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--- transportation:satellites [2026/10/05 04:40] – [Military] timb
+++ transportation:satellites [2026/11/12 03:56] (current) – [Anti-Satellite Weapons] timb
@@ Line 618: / Line 618: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/astronomers-found-a-hidden-swarm-of-space-junk-threatening-earths-most-valuable-orbit-2000785323
+== An Amateur Radio Operator Told a Satellite to Play ‘Doom.’ And It Listened ==
+The experiment marks the first known time a satellite has received and acted on a voice command from the ground.
+Passant Rabie - November 5, 2026, 9:35 am ET
+Satellite operators usually send commands as digital packets over radio, but one group of amateur radio operators tried something a little more conversational: They spoke the command into a microphone. Specifically, they verbally instructed an Earth-orbiting satellite to launch Doom, marking what appears to be the first time a spoken instruction has been successfully sent to and executed by a satellite.
+The Oslo-based group sent a voice command to the European Space Agency’s OPS-SAT PRETTY, an experimental cubesat launched in 2023. The message was simple: “PRETTY PLAY DOOM.” Sure enough, the satellite detected the command and launched the 1993 first-person shooter video game. It even downlinked a postcard image of the moment, according to Tanagra Space, which develops machine learning that runs on board spacecraft.
+While the experiment was a fun demonstration, it could also point toward more practical applications for satellite communications. The ability to recognize and respond to spoken commands could eventually help pave the way for more responsive satellites capable of listening for distress calls or emergency signals and reacting accordingly.
+https://gizmodo.com/an-amateur-radio-operator-told-a-satellite-to-play-doom-and-it-listened-2000835488
@@ Line 932: / Line 946: @@
 https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/04/15/0642220/amazon-buys-globalstar-for-108-billion-moving-to-expand-its-satellite-internet-service
+== FCC clears Amazon Leo to acquire mobile-satellite operator Globalstar ==
+The deal is designed to allow Leo to to deliver direct-to-device service.
+Steve Dent - Oct. 28, 2026 9:13 am EST
+Amazon Leo's $11.5 billion acquisition of mobile-satellite operator Globalstar has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the regulator announced. The deal is designed to expand Leo's space-based footprint and allow direct-to-device service for its growing satellite network, Amazon previously said.
+"The companies' complementary assets promise to enhance Amazon Leo's entry into the direct-to-device segment and create a stronger satellite operator capable of offering fixed and mobile services to residential, business, and government customers," the FCC wrote in a press release that echoed Amazon's own talking points. The regulator said that the deal is likely to benefit the public by enhancing data coverage in underserved areas.
+You may not know Globalstar but have possibly used its services, as the company provides Apple's emergency satellite connectivity for compatible iPhones and Watches. Interestingly, Apple also held a 20 percent stake in Globalstar prior to its takeover. As part of the deal, Leo will power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models.
+Read More: https://www.engadget.com/2299367/fcc-clears-amazon-leo-to-acquire-mobile-satellite-operator-globalstar/
@@ Line 1619: / Line 1649: @@
+====== Anduril ======
+== Anduril says its first satellite can see adversaries maneuver in orbital night ==
+“What’s unique is it’s got a huge dynamic range. We can see things in full dark.”
+Stephen Clark – Nov 11, 2026 12:22 PM
+Anduril Industries has announced the successful demonstration of a new satellite-based sensor designed to track other spacecraft that may be hiding their maneuvers in Earth’s shadow.
+Funded with Anduril’s internal capital, the company’s oven-sized satellite launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission in July with a package of tech demo payloads: an edge-compute processor, a power-management system adaptable to different mission types, and a long-wave infrared space sensor capable of detecting other objects in orbit.
+Anduril reported on the success of the tech demo mission Tuesday. The company’s satellite, named Anduril-216, flies about 590 km (366 mi) above Earth, spending about one-third of each orbit in darkness. Anduril-216’s night passes allow its infrared imager to shine.
+“This is a unique sensor that allows us to take imagery in long-wave [infrared],” said Gokul Subramanian, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering. “What’s unique about that is it’s got a huge dynamic range. It has very low solar exclusion, so we’re blocked by the Sun very rarely, and we can see things in full dark.”
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/11/anduril-demos-night-vision-sensor-for-tracking-satellites-in-darkness/
@@ Line 3204: / Line 3256: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/gigantic-satellite-beams-data-from-space-4g-speeds-1850566692
+====== Debris / Junk ======
+== A Minnesota Farmer Found an 11-Foot Metal Object in His Cornfield. It Came From Space ==
+Meanwhile, another chunk of suspected rocket debris turned up in Indonesia.
+Passant Rabie - October 22, 2026, 10:05 am ET
+It’s raining rocket debris. Suspected fragments from Chinese rockets have turned up in places as far apart as Minnesota and Indonesia, raising concerns about the dangers posed by falling space junk.
