Space Debris

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,…

India's small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) made a spectacular debut launch on Sunday, but the mission fell short of overall success when two satellites were inserted into the incorrect orbit, rendering them space junk. The SSLV was developed to carry payloads of up to 500kg to low Earth orbits on…

History remembers October 4, 1957, a lot better than it remembers January 4, 1958—though in recent weeks, the second date is coming to loom larger than the first. October 4, 1957, was the day the Soviet Union Launched Sputnik—the world’s first satellite—an achievement that heralded the start of the space…