satellites (Page 2)

Latest in satellites

SpaceX's growing Starlink megaconstellation could be hindering the Earth's ozone layer from healing itself, researchers find.

SpaceX’s Starlink May Be Keeping the Ozone From Healing, Research Finds

By Victor Tangermann

Japanese scientists have completed the world's first wooden satellite, dubbed LignoSat. It's slated to head to the ISS in September.

Japanese Scientists Show Off World’s First Wooden Satellite

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

In late February, a Russian satellite nearly hit an American one — and now, NASA's admitting how terrifying it was.

NASA Was “Really Scared” When a Russian Satellite Almost Obliterated Its Orbiter

By Noor Al-Sibai

A yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper suggests that metal particles from burned up satellites could be accumulating in our atmosphere.

Paper Claims Dying SpaceX Satellites Could Weaken Earth’s Magnetic Field

By Frank Landymore

NASA's Terra satellite has captured a stunning image of "fallstreak holes" or "hole-punch clouds," scientifically known as cavum clouds.

Science & Energy

Satellite Spots Circular Holes in Clouds Over Florida

By Victor Tangermann

The European Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite, after almost three decades in orbit, finally met its end this week.

Epic Shots Show Derelict Satellite Hurtling To Its Doom

By Frank Landymore

Russia may be launching its nuclear anti-satellite craft into space soon — even as its own government denies that such a weapon exists.

Russia May Be Launching Nuclear Space Weapon Soon, Officials Warn

By Noor Al-Sibai

Albedo Space wants to launch satellites that can track the movements of and even image individual people. Obviously, privacy is an issue.

Alarming New Satellite Can Spy on Individual People

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to "deorbit" roughly 100 Starlink satellites — which means that techs will guide them to their fiery deaths.

SpaceX Announces Plans to Set 100 Starlink Satellites on Fire

By Noor Al-Sibai

A massive, defunct satellite is set to come crashing through the Earth's atmosphere and plummet to the surface below in a matter of weeks.

Massive European Satellite to Plummet Back Down to Earth Uncontrollably

By Victor Tangermann

A team of researchers at Kyoto University has constructed a satellite made out of wood — and it's almost ready to fly into space.

NASA Getting Ready to Launch Wooden Satellite

By Victor Tangermann

Metals from spacecraft that are supposed to safely burn up in the atmosphere are staying there and potentially affecting the ozone.

Satellites and Spacecraft Are Polluting the Atmosphere, Scientists Find

By Frank Landymore

A livid SpaceX has responded to the Federal Aviation Administration warnings, denouncing its analysis as "deeply flawed."

FAA Warns That Falling Satellites Are Going to Start Killing People

By Frank Landymore

North Korea was trying its very best to send a spy satellite up into space — but that thing just didn't want to stay in the sky.

North Korea Attempts to Launch Satellite But It Crashes Into Ocean

By Noor Al-Sibai

Japanese scientists say they've proven wood might just be a durable in-orbit material — and now, plan to build a satellite with it.

Scientists Preparing to Launch Wooden Satellite

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A startup co-founded by a SpaceX alum plans to jumpstart the future of space manufacturing with its orbital pharmaceutical lab run by robots.

Startup Wants to Use Robots to Make Drugs in Space

By Noor Al-Sibai

According to the US Space Force, a mysterious Russian satellite broke apart in orbit early last month, leaving at least 85 pieces of space debris behind.

Mysterious Russian Satellite Explodes

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Hawaii's Big Island was treated to a light show of space lasers — but luckily, it wasn't aliens that put on the stunning spectacle.

Satellite Shoots Wall of Green Lasers Down to Earth

By Noor Al-Sibai

Virgin Orbit has sheepishly admitted that its latest rock-themed mission experienced an anomalous failure shortly after lift-off.

Virgin Orbit Admits That Its Rolling Stones-Themed Mission Disintegrated After Launch

By Noor Al-Sibai

One of the world's preeminent astronomy organizations is decrying a newly-released satellite that has become one of the brightest objects in the sky.

Astronomers Annoyed at Ludicrously Bright SpaceX-Launched Satellite

By Noor Al-Sibai

Per Starlink's new fair use policy, the Elon Musk-owned ISP is about to start throttling users' service if they use over 1TB per month data cap.

Remember SpaceX’s Amazing Starlink Internet? It’s Capping Data Now

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Excess carbon dioxide is cooling the Earth's upper atmosphere, making it so that close-orbit objects like satellites and space junk stay in orbit longer.

