate of air escaping from the module had doubled from one pound of air per day to a little over two pounds.
https://gizmodo.com/the-iss-is-leaking-air-and-nasa-and-russia-cant-agree-why-2000524781
ISS Astronauts are Safe. But NASA and Russia Disagree on How to Fix Leak
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday November 16, 2024 11:34AM
“NASA has emphasized the ISS crew is in no immediate danger,” reports Space.com. “The leaking area in the Russian segment of the orbital complex has been ongoing for five years,” and “there was a temporary increase in the leak rate that was patched earlier this year…”
Former astronaut Bob Cabana emphasized that troubleshooting is ongoing during a brief livestreamed meeting on Wednesday. But NASA and Roscosmos “don't have a common understanding of what the likely root causes or the severity of the consequences of these leaks.”
“The Russian position is that the most probable cause of the cracks is high cycling caused by micro-vibrations,” Cabana said, referring to flexing of metal and similar components that heat and cool as the ISS orbits in and out of sunlight. “NASA believes the PrK cracks are likely multi-causal — including pressure and mechanical stress, residual stress, material properties and environmental exposures,” Cabana continued.
The ISS has been leaking air for 5 years, and engineers still don’t know why
“This is a an engineering problem, and good engineers should be able to agree on it.”
Stephen Clark – Nov 18, 2024 2:19 PM
The Zvezda service module, seen here near the top of this image, is one the oldest parts of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA
Officials from NASA and Russia’s space agency don’t see eye to eye on the causes and risks of small but persistent air leaks on the International Space Station.
That was the word from the new chair of NASA's International Space Station Advisory Committee last week. The air leaks are located in the transfer tunnel of the space station's Russian Zvezda service module, one of the oldest elements of the complex.
US and Russian officials “don't have a common understanding of what the likely root cause is, or the severity of the consequences of these leaks,” said Bob Cabana, a retired NASA astronaut who took the helm of the advisory committee earlier this year. Cabana replaced former Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford, who chaired the committee before he died in March.
The transfer tunnel, known by the Russian acronym PrK, connects the Zvezda module with a docking port where Soyuz crew and Progress resupply spacecraft attach to the station.
Air has been leaking from the transfer tunnel since September 2019. On several occasions, Russian cosmonauts have repaired the cracks and temporarily reduced the leak rate. In February, the leak rate jumped up again to 2.4 pounds per day, then increased to 3.7 pounds per day in April.
The Space Station’s Russian Segment Won’t Stop Leaking Air
A recent attempt to seal the leak appeared to be successful at first, until it wasn't.
Passant Rabie - July 31, 2025
A pesky air leak on the International Space Station (ISS) just won’t quit. Although the crew hoped they had sealed the last crack on the Russian module, long-term observations revealed that the ISS is still leaking air.
During a recent press conference, a Roscosmos official told reporters that recent attempts to fix the leak have slowed down the rate of air leaving the space station but that it’s not yet completely sealed. “The leak is ongoing,” Russian news agency TASS reported. “We continue our efforts to find and fix it, with the recent repairs having seriously reduced the rate of air leakage,” Sergey Krikalyov, the executive director of manned space programs at Roscosmos, told reporters on Wednesday. “For some time we even thought that we had found the last crack and sealed it, though long-term observations have shown that it continues.”
Roscosmos first reported the leak in September 2019, tracing it to the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which the space agency had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. Over the past six years, the rate at which the air is leaking doubled from one pound a day to a little over two pounds a day, according to a report released in 2024. That led NASA to elevate the leak to the highest level of risk. At the time, it was reported that NASA and Roscosmos could not agree on the root cause of the leak or a way to fix it.
https://gizmodo.com/the-space-stations-russian-segment-wont-stop-leaking-air-2000637333
Maneuver
2021 November
Space debris forces astronauts on space station to take shelter in return ships
By Meghan Bartels - 15 November 2021
Seven astronauts on the International Space Station were forced to take shelter in their transport spacecraft early Monday (Nov. 15) when the station passed uncomfortably closed to orbital debris, according to reports.
The space junk passes began in the pre-dawn hours of Monday and the International Space Station has continued to make close passes to the debris every 90 minutes or so, according to experts monitoring the situation. Russia's space agency Roscosmos confirmed the space junk encounter with Space.com, though NASA has not yet commented on the situation either publicly or to Space.com.
“Thanks for a crazy but well-coordinated day, we really appreciated all the situational awareness you gave us,” NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei told NASA's mission control at Johnson Space Center in Texas during a check-in marking the end of the astronauts' day at about 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT). “It was certainly a great way to bond as a crew, starting off our very first workday in space.”
https://www.space.com/space-debris-astronauts-shelter-november-2021
Satellite space debris forces ISS astronauts to seek shelter aboard docked capsules
The US condemned a Russian missile attack that occurred on the same day. Russia has not acknowledged any wrongdoing.
Igor Bonifacic - November 15th, 2021
On Monday, astronauts on the International Space Station had to seek safety aboard their transport craft when the station passed uncomfortably close to a field of orbital debris. According to the Associated Press, US Space Command started tracking the space junk in the early hours of the morning. The situation saw the station pass the debris field every 90 minutes, forcing those on board to close and reopen several compartments multiple times throughout the day. The four American, one German and two Russian astronauts aboard the ISS will need to stay on alert for the next several days.
“Thanks for a crazy but well-coordinated day, we really appreciated all the situational awareness you gave us,” US astronaut Mark Vande Hei told NASA mission control before he and the other crew members aboard went to bed at 12PM EST. “It was certainly a great way to bond as a crew, starting off our very first workday in space.” Four of the astronauts arrived at the station late last week.
https://www.engadget.com/international-space-station-debris-field-215745675.html
Russia May Have Just Shot Down Its Own Satellite, Creating a Huge Debris Cloud
Posted by BeauHD on Monday November 15, 2021 02:02PM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
The seven astronauts and cosmonauts onboard the International Space Station sheltered inside their respective spacecraft, a Crew Dragon and Soyuz, on Monday morning as the orbiting laboratory passed through an unexpected debris field. This was not a pre-planned collision avoidance maneuver in low Earth orbit, in which the station would use onboard propulsion to move away. Rather, the situation required the astronauts to quickly take shelter. Had there been a collision during the conjunction, the two spacecraft would have been able to detach from the space station and make an emergency return to Earth. Ultimately that was not necessary, and the astronauts reemerged into the space station later Monday. However, as the crew on board the station prepared for their sleep schedule, Mission Control in Houston asked them to keep as many of the hatches onboard the space station closed for the time being, in case of an unexpected collision during subsequent orbits.
Russia may have just shot down its own satellite, creating a huge debris cloud [Updated]
“This test will significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts.”
Eric Berger - 11/15/2021, 11:31 AM
The seven astronauts and cosmonauts onboard the International Space Station sheltered inside their respective spacecraft, a Crew Dragon and Soyuz, on Monday morning as the orbiting laboratory passed through an unexpected debris field.
This was not a pre-planned collision avoidance maneuver in low Earth orbit, in which the station would use onboard propulsion to move away. Rather, the situation required the astronauts to quickly take shelter.
Had there been a collision during the conjunction, the two spacecraft would have been able to detach from the space station and make an emergency return to Earth. Ultimately that was not necessary, and the astronauts reemerged into the space station later Monday. However, as the crew on board the station prepared for their sleep schedule, Mission Control in Houston asked them to keep as many of the hatches onboard the space station closed for the time being, in case of an unexpected collision during subsequent orbits.
Astronauts Forced to Take Shelter as Debris Cloud Threatens Space Station
The debris cloud formed after Russia intentionally destroyed one of its defunct satellites, the U.S. State Department says.
George Dvorsky - 15 November 2021 11:28AM
All seven astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station are having to take shelter inside their respective spacecraft owing to the sudden appearance of a debris cloud in orbit. The U.S. State Department says the fragments were produced by a Russian anti-satellite missile test.
Information is slowly trickling in, but we do know that the ISS is currently functioning normally and that all seven crew members are healthy and safe. The crew had to take shelter earlier this morning after the breakup of the defunct satellite Kosmos-1408, which was hit as part of a Russian anti-satellite weapons test, said Ned Price, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, at a press briefing held this afternoon. Price said the U.S. is tracking around 1,500 pieces of debris but that many thousands of untraceable smaller fragments were likely produced as well.
https://gizmodo.com/astronauts-forced-to-take-shelter-as-debris-cloud-threa-1848057874
Russia acknowledges anti-satellite test, but says it’s no big deal
“The orbit’s parameters did not and will not pose any threat to orbital stations.”
Eric Berger - 11/16/2021, 6:22 AM
A day after it launched a missile and blasted a large satellite into hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris, the Russian Defense Ministry has acknowledged the test but said it posed no danger to humans living in space.
“On November 15, the Defense Ministry of Russia successfully conducted a test, in which the Russian defunct Tselina-D satellite in orbit since 1982 was struck,” the statement issued on Tuesday said. “The United States knows for certain that the emerging fragments at the time of the test and in terms of the orbit’s parameters did not and will not pose any threat to orbital stations, satellites and space activity.”
The statement was issued about 24 hours after NASA, European, and Russian astronauts on board the International Space Station, out of concern for a potential collision with “new debris,” scrambled into their Crew Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft. They sheltered there for about two hours in case an emergency escape was necessitated by a debris strike.
NASA Condemns Russia’s ‘Reckless and Dangerous’ Anti-Satellite Test
Russia acknowledged the test but claims the International Space Station was never at risk from the ensuing debris cloud.
George Dvorsky - 16 November 2021 11:57AM
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has spoken out about an anti-satellite weapons test that potentially sent debris into the path of the International Space Station yesterday, saying it’s “unthinkable” that Russia would endanger both American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.
While sweeping through my news feeds early yesterday morning, I was startled to learn that the ISS crew was taking shelter on account of a newly emerged debris cloud in orbit. A few minutes later, I stumbled upon an unconfirmed report claiming that Russia had conducted an anti-satellite weapons test. Naturally, I connected the two stories together, but I quickly dismissed the possibility, telling myself that Russia couldn’t possibly be that idiotic. I was wrong. I’m now very pissed off—and I’m not alone.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-condemns-russia-s-reckless-and-dangerous-anti-sa-1848065882
New images and analyses reveal extent of Cosmos 1408 debris cloud
“We took a major step backward on Monday.”
Eric Berger - 11/17/2021, 8:18 AM
Although it will likely require weeks of careful observations before scientists have enough tracking data to fully map the debris cloud from the destruction of the Cosmos 1408 satellite, the early returns are distressing.
An array of government entities and private companies, as well as university scientists, have been collecting and analyzing data since Monday morning, when a Russian Nudol missile struck a two-ton satellite in low Earth orbit. The aging Russian satellite was at an altitude of about 480 km, amidst a fairly congested environment of commercial and government satellites.
The kinetic blast appears to have sent debris from the satellite across a broad range of altitudes. Based upon initial data, a space situational awareness firm named SpaceNav calculated that some of the largest pieces of debris have already reached altitudes from as high as 1,100 km and as low as 300 km above the Earth.
Visualizations Show the Extensive Cloud of Debris Russia's Anti-Satellite Test Created
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday November 20, 2021 02:00AM Satellite trackers have been working overtime to figure out just how much dangerous debris Russia created when it destroyed one of its own satellites early Monday – and the picture they've painted looks bleak. Multiple visual simulations of Russia's anti-satellite, or ASAT, test show a widespread cloud of debris that will likely menace other objects in orbit for years. The Verge reports:
It's going to take weeks or even months to fully understand just how bad the situation is, but early visualizations of the ASAT test created by satellite trackers show an extensive trail of space debris left in the wake of the breakup. The fragments appear like a dotted snake in orbit, stretching out and moving in roughly the same direction that Kosmos 1408 used to move around Earth. And there's one thing the visualizers agree on: this snake of debris isn't going anywhere anytime soon. “There will be some potential collision risk to most satellites in [low Earth orbit] from the fragmentation of Cosmos 1408 over the next few years to decades,” LeoLabs, a private space tracking company in the US, wrote in a blog post.
Analysis of the Cosmos 1408 Breakup
LeoLabs - Nov 18, 2021
By now we’ve all heard the news that none of us wanted to hear — a significant breakup occurred in space, and was intentionally performed by Russia via direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missile strike against one of their own defunct satellites. LeoLabs unequivocally condemns this irresponsible act that now harms all spacefaring nations and the entire space economy for years to come.
Frustrated as we all are, we now must turn to the aftermath to start understanding the ramifications of this event on the low Earth orbit (LEO) operating environment. This post will share preliminary data from LeoLabs collected so far on newly tracked debris, along with insights and predictions based on decades of research and conclusions drawn from past similar events.
https://leolabs-space.medium.com/analysis-of-the-cosmos-1408-breakup-71b32de5641f
Russia: It isn't just us – a bit of an old US rocket might get as close as 5.4km to the ISS
Meanwhile, Soyuz Cluedo continues: It was someone, with the drill, in the habitation module
Richard Speed - Wed 1 Dec 2021 19:05 UTC
Russian news agency TASS has reported that a chunk of a US Pegasus carrier rocket is due to whizz past the International Space Station (ISS) at a minimum distance of 5.4km this week.
In a report that entirely failed to mention the debris cloud created by a Russian Anti-Satellite Test a few weeks ago, space agency Roscosmos was quoted as saying: “No decision has been made on the need to carry out an avoidance manoeuvre.
“Specialists of the Flight Control Center and the Main Information and Analysis Center continue keeping the situation under control.”
So that's OK then.
Russian media also noted the last time that debris approached the station was on 25 November, “when a US Falcon 9 rocket fragment flew at a distance of more than 5km from the orbital outpost.”
Part III — Cosmos 1408 Breakup Observations One Month Later
LeoLabs - 21 December 2021
It’s now been five weeks since the Russian ASAT demonstration that struck the Cosmos 1408 satellite, causing enormous amounts of new space debris to be generated in a heavily utilized altitude band in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
In Part II of our analysis on this event, we considered the plausible explanation that the Cosmos 1408 destruction was caused by a non-hypervelocity impact, possibly even coupled with some explosive charge. The table below summarizes the two ends of the spectrum as discussed previously (hypervelocity vs. non-hypervelocity)— the actual event is probably somewhere between these two extremes which will confound a high confidence assessment of the impact initial conditions.
ISS Moves to New Orbit in Advance of Cargo Mission
The newly arrived Expedition 68 crew is settling in and getting down to work inside the space lab.
George Dvorsky - 18 October 2022 2:05PM
All seven members of Expedition 68 are now aboard the International Space Station following the arrival of Crew-5 last week. A cargo mission to replenish supplies is expected next week, prompting a necessary orbital adjustment to receive the Russian space hauler.
The Progress 81 cargo vehicle attached to the Russian Zvezda module fired its thrusters for 10 minutes and 30 seconds on Monday, raising the space station’s orbit and placing it at the correct altitude to receive the Progress 82 resupply ship, according to a NASA blog post. The uncrewed cargo craft is scheduled to blast off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday, October 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET and dock with Zvezda some 26 hours later.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-moves-to-new-orbit-in-advance-of-cargo-mission-1849672635
2022 October
The ISS has had to maneuver yet again from Russian satellite debris
This fragment was one of more than 1,500 pieces of debris from Cosmos 1408.
Eric Berger - 10/25/2022, 6:33 AM
On November 15, 2021, Russia launched a Nudol missile at one of its aging satellites in low-Earth orbit. As intended, the missile struck the Cosmos 1408 satellite at an altitude of 480 km, breaking it into more than 1,000 fragments.
In the immediate aftermath of this test—which Russia carried out to demonstrate to other space powers its anti-satellite capabilities—American and Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Station scrambled into spacecraft in case an emergency departure was needed. They remained in these shelters for about six hours before getting an all-clear to return to normal activities.
Following international condemnation for this test, Russian officials claimed that Americans and other officials had overreacted. “The United States knows for certain that the emerging fragments at the time of the test and in terms of the orbit’s parameters did not and will not pose any threat to orbital stations, satellites and space activity,” the Defense Ministry of Russia said at the time.
2022 December
ISS Dodges Space Junk With Damaged ‘Life Boat’ Parked Outside
The maneuver came at an inopportune time, with a Soyuz escape vehicle in potentially bad shape after a coolant leak.
George Dvorsky - 21 December 2022
A chunk of Russian space junk came uncomfortably close to the International Space Station early Wednesday, resulting in a debris avoidance maneuver. Routine stuff—except for the fact that three crew members would’ve been forced to escape inside a potentially damaged Soyuz spacecraft had an evacuation of the ISS been necessary.
Another day, another canceled spacewalk. This time, instead of the spacewalk being axed due to an unsettling coolant leak on the Soyuz MS-22 docked to the station, it was canceled on account of threatening space junk.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-debris-maneuver-soyuz-life-boat-damaged-leak-1849919399
2023 March
ISS Swerves to Avoid Collision With Earth-Imaging Satellite
Monday's collision avoidance maneuver steered the International Space Station away from a presumed Earth-imaging satellite launched in 2020.
Passant Rabie - 8 March 2023
Earlier this week, the International Space Station was forced to adjust its orbit to avoid an encroaching commercial satellite. The object is likely one of many Earth-observing satellites that are falling into and aligning with the space station’s orbital path, according to experts.
On Monday, the Progress 83 resupply ship that’s docked to the space station fired its engines for just over six minutes, slightly raising the orbit of the ISS in order to avoid an approaching satellite, NASA wrote in a blog post. The space agency did not identify the object, except to say that it was an “Earth observation satellite.”
https://gizmodo.com/iss-swerves-to-avoid-collision-with-earth-imaging-satel-1850202507
2024 December
Space Station Keeps Dodging Debris From China's 2007 Satellite Weapon Test
Posted by BeauHD on Monday December 23, 2024 11:00PM
fjo3 shares a report from the Washington Post:
The International Space Station had to fire thrusters from a docked spacecraft last month to avoid a piece of debris that has been circling the globe for the nearly 18 years since the Chinese government blasted apart one of its own satellites in a weapons test. The evasive maneuver was the second in just six days for the space station, which has four NASA astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts aboard. That is the shortest interval ever between such actions, illustrating the slowly worsening problem of space junk in orbit. Debris is an increasingly vexing issue not only for NASA, but also for companies such as SpaceX and OneWeb seeking to protect the thousands of small satellites they send into space to provide high-speed internet.
The debris cloud from China's 2007 destruction of the Fengyun 1C satellite remains one of the most persistent threats in orbit, with about 3,500 fragments still posing collision risks to spacecraft. Since 2020, the ISS has performed 15 debris-avoidance maneuvers.
NASA
NASA Requests Two More Private Missions to the ISS
The space agency is calling for proposals for the third and fourth private astronaut missions to the orbital lab.
Passant Rabie - 15 September 2022 5:50PM
It appears that the International Space Station will welcome more amateur astronauts who are willing to pay a hefty price for trips to space. NASA is requesting proposals for two more private astronaut missions to the ISS that could fly to low Earth orbit as early as late 2023.
The space agency is calling on the space industry to provide proposals for the third and fourth commercial spaceflights to the ISS, NASA announced on Thursday. NASA collaborated with private company Axiom Space to send the first all-private crew to the ISS in April, where the four crew members spent 15 days living and working in the microgravity environment. NASA selected Axiom Space for the second private mission to the ISS, which is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2023 on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-requests-two-more-private-missions-to-the-iss-1849541660
NASA Fires Lasers At the ISS
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday July 27, 2024 12:00AM
joshuark shares a report from The Verge:
NASA researchers have successfully tested laser communications in space by streaming 4K video footage originating from an airplane in the sky to the International Space Station and back. The feat demonstrates that the space agency could provide live coverage of a Moon landing during the Artemis missions and bodes well for the development of optical communications that could connect humans to Mars and beyond. NASA normally uses radio waves to send data and talk between the surface to space but says that laser communications using infrared light can transmit data 10 to 100 times faster than radios.
ISS Conference Scrapped as NASA Budget Cuts Threaten Crew and Cargo
The agency is facing budgetary constraints that might affect operations aboard the ISS.
Passant Rabie - June 5, 2025
The International Space Station (ISS) still has a few years left in orbit before it’s due for retirement, but the future of the orbital lab is looking a little shaky as NASA is forced to tighten its purse strings.
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which operates the ISS National Lab, is canceling an upcoming space station research conference, SpaceNews reported. The ISS Research and Development Conference was due to be held at the end of July in Seattle, but CASIS announced this week that, after consulting with NASA, “the current regulatory and budgetary environment does not support holding” the annual conference this year.
The announcement comes a little over a month after the release of the current administration’s so-called skinny budget, which included funding for NASA in 2026. The budget proposes a $6 billion cut to the agency, 24% less than NASA’s current $24.8 billion budget for 2025. The budget also proposes reducing the size of the ISS crew ahead of its planned retirement in 2030, when it’s expected to be replaced by multiple commercial space stations.
Funding for the ISS could be reduced by a quarter, from $1.24 billion to $920 million, according to the proposed budget for 2026. “Crew and cargo flights to the station would be significantly reduced,” the budget proposal read. “The station’s reduced research capacity would be focused on efforts critical to the Moon and Mars exploration programs.”
https://gizmodo.com/iss-conference-scrapped-as-nasa-budget-cuts-threaten-crew-and-cargo-2000611687
Nauka
Russia's ISS Multipurpose Laboratory Module launches after years sitting on a shelf, immediately runs into issues
Nauka? More like 'Borka!' Geddit?
Richard Speed - Thu 22 Jul 2021 / 16:14 UTC
Russia's latest contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), successfully launched yesterday, but appears to have run into problems on orbit.
Dubbed “Nauka” (meaning “Science”), the Multipurpose Laboratory Module predates the ISS itself. Construction started in the late 1990s, and continued in stops and starts during the 21st century.
Launch dates for the lab came and went over subsequent decades. The European Space Agency (ESA) provided a robot arm for the module, which sat in storage as the years passed and the delays piled up. Problems with the propulsion system, contamination in the tanks, and expiration of components all contributed to the arrival date at the ISS moving further into the future.
Russian Module Headed for the ISS Is Still Having Problems
The Russian space station module Nauka has had a streak of panicky moments since its launch on Wednesday.
Isaac Schultz - Friday 23 July 2021 4:30PM
Russia’s newly launched International Space Station module Nauka is still in the fight as of Friday afternoon, as early reports indicate that the module’s backup engines have fired successfully. That’s a big relief for Roscosmos, which nearly saw its long-awaited module become a tragic piece of space trivia instead of the newest piece of the International Space Station. But it’s not out of the woods yet.
The first glitch in Nauka’s journey happened yesterday, when the spacecraft didn’t complete its first orbit-raising burn. This meant that the uncrewed Nauka wasn’t on track to actually intercept the ISS, which it’s scheduled to dock with on Thursday, July 29. The problem was attributed to a software issue in a computer aboard Nauka, which prevented the spacecraft’s main engines from firing. Nauka’s team was able to manage a remote course correction, but a second bout of course corrections were deemed necessary, and scheduled for today. One early report from journalist Anatoly Zak indicated that one of the spacecraft’s engines sputtered back to life in a mission. The “backup engine seems to have fired fine,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in an email today, though he added that the status of the engines was not yet certain and it would likely be a few hours before a new dataset from Nauka verified the situation.
https://gizmodo.com/russian-module-headed-for-the-iss-is-still-having-probl-1847352303
Russia's Pirs ISS module scheduled to fall away, much like Moscow's interest in the space station
Troubled Nauka might actually make it after four orbit corrections – since we left work Friday
Laura Dobberstein - Mon 26 Jul 2021 / 07:54 UTC
Russia's space agency spent the weekend trying to get one module to the International Space Station and deciding to ditch another.
The module Moscow wants is Nauka, which launched last week after decades of delays caused by problems with its propulsion systems, tank contamination, and component expiration.
Nauka quickly found more trouble as its propulsion systems and docking sensors proved problematic.
Roscosmos Mission Control Center made two course corrections Friday and another two on Saturday in hopes they get the module to the ISS. Assuming all went to plan, further burns will take place on 27 July.
Have you turned it off and on again? Russia's Nauka module just about makes it to the ISS
Elderly lab negotiates tricky docking
Richard Speed - Thu 29 Jul 2021 / 16:46 UTC
Russia's elderly Nauka module has made it to the International Space Station (ISS), some 25 years since construction of the research module began.
Despite a somewhat problematic start to life in space following its launch atop a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, engineers were able to fire the engines of the veteran module in a number of orbital correction manoeuvres to bring Nauka to the ISS.
Russian Module Unexpectedly Fires Thrusters After Docking to ISS
The ISS moved out of its normal orientation by around 45 degrees, requiring countermeasures.
George Dvorsky - 29 July 2021
Serious drama unfolded in low Earth orbit today when the newly arrived Nauka module, for reasons unknown, began to fire its thrusters after docking to the ISS. Mission controllers are now working to control what appears to be an ongoing situation.
Nothing appears to be damaged, and NASA says the crew is safe, but things got really weird about three hours after Russia’s Nauka module reached the International Space Station at 9:29 a.m. EDT this morning.
https://gizmodo.com/russian-module-unexpectedly-fires-thrusters-after-docki-1847387773
International Space Station actually spun one-and-a-half times by errant Russian module's thrusters
540 degrees total, not just 45, NASA tells El Reg
Katyanna Quach - Tue 3 Aug 2021 / 22:09 UTC
The International Space Station actually spun one and a half times last week after the just-docked Russian Nauka module unexpectedly fired its thrusters.
NASA earlier said the sudden and inadvertent rocket burn nudged the ISS 45 degrees out of attitude. Zebulon Scoville, a flight director working at the US space agency’s mission control in Texas at the time of the accident, today said the effects of Nauka’s engines randomly firing were greater than previously reported.
The ISS in fact rotated a total of 540 degrees from the thruster fire, and had to flip another 180 degrees to get back into the correct position, he told the New York Times. The 45-degree angle disclosed by NASA soon after the blunder – which Russia blamed on a software failure in its Nauka module – was what it was reported by the crew as their station was still moving, we’re told. The final number became apparent later.
The ISS Backflipped Out of Control After Russian Module Misfired, New Details Reveal
Initial reports said the space station spun 45 degrees. The actual figure is far scarier.
George Dvorsky - 3 August 2021 4:00PM
A NASA flight director has provided new details about last week’s scary incident in orbit, in which a freshly docked Russian module inadvertently fired its thrusters, causing the International Space Station to roll backwards.
The incident happened on Thursday, July 29, some three hours after Russia’s Nauka module docked to the space station. As Russian crew members worked to integrate the newly arrived section, Nauka’s thrusters began to fire, causing the ISS to roll backwards. Russian flight controllers eventually re-gained control, but, for a 47-minute span, the situation looked dicey.
At a press conference held later that day, NASA said the space station shifted by around 45 degrees. “That’s been a little incorrectly reported,” Zebulon Scoville, the NASA flight director in charge at the time, told the New York Times. The actual figure, he said, is closer to 540 degrees, which means the ISS performed 1.5 backflips, in an impromptu performance that would make an Olympic athlete jealous. When the ISS stopped spinning, it was fully upside down, requiring a 180-degree forward flip to regain the outpost’s original position, as the New York Times reports.
https://gizmodo.com/the-iss-backflipped-out-of-control-after-russian-module-1847415359
Russian Official: Experts to Investigate Possible ‘Consequences’ of Flipping Space Station
The Nauka module fired its thrusters after docking, causing the ISS to rotate by as much as 540 degrees.
George Dvorsky - 4 August 2021 4:10PM
Early reports suggest the International Space Station incurred no damage as a result of an incident last week involving the newly arrived Nauka module. That may be the case, but Russian officials are launching an investigation to assess the true impact of the frightening mishap.
Sergei Krikalev, the director of crewed space programs at Roscosmos, made the announcement on Wednesday during an interview with Rossiya-24 TV Channel. There’s probably no damage to the ISS, he said, but the unexpected rotation of the orbital outpost should now be “taken into account” when evaluating its service life, said Krikalev, in a translation provided by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
https://gizmodo.com/russian-official-experts-to-investigate-possible-cons-1847423624
Space Station Incident Demands Independent Investigation
A space expert warns NASA's safety culture may be eroding again
James Oberg - 06 Aug 2021
This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE.
In an International Space Station major milestone more than fifteen years in the making, a long-delayed Russian science laboratory named Nauka automatically docked to the station on 29 July, prompting sighs of relief in the Mission Control Centers in Houston and Moscow. But within a few hours, it became shockingly obvious the celebrations were premature, and the ISS was coming closer to disaster than at anytime in its nearly 25 years in orbit.
While the proximate cause of the incident is still being unravelled, there are worrisome signs that NASA may be repeating some of the lapses that lead to the loss of the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles and their crews. And because political pressures seem to be driving much of the problem, only an independent investigation with serious political heft can reverse any erosion in safety culture
https://spectrum.ieee.org/space-station-accident-needs-independant-investigation#toggle-gdpr
Nauka's Troubled Flight—Before It Tumbled the ISS
Russian space station module revelations—and a movie—raise questions
James Oberg - 26 August 2021
This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE.
Any hopes that the space agencies in Houston and Moscow had for tamping down public concerns over the International Space Station's recent tumble in orbit were lost last week as new revelations from Moscow confirmed worst-case rumors.
The ISS's tumble was caused by the inadvertent firing of maneuvering thrusters on the newly arrived Nauka Russian research module (referred to as the MLM module by NASA). But it's become clear that the module had been lurching from crisis to crisis during its weeks-long flight before it rendezvoused and docked at the space station. This is raising concerns about exactly how much NASA knew and when, given the stringent safety requirements normally in place that any visiting vehicle must meet before being allowed to approach the station.
This and other questions have been raised as the last two weeks have seen a remarkable and surprising degree of Russian openness, especially as compared to NASA's. Some of that transparency has also surfaced an interesting coincidence (at minimum) involving a spaceflight-themed movie potentially being filmed aboard Nauka that at least complicates but also perhaps begins to explain some of the curious components of this near-disaster's chronology.
Power Outage 2023
Power Outage at Mission Control Temporarily Disrupts NASA’s Link to ISS
The incident, occurring on Tuesday morning, marked the first time NASA had to use backup systems to communicate with the space station.
George Dvorsky - 26 July 2023
On Tuesday, July 25, a power outage occurred at NASA’s Mission Control in Houston, leading to a temporary disruption in communication with the International Space Station.
The outage happened at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET, interrupting the usual flow of commands, telemetry, and voice communications from the ground to the orbiting laboratory, according to NASA. The mission control team swiftly transitioned to backup hardware.
The power failure coincided with an upgrade being undertaken in the Mission Control building at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, ABC News reported. Speaking to reporters on the matter yesterday, space station program manager Joel Montalbano noted this was the first instance in which these backup systems were needed.
The issue was confined to ground systems and did not impact the ISS or its crew. Seven astronauts aboard the space station—three from NASA, three Russian cosmonauts, and one from Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre—were informed of the situation within 20 minutes of the unexpected outage. NASA was able to relay the issue to the crew by leveraging Russian communication channels. Communication to the ISS is facilitated by multiple ground stations and satellites that continuously maintain contact with the ISS as it orbits the Earth, as Space.com points out.
https://gizmodo.com/power-outage-temporarily-disrupts-nasa-link-to-iss-1850679008
Replacement
From Solo to Team: Northrop Grumman Joins Voyager Space on ISS Replacement Project
The company is walking away from a previously awarded $125.6 million contract from NASA to design and build a commercial space station.
Kevin Hurler - 5 October 2023
Breaking up is hard to do, especially when there’s a commercial space station on the line. Northrop Grumman is abandoning its plans as a solo contractor to develop a replacement for NASA’s International Space Station, and is instead partnering with Voyager Space to work on Starlab.
Voyager revealed the new collaboration in a press release yesterday, which will see Northrop working with Voyager’s subsidiary Nanoracks. The companies will develop “fully autonomous rendezvous and docking technology” to leverage Northrop’s Cygnus spacecraft for cargo shipments to Voyager’s Starlab space station, which is being constructed in a joint venture with Airbus.
https://gizmodo.com/northrop-grumman-voyager-space-nasa-iss-project-1850902424
Here’s What the Space Station That Could Replace the ISS Looks Like
The proposed commercial space station includes familiar features like a cupola window and a large robotic arm.
Passant Rabie - October 15, 2024
NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) has been dominating low Earth orbit for more than 25 years, housing groups of astronauts in the microgravity environment. The orbital lab’s time in space, however, will soon come to an end, and NASA is looking for a replacement.
California-based company Vast Space recently unveiled its plans to take over the coveted spot left behind by the ISS, revealing the design of its Haven-2 space station. The company is set on proposing its private space station for the second phase of NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program (CLD), with plans to launch the first module of Haven-2 in 2028, according to Vast.
Vast has been working on Haven-1, which it plans on launching in 2025. The company claims its single-module Haven-1 will be the world’s first commercial space station, capable of hosting short-duration missions for up to four astronauts at a time. But even before its first space station launches, Vast is eyeing that NASA contract to build another one as a commercial successor to the ISS.
“Our focus this decade is to win the NASA CLD contract and build the successor to the [ISS],” Max Haot, Vast CEO, said in a statement. “To achieve this, we will first demonstrate our capability by building and operating the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1.”
https://gizmodo.com/heres-what-the-space-station-that-could-replace-the-iss-looks-like-2000511988
Japan's space agency to build a digital twin of its ISS module – right before it retires
It's the space economy, stupid
Laura Dobberstein - Fri 1 Nov 2024 03:30 UTC
Japan's space agency announced on Thursday it is making an open source digital copy of its International Space Station (ISS) module, in what it is calling the world's first “Space Digital Twin.”
The endeavor is taking place through a collaboration with space-related digital application biz SpaceData Inc.
The resulting digital twin will include environmental data – such as temperature, humidity, airflow, and illumination – that was collected from the Kibo module, Japan’s lab attached to the ISS.
The team also plans to recreate Int-Ball, the drone that lives within KIBO, in the digital environment. JAXA framed that part of the digital twin as “providing a valuable simulation environment for space robotics.”
“By simulating the space environment in a digital format, the project will create a virtual testing ground where space-related business ideas and technologies can be experimented with in a low-cost and easily accessible manner,” states a press release.
In other words, no need to waste precious and costly launch and operational resources just to get an idea of how experiments and tools will pan out.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/01/jaxa_iss_digital_twin/
NASA Told to Overhaul Its Plans to Replace the International Space Station
A new Trump administration directive seeks to radically change NASA's vision for a continued astronaut presence in low Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - August 7, 2025
For nearly 30 years, the International Space Station has played orbital home for astronauts from all over the world, but its time is running out. Slated to retire in 2030, NASA is aiming to replace it with a privately-run station that can host its astronauts in space when needed. And now under pressure to get a new station up and running fast and within a slashed budget, NASA’s current head—U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy—is completely overhauling the agency’s plans to replace the ISS.
In a memo signed August 4, Duffy directs NASA to revise its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destination program, which is designed to facilitate the development of commercial stations to replace the ISS. Under the new directive, NASA would lower the bar for the minimum capabilities for new space stations, which could hamper the agency’s effort to maintain a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit.
NASA launched the CLD acquisition program in 2021 with a two-phase roadmap: The first phase was aimed to support the design and development of a commercial space station, and the second phase was supposed to certify select space stations for the agency to use.
Retirement
After ISS Retires, European Astronauts Might Hop on Airbus's Commercial Space Station
The European Space Agency is looking to the Starlab station for its orbital needs.
Passant Rabie - 10 November 2023
In an effort to secure precious access to low Earth orbit, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement with Airbus and Voyager Space for the use of their commercial space station which is currently under development as a replacement for the International Space Station (ISS).
The agreement explores how the Starlab space station can be used to provide Europe with access to space for astronaut missions and research activities, as well as commercial business development, according to ESA. The space agency signed a memorandum of understanding with the two companies on Thursday, hoping to ensure a smooth transition into Earth orbit after the ISS retires in 2030.
https://gizmodo.com/esa-airbus-commercial-space-station-replace-iss-1851012615
Can SpaceX Bring Down the ISS? An Upcoming Test Could Be the First Step
The space station is getting closer to retirement, and it's still in need of a deorbiting vehicle to lower it to its fiery death.
Passant Rabie - November 7, 2024
NASA is preparing for the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS) by figuring out the best way to toss it in the ocean. To that end, the space agency plans to use SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for an upcoming orbital maneuver, potentially paving the way for a larger version that will deorbit the space station in six years.
SpaceX and NASA will use the Dragon spacecraft to boost the ISS while docked to the space station, firing its engines for 12.5 minutes to slightly nudge the orbiting laboratory this coming Friday, November 8, NASA officials said during a press conference on Monday, according to Space.com.
The boost will mark a first for Dragon, as it’s never been used for this task before. Typically, Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft have been used to conduct the reboost maneuver while docked to the ISS, but NASA is testing Dragon’s capability to push the space station out of its place as it works to develop a deorbiting vehicle for its eventual retirement.
Robot Arms
The ISS Is Getting a New Pair of Creepy Robot Arms
Space startup GITAI is launching its robotic arms to carry out orbital handy work outside the space station.
Passant Rabie - 26 January 2024
Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are about to make a new cyborg friend in the form of two short mechanical arms that will do their bidding in the cold, dark vacuum of low Earth orbit.
California-based startup GITAI is launching its 4.9-foot-long (1.5-meters) autonomous dual robotic arm system, called S2, to the ISS as part of NASA’s 20th commercial resupply mission. S2 will ride on board SpaceX’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft, which will be carried atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch is set to take place on Monday at 12:29 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-gitai-robotic-arms-orbital-servicing-1851201857
Russia Leaving in 2024
Russia says it will pull out of the International Space Station sometime after 2024
The country will focus on building its own space outpost.
Kris Holt - July 26, 2022 9:39 AM
The head of Russia's space program says the country will withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024. It will instead focus on building its own space station as a successor to Mir, Roscosmos administrator Yuri Borisov said, according to the Associated Press. The country made the call at a time of heightened tensions with the West following Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
https://www.engadget.com/russia-international-space-station-withdraw-133909393.html
Russia leaving the International Space Station in 2024 and will focus on building its own
Darrell Etherington - 6:42 AM PDT•July 26, 2022
Russia has announced that it will officially end its international collaboration with NASA around operation of the International Space Station (ISS) as of 2024, according to the AP. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, also announced plans to construct its own orbital station, which build and operate independently of the U.S.
The ISS was originally intended to be decommissioned sometime around 2024, but NASSA shifted its official retirement date to 2030. Roscosmos and NASA set an agreement earlier in July to still continue to exchange rides for American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard each other’s respective launch vehicles — Russia’s Soyuz and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — on four upcoming missions to rotate the station’s crew.
Russia says its Space Station partnership will end after two more years
The new head of Roscosmos continues the path set by his predecessor.
John Timmer - 7/26/2022, 8:15 AM
As the Ukraine war ratcheted up political tensions between the US and Russia, the head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency tried to use the countries' partnership in the International Space Station (ISS) as a bargaining chip. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin demanded that the West end its sanctions on Russia or the country would end its cooperation on the ISS, leaving the partnership in an awkward state. But earlier in July, Rogozin was dismissed and replaced by former Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov. At roughly the same time, the US and Russia came to an agreement that would see Russian cosmonauts fly to the station on SpaceX's Dragon vehicle in exchange for astronauts getting seats on Soyuz launches.
This might have been seen as an indication that the new administration at Roscosmos was in a more cooperative mood. Any such hopes were dashed on Tuesday, when Borisov announced that Russia would not be renewing its current commitment to the ISS, which ends in 2024. NASA's current plans involve keeping the station occupied through the end of the decade.
Russia's new space chief confirms it will leave ISS after 2024
NASA: First we’ve heard of it
Richard Speed - Tue 26 Jul 2022 16:05 UTC
Hopes that the departure of Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin from Roscosmos will improve global space relations have been crushed. New boss Yuri Borisov today confirmed a post-2024 withdrawal from the International Space Station project.
It isn't the first time this particular sabre has been rattled. In 2021, Roscosmos indicated that the first module of Russia's new homegrown space station could be launched by 2025 once President Vladimir Putin gave the agency the nod to start on the project.
According to Russian mouthpiece, Tass, the decision to withdraw from the International Space Station once obligations are fulfilled (ie, as 2025 rolls around) has been made, and the new boss of Roscosmos, Borisov, will build the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).
Russia: We’re not leaving the Space Station until our own is ready
Both NASA and Roscosmos are now saying Russia's departure won't be soon.
John Timmer - 7/29/2022, 7:06 AM
Earlier this week, Russia indicated that it was not extending the current cooperation agreement for the International Space Station, which expires in 2024, and would be departing the project after that. Nearly everyone noticed that there was no actual departure date specified, leaving open the possibility that it would continue its participation without a formal agreement in place. That now seems to be what will happen.
Reuters is reporting that a senior NASA official has indicated that Russia will continue to operate its portion of the ISS until it has its own station in orbit, something that's currently targeted for 2028. Earlier statements from Russian officials indicated that construction of that station would be started in 2024 but had not provided a completion date. On Wednesday, Roscosmos also posted a video indicating that completion would come in 2028, and the agency would “need to continue operating the ISS” until that date.
Reluctant Russia Promises to Keep Working On ISS Until 2028
Russia had previously threatened to leave the ISS by 2024, but is now the last of NASA's partners to agree to stay aboard the station for a few more years.
Passant Rabie - 28 April 2023
Russia has agreed to keep its cosmonauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) until 2028 despite earlier threats to withdraw from the orbiting lab.
NASA announced that its Russian counterpart “has confirmed it will support continued station operations through 2028,” the space agency wrote in a blog post on Thursday. Russia was the last to sign on to extended operations on the ISS, with Japan, Canada, and the participating countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) having already agreed to support space station operations until 2030, when the ISS is due to retire.
https://gizmodo.com/reluctant-russia-promises-keep-working-iss-until-2028-1850386068
Russia Space Chief Says Country Will Fly On Space Station Until 2030
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday December 19, 2024 11:00PM
Ars Technica's Eric Berger reports:
In a wide-ranging interview with a Russian television station, the chief executive of Russia's main space corporation said the country is now planning to participate in the International Space Station project all the way to NASA's desired goal of 2030. “In coordination with our American colleagues, we plan to de-orbit the station sometime around the beginning of 2030,” the country's chief space official, Yuri Borisov, said during the interview. “The final scenario will probably be specified after the transition to a new NASA administration.”
While the documents for such an extension have not been signed, these comments appear to represent a change in tone from Russia. When he first became head of Roscosmos in 2022, Borisov said Russia would leave the station partnership “after” 2024, which was interpreted as shortly thereafter. Later, Russia committed to working with NASA to keep the orbital outpost flying only through 2028. The US space agency has expressed a consistent desire to keep flying the station until 2030, after which point it hopes that private space station operators can provide one or more replacement facilities.
Borisov said the aging station, elements of which have now been in space for more than a quarter of a century, are becoming difficult to maintain. “Today our cosmonauts have to spend more time repairing equipment and less and less time conducting experiments,” he said.
Shelter 2024
ISS astronauts take shelter in Boeing Starliner and other return spacecraft after June 26 satellite breakup
Normal station operations resumed after 1 hour.
Elizabeth Howell - 27 June 2024
Nine astronauts on the space station briefly moved to their docked return spacecraft late Wednesday (June 26) as a satellite broke up in low Earth orbit.
The Expedition 71 crew on the International Space Station (ISS) went to their three spacecraft, including Boeing Starliner, shortly after 9 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT), according to a brief NASA update on X, formerly known as Twitter. As the ISS follows a time zone identical to GMT, according to the European Space Agency, the astronauts were likely in their sleep period when the incident occurred.
The procedure was a “precautionary measure”, NASA officials added, stating that the crew only stayed in their spacecraft for about an hour before they were “cleared to exit their spacecraft, and the station resumed normal operations.”
NASA did not specify which satellite was associated with the incident, but satellite monitoring and collision detection firm LeoLabs identified a “debris-generating event” that same evening. “Early indications are that a non-operational Russian spacecraft, Resurs-P1 [or] SATNO 39186, released a number of fragments,” the company wrote on X.
https://www.space.com/iss-astronauts-shelter-return-spacecraft-satellite-breakup
ISS Astronauts Forced to Take Shelter After Russian Satellite Mysteriously Disintegrates
The defunct satellite broke apart into more than 100 pieces, raising speculation that it may be the result of an anti-satellite missile test.
Passant Rabie - 27 June 2024
Fragments from a defunct Russian satellite have formed a large cloud of debris in low Earth orbit, posing a potential threat to the International Space Station (ISS) and with the crew having to take shelter while mission control checked for the chances of collision.
On Wednesday, space-tracking firm LeoLabs detected a debris cloud forming after a non-operational satellite broke apart in low Earth orbit. The Russian-owned decommissioned satellite, called RESURS-P1, broke apart around 12 p.m. ET on June 26, resulting in more than 100 pieces of trackable debris, according to U.S. Space Command.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-crew-take-shelter-russian-satellite-disintegrates-1851564263
ISS Astronauts Take Shelter In Boeing Starliner After Satellite Breakup
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday June 27, 2024 12:30PM
Nine astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to take shelter late Wednesday when a satellite broke up in low Earth orbit. This “debris-generating event” created “over 100 pieces of trackable [space junk],” according to U.S. space-tracking firm LeoLabs. Space.com reports:
The Expedition 71 crew on the International Space Station (ISS) went to their three spacecraft, including Boeing Starliner, shortly after 9 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT), according to a brief NASA update on X, formerly known as Twitter. As the ISS follows a time zone identical to GMT, according to the European Space Agency, the astronauts were likely in their sleep period when the incident occurred. The procedure was a “precautionary measure”, NASA officials added, stating that the crew only stayed in their spacecraft for about an hour before they were “cleared to exit their spacecraft, and the station resumed normal operations.”
Spacesuit
NASA's ISS Spacesuit Situation Turns Grim
After recent frustrations with postponed spacewalks, a key partner for developing new ISS spacesuits for NASA has pulled out, adding insult to injury.
Passant Rabie - 26 June 2024
Two NASA astronauts were preparing to exit the International Space Station (ISS) for a second attempt at a spacewalk, but it was once again called off due to a concerning malfunction with the spacesuit.
NASA was forced to cancel a spacewalk on Monday due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit on astronaut Tracy Dyson’s spacesuit. “There’s water everywhere,” Dyson could be heard saying during the live feed from the ISS, pointing to an alarming malfunction with the space station’s aging suits that put other astronauts at risk in the past. NASA is in desperate need of new spacesuits for its astronauts, but in a troubling development, the company contracted to design the suits has just pulled out of the agreement.
The two astronauts, Dyson and Mike Barratt, hadn’t yet left the airlock when the issue arose. However, the airlock had to be re-pressurized as the pair were on their way out to the vacuum of space. Thankfully, the astronauts were safe.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-iss-leaky-spacesuits-collins-cancels-contract-1851561235
Spaceship Exterior Research
NASA Astronauts Set to Search for Life Clinging to the ISS Exterior
The survival of organisms in the vacuum of space could support the theory that life didn't start on Earth, but originated elsewhere in the galaxy.
Margherita Bassi - January 22, 2025
Experts are hoping to collect microbiological samples to study how microbes behave, and possibly thrive, in harsh environments—but the harsh environment in question isn’t anywhere near where you’d expect.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will attempt to collect microbiological samples from the outside of the space station during an upcoming spacewalk. Surface samples will be collected near life support system vents, as detailed in a NASA statement published on Tuesday, and could shed light on how, or even if, the ISS releases microorganisms into space.
The extravehicular sample collection is taking place as part of the ISS External Microorganisms experiment, a NASA project that, as the name suggests, studies microorganisms on the outside of the space station. The samples will be analyzed back on Earth.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-astronauts-set-to-search-for-life-clinging-to-the-iss-exterior-2000553255
Spacewalk
NASA Set to Resume ISS Spacewalks in 2025 After Terrifying Spacesuit Leaks
The space agency suspended the extravehicular activities in June due to a malfunctioning spacesuit.
Passant Rabie - November 3, 2024
Following a months-long hiatus, NASA astronauts are ready to step outside of the International Space Station (ISS) once again and conduct some orbital handiwork.
NASA plans to resume spacewalks in 2025 after a spacesuit leak forced the agency to suspend extravehicular activity in June to address the issue. During a press conference earlier this week, Bill Spetch, operations and integration manager of NASA’s ISS program, told reporters that NASA is planning its next set of spacewalks “early next year,” Space.com reported.
“It’s just a matter of when is the right timing,” Spetch is quoted as saying. NASA replaced a seal and umbilical cord connecting the spacesuit to the ISS, and the leaky spacesuit was successfully repressurized, according to Spetch.
Successor
Voyager Space and Airbus to Collaborate on Commercial Successor to the ISS
In addition to ensuring continued U.S. presence in orbit, Starlab will now also serve the European Space Agency.
Passant Rabie - 3 August 2023
Colorado-based company Voyager Space is collaborating with Europe’s Airbus to build a commercial space station in low Earth orbit that will succeed the International Space Station (ISS) following its retirement.
The two companies announced on Wednesday that they were furthering their partnership on the space station and will now work together to develop, build, and operate Starlab. “The [ISS] is widely regarded as the most successful platform for global cooperation in space history, and we are committed to building on this legacy as we move forward with Starlab,” Matthew Kuta, president of Voyager Space, said in a statement. “We are establishing this joint venture to reliably meet the known demand from global space agencies while opening new opportunities for commercial users.”
Earlier in January, the two companies announced an initial agreement in which Airbus would provide design support for Starlab. The European company has now become one of the core partners behind the project. With Airbus’ involvement in the commercial space station, Europe now ensures it has a constant place to stay to low Earth orbit. “In addition to the U.S. entity, Starlab will have a European joint venture subsidiary to directly serve the European Space Agency (ESA) and its member state space agencies,” Voyager wrote in its statement.
https://gizmodo.com/voyager-space-airbus-partner-commercial-iss-successor-1850704706
Airbus to help with International Space Station replacement
Orbiter is supposed to be ready by 2028, so JV partners had better hurry
Simon Sharwood - Thu 3 Aug 2023 06:36 UTC
Airbus will help build a replacement for the International Space Station (ISS), planned for five years from now.
The European aerospace outfit is already a supplier to European Space Agency's ISS operations and built the Bartolomeo payload platform that eases the process of operating kit on the space station.
The aerospace outfit announced on Tuesday it's been asked to contribute “technical design support and expertise” to build an entire space station, in a joint venture with US outfit Voyager Space.
Voyager Space's subsidiary, Nanoracks, also operates kit on the ISS and even built one of its airlocks. Nanoracks has also won $160 million of US government funding to work on an ISS successor called Starlab.
“We are establishing this joint venture to reliably meet the known demand from global space agencies while opening new opportunities for commercial users,” said Matthew Kuta, president at Voyager Space.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/03/airbus_voyager_space_iss_jv/
Telescope (NICER)
NASA will send astronauts to patch up leaky ISS telescope
Thermal shield damage is screwing with daytime observations of X-ray bursts
Richard Speed - Thu 18 Apr 2024 14:30 UTC
NASA is sending astronauts out to fix an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station (ISS) after the instrument developed a “light leak.”
The telescope in question is the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), which collects X-ray measurements. In May 2023, scientists found that the instrument had developed a “light leak” in which unwanted sunlight enters the instrument during daytime observations.
To mitigate the problem, the NICER team limited daytime observations to objects far away from the Sun's position in the sky and uploaded commands to lower the sensitivity of the telescope during the orbital day. Nighttime observations were unaffected.
Despite the measures taken, the data collected continued to be impacted by the light leak.
NICER was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the CRS-11 ISS resupply mission in 2017. It is an attached payload that was installed robotically, and deployed on June 15, 2017. The telescope has 56 aluminum X-ray concentrators, each with a set of mirrors. In front of the concentrator are thermal shields to block out sunlight.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/18/nasa_nicer_repair_spacewalk/
Thruster
SpaceX Just Sent the ISS a New Way to Stay in Orbit
Newly installed thrusters will fire to give the 450-ton spacecraft a little nudge.
Passant Rabie - August 26, 2025
The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for over 26 years, housing astronauts at an altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. But even at that distance, the space station can’t escape the drag of Earth’s atmosphere as oxygen molecules and other gases collide with it, causing it to lose altitude over time.
For the ISS to retain its status in orbit, NASA and its partners perform the occasional reboost maneuver. This is typically done using the space station’s own thrusters (which are tiny and relatively weak) or with Russia’s Progress spacecraft and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus. For the first time, however, and starting in September, NASA will use SpaceX’s Dragon vehicle to help sustain the space station’s orbital altitude.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-just-sent-the-iss-a-new-way-to-stay-in-orbit-2000648211
Tomato
Mystery of the Missing ISS Tomato Finally Solved
A tomato lost for eight months on the orbiting lab has been located, absolving astronaut Frank Rubio of playful allegations that he ate it.
George Dvorsky - 8 December 2023
The curious case of the conspicuously absent cherry tomato has finally been put to rest eight months after the lab-grown edible went missing.
In space, no one can hear a tomato scream, even when it’s lost. NASA’s Veg-05 experiment, a project focusing on growing fruits and vegetables in space, experienced an unusual turn of events when a Red Robin dwarf tomato vanished shortly after being harvested in March. This tomato, part of a study to explore the feasibility of continuous fresh-food production in space, was finally found, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli revealed during a livestream on December 6.
The resolution of this culinary cosmic mystery came during the 25th-anniversary celebration of the ISS. Moghbeli, flashing a big grin, announced, “Our good friend Frank Rubio, who headed home [on September 27], has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato.”
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-iss-tomato-found-frank-rubio-1851084372
Tomato lost in space by history-making astronaut has been found
Jackie Wattles, CNN - Updated 2:30 PM EST, Fri December 8, 2023
Perhaps nowhere in the universe is a fresh, ripe tomato more valuable than on the International Space Station, where astronauts live for months at a time subsisting mainly on prepackaged, shelf-stable goods.
That’s why astronaut Frank Rubio became the central figure in a lighthearted whodunnit that has taken months to solve.
After Rubio harvested one of the first tomatoes ever grown in space earlier this year, according to the astronaut, he admitted he misplaced it.
“I put it in a little bag, and one of my crewmates was doing a (public) event with some schoolkids, and I thought it’d be kind of cool to show the kids — ‘Hey guys this is the first tomato harvested in space,’” Rubio said during an October media event. “I was pretty confident that I Velcroed it where I was supposed to Velcro it … and then I came back and it was gone.”
In the microgravity environment of space, anything not anchored to a wall is at risk of floating away — destined to spend eternity hidden behind a nook or cranny within the football field-size orbiting laboratory and its labyrinthian passageways.
Rubio said he probably spent eight to 20 hours of his own free time just searching for that tomato.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/world/tomato-frank-rubio-space-station-nasa-scn/index.html
Mystery of the Missing ISS Tomato Finally Solved
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday December 10, 2023 01:15PM
“A tomato lost for eight months on the orbiting lab has been located, ” reports Gizmodo, “absolving astronaut Frank Rubio of playful allegations that he ate it.”
NASA's Veg-05 experiment, a project focusing on growing fruits and vegetables in space, experienced an unusual turn of events when a Red Robin dwarf tomato vanished shortly after being harvested in March. This tomato, part of a study to explore the feasibility of continuous fresh-food production in space, was finally found, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli revealed during a livestream on December 6…
https://slashdot.org/story/23/12/10/2041223/mystery-of-the-missing-iss-tomato-finally-solved
These tomatoes were lost on the International Space Station for almost a year
They don’t look great… but after 8 months astray, they don’t really look that bad either.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Sat, Dec 16, 2023, 10:26 AM PST
In an interview this fall following his return to Earth from the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio shared a little mission anecdote that had us gripped: after he’d harvested one of the first tomatoes grown in space and bagged it up for a presentation, the bag and its contents went missing. With no trace of the fruit, the other astronauts jokingly accused Rubio of eating it. Then, eight months later at the beginning of December, the lost tomato reappeared. A photo shared by NASA now shows there were actually two tomatoes in the rogue sample — and, all things considered, they don’t look half bad.
While a tomato left to rot on Earth isn’t a pleasant thing to come across, Rubio’s tomatoes just look a bit dried out. “Other than some discoloration, it had no visible microbial or fungal growth,” NASA wrote in a blog post.
Missing tomatoes ketchup with ISS crew after almost a year lost in space
Sadly not saucy enough in this state for return trip to Earth
Richard Speed - Fri 15 Dec 2023 18:55 UTC
There is good news and bad news regarding the two tomatoes lost aboard the International Space Station (ISS) last year. The good news is that they've been found. The bad news is that they look less than appetizing.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio lost track of the fruits after harvesting them from the eXposted Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS, because NASA loves a tortured backronym even more than we at El Reg), and subsequent crew members cruelly suggested the astronaut ate them.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are precious commodities on the ISS so the suspicion is not entirely unfounded. However, a professional astronaut would never dream of such a thing.
Rubio spent 371 days aboard the ISS and conducted further experiments, including the VEG-05 study, which aims to develop a way of maintaining a supply of fresh food in space. Taste acceptability by the crew is one of the factors being considered.
We Finally Saw That Missing Space Tomato and Wish We Hadn't
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio spent upwards of 20 hours searching for a wayward tomato on the International Space Station to prove that he didn't eat it.
Passant Rabie - 15 December 2023
For a year, a rogue tomato was missing in action on board the International Space Station (ISS), sparking rumors that an astronaut may have eaten it during a moment of weakness. It turns out that there were actually two missing tomatoes, not just one, found squished in a tiny ziplock bag, and they’re looking a little rough tbh.
NASA shared an update on the case of the missing tomatoes on Thursday, releasing a photo of the retrieved ziplock bag containing the “dehydrated and slightly squished” tomatoes that still have “no visible microbial or fungal growth,” the space agency wrote. Although a lot went into finding the tomatoes, they were thrown away and will not be coming home for analysis on Earth.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-iss-lost-tomato-frank-rubio-space-food-1851103736
Trash / Garbage
Trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida
NASA collected the item to confirm whether it came from the International Space Station.
Stephen Clark - 4/1/2024, 5:24 PM
A few weeks ago, something from the heavens came crashing through the roof of Alejandro Otero's home, and NASA is on the case.
In all likelihood, this nearly two-pound object came from the International Space Station. Otero said it tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house in Naples, Florida.
Otero wasn't home at the time, but his son was there. A Nest home security camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 pm local time (19:34 UTC) on March 8. That's an important piece of information because it is a close match for the time—2:29 pm EST (19:29 UTC)—that US Space Command recorded the reentry of a piece of space debris from the space station. At that time, the object was on a path over the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward southwest Florida.
This space junk consisted of depleted batteries from the ISS, attached to a cargo pallet that was originally supposed to come back to Earth in a controlled manner. But a series of delays meant this cargo pallet missed its ride back to Earth, so NASA jettisoned the batteries from the space station in 2021 to head for an unguided reentry.
Otero's likely encounter with space debris was first reported by WINK News, the CBS affiliate for southwest Florida. Since then, NASA has recovered the debris from the homeowner, according to Josh Finch, an agency spokesperson.
Possible Fragment From ISS Battery Pallet May Have Crashed Through Florida Home
NASA is investigating the incident to determine if its recent disposal of a gigantic pallet of old batteries is to blame for the damage.
Passant Rabie - 2 April 2024
Three years ago, NASA tossed a massive pallet of old batteries from the International Space Station (ISS), hoping that it would burn up through Earth’s atmosphere. A few weeks ago, the space station’s trash finally did reenter through the atmosphere, but a piece of it may have survived and smashed through a house in Florida.
On March 8, a two-pound cylindrical-shaped object crashed through the roof of a family home in Naples, Florida, creating a hole in the ceiling and the floor. The incident coincided with the reentry of the ISS pallet, which plummeted through the atmosphere on the same day over the Gulf of Mexico, ultimately heading toward southwest Florida.
https://gizmodo.com/iss-battery-pallet-fragment-hit-florida-home-1851381481
Trash From the ISS May Have Hit a House In Florida
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday April 02, 2024 12:00AM
A nearly two-pound piece of trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida. Alejandro Otero said it “tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house in Naples, Florida,” reports Ars Technica. “Otero wasn't home at the time, but his son was there.” From the report:
A Nest home security camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 pm local time (19:34 UTC) on March 8. That's an important piece of information because it is a close match for the time – 2:29 pm EST (19:29 UTC) – that US Space Command recorded the reentry of a piece of space debris from the space station. At that time, the object was on a path over the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward southwest Florida. This space junk consisted of depleted batteries from the ISS, attached to a cargo pallet that was originally supposed to come back to Earth in a controlled manner. But a series of delays meant this cargo pallet missed its ride back to Earth, so NASA jettisoned the batteries from the space station in 2021 to head for an unguided reentry.
Space Junk Just Fell on Your Home, Now What?
A Florida man, whose home was hit by apparent space junk, faced a struggle to be heard, raising questions about the correct procedures and accountability.
Passant Rabie - 5 April 2024
On March 8, a small, cylinder-shaped object fell from the skies and crashed through the roof of a family home in Naples, Florida. Alejandro Otero, the homeowner, suspected it came from space but he wasn’t sure what he needed to do get NASA’s attention and be taken seriously.
“I’ve left messages and emails without a response,” Otero wrote on X. Eventually, the space agency heard that a piece of its trash may have fallen on a Florida home and retrieved the object for analysis. The time and place of reentry, however, coincided with the reentry of a 2.9 ton pallet containing discarded batteries from the International Space Station.
If it weren’t for Otero being vocal online and reaching out to media outlets, that small fragment of the space station trash may have still been sitting on his broken floors.
https://gizmodo.com/space-junk-florida-iss-damage-protocols-liability-1851385397
Object that slammed into Florida home was indeed space junk from ISS, NASA confirms
It was part of a pallet jettisoned along with 5,800 pounds of aging batteries back in March 2021.
Mike Wall - 15 April 2024
The mysterious object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month did indeed come from the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has confirmed.
That home, in the seaside city of Naples, belongs to Alejandro Otero. Shortly after the March 8 incident, Otero said he thought the offending object was part of a cargo pallet packed with 5,800 pounds (2,630 kilograms) of aging batteries jettisoned from the ISS in March 2021.
And he was right, according to a new NASA analysis of the object, which was performed at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
“Based on the examination, the agency determined the debris to be a stanchion from the NASA flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet,” agency officials wrote in an update today (April 15).
