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Phobos-Grunt was the chosen one. It was said that it would bring an end to Russia's Martian curse, not extend it. But now, Russia's once-promising spacecraft — the country's first bid at interplanetary exploration in 15 years — is coming home earlier than planned. More »
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If you've already got the white cat, the diamond-powered laser, and the army of henchpersons, all you need to complete your villainous lifestyle is a satellite tracking station to call home. The Jamesburg Earth Station could be yours for just under $3 million. More »
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An upcoming Congressional report suggests that NASA satellites have been hacked four times in recent years, possibly by people involved with the Chinese military. NASA isn't confirming all of that - but they do admit "suspicious events" have occurred. More »
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It's decently likely that, sometime in the future, a major solar storm will hit Earth, wreaking havoc on our infrastructure and crippling our satellites. But there's a more long-term danger: space could become too dangerously radioactive to stay there. More »
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Well this is exciting: NASA's 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will be re-entering Earth's atmosphere in what NASA has described as "an uncontrolled fall" — but precisely when and where the satellite will re-enter remains a mystery. More »
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A satellite equipped with infrared cameras led to an amazing discovery: archeologists were able to see, for the first time, some of Egypt's long-buried pyramids. Find out how infrared scanning revealed over 3,000 ancient structures deep underneath the sand. More »
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Earth is surrounded by two huge regions of charged particles like protons and electrons, and these areas are known as the Van Allen radiation belts. These belts can mysteriously change their intensity, posing a threat to astronauts and sensitive electronics. More »
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Saturn's moon Iapetus has a gigantic ridge running along its equator that's twice the height of Mount Everest and covers 75% of the moon's equator. And its existence points to something stranger still: Iapetus once had its very own moon. More »
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You've probably seen the horrifying pictures of the 20 million victims of Pakistan's unprecedented flooding of the Indus River. But this false-color image from NASA's Terra satellite really drives home the extent of the devastation wrought by rising water levels. More »
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While one could spend hours gazing up at the endless variations of clouds, satellite imagery has revealed that looking down on them can be even more astonishing. More »
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Galaxy 15, a communications satellite 22,400 miles above the planet, refuses to obey commands sent from Earth. And it's getting perilously close to other satellites — potentially "infecting" them as well. More »
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Today is the anniversary of the launch of the world's first non-governmental satellite, OSCAR (Orbiting Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio) 1. Built for $63 by amateur radio operators, it lasted almost 20 days in orbit and delighted hams worldwide. [Smithsonian] More »
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For those who felt that Virgin Galactic's plan of passenger spaceflight fell down due to the lack of provision for satellites, relief is at hand: The company has announced that they will be adding private satellite launches to their offerings. More »
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Early yesterday morning, NASA launched the Orbital Carbon Observatory in a long anticipated mission to aid our understanding of climate change, only to have the rocket crash to earth, shortly after launch. More »
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Popular Science posted this amazing satellite image of Barack Obama's inauguration, two million people captured in amazing crispness by commercial satellite GeoEye-1. There's another fantastic pic at the link. [PopSci] More »
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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite just shot this image of rippling, evenly-spaced steps leading down into four craters in the Arabia Terra region of Mars. What causes such regularity in the shapes of these rocks? More »
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As if rampant piles of orbiting junk weren't enough, humans have now given outer space another of our finest creations: a lawyer. Obligatory lawyer joke aside, law student Michael Dodge graduated this weekend from the University of Mississippi with the first-ever (at least in the US) certificate in space law. And not a moment too soon. With all the hubbub surrounding weaponization of space, and an emerging industry of privatized space interests on the horizon, there's sure to be plenty of casework for Dodge and anyone who happens to follow in his footsteps. More »
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Peter Minton is a California teacher who loves to make vector maps in his spare time. His favorite places to map are islands and coastlines, and so when the Cassini-Huygens probe sent back images from Saturn's moon Titan he was happy to discover the geographical features he loves most. There, on the pole of Titan, was a sea full of islands. An unnamed methane sea, but still mappable using vectoring software. This is the map he created, with longitude and latitude lines. More »
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It looks like the U.S. Navy was able to pull off a real-life game of missile command last night, and successfully shot down our ailing superspy satellite while everyone was busy gawping at the lunar eclipse. Hey, that's exactly how the script for the failed reboot of Buck Rogers began... does that mean we just sent a frozen astronaut into deep orbit somewhere? Strangely, the military lackey in this video doesn't address that issue. More »
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Long before there was Armageddon or Deep Impact, or even the fear of our own falling spy satellites, there was Meteor. Sean Connery goes into full science mode as he tries to stop a huge meteor named Orpheus from crashing into the Earth. The good news: he's partially successful. The bad news: Oops, sorry about that Hong Kong and New York. The opening scene, where astronauts watch the cosmic ballet of a comet striking an asteroid just before it obliterates them and their ship, is worth the price of admission alone. More »
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Early this morning Iran launched its first rocket into space. It was part of a test of a satellite launcher that will soon send Iran's first satellite into space sometime next year. You can hear a countdown and see the rocket zooming up into the sky in this clip from local TV. In an odd homage to the U.S. space program of yore, the launcher is named Kavoshgar-1, which means Explorer-1, the name of the first U.S. satellite. Iranian authorities say the country's space program is for peaceful, scientific endeavors. Char, Se, Doe, Yek BLAST OFF [Knight Science Journalism News Tracker] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=352423&view=rss&microfeed=true A bus-sized spy satellite, made by and for the U.S., has lost power and will crash down on Earth as early as February. Apparently, nobody knows if the satellite has been dead for a year or just a few days. (Great going, intelligence geeks.) The best part? According to AP, the only comment the National Security Council would make came from a flak who said, "Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation." Most experts agree the debris from the satellite will be minimal — far less than the space shuttle crash, and certainly less than what smashed into the Indian Ocean when the 78-ton abandoned space station Skylab smash-landed in 1979. (Thanks, Morgan!) [AP] More »
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So Cloverfield came and shed the "is it just internet buzz?" curse of Snakes on a Plane this weekend by chewing up over $41 million bucks at the box office, and that's not including the bonus holiday Monday take. Although the film has been out only three days, there's already more monster-sized rumormongering going on. Consider this your spoiler warning, dorkaholics! More »
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A communications satellite called the Thuraya-3 launched yesterday afternoon from Boeing's Sea Launch, a massive ocean vessel. Various laws of physics dictate that the best place to launch a heavy payload like a satellite is on the equator, and that's why the United Arab Emirates company Thuraya paid to use the Sea Launch pad you see here. Sea Launch is a popular rocket launch facility because two of its gigantic boat components can quickly zoom out into the middle of the Pacific — it was where Thuraya-1 and Thuraya-2 launched too. We've got a giant, beautiful picture of the Thuraya-2 blasting off four years ago below the fold. More »
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A few days ago, this Ariane rocket blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana. Its payload included a telecom satellite for Africa, which is now sailing serenely overhead. Image by Jody Amiet, AFP/Getty Images. More »
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