A new agreement between Canada and the United States is reigniting the possibility of a spaceport in rural Nova Scotia. Federal cabinet minister and Nova Scotia MP Sean Fraser announced in Halifax Friday that the two countries have negotiated a Technology Safeguards Agreement, which would allow the use of U.S. space launch technology, expertise and data … Read more
Last Thursday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from the Vandenberg Space Launch Complex in California with a payload of 20 Starlink satellites. And like the preceding 325 times before, the launch seemed to go off without a hitch: the rocket reached space and the first stage returned, landing on a drone ship in the … Read more
In a pre-print paper published on arXiv on June 12, researchers reported that during the intense four-day solar storm in May, satellites and space debris in low Earth orbit experienced a significant drop in altitude, sinking towards Earth at a rate of 590 feet (180 meters) per day. This sudden change in altitude forced thousands … Read more
A second-stage engine on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket suffered a malfunction in space Thursday night that imperiled its payload of Starlink satellites, the first failure in more than seven years of a rocket the global space industry relies on. Roughly an hour after Falcon 9 lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on … Read more
If, on a clear night, you were to gaze up into the blackness of the sky, you would expect to see nothing but the magnificent Milky Way stretching out above you, billions of stars twinkling in place. Instead, every few minutes or so, you will most likely also see an ersatz star breaking through an … Read more
SpaceX has retrieved pieces of debris that fell to earth and were found on Saskatchewan farmland in April. Barry Sawchuk made headlines earlier this year when he said a giant piece of space debris had slammed into his field. On Tuesday, SpaceX employees came to his farm near Ituna, Sask., northeast of Regina, to collect the space … Read more
When Jacques Juneau and Chantal Germain bought their home in Saint-Adolphe-D’Howard, Que., it seemed like the perfect spot. Nestled among the trees and surrounded by mountains, it felt safe. “[I thought] there’s no chance of any kind of storm, tornado or anything here,” said Germain. But a year after moving to the Laurentians, they were … Read more
SEOUL: North Korea said its attempt to launch a new military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure on Monday (May 27) when a newly developed rocket engine exploded in flight. The attempt came just hours after Pyongyang issued a warning that it would try to launch a satellite by Jun 4, in what would have been … Read more
SEOUL: South Korea’s military said on Friday (May 24) it had detected signs in North Korea of possible preparations for a satellite launch in what would be the nuclear-armed North’s effort to place a second military reconnaissance craft in orbit. South Korea and US intelligence authorities are closely monitoring North Korea’s activities, a South Korean … Read more
For example, lasers could be used to flood satellite optical sensors with light, blinding or, in counterspace-speak, dazzling imaging satellites; while snooping on satellite comms can also pose a problem. France has accused Russia of trying to listen in on the Athena-Fidus satellite it shares with Italy. This year, U.S. officials briefed that Russia was developing a … Read more
