Explorer 1, the First US Satellite

January 31st, 1958. 56 years ago, and the United States had finally succeeded in launching its own satellite, the Explorer 1. According to this Yahoo! Travel post, the launch of Explorer 1 was linked to the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The big deal about that, as explained in this wiki entry, is the IGY marked the beginning […]

Have Anozer Zatellite–Zey’re Waifehr Thin.

Just another post, this one from Geekquinox on Yahoo! News, about small satellites. There is a seemingly simultaneous up-swell of inexpensive satellites becoming available to the masses. These satellites aren’t very big (about the size of a cell phone) and won’t last very long. But a theoretical $300 will buy a person that space-nerd cred […]

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 […]

Space Superiority Doctrine

This is a very interesting opinion piece posted on January 16: “U.S. in Space: Superiority, Not Dominance,” written by Mr. Travis C. Stalcup for The Diplomat. I agree with his overall viewpoint about the need for a United States’ space policy. But I’m not sure I agree with the options he presented. He believes there are […]

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 […]