Why Space Matters: GEO Satellite operations, Part 7–Curves and Angles

Geosynchronous (GEO) satellites are wonderful. They can see a lot of the Earth from 22,236 miles in space. It’s why they make great observation and communications satellites. Previous chapters explained some of the problems facing GEO satellites, too, such as solar influence and eclipses. But now’s the time for a few lesser known problems GEO satellites […]

Pictures of a Decaying Satellite

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) -run Landsat 8 Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) imagery satellite’s primary job is to take pictures of the Earth. But occasionally, like teenagers with new camera phones, Landsat 8 feels compelled to take pictures of other satellites. Really—you can see the evidence here […]

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 3–Revolution Earth

“Endless Distance, Wildlife and Stars, Blanket the Night…” The last lesson was about Field of View (FOV) and Field of Regard (FOR). It was intended to help with understanding the next few lessons regarding satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO). All mentions of GEO on this blog, unless otherwise stated, refer to a particular type of […]

Skybox: Youtube videos from space?

Skybox launched their satellite (with a few others) November 22. But they are beginning to get sample videos in from their SkySat-1 satellite out to the public. SkySat-1 is a sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) polar satellite going around the Earth around 450 Km (280 miles) from Earth’s surface. Skybox notes this satellite’s expected orbital […]