satellites
How Swift Outlived Its Failed Rescue by 62 Days Before Drag Won
Swift's rescue was abandoned on Aug. 19, yet Swift stayed in orbit 62 more days, observing again from Aug. 26, while drag pulled it down. Here is what failed on LINK, why the fall sped up, and what astronomers lose.
Taraia Object Was Likely Trees. The Castaway Case Rests on Older Clues
A Y-shaped fragment is all that remains of the Taraia Object. The expedition's own plan called a null result a successful test; the older castaway evidence is where the argument still lives.
Up to 7 MHz Twice: What SpaceX's Reported $8 Billion Actually Buys
Headlines say 14 MHz and walls. The FCC paperwork and building-loss physics show two strips of up to 7 MHz each, a band not allocated for supplemental coverage from space, and a price near 2.2 times what T-Mobile's books implied.
Why Solar Storms Can Throw Your GPS Off by Yards
A burst of radiation from the sun can scramble the atmosphere GPS signals pass through — in 2024, it sent tractors and ships drifting off course.
Has the Kessler Syndrome Already Started? Experts Are Split
NASA, ESA, MIT and University of Arizona scientists agree the space-debris cascade is plausible. They do not agree on whether it has already begun, or how bad it gets from here.
Why Satellites Fall From Orbit — and NASA's Race to Save One
A commercial spacecraft is trying to catch a falling NASA telescope before it burns up -- a real-time lesson in why nothing stays in orbit forever.