The cylindrical piece of space junk is made of a metallic alloy called Inconel, they added. It weighs 1.6 pounds (0.7 kg) and measures 4 inches (10 centimeters) high by 1.6 inches (4 cm) wide.
https://www.space.com/object-crash-florida-home-iss-space-junk-nasa-confirms
NASA confirms mystery object that crashed through roof of Florida home came from space station
Associated Press - Updated Mon, April 15, 2024 at 5:03 PM PDT
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — NASA confirmed Monday that a mystery object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station.
The cylindrical object that tore through the home in Naples on March 8 was subsequently taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral for analysis.
The space agency said it was a metal support used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet for disposal. The pallet was jettisoned from the space station in 2021, and the load was expected to eventually fully burn up on entry into Earth’s atmosphere, but one piece survived.
The chunk of metal weighed 1.6 pounds (0.7 kilograms) and was 4 inches (10 centimeters) tall and roughly 1 1/2 inches (4 centimeters) wide.
Homeowner Alejandro Otero told television station WINK at the time that he was on vacation when his son told him what had happened. Otero came home early to check on the house, finding the object had ripped through his ceiling and torn up the flooring.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-confirms-mystery-object-crashed-225512629.html
NASA confirms Florida house hit by a piece of ISS battery pack
Who needs aircon when you have NASA to punch holes through your home?
Richard Speed - Tue 16 Apr 2024 14:30 UTC
NASA has confirmed that a piece of space junk that crashed through a Florida home in March was a fragment of a discarded ISS battery pallet.
The pallet was jettisoned from the International Space Station (ISS) on January 11, 2021. On March 8, 2024, it made an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The hope was that most – if not all – of the debris would burn up during the re-entry, although at the time Astronomer Jonathan McDowell noted that approximately half a ton of fragments was likely to reach the Earth's surface.
McDowell was correct. Fragments did make it to the surface, and – worse – one piece, weighing in at 1.6 pounds (736 grams), crashed through the house of Alejandro Otero in Naples, Florida. According to Otero, the fragment “tore through the roof and went thru 2 floors.”
NASA representatives duly visited Otero's house and collected the fragment for analysis.
The US space agency has now confirmed that the fragment was indeed part of the cargo pallet – in this case, a stanchion used to mount the batteries. The object is made of the nickel-chromium-based superalloy Inconel, noted for its resistance to temperature and extreme environments. It measures four inches (10.16 cm) in height and 1.6 inches (4cm) in diameter, or slightly smaller than one of those tiny 6.7oz/ 200 ml soda cans so beloved by airlines.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/16/nasa_debris_florida_house/
Piece of ISS Battery Pallet Crashed Through Florida Home, NASA Confirms
The space agency jettisoned a large pallet of old batteries, intending for them to burn up in Earth's atmosphere, but a small fragment survived the journey.
Passant Rabi - 16 April 2024
Well, this is awkward. A NASA investigation confirmed that a small piece of trash tossed from the International Space Station (ISS) survived atmospheric reentry and ended up in a Florida home. This is a rare case of space junk causing damage on Earth, and the homeowner may be seeking legal action.
In March 2021, NASA discarded a massive pallet of old batteries from the orbital lab, hoping that it would burn up through Earth’s atmosphere. Three years later, a piece of metal hardware unexpectedly survived the heated journey, and crashed through the roof of a family home in Naples, Florida.
The homeowner reported the incident last month, and NASA retrieved the object for analysis. In a blog update on Monday, the space agency confirmed that, upon studying the object’s dimensions and features, it was indeed a fragment from the flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet.
https://gizmodo.com/piece-of-iss-battery-pallet-crashed-through-florida-hom-1851412968
NASA confirms its space trash pierced Florida man’s roof
It was part of a cargo pallet the space station dropped in 2021.
Will Shanklin, Contributing Reporter - Updated Tue, Apr 16, 2024, 1:40 PM PDT
On March 8, a piece of space debris plunged through a roof in Naples, FL, ripped through two floors and (fortunately) missed the son of homeowner Alejandro Otero. On Tuesday, NASA confirmed the results of its analysis of the incident. As suspected, it’s a piece of equipment dumped from the International Space Station (ISS) three years ago.
NASA’s investigation of the object at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral confirmed it was a piece of the EP-9 support equipment used to mount batteries onto a cargo pallet, which the ISS’ robotic arm dropped on March 11, 2021. The haul, made up of discarded nickel-hydrogen batteries, was expected to orbit Earth between two to four years (it split the difference, lasting almost exactly three) “before burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere,” as NASA predicted at the time. Not quite.
The roof-piercing debris was described as a stanchion from NASA flight support equipment used to mount the batteries onto the cargo pallet. Made of the metal alloy Inconel, the object weighs 1.6 lbs and measures 4 inches tall and 1.6 inches in diameter.
https://www.engadget.com/nasa-confirms-its-space-trash-pierced-florida-mans-roof-204056957.html
A chunk of metal that tore through a Florida home definitely came from the ISS
“I don't think I've seen or heard, after my own research, any of these events occurring.”
Stephen Clark - 4/17/2024, 7:09 AM
NASA has confirmed that the object that fell into a Florida home last month was part of a battery pack released from the International Space Station.
This extraordinary incident opens a new frontier in space law. NASA, the homeowner, and attorneys are navigating little-used legal codes and intergovernmental agreements to determine who should pay for the damages.
Alejandro Otero, owner of the Naples, Florida, home struck by the debris, told Ars he is fairly certain the object came from the space station, even before NASA's confirmation. The circumstances strongly suggested that was the case. The cylindrical piece of metal tore through his roof on March 8, a few minutes after the time US Space Command reported the reentry of a space station cargo pallet and nine decommissioned batteries over the Gulf of Mexico on a trajectory heading forward the coast of southwest Florida.
On Monday, NASA confirmed the object's origin after retrieving it from Otero. The agency said in a statement that the object is made of the metal alloy Inconel, weighs 1.6 pounds, and is 4 inches in height and 1.6 inches in diameter.
“As part of the analysis, NASA completed an assessment of the object’s dimensions and features compared to the released hardware and performed a materials analysis,” the agency said. “Based on the examination, the agency determined the debris to be a stanchion from the NASA flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet.”
Internet
Internet from a small satellite in geostationary orbit? Sure, why not
“We now have a new way of connecting very remote places.”
Eric Berger - 5/24/2023, 6:06 AM
A startup space company says it has successfully deployed and tested a kitchen-stove-sized satellite in geostationary orbit and begun delivering Internet service to Alaska.
Earlier this month, the 'Arcturus' satellite, built by a company named Astranis, launched as a rideshare payload on a Falcon Heavy rocket, separating a few hours after liftoff and successfully deploying its solar arrays, boom, and a subreflector.
After gaining control of the satellite, Astranis began to send commands and update the flight software before raising Arcturus' orbit and slotting it into a geostationary position overlooking Alaska. Once there, the satellite linked up with an Internet gateway in Utah and communicated with multiple user terminals in Alaska, where Astranis will provide high-speed bandwidth to an Internet service provider, Pacific Dataport.
Lynk connects Palau’s off-grid islands with satellite texting
Devin Coldewey - 26 June 2023
Satellite-to-phone connectivity provider Lynk has made its debut in Palau, where the nation’s hundreds of islands make traditional cell coverage difficult to achieve. The company’s “cell towers in space” now cover the entire country — intermittently, but that’s a lot better than nothing, and service will improve as more satellites are added to the constellation.
Lynk is among the first of a new wave of direct satellite-to-phone providers, replacing the bulky, dedicated satphones of yore by connecting ordinary mobile devices to low Earth orbit. It’s difficult to engineer for many reasons, as you can imagine.
Apple’s SOS has the most high-profile use case, with the distinguishing characteristic of having to actually point your phone at an unseen satellite, but Lynk’s service requires no special behavior by the user — it just works like a roving cell tower, connecting when it passes overhead.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/26/lynk-connects-palaus-off-grid-islands-with-satellite-texting/
Lasers enable internet backbone via satellite, may soon eliminate need for deep-sea cables
Daniel Meierhans, ETH Zurich - 20 June 2023
Optical data communications lasers can transmit several tens of terabits per second, despite a huge amount of disruptive air turbulence. ETH Zurich scientists and their European partners demonstrated this capacity with lasers between the mountain peak, Jungfraujoch, and the city of Bern in Switzerland. This will soon eliminate the necessity of expensive deep-sea cables.
The backbone of the internet is formed by a dense network of fiber-optic cables, each of which transports up to more than 100 terabits of data per second (1 terabit = 1012 digital 1/0 signals) between the network nodes. The connections between continents take place via deep sea networks—which is an enormous expense: a single cable across the Atlantic requires an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. TeleGeography, a specialized consulting firm, announced that there currently are 530 active undersea cables—and that number is on the rise.
Soon, however, this expense may drop substantially. Scientists at ETH Zurich, working together with partners from the space industry, have demonstrated terabit optical data transmission through the air in a European Horizon 2020 project. In the future, this will enable much more cost‑effective and much faster backbone connections via near-earth satellite constellations. Their work is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-lasers-enable-internet-backbone-satellite.html
Japan / JAXA
SLIM
Japan's 'Moon sniper' and its two ejectable landers make it into space
Now for the hard part: testing its ability to pick a safe landing spot
Simon Sharwood - Thu 7 Sep 2023 03:44 UTC
Japan's space exploration agency (JAXA) has successfully launched a rocket carrying the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) – an effort to test new technologies that allow spacecraft to pick their own landing locations.
SLIM ascended atop a H-IIA launch vehicle that soared skyward at 08:42 Thursday local time (2342 Wednesday UTC). It separated from the launcher on schedule.
The H-IIA is a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries product, largely used for commercial satellite launches. Thursday's launch was the 47th mission for the rocket, which has recorded only one failure – and that was in 2003.
JAXA plans just three more H-IIA launches, although its intended replacement – the H3 – failed on its first mission. The space agency's previous launch also failed when the Epsilon rocket veered off course in October 2022 and consigned eight commercial satellites to a fiery end.
Anticipation for the launch of SLIM was therefore high, because it had been delayed for a few days on account of adverse weather. Those delays came after its planned 2021 launch date was pushed back because of problems with another mission that rode the same rocket. More on that later.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/07/jaxa_xrism_slim_launch_success/
Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas
SLIM will attempt to pull off Japan's first-ever moon landing next month.
Mike Wall - 25 December 2023
A Japanese spacecraft just took a huge step toward pulling off the nation's first-ever moon landing.
Japan's robotic SLIM moon lander arrived in lunar orbit on Christmas Day (Dec. 25) as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit at 2:51 a.m. EDT (4:51 p.m. Japan Standard Time, 0751 GMT).
“The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pleased to announce that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was successfully inserted into lunar orbit at 16:51 (Japan Standard Time, JST) on December 25, 2023,” JAXA officials wrote in an update. The spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit that takes 6.4 hours to circle the moon, coming within 373 miles (600 kilometers) of the lunar surface at its closest point and reaching out to 2,485 miles (4,000 km) at its farthest.
The milestone keeps SLIM on target to attempt a lunar touchdown on Jan. 19. Success in that endeavor would be historic; to date, only four nations — the Soviet Union, the U.S., China and India — have soft-landed a craft on the moon.
https://www.space.com/japan-slim-moon-lander-arrives-lunar-orbit
A First-of-Its-Kind 'Pinpoint' Moon Landing Could Happen This Week
Japan’s space agency is gearing up for a groundbreaking lunar landing with SLIM, aiming for unprecedented precision on the Moon’s surface.
George Dvorsky - 17 January 2024
We’re still reeling from last week’s Astrobotic failure, in which a catastrophic propellant leak rendered the Peregrine lunar lander incapable of completing its Moon landing mission. It’s not the outcome we were hoping for, but the global space community doesn’t have to wait long for another opportunity at lunar exploration success: Japan’s SLIM is slated to attempt an innovative lunar landing this Friday morning.
Scheduled to land on January 19 at 10:20 a.m. EST (Saturday, January 20 at 12:20 a.m. JST), the SLIM, or Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, mission marks a significant milestone for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. In addition to it being JAXA’s inaugural lunar landing attempt, it’s also serving as a pioneering testbed for cutting-edge precision landing technologies.
https://gizmodo.com/japan-slim-pinpoint-precision-moon-landing-jaxa-1851172424
Watch Live as Japan Faces '20 Minutes of Terror' in Its Quest for a Pinpoint Moon Landing
The SLIM lander is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on Friday morning.
George Dvorsky - 18 January 2024
Japan chooses to go to the Moon, and it’s doing so with a strong emphasis on accuracy. With SLIM, the nation’s space agency is aiming for an autonomous, high-precision landing within an impressive 328 feet (100 meters) of its intended target inside Shioli Crater.
SLIM is expected to perform its soft landing on Friday, January 19 at 10:20 a.m. ET (Saturday at 12:20 a.m. Japan time). Space agency JAXA is livestreaming the event, with the broadcast starting at 9 a.m. ET. You can catch the action at the JAXA’s YouTube channel or via the livestream below.
https://gizmodo.com/slim-moon-precision-landing-watch-live-japan-jaxa-1851176438
Japan’s SLIM lunar lander made it to the moon, but it’ll likely die within hours
A problem with the lander's solar cell has prevented it from generating electricity as planned.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 11:54 AM PST
Japan has become the fifth country to successfully land on the moon after confirming today that its SLIM lander survived its descent to the surface — but its mission is likely to be short lived. JAXA, the Japanese space agency, says the spacecraft is having problems with its solar cell and is unable to generate electricity. In its current state, the battery may only have enough juice to keep it running a few more hours.
Based on how the other instruments are functioning, JAXA said in a press conference this afternoon that it’s evident SLIM did make a soft landing. The spacecraft has been able to communicate with Earth and receive commands, but is operating on a low battery. It’s unclear what exactly the issue with the solar cell is beyond the fact that it’s not functioning.
There’s a chance that the panels are just not facing the right direction to be receiving sunlight right now, which would mean it could start charging when the sun changes position. But, JAXA says it needs more time to understand what has happened. LEV-1 and LEV-2, two small rovers that accompanied SLIM to the moon, were able to successfully separate from the lander as planned before it touched down, and so far appear to be in working condition.
Japan’s SLIM mission makes historic Moon landing, but its time is running out
Devin Coldewey - 19 January 2024
Japan’s long-planned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has successfully touched down on the lunar surface, making the nation the fifth in history to do so. But all is not well for SLIM, which may have a limited lease on life due to trouble with its solar cells.
In a press conference following the early-morning (local time) landing on the Moon, the directors of JAXA and the mission explained that “The soft landing was itself successful; SLIM has been communicating and it receiving commands. However, it seems the solar cell is not generating electricity at this point in time.”
Solar cells can be finicky, as can the rest of the electrical workings in a space — let’s be honest, the whole thing is usually pretty finicky — so the team hasn’t yet been able to identify the issue. However, as the other sensors are working correctly and showing healthy values, they feel confident it is limited to the solar cells themselves.
Japan makes history with tense, successful moon landing
Japan joins exclusive club of the United States, the former Soviet Union, China and India with robotic lunar soft landing, but spacecraft is not generating power.
Andrew Jones - January 19, 2024
HELSINKI — Japan’s SLIM “Moon Sniper” spacecraft made a successful lunar landing Friday, making the country just the fifth to robotically land on the moon.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft began its descent from a 15-kilometer perilune shortly after 10:00 a.m. Eastern, Jan. 19 (1500 UTC), decelerating from a speed of around 1,700 meters per second.
SLIM appeared to have successfully touched down at 10:20 a.m. (1520 UTC), during a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) livestream of the event. It was not however immediately clear if the landing was successful, with the livestream ending inconclusively. A wait of more than an hour followed for clarification and confirmation.
During the silence from JAXA, NASA’s Deep Space Network appeared to show signals from both SLIM and the Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 (LEV-1)—a small rover accompanying SLIM and ejected onto the surface at an altitude of two meters—being received in Madrid. Amateur tracking stations meanwhile reported signals from both SLIM and LEV-1.
https://spacenews.com/japan-makes-history-with-tense-successful-moon-landing/
Japan lands spacecraft on moon, but probe can’t generate solar power
Jenna Moon - Updated Jan 19, 2024, 10:54am PST
East Asia - Semafor Signals
Japan has successfully landed a spacecraft — dubbed the “moon sniper” — on the lunar surface, but the spacecraft’s solar panels were unable to generate power.
Scientists with Japanese space agency JAXA were reportedly initially subdued after the landing as they waited to make contact with the spacecraft. JAXA’s director later declared that the probe had managed a successful soft landing since it was sending data back to Earth. Without functional solar panels, the probe’s battery will last only a few hours, but scientists expressed hope that the panels could generate electricity once the angle of the sun changes over the coming weeks.
Japan is only the fifth country to land on the moon. The SLIM’s (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) attempt isn’t Japan’s first: In November 2022, a lander called OMOTENASHI, operating as part of NASA’s Artemis I mission, made a landing attempt but did not meet its destination.
https://www.semafor.com/article/01/19/2024/japan-attempts-historic-moon-landing
Fate of Japan's History-Making ‘Lunar Sniper’ in Doubt After Power Malfunction
Japan says its SLIM lander is currently unable to generate power after performing a successful soft landing on the Moon.
George Dvorsky - 19 January 2024
Japan’s SLIM is on the Moon and sending data to Earth, in what is a monumental achievement for Japan—it’s now the fifth country to accomplish the feat. The successful soft landing notwithstanding, the situation looks grim; officials with Japanese space agency JAXA say the lander’s solar cell is not generating sufficient amounts of electricity, raising uncertainties about the mission’s future.
Japan’s SLIM touched down on the Moon’s surface Friday at 10:20 a.m. ET (12:20 a.m. Saturday Japan time), right on schedule. Prior to the landing, all telemetry readings seemed normal. Broadcasters on JAXA’s livestream withheld any confirmation of success until a status report was received.
SLIM, short for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, is a test of new precision landing technologies, in which the vehicle was targeting an ellipse measuring roughly 328 feet by 328 feet, or 100 meters by 100 meters. Normally, targeted landing areas on the Moon are measured at scales 10 times that size.
https://gizmodo.com/jaxa-slim-lunar-lander-precision-power-problems-1851179852
Japan's lunar lander is dying before our eyes after setting down on Moon
The real SLIM's shady
Katyanna Quach - Fri 19 Jan 2024 22:14 UTC
Japan soft-landed a probe on the Moon today – a first for the nation – though its spacecraft is struggling to generate power from its solar arrays.
Launched into space on September 6, the Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon – aka SLIM aka the Moon Sniper – reached lunar orbit on Christmas Day. After circling our natural satellite for a few weeks, it finally touched down on its surface at 1520 UTC Friday. SLIM successfully made contact with its mission control, and initial checks showed its temperature and pressure were looking good.
There is one problem: the lander is struggling to generate any electricity from its solar panels. In a press conference officials at Japan's space agency JAXA confirmed SLIM is right now operating from its batteries and only has a few hours of power left. Engineers are trying to gather as much data as possible to figure out why the panels aren't working as expected, down to the root cause.
It's possible SLIM may have landed with its solar panels covered, masked, or damaged in some way, preventing it from receiving or using sunlight and charging its batteries. In an attempt to keep the mission going, JAXA said it may turn off the batteries to reserve the probe's supplies, and switch them back on when sunlight is hitting the vehicle at a different angle. At that point, the solar panels maybe able to generate enough power to top up the batteries and allow the fault to be further diagnosed.
Japan's SLIM Probe Lands On Moon, But Suffers Power Problem
Posted by BeauHD on Friday January 19, 2024 02:05PM
Geoffrey.landis writes:
The Japan SLIM spacecraft has successfully landed on moon, but power problems mean it may be short mission. The good news is that the landing was successful, making Japan only the fifth nation to successfully make a lunar landing, and the ultra-miniature rover and the hopper both deployed. The bad news is that the solar arrays aren't producing power, and unless they can fix the problem in the next few hours, the batteries will be depleted and it will die. But, short mission or long, hurrah for Japan for being the fifth country to successfully land a mission on the surface of the moon (on their third try; two previous missions didn't make it). It's a rather amazing mission. I've never seen a spacecraft concept that lands under rocket power vertically but then rotates over to rest horizontally on the surface.
Japan's Successful Moon Landing Was the Most Precise Ever
Posted by msmash on Monday January 22, 2024 12:40PM
Japan has become the fifth country in the world to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon, using precision technology that allowed it to touch down closer to its target landing site than any mission has before. However the spacecraft might have survived on the lunar surface for just a few hours due to power failure. Nature:
Telemetry showed that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down in its target area near Shioli crater, south of the lunar equator early Saturday morning, four months after lifting off from the Tanegashima Space Centre, off the south coast of Japan. […] According to [Hitoshi] Kuninaka (VP of Kanegawa-based Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), SLIM has very likely achieved its primary goal – to land on the Moon with an unprecedented accuracy of 100 metres, which is a big leap from previous ranges of a few to dozens of kilometres. SLIM carried vision-based navigation technology, which was intended to image the surface as it flew over the Moon, and locate itself quickly by matching the images with onboard maps.
Japan’s SLIM lander powers down on the moon as it awaits the sun’s rays
Aria Alamalhodaei - 22 January 2024
Japan’s first lunar lander has officially powered down on the moon after its solar cells were unable to generate electricity, though the nation’s space agency said there is a possibility of turning things around when the direction of the sun’s rays change.
Japan made history last week when its lander, Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), successfully touched down on the moon’s surface last week. Shortly after landing, directors of the mission explained that while the soft landing was a minimal success, the spacecraft’s solar cells were not generating power.
An update, posted yesterday on X, appears to confirm that the solar cell anomaly is related to an “attitude,” or pointing, issue with the spacecraft, as opposed to some electrical or mechanical issue with the solar cells themselves.
Japan recovers moon lander data, puts craft to sleep due to solar panels' bad attitude
JAXA plans to reveal whether mission nailed its self-selected landing site later this week
Simon Sharwood - Tue 23 Jan 2024 05:32 UTC
Data from Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon has been downloaded, and the machine switched off – with just 12 percent of battery capacity remaining.
The lander last week touched down successfully upon Luna – a mighty feat, seldom achieved. But not long afterwards trouble struck, as its solar panels weren't producing power.
Japan's Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) tried in vain to fix the problem, then switched its focus to securing the lander's data.
A series of Xeets posted Monday revealed that JAXA has downloaded “technical and image data acquired during the landing descent and on the lunar surface” from the craft.
The descent data is especially important, as SLIM was loaded with spatial data and software that was designed to help it pick an optimal landing spot. JAXA values that capability, because probes that can detect and avoid hazards have a higher chance of success.
One goal of the SLIM mission was to land within 100 meters of a chosen target. JAXA doesn't know yet if SLIM did the job, but hopefully the downloaded data will eventually tell the tale.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/23/jaxa_slim_moon_data_recovered/
Japan’s SLIM lunar spacecraft landed upside down on the moon
The JAXA space agency did say it managed to collect some data before it shut down the lander.
Malak Saleh, Reporter - Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 12:28 PM PST
Shortly after Japan’s space agency became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon, its scientists discovered the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) unfortunately touched down upside down. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said that the SLIM landed on the lunar surface on January 20 but it knew it might have bigger problems due to an issue with power generation. Just hours after making landfall, JAXA expected the power to run out, before it ultimately did.
SLIM met the moon’s surface about 55 meters east of the original target landing site, JAXA said. The agency did get all of the technical information related to its navigation prior to landing and ultimately becoming stationary on the lunar surface. JAXA captured photos of the SLIM from its The Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2, its fully autonomous robot currently exploring the moon.
https://www.engadget.com/japans-slim-lunar-spacecraft-landed-upside-down-on-the-moon-202819728.html
Japan’s SLIM spacecraft sticks moon landing – upside-down
Aria Alamalhodaei - 25 January 2024
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Company shared the first image of its lander on the lunar surface, revealing that the spacecraft touched down on the moon upside-down.
It’s a remarkable recovery for the spacecraft, which experienced an “abnormality in the main engine” that affecting the landing orientation when it was just 50 meters above the lunar surface, JAXA said in an update Thursday. Despite this abnormality — which resulted in the spacecraft’s solar panels being unable to charge, because they are not oriented properly wit the sun — the country nevertheless became the fifth nation ever to pull off a soft landing on the moon.
Even after the main engine was lost, SLIM’s onboard software continued to autonomously guide the spacecraft’s descent. The lander touched down at a speed of around 1.4 meters per second or less, below the design range; but the lateral velocity and orientation were also outside the design range, resulting in the nose-down position.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/25/japans-slim-spacecraft-sticks-moon-landing-upside-down/
Japan's Lunar Mission Is Lying Face Down on the Moon
A new photo reveals what's happened to SLIM lander, which made a historic pinpoint landing on the Moon.
Passant Rabie - 25 January 2024
The saga of Japan’s lunar lander continues to unfold, with the first images of SLIM on the surface of the Moon revealing the unfortunate position the spacecraft has ended up in.
Nearly a week after the SLIM lander touched down on the Moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) released an image of its spacecraft taken by a tiny rover called Sora-Q, which arrived on the Moon with SLIM. The image shows SLIM in a bind, with its thrusters pointed upward and, worst of all, its solar arrays facing west, away from the Sun.
“Due to the spacecraft not being at the planned attitude upon landing, power generation was not possible from the solar cells, and the spacecraft was shutdown with a command from the ground,” JAXA wrote in a statement.
https://gizmodo.com/japan-slim-lander-face-down-on-the-moon-image-1851196531
A Japanese spacecraft faceplanted on the Moon and lived to tell the tale
Despite engine failure, SLIM managed to achieve the most precise Moon landing ever.
Stephen Clark - 1/25/2024, 9:55 AM
Japan's first lunar lander made an unsteady touchdown on the Moon last week, moments after one of its two main engines inexplicably lost power and apparently fell off the spacecraft, officials said Thursday.
About the size of a small car, the Small Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on Friday, making Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface. Shortly after landing, ground teams in Japan realized the spacecraft was not recharging its battery with its solar panels. The evidence at the time suggested that SLIM likely ended up in an unexpected orientation on the Moon, with its solar cells facing away from the Sun.
With the benefit of six days of data crunching and analysis, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) briefed reporters Thursday on what they have learned about SLIM's landing. Indeed, the spacecraft toppled over after touching down, with its nose planted into the lunar regolith and its rear propulsion section pointed toward space.
Japan's precision moon lander has hit its target, but it appears to be upside-down
Mari Yamaguchi - January 25, 2024
Japan's space agency said Thursday that its first lunar mission hit the tiny patch of the moon's surface it was aiming for, in a successful demonstration of its pinpoint landing system—although the probe appears to be lying upside-down.
Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the moon early on Saturday. But trouble with the probe's solar batteries made it hard at first to figure out whether the probe landed in the target zone.
While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet). Improved accuracy would give scientists access to more of the moon, since probes could be placed nearer to obstacles.
https://phys.org/news/2024-01-japan-craft-successful-pin-moon.html
JAXA releases photo of SLIM lander in lunar faceplant
Mission a 'minimum' success because rovers deployed successfully
Laura Dobberstein - Fri 26 Jan 2024 02:30 UTC
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has transmitted images of the Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) to Earth.
The photograph was taken by part of SLIM's payload, the Lander-eye Viewfinder-2 (LEV-2) rover, also known as SORA-Q, and shows the probe on its head. LEV-2 used an image processing algorithm to select the highest quality images, JAXA stated.
The image explains why SLIM's solar panels weren't producing any power after touching down last week as they are not in their intended position.
SLIM was equipped with vision-based navigation technology that allowed it to maneuver autonomously while descending in order to have a more precise landing. It used preloaded images of the Moon from the Kaguya lunar orbiter and matched them with its own real-time images through image processing algorithms.
One image previously revealed that a nozzle from one of the main engines detached. SLIM was forced to descend with only one main engine, a scenario that may have caused it to tip over.
Japan's Moon Lander Overcomes Power Crisis, Starts Scientific Operations
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday January 28, 2024 09:59PM
Around three hours after its moon lander had touched down, Japan's space agency “decided to switch SLIM off with 12% power remaining to allow for a possible resumption when the sun's angle changed,” reports Agence France-Presse.
Today there was good news:
Japan's Moon lander has resumed operations, the country's space agency said on Monday, indicating that power had been restored after it was left upside down during a slightly haphazard landing. The probe, nicknamed the “moon sniper”, had tumbled down a crater slope during its landing on 20 January, leaving its solar batteries facing in the wrong direction and unable to generate electricity…
Japan's Moon Lander Springs Back to Life, Defying the Odds
SLIM fell into an unfortunate position last week, with its solar arrays pointed away from the Sun, but the lander has resumed operations after regaining power.
Passant Rabie - 29 January 2024
Despite taking an unfortunate tumble on the lunar surface, Japan’s lunar lander has regained power more than a week after ending up face down on the Moon.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Sunday that it had established communication with its Moon mission and resumed its operations. SLIM’s multiband spectroscopic camera (MBC) was even used to snap a photo of a rock dubbed “toy poodle” on the lunar surface, the space agency wrote on X.
https://gizmodo.com/slim-lunar-lander-japan-moon-power-generation-revival-1851205326
Japan's lander wakes up, takes blurry snap of Moon
Winter Night is coming
Richard Speed - Mon 29 Jan 2024 16:15 UTC
Japan's Moon lander has woken up on the lunar surface and begun transmitting data back to controllers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA.)
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) made a successful landing on the lunar surface on January 19 but had to be shut down after only a few hours of operation due to its solar panels failing to generate power to keep the lander running.
Last week, an image of the stricken lander taken by the Lander-eye Viewfinder-2 (LEV-2) rover showed the problem. SLIM had faceplanted on the lunar surface, with its solar arrays facing the wrong direction. The hope was that once the Sun eventually reached the arrays the lander would come alive.
The solar cells now appear to have caught some rays, allowing it to wake from its slumber. Writing on X (formerly Twitter), JAXA said communications with the probe are restored, and science operations have resumed. To prove the point, it posted a blurry picture of the lunar surface from SLIM's Multi-Band spectral Camera (MBC).
https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/29/japan_lander_wakes_up_takes/
Japan's Moon Lander Snaps Final Photo, Goes Dormant Before 354-Hour Lunar Night
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 03, 2024 06:34PM
“Japan's first moon mission has likely come to an end after a surprising late-game comeback,” reports Mashable, “with the spacecraft taking one last photo of its surroundings before the deep-freeze of night… showing ominous shadows cast upon a slope of the Shioli crater, its landing site on the near side of the moon.”
Since Monday, the spacecraft has analyzed rocks around the crater with a multi-band spectral camera. JAXA picked the landing spot because of what it could tell scientists about the moon's formation… The special camera completed its planned observation, able to study more targets than originally expected, according to an English translation of a news release from the space agency… “Based on the large amount of data we have obtained, we are proceeding with (analyses) to identify rocks and estimate the chemical composition of minerals, which will help solve the mystery of the origin of the moon,” JAXA said in a statement translated by Google…
Japan’s moon lander took this eerie photo before being enveloped by lunar night
The SLIM lander has since gone dormant, and it may not survive the two-week-long lunar night.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 2:14 PM PST
Against all odds, Japan’s SLIM lander managed to turn back on more than a week after it plopped upside down onto the surface of the moon — but now, it’s gone dormant for the duration of the lunar night, and it may not be able to wake up again. The SLIM team from the Japanese space agency, JAXA, on Thursday shared the last image the lander captured at the moon’s Shioli crater before dusk, as night encroached. Lunar night lasts the equivalent of two Earth weeks and can get colder than -200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Japan's Moon Lander Survived a 354-Hour Lunar Night. Now It Faces a Second One
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday March 02, 2024 09:04PM
It completed the most precise landing ever on the moon — albeit upside-down. And then it faced a “lunar night” lasting about two weeks where temperatures drop to -270 degrees Fahrenheit, reports the Times of India.
But then, “Despite not being designed for the extreme temperatures, SLIM surprised scientists by coming back to life after the two-week-long lunar night.” More from Space.com:
The lander woke up on February 26 during extremely hot temperatures of 212 Fahrenheit (100 Celsius) in its region and has been making contact here and there with Earth in the days since. Most recently, SLIM attempted observations with its multiband spectroscopic camera, but “it did not work properly,” JAXA officials wrote. “This seems to be due to the effects of overnight,” the update continued, referring to the frigid two-week-long lunar night that SLIM experienced before the sun shone near Shioli crater again. “But we will continue to investigate based on the data we have obtained for the next opportunity….”
Two toppled moon landers go dormant for a lunar night they may not survive
Japan's SLIM spacecraft and Intuitive Machines' Odysseus sent their last transmissions home before the two-week-long night.
Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor - Sat, Mar 2, 2024, 10:24 AM PST
Lunar night has come around again, presenting yet another test for the two landers that recently arrived on the moon’s surface. Both Japan’s SLIM spacecraft and Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus have gone to sleep for the two-week-long stretch of darkness, the two teams confirmed at the end of this week. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to resume operations afterward, but they’ll try to reestablish contact when the time comes.
While the solar powered landers weren’t built to withstand the frigid lunar night, SLIM — which has been on the moon since January 19 — has already beaten the odds before to pull through last month. It’ll be the first lunar night for Odysseus, which landed on February 22.
Japan's Moon Lander Made It Through Another Lunar Night
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday April 28, 2024 12:34AM
Japan's moon lander “has woken up again,” reports the Register, “having survived three lunar nights.”
A post on social media from the lander's X account confirmed that once more, Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) had defied the odds and snapped a picture of the lunar surface using its navigation camera. SLIM was revived a few weeks ago, after a second lunar night. However, with telemetry showing that some of the electronics (temperature sensors) and battery cells were malfunctioning, the chances of the lander making it through a third lunar night seemed remote.
Japan abandons SLIM hopes its lunar lander will revive, ends Moon mission
Lasted longer than expected, but hasn't been heard from since late April
Simon Sharwood - Mon 26 Aug 2024 23:30 UTC
Japan's Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) has ended operations of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) that it landed on Earth's sole natural satellite in January.
JAXA pulled the plug last Friday and announced the end of the mission on Tuesday.
SLIM landed on the Moon on January 19 and used its autonomous systems to pick a landing spot just ten meters from its targeted location. That part of the mission was a success, as JAXA wanted to pioneer self-landing tech so that future craft can find themselves a safe touchdown location rather than having to rely on other assets.
While SLIM landed on target, the craft quickly struck trouble. Its solar panels gathered less energy than expected because the lander came to rest on its side and sustained damage. JAXA shut it down with enough energy left in its batteries to allow a reboot.
Then SLIM got lucky and caught some rays. It was able to send home images and data. The space agency was chuffed by that – and the success of some other experiments – but warned SLIM was unlikely to survive a lunar night.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/26/jaxa_ends_slim_moon_mission/
K2 Space
K2 Space will fly its extra-large satellite for the first time in 2026
Aria Alamalhodaei - 7:00 AM PST December 19, 2024
K2 Space is betting that the future of space hardware will be big — really big.
The startup is building massive spacecraft under the assumption that launch costs will continue to drop as SpaceX’s Starship and other heavy-lift vehicles come online. It looks like the Space Force is taking up their side of that bet, with K2 Space announcing Thursday that its first full satellite mission will fly a number of Department of Defense payloads under a $60 million contract.
That mission, called Gravitas, will fly no earlier than February 2026. The satellite will fly on SpaceX’s Transporter-16 rideshare mission, where it will carry multiple national security payloads. The spacecraft will conduct operations in low Earth orbit (LEO) before raising its orbit to medium Earth orbit (MEO). MEO, which is between LEO and geosynchronous orbit, has “historically been an incredibly challenging orbit to operate in,” K2 Space co-founder and CEO Karan Kunjur said in an interview.
To even get there, spacecraft operators typically either need to equip their satellites with powerful propulsion systems or pay a premium for a launch that takes them directly to the target orbit. Once there, the spacecraft must be capable of surviving the high radiation environment for the duration of the mission. But the Space Force has been building out assets in MEO, primarily for missile tracking and warning, but also to enhance the Global Positioning System (GPS) network.
LandSat
After 50 years pioneering satellite imagery, NASA’s Landsat is ready for 50 more
Devin Coldewey - 1:33 PM PDT•July 28, 2022
NASA’s Landsat satellites have consistently made history in Earth observation since the project’s first launch in 1972, with this year marking 50 years of innovation and science. Its influence may surprise you, as will its continued relevance in the face of a fast-growing commercial imaging satellite sector.
Landsat may be a familiar name to you but doesn’t ring any particular bells. It’s understandable — there are a ton of NASA satellites up there looking down on the planet. But the easiest way to say it is this: In 1972, Landsat basically invented modern Earth observation. Then, remember a while back when every Google Earth image said “USGS” on it? Yeah, that was Landsat too. The project has basically ushered satellite imaging from bleeding edge research tool to everyday technology.
LandSat 7
End of an era: Historic Landsat 7 mission takes final images
Retiring satellite makes way for upcoming enhanced science mission
Communications and Publishing (USGS) - September 19, 2024
RESTON, Va. — After more than 132,000 trips around the Earth and more than 3.3 million satellite images under its belt, the work of the Landsat 7 satellite is complete, even as the Landsat science mission continues with newer satellites.
A joint mission between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA, Landsat 7 was initially designed for a five-year mission. Beating the odds, the satellite observed the Earth for a quarter-century, delivering invaluable scientific data for the benefit of all humanity.
Landsat 7 captured one of its final images on May 28 over Las Vegas, Nevada.
These Landsat 7 images showcase the first and last captures of the Las Vegas area, taken on July 4, 1999, and May 28, 2024, respectively. The images highlight the city, the surrounding desert landscape, and Lake Mead, using shortwave infrared (SWIR), near-infrared (NIR), and red bands to emphasize differences in vegetation, water, and urban growth. The final image, marking the satellite’s 25th anniversary, stands as a tribute to Landsat 7's quarter-century legacy of Earth observation.
End of an Era: Landsat 7 Decommissioned After 25 Years of Earth Observation
After 25 years of capturing Earth's changing landscape, the Landsat 7 satellite received its final transmission from the U.S. Geological Survey and was officially decommissioned June 4, closing a remarkable chapter in space-based observation.
Communications and Publishing - June 4, 2025
While Landsat 7’s long watch over Earth comes to an end, Landsat 8, launched in 2013, and Landsat 9, launched in 2020, continue to work together to create a complete snapshot of Earth every eight days. Their successor—Landsat Next—is currently planned to launch in the early 2030s and provide even greater coverage and detail.
Launched in 1999 as a joint mission of the USGS and NASA, Landsat 7 significantly enhanced Earth observations and provided a key part of the Landsat program’s five decade-plus record of imaging the planet’s surface. The satellite's imagery will remain archived at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, continuing to support scientific discovery and decision-making for the future.
“The Landsat satellites have delivered over 50 years of extraordinary science data, economic value and national security benefits by informing decisions in every sector of the economy—from monitoring drought in the West to guiding disaster recovery,” said Sarah Ryker, USGS Acting Director. “For 25 of those years, Landsat 7’s data helped farmers, land managers, city planners, and scientists, as well as communities around the world better understand and manage land, water, and other natural resources.”
By Communications and Publishing June 4, 2025
After 25 years of capturing Earth's changing landscape, the Landsat 7 satellite received its final transmission from the U.S. Geological Survey and was officially decommissioned June 4, closing a remarkable chapter in space-based observation.
Launch Satellites
Everything you ever wanted to know about launch vehicles at TC Sessions: Space 2021
Marquise Foster - 2:06 PM PST November 16, 2021
Space may be the final frontier, but there’s nothing “final” about developing new and more cost-efficient ways to get there. Whether you have your sights set on Mars, delivering payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) or blasting satellites into geosynchronous orbit, it all starts with launch systems.
You’ll learn plenty about these critical systems — including the latest developments and opportunities in the evolving launch market — at TC Sessions: Space 2021 on December 14-15. Buy your pass now and save $100.
All payloads, such as satellites, spacecraft, astronauts or supplies destined for the ISS, require rockets with enough propellant to launch and get them safely to their intended destinations. But it’s not that simple: the scale and type of the launch system varies depending on the destination (thank you, Captain Obvious).
Spin Launch / SpinLaunch
SpinLaunch's ginormous centrifuge plans to slingshot rockets into space
Jeff Spry - Feb 2, 2020, 4:24 AM EST (Updated)
One of the greatest obstacles in launching spacecraft off our planet is the tremendous volume and cost of fuel required to achieve escape velocity and break out of Earth's gravity well into the vacuum of outer space.
Aerospace firms have offered a number of novel solutions to this dilemma, but we're still stuck with the good old-fashioned method of firing up a rocket engine and blasting ourselves off our spinning rock in a thunderous display.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/spinlaunch-centrifuge-slingshots-rockets-into-space
Scientists Find a Way to ‘Catapult’ Rockets Into Space Like ‘Slingshots’
Devrupa Rakshit - Dec 3, 2021
Image Credit: SpinLaunch
Scientists have found an alternative way to launch rockets into space — by catapulting them out of the Earth’s atmosphere like a slingshot. It may seem like a “far-fetched sci-fi movie,” but it’s hardly fictional anymore.
“It’s a radically different way to accelerate projectiles and launch vehicles to hypersonic speeds using a ground-based system,” Jonathan Yaney, CEO of SpinLaunch, a California-based spaceflight technology company that has been involved in the development of the system, told CNBC. According to its website, the company aims to build “the world’s lowest-cost space launch system.”
The idea behind developing the model is to make space exploration environmentally sustainable and cheaper — especially at a juncture when space travel is on the rise.
https://theswaddle.com/scientists-find-a-way-to-catapult-rockets-into-space-like-slingshots/
New Company Develops Vacuum-Sealed Centrifuge To Launch Satellites Into Orbit
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday November 09, 2021 11:00PM
Camel Pilot writes:
SpinLaunch is developing a launch system that uses kinetic energy as a cheap method to launch a projectile into orbit. They propose using a vacuum-sealed centrifuge spinning the projectile at near escape velocity speeds and releasing into orbit. A rocket engine would still be used to maneuver and position the satellite. They have built a 1/10th scale prototype in the New Mexican desert and have already launched test objects 10s of thousands of feet.
This Company Wants to Launch Satellites Into Orbit Using a Giant Spinning Centrifugal Slingshot
It's cheaper and safer than burning rocket fuel, but satellites have to be built Tonka-tough.
ByAndrew Liszewski - 10 November 2021 11:20AM
As impressive as it is to watch a rocket blast off into space, harnessing fossil fuels and explosions to pursue our dreams of space exploration is ironically primitive. A company called SpinLaunch thinks it has a better idea: It wants to launch small objects into space using a giant spinning centrifuge instead.
There’s a reason space exploration has, to date, been limited to federally-funded government agencies or company’s backed by billionaires desperately trying to change how history remembers them. Using the tried and true methodologies of cargo strapped to rockets is a very expensive endeavor, even when those launch systems can be reliably recovered, refurbished, and reused.
Alternatives to launching rockets haven’t exactly been runaway successes, however. In the 1960s, the United States Department of Defense and Canada’s Department of National Defence formed a joint partnership called Project HARP (High Altitude Research Project) to essentially develop giant Earth-based guns that could blast objects into space. HARP successfully fired a projectile 180 KM into the atmosphere using a 16-inch cannon built at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’ Yuma Proving Ground, but by the late ‘60s both governments had withdrawn funding for the research project, and it was officially shut down before it came to fruition.
https://gizmodo.com/this-company-wants-to-launch-satellites-into-orbit-usin-1848031019
NASA will test SpinLaunch's ability to fling satellites into orbit
Loz Blain - April 10, 2022
NASA has signed up to test SpinLaunch's extraordinary whirl 'n' hurl space launch technology, which accelerates a launch vehicle to hypersonic speeds using an electric centrifuge instead of a rocket, hurling it skyward like a space discus.
The idea behind SpinLaunch is as staggering as the company's name is appropriate. The idea of winding up and throwing satellites most of the way into orbit just boggles the mind. But in initial testing, this company's kinetic launch system, which looks externally a lot like a turbocharger, has shown promise as an environmentally-friendly, and potentially cost-effective replacement for first-stage rocket launches.
Not all launches – nobody's suggesting astronauts should sit in a capsule enduring 10,000 G on the end of that long carbon-fiber arm as it spins up to extraordinary speed, then releases it skyward at more than six times the speed of sound (5,000 mph, or 8,047 km/h).
Can We Throw Satellites to Space? - SpinLaunch
Aug 6, 2022 - Real Engineering
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Giant Centrifuge Startup That Wants to Hurl Things Into Space Raises $71 Mil
SpinLaunch will use the influx of cash to further develop a “kinetic launch system” capable of flinging objects into orbit.
George Dvorsky - 21 September 2022 11:31AM
SpinLaunch said on Tuesday that it raised $71 million in funding during its second round of financing. The California-based company said it will use the funds to further develop an unconventional system for launching small payloads to Earth orbit.
With the Series B funding round complete, SpinLaunch has now raised a total of $150 million, according to a company press release. The startup says it’ll use the money to “continue the development and commercialization of the world’s first kinetic launch system and satellite product line, designed to provide low-cost, high-cadence, environmentally responsible space access.”
https://gizmodo.com/spinlaunch-funding-centrifuge-orbit-1849562787
NASA Tests Gigantic Slingshot for Hurling Objects Into Space
The successful 10th test of SpinLaunch's suborbital accelerator included a NASA sensor and other partner payloads.
George Dvorsky - 4 October 2022
A recent demonstration by alternative launch provider SpinLaunch suggests payloads containing sensitive equipment can endure the tremendous G-forces generated by the company’s suborbital accelerator.
More than 150 partners, government officials, and industry enthusiasts gathered at Spaceport America in the Jornada del Muerto desert of New Mexico to watch the latest test of SpinLaunch’s A-33 Suborbital Accelerator on September 27. The company has now performed 10 tests of its mass accelerator in less than a year.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-tests-gigantic-slingshot-for-hurling-objects-into-1849613379
Space Startup Spins the Living Crap Out a Satellite—and It Actually Survived
The record-breaking milestone takes SpinLaunch one step closer to its goal of flinging satellites into space with a gigantic catapult.
Passant Rabie - December 9, 2024
SpinLaunch just proved that satellites are a lot more sturdy than one would think. In its pursuit of catapulting payloads to space, the California-based startup recently accelerated a small satellite under extreme gravitational forces, using minor tweaks, and a little bit of glue, to keep it together.
In a recent demonstration, SpinLaunch tested an off-the-shelf satellite with a few ruggedized components for the first time, spinning it to 10,000Gs inside a lab to prove that the spacecraft can survive mass acceleration. This marks a major milestone for the company, which is seeking to build a groundbreaking centrifugal launch system that can deliver small satellites to low-Earth orbit.
Space Startup Spins the Living Crap Out a Satellite—and It Actually Survived
The record-breaking milestone takes SpinLaunch one step closer to its goal of flinging satellites into space with a gigantic catapult.
Passant Rabie - December 9, 2024
SpinLaunch just proved that satellites are a lot more sturdy than one would think. In its pursuit of catapulting payloads to space, the California-based startup recently accelerated a small satellite under extreme gravitational forces, using minor tweaks, and a little bit of glue, to keep it together.
In a recent demonstration, SpinLaunch tested an off-the-shelf satellite with a few ruggedized components for the first time, spinning it to 10,000Gs inside a lab to prove that the spacecraft can survive mass acceleration. This marks a major milestone for the company, which is seeking to build a groundbreaking centrifugal launch system that can deliver small satellites to low-Earth orbit.
Giant catapult sends satellites into space without rocket fuel
Instead of relying on traditional rocket fuel, SpinLaunch uses a massive rotating arm to propel satellites into low Earth orbit, powered solely by electricity.
Joseph Shavit - Feb 1, 2025 4:51 AM PST
A California-based company, SpinLaunch, is making waves with its innovative satellite launch system, drawing particular interest from the Punkin Chunkin community.
Instead of relying on traditional rocket fuel, SpinLaunch uses a massive rotating arm to propel satellites into low Earth orbit, powered solely by electricity. This approach could significantly reduce the cost and environmental impact of satellite launches.
LEO (Low Earth Orbit) Satellites
Low Earth Orbit Visualization
The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit
Axiom Space and other companies are betting they can build private structures to replace the International Space Station.
David W. Brown - April 17, 2024
Washington, DC, was hot and humid on June 23, 1993, but no one was sweating more than Daniel Goldin, the administrator of NASA. Standing outside the House chamber, he watched nervously as votes registered on the electronic tally board. The space station wasn’t going to make it. The United States had spent more than $11 billion on it by then, with thousands of pounds of paperwork to show for it—but zero pounds of flight hardware. Whether there would ever be a station came down, now, to a cancellation vote on the House floor.
Politically, the space station was something of a wayward orphan. It was a nine-year-old Reagan administration initiative, expanded by George H.W. Bush as the centerpiece of a would-be return to the moon and an attempt to reach Mars. When voters replaced Bush with Bill Clinton, Goldin persuaded the new president to keep the station by pitching it as a post-Soviet reconstruction effort. The Russians were great at building stations, which would save NASA a fortune in R&D. In turn, NASA’s funding would keep Russian rocket scientists employed—and less likely to freelance for hostile foreign powers. Still, dissatisfaction with NASA was a bipartisan affair: everyone seemed to agree that the agency was bloated and ossified. Representative Tim Roemer, a Democrat from Indiana, wanted to make some big changes, and he introduced an amendment to the NASA authorization bill to kill the station once and for all.
The modern era of low-flying satellites may begin this week
Flying closer to Earth delivers higher-resolution imagery, but there's a catch.
Eric Berger - Mar 3, 2025 8:00 AM
The idea of flying satellites in “very” low-Earth orbit is not new. Dating back to the dawn of the space age in the late 1950s, the first US spy satellites, as part of the Corona program, orbited the planet as low as 120 to 160 km (75 to 100 miles) above the Earth.
This low vantage point allowed the Kodak cameras on board the Corona satellites to capture the highest-resolution images of Earth during the height of the Cold War. However, flying so close to the planet brought a number of challenges, most notably that of atmospheric drag.
For much of the space age, therefore, satellites have flown much higher orbits. Most satellites today fly at an altitude of between 400 and 800 km (250 and 500 miles), which is high enough to avoid the vast majority of atmospheric drag while still being close enough to offer good communications and a clear view of the planet.
In recent years, a handful of new space companies have announced plans to develop small- and medium-size satellites designed to survive in very low-Earth orbit (VLEO) and capable of taking advantage of the closer-in vantage point. The first of these companies to actually reach the launch pad is a Denver-based startup named Albedo.
Russian Satellite Breakup
Mysterious Russian satellites are now breaking apart in low-Earth orbit
“This suggests to me that perhaps these events are the result of a design error.”
Eric Berger - 2/8/2023, 6:25 AM
On Christmas Day, 2013, the relatively small Russian Rokot rocket launched from the Plesetsk site in the northern part of the country. The mission carried three small military communications satellites, but observers noted that the mission appeared to eject a fourth object into orbit.
A few months later Russia confirmed that this object was a satellite, and it came to be known as Cosmos 2491. To the surprise of many sky watchers, this satellite then began to perform novel orbital maneuvers, such as raising and lowering its orbit, that demonstrated rendezvous and proximity operations.
Then it happened again. In May 2014, another Rokot booster carried three communications satellites into orbit as well as a fourth object, which was designated Cosmos 2499. Finally, this happened a third time in April 2015, with a third mystery satellite known as Cosmos 2504.
Secret Russian Satellite Breaks Apart for Second Time, Spawning Debris Cloud
The U.S. Space Force is tracking 85 fragments associated with the unexplained breakup event.
George Dvorsky - 8 February 2023
A mysterious Russian satellite that launched to space in 2014 has experienced its second breakup event. The cause of Kosmos-2499’s demise is unknown, and we may never find out the truth, given the satellite’s veiled and suspicious history.
The U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron confirmed the breakup of Kosmos-2499 in a February 6 tweet. The squadron is now tracking 85 new pieces of debris associated with the event, which happened at 10:57 p.m. on January 3, 2023. At an estimated altitude of 727 miles (1,170 kilometers), it will take 100 years or more for the pieces to fall back to Earth, adding to the growing clutter in orbit.
https://gizmodo.com/russian-satellite-breaks-up-orbit-kosmos-2499-1850088333
Maxar
Maxar's Open Satellite Feed
Mark Litwintschik - Sun 12 November 2023
Maxar operates a fleet of satellites that capture imagery of the Earth. Some of these satellites offered the best resolution commercially available when they were first launched into space. Last year, Maxar earned ~$1.6B largely from selling imagery these satellites produced.
I found a price list for new images taken and it stated that each KM2 of imagery costs between $25 - $44. This could end up becoming an expensive hobby but thankfully Maxar also runs an Open Data Programme. In exchange for your contact details, you can get access to over 100 imagery sets taken in areas before and after they were struck by disasters.
But for anyone unwilling to part with their contact information, there is a freely available SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) published by Maxar that details imagery URLs and metadata for 28 disaster events. Below is a map of these locations and event details.
https://tech.marksblogg.com/maxar-open-data-free-satellite-imagery.html
Methane
Why Are There So Many Methane Satellites?
Over a dozen methane satellites are now circling the Earth — and more are on the way.
Emily Pontecorvo - March 05, 2024
On Monday afternoon, a satellite the size of a washing machine hitched a ride on a SpaceX rocket and was launched into orbit. MethaneSAT, as the new satellite is called, is the latest to join more than a dozen other instruments currently circling the Earth monitoring emissions of the ultra-powerful greenhouse gas methane. But it won’t be the last. Over the next several months, at least two additional methane-detecting satellites from the U.S. and Japan are scheduled to join the fleet.
There’s a joke among scientists that there are so many methane-detecting satellites in space that they are reducing global warming — not just by providing essential data about emissions, but by blocking radiation from the sun.
https://heatmap.news/technology/methanesat-edf-satellite-gosat
Satellite To 'Name and Shame' Worst Oil and Gas Methane Polluters
Posted by msmash on Wednesday March 06, 2024 01:00PM
A washing-machine-sized satellite is to “name and shame” the worst methane polluters in the oil and gas industry. From a report:
MethaneSat will provide the first near-comprehensive global view of leaks of the potent greenhouse gas from the oil and gas sector, and all of the data will be made public. It will provide high-resolution data over wider areas than existing satellites. Methane, also called natural gas, is responsible for 30% of the global heating driving the climate crisis. Leaks from the fossil fuel industry are a major source of human-caused emissions and stemming these is the fastest single way to curb temperature rises.
MethaneSat was developed by the Environmental Defense Fund, a US NGO, in partnership with the New Zealand Space Agency and cost $88m to build and launch. Earlier EDF measurements from planes show methane emissions were 60% higher than calculated estimates published by US authorities and elsewhere. More than 150 countries have signed a global methane pledge to cut their emissions of the gas by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Some oil and gas companies have made similar pledges, and new regulations to limit methane leaks are being worked on in the US, EU, Japan and South Korea.
Bezos-Backed Methane Tracking Satellite Is Lost In Space
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday July 02, 2025 @12:00AM
MethaneSAT, an $88 million satellite backed by Jeff Bezos and led by the Environmental Defense Fund to track global methane emissions, has been lost in space after going off course and losing power over Norway. “We're seeing this as a setback, not a failure,” Amy Middleton, senior vice president at EDF, told Reuters. “We've made so much progress and so much has been learned that if we hadn't taken this risk, we wouldn't have any of these learnings.” Reuters reports:
The launch of MethaneSAT in March 2024 was a milestone in a years-long campaign by EDF to hold accountable the more than 120 countries that in 2021 pledged to curb their methane emissions. It also sought to help enforce a further promise from 50 oil and gas companies made at the Dubai COP28 climate summit in December 2023 to eliminate methane and routine gas flaring. […] While MethaneSAT was not the only project to publish satellite data on methane emissions, its backers said it provided more detail on emissions sources and it partnered with Google to create a publicly-available global map of emissions.
EDF reported the lost satellite to federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Space Force on Tuesday, it said. Building and launching the satellite cost $88 million, according to the EDF. The organization had received a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020 and got other major financial support from Arnold Ventures, the Robertson Foundation and the TED Audacious Project and EDF donors. The project was also partnered with the New Zealand Space Agency. EDF said it had insurance to cover the loss and its engineers were investigating what had happened.
Military
Recent Space Force Training Exercise Included 'Live Fire' Jamming of Actual Satellites
The target satellites used in the “Dark Skies” exercise were commercial units leased from private companies.
Passant Rabie - 22 September 2022 10:00AM
The United States Space Force is gearing up for hostile skies, training its Guardians this week on the use of satellite jammers to shut down enemy communications.
Known as “Black Skies,” the satellite jamming exercise is the first in a series of training exercises designed to equip the U.S. Space Force with electronic warfare tactics, according to Breaking Defense. The Black Skies training transpired earlier this week, with a focus on real-world “live fire” satellite jamming.
https://gizmodo.com/recent-space-force-training-exercise-included-live-fire-1849565108
US pushes next phase of satellite missile defense system
Agency asks for industry input into medium Earth orbit system
Lindsay Clark - Tue 4 Apr 2023 14:46 UTC
The US Space Systems Command (SSC) wants input from techies and the aerospace industry as it maps out the development of a new satellite-based missile detection and tracking system.
In a procurement notice published late last week, the Space Force agency said it was on the lookout for suppliers to help it scope and design the technology in stages it calls Epochs. The tender documents say it requires feedback on the second Epoch for a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite defence system.
“The [US] government is seeking this industry feedback to ultimately inform the MEO Epoch 2 acquisition strategy and technical approach… Each Epoch is expected to include at least one competitive award and allows for insertion of new technology, innovative solutions, and progressive or updated warfighter requirements to ultimately meet future capability needs,” the document says.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/us_satellite_missile_defense/
High above the equator, Russia is stalking satellites used by NATO armed forces
“Russia and China already occupy important strategic hills and mountains in space.”
Stephen Clark – Sep 25, 2025 1:54 PM
Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said Thursday that it's time for his country to consider putting “offensive capabilities” in space after revealing Russian spacecraft are tracking two communications satellites used by the German military.
Speaking at the German industry's Space Congress event in Berlin, Pistorius said the country must ramp up its investment in space security to counter threats from Russia and China, which he said have rapidly expanded their capacity for space warfare.
“They can jam, blind, manipulate, or kinetically destroy satellites,” Pistorius said. “There are no borders or continents in space. Russia and China are our direct neighbors there.”
Controlling the high ground is often a military imperative, Pistorius said, adding: “Russia and China already occupy important strategic hills and mountains in space—a threat we can no longer ignore.”
“Satellite networks are now the Achilles heel of modern societies,” Pistorius said. “Anyone who attacks them can paralyze entire countries. We know that the conflicts of the future will no longer be confined to Earth. They will also be fought openly in orbit.”
Dog Fighting
Military Satellites Now Maneuver, Watch Each Other, and Monitor Signals and Data
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday December 20, 2025 11:34AM
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/space-military-satellite-china-united-states/). (Alternate URL https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-us-and-chinese-satellites-are-dogfighting-in-orbit/ar-AA1SAnEY):
The American patrol satellite had the targets in its sights: two recently launched Chinese spacecraft flying through one of the most sensitive neighborhoods in space. Like any good tactical fighter, the American spacecraft, known as USA 270, approached from behind, so that the sun would be at its back, illuminating the quarry.
But then one of the Chinese satellites countered by slowing down. As USA 270 zipped by, the Chinese satellite dropped in behind its American pursuer, like Maverick's signature “hit-the-brakes” move in the movie “Top Gun.” The positions reversed, U.S. officials controlling their spacecraft from Earth were forced to plot their next move. The encounter some 22,000 miles above Earth in 2022 was never acknowledged publicly by the Pentagon or Beijing. Happening out of sight and little noticed except by space and defense specialists, this kind of orbital skirmishing has become so common that defense officials now refer to it as “dogfighting…”
Much of the “dogfighting” activity in space is simply for spying, defense analysts say, with specifics largely classified — snapping photos of each other's satellites to learn what kind of systems are on board and their capabilities. They monitor the signals and data emitted by satellites, listening to communications between space and the ground. Many can even jam those signals or interfere with orbiting craft that provide missile warnings, spy or relay critical information to troops… Traditionally, once a satellite was in orbit, it largely stayed on a fixed path, its operators reluctant to burn precious fuel. But now, the Pentagon and its adversaries, notably China and Russia, are launching satellites designed to fly in more dynamic ways that resemble aircraft — banking hard, slowing down, speeding up, even flying in tandem.
HBTSS
SpaceX launches military satellites tuned to track hypersonic missiles
These satellites will participate in joint missile-tracking exercises later this year.
Stephen Clark - 2/15/2024, 2:37 PM
Two prototype satellites for the Missile Defense Agency and four missile-tracking satellites for the US Space Force rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Wednesday from Florida's Space Coast.
These satellites are part of a new generation of spacecraft designed to track hypersonic missiles launched by China or Russia and perhaps emerging missile threats from Iran or North Korea, which are developing their own hypersonic weapons.
Hypersonic missiles are smaller and more maneuverable than conventional ballistic missiles, which the US military's legacy missile defense satellites can detect when they launch. Infrared sensors on the military's older-generation missile tracking satellites are tuned to pick out bright thermal signatures from missile exhaust.
SDA, MDA missile tracking demonstration payloads blast off
The agencies said in their joint announcement that the “launch of the two prototype systems will be followed by two years of on-orbit testing.”
Theresa Hitchens - February 15, 2024 at 11:06 AM
WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday successfully lofted six Defense Department demonstration satellites to low Earth orbit for tracking both ballistic and hypersonic missiles — four for the Space Development Agency (SDA) and two for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the agencies confirmed today.
The SDA satellites were developed by L3Harris and are equipped with wide field-of-view infrared sensors as part of the agency’s Tranche 0 iteration of test satellites for it planned Tracking Layer constellation. The L3Harris birds will complete the Tranche 0 constellation of eight satellites. The other four were developed by SpaceX, with both firms contracted by SDA back in 2020.
The agency eventually intends to orbit about 100 missile tracking satellites in LEO, as part of its overarching Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — a network of constellations that also includes data relay satellites designed to serve as the backbone of the Pentagon’s Joint All Domain Command and Control capability.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/02/sda-mda-missile-tracking-demonstration-payloads-blast-off/
Infra-Red Calibration Balloon
Missing Satellite Found After 25 Years of Being Lost in Space
As it turns out, it's quite difficult to keep track of 27,000 objects flying around Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - 1 May 2024
An experimental satellite that launched in 1974 disappeared from ground-based sensors in the 1990s, only to be found again this week. Some defunct satellites or debris can often go missing for years, presenting hazards within an increasingly crowded Earth orbit. But, how exactly do objects disappear in space?
