Lifeboat Foundation

Data from NISAR will improve our understanding of such phenomena as earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides, as well as damage to infrastructure.

We don’t always notice it, but much of Earth’s surface is in constant motion. Scientists have used satellites and ground-based instruments to track land movement associated with volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and other phenomena. But a new satellite from NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) aims to improve what we know and, potentially, help us prepare for and recover from natural and human-caused disasters.

The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission will measure the motion of nearly all of the planet’s land and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. The pace of NISAR’s data collection will give researchers a fuller picture of how Earth’s surface changes over time. “This kind of regular observation allows us to look at how Earth’s surface moves across nearly the entire planet,” said Cathleen Jones, NISAR applications lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

New findings suggest our galaxy’s evolutionary history is strikingly different from all the others.

Researchers have found that there’s something highly unusual about the Milky Way that sets it apart from galaxies which, on a surface level, appear similar.

As detailed in three recent papers published in The Astrophysical Journal, a team of researchers examined a mountain of data as part of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) survey, which was dedicated to comparing the Milky Way to 101 other galaxies that are similar in mass.

Continue reading “There’s Something Very Strange About Our Galaxy” »

Two satellites in Proba-3 mission expected to be launched on Wednesday in India and will work in tandem to study sun’s corona.

For decades, scientists have used the Milky Way as a model for understanding how galaxies form. But three new studies raise questions about whether the Milky Way is truly representative of other galaxies in the universe.

“The Milky Way has been an incredible physics laboratory, including for the physics of galaxy formation and the physics of dark matter,” said Risa Wechsler, the Humanities and Sciences Professor and professor of physics in the School of Humanities and Sciences. “But the Milky Way is only one system and may not be typical of how other galaxies formed. That’s why it’s critical to find similar galaxies and compare them.”

To achieve that goal, Wechsler cofounded the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey dedicated to comparing galaxies similar in mass to the Milky Way.

Blue Origin today announced a multi-launch agreement to deliver multiple next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) on New Glenn. All launches will occur over a multi-year period from Blue Origin’s Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network designed for both commercial and government applications. It will operate directly with everyday smartphones and allow seamless switching between terrestrial cell towers and satellite signals depending on location and coverage needs.

“New Glenn’s performance and unprecedented capacity within its seven-meter fairing enables us to deploy more of our Block 2 BlueBird satellites in orbit, helping provide continuous cellular broadband service coverage across some of the most in-demand cellular markets globally,” said Abel Avellan, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, AST SpaceMobile.

SpaceX was founded to increase access to space and help make life multiplanetary.

In just this year, we’ve launched 114 successful Falcon missions and counting for our commercial and government customers, deployed ~1,700 @Starlink satellites to provide high-speed internet for millions of people all around the world, and made extraordinary strides developing Starship’s capability to return humanity to the Moon and ultimately send people to Mars.

Continue reading “Making Life Multi-Planetary” »

Your favorite commercial carrier might still be dragging its feet on whether to provide passengers with high-speed internet onboard using Starlink. But SpaceX’s offering is already the favorite for makers of supersonic and hypersonic planes.

CEOs of futuristic airplane companies Hermeus and Boom have confirmed that their prototype planes are using Starlink already, a report said.

SpaceX’s Starlink uses a massive fleet of over 3,500 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to offer high-speed internet services to customers in major parts of the world.

In 2025 and 2026, the company also plans to launch up to 60 next-generation BlueBird satellites with an even larger communications array. The satellites will enable AST SpaceMobile to offer “full continuous service” for potentially hundreds of millions of cellphone customers.

However, satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar notes that AST SpaceMobile still needs FCC approval before it can launch and operate more BlueBird satellites. In August, the US regulator tabled the company’s request to deploy 243 more satellites.

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics subsidiary is eyeing a 2026 launch for its next-generation satellite servicing vehicle, the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV). Equipped with robotic arms developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the MRV aims to extend the lifespan of satellites in geostationary orbit more than 22,500 miles above Earth.

NRL announced Nov. 14 that the pair of robotic arms completed crucial thermal vacuum testing and are now at Northrop’s satellite integration facility in Dulles, Virginia. The arms were developed under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract.

“This robotic payload promises to transform satellite operations in geostationary orbit, reduce costs for satellite operators, and enable capabilities well beyond what we have today,” said NRL’s director of research Bruce Danly.