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 […]

Finding Launch Cost Serenity with FireFly

SpaceX isn’t the only launch company boasting about cheap launch prices. According to this GigaOm post, Firefly is a company that will be trying to compete with SpaceX. The rocket they’ll be using is a different design, not using traditional bell nozzles to guide the rocket’s power, but a system called an aerospike. And, just guessing here […]

Forget NOAA; NASA’s GRACE Protects You from Floods

Or is that spelled Noah? Anyway, NASA has a pair of 12-year old satellites from their Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), and it’s NASA’s GRACE that might save you from flooding. The two satellites are orbiting the Earth in a polar Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and are 220 kilometers (140 miles) apart from each other. They […]

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 […]

DIY Space: The Sentinel Mission

This particular DIY Space isn’t so much about building a space project as it is about being involved with one. In this case, the involvement looks to be your potential donation of money to the Sentinel Mission. But your money could potentially help save millions of people–literally. There have been some questions lately as to […]