All articles tagged with #satellite tracking
Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week, highlighting ongoing concerns about space safety and satellite management. The incident underscores the importance of tracking and coordinating satellite movements to prevent collisions in increasingly crowded orbits.
Researchers captured the first comprehensive image of all satellite streaks over the Arctic sky on February 22, 2025, using 14 cameras in Eureka, Canada, revealing extensive satellite activity and advancing Canada's space monitoring capabilities, especially amid the proliferation of mega-constellations like Starlink.
Researchers in Canada used 14 cameras to track over 17,000 satellites passing over the Arctic, revealing the increasing congestion of Earth's skies and raising concerns about space pollution and its impact on astronomy.
A satellite tracking hobbyist near Helsinki, Finland, has reportedly located the US military's X-37B spaceplane in a highly elliptical orbit ranging between 201 and 24,133 miles in altitude, confirming speculation that it reached higher altitudes than previous flights. The X-37B, launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in December, is on its seventh mission and is carrying out a wide range of test and experimentation objectives, including new orbital regimes and space domain awareness technologies. The secretive nature of the X-37B has sparked speculation about its purpose, with some suggesting it could be part of a classified weapons platform, while others believe it is a testbed for new space technologies.
China's experimental robotic spacecraft, Shenlong, has launched its third test mission and has been observed deploying six unidentified objects, referred to as "wingmen" by amateur skywatchers. These objects, designated OBJECT A to F, emit various signals, with some carrying small amounts of information. The emissions from OBJECT A resemble those of previous Chinese space plane "wingman" emissions, while OBJECT D and OBJECT E emit signals without any data. Amateur astronomers speculate on the purpose of these objects, while the US, with its own secretive X-37B space plane, is likely monitoring the situation closely.
China's secret space plane, similar to the US military's X-37B, has been emitting strong signals to the ground while passing over North America, according to satellite tracker Scott Tilley. The emissions, detected at a frequency of 2280 megahertz, suggest the presence of a hidden ground station or a ship near North America's west coast. Tilley speculates that there may be a clandestine ground station or ship off the coast. The Chinese space plane, on its third mission, has been closely monitored by satellite trackers worldwide. The purpose of the emissions and the satellite duo released by the plane remain unknown.
Defense contractor L3Harris has received approval from the Space Development Agency to begin production on 16 satellites designed to detect and monitor hypersonic missiles. These satellites, part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, will form a resilient sensor platform to track the flight paths of hypersonic missiles, which are considered highly destabilizing weapons due to their maneuverability and varied launch points. The satellites are scheduled to launch in 2025, and L3Harris has already delivered four prototype tracking satellites under a previous contract.
China launched an experimental and reusable spaceplane into low Earth orbit, accompanied by six mysterious objects trailing behind it. These objects are emitting signals, but their purpose and the nature of the signals remain unclear. Amateur astronomers and satellite trackers are monitoring the objects, with some noting that the signals appear to contain limited data or repeating patterns. The purpose of these additional satellites and China's testing objectives are still unknown.
The 18th Space Defense Squadron (SDS) of the Space Force plays a crucial role in monitoring and tracking artificial objects in Earth's orbit to ensure the safety of satellites, astronauts, and space exploration endeavors. Using the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN), the squadron tracks over 45,000 objects in orbit, updating a public catalog of objects in Earth orbit. The 18th SDS works with its sister squadron to predict satellite trajectories and prevent collisions. However, there are still over a million small objects that pose a collision threat but are too small to track. The need for an international space traffic management system has been emphasized to better coordinate and mitigate traffic challenges in space.
Scientists have conducted a study on rare postmidnight subauroral ion drift (SAID) events in the upper atmosphere near South America. These events involve narrow, rapid, westward flows of extremely hot plasma and are linked to visible structures in the sky. The study found that postmidnight SAID events are influenced by ionospheric conditions, geomagnetic dynamics, and wave-particle interactions. Understanding these events could help mitigate disruptions to radar signals for satellite tracking and other critical applications.