Space Debris

Home News Spaceflight China has sent a new Earth-observing satellite into space. A Long March 2D rocket carrying the Yunhai-1 03 satellite lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Tuesday (Sept. 20) at 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT; 7:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Sept.…

Since the dawn of the space age 65 years ago, spent rocket stages, derelict satellites and other orbital flotsam have steadily accumulated around Earth, where they can pose grave dangers to astronauts and uncrewed spacecraft alike. Today, with thousands of satellites now in orbit and tens of thousands more slated…

Planetary scientists have been racing to establish the origin of a bright fireball seen over parts of the UK on 14 September – the evidence now points to it being a meteor rather than re-entering space debris Space 16 September 2022 By Will Gater The fireball seen over parts of…

A fireball making a bright and shiny descent to Earth was caught on video as it fell over the skies of Scotland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday. The UK Meteor Network, a United Kingdom-based group featuring 170 cameras that aim to record potential meteors and fireballs, reported the sighting of…

Meta dissolves its Responsible Innovation Team, the FCC wants to reduce space debris by decommissioning specific satellites, and Garmin reacts to the Apple Watch Ultra with a battery claim.  That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Monday, September 12, and I’m your host,…

Home News Spaceflight This NASA graphic depicts the amount of space junk orbiting Earth. The debris field is based on data from NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office. Image released on May 1, 2013. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/JSC) New research points to increasing pollution in the upper atmosphere…

Home News Spaceflight A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with the rising sun to carry 53 Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida on May 18, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX) It's time to modernize the fight against space junk, U.S. regulators say. The…

by Jason Rainbow — August 11, 2022 Debris-removal startup Astroscale's exhibition booth at Small Satellite Conference 2022 in Logan, Utah. LOGAN, Utah — An inquiry into updating rules around space debris and emerging on-orbit services seeks to position the U.S. as a leader in an emerging space economy. The Federal…

Home News Spaceflight A Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites blasted off on July 17, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX) SpaceX's Starlink constellation faced a Russian space debris "squall" on Aug. 6, according to a media report. SpaceX satellites in the Starlink constellation came close to debris generated by a Russian…

As close calls between satellites and debris in orbit become more frequent, the U.S. government is signaling that it's time to take the threats posed by space junk seriously. Why it matters: There are thousands of pieces of space junk circling the Earth at more than 17,000 miles per hour,…