Thanks and good-bye to one of the first space operators

Darn it–the internet and search engines got me on this one. Caught this as soon as I posted it. Of course he died last year, so thanks to anyone shaking their head and bothering to cluck under their breath. Sorry about that! Please just ignore this one. Now I know why I didn’t see this […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 9–cutting the cheese

Hopefully the beer was tasty and nutritious. The question I posed in my previous post to you, dear (inebriated?) reader: Why is it that moving the plane of a satellite’s orbit against the direction of the Earth’s rotation (backwards) is helpful to those operators of imagery ilk? Let me clarify some terms here before we […]

Kepler, focal plane array specs, still looking for a mission

From a previous aside “Not Dead Yet!!“, I noted the Kepler team is trying to find a different mission, since one of the satellite’s reaction wheels is not responding. Here are some interesting specs for the camera’s charged-coupled device (CCD). Observation: the Nokia Lumia 1020 has half of the megapixel capability (41MP). But I bet […]

Polygraphs and belief

This article on the Clearancejobs.com website isn’t really an eye-opener (at least it shouldn’t be). And it isn’t that hard to find information about how unreliable polygraphs are. Turns out belief in the system’s infallibility plays a big part. So it’s kind of like religion that way. I do like the part where they […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 8–synchronizing flying pumpkins and suns

Sorry, this isn’t about a tribute band for 90’s alternative/grunge music, at least not “Today.” This is all about polar orbits and polar sun-synchronous orbits. But before I get into those topics, let me warn you that if you delve too far into this, understand the math involved, the terms used, and worst of all worlds—enjoy […]