Artificial satellites as a research area encompasses the scientific and engineering study of human-made objects intentionally placed into Earth or other celestial orbits for observation, communication, navigation, and experimentation. Research focuses on orbital dynamics and mission design, attitude determination and control, space environment interactions (radiation, plasma, micrometeoroids), and advanced materials and power systems for long-duration operation. It also includes development of miniaturized platforms (e.g., CubeSats), payload instrumentation for remote sensing and scientific measurements, formation flying and constellations, on-orbit servicing, autonomy and fault management, and the impacts of satellite proliferation on space traffic management and orbital debris mitigation.
At the end of their lives, most satellites fall to their death. Many of the smaller ones, including most of those going up as part of the "mega-constellations" currently under construction, are intended to burn up in the ...
Space Exploration
Dec 29, 2025
0
49
With the International Space Station (ISS) set to retire in 2030, several nations and commercial space companies have plans to deploy their own successor stations. This includes China, which plans to double the size of its ...
Space Exploration
Dec 23, 2025
0
60
Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket successfully placed two satellites into orbit to join the EU's rival to the GPS navigation system on Wednesday after the mission blasted off from French Guiana.
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2025
0
44
There are about 15,000 satellites orbiting Earth. Most of them, like the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope, reside in low Earth orbit, or LEO, which tops out at about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) above ...
Space Exploration
Dec 16, 2025
0
66
A "House of Cards" is a wonderful English phrase that it seems is now primarily associated with a Netflix political drama. However, its original meaning is of a system that is fundamentally unstable. It's also the term Sarah ...
Space Exploration
Dec 15, 2025
7
3976
Satellites are emerging as a powerful new tool in the fight to curb emissions of methane. While methane is much shorter-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, it is vastly more potent at trapping heat, which makes rapid ...
Environment
Dec 15, 2025
0
18
There are already tens of thousands of pieces of large debris in orbit, some of which pose a threat to functional satellites. Various agencies and organizations have been developing novel solutions to this problem, before ...
Space Exploration
Dec 11, 2025
0
23
High up in Earth's orbit, millions of human-made objects large and small are flying at speeds of over 15,000 miles per hour. The objects, which range from inactive satellites to fragments of equipment resulting from explosions ...
Space Exploration
Dec 4, 2025
0
117
Light from the half a million satellites that humanity is planning to launch into Earth's orbit in the coming years could contaminate almost all the images taken by space telescopes, NASA astronomers warned Wednesday.
Astronomy
Dec 3, 2025
0
74
NASA and industry partners will fly and operate a commercial robotic arm in low Earth orbit through the Fly Foundational Robots mission set to launch in late 2027. This mission aims to revolutionize in-space operations, a ...
Space Exploration
Dec 3, 2025
0
20