Climate Change Is Apparently Doing Something Weird to Satellites

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

NASA's partnership with SpinLaunch has made an explosive entrance after shooting a payload out of the Suborbital Accelerator thousands of feet into the air.

The Payload NASA Shot Into Sky With Giant Gun Came Down So Hard They Needed to Dig It Out With an Excavator

By Frank Landymore

Russian researchers are suggesting we could send satellites into space to display ads in the night sky by having them reflect sunligh while in formation.

Russian Scientists Propose Plan to Launch Huge Advertisements Into Orbit Over Cities

By Victor Tangermann

Russia's UN delegation has released a statement, arguing commercial satellites could become a "legitimate target" if they were to be used against Russia.

Russia Issues Veiled Threat to Shoot Down Pesky SpaceX Satellites

By Victor Tangermann

The latest communications satellite that launched on a SpaceX rocket over the weekend is already proving to be highly controversial due to its size.

Experts Say Annoying New Satellite Might Be Brighter Than Any Star

By Victor Tangermann

A space infrastructure startup called Orbit Fab announced that it will be offering satellite refueling services in geostationary orbit as soon as 2025.

Space Startup Unveils Plans for Orbital Fuel Station for Spacecraft

By Victor Tangermann

Satellite constellations are clogging up Earth's lower orbit and making it harder to spot killer asteroids, scientists warn.

Planetary Defense Experts Complain That SpaceX-Style Satellites Make It Harder to Spot Killer Asteroids

By Noor Al-Sibai

The US military is saying that Russia just launched a new satellite, Kosmos 2558, in order to shadow an orbital US spy satellite. Again.

Russian Spacecraft Accused of Tailgating US Spy Satellite by Just 37 Miles

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

An incoming solar storm cycle is going to make things much worse for the increasing number of satellites that are going up.

Incoming Solar Storm Season May Totally Screw Up Satellites, Government Scientist Warns

By Noor Al-Sibai

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian urged the United States to stop militarizing space. The US is spending billions on the Space Force.

China Accuses United States of Militarizing Outer Space

By Lonnie Lee Hood

ESA scientists had to raise the Swarm constellation satellites, which measure Earth's magnetic field, because they were sinking in chaotic space weather.

Scientists Say the Sun Is Acting Up and Causing Satellites to Fall Back to Earth

By Lonnie Lee Hood

A startup called SpinLaunch has been working to fling satellites into orbit via giant cannon for nearly a decade. Bad news: it won't work on humans.

Company Says Giant Cannon for Shooting Satellites Into Orbit Would Be Fatal for Astronauts

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A space company is getting ready to shoot the cremated remains of 47 people into orbit this week, the ultimate way to say goodbye to a loved one.

Florida Prepares to Shoot Remains of 47 People Into Space

By Victor Tangermann

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's outspoken head of its space agency, denied recent reports that hackers had seized control of the nation's spy satellites.

Hackers Claim They’ve Seized Control of Russian Spy Satellites

By Victor Tangermann

A geomagnetic storm earlier this month caused 40 of SpaceX's broadband-beaming Starlink satellites to fall out of orbit shortly after launch.

Dramatic Video Shows SpaceX Starlink Satellites Burning Up in the Sky

By Victor Tangermann

An astronomer at the University of Regina warned how "one out of every 15 points" of light in the sky will soon be a satellite instead of a star.

A Baffling Number of “Stars” Are Actually Spacecraft

By Tony Ho Tran

NASA has announced that the International Space Station (ISS) is still at a heightened risk of colliding with Russian space debris.

International Space Station

Surprise! The ISS Is Still at Risk From Russian Weapon Test

By Noor Al-Sibai

This week, the US Space Force detected and catalogued a new object that is trailing a recently launched Chinese satellite.

Mystery Object Detected Near Chinese Satellite

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) simulated what happens when a satellite burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Watch What Happens When a Satellite Burns Up in Earth’s Atmosphere

By Victor Tangermann

Satellite data on global temperatures doesn't seem to match real-world observations, raising the possibility that climate change is worse than we thought.

Global Warming May Be Way Worse Than We Thought, Scientists Say

By Dan Robitzski

After the military coup in Myanmar, Japan's space agency halted a joint project with Myanma scientists to prevent it from being exploited by the army.

International Space Station

Satellites Are Stranded on the ISS Because of a Military Coup

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX's upcoming mission on Saturday could set a new record for the most commercial and government spacecraft launched on a single spaceflight.