The Infra-Red Calibration Balloon (S73-7) satellite was part of the United States Air Force’s Space Test Program. After launching on April 10, 1974, a large reconnaissance satellite, called KH-9 Hexagon, ejected the 26-inch-wide (66-centimeter-wide) satellite, boosting it to a 500 mile (800 kilometers) circular orbit.
https://gizmodo.com/missing-satellite-found-after-25-years-lost-space-1851443790
IRCB S73-7 Satellite Found After Going Untracked For 25 Years
Maya Posch - May 12, 2024
When the United States launched the KH-9 Hexagon spy satellite into orbit atop a Titan IIID rocket in 1974, it brought a calibration target along for the ride: the Infra-Red Calibration Balloon (IRCB) S73-7. This 66 cm (26 inch) diameter inflatable satellite was ejected by the KH-9, but failed to inflate into its intended configuration and became yet another piece of space junk. Initially it was being tracked in the 1970s, but vanished until briefly reappearing in the 1990s. Now it’s popped up again, twenty-five years later.
As noted by [Jonathan McDowell] who tripped over S73-7 in recent debris tracking data, it’s quite possible that it had been tracked before, but hidden in the noise as it is not an easy target to track. Since it’s not a big metallic object with a large radar cross-section, it’s among the more difficult signals to reliably pick out of the noise. As can be seen in [Jonathan]’s debris tracking table, this is hardly a unique situation, with many lost (XO) entries. This always raises the exciting question of whether a piece of debris has had its orbit decayed to where it burned up, ended up colliding with other debris/working satellite or simply has gone dark.
https://hackaday.com/2024/05/12/ircb-s73-7-satellite-found-after-going-untracked-for-25-years/
Monitoring
Upcoming Orbital Test Could Enable Tracking of Super Tiny Space Debris
It’s currently impossible to track space debris smaller than a fingernail, but a pending in-space demonstration is a step in the right direction.
George Dvorsky - 28 June 2023
ODIN Space has passed a major milestone by powering up a super-sensitive experimental in-space sensor. Once fully developed, a dispersed network of these sensors could be capable of tracking hypervelocity objects no larger than a grain of sand.
The sensor technology, installed on the D-Orbit ION satellite, launched into space on June 12 as part of SpaceX’s Transporter 8 mission. As ODIN Space announced in a June 27 press release, the demonstration device is now pulling data from its immediate surroundings. The device is currently sensing background vibrations, but an upcoming test, in which the sensor will track objects measuring less than one-tenth of a millimeter in size, is planned for the coming weeks, as SpaceNews reports.
https://gizmodo.com/odin-space-test-tracking-of-super-tiny-space-debris-1850583427
Network
Pentagon begins deploying new satellite network to link sensors with shooters
“This is the first time we'll have a space layer fully integrated into our warfighting operations.”
Stephen Clark – Sep 10, 2025 7:01 PM
The first 21 satellites in a constellation that could become a cornerstone for the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense shield successfully launched from California Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The Falcon 9 took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 7:12 am PDT (10:12 am EDT; 14:12 UTC) and headed south over the Pacific Ocean, heading for an orbit over the poles before releasing the 21 military-owned satellites to begin several weeks of activations and checkouts.
These 21 satellites will boost themselves to a final orbit at an altitude of roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers). The Pentagon plans to launch 133 more satellites over the next nine months to complete the build-out of the Space Development Agency's first-generation, or Tranche 1, constellation of missile tracking and data relay satellites.
“We had a great launch today for the Space Development Agency, putting this array of space vehicles into orbit in support of their revolutionary new architecture,” said Col. Ryan Hiserote, system program director for the Space Force's assured access to space launch execution division.
NRO
Silent Baker
US spy satellite agency isn’t so silent about new “Silent Barker” mission
This will be the first launch for ULA's Atlas V rocket in nearly 10 months.
Stephen Clark - 8/28/2023, 5:31 PM
8:45 pm EDT update: The launch of an Atlas V rocket with the Silent Barker mission has been postponed from Tuesday due to Tropical Storm Idalia. “Out of an abundance of caution for personnel safety, a critical national security payload and the approaching Tropical Storm Idalia, the team made the decision to return the rocket and payload to the vertical integration facility (VIF),” ULA said. “We will work with our customers and the range to confirm our next launch attempt and a new date will be provided once it is safe to launch.”
Original post: The National Reconnaissance Office doesn't typically talk about any of its missions, but in an unusual break with precedent, the button-down spy satellite agency is taking a different tack with its next launch Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“We’re trying to be more transparent and share more information,” said Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, in a roundtable with reporters Monday. As more countries and companies launch missions into space, Scolese said the space environment is becoming more congested, contested, and competitive.
“It’s also becoming easier and easier to see what’s going up there,” Scolese said. “We want to let people know, to some extent, what our capabilities are.”
The NRO has multiple satellites—officials won't say exactly how many—mounted on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for liftoff at 8:34 am EDT (12:34 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Their destination is geosynchronous orbit, a belt of satellites positioned more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.
Tracking
The military’s squad of satellite trackers is now routinely going on alert
“I hope this blows your mind because it blows my mind.”
Stephen Clark – Aug 1, 2025 7:21 AM
This is Part 2 of our interview with Col. Raj Agrawal (https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/07/ars-spoke-with-the-militarys-chief-orbital-traffic-cop-heres-what-we-learned/), the former commander of the Space Force's Space Mission Delta 2.
If it seems like there's a satellite launch almost every day, the numbers will back you up.
The US Space Force's Mission Delta 2 is a unit that reports to Space Operations Command, with the job of sorting out the nearly 50,000 trackable objects humans have launched into orbit.
Dozens of satellites are being launched each week, primarily by SpaceX to continue deploying the Starlink broadband network. The US military has advance notice of these launches—most of them originate from Space Force property—and knows exactly where they're going and what they're doing.
That's usually not the case when China or Russia (and occasionally Iran or North Korea) launches something into orbit. With rare exceptions, like human spaceflight missions, Chinese and Russian officials don't publish any specifics about what their rockets are carrying or what altitude they're going to.
That creates a problem for military operators tasked with monitoring traffic in orbit and breeds anxiety among US forces responsible for making sure potential adversaries don't gain an edge in space. Will this launch deploy something that can destroy or disable a US satellite? Will this new satellite have a new capability to surveil allied forces on the ground or at sea?
Of course, this is precisely the point of keeping launch details under wraps. The US government doesn't publish orbital data on its most sensitive satellites, such as spy craft collecting intelligence on foreign governments.
But you can't hide in low-Earth orbit, a region extending hundreds of miles into space. Col. Raj Agrawal, who commanded Mission Delta 2 until earlier this month, knows this all too well. Agrawal handed over command to Col. Barry Croker as planned after a two-year tour of duty at Mission Delta 2.
Morpheus Satellites
Morpheus Space’s satellite thrusters are propelled forward with a $28M Series A
Stefanie Waldek - 4:28 PM PDT•September 14, 2022
The booming satellite industry has been a boon for Morpheus Space, which produces a modular, electric propulsion system for small satellites.
Morpheus has raised a $28 million Series A, with which it intends to build a factory in Dresden, Germany, where it’s based, and to increase headcount. That will allow the company to ramp up production of its propulsion systems to meet exponentially growing demand in the smallsat market; since 2019, the number of small satellite launches has increased by nearly 450%.
In 2020, Morpheus launched its Nano Field Effect Electric Propulsion (NanoFEEP) thruster, which it claims is the “smallest and most efficient electric in-space propulsion system” in the world.
NanoAvionics
This Tiny Satellite Used an Off-the-Shelf GoPro to Take an Epic Selfie in Space
The new high-res views are sweet, but the exercise suggests consumer cameras can be used to test and verify a satellite's operations, too.
George Dvorsky - 28 June 2022
Proprietary space-grade cameras are expensive, limited, and a pain to develop. Smallsat manufacturer NanoAvionics recently sidestepped any development issues and opted for something off the shelf instead. The company used a GoPro Hero 7 mounted to a custom-built selfie stick to take a selfie that’s truly out of this world.
NanoAvionics’s MP42 microsatellite bus took the 12-megapixel selfie at an altitude of 342 miles (550 km) above Australia’s Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef, according to a press release. The private firm, with offices in the U.S., the U.K., and Lithuania, says it’s “the first ever 4K resolution full satellite selfie in space with an immersive view of Earth.” The smallsat, along with two other NanoAvionics-built satellite buses, launched to space in April aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
https://gizmodo.com/gopro-selfie-nanoavionics-small-satellite-selfie-1849119441
NanoAvionics satellite pulls out GoPro to take stunning selfie over Earth
Consumer-grade camera was refitted with custom housing and software to survive in the vacuum
Richard Speed - Wed 29 Jun 2022 09:59 UTC
NanoAvionics has unveiled a 4K satellite selfie taken by a GoPro Hero 7 as the company's MP42 microsatellite flew 550km above the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef.
Space selfies are hardly new. Buzz Aldrin snapped an image of himself during 1966's Gemini 12 mission, and being able to get a picture of spacecraft can be invaluable when diagnosing issues.
The MP42 microsatellite was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 earlier this year and the camera (mounted on a space-grade selfie stick) sprung out to snap shots to demonstrate techniques to check for payload deployment, micrometeoroid impacts, and general fault detection. And to also take some impressive shots of the spacecraft with Earth in the background.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/29/nanoavionics_space_selfie/
NASA
AIM
The Morning After: NASA’s AIM spacecraft goes silent after a 15-year run
The probe was only meant to gather data for two years.
Mat Smith - March 20, 2023 7:22 AM
After 15 years in space, NASA’s AIM mission is ending. The agency said it was ending operational support for the spacecraft due to a battery power failure. NASA first noticed issues with AIM’s battery in 2019, but the probe was still sending a “significant amount of data” back to Earth. Following another recent decline in battery power, NASA says AIM has become unresponsive.
NASA launched the AIM – Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere – mission in 2007 to study noctilucent or night-shining clouds, which can last hundreds of years in the Earth's upper atmosphere. It was only meant to operate up in the skies for two years, but it’s provided data for multiple groundbreaking studies, including a recent 2018 study that found methane emissions (and the climate change effects) are causing night-shining clouds to form more frequently.
MP42
Satellite Selfie Shows Damage Caused by Mystery Impact
The small satellite survived an impact that was either caused by a micrometeorite or a small piece of space junk.
Passant Rabie - October 31, 2024
Earth’s orbit is getting really crowded, with hoards of new satellites being launched to space and the remains of defunct ones floating around. A satellite’s recent selfie revealed unexpected damage sustained to its solar panel, which was likely caused by an unidentifiable impact that took place over the past year.
This week, satellite company NanoAvionics revealed that its MP42 microsatellite bus survived a hit in low Earth orbit, which left behind a 0.2-inch-hole (6 millimeters) on one of its solar arrays. The company discovered the impact thanks to the satellite’s selfie-taking skills, with the chickpea-sized crater appearing in an image taken by the satellite’s onboard camera this month. Still, NanoAvionics isn’t quite sure what might have impacted its satellite. “We obviously cannot exclude the possibility of an alien satellite-pecker, but our best bets are on a piece of space debris or a micrometeoroid,” the company wrote on X.
It’s also hard to pinpoint exactly when the impact occurred. The last time MP42 took a selfie was in April 2023, so the orbital hit-and-run may have taken place any time during the past year and a half.
https://gizmodo.com/satellite-selfie-shows-damage-caused-by-mystery-impact-2000518828
Chandra X-ray Telescope
NASA Budget Threatens Fate of Veteran X-Ray Telescope, Alarming Astronomers
The 2025 budget proposal might be the beginning of the end for the Chandra X-ray telescope, with Hubble also taking a hit.
Passant Rabie - 21 March 2024
It might be the end of the road for two of NASA’s most iconic telescopes as the space agency looks to reduce the funding for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, much to the dismay of scientists who rely heavily on the cosmic observations of the missions.
Shortly after the fate of its 2024 budget was sealed, NASA released its budget proposal for 2025, requesting $1.58 billion for its astrophysics division. Despite the 3% increase from what the space agency received this year to spend on astrophysics research, it represents a small reduction in the amount spent on Hubble and a major downgrade for Chandra’s budget.
The proposed budget for Hubble Space Telescope in 2025 is $88.9 million, a slight decrease from $98.3 million in 2024, while the Chandra X-Ray Observatory would drop from $68.3 million in 2023 to $41.1 million in 2025 and a further reduction to $26.6 million the following year.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-2025-budget-hurts-chandra-hubble-space-telescopes-1851355795
Proposed NASA Budget Cuts Would End Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Posted by BeauHD on Thursday July 25, 2024 03:00AM
A NASA committee determined that the Chandra X-ray Observatory would have to cease operations under the proposed budget cuts in NASA's 2025 budget. The committee reviewed various options but found that only shutting down Chandra fit within the proposed budget, although alternatives could keep the observatory running with limited capabilities. SpaceNews reports:
NASA established the Operations Paradigm Change Review (OPCR) committee this spring to look at ways of reducing the costs of operating Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope as part of broader efforts to deal with a billion-dollar shortfall in agency science funding. The fiscal year 2025 budget proposal included a 40% cut in Chandra's budget, with further reductions through 2029, while cutting Hubble's budget by 10% in 2025. Astronomers strongly opposed the proposed cuts, particularly for Chandra. They argued that the reductions would effectively shut down the telescope, a conclusion backed by Patrick Slane, director of the Chandra X-Ray Center, in an open letter shortly after the release of the budget proposal.
The OPCR concurred. “The committee agreed that the continuation of a scientifically viable Chandra mission is not possible within the funding guidance,” said Rob Kennicutt, an astronomer from the University of Arizona and Texas A&M University who served on the review committee, in a July 23 presentation at a meeting of the Astrophysics Advisory Committee, or APAC. “This is a serious threat to the observatory.” Shutting down Chandra was one of four options presented to the OPCR by the Chandra team and the only one, he said, that fit within NASA's proposed budget profile. Three others would keep Chandra going with reduced capabilities and with budgets higher than what NASA proposed but below current levels. “We think it's possible to run Chandra for less money” than today, he said, “but more than what they were given.”
ERBS
A dead NASA satellite is returning to Earth after 38 years in space
The likelihood of it hurting anyone is “very low.”
Igor Bonifacic - January 7, 2023 11:52 AM
After nearly four decades in space, NASA’s retried Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) is about to fall from the sky. On Friday, the agency said the likelihood of wreckage from ERBS harming anyone on Earth is “very low.” NASA expects most of the 5,400-pound satellite will burn up upon re-entry. Earlier this week, the Defense Department predicted ERBS would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday at approximately 6:40PM ET, give or take 17 hours.
While it may be a household name, the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite had anything but a dull history. Per Phys.org, the Space Shuttle Challenger carried the satellite to space in 1984, a little more than a year before Challenger's heartbreaking demise in early 1986. Astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly to space, released ERBS from Challenger’s cargo hold using the spacecraft’s robotic arm. During that same mission, Ride’s crewmate, Kathryn Sullivan, became the first American woman to perform a space walk. It was also the first mission to see two female astronauts fly to space together. As for ERBS, it went on to collect ozone and atmospheric measurements until 2005. Scientists used that data to study how Earth absorbs and radiates solar energy. ERBS's contribution to science is even more impressive when you consider NASA initially expected it would only stay functional for two years.
NASA's 38-year-old science satellite falls safely to Earth
The reentry comes as officials hope to cut back on space debris.
Jon Fingas - January 9, 2023 11:43 AM
NASA's 38-year-old dead satellite has returned to Earth without incident. The Defense Department has confirmed that the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) reentered the atmosphere off the Alaskan coast at 11:04PM Eastern on January 8th. There are no reports of damage or injuries, according to the Associated Press. That isn't surprising when NASA said there was a 1-in-9,400 chance of someone getting hurt, but it's notable when officials said there was a possibility of some parts surviving the plunge.
ERBS had a storied life. It travelled to aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984, and pioneering woman astronaut Sally Ride placed it in orbit using the robotic Canadarm. Crewmate Kathryn Sullivan performed the first spacewalk by an American woman during that mission. The satellite was only expected to collect ozone data for two years, but was only retired in 2005 — over two decades later. The vehicle helped scientists understand how Earth absorbs and radiates solar energy.
https://www.engadget.com/nasa-erbs-satellite-safe-reentry-164320327.html
1980s NASA Satellite Crashes Back to Earth Over Bering Sea
The defunct Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) reentered the atmosphere after spending nearly four decades in low Earth orbit.
George Dvorsky - 9 January 2023 11:56AM
A 2.7-ton defunct satellite came down over the Bering Sea on January 8 near the Aleutian Islands, and while most of it burned up in the atmosphere, NASA says it’s likely that some pieces reached the surface.
NASA says its Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) made its reentry at 11:04 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 8, with Space Force’s Space Track confirming a reentry near the Aleutian Islands, as reported in SpaceNews. The 5,400-pound research satellite had spent the last 38 years in low Earth orbit, having been delivered to space on October 5, 1984 by the Space Shuttle Challenger. The ERBS mission was only supposed to last for two years, but it eked out a 21-year career, having been retired in 2005.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-erbs-satellite-reenters-atmosphere-1849965484
GeoCarb
NASA Cancels Carbon-Sniffing Satellite Due to Cost Overruns
The space agency has given up on the GeoCarb mission but will pursue alternative options to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions.
Passant Rabie - 1 December 2022 9:20AM
Citing cost overruns, NASA has made the decision to terminate the GeoCarb mission, a satellite that would’ve measured greenhouse gas emissions above the Americas. The space agency will now consider newer, alternative ways of monitoring climate-impacting pollution.
“Decisions like this are difficult, but NASA is dedicated to making careful choices with the resources provided by the people of the United States,” Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for science at NASA, said in a statement. “We look forward to accomplishing our commitment to state-of-the-art climate observation in a more efficient and cost-effective way.”
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-geocarb-mission-cancellation-1849837971
Geotail
Japan-U.S. Geotail Mission Officially Comes to an End After 30 Glorious Years
The aging satellite, which has been observing Earth's magnetosphere since 1992, suffered a recent data recorder malfunction that led to its demise.
Passant Rabie - 29 November 2022 5:10PM
An irreparable software glitch has put an end to Geotail, a JAXA-NASA joint mission. The satellite observed Earth’s magnetosphere for more than 30 years within an extremely elliptical orbit, but the mission has officially been terminated, according to JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS).
Geotail launched on July 24, 1992, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The satellite had been sailing through the magnetic envelope that surrounds Earth—the protective layer known as the magnetosphere.
https://gizmodo.com/jaxa-nasa-geotail-magnetosphere-mission-1849832418
ICON
NASA'S ICON Space Weather Satellite Has Suddenly Gone Silent
The mission team lost contact with the ionosphere-probing spacecraft two weeks ago and hasn't heard from it since.
Passant Rabie - 8 December 2022 11:30AM
A three-year-old NASA satellite lost touch with ground controllers two weeks ago and is now wandering through low Earth orbit without supervision. Sadly, the space agency fears the worst.
NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission has not communicated with ground stations since November 25 due to some sort of glitch the space agency is yet to identify, NASA wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. The spacecraft is equipped with an onboard command loss timer that’s designed to reset ICON in the event that contact is lost for eight days, but the reset seemingly did not work as the team was still unable to communicate with the spacecraft on December 5 after the power cycle was complete.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-icon-space-weather-satellite-malfunction-1849868834
NASA'S ICON Space Weather Satellite Has Suddenly Gone Silent
Posted by BeauHD on Friday December 09, 2022 02:00AM
A three-year-old NASA satellite lost touch with ground controllers two weeks ago and is now wandering through low Earth orbit without supervision. Sadly, the space agency fears the worst. Gizmodo reports:
NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission has not communicated with ground stations since November 25 due to some sort of glitch the space agency is yet to identify, NASA wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. The spacecraft is equipped with an onboard command loss timer that's designed to reset ICON in the event that contact is lost for eight days, but the reset seemingly did not work as the team was still unable to communicate with the spacecraft on December 5 after the power cycle was complete.
Kepler
Last Gasp: A Dying NASA Telescope Spotted Three Exoplanets in Its Final Days
Three exoplanets were hidden away in 2018 Kepler Space Telescope data, until now.
Isaac Schultz - 31 May 2023
Five years since the Kepler Space Telescope was retired, a team of astronomers believe they’ve found exoplanets captured by some of the veteran observatory’s last light.
Kepler launched to space in 2009 with one essential task: find new worlds. In its nearly decade-long tenure in solar orbit, Kepler found over 2,600 exoplanets, including some that lurk in the so-called “Goldilocks Zone” of habitability, suggesting that they may have conditions suitable for fostering life.
Kepler ran out of fuel in October 2018, and thus the mission ended. But Kepler data still holds cosmic secrets, and this week a team of astronomers announced the discovery of three planets seen by the telescope just before it was retired. The team’s research was published this week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
https://gizmodo.com/dying-nasa-kepler-telescope-spotted-three-exoplanets-1850490901
How Kepler’s 400-year-old sunspot sketches helped solve a modern mystery
A sharp decline in sunspot activity in the 17th century has long puzzled astronomers.
Jennifer Ouellette - 7/31/2024, 1:16 PM
A team of Japanese and Belgian astronomers has re-examined the sunspot drawings made by 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler with modern analytical techniques. By doing so, they resolved a long-standing mystery about solar cycles during that period, according to a recent paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Precisely who first observed sunspots was a matter of heated debate in the early 17th century. We now know that ancient Chinese astronomers between 364 and 28 BCE observed these features and included them in their official records. A Benedictine monk in 807 thought he'd observed Mercury passing in front of the Sun when, in reality, he had witnessed a sunspot; similar mistaken interpretations were also common in the 12th century. (An English monk made the first known drawings of sunspots in December 1128.)
English astronomer Thomas Harriot made the first telescope observations of sunspots in late 1610 and recorded them in his notebooks, as did Galileo around the same time, although the latter did not publish a scientific paper on sunspots (accompanied by sketches) until 1613. Galileo also argued that the spots were not, as some believed, solar satellites but more like clouds in the atmosphere or the surface of the Sun. But he was not the first to suggest this; that credit belongs to Dutch astronomer Johannes Fabricus, who published his scientific treatise on sunspots in 1611.
Lucy
With solar arrays now operational, Lucy’s got some shimmering to do
We've still got to wait three years before the first asteroid flyby.
Eric Berger - 8/3/2022, 2:23 PM
NASA confirmed this week that its Lucy mission to explore a series of asteroids has a clean bill of health as it approaches a key gravity assist maneuver in October.
In a new update, the space agency said Lucy's solar arrays are “stable enough” for the $1 billion spacecraft to carry out its science operations over the coming years as it visits a main-belt asteroid, 52246 Donaldjohanson, and subsequently flies by eight Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun.
The fate of the Lucy mission had been in question since the first hours after it launched on an Atlas V rocket last October when one of its two large solar arrays failed to fully open and securely latch. Each of the arrays was intended to unfurl like a hand fan.
Close Flyby of Lucy Spacecraft This Weekend Has NASA on Collision Alert
The space agency has prepared two maneuvers to prevent the spacecraft from colliding with a satellite inside the most crowded region of Earth's orbit.
Passant Rabie - 14 October 2022 2:15PM
It’s been a year since NASA launched its Lucy spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. On Sunday, Lucy will wave hello to Earth for the first time during a brief, but potentially dangerous, rendezvous. In the unlikely event of a collision, the mission team has prepared maneuvers to protect the spacecraft from satellites and space junk.
Lucy’s first flyby of Earth will place the spacecraft a mere 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the surface, according to a NASA statement. That’s closer than the 254 miles (408 kilometers) that separates the International Space Station from the ground. NASA says this layer of low Earth orbit is packed with more than 47,000 satellites, space debris, and other objects spinning rapidly around our planet, and therefore not a very safe place for a lone spacecraft.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-collision-alert-close-flyby-lucy-spacecraft-1849658692
NASA's Lucy probe dodges space traffic around Earth in gravity-assist flyby
Spacecraft coming through, outta the way, watch your step, we're heading to Jupiter
Katyanna Quach - Mon 17 Oct 2022 21:55 UTC
NASA's Lucy spacecraft has successfully performed its first gravity-assist flyby of Earth, dodging tens of thousands of satellites and bits of debris.
The probe is named after the incomplete female skeleton discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 of an early human ancestor dating back more than three million years. The spacecraft is on a twelve-year mission to a more ancient type of relic: Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. NASA described the rocks as the “fossils of planetary formation,” left over when the largest planets in the Solar System began to form more than 4.5 billion years ago.
To get Lucy closer to the Trojans, mission control will have the spacecraft perform multiple gravity assists around Earth to put it on a path toward Jupiter. NASA successfully completed the first one on October 16. Lucy came just 351 kilometres from Earth's surface, bringing it closer than most orbiting spacecraft, such as the International Space Station.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/17/nasas_lucy_spacecraft_successfully_dodged/
Lucy asteroid probe forced to limp on without full solar array
Attempts to fix glitch ditched – but never give up, never surrender
Katyanna Quach - Tue 24 Jan 2023 12:35 UTC
NASA's Lucy spacecraft will have to soldier on to reach eight asteroids within Jupiter's orbit – a journey expected to last 12 years – with a glitch in one of its solar arrays for now.
Launched in October last year, the probe failed to fully latch one of its two solar arrays properly shortly after it left Earth. The panels, stretching seven meters across, are designed to fold out like a fan spread across 360 degrees. One solar array, however, hasn't quite opened all the way.
Attempts to fix the issue have not been successful. Engineers are going to give up trying to solve the problem for the time being, and will continue to monitor Lucy as it flies towards Jupiter. “NASA's Lucy mission team has decided to suspend further solar array deployment activities,” the space agency confirmed in a statement.
NASA's Lucy Ready to Explore Its First Asteroid This Week
The probe will conduct a close flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh on Wednesday to test its instruments as it steadily makes its way towards Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.
Passant Rabie - 30 October 2023
After traveling millions of miles over the past two years, the Lucy spacecraft has almost reached its first destination. NASA’s asteroid probe will briefly rendezvous with Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt on Wednesday to prepare for its future visits of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.
The spacecraft will make its closest approach to the astroid at a distance of approximately 265 miles (425 kilometers) at 12:54 p.m. E.T on November 1, according to NASA. “This is the first time Lucy will be getting a close look at an object that, up to this point, has only been an unresolved smudge in the best telescopes,” Hal Levison, Lucy principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, said in a statement. “Dinkinesh is about to be revealed to humanity for the first time.”
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-lucy-flyby-asteroid-dinkinesh-jupiter-trojans-1850974022
Scientists will soon find out whether the Lucy mission works as intended
On Wednesday, the spacecraft will come close to the small asteroid Dinkinesh.
Eric Berger - 10/31/2023, 9:23 AM
A little more than two years have passed since the Lucy mission launched on an Atlas V rocket, ultimately bound for asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter. After a gravity assist from Earth in 2022, the spacecraft has been making a beeline for an intermediate target, and now it is nearly there.
On Wednesday, the $1 billion mission is due to make its first asteroid flyby, coming to within 265 miles (425 km) of the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh. In a blog post, NASA says the encounter will take place at 12:54 pm ET (16:54 UTC).
About an hour before the encounter, the spacecraft will begin attempting to lock on to the small asteroid so that its instruments are oriented toward it. This will allow for the best possible position to take data from Dinkinesh as Lucy speeds by at 10,000 mph (4,470 meters per second).
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/10/lucy-the-spacecraft-is-about-to-fly-by-lucy-the-asteroid/
Daily Telescope: Lucy finds not one but two diamonds in the sky
“The fact that it is two makes it even more exciting.”
Eric Berger - 11/3/2023, 5:00 AM
Good morning. It is November 3, and today we have a treat from NASA. A couple of days ago I wrote about NASA's Lucy mission preparing to fly by its first asteroid target, the small main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh. Now, it is complete.
This flyby was not so much about the science but rather proving the capability of the spacecraft to point its instruments and take data while whizzing by an asteroid. In this case, Lucy zoomed by Dinkinesh at a speed of 10,000 mph (4,470 meters per second). And, as can be seen from the first images returned by Lucy, the spacecraft succeeded.
In fact, the spacecraft surprised astronomers by revealing that Dinkinesh is not a single asteroid but rather a binary pair. From a preliminary analysis of the first available images, according to NASA, the team estimates that the larger body is approximately 0.5 miles (790 m) at its widest, while the smaller is about 0.15 miles (220 m) in size.
“We knew this was going to be the smallest main-belt asteroid ever seen up close,” said Keith Noll, Lucy project scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “The fact that it is two makes it even more exciting. In some ways these asteroids look similar to the near-Earth asteroid binary Didymos and Dimorphos that DART saw, but there are some really interesting differences that we will be investigating.”
NASA discovered that an asteroid named Dinky actually has its own moon
‘It was not expected, and it’s really cool.’
Lawrence Bonk, Contributing Reporter - Fri, Nov 3, 2023, 10:30 AM PDT
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, first launched in 2021 to explore the Trojan asteroids trapped near Jupiter, has made an interesting discovery. The spacecraft found an asteroid, nicknamed Dinky, that actually has a smaller asteroid orbiting it, as originally reported by Scientific American. That’s right. It’s basically a moon with its own moon. It’s an ouroboros of cosmic curiosity.
The technical term here is a binary asteroid pair and Dinky, whose real name is Dinkinesh, was spotted by Lucy during a quick fly by. That’s when the spacecraft spotted the smaller “moon” orbiting it.
Trojan Asteroids Loom Closer as NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Fires Up Engine for First Time
The asteroid-sleuthing probe is transitioning from its orbit around the Sun to one beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
Passant Rabie - 31 January 2024
Fresh off of its first asteroid encounter that revealed a bonus space rock, Lucy is now ready for the big leagues. The NASA spacecraft began maneuvering its way to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, traveling to a farther orbit in deep space in order to reach the Jovian system.
On Wednesday, Lucy fired its main engine for the first time in space as the first step in a series of maneuvers to change the velocity of the spacecraft so that it can reach the distant realms of the Trojan asteroids, NASA recently announced. Following its brief engine burn, the team behind the mission will analyze the spacecraft’s performance before setting it up for a larger maneuver through deep space, which will likely take place on Saturday.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-lucy-probe-engines-fired-jupiter-trojan-asteroids-1851212054
Asteroid-Hunting NASA Spacecraft to Slingshot Around Earth Tonight. Watch It Live
The spunky Lucy mission will make a second gravity assist of our world tonight as it heads off on its hunt for the solar system's origins.
Isaac Schultz - December 12, 2024
The asteroid hunting spacecraft Lucy will make its second gravity assist of Earth today, swinging by our pale blue dot on its way to a group of asteroids known as the Trojans.
Lucy is a spacecraft on a 12-year journey into the distant solar system, where it will investigate a group of asteroids to better understand the origins of the outer planets and the birth of the solar system. But Lucy needs a little push to get there, and its upcoming flyby is set to occur tonight around 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time, according to to a NASA statement.
It is a common assumption that once a mission launches, it is gone, never to be seen around these parts again. That is often untrue—spacecraft don’t carry much fuel and often leverage the gravitational pull of solar system objects to hasten their travel to (relatively) faraway parts of the universe. Tonight, Lucy will do exactly that, slingshotting around Earth to gain the speed it needs for its journey to explore the Trojan asteroids.
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Snaps First Look at Upcoming Asteroid Target
The main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson is now in sight as the Discovery Program mission prepares for a flyby of the object in April.
Isaac Schultz - February 26, 2025
The Lucy spacecraft just got its first good look at the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson as the NASA mission prepares to explore the Trojan asteroids as far out as Jupiter.
Donaldjohanson is not a Trojan asteroid, but is located in a convenient position for Lucy to swing by before continuing on to its main targets. Donaldjohanson—named for the anthropologist who discovered the fossilized hominid Lucy in 1974—is a small main belt asteroid at roughly 3 miles (4 kilometers) in diameter.
Newly released NASA images show the asteroid as a faint smudge of light in two views captured by Lucy’s LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (or L’LORRI, for short).
https://gizmodo.com/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-snaps-first-look-at-upcoming-asteroid-target-2000568592
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is about to have its second close encounter with an asteroid
Lucy will observe the asteroid Donaldjohanson on Sunday afternoon.
Cheyenne MacDonald - Sat, Apr 19, 2025, 11:07 AM PDT
A NASA spacecraft will make a close approach to an asteroid in the main belt on Sunday afternoon, in the second of several asteroid flybys planned for its 12-year mission to study remnants of the early solar system. The Lucy spacecraft will be 596 miles (960 km) from asteroid Donaldjohanson — named after the paleoanthropologist who discovered the “Lucy” hominin fossil — at the closest point of its pass, which will occur at 1:51PM ET, according to NASA. Lucy will use three instruments to capture detailed observations as the object gets closer, rotating with the asteroid over a few hours to get the full picture. It will stop tracking just before the asteroid is nearest, when it’ll have to shield its instruments due to the position of the sun to prevent damaging them.
The spacecraft previously visited a small asteroid called Dinkinesh in 2023, and its observations revealed that the asteroid is orbited by what’s known as a contact binary, or a peanut-shaped double moon “made of two smaller objects touching each other,” NASA explained at the time. After Donaldjohanson, Lucy will move on to its main targets, a handful of “Trojan” asteroids orbiting the sun in the same path as Jupiter. It’s expected to reach the first of those objects in 2027.
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Completes Asteroid Donaldjohanson Flyby
Erin Morton - April 20, 2025
The Lucy operations team has confirmed NASA’s Lucy spacecraft phoned home after its encounter with the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson. The spacecraft’s closest approach to the asteroid occurred at 1:51 pm EDT on Sunday. Initial information indicates that the spacecraft is in good health. The team has commanded the spacecraft to start sending the data collected during the encounter back to Earth, a process that will take up to a week. The team will analyze the data to better understand the relatively young asteroid and to ensure that the spacecraft and team are well prepared to observe the mission’s main targets: the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, beginning in 2027.
Lunar Flashlight
NASA's Moon-Bound Lunar Flashlight Is Experiencing Thruster Issues
Launched on December 11, the water-hunting probe is on a four-month trek to the Moon, but the mission is encountering some obstacles along the way.
Kevin Hurler - 13 January 2023
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight is on a mission to hunt for water ice on the Moon’s surface, but the mission appears to be in trouble as three of the craft’s four thrusters are “underperforming,” according to NASA.
The Lunar Flashlight team is in the midst of evaluating the three problematic thrusters as the spacecraft journeys toward the Moon, NASA said in a press release. Lunar Flashlight launched successfully on December 11 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket alongside Japan’s Hakuto-R lunar lander mission. In addition to scanning for water on the Moon’s surface, Lunar Flashlight is also expected to test a more environmentally-friendly propellant.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-lunar-flashlight-thruster-issues-1849984875
NASA Isn't Giving Up on Troubled Water-Hunting Moon Cubesat
A new tactic to fire up the lunar satellite's engines has resulted in “limited success.”
Passant Rabie - 8 May 2023
For nearly five months, teams behind NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission have been trying to get the briefcase-sized satellite to fire up its thrusters and get on the right orbital track around the Moon. There’s now some hope with one of the thrusters showing some improvement as work continues on the remaining three.
The Lunar Flashlight’s operations team has developed a new method to get the satellite’s propulsion system up and running, with the spacecraft needing more thrust within the next few days so that it can reach its revised orbit, NASA wrote in a blogpost on Friday.
Team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California, Georgia Tech, and the space agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are all working together on the new strategy, which involves “increasing fuel pump pressure far beyond the system’s operational limit while opening and closing the system’s valves,” according to NASA. The objective of this method is to attempt to remove any blockages from the thruster’s fuel lines, enabling the spacecraft to produce adequate thrust for carrying out monthly flybys of the Moon’s south polar region.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-troubled-water-hunting-lunar-flashlight-1850415667
NASA freezes ice-hunting cubesat Moon mission for good after thruster fail
Lunar Flashlight's innovative hardware worked … other than its engines. Let's call it a draw
Katyanna Quach - Mon 15 May 2023 23:40 UTC
NASA has given up searching for ice hidden inside craters on the surface of the Moon's South Pole - for now - after the Lunar Flashlight cubesat carrying out the mission failed to generate enough thrust to reach its intended orbit.
Launched in December, the briefcase-sized spacecraft was designed to enter a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon, and use a laser to scan the dark nooks and crannies of the natural satellite's surface for ice. The probe quickly ran into problems when its four thrusters, which use a type of propulsion system that had not previously flown beyond Earth's orbit, malfunctioned.
“It's disappointing for the science team, and for the whole Lunar Flashlight team, that we won't be able to use our laser reflectometer to make measurements at the Moon,” Barbara Cohen, the mission's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement. “But like all the other systems, we collected a lot of in-flight performance data on the instrument that will be incredibly valuable to future iterations of this technique.”
Lunar Flashlight also carried a new Sphinx flight computer – a radiation-hardened, low-power system developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Also aboard is Iris, an upgraded navigation radio to rendezvous and land on the Moon.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/15/nasa_lunar_flashlight_mission_abandoned/
RIP Lunar Flashlight: NASA Mission Fails to Reach Orbit Around the Moon's South Pole
After months of trying to salvage its lunar cubesat, NASA called an end to its water-hunting mission.
Passant Rabie - 15 May 2023
NASA is finally giving up on its tiny water-hunting cubesat, officially calling it quits on the Lunar Flashlight mission after failing to fix its propulsion issues.
On Friday, the space agency announced the end of its Lunar Flashlight mission “because the CubeSat cannot complete maneuvers to stay in the Earth-Moon system,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote in a statement. “It’s disappointing for the science team, and for the whole Lunar Flashlight team, that we won’t be able to use our laser reflectometer to make measurements at the Moon,” Barbara Cohen, the mission’s principal investigator, said in the statement.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-lunar-flashlight-mission-fails-reach-orbit-moon-1850437313
NEOWISE
NASA's Asteroid-Hunting Telescope Is Being Dragged Down by the Sun
After discovering more than 200 near-Earth objects over the past 10 years, NEOWISE's remarkable record in infrared astronomy is sadly nearing its end.
Passant Rabie - 19 December 2023
A diligent surveyor of the night skies, NEOWISE is sadly approaching its fiery demise as the Sun’s erratic outbursts are causing the infrared telescope to gradually fall out of its orbit before it eventually burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA’s NEOWISE, or Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, will be rendered unusable in early 2025 due to increased solar activity, the space agency announced. The telescope’s orbit is expected to gradually lower over time. This is due to the heating of Earth’s atmosphere by the Sun, which causes the atmosphere to expand. As a result, satellites in orbit—including NEOWISE—experience increased atmospheric drag, leading to a decrease in their altitude.
The Sun is approaching its solar maximum, a period with cranked up solar flares and explosive coronal mass ejections. During this period of the Sun’s 11-year cycle, atmospheric gases will slow down NEOWISE, pulling it lower in Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, the telescope will not be able to maintain its orbit around our planet.
https://gizmodo.com/neowise-asteroid-hunting-satellite-demise-sun-solar-1851110923
NASA shuts down asteroid-hunting telescope, but a better one is on the way
The NEOWISE spacecraft is on a course to fall out of orbit in the next few months.
Stephen Clark - 8/14/2024, 1:34 PM
Last week, NASA decommissioned a nearly 15-year-old spacecraft that discovered 400 near-Earth asteroids and comets, closing an important chapter in the agency's planetary defense program.
From its position in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft's infrared telescope scanned the entire sky 23 times and captured millions of images, initially searching for infrared emissions from galaxies, stars, and asteroids before focusing solely on objects within the Solar System.
Orbiting Carbon Observatories
Trump Administration Moves to Destroy Satellite That Monitors Greenhouse Gases
The Orbiting Carbon Observatories have been a game-changer for agriculture and climate science. Now, NASA is under pressure to terminate them.
Ellyn Lapointe - August 5, 2025
The Trump Administration’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 would take an axe to NASA science. Two satellite missions on the chopping block have provided climate scientists, oil and gas companies, and farmers with critical atmospheric carbon data for years.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatories are a pair of instruments that map atmospheric carbon on a global scale. NASA launched the OCO-2 in 2014 and mounted the OCO-3 on the International Space Station in 2019. Trump’s budget proposal threatens both missions, but the standalone OCO-2 would be completely destroyed during its fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere. Though the budget has yet to pass, NPR reports that NASA scientists working on the OCO missions are already making “Phase F” plans—essentially laying out options for termination.
David Crisp, a retired NASA scientist who designed the satellites and managed the missions until 2022, told NPR that the NASA employees making those plans have reached out to tap his expertise. “They were asking me very sharp questions,” Crisp said. “The only thing that would have motivated those questions was [that] somebody told them to come up with a termination plan.”
RHESSI
Defunct NASA Satellite Disintegrates Over Northern Africa
A bright flash seen over the capital city of Ukraine was mistakenly attributed to the satellite's reentry, with NASA denying any connection.
Passant Rabie - 20 April 2023
RHESSI’s time in orbit officially came to an end on Wednesday as NASA’s defunct Sun-observing satellite plunged through Earth’s atmosphere, likely burning up in a fiery flame.
The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere on April 19 at 8:21 p.m. ET, flying over the Egyptian-Sudanese border on a trajectory towards northern Egypt, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote on Twitter based on data from the U.S. Space Force.
“The Department of Defense confirmed that the 660-pound spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere over the Sahara Desert region, at approximately 26 degrees longitude and 21.3 degrees latitude,” NASA said in an updated statement. The space agency “expected most of the spacecraft to burn up as it traveled through the atmosphere, but for some components to survive re-entry.” Earlier, NASA had said that the risk of harm to people on the ground was approximately 1 in 2,467.
https://gizmodo.com/defunct-nasa-satellite-disintegrates-over-northern-afri-1850356998
NASA solar satellite burns up over the Sahara desert
Goodbye RHESSI, thanks for all the data
Katyanna Quach - Sat 22 Apr 2023 14:09 UTC
NASA's defunct RHESSI solar flare satellite plummeted into Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated over the Sahara desert this week, the Department of Defense confirmed.
Launched in February, 2002, the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Image (RHESSI) probe spent 16 years studying the rush of highly-energetic particles ejected from the Sun during intense outbursts.
The spacecraft was decommissioned in 2018 but continued to orbit until returning to Earth on Wednesday. The 660-pound (299kg) chunk of space junk re-entered the atmosphere on April 19 at 2021 EDT (April 20, 0021 UTC) and broke up over the Sahara Desert.
RHESSI arrived at about 21.3 degrees north latitude and 26 degrees east longitude, according to the DoD. NASA said the spacecraft mostly burnt up as it plunged through the atmosphere, although some components could have survived to be scattered somewhere over the Saharan desert.
Named in honor of Reuven Ramaty, a longtime NASA researcher and renowned solar physics scientist, the spacecraft was the first observatory capable of performing imaging spectroscopy of energetic electrons emitted in solar flares. The images allowed scientists to trace where these particles were coming from and what energies they were being accelerated to.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/22/nasa_satellite_rhessi/
PREFIRE
NASA Mission Gets Its First Snapshot of Polar Heat Emissions
The PREFIRE mission will help develop a more detailed understanding of how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica radiate into space and how this influences global climate.
NASA - Sept. 3, 2024
NASA’s newest climate mission has started collecting data on the amount of heat in the form of far-infrared radiation that the Arctic and Antarctic environments emit to space. These measurements by the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) are key to better predicting how climate change will affect Earth’s ice, seas, and weather — information that will help humanity better prepare for a changing world.
One of PREFIRE’s two shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, launched on May 25 from New Zealand, followed by its twin on June 5. The first CubeSat started sending back science data on July 1. The second CubeSat began collecting science data on July 25, and the mission will release the data after an issue with the GPS system on this CubeSat is resolved.
The PREFIRE mission will help researchers gain a clearer understanding of when and where the Arctic and Antarctica emit far-infrared radiation (wavelengths greater than 15 micrometers) to space. This includes how atmospheric water vapor and clouds influence the amount of heat that escapes Earth. Since clouds and water vapor can trap far-infrared radiation near Earth’s surface, they can increase global temperatures as part of a process known as the greenhouse effect. This is where gases in Earth’s atmosphere — such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor — act as insulators, preventing heat emitted by the planet from escaping to space.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-gets-its-first-snapshot-of-polar-heat-emissions
Psyche
NASA decides not to launch two already-built asteroid probes
The Janus asteroid probes will remain on Earth.
Stephen Clark - 7/11/2023, 5:21 PM
Two small spacecraft should have now been cruising through the Solar System, on their way to study unexplored asteroids, but after several years of development and nearly $50 million in expenditures, NASA announced Tuesday the probes will remain locked inside a Lockheed Martin factory in Colorado.
That’s because the mission, called Janus, was supposed to launch last year as a piggyback payload on the same rocket with NASA’s much larger Psyche spacecraft, which will fly to a 140-mile-wide (225-kilometer) metal-rich asteroid—also named Psyche—for more than two years of close-up observations. Problems with software testing on the Psyche spacecraft prompted NASA managers to delay the launch by more than a year.
An independent review board set up to analyze the reasons for the Psyche launch delay identified issues with the spacecraft’s software and weaknesses in the plan to test the software before Psyche’s launch. Digging deeper, the review panel determined that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Psyche mission, was encumbered by staffing and workforce problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/nasa-decides-not-to-launch-two-already-built-asteroid-probes/
NASA Decides Not To Launch Two Already-Built Asteroid Probes
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday July 12, 2023 06:00AM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
Two small spacecraft should have now been cruising through the Solar System on the way to study unexplored asteroids, but after several years of development and nearly $50 million in expenditures, NASA announced Tuesday the probes will remain locked inside a Lockheed Martin factory in Colorado. That's because the mission, called Janus, was supposed to launch last year as a piggyback payload on the same rocket with NASA's much larger Psyche spacecraft, which will fly to a 140-mile-wide (225-kilometer) metal-rich asteroid – also named Psyche – for more than two years of close-up observations. Problems with software testing on the Psyche spacecraft prompted NASA managers to delay the launch by more than a year. An independent review board set up to analyze the reasons for the Psyche launch delay identified issues with the spacecraft's software and weaknesses in the plan to test the software before Psyche's launch. Digging deeper, the review panel determined that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Psyche mission, was encumbered by staffing and workforce problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Psyche is now back on track for liftoff in October on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, but Janus won't be aboard.
What to Know About NASA's Unprecedented Psyche Mission to a Metallic Asteroid
The Psyche spacecraft will journey 2.2 billion miles to study a metal-rich asteroid believed to have been a potential building block for a planet.
Passant Rabie - 6 October 2023
Wedged between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the main asteroid belt contains over 1 million rocky objects, but perhaps few of them are as intriguing as Psyche. The metal-rich asteroid might have once been an ancient planetary building block that was stripped of its outer rocky shell as our solar system came to be. What remains of Psyche may hold the answers as to how Earth and its neighboring planets were formed, and a namesake mission is on the case to probe the asteroid for clues.
NASA is getting ready to launch its Psyche spacecraft to rendezvous with the main belt asteroid in an effort to uncover the origin story of Earth. Previous asteroid-probing missions have explored space rocks made of rock or ice, so this is scientists’ first chance to get up close with a metal-rich asteroid which could suggest a different narrative for the formation of the solar system.
https://gizmodo.com/explainer-nasa-psyche-mission-metallic-asteroid-1850904083
NASA's Psyche asteroid mission suffers another heavenly holdup
Dodgy weather results in a launch postponement
Richard Speed - Thu 12 Oct 2023 13:41 UTC
NASA has pushed its billion-dollar Psyche mission back to October 13 thanks to bad weather at the launch site.
Psyche was due to launch on October 12, but increasingly bleak weather predictions have delayed liftoff of the Falcon Heavy rocket until Friday.
According to the US Space Force, there was an 80 percent chance of the weather violating launch constraints today, improving to 50 percent on Friday. Perhaps mindful of all the delays up to now, controllers opted to hang fire for another 24 hours.
The probe was initially supposed to launch in 2022 but was pushed back due to software problems and a damning report [PDF] into institutional issues at JPL. The plan is for the spacecraft to head for the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, which lurks in the outer part of the main asteroid belt at an average distance from the Sun of three astronomical units (AU). The Earth orbits at one AU.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft embarks on a six-year journey to its asteroid namesake
The metal-rich space rock may contain clues to the formations of planets.
Will Shanklin, Contributing Reporter - Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 11:38 AM PDT
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has blasted off and begun a six-year, 2.2-billion-mile journey to a peculiar asteroid. Astronomers have speculated that the space rock, also named Psyche, was once the partial core of a small planet in the early days of the Solar System. The seemingly iron- and nickel-rich asteroid may hold clues to the formation of planets, including our own.
On Friday, the uncrewed Psyche spacecraft lifted off at 10:19AM ET aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After successfully jettisoning its fairings and separating from the rocket, ground controllers established two-way communication. Telemetry reports indicate it made it to space in good health. The mission had faced numerous delays before finally lifting off.
Psyche (the asteroid) rotates around the sun in a belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Researchers estimate it’s made of 30 to 60 percent nickel-iron core, allowing them a rare glimpse into a (possible) planetary core. “My best guess is that it’s more than half metal based on the data that we’ve got,” Lindy Elkins-Tanton, an Arizona State University professor working as the mission’s principal investigator, told The New York Times. “We’re really going to see a kind of new object, which means that a lot of our ideas are going to be proven wrong.”
NASA just launched the Psyche mission—no one knows what it will find
Psyche is going to a metal world with plasma engines and lasers. It's not sci-fi.
Stephen Clark - Updated 10/13/2023, 10:56 AM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—A roughly 3-ton spacecraft launched Friday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin a six-year trip to an enigma in the asteroid belt, an unusual metallic world the size of Massachusetts that could hold clues about the formation of Earth and other rocky planets.
This mission, named Psyche, will survey its namesake asteroid for at least 26 months, moving to different altitudes to map the metal world with three science instruments. Like all missions exploring the Solar System, the Psyche spacecraft has a long journey to reach its destination, covering some 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) with the help of plasma engines.
No one knows what the spacecraft will find when it reaches the asteroid Psyche. The best images of the asteroid captured through telescopes only show Psyche as a fuzzy blob a few pixels wide. Scientists know it is dense and at least partially made of metal, primarily iron and nickel. The leading hypothesis among Psyche's science team is that the asteroid is likely a leftover remnant from the early history of the Solar System more than 4.5 billion years ago, the exposed core of a failed planet that may have had its outer layers of rock blasted away during collisions with other objects in that chaotic time.
NASA's Psyche hits 25 Mbps from 140 million miles away – enough for Ultra HD Netflix
Laser beam comms are fast, so long as the weather cooperates
Richard Speed - Sat 27 Apr 2024 08:30 UTC
NASA's optical communications demonstration has hit 25 Mbps in a test transmitting engineering data back to Earth from 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away.
The payload is riding aboard the Psyche probe, which is headed for an asteroid of the same name. On December 11, when the spacecraft was 19 million miles (31 kilometers) away, it reached 267 Mbps, which NASA described as “comparable to broadband internet download speeds.”
NASA has better broadband than this writer, it would seem.
However, as Psyche has continued on its trajectory, the distances have become greater, and the rate at which data can be transmitted and received has tumbled. At 140 million miles, the project's goal was to reach a lofty 1 Mbps. Instead, engineers managed to get 25 Mbps out of the demonstration.
Earlier demonstrations tested the technology using preloaded data, such as a cat video. The latest experiment used a copy of engineering data also sent via Psyche's radio transmitter.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/27/nasa_psyche_data_speeds/
NASA's Psyche Hits 25 Mbps From 140 Miles Away
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday April 30, 2024 03:00AM
Richard Speed reports via The Register:
NASA's optical communications demonstration has hit 25 Mbps in a test transmitting engineering data back to Earth from 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away. The payload is riding aboard the Psyche probe, which is headed for an asteroid of the same name. On December 11, when the spacecraft was 19 million miles (30 million kilometers) away, it reached 267 Mbps, which NASA described as “comparable to broadband internet download speeds.”
However, as Psyche has continued on its trajectory, the distances have become greater, and the rate at which data can be transmitted and received has tumbled. At 140 million miles, the project's goal was to reach a lofty 1 Mbps. Instead, engineers managed to get 25 Mbps out of the demonstration. Earlier demonstrations tested the technology using preloaded data, such as a cat video. The latest experiment used a copy of engineering data also sent via Psyche's radio transmitter.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/04/30/0053223/nasas-psyche-hits-25-mbps-from-140-miles-away
Engineers bring Psyche's thrusters back online
Diagnosing a borkage from a million miles away
Richard Speed - Tue 3 Jun 2025 14:38 UTC
NASA's Psyche spacecraft is back in business after engineers successfully switched to a backup fuel line in an impressive piece of remote maintenance.
The switch fixed a solar electric propulsion problem first detected in April - where engineers noticed a pressure drop in the line feeding the xenon gas to the thrusters. The electric thrusters – Psyche's thrusters ionize and expel xenon gas to propel the vehicle – were shut down while the team investigated the issue.
There was no immediate impact on the spacecraft's trajectory, yet engineers needed the thrusters to resume operation by mid-June.
NASA made the move to the backup after concluding that a faulty valve in the original line was to blame for the plunging pressure. The valve is responsible for managing the propellant flow, and the boffins reckon that a part within it is causing an obstruction.
The identical backup line naturally includes an identical valve, and the team have opted to leave it open so the problem doesn't recur. Completing the swap means that the thrusters can resume operation by mid-June.
The probe has already travelled a billion kilometers (628 million miles) according to NASA.
Psyche is set to reach its target, a metal-rich asteroid, in 2029 and is due to fly by Mars in 2026, using the planet's gravity to slingshot it towards its destination. The trajectory does, however, require the gentle propulsion of its electric thrusters.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/03/engineers_bring_psyches_thrusters_back/
Relay 2
NASA Satellite That’s Been Dead for 57 Years Sends Mysterious Signal to Earth
Relay-2 emitted a powerful fast radio burst that lasted for less than 30 nanoseconds.
Passant Rabie - June 24, 2025
A little over a year ago, scientists in Australia picked up a brief burst of electromagnetic radiation. The pulse was so strong that it eclipsed all other signals coming from the sky, but its origins were unknown. After digging through the data, the team discovered that the source wasn’t a distant celestial object but rather a zombie satellite left to orbit Earth with no purpose.
NASA’s Relay-2 launched on January 21, 1964, two years after its predecessor, Relay-1, was sent to orbit. The pair were experimental communications satellites that carried onboard experiments to map the trapped radiation belt, otherwise known as the Van Allen radiation belts. Relay-2 continued to operate until June 9, 1967, when its two transponders failed, and it wasn’t heard from again until it let out a short-lived signal nearly 60 years later.
On June 13, 2024, astronomers at the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder picked up a mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) that lasted for less than 30 nanoseconds. “We got all excited, thinking maybe we’d discovered a new pulsar or some other object,” Clancy James, a researcher at Curtin University, told New Scientist. “This was an incredibly powerful radio pulse that vastly outshone everything else in the sky for a very short amount of time.”
Mysterious Radio Burst Turns Out to Be From a Dead 1967 NASA Satellite
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 29, 2025 12:34AM
An anonymous reader shared this report from Smithsonian magazine:
Last year, Australian scientists picked up a mysterious burst of radio waves that briefly appeared brighter than all other signals in the sky. Now, the researchers have discovered the blast didn't come from a celestial object, but a defunct satellite orbiting Earth… “We got all excited, thinking maybe we'd discovered a new pulsar or some other object,” says Clancy James, a researcher at Australia's Curtin University who is on the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) team, to Alex Wilkins at New Scientist. After taking a closer look, however, the team realized that the only viable source for the burst was NASA's dead Relay 2, a short-lived satellite that hasn't been in operation since 1967….
The researchers also discovered that at the time of the event, the satellite was only around 2,800 miles away from Earth, which explains why the signal appeared so strong. The reason behind Relay 2's sudden burst is not clear, but the team has come up with two potential explanations — and neither involves the satellite coming back to life like a zombie. One relates to electrostatic discharge — a build-up of electricity that can result in a sudden blast. Spacecraft get charged with electricity when they pass through plasma, and once enough charge accumulates, it can create a spark. “New spacecraft are built with materials to reduce the build-up of charge, but when Relay 2 was launched, this wasn't well-understood,” explains James to Space.com's Robert Lea.
Skylab
Preparing for Skylab: The separate 1972 experimental mission that never left the ground
Bags of splashy fun for astronauts in SMEAT's simulation
Richard Speed - Fri 29 Jul 2022 11:26 UTC
Feature Remember Skylab? How about SMEAT? Fifty years ago, a trio of US astronauts took part in 56-day simulation of a Skylab mission that would prove critical to the success of the US's first crewed space station.
SMEAT (Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test) took place a year after Apollo 15 launched to the Moon. It was originally planned to consist of a 28-day mission and then a 56-day mission within a partial mock-up of Skylab sealed in a hypobaric chamber at NASA's Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston.
The problem faced by NASA was that the Skylab mission was chock-full of unknowns, even when compared to the ongoing Apollo program. It had simply not tried such a long duration mission before; would the hardware work as expected? Would the crew remain healthy for such a long time in a closed system? And so on.
50 years ago, Skylab's accidental rebels put Mission Control on mute
Final mission to space station revolutionized orbital labor management
Richard Speed - Thu 16 Nov 2023 16:30 UTC
It's been 50 years since the final Skylab crew launched and docked with America's first space station for an eventful 84 days in space.
The all-rookie crew of Jerry Carr, Ed Gibson, and Bill Pogue were launched from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39B pad in November 1973 aboard the penultimate Saturn 1B.
Skylab 4 went down in infamy as “the mission when the crew went on strike.” The myth came about after the crew, racing to keep up with the demands of their schedule, opted to have only one crew member listening to the radio while the others got on with the work without interruption.
In Homesteading Space by David Hitt, Owen Garriott, and Joe Kerwin, Gibson says: “We each signed up for an orbit as the radio-response guy. Well one day we made a mistake and for a whole orbit we all had our radios off!”
Controllers called the space station but received no response for an entire orbit. A story began circulating that the crew had gone on strike in protest at the demands from mission control. While the trio denied this version of events – “We've had to live under that stigma they [the press] falsely created ever since,” said Carr – the interface between crew and mission control was undoubtedly tense during the early part of the mission.
A space station fell to Earth. An Australian boy brought it to San Francisco
Andrew Chamings - May 4, 2023
For a surreal week in the summer of 1979, the world was watching the skies.
NASA’s abandoned space station, Skylab, was about to fall back down to the Earth that launched it, and no one knew where it might land.
An agency report estimated that the chances of part of the nearly 80 tons of molten metal hitting a major city were about 1 in 5, and the likelihood of the falling spacecraft hitting a human, 1 in 152.
Panic ensued.
On the British coast, tourists took cover in caves. A Brazilian woman named her baby “Skylab” in the hopes that NASA would help raise it. In Brussels, the city readied air horns to warn residents to shelter. In the Philippines, a man reportedly died of a heart attack while waking from a nightmare screaming, “Skylab, Skylab.”
Others enjoyed the dread. The Oakland Tribune joked that A’s fans shouldn’t be too worried about space station parts injuring anyone at the Coliseum, a reference to Oakland’s league-worst 3,984 per-game attendance average. In New York City, “Skylab Survivor” T-shirts and helmets with targets on them were sold in Times Square.
https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/the-skylab-race-to-san-francisco-18074888.php
45 Years Ago: Skylab Reenters Earth’s Atmosphere
John Uri, Johnson Space Center - Jul 11, 2024
Article
A few days before they left Skylab on Feb. 8, 1974, the final crew to occupy the station raised its altitude, hoping to keep it in orbit until a future space shuttle could revisit it. But higher than predicted solar activity caused the Earth’s atmosphere to expand, increasing drag on the large vehicle, causing its orbit to decay faster than expected. In 1978, controllers reactivated the station and changed its attitude, hoping to keep it in orbit as long as possible by reducing atmospheric drag. In the meantime, delays in the space shuttle’s development eventually made it impossible for a shuttle to revisit Skylab before it reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. On July 11, 1979, Skylab reentered, with debris landing over the Indian Ocean and Australia. Lessons learned from deorbiting large spacecraft like Skylab and others will inform the eventual deorbiting of the International Space Station.
When the Skylab 4 astronauts departed the station on Feb. 8, 1974, they left it in a 269-by-283-mile orbit. Just one day after the crew left the station, operators in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston ran a few final systems checks, oriented Skylab in a gravity-gradient attitude – meaning the heavier workshop faced the Earth – vented its atmosphere, and turned off its power. In this attitude, and based on predictions of the Sun’s activity in the upcoming solar cycle that would increase atmospheric drag and reduce Skylab’s altitude, scientists estimated that the station would remain in orbit until March 1983. However, the solar cycle intensified into the second most active one in a century and atmospheric perturbations shifted Skylab out of the gravity-gradient attitude, increasing its drag. By 1977, revised estimates projected Skylab’s reentry occurring as early as mid-1979. Although the space shuttle had yet to fly, NASA devised a plan for astronauts on one of its early missions to attach a rocket stage to Skylab and use it to either boost the station into a higher storage orbit or deorbit it in a controlled fashion into the Pacific Ocean. At 169,000 pounds, Skylab represented the heaviest spacecraft to reenter up to that time, and engineers believed that some of its components would survive the entry. Keeping the debris away from populated areas remained a priority.
https://www.nasa.gov/history/45-years-ago-skylab-reenters-earths-atmosphere/
Space Station
NASA sets sail into a promising but perilous future of private space stations
NASA selects a mix of large and small US companies, and old and new players.
Eric Berger - 12/3/2021, 7:37 AM
On Thursday afternoon, NASA announced that it had awarded three different teams, each involving multiple companies, more than $100 million apiece to support the design and early development of private space stations in low Earth orbit.
This represents a big step toward the space agency's plan to maintain a permanent presence in space even after the aging International Space Station, which can probably keep flying through 2028 or 2030, reaches the end of its life. NASA intends to become an “anchor tenant” by sending its astronauts to one or more private stations in orbit starting in the second half of the 2020s.
NASA Picks Blue Origin and Two Others to Design New Space Stations
The ongoing commercialization of space continues, as NASA transitions away from the aging International Space Station.
