low Earth orbit

Boeing’s Starliner is a ‘big part of America’s overall strategy for access to low Earth orbit,’ says astronaut

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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – Starliner will send its first astronaut crew into space as early as Monday (May 6), and Mission Control is planning one last major test to prepare for the event. NASA And Boeing Starliner officials worked together at the government agency Johnson Space Center in Houston during an hour-long prelaunch test on … Read more

Space weather can make it difficult to predict satellite orbits. Here’s why that’s a problem

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Satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) can deviate hundreds of kilometers from their expected trajectory when bad space weather hits. The problem affects the International Space Station, China’s Tiangong Space Station and many Earth observation satellites that need to get up close to our planet. Experts say this positioning uncertainty increases the risk of dangerous … Read more

A dead Russian spacecraft almost collided with a NASA satellite. The crash could have shot 7,500 pieces of debris around the Earth.

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A simulated image of a satellite collision and the resulting debris.ESA / ID&Sense / ONiRiXEL, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO NASA’s TIMED satellite narrowly avoided a collision with the dead Russian spacecraft Cosmos 2221 this week. At its worst, the collision would have thrown 7,500 pieces of debris into low Earth orbit. Satellite collisions are becoming … Read more

‘Space Rescue Service’ needed for the coming era of space tourism, the report says

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Rescuers on Earth can reach many harsh environments: stranded boaters in the ocean, people injured while skiing in the mountains, and plane crash victims in rural areas. But there is currently no emergency rescue system for it room – and there may be a way to change that. The nonprofit Rand Corp. suggests that a … Read more