SpaceX Poised to Crush Record for Most Spacecraft Launched on One Rocket

By Victor Tangermann

A Japanese startup called Sumitomo Forestry is teaming up with Kyoto University to develop the world's first satellites — that are made out of wood.

A Japanese Startup Is Building Wooden Satellites

By Victor Tangermann

The U.S. Space Force just awarded its third contract for a prototype communications satellite that can block jamming attempts better than existing networks.

The Space Force Is Building Satellites That Resist Jamming

By Dan Robitzski

After NASA criticized the satellite startup AST & Science for its plans to launch a fleet of telecom satellites, AST's founder fights back.

Science & Energy

The Satellite Startup That NASA Criticized Is Firing Back

By Dan Robitzski

The ESA is experimenting with satellites that use flax fiber instead of steel-like carbon fibers so that they incinerate easier upon retirement.

The ESA Is Weaving Flax Fiber Into Satellites So They Incinerate Better

By Dan Robitzski

Amazon was approved by the Federal Communications Commission to launch 3,326 satellites as part of its Kuiper constellation. That has astronomers worried.

Amazon’s Constellation of 3,236 Satellites Has Astronomers Very, Very Freaked Out

By Victor Tangermann

Russia recently tested a weapon capable of shooting down satellites in orbit, which has the Pentagon concerned about off-world escalation.

Russia Just Tested a Military Satellite That Kills Other Satellites

By Dan Robitzski

A new Defense Department report identifies Russia and China's nuclear capabilities as an immediate threat to U.S. satellites.

The Pentagon Is Worried a Space Nuke Will Fry Its Satellites

By Dan Robitzski

Artificial intelligence algorithms trained on satellite and mobile data could spot coronavirus victims and help better coordinate humanitarian aid.

Artificial Intelligence

Satellites Are Tracking Poor Nations’ Coronavirus Outbreaks

By Dan Robitzski

The U.S. Space Force recently acquired its first offensive weapon: a satellite jammer that can block communications from the ground.

Space Force Unveils Its First Weapon, a Satellite Jammer

By Dan Robitzski

As a new video demonstrates, SpaceX's Starlink satellites have been wreaking havoc with astronomical surveys as they become visible to the naked eye.

Ominous Video Shows SpaceX Satellites Cutting Across Sky

By Victor Tangermann

Northrop Grumman's "Mission Extension Vehicle-1" (MEV-1) docks with a Inteslat 901, a communication satellite that's been in orbit for a lengthy 18 years.

World’s First: Spacecraft Docks to Commercial Satellite In Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

A newly published Amazon patent that dates back to 2017 lays out plans for a ship-based launch system that whips paylods into space using a miles-long whip.

Amazon Patented a System That Literally Whips Stuff Into Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

Two mysterious Russian satellites are coming eerily close to a US spy satellite in Earth's orbit, something that has US generals on edge.

Space Force General: Russian Satellite Is “Unusual and Disturbing”

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX has launched an online booking tool that lets companies reserve space on a Falcon 9 rocket. For $1 million, customers can send 200 kg into orbit.

You Can Now Book Space on a SpaceX Rocket for $1 Million Online

By Victor Tangermann

There's a decent chance that two satellites will collide this evening, potentially releasing a cloud of hazardous debris into orbit.

Science & Energy

Two Satellites May Collide Today, Exploding Catastrophically

By Dan Robitzski

AT&T-owned satellite TV company DirecTV asked the FCC for permission to de-orbit one of its satellites that experienced a critical battery failure.

This Boeing Satellite May Be About to Explode

By Victor Tangermann

Keeping track of an immense and growing amount of objects in Earth's orbit is becoming increasingly difficult and could end in disaster, as NPR reports.

Experts Call for System Preventing Satellite Collisions

By Victor Tangermann

Vanderbilt University law student Ramon Ryan argues in a new paper that the FCC's approval of over 30,000 planned SpaceX satellites could've been unlawful.

Researcher: SpaceX Satellite Plans Break US Environmental Law

By Victor Tangermann

On Monday, SpaceX deployed 60 Starlink satellites, enough to earn the company the title of world's largest commercial satellite operator.

SpaceX Deploys 60 More of Its Controversial Starlink Satellites

By Kristin Houser

Tech giant Apple reportedly has a secret team working on satellite-based wireless data beaming technology, according to Bloomberg.

Apple Is Reportedly Working on Secret Satellite Tech

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX has announced it will coat one of its third batches of Starlink satellites with a special, less reflective coating.

SpaceX: We’re Working to Fix Sky-Killing Starlink Satellites

By Victor Tangermann