Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 18—“Look at the stars, look how they shine for you…”

“…Yeah, they were all yellow.” So, a small confession before continuing: One of the reasons you haven’t seen any lessons for the past few weeks regarding the imagery colors is because I’ve been stuck on this color thing for a little while. I think part of dilemma is just going through, color by color, has been […]

Why Space Really Matters: following the Haiyan Super Typhoon

The NBCNews.com website posted an article with a few pictures taken from different satellites of the Haiyan Super Typhoon. And the Washington Post has managed to one-up NBC News with a lot more typhoon images from more satellites. Such images are helping thousands of people. There’s a lot of information out there regarding this typhoon, […]

World Time Z–Zulu Time, that is–Part 3

Zulu time is Z-time. It’s really that simple. It means zero hours, describing the offset of time from the Greenwich Mean Time longitude line. Why Zulu and not Zero or Z? It has to do with the alphabet and clear communications. It has to do with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) needs and that […]

Another secret Chinese launch

A Chinese Long March 2C rocket boosted another satellite with unknown intentions into orbit earlier today. You can read all about it from NASASpaceflight.com’s posting: Chinese Long March 2C lofts Yaogan Weixing-18 satellite. According to the article, this launch was not officially announced. There’s not too much advertised about Yaogan Weixing-18, although NASASpaceflight.com’s article does a great […]

Chinese grappling satellites?

I do hate posts like Gizmodo’s, asserting something that when you drill down, may or may not be true. You just can’t tell. But I guess that’s what link bait is: something to get people to click on, true or not. And when you drill down to the Washington Free Beacon post, it’s certainly not clear […]