Space Tourism, the Costly Frontier

In previous articles I’ve talked about cheap small satellites for the general public to buy and even use in orbit. But what if you want something more? What if you want to be, if only for a few minutes, an astronaut? “Space tourism is too expensive!” you say? Maybe, if you only follow Virgin Galactic’s sub-orbital efforts […]

Pictures of a Decaying Satellite

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) -run Landsat 8 Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) imagery satellite’s primary job is to take pictures of the Earth. But occasionally, like teenagers with new camera phones, Landsat 8 feels compelled to take pictures of other satellites. Really—you can see the evidence here […]

Fill it up, RROxITT! And check the solar panels, too.

For a very long time, satellites orbiting the Earth have had a very finite lifetime. Some satellites have lasted over ten years, and aside from anomalies and failing components, a satellite’s fuel tank has been key to how long a satellite can function. But that might change soon for geosynchronous (GEO) satellites, thanks to RROxITT (Remote Robotic […]

Explorer 1, the First US Satellite

January 31st, 1958. 56 years ago, and the United States had finally succeeded in launching its own satellite, the Explorer 1. According to this Yahoo! Travel post, the launch of Explorer 1 was linked to the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The big deal about that, as explained in this wiki entry, is the IGY marked the beginning […]

NASA Centennial Challenges in Space

Here’s my latest Clearancejobs.com post for you. NASA wants competitors in this challenge to do some very interesting things with small satellites. You can read about the details in: NASA Centennial Challenges: The Start of Star Trekking?