George Dvorsky - 3 December 2021 11:30AM
NASA has awarded lucrative contracts to three U.S. companies—Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman—to develop space station concepts that will serve both public and private interests in space.
With expectations that the 23-year-old International Space Station won’t last beyond the 2020s, NASA is turning to the private sector for help. On December 2, NASA allocated $415.6 million for a trio of Space Act Agreements as part of its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program. The funds will be distributed fairly evenly (unlike previous contracts), with Blue Origin receiving $130 million, Nanoracks getting $160 million, and Northrop Grumman getting $125.6 million. The three were selected from 11 bids submitted to NASA this past August, as SpaceNews reports.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-picks-blue-origin-and-two-others-to-design-new-spa-1848156231
NASA changes the rules of the game for commercial space stations
Aiming to shrink the post-ISS gap, but less orbit time for NASA astronauts?
Richard Speed - Thu 7 Aug 2025 16:45 UTC
NASA has moved the goalposts for companies seeking to replace the aging International Space Station (ISS) and changed the minimum capability required to four crew for one-month “increments.” The change means that the permanent occupation of the ISS will be a thing of the past, at least as far as the US space agency is concerned.
The new directive [PDF] reflects an unfolding reality at NASA. The US space agency's budget is unlikely to be as big as it was when NASA kicked off the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations Program, the ISS has only a few years left before it is to be de-orbited by a SpaceX vehicle, and priorities within the agency are changing.
NASA bosses have long known that time was running out for the ISS, and agreements have been signed with companies such as Axiom Space for crewed modules that could be attached and then detached from the ISS prior to ditching it. Axiom recently shuffled its assembly sequence to remove dependence on the ISS.
Those arrangements were all part of phase 1 of the Commercial LEO Development Program's (CLDP) acquisition strategy, during which it was planning the design and development of commercial space stations. Phase 1 also included a pair of funded Space Act Agreements (SAAs) with Blue Origin and Starlab Space to develop commercial free-flying destinations.
However, according to the memo, there is a $4 billion budget shortfall in the strategy for phase 2, during which NASA was supposed to certify one or more of the proposed plans. The bequest for FY2026 includes $272.3 million for the fiscal year and $2.1 billion over the next five years for developing and deploying new commercial space stations.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/07/nasa_changes_the_rules_of/
SPHEREx
NASA's SPHEREx Is Poised To Launch Mission To Map 450 Million Galaxies In Color
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday March 08, 2025 03:00AM
NASA's SPHEREx observatory (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is set to launch this week to map 450 million galaxies in infrared, providing insights into galaxy formation, the origins of water, and testing theories about the universe's rapid expansion following the Big Bang. The two-year mission will repeatedly survey the entire sky and help scientists understand fundamental cosmic processes. NBC News reports:
The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is scheduled to occur Friday, during a window that opens at 10:09 p.m. ET. Liftoff was initially planned for Feb. 27, but NASA rescheduled it several times, first to “complete vehicle processing and prelaunch checkouts,” and because of availability at the California launch site.
The cone-shaped spacecraft – along with four suitcase-sized satellites that NASA will deploy at the same time on a separate mission to study the sun – will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The $488 million SPHEREx mission, which has been in development for about a decade, is designed to map the celestial sky in 102 infrared colors – more than any other mission before it, according to NASA.
NASA's SPHEREx space telescope launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
It will create a comprehensive 3D map of the entire sky.
Mariella Moon - Tue, Mar 11, 2025, 10:55 PM PDT
NASA's SPHEREx observatory is now in space for a two year year mission to create a 3D map of the entire celestial sky. The telescope left the ground on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad in California, four years after NASA announced that a SpaceX flight will launch the mission, along with NASA's PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) microsatellites. SPHEREx separated from SpaceX's vehicle at 12AM Eastern time on March 12 and will remain in low Earth orbit, where it will maintain a position relative to the sun that will remain the same throughout the year.
Every 98-minute orbit the observatory makes will allow it to view a 360-degree strip of the sky in both optical as well as near-infrared light. The telescope can capture more 360-degree strips as the Earth moves around the sun, enabling it to map the entire celestial sky within six months. SPHEREx was designed to image the entire sky every six months in two years, with its goal being to create a 3D map of over 450 million galaxies. The telescope will also image and gather information on over 100 million stars in the Milky Way.
NASA’s SPHEREx Telescope Just Switched On. Time to Map the Entire Universe in 3D
The space-based observatory will scan the cosmos in 102 colors we can't see to unlock the secret history of the universe.
Isaac Schultz - May 2, 2025
NASA’s newest eye on the cosmos is officially open for business, commencing its regular science operations this week with the main charge of mapping the universe.
After a six-week calibration period, NASA’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer—mercifully shortened to SPHEREx—has begun its two-year mission to build an ultra-detailed, full-sky map of the universe.
Launched in early March after some delay, the space observatory is now snapping 3,600 infrared images per day, collecting light at wavelengths that humans can’t see that contains evidence of cosmic objects and events dating back to the dawn of the universe.
Unlike some telescopes that peer into a specific patch of sky, SPHEREx will observe the entire celestial sphere, completing a sweep of it every six months. SPHEREx orbits Earth roughly 14 times a day, each time scanning a fresh strip of our Milky Way and beyond. SPHEREx takes in light with six detectors that split light into 102 infrared colors, which the mission will use to make over 9 million observations of interstellar clouds in our own galaxy over the course of its lifetime.
NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope has begun its mission to map the entire sky in 3D
The observatory will capture 3,600 images per day.
Cheyenne MacDonald - Sun, May 4, 2025, 10:34 AM PDT
A space observatory designed to map the entire sky over a period of two years to further our understanding of the early universe has started snapping images. SPHEREx, which launched in early March, got started with its observations this past week after over a month of setup procedures and system checks, according to NASA. The space telescope will complete about 14.5 orbits of Earth per day, capturing roughly 3,600 images daily and observing the sky in an unprecedented 102 wavelengths of infrared light. Its observations will eventually be combined to create four “all-sky” maps.
SPHEREx’s 25 month survey will be a comprehensive one. The spacecraft “orbits Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and each day it takes images along one circular strip of the sky,” NASA explains. “As the days pass and the planet moves around the Sun, SPHEREx’s field of view shifts as well so that after six months, the observatory will have looked out into space in every direction.” Researchers will use the SPHEREx observations to study the universe’s expansion in the moments after the big bang, and search for the ingredients for life elsewhere in the Milky Way.
Swift
NASA's gamma-ray-burst alert satellite put into safe mode after suspected reaction wheel failure
To be fair, this is after 17 years of service in space
Katyanna Quach - Fri 21 Jan 2022 00:31 UTC
NASA has put its orbiting Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory into safe mode due to a suspected faulty reaction wheel, the first time this type of failure has occurred in its 17 years of operation.
NASA this week confirmed Swift was powered down on January 18. A team of scientists and engineers from Pennsylvania State University working at the Mission Operations Center (MOC) for Swift asked astronomers to hold off from requesting observation time as all science operations have temporarily halted.
“The mission team is investigating a possible failure of one of the spacecraft's reaction wheels as the cause,” NASA said in a statement. “The team has powered off the suspected wheel. The observatory and all its instruments are otherwise healthy and operating as anticipated. The observatory will remain in safe mode as a precaution while the team further investigates the issue.”
Swift has six reaction wheels that shift the platform to target gamma ray bursts and keep itself stable. With one wheel down, the team is trying to get the observatory up and running again with its five remaining wheels.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/swift_observatory_safe_mode/
Swift enters safe mode over gyro issue while NASA preps patch to shake it off
Gamma-ray burst watcher almost two decades past use-by date
Richard Speed - Tue 19 Mar 2024 15:00 UTC
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has dropped into safe mode after one of the spacecraft's three gyroscopes showed signs of degradation.
The fix will require a software update to permit the spacecraft to continue with its two remaining gyros.
The spacecraft, which was launched in 2004 for a planned two-year mission, is designed to study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). It was originally called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer but was later renamed for its Principal Investigator, Neil Gehrels.
As with several other NASA missions – for example, Chandra – Swift's future is uncertain. Although a 2022 Senior Review panel deemed Swift the top-ranked satellite among operating missions other than Hubble and Chandra, its extended mission operations only run through FY2025. NASA is due to conduct the next Senior Review in spring next year.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/swift_enters_safe_mode/
NASA mulls sending a rescue rocket to boost Swift observatory's orbit
Agency asks for ideas from US industry as orbit decays
Richard Speed - Wed 13 Aug 2025 07:00 UTC
NASA is seeking solutions for a way to raise the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory despite the spacecraft being marked for termination after FY2026 under the agency's budget proposal.
The possible impending demise of the spacecraft, coupled with faster-than-expected orbital decay due to additional atmospheric drag caused by solar activity, makes Swift an ideal candidate for the potential project.
NASA has selected two American companies – Cambrian Works of Reston, Virginia, and Katalyst Space Technologies of Flagstaff, Arizona – to develop concept design studies for a possible orbit boost. That said, the agency doesn't have firm plans for a reboost and could still allow the spacecraft to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, “as many satellites do at the end of their lifetimes.”
A boost could extend Swift's lifetime, although the probe, which was launched in 2004 on a planned two-year mission, is showing signs of age. Last year, the spacecraft dropped into safe mode after one of its three remaining gyroscopes began showing signs of degradation. Engineers were able to keep the science flowing by implementing a plan developed in 2009 to operate using just two gyros. The gyros are required to ensure Swift is pointed correctly.
However, engineers do not have a solution for the increasing atmospheric drag that will eventually result in the spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere where it will be destroyed. Nor do they have a solution for the potential budget cuts that result in the end of operations after FY2026.
“NASA Science is committed to leveraging commercial technologies to find innovative, cost-effective ways to open new capabilities for the future of the American space sector,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “To maintain Swift's role in our portfolio, NASA Science is uniquely positioned to conduct a rare in-space technology demonstration to raise the satellite’s orbit and solidify American leadership in spacecraft servicing.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/13/nasa_mulls_sending_a_rescue/
SWOT
New NASA Satellite Will Keep Tabs on Nearly All of Earth's Water
SWOT will collect data on all of our planet's large water bodies every 21 days, offering key insights into climate, sea level rise, and freshwater.
Lauren Leffer - 17 November 2022
We live on a blue planet. More than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water, and a soon-to-launch satellite is set to shed light on all that liquid like never before. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is a joint project between NASA and France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), plus other international collaborators, and it’s scheduled for launch on December 12.
If all goes according to plan, the three-year long venture will use an array of high-tech instruments to complete the first-ever global survey of surface water from space. Researchers expect the satellite to collect detailed data on water volume, location, and movement over time, according to a Monday press briefing.
https://gizmodo.com/swot-water-satellite-nasa-oceans-drought-science-1849787118
NASA's Water-Probing Satellite Appears to Be In Trouble
SWOT's main science instrument unexpectedly shut down as the satellite was undergoing commissioning activities.
Passant Rabie - 28 February 2023 4:25PM
NASA Engineers are racing to fix a worrying glitch with a recently launched water satellite, hoping to get the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission up and running so that it can start surveying our planet’s oceans, lakes, and rivers.
SWOT, a joint project between NASA and France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), launched on December 16, 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Things were looking good for the spacecraft, which made contact with mission control after reaching orbit, NASA wrote in a blog post at the time.
The satellite then entered into a six-month commissioning period to make sure that all of its instruments are working properly before it embarks on its task of completing the first-ever global survey of surface water from space. SWOT’s main science instrument, the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), briefly powered on in mid-January before one of the instrument’s subsystems unexpectedly shut down, NASA announced last week.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-water-probing-swot-satellite-trouble-1850169531
Vanguard
Engineers Want To Bring Home the World's Oldest Satellite
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday April 19, 2025 08:34AM
Launched in 1958, the “awkward-looking” Vanguard-1 satellite (“the size of a grapefruit”) is the oldest artificial object orbiting Earth.
“A team of researchers and engineers want to retrieve the satellite for closer inspection and are currently working to find a way to bring Vanguard-1 home,” writes Gizmodo:
Other satellites of its time have reentered through Earth's atmosphere, burning up in a fiery death, but Vanguard-1 is still in orbit, silently zooming through the void of space… A team of researchers and engineers from Virginia-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton have put together a proposal on how to retrieve the satellite from space, bringing it back to Earth to study how its equipment has fared over the years, according to a report by Space.com. The team's proposal is detailed in a study published in the Aerospace Research Center earlier this year…
Considering how old Vanguard-1 is, the astronauts would need to handle it with care, according to the team behind the proposal. Before a retrieval attempt, the team suggests that a spacecraft be sent to rendezvous with the satellite to inspect its condition up-close. The engineers suggested partnering with a wealthy space enthusiast willing to fund the outer space venture, or using a SpaceX vehicle to bring the satellite home. Once it's brought back to Earth, experts would examine Vanguard-1 to assess its condition — whether it was struck by space debris, if it's still holding together, and how its time in orbit has affected the satellite. The satellite could then be placed at the Smithsonian for display as a sort of time capsule, a reminder of the history of spaceflight, the team suggests.
“Future missions (space debris removal, materials capture for on-orbit manufacturing, and even deep space exploration) could build on techniques demonstrated in the retrieval of Vanguard 1,” the paper read. “Retrieving Vanguard 1 would be a challenge, but an achievable and invaluable step forward for the entire U.S. space community.”
North Korea
Spy Satellite
North Korea shows off surveillance satellite it claims it can launch
To counter the 'US imperialists and the South Korean puppet villains'
Simon Sharwood - Wed 17 May 2023 05:28 UTC
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has shown off the pariah state's first surveillance satellite.
Military Reconnaissance Satellite No. 1 was showcased on Wednesday by state newswire KCNA – sadly without any details about the orbiter's capabilities.
Kim declared “The successful launch of a military reconnaissance satellite is an urgent request starting from the established national security environment, an accurate implementation process of the Party and the government of the Republic of Korea's top priority policy to strengthen national defense capabilities, and at the same time, the country's space military and science and technology.”
He added the bird is a necessary asset to defend the North from “confrontation maneuvers by the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet villains.”
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/17/north_korea_shows_off_surveillance/
North Korea says it will launch its first-ever military spy satellite to monitor U.S. drills
Tue, May 30 20232:24 AM EDT - Jihye Lee
North Korea announced its plans to launch its first-ever military spy satellite – giving a lift for some South Korean and Japanese defense stocks.
North Korean military official Ri Pyong Chol said in a Monday statement that Pyongyang plans to launch a satellite with the aim to track “dangerous” actions by the U.S., pointing to its recent joint military drills taking with South Korea.
North Korea claimed the event “fully proves how the enemy is making preparations for the military act of aggression on the DPRK,” referring to its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Ri said the satellite — scheduled to be launched in June — will be “indispensable to tracking, monitoring, discriminating, controlling and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces openly revealing their reckless ambition for aggression.”
Rocket Carrying North Korea's First Spy Satellite Crashes Into the Sea
The failed launch triggered false alarms in neighboring Japan and South Korea.
Passant Rabie - 31 May 2023
North Korea’s attempt to launch a military satellite to orbit ended in failure as the rocket suffered a malfunction mid-flight, triggering air raid sirens in neighboring countries. The attempted launch was condemned as a violation of international agreements, but North Korea says it’s determined to carry out a second attempt soon.
The Chollima-1 rocket rocket launched at 5:27 p.m. ET on Tuesday (6:27 a.m. local time on Wednesday) from the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, carrying the Malligyong-1 spy satellite, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported. The rocket lost thrust after the first stage separation due to an “abnormal startup of the engine” on the vehicle’s second stage that may have been caused by an instability in the engine and fuel system, according to KCNA.
https://gizmodo.com/rocket-carrying-north-korean-spy-satellite-crashes-sea-1850490896
North Korean spy satellite launch ends in sea smash
Rather than herald exciting success of best-ever lift-off, state media confirms fiasco. Consider us surprised
Brandon Vigliarolo - Wed 31 May 2023 19:48 UTC
North Korea's attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit has failed and, in a rare case of admitting not everything was sunshine and roses in the “Democratic” People's Republic, state news sources actually confirmed the launch was a disaster.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, military reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 launched this morning atop a new type of rocket, the Chollima-1, from the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, though it didn't get too far.
“The carrier rocket 'Chollima-1' fell to the West Sea of Korea after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine after the separation of the first stage,” state-run media said. According to DPRK state news, the country's National Aerospace Development Agency (NADA) blamed the failure on “low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to the carrier rocket,” as well as the “unstable character” of the fuel used for the launch.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/north_korea_spy_satellite/
North Korea rocket explodes during spy satellite launch, and meteor hunters caught it on camera: report
Elizabeth Howell - Fri, November 24, 2023 at 8:58 AM PST
The first stage of a North Korean rocket apparently exploded Tuesday (Nov. 21) during a purported spy satellite launch, a new video suggests.
A camera at South Korea's Yonsei University, usually used for tracking meteors or shooting stars, showed the first stage of the North Korean Chollima-1 rocket appearing to erupt and spread debris, Reuters reported Friday (Nov. 24).
“This time they appear to have detonated the first stage propellant in mid-air,” Byun Yong-Ik, an astronomy professor at Yonsei University, told Reuters. “This kind of measure was not seen in the previous launch attempts, and it could have been an effort to prevent South Korean and U.S. authorities from recovering the (rocket), as it is equipped with a new engine.”
The activity was classified as unusual by North Korean rocket experts in the report, given that countries typically allow rocket stages to fall naturally into Earth's atmosphere — absent the ability to land the first stage, like SpaceX or Blue Origin does. North Korea has reported an ability to self-destruct rockets on previous launches, too.
https://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-rocket-explodes-during-165855516.html
North Korea readies third attempt at 'spy satellite' launch
What a coincidence! The South is just about to lauch one, too. And it probably won't be junk like the hermit kingdom's recent efforts
Laura Dobberstein - Tue 21 Nov 2023 05:43 UTC
North Korea has notified Japan that its third attempt to launch a satellite will take place between November 22 and December 1.
According to a notice posted by Japan's coast guard, it expects the rocket's trajectory to pass over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.
South Korea is also aware of the military spy satellite’s launch. Defense minister Shin Won-sik reportedly noted over the weekend that the launch is imminent. The minister also pointed out that the hermit kingdom's mission could be timed to launch before the South's first homegown reconnaissance satellite launches on November 30 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/21/north_korea_satellite_launch_attempt/
OneWeb
Bankrupt OneWeb gets FCC approval for another 1,280 broadband satellites
OneWeb can launch up to 2,000 satellites, seeks permission for another 48,000.
Jon Brodkin - 8/27/2020, 12:16 PM
Amid a bankruptcy and a pending sale, OneWeb has secured US approval to offer broadband service from 2,000 satellites.
OneWeb already had Federal Communications Commission approval for a 720-satellite constellation that was green-lit in June 2017. In an order released yesterday, the FCC gave OneWeb approval for another 1,280 satellites.
The first 720 satellites, of which OneWeb has launched 74, are for low Earth orbital altitudes of 1,200km. The additional 1,280 satellites were approved for medium Earth orbits of 8,500km. Both are much lower than the 35,000km geostationary orbits used by traditional satellite-broadband networks, which should result in lower latency and a better experience for Internet users.
OneWeb filed another application in May 2020 to launch a whopping 47,844 satellites at an altitude of 1,200km, but it's not clear how long it would take to get FCC approval. OneWeb's application for 1,280 satellites had been pending for more than three years before the FCC approved it this week. In that intervening time, the FCC adopted several rule changes related to satellite broadband, including an April 2019 order with new licensing rules for one of the spectrum bands that OneWeb eventually got approval to use.
OneWeb launches 36 satellites to join its global broadband constellation on orbit
Darrell Etherington / 4:46 AM PST•December 18, 2020
In a return to active launch, constellation satellite operator OneWeb has sent 36 new satellites to join its existing spacecraft on orbit. This is the third large batch of OneWeb satellites to be delivered, after an initial launch of six in 2019, and then a second and third launch of 34 satellites each in February and March of this year. The company then ran into financial difficulties that led to its filing for bankruptcy protection in March, before emerging from said bankruptcy in July thanks to a deal funded in part by the U.K. government, and in part by Bharti Global. In short, it’s been a year for OneWeb.
UK worries Starlink and OneWeb may interfere with each other, plans new rules
Ofcom says complexity of giant satellite networks raises interference concerns.
Jon Brodkin - 7/26/2021, 2:21 PM
A UK government agency is worried that OneWeb, SpaceX's Starlink, and similar low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-broadband systems could block each others' signals.
Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, proposed new rules today in a report that details its interference concerns. Ofcom also said it intends to amend satellite licenses already issued to SpaceX and OneWeb to require coordination of frequency use. Without new requirements, the risk of interference could prevent competition by shutting new players out of the market, Ofcom said.
Non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) systems are more complex than the traditional geostationary type because they use hundreds or thousands of satellites, Ofcom noted. “Satellite dishes need to track these satellites as they move across the sky, unlike existing satellite networks, where the dishes are fixed pointing at a single satellite which is stationary in the sky,” the Ofcom report said. Because so many low-Earth-orbit satellites are being launched, “there is a risk of satellites from two different operators appearing to be in the same part of the sky,” causing interference known as “in-line events” in which multiple operators' satellites are lined up in the sky, Ofcom wrote.
SpaceX will launch OneWeb’s satellites following Russia's ultimatum
The demands were deemed a non-starter.
Igor Bonifacic - March 21st, 2022
OneWeb will turn to a competitor to ferry its remaining first-generation internet satellites to space after Russia's Roscosmos space agency issued an ultimatum to the company at the start of the month. On Monday, OneWeb announced an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The private firm will ferry the remainder of OneWeb’s constellation fleet, with the first launch scheduled for later this year.
“We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the boundless potential of space,” OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said. “With these launch plans in place, we’re on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites and deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe.”
https://www.engadget.com/space-oneweb-agreement-220556058.html
OneWeb turns to SpaceX for satellite launches
Alternative sought after firm boycotts Russian rockets over Ukraine invasion
Richard Speed - Mon 21 Mar 2022 16:00 UTC
OneWeb will resume construction of its communications satellite constellation courtesy of SpaceX's rockets.
The announcement comes weeks after the UK government-backed company confirmed it would be suspending all launches from the Baikonur spaceport because of the conflict in Ukraine.
OneWeb was close to completing its constellation, aimed at providing high-speed and low-latency connectivity. Its fleet stands at 428 satellites, 66 per cent of the total, and had expected to complete the constellation this year. However, having sent up batches of 34 or 36 satellites a time on Russian Soyuz rockets, the fun came to an abrupt end after a 10 February launch from the Arianespace facility in Kourou, French Guiana.
The next launch was due from Baikonur on 5 March, but after increasingly shrill demands from Russian space agency Roscosmos, including a call for the UK government to drop its stake in the company, OneWeb and its board voted to suspend the remaining six upcoming launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
OneWeb turns to a competitor—SpaceX—to complete its constellation
“We're on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites.”
Eric Berger - 3/21/2022, 7:38 AM
OneWeb announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with SpaceX to complete OneWeb's constellation of low-Earth-orbit broadband satellites.
This decision was necessitated after the UK-based OneWeb decided it could no longer launch on Russia's Soyuz rocket following the war against Ukraine. The Russian invasion occurred just days before 34 OneWeb satellites were due to launch on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan. In response to Western sanctions, Russia placed extraordinary demands on OneWeb in return for conducting the launch scheduled for March 4, and the launch ultimately did not take place. Those satellites remain in Kazakhstan for now.
Effectively, this ended OneWeb's agreement with Russia for satellite launches. The Soyuz had launched nearly all 428 of the company's satellites that are presently in orbit. The company had planned to use the Soyuz rocket to complete its first-generation constellation of 648 satellites by the end of 2022. Using Arianespace as an intermediary, OneWeb had already paid for those six launches. Russia has vowed not to return the money.
SpaceX Rival Loses Hundreds of Millions Over Cancelled Russian Launches
British company OneWeb had to terminate a lucrative contract after Russia put forth a list of unreasonable demands.
Passant Rabie - 7 September 2022 2:30PM
British satellite company OneWeb is claiming to have suffered a major financial blow after having to cancel launches aboard Russian Soyuz rockets, and as the Russian space agency refuses to return 36 of the company’s satellites.
The turbulent end to the company’s contract caused OneWeb to lose $229 million, as revealed in its annual financial report. The gigantic hit is the result of its satellites not being returned by Russia, and also the loss of pre-payments. Here’s the exact wording from OneWeb’s report:
https://gizmodo.com/oneweb-loses-229-million-following-canceled-russian-la-1849506030
OneWeb Has Given Up on Trying to Get Its Hijacked Satellites Back From Russia
Russia is refusing to return 36 OneWeb internet satellites following a sanctions-provoked fallout with the British company.
Passant Rabie - 15 March 2023
British satellite company OneWeb is counting its losses, and not its satellites. Following a fallout with the Russian space agency that led to 36 of its satellites being held captive in Kazakhstan, a company official said that they have “moved on.”
In an interview with Reuters, OneWeb chief executive Neil Masterson said that the company is no longer trying to retrieve its satellites from Russia. “I spend no time thinking about it. We’ve completely moved on,” Masterson is quoted as saying. “There is value getting them back, but I can tell you that I’m not getting them back any time soon.” Yikes, it sounds like something someone might say after a bad breakup to try and convince everyone that they’re fine.
https://gizmodo.com/oneweb-internet-satellites-hijacked-russia-sanctions-1850234541
Outage 2025
Rival to SpaceX’s Starlink Goes Dark After Failing to Account for Leap Year
OneWeb managed to restore its services after a 48-hour outage.
Passant Rabie - January 3, 2025
French satellite operator Eutelsat failed to account for last year’s leap year, leading to an embarrassing service outage that lasted for 48 hours.
OneWeb’s satellite constellation restored internet services after an outage that began on December 31, 2024, Eutelsat confirmed on Thursday. “The root cause was identified as a software issue within the ground segment,” the company wrote in a brief statement. “The constellation is operating nominally once again.”
Joanna Darlington, Eutelsat chief communications and investor relations officer, told Via Satellite that the 2024 leap year “seems to be the most likely cause” for the software glitch. Failing to account for an additional day this year likely disrupted the internet constellation’s software, resulting in the temporary disruption.
Eutelsat OneWeb blames 366th day for 48-hour date disaster
Leap year curse strikes satellite broadband vendor
Richard Speed - Mon 6 Jan 2025 15:22 UTC
Eutelsat's OneWeb constellation suffered a date-related meltdown last week while the rest of the IT world patted itself on the back for averting the Y2K catastrophe a quarter of a century ago.
The satellite broadband service fell over on December 31, 2024, for 48 hours. According to Eutelsat, “the root cause was identified as a software issue within the ground segment.” Issues began just after 0000 UTC, and it took until January 1 to get 80 percent of the network operational. By the morning of January 2, everything was working again.
A spokesperson told The Register: “We can confirm that the issue was caused by a leap year problem, related to day 366 in 2024, which impacted the manual calculation for the GPS-to-UTC offset.”
An issue related to the number of days in a leap year will have many software engineers stroking their chins thoughtfully. While it is usually the extra day itself that can cause the odd issue or two, failing to take it into account when rolling into a new year can also cause headaches, as evidenced by OneWeb's woes.
Eutelsat OneWeb, a Starlink competitor, completed its low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation in 2023. The company has more than 630 satellites, far fewer than the thousands of Starlink spacecraft, but enough to maintain connectivity. Assuming the code on the ground knows about leap years.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/06/eutelsat_oneweb_leap_year/
Orion
Gunter's Space Page
Krebs, Gunter D - 25 January 2022
Citation: Krebs, Gunter D. “Orion 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12”. Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/orion-5_nro.htm
The Orion 5 - 9 (RIO 5 - 9) satellites, which are generally known as 'Advanced Orion' or 'Mentor', are geostationary signals intelligence satellites, which replaced the earlier Mission 7600 Magnum / Orion series. Their purpose is to intercept missile telemetry from Russia and China and the COMINT capability of the Mission 7500 Mercury satellites was merged into this series. These satellites are launched under the designation Mission 8300.
Although this satellite series was originally designed for FISINT (Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence), they are now primarily used as COMINT collectors, with about 85% of their work is againt COMINT targets. Some were collocated with Thuraya mobile communications satellites to tap into the satellite mobile phone communications of this system.
These satellites feature a large dish antenna for signal reception, which has reportedly a diameter of ~100 m. The main body has the shape of an octagonal prism, carrying an large array of different antennas, among them a smaller deployable dish. The combination of fixed and steerable feeds allows simultaneous collection againt multiple signal types (COMINT, ELINT, MASINT, etc.) located across a broad geographic aera. The satellites of this series are injected directly into the final orbit by the launch vehicle's upper stage, so they do not feature an apogee propulsion system.
Parcae
A Spy Satellite You’ve Never Heard of Helped Win the Cold War
The Parcae project revolutionized electronic eavesdropping
Ivan Amato - 21 Jan 2025
In the early 1970s, the Cold War had reached a particularly frigid moment, and U.S. military and intelligence officials had a problem. The Soviet Navy was becoming a global maritime threat—and the United States did not have a global ocean-surveillance capability. Adding to the alarm was the emergence of a new Kirov class of nuclear-powered guided-missile battle cruisers, the largest Soviet vessels yet. For the United States, this situation meant that the perilous equilibrium of mutual assured destruction, MAD, which so far had dissuaded either side from launching a nuclear strike, could tilt in the wrong direction.
It would be up to a top-secret satellite program called Parcae to help keep the Cold War from suddenly toggling to hot. The engineers working on Parcae would have to build the most capable orbiting electronic intelligence system ever.
“It was becoming obvious what the challenges were,” says Lee M. Hammarstrom, an electrical engineer who over a 40-year period beginning in the 1960s was in the thick of classified Cold-War technology development. His work included the kind of satellite-based intelligence systems that could fill the surveillance gap. The Soviet Union’s expanding naval presence in the 1970s came on the heels of its growing prowess in antiaircraft and antiballistic missile capabilities, he notes. “We were under MAD at this time, so if the Soviets had a way to negate our strikes, they might have considered striking first.”
RocketLab
RocketLab’s “Return to Sender” launch does exactly what was promised
First stage recovered, garden gnome sent to space.
John Timmer - 11/20/2020, 9:15 AM
The small satellite launch company RocketLab made its first successful recovery of its Electron rocket after it had sent a collection of payloads toward orbit. While this rocket itself isn't going to be reused, the company expects that it will get valuable data from sensors that returned to Earth with the vehicle. The satellite launch was a success as well, an important validation after the loss of seven satellites earlier this year.
As an added bonus, the company sent a garden gnome to space for charity.
Rocket Lab tested its parachute system on a live booster for the first time
It's all part of the company's plan to make its Electron rockets reusable.
Andrew Tarantola - November 20, 2020
New Zealand’s Rocket Lab successfully launched argo of 30 cube satellites into a 500 km wide arc in low Earth orbit during its sixth mission of the year on Thursday. More importantly, this launch served as the first live test of the first stage recovery parachute system – a crucial step in the company’s quest to evolve the Electron into a reusable rocket.
The prospective launch took off from Rocket Lab’s Complex 1 site on the Mahia Peninsula. The parachute test itself, dubbed the Return to Sender mission, follows earlier trials held in May when the company dropped a sensor-laden, parachute-equipped dummy rocket from a helicopter at 8,000 feet only to have it be caught by a second helicopter 3,000 feet below. And while this test saw the booster stage splash down for a water landing and retrieval, the company plans to continue snatching them out of the sky once the system is fully developed.
Rocket Lab launches US Space Force satellite after its failed mission in May
The company founder praised the team for a 'flawless' launch.
Mariella Moon - July 29th, 2021
Rocket Lab has successfully launched a US military satellite in its first mission since its 20th Electron launch ended up in failure back in May. The company's Electron rocket made its way to space from its New Zealand launch site, carrying a small demonstration satellite from the US Space Force called the Monolith. Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO, tweeted shortly after the event that the payload was deployed and praised the team for a “flawless” launch.
https://www.engadget.com/rocket-lab-launches-us-space-force-satellite-103541725.html?src=rss
Russian
ROS / Russian Orbital Station
Russia is about to do the most Russia thing ever with its next space station
“Russia, meanwhile, will be left to carry on the legacy of the ISS, with all its problems.”
Eric Berger – Dec 19, 2025 8:04 AM
For several years now, in discussing plans for its human spaceflight program beyond the International Space Station, Russian officials would proudly bring up the Russian Orbital Station, or ROS.
The first elements of ROS were to launch in 2027 so it would be ready for human habitation in 2028. Upon completion in the mid-2030s, the station would encompass seven shiny new modules, potentially including a private habitat for space tourists. It would be so sophisticated that the station could fly autonomously for months if needed.
Importantly, the Russian station was also to fly in a polar orbit at about 400 km. This would allow the station to fly over the entirety of Russia, observing the whole country. It would be important for national pride because cosmonauts would not need to launch from Kazakhstan anymore. Rather, rockets launching from the country’s new spaceport in eastern Russia, the Vostochny Cosmodrome, would easily reach the ROS in its polar orbit.
That was the plan, at least until this week, when a Russian official dropped a bombshell.
Satellite Internet
Starlink vs. Viasat vs. HughsNet: Satellite Internet Compared
Starlink is the new satellite internet kid on the block, but how does it stack up against the OGs?
By Rahul Nambiampurath - 5 October 2021
Satellite internet is often the only option in mountainous, rural, and other sparsely populated regions. Traditionally, satellite internet solutions are pricier than both landlines and mobile internet. At the same time, it is notable for a high latency connection, making it a poor choice for online gamers.
This is all changing as Elon Musk's Starlink network of satellites is steadily deployed across the planet's orbit. Find out what it brings to the table compared to traditional satellite service providers—Viasat and HughesNet.
https://www.makeuseof.com/starlink-vs-viasat-vs-hughsnet-satellite-internet-compared/
Two of Europe's Biggest Internet Satellite Companies Are Merging To Take On Starlink
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday July 27, 2022 12:00AM
Internet satellite operators OneWeb and Eutelsat are planning to merge in the hopes of becoming a stronger rival to SpaceX's Starlink. Engadget reports:
The merger, which is subject to approval from regulators and Eutelsat shareholders, is expected to close by mid-2023 and it values OneWeb at $3.4 billion. Shareholders of OneWeb and Eutelsat will each own half of the combined company. Eutelsat has a fleet of 36 geostationary orbit satellites. These will be combined with OneWeb's cluster of low-earth orbit satellites, which can provide internet access from the skies. OneWeb currently has 428 satellites in orbit of a planned 648 in its first-generation network.
Satellite Terminal
SATCOM terminals under attack in Europe: a plausible analysis.
March 07, 2022
February 24th: at the same time Russia initiated a full-scale attack on Ukraine, tens of thousands of KA-SAT SATCOM terminals suddenly stopped working in several european countries: Germany, Ukraine, Greece, Hungary, Poland…Germany's Enercon moved forward and acknowledged that approximately 5800 of its wind turbines, presumably those remotely operated via a SATCOM link in central Europe, had lost contact with their SCADA server. In the affected countries, a significant part of the customers of Eutelsat's domestic broadband service were also unable to access Internet.
From the very beginning Eutelsat and its parent company Viasat, stated that the issue was being investigated as a cyberattack. Since then, details have been scarcely provided but few days ago I came across a really interesting video in the following tweet.
https://www.reversemode.com/2022/03/satcom-terminals-under-attack-in-europe.html
Mystery solved in destructive attack that knocked out >10k Viasat modems
AcidRain is the seventh wiper associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Dan Goodin - 3/31/2022, 1:19 PM
Viasat—the high-speed-satellite-broadband provider whose modems were knocked out in Ukraine and other parts of Europe earlier in March—confirmed a theory by third-party researchers that new wiper malware with possible ties to the Russian government was responsible for the attack.
In a report published Thursday, researchers at SentinelOne said they uncovered the new modem wiper and named it AcidRain. The researchers said AcidRain shared multiple technical similarities to parts of VPNFilter, a piece of malware that infected more than 500,000 home and small-office modems in the US. Multiple US government agencies—first the FBI and later organizations including the National Security Agency—all attributed the modem malware to Russian state threat actors.
Modem-wiping malware caused Viasat satellite broadband outage in Europe
And software nasty may have a VPNFilter link, too
Jessica Lyons Hardcastle - Fri 1 Apr 2022 07:25 UTC
Tens of thousands of Viasat satellite broadband modems disabled in a cyber-attack some weeks ago were wiped by malware with possible links to Russia's destructive VPNFilter, according to SentinelOne.
On February 24, as Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Viasat terminals in Europe and Ukraine were suddenly and unexpectedly knocked offline and rendered inoperable. This caused, among other things, thousands of wind turbines in Germany to lose satellite internet connectivity needed for remote monitoring and control.
Earlier this week, Viasat provided some details about the outage: it blamed a poorly configured VPN appliance, which allowed a miscreant to access a trusted management segment of Viasat's KA-SAT satellite network.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/01/sentinelone_wiper_viasat/
Security
(See also: Hacking (above)
Satellites Are Lagging Years Behind on Cybersecurity
Researchers discovered six different vulnerabilities across three separate research satellites and 13 separate vulnerabilities in total.
Mack DeGeurin - 20 July 2023
Space companies and telecommunication providers are racing to litter the Earth’s skies with tens of thousands of new twinkling satellites capable of completing a vast variety of tasks, from research and internet communication to military espionage. Up until now, the security practices of these hefty floating computers have remained more or less a black box. But new academic research shedding light on the practice shadows satellite manufacturers may be neglecting basic cybersecurity considerations in their haste to blast new satellites up into orbit.
The research, led by Ruhr University Bochum Ph.D. student Johannes Willbold, discovered multiple vulnerabilities and a lack of simple protections in three research satellites. In general, the researchers say the space domain has lagged behind security research by about ten years. That lack of up-to-date security can carry heavy costs. In theory, the researchers say bad actors could potentially exploit vulnerabilities to seize full control of a satellite and send it crashing into others causing a violent chain reaction of space debris.
https://gizmodo.com/satellites-are-lagging-years-behind-on-cybersecurity-1850659491
Sentinel
Could a leaky capacitor be at fault on ESA's Sentinel-1B?
Prepare your 'turn it off and on' jokes as engineers get ready to flip the heaters
Richard Speed - Mon 25 Apr 2022 17:30 UTC
Attempts to recover ESA's stricken Sentinel-1B satellite are continuing and one of the failure scenarios engineers are considering will be familiar to some of us: possible leakage of a ceramic capacitor.
The satellite, launched in 2016 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Arianespace facility at Kourou in French Guiana, remains under control. However, power problems have rendered its C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR) instrument pretty much useless, thus defeating the point of the spacecraft.
Sister spacecraft, Sentinel-1A, has continued to collect data despite recently having to dodge some debris.
Sierra Space
Sierra Space joins defense primes in landing massive military satellite contract
Aria Alamalhodaei - 16 January 2024
Sierra Space is joining Rocket Lab as a current or formerly VC-backed space company to land a major satellite deal with the military.
The Space Development Agency (SDA) selected Sierra, along with Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, to build 54 satellites in deals collectively worth $2.5 billion. The news, announced today, follows news from last week that Rocket Lab landed a similar contract for up to $515 million.
The award, as well as Rocket Lab’s, shows that more and more companies are looking to take a slice of a market that until now had been the exclusive domain of defense primes: military satellites. Most recently, Sierra closed a $290 million Series B round that skyrocketed its valuation to $5.3 billion.
The 54 satellites will form part of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a massive missile detection and tracking constellation in low Earth orbit that’s being built and launched in “tranches.” The trio of contracts announced today is for 18 satellites each in the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer: L3Harris’s award is worth $919 million; Lockheed Martin, $890 million; and Sierra Space, $740 million.
Space Station (General)
Billionaires and Tech Barons Vying To Build a Private Space Station
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday January 04, 2025 09:34PM
“Private space stations have been raising billions of dollars in an effort to build future hubs — and even one day cities — in orbit,” according to a recent report from the U.K. newspaper, the Telegraph:
Axiom Space, a US business aiming to build its own station, has raised more than $500m (£400m). Vast, a space business backed by crypto billionaire Jed McCaleb, is plotting two stations before the end of the decade. Gravitics, meanwhile, has raised tens of millions of dollars for its modular space “real estate”. Nasa itself, along with other space agencies, is planning a further station, Lunar Gateway, which will orbit the Moon. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin has also announced plans to build a space station by 2027, called Orbital Reef, which it has described as an orbital “mixed-use business park”. Working with US aerospace business Sierra Space, Orbital Reef will be made up of inflatable pods, which can be launched on a regular rocket before being “blown up” in space. Sierra Space says these modules could house in-space manufacturing or pharmaceutical technology…
Since 2021, Nasa has also offered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to private companies to develop commercial space stations that could succeed the ISS. So far, it has handed $400m to companies including Axiom, Blue Origin (which is working with Sierra Space), and Northrop Grumman… Vast hopes to launch its first space station, Haven-1, as soon as 2025. This simple module will be the first privately-run space station and will be occupied by a crew of four over four two week expeditions… While Vast was not one of the businesses to secure funding from Nasa, it hopes by launching the first proof-of-concept space station as soon as next year it can leapfrog rival efforts and claim the agency as an anchor customer. From there, it can target other space agencies or companies looking to conduct research.
SpaceX
Starlink Satellites
MuskFiles (@muskfiles@ioc.exchange) - May 28, 2024, 20:58 / Edited May 30, 2024 10;12
Starlink satellites, launched by SpaceX, are primarily known for their commercial and military communication purposes. However, SpaceX's recent $1.8 billion contract to develop a constellation of spy satellites and its agreements with the Space Development Agency (SDA) suggest that the company's ambitions with Starlink and Starshield extend further.
The concept of large satellite constellations in low Earth orbit (LEO) has its roots in the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This Cold War-era program aimed to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons by intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Satellites positioned closer to Earth in LEO can swiftly target and track objects on the ground, providing both low-latency communication and high-resolution sensing capabilities. They also hold the potential for offensive actions, such as deploying interceptors to shoot down rockets or ICBMs during their vulnerable boost phase.
Company
SpaceX Changed the Economics of Spaceflight. Now It's Doing the Same Thing to Satellite Cost.
Rich Smith – Nov 16, 2025 at 6:06AM
Key Points - Viasat reported earnings last week. It's still losing money – but that's almost beside the point. - Viasat just launched a single 1 Tbps satellite for 15 times the cost SpaceX will pay to launch 60. - And every Viasat satellite costs 666 times what it costs SpaceX to build a single Starlink V3.
The laws of economics are cruel – and not at all favorable to Viasat.
The third time was the charm.
Twice in the past week, United Launch Alliance (ULA) had to “scrub” attempts to launch a new ViaSat-3 F2 communications satellite for customer Viasat, both times due to technical issues with oxygen valves on the ULA Atlas V launch vehicle. On Thursday night, Nov. 13, ULA finally succeeded on its third attempt, and got the satellite into orbit.
Success put the second of a constellation of three massive 7-ton ViaSat-3 satellites into geostationary orbit roughly 22,000 miles from Earth. It also helps to repair the disaster that struck Viasat in 2023, when the first of these giant satellites suffered an antenna malfunction that rendered that satellite largely inoperable, and turned this space stock's $700 million investment in building and launching the satellite into a loss.
This disaster illustrated the danger of Viasat's business model, putting all of its space eggs in just two or three baskets, such that the loss of any one not only cost the company its investment, but hobbled the revenue stream Viasat expected to collect from using the satellite over its 15-year lifespan. But as it turns out, Viasat's lessons don't end there.
The more I learn about Viasat's satellites, the more I become convinced this company simply cannot compete with SpaceX.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/11/16/spacex-changed-the-economics-of-spaceflight-now-it/
NRO
SpaceX Launches First Satellites For New US Spy Constellation
Posted by BeauHD on Friday May 24, 2024 12:00AM
fjo3 quotes a report from Reuters:
SpaceX on Wednesday launched an inaugural batch of operational spy satellites it built as part of a new U.S. intelligence network designed to significantly upgrade the country's space-based surveillance powers, the first deployment of several more planned this year. The spy network was revealed in a pair of Reuters reports earlier this year showing SpaceX is building hundreds of satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency, for a vast system in orbit capable of rapidly spotting ground targets almost anywhere in the world.
Starshield
SpaceX Unveils 'Starshield,' a Military Variation of Starlink Satellites
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday December 06, 2022 02:00AM
Elon Musk's SpaceX is expanding its Starlink satellite technology into military applications with a new business line called Starshield. CNBC reports:
“While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use,” the company wrote on its website. Few details are available about the intended scope and capabilities of Starshield. The company hasn't previously announced tests or work on Starshield technology.
SpaceX chases government cash with Starshield satellites
If Starshield smells like Space-BACN, that's because it probably is
Brandon Vigliarolo - Tue 6 Dec 2022 17:45 UTC
SpaceX is developing a new satellite fleet designed for government use.
The Musk-owned space company didn't so much announce Starshield as it simply added it to its website without many specifics, as is to be expected from a satellite program designed with the national security in mind.
According to SpaceX's Starshield page, the satellites will function as a “secured satellite network for government entities” that will use the same basic tech as Starlink, though with extra capabilities focused on three areas: Earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.
The latter category refers to Starshield satellite buses, the main body of the satellite, being built “to support the most demanding customer payload missions.” In other words, Starshield is modular enough to support lots of different types of hardware built by government customers.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/06/starshield_spacex_satellites/
SpaceX is reportedly building hundreds of spy satellites for the US government
According to Reuters, SpaceX is developing a ‘Starshield’ swarm for the DoD’s National Reconnaissance Office.
Cheyenne MacDonald - Sun, Mar 17, 2024, 8:00 AM PDT
SpaceX has been contracted by the Department of Defense’s National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to build a network of hundreds of low-orbiting spy satellites capable of operating as a swarm and tracking targets on the ground, according to Reuters. The Reuters report, which cites five sources with knowledge of the program, builds on earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal that revealed SpaceX had signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with an unnamed agency.
This network, called Starshield, would reportedly be able to gather continuous imagery all over Earth for US intelligence, using a mix of large imaging satellites to collect data and relay satellites to transmit information. According to one source who spoke to Reuters, it has the potential to make it so “no one can hide.” Neither SpaceX nor the NRO directly confirmed the company’s involvement in the project, but an NRO spokesperson told Reuters, “The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen.”
SpaceX Working on Hundreds of Swarming Spy Satellites for U.S. Intelligence Agency
SpaceX signed a contract with NRO for the classified program in 2021, according to Reuters.
Matt Novak - 17 March 2024
SpaceX is working with the National Reconnaissance Office to build a classified system of swarming spy satellites, according to a report published by Reuters. And while the $1.8 billion contract was reportedly signed in 2021, news of the program’s ties to NRO just leaked on Saturday—a great reminder that it’s entirely possible for some tech companies to do highly classified work for years without the public learning about it.
The new satellite spy network is being built under SpaceX’s Starshield unit, which also manages Starlink satellite internet. The program is described by Reuters as consisting of, “hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits.”
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-elon-musk-spy-satellites-swarming-nro-starshield-1851342979
SpaceX building hundreds of spy satellites for US government, report says
Satellites to “track targets on the ground” for US intelligence, Reuters writes.
Jon Brodkin - 3/18/2024, 9:40 AM
SpaceX is “building a network of hundreds of spy satellites” for a US intelligence agency under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021, Reuters reported on Saturday. Reuters cited “five sources familiar with the program” in its report on SpaceX's classified contract with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a Defense Department agency that deploys surveillance satellites and calls itself the “global leader in space-based intelligence.”
“The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with US intelligence and military officials, the sources said,” according to Reuters. The newly reported details are consistent with a Wall Street Journal report in February 2024 that said SpaceX had “entered into a $1.8 billion classified contract with the US government in 2021.”
Reuters wrote that it “was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online” but stated that about a dozen prototype satellites have been launched in the past few years. The prototypes reportedly launched “among other satellites on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets.”
SpaceX, of course, has deployed thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites for its Starlink division that provides broadband service to consumer, business, and government customers. The spy satellites for the NRO also operate in low-Earth orbits, the Reuters report said.
A classified network of SpaceX satellites is emitting a mysterious signal
October 17, 20255:00 AM ET - Geoff Brumfiel
A constellation of classified defense satellites built by the commercial company SpaceX is emitting a mysterious signal that may violate international standards, NPR has learned.
Satellites associated with the Starshield satellite network appear to be transmitting to the Earth's surface on frequencies normally used for doing the exact opposite: sending commands from Earth to satellites in space. The use of those frequencies to “downlink” data runs counter to standards set by the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency that seeks to coordinate the use of radio spectrum globally.
Starshield's unusual transmissions have the potential to interfere with other scientific and commercial satellites, warns Scott Tilley, an amateur satellite tracker in Canada who first spotted the signals.
“Nearby satellites could receive radio-frequency interference and could perhaps not respond properly to commands — or ignore commands — from Earth,” he told NPR.
Outside experts agree there's the potential for radio interference. “I think it is definitely happening,” said Kevin Gifford, a computer science professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder who specializes in radio interference from spacecraft. But he said the issue of whether the interference is truly disruptive remains unresolved.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5575254/spacex-starshield-starlink-signal
A Classified Network of SpaceX Satellites Is Emitting a Mysterious Signal
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday October 18, 2025 12:00AM
A network of classified Starshield satellites built by SpaceX for the U.S. government is transmitting signals on radio frequencies reserved for Earth-to-space commands. According to NPR, it may violate international standards. From the report:
Satellites associated with the Starshield satellite network appear to be transmitting to the Earth's surface on frequencies normally used for doing the exact opposite: sending commands from Earth to satellites in space. The use of those frequencies to “downlink” data runs counter to standards set by the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency that seeks to coordinate the use of radio spectrum globally.
Starshield's unusual transmissions have the potential to interfere with other scientific and commercial satellites, warns Scott Tilley, an amateur satellite tracker in Canada who first spotted the signals. “Nearby satellites could receive radio-frequency interference and could perhaps not respond properly to commands – or ignore commands – from Earth,” he told NPR.
Outside experts agree there's the potential for radio interference. “I think it is definitely happening,” said Kevin Gifford, a computer science professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder who specializes in radio interference from spacecraft. But he said the issue of whether the interference is truly disruptive remains unresolved. […] Tilley says he's detected signals from 170 of the Starshield satellites so far. All appear in the 2025-2110 MHz range, though the precise frequencies of the signals move around.
US spy satellites built by SpaceX send signals in the “wrong direction”
It seems US didn’t coordinate Starshield’s unusual spectrum use with other countries.
Jon Brodkin – Nov 14, 2025 4:00 AM
About 170 Starshield satellites built by SpaceX for the US government’s National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have been sending signals in the wrong direction, a satellite researcher found.
The SpaceX-built spy satellites are helping the NRO greatly expand its satellite surveillance capabilities, but the purpose of these signals is unknown. The signals are sent from space to Earth in a frequency band that’s allocated internationally for Earth-to-space and space-to-space transmissions.
There have been no public complaints of interference caused by the surprising Starshield emissions. But the researcher who found them says they highlight a troubling lack of transparency in how the US government manages the use of spectrum and a failure to coordinate spectrum usage with other countries.
Scott Tilley, an engineering technologist and amateur radio astronomer in British Columbia, discovered the signals in late September or early October while working on another project. He found them in various parts of the 2025–2110 MHz band, and from his location, he was able to confirm that 170 satellites were emitting the signals over Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Given the global nature of the Starshield constellation, the signals may be emitted over other countries as well.
“This particular band is allocated by the ITU [International Telecommunication Union], the United States, and Canada primarily as an uplink band to spacecraft on orbit—in other words, things in space, so satellite receivers will be listening on these frequencies,” Tilley told Ars. “If you’ve got a loud constellation of signals blasting away on the same frequencies, it has the potential to interfere with the reception of ground station signals being directed at satellites on orbit.”
In the US, users of the 2025–2110 MHz portion of the S-Band include NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as nongovernmental users like TV news broadcasters that have vehicles equipped with satellite dishes to broadcast from remote locations.
US spy satellites built by SpaceX send signals in the “wrong direction”
It seems US didn’t coordinate Starshield’s unusual spectrum use with other countries.
Jon Brodkin – Nov 14, 2025 4:00 AM
About 170 Starshield satellites built by SpaceX for the US government’s National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have been sending signals in the wrong direction, a satellite researcher found.
The SpaceX-built spy satellites are helping the NRO greatly expand its satellite surveillance capabilities, but the purpose of these signals is unknown. The signals are sent from space to Earth in a frequency band that’s allocated internationally for Earth-to-space and space-to-space transmissions.
There have been no public complaints of interference caused by the surprising Starshield emissions. But the researcher who found them says they highlight a troubling lack of transparency in how the US government manages the use of spectrum and a failure to coordinate spectrum usage with other countries.
Scott Tilley, an engineering technologist and amateur radio astronomer in British Columbia, discovered the signals in late September or early October while working on another project. He found them in various parts of the 2025–2110 MHz band, and from his location, he was able to confirm that 170 satellites were emitting the signals over Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Given the global nature of the Starshield constellation, the signals may be emitted over other countries as well.
Spire Global
A New Constellation of Satellites Will Monitor Flights in Real-Time
The surveillance system will determine the position of a plane by geolocating its radio frequency signals.
Passant Rabie - 25 July 2023
Flight tracking data may soon come from space with the design of a new aviation surveillance system that will rely on satellites in Earth orbit.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced a new agreement with space-based data company Spire Global to provide real-time surveillance of flights using a constellation of satellites. The civilian aviation surveillance system, named Eurialo, will be able to locate the radio frequency signals of a plane and determine its exact position.
Today, the positions of planes are recorded by radar that moves through airspace and bounces off objects that it encounters. The distance between the source of the wave to the impact is measured, and that determines the position of the objects. That system has its shortcomings, however, as mountains, tall buildings, or large bodies of water could stand in the way and hinder a receiver’s ability to obtain the signal.
Surveillance systems of planes also rely on self-reported positions of aircraft from the Global Navigation Satellite System, according to ESA.
https://gizmodo.com/esa-satellites-will-monitor-flights-in-real-time-1850674868
Spy Satellite
American
Top Secret KH-11 Spysat Design Revealed By NRO’s Twin Telescope Gift to NASA
By Craig Covault, on June 6th, 2012
The design of the legendary National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) KH-11 type digital imaging reconnaissance spacecraft, top secret for 36 years, has been revealed by the NRO’s transfer to NASA of two surplus recon satellite telescopes which NASA now hopes can be outfitted to look up instead of down.
NRO says the telescopes which have high tech lightweight mirrors far more advanced than Hubble’s were manufactured between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Senior NASA and university astronomers have inspected the twin mirrored optics and found them to be superior to the Hubble Space Telescope for detecting and imaging extrasolar planets and gathering evidence to define dark energy. Highly mysterious dark energy accounts for 70% of gravitational-like forces in the cosmos that are now pushing continued expansion of the universe.
SpaceX and Northrop are working on a constellation of spy satellites
First launch of these operational vehicles may occur next month from California.
Eric Berger - 4/18/2024, 12:54 PM
SpaceX is reportedly working with at least one major US defense contractor, Northrop Grumman, on a constellation of spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office.
According to Reuters, development of the network of hundreds of spy satellites by SpaceX is being coordinated with multiple contractors to avoid putting too much control of a highly sensitive intelligence program in the hands of one company.
“It is in the government's interest to not be totally invested in one company run by one person,” one of the news agency's sources said, most likely referring to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Northrop will provide sensors for a subset of the satellites in the constellation—at least 50 of them—and test those spacecraft at its own facility prior to their launch into orbit, Reuters reports.
Northrop Grumman Working With SpaceX On US Spy Satellite System
Posted by BeauHD on Friday April 19, 2024 12:00AM
Longtime Slashdot reader SonicSpike shares a report from Reuters:
Aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman is working with SpaceX […] on a classified spy satellite project already capturing high-resolution imagery of the Earth, according to people familiar with the program. The program, details of which were first reported by Reuters last month, is meant to enhance the U.S. government's ability to track military and intelligence targets from low-Earth orbits, providing high-resolution imagery of a kind that had traditionally been captured mostly by drones and reconnaissance aircraft. The inclusion of Northrop Grumman, which has not been previously reported, reflects a desire among government officials to avoid putting too much control of a highly-sensitive intelligence program in the hands of one contractor, four people familiar with the project told Reuters. 'It is in the government's interest to not be totally invested in one company run by one person,' one of the people said.
Caught on camera: Satellite tracker photographs secret spacecraft
“My images have certainly revealed a few things that either were not known, or only were speculated before.”
Leonard David - 19 September 2024
In the hush-hush, secretive world of space-based spy satellites, few details are publicly available — and groups like the U.S. Space Force, National Reconnaissance Office, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency like it that way.
There's an armada of classified spacecraft assigned an array of vigilant duties. Some intercept radio waves or detect missile launches. Others yield close-up looks at select areas using sharp-eyed optical systems or scan Earth with powerful radar technology.
These high-flying satellites are tempting targets for amateur astrophotographers. Such is the case for space watcher veteran Felix Schöfbänker in Upper Austria. “My images have certainly revealed a few things that either were not known, or only were speculated before,” Schöfbänker tells Space.com.
In the past few months Schöfbänker has caught some classified spy satellites with his 14” Dobsonian telescope, optimized for satellite tracking and imaging from his home. Poring over imagery, he is sharing his results and what those images suggest.
Amateur Astronomer Catches Fleeting Glimpse of Secret Spy Satellite
The spacecraft is in an unusual orbit and features a different design compared to its counterparts.
Passant Rabie - September 25, 2024
An avid sky watcher from Austria photographed a top secret spacecraft launched by the Pentagon that’s like no other he’s seen before.
Astrophotographer Felix Schöfbänker used a 14-inch Dobsonian telescope to capture the image of the satellite, which is known as USA 290. He shares his images on AstroBin, an image hosting platform for amateur astronomers.
Unlike other spy satellites he’s photographed before, this one caught Schöfbänker’s attention because it had a different design and follows a unique orbit, he told Space.com. The satellite launched in 2019 on board a Delta IV rocket. It’s described as “a top secret surveillance payload owned by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO),” according to NASA. USA 290, however, doesn’t look like a KH-11, or the most common model of spy satellites launched by the U.S.
https://gizmodo.com/amateur-astronomer-catches-fleeting-glimpse-of-secret-spy-satellite-2000502890
Russian
A Russian Satellite Appears To Be Shadowing an American Spy Satellite
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday February 02, 2020 07:34PM
“A Russian satellite has positioned itself uncomfortably close to an American spy satellite in orbit around Earth…” reports the Verge, adding that the Russian satellite “has been in constant view of its U.S. target for nearly two weeks now.”
An anonymous reader quotes The Drive:
Russia has a number of what it calls “space apparatus inspectors” in orbit, which the U.S. government and others warn the Kremlin could use to gather intelligence on other satellites or function as “killer satellites,” using various means to damage, disable, or destroy those targets.
Newly Launched Russian Spy Satellite Might Be Stalking a US Military Satellite
Experts say it's not a coincidence that the two satellites are sharing the same orbit.
Passant Rabie - 3 August 2022 4:55PM
Russia just launched a mysterious satellite that could be spying on an even more mysterious U.S. military satellite, with the Russian spacecraft predicted to make a close approach to its presumed target this coming Thursday.
Before it launched on Monday, speculation already existed that the Russian satellite would be considered a so-called “inspector” satellite—one that stalks other satellites to sneak a closer look. The spy satellite, poised to receive the designation Kosmos 2558, launched into the same orbital plane as a U.S. military satellite, dubbed USA 326, that flew to space in February. Marco Langbroek, an astrodynamics lecturer at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, tracked the orbital plane of the two satellites and found that the Russian satellite was launched at a time that coincided with the U.S. satellite passing over the Russian spaceport Plesetsk.
https://gizmodo.com/newly-launched-russian-spy-satellite-might-be-stalking-1849366620
Russia wants a better look at what America’s newest spy satellite can do
Spying in space does not violate any international norms.
Eric Berger - 8/3/2022, 9:46 AM
A Russian Soyuz rocket launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Monday around midnight local time. The military mission's payload was classified but has been designated Kosmos 2558 for tracking purposes.
The Russian satellite has since been placed in a nearly circular, 435 km by 452 km orbit, with an inclination of 97.25 degrees. This is notable, satellite trackers say, because it will allow the Kosmos 2558 satellite to come very close to a recently launched US spy satellite, which was designated NROL-87.
This US national security payload was designed and built for the National Reconnaissance Agency and launched on February 2 into orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
As is usual for such missions, little information has been provided about the American spy satellite beyond a bland statement from the US spy agency: “NROL-87 will strengthen NRO’s ability to provide a wide-range of timely intelligence information to national decision-makers, warfighters, and intelligence analysts to protect the Nation’s vital interests and support humanitarian efforts worldwide.”
A Russian Military Satellite Appears to Be Stalking a New US Spy Satellite
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday August 06, 2022 09:34AM
When a U.S. satellite passed over Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a Russian satellite was launched close behind it “with capabilities unknown,” reports the Drive, adding that it's now “getting suspiciously close…”
Russia has launched satellite 14F150 Nivelir into orbit under a mission dubbed Kosmos-2558, and its current orbital path could soon place it in close proximity to what is reported to be the spy satellite designated USA-326. Unconfirmed rumors that the asset will serve as an 'inspector' satellite to covertly spy on nearby spacecraft have begun to circulate online following the launch and would line up with Russia's known on-orbit anti-satellite weapons capabilities and developments.
U.S. Officials Are Not Happy About Russia's Supposed 'Stalker' Satellite
The head of U.S. Space Command condemned the launch of the Russian satellite, describing the move as “irresponsible.”
Passant Rabie - 11 August 2022 5:55PM
A U.S. military general expressed frustration over a recently launched Russian satellite that appears to be stalking a U.S. military satellite in space.
In a recent interview with NBC News, James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, described the launch of Russian satellite Kosmos 2558 as “irresponsible behavior,” while admitting that the combatant command is tracking the satellite to see if it continues to follow the orbit of its U.S. counterpart. “We see that it’s in a similar orbit to one of our high-value assets for the U.S. government,” Dickinson said. “And so we’ll continue…to update that and track that.”
https://gizmodo.com/pentagon-angry-about-russias-stalking-satellite-1849402444
Starlab
Hilton will design suites and sleeping quarters for Voyager’s private Starlab space station
What better company to design a cramped living space than a major hotel chain?
