Parsing Polar Bears With Polar Orbiting Satellites

Here’s a method of counting polar bears that’s probably safer than knocking on their doors. According to this US Geological Survey (USGS) post, satellites may be quite useful for counting, tracking, and observing polar bears. The USGS and Canadians are comparing aerial survey pictures against the satellite pictures. They are using imagery taken by DigitalGlobe satellites of parts of […]

See What ISS Astronauts See

Have you ever wanted to see what the astronaut’s see as they’re circling the Earth on the International Space Station (ISS)? Sure, you might get an idea from Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope, Google Earth, or using the Satellite Tool Kit, but those are probably faint echoes of perspective. Well, there’s a project might give that perspective of astronauts on […]

A SmallSat/MicroSat Drama Unfolding Above The Earth

It seems there’s a potential setback for the Maker satellite movement above our heads: the Kicksat cube satellite is experiencing difficulties. According to a May 3 update on Kicksat’s website, the Kicksat’s watchdog timer experienced a hard reset. The watchdog timer is a sort of failsafe all satellites have on-board. It’s meant to protect the spacecraft […]

Why space matters: HEO Satellite Operations, Part 1–You’ve Never Kepled?

In previous lessons you’ve learned about the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and the Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO). There are pros and cons in using each orbit. Generally for satellites in LEO orbit, particularly imagery satellites like those owned by DigitalGlobe and SkyBox, the closer the satellites are to the Earth, the more detail of the objects […]

On a Roll: One Small Step for Reusable Rockets

Updated information at the bottom regarding thrusters and fuel!! SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is on a roll. Not literally of course, that would be bad. More importantly, SpaceX noted on their Twitter feed that roll rate of the Falcon 9 first stage booster was close to zero. Why is that so important that SpaceX […]