Introduction: Satellite phones – once niche gadgets for explorers and emergency crews – are now at the forefront of a connectivity revolution in 2025. A surge of new developments, from flagship smartphones gaining satellite messaging to space companies partnering with mobile carriers, has pushed satellite communication into mainstream awareness interactive.satellitetoday.com interactive.satellitetoday.com. Multiple generations of iPhones,…
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Introduction: A New Space Race for Broadband A revolution is underway above our heads. In the past year alone, companies and governments worldwide have turbocharged efforts to beam high-speed internet from space down to Earth. SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has surpassed 8,000 satellites launched since 2019, amassing over 5 million users across 125+ countries reuters.com. In…
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Background: A Long-Defunct NASA Satellite (Relay 2) Relay 2 is an experimental communications satellite NASA launched on January 21, 1964, as part of the early Relay programen.wikipedia.org. Similar in design to its predecessor Relay 1, this satellite was built by RCA and tasked with relaying television signals and studying Earth’s radiation beltsen.wikipedia.or en.wikipedia.org. After a successful launch atop…
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Earth Observation (EO) refers to the collection of information about Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere via remote sensing technologies – primarily satellites, but also drones, aircraft, and ground sensors. In the context of disaster management, EO provides a “big picture” perspective of events as they unfold. This real-time, wide-area view is transforming how we prepare…
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What Is Space Weather and Why It Matters Space Weather refers to the changing environmental conditions in space driven by the Sun’s activity – including bursts of solar radiation, charged particles, and magnetic disturbances. Just as terrestrial weather can produce hurricanes or blizzards, our Sun generates “solar tempests” like solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs),…
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Introduction Israel’s space program may be modest in scale, but it has achieved outsized capabilities. In 1988, Israel became the world’s eighth nation to launch its own satellite into orbit nasaspaceflight.com, and today it remains the smallest country to develop indigenous launch vehicles and an operational space agency en.wikipedia.org. What began as a strategic effort…
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China’s space program has rapidly transformed into a space empire of global scale, guided by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). In just a few decades, China went from launching its first satellite in 1970 to operating a fleet of over 1,000 satellites and a fully crewed space station in orbit andrewerickson.com space.com. Today, China…
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Satellites play a vital role in modern society, supporting communications, navigation, Earth observation, scientific discovery, and security. This comprehensive report highlights 100 of the most important currently operational satellites across five major categories: Communications, Earth Observation, Navigation/Positioning, Scientific & Exploration, and Military/Intelligence. Each entry includes the satellite’s name (and launch year), operating organization, purpose and…
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Tracking satellites has never been easier. Thanks to a range of online tools and mobile apps, anyone can follow spacecraft in real time – from the International Space Station (ISS) to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation – right from a web browser or smartphone. These satellite trackers not only show live positions on maps or in the sky, but…
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Ultimate Guide to Satellites: From Sputnik to SpaceX and Beyond Satellites are the unseen workhorses of modern life. Every time you check the weather, follow GPS directions, or watch live international events, you’re benefiting from satellites orbiting high above. But what exactly are satellites, and how did we go from the humble beginnings of Sputnik in 1957…
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