Kris Holt - September 19, 2022 11:32 AM
Voyager and Lockheed Martin have found a partner to design astronaut facilities for their space station. Hilton will develop suites and sleeping quarters for Starlab, CNBC reports. Under the partnership, Hilton and Voyager will also look at marketing opportunities related to Starlab and trips to what may be one of the first space hotels.
NASA has granted contracts to four private companies who are building private space stations ahead of the agency's planned decommissioning of the International Space Station at the end of the decade. Axiom Space, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman are also working on space stations. Voyager's operating company Nanoracks received the largest contract, which was valued at $160 million.
SpaceX's Giant Starship Tapped to Launch Starlab's Giant Steel Space Station
The commercial space station could reach low Earth orbit as early as 2028, just ahead of the planned decommissioning of the ISS.
George Dvorsky - 31 January 2024
Starlab Space’s forthcoming space station is so big and heavy that only the formidable SpaceX Starship megarocket can launch it into orbit, but the one-time delivery option comes with distinct benefits.
Starlab Space, like several other commercial ventures, is racing to deliver a commercial space station to orbit in anticipation of the International Space Station’s retirement in 2030. The company, a joint venture between Colorado-based Voyager Space and Europe’s Airbus, announced on Wednesday that it has secured a launch provider for the mission—and it’s a company you may have heard of.
https://gizmodo.com/spacexs-giant-starship-tapped-to-launch-starlabs-giant-1851212599
SpaceX's Starship To Launch 'Starlab' Private Space Station In Late 2020s
Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday January 31, 2024 11:00PM
SpaceX's Starship rocket has been selected by Starlab to launch its private space station into orbit. “SpaceX's history of success and reliability led our team to select Starship to orbit Starlab,” Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO of Voyager Space, said in a statement. “SpaceX is the unmatched leader for high-cadence launches, and we are proud Starlab will be launched to orbit in a single flight by Starship.” Space.com reports:
Today's announcement didn't give a target launch date. But NASA and Starlab's developers want the four-person commercial station to be up and running before 2030, when the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to cease operations (though that retirement date is apparently not set in stone). […] The 400-foot-tall (122 meters) Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, capable of hauling up to 150 tons to low Earth orbit. It will send the fully outfitted Starlab up in just one launch, as Taylor noted above.
Starlab—with half the volume of the ISS—will fit inside Starship’s payload bay
“Building and integrating in space is very expensive.”
Eric Berger - 2/1/2024, 11:37 AM
The Starlab commercial space station will launch on SpaceX's Starship rocket, officials said this week.
Starlab is a joint venture between the US-based Voyager Space and the European-based multinational aerospace corporation Airbus. The venture is building a large station with a habitable volume equivalent to half the pressurized volume of the International Space Station and will launch the new station no earlier than 2028.
“SpaceX's history of success and reliability led our team to select Starship to orbit Starlab,” Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO of Voyager Space, said in a statement. “SpaceX is the unmatched leader for high-cadence launches and we are proud Starlab will be launched to orbit in a single flight by Starship.”
Starlink
Watch SpaceX launch its latest batch of Starlink satellites, including one with a sun visor
Darrell Etherington / 9:27 am PDT•June 3, 2020
SpaceX just executed its most important and historic launch ever this past weekend, flying NASA astronauts for the first time. On Wednesday, it’s set to follow that up with a less significant Falcon 9 rocket launch, but one that’s still vital to the company’s future. This mission is the latest of SpaceX’s Starlink launches, which the company is using to put up a vast network of small satellites to provide low-cost, high-bandwidth internet access to customers globally.
SpaceX’s Starlink mission today has a launch window of 9:25 PM EDT (6:25 PM PDT) and includes a payload of 60 more satellites for the constellation, which already has 420 operating in low Earth orbit. The goal is ultimately to launch as many as 40,000 of these small satellites in order to blanket the globe with connectivity that’s broadly available, and that provides rock-solid network consistency by handing off connections among the satellites as they make their way around the Earth.
SpaceX Starlink speeds revealed as beta users get downloads of 11 to 60Mbps
Thom Holwerda - 2020-08-14
Beta users of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-broadband service are getting download speeds ranging from 11Mbps to 60Mbps, according to tests conducted using Ookla’s speedtest.net tool. Speed tests showed upload speeds ranging from 5Mbps to 18Mbps.
The same tests, conducted over the past two weeks, showed latencies or ping rates ranging from 31ms to 94ms. This isn’t a comprehensive study of Starlink speeds and latency, so it’s not clear whether this is what Internet users should expect once Starlink satellites are fully deployed and the service reaches commercial availability. We asked SpaceX several questions about the speed-test results yesterday and will update this article if we get answers.
Starlink Map
SpaceX's Starlink in action: Internet satellites keep emergency workers online amid wildfires
Washington state emergency responders say they're impressed with Starlink's latency and bandwidth in trials.
By Liam Tung | September 30, 2020 – 10:02 GMT (03:02 PDT)
It's emerged that SpaceX's Starlink satellites have been delivering internet services since early August to the Washington state military's emergency management unit helping residents recover from recent wildfires.
As noted by CNBC, providing services to Washington emergency responders is the first publicly known application of the satellite broadband service.
SpaceX is currently conducting private Starlink beta trials with residents in some parts of northern US and lower Canada, including remote communities in Washington state, Starlink revealed in an FAQ posted on Reddit in July.
Starlink puts towns devastated by wildfires online for disaster relief workers
Devin Coldewey / 10:59 am PDT•September 29, 2020
SpaceX’s Starlink has showed its utility in connecting far-flung locations to the internet quickly and relatively simply in Washington, where like much of the west coast wildfires have caused enormous damage to rural areas. A couple small towns in the state have received Starlink connections to help locals and emergency workers.
The town of Malden was almost completely destroyed, but restoration efforts are underway, and of course it helps to be able to access the internet for communicating with residents and authorities. With power and cellular service unreliable, satellite internet is a good temporary option, and Starlink stepped up.
SpaceX has launched enough satellites for Starlink’s upcoming public beta
“Fairly wide public beta” to come after latest satellites reach target position.
Jon Brodkin - 10/7/2020, 12:59 PM
SpaceX's Starlink broadband has been available in a limited beta for the past few months, and SpaceX has now launched enough satellites for a public beta that will be available to more customers. However, the newly launched satellites aren't in position yet, and SpaceX hasn't revealed an exact availability date.
After yesterday's launch of 60 Starlink satellites, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that ”[o]nce these satellites reach their target position, we will be able to roll out a fairly wide public beta in northern US & hopefully southern Canada. Other countries to follow as soon as we receive regulatory approval.”
Musk did not say when the satellites will reach their target position. SpaceX has over 700 satellites in orbit after yesterday's launch.
Max Q: SpaceX’s Starlink constellation grows again
Darrell Etherington@etherington / 9:06 am PST • February 3, 2020
This week was the busiest yet for space-related news in 2020, thanks in part to the 23rd Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference that happened last week. The event saw participation from just about every company who has anything to do with commercial spaceflight, including SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, and dove deep on questions of regulation and congressional support for NASA’s Artemis program.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/03/max-q-spacexs-starlink-constellation-grows-again/
Starlink packet routing
Casey Handmer - September 23, 2020
Part of my series countering common misconceptions in space journalism.
This blog is a follow on to my original post on Starlink. Starlink is an emerging high performance satellite-based internet routing network developed by SpaceX. Its ultimate purpose is to become the de-facto internet backbone provider, connect billions more people to the internet, and revolutionize access to space.
The usual disclaimers apply. I have no relevant inside knowledge of Starlink operations. I’m not an expert in networking, and unlike Starlink’s staff I haven’t spent years working only on this problem. In fact, I’m usually deeply confused at the best of times. But I had a cool idea and I wanted to share it.
https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2020/09/23/starlink-packet-routing/
SpaceX successfully launches 60 more Starlink satellites, bringing total delivered to orbit to more than 800
Darrell Etherington / 4:40 am PDT•October 19, 2020
SpaceX on Sunday launched another batch of 60 of its internet-beaming Starlink satellites, growing its constellation even further. That makes 835 Starlink satellites launched thus far, though not all of those are operational (some were test satellites that were intentionally decommissioned). The launch, from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, also included a successful controlled landing and recovery of the first-stage booster, as well as a semi-successful dual catch of the fairing halves used to protect the cargo during launch.
I say semi-successful because both of SpaceX’s recovery barges actually did catch the fairing halves as they parachuted back down to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, but one of the nets on the barges gave way during the catch. SpaceX says the recovery crew is fine, but that’s obviously not an ideal outcome. Still, being positioned correctly to catch both fairing halves is definitely a win for the company’s efforts on that aspect of Falcon 9 launch vehicle reusability.
About 3% of Starlink Satellites Have Failed So Far
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday October 27, 2020 03:00AM
According to Phys.Org, about 3% of SpaceX's Starlink satellites ”have proven to be unresponsive and are no longer maneuvering in orbit, which could prove hazardous to other satellites and spacecraft in orbit.” From the report:
In order to prevent collisions in orbit, SpaceX equips its satellites with krypton Hall-effect thrusters (ion engines) to raise their orbit, maneuver in space and deorbit at the end of their lives. However, according to two recent notices SpaceX issued to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the summer (mid-May and late June), several of their satellites have lost maneuvering capability since they were deployed. Unfortunately, the company did not provide enough information to indicate which of their satellites were affected. For this reason, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and the Chandra X-ray Center presented his own analysis of the satellites' orbital behavior to suggest which satellites have failed.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/10/26/2214238/about-3-of-starlink-satellites-have-failed-so-far
SpaceX Starlink public beta begins: It’s $99 a month plus $500 up front
“Better Than Nothing” beta to have speeds up to 150Mbps, latency as low as 20ms.
Jon Brodkin - 10/27/2020, 7:26 AM
SpaceX has begun sending email invitations to Starlink's public beta and will charge beta users $99 per month plus a one-time fee of $499 for the user terminal, mounting tripod, and router. The emails are being sent to people who previously registered interest in the service on the Starlink website. One person in Washington state who got the email posted it on Reddit. Another person who lives in Wisconsin got the Starlink public-beta invitation and passed the details along to Ars via email.
SpaceX is calling it the “Better Than Nothing” beta, perhaps partly because the Starlink satellite service will be most useful to people who cannot get cable or fiber broadband. But the email also says, “As you can tell from the title, we are trying to lower your initial expectations.”
Satellite Internet Will Not Solve the Digital Divide
Joanna Nelius - 29 October 2020 11:21AM
Internet service providers will be vying for some of the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund today, including Elon Musks’s SpaceX. Its Starlink satellite network allegedly has speeds of up to 100 Mbps now, so the company seems to be in a better position to convince the FCC it’s worth a piece of that $16 billion in grant money. A vast network of satellites that can provide uninterrupted, fast, and low latency internet access anywhere in the world is a cool idea. A dream, even. Musk and many of his fans even think it could solve the digital divide! Unfortunately, technological limitations and the cost of maintaining such a large network of satellites as Starlink means it’s more likely that those in the most need of internet still won’t have equally affordable and reliable access to it.
https://gizmodo.com/satellite-internet-will-not-solve-the-digital-divide-1845415108
SpaceX Starlink users provide first impressions and unboxing pictures
“It feels like it's from the future… I am amazed at how well it works.”
Jon Brodkin - 11/2/2020, 1:09 PM
SpaceX Starlink beta users are starting to share their experiences, confirming that the satellite service can provide fast broadband speeds and low latencies in remote areas. A beta tester who goes by the Reddit username Wandering-coder brought his new Starlink equipment and a portable power supply to a national forest in Idaho, where he connected to the Internet with 120Mbps download speeds.
Starlink “works beautifully,” he wrote yesterday. “I did a real-time video call and some tests. My power supply is max 300w, and the drain for the whole system while active was around 116w.” Starlink pulled that off in a place where Wandering-coder couldn't get any cellular service from Google Fi, which relies on the T-Mobile and US Cellular networks. “There is no cell here with any carrier,” he wrote.
Starlink Beta Has Outperformed Most Internet in the US
November 2nd 2020 - Dan Robitzski
Some of the participants in SpaceX’s public Starlink beta are reporting internet speeds higher than 95 percent of U.S. internet users.
Starlink, a constellation of what will eventually be tens of thousands of satellites, was launched for the purpose of beaming down internet service to the planet, especially rural areas with weak connections. SpaceX told users to expect moderate signals during the public beta, Business Insider reports, but some users have already had better luck than they ever did with a conventional internet provider.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/starlink-beta-outperformed-most-internet-us
SpaceX can soon offer Starlink's satellite internet to Canadians
The service has gotten regulatory approval from Canadian authorities.
Mariella Moon - November 7, 2020
SpaceX may soon start offering Starlink’s satellite internet service to Canadians. The country’s regulators — the Innovation, Science and Economic Development department, in particular — have granted the company’s request for regulatory approval, allowing it to offer beta access to the high-speed internet network provided by Starlink’s satellite constellation.
https://www.engadget.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-canada-210209974.html
What Is Starlink and How Does Satellite Internet Work?
By Gavin Phillips - 5 November 2020
SpaceX's Starlink project will deliver internet from satellites. But how does satellite internet work, and can it help remote locations?
If you've looked up at the beautiful night sky at any point during 2020, you may have seen some unexpected new additions to the vista. No, I'm not talking about extraterrestrial visitors. Rather, the introduction of hundreds of new low Earth orbit satellites that form part of SpaceX's Starlink project.
https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-starlink-satellite-internet/
Teardown of “Dishy McFlatface,” the SpaceX Starlink user terminal
“It's rare to see something of this complexity in a consumer product.”
Jon Brodkin - 12/2/2020, 7:21 AM
Engineer Ken Keiter recently came into possession of one SpaceX Starlink user terminal, the satellite dish that SpaceX nicknamed “Dishy McFlatface.” But instead of plugging it in and getting Internet access from SpaceX's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, Keiter decided to take Dishy apart to see what's inside.
The teardown process destroyed portions of the device. “I would love to actually test out the [Starlink] service and clearly I didn't get a chance to, as this went a little bit further than I was intending,” Keiter said toward the end of the 55-minute teardown video he posted on YouTube last week.
Here's Where SpaceX Has Promised to Provide Starlink Internet
Joanna Nelius - 10 December 2020
The Federal Communications Commission recently announced the winning bidders of its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1 auction, revealing SpaceX’s Starlink won a massive $885 million to provide high-speed internet to underserved and unserved rural areas of the U.S. The agency’s report provided information on how much money every ISP won and in what states, but no specifics—just a broad map of what types of internet coverage should be rolling out over the next 10 years.
However, Cooperative Network Services (CNS), which is owned by a collective of 20 cooperative telephone companies serving areas in Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, and South Dakota, has combed though all of the data from the auction results and put it into a single map, showing exactly where SpaceX and other major ISPs won bids.
https://gizmodo.com/heres-where-spacex-has-promised-to-provide-starlink-int-1845850942
Russia may fine citizens who use SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service
Russia is planning its own Internet from space plan, called Sphere.
Eric Berger - 1/12/2021, 6:11 AM
Russia's legislative body, the State Duma, is considering fines for individuals and companies in the country that use Western-based satellite Internet services. The proposed law seeks to prevent accessing the Internet by means of SpaceX's Starlink service, OneWeb, or other non-Russian satellite constellations under development.
According to a recent report in the Russian edition of Popular Mechanics, the recommended fines range from 10,000 to 30,000 rubles ($135-$405) for ordinary users, and from 500,000 to 1 million rubles ($6,750 to $13,500) for legal entities who use the Western satellite services.
SpaceX Adds Laser Links To Starlink Satellites To Serve Earth's Polar Areas
Posted by msmash on Tuesday January 26, 2021 01:23PM
SpaceX has begun launching Starlink satellites with laser links that will help provide broadband coverage in polar regions. As SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter on Sunday, these satellites “have laser links between the satellites, so no ground stations are needed over the poles.” From a report:
SpaceX Says Its Starlink Satellite Internet Service Now Has Over 10,000 Users
Posted by msmash on Thursday February 04, 2021 12:50PM
SpaceX disclosed in a public filing on Thursday that its Starlink satellite internet service now has “over 10,000 users in the United States and abroad.” From a report:
“Starlink's performance is not theoretical or experimental … [and] is rapidly accelerating in real time as part of its public beta program,” SpaceX wrote in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. Elon Musk's company began a public beta program of Starlink in October, with service priced at $99 a month, in addition to a $499 upfront cost to order the Starlink Kit, which includes a user terminal and Wi-Fi router to connect to the satellites.
SpaceX says its Starlink satellite internet service now has over 10,000 users
Published Thu, Feb 4 20213:23 PM ESTUpdated Fri, Feb 5 202112:07 PM EST - Michael Sheetz
SpaceX disclosed in a public filing on Thursday that its Starlink satellite internet service now has “over 10,000 users in the United States and abroad.”
“Starlink’s performance is not theoretical or experimental … [and] is rapidly accelerating in real time as part of its public beta program,” SpaceX wrote in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission.
Elon Musk’s company began a public beta program of Starlink in October, with service priced at $99 a month, in addition to a $499 upfront cost to order the Starlink Kit, which includes a user terminal and Wi-Fi router to connect to the satellites.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/04/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-service-has-over-10000-users.html
Starlink vs. 5G: Which Could Be the Better Home Internet Service?
Joanna Nelius - 12 February 2021 8:45PM
Reports indicate that Americans are clearly interested in both SpaceX’s Starlink and 5G broadband as potential home internet services. But so far it’s unclear which option has more appeal compared to traditional cable broadband. Some reports show Americans are more interested in Starlink, while others indicate most people are unsure if they would use one over the other, or either at all. The demand for better internet is obviously there due to [gestures at everything], but clearly there’s some confusion as to which type of internet connection will be best. So let’s dive in to clear it up.
First, where you live will probably determine whether you get better internet from Starlink or via 5G. SpaceX’s Starlink is a satellite internet service, which means it works best with a clear view of the sky in wide open spaces. Storms, trees, buildings, snow, or any other natural or man-made obstruction can weaken the signal or drop the internet connection all together. Data packets and other virtual information literally get beamed down from space, so if any of that stuff gets in the way, your internet is probably going to get spotty.
https://gizmodo.com/starlink-vs-5g-which-could-be-the-better-home-interne-1846262512
SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink satellites but failed to stick the landing
With 1,145 satellites now in orbit, Starlink is approaching its initial goal.
Steve Dent - 02.16.21
SpaceX successfully launched another 60 Starlink internet satellites today for 1,145 in total, bringing it close to its initial goal of 1,440. However, in a rare miss, the Falcon 9's first stage booster failed to land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship, presumably falling into the ocean instead. “It is unfortunate that we did not recover this booster but our second stage is still on a nominal trajectory,” said SpaceX engineer Jessica Anderson.
https://www.engadget.com/spacex-60-starlink-satellites-failed-landing-093333201.html
SpaceX small print on Starlink insists no Earth government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities
Isn't this a subplot from those James S A Corey novels?
Richard Speed - Tue 23 Feb 2021 / 14:55 UTC
SpaceX has ambitions for its Starlink constellation beyond annoying stargazers if the pre-order agreement for its satellite-based internet service is anything to go by.
Spotted by Register reader Amarinder Brar during his UK application for the system, an intriguing section in the pre-order agreement warns that disputes related to “Services provided to, on, or in orbit around the planet Earth or the Moon” are governed by English law and “subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.”
Mars, on the other hand, is a completely different kettle of fish. SpaceX is asking that those wanting a Martian connection to Starlink “recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.”
Musk: Starlink will hit 300Mbps and expand to “most of Earth” this year
SpaceX CEO teases higher speeds, lower latency, and near-global coverage.
Jon Brodkin - 2/23/2021, 7:52 AM
Starlink broadband speeds will double to 300Mbps “later this year,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter yesterday. SpaceX has been telling users to expect speeds of 50Mbps to 150Mbps since the beta began a few months ago.
Musk also wrote that “latency will drop to ~20ms later this year.” This is no surprise, as SpaceX promised latency of 20ms to 40ms during the beta and had said months ago that “we expect to achieve 16ms to 19ms by summer 2021.”
It sounds like the speed and latency improvements will roll out around the same time as when Starlink switches from beta to more widespread availability. Two weeks ago, Starlink opened preorders for service expected to be available in the second half of 2021, albeit with limited availability in each region.
SpaceX launches 60 new Starlink satellites just one week after the last batch
Darrell Etherington / 4:11 AM PST•March 11, 2021
SpaceX now has 60 more Starlink satellites in orbit – it launched its latest full complement of the internet broadband spacecraft early this morning from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Just last Thursday, SpaceX launched its last batch of 60, and this past week it also confirmed that it’s expanding its beta of the Starlink internet service to additional markets around the world, including Germany and New Zealand.
This is the 21st Starlink launch overall, and the sixth this year, with as many as three more launches tentatively planned for later this month, weather and schedule permitting. The simple reason it’s pursuing such an aggressive launch pace is that the more satellites it adds to its constellation in low-Earth orbit, the more customers it can sign up and serve. Starlink is currently in beta, but it’s now open to anyone to sign up depending on geography, with SpaceX taking a deposit and offering a rough timeline on projected availability.
Setting up Starlink, SpaceX's Satellite Internet
April 9, 2021 - Jeff Geerling
In March, I got an email from SpaceX saying Starlink was available at my address, and I could pre-order. I paid $500 for the equipment, plus $25 for a Volcano Roof Mount, and $99 for the first month of service, and a few weeks later, I got the kit you see in the image above.
I was a little too excited about getting Starlink, though, because I realized after I started looking for mounting locations that Starlink needed a 100° view of the northern sky, and my house is literally surrounded by 70-80 ft trees.
So I thought, why not let a cousin who lives out in a rural area try it out while I figure out what to do about mounting 'Dishy' (a common nickname for the Starlink satellite dish) on my own house?
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2021/setting-starlink-spacexs-satellite-internet
SpaceX's Starlink: Overhyped and underpowered to meet broadband needs of Rural America, say analysts
As the constellation stands anyway
Matthew Hughes - Fri 9 Apr 2021 / 18:37 UTC
SpaceX's Starlink has been described as the solution to dismal rural broadband. Like any project linked to Elon Musk, the satellite internet constellation is surrounded by a thick cloud of hype. But is it justified?
Analyst house MoffetNathanson isn't sure. A new report published earlier this week expressed doubts about Starlink's ability to cover the US market in its current form, citing the bandwidth concerns and end-user consumption rates.
The outfit suggested Starlink's total addressable market, based on the company reaching its lofty goals to deploy 12,000 satellites, hovers between just 300,000 and 800,000 households.
Part of the problem, MoffetNathanson claimed, is that there aren't enough satellites, and they aren't pointing in the right direction. With around a third of Starlink's satellites earmarked for the US (roughly 4,000), each at an incline of 53 degrees, the analysts reckon just 3 per cent of the total available capacity will be visible to the Southern US at any point.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/09/spacex_starlink_is_overhyped/
Starlink gateways
Map of SpaceX Starlink gateways. Gateways are used to connect orbiting satellites to the core Starlink network/Internet. The circles show where a Starlink satellite at 550 km can connect to a gateway. Coverage provided by a satellite can extend beyond the connected gateway service area.
All US gateways filed with the FCC are on the map. In other countries most likely not all gateways are shown.
FCC gives SpaceX the go-ahead to drop Starlink satellite orbits by 500 kilometres or so
Low enough to witness Musk's Twitter trolling of Jeff Bezos?
Richard Speed - Wed 28 Apr 2021 / 18:49 UTC
America's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted an application by SpaceX to bring some of its broadband satellites closer to Earth.
The authorisation reduces the maximum number of birds allowed in the constellation by one from 4,409 to 4,408, and reduces the operational altitude for 2,814 of the satellites from between 1,100-1,300km to the 540-570km range used by other Starlink sats. The fleet has just over 1,000 satellites in orbit right now, and it's hoped 12,000 or more will be launched eventually.
FCC lets SpaceX cut satellite altitude to improve Starlink speed and latency
Rival satellite companies opposed change that cuts altitude in half, to 540 km.
Jon Brodkin - 4/27/2021, 1:05 PM
SpaceX today was granted permission to use a lower orbit for Starlink satellites, as regulators agreed with SpaceX that the change will improve broadband speed and latency while making it easier to minimize orbital debris. In granting SpaceX's request, the Federal Communications Commission dismissed opposition from Viasat, Hughes, Dish Network, OneWeb, the Amazon subsidiary known as Kuiper, and other satellite companies that claimed the change would cause too much interference with other systems.
In 2018, SpaceX received FCC approval to launch 4,425 broadband satellites at orbits of 1,110 km to 1,325 km. An FCC order in 2019 gave SpaceX permission to use a lower altitude for over 1,500 of those satellites. Today's FCC order granting SpaceX's additional license-change request lowers the altitude for 2,814 of the satellites, letting them orbit in the 540-570 km range. Today's FCC order will also let SpaceX use a lower elevation angle for antennas on user terminals and gateway Earth stations.
SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Internet Orders Reportedly Already Exceed 500,000
Brianna Provenzano - 4 May 2021 9:01PM
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is having a banner year, and apparently things just keep getting better: On Tuesday, the company announced that it has received upwards of 500,000 orders for its satellite internet service, Starlink.
“To date, over half a million people have placed an order or put down a deposit for Starlink,” SpaceX operations engineer Siva Bharadvaj said during a launch event broadcasting its 26th Starlink mission.
Starlink is SpaceX’s planned interconnected internet network, which already features thousands of active satellites — an array known in the space industry as a constellation — that are designed to work together in order to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.
https://gizmodo.com/spacexs-starlink-satellite-internet-orders-reportedly-a-1846825398
Not Everyone Is Getting Great Service With Starlink
Joanna Nelius - 5 May 2021 6:46PM
New Starlink data out today shows where in the U.S. Elon Musk’s ambitious satellite internet service is exceeding expectations—and where it’s falling short.
According to Ookla, the company behind a Speedtest app and website that lets anyone test the speed of their broadband and mobile connections, Starlink speeds vary greatly depending on where you live.
Starlink is currently available throughout the U.S. and Canada, and has reportedly racked up more than 500,000 preorders. (I placed a preorder a few months ago, but I have yet to receive the equipment.) But users living in certain places within those two countries will get a better connection than others. Broadly, Ookla says median Starlink download speeds in the U.S. ranged from 40.36 Mbps in Columbia County, Ore. to 93.09 Mbps in Shasta County, Calif., during the first quarter of the year.
https://gizmodo.com/not-everyone-is-getting-great-service-with-starlink-1846828289
Starlink: Bridging the Digital Divide or Shooting for the Stars?
Isla McKetta - 05 May 2021
Elon Musk has a vision to use Starlink satellites to deliver world-class internet speeds to the rural households that have been left behind by so many infrastructure projects over the years. It’s a noble goal, and one that’s become increasingly necessary given our reliance on the internet over the past year. It could also help bridge the glaring gaps in performance between cities and rural communities which the Biden administration is prioritizing in the American Jobs Plan. Starlink is still in beta phase, but we decided to use data from Speedtest Intelligence® to investigate Q1 2021 performance in the U.S. and Canada to see if the program is living up to expectations.
Google will bring Starlink satellite connectivity to enterprises in late 2021
Paul Sawers - May 13, 2021 7:40 AM
SpaceX has unveiled its second major cloud infrastructure deal to bring satellite-powered internet and cloud services to Earth’s farthest reaches. The Elon Musk-led company is partnering with Google Cloud, a deal that will see SpaceX’s Starlink satellites connected to ground stations located at Google datacenter sites.
The news follows a similar announcement last October involving Microsoft, which launched a new Azure Space initiative designed to make its cloud service “the platform and ecosystem of choice for the mission needs of the space community,” according to a statement at the time. SpaceX had already launched hundreds of its low earth orbit (LEO) satellites capable of delivering internet to remote locations, and through Microsoft’s new Azure Modular Datacenters (MDCs) the duo are able to bring high-speed broadband to “extreme environments” that had hithero lacked the necessary infrastructure.
While the Google partnership follows a similar ethos, the deal appears to go far beyond the Microsoft tie-up by weaving SpaceX technologies more tightly into Google’s core datacenter infrastructure.
SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband constellation to achieve full global coverage by September, boss claims
Astronomers and amateur star gazers will be delighted
Matthew Hughes - Tue 22 Jun 2021 / 18:37 UTC
The dream of ubiquitous satellite broadband is nearing reality, according to Starlink president Gwynne Shotwell.
Speaking at an Aussie bank's Technology conference, the company leader said global coverage would be reached by September.
In her talk, Shotwell said “continuous global coverage” would be achieved when SpaceX's satellites reach their optimal operational orbit in about three months' time.
The company recently won permission from the Federal Communications Commission to reduce the altitude of its US-based satellites from between 1,100-1,300km to 540-570km, which may allow it to improve coverage in the south of the country, as well as in the polar regions, with Alaska tipped to be a main beneficiary.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/22/starlink_global_coverage/
Starlink’s “next-generation” user terminal will cost a lot less, Musk says
Musk expects near-global coverage in August and up to 500,000 users in one year.
Jon Brodkin - 6/30/2021, 12:09 PM
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his company's Starlink division is trying to cut the price of its user terminal from $500 to as low as $250. Starlink has been charging $99 a month for Internet service during its beta phase, plus $500 up front for the user terminal/satellite dish, and it's losing money on the sale of each dish.
“We are losing money on that terminal right now. That terminal costs us more than $1,000,” Musk said yesterday during a Mobile World Congress Q&A session (see a YouTube video posted by CNET). “We obviously are subsidizing the cost of the terminal. We are working on next-generation terminals that provide the same level of capability, roughly the same level of capability, but cost a lot less.”
6 Key Facts About Elon Musk's Starlink Internet You Need to Know
Is Starlink the future of internet connectivity, or another flashy vanity project for Elon Musk?
By Katie Rees - 3 July 2021
We all know Elon Musk as one of the world's top technological entrepreneurs. From PayPal to Tesla to SpaceX, Musk is no stranger to founding and cultivating multi-billion dollar companies. And, with his latest venture, Starlink, we may see similar results.
But, what is Starlink, and should we be excited about it? Well, in this article, we'll lay out some key facts about Starlink, so you know what to expect from it in the future.
https://www.makeuseof.com/key-facts-about-elon-musks-starlink/
SpaceX is losing money on its Starlink terminals, but sees lower costs ahead
Aria Alamalhodaei / 9:34 AM PDT June 29, 2021
It may be a little while longer until Starlink hits profitability. The SpaceX project, which aims to deliver global high-speed broadband via a satellite network, sells its beta kits to customers for around $500 dollars despite it costing much more to produce them, CEO Elon Musk said in an interview Tuesday.
The kit includes a user terminal, a kind of dish, that connects the customer to the satellites and enables broadband access. “To be totally frank, we are losing money on that terminal right now,” he said. “That terminal costs us more than $1,000, so obviously I’m subsidizing the cost of the terminal.” He went on to add that SpaceX is working on a next-gen terminal capable of providing the same capability, but at a lower cost to make.
Judges reject Viasat’s plea to stop SpaceX Starlink satellite launches
Viasat fears SpaceX competition, sought freeze on launches and environmental review.
Jon Brodkin - 7/22/2021, 2:30 PM
SpaceX can keep launching broadband satellites despite a lawsuit filed by Viasat, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Viasat sued the Federal Communications Commission in May and asked judges for a stay that would halt SpaceX's ongoing launches of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that power Starlink Internet service. To get a stay, Viasat had to show that it is likely to win its lawsuit alleging that the FCC improperly approved the satellite launches.
A three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was not persuaded, saying in a short order that “Viasat has not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.” The judges did grant a motion to expedite the appeal, however, so the case should move faster than normal.
Starlink is better than its satellite competition but not as fast as landline internet
Starlink beats the socks off HughesNet and Viasat, but it can't compete with high-end broadband. Of course, that's not really what it's going against.
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols - August 5, 2021 – 12:48 GMT (05:48 PDT)
When it comes to internet speed tests, Ookla's Speedtest is the gold standard. So when Ookla examined its data for Starlink and its satellite internet rivals, HughesNet and Viasat, the numbers it comes up with are meaningful.
To no great surprise, Ookla found Starlink beats HughesNet and Viasat handly. The company found that “Starlink was the only satellite internet provider in the United States with fixed-broadband-like latency figures, and median download speeds fast enough to handle most of the needs of modern online life at 97.23 Megabits per second (Mbps) during Q2 2021. HughesNet was a distant second at 19.73 Mbps and Viasat third at 18.13 Mbps.”
Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t compete, SpaceX says
SpaceX: Amazon should fix Kuiper satellite plan instead of trying to delay Starlink.
Jon Brodkin - 9/1/2021, 10:49 AM
Amazon's attempt to block proposals for the next-generation Starlink system is a “delay tactic” and a continuation of Amazon's strategy of “hinder[ing] competitors to compensate for Amazon's failure to make progress of its own,” SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission yesterday.
“Amazon's track record amply demonstrates that as it falls behind competitors, it is more than willing to use regulatory and legal processes to create obstacles designed to delay those competitors from leaving Amazon even further behind,” SpaceX told the FCC in its filing. Approving Amazon's request would hurt consumers by denying them “access to faster-moving competition,” SpaceX said.
Amazon last week urged the FCC to reject an update to SpaceX's Starlink plan because it “proposes two different configurations for the nearly 30,000 satellites of its Gen2 System, each of which arranges these satellites along very different orbital parameters.” Amazon contends that the SpaceX request violates a rule requiring applications to be complete and have no internal inconsistencies.
Elon Musk says Starlink internet service will leave beta in October
The satellite broadband service might not be a test for much longer.
Jon Fingas - September 18th, 2021
SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband might not be considered a test for much longer. Elon Musk told Twitter users that Starlink should exit beta “next month” — that is, sometime in October. You could theoretically could use the quicker-than-usual service in more countries, or at least without the stigma of beta testing involved.
The company had aimed for complete worldwide coverage by September. To date, the beta has been largely limited to North America and parts of Europe, with notable exceptions like Australia, Chile and New Zealand. Planned expansions are so far limited to Mexico and Japan, but SpaceX has registered subsidiaries in countries like the Philippines and South Africa.
https://www.engadget.com/starlink-beta-end-date-181729796.html
FCC defends Starlink approval as Viasat, Dish urge court to block SpaceX license
FCC disputes environmental and interference claims made by satellite companies.
Jon Brodkin - 10/28/2021, 2:37 PM
The Federal Communications Commission this week urged a court to back the FCC's approval of SpaceX Starlink satellite launches against a lawsuit filed by Viasat and Dish.
With oral arguments scheduled for December 3, final briefs were filed on Tuesday by the FCC, Viasat, Dish, and SpaceX. Judges at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit previously rejected Viasat's motion for a stay that would have halted SpaceX's ongoing launches of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites pending the resolution of the lawsuit. Judges found that Viasat failed to show that it is likely to win its case alleging that the FCC improperly approved the satellite launches. Judges said at the time that Viasat did not meet “the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review” but granted a motion to expedite the appeal.
The FCC said in its new brief that the “commission reasonably granted SpaceX's request to modify the orbital altitude of 2,824 of its Starlink satellites, which the commission concluded would serve the public interest by improving broadband access in underserved areas and reducing the potential to generate orbital debris. Neither Dish's arguments regarding the potential for interference nor the criticisms by Viasat and the Balance Group of the commission's review of environmental issues have merit.” (The Balance Group was apparently founded last year and said in a court document that it “is a membership organization that represents… astronomers and other scientists concerned about light pollution and other environmental impacts of satellite constellations.”)
SpaceX: Chip shortage is impacting “our ability to fulfill” Starlink orders
Starlink exits beta, but “silicon shortages have delayed production.”
Jon Brodkin - 11/1/2021, 9:37 AM
If you ordered Starlink broadband service and don't receive your “Dishy McFlatface” satellite dish any time soon, the global chip shortage may be one reason why.
“Silicon shortages have delayed production which has impacted our ability to fulfill orders. Please visit your Account page for the most recent estimate on when you can expect your order to be fulfilled,” SpaceX said in an FAQ on the Starlink support website. The language was added to the Starlink website on Thursday night, according to a PCMag article.
Starlink has apparently just exited its beta status. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in September that it would emerge from beta in October, and the word “beta” was deleted from descriptions on the Starlink homepage late last week. The website was also updated to advertise “download speeds between 100Mbps and 200Mbps and latency as low as 20ms in most locations,” an improvement over the previously stated “50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms in most locations.”
But the move from beta to general availability doesn't necessarily coincide with widespread availability. PCMag also pointed out that expected shipment times for Starlink have been pushed to late 2022 or early 2023 in additional parts of the US. The Starlink website reports expected service times of “early to mid 2022” in other areas.
Starlink gives mixed signals on whether some preorders are delayed until 2023
SpaceX provides encouraging update, but preorderers still see 2023 delivery dates.
Jon Brodkin - 11/5/2021, 11:29 AM
Starlink has provided an encouraging update for preorderers who unexpectedly had their estimated delivery dates delayed to 2022 or 2023, but the Starlink website is still displaying delayed delivery dates to people who were previously told to expect service in 2021.
As we reported Tuesday, some people who preordered Starlink broadband made tiny changes to their service locations on the Starlink website and immediately had their estimated delivery dates delayed by a year or more. There was a spurt of people making these small changes because SpaceX's satellite division urged them to use a mapping tool to ensure the accuracy of their location. But people said that even changes of a few feet delayed their orders from 2021 to 2022 or 2023, apparently sending them to the “back of the line.”
Receiving Starlink satellite beacons on a budget
Published on Nov 25, 2021 - Derek
In this post I will present how it is possible to receive beacon signals from the Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit using ordinary hardware that you most likely already have laying around or that is widely available.
Starlink's Internet Speeds Are Slowing Down, but There's a Simple Explanation
What do you expect when you keep on adding new customers?
Patrick Kariuki - 27 December 2021
Starlink relies on thousands of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), 550 kilometers above the earth, to beam the internet down to ground transceivers, which in turn, broadcast locally or wire directly to your Starlink router. SpaceX plans to deploy up to 30,000 satellites to ensure global internet coverage via Starlink (some figures put the total as high as 42,000).
Elon Musk says Starlink offers the fastest internet speeds on earth, with near-zero latency (delay). However, Starlink's internet speeds in the US have reportedly declined recently. Let's find out why.
https://www.makeuseof.com/starlink-slow-internet-speeds-explained/
China Says SpaceX Satellites Nearly Collided With Its Space Station
Posted by BeauHD on Monday December 27, 2021 11:00PM
Chinese citizens lashed out online against billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday after China complained that its space station was forced to take evasive action to avoid collision with satellites launched by Musk's Starlink program. CNBC reports:
The satellites from Starlink Internet Services, a division of Musk's SpaceX aerospace company, had two “close encounters” with the Chinese space station on July 1 and Oct. 21, according to a document submitted by China earlier this month to the U.N.'s space agency. “For safety reasons, the China Space Station implemented preventive collision avoidance control,” China said in a document published on the website of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. The complaints have not been independently verified.
China upset about needing to dodge SpaceX Starlink satellites
A formal complaint to the UN under space treaties says the US is responsible.
John Timmer - 12/28/2021, 10:26 AM
Earlier in December, the Chinese government filed a document with the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at the United Nations. The body helps manage the terms of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, more commonly known as the Outer Space Treaty. In the document, China alleges that it had to move its space station twice this year due to potential collisions with Starlink satellites operated by SpaceX.
The document pointedly notes that signatories of the treaty, which include the US, are responsible for the actions of any nongovernmental activities based within their borders.
The document was filed back on December 6, but it only came to light recently when Chinese Internet users became aware of it and started flaming Elon Musk, head of SpaceX.
The document starts out with an impossibly formal 110-word-long sentence that notes the Outer Space Treaty obliges its signatories to inform other nations when they discover any phenomena in space that could pose a risk to astronauts. It then indicates that China has identified such a threat: Starlink satellites.
Elon Musk rejects claims his satellites are squeezing out rivals in space
SpaceX founder points out that space is “extremely enormous,” satellites “very tiny.”
Richard Waters, Financial Times - 12/29/2021, 1:49 PM
Elon Musk has hit back at criticism that his company’s Starlink satellites are hogging too much room in space, and has instead argued there could be room for “tens of billions” of spacecraft in orbits close to Earth.
“Space is just extremely enormous, and satellites are very tiny,” Musk said. “This is not some situation where we’re effectively blocking others in any way. We’ve not blocked anyone from doing anything, nor do we expect to.”
His comments, made in an interview with the Financial Times, came in response to a claim from Josef Aschbacher, head of the European Space Agency, that Musk was “making the rules” for the new commercial space economy. Speaking to the FT earlier this month, Aschbacher warned that Musk’s rush to launch thousands of communications satellites would leave fewer radio frequencies and orbital slots available for everyone else.
Starlink helps Ukraine’s elite drone unit target and destroy Russian tanks
“If we use a drone with thermal vision at night, [it] must connect through Starlink.”
Jon Brodkin - 3/21/2022, 12:24 PM
SpaceX's Starlink Internet is proving to be useful for Ukraine's military as it fights the Russian invasion. In an article Friday titled, “Elon Musk's Starlink helping Ukraine to win the drone war,” The Telegraph described how the satellite connection helps the Ukrainian army's Aerorozvidka (Aerial Reconnaissance) unit do its work of “using surveillance and attack drones to target Russian tanks and positions.”
The Telegraph wrote:
Amid Internet and power outages, which are expected to get worse, Ukraine is turning to the newly available Starlink system for some of its communications. Drone teams in the field, sometimes in badly connected rural areas, are able to use Starlink to connect them to targeters and intelligence on their battlefield database. They can direct the drones to drop anti-tank munitions, sometimes flying up silently to Russian forces at night as they sleep in their vehicles.
Beijing needs the ability to 'destroy' Starlink, say Chinese researchers
Paper authors warn Elon Musk's 2,400 machines could be used offensively
Laura Dobberstein - Wed 25 May 2022 11:01 UTC
An egghead at the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, writing in a peer-reviewed domestic journal, has advocated for Chinese military capability to take out Starlink satellites on the grounds of national security.
According to the South China Morning Post, lead author Ren Yuanzhen and colleagues advocated in Modern Defence Technology not only for China to develop anti-satellite capabilities, but also to have a surveillance system that could monitor and track all satellites in Starlink's constellation.
“A combination of soft and hard kill methods should be adopted to make some Starlink satellites lose their functions and destroy the constellation's operating system,” the Chinese boffins reportedly said, estimating that data transmission speeds of stealth fighter jets and US military drones could increase by a factor of 100 through a Musk machine connection.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/25/beijing_starlink_takedown/
Starlink's success in Ukraine amplifies interest in anti-satellite weapons
US think tank sees growing interest in counterspace capabilities
Thomas Claburn - Thu 2 Jun 2022 20:59 UTC
In a report published earlier this week, the Secure World Foundation, a space-oriented NGO, warned that in the past few years there's been a surge of interest in offensive counterspace weapons that can disrupt space-based services.
“The existence of counterspace capabilities is not new, but the circumstances surrounding them are,” the report [PDF] says. “Today there are increased incentives for development, and potential use, of offensive counterspace capabilities.”
“There are also greater potential consequences from their widespread use that could have global repercussions well beyond the military, as huge parts of the global economy and society are increasingly reliant on space applications.”
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/anti_satellite_weapons/
SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites Are Negatively Impacting Astronomers: Here’s Why
Starlink will bring internet to the most far-flung parts of the world, but at what cost?
Justin Bennett-Cohen - 3 June 2022
Starlink's goal to provide internet to as many people as possible, including those in very remote areas, is fantastic, and it's amazing that this advanced technology is being used for practical applications. However, as with any technological advancement comes its drawbacks, and sending thousands of Starlink satellites into orbit has created issues for astronomers studying important areas of space.
But why is this, and what is being done about it?
https://www.makeuseof.com/starlink-satellites-negatively-impacting-astronomers/
FCC lets Starlink offer Internet service on moving vehicles throughout US
FCC approves Starlink application for Earth stations in motion.
Jon Brodkin - 7/1/2022, 10:32 AM
SpaceX has secured US approval to provide Starlink satellite Internet service on moving vehicles, ships, and airplanes. In an order released Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission granted SpaceX's application to operate consumer and enterprise Earth stations in motion (ESIM) throughout the US.
The FCC also approved a request from Kepler Communications to operate ESIMs on ships. Starlink and Kepler will be allowed to provide service on vessels in US territorial waters and international waters.
Starlink offers a service for RVs but says it isn't designed to be used while the vehicles are moving. A version for moving RVs will presumably be offered at some point now that SpaceX has received the FCC approval, which says “SpaceX is authorized to operate Earth Stations In Motion on vehicles throughout the United States.” SpaceX is also planning to provide Starlink Internet on flights.
The order issued by the FCC's International Bureau said granting the applications “will serve the public interest by enabling SpaceX and Kepler to offer expanded broadband capabilities and serve unserved and underserved areas.”
Starlink's current problem is capacity
July 27, 2022 - Jeff Geerling
This blog post is a lightly edited transcript from my most recent YouTube video, in which I explain some of Starlink's growing pains: slower speeds due to oversubscription, design challenges with their v2 hardware, and a major bet on much larger v2 sats and a rocket (Starship) that has yet to complete an orbital flight.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/starlinks-current-problem-capacity
Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their View
The rising number of satellites in Earth orbit means astronomers are having to contend with increasingly cluttered skies. New research could help.
Passant Rabie - 5 August 2022 10:10AM
A system built by researchers from the University of Arizona is designed to warn astronomers of particularly bright satellites, affording them time to avert their telescopic eyes.
The team used its satellite tracking device—a small sensor fitted with a camera lens—to measure the brightness and positioning of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. Over the course of two years, team members performed 353 measurements of 61 satellites belonging to the private company.
https://gizmodo.com/sensors-astronomers-adapt-spacex-starlink-satellites-1849373085
SpaceX Launches 3,000th Starlink Satellite as Elon's Internet Constellation Continues to Grow
The private company is aiming to launch a total of 42,000 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - 10 August 2022
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried an additional 52 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit on Tuesday night, raising the total number of Starlinks launched by the company to a whopping 3,009.
The rocket lifted off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:14 p.m. ET. Following separation, the Falcon 9's first stage performed a successfully vertical landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship based in the Atlantic Ocean, while the second stage deployed the satellites into orbit.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-launches-3-000th-starlink-satellite-1849394962
Dish and Viasat’s fight against Starlink satellite deployment fails in court
Dish interference claim rejected; Viasat environmental protest “too speculative.”
Jon Brodkin - 8/29/2022, 10:57 AM
Dish Network and Viasat lost their attempt to block one of the key approvals Starlink received from the Federal Communications Commission. On Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the Viasat and Dish protests in a ruling that upheld the FCC decision.
Dish and Viasat sued the FCC after the commission's April 2021 decision to let SpaceX fly 2,824 of its Starlink satellites at a lower altitude than originally planned, in the 540-570 km range instead of 1,110-1,325 km. The FCC rejected protests from satellite competitors while agreeing with SpaceX that the altitude change would improve broadband speed and latency while making it easier to minimize orbital debris.
A panel of three DC Circuit judges heard the appeal and unanimously sided with the FCC and SpaceX, which was an intervenor in the case on the FCC's behalf. “Dish argued that the proposed changes would interfere with its GSO [geostationary orbit] satellite television service,” the judges wrote. “Another competitor, Viasat, Inc., jointly objected with an environmental organization calling itself The Balance Group. They argued that NEPA [the National Environmental Policy Act] required the FCC to prepare an environmental assessment before granting the modification.”
Elon Musk Enters In-Flight Wi-Fi Market With Small Satellites
Posted by msmash on Friday September 16, 2022 08:20AM
SpaceX wants to show the world its Starlink satellite system can deliver Netflix and YouTube at 30,000 feet. So it recently held a demo for the media aboard a jet operated by its first airline customer, regional carrier JSX. From a report:
The short jaunt from Burbank to San Jose, California marks the start of Elon Musk's bid to seize in-flight business from satellite providers Intelsat and Viasat that already serve thousands of aircraft. It won't be easy, even for a serial market disrupter such as Musk.
Starlink broadband speeds slow as subscriber numbers grow
But a median of 60Mbps is not to be sniffed at when you're out in the sticks
Dan Robinson - Fri 23 Sep 2022 14:34 UTC
Elon Musk's Starlink satellite broadband service has seen a decline in download speeds around the world as more and more subscribers sign up, perhaps making the company a victim of its own success.
The data comes in a report by network Intelligence company Ookla, which states it has monitored the performance of satellite internet services for some time, and Starlink's satellite internet for over a year now.
According to the company, the speed of the Starlink service has decreased in every country it has surveyed over the past year, with median download speeds falling by between 9 and 54 percent in the period from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022 across the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, and New Zealand.
Upload speeds have also slowed in each of these countries, but network latency – although high compared with fixed broadband – remained relatively unchanged except for New Zealand, where latency dropped by 23ms, according to Ookla. (We're not sure whether Ookla means that latency has improved or worsened by 23ms when it says “dropped.”)
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/starlink_broadband_speeds_slow/
10 weird things about SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites
While Starlink satellites consistently make headlines, there are plenty of weird facts about Starlink that fly below the radar.
Brett Tingley - 27 December 2022
SpaceX's Starlink satellites are among the most well-known spacecraft in the world.
There are currently over 3,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and SpaceX plans to launch many more. The satellites are primarily designed to provide broadband internet to remote or underserved locations, yet there are many other uses for the revolutionary constellation both planned and already in use.
While Starlink satellites consistently make headlines for the sheer number of launches SpaceX performs each year, not to mention the impacts the satellites have had on astronomy and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there are plenty of weird facts about Starlink that fly below the radar.
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-10-weird-things
Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliable luxury
Starlink satellite internet has afforded me and others opportunities in a connected world. But recently has become an expensive liability.
Chris Wedel - Published Mar 22, 2023
When SpaceX's residential satellite internet company, Starlink, was first introduced, I had high hopes. Legitimate high-speed internet isn't widely available where I live in rural Kansas. Over the past 11 years, I've had to make do with an OG Verizon data-only plan for a hotspot, HughesNet satellite internet, US Cellular home internet, local fixed wireless, T-Mobile Home Internet, and more. But as of spring 2021, I have primarily relied on Starlink to provide internet to my home.
Don't get me wrong. Without Starlink, I wouldn't have been able to cut the cord, work from home, or participate in other modern connected amenities I now enjoy. Initially, I averaged around 100-150/10-25Mbps for my speeds and rarely disconnected. Coming from 15/3, if I was lucky, this was borderline life-changing.
https://www.xda-developers.com/starlink-internet-rural-savior-unreliable-luxury/
Starlink’s disruption of the space industry
Jeff Foust - Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Like many five-year-olds, Starlink celebrated its birthday with a big candle. In its case, it was a Falcon 9 that lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on May 23, placing 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. That launch took place five years—almost to the minute—after another Falcon 9 lifted off from nearby Space Launch Complex 40 and put 60 Starlink satellites into orbit, the first dedicated launch for the broadband megaconstellation.
Starlink was an ambitious bet for SpaceX. The company believed it could leverage its experience in launch in telecommunications, using vertical integration and mass production to create a satellite constellation that would offer broadband services for a competitive price. If successful, it would allow SpaceX to enter a far larger market than launch, generating significantly more revenue to satisfy investors and fuel founder Elon Musk’s visions of sending humans to Mars.
It was also a dangerous bet based on the experience of past ventures that tried to develop similar systems, which either went through bankruptcy reorganization or never got off the ground. A quarter-century ago, for example, Teledesic proposed a constellation of as many as 900 satellites—a mind-boggling number at the time—and had the backing of Bill Gates and Craig McCaw, but went out of business before launching a single operational satellite.
Musk was keenly aware of that when he spoke at the Satellite 2020 conference in March 2020, after the company had launched about 300 satellites. “That would be a big step, to have more than zero in the ‘not bankrupt’ category,” he said then. (A few weeks after he spoke, OneWeb, in the process of deploying its own constellation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.)
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites could damage the environment for decades, study says
Mega satellite constellations produce destructive gases when they burn up in atmosphere at end of service lives
Vishwam Sankaran - Thursday 20 June 2024 18:41
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites could damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer when they are deorbited, new research suggests.
Mega satellite constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink spew copious amounts of aluminium oxide gas in the atmosphere that could deplete the ozone layer, according to the research published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
SpaceX has launched more than 6,000 satellites and counting to beam internet, with each new model getting heavier.
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-internet-b2567423.html
Nearly 1 in 3 Starlink satellites detected within the SKA-Low frequency band
Magnus L'Argent - Aug 12, 2025
Disclaimer: “Beyond astro-ph” articles are not necessarily intended to be representative of the views of the entire Astrobites collaboration, nor do they represent the views of the AAS or all astronomers. While AAS supports Astrobites, Astrobites is editorially independent and content that appears on Astrobites is not reviewed or approved by the AAS.
There has been an explosion in the number of communication satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) since 2019, facilitated by reusable space launch technologies and spurred on by the promise of low-cost, low-latency internet access. Starlink, a mega-constellation of satellites operated by SpaceX, currently dominates LEO, with batches of Starlink satellites being launched on average every 3 days and approximately 8000 in orbit as of this article’s publication.
These mega-constellation satellites have grave, well-documented effects on optical astronomy, as well as potential impacts on the composition of the atmosphere, including ozone depletion. The effects on radio astronomy is a developing field of research, but as previously documented in this Astrobite, Starlink satellites have already been consistently observed at low radio frequencies and notably at frequencies that are supposed to be protected for radio astronomy under international guidelines. Unlike terrestrial sources of radio interference, like television or cell phones, you can’t avoid satellites by building telescopes in remote, low-population areas on Earth.
Anomaly
2025
A Starlink Satellite Is Tumbling Toward Earth After a Strange Anomaly in Orbit
The satellite suffered a sudden drop in altitude, suggesting there may have been a small explosion.
Passant Rabie - December 19, 2025
SpaceX has lost contact with one of its broadband satellites, which is now falling toward Earth due to an unspecified and seemingly mysterious anomaly.
The company revealed that a Starlink satellite experienced an anomaly on Wednesday that led to a complete loss of communication. The satellite suddenly dropped around 2.5 miles in altitude (4 kilometers) and created a small field of debris, according to SpaceX.
“The satellite is largely intact, tumbling, and will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise within weeks,” SpaceX wrote on X. It’s not clear what caused the satellite to tumble, but the loss of altitude and small bits of debris suggest it, or at least a part of it, may have exploded in orbit.
LeoLabs, a space technology company that tracks orbital debris, detected tens of objects within the vicinity of the satellite following the anomaly. The company wrote that the incident was likely caused by “an internal energetic source rather than a collision with space debris or another object.”
As the number of orbital objects increases, it also becomes harder to keep track of them. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who monitors objects in orbit, suggests that the Starlink satellite may not have dropped from its altitude and that the data point was wrong. Follow-up observations of the satellite in question are needed to figure out exactly what may or may not have happened to the Starlink.
Antenna
Starlink’s new rectangular satellite broadband dish is smaller and lighter than before
Mariella Moon - 4:09 AM PST November 12, 2021
Starlink has introduced a new user terminal customers can get with their starter kit. As first reported by The Verge, the company now offers a rectangular option (PDF) that’s smaller and lighter than its original circular one. Users have to install that antenna on their rooftop or anywhere high up with a clear view of the sky to be able to access its satellite internet.
The original version is a standard dish that’s 23-inch wide, but the rectangular version is only 12 inches wide and 19 inches long. It’s also only 9.2 pounds, which is almost half the weight of its circular counterpart. The new terminal’s smaller form factor could give users more options when it comes to potential locations where they can install it. In addition, the rectangular terminal comes with more accessory options, including a long pole users can simply stick in the ground so they no longer have to mount the antenna on their rooftop.
SpaceX Unveils Redesigned Second-Gen Starlink Dish
The new dish is slightly smaller and lighter, potentially making it easier for the company to mass-produce.
Michael Kan - November 11, 2021
SpaceX has introduced a smaller and lighter version of its Starlink dish.
The company debuted the second-generation dish design on the Starlink website Wednesday night, the same day the FCC approved SpaceX’s application to operate the new dishes.
The news signals that SpaceX is ready to ship the upgraded dishes to eager customers still waiting to try out the satellite internet service. In September, the company said it was preparing to boost its dish production with a new dish model slated to debut this fall.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-unveils-redesigned-second-gen-starlink-dish
If I Fits, I Sits: Starlink's Self-Heating Internet Satellite Dishes Are Attracting Cats
The dish's Snow Melt Mode prevents snow build-up from interfering with the signal—and apparently provides a toasty outdoor lounge space for critters.
Alyse Stanley - 8 January 2022 4:30PM
SpaceX’s Starlink has been making steady gains with its fledgling satellite internet service, surpassing 100,000 terminals shipped in 2021 and showing promising improvements in performance after initial speed tests produced lackluster results. However, the company’s run into an unforeseen hiccup with its dishes: Cats love them.
“Starlink works great until the cats find out that the dish gives off a little heat on cold days,” tweeted Starlink user Aaron Taylor.
https://gizmodo.com/if-i-fits-i-sits-starlinks-self-heating-internet-sate-1848327155
Starlink users can now take their terminal on the road
The new Portability feature costs an extra $25 per month.
Kris Holt - May 5th, 2022
Folks who enjoy camping or weekend trips in an RV now have another way to access the internet when they set up shop for the night — as long as they don't mind lugging around Starlink hardware and paying $135 per month. A new feature called Portability allows users to temporarily use Starlink when they're away from home.
In the US, Portability costs $25 per month. That's on top of the regular service fee, which SpaceX recently bumped up to $110 per month. The hardware now costs $599 for those without a preorder.
https://www.engadget.com/starlink-portability-internet-spacex-141228324.html
Cellular / Starlink
SpaceX and T-Mobile Plan to Link Starlink Satellites to Cellphones
Elon Musk unveils plan to provide voice and data services anywhere, allowing areas not yet reached by wireless networks to get service
Thomas Gryta and Micah Maidenberg - Updated Aug. 25, 2022 11:01 pm ET
SpaceX and T-Mobile US Inc. said they plan to work together to use the rocket company’s satellites to provide connections to T-Mobile cellphones across the U.S., even in remote areas with no current wireless service.
The companies said Thursday that the new service would use Starlink satellites that SpaceX plans to launch and provide connections to U.S. consumers using wireless spectrum controlled by T-Mobile. The companies said they plan to start with a test of text-messaging services in select markets before the end of 2023.
The goal of the partnership is to provide voice and data services anywhere, regardless of cell towers, allowing areas not yet reached by wireless networks to get service. That would include places where cellular signals can’t reach, such as the middle of a national park or a large body of water.
T-Mobile and Space X's Satellite Cell Plan Could Strain Budget for Lower Income Users Who Need It Most
The companies are partnering to bring Starlink satellite internet to T-Mobile phones in an effort to eliminate connectivity dead zones in remote areas.
Mack DeGeurin - 26 August 2022 11:55AM
SpaceX may have found another way to put all those telescope blocking satellites it has littering night skies to some good use. Starting next year, T-Mobile phones will connect with SpaceX’s Starlink service to bring satellite internet to its devices in an effort to bring about, “the end of mobile dead zones.” If it works, the companies believe the new partnership could help bring internet connections to even the most remote areas in the States, especially those currently underserved by cell providers and fixed broadband companies. Low-budget users most in need of such a service, however, may have to dig deep to pay for the new service.
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced the new plan, boringly named Coverage Above and Beyond, during a live event at Space X’s Texas Starbase on Thursday. The satellite coverage, which T-Mobile says will work with existing devices by using a phone’s existing radio, will start rolling out first with text messaging and select messaging apps for beta users next year. After that, the companies said they plan to use satellite connectivity to provide voice messaging and data support as well.
https://gizmodo.com/t-mobile-space-x-satellite-cell-plan-starlink-dead-zone-1849461651
SpaceX cleared to test satellite phone service via Starlink
Low Earth orbit cell ops will help remote region get services
Dan Robinson - Fri 15 Dec 2023 15:31 UTC
SpaceX has got approval to run tests of a proposed service that allows unmodified smartphones to make calls via a satellite link.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates all things network in the US, has permitted Elon Musk's space biz to pilot direct-to-cellular communications between everyday cellular phones and its Gen2 Starlink satellites.
The space-faring company said in its application that “experimental” authority was needed to carry out tests as the FCC is still processing SpaceX's application “to enable supplemental coverage from space for consumers on a permanent basis.” asteroid We regret to inform you Earth will not be destroyed by an asteroid within 1,000 years READ MORE
SpaceX has 180 days to carry out its trials, and said in its application these will involve approximately 840 satellites with direct-to-cellular payloads, approximately 60 of which will be serving handsets in the US under this experimental authorization at any given time.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/15/spacex_cleared_to_test_satellite/
Upcoming SpaceX Launch to Include First Direct-to-Cell Starlink Satellites
The company is in an industry race to provide service in remote areas with veritable cellphone towers in space.
Passant Rabie - 17 December 2023
SpaceX is gearing up to launch the first batch of Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability, with plans to test the technology in Earth orbit so that it can expand its reach on Earth beyond the range of cell towers.
A total of 21 satellites will launch on board SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 12:09 a.m. on Friday, December 29 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The latest batch of Starlink satellites will include six satellites with a space-based cellular broadband network to “enable mobile network operators around the world to provide seamless global access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters,” SpaceX wrote.
The space-to-cell service was originally supposed to be facilitated by SpaceX’s next generation Starlink satellites, according to Spaceflight Now. Those may take a while to get to orbit, however, as they are too big to fit on board a Falcon 9 rocket and are awaiting the completion of Starship instead.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-direct-cell-satellites-internet-1851108533
SpaceX launches first batch of direct-to-cell Starlink satellites for testing this year
Aria Alamalhodaei - 3 January 2024
SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink satellites that will be able to connect directly to cell phones ahead of planned testing later this year.
The company launched six Starlink satellites with this capability with a batch of 15 other Starlink birds aboard a Falcon 9 rocket late last night. SpaceX obtained approval from U.S. regulators last month to test the satellites in partnership with T-Mobile. SpaceX has a number of other partnerships with native telecom companies in countries including Australia, Canada and Japan.
The approval, which was granted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, was for a 180-day period. SpaceX said the tests would eventually involve 840 satellites transmitting 4G connectivity to around 2,000 unmodified smartphones. The satellites will act as “cell phone towers in space,” according to Starlink’s website.
