The Strategic Use of Varied Orbits: US Space Force's New Mission
Friday, 21 July 2023 10:56With the majority of artificial objects in space concentrated in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), it's easy to see why this orbit is a hotbed of activity. LEO, the orbit closest to Earth, is the simplest to access from an energy and rocket power perspective. From the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope to the approximately 4,000 SpaceX Starlink satellites, the occupants of LEO are notably diverse.
Hack-A-Sat's Moonlighter Satellite deploys to LEO after successful launch
Friday, 21 July 2023 10:56Moonlighter reached low earth orbit July 5 after a short visit at the International Space Station and is on track for its inaugural mission: to host an on-orbit cybersecurity challenge during Hack-A-Sat 4 finals, making it the first on-orbit Capture the Flag, or CTF, hacking competition. It took four years, but "this year, we are in space for real," said Steve C
On the wing-lets of innovation with NASA Armstrong
Friday, 21 July 2023 10:56Forty-four years ago this July, NASA began testing a technology that would become one of the agency's most visible and beneficial contributions to commercial aviation - winglets, the upturned ends of airplane wings. Inspired by the way birds curl their wingtip feathers upward, this innovation was developed by NASA's Langley Research Center in Langley, Virginia. After testing this design in
Climate and land use shifts alter Africa's Sudano-Sahelian dryland regions
Friday, 21 July 2023 10:56A comprehensive understanding of the long-term vegetation dynamics and their potential influences in the Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa is pivotal in progressing sustainable management of these delicate dryland ecosystems. These trends and changes, particularly those not attributable to rainfall, need a more in-depth examination to decode the role of non-climatic factors like land use and land
NASA emphasizes climate science role amid fiscal and partisan challenges
Friday, 21 July 2023 10:56In a summer of extreme weather events, NASA is emphasizing its role in studying the climate, efforts that face both fiscal headwinds and partisan divides.
Earth from Space: New York
Friday, 21 July 2023 07:00NASA moving into next phase of exploration architecture review
Friday, 21 July 2023 01:18Three months after rolling out the first phase of its architecture for human exploration of the moon and Mars, NASA is heading into a second phase that will focus on Mars.
Space Force using Anduril software to integrate U.S. space surveillance sensors
Thursday, 20 July 2023 18:02The Space Force is using a software platform developed by Anduril Industries to integrate data from a decades-old network of space surveillance sensors.
Thermal data startup constellr raises 17 million euros
Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:56Thermal satellite data startup constellr raised 17 million euros ($18.93) in an extension of the German company’s seed funding round.
First contact with aliens could end in colonization and genocide if we don't learn from history
Thursday, 20 July 2023 14:00We're only halfway through 2023, and it feels already like the year of alien contact.
In February, President Joe Biden gave orders to shoot down three unidentified aerial phenomena—NASA's title for UFOs. Then, the alleged leaked footage from a Navy pilot of a UFO, and then news of a whistleblower's report on a possible U.S. government cover-up about UFO research. Most recently, an independent analysis published in June suggests that UFOs might have been collected by a clandestine agency of the U.S. government.
If any actual evidence of extraterrestrial life emerges, whether from whistleblower testimony or an admission of a cover-up, humans would face a historic paradigm shift.
As members of an Indigenous studies working group who were asked to lend our disciplinary expertise to a workshop affiliated with the Berkeley SETI Research Center, we have studied centuries of culture contacts and their outcomes from around the globe. Our collaborative preparations for the workshop drew from transdisciplinary research in Australia, New Zealand, Africa and across the Americas.
In its final form, our group statement illustrated the need for diverse perspectives on the ethics of listening for alien life and a broadening of what defines "intelligence" and "life.
Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos
Thursday, 20 July 2023 13:00Astronomers taking advantage of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s extraordinary sensitivity have discovered a swarm of boulders that were possibly shaken off the asteroid Dimorphos when NASA deliberately slammed the half-tonne DART impactor spacecraft into Dimorphos at approximately 22 500 km per hour. DART intentionally impacted Dimorphos on 26 September 2022, slightly changing the trajectory of its orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos.
3D-printed bend-based mechanism
Thursday, 20 July 2023 12:50Satellites map aftermath of Emilia-Romagna floods
Thursday, 20 July 2023 11:55The Italian region of Emilia-Romagna was devastated by severe floods in May 2023, claiming lives and displacing thousands of people, resulting in an estimated €8.8 billion in damages. With the region still grappling with the aftermath, satellites have been instrumental in assessing the damages of the affected areas.