Nanosatellites Provide New Opportunities for Space Science
Miniaturized satellites, known as nanosatellites or CubeSats, are small platforms that enable the next generation of scientists and engineers to complete all phases of a…
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ESA Probes the Mysterious Tumbling Death of Satellites
ESA’s Clean Space initiative is seeking to transform our understanding of how large, dead objects behave in space and is exploring why derelict satellites can…
NASA’s Fermi Dodges a Defunct Cold War Spy Satellite
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has a close call with the 3,100-pound Cosmos 1805, a defunct Cold-War spy satellite, avoiding a near collision. NASA scientists…
Sandy Island, The Island That Wasn’t There
A New Zealand researcher thinks that he has solved the riddle of a mysterious South Pacific island shown on Google Earth and world maps, but…
The Quantum Teleportation Race Goes Into Space in 2016
Three years ago, Jian-Wei Pan and his colleagues were able to quantum teleport information across 16 kilometers. This was one of the first major steps…
Satellites Could Be Used to Detect Nuclear Tests
Underground nuclear tests can be detected in the skies and as a result, global satellite networks could become a powerful tool in order to detect…
Commercial Network of Microsatellites Aims to Help Weather Prediction
Most orbiting satellites point down towards Earth, but the satellites of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology look sideways. Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) look towards…
New Theoretical Models Salvage Moon-Forming Impact Theory
One of the widest accepted models for the Moon’s formation states that a renegade, Mars-sized planet, named Theia, slammed into Earth 4.5 billion years ago,…
Effects of Drought in the U.S. are Now Visible from Space
Last year, the USA was hit with floods in the Mississippi River, caused by major storms and melting snow. More than 3,000 square miles were…
NASA PhoneSat Plans on Launching Satellites Made from COTS Components
NASA is currently basking in the success of their Curiosity mission to Mars, but if the space agency hopes to continue to lead the charge…
Mini Ion Thrusters Could Propel Small Satellites in Space
A team of MIT engineers have developed a new propulsion system that uses microscopic tips that, when stimulated with voltage, emit tiny beams of ions,…
MSG-3 Weather Satellite Captures its First Image of Earth
Launched on 5 July, the MSG-3 weather satellite used the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument to capture its first image of Earth….
NuSTAR Set to Study Some of the Most Energetic Phenomena in the Universe
NASA’s NuSTAR mission is scheduled to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean on June 13, providing researchers with sharp images of black…
Scientists Look to Space for Renewable Energy Source
Research is underway on new equipment that will allow solar power to be gathered in space and transferred back to earth through microwaves or lasers,…
Cryosat Mission Took Detailed Data of Polar Ice Caps
The ESA’s Cryosat mission has been watching the Arctic sea ice with a high degree of precision ever since it was launched in 2010 to…
Exposing 8,000 Years of Civilization with Satellites
Hidden beneath mounds of Earth, in the fertile crescent of the Middle East, lie overlooked networks of small settlements that date back millennia. Archaeologists are…
Ultra-Fast Outflows are Common Features of Black-Hole-Powered Galaxies
Researchers targeted 42 nearby active galaxies and used data from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite and NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite to show…
Metal Sphere from Orbit Hits Brazilian Town
A small town in northeastern Brazil, in the state of Maranhão, was greeted by a 110-pound metal sphere that came crashing down. Locals from Riacho…