Category: Space

Company History and Founding SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) was founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002. Musk invested $100 million of his own money (from his PayPal sale) to start the company, driven by a vision of dramatically reducing space launch costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. The initial motivation came after Musk’s…
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In the coming decade, a trio of advanced space observatories will open new windows on the universe, tackling some of the most profound mysteries in astronomy. These next-generation telescopes – NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the European Space Agency’s PLATO and ATHENA missions – are poised to revolutionize our understanding of everything from…
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Definition and Basic Principles Satellite imagery refers to images of Earth (or other planets) collected by orbiting satellites. These images are a form of remote sensing, meaning the data are acquired from a distance without direct contact. Satellites carry sensors that detect electromagnetic radiation reflected or emitted from the Earth’s surface. Most imaging satellites use passive sensors that rely…
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General Overview SpaceX has launched thousands of Starlink satellites (over 6,750 in orbit by 2025) to form the world’s largest satellite constellation and provide global internet coverage phys.org. Q: What is Starlink?A: Starlink is a satellite-based broadband internet service operated by SpaceX. It uses a constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to beam internet connectivity…
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Stacks of Starlink satellites awaiting deployment in orbit. A new space race is underway—not for the Moon or Mars, but to blanket Earth in high-speed internet from space. Private companies and governments are launching mega-constellations of satellites by the thousands, aiming to beam broadband connectivity to every corner of the globe. The stakes are enormous:…
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High above Earth, in the crowded expanse of geosynchronous orbit (GEO) some 22,300 miles up, a set of American satellites quietly keeps watch. These are the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites – often dubbed “neighborhood watch” satellites – and they form a covert but crucial line of defense in space. Born in secrecy…
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Definition and How Geostationary Orbit Works A geostationary orbit (GEO) is a circular orbit around Earth’s equator at approximately 35,786 km altitude (about 22,236 miles) where a satellite orbits once per sidereal day (~23 hours 56 minutes) in the same direction as Earth’s rotation en.wikipedia.org esa.int. This precise altitude and orbital period make the satellite…
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Low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet has become a hotly contested “final frontier” of the telecom industry. Multiple players – notably SpaceX’s Starlink, the UK/India-backed OneWeb (now part of Eutelsat), Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and Canada’s Telesat Lightspeed – are racing to blanket the globe in affordable, high-speed internet from space. All seek to deliver broadband to…
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A Starlink user terminal installed on a riverboat in remote Brazil, reflecting the service’s reach into areas underserved by terrestrial internet reuters.com. Despite such promise, Starlink’s global expansion has repeatedly run into regulatory roadblocks in different countries. Introduction: Starlink’s Global Ambitions vs. Regulatory Reality Starlink, the satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, aspires to deliver…
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Introduction SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has rapidly expanded worldwide, now available in over 100 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and parts of South America thenationalnews.com. Since its beta launch in 2020, Starlink has amassed millions of subscribers (surpassing 4 million by late 2024) and deployed thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites en.wikipedia.org. Starlink offers several service…
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