Essay: Nukes in space – a bad idea in the 1960s and an even worse one now
Researcher MICHAEL MULVIHILL explains why efforts to ensure nuclear weapons aren’t used space need to be supported…
Essay: Cybersecurity for satellites is a growing challenge, as threats to space-based infrastructure grow
SYLVESTER KACZMAREK, chief technology officer at Imperial College London, looks at the increasingly threats to satellite security…
Fear of the dark: Taiwan sees wartime frailty in communication links with world
Taipei, Taiwan Reuters Taiwan is scrambling to secure its communications with the outside world against an attack by China, but even in peacetime cannot quickly repair critical undersea internet cables and lacks suitable satellite backups, experts and officials say. China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, has […]
Space power China to build ground stations on Antarctica to support satellites
Beijing, China Reuters China, only the third country to put a man in space after the Soviet Union and United States, is to build ground stations on Antarctica to back its network of ocean monitoring satellites, state media said on Thursday. China’s global network of ground stations to support a growing number of satellites and […]
Britain’s groundbreaking satellite launch ends in failure
Newquay, England, UK Reuters Britain’s attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in bitter disappointment early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit said its rocket had suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching orbit. The “horizontal launch” mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in south-west England, […]
StrangeSights: ‘Snake’, a kitten with a war story; Boris Johnson’s next job?; and, NASA looks at repurposing satellites in alien hunt…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Essay: Six ways satellites make the world a better place
In an article first published on The Conversation, CLARA MCGRATH, of the University of Strathclyde, on some of the benefits satellites around the Earth are delivering…
Satellite alerts seen helping fight deforestation in Africa
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation A system using satellite data to send free alerts when trees are destroyed has been linked to a significant drop in forest losses in Africa, researchers and academics said on Monday. Deforestation dropped by an average of 18 per cent across nine central African countries after the alerts were introduced, found […]
Satellites used to expose risks of forced labour in global fishing
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation Fishing vessels with crews of forced labourers behave in systematically different ways to the rest of the global fleet, according to a study purporting to be the first to remotely identify vessels potentially engaged in modern slavery. Using satellite data, machine learning and on-the-ground expertise from human rights practitioners, US researchers found up […]
ESSAY: SPACE MAY SOON BECOME A WAR ZONE – HERE’S HOW THAT WOULD WORK
In an article first published on The Conversation, GARETH DORRIAN, of the University of Birmingham and IAN WHITTAKER, of the Nottingham Trent University, look at how space could become a new battleground…