Dextre: When Humans Just Won’t Do

It might come as a surprise to some people that Canada has a space agency–the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).  Some Americans might view our northern neighbor’s agency as a NASA-Lite, but that would be very untrue.  It might be even more surprising for people to know the CSA is very active and has provided some critical […]

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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 […]

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DIY Space: Help NASA with Zooniverse

NASA is experiencing too much of a good thing with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) satellite.  The team is apparently overwhelmed with the number of images one of the satellite’s payloads is producing (why this problem wasn’t anticipated, I don’t know).  But you can help with this problem.  First, a little about the LRO. The […]

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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 […]

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