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.
A maze of cables and sensors snakes through a major piece of Gateway, humanity's first space station around the moon, during a key testing phase earlier this year to ensure the lunar-orbiting science lab can withstand the ...
Space Exploration
Dec 20, 2024
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Telling time in space is difficult, but it is absolutely critical for applications ranging from testing relativity to navigating down the road. Atomic clocks, such as those used on the Global Navigation Satellite System network, ...
General Physics
Dec 19, 2024
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A NASA-funded commercial space station, Starlab, recently completed four key developmental milestones, marking substantial progress in the station's design and operational readiness.
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2024
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A spacecraft that can provide the propulsion necessary to reach other planets while also being reproducible, relatively light, and inexpensive would be a great boon to larger missions in the inner solar system.
Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2024
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Space Station trajectory data is now available to the public! This data, called an ephemeris, is generated by the ISS Trajectory Operations and Planning Officer (TOPO) flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's ...
Space Exploration
Dec 6, 2024
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A pair of European satellites rocketed into orbit Thursday on the first mission to create artificial solar eclipses through fancy formation flying in space.
Space Exploration
Dec 5, 2024
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ESA's Proba-3 will be the first mission to create an artificial total solar eclipse by flying a pair of satellites 150 meters apart. For six hours at a time, it will be able to see the sun's faint atmosphere, the corona, ...
Astronomy
Dec 3, 2024
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What's harder than flying a single satellite in Earth orbit? Flying two—right beside each other, at proximities that would normally trigger collision avoidance maneuvers.
Space Exploration
Dec 2, 2024
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The moons of Mars are garnering increased attention, not only because they could provide a view of the solar system's past but also because they could provide invaluable staging areas for any future human settlement on Mars ...
Space Exploration
Dec 2, 2024
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Instruments aboard robotic landers have measured seismicity on the moon and Mars, helping researchers learn about the inner workings of those celestial bodies. But the internal makeup of Venus is still not known, in part ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 26, 2024
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