+A farmer in rural Minnesota was working on his cornfield when he discovered a circular metal object approximately 11 feet wide (3 meters wide), according to the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office. The object likely came from a Chinese rocket that launched more than a month earlier and reentered through the atmosphere over Kansas toward Minnesota.
+Thousands of miles from Minnesota, a suspected fragment of another Chinese rocket turned up in Indonesia. Local authorities are investigating a car-sized piece of debris that was found in a palm oil plantation near homes and work sites.
+China has been known to be careless when it comes to its rocket bits falling from the skies, with numerous incidents reported over the last few years. The two recent cases highlight a growing need to address the safety risks posed by falling rocket debris and hold spacefaring nations accountable for where their discarded hardware comes down.
+https://gizmodo.com/a-minnesota-farmer-found-an-11-foot-metal-object-in-his-cornfield-it-came-from-space-2000829314
@@ Line 4739: / Line 4812: @@
 https://www.yahoo.com/news/kosmos-482s-final-descent-captured-130043459.html
+===== Kosmos 2612 =====
+== Russian spacecraft maneuvers in “extreme proximity” to satellite used by Ukraine ==
+“Kosmos 2612 closed from hundreds of kilometers away to extreme proximity to ICEYE-X36.”
+Stephen Clark – Oct 19, 2026 1:54 PM
+A Russian military satellite maneuvered in “extreme proximity” of a commercial Earth-imaging satellite in recent days in the first known example an unsanctioned rendezvous in low-Earth orbit, according to the orbital intelligence company LeoLabs.
+The Russian spacecraft, Kosmos 2612, “conducted a deliberate series of maneuvers toward ICEYE-X36, a US-operated commercial imaging satellite,” LeoLabs said. “Kosmos 2612 closed from hundreds of kilometers away to extreme proximity to ICEYE-X36. It then maneuvered around ICEYE-X36, remained nearby for an extended period, and then began moving away.”
+US military officials and independent analysts have tracked Kosmos 2612 since its April launch on a Soyuz rocket from a spaceport in northern Russia. Within weeks, it became apparent that at least four of the six satellites from that launch were stalking ICEYE-X36 after they adjusted orbits to line up with the orbit of the ICEYE spacecraft.
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/russian-spacecraft-maneuvers-in-extreme-proximity-to-satellite-used-by-ukraine/
+== Russia Just Did Something Menacing in Orbit That Satellite Trackers Say Is a First ==
+Cosmos 2612 spent several days stalking a U.S.-operated commercial radar-imaging satellite believed to support the Ukrainian military.
+Passant Rabie - October 20, 2026, 2:55 pm ET
+Russia has drawn renewed scrutiny following a series of reportedly unprecedented orbital maneuvers, in which one of its government-owned satellites operated in extreme proximity to a U.S.-operated satellite, highlighting growing concerns over the risks of confrontation in space.
+The Russian satellite, designated Cosmos 2612, carried out a series of close-proximity maneuvers toward ICEYE-X36, a U.S.-registered commercial radar-imaging satellite, between October 15 and 19, based on data by space-tracking company LeoLabs. Cosmos 2612 spent two days at a close proximity of less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) with ICEYE-X36 before moving away to 62 miles (100 kilometers), according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who tracks ongoing space activities.
+Experts deemed it an unprecedented proximity operation and potentially dangerous, yet the intent behind it remains unclear. The ICEYE-X36 satellite is believed to be providing synthetic aperture radar imagery to Ukraine, according to Breaking Defense.
+https://gizmodo.com/russian-military-satellite-plays-risky-cat-and-mouse-game-with-commercial-spacecraft-2000828229
+== US official: Russia’s stalker satellite sure looks like an orbital weapon ==
+The Russian official who called commercial satellites “legitimate targets” now says concerns are “unfounded.”
+Stephen Clark - Oct 22, 2026 11:29 AM
+Four years ago, a senior official in Russia’s foreign ministry painted a bullseye on commercial satellite networks that assist Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian military forces.
+On Wednesday, several days after a Russian military spacecraft moved within striking distance of one of those commercial satellites, the same Russian diplomat assured the world there’s no reason to worry.
+There’s a sharp incongruity in those statements from Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy head of Russia’s delegation to the United Nations. Vorontsov’s comments Wednesday in the UN General Assembly’s First Committee came moments after a US official called attention to recent maneuvers by Kosmos 2612, a Russian military craft that approached a US-registered commercial satellite some 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth.
+“Just last weekend, Russia’s Ministry of Defense Kosmos 2612 exhibited threatening behavior by intentionally maneuvering dangerously close to a commercial satellite,” Brian Hardesty, a US State Department official, told the UN committee. “These behaviors appear consistent with an on-orbit weapons operation. The decision to conduct these activities was deliberately reckless and violated long-established safety thresholds in low-Earth orbit.”
