Lifeboat Foundation

What could the anomalies in temperature, composition, location, and spread of particles mean for satellites and GPS?

A powerful geomagnetic storm on May 11 led to visible auroras in the southern U.S. and disrupted GPS technology. Researchers from Virginia Tech, utilizing NASA ’s GOLD instrument, documented unprecedented atmospheric phenomena and examined the effects on Earth’s ionosphere. The studies underscore the dynamic nature of the upper atmosphere and its susceptibility to solar activities, which are currently intensifying as we approach the peak of the solar cycle in 2025.

Stunning Auroras and Technological Disruptions.

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency awarded contracts to Terran Orbital and York Space Systems to build and operate 10 satellites each for the military’s low Earth orbit communications network, the agency announced Aug. 16.

The contracts, valued at $254 million for Terran Orbital and $170 million for York Space, are for the final 20 satellites of SDA’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer Gamma program. Delivery is expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2027.

These satellites will form part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a constellation of data relay and sensor satellites designed to provide global communications and missile detection capabilities.

WASHINGTON — Aerospace and defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is set to expand its radio frequency (RF) satellite constellation, aiming to capture a larger share of the market for electronic emissions data.

The company launched its first four RF sensing cubesats last year, built by Spire, marking its entry into this increasingly competitive field. SNC is now gearing up for a significant expansion, with plans to deploy a network of 20 satellites over the next five years.

Chris Morgan, SNC’s vice president, told SpaceNews the company sees a rising demand in the military sector for RF data, which can provide critical intelligence on activities like GPS jamming and enemy movements. The RF sensing market, he said, is also driven by commercial applications.

Update 3:27 p.m. EDT: SpaceX launched the Transporter-11 mission and landed the first stage booster. Payload deployment is set to begin close to 4 p.m. EDT (2000 UTC).

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, sending dozens of spacecraft into orbit with its latest rideshare mission launching from California. The rocket’s first stage booster touched down back near the launch site following stage separation, creating a sonic boom for those nearby.

Continue reading “Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 116 payloads on Falcon 9 rideshare mission: Transporter-11” »

“This is going to be the fastest AI computer ever launched to space,” Yanni Barghouty, CSC’s cofounder and CEO, told Space.com. “The goal of this mission is simply to demonstrate the successful operation of an AI-capable Nvidia GPU on orbit with minimal to no errors while operating.”

The GPU will fly aboard a cubesat built by San Francisco-based company Aethero, a maker of high-performance, space-rated computers. The GPU’s only task during its four-month orbital mission will be to make mathematical calculations, the results of which will be beamed to Earth and carefully checked.

For the first time in human history, there are now 10,000 functioning satellites above our heads, whipping around the Earth at high speed. It’s a milestone that showcases decades of technical achievement but might also make it harder to sleep at night if you think about it for too long.

The count comes from the latest estimate by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leading watcher of most things orbital. McDowell estimates there are 10,036 active satellites in orbit as of July 18.

Remarkably, this figure has roughly quadrupled over just the past half-decade, thanks almost entirely to Elon Musk, SpaceX and their massive Starlink constellation of broadband routers in low-earth orbit.

NASA’s LEGS can do more than help Earthlings move about the planet. Three Lunar Exploration Ground Sites, or LEGS, will enhance the Near Space Network’s communications services and support of NASA’s Artemis campaign.

NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program maintains the agency’s two primary communications networks—the Deep Space Network and the Near Space Network, which enable satellites in space to send data back to Earth for investigation and discovery.

Using antennas around the globe, these networks capture signals from satellites, collecting data and enabling navigation engineers to track the mission. For the first Artemis mission, these networks worked in tandem to support the mission as it completed its 25-day journey around the moon. They will do the same for the upcoming Artemis II mission.

‘Earth Science to Action: How NASA connects space to village’ Learn from experts how NASA’s cutting-edge Earth observation and satellite technology is empowering communities worldwide to tackle climate change and natural disasters. This talk, organised by the SERVIR-HKH initiative at ICIMOD, features key speakers Dan Irwin (SERVIR Global Program Manager) and Ashutosh Limaye (SERVIR Chief Scientist) from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Learn how these advancements are bridging the gap between data and actionable insights for a thriving planet.

Liftoff is scheduled for 7:21 a.m. EDT on Sunday (Aug. 11).