12 July 2017
MODIS satellite confirms massive ice shelf rift
NASA’s Aqua MODIS satellite instrument has confirmed that an iceberg... Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, which scan the entire Earth's surface every one to two days and sometime ...
March 2015
JAXA’s challenge to climate change
...difficult to distinguish from the stars. So began the magnificent launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite. The US ambassador to Japan, Ms. Caroline Kennedy, made a special statement before the press, saying that her father...
October 2017
Saving geostationary orbit
... so providing a convenient location from which to relay telephone communications). The first truly geostationary (geosynchronous equatorial orbit) satellite, Syncom 3, was not launched until 1964, but this prime orbital real-estate was soon exploited...
April 2018
Transforming the launch market for small spacecraft
...is OneWeb, a company that has contracted with Arianespace to launch a mega-constellation of almost 700 small satellites. The bulk of these satellites are planned to launch as rideshare on the large and well-established Soyuz launch vehicle, for which...
November 2018
Purpose, promise and power – video from space
...and high definition (HD) video capability at VHR (1 m or better) spatial resolution. Planet already has a number of its SkySat satellites in space, providing black and white (panchromatic channel) video capability with VHR. However, colour images and...
April 2019
Space launch industry analysis
... stages). It is not just spacecraft operators and manufacturers that have an interest in launch vehicles that deliver their satellites safely and correctly; financiers usually make insurance a prerequisite for their financing deals. While the planned...