The website estimates that texting will become available this year, with voice and data services starting in 2025 and connection for Internet of Things devices also in 2025, though SpaceX will need to get regulatory approval before commencing commercial service.
Starlink launches first “cellphone towers in space” for use with LTE phones
T-Mobile field tests begin soon—texting to be available before voice and data.
Jon Brodkin - 1/3/2024, 9:09 AM
SpaceX last night launched the first six Starlink satellites that will provide cellular transmissions for customers of T-Mobile and other carriers.
SpaceX said it launched 21 satellites overall, including “the first six Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities that enable mobile network operators around the world to provide seamless global access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters without changing hardware or firmware. The enhanced Starlink satellites have an advanced modem that acts as a cellphone tower in space, eliminating dead zones with network integration similar to a standard roaming partner,” the company said.
Besides T-Mobile in the US, several carriers in other countries have signed up to use the direct-to-cell satellites. SpaceX said the other carriers are Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland, and Entel in Chile and Peru.
While SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote that the satellites will “allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth,” he also described a significant bandwidth limit. “Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial cellular networks,” Musk wrote.
SpaceX’s Latest Launch Will Bring Starlink to T-Mobile Phones
The latest batch of SpaceX satellites to reach orbit included six direct-to-cell Starlinks.
Passant Rabie - 3 January 2024
SpaceX is gearing up to test its Starlink satellites’ ability to connect directly to cellphones in the U.S., launching the first six satellites under a temporary license with the hopes to expand its connectivity reach beyond that of traditional cell signals.
On Tuesday, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched at 10:44 p.m. ET from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying 21 Starlink satellites to orbit. Of note, this batch included the first six Starlinks with direct-to-cell capabilities, according to the company.
In December, Elon Musk’s private space venture was granted approval to test direct-to-cell calls between Starlink satellites and regular mobile phones. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave SpaceX a temporary license to test the new satellite technology over a duration of six months, with 2,000 test devices and 840 satellites.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-t-mobile-direct-to-cell-smartphones-1851136034
Starlink launches first “cellphone towers in space” for use with LTE phones
T-Mobile field tests begin soon—texting to be available before voice and data.
Jon Brodkin - 1/3/2024, 9:09 AM
SpaceX last night launched the first six Starlink satellites that will provide cellular transmissions for customers of T-Mobile and other carriers.
SpaceX said it launched 21 satellites overall, including “the first six Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities that enable mobile network operators around the world to provide seamless global access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters without changing hardware or firmware. The enhanced Starlink satellites have an advanced modem that acts as a cellphone tower in space, eliminating dead zones with network integration similar to a standard roaming partner,” the company said.
Besides T-Mobile in the US, several carriers in other countries have signed up to use the direct-to-cell satellites. SpaceX said the other carriers are Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland, and Entel in Chile and Peru.
While SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote that the satellites will “allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth,” he also described a significant bandwidth limit. “Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial cellular networks,” Musk wrote.
Starlink's direct-to-cell website says the service will provide text messaging only when it becomes available in 2024, with voice and data service beginning sometime in 2025. Starlink's low Earth orbit satellites will work with standard LTE phones, unlike earlier services that required phones specifically built for satellite use. SpaceX's direct-to-cell satellites will also connect with Internet of Things (IoT) devices in 2025, the company says.
SpaceX sends first direct-to-cell Starlinks to orbit
It's like a cell tower… in spaaaaace
Richard Speed - Wed 3 Jan 2024 17:45 UTC
SpaceX has put the first six Direct to Cell-capable Starlink satellites into orbit following a successful Jan 3, 2023 launch.
Liftoff, which took place at 0344 UTC today, launched a batch of 21 Starlink satellites to Low Earth Orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLS-4E) at California's Vandenberg Space Force Base. SpaceX has now notched up 296 launches, 260 landings, and 231 reflights. The launch was the first flight for this particular booster.
While the launch was routine, the most notable part of the payload are the cell-capable sats, which the company says will provide “seamless access to text, voice and data for LTE phones across the globe.”
The mission came weeks after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) cleared SpaceX to start testing the service. The company told the agency it required “experimental” authority to kick off testing, and has 180 days to do so.
In its application, SpaceX said the testing would involve around 840 satellites with direct-to-cellular payloads, of which approximately 60 would serve US handsets at any given time.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/03/spacex_sends_directtocell_starlinks_into/
SpaceX Has Launched Starlink's First Direct-to-Smartphone Satellites
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday January 06, 2024 10:34AM
Tuesday's launch was different. “SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink satellites designed to connect directly to unmodified smartphones…” reports SpaceNews, “after getting a temporary experimental license to start testing the capability in the United States.”
Six of the 21 Starlink satellites that launched on a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:44 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carry a payload that the company said could provide connectivity for most 4G LTE devices when in range. SpaceX plans to start enabling texting from space this year in partnership with cellular operators, with voice and data connectivity coming in 2025, although the company still needs regulatory permission to provide the services commercially. Initial direct-to-smartphone tests would use cellular spectrum from SpaceX's U.S. mobile partner T-Mobile. SpaceX has also partnered with mobile operators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland….
Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service
Friday, Jan 12th, 2024 (8:08 am)
Starlink-Dish-on-UK-House-Official
Starlink (SpaceX) has conducted the first successful live test of their new global Direct to Cell mobile roaming service with regular unmodified Smartphones, which came only six days after they launched (here) the first small batch of DtC capable broadband satellites. But at present it’s only being used to send and receive text (SMS) messages.
The operator’s network currently has around 5,311 LEO satellites in orbit around the Earth (altitude of c. 500km+) and they have approval to add roughly 7,500 more by the end of 2027. Customers in the UK pay from £75 a month, plus £449 for the home kit (standard dish, router etc.) and £20 for shipping on the ‘Standard’ package, which promises fast internet latency times of 25-50ms, downloads of c. 25-100Mbps and uploads of c. 5-10Mbps.
“Such signal, much wow”: Starlink’s first texts via “cellphone towers in space”
Starlink's Direct to Cell satellites to fill in dead spots in T-Mobile network.
Jon Brodkin - 1/11/2024, 1:03 PM
SpaceX is showing off the first text messages sent between T-Mobile phones via one of Starlink's low Earth orbit satellites. “On Monday, January 8, the Starlink team successfully sent and received our first text messages using T-Mobile network spectrum through one of our new Direct to Cell satellites launched six days prior,” a Starlink update said.
SpaceX last week launched the first six Starlink satellites that can provide cellular transmissions to standard LTE phones. The service from what Starlink calls “cellphone towers in space” is expected to provide text messaging sometime this year for customers of T-Mobile in the US and carriers in other countries, with voice and data service beginning sometime in 2025.
SpaceX posted a photo of the two iPhones that exchanged the texts, which included messages such as “Such signal” and “Much wow.” The process that allowed those texts to be sent was pretty complicated, Starlink said.
“Connecting cell phones to satellites has several major challenges to overcome,” Starlink said. “For example, in terrestrial networks cell towers are stationary, but in a satellite network they move at tens of thousands of miles per hour relative to users on Earth. This requires seamless handoffs between satellites and accommodations for factors like Doppler shift and timing delays that challenge phone to space communications.”
Starlink mobile plans hit snag as FCC dismisses SpaceX spectrum application
SpaceX application tossed but firm will get another shot in spectrum rulemaking.
Jon Brodkin - 3/27/2024, 2:10 PM
Starlink's mobile ambitions were dealt at least a temporary blow yesterday when the Federal Communications Commission dismissed SpaceX's application to use several spectrum bands for mobile service.
SpaceX is seeking approval to use up to 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites with spectrum in the 1.6 GHz, 2 GHz, and 2.4 GHz bands. SpaceX could still end up getting what it wants but will have to go through new rulemaking processes in which the FCC will evaluate whether the spectrum bands can handle the system without affecting existing users.
The FCC Space Bureau's ruling dismissed the SpaceX application yesterday as “unacceptable for filing.” The application was filed over a year ago.
The FCC said the SpaceX requests “do not substantially comply with Commission requirements established in rulemaking proceedings which determined that the 1.6/2.4 GHz and 2 GHz bands are not available for additional MSS [mobile-satellite service] applications.”
But the FCC yesterday also issued two public notices seeking comment on SpaceX petitions to revise the commission's spectrum-sharing rules for the bands. Dish Network and Globalstar oppose the SpaceX requests, and SpaceX will have to prove to the FCC that its plan won't cause harmful interference to other systems.
AT&T and Verizon ask FCC to throw a wrench into Starlink’s mobile plan
Carriers allege Starlink/T-Mobile will interfere with existing mobile networks.
Jon Brodkin - 8/15/2024, 1:23 PM
AT&T and Verizon are urging telecom regulators to reject a key part of SpaceX's plan to offer cellular service with T-Mobile, claiming the satellite system will interfere with and degrade service for terrestrial mobile broadband networks.
Filings urging the Federal Communications Commission to deny SpaceX's request for a waiver were submitted by AT&T and Verizon this week. The plan by SpaceX's Starlink division also faces opposition from satellite companies EchoStar (which owns Dish and Hughes) and Omnispace.
SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to offer Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) for T-Mobile's cellular network using SpaceX satellites. As part of that plan, SpaceX is seeking a waiver of FCC rules regarding out-of-band emission limits.
AT&T's petition to deny the SpaceX waiver request said the FCC's “recent SCS order appropriately recognized that SCS deployments should not present any risk to the vital terrestrial mobile broadband networks upon which millions of Americans rely today. The Commission authorized SCS as secondary to terrestrial mobile service, correctly explaining that the SCS framework must 'retain service quality of terrestrial networks, protect spectrum usage rights, and minimize the risk of harmful interference.'”
Shots fired as AT&T and Verizon ask FCC to block Starlink's direct-to-cell plans
Rivals claim signal waiver would interfere with terrestrial networks
Dan Robinson - Fri 16 Aug 2024 15:15 UTC
Starlink's rivals in the satellite phone service race are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject its request for a waiver relating to out-of-band emission limits on signals, claiming this would cause interference with terrestrial cell networks.
The SpaceX subsidiary has plans to deliver a “direct-to-cell” satellite comms service with T-Mobile US, which would allow subscribers across the US to make calls using a satellite link in areas where there is no coverage from cellphone towers.
However, the other two of America's big three cell network operators, Verizon and AT&T, have teamed up with a different satellite provider – AST SpaceMobile – to allow their own users to make calls in areas with no cell tower coverage.
Now Verizon and AT&T have both submitted documents to the FCC asking it to deny a SpaceX request for a waiver relating to out-of-band emission limits on signals, which the Musk-run biz says it needs for Starlink satellites to operate the service, or “supplemental coverage from space” (SCS), as it is referred to in the documents.
The two telcos contend that this waiver would allow Starlink to operate satellite services using a signal strength that would risk interference with existing cellphone services.
Verizon states in its petition [PDF] that SpaceX filed an application to add an SCS payload to its second generation satellites in early 2023, and had at that time requested a waiver of the FCC's limits applicable for terrestrial operations.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/16/att_verizon_starlink/
AT&T and Verizon Ask FCC To Throw a Wrench Into Starlink's Mobile Plan
Posted by BeauHD on Friday August 16, 2024 12:00AM
AT&T and Verizon are urging the FCC to reject SpaceX's plan to offer cellular service with T-Mobile, arguing that it would cause harmful interference to terrestrial mobile networks. Ars Technica reports:
Filings urging the Federal Communications Commission to deny SpaceX's request for a waiver were submitted by AT&T and Verizon this week. The plan by SpaceX's Starlink division also faces opposition from satellite companies EchoStar (which owns Dish and Hughes) and Omnispace. SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to offer Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) for T-Mobile's cellular network using SpaceX satellites. As part of that plan, SpaceX is seeking a waiver of FCC rules regarding out-of-band emission limits.
AT&T's petition to deny the SpaceX waiver request said the FCC's “recent SCS order appropriately recognized that SCS deployments should not present any risk to the vital terrestrial mobile broadband networks upon which millions of Americans rely today. The Commission authorized SCS as secondary to terrestrial mobile service, correctly explaining that the SCS framework must 'retain service quality of terrestrial networks, protect spectrum usage rights, and minimize the risk of harmful interference.'” AT&T said SpaceX's requested “ninefold increase” to the allowable power flux-density limits for out-of-band emissions “would cause unacceptable harmful interference to incumbent terrestrial mobile operations. Specifically, AT&T's technical analysis shows that SpaceX's proposal would cause an 18% average reduction in network downlink throughput in an operational and representative AT&T PCS C Block market deployment.” Verizon's opposition to the waiver request similarly said that SpaceX's proposal “would subject incumbent, primary terrestrial licensee operations in adjacent bands to harmful interference.” Wireless phone performance will suffer, Verizon said […].
T-Mobile users can try Starlink-enabled phone service for free during beta
Beta registration opened today, will enable texting in dead zones in early 2025.
Jon Brodkin - Dec 16, 2024 9:08 AM
T-Mobile today said it opened registration for the “T-Mobile Starlink” beta service that will enable text messaging via satellites in dead zones not covered by cell towers.
T-Mobile's announcement said the service using Starlink's low-Earth orbit satellites will “provid[e] coverage for the 500,000 square miles of land in the United States not covered by earth-bound cell towers.” Starlink parent SpaceX has so far launched over 300 satellites with direct-to-cell capabilities, T-Mobile noted.
A registration page says, “We expect the beta to begin in early 2025, starting with texting and expanding to data and voice over time. The beta is open to all T-Mobile postpaid customers for free, but capacity is limited.”
T-Mobile said the beta “is expected to work with most modern mobile phones” but will work best with “select smartphones.” People with those “select” devices will apparently have a better chance of getting into the beta.
“T-Mobile postpaid customers with optimized devices will be admitted on a 'first come, first served' basis,” T-Mobile said. “We'll expand the beta to more customers and more devices as more satellites launch.”
What you need to know about the T-Mobile Starlink mobile service
Details on beta registration, prices, compatible phones, and technical limits.
Jon Brodkin – Feb 10, 2025 11:17 AM
T-Mobile yesterday announced more details of its new service powered by Starlink and said Verizon and AT&T customers can use the satellite offering, too. The standard price will be $15 a month as an add-on for T-Mobile customers, and $20 a month for people who don't have T-Mobile as their primary carrier.
While we've written numerous articles about the Starlink/T-Mobile collaboration over the past two and a half years, the service's beta test and a Super Bowl commercial are raising awareness that it exists. In this article we'll answer some questions you might have about T-Mobile Starlink (yes, T-Mobile Starlink is the official name of the service).
What is this thing anyway?
Over the past 13 months, SpaceX's Starlink division has launched about 450 Direct to Cell satellites that can provide service to mobile phones in areas where there are no cell towers. Starlink is partnering with cellular carriers in multiple countries, and T-Mobile is its primary commercial partner in the US.
T-Mobile says the goal is to provide telecom service in dead zones, the 500,000 square miles of the US that aren't reached by any terrestrial cell tower. When a user crosses into a dead zone, their phone is supposed to automatically connect to Starlink satellites. T-Mobile Starlink only supports texting for now, but T-Mobile says voice calls and data service will be available eventually.
Anyone Can Try Sending Satellite Texts for Free Now, Thanks to T-Mobile and Starlink
By Brent Dirks Published 6 hours ago Follow Thread Link copied to clipboard Satellite Related A man holding a Galaxy Tab S9 showing its lock screen Why I Regret Buying an Android Tablet Instead of an iPad iPhone 16 Pro in White Kept on a Wooden Table Disabling This iOS 18 Setting Helped Improve My iPhone's Battery Life Hands holding an iPhone and a smartphone side by side, displaying different home screens, set against a vibrant, wavy background. I'm a Die-Hard Apple Fan, but These 5 Android Features Make Me Jealous Sign in to your MUO account The T-Mobie Starlink logo. T-Mobile
Even though cellular coverage feels nearly universal, there are still areas where getting a signal is impossible. But with the T-Mobile Starlink partnership, you can try out a free beta test of a satellite texting service—no matter what carrier you are using.
Free Satellite Texting for All—Until July
You can sign up for this trial period, which was announced during a Super Bowl commercial, through T-Mobile’s site. You will need to provide a name, email address, and phone number. Beta testers will be admitted on a rolling basis over the coming months.
https://www.makeuseof.com/t-mobile-starlink-free-texting-trial/
T-Mobile goes live with beta of satellite phone service for the US
Free text messages for users of its own and rival networks during test period
Dan Robinson - Mon 10 Feb 2025 16:32 UTC
T-Mobile US has started a public beta of its Direct-to-Cell service using Starlink satellites, offering just text messages for now, with data and voice calls coming later. Access will be free until July – after which it will cost $15 per month.
America's second largest mobile operator confirmed the move with an ad aired during the Super Bowl sports event. The service is intended to help keep people connected in areas of the country beyond the reach of cellphone towers, including customers of the rival Verizon and AT&T networks.
The Direct-to-Cell service works with many existing handsets rather than requiring special hardware, and the operator says that users don't even need to do anything, because when their cellphone goes out of range of a cell tower, the phone will automatically connect to the T-Mobile Starlink network, in a similar way to how roaming works by handing off to another network when you visit a different country.
“T-Mobile Starlink is the first and only space-based mobile network in the US that automatically connects to your phone so you can be connected even where no cellular network reaches. It's a massive technical achievement and an absolute game changer for ALL wireless users,” claimed T-Mobile president and CEO Mike Sievert.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/tmobile_goes_live_with_beta/
T-Mobile is offering its Starlink satellite texting feature for free until July
Anyone in the US with a compatible iPhone or Android device can sign up.
Steve Dent - Mon, Feb 10, 2025, 5:00 AM PST
T-Mobile's Starlink satellite texting feature is now available in beta for anyone with a compatible iPhone or Android device to try out, the company announced in a Super Bowl ad. The new feature provides mobile 4G or 5G coverage in areas not covered by regular cell phone towers, and you can sign up for it even if you're on another carrier like Verizon or AT&T.
The service will be available for free until July to approved beta testers, though limited spots are available. After that, customers of T-Mobile's high-end offerings like the $180 Go5G Next plan will receive the feature at no cost. Other T-Mobile customers can add the service for $15 per month, or $10 per month if they sign up before the end of February. Users of other carriers will be charged $20 per month starting in July (T-Mobile didn't explain exactly how that would work).
China
Chinese Researchers Publish Strategy to Destroy Elon Musk's Starlink
China is increasingly worried about SpaceX's dominance of low Earth orbit, and by extension, the expanding reach of the U.S. in space.
Passant Rabie - 27 May 2022 5:30PM
In anticipation of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites posing as a threat, military researchers in China want their nation to be ready to disable, or perhaps completely destroy, the gigantic internet constellation. It’s an ominous possibility, but one easier said than done.
In a research paper published in China’s peer-reviewed journal Modern Defence Technology and reported on by the state-run South China Morning Post this past Wednesday, lead author Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, argues that the Chinese military should develop ways to counteract any threat posed by Starlink. The paper was freely available as early as yesterday, but as of today it appears to be taken down. However, a translated version of the article can be accessed here.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-china-military-1848982845
China's military scientists call for development of anti-Starlink measures
They suggest developing the capability to destroy the satellites in case they threaten China's national security.
Mariella Moon - June 1st, 2022
China must develop capabilities to disable and maybe even destroy Starlink internet satellites, the country's military researchers said in a paper published by the Chinese journal Modern Defense Technology. The authors highlighted the possibility of Starlink being used for military purposes that could aid other countries and threaten China's national security. According to South China Morning Post, the scientists are calling for the development of anti-satellite capabilities, including both hard and soft kill methods. The former is used to physically destroy satellites, such as the use of missiles, while a soft kill method targets a satellite's software and operating system.
In addition, the researchers are suggesting the development of a surveillance system with the ability to track each and every Starlink satellite. That would address one of their concerns, which is the possibility of launching military payloads along with a bunch of satellites for the constellation. David Cowhig's Translation Blog posted an English version of the paper, along with another article from state-sponsored website China Military Online that warned about the dangers of the satellite internet service.
https://www.engadget.com/china-military-scientists-anti-starlink-measures-060518398.html
Why Chinese Researchers Want to Destroy Starlink Satellites
Does Starlink have more capabilities than it's letting on?
Jowi Morales - 20 June 2022
In April 2022, a Chinese researcher published a paper declaring that the Starlink Satellite constellation threatens Chinese national security.
The report encourages the Chinese PLA to develop strategies to observe, disable, and destroy not just individual Starlink satellites but the entire system.
But why is Starlink a threat to China, and would the Chinese government actually attack Starlink?
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-chinese-researchers-want-to-destroy-starlink/
Watch Out, Elon: China Could Launch 13,000 Satellites to Disrupt Starlink
The proposed satellites, in addition to providing internet services, could spy on Starlink satellites and possibly disable them.
Kevin Hurler - 24 February 2023
In an effort to stifle Elon Musk’s Starlink, researchers in China are planning to launch their own fleet. The proposed megaconstellation has no set launch date, but is expected to consist of 12,992 satellites equipped with technologies to conduct surveillance on Starlink, among other capabilities.
According to the South China Morning Post, the constellation is codenamed “GW,” which likely refers to “Guowang,” citing professor Xu Can from the People’s Liberation Army’s Space Engineering University in Beijing. The China Satellite Network Group will take ownership over the constellation, which Xu and colleagues describe in a paper published on February 15 in the journal Command and Control Simulation.
https://gizmodo.com/china-could-launch-13-000-satellites-disrupt-starlink-1850155775
Chinese defence boffins ponder microwaving Starlink satellites to stop surveillance
Beijing has filed the paperwork for its LEO constellation, but SpaceX is already there
Simon Sharwood - Mon 27 Feb 2023 02:01 UTC
Chinese defence boffins have suggested aggressive countermeasures against SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service.
A paper in the February edition of Chinese journal Command and Control Simulation, titled “The impact of the 'Starlink' constellation on space situational awareness and countermeasures”, was penned by researchers from the People's Liberation Army Space Engineering University in Beijing.
The thrust of the paper is simple: Starlink's already huge constellation of satellites means it has occupied plenty of orbital and spectrum resources without detailing the disposition of its fleet, and China needs to get its own satellites up there ASAP if it wants to enjoy the same strategic advantages the USA derives from having SpaceX based on its soil.
The paper also expresses a worry that Starlink satellites could have dual purposes – such as carrying reconnaissance systems for the US military – meaning China needs the ability to degrade their abilities.
The paper notes that destroying Starlink satellites would create so much debris that access to space, and operation of satellites, could become tricky.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/china_defence_research_starlink_countermeasures/
China claims Starlink signals can reveal stealth aircraft – and what that really means
If this really was that useful, they wouldn't be telling us
Iain Thomson - Tue 17 Sep 2024 04:29 UTC
According to a Chinese state-sanctioned study, signals from SpaceX Starlink broadband internet satellites could be used to track US stealth fighters, such as the F-22.
They can claim that all they want but the reality is: It's not that useful militarily, and if it were, Beijing almost certainly wouldn't let anyone blab about it.
The research details how the academics were able to recognize the rough location of a commercial drone by observing disturbances in electromagnetic signals from Starlink satellites caused by aircraft passing through them. The system could “provide significant advantages in detecting small and stealth targets,” the team claimed.
The academics, led by professor Yi Jianxin from Wuhan University's School of Electronic Information, launched [paywall] a commercial DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone and sent it over the coast near the Chinese city of Guangdong. The researchers chose the drone as they estimated it has the same radar signature as a modern F-22 fighter.
They reported being able to detect up the drone – not by hammering it with easily identifiable radar pulses (which would invite a counterattack in a war situation) but by identifying where the drone reflected the signals from a Starlink satellite orbiting overhead. The test was overseen by the Chinese government's State Radio Monitoring Centre.
“By using third-party radiation sources, radar systems can have enhanced concealment and anti-jamming capabilities,” Yi and his team wrote.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/17/china_starlink_stealth/
Collisision / Collision-Avoidance
SpaceX Starlink Satellites Have to Dodge Objects in Orbit Nearly 140 Times Every Day
Starlink satellites executed 25,000 avoidance maneuvers over a recent six-month period—an orbital situation that's set to become even more challenging.
Passant Rabie - 10 July 2023 9:50AM
It’s getting awfully crowded in low Earth orbit with more than 4,000 Starlink satellites currently in orbit and thousands more that will soon make their way up there. SpaceX’s internet satellites often stand in the way of orbiting spacecraft, defunct satellites, or space junk, racking up 50,000 potentially dangerous approaches over the past four years.
A new report revealed that Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision avoidance maneuvers in the six-month period between December 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023, Space.com first reported. On average, that’s a whopping 137 collision avoidances performed by the Starlink satellites each day. Overall, SpaceX’s satellites have made a total of 50,000 collision avoidance maneuvers since the company began launching Starlinks to orbit in 2019, based on reports filed by SpaceX to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-dodge-137-objects-daily-1850616506?utm_source=vip
Starlink satellites are dodging objects in orbit thousands of times every month
Aria Alamalhodaei - 10 July 2023
Starlink satellites are making thousands of avoidance maneuvers as low Earth orbit becomes more crowded, feeding worries that a catastrophic impact is inevitable.
SpaceX’s orbital communication satellites performed maneuvers just over 25,000 times in the six-month period between December 1, 2022, and May 21, 2023, the company told the Federal Communications Commission in a recent filing. The company explained that it uses a threshold for maneuvering that is “an order of magnitude” more stringent than industry standard. SpaceX’s satellites move when the probability of a collision is greater than 1 in 100,000, while NASA and other industry firms use a threshold of 1 in 10,000.
Nevertheless, this is double the number of avoidance maneuvers that Starlink satellites made in the previous reporting period. The number of collision avoidance moves tracks alongside the growth of the Starlink constellation: For this most recent period, SpaceX reported adding 457 satellites to orbit.
SpaceX Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in just 6 months — and it will only get worse
Since the launch of the first Starlink spacecraft in 2019, the SpaceX satellites have been forced to move over 50,000 times to prevent collisions.
Tereza Pultarova - 6 July 2023
Staggering growth in Starlink collision-avoidance maneuvers in the past six months is sparking concerns over the long-term sustainability of satellite operations as thousands of new spacecraft are poised to launch into orbit in the coming years.
SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites were forced to swerve more than 25,000 times between Dec. 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023 to avoid potentially dangerous approaches to other spacecraft and orbital debris, according to a report filed by SpaceX with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 30. That's about double the number of avoidance maneuvers reported by SpaceX in the previous six-month period that ran from June to November 2022. Since the launch of the first Starlink spacecraft in 2019, the SpaceX satellites have been forced to move over 50,000 times to prevent collisions.
https://www.space.com/starlink-satellite-conjunction-increase-threatens-space-sustainability
Competitor
SpaceX's Starlink Has Competition—and SpaceX Is Launching It on Tuesday
SpaceX is launching a batch of internet satellites belonging to its main rival, OneWeb, in one of the more unintuitive launches of the year.
Passant Rabie - 5 December 2022
British company OneWeb and its largest internet satellite competitor SpaceX have gone from enemies to friends. Well, sort of. OneWeb, in the wake of a canceled deal with Russia, was forced to source new launch providers—leading them to SpaceX and a rather unlikely agreement.
The launch is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, December 6 at 5:37 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, with 40 OneWeb satellites tucked inside a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It’s an unlikely cargo, as SpaceX is currently building its own internet satellite constellation: Starlink.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-oneweb-satellite-constellation-1849853687
Two giants in the satellite telecom industry join forces to counter Starlink
SES is buying Intelsat, the world's first commercial satellite operator, for $3.1 billion.
Stephen Clark - 4/30/2024, 6:30 PM
Facing competition from Starlink and other emerging satellite broadband networks, the two companies that own most of the traditional commercial communications spacecraft in geostationary orbit announced plans to join forces Tuesday.
SES, based in Luxembourg, will buy Intelsat for $3.1 billion. The acquisition will create a combined company boasting a fleet of some 100 multi-ton satellites in geostationary orbit, a ring of spacecraft located more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. This will be more than twice the size of the fleet of the next-largest commercial geostationary satellite operator.
The problem is that demand is waning for communication services through large geostationary (GEO) satellites. There are some large entrenched customers, like video media companies and the military, that will continue to buy telecom capacity on geostationary satellites. But there's a growing demand among consumers, and some segments of the corporate and government markets, for the types of services offered by constellations of smaller satellites flying closer to Earth.
Musk's Starlink dominance raises FCC concerns on competition
SpaceX now accounts for nearly two-thirds of all active satellites in orbit
Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 12 Sep 2024 22:00 UTC
When Elon Musk's Starlink hit its 7,000th satellite milestone, it's unlikely he expected the FCC chair to suggest his space dominance might be stifling competition—but here we are.
Speaking at the US Chamber of Commerce's annual Global Aerospace Summit, FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel expressed a desire to encourage competition in the burgeoning commercial space industry. She didn't name any names, but her message was clear.
“Every communications market that has competition is stronger - we see lower prices and more innovation, and honestly space should be no exception,” Rosenworcel told FedScoop's Rebecca Heilweil in a one-on-one conversation at the Summit.
“We do have one player that's got almost two-thirds of the satellites that are in space right now and has a very high portion of internet traffic,” she added.
As of last week, “Starlink now constitutes roughly 2/3 of all active Earth satellites,” Musk said the day after that 7,000th Starlink unit hit orbit - so it's not exactly difficult to connect the dots.
“The way I see it is our economy doesn't benefit from monopolies so we've got to invite many more space actors in many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space,” Rosenworcel continued in reference to whatever “one player” she was referring to.
To encourage that competition, she noted the FCC has kicked off a transparency initiative that involves reaching out to companies interested in building their own satellite constellations, helping them understand the FCC's purview and what it takes to get approval.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/starlink_satellite_dominance_fcc/
Europe / IRIS^2 / IRIS2
Europe’s major satellite players line up to build Starlink competitor
The bid includes large players such as Airbus Defence and Space, Eutelsat, and SES.
Eric Berger - 5/3/2023, 8:17 AM
A consortium of nearly every major European satellite company announced Tuesday that it plans to bid for a proposed satellite constellation to provide global communications. Essentially, such a constellation would provide the European Union with connectivity from low-Earth orbit similar to what SpaceX's Starlink offers.
The bid, which includes large players such as Airbus Defence and Space, Eutelsat, SES, and Thales Alenia Space, comes in response to a request by the European Union for help in constructing a sovereign constellation to provide secure communications for government services, including military applications.
European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton announced the continent's plans for this constellation—known as Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite, or IRIS²—last November. The European Union will provide 2.4 billion euro, with additional contributions expected from the European Space Agency and private investments.
European companies form space jam to secure comms sovereignty with satellites
IRIS² program aims to get the EU off other countries' infrastructure
Dan Robinson - Fri 5 May 2023 15:57 UTC
A bunch of European space and telecoms companies have banded together to answer the EU's call for a satellite constellation to guarantee “communications sovereignty” for the region.
The IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) program was announced last year, following an agreement between the European Parliament and EU member states to invest €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) to make the project happen.
Now a number of companies with space and telecoms expertise across Europe say they have formed a partnership to respond to the European Commission's call for tender on the IRIS² program.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/05/eu_satellite_comms_consortium/
Europe's Major Satellite Players Line Up To Build Starlink Competitor
Posted by BeauHD on Friday May 05, 2023 12:00AM
Eric Berger writes via Ars Technica:
A consortium of nearly every major European satellite company announced Tuesday that it plans to bid for a proposed satellite constellation to provide global communications. Essentially, such a constellation would provide the European Union with connectivity from low-Earth orbit similar to what SpaceX's Starlink offers. The bid, which includes large players such as Airbus Defence and Space, Eutelsat, SES, and Thales Alenia Space, comes in response to a request by the European Union for help in constructing a sovereign constellation to provide secure communications for government services, including military applications.
European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton announced the continent's plans for this constellation – known as Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite, or IRIS^2 – last November. The European Union will provide 2.4 billion euro, with additional contributions expected from the European Space Agency and private investments. “IRIS^2 establishes space as a vector of our European autonomy, a vector of connectivity and a vector of resilience,” Breton said at the time. “It heightens Europe's role as a true space power. With a clear ambition and sense of direction.”
Europe will build its own secure satellite network
The IRIS2 constellation is expected to cost €10.6 billion.
Jeremy Gan - Updated Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 8:11 AM PST
The European Space Agency (ESA) has just signed a €10.6 ($11.1) billion contract to build the IRIS constellation. It’s the EU’s most ambitious space program in a decade and is designed to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink network. The contract will last 12 years, and the first launch is expected in 2029.
IRIS, which stands for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite, will consist of almost 300 satellites launched by European rockets. It’s built on top of two other EU satellite constellations, Copernicus and Galileo, the largest Earth-observation program and most accurate GPS system, respectively. Though most of the satellites’ work capacity will be used to provide commercial broadband services, a significant part is dedicated to security and crisis management. Most of the satellites are planned for a low earth orbit, but some will be in a medium earth orbit.
Of the €10.6 billion, €6 billion comes from the EU, while the ESA is forking over €550 million. The remaining €4 billion will come from the private sector.
IRIS² Gives Starlink Competition in Europe
Crystal Crowder - Dec 17, 2024
When you think about satellites and Internet, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellites are probably the first things that come to mind. Thanks to the recent contract for IRIS² in Europe, Starlink may soon have serious competition.
https://www.maketecheasier.com/iris2-gives-starlink-competition/
Financial 'stretch' for UK to join Europe's Starlink rival, says minister
Possibility of joining IRIS² remote as Britain grapples with fiscal squeeze
Lindsay Clark - Sat 5 Jul 2025 08:36 UTC
A UK minister has told Parliament that joining Europe's answer to Starlink — Elon Musk's satellite-based mobile internet service — would be a “stretch” given the nation's current financial challenges.
In December last year, the EU signed a contract with the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²) initiative, a multi-orbital constellation of 290 satellites, with the SpaceRISE consortium made up of European satellite network operators SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat. The total cost of the 12-year project is set to be €10.6 billion, with €6 billion from the EU, €550 million from the European Space Agency (ESA) and more than €4 billion from the private sector.
The UK missed out on the early stages of the project after formally leaving the EU in 2020. However, the UK has become more aligned with EU science and technology projects since rejoining its €100 billion (£86 billion, $107 billion) Horizon sci-tech funding program. Future funding for IRIS² beyond 2027 will be subject to the adoption of successor programmes by the European Parliament and Council alongside the availability of appropriations, leaving open the possibility that the UK could join as a third-party country.
Speaking to the House of Lords' UK Engagement with Space Committee, Chris Bryant, science minister, was quick to quash hopes of the UK joining the program and finding alternatives to Starlink. Departments were still grappling with the recent settlements from the UK multi-year spending, as budgets are squeezed between cutting services, raising taxes and increasing borrowing, following more than a decade of austerity and the Covid crisis.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/05/uk_budget_to_join_iris_not_there/
Costs
Starlink hikes prices to $599 up-front and $110 per month, blames inflation
SpaceX: “Sole purpose” of price hikes “is to keep pace with rising inflation.”
Jon Brodkin - 3/23/2022, 9:11 AM
Starlink has raised its prices for equipment and monthly service, blaming inflation for the increases in an email to customers. The up-front hardware cost was raised from $499 to $599 (a 20 percent increase), and the monthly service price was raised from $99 to $110 (up 11 percent). People who preordered Starlink and paid deposits but haven't yet received it will have to pay $549 for the user terminal if they choose to keep their orders.
“Due to excessive levels of inflation, the price of the Starlink kit is increasing from $499 to $549 for deposit holders and $599 for all new orders, effective today. In addition, the Starlink monthly service price will increase from $99 to $110,” Starlink said in an email to customers yesterday.
“Can't even honor the preorder pricing on the equipment? Brutal,” Jon Guidry of Georgia wrote on Twitter. Guidry forwarded us the email he got from Starlink, which says, “The sole purpose of these adjustments is to keep pace with rising inflation.” People who preorder have to put down a deposit of $99. Those who already did that can cancel the deposit for a full refund on their account page, the email from Starlink notes.
Hooking up to Starlink might be pricier than you thought
Increases inbound for Musk's satellite Internet service and his Falcon rockets
Richard Speed - Wed 23 Mar 2022 16:30 UTC
Prices are rising for customers of both Elon Musk's Starlink Internet service and his SpaceX rockets, with “excessive levels of inflation” to blame.
An email to users posted on Reddit showed a hike from $499 to $549 for Starlink deposit holders waiting for hardware, and a jump to $599 for new orders. The monthly service price will also jump from $99 to $110. The hardware rise is effective immediately, while the subscription increase will take place from May 9.
“The sole purpose of these adjustments is to keep pace with rising inflation,” insisted the company, although customers still waiting for their hardware to actually arrive might find the increases a tad galling.
Still, there is a full refund available for customers who have received their kit in the first 30 days, as well as a partial refund of $200 within the first year of service.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/23/starlink_spacex_spendy/
SpaceX’s Starlink prices are going up across the board
Darrell Etherington - 4:52 AM PDT March 23, 2022
SpaceX is raising prices for Starlink, including the price for the hardware kit itself, as well as the monthly fee for service. The price of the kit is increasing even for existing deposit holders, but it’s jumping more for any new orders.
Starlink hardware will cost existing deposit holders and extra $50, with the price increasing from $499 to $549, and those who haven’t yet reserved an order will now be paying $599 for the kit, which includes the Starlink receiver dish, modem and router. Monthly prices are going up by $11, from $99 to $110. All prices mentioned here reflect U.S. rates, but global customers are also getting an equivalent hike.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/23/spacexs-starlink-prices-are-going-up-across-the-board/
Why Starlink Is Raising Prices for the First Time Since Launch
Starlink internet subscribers are being hit by a price increase for the first time since launch. Here's why and who the change will affect.
Joy Okumoko - 25 March 2022
Starlink is raising prices for the first time since launch. The big question on subscribers' lips is why and why now? According to the company, this is happening due to reasons beyond Starlink's immediate control.
To quickly refresh you, Starlink is a SpaceX owned company focused on providing high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to communities with no or poor internet connectivity. It does this using thousands of Starlink satellites operating in low-Earth orbit.
If you're one of the 250,000 subscribers using Starlink, read on to find out more about the price change, why it's changing, when to expect the change, and how the change may affect you.
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-starlink-raising-prices-first-time/
Starlink performance sees a bump, and so do prices
Still not quite as fast as it was in the halcyon days of 2021
Dan Robinson - Thu 23 Feb 2023 18:28 UTC
SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband service has shown a modest peformance jump in some regions from Q3 to Q4 of last year, although speeds are still down from 2021 before the rapid increase in subscriber numbers.
The Starlink service has so far proven popular, with customers reportedly passing the 1 million mark just before the end of 2022, up from just 145,000 at the start of that year.
However, this expanding subscriber base reduced the quality of service and saw median download speeds in some areas falling in the first half of last year, according to network intelligence company Ookla.
Now the latest Ookla report indicates that many countries in Europe and Oceania experienced a sequential rise in average download speeds in Q4 2022.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/23/starlink_performance_improves/
How Much Power Does Starlink Use?
Will your electricity bill take a hit if you use Starlink to connect to the web?
Katie Rees - 8 March 2023
Starlink's high internet speeds have made it a lure for many, but what effect does it have on your electricity bill? Just how much power does Starlink consume?
Analyst on Starlink’s rapid rise: “Nothing short of mind-blowing”
Starlink's estimated free cash flow this year is about $600 million.
Eric Berger - 5/10/2024, 6:45 AM
According to the research firm Quilty Space, SpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet business is now profitable.
During a webinar on Thursday, analysts from the firm outlined the reasons why they think SpaceX has been able to achieve a positive cash flow in its space Internet business just five years after the first batch of 60 satellites were launched.
The co-founder of the firm, Chris Quilty, said the rapidity of Starlink's rise surprised a lot of people, including himself. “A lot of industry veterans kind of scoffed at the idea,” he said. “We'd seen this before.”
Ars Live: How profitable is Starlink? We dig into the details of satellite Internet.
How has Starlink has gone from zero to profitability in five years?
Eric Berger - 5/29/2024, 10:13 AM
SpaceX began launching operational Starlink satellites five years ago this month. Since then, the company has been rapidly developing its constellation of broadband satellites in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX has now launched about 6,000 satellites with its Falcon 9 rocket and has delivered on its promise to provide fast Internet around the world. Today, the company is the largest satellite operator in the world by a factor of 10.
But is this massive enterprise to deliver Internet from space profitable?
According to a new report by Quilty Space, the answer is yes. Quilty built a model to assess Starlink's profitability. First, the researchers assessed revenue. The firm estimates this will grow to $6.6 billion in 2024, up from essentially zero just four years ago. In addition to rapidly growing its subscriber base of about 3 million, SpaceX has also managed to control costs. Based upon its model, therefore, Quilty estimates that Starlink's free cash flow from the business will be about $600 million this year.
So, what does it mean for this industry that Starlink has gone from zero to profitability in five years? What's next for the network? Are there credible competitors to Starlink in OneWeb, Amazon's Project Kuiper, or other planned megaconstellations? Can low-Earth orbit accommodate all of these satellites?
Starlink profit growing rapidly as it faces a moment of promise and peril
“He wants to take food off the table of people—hard-working people.”
Eric Berger - Feb 3, 2025 9:43 AM
Two new independent estimates of revenue from SpaceX's Starlink Internet service suggest it is rapidly growing, having nearly tripled in just two years.
An updated projection from the analysts at Quilty Space estimates that the service produced $7.8 billion in revenue in 2024, with about 60 percent of that coming from consumers who subscribe to the service. Similarly, the media publication Payload estimated that Starlink generated $8.2 billion in revenue last year.
These estimates indicate that Starlink produced a few hundred million dollars in free cash flow for SpaceX in 2024. However, with revenues expected to leap in 2025 to above $12 billion, Quilty Space estimates that free cash flow will grow to about $2 billion. SpaceX is privately held, so its financial numbers are not public.
Data
Starlink speeds ahead in the satellite race but rivals aren't starstruck just yet
Download rates stabilize after influx of users dragged on service
Dan Robinson - Tue 19 Sep 2023 18:45 UTC
SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband service has become the provider to beat on speed, according to network intelligence outfit Ookla, although the company faces competition coming soon from a rash of rivals.
In speed tests conducted by Ookla during the second quarter of 2023, Starlink turned out to be the fastest among the satellite providers it surveyed, delivering median download speeds of over 100Mbps in 14 European countries.
Looking more broadly across the 27 European countries surveyed, Starlink managed greater than 90Mbps in 20 of those, higher than 80Mbps in 24 countries, with only three countries failing to see speeds of at least 70Mbps.
Data Cap
Starlink is adding a 1TB data cap for usage during peak hours
You'll have to pay a premium if you want guaranteed performance.
Jon Fingas - November 7, 2022 10:12 AM
Starlink raised its prices this spring, and now it's increasing the costs for its most demanding users. As The Verge reports, the SpaceX-run satellite internet provider is instituting a 1TB “Priority Access” monthly cap for data use between 7AM and 11PM beginning in December. Cross that limit and you'll spend the rest of the month relegated to “Basic Access” that, like with some phone carriers, deprioritizes your data when the network is busy. You might not notice much of a difference in typical situations, but this won't thrill you if you depend on sustained performance.
Service can get expensive if you insist on full performance around the clock. You'll pay 25 cents per gigabyte of priority data. As Reddit user Nibbloid pointed out, the math doesn't quite add up. It will cost you another $250 to get an extra 1TB of data — it would be cheaper to add a second subscription, at least if you don't mind the cost of an extra terminal. RV, Portability and “Best Effort” users also don't have any Priority Access.
https://www.engadget.com/starlink-data-cap-peak-hours-151247666.html
Starlink announces 1TB monthly cap, users who go over will get slower speeds
It'll be 25¢ per GB for additional high-speed data; overnight use doesn't count.
Jon Brodkin - 11/8/2022, 9:45 AM
Starlink is imposing new data-usage limits on its Internet customers, slowing speeds after a customer uses 1TB in any given month unless they pay extra. While the new data limits are in some ways more forgiving than Comcast's data cap, the change may be concerning to Starlink users who have already seen slower speeds in recent months.
“To ensure our customer base is not negatively impacted by a small number of users consuming unusually high amounts of data, the Starlink team is implementing a Fair Use policy for Residential customers in the US and Canada and all Business/Maritime customers beginning December 2022,” an FAQ says.
Starlink nixes plan to impose 1TB data cap and per-gigabyte overage fees
Home users won't have to pay extra for each gigabyte thanks to policy reversal.
Jon Brodkin - 5/3/2023, 2:06 PM
Starlink has abandoned plans to charge data overage fees to standard residential users who exceed 1TB of monthly usage.
When SpaceX's Starlink division first announced the data cap in November 2022, it said that residential customers would get 1TB of “priority access data” each month. After using 1TB, customers could keep accessing the Internet at slower (but unspecified) speeds or pay $0.25 per gigabyte for “additional priority access.”
This was originally supposed to take effect in December, but Starlink delayed the change to February and then to April. But now, Starlink's list of support FAQs no longer mentions the residential data cap and the current version of the fair use policy says that standard service plan users have unlimited data. The previous version of the Starlink fair use policy described the 1TB residential cap and optional $0.25-per-gigabyte overage fees.
Deorbit
SpaceX to Deorbit 100 Starlink Satellites Due to Detected Flaw
The removal of so many satellites at once is unprecedented, highlighting the challenges of huge satellite constellations.
George Dvorsky - 13 February 2024
An unspecified defect in early model Starlink satellites has prompted SpaceX to preemptively deorbit the units before they potentially fail and become hazards in low Earth orbit. While the company remains confident that the deorbiting of these problematic units will prevent any issues, this incident underscores the challenges and uncertainties in navigating the realm of gigantic satellite networks.
The deorbiting of Starlink satellites is a commonplace task for SpaceX; the Elon Musk-led company has already initiated the disposal of 406 units from the nearly 6,000 satellites launched to date. Among these, 17 are currently non-maneuverable but are expected to naturally decay and eventually burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in the coming years. However, the decision to deorbit a large batch of approximately 100 satellites within a brief amount of time is certainly out of the ordinary.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-to-deorbit-100-starlink-satellites-due-to-detect-1851251676
SpaceX will de-orbit 100 Starlink satellites with unidentified flaw
Devin Coldewey - 14 February 2024
SpaceX announced today that it will be sending some 100 Starlink satellites to an early retirement after a flaw was identified that could make them a worry later on. Don’t expect a fiery light show, though, and if you use Starlink, your service should be unaffected.
The announcement explains that “the Starlink team identified a common issue” in this subset of first-generation communication satellites that could “increase the probability of failure.”
I’ve asked the company for further details and will update this post if I hear back, but based on the description and context, it seems likely that the “failure” in question would mean a loss of control. Seventeen Starlink satellites are “currently non-maneuverable,” but SpaceX did not say whether this was due to the same issue as the 100 being de-orbited.
Unpowered satellites are more or less just debris, even if at a low orbit like this one they’ll burn up in a few years rather than in a few hundred. One of the criticisms of mega-constellations like Starlink is their potential to contribute to the space junk problem, and SpaceX doesn’t want to be the one that people blame when the sky is full of broken satellites.
SpaceX takes a proactive step toward responsible behavior in orbit
“We commend this commitment as a first step.”
Eric Berger - 2/15/2024, 1:18 PM
SpaceX announced this week that it will voluntarily bring down about 100 of its first-generation Starlink satellites, which provide broadband Internet from low-Earth orbit, as part of its commitment to “space sustainability.”
The satellites are presently operational and serving Internet customers. However, in a statement, the company said, “The Starlink team identified a common issue in this small population of satellites that could increase the probability of failure in the future.”
This only represents a small fraction of the Starlink megaconstellation, which SpaceX has been launching on Falcon 9 rockets over the last half-decade. To date, SpaceX has put nearly 6,000 satellites into orbit a few hundred kilometers above the planet. This rapid growth in the company's constellation has raised widespread concerns about the cluttering of low-Earth orbit and the potential for a profusion of debris.
Previously, SpaceX has initiated controlled de-orbits of 406 satellites. The vast majority of these have already entered Earth's atmosphere and burnt up. However, 17 have become non-maneuverable. These are in decaying orbits and will eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Until such time, they are being tracked to prevent collisions with other satellites.
Out with the old, in with the new as 100 Starlink satellites take atmospheric exit
SpaceX doing some spring cleaning to deal with aging models before they fail
Dan Robinson - Thu 15 Feb 2024 18:32 UTC
SpaceX is set to deorbit about 100 of its older Starlink broadband satellites after identifying an issue that could cause them to malfunction and become unresponsive to ground control.
In an update [PDF] posted on the Starlink website, SpaceX says it plans to perform controlled descents of early version 1 Starlink satellites over the coming weeks and months. This is a preemptive action before the satellites fail.
The space operator reckons all the satellites are currently maneuverable and serving the Starlink broadband customer base, but identified a common issue with this specific bunch of sats that might make them more likely to fail in the future. The company didn't specify the nature of this flaw.
The satellites will execute a controlled lowering operation estimated to take approximately six months before they burn up in the atmosphere. SpaceX was at pains to point out the sats will maintain maneuverability and collision avoidance sensors during their descent.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/15/100_starlink_satellites_deorbit/
1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day
Kelly Kizer Whitt - October 3, 2025
Starlink satellites are falling
It might not be long before you look up and see a fiery, slow-moving object streaking across your night sky and, clearly, breaking into pieces. That’s if you haven’t seen such a thing already. There are currently one to two Starlink satellites falling back to Earth every day, according to retired Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. His acclaimed website Jonathan’s Space Report is widely regarded as the definitive source on spacecraft that go up … and come down. When we asked him about the deluge of Starlink satellite breakups that have recently been flooding social media, he pointed us to his graph showing Starlink reentries over time.
There are more than 8,000 Starlink satellites overhead at this moment. They’re a product of the space transportation company SpaceX. And that number is growing. Plus there are other companies and countries also deploying more and more satellites, adding to the number of satellites in Earth orbit. Many of these are in low-Earth orbits, which extend up to an altitude of 1,200 miles (2,000 km) above our planet. And the lifespan of low-Earth orbit satellites, such as Starlink, is only about 5 to 7 years. Soon, McDowell told us, there will be up to 5 satellite reentries per day. He said:
With all constellations deployed, we expect about 30,000 low-Earth orbit satellites (Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, others) and perhaps another 20,000 satellites at 1,000 km [620 miles] from the Chinese systems. For the low-orbit satellites we expect a 5-year replacement cycle, and that translates to 5 reentries a day. It’s not clear if the Chinese will orbit-lower theirs or just accelerate us to chain-reaction Kessler syndrome.
The Kessler syndrome is a scenario in which the density of objects in low-Earth orbit is high enough that collisions between objects cause a cascade, with each collision generating space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions. Read more about the Kessler syndrome here.
https://earthsky.org/human-world/1-to-2-starlink-satellites-falling-back-to-earth-each-day/
Starlink is burning up one or two satellites a day in Earth’s atmosphere
Kessler syndrome is bad; atmospheric incineration may be worse, says astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell
Brandon Vigliarolo - Mon 6 Oct 2025 21:43 UTC
If you had to guess how many Starlink satellites burn up in Earth's atmosphere on an average day, how many would you pick? This isn't a trick question - SpaceX is deorbiting about one or two satellites daily, and that number is only going to grow.
What that means for our planet isn't entirely clear, says Harvard astrophysicist and space tracker Jonathan McDowell. Even so, Starlink isn't the space junk risk that some other satellite operations are.
McDowell commented on the massive volume of reentering Starlink satellites to science news site EarthSky last week. He explained that once Starlink and other planned low Earth orbit constellations together total about 30,000 satellites, roughly five could reenter the atmosphere each day, given an average replacement cycle of around five years.
The Register followed up with McDowell on Monday to learn more about what that might mean for the health of the planet, and the possibility that we're rapidly approaching Kessler syndrome, a scenario in which so much debris clutters Earth's orbit that one collision can trigger a chain reaction of further impacts, potentially making parts of Earth's orbit unusable for satellites.
Starlink isn't the biggest concern when it comes to passing the Kessler tipping point, McDowell told us – but it is still a source of worry.
“Active satellite maneuvers to avoid collisions will help avoid Kessler,” McDowell said in a phone conversation. “If they're successful. And that's a big if.”
The current strategy to de-orbit Starlink satellites, which operate in a low orbit below 600 kilometers, is to use the satellites' thrusters to move them to such a low orbit that they eventually catch drag in the atmosphere and burn up in what McDowell calls an “uncontrolled but assisted” reentry.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/starlink_vaporizes_satellites_daily/
Financial
SpaceX no longer taking losses to produce Starlink satellite antennas, a key step to improving profitability
Published Wed, Sep 13 2023 10:23 AM EDT - Michael Sheetz
PARIS — Elon Musk’s SpaceX is no longer absorbing the cost of the Starlink antennas it sells with its satellite internet service, a company executive said Wednesday, a key step to the company improving its profitability.
“We were subsidizing terminals, but we’ve been iterating on our terminal production so much that we’re no longer subsidizing terminals, which is a good place to be,” Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president of Starlink and commercial sales, said during a panel at the World Satellite Business Week conference.
SpaceX sells consumer Starlink antennas, also known as user terminals, for $599 each. For more demanding Starlink customers — such as mobile, maritime or aviation users — SpaceX sells antennas with its service in a range between $2,500 and $150,000 each.
FCC
FCC cancels Starlink’s $886 million grant from Ajit Pai’s mismanaged auction
FCC: “Nascent” Starlink tech has capacity limits, may not deliver required speed.
Jon Brodkin - 8/10/2022, 12:23 PM
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rejected Starlink's application to receive $885.51 million in broadband funding, essentially canceling a grant awarded by the FCC during then-Chairman Ajit Pai's tenure.
Starlink was tentatively awarded the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) grant in December 2020. But the satellite provider still needed FCC approval of a long-form application to receive the money, which is intended for areas with little or no high-speed broadband access.
We wrote about potential problems with the SpaceX grant a week after the FCC's reverse auction, in which ISPs bid on grants organized by census blocks. Consumer advocacy group Free Press accused Pai of “subsidiz[ing] broadband for the rich,” pointing out that Starlink was awarded money in urban areas including locations at or adjacent to major airports.
Starlink appeals FCC rejection of $886M grant, calls reversal “grossly unfair”
Starlink says speed tests and $600 dish cost aren't good reasons to deny funding.
Jon Brodkin - 9/12/2022, 10:25 AM
SpaceX's Starlink division has appealed the Federal Communications Commission decision to block it from receiving $885.51 million in broadband funding. Starlink called the funding reversal “grossly unfair” and “flawed as a matter of both law and policy.”
The appeal submitted Friday asks the commission to undo the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau ruling from last month. The FCC isn't likely to reverse the decision, as it had the public support of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. But SpaceX's action could be a precursor to filing a lawsuit against the FCC.
In its conclusion, SpaceX said that “the Commission should reverse the Bureau Decision by finding that SpaceX is reasonably capable of meeting its performance obligations in its winning bid areas,” and order the Bureau to grant SpaceX's application.
Starlink was tentatively awarded the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money in December 2020 through a reverse auction in which ISPs bid on grants organized by census blocks. In July 2021, six months after taking over as chair, Rosenworcel announced that the auction overseen by former Chairman Ajit Pai had major problems and needed a cleanup.
Starlink explains why its FCC map listings are so different from reality
Starlink filings lump RV and home service together; SpaceX blames FCC system.
Jon Brodkin - 3/8/2023, 12:22 PM
SpaceX has offered a public explanation for why Starlink's actual service availability falls far short of what it claimed on the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband map.
SpaceX's FCC filings indicate it offers fixed broadband at virtually every address in the US even though the Starlink website's service map shows it has a waitlist in huge portions of the country. As we previously reported, SpaceX removed some homes from the FCC database when residents filed challenges because they were unable to order Starlink at addresses listed as served on the FCC map.
SpaceX tried to clear up the confusion in an FCC filing last week. The company says it followed FCC rules when submitting data and blamed the FCC system for not allowing it to report data more precisely. Under the map system rules, SpaceX argues that it is allowed to report an address as “served” even if the resident can only order Starlink's RV service.
SpaceX tells FCC it has a plan to make Starlink about 10 times faster
SpaceX: “Small-but-meaningful updates” can boost speed from about 100Mbps to 1Gbps.
Jon Brodkin - Oct 15, 2024 11:42 AM
SpaceX is seeking approval for changes to Starlink that the company says will enable gigabit-per-second broadband service. In an application submitted to the Federal Communications Commission on October 11, SpaceX claims the requested “modification and its companion amendment will enable the Gen2 system to deliver gigabit-speed, truly low-latency broadband and ubiquitous mobile connectivity to all Americans and the billions of people globally who still lack access to adequate broadband.”
SpaceX said it is seeking “several small-but-meaningful updates to the orbital configuration and operational parameters for its Gen2 space station authorization to improve space sustainability, better respond to evolving demand, and more efficiently share spectrum with other spectrum users.”
SpaceX wants to lower the altitudes of satellites “at 525 km, 530 km, and 535 km to 480 km, 485 km, and 475 km altitude, respectively.” The reconfiguration will increase the “potential maximum number of orbital planes and satellites per plane” while keeping the planned total number of second-generation satellites at 29,988 or less. The FCC has so far approved 7,500 Gen2 satellites.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote yesterday that “next generation Starlink satellites, which are so big that only Starship can launch them, will allow for a 10X increase in bandwidth and, with the reduced altitude, faster latency.”
Echostar
FCC threat to revoke EchoStar spectrum licenses draws widespread backlash
FCC threatens “legal stability” of wireless market, Free State Foundation says.
Jon Brodkin – Jun 10, 2025 1:03 PM
The Federal Communications Commission is facing widespread criticism after threatening to revoke EchoStar licenses for spectrum bands that rival firms, including SpaceX, want to take over. Opposition to license revocations came from conservatives, telecom consumer advocates, and some industry groups.
The Free State Foundation, a free-market group that has generally supported Republican priorities at the FCC, filed comments saying that “arbitrary” decisions would create instability in the market for wireless broadband deployment. EchoStar is now facing regulatory uncertainty less than a year after obtaining deadline extensions for its wireless network buildout, the Free State Foundation said:
There is widespread agreement that constructing and operating wireless broadband networks depends on significant private market investment. Legal stability is a necessary ingredient for the operation of any marketplace conducive to competition and growth, including today's dynamic wireless market. Before risking their money in commercial ventures, private investors reasonably seek assurance that their interests and rights will be protected from changes in the rules or agency actions that are arbitrary or unforeseen... Rescission of deadline extension orders granted months earlier undoubtedly creates a type of regulatory uncertainty.
As previously reported, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr directed agency staff to investigate EchoStar's compliance with obligations to provide nationwide 5G service under the terms of its spectrum licenses. EchoStar bought Dish Network in December 2023 and offers wireless service under the Boost Mobile brand.
Generation 2
Elon Musk Reveals Details of Next Generation Starlink Satellites
The generation 2 satellites are meant to be more powerful than their earlier counterparts.
Passant Rabie - 31 May 2022
The next generation of Starlink satellites are going to be larger, and more powerful, designed to provide internet access to remote parts of the world, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The space billionaire recently discussed the details of the Starlink Gen2 System on the popular YouTube show, Everyday Astronaut.
In the 32 minute clip, Musk reveals that SpaceX has already produced the first Starlink 2.0 satellite. The new generation satellite is 7 meters (22 feet) long, and about one and a quarter tons heavy (which is about 2,755 pounds or 1,250 kilograms). Meanwhile, Starlink 1.0 is only about 573 pounds (260 kilograms) heavy. The extra weight accounts for a more effective satellite, according to Musk.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-elon-musk-starlink-satellites-starlink-2-0-1848995490
FCC lets Starlink start deploying Gen2 satellites as Gen1 speeds keep falling
US speeds have dropped from 105Mbps to 53Mbps—but 7,500 new satellites will help.
Jon Brodkin - 12/2/2022, 11:44 AM
Starlink Internet speeds are continuing to drop as more people use the service, new speed tests show. But SpaceX this week won approval to launch another 7,500 satellites, kicking off a second-generation deployment that will provide the broadband network more capacity in the long run.
SpaceX has been seeking permission to launch another 29,988 low-Earth orbit satellites, and the Federal Communications Commission partially granted the request in an authorization order released Thursday. “Specifically, we grant SpaceX authority to construct, deploy, and operate up to 7,500 satellites operating at altitudes of 525, 530, and 535 km and inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using frequencies in the Ku- and Ka-band,” the FCC said.
The FCC deferred action on the rest of the requested satellites. “To address concerns about orbital debris and space safety, we limit this grant to 7,500 satellites only, operating at certain altitudes,” the FCC said. But the approval of 7,500 satellites “will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide, including those living and working in areas traditionally unserved or underserved by terrestrial systems,” the FCC said.
FCC gives SpaceX OK to launch 7.5k Gen2 Starlink satellites
Subject to conditions: offer only valid if you can get Starship off the ground
Brandon Vigliarolo - Fri 2 Dec 2022 17:30 UTC
The FCC has granted SpaceX permission to launch its Gen2 Starlink satellites, assuming it can adhere to a bevy of conditions, including ensuring Musk's expanded satellite constellation doesn't interfere with other space operations or become an environmental risk.
SpaceX's application asks the FCC to let it launch 29,988 Gen2 Starlink satellites, but the FCC only granted permission for up to 7,500, citing concerns about creating orbital debris. As of October, the FCC said, SpaceX is operating a network of more than 3,500 Gen1 Starlink satellites out of the 4,425 it granted authorization for in 2018.
“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide, including those living and working in areas traditionally unserved or underserved by terrestrial systems,” the FCC said.
SpaceX Gets ‘Partial’ FCC Approval to Deploy Second-Generation Starlink Satellites
The limited FCC grant, whereby SpaceX can launch 7,500 of its requested 29,988 next-gen Starlink satellites, is a smart and necessary move.
George Dvorsky - 2 December 2022
The Federal Communications Commission has approved SpaceX’s request to launch 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, while firmly pressing the pause button on the remaining 22,488 satellites the company is hoping to deploy.
“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide, including those living and working in areas traditionally unserved or underserved by terrestrial systems,” the FCC stated in its order authorization, released yesterday.
https://gizmodo.com/fcc-spacex-partial-approval-starlink-gen2-1849847371
FCC allows SpaceX to deploy 7,500 second-gen Starlink satellites
SpaceX originally asked permission to launch nearly 30,000 second-gen satellites.
