Earth Observation – Page 50

China launches eagle-eyed satellite to stare down at Earth

December 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

China launched a high-altitude satellite Monday fitted with a powerful telescope to collect nearly continuous imagery of the Asia-Pacific from geostationary orbit, an apparently unique capability that could help track foreign naval activity, according to Chinese news reports.

PSLV completes commercial launch with six Singaporean satellites

December 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Six spacecraft for Singapore lifted off Wednesday aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Europe to develop satellite to map plant fluorescence

November 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency has selected a satellite mission to monitor the health of global vegetation over an atmospheric research project to track carbon in Earth’s atmosphere, officials announced Thursday.

Intelligence-gathering satellite launched by China

November 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

China launched a government-owned surveillance satellite Sunday, adding another member to the country’s reconnaissance network after liftoff on a Long March 4B booster.

Chinese rocket deploys third Tianhui mapping satellite

October 26, 2015 Stephen Clark

China’s third Tianhui mapping satellite, built for land resource surveys and scientific research, rocketed into space Monday aboard a Long March 2D rocket, Chinese state media reported.

NASA to post new ‘blue marble’ pictures every day

October 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Your daily dose of planet Earth is now just a click away, thanks to a new NASA website hosting photos looking back at the world from a small satellite stationed almost a million miles away, realizing a dream of former Vice President Al Gore nearly two decades ago.

Planet Labs takes rash of launch failures in stride

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

No one had ever lost 26 satellites at once until a launch failure bit Planet Labs last year, temporarily setting back the San Francisco startup’s ambition to map the globe every day.

China conducts two space launches in short span

September 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

Two space launches from China in a 37-hour span have placed an experimental communications satellite and a sharp-eyed Earth-viewing craft into orbit, according to Chinese state media reports.

Radar on NASA’s SMAP Earth observing satellite declared lost

September 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

One-half of the instrument payload aboard NASA’s $916 million Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite has failed after collecting just two months of data, NASA announced Wednesday after weeks of troubleshooting turned up no progress in recovering the sensor.

NASA troubleshoots radar outage on new SMAP satellite

August 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Engineers have so far been unable to restart a balky radar aboard NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive environmental satellite launched in January, robbing scientists of the most detailed maps of how much water is locked up in the top layers of Earth’s land masses.