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Air Force officials successfully launched a new-generation military communications satellite from here at 8:47 p.m. EST Dec. 5 when a Delta IV rocket carried a Wideband Global SATCOM into space. WGS satellites are designed to provide high-capacity communications to U.S. military forces and the satellites will augment and eventually replace the Defense Satellite Communication System that has been the Department of Defense's backbone for satellite communications over the last two decades. Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley, who had planned to witness the launch from the Morrell Operations Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station prior to a...

The U.S. Air Force is asking industry to explore options for quick delivery of a space-based missile warning system, a move which is likely connected to reports that the service's newest ballistic missile warning satellite is failing in orbit. A broad sources sought notice was issued Nov. 24, and a more specific and classified request for information is expected Dec. 1. This flurry of activity is likely a response to concerns of a space-based missile warning gap, according to industry officials. The 23rd Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, launched into orbit last November, has drifted from its original position in...

Iran is preparing to launch its second indigenous communications satellite aboard a Safir-2 (Ambassador) booster rocket, an event that will test the country's ballistic missile capabilities. And, if it's successful, it could impact significantly on U.S.-led negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions by demonstrating the Iranians' growing mastery of missile technology. Satellite launch vehicles such as the two-stage Safir-2, believed to be a modified Shehab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile, are generally considered to have a potential application as an intercontinental ballistic missile. Ten months ago Iran successfully launched the Omid 1 (Hope) satellite into orbit atop a 72-foot Safir from...

Several high-priority and high-priced satellites crucial to U.S. national security are slated to launch over the next 15 to 18 months, according to Bruce Carlson, director of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). During a keynote address here at the Strategic Space Symposium, Carlson did not provide details of the upcoming missions. Most of the NRO’s satellite programs are classified. Carlson noted the launches to make the point that the NRO continues to perform its mission despite having had its struggles in recent years. But Carlson also said the NRO has suffered a steep decline in its research and development...

GPS device can track children Updated: Tuesday, 27 Oct 2009, 12:13 AM EDT Published : Tuesday, 27 Oct 2009, 12:13 AM EDT KELLY JOYCE | FOX 35 News ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A GPS device the size of your pinky finger is about to hit store shelves and the web. Some parents say it's a good way to keep track of children given all of the children disappearing in central Florida. The "insignia little buddy tracker" is a Best Buy brand GPS system that's about to hit store shelves. It's already drawn so much interest it's on back...

A new generation of electro-optical imaging satellites to be built by Lockheed Martin pending congressional approval will have an aperturesize of 2.4 meters, a senior U.S.intelligence official said. James R. Clapper, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, disclosed the aperture size — or diameter of the satellite’s primary imaging mirror — of the Next-Generation Optical satellite system Oct.19 during a keynote address here at the Geoint 2009 Symposium. Technical details and capabilities of the nation’s spy satellites typically are closely guarded secrets. Aperture size and altitude are the two factors that determine a satellite’s imaging resolution, which is the minimum size...

There is a good chance that the first runner to complete today's Steamtown Marathon will not be the winner of the race. In fact, that runner won't even be on the 26.2-mile course that begins at Forest City High School and ends in downtown Scranton. Instead, Major Gary Beaty of the United States Army will run the marathon via satellite from his Forward Operating Base in Ghazni, Afghanistan. Here's how it works: Beaty wears a Garmin runner's GPS receiver that accurately records distance, time, average pace and the runner's heart rate. He will run the race on a 1.1-mile circular...

Few details available about military mission ... except that it succeeded An Atlas 5 rocket has lifted off from Florida carrying a highly classified military satellite. The rocket launched into a nearly cloudless sky at 5:35 p.m. ET Tuesday. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture involving Lockheed Martin and Boeing, handled the launch. Eric Brian, a spokesman for the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, declined to say which branch of the military will command the satellite in orbit. Brian said the rocket carried a $500 million payload. The satellite was made by Lockheed Martin. United Launch Alliance...

