Satellites
Destroyed by the very force of nature it was intended to study, the European Space Agency's (ESA) GOCE satellite is no more. The gravity and ocean-studying satellite plunged into the Earth's atmosphere Monday, Nov. 11, disintegrating on its way down without causing any damage on the ground below.
Turns out that nasty space weather may be the reason behind a number of television, Internet, and communications outages down here on planet Earth. According to one study, charged particles from space phenomena such as solar flares and geomagnetic storms are causing greater damage to our satellites than previously thought.
After 11 years and 53,500 orbits around our world, the Jason-1 satellite has been sentenced to death after losing its last transmitter. Jason-1 was an ocean altimetry satellite that blazed the trail for an unprecedented 20-year record of our oceans' surface topographies.
A rocket carrying a satellite failed to reach orbit, crashing into the sea after being launched from an oceangoing platform in a joint venture by American company Sea Launch and the telecommunications giant Intelsat.
The Pentagon's research wing looks to scavenge through defunct satellites in space for reusable parts in a bid to cut future military space mission costs.
A scientist from MIT has developed a tiny thruster not much larger than a penny.
