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 […]

KickSat Kicks the Bucket

According to update #73 on the KickSat Kickstarter page, KickSat is no more. The nanosatellite had experienced a single event upset (SEU) and the Watchdog Timer reset (those terms are explained in this article, here). The result of those two events was a reset of a crucial timer that was supposed to release the smaller […]

Why space matters: HEO Satellite Operations, Part 1–You’ve Never Kepled?

In previous lessons you’ve learned about the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and the Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO). There are pros and cons in using each orbit. Generally for satellites in LEO orbit, particularly imagery satellites like those owned by DigitalGlobe and SkyBox, the closer the satellites are to the Earth, the more detail of the objects […]

Smallsats, Cubesats, and Chipsats: Klein, Aber Oho!

Nope, you aren’t seeing things. There’s some German in the title there. The phrase essentially means small but mighty (like my wife). And the phrase describes, in a nutshell, the explosive growth and growing capabilities of these miniature mighty man-made moons. Nature.com has a fairly good write-up about the history and current state of Cubesats. It’s exciting […]

From German Tunnels to Space, Part 5–Liberation

In the previous post, slave prison laborers were working underground in a mountain, building rockets for the NAZIs. The slaves were very literally worked to death, producing hundreds of V2 rockets a month. Ruthless People, Brutal Numbers Between April 1944 and March 1945, the slaves produced about 4,575 V2 rockets . The conditions they worked […]