Tag: Earth observation
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European environmental observer launched by Russian rocket
A new European satellite carrying instruments to track changes in the world’s oceans, measure receding ice sheets and chart vegetation growth climbed into orbit Wednesday on top of a Russian Rockot launcher. The successful launch added the seventh satellite to the Copernicus Earth-observing fleet, a network of environmental observatories funded by the European Union in…
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Photos: Sentinel 3B satellite prepared for launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Europe’s Sentinel 3B environmental satellite was shipped to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s far northern Arkhangelsk region in March for a month-long campaign to prepare the spacecraft for liftoff aboard a Rockot launcher. The remote military base, nestled in a forest around 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow, is Russia’s primary launch site for…
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Bill Gates, Airbus and SoftBank invest in satellite video startup that wants to help us ‘see and understand the Earth live and unfiltered’
A graphic shows the preliminary design for satellites that Airbus is manufacturing for OneWeb. EarthNow plans to use a modified version of the same platform to beam real-time video down to Earth. (C3 Creative Code and Content GmbH Photo via Airbus) The latest spinout from Intellectual Ventures, EarthNow, says it’s coming out of stealth mode…
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Rocket Lab postpones first commercial launch after issue during fueling test
Rocket Lab’s third two-stage Electron rocket on its launch pad in New Zealand last week in advance of a fueling test. Credit: Rocket Lab/Peter Beck Rocket Lab said Tuesday it will push back the first commercial launch of its light-class Electron rocket from New Zealand by a few weeks to address a problem uncovered during…
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Potential contamination not a concern for space station’s new lightning instrument
A view inside the Dragon spacecraft’s trunk, housing (clockwise from upper left) the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor, the Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility — a materials exposure experiment platform — and the Pump Flow and Control Subassembly. Credit: SpaceX Scientists working on a new lightning detection instrument mounted outside the International Space Station said Tuesday they…
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Rocket Lab preps for first commercial satellite launch
File photo of a test-firing of Rocket Lab’s Rutherford engine. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s first full-up commercial launch is set for April 19, U.S. time, from the company’s privately-operated launch base in New Zealand with three U.S.-owned satellites to collect weather data. The next Electron launch will loft two satellites owned by Spire Global…
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Three Gaofen Earth observation satellites launched by China
A Long March 4C rocket lifted off March 31 with three Gaofen 1-series Earth observation satellites. Credit: CCTV China has launched its 10th space mission of the year, deploying three civilian-operated Earth observation satellites with cameras to help monitor natural disasters, survey natural resources and assist in infrastructure planning. The Earth-imaging satellites lifted off on…
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Mysterious Russian reconnaissance satellite successfully launched
A small spacecraft built for the Russian military lifted off Thursday on top of a modified Soyuz booster, beginning a mission to reportedly test a compact Earth-imaging platform that could be used on future spy satellites. The lightweight payload rode a Soyuz 2-1v rocket into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a space base around 500…
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DigitalGlobe books two launches with SpaceX for Earth-imaging fleet
Artist’s illustration of a WorldView Legion satellite. Credit: SSL Two Falcon 9 rockets with reused first stage boosters will place the initial block of DigitalGlobe’s commercial WorldView Legion satellite fleet in orbit in 2021, the Earth-imaging company recently announced. Financial terms of DigitalGlobe’s contract with SpaceX were not disclosed in the March 14 contract release,…
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Fourth satellite in new Chinese spy fleet successfully launched
A Long March 2D rocket launched with the LKW-4 reconnaissance satellite Saturday. Credit: Xinhua China launched the fourth in a series of high-resolution Earth-imaging satellites Saturday, expanding an orbiting fleet of reconnaissance craft that likely serve the Chinese military. The LKW-4 satellite lifted off at 0710 GMT (3:10 a.m. EDT) Saturday on top of a…