This is Why Space Matters: Aircraft Tracking

According to this GPS World post, Harris Corporation intends to make it easier to track aircraft around the world. How? Simple–by using GPS and Iridium NEXT satellites. “Wait,” you might interject, “Don’t airplanes already use GPS?” Well, yes they do, but this is why Iridium NEXT is important, too. The point of GPS has almost […]

What’s Old Is New Again

From childhood, I’ve had this weird fascination with dirigibles. Not blimps, but dirigibles. The kind of airships people associate with the words, “Oh, the humanity!!” In spite of the horrific Hindenburg episode, I always thought the zeppelins produced in Friedrichshafen, Germany, were always majestic in movement. It also looked like a relaxing and luxurious way […]

Garbage Trucks for Satellites?

This article reads a bit like a press release for the German Aerospace Center (DLR). That’s probably because it is, but the Deutsche Welle post talks about all sorts of optimistic future projects, all accomplished by DLR as they support the European Space Agency (ESA). From cubesats to a “garbage truck for satellites,” it’s not […]

NASA Earth Image pictures

Wired just posted these pictures to their site. These are apparently from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellites and International Space Station astronauts. So you can see images like the one below: Unlike the DigitalGlobe ones, you can only look at these pictures, not vote on which one you like. But they’re interesting […]

Why Space Matters: GEO Satellite operations, Part 2–FOV/FOR-it things

In the first lesson, you learned (if you didn’t already know) a spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit is very far away from the Earth—a little over 26,000 miles. Before going any further, an explanation of Field of Regard (FOR) versus Field of View (FOV) is in order since we will initially be talking about weather imagery satellites. […]