Tag: Satellite

Australia developing satellite to predict bushfire danger zones

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian scientists are developing the country’s first satellite designed to predict where bushfires are likely to start, following months of devastating fires. The Australian National University said Wednesday a team is creating a “shoebox-sized” satellite that will measure forest ground cover and moisture levels using infrared detectors. It is hoped the data will help determine where bushfires are likely to start and where they may be difficult to contain. The technology […]

Continue Reading →

Two defunct satellites speed toward possible collision

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Two decommissioned satellites sped towards each other Wednesday at a combined speed of almost 33,000 miles (53,000 kilometers) an hour, raising the risk of a collision that would send thousands of pieces of debris hurtling through space. The satellites — a pioneering international space telescope and an experimental US craft traveling in opposing orbits — are expected to pass within 100 meters (yards) of each other at 2339 GMT, according […]

Continue Reading →

Europe marks 40th anniversary of first Ariane rocket launch

  by Juliette Collen  PARIS, France (AFP) — The first Ariane space rocket lifted off over the forests of French Guiana 40 years ago, enabling Europe to at last take its place as an independent player in the international race for space. Following a number of delays and technical setbacks, Ariane 1 finally left the launch pad in Kourou at 2:13 pm local time on December 24, 1979. Its maiden flight was a so-called qualification […]

Continue Reading →

China launches Sudan’s first ever satellite: official

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Sudan’s first-ever satellite for conducting research in military, economic and space technology has been launched by China, the northeast African country’s ruling body said Tuesday. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads Sudan’s sovereign council, announced the launch of the satellite at a meeting of his top security officials held in Khartoum. China’s state news agency, Xinhua, reported that the satellite was launched on Sunday from north China’s Shanxi Province. “The satellite […]

Continue Reading →

Sailing among the stars: how photons could revolutionize space flight

by Ivan Couronne WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A few days from now, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will lift off from Florida, carrying a satellite the size of a loaf of bread with nothing to power it but a huge polyester “solar sail.” It’s been the stuff of scientists’ dreams for decades but has only very recently become a reality. The idea might sounds crazy: propelling a craft through the vacuum of space with […]

Continue Reading →

New space race to bring satellite internet to the world

by Ivan Couronne WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Anxiety has set in across the space industry ever since the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, revealed Project Kuiper: a plan to put 3,236 satellites in orbit to provide high-speed internet across the globe. Offering broadband internet coverage to digital deserts is also the goal of the company OneWeb, which is set to start building two satellites a day this summer in Florida, for a constellation of […]

Continue Reading →

World’s largest plane makes first test flight

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The world’s largest airplane — a Stratolaunch behemoth with two fuselages and six Boeing 747 engines — made its first test flight on Saturday in California. The mega jet carried out its maiden voyage over the Mojave desert. It is designed to carry into space, and drop, a rocket that would, in turn, ignite to deploy satellites. It is supposed to provide a more flexible way to deploy satellites than […]

Continue Reading →

Battle for space more stealth than Star Wars

by Ivan COURONNE Agence France Presse Colorado Springs, United States (AFP)– At tens of thousands of kilometers above the Earth, a Russian satellite slowly approached the French-Italian satellite Athena-Fidus in October 2017, a move France later denounced as “an act of espionage.” What is less widely known is that just a few days before that, the same Russian satellite — known as Luch or Olymp-K — had been approached by an American military satellite named […]

Continue Reading →

North Korea may be preparing a missile or space launch: NPR

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea may be preparing for a missile or space launch, US news outlet NPR has reported, based on satellite image analysis of a key facility near Pyongyang. NPR said the images of Sanumdong, one of the facilities Pyongyang has used to produce inter-continental ballistic missiles and space rockets, were taken days before US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Hanoi for their […]

Continue Reading →

Pyongyang ‘rebuilding’ main satellite launch site, photos show

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Activity has been detected at a North Korean long-range rocket site suggesting Pyongyang may be pursuing the “rapid rebuilding” of a test facility after the collapse of the Hanoi summit, according to analysis of satellite imagery from a US think tank. The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says activity is “evident” at the vertical engine test stand and the launch pad’s rail-mounted rocket transfer structure at the […]

Continue Reading →

Japan satellite blasts into space to deliver artificial meteors

by Miwa SUZUKI Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A rocket carrying a satellite on a mission to deliver the world’s first artificial meteor shower blasted into space on Friday, Japanese scientists said. A start-up based in Tokyo developed the micro-satellite for the celestial show over Hiroshima early next year as the initial experiment for what it calls a “shooting stars on demand” service. The satellite is to release tiny balls that glow brightly […]

Continue Reading →

China, France launch satellite to study climate change

BEIJING, China (AFP) — The first Franco-Chinese satellite was launched into orbit on Monday to study ocean surface winds and waves around the clock, better predict cyclones and improve scientists’ understanding of climate change. A Long March 2C carrier rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China’s Gobi Desert at 0043 GMT to enter orbit 520 kilometers (323 miles) above the Earth, according to China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and […]

Continue Reading →
1 2 3 4 5 6