AN eagle-eyed security guard with too much time on his hands claims to have found photographic evidence of the Loch Ness Monster in satellite images. British security guard Jason, 25, told The Sun "I couldn't believe it. It's just like the descriptions of Nessie." Researcher Adrian Shine, of the Loch Ness Project, said: "This is really intriguing. It needs further study." Sightings have been claimed for centuries. The object, pictured to the right, can be found by entering co-ordinates Latitude 5712'52.13"N, Longitude 434'14.16"W in Google Earth.

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LOS ANGELES – A piece of rocket hardware failed to separate during the launch of a NASA climate satellite earlier this year, causing it crash back to Earth, according to an accident summary released Friday. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory splashed into the ocean near Antarctica on Feb. 24, minutes after lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Taurus rocket. A team of space experts appointed by NASA to investigate the mishap said the nose cone that protects the satellite did not come off as planned. Although the investigators could not pinpoint the exact cause for the...

UAH Global Temperature Anomaly for June 09 ~ ZERO There was a lot of speculation last year that our global temperature would recover (increase) from the huge drops last spring. While there has been some recovery, the overall global temperature trend since 1999 has been the subject of much debate. What is not debatable is that the current global temperature anomaly, as determined by a leading authority on global satellite temperature measurements, says we have no departure from “normal” this month. Given the U.S. Senate is about to vote upon the most complex and costly plan to regulate greenhouse gases,...

The Obama administration plans to kill a controversial Bush administration spy satellite program at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials familiar with the decision. The program came under fire from its inception two years ago. Democratic lawmakers said it would lead to domestic spying. The program would have provided federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery — but no eavesdropping capabilities— to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.

Japan's Selene satellite has been sending us amazing HD footage of the surface of the moon for a couple of months now, but on June 11th, it finally crashed into the surface. And its final video might be its best. Unfortunately, the crash itself happens just over the line into the dark side of the moon, but you can see its final decent and just how damned close it was to the surface. It's incredible. It seems like it's mere feet above the surface, showing a level of detail never before seen. Amazing Video at link

 Due to maintenance issues of our current GPS satellites, geodesist Mike Craymer and his team at Natural Resources Canada have calculated that the accuracy of global positioning systems could start dropping by 2010.According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office in April, the Air Force ran into problems with being able to build GPS satellites under budget and on schedule. For example, three years late from its original launch date, the next GPS satellite will be launched into orbit in November 2009.With the hardware currently being used in space, the replacing and maintaining of satellites is crucial, especially...

N. Korea marks month since 'satellite' launch SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday reiterated its claim to a successful satellite launch, marking a month of its purported "normal operation" in orbit. Pyongyang insists its April 5 rocket launch orbited a communications satellite, Kwangmyongsong-2, while outside monitors say no such object has entered space.

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Ahmadinejad: Iran Developing New Rocket Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on April 14 that Iran intends to manufacture rockets with a range of 700-1,500 km that can carry heavier satellites into space than Iran has launched to date. Source: Fars, Iran, April 14, 2009 Posted at: 2009-04-16

SNIPPET: "Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dr. Sepehr B. Ariannia, a senior member of the Marze Por Gohar (MPG), an Iranian nationalist political party that seeks to establish a secular republic. He has conducted extensive research in satellite communication and semiconductor physics. His recent research is concentrated in the field of Quantum physics. FP: Dr. Sepehr B. Ariannia, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Ariannia: Thank you for having me here. FP: I would like to talk to you today about Iran’s satellite program. Tell us about it please. Ariannia: The Islamic Republic launched a new program in the 90’s which was...

The US government has endorsed a plan to build a new generation of spy satellites, although funding to boost the Pentagon's imaging capacity still needs congressional approval. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said Tuesday that his agency and the Department of Defense had finalized a plan to modernize the fleet of US observation satellites. "Imagery is a core component of our national security that supports our troops, foreign policy, homeland security and the needs of our intelligence community," Blair said in a statement. He said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which oversees all US spy...

/begin my translation N. Korean Rocket Went Up 485km from Ground [JoongAng Ilbo] (S. Korean Aegis ship) King Sejong tracked it ... fell short of orbit due to lack of speed. It is confirmed now that the long-range rocket(Taepodong-2) N. Korea launched on Apr. 5 reached the maximum altitude of 485 km flying above Pacific. Intelligence sources said, "It is our understanding that, due to lack of propulsion, it fell short of reaching earth orbit, and failed." The sources added that Aegis ship King Sejong was also able to track it and determine its maximum altitude." Altitude of 485km above...