Mariella Moon - December 2, 2022 5:03 AM
SpaceX first asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy 29,988 second-generation Starlink satellites back in 2020. Now, the FCC has granted its request — partially, at least. The commission has given the company the go-ahead to build, deploy and operate up to 7,500 satellites for its Gen2 constellation at the altitudes of 525 km, 530 km and 535 km. In its announcement, the FCC said approving 7,500 satellites for the constellation will allow SpaceX to provide broadband internet to users worldwide, even those living in far-flung areas.
The FCC is limiting the number of satellites SpaceX can deploy for now, though, to address concerns about orbital debris and space safety. It says the limited grant will help maintain a safe space environment and protect other satellite and terrestrial operators from harmful interference. Several companies and even NASA previously raised concerns about SpaceX's plan to deploy an additional 30,000 satellites, considering the FCC already granted it permission to launch 12,000 first-gen Starlink satellites.
https://www.engadget.com/fcc-spacex-7500-second-gen-starlink-satellites-100339027.html
FCC lets Starlink start deploying Gen2 satellites as Gen1 speeds keep falling
US speeds have dropped from 105Mbps to 53Mbps—but 7,500 new satellites will help.
Jon Brodkin - 12/2/2022, 11:44 AM
Starlink Internet speeds are continuing to drop as more people use the service, new speed tests show. But SpaceX this week won approval to launch another 7,500 satellites, kicking off a second-generation deployment that will provide the broadband network more capacity in the long run.
SpaceX has been seeking permission to launch another 29,988 low-Earth orbit satellites, and the Federal Communications Commission partially granted the request in an authorization order released Thursday. “Specifically, we grant SpaceX authority to construct, deploy, and operate up to 7,500 satellites operating at altitudes of 525, 530, and 535 km and inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using frequencies in the Ku- and Ka-band,” the FCC said.
SpaceX Wants to Start Launching Its Next Generation Starlink Satellites Before the End of the Year
The company has asked the FCC for a temporary authorization to help it provide better connectivity to its customers.
Passant Rabie - 21 December 2022
SpaceX is trying to squeeze in the debut of its second generation Starlink satellites by the end of the month, hoping the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will grant it temporary authority to loft its heftier broadband satellites.
The aerospace company filed a request with the FCC this week, asking for a 60-day special temporary authority to connect Starlink terminals already in use to the new satellites it plans to launch soon, SpaceNews first reported.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-second-generation-starlink-falcon-9-this-year-1849920161
Thrilling Images Show First Launch of SpaceX's Revamped Starlink Satellites
The first stage of the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket stuck its 100th landing shortly after launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Passant Rabie - 28 February 2023
SpaceX successfully deployed the first batch of its next-generation Starlink satellites, which the company hopes will increase the broadband capacity of its internet megaconstellation.
The next phase in SpaceX’s Starlink internet project has begun. On Monday, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off against a picture perfect sunset backdrop, delivering 21 upgraded units to low Earth orbit.
https://gizmodo.com/images-show-first-launch-spacex-revamped-starlinks-1850168089
SpaceX's Upgraded Starlink Satellites Aren't Doing So Well
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the next-gen satellites are “experiencing some issues” and that some units might have to be destroyed.
Passant Rabie - 23 March 2023
The newly launched Starlink V2 Mini satellites appear to be in trouble, Elon Musk confirmed yesterday. The SpaceX CEO said some units will likely have to be deorbited and destroyed in the Earth’s atmosphere, while the remaining units stay in space for further testing.
On Wednesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on twitter, “Lot of new technology in Starlink V2, so we’re experiencing some issues, as expected.” He added that some satellites “will be deorbited, others will be tested thoroughly.”
Musk was responding to ongoing speculation by experts who have been monitoring the orbit of the V2 Minis, noting that some satellites were lowering their altitude while others were in a more eccentric orbit than others. SpaceX did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for more information after we reached out last week.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-upgraded-starlink-satellites-not-doing-well-1850256815
SpaceX's Next-Gen Starlink Satellites Have Started Falling From Space
The first batch of Elon Musk's upgraded Starlink internet satellites experienced issues shortly after launching last month.
Passant Rabie - 4 April 2023
It’s been a little over a month since SpaceX launched 21 mini versions of its next-generation Starlink satellites, but it appears that one of those little guys just couldn’t cling to orbit any longer.
The Starlink satellite designated as 30062 reentered Earth’s atmosphere on Monday at 4:50 a.m. ET off the coast of California, according to a tweet from Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist who keeps tabs on SpaceX’s internet satellites. The satellite very likely burned up during its reentry.
https://gizmodo.com/spacexs-next-gen-starlink-satellites-have-started-falli-1850299668
SpaceX's Next-Gen Starlink Satellites Begin Sending Data Back to Earth
What's more, the upgraded internet satellites appear to be fainter than their predecessors, which could lead to a less disruptive view of the night skies.
Passant Rabie - 21 June 2023
The Starlink V2 Minis, a smaller version of SpaceX’s next-generation internet satellites—which have yet to launch—have turned on and are actively transmitting data back down to Earth.
Earlier this week, SpaceX notified the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the company has “initiated communications” between its Gen2 satellites and licensed stations within the United States, according to an FCC filing that was first reported by PCMag. It’s still not clear, however, whether the next generation satellites have started beaming internet to consumers or if SpaceX is still configuring its V2 Minis. SpaceX did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for clarification.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-next-gen-starlink-satellites-sending-data-earth-1850561636
Geofence
Starlink geofence appears to have some gaping holes
I guess the brains down in Africa gonna take some time to do the things they never should have had
Brandon Vigliarolo - Fri 3 May 2024 00:57 UTC
Starlink’s self-imposed end of April deadline to crack down on roaming users who abuse the service has come and gone without appearing to have worked.
It's been known for some time that Starlink service, which SpaceX doesn't formally make available everywhere, can be used beyond geofenced areas. The Ukrainian government has accused the Russian military of using Starlink, despite sanctions against Putin's defenestration-prone regime, and it's reportedly been used widely in Africa despite only a few countries approving its operations.
Starlink use in Africa, in fact, is what brings us to the current news that the service’s geofencing features appear to be full of holes.
Starlink sent a message to African users last month telling them that they had until April 30 to get their receivers to an approved location or risk service being cut off. As that date has now passed, Bloomberg went looking to see if illicit Starlink access is still working, and found it is.
In an online poll, 73 percent of roaming Starlink customers in South Africa reported their service is still working. Many users in other countries similarly say their transceivers can still make a connection.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/03/spacex_roaming_lockdown/
Geomagnetic Storm 2022
SpaceX loses 40 Starlink satellites to a geomagnetic storm
Mariella Moon - 4:05 AM PST February 9, 2022
Almost all of the Starlink internet satellites that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried beyond the atmosphere on February 3rd won’t reach their intended orbit. SpaceX has revealed that a geomagnetic storm that took place a day after the liftoff had a severe impact on the satellites, and up to 40 of them will re-enter or have already entered Earth’s atmosphere. United States Geological Survey describes geomagnetic storms as periods of “rapid magnetic field variation” typically caused by a strong surge of solar winds.
These storms can be damaging to electronics and satellites in orbit. In this particular case, it warmed up the atmosphere and caused atmospheric drag — or the friction acting against the satellites’ movement — to increase up to 50 percent higher compared to previous launches. SpaceX explained that its Starlink team tried to save the newly deployed satellites by putting them in safe mode, which adjusts their movement so they’d fly edge on like a sheet of paper, to minimize drag. Unfortunately, the increased drag prevented the satellites from leaving safe mode.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/09/spacex-loses-40-starlink-satellites-to-a-geomagnetic-storm/
More Than 40 Starlink Satellites Have Been Lost After a Geomagnetic Storm
SpaceX says its satellites will disintegrate upon atmospheric reentry and won't pose a risk to other space-based equipment.
George Dvorsky - 9 February 2022 10:55AM
Approximately 80% of the Starlink satellites launched last week are at risk of plunging back through the atmosphere or have already done so, according to SpaceX. The company says a geomagnetic storm prevented the satellites from rising up to their operational orbits.
This batch of Starlink satellites took off from Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, February 3 atop a Falcon 9 rocket. All 49 satellites reached their intended preliminary orbits some 130 miles (210 km) above the surface and each achieved controlled flight. The satellites then attempted to rise toward their operational altitude of 340 miles (550 km), but the universe had other plans.
https://gizmodo.com/more-than-40-starlink-satellites-have-been-lost-after-a-1848506218
SpaceX loses up to 40 satellites to geomagnetic storm after Starlink launch
Geomagnetic storm boosted atmospheric drag, preventing orbit-raising maneuvers.
Jon Brodkin - 2/9/2022, 8:40 AM
SpaceX had to ditch most of its latest batch of Starlink satellites because they were disrupted by a geomagnetic storm after being launched from the Falcon 9 rocket. Up to 40 of the 49 satellites will re-enter the atmosphere or have already done so because they were unable to reach their intended orbits.
In an update posted yesterday, SpaceX said that on February 3, the Falcon 9's second stage deployed 49 “satellites into their intended orbit, with a perigee of approximately 210 kilometers above Earth, and each satellite achieved controlled flight.” SpaceX initially deploys satellites into lower altitudes than they ultimately orbit in “so that in the very rare case any satellite does not pass initial system checkouts, it will quickly be deorbited by atmospheric drag,” the company said. SpaceX has licenses for altitudes of 540 km to 570 km and 335 km to 346 km.
Geomagnetic storm takes out 40 of 49 brand new Starlink satellites
SpaceX launched even though the space weatherman predicted tricky conditions could follow a solar flare
Laura Dobberstein - Wed 9 Feb 2022 04:01 UTC
SpaceX last week launched 49 shiny new Starlink broadband-beaming satellites, which is good. But 40 of them have already, or will shortly, meet their demise due to a geomagnetic storm that struck a few days after their ascent. Which is bad.
All 49 satellites reached their planned 210km perigee deployment orbit, though the storm increased drag to levels up to 50 per cent higher than experienced on previous launches, according to a SpaceX update.
The Starlink team attempted to minimize the drag by putting the sats into safe mode, which would position them to fly edge-on. That plan didn't work because drag caused by the storm still buffeted the devices and meant they could not leave safe mode to raise their orbits. Gravity did its inexorable thing, causing the craft to meet an inglorious end in Earth's atmosphere.
SpaceX wrote that it uses lower orbits so that if the satellites don't initially pass system checks, de-orbit and reentry will occur without producing space junk.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/starlink_satellites_burned_by_geomagnetic_storm/
GEOMAGNETIC STORM AND RECENTLY DEPLOYED STARLINK SATELLITES
February 8, 2022 - SpaceX
On Thursday, February 3 at 1:13 p.m. EST, Falcon 9 launched 49 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Falcon 9’s second stage deployed the satellites into their intended orbit, with a perigee of approximately 210 kilometers above Earth, and each satellite achieved controlled flight.
SpaceX deploys its satellites into these lower orbits so that in the very rare case any satellite does not pass initial system checkouts it will quickly be deorbited by atmospheric drag. While the low deployment altitude requires more capable satellites at a considerable cost to us, it’s the right thing to do to maintain a sustainable space environment.
Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday were significantly impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday. These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase. In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches. The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag—to effectively “take cover from the storm”—and continued to work closely with the Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron and LeoLabs to provide updates on the satellites based on ground radars.
Elon Musk's Starlink is raising prices
The company is blaming inflation.
Bryan Menegus - March 22nd, 2022
It feels like the price of most things has increased lately — that's the rub with inflation. While many Americans who have experienced the rollercoaster of capitalism before have some familiarity with cost instability around staples like food and gas, inflation, SpaceX claims, is also behind some upcoming changes to its satellite internet provider, Starlink.
“Due to excessive levels of inflation, the price of the Starlink kit is increasing from $499 to $549 for deposit holders, and $599 for all new orders, effective today,” an email forwarded to Engadget states. “In addition, the Starlink monthly service price will increase from $99 to $110. The new price will apply to your subscription on 4/22/2022.”
https://www.engadget.com/starlink-price-increase-elon-musk-224036155.html
Hacking
Starlink Successfully Hacked Using $25 Modchip
Belgian researcher Lennert Wouters revealed at Black Hat how he mounted a successful fault injection attack on a user terminal for SpaceX’s satellite-based internet system
Elizabeth Montalbano - August 11, 2022 11:48 am
A Belgian security researcher has successfully hacked the SpaceX operated Starlink satellite-based internet system using a homemade circuit board that cost around $25 to develop, he revealed at Black Hat.
Lennert Wouters revealed a voltage fault injection attack on a Starlink User Terminal (UT)—or satellite dish people use to access the system – that allowed him to break into the dish and explore the Starlink network from there, he revealed in a presentation called “Glitched on Earth by Humans” at the annual ethical hacker conference this week.
Wouters physically stripped down a satellite dish he purchased and created the custom board, or modchip, that can be attached to the Starlink dish, according to a report on Wired about his presentation on Wednesday.
He developed the tool using low-cost, off-the-shelf parts and was able to use it to obtain root access by glitching the Starlink UT security operations center bootrom, according to a tweet previewing the presentation that he said was sent through a rooted Starlink UT.
Starlink satellite dish cracked on stage at Black Hat
Once the modchip plans are live, you can, too
Jessica Lyons Hardcastle - Fri 12 Aug 2022 22:40 UTC
Black Hat A security researcher has shown how to, with physical access at least, fully take over a Starlink satellite terminal using a homemade modchip.
Lennert Wouters, a researcher at the KU Leuven University in Belgium, walked through his methodology during a talk at Black Hat in Las Vegas this week.
Wouters said he will release the code and details of components used via GitHub so other folks can build their own modchips that when fitted to the SpaceX hardware unlock the broadband satellite equipment. This will allow them to poke around for additional security holes in the device and possibly the network, play with the configuration, and discover any other functionality.
The link to the repo wasn't live as of Friday afternoon.
Developing the modchip took “a significant amount of time” over the better part of a year, according to Wouters.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/12/starlink_terminal_hack_black_hat/
GPS Hack
Starlink signals can be reverse-engineered to work like GPS—whether SpaceX likes it or not
Elon said no thanks to using his mega-constellation for navigation. Researchers went ahead anyway.
Mark Harris - October 21, 2022
Todd Humphreys’s offer to SpaceX was simple. With a few software tweaks, its rapidly growing Starlink constellation could also offer precise position, navigation, and timing. The US Army, which funds Humphreys’s work at the University of Texas at Austin, wanted a backup to its venerable, and vulnerable, GPS system. Could Starlink fill that role?
When the idea was first proposed in 2020, executives at SpaceX were open to the idea, says Humphreys. Then word came from on high. “Elon told the leaders we spoke to: every other LEO [low Earth orbit] communications network has gone into bankruptcy,” Humphreys told MIT Technology Review. “And so we [SpaceX] have to focus completely on staying out of bankruptcy. We cannot afford any distractions.”
But Humphreys wouldn’t take no for an answer. For the past two years, his team at UT Austin’s Radionavigation Lab has been reverse-engineering signals sent from thousands of Starlink internet satellites in low Earth orbit to ground-based receivers. Now Humphreys says his team has cracked the problem, and he believes that regular beacon signals from the constellation, designed to help receivers connect with the satellites, could form the basis of a useful navigation system. Crucially, this could be done without any help from SpaceX at all.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/10/21/1062001/spacex-starlink-signals-reverse-engineered-gps/
The University of Texas Hacked Starlink’s Signal So It Can Be Used as a GPS Alternative
SpaceX didn't want to cooperate, so the researchers had to figure things out the hard way.
Andrew Liszewski - 21 October 2022 12:06PM
n addition to providing high-speed internet connectivity to even the most remote corners of the Earth, the over 3,000 satellites that make up the Starlink network have the potential to do even more, like replace the two dozen satellites that power the Global Positioning System. SpaceX passed on the idea, so a team of researchers took the long way to leverage Starlink as a GPS alternative.
Although Starlink’s thousands of satellites each maintain a non-geostationary position in low-Earth orbit, and GPS satellites follow one of six different orbits that circle the planet twice every day, they both share a common feature: they beam signals down to the surface of the Earth. Starlink’s signals deliver internet, while the signals from multiple GPS satellites are used by navigation devices to triangulate their exact position on the planet.
https://gizmodo.com/texas-hack-starlink-s-signal-so-it-can-be-used-for-gps-1849687034
Starlink signals could work as GPS alternative, whether SpaceX likes it or not
Devin Coldewey - 4:11 PM PDT October 24, 2022
With some 3,000 satellites in orbit, the Starlink constellation is easily the largest in history and of course presents an immense opportunity for global connectivity. But its signals could also be analyzed and used as an alternative to traditional GPS, a new paper claims, with or without SpaceX’s blessing.
Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas Austin dove into the “signal structure” of the Starlink downlink, and while there’s only so much they can learn without insider info from the company itself, they did find plenty of useful data.
Satellites must pass their signal down to the ground at some point, and in Starlink’s case it’s pretty much a constant stream. That doesn’t mean anyone can just tap in, though — the signal itself is structured and encoded in a proprietary way that, presumably, SpaceX has decided is best for the kind of orbital broadband it’s providing.
Starlink decoded for use as GPS alternative – without Elon Musk's help
Told no by SpaceX, uni eggheads went ahead by themselves
Brandon Vigliarolo - Mon 24 Oct 2022 17:45 UTC
Researchers rebuffed by SpaceX have taken matters into their own hands and reverse-engineered Starlink's satellite signal for potential use as a GPS alternative.
University of Texas Austin professor Todd Humphreys and his team claim in a non-peer reviewed paper that they've managed to decode Starlink downlink signals in the 10.7 to 12.7 GHz band detailed enough that they were able to locate a Starlink receiver to within 30 metres.
That's not as accurate as traditional GPS, but it's noteworthy since Humphreys' team managed to do it without any SpaceX help. If Musk and company decided to play ball, Humphreys told us, Starlink positioning could become more accurate than GPS with little work.
Humphreys's team has been working on the technique since 2020, when talks between the US Army, his team at UT and and SpaceX ended with a decree from His Muskiness: “every other [low Earth orbit] communications network has gone into bankruptcy, and so we [SpaceX] have to focus completely on staying out of bankruptcy. We cannot afford any distractions,” Humphreys said Musk had decided.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/24/starlink_signal_decoded_for_use/
India
Indian Government Tells Starlink to Stop Selling Satellite Internet Until It Gets a License to Do So
The government also told the public not to buy Starlink internet because the company didn't have a license.
Jody Serrano - 27 November 2021 10:50PM
The Indian government didn’t mince words in a recent message to Elon Musk’s Starlink: Get a license before offering satellite internet services in the country.
In a press release on Friday, India’s Department of Telecommunications, which is part of the Ministry of Communications, asked Starlink to stop selling satellite internet services in the country “with immediate effect” until it gets the required licenses to do. The department similarly advised the public not to buy Starlink internet—which can be pre-ordered for a $99 deposit from the SpaceX subsidiary’s website—because it is not a licensee.
The entire Starlink starter kit, which includes a stand, power supply, and a wifi router, costs $499. In addition, users must also pay a $99 monthly fee.
https://gizmodo.com/indian-government-tells-starlink-to-stop-selling-intern-1848128086
India tells Starlink to stop offering satellite internet without a license
Officials are also telling would-be customers to stay away.
Jon Fingas - November 27th, 2021
SpaceX doesn't always get a warm reception when it expands Starlink. Reuters reports the Indian government has told Starlink to immediately stop “booking/rendering” satellite internet service in the country until it has a license to operate. The SpaceX division registered as a business in India on November 1st and has started pre-orders, but doesn't yet have permission to run the service. Authorities have also discouraged would-be customers from signing up at this stage.
We've asked SpaceX for comment, although it initially declined Reuters' inquiries. The company hasn't set a firm date for Starlink's India debut, although it's aiming for 200,000 connections in the country by the end of 2022. There were over 5,000 pre-orders as of November 1st.
Starlink is currently available in 21 countries in mostly public beta tests. However, SpaceX has a particularly strong incentive to serve India as soon as possible. India has a very large rural population (over 898 million, according to World Bank data). It's a prime market for satellite broadband, and the Starlink team hopes 80 percent of devices sold in India by late 2022 will serve rural areas. However, it's now clear India's government doesn't share that same enthusiasm.
https://www.engadget.com/india-spacex-starlink-warning-164709332.html
India tells public to shun Musk-backed Starlink until it gets licence
November 26, 202110:57 PM PST - Reuters
NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The Indian government advised people against subscribing to Starlink Internet Services, a division of billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX aerospace company, as it does not have a licence to operate in the country.
A government statement issued late on Friday said Starlink had been told to comply with regulations and refrain from “booking/rendering the satellite internet services in India with immediate effect”.
Starlink registered its business in India on Nov.1. It has begun advertising, and according to the government, it has started pre-selling its service.
Starlink’s launch in India now a matter of when, not if
Jagmeet Singh - 9:28 AM PDT May 8, 2025
Elon Musk’s Starlink has received anticipated state approval in India, opening the door to enter the world’s second-biggest internet market after China — over three years after SpaceX’s previous attempt to launch its satellite-based broadband in the country eventually failed.
On Wednesday, India’s Department of Telecommunications gave its nod to Starlink to start working toward its compliance in the South Asian nation, a senior official confirmed to TechCrunch.
Starlink will now have to submit documentation showing it complies with the licensing requirements. Earlier this week, New Delhi published its rules (PDF) for Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) operators to set clear security guidelines for companies, including Starlink, Amazon’s Kuiper, and others.
Some of those rules will help the Indian government censor content and intercept traffic, just as it could do with terrestrial network operators, and restrict user terminal access “from outside the geo-fenced coverage area and/or through gateway situated outside India.” Satellite companies need to comply with them to operate in the country.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/08/starlinks-launch-in-india-now-a-matter-of-when-not-if/
Interference
Starlink satellites are ‘leaking’ signals that interfere with our most sensitive radio telescopes
October 13, 2023 12.04am EDT - Steven Tingay
When I was a child in the 1970s, seeing a satellite pass overhead in the night sky was a rare event. Now it is commonplace: sit outside for a few minutes after dark, and you can’t miss them.
Thousands of satellites have been launched into Earth orbit over the past decade or so, with tens of thousands more planned in coming years. Many of these will be in “mega-constellations” such as Starlink, which aim to cover the entire globe.
These bright, shiny satellites are putting at risk our connection to the cosmos, which has been important to humans for countless millennia and has already been greatly diminished by the growth of cities and artificial lighting. They are also posing a problem for astronomers – and hence for our understanding of the universe.
In new research accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters, we discovered Starlink satellites are also “leaking” radio signals that interfere with radio astronomy. Even in a “radio quiet zone” in outback Western Australia, we found the satellite emissions were far brighter than any natural source in the sky.
Unintended electromagnetic radiation from Starlink satellites detected with LOFAR between 110 and 188 MHz
F. Di Vruno, B. Winkel, C. G. Bassa, G. I. G. Józsa, M. A. Brentjens, A. Jessner and S. Garrington - 10 March 2023 Accepted: 12 May 2023
Abstract
We report on observations of 68 satellites belonging to the SpaceX Starlink constellation with the LOFAR radio telescope. Radiation associated with Starlink satellites was detected at observing frequencies between 110 and 188 MHz, which is well below the 10.7– 12.7 GHz radio frequencies used for the downlink communication signals. A combination of broad-band features, covering the entire observed bandwidth, as well as narrow-band (bandwidth < 12.2 kHz) emission at frequencies of 125, 135, 143.05, 150, and 175 MHz, was observed. The presence and properties of both the narrow- and broad-band features vary between satellites at different orbital altitudes, indicating possible differences between the operational state of, or the hardware used in, these satellites. While the narrowband detections at 143.05 MHz can be attributed to reflections of radar signals from the French GRAVES Space Surveillance Radar, the signal properties of the broad- and narrow-band features at the other frequencies suggest that this radiation is intrinsic to the Starlink satellites and it is seen for 47 out of the 68 Starlink satellites that were observed. We observed spectral power flux densities vary from 0.1 to 10 Jy for broad-band radiation, to 10 to 500 Jy for some of the narrow-band radiation, equivalent to electric field strengths of up to 49 dB [µ V m−1] (as measured at a 10 m distance from the satellites, with a measurement bandwidth of 120 kHz). In addition, we present equivalent power flux density simulations of the full Starlink phase 1 constellation, as well as other satellite constellations, for one frequency band allocated to radio astronomy by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). With these, we calculate the maximum radiation level that each satellite constellation would need to have to comply with regulatory limits for intended emissions in that band. However, these limits do not apply if the radiation is unintended, that is to say if it does not originate from intentionally radiated signals for radio communication or other purposes. We discuss the results in light of the (absence of) regulations covering these types of unintended electromagnetic radiation and the possible consequences for astronomical radio observations.
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2023/08/aa46374-23/aa46374-23.html
Russia can reportedly jam Ukraine’s access to Starlink at will
The disruptions appear to use “new and more advanced technology.”
Will Shanklin - Updated Fri, May 24, 2024, 11:36 AM PDT
Russia has reportedly found new, more effective ways to knock out Ukraine’s Starlink service. The New York Times said on Friday that the increased interference has disrupted communications at critical moments and is posing “a major threat to Ukraine,” putting the country further on its heels more than two years into the war. How Russia is jamming Elon Musk’s satellite internet terminals is unclear.
The New York Times said Russia’s ability to jam communications has thrown off Ukraine’s ability to communicate, gather intelligence and conduct drone strikes. Ukrainian soldiers told the paper that jammed Starlink service stunts their ability to communicate quickly, leaving them scrambling to send text messages (often extremely slowly) to share intel about incoming or ongoing Russian maneuvers or attacks.
The jamming was reportedly repeated across Ukraine’s northern front line, often coinciding with Russian advances. The new outages are the first time Russia has jammed Starlink reception that widely and frequently. If it continues, it could “mark a tactical shift in the conflict,” highlighting Ukraine’s dependence on SpaceX’s internet technology. Without competing choices of similar quality, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s democratic nation is left without many options that could work at the scale Ukraine needs.
Starlink's new satellites emit 30x more radio interference than before, drowning cosmic signals
V2 sats beam 10M times brighter noise, hampering telescopes
Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 19 Sep 2024 17:18 UTC
The second generation of Starlink satellites being lobbed into orbit by SpaceX might not reflect as much sunlight as the old ones, yet astronomers say they're leaking up to 32 times the unintended radio waves instead.
In a paper published yesterday, a group of scientists reported that observations at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)'s LOFAR radio telescope found massive amounts of unintended electromagnetic radiation (UEMR) leaking from Starlink V2 satellites - both the mini and direct-to-cell capable variants.
“Compared to the faintest astrophysical sources that we observe with LOFAR, UEMR from Starlink satellites is 10 million times brighter,” ASTRON's Cees Bassa, lead author of the study, said.
“This difference is similar to the faintest stars visible to the naked eye and the brightness of the full Moon,” Bassa added. “Since SpaceX is launching about 40 second-generation Starlink satellites every week, this problem is becoming increasingly worse.”
In short, this is already a serious problem, and it's only going to get worse as more satellites get sent skyward
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/19/starlinks_spacex_satellites_radio_interference/
SpaceX Tests Lower Satellite Orbits to Stop Starlink From Ruining Telescope Images
The company may have found a new way to keep its satellites from ruining telescope images.
Passant Rabie - January 10, 2025
SpaceX is working to make its satellites less of a nuisance to astronomers by testing out ways to stop Starlink from showing up in images of the cosmos. The company recently lowered the altitude of a batch of its internet satellites to mitigate their brightness as viewed from Earth.
In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), SpaceX revealed that it began operating 300 of its satellites at a lower orbital altitude as part of the company’s efforts to reduce the impact of Starlink on optical astronomy. The company claims that the new method has been a success, resulting in a nearly 60% reduction of Sun-illuminated satellites showing up in images captured by the Vera Rubin Observatory, a telescope in Chile.
Low Earth orbit is becoming increasingly littered with satellites, the majority of which belong to SpaceX. There are currently 6,912 Starlink satellites in orbit, located approximately 342 miles (550 kilometers) above the surface of Earth. The orbiting satellites add unwanted noise to observations of the night skies by reflecting sunlight, appearing as streaks in images captured by ground-based observatories. The first Starlink satellites were very bright, making them visible to the unaided eye and saturating the lenses of telescopes pointed in their direction.
Internet
Starlink's Laser System Is Beaming 42 Million GB of Data Per Day
A SpaceX engineer details how the company is using a fleet of 9,000 lasers over the Starlink constellation to deliver high-speed internet across the globe.
Michael Kan - January 30, 2024
SpaceX's laser system for Starlink is delivering over 42 petabytes of data for customers per day, an engineer revealed today. That translates into 42 million gigabytes.
“We're passing over terabits per second [of data] every day across 9,000 lasers,” SpaceX engineer Travis Brashears said today at SPIE Photonics West, an event in San Francisco focused on the latest advancements in optics and light. “We actually serve over lasers all of our users on Starlink at a given time in like a two-hour window.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlinks-laser-system-is-beaming-42-million-gb-of-data-per-day
Elon Musk's satellites will offer open internet access via mobile phones. Rulers in China and North Korea may be getting nervous
Tech billionaire Elon Musk controls more than half of all active satellites circling the planet. His Starlink service will soon be able to connect normal smartphones to the open internet. This should make a dictator or two nervous.
Gioia da Silva - March 8, 2024
No jokes, no overwrought emotions. Instead just a simple: «Hellow.» This was the first message sent by a smartphone via the satellite internet service offered by SpaceX, Elon Musk's spacecraft company. The firm published an image of the chat on Jan. 11, on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. «Much wow» and «Never had such signal» were other messages in the chat.
The event showed that access to the world's largest satellite network will soon no longer require the satellite dishes that have been widely used in war-battered Ukraine, for example. Rather, ordinary modern smartphones will suffice.
According to Starlink, SpaceX's satellite service, the offering is currently only able to send and receive text messages. However, internet voice calls and actual web surfing are to be added as early as next year. This is likely to change the geopolitics of the internet, and increase Musk's power even further.
https://www.nzz.ch/english/musks-new-satellite-service-could-evade-net-censors-ld.1820730
SpaceX's Starlink Internet Is Working in Places It's Not Supposed To
SpaceX reportedly warned last month that it would shut down the satellite internet service in unlicensed areas
Britney Nguyen, Quartz - 2 May 2024
Starlink satellite internet terminals are reportedly still operating in unlicensed places, despite the company’s warning last month that the service would be shut down by May 1 in those areas.
A resident of Al-Fashir in North Darfur, Sudan was able to conduct an interview with Bloomberg using one on Wednesday.
“I’m currently talking to you through the Starlink connection, it’s the only way of connecting between people, especially those who fled the war,” he told Bloomberg, referring to the civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Starlink shutdown warnings came after Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported of its unauthorized use in nations including Russia, Yemen, and Venezuela. Starlink accountholders received emails from Starlink about the impending shutdown in those unlicensed areas, Bloomberg and the Journal reported. “If you are operating your Starlink Kit in an area other than areas designated as available on the Starlink Availability Map, we would like to remind you that this is in violation of the Starlink terms,” the email read, adding that those users would be unable to connect to the internet starting on April 30th.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-internet-unauthorized-sudan-russia-1851451848
Starlink's Satellite Internet is Cheaper than Leading ISPs in Five African Countries
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday January 12, 2025 10:34PM
“In at least five of the 16 African countries where the service is available, a monthly Starlink subscription is cheaper than the leading fixed internet service provider,” reports Rest of World.
“Starlink, launched in 2019 by Elon Musk's SpaceX, has become the leading satellite internet provider in the world.”
Now available in more than 100 countries, Starlink can also be a relatively affordable option for users trying to log on in countries with limited internet service providers… A Rest of World analysis indicates that in at least five of the 16 African countries where the service is available, a monthly Starlink subscription is cheaper than the leading fixed internet service provider… [Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Cape Verde — though not including the upfront costs of Starlink hardware.]
Historically, internet connections around the globe have typically been enabled by ground-based internet service providers using fiber-optic cables and mobile base stations. But in many parts of the world, that infrastructure is sparse or nonexistent. “This is where satellite providers come in,” said Nitinder Mohan, a computer science professor at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands who has studied Starlink's performance around the world. “I can be in the middle of a forest and, if I have a direct view of the sky, I can get my internet connectivity,” he told Rest of World. “Regions which are previously underconnected — where there was no way of getting internet connectivity to them — now with these satellites, you can actually enable that….” According to the latest figures by the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency focused on information and communication technologies, 38% of the population in Africa uses the internet, compared to 91% of Europe…
Trump plan to fund Musk’s Starlink over fiber called “betrayal” of rural US
Director of $42 billion broadband fund pushed out, says program is being ruined.
Jon Brodkin – Mar 17, 2025 11:19 AM
A federal broadband official departed the US government with a warning that a Trump administration plan will strand rural Americans with worse Internet access in order to help Elon Musk secure public money for Starlink.
“Stranding all or part of rural America with worse Internet so that we can make the world's richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” wrote Evan Feinman, who had been a Commerce Department official and director of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program since 2022.
As Politico reported, Feinman made the statement in “a blistering email to his former colleagues on his way out the door Sunday warning that the Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich Elon Musk's satellite Internet company with money for rural broadband.”
Feinman left the department on Friday. His departure came less than two weeks after Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that BEAD was reversing the Biden administration's decision to prioritize fiber Internet networks when distributing grants from the $42.45 billion fund.
ProPublica's Craig Silverman reported that “Feinman's term ended and he was not reappointed.” Silverman also posted the full email sent by Feinman to colleagues.
‘Inferior’ Starlink Will Leave Rural Americans Worse Off, Says Ousted Federal Official
Starlink is cheap to deploy, but could leave rural Americans “stranded” with slower speeds and higher costs.
Thomas Maxwell - March 17, 2025
The head of the Commerce Department’s ambitious plan to expand fiber internet access across rural America warned on Sunday that opening the door to SpaceX’s Starlink would leave rural Americans worse off. Evan Feinman, who directed the program for the last three years, wrote in a departing email to staff that Starlink’s satellite internet is “inferior” to alternatives, “delivering slower speeds at higher costs to the household paying the bill.”
Elon Musk, along with Republications, has vociferously attacked the rural broadband program launched under President Biden, called the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program (BEAD). Three years after launch, no internet expansion projects have begun with the program’s $42.5 billion in funding, though three states were awaiting final approvals just as President Trump took office. Musk has regularly used X to lambast the program, of course, while pushing his own Starlink service.
Howard Lutnick, the new Commerce Secretary, has said the agency would review BEAD and remove burdensome requirements that have slowed down deployment as well as, crucially, eliminate any preference for fiber.
Top Broadband Official Exits Commerce Department With Warning About Starlink
Posted by BeauHD on Monday March 17, 2025 04:20PM
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico:
A top Commerce Department official sent a blistering email to his former colleagues on his way out the door Sunday warning that the Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich Elon Musk's satellite internet company with money for rural broadband. The technology offered by Starlink … is inferior, wrote Evan Feinman, who had directed the $42.5 billion broadband program for the past three years. “Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world's richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Feinman said.
Feinman's lengthy email, totaling more than 1,100 words and shared with POLITICO, is a sign of deep discomfort about the changes underway that will likely transform the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently pledged a vigorous review of BEAD, with an aim to rip out what he sees as extraneous requirements and remove any preference for particular broadband technologies like fiber. The program, created in the 2021 infrastructure law program, became a source of partisan fighting last year on the campaign trail as Republicans attacked the Biden administration for its slow pace. No internet expansion projects have begun using BEAD money, although some states were close at the beginning of this year. Feinman's critique: In his email, Feinman notes Friday was his last day leading BEAD and that he's “disappointed not to be able to see this project through.”
Wait, why is the White House using Starlink to ‘improve Wi-Fi’?
Wes Davis - 18 March 2025
The White House is working to “improve Wi-Fi connectivity,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement emailed to The Verge. According to The New York Times, it’s using Starlink to address the issue, which White House officials blame on the property’s spotty cell service and “overtaxed” Wi-Fi infrastructure.
Huh. Giving Leavitt the benefit of the doubt, I’ll grant that you can connect to Starlink terminals, like the Starlink Mini we reviewed last year, directly over Wi-Fi. But that’s apparently not what’s happening here, despite the efforts of a SpaceX security engineer named Chris Stanley, who the Times says “went to the roof of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex to explore installing Starlink there,” only to trip a Secret Service alarm. Instead, the outlet writes that the White House is having its Starlink service piped from a government data center miles from the compound.
Let’s set aside the obvious conflict of interest and ethics questions at play here — Elon Musk, who owns Starlink parent company SpaceX, has seemed to have his hand on the Executive Branch’s till a lot since Trump took over as President. We can even skip over the security implications pointed out by a cybersecurity expert in the Times piece. As a practical matter alone, there’s no obvious reason to add another ISP in order to improve Wi-Fi coverage, especially one that the FCC said less than two years ago didn’t “demonstrate that it could deliver the promised service” required for rural broadband funding. The much simpler solution would be running some new ethernet cable or adding a few extra Wi-Fi access points, like routers.
Iran
Musk says Starlink will ask for exemption to US sanctions on Iran
Violence flares amid internet blackouts after woman dies in police custody Richard Currie - Tue 20 Sep 2022 15:00 UTC
Elon Musk has said his satellite internet business Starlink will ask for an exemption to US sanctions on Iran.
The statement was made on Twitter in response to science journalist Erfan Kasraie, who described Starlink's service in the Western Asian country as a “game changer for the future.”
Animosity between the States and Iran runs deep with sanctions spanning more than four decades in response to the Iranian nuclear program and the regime's support for what the US deems terrorist organizations.
Sanctions were tightened under the Trump presidency, and the US can come down hard on companies perceived to be sidestepping them, as in the case of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei CFO, who was detained in Canada for almost three years before the US agreed to release her in late 2021 in exchange for some concessions by the Chinese company.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/elon_musk_starlink_iran/
Starlink terminals reportedly smuggled into Iran amid internet shutdowns
Don't thank Elon
Katyanna Quach - Mon 24 Oct 2022 21:12 UTC
Iranians are reportedly smuggling SpaceX Starlink broadband satellite terminals into their country as Tehran restricts internet access amid an ongoing uprising.
Protesters continue to clash with police after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested and reportedly beaten to death by officers for not wearing a hijab last month. The Iranian government has shut down internet services across the country to stop people outraged by her killing from organizing and communicating via social media and other services.
Last week, CNN said senior officials in the Biden administration were in talks with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about providing Starlink's broadband service to support activists in Iran as part of an overarching effort by the White House to push more connectivity into the Mid-East nation. Musk donated Starlink terminals and subscriptions to Ukraine amid that country's occupation by Russia.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/24/iran_protest_starlink/
Map
Satellite Map
SpaceX Starlink
Maritime
STARLINK MARITIME
High-speed, low-latency internet with up to 350 Mbps download while at sea. $5,000/mo with a one-time hardware cost of $10,000 for two high performance terminals.
The Starlink satellite internet for boats will cost you $5,000 a month
Its hardware will set you back $10,000.
Mariella Moon - July 8, 2022 1:43 AM
Starlink has launched a ruggedized version of its dish for boats, ships and yachts, merely a few days after the FCC gave it permission to provide internet service to vehicles. The satellite internet provider says Starlink Maritime can deliver up to 350 Mbps download speeds while at sea, which isn't bad at all for boats that didn't have an internet connection to begin with. However, it doesn't come cheap: The hardware alone will set customers back $10,000, which they have to pay for up front.
The service itself costs $5,000 a month, though like Starlink for RVs, customers can pause it when it's not in use. They can choose which billing cycle to begin their pause, but they'll still have to pay for the full month whenever they switch the service on. In comparison, the residential Starlink setup's hardware costs only $599, while the service costs $110 a month.
https://www.engadget.com/starlink-maritime-satellite-internet-054320228.html
Starlink on your yacht, so hot
Andrew Mendez - 5:02 PM PDT July 7, 2022
Having conquered orbit, SpaceX’s next venue seems to be the high seas, through a special yacht-focused sub-brand of its satellite internet service called Starlink Maritime.
The idea of satellite internet on the water isn’t a new one, but the actual service generally isn’t great: you can expect to pay hundreds or thousands per month for DSL-era speeds, topping out at a few megabits.
Starlink Maritime is taking on the speed problem at least, saying it can provide customers with up to 350 Mbps. But with a monthly price of $5,000 and a one-time hardware fee of $10,000 for the dual terminals you’ll need, it’s not exactly more accessible. Though consumers do have the option to pause and unpause the plan and only be billed for the months they use.
The terminals are “performance dishes” about twice the size of a home dish, Starlink’s Joseph Scarantino noted on Twitter.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/07/starlink-on-your-yacht-so-hot/
Starlink Now Being Deployed On U.S. Navy Warships
Starlink is part of the Navy's ambitious SEA2 program that aims to provide high-bandwidth resilient global connectivity for U.S. warships that will have major operational and morale benefits.
Joseph Trevithick - Aug 22, 2024 12:53 PM EDT
The U.S. Navy says it is on the verge of having improved persistent, reliable, and secure high-speed internet connections across its fleets thanks to a project leveraging commercial satellite constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink. This is a sorely needed upgrade in connectivity that offers important operational and morale-boosting benefits for the crews of Navy ships wherever they might be sailing.
What is formally known as Sailor Edge Afloat and Ashore (SEA2) originally began as an ad-hoc effort aboard the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Now it “is on the cusp of being available on every Navy ship and more shore sites,” according to a recent news item from the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR).
“Before SEA2, ship communications have relied upon Department of Defense (DOD) satellites for the past 30 years,” the NAVWAR piece explains. “These six satellites were roughly 22,300 miles away in geostationary orbit and provided a footprint on Earth the size of a hemisphere, resulting in slow data rates as the signal traveled up to the satellite and back down to its final destination.”
Navy ships have also made use of other largely ad-hoc commercial internet links over the years, including with local networks ashore during port visits, However, the service’s top information warfare command says these “previous internet solutions had no full authority to operate and were only tolerated.”
https://www.twz.com/sea/starlink-now-being-deployed-on-u-s-navy-warships
Mini V2
SpaceX unveils “V2 Mini” Starlink satellites with quadruple the capacity
V2 Mini outperforms first-gen satellites, but full-size V2 must wait for Starship.
Jon Brodkin - 2/27/2023, 1:55 PM
With Starlink speeds slowing due to a growing capacity crunch, SpaceX said a launch happening as soon as today will deploy the first “V2 Mini” satellites that provide four times more per-satellite capacity than earlier versions.
Starlink's second-generation satellites include the V2 Minis and the larger V2. The larger V2s are designed for the SpaceX Starship, which isn't quite ready to launch yet, but the V2 Minis are slimmed-down versions that can be deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket.
“The V2 Minis are smaller than the V2 satellites (hence the name) but don't let the name fool you,” SpaceX said in a statement provided to Ars yesterday. “The V2 Minis include more advanced phased array antennas and the use of E-band for backhaul, which will enable Starlink to provide ~4x more capacity per satellite than earlier iterations.”
First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
June 20, 2024 - Noah Clarke
Update: The Starlink Mini has been launched for $599, check our latest blog post (https://www.starlinkhardware.com/some-starlink-customers-get-early-access-to-the-new-mini-dish-for-599/) for more information.
The launch of the highly anticipated Starlink Mini dish is imminent. Last week, Starlink got approval from the FCC for the Mini’s Wifi router. Today, Starlink updated their app with some juicy new details. In this post, I’m going to dive into what we know so far, and show you the first images of the Mini.
Based on previous FCC documents filed by SpaceX, we know the size of Starlink Mini to be 11.4″ x 9.8″, or about the size of a laptop. Here is a graphic I made to compare the size of the Standard and the Mini:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/first-look-at-the-upcoming-starlink-mini/
'Starlink Mini': High-Speed Internet, Fits in a Backpack, Now Available in the US
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday January 04, 2025 11:41AM
It's weighs less than 15 pounds. It's 17 inches wide. And in June Elon Musk said it was “easily carried in a backpack. This product will change the world.”
And now, CNET reports:
Calling all digital nomads and van-lifers: SpaceX's Starlink Mini is now available everywhere in the US. The small antenna costs $599 and requires a monthly subscription of either $50 or $165, depending on which plan you choose. Thanks to thousands of low Earth orbit satellites, Starlink has the unique ability to send high-speed internet just about anywhere. Standard service is great for home internet in rural areas, while the provider's Roam service and new portable dish are ideal for staying connected on the go…
The Mini is a satellite dish and Wi-Fi router all in one that's about the size of a laptop. According to Starlink's website, it uses approximately half the power of Starlink's standard dish. It can be powered with a portable USB battery and can “melt snow and withstand sleet, heavy rain and harsh winds.”
Orbit
US court backs FCC decision to let SpaceX fly Starlink sats at lower altitudes
Judges just didn't buy Viasat's in-orbit prang fears
Katyanna Quach - Tue 30 Aug 2022 00:24 UTC
Judges in the US have upheld the FCC's decision to allow SpaceX Starlink satellites to fly at a lower altitude.
SpaceX was last year given permission to launch more than 2,000 of its broadband-beaming satellites at 540 to 570 km above Earth instead of its usual 1,100 to 1,300 km range. It was hoped that flying the hardware lower would boost internet service to Alaska and other remote areas, and help prevent the build up of space junk and other objects in a relatively narrow band of low Earth orbit.
But competing satellite providers, such as Viasat, Amazon, and Dish, weren't happy. In an attempt to overturn the FCC's decision, Viasat, an environmental org calling itself The Balance Group, and Dish sued the communications regulator, arguing officials failed to consider, among other things, the potential environmental effects. Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) federal agencies are required to assess the environmental impact of their decisions, such as constructing buildings or military bases.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/30/us_court_supports_the_fccs/
Outage
2022 August
Starlink Internet Was Down, and Is Still a Little Spotty
Users are reporting “Degraded Service” this morning.
Passant Rabie - 30 August 2022 10:25AM
Starlink internet users experienced an outage on Tuesday that spanned across different parts of the world, from the U.S. to New Zealand, Mexico and the Netherlands.
The global outage lasted for a few hours for most users, but connectivity returned with a “Degraded Service” message that meant it wasn’t fully operational. Some users on Reddit also reported that their connection kept going from degraded to offline. “Our team is investigating and will resolve as soon as possible,” the Starlink service message read. However, the company hasn’t released a public message acknowledging the outage.
https://gizmodo.com/starklink-internet-spacex-elon-musk-1849472932
2024 May
Starlink suffers 'degraded service' from solar storm but emerges intact
Unusually high activity from Sun may have also hastened Hubble's demise
Dan Robinson - Mon 13 May 2024/ 14:31 UTC
The geomagnetic storm that led to nighttime light shows over the weekend also caused problems for the Starlink satellite broadband service, disrupted GPS signals, and affected the orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope.
A stronger than usual solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) from caused the geomagnetic storm and resulting aurora borealis as it impinged on the Earth's own magnetic field and charged particles from it collided with atoms in the upper atmosphere.
Such events also have the potential to disrupt communications, especially radio and satellite operations.
Starlink CEO Elon Musk warned on Twitter of potential disruption, posting the Kp index estimated for the event and saying: “Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far.”
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/13/starlink_solar_storm/
Rocket
Musk’s Megarocket Will Deploy Starlink Satellites Like a Pez Dispenser
The upcoming Starlink 2.0 satellites will be larger than previous versions, requiring them to be launched from Starship rockets.
George Dvorsky - 6 June 2022 1:19PM
At a recent company all-hands meeting, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk discussed the current state of the organization and its recent accomplishments, in addition to showcasing its plans for two factories and the unique manner in which it plans to deploy its next-gen Starlink satellites.
It’s been a heck of a year at SpaceX, and Elon Musk wants everyone at the company—and also those outside it—to know it. The billionaire spoke during an all-hands gathering last week, in which he noted some recent SpaceX happenings and milestones and also some plans for the future. Musk dropped the associated deck on his Twitter account this Sunday.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starship-deploy-starlink-satellites-1849023098
Russia
Russian forces now using Musk’s Starlink on Ukraine front line
Russian volunteer group brags about devices it said it had purchased for Russian forces.
Ben Hall, Financial Times - 2/12/2024, 6:12 AM
Russian forces are using Starlink terminals on the front line in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military, which said the adoption of Elon Musk’s satellite Internet service by Moscow’s troops was becoming “systemic.”
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence unit said on Telegram on Sunday that radio intercepts confirmed the use of Starlink terminals by Russian units operating in the occupied Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
“Yes, there have been recorded cases of the Russian occupiers using these devices,” Andriy Yusov, a GUR officer, told RBC-Ukraine. “This is starting to take on a systemic nature.”
GUR made its claim following multiple reports in recent days that Russian forces are using Starlink devices, including a sighting reported by news outlet Defense One of the company’s distinctive square-shaped receivers close to Russian positions.
One Russian volunteer group flaunted on social media the devices it said it had purchased for Russian forces.
Elon Musk's SpaceX Under Investigation Over Russia's Use of Starlink
Musk has previously said “no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.”
Matt Novak - 7 March 2024
Russian troops in Ukraine have allegedly been using SpaceX’s Starlink terminals to get internet access during the ongoing war that has seen hundreds of thousands of casualties on each side. And now, House Democrats are finally asking hard questions of SpaceX leadership about how this could be happening, according to an open letter published on Thursday.
The letter to SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell from some top Democrats in the House makes the case that Starlink’s high-speed satellite internet access is considered essential to Ukraine’s continued ability to fight against Russia’s invasion, which first started in February 2022.
The letter from the Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Robert Garcia of California, stresses that Russia’s use of Starlink tech would be “potentially in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls.”
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-spacex-investigation-russia-starlink-1851317510
Russia’s Starlink use sparks probe into SpaceX compliance with US sanctions
Despite US sanctions, Russia using Starlink “to coordinate attacks” in Ukraine.
Jon Brodkin - 3/7/2024, 11:29 AM
Democratic lawmakers are probing SpaceX over Russia's reported use of Starlink in Ukraine, saying that recent developments raise questions about SpaceX's “compliance with US sanctions and export controls.”
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk last month denied what he called “false news reports [that] claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia,” saying that, “to the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.” But Musk's statement didn't satisfy US Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who sent a letter to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell yesterday.
“Starlink is an invaluable resource for Ukrainians in their fight against Russia's brutal and illegitimate invasion. It is alarming that Russia may be obtaining and using your technology to coordinate attacks against Ukrainian troops in illegally occupied regions in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, potentially in violation of US sanctions and export controls,” Raskin and Garcia wrote.
Musk has also stated that “Starlink satellites will not close the link in Russia.” However, the concerns raised by Rankin and Garcia are about whether Russia used the broadband service in Ukraine. Their letter said that Ukraine last month “released intercepted audio communications between Russian soldiers that indicated Russian forces had illegally deployed and activated Starlink terminals in certain Russian-occupied areas in Eastern Ukraine.”
Is Russia using Starlink in Ukraine? Congress demands answers
And saying Starlink doesn't work inside Russian borders isn't sufficient…
Brandon Vigliarolo - Fri 8 Mar 2024 18:30 UTC
Starlink terminals are reportedly being used by both sides in Russia's war against Ukraine, but now Congressional representatives want to know why.
In a letter addressed to SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, a pair of Democratic reps asked SpaceX to provide a better explanation than what was provided on Twitter last month for how Russia may have obtained and operated Starlink terminals.
The letter, penned by Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the Oversight' Committee's Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. The pair claim Starlink's use by Russian forces was alarming, and potentially a violation of US sanctions and export controls.
“According to Ukraine, the misuse of Starlink terminals is 'systemic,' raising additional questions about the efficacy of your company's safeguards and compliance with U.S. sanctions and export controls,” Raskin and Garcia said. “We are concerned that you may not have appropriate guardrails and policies in place to ensure your technology is neither acquired directly or indirectly, nor used illegally by Russia.”
https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/is_russia_using_starlink_in/
Report details how Russia obtains Starlink terminals for war in Ukraine
Russians buy from middlemen and “deliver SpaceX hardware to the front line.”
Jon Brodkin - 4/9/2024, 11:24 AM
A report published today describes how Russia obtained Starlink terminals for its war in Ukraine despite US sanctions and SpaceX's insistence that Russia hasn't bought the terminals either directly or indirectly.
The Wall Street Journal report describes black market sales to Russians and a Sudanese paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently determined that the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias committed war crimes and are responsible for ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
The WSJ said it “tracked Starlink sales on numerous Russian online retail platforms,” “interviewed Russian and Sudanese middlemen and resellers, and followed Russian volunteer groups that deliver SpaceX hardware to the front line.”
The WSJ described Oleg, a salesman at Moscow-based online retailer shopozz.ru, who “supplemented his usual business of peddling vacuum cleaners and dashboard phone mounts by selling dozens of Starlink internet terminals that wound up with Russians on the front lines in Ukraine.”
Starlink terminals reportedly provide a technical upgrade to Russian troops whose radio communications were being jammed or intercepted by Ukraine troops.
“In Russia, middlemen buy the hardware, sometimes on eBay, in the US and elsewhere, including on the black market in Central Asia, Dubai or Southeast Asia, then smuggle it into Russia,” the report said. “Russian volunteers boast openly on social media about supplying the terminals to troops. They are part of an informal effort to boost Russia's use of Starlink in Ukraine, where Russian forces are advancing.”
Starlink-branded hardware reportedly found amid wreckage of downed Russian drone
Space broadband on weapons is not something Elon Musk condones
Iain Thomson - Fri 27 Sep 2024 06:32 UTC
A Russian drone shot down over Ukraine appears to have been fitted with equipment made by Elon Musk's space broadband service Starlink, according to Ukrainian media.
The claims – including pictures of wreckage that bears a Starlink logo – emerged in a report by Ukrainian outlet Defence Express and on a Telegram channel.
The Starlink equipment appears to be a user terminal, and if fitted to the drone could have provided internet connectivity from the Starlink satellite constellation.
The Defence Express report claims the wreckage it depicts was shot down during a Wednesday incident during which Ukraine intercepted 28 of 32 drones sent by Russia.
That incident is also reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which detailed it on Facebook.
Images of the downed drones apparently depict a model called the Geran-2 – a Russian-made copy of Iran's Shahed 136 drone. The propeller-powered drones, which have a range of around 2,500 kilometers, typically carry a 50kg warhead or surveillance equipment.
Starlink typically offers upload speeds of between five and 20Mbit/sec – more than enough for a drone using the service to stream data and video in real time.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/27/starlink_drone_russia_ukraine/
Russia takes unusual route to hack Starlink-connected devices in Ukraine
Secret Blizzard has used the resources of at least 6 other groups in the past 7 years.
Dan Goodin - Dec 11, 2024 3:18 PM
Russian nation-state hackers have followed an unusual path to gather intel in the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine—appropriating the infrastructure of fellow threat actors and using it to infect electronic devices its adversary’s military personnel are using on the front line.
On at least two occasions this year, the Russian hacking group tracked under names including Turla, Waterbug, Snake, and Venomous Bear has used servers and malware used by separate threat groups in attacks targeting front-line Ukrainian military forces, Microsoft said Wednesday. In one case, Secret Blizzard—the name Microsoft uses to track the group—leveraged the infrastructure of a cybercrime group tracked as Storm-1919. In the other, Secret Blizzard appropriated resources of Storm-1837, a Russia-based threat actor with a history of targeting Ukrainian drone operators.
The more common means for initial access by Secret Blizzard is spear phishing followed by lateral movement through server-side and edge device compromises. Microsoft said that the threat actor’s pivot here is unusual but not unique. Company investigators still don’t know how Secret Blizzard obtained access to the infrastructure.
School Bus
SpaceX wants to put Starlink internet on rural school buses
The pilot would keep kids online during lengthy rides home.
Jon Fingas - September 22, 2022 3:20 PM
Starlink satellite internet access has already spread to boats and RVs, and now it might accompany your child on the way home from class. SpaceX told the FCC in a filing that it's piloting Starlink aboard school buses in the rural US. The project would keep students connected during lengthy rides (over an hour in the pilot), ensuring they can complete internet-related homework in a timely fashion even if broadband is slow or non-existent at home.
The spaceflight company simultaneously backed FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel's May proposal to bring WiFi to school buses, and said it supported the regulator's efforts to fund school and library internet access through the E-Rate program. To no one's surprise, SpaceX felt it had the best solution thanks to rapid satellite deployment, portable dishes and fast service for the “most remote” areas.
We've asked the FCC and SpaceX for comment, and will let you know if they respond. The pitch comes just two months after the FCC cleared the use of Starlink in vehicles, noting that it would serve the “public interest” to keep people online while on the move. The concept isn't new — Google outfitted school buses with WiFi in 2018 following tests, for example.
https://www.engadget.com/spacex-starlink-school-bus-satellite-internet-192015878.html
Security
Ask HN: How is Starlink kept secure?
jonplackett - 29 April 2023
I just saw the map of spacex’s thousands of satellites in orbit and it got me wondering how they can keep them from being hacked.
If you have a web server you can do lots of things to help - blocking or whitelisting IPs. Rate limiting password attempts. 2FA etc, but also you can have physical access if things really go wrong.
How are these remote systems kept secure? How do you prevent someone just constantly brute forcing the password? Or doing a denial of service attack on them?
Presumably someone (Russia) has tried this given the use of Starlink in Ukraine.
Just very curious how this task is approached.
Starlink’s overzealous fraud detection locked users out of their accounts
“We had an account issue that led us to falsely flag your account as fraud.”
Jon Brodkin - 11/15/2023, 9:09 AM
The Starlink bug that locked some users out of their accounts last week was caused by overzealous fraud detection that falsely flagged legitimate accounts as fraudulent. Affected users yesterday received an email titled “False Positive Fraud Account Correction,” but not everyone has been able to get back into their accounts yet.
“We had an account issue that led us to falsely flag your account as fraud. We are working to make this right and fix any account modifications over the last week,” the email from the SpaceX-owned ISP said. “Please allow until the end of the week to see any account changes be reverted before filing a ticket. Next week, if you are still having an account issue, sign in to your account below to contact Customer Support.”
As we previously reported, some customers received an email on November 9 saying their accounts had been reset and that “all pending orders and deposits have been refunded.” The bug affected some new users who had ordered Starlink service but had not yet set up their dishes, making it hard for them to start the Internet service.
Starlink's limited customer support options made things especially difficult. An account-recovery page that lets users request password resets with an email address or phone number didn't work in this case, as the page returned error messages like “User not found.”
Spy satellites
NRO chief: “You can’t hide” from our new swarm of SpaceX-built spy satellites
“A satellite is always coming over an area within a given reasonable amount of time.”
Stephen Clark – Nov 5, 2024 12:49 PM
The director of the National Reconnaissance Office has a message for US adversaries around the world.
“You can’t hide, because we’re constantly looking,” said Chris Scolese, a longtime NASA engineer who took the helm of the US government's spy satellite agency in 2019.
The NRO is taking advantage of SpaceX's Starlink satellite assembly line to build a network of at least 100 satellites, and perhaps many more, to monitor adversaries around the world. So far, more than 80 of these SpaceX-made spacecraft, each a little less than a ton in mass, have launched on four Falcon 9 rockets. There are more to come.
A large number of these mass-produced satellites, or what the NRO calls a “proliferated architecture,” will provide regularly updated imagery of foreign military installations and other sites of interest to US intelligence agencies. Scolese said the new swarm of satellites will “get us reasonably high-resolution imagery of the Earth, at a high rate of speed.”
This is a significant change in approach for the NRO, which has historically operated a smaller number of more expensive satellites, some as big as a school bus.
“We expect to quadruple the number of satellites we have to have on-orbit in the next decade,” said Col. Eric Zarybnisky, director of the NRO's office of space launch, during an October 29 presentation at the Wernher von Braun Space Exploration Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.
Subscribers
Starlink hits 4 million subscribers
Aria Alamalhodaei - 3:50 PM PDT September 26, 2024
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet network is expected to hit a new customer milestone this week, company President Gwynne Shotwell told Texas legislators on Tuesday.
“This week, by the way, we will pass 4 million customers for Starlink, which is quite exciting,” she said while testifying before a state House Appropriations Committee meeting. (The milestone was confirmed by SpaceX on Thursday.)
The milestone would mean that SpaceX has gained a million new customers since the end of May alone. This outpaces the company’s already impressive rate of growth: Starlink started providing beta service of its product in October 2020; it hit 1 million subscribers in December 2022, 2 million subscribers in September 2023, and 3 million in May. The constellation now comprises nearly 6,000 satellites, with service available in nearly 100 countries to individual users as well as large enterprise customers like major airlines and cruise lines.
Starlink Surpasses 4 Million Subscribers
Posted by BeauHD on Saturday September 28, 2024 12:00AM
Longtime Slashdot reader penciling_in shares a report from CircleID:
Starlink, SpaceX's satellite-based internet service, has hit a major milestone by surpassing 4 million subscribers worldwide. SpaceX confirmed the news on Thursday after company President Gwynne Shotwell hinted earlier in the week that the service would reach the mark within days. Since its beta launch in October 2020, Starlink has rapidly scaled, growing from 1 million subscribers by December 2022, to 2 million by September 2023, and now 4 million just months later. The service operates through a vast constellation of nearly 6,000 satellites, providing satellite internet to users in almost 100 countries, including expanding into previously underserved regions like Africa and the Pacific islands. [While competition from OneWeb and Amazon's Project Kuiper looms, Starlink remains the market leader. However, challenges like slowing U.S. growth and concerns over satellite interference with radio astronomy persist.]
Starlink is coming to United Airlines' entire fleet and Hawaiian Airlines Airbus flights. Air France also announced yesterday that it, too, will support free Starlink Wi-Fi on all its aircraft.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/0054257/starlink-surpasses-4-million-subscribers
A year after ditching waitlist, Starlink says it is “sold out” in parts of US
SpaceX's Starlink doesn't have enough capacity for everyone who wants it.
Jon Brodkin - Nov 19, 2024 2:11 PM
The Starlink waitlist is back in certain parts of the US, including several large cities on the West Coast and in Texas. The Starlink availability map says the service is sold out in and around Seattle and Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; San Diego; Sacramento, California; and Austin, Texas. Neighboring cities and towns are included in the sold-out zones.
There are additional sold-out areas in small parts of Colorado, Montana, and North Carolina. As PCMag noted yesterday, the change comes about a year after Starlink added capacity and removed its waitlist throughout the US.
