All articles tagged with #satellite
SpaceX says Starlink satellite 34343 suffered an on-orbit anomaly on March 29 at about 560 km (348 miles) altitude and is no longer in one piece; LeoLabs detected a fragment-creation event. SpaceX will monitor debris and pursue a root-cause fix, with no expected risk to the International Space Station, Artemis II, or Transporter-16.
NASA and CNES’s SWOT satellite uses gravity-driven sea-surface height data to map the seafloor, enabling detection of smaller features like seamounts and abyssal hills and potentially expanding the catalog from about 44,000 to up to 100,000. The effort aims to map the entire ocean floor by 2030, complementing ship-based sonar with near-global coverage every 21 days.
Samsung has published a list of satellite-ready apps that can work on Galaxy devices even without cellular coverage, enabled through carrier partnerships in Europe, Japan, and North America. Galaxy S22+ and newer models generally support direct satellite connectivity (with some markets also supporting select Galaxy A series), and service varies by country. Current satellite-ready apps include Find My Mobile, Google Maps, Google Play Services, WhatsApp, Samsung Account, Samsung Health, Weather, and X (Twitter), among others.
An aging NASA satellite, Van Allen Probe A, reentered Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled event over the Pacific after fuel depletion; most of the 600-kg spacecraft is expected to burn up, with NASA estimating a 1-in-4,200 chance of bodily harm on the ground. Its twin, Van Allen Probe B, remains in orbit and is not expected to reenter before 2030. Launched in 2012 to study the Van Allen radiation belts, the probes ceased operation after fuel ran out in 2019.
Decades of satellite observations show Earth's vegetation forms a moving balance point across continents and seasons, with the global center of greenery migrating northeast as climate change and higher CO2 reshape growing conditions. The shift is dominated by Northern Hemisphere vegetation, has accelerated since 2010, and is linked to longer growing seasons and land management in reliable water regions, while drought and heat can still slow growth. Researchers suggest tracking this moving center could help explain planetary vegetation patterns and improve climate and land-use models.
Satellite data show the Taftan volcano in southeastern Iran rising about 9 cm (3.5 inches) over 10 months, signaling pressure building in a shallow hydrothermal system near the summit rather than a magma-driven eruption. Researchers say the uplift, detected by InSAR from Sentinel-1, warrants ongoing monitoring (gas emissions, seismometers, GPS) and hazard planning, since phreatic blasts could occur even without lava flows.
Bell Labs, AT&T's research arm, helped forge modern technology through breakthroughs like information theory, the transistor, satellite communications (Telstar), and early cellular/mobile tech, shaping the devices and networks that power today’s smartphones, the internet, and AI hardware.
NOAA satellite captured an 80-mile-long crack in the ice covering Lake Erie, stretching from Port Burwell, Ontario, to near Cleveland, as the lake remains about 95.4% ice-covered, showing how moving water and winds keep shaping the frozen lake even at near-maximum freeze.
Germany is planning a satellite-based missile-detection system to reduce its reliance on the United States for defense and intelligence, signaling a push toward greater strategic autonomy.
ESA’s Biomass, a P-band radar satellite launched in 2025, has completed commissioning and now offers free, public access to its data to map forest structure and carbon storage. The mission begins with an 18-month global tomographic coverage, followed by multiple nine-month interferometric coverages to monitor forest change over time, with an airborne calibration campaign in Gabon aiding data validation and calibration. The effort aims to reduce uncertainties in global forest carbon stocks and support climate science and forest management.
As Winter Storm Fern looms, T-Mobile activated free Starlink satellite text messaging for customers in potentially impacted areas with compatible phones, enabling basic texting and Wireless Emergency Alerts when cell towers fail; existing T-Satellite customers keep service, and the provider suggests the feature is text-only to avoid network strain.
A new ultra-high-resolution map of Antarctica’s bedrock beneath the ice combines satellite data and glacial-flow models to reveal a surprisingly varied subglacial landscape—from alpine valleys to eroded ice-stream troughs. Published in Science by Helen Ockenden and colleagues, the map refines projections of ice loss and sea-level rise beyond earlier radar surveys. The work highlights the importance of space-based data for understanding Antarctica, with a caveat that removing ice weight would cause the land to rebound."
A NASA satellite, SWOT, captured high-resolution data of a complex tsunami triggered by a 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, revealing intricate wave interactions that challenge traditional models and could improve future tsunami predictions.
NASA and French satellite SWOT captured high-resolution images of a Pacific tsunami caused by a 2025 earthquake, revealing complex wave patterns and challenging traditional models that treat large tsunamis as non-dispersive. The data suggest that dispersion plays a significant role in tsunami behavior, which could improve future forecasting and hazard assessment by integrating satellite, buoy, seismic, and geodetic data. This breakthrough highlights the need to update tsunami models to account for wave dispersion and internal structure.
NASA's SWOT satellite captured detailed images of a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in 2025, providing new insights into tsunami formation and potential for improved early warning systems.