+Thomas DiNanno, the US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, shared a similar statement on X. The comments were the first from the US government since the close encounter last weekend.
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/russia-claims-its-stalker-satellite-is-purely-peaceful-in-character/
@@ Line 5137: / Line 5261: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/hubble-could-get-a-new-lease-on-life-if-nasa-can-afford-it-2000768823
+== Once again, NASA is asking for ideas to rescue Hubble from certain death ==
+The space agency solicited ideas for reboosting Hubble four years ago, but they didn’t go anywhere.
+Stephen Clark – Oct 30, 2026 5:07 PM
+The Hubble Space Telescope still shines in the eyes of astronomers after 36 years in orbit, but it is not as nimble as it once was. Left alone, the observatory will plunge back into the atmosphere in the early-to-mid-2030s, closing the book on one of the most famous scientific instruments of the century.
+NASA last raised the orbit of Hubble in 2002, when the Space Shuttle Columbia visited the observatory for a servicing mission. The final shuttle servicing flight in 2009 did not reboost the telescope’s orbit, and with the retirement of the shuttle fleet two years later, Hubble has steadily lost altitude with no way to stave off eventual destruction.
+The space agency released a Request For Information (RFI) on Thursday asking commercial companies for ideas on how to reboost, service, or a controlled disposal of Hubble. Responses are due November 30. Specifically, NASA is looking for information about companies’ current and near-term capabilities for capturing Hubble and boosting it to an altitude of at least 373 miles (600 km), enhancing the telescope’s performance, or guiding Hubble to a controlled reentry.
+“The requirement includes that the boost and/or servicing mission must not harm the HST and that this mission is expected to occur by 2032,” NASA wrote in the RFI. The contractor would be responsible for providing the launch vehicle, servicing spacecraft, mission operations, and “crew if applicable.”
+https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/think-you-can-save-the-hubble-space-telescope-nasa-wants-to-know/
@@ Line 7377: / Line 7519: @@
 https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/01/02/196256/after-half-a-decade-the-russian-space-station-segment-stopped-leaking
+== After Years of Air Leaks, Russia Is Reportedly Closing Off Part of the ISS for Good ==
+First detected in 2019, the leak proved stubbornly difficult to fix.
+Passant Rabie - October 27, 2026, 4:35 pm ET
+After years of failed attempts to track down and repair a persistent air leak aboard the International Space Station, Russia’s space agency is reportedly preparing to shut down the affected section of the orbital outpost.
+The leak was first detected in 2019 in the PrK transfer tunnel that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module. Since then, NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, have made several attempts to patch it up, but to no avail. Roscosmos appears to have decided to permanently close the hatch between the Zvezda module and the PrK tunnel in an attempt to isolate the leak from the rest of the space station, according to Anatoly Zak, the U.S.-based journalist behind RussianSpaceWeb.
+https://gizmodo.com/after-years-of-air-leaks-russia-is-reportedly-closing-off-part-of-the-iss-for-good-2000831227
@@ Line 9522: / Line 9674: @@
 https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/us-military-ends-long-running-program-to-spot-nuclear-missile-launches/
+== Space Force Just Retired the Satellites That Watched for World War III ==
+The last two remaining satellites were transported to an orbital graveyard as the program officially comes to an end.
+Passant Rabie - October 6, 2026, 9:55 am ET
+In late 1970, the U.S. military launched the first of a series of satellites designed to be on the lookout for missile attacks. Until last month, two of those satellites remained operational in geosynchronous orbit, but their long-running mission has finally come to an end.
+The U.S. Space Force recently announced the retirement of the Defense Support Program (DSP), a constellation of satellites that once served as a crucial warning system during the Cold War. The last two remaining satellites were moved to a higher orbit in September ahead of their planned system decommissioning.
+https://gizmodo.com/space-force-just-retired-the-satellites-that-watched-for-world-war-iii-2000822061
@@ Line 10822: / Line 10989: @@
 https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/08/19/2213259/rescue-mission-is-called-off-for-nasas-aging-swift-space-telescope
+== NASA's Swift observatory is expected to return to Earth on November 4 ==
+The agency’s attempt to rescue it a few months ago had failed.
+Mariella Moon - Nov. 3, 2026 7:41 am EST
+NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory will re-enter our atmosphere around 3:30AM Eastern time tomorrow, November 4, according to the US Armed Forces' predictions. The exact time could be different, as the prediction has an "uncertainty of 11 hours." But the 3,200-pound spacecraft is heading back to Earth for sure, 22 years after it launched and after the agency's attempt to save it failed.
