Tag: satellites
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Tethers Unlimited lifts the curtain on mesh networking system for small satellites
An artist’s conception visualizes the connections between small satellites using the SWIFT-LINQ system. (Tethers Unlimited Illustration) Bothell, Wash.-based Tethers Unlimited says it’s delivered a new type of mesh networking system designed to connect small satellites in orbit to a confidential customer. The system, called SWIFT-LINQ, is a software app that runs on the company’s SWIFT…
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More sparks in the sky: SpaceX launches its fourth batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites
SpaceX launched its fourth batch of 60 Starlink satellites today, boosting its constellation to a world-record 240 satellites and bringing the company closer to starting up its global broadband internet service. After delaying liftoff for several days due to weather concerns, SpaceX went ahead with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral…
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Tethers Unlimited says ‘Terminator Tape’ is speeding up a satellite’s descent as intended
An artist’s conception shows Tethers Unlimited’s Terminator Tape system deployed from a satellite in low Earth orbit. (Tethers Unlimited Illustration) Bothell, Wash.-based Tethers Unlimited says “Terminator Tape,” an experimental tether-based system designed to drag satellites down from orbit, is working the way it’s supposed to. The notebook-sized Terminator Tape system has been placed on several…
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Apple is reportedly working on a secret satellite communications project
An artist’s conception shows a constellation of satellites in orbit. (OneWeb Illustration) Apple has joined SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon and other companies in targeting the market for satellite internet services, Bloomberg News reported today. Bloomberg quoted unidentified people familiar with the work as saying that the California-based company has a secret team working on technologies that…
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SpaceX launches a double-duty telecom satellite and doubles down on rocket reusability
SpaceX sent a dual-payload telecommunications satellite to orbit today, recovered the Falcon 9 rocket’s first-stage booster at sea, and narrowly missed catching the rocket’s nose cone components as they fell. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida came at 7:10 p.m. ET (4:10 p.m. PT) at the end of a trouble-free countdown. A…
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Rocket Lab’s Virginia launch pad opens for business, with Air Force as first customer
With Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck at center, dignitaries gather at Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Wallops Island. (NASA Wallops Photo) Rocket Lab today celebrated the opening of a launch complex on the Virginia coast, half a world away from its first launch pad in New Zealand. The California-based company’s…
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Satellite mega-constellations stir a debate over avoiding catastrophic orbital crashes
An image of the NGC 5353/4 galaxy group, made with a telescope at Arizona’s Lowell Observatory on May 25, shows the trails of reflected light left by SpaceX’s freshly launched Starlink satellites as they pass through the telescope’s field of view. The brightness diminishes once the satellites reach their intended altitude. (Lowell Observatory Photo via…
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How the Seattle area became a hotspot for satellite builders — and what comes next
SpaceX employees in Redmond, Wash., give a cheer during the countdown to a Falcon 9 rocket launch that put dozens of Redmond-built SpaceX Starlink satellites in orbit on Nov. 11. (SpaceX via YouTube) Seattle may not be the best place to put a launch pad, but the region is turning into one of the most…
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Nanoracks aims to test habitat-building method during SpaceX satellite mission
An artist’s conception shows the deployment of hardware that would deploy a set of nanosatellites and then demonstrate a robotic metal-cutting technique for in-space habitat construction. (Nanoracks Illustration) Nanoracks says it’ll put a metal-cutting robot to work in orbit next year as part of a satellite deployment mission, marking the first in-space test of a…
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SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink internet satellites — and hits reusability milestones
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its launch pad, sending 60 satellites into orbit. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX sent its second set of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit today, atop a Falcon 9 rocket that featured the fourth go-round for the first-stage booster and the first reuse of a nose cone. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral…