Space Junk Just Fell on Your Home, Now What?
On March 8, a small, cylinder-shaped object fell from the skies and crashed through the roof of a family home in Naples, Florida. Alejandro Otero, the homeowner, suspected it came…
Possible Fragment From ISS Battery Pallet May Have Crashed Through Florida Home
Three years ago, NASA tossed a massive pallet of old batteries from the International Space Station (ISS), hoping that it would burn up through Earth’s atmosphere. A few weeks ago,…
NASA and Russian satellites just miss in ‘too close for comfort’ pass
There’s already enough hazardous debris in orbit but on Wednesday an incident occurred that almost created a whole lot more. It involved NASA’s operational TIMED satellite and the defunct Russian…
‘Too Close for Comfort’: Two Satellites Nearly Collide Above Earth
In a tense moment for space safety, two satellites—NASA’s TIMED spacecraft and the defunct Russian Cosmos 2221—came alarmingly close to smashing into each other above Earth, prompting concerns about the…
SpaceX to Deorbit 100 Starlink Satellites Due to Detected Flaw
An unspecified defect in early model Starlink satellites has prompted SpaceX to preemptively deorbit the units before they potentially fail and become hazards in low Earth orbit. While the company…
Giant Satellite Set for Fiery Reentry After 13 Years of Orbital Creep
After 13 years of slow orbital decay, a legacy satellite will finally be put out of its misery by plunging through Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up into tiny…
Satellites Are Getting a Constellation of Traffic Cops
Earth’s orbit will be monitored by a watchful set of robotic eyes, the first commercial constellation of satellites with the ability to keep track of objects in space to avoid…
Space Force Purchases $25 Million ‘Fuel Truck’ for Satellites
Zipping far above Earth, it’s not exactly easy for satellites to find a corner gas station when the fuel gauge gets low. To tackle this cosmic conundrum, a Space Force-funded…
Chinese Rocket’s Moon Collision in 2022 Carried Mystery Object, Experts Say
The surface of the Moon is littered with defunct hardware from past missions that are now buried amongst the lunar regolith. A recent crash site left a distinct and curious…
Airbus Launches Device to Keep Dead Satellites from Tumbling in Space
An illustration of space debris littering Earth orbit.Illustration: ESA Earth’s orbit can be a chaotic place, with defunct spacecraft darting aimlessly across the dark skies. In order to tackle the…