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Category: satellites – Page 198

This Two-in-One Satellite Will Bring Us One Step Closer to Asteroid Mining

Lonestar developed by Texas A&M is a possible tool that prospectors can utilize to locate mining opportunities on asteroids.

Astronauts fired this small, rectangular hunk from the International Space Station today. The payload will separate into two autonomous satellites as part of a research program to take us one tiny step closer towards making asteroid mining a reality.

If we ever want to mine asteroids, we’re going to need to step up our game for multiple satellites sharing data and working together. A pair of Texan universities are working together on a four-mission sequence to create a pair of robots that can autonomously rendezvous and dock in space. The project is called Low Earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking — or Lonestar if you ignore the D.

This Two-in-One Satellite Will Bring Us One Step Closer to Asteroid Mining

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Space elevators will become feasible

The material to create space elevators will be developed by 2030, enabling a new golden age of space travel, according to a study published in the journal New Space.

“The material needed to have a 100,000 km rope will become real before 2030 and enable the creation of this low-cost access to space,” wrote Cathy W Swan, of SouthWest Analytic Network, Peter A Swan and John M Knapman, of the International Space Elevator Consortium, and David I Raitt, retired from the European Space Agency.

A space elevator would make launching people, satellites and craft into geostationary orbit dramatically cheaper than at present, with the researchers estimating it would drop from the current prices of $25,000 per kg for commercial launches and $40,000 per kg for governmental launches to $100 per kg for materials.

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Sun Still Capable Of Monstrous Super-Flares, Say Astronomers

The Sun is still active enough to generate high-energy super X-class flares, according to new multi-spectral analyses of other nearby sun-like stars being presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Florida.

Satellite-destroying X-flares from our own Sun are likely to occur only once every 250 to 350 years, but they could still have catastrophic effects on satellites, astronauts, and power grids, Edward Guinan, a Villanova University astronomer and the research lead, told me from Orlando.

“For the present Sun, statistically, we estimate about one X100 solar flare once per 300 years and a flare ten times larger as [happening] once every 18,000 years,” said Guinan.

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SpaceX Finally Manages to Land an Orbital Rocket Back on Earth

Right on schedule, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster made a beautiful soft landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station moments ago. It’s a huge moment in the history of spaceflight, marking the first time a rocket has ascended into orbit and landed back on Earth.

The prospects for the reusable rocket system SpaceX has been chasing for over a year are that much better.

At 8:29 pm ET, SpaceX launched its upgraded, Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of 11 Orbcomm communication satellites into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Minutes later, the second stage separated from the first and continued to propel its payload into higher orbit.

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Iceye — Global monitoring, when it matters

The ICEYE system is unique because we do not rely on traditional optical imaging technology. Unlike camera technology, our radar is not limited by the same requirements – it’s capable of viewing through cloud cover, bad weather, and darkness, providing unlimited access wherever it’s needed.

The timeliness of the imaging service is always limited by the speed of access to the target site. We’ve applied miniaturization and industrial manufacturing to the field of radar imaging. This allows us to launch not just one, but tens of satellites and ultimately reduce the response times from days to minutes.

“We believe this breakthrough in earth imaging is going to have a real positive impact on the world.”

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SpaceX Changes Its Falcon 9 Rocket Return-to-Flight Plans — By Peter B. de Selding | SPACE.com

“SpaceX on Oct. 16 said it had changed its Falcon 9 return-to-flight plans and would first launch 11 small Orbcomm messaging satellites into low Earth orbit, and then test reignition of the rocket’s redesigned second-stage engine during the same flight before launching SES’s heavier telecommunications satellite into higher orbit, a mission that will need the reignition capability”

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