Clay Dillow
at 05:00 AM Jan 31 2013
Space // 

In what might be considered a chemically-fueled middle finger aimed at its neighbors to the North, South Korea has successfully launched a rocket into space and placed a satellite into orbit, officially inaugurating itself into the global club of spacefaring nations with a satellite fielding capability. This of course follows on the heels of December's successful space launch and unsuccessful satellite deployment by North Korea, whose space program is largely viewed as a thinly-veiled ballistic missile test initiative.

Clay Dillow
at 04:00 AM Dec 14 2012
Space // 

Here's something troubling to start your afternoon: North Korea launched a new satellite into space earlier this week and now it's apparently tumbling out of control amid all the other satellites that the world relies on.

Colin Lecher
at 07:14 AM Jul 28 2012
Space // 

South Korean artist Song Ho-jun has spent years working on his very own DIY sputnik, a homemade satellite cobbled together from electronics store parts. It might be the first satellite completely built by an individual. Now, later this year, it'll launch.

Clay Dillow
at 05:02 AM Feb 16 2012
Space // 

The growing space junk problem in various orbits around the Earth gets plenty of ink these days, particularly when the ISS has to fire its thrusters to dodge a piece of a satellite, or when a defunct satellite smashes into a perfectly good, multimillion dollar piece of orbital communications hardware. Gathering up and disposing or all that fast-moving refuse makes for a difficult problem, but over at EPFL in Switzerland a team of researchers is developing a new kind of micro-sat that could help clean up low Earth orbit, starting by disposing of Switzerland's own leftover space debris.

Rebecca Boyle
at 11:00 AM Dec 8 2011
Space // 

When a satellite becomes unresponsive in orbit, there's not much to be done - engineers can try in vain to hail the spacecraft and send it instructions, or perhaps blow it up in a show of bravado. But fixing it is pretty much out of the question, especially now that the space shuttle is retired.But what if a remotely operated robot could do the job? Engineers at Johns Hopkins University have been working with a da Vinci surgical robot in a test of long-distance mechanical repair - call it satellite surgery

Kaitlin Miller
at 02:05 AM Dec 8 2011
Science // 

High-energy radiation and atomic oxygen wreak havoc on satellite parts. To evaluate the durability of materials being developed for future satellites, the US Naval Research Laboratory is running samples through a space-based torture test called MISSE-8. Astronauts bolted a platform full of 2.5 centimetre samples of mirror coatings, laser-tuning crystals, structural foam and other materials to the outside of the International Space Station, where it will remain for just over two years. The samples, which were sent to the ISS on one of the last space shuttle flights, in May, will return to Earth in July 2013 on the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Scientists from the labs that made each sample will examine them for pitting, cracks and discolouration.

Clay Dillow
at 03:06 AM Sep 23 2011
Space // 

A new satellite defence technology is about to get its first real-world test in orbit, and while we naturally don't get to know much about it just yet, the US Air Force has confirmed that a classified satellite launching sometime in the near future will carry the awkwardly named Self-Awareness Space Situational Awareness system, or SASSA. Like radar for satellites, the system will alert operators of potential space-borne threat to the satellite and perhaps even take kinetic action should a satellite become threatened.

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