The US military on Sunday disputed North Korea's claim that it had launched a satellite into space, saying "the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean." "The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," the commands said. "No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said preparations to launch a communications satellite into space were complete Saturday morning, and liftoff was imminent. .. the North earlier advised international authorities would take place sometime between Saturday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (0200 to 0700GMT). "Preparations for launching 'Kwangmyongsong-2,' an experimental communications satellite, by carrier rocket 'Unha-2' have been completed at the satellite launching ground in the east coastal area," .. "The satellite will be launched soon."

Mexico City - Mexico plans to begin construction this year on a space port to send satellites aloft, an official said Monday. The facility will be located in the southern state of Quintana Roo on the border with Belize, said state planning minister Jose Alberto Alonso Ovando. The location was chosen after extensive studies in part because of its proximity to the Equator, he said in an interview. Late last year, the Mexican National Congress approved the founding of a national space agency, Aexa. The agency's headquarters will be located in the state of Hidalgo from where it will oversee...

N.Korea Rocket Launch Depends on the Weather With a long-range rocket installed on a launch pad in North Korea earlier than expected, it will be technically possible to fire it up around Mar. 29 and 30. But experts predict that North Korea will launch it between Apr. 4 and 8 as it has notified international organizations. The timeline between these dates was apparently chosen to coincide with the opening of the Supreme People's Assembly slated for Apr. 9. The selection of a specific launch date will probably be determined by the weather. Prof. Kim Yong-hyun of Dongguk University on Thursday...

(5th LD) N. Korea gives notice of satellite launch in early April By Kim Hyun SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea gave a notice that it will launch a satellite between April 4-8, an international agency said Thursday, prompting brisk talks among regional countries to prepare their coordinated measures. Pyongyang's state media said earlier in the day that it has informed the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of the planned launch, without specifying the date. The IMO confirmed it has received a letter from Pyongyang that said the launch would be between April...

N. Korea likely to fire a rocket between April 4-8 SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea told an international organization that it would launch a rocket between April 4-8, an intelligence source said Thursday. "North Korea informed the International Maritime Organization of its plan to fire the Kwangmyongson-2 between April 4-8," the source told Yonhap News Agency.

NORTH Korea plans to stage its rocket launch between April 4-8, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports It quoted South Korean intelligence sources as saying the North has informed the International Maritime Organisation of the planned dates. The North's official media reported earlier it had informed the IMO of the upcoming launch, which it says is aimed at putting a satellite into orbit. It gave no date. The North gave the IMO, the International Civil Aviation Organisation and other world bodies "necessary information for the safe navigation of planes and ships" as part of preparations for launching "an experimental communications...

Outside of Tucson, Ariz., the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is used to store old planes. The airplane 'boneyard' houses thousands of decomissioned military aircraft. The base is still in use, and you can find many active aircraft slightly to the northwest.

PYONGYANG/BEIJING, March 9 (AP) - (Kyodo)—North Korea warned Monday that any move to intercept what it calls a satellite launch and what other countries suspect may be a missile test-firing would result in a counterstrike against the countries trying to stop it. "We will retaliate (over) any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counterstrikes by the most powerful military means," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army as saying. If countries such as the United States, Japan or South Korea try to intercept the launch,...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A NASA mission to monitor global warming from space ended Tuesday when a satellite plunged into the ocean near Antarctica minutes after launch. An equipment malfunction was apparently to blame, officials said. The loss of the $280 million mission came a month after Japan launched the world's first spacecraft to track global warming emissions. The failure dealt a blow to NASA, which had hoped to send up its own satellite to measure carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas behind human-caused global warming.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - A rocket carrying a NASA global warming satellite has landed in the ocean near Antarctica after a failed launch. The Taurus XL rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory blasted off early Tuesday morning from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. But launch managers say that several minutes later, the payload fairing, which shelters the satellite, apparently failed to separate from the launch vehicle. Taurus program manager John Brunschwyler says the rocket splashed into the ocean. He's with the rocket's maker, Orbital Sciences Corp. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further...

