And asteroids have their own satellites
The European Space Agency’s Gaia star-gazing mission has once again proven its ability to explore asteroids, discovering potential moons around more than 350 asteroids that are not known to have moons.
Martian Phobos and Deimos Hide the Secret of Their Origin
For years, researchers have puzzled over the origins of Phobos and its twin, Deimos. Some have suggested that the moons are former asteroids attracted by Mars’ gravity, as their chemical composition is similar to that of some rocks in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, computer models simulating this capture process have failed to reproduce the pair’s nearly circular paths around Mars. Another hypothesis suggests that a giant impact, similar to the one that created our Moon, ejected the duo from the Red Planet; however, Phobos has a different chemical composition than Mars, making this scenario unlikely.
China outpaces rivals in space exploration
China built its own Tiangong space station, also known as “Tianhe”, located at altitudes of 217 and 280 miles (340 to 450 kilometers) in low Earth orbit in 2021. For the first time in more than four decades, it was China that brought moon rocks to humanity. China launched the Chang’e-6 probe to return soil from the far side of the Moon. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Einstein Probe spacecraft was launched on January 9, 2024. China has already begun to lead the world in military launches, sending 45 defense satellites into orbit in 2022.
Modern latest satellite meteorological monitoring systems
Space-based observing systems account for approximately 90% of the data used in global numerical weather prediction models. Everyone on Earth is affected by the effects of climate change, such as rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and rising sea levels. Natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, floods and tornadoes can dramatically change the Earth’s surface to the point where the changes are visible in space. Changes caused by human actions and interventions such as mining and deforestation are also visible in satellite images. Collecting climate data helps communities better plan for and become more resilient to these changes.
Space debris threatens not only the further exploration of outer space, but also directly the inhabitants of the Earth
NASA confirms that the object that crashed into a house in Florida was indeed space debris from the ISS. Satellites are burning up in the upper atmosphere – and we still don’t know what impact this will have on the Earth’s climate. Space pollution threatens the Earth’s magnetosphere; the deposition of highly conductive materials can reduce the planet’s protective capabilities, an expert says.
Astronomers paid attention to the “seasons” of Uranus and Neptune, and also discovered their new satellites
The James Webb Space Telescope recently took aim at the strange and mysterious Uranus, a side-rotating ice giant. What Webb discovered was a dynamic world with rings, moons, storms and other atmospheric features, including a seasonal polar cap. With his exceptional sensitivity, Webb captured images of Uranus’ faint inner and outer rings, including the elusive Zeta Ring, the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. He also took pictures of many of the planet’s 27 known moons, even seeing some of the smaller moons inside the rings.
75% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are not trackable
An innovative study by Sentinel-1 and AI (European Space Agency) combining satellite data and artificial intelligence has shed light on the number of ships, wind turbines and oil platforms at sea. Shockingly, the study shows that about 75% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels were previously hidden from publicly available tracking systems. The study, published recently in the journal Nature, was conducted by Global Fishing Watch, an organization that seeks to improve ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea.
The Arctic, Antarctica and Greenland have received special attention from organizations involved in space research
The Russian satellite constellation Arktika-M, launched in 2021 and 2023, transmitted the first images of the Arctic region and surrounding areas from space. On June 30, 2011, NASA’s Terra satellite made several passes over the Arctic. ICESat-2 is the second spacecraft to study the Earth’s ice cover. The US-India satellite NISAR will begin monitoring changes in the Earth’s frozen regions in 2024.
Roscosmos has stopped cooperation with most European countries
NASA intends to maintain contacts with Roscosmos to ensure the safe operation of the International Space Station and to continue cooperation between Russia and the United States in the field of the civil space program.
The international satellite system COSPAS-SARSAT has been successfully saving lives for almost 40 years
The Russian Space Systems holding company began creating a network of ground stations for receiving signals from the COSPAS-SARSAT search and rescue equipment on board the medium-orbit navigation satellites GLONASS, GPS, Galileo and Beidou.
The international community is concerned about the possible militarization of space
The state corporation Roscosmos is concerned that the United States and NATO are launching potential weapons carriers into space.
Scientists are concerned about the problem of space debris
People manage to litter even in space, about 25 thousand large waste equipment and millions of small particles freely rotate in orbit around the Earth, and this threatens collisions with working satellites and stations.