Splitting continent: it looks like a picture, but it’s ASAR

Most of the lessons I’ve posted on my site have dealt with imagery taken from camera payloads on satellites. So it should be no shocker that I’ve relayed this NewScientist post of a nice picture of the Albertine Rift, showing where the Earth’s tectonic plates are splitting East Africa apart. Here’s the picture, straight from […]

Another secret Chinese launch

A Chinese Long March 2C rocket boosted another satellite with unknown intentions into orbit earlier today. You can read all about it from NASASpaceflight.com’s posting: Chinese Long March 2C lofts Yaogan Weixing-18 satellite. According to the article, this launch was not officially announced. There’s not too much advertised about Yaogan Weixing-18, although NASASpaceflight.com’s article does a great […]

Chinese grappling satellites?

I do hate posts like Gizmodo’s, asserting something that when you drill down, may or may not be true. You just can’t tell. But I guess that’s what link bait is: something to get people to click on, true or not. And when you drill down to the Washington Free Beacon post, it’s certainly not clear […]

Surprise Chinese launch places another “experimental” satellite in orbit

Yup, the Chinese decided to surprise everyone with the launch of a Long March 4b, according to this NASASpaceflight.com article. I can’t even imagine the hullabaloo this created on our SBIRS (Space Based Infrared System) operators if this rocket’s intense heat source was really not expected. Imagine seeing something emerge from a not-so-friendly country–something big that […]

Interesting stories about the teams that are pursuing XPRIZE

Fresh from Twitter, and the Google Lunar XPRIZE website, here are a few interesting posts. The posts contain stories and videos of five different teams and their activities as they pursue the Google Lunar XPRIZE. For those who don’t know what this particular prize is–here’s the explanation straight from their “Prize Details” page: The Google […]