$280-million mission to study global warming fails as spacecraft falls short of orbit. A rocket carrying a NASA satellite designed to study global warming crashed near Antarctica, failing to reach orbit after it was launched this morning, according to officials. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite never reached orbit after it took off about 2 a.m. Pacific Standard Time from Vandenberg Air Force Base, NASA said in a posting on its website.

A rocket carrying a NASA satellite crashed near Antarctica after a failed launch early today, ending a $280 million mission to track global warming from space. The Taurus XL rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory blasted off just before 3 a.m. (Mountain time) from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. But a preliminary investigation found that minutes later, a cover protecting the satellite during launch failed to separate from the rocket. Colorado State University scientists were supposed to lead a project using data from the satellite to determine how carbon dioxide is absorbed by Earth, and what the effect would be...

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It appears that the Hubble might end up as collateral damage from the recent collision between an Iridium and Russian satellite. Without another service mission, the Hubble may meet its end within a year or two.The collision has sent more than 600 pieces of debris whizzing around the Earth at 17,500 mph. At those speeds, shards can take out a spacecraft (and you don't even want to think about what it could do to astronauts on a spacewalk). NASA has calculated the chance of a catastrophic impact at around 1 in 185—just below their 1 in 200 threshold. A decision...

Space weapons are dangerous – but out-of-control, defunct satellites can do just as much damage, if not more. So says a leading space scientist who has calculated that Tuesday's collision between an Iridium communications satellite and the defunct Soviet-era Cosmos 2251 spacecraft expended a great deal more destructive energy than China's infamous anti-satellite missile test did in January 2007. In 2003, space debris expert Hugh Lewis and colleagues at the University of Southampton in the UK ran predictions on the debris field that would be created in a hypothetical Iridium satellite break-up owing to a collision with just 1 kilogram...

Special Dispatch - No. 2245 February 13, 2009 No. 2245 "Iranian Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati in Friday Sermon: Iran's Satellite Launch A Hammer Hit to Heads Of U.S., Israel; Thank You to Israel for Not Permitting Iranian Nuclear Activity; On 30th Anniversary of Revolution, "Iranian Nation Hit Another Severe Punch" to U.S., Israel" SNIPPET: "Jannati further emphasized, "The late Imam (Khomeini) once said, 'You can,' and it is this capability relying on which Omid satellite was launched successfully... he general policies of the system need to be implemented, and by grace of God, we would pursue the objectives of an Islamic...

(LEAD) N. Korea denies missile plan, defends activity as 'space development' SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea denied on Monday it was preparing to test-launch a long-range missile, claiming its recent moves are related to "space development." A statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) was reminiscent of the North's comments in 1998, when it claimed a rocket it launched was really a satellite. The denial comes following intelligence reports from Seoul that North Korea is assembling a long-range missile at the country's eastern launch site. "Recently the U.S. and some other countries claimed that...

The Federal Aviation Administration has received numerous reports of falling debris across Texas, which could be related to a recent satellite collision. Some of the callers around midmorning Sunday reported what looked like a fireball in the sky. FAA spokesman Roland Herwig says officials suspect the debris could be related to the collision, but that has not been confirmed.The FAA notified pilots Saturday to be aware of possible debris after a collision Tuesday between U.S. and Russian communication satellites. The chief of Russia's Mission Control says clouds of debris from the collision will circle Earth and threaten numerous satellites.

WASHINGTON - Iridium Satellite LLC confirmed today that one of its satellites was destroyed Tuesday in an unprecedented collision with a spent Russian satellite and that the incident could result in limited disruptions of service. According to an e-mail alert issued by NASA today, Russia's Cosmos 2251 satellite slammed into the Iridium craft at 11:55 a.m. EST (0455 GMT) over Siberia at an altitude of 490 miles (790 km). The incident was observed by the U.S. Defense Department's Space Surveillance Network, which later was tracking two large clouds of debris. "This is the first time we've ever had two intact...

