Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: satellites

Engineers develop AI system to speed satellite tracking of wildfires

A new artificial intelligence system developed by West Virginia University engineers could help firefighters respond to wildfires sooner by enabling satellites to detect blazes and automatically adjust their positions for continued monitoring.

Unlike drones and ground-based sensors, satellites can monitor vast areas of the planet without requiring local infrastructure or routine maintenance. WVU researchers Brycen Pearl, Joshua Warner and Hang Woon Lee developed a framework that allows satellites not only to detect wildfires but also to coordinate with one another and adjust their observation schedules as fires spread.

“Wildfires move quickly—as fast as 15–20 mph (24–32 km/h) under the right conditions—and major wildfires can cover hundreds of thousands of acres,” according to Lee, director of the WVU Space Systems Operations Research Laboratory and assistant professor at the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

NASA selects four new Moon missions to build a permanent lunar base

NASA is ramping up its lunar ambitions by awarding nearly $600 million for four commercial Moon landings planned for late 2028. Each mission will carry the same trio of science instruments to improve lunar navigation, study dangerous dust kicked up during landings, and map the Moon's radiation environment. The agency also revealed plans for new rovers, communication satellites, and additional cargo missions as it lays the groundwork for a permanent Moon Base.

China takes a page from SpaceX and recaptures the first stage of a rocket to reuse it

China successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket after a launch on Friday in a breakthrough for the country’s space program, state media said.

The first stage of a Long March-10B rocket separated from the second stage after liftoff and returned to a platform in the sea, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It was the first time China recovered the first stage of a rocket. America’s SpaceX has been doing so for several years to drive down launch costs by reusing the booster that helps lift the satellites or whatever the rocket is carrying into space.

FCC approves first Reflect Orbital satellite

TOKYO — The Federal Communications Commission has given its approval for a satellite that will test the ability to reflect sunlight into nighttime regions, a project sharply criticized by astronomers and environmentalists.

The FCC on July 9 formally authorized the launch of Eärendil-1, a satellite developed by Reflect Orbital that will deploy a thin-film reflector 18 meters on a side in low Earth orbit, reflecting sunlight to the ground.

The 142-kilogram spacecraft is scheduled to launch later this year into an orbit 600 to 650 kilometers in altitude, where it will deploy the reflector. The company plans to use the spacecraft to test its ability to direct reflected sunlight to specific areas on Earth for several minutes at a time.

Earth observation satellites pass telecom in European space industry sales

MILAN – European space industry sales rebounded in 2025 after a contraction in 2024, Eurospace reported in its latest Facts and Figures report, presented July 7. The growth is driven in large part by military acquisition of Earth observation satellites, which are now the largest revenue-producing space sector for the continent.

Satellite applications, which Eurospace defines as satellites enabling operational upstream-sector activities and applications within the EO, telecom and navigation segment, were the main area of growth, increasing 23.5% compared with 2023.

“Comparably, the launcher systems segment [which include both development activities and operational systems and parts] have not grown significantly,” Pierre Lionnet, managing director of Eurospace, said during the briefing.

Apolink makes contact with first relay satellite

TAMPA, Fla. — Apolink has made contact with its first satellite after launching on SpaceX’s July 7 rideshare mission, clearing the way for a data relay demonstration using a novel experimental license from the Federal Communications Commission.

“We’ve got a first-of-its-kind experimental license for S-band inter-satellite link operations from the FCC,” Apolink CEO Onkar Batra told SpaceNews, enabling the IPoS-TDsM cubesat to receive signals from other satellites in low Earth orbit.

The license clears the 3U cubesat to receive S-band signals from designated partner satellites on an unprotected and non-interference basis, before storing and forwarding them to approved ground stations.

Iridium folds Aireon aviation safety service into Rocket Lab-bound business

TAMPA, Fla. — Iridium Communications has completed its takeover of Aireon, bringing the aircraft-tracking venture fully in-house ahead of the satellite operator’s planned $8 billion sale to Rocket Lab.

McLean, Virginia-based Iridium said July 6 it had bought the remaining 61% of Aireon it did not already own from air navigation service providers in Canada, England, Denmark, Ireland and Italy.

Aireon, which has provided an aviation safety service since 2019 using Iridium satellites and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) signals aircraft broadcast, will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary following the $367 million deal.

/* */