Finding the source of space weather with satellites

Space Daily posted this interesting tidbit yesterday. Researchers are using 8 different satellites to help figure out space weather. Yes, that is a thing and it can affect satellite operations. These researchers found a link for determining the source of space weather. This link was that the Earth’s magnetic field stores the energy of the […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 14—making it intelligible

I know—I promised to talk about the different colors on imagery birds (satellites) and in what applications in particular they’re used. But, someone pointed out to me that perhaps the past few lessons have been a little too space-nerd-tastic and maybe a little too difficult to understand. SO let me just try to make things […]

Sometimes it’s good to have a bulge–in space!

A few smart folks have found that the Earth’s bulge is beneficial to satellites orbiting it. In this article, they explain why a perfectly spherical Earth would’ve been bad for a lot of satellites, resulting in plenty of satellite carnage (satellites falling from orbit more quickly). But it turns out that our spinning, bulgy planet […]

Spaceports everywhere!!

Okay, maybe not everywhere. But there are quite a few in the US according to Gizmodo in their article. 8 of them. I’m not as interested in “space tourism,” as I am in thinking this gives us some flexibility, if we’re smart about this, in replenishing satellite constellations. Not that I’d be against flying up […]

Space junk tracking and collecting

Two articles for the price of one in this aside. The Australians have figured out they can use their widefield array to help track debris orbiting the Earth, and that’s elaborated on (a little bit) in this article. This will help by adding another asset to the space situational awareness problem. It’s a bigger problem if […]