Googs in Space?

Google’s maybe getting into space? This is an interesting TechCrunch article about the possible acquisition of satellite imagery company SkyBox by advertising aggregator Google. Theoretically, SkyBox is Google’s only target, but TechCrunch does float Planet Labs and RapidEye as possible targets, too. Except, SkyBox is the ONLY satellite company offering real-time streaming of High Definition video. Which might […]

Why Space Matters: HEO Satellite Operations, Part 4–Moley, Moley, Moley, Molniya!

During the last lesson, you might have been enlightened with the information that even though the Soviets have used, and Russians do use, geosynchronous (GEO) orbits for satellites, they seem to have a special place in their vodka-filled hearts for the highly elliptical orbit (HEO). And that last lesson enumerates the reasons why they like it. For one particular […]

KickSat Kicks the Bucket

According to update #73 on the KickSat Kickstarter page, KickSat is no more. The nanosatellite had experienced a single event upset (SEU) and the Watchdog Timer reset (those terms are explained in this article, here). The result of those two events was a reset of a crucial timer that was supposed to release the smaller […]

Keeping the Light Attitude: Kepler’s Balancing Act

Near the middle of last year, the planet-hunting satellite, Kepler, looked like it would never Keple again. On May 11, 2013, the second of Kepler’s four reaction wheels went out, which made precision pointing, a requirement for Kepler’s scientific mission, nearly impossible. Some of this site’s posts have covered Kepler’s calls for ideas about how to use […]

Spacesuits Through The Years

Special/extreme clothing supplier REI has nothing on spacesuits. Whether US, Soviet, Russian, or Chinese; whether used for space-walks, shuttle flights, capsules, or moon-walks; whether they looked like flight suits, robots, or Fat Tron, spacesuits are important to the people who wear them while working. Space.com has an excellent picture gallery of spacesuits from different spacefaring countries throughout the […]