Can Satellites Help Find Lost Aircraft? Can You? Maybe!

“The mystery surrounding the unfortunate Malaysian Flight MH370 has caused some of the more astute reporters to ask questions about satellites. Specifically, were there any satellites over the area the airplane disappeared in? And if there were, would they, or could they have picked up anything to help find the missing airplane? Ultimately, can satellites help […]

See the world as a space operator sees it–FREE!

Microsoft Research released an updated version of the WorldWide Telescope software a few days ago. It’s a Google Sky-type application that’s downloadable to your Windows machine. And it’s free. If you want to see the Earth and space as a space operator sees it, then spend lots of time with this application. I will admit […]

Three new ways to get imagery

The Atlantic posted an excellent article on 7 Jan about the three newer members to the satellite imagery community: Skybox, Urthecast, and Planet Labs. All are attempting to do very similar things, but they seem to be going about their attempts differently. Urthecast is using the International Space Station as its “camera tripod” for its […]

Why Space Matters: GEO Satellite operations, Part 4–Communicate

“…You gotta reach out – Reach out and touch someone…” The last lesson showed how a geosynchronous (GEO) satellite can essentially “hover” over a particular area of the Earth. Almost as if a physical rigid connection keeps them moving together. This is because the GEO satellite’s orbit matches the speed of the Earth’s rotation, giving […]

Jade Rabbit video

For those interested in China’s autonomous lunar rover, the Jade Rabbit (Chang’e 3), I’m sure you’ve seen this video. But for those who follow this as a kind of “space Kardashian” story, here’s some Jade Rabbit videos: You can see the Jade Rabbit be-boppin’ around on the moon’s surface. Of course, this kind of thing […]