August 2018
Monitoring marine litter by satellite
... The key requirement for this technique is spatial resolution and the best resolution achievable by non-military satellite is currently 25-30 cm. This limits the application of the technology to ML items with a size on the same order of magnitude for...
07 November 2019
SSTL ships target satellite to Tokyo for Astroscale’s ELSA-d mission
... to identify and estimate attitude before deploying a capture extension mechanism with a magnetic plate to latch on to the Target satellite. Whilst rendezvous has been performed in orbit in the past, ELSA-d will demonstrate the first semi-autonomous...
April 2017
Mega-challenges for mega-constellations
... first phase was a steep population increase, which extended from the launch of the first satellites of the constellation until these satellites started to re-enter due to post-mission disposal manoeuvres (30 years after their launch in this scenario...
April 2018
Servicing the space economy
...350-kilogram refuelling spacecraft that could refuel up to three satellites. More recently, NASA held an industry day in 2017... US$300 million to buy and launch a new satellite. Moving an old satellite to the emerging region’s orbital position with a ...
April 2020
Satellite mega-constellations pose threat to ground-based astronomy
... cover the Earth in eight shells with different altitudes and inclinations. Each dot represents one satellite. Constellations Satellite constellations are groups of spacecraft of the same design, distributed among a series of orbits in order to cover...
October 2025
Satellite technology - from operational challenges to strategic opportunities
...magnitude improvements in efficiency. LEO constellations provide low signal delays and frequent revisit rates, while GEO satellites offer persistent coverage and high-capacity communications. Medium Earth orbit (MEO) systems bridge these capabilities...
