#satellites

Amazing satellite trail composite image https://bsky.app/profile/ali.river.geek.nz.ap.brid.gy/post/3mxyabrdbbp62 #Satellites #Photography

“Despite a flood of objections, the FCC has approved a startup's plan to launch a controversial satellite that’ll use a giant mirror to reflect sunlight to Earth after dark. On Thursday, the FCC granted California-based Reflect Orbital permission to launch and operate the satellite in low-Earth orbit using the requested radio spectrum. The reflected light from the satellite is supposed to span an area about 3 miles wide on the ground. The approval is only for one satellite, dubbed Earendil-1, which is meant to test Reflect Orbital’s technology for shining sunlight back to Earth. The satellite will boast a steerable thin-film reflector measuring about 60 feet by 60 feet, with the goal of powering solar farms at night or illuminating disaster-struck areas after dark to help rescue teams. Reflect Orbital envisions operating over 50,000 satellites by 2035, effectively surrounding the Earth with a fleet of mirrors.“ https://ca.pcmag.com/networking/16760/fcc-approves-reflect-orbitals-giant-mirror-satellite-that-astronomers-hate #USA #FCC #Satellites #ReflectOrbital

Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 years https://phys.org/news/2026-09-satellites-earth-lost-trillion-tons.html #Antarctica #Greenland #environment #satellites

#satellites #raumfahrt # Was für eine absurde Idee! 50.000 #Satelliten sollen in den #Orbit geschossen werden, um die Nachtseite aufzuhellen. "Sonnenlicht soll Nacht erhellen"

Scientists Warn of Emissions Risks from the Surge in #Satellites With hundreds of satellites launched each year and tens of thousands more planned, scientists are increasingly concerned about an emerging problem: emissions from the fuels burned in launches and from the pollutants released when satellites and rocket stages flame out on reentry. By Jon Gertner • December 2, 2025 Excerpt: "More recently, however, scientists have become alarmed by two other potential problems: the emissions from #RocketFuels, and the emissions from satellites and #RocketStages that mostly ablate (that is, burn up) on reentry. 'Both of these processes are producing #pollutants that are being injected into just about every layer of the atmosphere,' explains Eloise Marais, an atmospheric scientist at University College London, who compiles emissions data on launches and reentries. "As Marais told me, it’s crucial to understand that #Starlink ’s satellites, as well as those of other commercial ventures, don’t stay up indefinitely. With a lifetime usefulness of about five years, they are regularly deorbited and replaced by others. The new satellite business thus has a cyclical quality: launch; deploy; deorbit; destroy. And then repeat. "The cycle suggests we are using Earth’s mesosphere and stratosphere — the layers above the surface-hugging troposphere — as an incinerator dump for space machinery. Or as Jonathan MacDowell puts it: 'We are now in this regime where we are doing something new to the atmosphere that hasn’t been done before.' MacDowell and some of his colleagues seem to agree that we don’t yet understand how — or how much — the reentries and launches will alter the air. As a result, we’re unsure what the impacts may be to Earth’s weather, climate, and (ultimately) its inhabitants." https://e360.yale.edu/features/satellite-emissions #SpaceDebris #SpacePollution #SpaceJunk #SpaceX

Ummm... There's already a problem with pollution from #SpaceDebris on #Earth. Let's not add to it, eh? #YorkSpaceSystems introduces new spacecraft platform built for #VeryLowEarthOrbit #VLEO Munis Raza Thu, September 3, 2026 "York Space Systems has introduced a new spacecraft platform purpose-built for Very Low Earth Orbit. The company describes VLEO as one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry. The Denver-based firm calls the design LX/V-CLASS, adapted from its existing S-CLASS and LX-CLASS product lines rather than developed entirely from scratch. "Customers use a spacecraft platform as the underlying structure and subsystems onto which they integrate their own mission-specific payload, such as sensors or communications equipment. York says LX/V-CLASS extends that same approach into VLEO, broadening the range of missions the company can support for both commercial and government customers. "Very Low Earth Orbit sits at altitudes low enough that atmospheric drag naturally clears debris from the surrounding environment. That differs from higher orbits, where defunct hardware can linger for years. That same drag creates real engineering challenges. Spacecraft flying there must actively maintain their orbit and attitude far more aggressively than they would elsewhere." Read more: https://tech.yahoo.com/science/articles/york-space-systems-introduces-spacecraft-101300072.html #SpaceDebris #Satellites #SpacePollution #HeavyMetals #LithiumPollution

First ping from K8KK. Tied physical rigs and a headless Linux box into an autonomous browser console. Tracking live SGP4 Doppler passes on amateur birds, monitoring grayline absorption, and watching for solar flares while Artemis works toward the Moon. Antenna in the air, transceivers grounded, coffee hot. Current spectrum & passbands: https://k8kk.fyi #hamradio #satellites #Artemis #SDR #Linux #RF #introduction

"Four environmental organizations filed a petition Thursday asking the Federal Communications Commission to reverse approval of a startup’s plan to beam on-demand sunlight from #space to Earth, arguing the agency ignored the project’s potential impacts on wildlife, astronomy research and eye safety." https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/environmental-groups-challenge-fcc-approval-startups-plan-beam-demand-rcna591041 #Satellites #SpacePolicy #ReflectOrbital #SunlightAsAService #FCC

“ #SpaceX’s #Starlink orbital internet #satellites are falling out of low Earth orbit at an increasingly alarming rate, with one to two satellites now reentering Earth’s atmosphere every single day.”

