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--- transportation:satellites [2026/11/02 01:47] – [Extension of Lifespan] 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 1635: / 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 10953: / 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 15752: / 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 ======