Elsewhere in North America, there are some sold-out areas in Canada and Mexico. Across the Atlantic, Starlink is sold out in London and neighboring cities. Starlink is not yet available in most of Africa, and some of the areas where it is available are sold out.
Starlink is generally seen as most useful in rural areas with less access to wired broadband, but it seems to be attracting interest in more heavily populated areas, too. While detailed region-by-region subscriber numbers aren't available publicly, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said last week that Starlink has nearly 5 million users worldwide.
Falklands
February 2025: Starlink in the Falkland Islands – a National Emergency situation?
07/02/2025 - Author: openfalklands
In yesterday’s (Thursday) OpenFalklands blog, I noted that while a week may seem long in politics, even a single day can feel like an eternity when it comes to Starlink developments in the Falklands.
And then, ‘Black Friday’ arrived on Friday, 7th of February!
This morning, some Falkland Islands Starlink users began experiencing service terminations as their 60-day roaming period expired, following Starlink’s Terms & Conditions.
Illegal use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands.
Regardless of differing opinions, it is now an established fact that hundreds of Starlink terminals are in use in the Falkland Islands. The underlying reasons for this widespread adoption have been discussed extensively elsewhere and will not be reiterated here.
The high level of Starlink usage sparked a successful petition backed by 70% of the island’s population. This petition demanded both a reduction of the £5,400 FIG VSAT licence fee and formal approval for Starlink’s operation in the Falkland Islands.
In response, a Starlink Select Committee – comprising all of the island’s MLAs – convened from July to October 2024. The committee formally endorsed the petition’s demands, and the proposal was subsequently forwarded to the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) for implementation. However, the effective date for this approval has now been delayed until April.
Starlink-Starved Citizens Spark ‘National Emergency’ in the Falkland Islands
No matter where you are in the world, broadband companies remain evil.
Matthew Gault - February 12, 2025
On Tuesday, February 4th, Starlink users in the Falkland Islands woke up with an email from the company saying they were about to be cut off. “You are currently using Starlink in an unauthorized territory. Local telecommunication authorities have instructed Starlink to disable your services,” the email said, according to reporting from the website OpenFalklands.
Using a Starlink terminal in the Falklands is, technically, illegal unless you’ve got a specialized and expensive license. The locals are trying to change that but that hasn’t stopped them from hooking up their homes to Starlink satellite terminals anyway. But last week it seemed that someone narced out the Falkland citizens to Starlink and that the service would soon be cut off.
There are a lot of reasons to hate SpaceX founder and Starlink impresario Elon Musk. He is, at the moment, rampaging unchecked through the U.S. federal government, he ruined Twitter, and he wants to move to Mars instead of fixing Earth. Starlink though? Starlink is pretty great and this story out of the Falklands is a good reminder that his satellite internet service is an effective way to keep people online in remote areas across the planet.
T-Mobile
Starlink and T-Mobile’s sat-to-cell service will start testing this year
Aria Alamalhodaei - 13 March 2023
SpaceX and T-Mobile will begin testing a new service to bring satellite connectivity to cell phones this year, a SpaceX executive said. The news, first reported by CNBC, suggests that we may be close to a future where cellular “dead zones” are a thing of the past.
SpaceX and T-Mobile announced the partnership last August, saying that they plan to provide “near complete coverage in most places in the U.S. — even in many of the most remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell signals.” The idea is to create a new network, one that leverages Starlink satellites’ and T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G spectrum.
Sat-to-cell is considered to be the next frontier for space-based connectivity services, with multiple companies racing to be the first to provide data to cell phones. Project Kuiper — a competitor satellite broadband project from Amazon, which has yet to launch any satellites — announced a similar partnership with Verizon in 2021. Consumer electronics giant Apple has also strayed into this space: The company has invested nearly half a billion dollars in satellite network and ground stations from entities like Globalstar to deliver emergency SOS to iPhone users.
TCP
Starlink offers 'unusually hostile environment' to TCP
Hopping satellites every 15 seconds will do that to a protocol, natch
Simon Sharwood - Wed 22 May 2024 02:26 UTC
SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service “represents an unusually hostile link environment” to the TCP protocol, according to Geoff Huston, chief scientist at the Asia Pacific Network Information Center.
Huston's assessment appeared late last week in a blog post detailing his analysis of Starlink performance.
The post opens by explaining that low-Earth-orbit satellites whizz past so quickly that they can go from horizon to horizon in fewer than five minutes. To maintain a connection, terrestrial antennae therefore periodically need to connect to a different sat.
That's pretty much to be expected, we guess; this info therefore serves as a concrete reference for those anticipating the state of connectivity over Starlink for future applications and uses.
“A continuous LEO satellite service needs to hop across a continual sequence of satellites as they pass overhead and switch the virtual circuit path across to successive satellites as they come into view of both the end user and the user’s designated Earth station,” he wrote. Huston believes that may happen as often as every 15 seconds.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/22/starlink_tcp_performance_evaluation/
A transport protocol’s view of Starlink
Geoff Huston - 17 May 2024
Digital communications systems always represent a collection of design tradeoffs. Maximizing one characteristic of a system may impair others, and various communications services may choose to optimize different performance parameters based on the intersection of these design decisions with the physical characteristics of the communications medium.
In this article, I’ll look at how TCP, the workhorse transport protocol of the Internet, interacts with the characteristics of the Starlink service.
To start, it’s useful to recall a small item of Newtonian physics from 1687. On the surface of the Earth if you fire a projectile horizontally it will fall back to Earth due to the combination of the effects of the friction from the Earth’s atmosphere and the Earth’s gravitational force.
Assuming that the Earth has no friction-inducing atmosphere, if you fire this projectile horizontally fast enough it will not return to the Earth, but head into space. However, if you are high enough to clear various mountains that may be in the way, there is a critical velocity where the projectile will be captured by the Earth’s gravity and neither fall to the ground nor head out into space (Figure 1).
https://blog.apnic.net/2024/05/17/a-transport-protocols-view-of-starlink/
Terminal
Dumping and extracting the SpaceX Starlink User Terminal firmware
06/07/2021 - Lennert Wouters
Towards the end of May 2021 Starlink launched in Belgium so we were finally able to get our hands on a Dishy McFlatface. In this blog post we will cover some initial exploration of the hardware and we will explain how we dumped and extracted the firmware.
Note that this blog post does not discuss any specific vulnerabilities, we merely document techniques that can be used by others to research the Starlink User Terminal (UT). Towards the end of this blog post we will include some interesting findings from the firmware. Note that SpaceX actively encourages people to find and report security issues through their bug bounty program: https://bugcrowd.com/spacex
We first setup our UT on a flat section of our university building’s roof and played around with it for a few hours, giving the UT and router the chance to perform a firmware update. We did run a few mandatory speed tests and were seeing as much as 268 Mbps download and 49 Mbps upload.
Belgian boffins dump Starlink dish terminal's firmware, gain root access and a few ideas
Extra-terrestrial service probed
Matthew Hughes - Thu 8 Jul 2021 / 07:27 UTC
Belgian boffins have published a teardown of the Starlink user terminal – also known as Dishy McFlatface – in which they managed to dump the device's firmware that was housed on a eMMC card upon the PCB.
For the the academics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), actually getting their hands on the firmware for later analysis proved to be a somewhat fraught process.
Although the hardware came with a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) port for USB debugging, SpaceX opted — perhaps for obvious reasons — to restrict access to those entrusted with development credentials. Still, it revealed some clues, particularly when it came to the boot process, with integrity and authenticity checks used to ensure the kernel had not been tampered with.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/08/belgian_boffins_dump_starlink_dish/
SpaceX has already shipped 100,000 Starlink satellite internet terminals
The service signed up 10,000 more users since July.
Mariella Moon - August 24th, 2021
Starlink has already shipped 100,000 satellite internet terminals before it has even achieved global coverage. SpaceX chief Elon Musk has revealed the figure on Twitter, where he also listed the 14 regions where the service is currently available. “Our license applications are pending in many more countries. Hoping to serve Earth soon!” he said in a follow-up tweet.
https://www.engadget.com/spacex-100000-starlink-satellite-internet-terminals-051812274.html
SpaceX's Starlink Has Already Shipped 100,000 Terminals
It appears the service has rapidly gained 10,000 new users in just a few weeks.
Victoria Song - 24 August 2021 11:32AM
Elon Musk announced via a series of tweets (of course) that SpaceX has shipped 100,000 terminals for its Starlink satellite internet service in 14 countries, with the aim to “serve Earth soon.” That implies the service has gained an additional 10,000 users in less than a month—and fully global service hasn’t even rolled out yet.
Starlink’s goal is to deliver high-speed internet to rural areas, where broadband is extremely hard to come by. It differs from other satellite internet providers in that its strategy is to launch thousands of low-orbit satellites. Currently, SpaceX has deployed roughly 1,800 satellites, with the ultimate goal of 42,000 of these things floating around Earth by mid-2027. The benefit of these low-orbit satellites is that they have lower latency, which makes Starlink a viable alternative to 5G and fiber in remote areas.
https://gizmodo.com/spacexs-starlink-has-already-shipped-100-000-terminals-1847545725
Starlink preps rugged user terminal that may avoid “thermal shutdown” problem
Fixed earth station would bring Starlink to buildings in harsher environments.
Jon Brodkin - 1/25/2022, 12:03 PM
SpaceX's Starlink division is planning a new ruggedized satellite dish that can operate in hotter and colder temperatures. This is the second ruggedized Starlink dish the company has revealed—the first is designed for vehicles, ships, and aircraft, while the newer one is a fixed earth station that would provide broadband to buildings.
SpaceX asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy the “high-performance fixed earth stations” (or “HP terminals”) in an application filed Friday. PCMag wrote an article about the application yesterday.
“Compared to other user terminals SpaceX Services has been authorized to deploy, the HP model has been ruggedized to handle harsher environments so that, for example, it will be able to continue to operate at greater extremes of heat and cold, will have improved snow/ice melt capabilities, and will withstand a greater number of thermal cycles,” SpaceX told the FCC. SpaceX said its application should be approved because the terminals will extend the Starlink network to “a range of much more challenging environments.”
Researcher Hacks Starlink Terminal to Warn SpaceX of Dangerous Flaws
Lennert Wouters has apparently made the details of his hacking tool open source.
Passant Rabie - 10 August 2022 5:05PM
A researcher from Belgium created a $25 hacking tool that could glitch Starlink’s internet terminals, and he is reportedly going to make this tool available for others to copy. Lennert Wouters, a security researcher at KU Leuven, demonstrated how he was able to hack into Elon Musk’s satellite dishes at the Black Hat Security Conference being held this week in Las Vegas, Wired reported.
https://gizmodo.com/hacker-starlink-spacex-black-hat-security-conference-1849396899
Starlink adds a 1TB monthly soft cap for residential users
Darrell Etherington - 4:24 PM PDT•November 4, 2022
SpaceX’s Starlink internet has included unlimited bandwidth since launch, and while the service will technically continue to provide that to customers, users who exceed 1TB of data use in a single month will now be throttled once they reach that threshold.
Starlink sent out an email to users across the U.S. and Canada on Friday outlining the new so-called “Fair Use” policy, which describes how residential users will start out each month with “Priority Access,” and then continue to receive coverage with “Basic Access” for the remainder of the monthly billing period if they cross that 1TB threshold.
Basic Access means that they’ll get “deprioritized” in terms of use, meaning they’ll get slower speeds than Priority Access customers when there’s heavy use on the network. Starlink also notes that data used between off-peak times, specifically between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., won’t be counted toward that 1TB monthly Priority bucket.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/04/starlink-adds-a-1tb-monthly-soft-cap-for-residential-users/
Starlink Sets High-Speed Data Cap at 1TB Per Month, Lowers Advertised Speeds
To receive more priority access, residential Starlink users will need to pay $0.25 per each additional GB used. SpaceX is also reducing the advertised speeds for Starlink.
Michael Kan - Updated November 4, 2022
SpaceX plans on capping residential Starlink subscribers to 1TB of high-speed data per month in an effort to cut down on network congestion.
SpaceX quietly revealed the plan on Friday by publishing a “Fair Use Policy(Opens in a new window)” for the popular satellite internet service. The document says residential Starlink subscribers in the US will receive 1TB worth of “Priority Access” per month. The company has also uploaded the same fair use policy(Opens in a new window) for subscribers in Canada.
Once the cap is exceeded, the subscriber will be relegated to “Basic Access,” meaning SpaceX can begin throttling speeds if necessary, to reduce network congestion.
How to Use Starlink in Cars, Boats, and Planes
You can take Starlink wherever you go.
James Dolan - 11 November 2022
magine you're in the most remote location on the planet, and you're finding it difficult to access reliable internet because there is no network coverage or fiber optic cables. But if you're traveling using a car, boat, or plane, you can access the internet if you've installed Starlink.
How do you do that? Let's find out!
https://www.makeuseof.com/how-use-starlink-cars-boats-planes/
Starlink Terminals Found in Illegal Mining Areas of Brazil's Amazon
Brazilian criminals are using Starlink terminals to conduct illegal activities in mining areas in dense regions of the Amazon.
Nikki Main - 15 March 2023
Brazilian authorities seized a Starlink terminal on Tuesday following a series of internet use by criminals in illegal mining areas. Starlink terminals are being used to help carry out these activities in Brazil’s Amazon, prompting numerous investigations by local authorities who seek to remove crime from the area.
Located in the deep parts of the Amazon, the Brazilian environment agency’s special inspection group and the federal highway police rapid response group came upon a Starlink site in Yanomami. The agents reportedly encountered gunfire as the criminals, known as the country’s most feared criminal organization called First Command of the Capital fled, leaving behind one Starlink satellite and other evidence, AP News reported.
https://gizmodo.com/starlink-amazon-elon-musk-brazil-mining-1850227565
FCC Approves Mysterious SpaceX Device: Is It for the Starlink Mini Dish?
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 16, 2024 03:34PM
“SpaceX has received FCC clearance to operate a mysterious 'wireless module' device,” PC Magazine reported earlier this week, speculating that the device “might be a new Starlink router.”
On Tuesday, the FCC issued an equipment authorization for the device, which uses the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi radio bands. A document in SpaceX's filing also says it features antennas along with Wi-Fi chips apparently from MediaTek. Another document calls the device by the codename “UTW-231,” and defines it as a “wireless router” supporting IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ax for Wi-Fi 6 speeds up to 1,300Mbps. But perhaps the most interesting part is an image SpaceX attached, which suggests the router is relatively small and can fit in a person's open hand…. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said the “Starlink mini” dish is slated to arrive later this year and that it's small enough to fit in a backpack…
A First Glimpse of the Starlink User Ternimal
March 26, 2025 - DARKNAVY
I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go to space. —— Stephen Hawking
Starlink is a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service provided by SpaceX. Users connect to near-Earth orbit satellites through a user terminal, which then connects to the internet via ground gateways.
As the new generation of satellites gradually incorporates laser links, some satellites can communicate with each other via laser. This both reduces reliance on ground stations and improves transmission efficiency, enhancing global coverage.
Even on the Ukrainian battlefield where there are no local ground stations, Starlink user terminals can indirectly access gateways in neighboring countries through inter-satellite links [1].
In this article, we provide a concise overview of DARKNAVY’s recent preliminary investigation into the Starlink user terminal.
https://www.darknavy.org/blog/a_first_glimpse_of_the_starlink_user_ternimal/
Tracks
Astronomers find growing number of Starlink satellite tracks
SpaceX's approved satellites will mean all this telescope's images will have tracks.
John Timmer - 1/17/2022, 1:24 PM
SpaceX's Starlink Internet service will require a dense constellation of satellites to provide consistent, low-latency connectivity. The system already has over 1,500 satellites in orbit and has received approval to operate 12,000 of them. And that has astronomers worried. Although SpaceX has taken steps to reduce the impact of its hardware, there's no way to completely eliminate the tracks the satellites leave across ground-based observations.
How bad is the problem? A team of astronomers has used archival images from a survey telescope to look for Starlink tracks over the past two years. Over that time, the number of images affected rose by a factor of 35, and the researchers estimate that by the time the planned Starlink constellation is complete, pretty much every image from their hardware will have at least one track in it.
SpaceX Starlink sat streaks now present in nearly a fifth of all astronomical images snapped by Caltech telescope
Annoying, maybe – but totally ruining science, no
Katyanna Quach - Thu 20 Jan 2022 00:49 UTC
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites appear in about a fifth of all images snapped by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a camera attached to the Samuel Oschin Telescope in California, which is used by astronomers to study supernovae, gamma ray bursts, asteroids, and suchlike.
A study led by Przemek Mróz, a former postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and now a researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland, analysed the current and future effects of Starlink satellites on the ZTF. The telescope and camera are housed at the Palomar Observatory, which is operated by Caltech.
The team of astronomers found 5,301 streaks leftover from the moving satellites in images taken by the instrument between November 2019 and September 2021, according to their paper on the subject, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters this week.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/20/starlink_satellite_streaks_caltech/
Palomar Survey Instrument Analyzes Impact of Starlink Satellites
January 17, 2022
A study of archival images from Zwicky Transient Facility shows an increase in satellite streaks
Since 2019, SpaceX has been launching an increasing number of internet satellites into orbit around Earth. The satellite constellation, called Starlink, now includes nearly 1,800 members orbiting at altitudes of about 550 kilometers. Astronomers have expressed concerns that that these objects, which can appear as streaks in telescope images, could hamper their scientific observations.
To quantify these effects, a team of researchers studied archival images captured by the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), an instrument that operates from Caltech's Palomar Observatory near San Diego. ZTF scans the entire night sky every two days, cataloguing cosmic objects that explode, blink, or otherwise change over time. This includes everything from supernovae to near-Earth asteroids. The Zwicky team members say they decided to specifically study the effects of Starlink satellites because they currently represent the largest low-Earth orbit, or LEO, constellation, and they have well-characterized orbits.
The findings, reported in the January 17 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, shows 5,301 satellite streaks appear in archival images taken between November 2019 and September 2021. The streaks are most apparent in so-called twilight observations, those taken at dawn or dusk, which are important for finding near-Earth asteroids that appear close to the sun in the sky. ZTF has discovered several asteroids of this nature, including 2020 AV2, the first asteroid spotted with an orbit that fits entirely within the orbit of Venus.
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/palomar-survey-instrument-analyzes-impact-of-starlink-satellites
3 Ways to Track Starlink Satellites
Katie Rees - 12 February 2022
Wondering where Starlink's thousands of satellites are? Here's how you can track them around the world.
Elon Musk's new internet provider, Starlink, has been a hot topic of conversation for some years now. Given Musk's past successes in the tech industry, people are excited about this new satellite internet service provider and the high speeds it claims to offer. With thousands of satellites now in orbit and with the evident hype surrounding their potential, it's no surprise that you can now track their location in real-time.
So, what are the best Starlink satellite tracking sites?
https://www.makeuseof.com/ways-to-track-starlink-satellites/
The Potential for Larger—and Brighter—Starlink Satellites Has Astronomers Worried
SpaceX's next generation of Starlink satellites could pose an even greater threat to astronomical observations.
Passant Rabie - 17 June 2022
Unobstructed views of space are increasingly at risk as SpaceX builds out its Starlink megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. And with the company’s plans to deploy bigger, and potentially brighter, satellites, the problem could get even worse, according to astronomers.
During a panel discussion at the 240th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), a group of astronomers discussed the brightness magnitude of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, expressing concerns over the company’s next generation of Starlink satellites, as reported in Space News.
https://gizmodo.com/starlink-spacex-satellites-astronomy-1849076758
View sky pollution by Starlink satellites in stellarium
mkesper - 30 April 2024
Due to the awesome software https://stellarium-web.org/ everyone can have a detailed look at their sky. It's frightening how much of it is already covered by starlink satellites. Just view all those tiny moving points if you don't see them directly.
Ukraine
Ukraine asks Musk for Starlink terminals as Russian invasion disrupts broadband
Musk replied, “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”
Jon Brodkin - 2/28/2022, 10:05 AM
SpaceX is sending Starlink user terminals to Ukraine after a request from a government official. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, used Twitter to make a direct plea to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday, writing:
@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars—Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space—Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.
About 10 hours later, Musk responded, “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.” A bit later, Fedorov sent a tweet thanking Musk and another tweet thanking Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, “for swift decisions related to authorization and certification that allowed us to activate the Starlink in Ukraine.”
We asked SpaceX for details on how many Starlink user terminals are being sent to Ukraine and how they're being distributed and will update this article if we get any information. Starlink was recently used to provide broadband in parts of Tonga that were cut off from Internet access by the tsunami.
What Happened After Starlink's Satellite Internet Service Arrived in Ukraine?
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday March 20, 2022 03:18PM from the war-stories dept.
The Washington Post looks at what happened after Starlink activated its satellite-based internet service to help Ukraine:
Ukraine has already received thousands of antennas from Musk's companies and European allies, which has proved “very effective,” Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov said in an interview with The Washington Post Friday. “The quality of the link is excellent,” Fedorov said through a translator, using a Starlink connection from an undisclosed location. “We are using thousands, in the area of thousands, of terminals with new shipments arriving every other day….” A person familiar with Starlink's effort in Ukraine, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said there are more than 5,000 terminals in the country….
Internet flows deteriorated on the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 and have not fully recovered, according to data-monitoring services. But since that initial dip, connectivity has remained fairly stable, with mainly temporary, isolated outages even during heavy Russian shelling. “Every day there are outages, but generally service comes back,” said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis for Kentik, which monitors global data flows.
Starlink prices in Ukraine nearly double as mobile networks falter
Russian assault on electricity grid drives Starlink prices up.
Mehul Srivastava and Roman Olearchyk, FT - 11/30/2022, 6:17 AM
The list prices of Starlink communications devices have nearly doubled in Ukraine, as mobile networks have started failing under Russia’s assault on the country’s electricity grid and increased demand for the SpaceX-manufactured satellite communication device.
Starlink terminals, which are made by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, will increase in price to $700 for new Ukrainian consumers, according to the company’s website. This represents a rise from about $385 earlier this year, screenshots of past pricing data shared by users inside the country show.
The consumer cost of the monthly subscription to Starlink has fluctuated recently, dropping from about $100 to $60 on Ukraine’s Independence day on August 24 to “reflect local market conditions,” and will now rise to $75.
Prices have also soared in neighboring Poland, where many Ukrainians source Starlink to avoid problems with domestic mail delivery, but remained the same in Slovakia and most other European countries.
Ukraine lines up 10,000 more Starlink terminals as funding issues are ‘resolved’
Devin Coldewey - 11:26 AM PST•December 20, 2022
The knotty issue of how Ukraine’s now-critical Starlink satellite internet should be paid for has been at least temporarily resolved, according to the country’s minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov. It appears that a few European Union nations have decided it’s in everyone’s interest to keep the country online as the Russian invasion persists.
In October it was revealed that apart from an initial burst of funding to get Starlink terminals on the ground in Ukraine, there was no real arrangement in place to pay SpaceX for the service it was providing. At retail value the approximately 22,000 terminals sent to Ukraine would cost tens of millions of dollars — though this is only an estimate of both the actual cost and the number of active terminals.
Ukraine Secures Funding for an Additional 10,000 Starlink Terminals
A number of European Union countries are reportedly set to help fund the war-torn country's new terminals.
Nikki Main - 21 December 2022
Ukraine has reportedly resolved its financial crisis to fund more than 10,000 Starlink terminals provided by SpaceX to combat the Russian invasion that has decimated the country since February.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced several European Union countries have agreed to contribute funding toward Starlink terminals, which SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk said in October they could not provide indefinitely.
https://gizmodo.com/ukraine-starlink-spacex-russia-war-elon-musk-1849918750
SpaceX says it blocked Ukraine from using Starlink with military drones
Shotwell: Ukraine's “offensive” use of Starlink “not part of any agreement.”
Jon Brodkin - 2/10/2023, 9:59 AM
SpaceX took steps to prevent Ukraine's military from using Starlink satellite Internet with drones because the service was never intended to be “weaponized,” SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said at an FAA space transportation conference Wednesday.
“Using Starlink with drones went beyond the scope of an agreement SpaceX has with the Ukrainian government, Shotwell said, adding that the contract was intended for humanitarian purposes such as providing broadband Internet to hospitals, banks, and families affected by Russia's invasion,” Reuters reported.
Shotwell said, “We were really pleased to be able to provide Ukraine connectivity and help them in their fight for freedom. It was never intended to be weaponized. However, Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” according to the Associated Press.
Pentagon buying Starlink dishes for Ukraine after funding dispute with SpaceX
DoD confirms deal months after Musk said he'd “keep funding Ukraine for free.”
Jon Brodkin - 6/1/2023, 1:04 PM
The US Defense Department confirmed today that it is buying Starlink satellite broadband service for use in Ukraine.
“We continue to work with a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the satellite and communication capabilities they need. Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine's overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type,” the Defense Department said in a statement provided to Ars and other media outlets today.
The Pentagon said it would not provide other details about contracts, capabilities, or partners because of “operational security reasons and due to the critical nature of these systems.” According to a Bloomberg report, the deal includes Starlink satellite terminals and services to be used by the Ukraine military.
Pentagon Buys Up Starlink Terminals for Ukrainian Military, Despite Musk's 'WW3' Fears
SpaceX had previously stated publicly it was trying to limit Ukraine’s military from using its terminals for wartime operations against Russia.
Kyle Barr - 1 June 2023
The Department of Defense said Thursday it was purchasing SpaceX Starlink satellite communication terminals and other services, and all that’s being put on a plane to be used by the Ukrainian military to help fight back the ongoing Russian invasion.
Pentagon officials confirmed with Bloomberg Thursday that it was purchasing the terminals from Elon Musk’s SpaceX with funding for the purchase seemingly coming from the DOD’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, saying “We continue to work with a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the resilient satellite and communication capabilities they need.” Last year after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Musk promised to support Ukraine’s beleaguered internet connectivity through Starlink.
https://gizmodo.com/starlink-ukraine-russia-spacex-elon-musk-dod-1850496723
More SpaceX Starlink terminals will go to Ukraine following new order from Pentagon
Aria Alamalhodaei - 1 June 2023
The Department of Defense said Thursday it is buying more Starlink terminals from SpaceX for use in Ukraine, as the conflict between that country and Russia wages well into its second year.
The Pentagon provided little other details about the order, however, including the number of terminals it would purchase or pricing. SpaceX did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
“Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine’s overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “However, for operational security reasons and due to the critical nature of these systems, we do not have additional information regarding specific capabilities, contracts, or partners to provide at this time.”
Starlink bags US defense contract to keep war-torn Ukraine connected
And poor Elon gets a break from subsidies
Dan Robinson - Fri 2 Jun 2023 17:03 UTC
Starlink has scored an official US government contract to supply satellite services to Ukraine, according to reports.
The news follows confirmation earlier this week of an additional $300 million worth of weapons systems and other aid being sent to the country.
The satellite operator, part of Elon Musk's SpaceX business, started off providing much-needed satellite communications capability to war-torn Ukraine at its own expense, but it has now secured an official Department of Defense (DoD) contract to fund those services.
According to various sources, an unnamed DoD official said in a statement: “Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine's overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type.”
The spokesperson confirmed the DoD continues to work with “a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the resilient satellite and communication capabilities they need,” but for operational security reasons and the critical nature of these systems, “we do not have additional information regarding specific capabilities, contracts, or partners to provide at this time.”
https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defense_contract/
Ukrainian official claims Elon Musk cost lives by refusing Starlink access during a drone operation
Musk says if he'd agreed to Ukraine's request, 'SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war.'
Kris Holt, Contributing Reporter - Fri, Sep 8, 2023, 9:59 AM PDT
Excerpts from Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk biography are coming to light ahead of its release next week, revealing some new details about the billionaire's decision to provide Ukraine with Starlink access amid the country's war with Russia. According to an excerpt CNN reported on, Musk allegedly told SpaceX workers to shut down Starlink access close to the Crimea coast to prevent a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's naval fleet.
Musk, who has reportedly been in contact with Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin, is said to have been worried that the attack would lead to Russia retaliating with nuclear weapons. Ukrainian leaders seemingly begged Musk to reactivate Starlink access but drones that were approaching Russian warships “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” CNN cites Isaacson as stating.
Musk says he limited Ukraine’s Starlink to prevent attack on Russia
Devin Coldewey - 7 September 2023
Elon Musk has confirmed that he in essence scuttled a Ukrainian military strike on Russia by refusing to allow Starlink to be used in the process. The billionaire claims the decision was made to avoid being “complicit in a major act of war,” but it also raises serious questions regarding the role of oligarchs in military matters.
The news was first reported by CNN, citing Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography of Musk. In the book, Musk describes a situation in 2022 when Ukraine planned an attack on Russia’s navy off the coast of Crimea.
The ships and marine drones that would have performed this attack relied on Starlink for connectivity, but the satellite internet service was not (Musk asserted later on X/Twitter) active over the region. When Ukraine made an “emergency request” to activate it, he refused, and the drones “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” obviously leaving the Russian ships untouched.
Senate Probe Wants to Know Exactly What Elon Musk Did in Ukraine
U.S. politicians with the Senate Committee on Armed Services are asking the Department of Defense about SpaceX's role in severing internet connection.
Kevin Hurler - 15 September 2023
Last week, it was reported that Elon Musk shut off access to SpaceX’s Starlink in Crimea last year, but following an outcry of condemnation, the source of the story issued a correction saying Musk was asked to turn on access but he had a policy against doing so already in place. U.S. Senators are now asking the Department of Defense what exactly is going on here. The Senate Committee on Armed Services is interested in investigating the tech tycoon over his actions (or inactions) surrounding Starlink during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and they want to know just how much free reign Musk has over how his network is used.
Bloomberg reports that the committee wants a detailed account by October 31 of where SpaceX shut off access to Starlink in Ukraine as the country’s army planned a Russian counterattack. This report will also include a description of what responsibilities contractors received from the Department of Defense, and how laws like the Defense Production Act may have required Musk to continue service in Eastern Europe. The 25-member Senate Committee on Armed Services has a Democrat majority, and members include Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).
https://gizmodo.com/senate-probe-wants-to-know-what-elon-musk-did-in-ukrain-1850842182
The US Senate wants answers over Starlink's Ukrainian satellite internet denial
The incident revealed 'serious national-security liability issues,' said chairman Jack Reed.
Steve Dent, Reporter - Fri, Sep 15, 2023, 2:10 AM PDT
The US Senate Armed Services Committee is investigating Elon Musk's decision to not extend Starlink satellite internet coverage to enable a Ukraine attack on Russian warship near Crimea, Bloomberg has reported. “The committee is aggressively probing this issue from every angle,” said chairman Jack Reed in a statement, adding that the incident exposed “serious national-security liability issues.” The panel is still gathering information, and has not yet launched a formal investigation.
The Ukraine Starlink incident was revealed in an Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, via a disputed excerpt stating that Musk deactivated Starlink access close to the Crimean coast to prevent a Ukrainian attack on the fleet.
However, Musk said that Starlink was not active in those areas because of US sanctions on Russia, so SpaceX had nothing to disable. In a recent podcast, he said would have extended Starlink to Crimea if President Biden had ordered him to do so — but he didn't receive any such order.
Russian troops use Starlink licensed and imported from Dubai
Alexey Lenkov - Feb 8, 2024
Reports are currently surfacing that Starlink is being leveraged increasingly by opposition forces on the front lines. According to the information provided by the Ukrainian military, authorized accounts and terminals are arriving in Russia via Dubai, and they are fully operational within contested regions. This situation is mirrored by the anecdotes shared by Ukrainian soldiers on various social media platforms.
The reports suggest that the opponents have administered Starlink in the past but on a much smaller scale. Alongside this information, Ukrainian soldiers have reported significantly slower internet speeds at the frontline. “I’ve noticed that many are experiencing issues. It’s a common trend in this sector. In Spring, the same number of people were using Starlink in Avdeevka without any issues, but now…”, says one soldier. The proof of these issues is backed up by screenshots showing internet speed tests with results as low as 0.3Mbps.
Ukraine Discovers Starlink on Downed Russian Shahed Drone: Report
Ellie Cook - Sep 26, 2024 at 6:13 AM EDT
Russia has installed Starlink terminals in its Iranian-designed Shahed drones, according to a Ukrainian media report, which would mark the latest upgrade to the destructive kamikaze drones long used against Ukrainian cities if confirmed.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down a Shahed-136 attack drone that was fitted with Starlink during aerial attacks overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, Ukrainian outlet Defense Express reported. Early on Wednesday, Ukraine's air force said it had intercepted 28 out of 32 Shahed drones launched from Russia's Kursk and Krasnodar regions.
Ukraine's air force declined to directly address the reported discovery of Starlink within a Shahed drone when approached by Newsweek, but said Ukrainian experts were studying targets shot down by air defenses. Ukrainian teams investigating the changes to Russian drone designs have not yet received the wreckage of the downed drone, Newsweek understands.
Defense Express shared images purporting to show the drone fitted with Starlink. Newsweek could not independently verify these images, and has reached out to Starlink and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-starlink-russia-shahed-135-drone-elon-musk-spacex-1959563
If Starlink is turned off in Ukraine, are there any good alternatives?
“OneWeb customers say that when the service is working great, it's great.”
Eric Berger – Mar 12, 2025 9:35 AM
Lately, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has taken an aggressive posture toward Europe. He has called for the United States to exit NATO, a strategic alliance that has been the bedrock of trans-Atlantic cooperation since the end of World War II. Musk has also championed right-wing populism that seeks to topple existing governments on the continent.
And then there's Musk's increasingly antagonistic attitude toward Ukraine, a country viewed by many Europeans as a bulwark against further Russian aggression. This threatens the availability of a vital link in Ukraine's military, Starlink.
Musk's world-class satellite technology has provided lifesaving connectivity to citizens and soldiers in Ukraine. It has increased the country's offensive capabilities. And yet Musk could shut off his Starlink service anywhere in the world with an email.
There were reports in late February that the United States, as part of its negotiations with Ukraine over a deal for the country's minerals, was threatening to shut off service to the country. Musk denied those reports. Earlier this week, Musk reiterated that he would “never” turn off Starlink in Ukraine.
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Swarm
Swarm
Global Affordable Connectivity
Swarm provides the world’s lowest cost, global connectivity for IoT devices.
Swarm gets all the approvals it needs to begin operating its satellite connectivity service in the US
Darrell Etherington / 11:15 am PDT • April 6, 2020
Space startup Swarm emerged from stealth mode in an unusual way two years ago when it turned out that it had launched some of its satellites in contravention of an FCC order not to do so. The regulator had argued that their satellites, which are tiny spacecraft smaller even than most CubeSats, were in fact too small and couldn’t be reliably tracked using existing technology. Now, two years later, Swarm has announced that it has cleared all the requisite regulatory hurdles in order to begin operating commercially in the U.S.
Already last year, Swarm got approval from the FCC to send up the 150 satellites it planned for its initial constellation, as well as up to a total of 600, and it gained approval to use the wireless spectrum that it requires to transmit from its satellites to Earth. On top of that, the company has now added regulatory approval to operate in the U.K., New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Antarctica and in international waters, and it gained approval for ground stations in the U.S., the U.K., Antarctica, New Zealand and the Azores, with plans for more to come online through the remainder of this year, bringing its total ground station network to 30 by the end of summer, if all goes to plan.
Umbra
Satellites Spotting Ships
MON 10 JUNE 2024 - Mark Litwintschik
Umbra Space is a 9-year-old manufacturer and operator of a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite fleet. These satellites can see through clouds, smoke and rain and can capture images day or night at resolutions as fine as 16cm. SpaceX launched Umbra's first satellite in 2021 and has a total of eight in orbit at the moment. I covered their fleet and open data programme in my Umbra's Open Satellite Feed post I published in April.
A few weeks ago, Umbra released almost 1,000 satellite images displaying ships around the world. The images have been made available in a number of SAR image formats and total almost 7.5 TB in size.
Below I've annotated one of the images from this dataset. I've used QGIS to tint the satellite imagery red, highlighted a few ships in green and used CARTO's dark basemap for geographical reference.
https://tech.marksblogg.com/yolo-umbra-sar-satellites-ship-detection.html
United Kingdom / Britain / England
Somebody moved UK's oldest satellite, and no-one knows who or why
Jonathan Amos - 8 November 2024
Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.
Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.
When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.
But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.
Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.
Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?
Who Moved This Satellite? SkyNet-1A Is Halfway Around the World From Where It Should Be
A mystery looms over the end-of-life maneuvers of the UK's oldest satellite.
Passant Rabie - November 13, 2024
A satellite that’s been dead for 50 years ended up thousands of miles away from where it should be. Instead of spending the afterlife in an orbital graveyard, the communications satellite is now orbiting above the Americas for reasons unknown, likely because somebody moved it there.
Skynet-1A launched in 1969 to a geostationary orbit over Eastern Africa, and was used by the British military for communications. At the end of its lifetime, the satellite was supposed to drift towards a point in its orbit where it can die in peace, away from the risk of running into other defunct spacecraft. Rather than drifting passively, the satellite was mysteriously commanded to an entirely new position in its orbit, located 22,369 miles (36,000 km) above the Americas, the BBC reported. In its current position, the long-dead satellite has a higher chance of collision with other pieces of space junk.
BBC reporter Jonathan Amos recently unearthed the mystery of Skynet-1A, investigating who moved the United Kingdom’s oldest satellite sometime in the 1970s. Even more curiously, it may have been the Americans.
Viasat
Viasat’s new broadband satellite could be a total loss
The mission now in peril is thought to be valued at roughly $700 million.
Stephen Clark - 7/14/2023, 3:49 PM
A new Viasat communications satellite launched in April has been crippled by a problem when unfurling its huge mesh antenna. The problem jeopardizes Viasat’s much-needed refresh to its space-based Internet network that would let it better compete with newer broadband offerings from companies like SpaceX and OneWeb.
Viasat confirmed the antenna problem Wednesday after it was first reported by Space Intel Report. The satellite in question is named ViaSat-3 Americas, and it launched on April 30 as the primary payload on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The satellite is one of the most powerful commercial spacecraft ever built, with two solar array wings as wide as a Boeing 767 jetliner capable of generating more than 30 kilowatts of electricity. The solar panels deployed soon after the spacecraft arrived in orbit, and the next step was to unfurl a large reflector to bounce Internet signals between the ground and transmitters and receivers on board the main body of the satellite.
That’s when ground controllers ran into trouble. An “unexpected event” occurred during the deployment of the reflector that may “materially impact” the performance of the satellite, Viasat said.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/viasats-new-broadband-satellite-could-be-a-total-loss/
Critical Blow for Viasat as Pivotal New Communications Satellite Fails to Deploy in Orbit
The company's stock dipped by 20% after announcing that its recently launched Viasat-3 satellite malfunctioned.
Passant Rabie - 13 July 2023 10:56AM
A recently launched communications satellite suffered an anomaly during its deployment, affecting its ability to beam data to North and South America.
California-based communications company Viasat announced that “an unexpected event occurred during reflector deployment” of its ViaSat-3 satellite which may affect its performance. ViaSat-3 could not deploy its main reflector antenna, which the company had previously described as the key to the satellite’s mission.
“We’re disappointed by the recent developments,” Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of Viasat, said in the company’s statement. “We’re working closely with the reflector’s manufacturer to try to resolve the issue. We sincerely appreciate their focused efforts and commitment.”
https://gizmodo.com/viasat-3-communications-satellite-fails-deploy-orbit-1850635798
Weapons
An arms race is brewing in orbit
Experts want to clarify how the laws of war on Earth apply beyond it
Aug 15th 2020 edition
KOSMOS 2542, a Russian satellite that was launched in November, was “like Russian nesting dolls”, said General John Raymond, head of America’s newly formed Space Force, in February. Eleven days after its launch it disgorged another satellite, labelled Kosmos 2543. Then, on July 15th, Kosmos 2543 itself spat out another object, which sped off into the void.
Merely a “small space vehicle” to inspect other satellites, said the Russians. Nonsense, said the Americans; it was a projectile. The intesnt, said Christopher Ford, the State Department's top arms-control official, was to signal Russia's ability to destroy other nations' satellites.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/08/15/an-arms-race-is-brewing-in-orbit
The US military took a big step toward a future space network this week
The Department of Defense is going for smaller low-cost satellites.
Eric Berger - 9/1/2020, 10:00 AM
On Monday, the Space Development Agency announced new contracts to Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems for the development of “space vehicles” that would operate in the “transport layer” around Earth. This language obfuscates what is actually a pretty big deal in how the US military plans to communicate and control its weapons systems in the coming decades.
With the new contracts, these two Colorado-based companies will each build 10 relatively small satellites—likely on the order of 100- to 200kg each—that will be launched no later than September 2022. These will essentially be test satellites for what will eventually grow into a constellation of several hundred satellites at roughly 1,000km above the Earth's surface.
Russian official says civilian satellites may be “legitimate” military target
Russia wasn't happy about Starlink providing broadband in Ukraine after invasion.
Jon Brodkin - 9/16/2022, 2:35 PM
A Russian diplomat said civilian satellites could be legitimate military targets in a statement that seems to refer to Starlink providing broadband access in Ukraine. Civilian satellites “may become a legitimate target for retaliation,” the Russian official said in a statement to the United Nations' open-ended working group on reducing space threats.
The quote is from an unofficial English translation of the statement on September 12 by Konstantin Vorontsov, head of the Russian delegation to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) working group. The translation is provided with other countries' statements from the session on the UNODA's meeting website.
China can destroy US space assets, Space Force ops nominee warns
Wants swarms of small satellites that are harder to destroy – and outsourcing to improve cybersecurity
Simon Sharwood - Fri 16 Sep 2022 03:59 UTC
The Biden-nominated chief of space operations for the USA's Space Force (USSF) rates China his greatest challenge, as the Middle Kingdom has developed technologies to destroy space assets.
“The most immediate threat, in my opinion, is the pace with which our strategic challengers – first and foremost the Chinese – are aggressively pursuing capabilities that can disrupt, degrade and ultimately even destroy our satellite capabilities and disrupt our ground infrastructure,” Space Force Lieutenant General B. Chance Saltzman said during a nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week.
Saltzman said America's armed forces assume the presence of space-based assets for most operations; China has observed the US's reliance on those assets, and sees its ability to take them out as an asymmetric advantage.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/16/china_working_to_destroy_us/
Russian Satellite Trio Just Dropped Something Weird in Orbit
The U.S. is worried Russia may be testing a space weapon.
Passant Rabie - April 8, 2025
Russia launched three secretive satellites into orbit earlier this year, and they appear to have recently released a mysterious object. The satellites’ unusual maneuvers have reignited concerns that Russia may be testing military capabilities in space—or even preparing for space warfare.
The trio of satellites—designated Kosmos 2581, 2582, and 2583—launched on February 2 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Russia hasn’t declared the purpose of the satellites, but the secretive launch raised suspicion that they are military in nature. Last month, the U.S. Space Force cataloged a new object nearby, which may have been released by one of the satellites, Kosmos 2583, on March 18, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, who tracks objects in orbit, wrote on X.
It’s not clear what the mystery object is doing in space, but U.S. officials are worried that both Russia and China are carrying out secret military training missions in low Earth orbit, according to a CNN report. A U.S. defense official told CNN that Russian satellites were practicing “attack and defend tactics,” and working together “to surround and isolate another satellite that was positioned in low-Earth orbit, demonstrating how they could potentially target enemy spacecraft in a future conflict.”
https://gizmodo.com/russian-satellite-trio-just-dropped-something-weird-in-orbit-2000586128
Weather
Wild solar weather is causing satellites to plummet from orbit. It's only going to get worse.
The change coincided with the onset of the new solar cycle, and experts think it might be the beginning of some difficult years.
Tereza Pultarova - 23 June 2022
In late 2021, operators of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Swarm constellation noticed something worrying: The satellites, which measure the magnetic field around Earth, started sinking toward the atmosphere at an unusually fast rate — up to 10 times faster than before. The change coincided with the onset of the new solar cycle, and experts think it might be the beginning of some difficult years for spacecraft orbiting our planet.
“In the last five, six years, the satellites were sinking about two and a half kilometers [1.5 miles] a year,” Anja Stromme, ESA's Swarm mission manager, told Space.com. “But since December last year, they have been virtually diving. The sink rate between December and April has been 20 kilometers [12 miles] per year.”
https://www.space.com/satellites-falling-off-sky-solar-weather
US Department of Defense will stop sending critical hurricane satellite data
No replacement in the wings for info streamed from past their prime rigs, 'termination will be permanent'
Richard Speed - Fri 27 Jun 2025 16:34 UTC
Satellite data used for hurricane forecasting is to be abruptly cut off from the end of June due to “recent service changes.”
The data in question comes from the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), and the termination was announced via a notice from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The decision was made by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and affects data collected by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) instrument as well as other Near-Earth Space Weather instruments on three of the US Air Force DMSP satellites: F-16, F-17, and F-18. A fourth satellite, F-19, was also part of the fleet, but failed in 2016. The other three are long past their expected lifespans, yet have continued collecting data.
Or at least they will do until the DoD pulls the plug next week.
It is unclear why the department is so abruptly terminating the service, particularly since there does not appear to be a replacement planned. The notice said, “This service change and termination will be permanent.” Some observers have suggested that DoD security concerns are to blame. Others have pointed to a general antipathy toward climate science in the current US regime.
Either way, the data loss will blow a substantial hole in the hurricane forecasting capabilities of scientists.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/27/us_hurricane_satellite_data_to_stop/
Sudden loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back ‘decades’
Scientists left scrambling amid hurricane season after irreplaceable program is slotted to be shuttered
Eric Holthaus - Sat 28 Jun 2025 10.27 EDT
A critical US atmospheric data collection program will be halted by Monday, giving weather forecasters just days to prepare, according to a public notice sent this week. Scientists that the Guardian spoke with say the change could set hurricane forecasting back “decades”, just as this year’s season ramps up.
In a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) message sent on Wednesday to its scientists, the agency said that “due to recent service changes” the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) will “discontinue ingest, processing and distribution of all DMSP data no later than June 30, 2025”.
Due to their unique characteristics and ability to map the entire world twice a day with extremely high resolution, the three DMSP satellites are a primary source of information for scientists to monitor Arctic sea ice and hurricane development. The DMSP partners with Noaa to make weather data collected from the satellites publicly available.
The reasons for the changes, and which agency was driving them, were not immediately clear. Noaa said they would not affect the quality of forecasting.
However, the Guardian spoke with several scientists inside and outside of the US government whose work depends on the DMSP, and all said there are no other US programs that can form an adequate replacement for its data.
“We’re a bit blind now,” said Allison Wing, a hurricane researcher at Florida State University. Wing said the DMSP satellites are the only ones that let scientists see inside the clouds of developing hurricanes, giving them a critical edge in forecasting that now may be jeopardized.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/28/noaa-cuts-hurricane-forecasting-climate
Defense Department will stop providing crucial satellite weather data
Rebecca Hersher - Saturday, June 28, 2025 7:00 AM EDT
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday
The U.S. Department of Defense will no longer provide satellite weather data, leaving hurricane forecasters without crucial information about storms as peak hurricane season looms in the Atlantic.
For more than 40 years, the Defense Department has operated satellites that collect information about conditions in the atmosphere and ocean. A group within the Navy, called the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, processes the raw data from the satellites, and turns it over to scientists and weather forecasters who use it for a wide range of purposes including real-time hurricane forecasting and measuring sea ice in polar regions.
This week, the Department of Defense announced that it would no longer provide that data, according to a notice published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.
“I was surprised, given how important it is for forecasting hurricanes and monitoring important features like sea ice,” says Brian Tang, a hurricane researcher at the University at Albany. “This is data that forecasters use regularly.”
The Navy did not respond to questions about why it has stopped sharing the data with scientists and forecasters.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force, which is responsible for the satellites, said in a statement that the satellites and instruments are still functional, and the Department of Defense will continue to use them even as it cuts off access for scientists.
US Navy won't torpedo hurricane forecast satellite feed after all
Data stream from aging sensor to continue after public backlash and amateur workaround
Lindsay Clark - Wed 30 Jul 2025 17:43 UTC
The US Navy has announced plans to continue distributing satellite data needed for hurricane forecasting, months after authorities said the data stream was to be turned off.
The U-turn comes after protests from weather forecasters and an alternative approach from amateur satellite enthusiasts, which showed users how to receive and decode data straight from the satellite.
The Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) has said it plans to continue distributing Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data beyond July 31, offering weather forecasters a respite.
As a result, there will be no interruption to DMSP data delivery and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will continue to have access to the data for the duration of the program's lifespan.
In a statement, a US Navy spokesperson said: “The center [FNMOC] had planned to phase out the data as part of a Defense Department modernization effort. But after feedback from government partners, officials found a way to meet modernization goals while keeping the data flowing until the sensor fails or the program formally ends in September 2026.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/30/hurricane_satellite_saved/
In Rare Spasm of Sanity, Pentagon Backtracks on Plan to Scuttle Storm Tracking
The Department of Defense has walked back its decision to stop sharing satellite storm data with federal forecasters.
Ellyn Lapointe - July 31, 2025
In a stunning reversal, the Pentagon said it will uphold a longstanding program that supplies critical hurricane data to federal forecasters—just days before it was set to end. The move follows outcry from meteorologists and public officials blindsided by the planned cancellation at the start of hurricane season.
In June, the Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) announced it was shutting down the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program by Thursday, July 31. DMSP weather satellites are owned by the Department of Defense (DoD) and have provided storm data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since the 1960s. The announcement sparked outrage among weather officials preparing for an active hurricane season, which had only just begun. Then, on Wednesday, July 30, the Navy told ABC News that it will keep the program going for another year.
“After feedback from government partners, officials found a way to meet modernization goals while keeping the data flowing until the sensor fails or the program formally ends in September 2026,” the Navy stated. NOAA confirmed the change in a statement emailed to Politico: “There will be no interruption to DMSP data delivery and NOAA will continue to have access to data from DMSP for the duration of the Program’s life span.”
Wooden Satellite
Coverage of “wooden satellites” misses the point
Even if it works, the wood will remain in orbit, too.
John Timmer - 12/29/2020, 11:34 AM
We here at Ars were somewhat surprised to stumble across a BBC headline indicating that a university-industry partnership in Japan was working on developing wooden satellites. The plan is less insane than it sounds—wood is a remarkable material that's largely unappreciated because of its ubiquity. But most of the reasons to shift to wood given in the coverage of the plan completely misses the mark.
To the degree that there is a plan, at least. According to the BBC and other coverage, the partnership is between Kyoto University and a company called Sumitomo Forestry. But neither the university nor the company has any information on the project available on the English-language versions of their websites. The BBC article gets all its quotes from Takao Doi, who's currently faculty at Kyoto University. According to Doi, the collaboration is on track to be manufacturing flight models of wooden satellites by 2023.
Japan developing wooden satellites to cut space junk
By Justin Harper, Business reporter, BBC News - 28 December 2020
A Japanese company and Kyoto University have joined forces to develop what they hope will be the world's first satellites made out of wood by 2023.
Sumitomo Forestry said it has started research on tree growth and the use of wood materials in space.
The partnership will begin experimenting with different types of wood in extreme environments on Earth.
Space junk is becoming an increasing problem as more satellites are launched into the atmosphere.
Wooden satellites would burn up without releasing harmful substances into the atmosphere or raining debris on the ground when they plunge back to Earth.
New wooden satellite is part advertising, part student project
A cube sat with plywood sides is planned for a Rocketlab launch.
John Timmer - 4/12/2021, 3:49 PM
Late last year, we were extremely skeptical of reports regarding a plan for wooden satellites that seemed confused about what could be gained from using the natural material. But a wooden satellite looks like it might get to orbit later this year, via a project we can fully endorse. It's a bit of silly advertising by a plywood manufacturer that will ensure that a student project gets sent to space.
The project, based in Finland, is called the WISA WOODSAT, and it has taken a bit of an indirect route to orbit. The design is based on cubesat format called Kitsat, which is intended for student projects. If the goal is simply to expose students to what it takes to make a compact satellite (the design is a 10 cm/side cube), the satellite can be built using cheap, easy-to-obtain hardware. But it can also be made using space-rated materials and sent to orbit.
The WOODSAT started out as more of the former, with students around the country contributing different parts to a cubesat that was then taken aloft by a balloon. But now, with an opportunity to go to orbit, another version is getting an upgrade to survive the harsh environment.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/finland-may-beat-japan-in-the-wooden-satellite-space-race/
You wood not believe what a Japanese logging company and university want to use to build a small satellite
Has the sustainability trend infiltrated the space industry?
Laura Dobberstein - Tue 4 Jan 2022 19:01 UTC
Kyoto University and Japanese logging company Sumitomo Forestry are designing a wooden satellite, with hopes of achieving the goal by 2023.
The 10cm cubesat, called LignoSat, will be made of wood and solar panels. Use of the renewable material would make it cheaper than the standard aluminium and more environmentally friendly when it burns up upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
Another added benefit is that electromagnetic waves can make their way through wood, unlike aluminium, opening up possibilities for satellites to store antennas. However, the initial proof-of-concept cubesat will contain an electronic substrate, which will also burn up and add to the pollution in the upper atmosphere in a less environmentally friendly way.
One argument is that wooden satellites can be smaller than aluminium ones because of the lack of electromagnetic shielding, and thus not only more environmentally friendly for reentry, but also less likely to contribute to the very real problem of space debris.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/wooden_satellite_japan/
Timber! Japan's Wooden Satellite Is Nearly Ready for Space
An experiment on board the ISS showed that wood is surprisingly durable in the extreme environment that is space.
Passant Rabie - 23 May 2023
Apparently, space wood is a thing. Japanese researchers are preparing to launch the world’s first satellite made from wood following a successful experiment on board the International Space Station (ISS), which suggests lumber can be quite sturdy in outer space.
In partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a team of researchers from Kyoto University exposed three types of wood to the harsh environment outside the ISS, and found that the material was not affected by the surrounding cosmic rays or incoming solar particles after a period of 10 months, according to the researchers behind the experiment. The experiment kicked off in March 2022 on board Japan’s Kibo module on board the ISS.
https://gizmodo.com/japan-wooden-satellite-nearly-ready-space-1850466935
To Combat Space Pollution, Japan Plans Launch of World's First Wooden Satellite
Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 17, 2024 09:34PM
Japanese scientists plan to launch a satellite made of magnolia wood this summer on a U.S. rocket, reports the Observer.
Experiments carried out on the International Space Station showed magnolia wood was unusually stable and resistant to cracking — and “when it burns up as it re-enters the atmosphere after completing its mission, will produce only a fine spray of Âbiodegradable ash.”
The LignoSat probe has been built by researchers at Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry in order to test the idea of using biodegradable materials such as wood to see if they can act as environmentally friendly alternatives to the metals from which all satellites are currently constructed. “All the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years,” Takao Doi a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. “Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth.”
Japan set to launch first wood satellite
Larry Adams - February 19, 2024 1:53 pm CST
JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that the world's first wooden satellite, LignoSat , will be launched into orbit this summer.
Woodworking Network over the last several years has written about research into wood-based space satellites including last summer's story that reported that wood from Magnolia's trees was the most likely candidate for the job.
This appears to have been confirmed with the announcement that an innovative magnolia wood satellite from Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry aims to make spaceflight operations more environmentally sustainable because the LignoSat is biodegradable and will burn up upon reentry after 6 months, leaving only ash.
The World Economic Forum called this a significant step toward “eco-friendly space exploration … This groundbreaking initiative aims to address the growing concerns of space debris and pave the way for a more sustainable future in orbit.”
Traditional satellites, built with aluminum, release harmful particles when they re-enter Earth's atmosphere, potentially damaging the delicate ozone layer, the World Economic Forum reported.
What to Know About World's First Wooden Satellite, Set to Launch This Year
Japan's wooden satellite could solve the space trash problem by burning up completely on re-entry, leaving no debris and reducing environmental impacts.
Passant Rabie - 30 May 2024
A group of researchers in Japan built the first satellite made of wood and are getting ready to launch it later this year to test its capabilities in Earth orbit.
The experimental satellite was developed by scientists at Kyoto University and Tokyo logging company Sumitomo Forestry, and is set to launch in September on board a SpaceX rocket, according to The Japan Times. The rocket will liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending the satellite to the International Space Station (ISS). The satellite will then be released from Japan’s Kibo module to test how it withstands the harsh environment of space.
LignoSat is a tiny cube made from magnolia wood, measuring 4 inches on each side and weighing just over 2 pounds. It’s been nearly four years in the making, and the idea was first proposed as a way to create a low-cost spacecraft that wouldn’t add to the growing problem of orbital junk. The satellite isn’t entirely made out of wood, of course, only the parts that would usually be constructed from aluminum.
https://gizmodo.com/japan-launching-wooden-satellite-mitigate-debris-1851508941
World's First Wood-Paneled Satellite Launched Into Space
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday November 05, 2024 01:20PM
SpaceX has launched the world's first wood-paneled satellite into space “to test the suitability of timber as a renewable building material in future exploration of destinations like the Moon and Mars,” reports the BBC. From the report:
<quoteblock> Made by researchers in Japan, the tiny satellite weighing just 900g is heading for the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission. It will then be released into orbit above the Earth. Named LignoSat, after the Latin word for wood, its panels have been built from a type of magnolia tree, using a traditional technique without screws or glue. Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood. </quoteblock>
Japan just sent the world’s first wooden satellite to space
This is a test to see if the material is durable enough to handle the endless void of the cosmos.
Lawrence Bonk - Tue, Nov 5, 2024, 11:40 AM PST
Japanese researchers just sent the world’s first wooden satellite to space, as reported by CNN. LignoSat, named after the Latin word for wood, was developed by Kyoto University and a company called Sumitomo Forestry. It was included in a SpaceX mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and will soon be released into orbit above the Earth.
Why do this? There are two main reasons. First of all, it’ll be a test as to the durability of wood when faced with the harsh conditions of space. If successful, the researchers plan on making more wooden structures and jettisoning them to the cosmos.
World's first wooden satellite heads to space in Mars exploration test
Researchers hope the test could pave the way for humans to “build houses, live and work” in space.
Tuesday 5 November 2024 13:46, UK - SkyNews
The world's first wooden satellite has been launched into space.
The satellite, designed by Japanese researchers, was launched on Tuesday.
Experts hope to test how timber can be used in the exploration of the moon and Mars.
LignoSat will be flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on a SpaceX mission before it's released into Earth's orbit.
Takao Doi, an astronaut who studies human space activities at Kyoto University, said using renewable materials would allow humans to “build houses, live and work in space forever”.
Aiming to plant trees and build houses from timber on the moon and Mars in 50 years, Mr Doi's team set about designing the NASA-certified satellite.
Japan's wooden cube-shaped satellite rockets to space
Wooden datacenters? Japan can build spacecraft out of the stuff
Richard Speed - Tue 5 Nov 2024 15:33 UTC
Japan's wooden satellite has been launched into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a mission to prove that wood can be a viable material for use in space.
LignoSat is a 10 cm cubesat made mainly of wood and solar panels and a smattering of electronics to record how the satellite holds up during its six months in orbit. Data collected will include temperature, the expansion and contraction of the wood as the spacecraft orbits, geomagnetism, and hardware performance onboard. One hope is that the use of wood will reduce the impact of space radiation on electronics.
The satellite was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX cargo flight on November 5. Following its arrival at the ISS, it will be deployed from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), aka Kibō, a month later.
One of the brains behind the mission, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, also flew on the STS-123 mission that delivered the JEM in 2008. Doi had previously flown on Columbia as part of the STS-87 mission in 1997 and conducted the first EVA by a Japanese 'naut. STS-123, aboard Endeavour, was Doi's final spaceflight.
Aside from the obvious benefit of being more environmentally friendly when it burns up upon re-entry into the atmosphere – although not all of the components of LignoSat are quite so kind to the environment; it does, after all, carry a complement of electronics – wooden satellites can use cheaper materials than the alternative and, it is argued, require less electromagnetic shielding, therefore allowing for a smaller design.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/05/japan_wooden_satellite/
Wooden Satellite Reaches Space for the First Time
Japan's LignoSat will test the durability of wood in low Earth orbit.
Passant Rabie - November 5, 2024
A tiny cube made of magnolia wood is headed to the International Space Station (ISS), where it will be deployed into space to test how it withstands the extreme environment. Researchers hope this experiment will pave the way for more sustainable materials in space construction.
LignoSat, a wooden satellite developed by researchers at Kyoto University and Japanese logging company Sumitomo Forestry, launched to the ISS on Monday night on board SpaceX’s resupply mission. The satellite will be released from the space station in about one month’s time to test its durability in space, and whether wood can be used as an alternative to reduce the amount of waste littering low Earth orbit.
When one thinks of material that can survive space, wood doesn’t exactly come to mind. However, wood can do surprisingly well beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and it might also have a few advantages over traditional material used to build satellites. In March 2022, the researchers behind LignoSat exposed three types of wood to the harsh environment outside the ISS for a period of 10 months, and found that the material was not affected by the surrounding cosmic rays or incoming solar particles. The wood did not crack, peel, warp or suffer any surface damage after hanging out in low Earth orbit for nearly a year, with magnolia wood proving the most durable.
https://gizmodo.com/wooden-satellite-reaches-space-for-the-first-time-2000520629
Japan's wooden satellite exits International Space Station
Carefully crafted wooden box, LignoSat, is on its own
Richard Speed - Wed 8 Jan 2025 14:45 UTC
Japan's wooden satellite, LignoSat, has been deployed into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS).
LignoSat was sent to the ISS in November 2024 on a mission to demonstrate that wood could be a viable material from which to build spacecraft. The goal of the satellite includes studying how the selected wood reacts when exposed to the environment of space and its resistance to cosmic radiation.
Researchers will also monitor geomagnetic levels to determine whether the geomagnetic field can penetrate the satellite and interfere with the electronics.
According to NASA, three wood species had previously been exposed to space before honoki magnolia was selected to construct the cubesat. The 10cm long wood panels used in the constructions were assembled using a Japanese wood joinery method called “Blind Miter Dovetail Joint.” This method means that glue and nails are not required.
Researchers are considering wood for spacecraft construction as a sustainable alternative to conventional materials. While America's finest news source, satirical website The Onion, humorously noted “delays” encountered by Russia in “carving” its contribution to the ISS in 1998, JAXA's project is a serious demonstration of how wood could be an alternative to aluminum and other metals that generally go into satellite construction.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/08/japans_wooden_satellite_leaves_the/