#Amazon is asking the #FCC to approve 5,105 massive new #satellites while hiding their orbital debris risk models behind a wall of corporate secrecy. The public deserves full transparency, because a safe and sustainable space environment belongs to all of us — not just to the highest bidder. https://spacenews.com/amazon-files-application-for-direct-to-device-satellite-constellation/ #Space #SpaceDebris #SpacePolicy

"The U.S. Federal Communications Commission can single-handedly green-light massive spaceflight projects that could completely change the view of the night sky for the entire world. Despite the outcry these projects have caused, space law experts say there is very little other nations and the international community can do to thwart them if the FCC were to grant them licenses." https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/private-companies-could-ruin-the-night-sky-for-the-entire-world-and-international-law-cant-stop-them #Space #SpacePolicy #SpaceLaw #Satellites

Sentinels in the Sky: How Satellites Have Revolutionized Our Understanding of Earth and Space by James Lawrence Powell, 2026 Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, satellites have become the silent sentinels of our planet and the cosmos. Orbiting high above, they have changed the way we live, the way we think, and most profoundly, the way we see. #books#nonfiction#satellites

🚀 Ah, the noble quest to understand how #satellites take a fiery plunge back to Earth. Meanwhile, the only thing crashing here is the #server hosting the article 😅. Forbidden? More like #forbidden #knowledge, because the details are as elusive as a #WiFi signal in a lead box 📡. https://spectrum.ieee.org/space-debris-atmosphere-burn-up #technology #space #exploration #crash #HackerNews #ngated

Friend and/or Foe - can both be true at the same time? Investigative journalists in Europe suggest China and Russia have been discussing ways and means to blunt StarLink. Reporting indicates China presented a 3-tier plan to the Russians > 1) diplomatic pressure, 2) electronic jamming cyberattacks, and 3) physical destruction of StarLink satellites. Media reports in China suggest the country has built a ground-based microwave weapon capable of targeting satellites in low earth orbits. This could present quite a sticky wicket for E. Musk and Tesla in particular. Tesla, relies heavily on China as a manufacturing base, and is a huge sales market, not to mention is a key part of Tesla's battery supply chain. Combine all that with the U.S. Gov's velvet glove approach to China (not to mention Russia) makes for an interesting situation. https://www.techradar.com/pro/china-and-russia-have-a-secret-no-limit-pact-to-eliminate-elon-musks-starlink-at-all-cost-researchers-claim #StarLink #Tesla #China #Russia #Jamming #CyberWarfare #PhysicalWarfare #CyberAttack #Satellites #LEO #Space #USGov

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116893541666491703 I won't comment on how incredibly stupid the FCC's justifications for approving this disaster are; as a European, I'll say that satellite launches have global consequences and should be regulated by a global body and be under the jurisdiction of international courts. The sky is not US private property. Also, Reflect Orbital just managed to be even more disgusting than they already were, by trying to speculate on the earthquake in Venezuela. #LightPollution #satellites #space #techbros #environment

💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: ☄️🌍 A mapping project shared at the University of #Padua shows when and where billions of people can see #asteroid #Apophis during its safe 2029 flyby. Scientists calculated that the #space rock will be bright enough for naked eye viewing across #Europe, #Africa, and #Asia, and it will pass closer to our #planet than many #weather #satellites. 👉 https://www.livescience.com/space/asteroids/shared-cosmic-experience-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-apophis-could-be-visible-to-90-percent-of-earths-population-during-ultraclose-2029-flyby-new-maps-reveal #astronomy #science #maps #nasa #earth

~"The full complement of #satellites... could collectively make the global night sky 3 to 4 times brighter than it is today... Even the planet’s darkest skies could become about as bright as the heavens above a suburban town..." #US approval of giant ‘space mirror’ satellite alarms astronomers ~ ~"A controversial new ruling from #FCC leaves no one responsible for regulating #LightPollution & other ill effects from skyrocketing numbers of satellites" #USA #astronomy --

"In Genesis, God said, 'Let there be light,' and then saw that 'the light was good.' Later this year, a satellite company called Reflect Orbital will attempt a similar miracle of illumination. Will it deliver too much of a good thing?" https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/goodbye-darkness-my-old-friend-5e54cdbf #Space #Satellites #SunlightAsAService

"Telescopes for amateur astronomers already come with a warning to avoid looking at the Sun. Now they will need another one for Reflect Orbital satellites." (via @skyandtelescope@bird.makeup) https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observers-beware-reflect-orbitals-space-mirrors-approved-for-launch/ #Satellites #SpaceEnvironment #SunlightAsAService #Astronomy