For decades, space experts have warned of orbits around the planet growing so crowded that two satellites might one day slam into one another. It happened Tuesday. And the whirling fragments could pose a threat to the International Space Station, though officials said the risk was now small. “This is a first, unfortunately,” Nicholas L. Johnson, chief scientist for orbital debris at NASA. Two communications satellites — one Russian, one American — cracked up. In the aftermath, military radars on the ground tracked large amounts of debris going into higher and lower orbits. “Nothing to this extent” has ever happened...

Porter McConnell gave up on pay TV last summer after noticing that monthly rates kept creeping up. Now with no satellite or cable TV, she watches her trusty old TV set with an antenna or she goes online to catch her favorite programs. Once in a while, she buys shows from Apple Inc.'s iTunes service. McConnell also upped her subscription to Netflix Inc.'s movies-by-mail service so she gets two DVDs at a time instead of one, for $15 a month. "Part of it is, I've got to economize," said the 30-year-old Washington, D.C., resident who works at a nonprofit....

Moscow (ANTARA News) - Iran's successful launch of a satellite with its own technology shows that the country's missiles "can reach any point on the globe," a senior Russian space sector official said Thursday. "I take my hat off to the Iranian scientists," Vitali Lapota, manager of the RKK Energuia space construction company declared was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "They have shown their missiles can reach any point on the globe."

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran is building four more satellites, the telecommunications minister was quoted on Sunday as saying, after the Islamic Republic put its first domestically produced satellite into orbit last week. Iran launched a research and telecom satellite, called Omid, on Tuesday, a step that worried Western powers who fear Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and missile delivery systems. Iran insists its nuclear work is to generate electricity and said the satellite launch was for peaceful purposes.

No thanks to Comcast now charging a totally silly US$63 per month for their Extended Basic cable service, I am looking at switching to satellite TV. My configuration requirement is simple: a two-receiver setup where one receiver will have a built-in DVR, and one receiver will not need it (since it will be in the kitchen). I do not need HDTV support for now. I am down to two different plans: DirecTV's Choice Xtra package and Dish Network's Silver 200 package, using the configuration I mentioned above. I'd like to find out which is the better deal in terms of...

When Iran launched a satellite into low-earth orbit this week, it was taken by many in the West as a not-so-subtle reminder that the country is defiantly working to produce missiles that one day could be used to deliver nuclear warheads. Yet officials at U.S. national security agencies, who carefully monitored the launch, tell NEWSWEEK that despite Iran's bravado, the country's rocket technology still appears to be fairly crude. One U.S. counter-proliferation official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, described the two-stage Safir-2 rocket (which lofted a satellite nicknamed Omid, or "Hope") was "not sophisticated." The official said...

Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Tuesday that his country has launched its first-ever satellite into orbit. Will the U.S. and its..."Dear Iranians, your children have put the first indigenous satellite into orbit," said Ahmadinejad, as quoted by Agence France-Presse. "With this launch the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space." That "presence," as Ahmadinejad calls it, is a threatening one. In one bold swoop, as with the USSR's launch of Sputnik in 1957, Iran has announced its intention to be a world military power and a potentially global threat. This isn't an exaggeration. Iran boosted the...

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has successfully sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, the country's president announced Tuesday, claiming a significant step in an ambitious space program that has worried many international observers. The satellite, called Omid, or hope in Farsi, was launched late Monday after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave the order to proceed, according to a report on state radio. State television showed footage of what it said was the nighttime liftoff of the rocket carrying the satellite at an unidentified location in Iran.

TEHRAN (AFP) — The US confirmed Tuesday that Iran has launched its first home-built satellite into orbit, raising fresh concerns in an international community already at odds with Tehran over its nuclear drive. "It appears that the Iranians conducted a launch of a low orbit satellite," said a US official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

Iran makes first satellite launch Iran has launched its first domestically made satellite into orbit, state media reports. TV commentary said Monday's night-time launch from a Safir-2 rocket was "another achievement for Iranian scientists under sanctions". Iran is subject to UN sanctions because the US and other Western powers suspect it of trying to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies this, saying its nuclear ambitions are limited to the production of energy. The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran said the launch had been expected and is clearly timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution. Iranian President...