+In early July, NASA launched the Swift Boost mission to rescue the space telescope, whose orbit was decaying too fast, in hopes that it could still gather data for the agency over the next few years. The mission was supposed to use Katalyst Space's LINK robotic spacecraft to dock with the observatory and then tug it back to a higher orbit. Unfortunately, LINK ran into attitude control issues that prevented it from controlling its orientation in space. As a result, the spacecraft kept on spinning helplessly, which also caused communication issues. A couple of weeks after LINK ran into problems, NASA had decided to pull the plug on the mission.
+The agency ended Swift observatory's operations in late October after it entered safe mode and prepared for re-entry. Before its operations ended, though, Swift, had observed more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts, or the most powerful explosions in the universe that reach peak brightness in less than two seconds. Before Swift, we couldn't detect these swift flashes of energy in time. It also gathered data on 1,400 supernova explosions, asteroids, comets, stars shredded by black holes, as well as other activity in the cosmos.
+Read More: https://www.engadget.com/2305059/nasas-swift-observatory-is-expected-to-re-enter-earth-on-november-4/
+== NASA's Swift space telescope predicted to crash back to Earth ==
+Genelle Weule - 2 November 2026
+NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has been in orbit for 22 years. (Supplied: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab)
+Link copied
+A defunct NASA space telescope is expected to plummet back to Earth sometime today.
+After attempts to save it failed earlier this year, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, aka the Swift telescope, was shut down at the end of October.
+The telescope, about the size of a minibus with solar-panel wings, is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere sometime on November 4 (AEDT).
+Where it will land, and what will survive its fiery re-entry remain unknown.
+https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026-11-03/nasa-swift-telescope-crash-landing/100018476
+== NASA's Swift Observatory Is Falling to Earth ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday November 04, 2026 05:00AM
+joshuark shares a report from Wired:
+<blockquote>
+After 22 years in orbit and a failed rescue mission this summer, it is highly likely that the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory will crash into Earth sometime next week. It is not known where on the planet the spacecraft -- which is roughly as big as a large elevator -- will fall. Despite its size, experts say the risk to the public is relatively low. The observatory was designed to operate for a few years in low Earth orbit, but it far exceeded its expected lifespan, helping to make many important discoveries about the evolution of the cosmos, including the study of supernovas and the destruction of stars by black holes. However, in 2024, increased solar activity heated and expanded the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, increasing the drag on the satellite and accelerating its descent. Without a propulsion system capable of correcting its orbit, its days were numbered.
+</blockquote>
+The U.S. Space Force now expects Swift to reenter Earth's atmosphere around November 6. Most of the spacecraft is expected to burn up, although some components could survive and reach the ground (but most likely the ocean).
+"The most likely survivors are its six heavy reaction wheels, the spinning flywheels it used to aim itself, along with tougher telescope parts such as lenses and mirrors," Dean Sladen, a quality manager and aerospace engineer at Accu Components, told Space.com. "Only a handful of small, scorched fragments are expected to make it down -- nothing recognizable as a telescope."
+https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/11/04/0616201/nasas-swift-observatory-is-falling-to-earth
@@ Line 13378: / Line 13597: @@
 https://www.space.com/starlink-satellite-conjunction-increase-threatens-space-sustainability
+== Starlink's plan to avoid orbital near-misses: Ephemeris sharing ==
+Hang on. How about not chucking tens of thousands more satellites into space?
+Richard Speed - Wed 07 Oct 2026 16:29 UTC
+SpaceX has acknowledged the need for satellite operators to collaborate to avoid collisions and has taken the unusual step of sharing imagery showing how close spacecraft are coming to each other.
+The company has called on other operators to share their satellites' ephemeris (a set of parameters describing the position and velocity of a spacecraft over time) to facilitate timely avoidance maneuvers.
+"In 2026," the company wrote, "Starlink encountered conjunctions with about 650 unique maneuvering third-party satellites, with only about half of them actually sharing ephemeris.
+"Some operators don't share ephemeris out of a concern that sharing upcoming maneuvers gives away proprietary information. In other circumstances, operators are willing to share data, but are unable to receive permission from the government to do so.
+"Such policies are counterproductive, and largely only serve to create preventable collision risk between satellites."
+"Over six months," the company went on, "Starlink observed ~164,000 conjunctions where time of closest approach (TCA) was within four hours after an unannounced manoeuvre.
+"While not all of these conjunctions were high-risk, they represent cases where Starlink would not have sufficient information to reliably avoid the other vehicle if the other operator’s action created a high-risk conjunction.
+https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/10/07/starlinks-plan-to-avoid-orbital-near-misses-ephemeris-sharing/5301650
@@ Line 15598: / Line 15840: @@
 https://satellitemap.space/
+====== Surveillance ======
+== Something watched you this week. ==
+Enter any place on Earth. See every satellite that passed over it in the last 7 days, and the actual pictures they took.
+https://www.watched.earth/
 ====== Swarm ======